Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica Part 26

After this, Menelaus sets sail for Crete, ordering Helen to furnish the guests with all they require until they depart. Meanwhile, Aphrodite brings Helen and Alexandrus together, and they, after their union, put very great treasures on board and sail away by night. Hera stirs up a storm against them and they are carried to Sidon, where Alexandrus takes the city. From there he sailed to Troy and celebrated his marriage with Helen.

In the meantime Castor and Polydeuces, while stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynceus, were caught in the act, and Castor was killed by Idas, and Lynceus and Idas by Polydeuces. Zeus gave them immortality every other day.

Iris next informs Menelaus of what has happened at his home. Menelaus returns and plans an expedition against Ilium with his brother, and then goes on to Nestor. Nestor in a digression tells him how Epopeus was utterly destroyed after seducing the daughter of Lycus, and the story of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne.

Then they travel over h.e.l.las and gather the leaders, detecting Odysseus when he pretends to be mad, not wishing to join the expedition, by seizing his son Telemachus for punishment at the suggestion of Palamedes.

All the leaders then meet together at Aulis and sacrifice. The incident of the serpent and the sparrows [3002] takes place before them, and Calchas foretells what is going to befall. After this, they put out to sea, and reach Teuthrania and sack it, taking it for Ilium. Telephus comes out to the rescue and kills Thersander and son of Polyneices, and is himself wounded by Achilles. As they put out from Mysia a storm comes on them and scatters them, and Achilles first puts in at Scyros and married Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes, and then heals Telephus, who had been led by an oracle to go to Argos, so that he might be their guide on the voyage to Ilium.

When the expedition had mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon, while at the chase, shot a stag and boasted that he surpa.s.sed even Artemis. At this the G.o.ddess was so angry that she sent stormy winds and prevented them from sailing. Calchas then told them of the anger of the G.o.ddess and bade them sacrifice Iphigeneia to Artemis. This they attempt to do, sending to fetch Iphigeneia as though for marriage with Achilles.

Artemis, however, s.n.a.t.c.hed her away and transported her to the Tauri, making her immortal, and putting a stag in place of the girl upon the altar.

Next they sail as far as Tenedos: and while they are feasting, Philoctetes is bitten by a snake and is left behind in Lemnos because of the stench of his sore. Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon because he is invited late. Then the Greeks tried to land at Ilium, but the Trojans prevent them, and Protesilaus is killed by Hector. Achilles then kills Cycnus, the son of Poseidon, and drives the Trojans back. The Greeks take up their dead and send envoys to the Trojans demanding the surrender of Helen and the treasure with her. The Trojans refusing, they first a.s.sault the city, and then go out and lay waste the country and cities round about. After this, Achilles desires to see Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis contrive a meeting between them. The Achaeans next desire to return home, but are restrained by Achilles, who afterwards drives off the cattle of Aeneas, and sacks Lyrnessus and Pedasus and many of the neighbouring cities, and kills Troilus. Patroclus carries away Lycaon to Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils Achilles receives Briseis as a prize, and Agamemnon Chryseis. Then follows the death of Palamedes, the plan of Zeus to relieve the Trojans by detaching Achilles from the h.e.l.lenic confederacy, and a catalogue of the Trojan allies.

Fragment #2--Tzetzes, Chil. xiii. 638: Stasinus composed the "Cypria"

which the more part say was Homer's work and by him given to Stasinus as a dowry with money besides.

Fragment #3--Scholiast on Homer, Il. i. 5: 'There was a time when the countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface of the deep-bosomed earth, and Zeus saw it and had pity and in his wise heart resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of men by causing the great struggle of the Ilian war, that the load of death might empty the world. And so the heroes were slain in Troy, and the plan of Zeus came to pa.s.s.'

Fragment #4--Volumina Herculan, II. viii. 105: The author of the "Cypria" says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal.

Fragment #5--Scholiast on Homer, Il. xvii. 140: For at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the G.o.ds gathered together on Pelion to feast and brought Peleus gifts. Cheiron gave him a stout ashen shaft which he had cut for a spear, and Athena, it is said, polished it, and Hephaestus fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the "Cypria".

Fragment #6--Athenaeus, xv. 682 D, F: The author of the "Cypria", whether Hegesias or Stasinus, mentions flowers used for garlands. The poet, whoever he was, writes as follows in his first book:

(ll. 1-7) 'She clothed herself with garments which the Graces and Hours had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring--such flowers as the Seasons wear--in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose's lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasons.

((LACUNA))

(ll. 8-12) Then laughter-loving Aphrodite and her handmaidens wove sweet-smelling crowns of flowers of the earth and put them upon their heads--the bright-coiffed G.o.ddesses, the Nymphs and Graces, and golden Aphrodite too, while they sang sweetly on the mount of many-fountained Ida.'

Fragment #7--Clement of Alexandria, Protrept ii. 30. 5: 'Castor was mortal, and the fate of death was destined for him; but Polydeuces, scion of Ares, was immortal.'

Fragment #8--Athenaeus, viii. 334 B: 'And after them she bare a third child, Helen, a marvel to men. Rich-tressed Nemesis once gave her birth when she had been joined in love with Zeus the king of the G.o.ds by harsh violence. For Nemesis tried to escape him and liked not to lie in love with her father Zeus the Son of Cronos; for shame and indignation vexed her heart: therefore she fled him over the land and fruitless dark water. But Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her. Now she took the form of a fish and sped over the waves of the loud-roaring sea, and now over Ocean's stream and the furthest bounds of Earth, and now she sped over the furrowed land, always turning into such dread creatures as the dry land nurtures, that she might escape him.'

Fragment #9--Scholiast on Euripides, Andr. 898: The writer [3003] of the Cyprian histories says that (Helen's third child was) Pleisthenes and that she took him with her to Cyprus, and that the child she bore Alexandrus was Aga.n.u.s.

Fragment #10--Herodotus, ii. 117: For it is said in the "Cypria" that Alexandrus came with Helen to Ilium from Sparta in three days, enjoying a favourable wind and calm sea.

Fragment #11--Scholiast on Homer, Il. iii. 242: For Helen had been previously carried off by Theseus, and it was in consequence of this earlier rape that Aphidna, a town in Attica, was sacked and Castor was wounded in the right thigh by Aphidnus who was king at that time. Then the Dioscuri, failing to find Theseus, sacked Athens. The story is in the Cyclic writers.

Plutarch, Thes. 32: Hereas relates that Alycus was killed by Theseus himself near Aphidna, and quotes the following verses in evidence: 'In s.p.a.cious Aphidna Theseus slew him in battle long ago for rich-haired Helen's sake.' [3004]

Fragment #12--Scholiast on Pindar, Nem. x. 114: (ll. 1-6) 'Straightway Lynceus, trusting in his swift feet, made for Taygetus. He climbed its highest peak and looked throughout the whole isle of Pelops, son of Tantalus; and soon the glorious hero with his dread eyes saw horse-taming Castor and athlete Polydeuces both hidden within a hollow oak.'

Philodemus, On Piety: (Stasinus?) writes that Castor was killed with a spear shot by Idas the son of Aphareus.

Fragment #13--Athenaeus, 35 C: 'Menelaus, know that the G.o.ds made wine the best thing for mortal man to scatter cares.'

Fragment #14--Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles, Elect. 157: Either he follows Homer who spoke of the three daughters of Agamemnon, or--like the writer of the "Cypria"--he makes them four, (distinguishing) Iphigeneia and Iphiana.s.sa.

Fragment #15--[3005] Contest of Homer and Hesiod: 'So they feasted all day long, taking nothing from their own houses; for Agamemnon, king of men, provided for them.'

Fragment #16--Louvre Papyrus: 'I never thought to enrage so terribly the stout heart of Achilles, for very well I loved him.'

Fragment #17--Pausanias, iv. 2. 7: The poet of the "Cypria" says that the wife of Protesilaus--who, when the h.e.l.lenes reached the Trojan sh.o.r.e, first dared to land--was called Polydora, and was the daughter of Meleager, the son of Oeneus.

Fragment #18--Eustathius, 119. 4: Some relate that Chryseis was taken from Hypoplacian [3006] Thebes, and that she had not taken refuge there nor gone there to sacrifice to Artemis, as the author of the "Cypria"

states, but was simply a fellow townswoman of Andromache.

Fragment #19--Pausanias, x. 31. 2: I know, because I have read it in the epic "Cypria", that Palamedes was drowned when he had gone out fishing, and that it was Diomedes and Odysseus who caused his death.

Fragment #20--Plato, Euthyphron, 12 A: 'That it is Zeus who has done this, and brought all these things to pa.s.s, you do not like to say; for where fear is, there too is shame.'

Fragment #21--Herodian, On Peculiar Diction: 'By him she conceived and bare the Gorgons, fearful monsters who lived in Sarpedon, a rocky island in deep-eddying Ocea.n.u.s.'

Fragment #22--Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis vii. 2. 19: Again, Stasinus says: 'He is a simple man who kills the father and lets the children live.'

THE AETHIOPIS (fragments)

Fragment #1--Proclus, Chrestomathia, ii: The "Cypria", described in the preceding book, has its sequel in the "Iliad" of Homer, which is followed in turn by the five books of the "Aethiopis", the work of Arctinus of Miletus. Their contents are as follows. The Amazon Penthesileia, the daughter of Ares and of Thracian race, comes to aid the Trojans, and after showing great prowess, is killed by Achilles and buried by the Trojans. Achilles then slays Thersites for abusing and reviling him for his supposed love for Penthesileia. As a result a dispute arises amongst the Achaeans over the killing of Thersites, and Achilles sails to Lesbos and after sacrificing to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, is purified by Odysseus from bloodshed.

Then Memnon, the son of Eos, wearing armour made by Hephaestus, comes to help the Trojans, and Thetis tells her son about Memnon.