Authors of Greece | Page 7

as the gates of Death a man who hideth one thing in his
heart and sayeth its opposite. Do the sons of Atreus alone of men love
their wives? Methinks all the wealth which Troy contained before the
Greeks came upon it, yea all the wealth which Apollo holds in rocky
Pytho, is not the worth of life itself. Cattle and horses and brazen ware
can be got by plunder, but a man's life cannot be taken by spoil nor
recovered when once it passeth the barrier of his teeth. Nay, go back to
the elders and bid them find a better plan than this. Let Phoenix abide
by me here that he may return with me to-morrow in my ships if he will,
for I will not constrain him by force."
Phoenix had been Achilles' tutor. In terror for the safety of the Greek
fleet, he appealed to his friend to relent.
"How can I be left alone here without thee, dear child? Thy father sent
me to teach thee to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds. In thy
childhood I tended thee, for I knew that I should never have a son and I
looked to thee to save me from ruin. Tame thy great spirit. Even the
gods know how to change, whose honour is greater, and their power.
Men in prayer turn them by sacrifice when any hath sinned and
transgressed. For Prayers are the daughters of great Zeus; they are halt
and wrinkled and their eyes look askance. Their task it is to go after
Ruin; for Ruin is strong and sound of foot, wherefore she far
outrunneth them all and getteth before them in harming men over all
the world. But they come after; whosoever honoureth the daughters of
Zeus when they come nigh, him they greatly benefit and hear his
entreaties, but whoso denieth them and stubbornly refuseth, they go to

Zeus and ask that Ruin may dog him, that he may be requited with
mischief. Therefore, Achilles, bring it to pass that honour follow the
daughters of Zeus, even that honour which bendeth the heart of others
as noble as thou."
When this appeal also failed, Ajax, a man of deeds rather than words,
deemed it best to return at once, begging Achilles to bear them no
ill-will and to remember the rights of hospitality which protected them
from his resentment. When Achilles assured them of his regard for
them and maintained his quarrel with Agamemnon alone, they departed
and brought the heavy news to their anxious friends. On hearing it
Diomedes briefly bade them get ready for the battle and fight without
Achilles' help.
When the Trojan host had taken up its quarters on the plain, Nestor
suggested that the Greeks should send one of their number to find out
what Hector intended to do on the morrow. Diomedes offered to
undertake the office of a spy, selecting Odysseus as his comrade. After
a prayer to Athena to aid them, they went silently towards the bivouac.
It chanced that Hector too had thought of a similar plan and that Dolon
had offered to reconnoitre the Greek position. He was a wealthy man,
ill-favoured to look upon, but swift of foot, and had asked that his
reward should be the horses and the chariot of Achilles.
Hearing the sound of Dolon's feet as he ran, Diomedes and Odysseus
parted to let him pass between them; then cutting off his retreat they
closed on him and captured him. They learned how the Trojan host was
quartered; at the extremity of it was Rhesus, the newly arrived Thracian
King, whose white horses were a marvel of beauty and swiftness. In
return for his information Dolon begged them to spare his life, but
Diomedes deemed it safer to slay him. The two Greeks penetrated the
Thracian encampment, where they slew many warriors and escaped
with the horses back to the Greek armament.
When the fighting opened on the next day, Agamemnon distinguished
himself by deeds of great bravery, but retired at length wounded in the
hand. Zeus had warned Hector to wait for that very moment before
pushing home his attack. One after another the Greek leaders were
wounded, Diomedes, Odysseus, Machaon; Ajax alone held up the
Trojan onset, retiring slowly and stubbornly towards the sea. Achilles,
seeing the return of the wounded warrior Machaon, sent his friend

Patroclus to find out who he was. Nestor meeting Patroclus, told him of
the rout of the army, and advised him to beg Achilles at least to allow
the Myrmidons to sally forth under Patroclus' leadership, if he would
not fight in person. The importance of this episode is emphasised in the
poem. The dispatch of Patroclus is called "the beginning of his
undoing", it