ILIAD I.

It might become. It happened. Of silver. Silver. Beautiful. Of a bow. original: "βιοῖο" (bioio). The commentator notes it refers to the bow-string or the bow itself. Or belonging to the strings. Mules. Mules. Beasts of burden. He went against. He approached. He came upon. White. Swift. Or white. Why did the plague begin from the dogs and the mules, and not from the Greeks themselves, nor from any other animal? Those speaking rhetorically say that because the Divine is lover of mankind, He wished to discipline the Greeks and not utterly destroy them; for this reason, He began first with such animals, giving a chance for repentance to those who were sinning. But those speaking more truly and philosophically say that every plague arises from an inflammation—

—whence it is carried up from an evaporation. For this reason, they say Apollo is the cause, since he is said to be the same as the Sun which scorches the earth. Since the disease arises in the earth, it is necessary for the dogs to be the first to perceive the harm, both because irrational animals are by nature more sensitive than men, and because they keep their heads down toward the earth to track scents. As for the mules, they are affected not because of a downward sniffing, but because their nature is composed of different bodies; everything that is a hybrid or of such a sort is susceptible. On the tenth day, it is clear the disease became manifest. It is reasonable that the observation of the disease's variety is established on this day. They say Hera "put it in the heart" of Achilles. Achilles, being a pupil of Chiron and clearly understanding the medical art, recognized the evil that was occurring from the state of the air. The name "Hera" is used because it is formed from the word "Air." original: "ἀέρα" (aera). This is a common ancient etymology: Hera is an anagram of Aer. For what reason did—

Pyres. The commentator notes variations on names like Menelaus, but focuses on the lack of concern from others regarding the cause of the disease. But thereafter.) After these things. Against them.) Against the Greeks themselves. A bolt.) Bitter bile. The metaphor is taken from the pitch-pine. For the pitch-pine, when cut, sends out a shoot, and its "tear" (the resin) is bitter, which is pitch. Letting fly.) Sending upon. He struck.) He kept hitting. Or he made hits. He cast upon. And always.) Continually. Pyres.) Funeral pyres. For anciently, the bodies of the dead were first burned, and not simply thrown away; then they were buried under the earth. The reason for burning bodies among the Greeks is this: they say Argus, son of Licymnius, was the first to be buried this way out of necessity by Heracles. For Heracles, leading an expedition against Ilium against Laomedon—who failed to give the horses he promised after Heracles saved his daughter Hesione—sought Argus as a kinsman. They say Licymnius, the father, feared for his son because he had already lost a previous son named Hyllus in Lacedaemon while with Heracles. When he refused to let him go, Heracles swore he would bring him back again. When Argus subsequently died, Heracles, at a loss as to how he could keep his oath, burned him To bring his ashes back instead of a decaying corpse. They say he was the first to receive such care. The history is in Antiphon. Of the dead.) Of the corpses. They burned.) They were being burned. Thick.) Crowded. Continuously. Some say the poet contradicts himself: for having first said he "made them a prey for dogs," he now adds "the pyres of the dead burned thick." We shall say that the "plague" is different from the "wrath." The wrath caused the later battles, and those falling in those battles became prey for dogs. But those destroyed by the plague were burned. For nine days.) Over the course of nine days. Through the camp.) Throughout the army camp. Ranged.) Went about. Came upon. Shafts.) Arrows. On the tenth day.) Understanding "day." To assembly.) To the gathering. To the meeting. He called.) He summoned together. He brought together. For to him.) For to this man. Put it in his heart.) Made it occur to his mind. White-armed.) White-armed, named from a part of her. Beautiful. The description is a "personification" term: "σωματοποιΐα" (somatopoiia) — the attribution of physical characteristics to a deity. For "arms" are the hands. Hera cared.) Hera was concerned. Reasonably Hera cares for the Greeks, because all of Argos is sacred to her. Moreover, she had been insulted by Alexander Paris, as was Athena, in the judgment of the apple. She wished therefore to save the Greeks so that destruction might come to the Trojans. For truly.) For indeed. Dying.) Perishing. She saw.) She beheld. She looked upon. And when they.) Since these men. Were gathered.) Were assembled. In a body.) They became together in the same place. And to them.) Among them. Rising up.) Having stood up. In ancient times, even if one were a king or of whatever fortune, one addressed the people standing upright. Spoke among them.) He said to them. He harangued. Swift-footed.) Fast with his feet. This reveals to us the agility of the hero. Now.) Just now, a temporal adverb. Us.) We. In the Aeolic dialect. Driven back.) Having wandered backward. I think.) I suppose. I assume. Back.) Again. To the rear. Will return home.) To go back. To return. For nostos is the return home. Save the sweetness of the fatherland. If indeed.) If we should escape death at all. If both together.) At the same time and season. Subdue.) It subdues. It overcomes. Let us ask a seer.) Come now, let us ask some prophet. For there is a certain genus of divination divided into species: into bird-watching augury, sacrificial inspection, and all divination through dreams. Let us ask.) Let us inquire. A priest.) A sacrificer. An interpreter of dreams.) One who divines through dreams. A dream.) The vision. And the revelation through dreams. From Zeus.) From Zeus. Who might say.)