through the army [and the people kept perishing];[1] because the son of Atreus had dishonored the priest Chryses: for he came in the swift ships of the Greeks to ransom his daughter, and bringing invaluable ransoms, having in his hands the fillets of far-darting Apollo on his golden scepter. And he supplicated all the Greeks, but chiefly the two sons of Atreus, the leaders of the people:
"Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-greaved Greeks, to you indeed may the gods, possessing the heavenly dwellings, grant to destroy the city of Priam, and to return home safely but for me, liberate my beloved daughter, and accept the ransoms, reverencing the son of Jove, far-darting Apollo."
Upon this, all the other Greeks shouted assent, that the priest should be reverenced, and the splendid ransoms accepted; yet was it not pleasing in his mind to Agamemnon, son of Atreus; but he dismissed him evilly, and added a harsh mandate:
"Let me not find thee, old man, at the hollow barks, either now loitering, or hereafter returning, lest the staff and fillet of the god avail thee not.[2] For her I will not set free; sooner shall old age come upon her, at home in Argos, far away from her native land, employed in offices of the loom, and preparing[3] my bed. But away! irritate me not, that thou mayest return the safer."
Thus he spoke; but the old man was afraid, and obeyed the command. And he went in silence along the shore of the loud-resounding sea; but then, going apart, the aged man prayed much to king Apollo, whom fair-haired Latona bore:
"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who art wont to protect[4] Chrysa and divine Cilla, and who mightily rulest over Tene-
- ↑ Observe the full force of the imperfect tense.
- ↑ Of χραισμεῑν Buttmann, Lexil. p. 546, observes that "it is never found in a positive sense, but remained in ancient usage in negative sentences only; as, 'it is of no use to thee,' or, 'it helps thee not,' and similar expressions."
- ↑ The old mistake of construing ἀντιόωσαν "sharing," which still clings to the translations, is exploded by Buttm. Lex. p. 144. Eust. and Heysch. both give εὐτρεπίζουσαν as one of the interpretations; and that such is the right one is evident from the collateral phrase πορσύνειν λέχος in Od. iii. 403.
- ↑ Ἀμφιβέβηκας is the perfect tense, but with the force of the present.
