The Sportsman | Page 4

has so far penetrated the ears of Hellas that I should speak to those who know." See Hom. "Il." i. 247, and passim.
Amphiaraus,[13] what time he served as a warrior against Thebes, won for himself the highest praise; and from heaven obtained the honour of a deathless life.[14]
[13] Amphiaraus. Pind. "Nem." ix. 13-27; "Olymp." vi. 11-16; Herod. i. 52; Paus. ix. 8. 2; 18. 2-4; ii. 23.2; i. 34; Liv. xlv. 27; Cic. "de Div." i. 40. See Aesch. "Sept. c. Th." 392; Eur. "Phoen." 1122 foll.; Apollod. iii. 6; Strab. ix. 399, 404.
[14] Lit. "to be honoured ever living."
Peleus kindled in the gods desire to give him Thetis, and to hymn their nuptials at the board of Cheiron.[15]
[15] For the marriage of Peleus and Thetis see Hom. "Il." xxiv. 61; cf. Pope's rendering:
To grace those nuptials from the bright abode Yourselves were present; when this minstrel god (Well pleased to share the feast) amid the quire Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre ("Homer's Il." xxiv.)
Prof. Robinson Ellis ("Comment on Catull." lxiv.) cites numerous passages: Eur. "I. in T." 701 foll., 1036 foll.; Pind. "Isthm." v. 24; "Pyth." iii. 87-96; Isocr. "Evag." 192. 6; Apoll. Rh. iv. 791; "Il." xxiv. 61; Hes. "Theog." 1006, and "Epithal." (ap. Tsetz, "Prol. ad Lycophr.):
{tris makar Aiakide kai tetrakis olbie Peleu os toisd' en megarois ieron lekhos eisanabaineis}.
The mighty Telamon[16] won from the greatest of all states and wedded her whom he desired, Periboea the daughter of Alcathus;[17] and when the first of Hellenes,[18] Heracles[19] the son of Zeus, distributed rewards of valour after taking Troy, to Telamon he gave Hesione.[20]
[16] See "Il." viii. 283l Paus. i. 42. 1-4.
[17] Or Alcathous, who rebuilt the walls of Megara by Apollo's aid. Ov. "Met." viii. 15 foll.
[18] Reading {o protos}; or if with L. D. {tois protois}, "what time Heracles was distributing to the heroes of Hellas (lit. the first of the Hellenes) prizes of valour, to Telamon he gave."
[19] See Hom. "Il." v. 640; Strab. xiii. 595.
[20] See Diod. iv. 32; i. 42.
Of Meleager[21] be it said, whereas the honours which he won are manifest, the misfortunes on which he fell, when his father[22] in old age forgot the goddess, were not of his own causing.[23]
[21] For the legend of Meleager see "Il." ix. 524-599, dramatised by both Sophocles and Euripides, and in our day by Swinburne, "Atalanta in Calydon." Cf. Paus. iii. 8. 9; viii. 54. 4; Ov. "Met." viii. 300; Grote, "H. G." i. 195.
[22] i.e. Oeneus. "Il." ix. 535.
[23] Or, "may not be laid to his charge."
Theseus[24] single-handed destroyed the enemies of collective Hellas; and in that he greatly enlarged the boundaries of his fatherland, is still to-day the wonder of mankind.[25]
[24] See "Mem." II. i. 14; III. v. 10; cf. Isocr. "Phil." 111; Plut. "Thes." x. foll.; Diod. iv. 59; Ov. "Met." vii. 433.
[25] Or, "is held in admiration still to-day." See Thuc. ii. 15; Strab. ix. 397.
Hippolytus[26] was honoured by our lady Artemis and with her conversed,[27] and in his latter end, by reason of his sobriety and holiness, was reckoned among the blest.
[26] See the play of Euripides. Paus. i. 22; Diod. iv. 62.
[27] Al. "lived on the lips of men." But cf. Eur. "Hipp." 85, {soi kai xeneimi kai logois s' ameibomai}. See Frazer, "Golden Bough," i. 6, for the Hippolytus-Virbius myth.
Palamedes[28] all his days on earth far outshone those of his own times in wisdom, and when slain unjustly, won from heaven a vengeance such as no other mortal man may boast of.[29] Yet died he not at their hands[30] whom some suppose; else how could the one of them have been accounted all but best, and the other a compeer of the good? No, not they, but base men wrought that deed.
[28] As to Palamedes, son of Nauplius, his genius and treacherous death, see Grote, "H. G." i. 400; "Mem." IV. ii. 33; "Apol." 26; Plat. "Apol." 41; "Rep." vii. 522; Eur. fr. "Palam."; Ov. "Met." xiii. 56; Paus. x. 31. 1; ii. 20. 3.
[29] For the vengeance see Schol. ad Eur. "Orest." 422; Philostr. "Her." x. Cf. Strab. viii. 6. 2 (368); Leake, "Morea," ii. 358; Baedeker, "Greece," 245.
[30] i.e. Odysseus and Diomed. (S. 11, I confess, strikes me as somewhat in Xenophon's manner.) See "Mem." IV. ii. 33; "Apol." 26.
Menestheus,[31] through diligence and patient care, the outcome of the chase, so far overshot all men in love of toil that even the chiefs of Hellas must confess themselves inferior in the concerns of war save Nestor only; and Nestor, it is said,[32] excelled not but alone might rival him.
[31] For Menestheus, who led the Athenians against Troy, cf. Hom. "Il." ii. 552; iv. 327; Philostr. "Her." ii. 16; Paus. ii. 25. 6; i. 17. 6; Plut. "Thes." 32, 35.
[32] Or, "so