HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 7

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

Homer Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Homer in Print

Page 16

"Whatever treasures Alexander brought in the hollow ships to Troy, (would that he first had perished,) all these is he willing to give up, and even to add others from his own home: but he says that he will not restore the wedded spouse of glorious Menelaus: certainly the Trojans, at least, advise him. They also order me to make this proposal, to wit, whether ye are willing to desist from dreadful-sounding war, until we shall burn the dead: afterwards we shall fight again, till fate separate us, and give the victory to one of us."

Thus he said, but they all became mute in silence. At length Diomede, brave in the din of war, spoke thus amongst them:

"Let none now receive the treasures of Alexander, nor Helen: for it is plain, even [to him] who is a mere infant, that the issues of destruction impend over the Trojans."

Thus he said, and all the sons of the Greeks shouted, admiring the words of horse-breaking Diomede: and then Agamemnon, king of men, thus addressed Idaeus:

"Idaeus, thou thyself hearest, indeed, the sentiments of the Greeks, how they answer thee; and such also pleases me. But concerning the dead, I grudge not that [you] should burn them; for there is no grudge towards the dead bodies, when they are dead, hastily to perform their obsequies with fire:[263] but let loud-resounding Jove, the husband of Juno, be witness of the treaties."

[Footnote 263: Literally, "to appease [the dead]."]

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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/Elpenor/greek-texts/ancient-greece/homer/iliad-7.asp?pg=16