impelled with a twofold anxiety,[1] either that having snatched him alive from the mournful battle, I may place him among the rich people of Lycia, or now subdue him beneath the hands of the son of Menœtius."
Then the large-eyed, venerable Juno answered: "Most dread son of Saturn, what a word hast thou spoken? Whether dost thou wish to liberate from sad death a mortal man long since doomed to fate? Do so; but all we, the other gods, will not assent to it. But another thing I will tell thee, and do thou revolve it in thy mind. If indeed thou sendest this Sarpedon safe home, reflect whether some other of the gods may not also wish to send his beloved son [safe home] from the violent conflict; for many sons of immortals fight round the great city of Priam, upon whom thou wilt bring heavy wrath. If, however, he be dear to thee, and thy heart pities him, let him indeed be subdued in the violent conflict, beneath the hands of Patroclus, the son of Menœtius: but when his spirit and life shall have left him, send death and sweet sleep to bear him until they reach the people of expansive Lycia. There will his brethren and friends perform his obsequies with a tomb and a pillar; for this is the honor of the dead."
Thus she spoke, nor did the father of gods and men disobey; but he poured down upon the earth bloody dew-drops,[2] honoring his beloved son, whom Patroclus was about to slay in fertile-soiled Troy, far away from his native land.
But when, advancing, they were now near each other, then indeed Patroclus [struck] illustrious Thrasymelus, who was the brave companion of king Sarpedon, him he struck upon the lower part of the belly, and relaxed his limbs. Then Sarpedon, attacking second, missed him with his splen-
- ↑ Cf. Virg. Æn. iv. 285:
"Atque animum nunc hue celerem, nunc dividit illuc,
In partesque rapit varias, perque omnia versat."x. 680. Ter. Andr. i. 5, 25. Ovid, Met. vii. 19; x. 373. Plato. Rep. iii. p. 433, B. ed. Læm. finds great fault with Homer for thus debasing the character of Jove. His remarks are reiterated by Clemens Alexandr. Protr. p. 16, 50, and Minucius Felix, § 22.
- ↑ There is a similar prodigy in Hesiod, Scut. Herc. 384: Κάδδ' ἄρ' ἀπ' οὐρανόθεν ψιάδας βάλεν αἱματοέσσας, Σῆμα τιθεὶς πολέμοιο ἕῷ μεγαθαρσέϊ παιδί. Tzetzes there refers to the present passage, regarding it as ominous of the death of Sarpedon. Cf. Lomeier, De Lustrationibus, xii. p. 143.
