Priam

and there they wintered and neas fixed on the doors of the temple of apollo a shield of bronze which he had won in battle from the valiant abbas writing thereon these words neas dedicates these arms won from the victorious greeks But when the spring was come, they set sail, and, leaving behind them the land of Phaeacia, came to Buthrotum, that is, in Epirus.

There indeed they heard a marvellous thing, even that Helenus, the son of Priam, was king in these parts, in the room of Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, having also two wife, Andromache, who was the widow of Hector.

and when neas wishing to know whether these things were so journeyed towards the city lo in a grove hard by by a river which also was called simois there stood this same andromache and made offerings to the spirit of hector not without many tears and at the first when she saw neas and that he wore such arms as the men of troy were used to wear she swooned with fear but after a while spake thus is this indeed a real thing that i see art thou alive or if thou art dead tell me where is my hector so she cried and wept aloud and neas answered her yes lady this is flesh and blood and not a spirit that thou seest but as for thee what fortune has befallen thee art thou still wedded to pyrrhus and she casting down her eyes made answer o daughter of priam happy beyond thy sisters in that thou wast slain at the tomb of achilles nor wast taken to a prey of the conqueror but as for me i was born across the sea to be a slave of the haughty son of achilles and when he took to wife hermione who was the daughter of helen he gave me to helenus as a slave is given to a slave but pyrrhus after a while orestes slew taking him unawares even by the altar of his father and when he was dead part of his kingdom came to helenus who hath called the land chaonia after chaon of troy and hath also builded a citadel a new pergamma upon the hills but tell me was it some storm that drave thee hither or chance or lastly some sending of the gods and is ascanius yet alive the boy whom i remember does he yet think of his mother that is dead and is he stout and of good courage as befits the son of neas and sister's son to hector And while she spake, there came Helenus from the city with a great company, and bade welcome to his friends with much joy.

And Aeneas saw how that all things were ordered and named even as they had been at Troy, only the things at Troy had been great, and these were very small.

Then came the men together and cast lots, drawing them from the helmet.

And first came Hippocoan, son of Hirtacus, and next to him Menestheus, and third Eurytion.

brother of pandarus who broke the treaty between the men of troy and the greeks shooting his arrow at menelaus but the lot of acestes lingered in the helmet and leapt not forth then first hippocon drew his bow and smote the mast so that it shook and the bird fluttered his wings in fear and next mnestheus shot his arrow and the bird he touched not but the string which bound it he cut and eurytion let fly calling the while on his brother pandarus the mighty archer to help him and smote the dove as she flew rejoicing through the air so that she fell to the earth and the arrow in her body and only acestes was left not having whereat he should aim yet shot he into the air for he would show his skill and the might of his bow then lo a marvel befell whereof in after days men knew the fulfilment for the arrow burned as it sped through the air leaving a line of fire till it was altogether consumed even as a star that shoots across the sky by night and men marvelled to see it and prayed to the gods that it might be well then great neas refused not the omen but embraced acestes and gave him many gifts saying take these gifts my father for jupiter willeth that thou shouldst have especial honour in this thing i give thee therefore this bowl embossed with figures of men old anchises had it and to him cissus who was the father of queen hecuba gave it also he put a crown of bay upon his head nor did the good eurytian murmur though he had slain the bird the others also had their gifts and were content not even now was the assembly dismissed there remaining yet another sight to behold for ascanius and the youths that were his companions came riding on horses and each had a wreath about his head each also had two javelins of cornel wood and some had quivers on their shoulders and each a collar of gold that lay on top of his breast Three companies there were, and to each a leader and twelve that followed, and one of the leaders was Priamus, son of Polites, called by the name of his grandfather, on a horse that was black, with pasterns of white and forehead of white, and another, Aetis, whom Ascanius loved, and third fairest of all to behold, Ascanius, on a horse of Sidon, which Queen Dido had given him.

But to the rest Acestes had given horses of Sicily.

He also gives quite a lot of attention, and I think it's probably unusual when you think about it, 3,000 years ago, to the women of Troy and to Helen and to the wives of the gods.

And he spent a lot of time thinking about Helen and talking about old King Priam talking to Helen.

So is that unusual for epic of that age to focus so much on the women of that age?

Well, Homer, both here and in the Odyssey, has a tremendous amount of interest in the female characters and especially the domestic space.

He also gives quite a lot of attention, and I think it's probably unusual when you think about it, 3,000 years ago to the women of Troy and to Helen and to the wives of the gods.

And he spent a lot of time thinking about Helen and talking about old King Priam talking to Helen.

So is that unusual for epic of that age to focus so much on the women of that age?

Well, Homer, both here and in the Odyssey, has a tremendous amount of interest in the female characters and especially the domestic space.

two dignities generally follow, like the old bailey and a whipping.

I made the old blockhead believe that I was deeply versed in Welsh antiquities, that Snowdon was once a burning mountain, and that the Abmorgans and Abshonuses were linearly descended from King Priam.

You see, I know how to turn my wits to account.

I can make money, though I can't make shoes.

Yeah, a lot

of the times in ancient... cultures you would have like big armies but they would also support maybe like you send your best military member versus ours so if you go the whole way back to the iliad the famous story of the fighting over troy the trojans send out hector their strongest warrior and son of Priam, the king there of Troy.

And then the Greeks, Agamemnon, who's the leader of the military, sends out Achilles, their greatest fighter.

And they basically just fight each other for that day's battle as a symbol of who's stronger.

There's a moment in the Iliad that I think is one of the most quietly beautiful things in all of Greek mythology, and it doesn't get talked about nearly enough.

After Achilles kills Hector and refuses to return the body, King Priam, Troy, an old man, a grieving father, decides to go alone into the Greek camp to beg for his son.

It's an almost suicidal errand.

He's the king of the enemy city, walking into a camp full of people who want him dead, and Hermes comes to him.

For the ones who get it done.

antistrophe three at triades titan palace mycen sent thronged decks of five-score galleys his brother went as friend with friend to take her whom the home bonds break for alien gallants sake for chastisement their ships of pylos king gerenian nestor bring the weird bull blazoning that alpheus lent guenius king of aenean men marshalled galleys two and ten hard thereby the bulwarks tower of the lords of elis power whom the host epeans name aretus to lead them came led the taphians argent oared therewithal which own for lord phileas scion magus who from the echinad isles whereto no man sails his war-host drew a salamis fosterling held in touch his rightward wing with their left who nearest lay helm obeying keels were they twelve which marshalled uttermost closed the line that fringed the coast as i heard and now might mark whoso with barbaric bark meets him from the grapple stern never home shall he return lo the goodly sea array that mine eyes have seen to-day erst the great war muster's story through mine home rang now its glory in mine heart shall live for aye enter old servant grasping at a letter which menelaus has snatched from him old servant menelaus this is outrage shame on thee menelaus stand back thou art all too loyal to thy lord old servant a proud reproach thou castest upon me men if thou o'erstep thy duty thou shalt rue old servant tis not for thee to unseal the scroll i bear men nor yet for thee to bring to all greeks bane old servant with others argue that but this restore men i will not yield it up old servant nor i let go menelaus soon then my staff shall dash thine head with blood old servant glorious it were in my lord's cause to die menelaus unhand a slave thou art overfull of words old servant ho master outrage lo this man hath snatched by violence thy letter from mine hand agamemnon nor will have regard to write enter agamemnon agamemnon ha what this tumult at my doors and this unseemly brawl upstirred menelaus mine the right to speak is mine before this fellow to be heard agamemnon wherefore dost thou strive with him menelaus and by violence hail menelaus releases the old servant who exits menelaus look me in the face that i may make beginning of the tale agamemnon shall i dread to lift mine eyelids who of dreadless atreus came men see'st thou this tablet this the bearer of a tale of shame agamemnon i behold it and from thine hand first do thou surrender it men never ere i show to all the danaans that therein is writ agamemnon how and didst thou break my seal and know'st thou what thou shouldst not menelaus yea unto thy sorrow break it that i know thy secret plot agamemnon ay and where didst find it gods what front of impudence is here menelaus watching if thy child from argos to the host were drawing near agamemnon what dost thou to spy upon me is not this done shamelessly menelaus mine own pleasure was my warrant i am not thy bondman i agamemnon is not this outrageous wouldst thou limit in mine house my power menelaus yea thy thoughts are shifty changing ever with the changing hour agamemnon subtly hast thou glozed the evil hateful is the artful tongue menelaus but the treacherous heart to friends disloyal is a hoard of wrong i would question thee and do not thou with spirit anger jarred fence aside from thee the truth nor i will press thee over hard hast forgotten how thou fain wouldst lead the greeks to ilium's shore feign'st not to wish the thing but in thine heart didst crave it sore how to all men wast thou lowly clasping hands of amity keeping open doors for whoso of the folk would seek to thee bidding all accost thee freely challenging the modest heart seeking by thy shifts to buy advancement as an open mart ah but when thy power was won thou changest all thy mien no more wast thou unto friends of days gone by a friend as theretofore inaccessible and seldom found at home the noble soul ought not raised to high estate to turn him from the paths of old nay but more than ever loyal then unto his friends should be when his power to help is more than ever through prosperity first therein where first i found thee base i visit thee with blame then when thou and all the host of hellas unto aulus came nought wast thou at heaven's visitation utterly dismayed when the wafting breezes failed thee when the sons of danaus bade send the ships disbanded thence nor toil at aulis all in vain o thy rueful face thy wildered eye lest thou on priam's plain thou the captain of a thousand galleys ne'er shouldst pour thy spears what shall i do didst thou ask me what device and whence appears that of lordship i be not bereft nor lose my fair renown then when calchas on the altar bade thee lay thy child's life down unto artemis the danaid so should sail with gladness filled blithely promised thou to slay thy daughter yea didst send free-willed not constrained thou canst not say it to thy queen that hitherward she should send thy child as who should take achilles for her lord lo the self-same sky o'erhead which heard thee then record thy vow now thou turn'st about art found recasting that thy message now saying thou wilt ne'er be slayer of thy child so is it still many and many a man is like thee toileth with unflagging will up the heights of power thereafter from its summit falls with shame some through blindness of the people some be all themselves to blame they whose nerveless hands can ward the city not that they have won but for me tis hapless hellest most of all that i bemoan fain she is of high achievement yet shall caitiff aliens make her a mock who scape her hands for thine and for thy daughter's sake ne'er may i for kinship's cause exalt a man to rule the land nor to lead a host he needeth wisdom who would men command for tis his to helm a nation who hath wit to understand chorus fearful twixt brethren words of high disdain and conflict are when into strife they fall agamemnon now would i in turn upbraid thee briefly not exulting high shameless brows of haughty scorning nay but ever soberly as becomes a brother for the noble hold by chivalry answer why this breath tempestuous why these bloodshot eyes of strife who doth wrong thee what dost crave dost yearn to win a virtuous wife this i cannot find thee her thou gainest vilely rulest thou what must i who have not erred for thy transgression suffer now or doth mine advancement gall thee nay but one desire thou hast in thine arms to clasp a lovely woman reason dost thou cast yea and honour to the winds the pleasures of the vile are base i who erstook evil counsel if i now give wisdom place am i mad nay rather thou who having lost an evil spouse wouldst re-win her though thy loss be gain god's kindness to thy house those infatuate marriage craving suitors swore an oath indeed unto tyndareus yet these did hope i trow the goddess lead on and brought it more to pass than thou and all thy strong control lead them thou oh these are ready in the folly of their soul god is not an undiscerning judge his eyes are keen to try oaths exacted by constraint and troth plight held unrighteously tis not i will slay my children not in justices despite so shall thine avenging on a wife must wanton speed aright while i waste through nights of weeping pine through days of misery for my lawless godless dealing with the children born to me Lo, mine answer brief and clear and easy to be understood.

If thou turn from wisdom, yet shall mine house follow after good.

Tyler Reddick here from 2311 Racing.

Menelaus, alas, for wretched me, friends have I none? Agamemnon, yea, if thou seek not to destroy thy friends.

Menelaus, how wilt thou prove thyself our father's son? Agamemnon, by brotherhood in wisdom, not in folly.

men friends ought to feel friends sorrow as their own agamemnon by kindness not unkindness challenge me men wilt thou not then with greece this travail share agamemnon hellas like thee hath god's stroke driven mad men vaunt then thy sceptre traitor to thy brother i will betake me unto other means and other friends enter messenger in haste part one recording by expatriate in bangor maine part two of iphigenia in aulus by euripides translated by arthur sanders way eighteen forty seven to nineteen thirty this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by expatriate in bangor maine part two messenger o king of hela's host agamemnon lo thy child i bring to thee named of thee iphigenaea in thine halls her mother clytemnestra comes with her orestes too the babe to glad thine eyes who from thine home long time has sojourned far but after weary journeying at a spring fair flowing now the women bathe their feet they in their steeds for midst the meadow grass we turned them loose that they might browse therein ay to prepare thee their forerunner come for the host knoweth it so swiftly spread the rumour of the coming of thy child and to the sight runs all the multitude to see thy child for folk in high estate famed and observed of all observers are a bridal is it they ask or what is toward or hath the king of yearning for his child sent for his daughter others mightst thou hear to artemis to aulis queen they pay the maiden's spousal rights the bridegroom who up then prepare the mons for sacrifice garland your heads thou too prince menelaus strike up the bridal hymn and through the tents let the flute ring with sound of dancing feet for gladsome dawns this day upon the maid agamemnon tis well i thank thee pass thou now within well shall the rest speed as fate marcheth on exit messenger woes me what can i say or where begin into what bonds of doom have i been cast me fortune hath outwitted she hath proved too cunning far for all my stratagems lo now what vantage cleaves to lowly birth for such may lightly ease their hearts with tears and tell out all their grief the same pangs touch the high-born but our life is tyrannized by dignity we are the people's thralls so it is with me for i shame to weep and yet shame not to weep wretch that i am who am fallen into deepest misery lo now what shall i say unto my wife or how receive her with what countenance meet she hath undone me coming midst mine ills unbidden yet twas reason she should come with her own child to render to the bride love's service for i shall be villain found and the unhappy maid why name her maid hades meseem shall take her soon for bride o me the pity of it i hear her pray ah father wilt thou slay me now such bridal mayst thou too find and all whom thou dost love orestes at her side shall wail the grief unmeaning deep with meaning of the babe alas how priam's son hath ruined me paris whose sin with helen wrought all this chorus i also far as alien woman may mourn for the griefs of princes pity thee menelaus brother vouchsafe to me to grasp thine hand agamemnon i give it thine the triumph mine the pang menelaus i swear by pelops of my sire and thine named father and by atreus our own sire that from mine heart's core i will speak to thee to serve no end but all mine inmost thought i seeing how thine eyes are streaming tears pity thee and the answering tear i shed and from the words erst uttered i draw back thy foe no more lo in thy place i stand and i exhort thee neither slay thy child nor choose my good for thine unjust it were that thou shouldst groan and all my cup be sweet that thy seed die and mine behold the light for what would i can i not find a bride peerless elsewhere if i for marriage yearn how should i lose whom least i ought to lose a brother winna helen bad for good mad was i and raw-witted till i viewed things near and saw what slaying children means yea also pity for the hapless maid doomed to be slaughtered for my bridal's sake stole o'er me on our kinship when i thought for what with helen hath thy child to do from aulus let the host disbanded go but thou forbear to drown thine eyes with tears o brother mine nor challenge me to weep if thou hast part in oracles touching her no part be mine my share i yield to thee swift change is here thou'lt say from those grim words nay but most meet for love of him who sprang from the same womb i change no knaves want this ever to cleave unto the better part chorus write noble speech and worthy tantalus zeus son thou shamest not thine ancestors agamemnon thanks menelaus that beyond all hope thou hast spoken rightly worthily of thee strife betwixt brethren for a woman's sake may rise or of ambition out on it this kinship that brings bitterness to both nay but we are tangled in the net of fate we needs must work the murder of my child menelaus how who shall force thee to destroy thine own agamemnon the whole array of the achaean host menelaus never if thou to argus send her back agamemnon this might i secretly that cannot i menelaus what fear not thou the rabble overmuch agamemnon calchas will tell the hosts the oracles menelaus not if he first have died this were not hard agamemnon the whole seer tribe is one ambitious curse menelaus abominable and useless while alive agamemnon the fear that steals o'er me is this not thine menelaus if thou tell not how should i understand agamemnon all this the seed of sisyphus doth know menelaus odysseus cannot injure thee and me agamemnon he is aye shifty a mob partisan menelaus thrall to ambition is he perilous bane agamemnon will he not rise think'st thou in the argive midst and tell the oracles that calchas spake and how i promised artemis her victim and now play false and rousing so the host shall bid them slay thee me and sacrifice the maiden though to argos i escape yet will they come destroy it to the ground raise it with all its cyclopean walls even this is mine affliction woe is me how by the gods i am whelmed amidst despair take heed for one thing brother through the host passing that clytemnestra hear this not till i to hades shall have sealed my child that mine affliction be with fewest tears and stranger damsels hold your peace thereof chorus strophe o well for them for whom the queen of love shall temper passion's fire and bring fruition of desire with gentle pace and sober mien whose souls are seized at rest are spared the frenzied thrill the fever pain the spells that charm the arrow's twain the shafts of love the golden-haired whereof one flieth tipped with bliss and one with ruin of unrest o queen of beauty from my breast my bridal bower avert thou this let love's sweet spells in measure meet rest on me pure desires be mine may aphrodite's day-spring shine on me avant her mid-noon heat antistrophe the hearts of men be divers wrought divers their lives but ever clear through all true goodness shall appear and each high lesson throughly taught lends wings to soar to virtue's heaven for in self-reverence wisdom is and to discern the right to this an all-transforming charm is given fadeless renown is shed thereby on life by fame ah glorious the quest of virtue is for us the cloistered virtue chastity but for the man his inborn grace of law and order maketh great by service of her sons estate his virtue works by thousand ways thou camest paris back to where mid ida's heifer's snowy fair unnether'd thou didst pipe such strain that old olympus spirit there awoke again full uttered kind and dreamy peace browsed when the summons came to thee to judge that goddess rivalry whose issue sped thee unto greece before the ivory palaces to stand to see in helen's eyne that burned on thine the love-light shine to thrill with eros ecstasies for which cause strife is leading all hellas with ships with spears to fall upon troy's tower lo lo the great ones of the earth how blest they be iphigenia proud in birth from princes see see clytemnestra her who came of tyndareus o stately name of mighty sires o crowned with fame their destiny they that be lifted high in wealth in might are even as gods in meaner mortal sight enter riding in a chariot clytemnestra and iphigenia with attendants stand we calchas daughters near stretching hands of kindly aid so unstumbling to the ground down the queen shall step nor fear shall the princess know upstayed agamemnon's child renown strangers we no tumult here make we entrance undismayed be of argos strangers found nestra an omen of good fortune count i this thy kindness and fair greeting of thy speech good hope have i that i am come to lead the bride to happy bridal from the car take ye the dower that for the maid i bring and bear to the pavilion with good heed and thou my daughter from the horse wains step daintily setting down thy tender feet and ye receive her damsels in your arms and from the chariot help her safely forth and let one lend to me a propping hand that i may leave the wains seat gracefully some pray you stand before the horse's yoke for timorous is the horse's restive eye and this child take ye agamemnon's boy orestes who is yet a wordless babe how lulled to sleep child by the swaying car wake for thy sister's bridle smilingly for thine heroic strain shall get for kin a hero even the nereid's godlike child hither my daughter seat thee at my side hard by thy mother iphigenia take thy place and to these strangers show my bliss lo thy beloved father welcome him enter agamemnon iphigenia running to his arms o mother i outrun thee be not wroth and heart to heart i clasp my father close clytemnestra o most of me revered agamemnon king we come obedient unto thy behest iphigenia fain am i father on thy breast to fall after so long though others i outrun for oh i yearn for thy face be not wroth clytemnestra child this thou mayst yea ever most of all the children i have borne thou lovest thy sire iphigenia father so long it was so glad am i agamemnon and glad am i thy words suffice for twain iphigenia hail well hast thou done father bringing me Agamemnon starts, well, child, I know not how to answer this.

Iphigenia, huh, so glad to see me, yet what troubled look.

But the Greeks demanded that you should dismiss the ships, and not toil vainly at Aulis.

But how cheerless and distressed a countenance you were, because you were not able to land your army at Priam's land, having a thousand ships under command.

And thou besoughtest me, what shall I do? But what resource shall I find from whence, So that thou mightest not lose an ill renown, Being deprived of the command? And then, when Calchas, or the victim, said that thou must sacrifice thy daughter to Diana, and that there would then be the means of sailing for the Greeks, delighted in heart, you gladly promised to sacrifice your child, and of your own accord, not by compulsion.

Do not say so.

And now also there is something hinders me from sending on the army.

Where say they that the Phrygians dwell, father?

Where would that Paris, Priam's son, had never dwelt?

And dost thou go a long distance, O father, when thou leavest me?