The Iliad of Homer (1873). Homer

many, and conspicuous amongst heroes.

Tell me now, ye Muses, who possess the Olympian mansions (for ye are goddesses, and are [ever] present, and ken all things, whilst we hear but a rumour, nor know anything ¹¹⁹), who were the leaders and chiefs of the Greeks. For I could not recount nor tell the multitude, not even if ten tongues, and ten mouths were mine, [not though] a voice unwearied, ¹²⁰ and a brazen heart were within me; unless the Olympic Muses, daughters of ægis-bearing Jove, reminded me of how many came to Ilium. However, I will rehearse the commanders of the ships, and all the ships.

Footnote 119: (return) Cf. Æn. vii. 644:--

      "Et meministis enim, Divæ, et memorare potestis:

      Ad nos vix tenuis famæ perlabitur aura."

      Milton, Par. Lost, i. 27:--

      "Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view,

      Nor the deep tract of Hell----"

Footnote 120: (return) Cf. Æn. vi. 625 sqq.; Georg. ii. 42; Valer. Flacc, vi. 36; Silius, iv. 527; Claudian, 6 Cons. Hon. 436. This hyperbolical mode of excusing poetic powers is ridiculed by Persius, Sat. vi. 1.

      THE CATALOGUE OF THE SHIPS.

      Peneleus, and Leïtus, and Arcesilaus, and Prothoënor, and Clonius, commanded the Bœotians; both those who tilled Hyrie, and rocky Aulis, and Schœnos, and Scholos, and hilly Eteonus, Thespia, Græa, and the ample plain of Mycalessus; and those who dwelt about Harma, and Ilesius, and Erythræ; and those who possessed Elion, Hyle, Peteon, Ocalea, and the well-built city Medeon, Copæ, Eutressis, and Thisbe abounding in doves; and those who possessed Coronæa, and grassy Haliartus, and Platæa; and those who inhabited Glissa, and those who dwelt in Hypothebæ, the well-built city, and in sacred Onchestus, the beauteous grove of Neptune; and those who inhabited grape-clustered Arne, and those [who inhabited] Midea, and divine Nissa, and remote Anthedon: fifty ships of these went to Troy, and in each embarked a hundred and twenty Bœotian youths.

      Those who inhabited Aspledon, and Minyean Orchomenus, these Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, the sons of Mars, led, whom Astyoche bore to powerful Mars in the house of Actor, son of Azis: a modest virgin, when she ascended the upper part of her father's house; but the god secretly embraced her. Of these thirty hollow ships went in order.

Moreover, Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of magnanimous Iphitus, the son of Naubolus, led the Phoceans, who possessed Cyparissus, and rocky Python, and divine Crissa, and Daulis, and Panopea; and those who dwelt round Anemoria and Hyampolis, and near the sacred river Cephissus, and those who possessed Lilæa, at the sources of Cephissus: with these forty dark ships followed. They indeed, ¹²¹ going round, arranged the lines of the Phoceans; and they were drawn up in array near the Bœotians, and towards the left wing.

Footnote 121: (return) Schedius and Epistrophus.

      Swift-footed Ajax, the son of Oileus, was leader of the Locrians; less in stature than, and not so tall as Ajax, the son of Telamon, but much less. He was small indeed, wearing a linen corslet, but in [the use of] the spear he surpassed all the Hellenes and Achæans, who inhabited Cynus, Opus, Calliarus, Bessa, Scarpha, and pleasant Augeia, and Tarpha, and Thronium, around the streams of Boagrius. But with him forty dark ships of the Locrians followed, who dwell beyond sacred Eubœa.

      The Abantes, breathing strength, who possessed Eubœa, and Chalcis, and Eretria, and grape-clustered Histiæa, and maritime Cerinthus, and the towering city of Dium, and those who inhabited Carystus and Styra: the leader of these was Elephenor, of the line of Mars, the son of Chalcodon, the magnanimous prince of the Abantes. With him the swift Abantes followed, with flowing locks behind, warriors skilled with protended spears of ash, to break the corslets on the breasts of their enemies. With him forty dark ships followed.

Those besides who possessed Athens, the well-built city, the state of magnanimous Erechtheus, whom Minerva, the daughter of Jove, formerly nursed (but him the bounteous earth brought forth), and settled at Athens in her own rich temple: there the sons of the Athenians, in revolving years, appease her with [sacrifices of] bulls and lambs ¹²²--them Menestheus, son of Peteus, commanded. "No man upon the earth was equal to him in marshalling steeds and shielded warriors in battle; Nestor alone vied with him, for he was elder. With him fifty dark ships followed."

But Ajax ¹²³ led twelve ships from Salamis, and leading arranged them where the phalanxes of the Athenians were drawn up.

Footnote 122: (return) Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. i. p. 75, observes, "Athene is locally identified with the soil and people of Athens, even in the Iliad: Erechtheus, the Athenian, is born of the earth, but Athene brings him up, nourishes him, and lodges him in her own temple, where the Athenians annually worship him with sacrifice and solemnities. It was altogether impossible to make Erechtheus son of Athene,--the type of the goddess forbade it; but the Athenian myth-creators, though they found this barrier impassable, strove to approach to it as near as they could." Compare also p. 262, where he considers Erechtheus "as a divine or heroic, certainly a superhuman person, and as identified with the primitive germination of Attic man."

Footnote 123: (return) : The son of Telamon.

      Those who possessed Argos, and well-fortified Tiryns, Hermione, and which encircle the Asine deep bay, Trœzene, and Eionæ, and vine-planted Epidaurus, and those who possessed Ægina, and Mases, Achæan youths. Their leader then was Diomede, brave in war, and Sthenelus, the dear son of much-renowned Capaneus; and with these went Euryalus the third, god-like man, the son of king Mecisteus, Talaus' son; and all these Diomede brave in war commanded. With these eighty dark ships followed.

Those who possessed Mycenæ, the well-built city, and wealthy Corinth, ¹²⁴ and well-built Cleonæ, and those who inhabited Ornia, and pleasant Aræthyrea, and Sicyon, where Adrastus first reigned: and those who possessed Hyperesia, and lofty Gonoessa, and Pellene, and those who [inhabited] Ægium, and all along the sea-coast, ¹²⁵ and about spacious Helice. Of these, king Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, commanded a hundred ships: and with him by far the most and bravest troops followed; and he had clothed himself in dazzling brass, exulting in his glory, that he shone conspicuous amongst all heroes; for he was the most eminent, and led by far the most numerous troops. ¹²⁶

Footnote 124: (return) An anachronism, as Corinth, before its capture by the Dorians, was called Ephyra (as in II. vi. 152). "Neque est, quod miremur ab Homero nominari Corinthum, nam ex persona poetæ et hanc urbem, et quasdam Ionum colonias iis nominibus appellat, quibus vocabantur ætate ejus, multo post Ilium captum conditæ."--Vell. Paterc. i. 3.

Footnote 125: (return) I.e. the later Achaia.--Arnold.

Footnote 126: (return)