Sarpedon

That's, that's ...

And blood stains randomly on my copy of the Iliad where Sarpedon dies, and I still don't know how that happened.

[laughs]

And now it's admin and, um, Roman cities, which I love.

CONCERNING OTHER VALIANT DEEDS.

Now among the chiefs who came to help King Priam and the Trojans, there was a certain Sarpedon, who was prince of Lycia, and with him there was one Glaucus, who was his cousin.

When Sarpedon saw how Diomed was laying waste to the army of the Trojans, and that no man was willing to stand up against him, he said to Hector, "'Where are your boasts, O Hector? You used to say that you could keep the city of Troy safe, without your people and without us who have come to help you.

Yes, you, and your brothers, and your brothers-in-law, would be enough,' you said.

"'But now I look about me, and I cannot see one of them.

And even the brave Diomedes, when he saw him, and knew that he was a god, held back a little, saying to his companions, See, Hector is coming, and Ares is with him in the shape of a man.

Let us give way a little, for we must not fight with gods, but we will still keep our faces to the enemy.

Just then a great Greek warrior, who was one of the sons of Hercules, the strongest of men, was killed by Sarpedon, the Lycian.

In great moments we must avoid speaking any words at all lest there should be even in the most innocent of them some unknown danger.

For we are surrounded above and below by caeres or spirits winged influences shapeless or of unknown shape sometimes the spirits of death sometimes of disease madness calamity thousands and thousands of them as Sarpedon says from whom man can never escape nor hide.

All the air so crowded with them says an unknown ancient poet that there is not one empty chink into which you could push the spike of a blade of corn.

The extraordinary security of our modern life in times of peace makes it hard for us to realize except by a definite effort of the imagination the constant precariousness the frightful proximity of death that was usual in these weak ancient communities.

His spear fell from his hand, but his shield and helmet were made fast about his body, and his bronze armor rang about him.

The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards him, hoping to drag him away, and they showered their darts on the Trojans, but none of them could wound him before he was surrounded and covered by the princes Polydamas, Aeneas, Agenor, Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, and noble Glaucus.

Of the others, too, there was not one who was unmindful of him, and they held their round shields over him to cover him.

His comrades then lifted him off the ground and bore him away from the battle to the place where his horses stood waiting for him at the rear of the fight with their driver and the chariot.

If then you are speaking the truth, and mean what you say, go among the rank and file of the gods, and tell Iris and Apollo, lord of the bow, that I want them, Iris, that she may go to the Achaean host and tell Neptune to leave off fighting and go home, and Apollo, that he may send Hector again into battle and give him fresh strength.

strength.He will thus forget his present sufferings and drive the Achaeans back in confusion till they fall among the ships of Achilles, son of Peleus.

Achilles will then send his comrade Patroclus into battle, and Hector will kill him in front of Ilius after he has slain many warriors, and among them my own noble son Sarpedon.

Achilles will kill Hector to avenge Patroclus, and from that time I will bring it about that the Achaeans shall persistently drive the Trojans back till they fulfill the counsels of Minerva and take Ilius.

CONCERNING OTHER VALIANT DEEDS.

Now among the chiefs who came to help King Priam and the Trojans, there was a certain Sarpedon, who was prince of Lycia, and with him there was one Glaucus, who was his cousin.

When Sarpedon saw how Diomedes was laying waste to the army of the Trojans, and that no man was willing to stand up against him, he said to Hector, "'Where are your boasts, O Hector? You used to say that you could keep the city of Troy safe, without your people and without us who have come to help you.

Yes, you and your brothers and your brothers-in-law would be enough,' you said.

"'But now I look about me, and I cannot see one of them.

And even the brave Diomedes, when he saw him, and knew that he was a god, held back a little, saying to his companions, See, Hector is coming, and Ares is with him in the shape of a man.

Let us give way a little, for we must not fight with gods, but we will still keep our faces to the enemy.

Just then a great Greek warrior, who was one of the sons of Hercules, the strongest of men, was killed by Sarpedon, the Lycian.

Very wroth was she that they should be now drawing near to the end of their journey.

And she said to herself, Shall I be baulked of my purpose, nor be able to keep these men of Troy from Italy? minerva indeed because one man sinned even ajax oelius burned the fleet of the greeks and drowned the men in the sea for the ships she smote with the thunderbolts of jupiter and as for ajax him she caught up with a whirlwind and dashed him upon the rocks piercing him through only i though i be both sister and wife to jupiter avail nothing against this people and who that heareth this in after time shall pay me due honour and sacrifice then she went thinking these things in her heart to the land of olia where king olus keepeth the winds under bolt and bar mightily do they roar within the mountain but their king restraineth them and keepeth them in bounds being indeed set to do this very thing lest they should carry both the heavens and the earth before them in their great fury to him said juno o olus whom jupiter hath made king of the winds a nation which i hate is sailing over the tuscan sea loose now thy storms against them and drown their ships in the sea and hearken what i will do for thee twelve maidens i have that wait on me continually who are passing fair and the fairest of all even deopia i will give thee to wife to whom answered king olus it is for thee o queen to order what thou wilt it being of thy gift that i hold this sovereignty and eat at the table of the gods so saying he drave in with his spear the folding doors of the prison of the winds and these straightway in a great host rushed forth even all the winds together and rolled great waves upon the shore and straightway there arose a great shouting of men and straining of cables nor could the sky nor the light of the day be seen any more but a darkness as of night came down upon the sea and there were thunders and lightnings over the whole heavens Then did Aeneas grow cold with fear, and stretching out his hands to heaven, he cried, Happy they who fell under the walls of Troy, before their father's eyes! Would to the gods that thou hast slain me, Diomed, bravest of the Greeks, even as Hector fell by the spear of Achilles, or tall Sarpedon, or all the brave warriors whose dead bodies Simois rolled down to the sea.

but as he spake a blast of wind struck his sails from before and his ship was turned broadside to the waves three others also were tossed upon the rocks which men call the altars and three into the quicksands of the syrtis and another in which sailed the men of lycia with orantes their chief was struck upon the stern by a great sea and sunk and when neas looked lo there were some swimming in the waves and broken planks also and arms and treasures of troy others also were shattered by the waves as those of ilioneus and achates and of abbas and the old man but king neptune was aware of the tumult where he sat at the bottom of the sea and raising his head above the waves looked forth and saw how the ships were scattered abroad and the men of troy were in sore peril Also he knew his sister's wrath and her craft.

Then he called to him the winds, and said, What is this, ye winds, that ye trouble heaven and earth without leave of me? Now will I—but I must first bid the waves be still, only be sure that ye shall not thus escape hereafter.

For we are surrounded above and below by keres, or spirits, winged influences, shapeless or of unknown shape, sometimes the spirits of death, sometimes of disease, madness, calamity.

Thousands and thousands of them, as Sarpedon says, from whom man can never escape nor hide.

All the air so crowded with them, says an unknown ancient poet, that there is not one empty chink into which you could push the spike of a blade of corn.

The extraordinary security of our modern life in times of peace makes it hard for us to realize except by a definite effort of the imagination the constant precariousness the frightful proximity of death that was usual in these weak ancient communities they were in fear of wild beasts they were helpless against floods helpless against pestilences their food depended on the crops of one tiny plot of ground and if the saviour was not reborn with the spring they slowly and miserably died and all the while they knew almost nothing of the real causes that make crops succeed or fail they only felt sure it was somehow a matter of pollution of unexpiated defilement it is this state of things that explains the curious cruelty of early agricultural doings the human sacrifices the scapegoats the tearing in pieces of living animals and perhaps of living men the steeping of the fields in blood like most cruelty it has its roots in terror terror of the breach of taboo the forbidden thing i will not dwell on this side of the picture it is well enough known but we have to remember that like so many morbid growths of the human mind it has its sublime side we must not forget that the human victims were often volunteers the records of carthage and jerusalem the long list in greek legend of princes and princesses who died for their country tell the same story in most human societies savage as well as civilized it is not hard to find men who are ready to endure death for their fellow citizens we need not suppose that the martyrs were always the noblest of the human race they were sometimes mad hysterical or megalomaniac sometimes reckless and desperate sometimes as in the curious case attested of the roman armies on the danube they were men of strong desires and weak imagination ready to die at the end of a short period if in the meantime they might glut all their senses with unlimited indulgence still when all is said there is nothing that stirs men's imagination like the contemplation of martyrdom and it is no wonder that the more emotional cults of antiquity vibrate with the worship of this dying savior the sol sepulus the soter who in so many forms dies with his world or for his world and rises again as the world rises triumphant through suffering over death and the broken taboo taboo is at first sight a far more prominent element in the primitive religions than mana just as misfortune and crime are more highly colored and striking than prosperity and decent behavior to an early greek tribe the world of possible action was sharply divided between what was themis and what was not themis between lawful and taboo holy and unholy correct and forbidden to do a thing that was not themis was a sure source of public disaster consequently it was of the first necessity in a life full of such perils to find out the exact rules about them how is that to be managed themis is ancient law it is tapatria the way of our ancestors the thing that has always been done and is therefore divinely right in ordinary life of course themis is clear everyone knows it but from time to time new emergencies arise the like of which we have never seen and they frighten us we must go to the gerontes the old men of the tribe they will perhaps remember what our fathers did what they tell us will be presbitan a word which means indifferently oldest and best ai denioteroi aphradeuzin young men are always being foolish of course if there is a basileus a holy king he by his special power may perhaps know best of all though he too must take care not to gainsay the old men for the whole problem is to find out tapatria the ways that our fathers followed and suppose the old men themselves fail us what must we needs do here we come to a famous and peculiar greek custom for which i have never seen quoted any exact parallel or any satisfactory explanation if the old men fail us we must go to those older still go to our great ancestors the heroes the chthonian people lying in their sacred tombs and ask them to help the word kran means both to lend money and to give an oracle two ways of helping people in an emergency sometimes a tribe might happen to have a real ancestor buried in the neighborhood if so his tomb would be an oracle more often perhaps for the memories of savage tribes are very precarious there would be no well-recorded personal tomb the oracle would be at some place sacred to the chthonian people in general or to some particular personification of them a delphi or a cave of trophonius a place of snakes and earth you go to the chthonian folk for guidance because they are themselves the oldest of the old ones and they know the real custom they know what is presbitan what is themis and by an easy extension of this knowledge they are also supposed to know what is he who knows the law fully to the uttermost also knows what will happen if the law is broken it is i think important to realize that the normal reason for consulting an oracle was not to ask questions of fact it was that some emergency had arisen in which men simply wanted to know how they ought to behave the advice they received in this way varied from the virtuous to the abominable as the religion itself varied A great mass of oracles can be quoted enjoining the rules of customary morality, justice, honesty, piety, duty to a man's parents, to the old, and to the weak.

In great moments we must avoid speaking any words at all, lest there should be, even in the most innocent of them, some unknown danger.

For we are surrounded above and below by caeris, or spirits, winged influences, shapeless or of unknown shape, sometimes the spirits of death, sometimes of disease, madness, calamity, thousands and thousands of them, as Sarpedon says, from whom man can never escape nor hide.

All the air so crowded with them, says an unknown ancient poet, that there is not one empty chink into which you could push the spike of a blade of corn.

The extraordinary security of our modern life in times of peace makes it hard for us to realize, except by a definite effort of the imagination, the constant precariousness, the frightful proximity of death, that was usual in these weak ancient communities.

CONCERNING OTHER VALIANT DEEDS.

Now among the chiefs who came to help King Priam and the Trojans, there was a certain Sarpedon, who was prince of Lycia, and with him there was one Glaucus, who was his cousin.

When Sarpedon saw how Diomedes was laying waste to the army of the Trojans, and that no man was willing to stand up against him, he said to Hector, "'Where are your boasts, O Hector? You used to say that you could keep the city of Troy safe, without your people and without us who have come to help you.

Yes, you and your brothers and your brothers-in-law would be enough,' you said.

"'But now I look about me, and I cannot see one of them.

And even the brave Diomedes, when he saw him, and knew that he was a god, held back a little, saying to his companions, See, Hector is coming, and Ares is with him in the shape of a man.

Let us give way a little, for we must not fight with gods, but we will still keep our faces to the enemy.

Just then a great Greek warrior, who was one of the sons of Hercules, the strongest of men, was killed by Sarpedon, the Lycian.