The Iliad, Homer [short books for teens TXT] 📗

book, against any further interference of the gods in the battles. In the opening of the twentieth book this interdict is withdrawn. During the twelve intermediate books it is kept steadily in view. No interposition takes place but on the part of the specially authorised agents of Jove, or on that of one or two contumacious deities, described as boldly setting his commands at defiance, but checked and reprimanded for their disobedience; while the other divine warriors, who in the previous and subsequent cantos are so active in support of their favourite heroes, repeatedly allude to the supreme edict as the cause of their present inactivity.”—Mure, vol. i. p 257.

See however, Muller, “Greek Literature,” ch. v. Section 6, and Grote, vol. ii. p. 252. The armies join battle: Jupiter on Mount Ida weighs in [150]

“As far removed from God and light of heaven, As from the centre thrice to th’ utmost pole.”—“Paradise Lost.”

 

“E quanto e da le stelle al basso inferno, Tanto e piu in su de la stellata spera”—Gier. Lib. i. 7.

 

“Some of the epithets which Homer applies to the heavens seem to imply that he considered it as a solid vault of metal. But it is not necessary to construe these epithets so literally, nor to draw any such inference from his description of Atlas, who holds the lofty pillars which keep earth and heaven asunder. Yet it would seem, from the manner in which the height of heaven is compared with the depth of Tartarus, that the region of light was thought to have certain bounds.

The summit of the Thessalian Olympus was regarded as the highest point on the earth, and it is not always carefully distinguished from the aerian regions above The idea of a seat of the gods—perhaps derived from a more ancient tradition, in which it was not attached to any geographical site—seems to be indistinctly blended in the poet’s mind with that of the real mountain.”—Thirlwall’s Greece, vol. i. p. 217, sq.

 

[151]

“Now lately heav’n, earth, another world Hung e’er my realm, link’d in a golden chain To that side heav’n.”—“Paradise Lost,” ii. 1004.

 

[152]

His golden scales.

“Jove now, sole arbiter of peace and war, Held forth the fatal balance from afar: Each host he weighs; by turns they both prevail, Till Troy descending fix’d the doubtful scale.”

Merrick’s Tryphiodorus, v 687, sqq.

 

“Th’ Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, Hung forth in heav’n his golden scales, Wherein all things created first he weighed; The pendulous round earth, with balanced air In counterpoise; now ponders all events, Battles and realms. In these he puts two weights, The sequel each of parting and of fight: The latter quick up flew, and kick’d the beam.”

“Paradise Lost,” iv. 496.

 

[153]

And now, &c.

“And now all heaven

Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread; Had not th’ Almighty Father, where he sits … foreseen.”—“Paradise Lost,” vi. 669.

 

[154]

Gerenian Nestor. The epithet Gerenian either refers to the name of a place in which Nestor was educated, or merely signifies honoured, revered. See Schol. Venet. in II. B. 336; Strabo, viii. p. 340.

 

[155]

AEgae, Helice. Both these towns were conspicuous for their worship of Neptune.

 

[156]

As full blown, &c.

“Il suo Lesbia quasi bel fior succiso, E in atto si gentil languir tremanti Gl’ occhi, e cader siu ‘l tergo il collo mira.”

Gier. Lib. ix. 85.

 

[157]

Ungrateful, because the cause in which they were engaged was unjust.

“Struck by the lab’ring priests’ uplifted hands The victims fall: to heav’n they make their pray’r, The curling vapours load the ambient air.

But vain their toil: the pow’rs who rule the skies Averse beheld the ungrateful sacrifice.”

Merrick’s Tryphiodorus, vi. 527, sqq.

 

[158]

“As when about the silver moon, when aire is free from winde, And stars shine cleare,

to whose sweet beams high prospects on the brows Of all steepe hills and pinnacles thrust up themselves for shows, And even the lowly valleys joy to glitter in their sight; When the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light, And all the signs in heaven are seene, that glad the shepherd’s heart.”

Chapman.

 

[159]

This flight of the Greeks, according to Buttmann, Lexil. p.

358, was not a supernatural flight caused by the gods, but “a great and general one, caused by Hector and the Trojans, but with the approval of Jove.”

 

[160]

Grote, vol. ii. p. 91, after noticing the modest calmness and respect with which Nestor addresses Agamemnon, observes, “The Homeric Council is a purely consultative body, assembled not with any power of peremptorily arresting mischievous resolves of the king, but solely for his information and guidance.”

 

[161]

In the heroic times, it is not unfrequent for the king to receive presents to purchase freedom from his wrath, or immunity from his exactions. Such gifts gradually became regular, and formed the income of the German, (Tacit. Germ. Section 15) Persian, (Herodot.

iii.89), and other kings. So, too, in the middle ages, ‘The feudal aids are the beginning of taxation, of which they for a long time answered the purpose.’ (Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. x. pt. 1, p. 189) This fact frees Achilles from the apparent charge of sordidness. Plato, however, (De Rep. vi. 4), says, “We cannot commend Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles, as if he spoke correctly, when counselling him to accept of presents and assist the Greeks, but, without presents, not to desist from his wrath, nor again, should we commend Achilles himself, or approve of his being so covetous as to receive presents from Agamemnon,” &c.

 

[162]

It may be observed, that, brief as is the mention of Briseis in the Iliad, and small the part she plays—what little is said is pre-eminently calculated to enhance her fitness to be the bride of Achilles. Purity, and retiring delicacy, are features well contrasted with the rough, but tender disposition of the hero.

 

[163]

Laodice. Iphianassa, or Iphigenia, is not mentioned by Homer, among the daughters of Agamemnon.

 

[164]

“Agamemnon, when he offers to transfer to Achilles seven towns inhabited by wealthy husbandmen, who would enrich their lord by presents and tribute, seems likewise to assume rather a property in them, than an authority over them. And the same thing may be intimated when it is said that Peleus bestowed a great people, the Dolopes of Phthia, on Phoenix.”—Thirlwall’s Greece, vol. i Section 6, p. 162, note.

 

[165]

Pray in deep silence. Rather: “use well-omened words;” or, as Kennedy has explained it, “Abstain from expressions unsuitable to the solemnity of the occasion, which, by offending the god, might defeat the object of their supplications.”

 

[166]

Purest hands. This is one of the most ancient superstitions respecting prayer, and one founded as much in nature as in tradition.

 

[167]

It must be recollected, that the war at Troy was not a settled siege, and that many of the chieftains busied themselves in piratical expeditions about its neighborhood. Such a one was that of which Achilles now speaks. From the following verses, it is evident that fruits of these maraudings went to the common support of the expedition, and not to the successful plunderer.

 

[168]

Pthia, the capital of Achilles’ Thessalian domains.

 

[169]

Orchomenian town. The topography of Orchomenus, in Boeotia, “situated,” as it was, “on the northern bank of the lake AEpais, which receives not only the river Cephisus from the valleys of Phocis, but also other rivers from Parnassus and Helicon” (Grote, vol.

p. 181), was a sufficient reason for its prosperity and decay. “As long as the channels of these waters were diligently watched and kept clear, a large portion of the lake was in the condition of alluvial land, pre-eminently rich and fertile. But when the channels came to be either neglected, or designedly choked up by an enemy, the water accumulated in such a degree as to occupy the soil of more than one ancient islet, and to occasion the change of the site of Orchomenus itself from the plain to the declivity of Mount Hyphanteion.” (Ibid.) [170]

The phrase “hundred gates,” &c., seems to be merely expressive of a great number. See notes to my prose translation, p.

162.

 

[171]

Compare the following pretty lines of Quintus Calaber (Dyce’s Select Translations, p 88).—

“Many gifts he gave, and o’er

Dolopia bade me rule; thee in his arms He brought an infant, on my bosom laid The precious charge, and anxiously enjoin’d That I should rear thee as my own with all A parent’s love. I fail’d not in my trust And oft, while round my neck thy hands were lock’d, From thy sweet lips the half articulate sound Of Father came; and oft, as children use, Mewling and puking didst thou drench my tunic.”

“This description,” observes my learned friend (notes, p. 121) “is taken from the passage of Homer, II ix, in translating which, Pope, with that squeamish, artificial taste, which distinguished the age of Anne, omits the natural (and, let me add, affecting) circumstance.”

“And the wine

Held to thy lips, and many a time in fits Of infant frowardness the purple juice Rejecting thou hast deluged all my vest, And fill’d my bosom.”—Cowper.

 

[172]

Where Calydon. For a good sketch of the story of Meleager, too long to be inserted here, see Grote, vol. i. p. 195, sqq.; and for the authorities, see my notes to the prose translation, p. 166.

 

[173]

“Gifts can conquer“—It is well observed by Bishop Thirlwall, “Greece,” vol. i. p, 180, that the law of honour among the Greeks did not compel them to treasure up in their memory the offensive language which might be addressed to them by a passionate adversary, nor to conceive that it left a stain which could only be washed away by blood. Even for real and deep injuries they were commonly willing to accept a pecuniary compensation.”

 

[174]

“The boon of sleep.”-Milton

 

[175]

“All else of nature’s common gift partake: Unhappy Dido was alone awake.”—Dryden’s Virgil, iv. 767.

 

[176]

The king of Crete: Idomeneus.

 

[177]

Soft wool within, i e. a kind of woollen stuffing, pressed in between the straps, to protect the head, and make the helmet fit close.

 

[178]

“All the circumstances of this action—the night, Rhesus buried in a profound sleep, and Diomede with the sword in his hand hanging over the head of that prince—furnished Homer with the idea of this fiction, which represents Rhesus lying fast asleep, and, as it were, beholding his enemy in a dream, plunging the sword into his bosom. This image is very natural; for a man in his condition awakes no farther than to see confusedly what environs him, and to think it not a reality but a dream.”—Pope.

“There’s one did laugh in his sleep, and one cry’d murder; They wak’d each other.”—_Macbeth._

 

[179]

“Aurora now had left her saffron bed, And beams of early light the heavens o’erspread.”

Dryden’s Virgil, iv. 639

 

[180]

Red drops of blood. “This phenomenon, if a mere fruit of the poet’s imagination, might seem arbitrary or far-fetched. It is one, however, of ascertained reality, and of no uncommon occurrence in the climate of Greece.”—Mure, i p. 493. Cf. Tasso, Gier. Lib. ix. 15: “La terra in vece del notturno gelo

Bagnan rugiade tepide, e sanguigne.”

 

[181]

“No thought of flight,

None of retreat, no unbecoming deed That argued fear.”—“Paradise Lost,” vi. 236.

 

[182]

One of love. Although a bastard brother received only a small portion of the inheritance, he was commonly very well treated.

Priam appears to be the only one of whom polygamy is directly asserted in the Iliad. Grote, vol. ii. p. 114, note.