gold; down sat thereafter Peleides.
Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath; but before he could open,
Upsprang Nestor between them, the sweet-ton'd spokesman of Pylos:
Sweeter the speech of his tongue in its flow than the sweetness of honey.
Two generations complete of the blood of articulate mankind,
Nurtur'd and rear'd in his view, unto death in their turn had been
gather'd;
Now he was king for a third in the bountiful region of Pylos.
He, with beneficent thoughts, in the midst of them rose and address'd
them:--
"Woe to me! great is the grief that has come on the land of Achaia!
Great of a surety for Priam the joy and the children of Priam!
Ilion holds not a soul in her bounds but will leap into gladness,
Soon as the tidings go forth that ye two are divided in anger,
Foremost in council among us and foremost of all in the battle!
Hear me while yet there is time: ye are both of ye younger than I am.
I in the days that are past have in fellowship mingled with heroes
Mightier even than you, yet among them I never was slighted.
Never their like did I see, nor shall look on their equals hereafter--
Such as Perithoeus was, or as Dryas the shepherd of people,
Kaineus, Exadius too--the compeer of the bless'd, Polyphemus;
AEgeus' glorious son, as a God in his countenance, Theseus.
These of a truth were in might the supreme of the children of mankind;
Mightiest they upon earth and with mightiest foes they contended,
Centaurs nurs'd in the hills, whom in terrible ruin they trampled.
These, the allies of my youth, when I first adventur'd from Pylos,
Far from the Apian land, being call'd of themselves for a comrade.
With them I fought as I could--but against them of earth's generation
None is there breathing to-day that could stand in the tempest of battle;
Yet they admitted me near and attended the words of my counsel.
Hear too, ye, and be sway'd; for in yielding to counsel is wisdom.
Neither do thou, though surpassing in station, lay hand on the damsel;
Leave her, as giv'n at the first by the voice of the sons of Achaia.
Nor let thy spirit, Peleides, excite thee to stand in contention,
Scornfully facing the King:--for of all that inherit the sceptre
He is the highest, and Zeus with pre-eminent glory adorns him.
Be it, thy strength is the greater, thy birth from the womb of a Goddess,
Still is his potency more because more are beneath his dominion.
Thou, A