Day 48: A Sticky Situation for Talthybius and Eurybates

Lines 315-33
ἔρδον δ' Απόλλωνι τελήεσσας ἑκατόμβας
ταύρων ἠδ' αἰγῶν παρὰ θῖν' ἁλὸς ἀτυργέτοιο·
κνίση δ' οὐρανὸν ἷκεν ἐλισσομένη περὶ καπνῷ.

ὧς οἱ μὲν τὰ πένοντο κατὰ στρατόν· οὐδ' Ἀγαμέμνων
λῆγ' ἔριδος, τὴν πρῶτον ἐπηπείλης' Ἀχιλῆι,
ἀλλ' ὅ γε Ταλθύβιον τε καὶ Εὐρυβάτην προσέειπεν,
τώ οἱ ἔσαν κήρυκε καὶ ὀτρηρὼ θεράποντε·
"ἔρεχεσθον κλισίην Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος·
χειρὸς ἑλόντ ἀγέμεν Βρισηίδα καλλιπάρῃον·
εἰ δέ κε μή δώῃσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι
ἐλθὼν σὺν πλεόνεσσι· τό οἱ καὶ ῥιγιον ἔσται."

ὧς εἰπὼν προΐει κρατερὸν δ' ἐπὶ μῦθον ἔτελλεν.
τὼ δ' ἀέκοντε βάτην παρὰ θῖν' ἁλὸς ἀτρυγέτοιο,
Μυρμιδόνων δ' ἐπί τε κλισίας καὶ νῆας ἵκεσθην.
τὸν δ' εὗρον παρά τε κλισίῃ καὶ νηὶ μελαίνῃ
ἥμενον. οὐδ' ἄρα ώ γε ἰδὼν γήθησεν' Ἀχιλλεύς.
τὼ μὲν παρβήσαντε καὶ αἰδομένω βασιλῆα
στήτην, οὐδέ τί μιν προσεθώνεον οὐδ' ἐρέοντο·
αὐτὰρ ὁ ἔγνων ᾗσιν ἐνὶ φρεσὶ φώνησέν τε·

And they sacrificed to Apollo perfect hecatombs of bulls
And goats by the along the shore of the restless, briny sea;
So the savor went to the heavens twisting around in smoke.

Thus the men busied themselves about the camp, and Agamemnon
Did not cease from strife, having first threatened this to Achilles,
But he addressed then Talthybius and Eurybates, who were his heralds
And ready attendants:
"Go to the hut of Peleus' son Achilles,
Seize fair cheeked Briseis by the hand and lead her off.
And if he should not give her up, then I myself may take her,
Going along with many men; and this will be the worse for him."

Thus speaking he sent them forth, and imparted a harsh command.
So the two went unwilling along the shore of the barren, briny deep,
And they came to the tents and ships of the Myrmidons.
They found him sitting beside his tent and a black ship.
And seeing those two Achilles of course did not rejoice.
They revered the chief and stood in terror, and neither did they
Address him nor make an inquiry; but he perceived their hearts
And spoke up:



This is a difficult situation for these two men. Essentially Agamemnon has sent them as cannon fodder to see how Achilles will react to his threats. The two men are terrified since everyone, and most especially Achilles, knows why they are there. The two heralds are terror struck when they see him sitting by his tent, probably imagining that he is about to remove some vital organ from their bodies, but he does not do that. He understands their predicament and speaks to them. Yet another example of how Achilles is not just the mindless and brutish psycophath that he is often portrayed as.

On a linguistic note this is a great section for teaching a unique feature of Homeric grammar known as the dual. Most languages have a singular form of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives for one item and plural for more than one. Homeric Greek has an additional form for two items. This feature was largely lost by the age of Plato and Aristotle so it is unique to the epic tradition and the only modern language that I know of where it exists is in literary Arabic. Since there are two heralds going to find Achilles and take the girl in this section this form is used repeatedly and it works well as a refresher.