ESSAYS IN CLASSICAL METRES.
463
Yours, or that, if I please, of Ajax or of Ulysses,
I for my own will take, and leave the loser lamenting.
At a suitable time this, after, will we determine;
Now proceed we to haul a swift ship into the water,
Choose the rowers to take her, and send the cattle aboard her
For sacrifice, and bring the beautiful daughter of Chryses
Also on board, and appoint some prudent chief to convey her—
Ajax shall it be, or Idomeneus, or Ulysses?
Or will Pelides, incomparable of heroes,
Go, and with holy rite appease the wrath of Apollo?
And with a frown swift-footed Achilles eyed him, and
answered:
'O me! clothed-upon with impudence, greedy-hearted,
How shall any Achæan again be willing to serve you,
Make any expedition, or fight in battle to help you?
Certainly not upon any account of the Troïan horsemen
Came I hither to fight; they never gave me occasion,
Never carried away any cattle of mine, any horses,
Nor in Phthia ever, the rich land, feeder of people,
Devastated the fruit; since numerous, to divide them,
Mountains shadowy lie, and a sea's tumultuous water:
To' attend thee we came, on thy effrontery waiting,
Reparation to take of the Trojans for Menelaus,
And thy unblushing self. All which you little remember,
And can threaten to-day of my reward to deprive me,
Dearly with labour earned, and given me by the Achæans.
Do I ever receive any gift your gifts to compare with,
When the Achæans sack any wealthy town of the Trojans?
Truly the larger part of the busy, hurrying warfare
My hands have to discharge; but, in the day of division,
Yours is the ample share, and I, content with a little,
Thankfully turn to my ships, well wearied out with the fighting.
Now to Phthia I go—far wiser for me to do so,
I for my own will take, and leave the loser lamenting.
At a suitable time this, after, will we determine;
Now proceed we to haul a swift ship into the water,
Choose the rowers to take her, and send the cattle aboard her
For sacrifice, and bring the beautiful daughter of Chryses
Also on board, and appoint some prudent chief to convey her—
Ajax shall it be, or Idomeneus, or Ulysses?
Or will Pelides, incomparable of heroes,
Go, and with holy rite appease the wrath of Apollo?
And with a frown swift-footed Achilles eyed him, and
answered:
'O me! clothed-upon with impudence, greedy-hearted,
How shall any Achæan again be willing to serve you,
Make any expedition, or fight in battle to help you?
Certainly not upon any account of the Troïan horsemen
Came I hither to fight; they never gave me occasion,
Never carried away any cattle of mine, any horses,
Nor in Phthia ever, the rich land, feeder of people,
Devastated the fruit; since numerous, to divide them,
Mountains shadowy lie, and a sea's tumultuous water:
To' attend thee we came, on thy effrontery waiting,
Reparation to take of the Trojans for Menelaus,
And thy unblushing self. All which you little remember,
And can threaten to-day of my reward to deprive me,
Dearly with labour earned, and given me by the Achæans.
Do I ever receive any gift your gifts to compare with,
When the Achæans sack any wealthy town of the Trojans?
Truly the larger part of the busy, hurrying warfare
My hands have to discharge; but, in the day of division,
Yours is the ample share, and I, content with a little,
Thankfully turn to my ships, well wearied out with the fighting.
Now to Phthia I go—far wiser for me to do so,
