Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 6

Page 7

Him then the renowned son of Hippolochus addressed in turn: "Magnanimous son of Tydeus, why dost thou inquire of my race? As is the race of leaves, even such is the race of men.[241] Some leaves the wind sheds upon the ground, but the fructifying wood produces others, and these grow up in the season of spring. Such is the generation of men; one produces, another ceases [to do so]. But if thou wouldst learn even these things, that thou mayest well know my lineage (for many know it), there is a city, Ephyra, in a nook of horse-pasturing Argos; there dwelt Sisyphus, who was the most cunning of mortals, Sisyphus, son of AEolus; and he begat a son, Glaucus. But Glaucus begat blameless Bellerophon; to whom the gods gave beauty and agreeable manliness. But against him Proetus devised evils in his soul: who accordingly banished him from the state (since he was far the best of the Greeks; for Jove had subjected them to his sceptre). With him the wife of Proetus, noble Antea,[242] passionately longed to be united in secret love; but by no means could she persuade just-minded, wise-reflecting Bellerophon. She, therefore, telling a falsehood, thus addressed king Proetus: 'Mayest thou be dead, O Proetus! or do thou slay Bellerophon, who desired to be united in love with me against my will.' Thus she said: but rage possessed the king at what he heard. He was unwilling, indeed, to slay him, for he scrupled this in his mind; but he sent him into Lycia, and gave to him fatal characters, writing many things of deadly purport on a sealed tablet; and ordered him to show it to his father-in-law, to the end that he might perish. He therefore went into Lycia, under the blameless escort of the gods; but when now he had arrived at Lycia and at the river Xanthus, the king of wide Lycia honoured him with a willing mind. Nine days did he entertain him hospitably, and sacrificed nine oxen; but when the tenth rosy-fingered morn appeared, then indeed he interrogated him, and desired to see the token,[243] whatever it was, that he brought from his son-in-law Proetus. But after he had received the fatal token of his son-in-law, first he commanded him to slay the invincible Chimaera; but she was of divine race, not of men, in front a lion, behind a dragon, in the middle a goat,[244] breathing forth the dreadful might of gleaming fire. And her indeed he slew, relying on the signs of the gods. Next he fought with the illustrious Solymi: and he said that he entered on this as the fiercest fight among men. Thirdly, he slew the man-opposing Amazons. But for him returning the king wove another wily plot. Selecting the bravest men from wide Lycia, he placed an ambuscade; but they never returned home again, for blameless Bellerophon slew them all. But when [Iobates] knew that he was the offspring of a god, he detained him there, and gave him his daughter:[245] he also gave him half of all his regal honour. The Lycians also separated for him an enclosure of land, excelling all others, pleasant, vine-bearing, and arable, that he might cultivate it. But this woman brought forth three children to warlike Bellerophon, Isandrus, Hippolochus, and Laodamia. Provident Jove, indeed, had clandestine intercourse with Laodamia, and she brought forth godlike, brazen-helmed Sarpedon. But when now even he [Bellerophon] was become odious to all the gods, he, on his part, wandered alone[246] through the Aleian plain,[247] pining in his soul, and shunning the path of men. But Mars, insatiable of war, slew his son Isandrus, fighting against the illustrious Solymi. And golden-reined Diana, being enraged, slew his daughter. But Hippolochus begat me, and from him I say that I am born; me he sent to Troy, and gave me very many commands, always to fight bravely, and to be superior to others; and not to disgrace the race of my fathers, who were by far the bravest in Ephyra, and ample Lycia. From this race and blood do I boast to be."

[Footnote 241: On this popular Homeric proverb, see Duport, Gnom. Hom. p. 31, sq.]

[Footnote 242: She is more frequently called Sthenoboea, or Stheneboea, as by Apollodor. ii. 3,1; Serv. on AEn. v. 118. Fulgentius, iii. praef., agrees with Homer, giving a ridiculously philosophical explanation of the whole story.]

[Footnote 243: Although Apollodorus, l. c. says, [Greek: deoken epistolas auto pros Iochaten komisein], and Hygin. Fab. lvii. "Scripsit tabellas, et mittit eum ad Iobaten regem," there is no reason to believe that letters, properly so called, were yet invented. See Knight, Prolegg. p. lxxiv. lxxxii.; Wood, on the original genius of Homer, p. 249, sqq.; Mueller, Lit. of Greece, iv. 5 (Bulwer, Athens, i. 8, boldly advocates the contrary opinion); and Anthon's note. Compare the similar story of Phaedra and Hippolytus.]

[Footnote 244: For the different descriptions of the Chimaera, the mythological student may compare Muncker on Hygin. Fab. lvii. p. 104.]

[Footnote 245: Philonoe, the sister of Antea.]

[Footnote 246: This "melancholy madness" of Bellerophon has been well illustrated by Duport, p. 31. Burton, Anatomy, p. 259, observes, "They delight in floods and waters, desert places, to walk alone in orchards, gardens, private walks, back lanes, averse from company, as Diogenes in his tub, or Timon Misanthropus; they abhor all companions at last, even their nearest acquaintances and most familiar friends; confining themselves therefore to their private houses or chambers, they will diet themselves, feed and live alone." Hence melancholy was called the "morbus Bellerophonteus." See Bourdelot on Heliodor. p. 25.]

[Footnote 247: Properly, "the Plain of Wandering." It lay between the rivers Pyramus and Pinarus, in Cilicia. Cf. Dionys. Perieg. 872. [Greek: Keithi de kai pedion to, ou kata nota Anthropon apaneythen alomenos indiaaske].]

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