[416]
[418] The meaning is: ‘since there is no longer hope that you will gain the goal [i. e. ‘the overthrow’] of lofty Troy.’
δήετε, cf. note on 16.852.[422] γέρας, ‘meed,’ ‘honorable service.’
[424] σαῷ, subjunctive, contracted from “σαόῃ”, like “γνῷ” (A 411) for “γνόῃ-” The clause expresses purpose.
[425] ἥδε [“μῆτις”], i. e. the attempt to persuade me to return to active warfare.
[426] ἐμεῦ ἀπομηνίσαντος, ‘while I have given way to wrath, apart from my comrades’ (“ἀπο-”), or perhaps simply ‘during the outburst of my wrath.
[429] From the long speech of Achilles (ll. 307-429) one gets much insight into his character. He is high-mettled, and can not endure to be called second to anybody; he is far from mercenary, putting honor far above riches; on the other hand, he is unforgiving, treasuring an insult to himself until his enemy shall have drained his cup of bitterness to the last drop. It was not the loss of Briseis, of course, that wounded him so much as the sting to his pride inflicted by Agamemnon's act.
The more impassioned the speech, the less it yields to so concise analysis as is possible in the case of Odysseus's (note on l. 306). While Achilles heeds most of Odysseus's arguments, he does not answer them quite in order. To the words of Odysseus about the danger of the ships, he retorts that Agamemnon may consult with Odysseus and the rest of the princes how best to ward off the hostile fire (ll. 346, 347). He does not notice at all the reference to his father's words that reminded him to be of gentle character. The gifts—a chief inducement in Odysseus's speech—he emphatically rejects (ll. 378-387), and with them the offer of Agamemnon's daughter in marriage (ll. 388-391). Already he has stated that he has gained enough (ll. 365-367); with this he will load his ships (l. 358). he says, in answer to Agamemnon's invitation to share in a future division of the spoil of Troy (ll. 277-282); in Phthia, his home, he will seek a wife (ll. 394-397), and there already Peleus has acquired property for him (l. 400). He nowhere shows signs of pity for the distress of the Greeks (cf. ll. 315, 316); he actually advises them to go home (ll. 417-420), alluding effectively to the words of Odysseus that Zeus manifestly favors the Trojans (ll. 236-238). As for winning great glory, great indeed is the cost (ll. 401-416), and in how unworthy a cause (ll. 337-343)! About the present success of Hector he cares just enough to remind the king that so long as he—Achilles—had a part in fighting, wall and moat were unnecessary (ll. 348-352) and Hector was far less venturesome (ll. 352-355).[434] εἰ μὲν δὴ κτλ., ‘if then you are really planning to return.’
[437] λιποίμην, with passive sense, § 185.
[438] σοὶ δέ μ᾽ ἔπεμπε, ‘bade me accompany you’: “σοί” is a dative of advantage, ‘sent me along for you.’ So the words seem to have been understood by Cicero who instances (De Oratore, III, 15, 57) “ille apud Homerum Phoenix, qui se a Peleo patre Achilli iuveni comitem esse datum dicit ad bellum, ut efficeret oratorem verborum actoremque rerum” (‘the well-known Phoenix in Homer, who says he was given by father Peleus to the young Achilles for his companion in arms, to make him a speaker of words and a doer of deeds’).
[440] νήπιον κτλ., ‘a young lad, not yet familiar with leveling war nor with discussions [“ἀγορέων”, l. 441] in the assembly.’
πολέμοιο, syntax, § 174 (4).[441] ἵνα, ‘where,’ relative adverb.
445, 446. The sense is: ‘not even if a god should promise to smooth away the wrinkles of my old age, and make me young, in manhood's bloom.’[447] Ἑλλάδα, see note on A 79.
