Day 44: Better Men Than You Have Followed My Advice

Lines 260-68
ἤδη γάρ ποτ' ἐγὼ καὶ ἀρείσσιν ἠέ περ ὑμῖν
ἀνδράσιν ὡμίλησα, καὶ οὔ ποτέ μ' οἵ γ' ἀθέριζον.
οὐ γάρ πω τοίους ἴδον ἀνέρας οὐδὲ ἴδωμαι,
οἶον Πειρίθοόν τε Δρύαντα τε ποιμένα λαῶν
Καινέα τ' Ἐξάδιόν τε καὶ ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον
[Θησέα τ' Αἰγεΐδην, ἐπιείκελον ἀθνάτοισιν].
κάροστοι δὴ κεῖνοι ἐπιχθονίων τράφεν ἀνδρῶν·
κάριστοι μὲν ἔσαν καὶ καρτισοις ἐμάχοντο
φηρσὶν ὀρεσχῴοισι, καὶ ἐκπάγλως ἀπόλεσσαν.

For already by this point I associated with far better men than you,
And not ever would they disregard me. At no time has their like
Been known, nor should I again know these men,
Such as Pirithous, and Dryas, and the shepherd of the people Caeneus,
And Exadius, and even Polyphemus who was a match for the gods,
And Aegeus' son Theseus, who was like unto the immortals.
That age bred those mightiest of earth born men;
They were the strongest and they did battle with the mightiest of
The savage beasts who live in mountain lairs,
And they destroyed them terribly.


First a note about the brackets in the Greek text of this post: Pharr states that this line is rather spurious, and though it is included in the text caution should be applied for it is suspected not to be a part of the earliest editions of the poem. He does not give his reasoning for this but I thought that I should include the notation in any case.

This is another marvelous scene where Nestor gives a brief recap of the mythological beginnings of the Greeks. His point being that he was there among these great men who were founders of their race so Achilles and Agamemnon should listen to his advice since the heroes of old, who were far better men, always gave him heed. But of course, as we all know, they will not listen...