6.
After these things they met in assembly, and Agamemnon and Menelaus quarrelled, Menelaus
advising that they should sail away, and Agamemnon insisting that they should stay and
sacrifice to Athena. When they put to sea, Diomedes, Nestor, and Menelaus in company, the
two former had a prosperous voyage, but Menelaus was overtaken by a storm, and after
losing the rest of his vessels, arrived with five ships in Egypt.1
[2]
But Amphilochus, and Calchas, and Leonteus, and Podalirius, and Polypoetes left their
ships in Ilium and journeyed by land to
Colophon, and there buried Calchas the
diviner2; for it was foretold him that he would die if he met with
a wiser diviner than himself.
[3]
Well, they were lodged by
the diviner Mopsus, who was a son of Apollo and Manto, and he wrangled with Calchas about
the art of divination. A wild fig-tree grew on the spot, and when Calchas
asked, “ How many figs does it bear?” Mopsus answered, “ Ten
thousand, and a bushel, and one fig over,” and they were found to be so.
[4]
And when Mopsus asked Calchas concerning a pregnant
sow, “ How many pigs has she in her womb, and when will she farrow?”
Calchas answered, “ Eight.” But Mopsus smiled and said,“ The
divination of Calchas is the reverse of exact; but I, as a son of Apollo and Manto, am
extremely rich in the sharp sight which comes of exact divination, and I divine that the
number of pigs in the womb is not eight, as Calchas says, but nine, and that they are all
male and will be farrowed without fail tomorrow at the sixth hour.” So when
these things turned out so, Calchas died of a broken heart and was buried at Notium.3
[5]
After sacrificing, Agamemnon put to sea and touched at Tenedos. But Thetis came and persuaded Neoptolemus to wait two days and to
offer sacrifice; and he waited. But the others put to sea and encountered a storm at
Tenos; for Athena entreated Zeus to send a
tempest against the Greeks; and many ships foundered.
[6]
And Athena threw a thunderbolt at the ship of Ajax; and when the ship went to pieces he
made his way safe to a rock, and declared that he was saved in spite of the intention of
Athena. But Poseidon smote the rock with his trident and split it, and Ajax fell into the
sea and perished; and his body, being washed up, was buried by Thetis in Myconos.4
[7]
The others being driven to Euboea by night,
Nauplius kindled a beacon on Mount Caphareus; and they, thinking it was some of those who
were saved, stood in for the shore, and the vessels were wrecked on the Capherian rocks,
and many men perished.5
[8]
For Palamedes, the son of Nauplius and Clymene daughter
of Catreus, had been stoned to death through the machinations of Ulysses.6 And when Nauplius learned of it,7 he sailed to the Greeks and claimed satisfaction for the death of
his son;
[9]
but when he returned unsuccessful （ for
they all favoured King Agamemnon, who had been the accomplice of Ulysses in the murder of
Palamedes）, he coasted along the Grecian lands and contrived that the wives of
the Greeks should play their husbands false, Clytaemnestra with Aegisthus, Aegialia with
Cometes, son of Sthenelus, and Meda, wife of
Idomeneus, with Leucus.
[10]
But Leucus killed her, together
with her daughter Clisithyra, who had taken refuge in the temple; and having detached ten
cities from Crete he made himself tyrant of them;
and when after the Trojan war Idomeneus landed in Crete, Leucus drove him out.8
[11]
These were the earlier contrivances of Nauplius; but
afterwards, when he learned that the Greeks were on their way home to their native
countries, he kindled the beacon fire on Mount Caphereus, which is now called Xylophagus;
and there the Greeks, standing in shore in the belief that it was a harbor, were cast
away.
[12]
After remaining in Tenedos two days at the
advice of Thetis, Neoptolemus set out for the country of the Molossians by land with
Helenus, and on the way Phoenix died, and Neoptolemus buried him;9 and having vanquished the
Molossians in battle he reigned as king and begat Molossus on Andromache. And
[13]
Helenus founded a city in Molossia and inhabited it, and
Neoptolemus gave him his mother Deidamia to wife.10 And when Peleus was expelled from Phthia by the sons of Acastus11 and died, Neoptolemus succeeded to his father's
kingdom.
[14]
And when Orestes went mad, Neoptolemus carried
off his wife Hermione, who had previously been betrothed to him in Troy12; and for that reason he was slain by Orestes at
Delphi. But some say that he went to
Delphi to demand satisfaction from Apollo
for the death of his father, and that he rifled the votive offerings and set fire to the
temple, and was on that account slain by Machaereus the Phocian.13
[15]
After their wanderings the Greeks landed and settled in various countries, some in
Libya, some in Italy, others in Sicily, and some
in the islands near Iberia, others on the banks
of the Sangarius river; and some settled also in Cyprus. And of those that were shipwrecked at Caphereus, some drifted one way
and some another.14 Guneus went to Libya; Antiphus, son of Thessalus, went to the Pelasgians,
and, having taken possession of the country, called it Thessaly. Philoctetes went to the Campanians in Italy; Phidippus with the Coans settled in Andros, Agapenor in Cyprus,15 and others elsewhere.
[15a]
[15b]“ Apollodorus and the rest16 say as follows. Guneus left his own ships, and having come to the Cinyps river in Libya he dwelt there.17 But Meges and Prothous, with many others, were cast away at Caphereus in Euboea18... and when Prothous was shipwrecked at Caphereus, the Magnesians with him drifted to Crete and settled there.
”Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 902
[15c]“ After the sack of Ilium,19 Menestheus, Phidippus and Antiphus, and the people of Elephenor, and Philoctetes sailed together as far as Mimas. Then Menestheus went to Melos and reigned as king, because the king there, Polyanax, had died. And Antiphus the son of Thessalus went to the Pelasgians, and having taken possession of the country he called it Thessaly.20 Phidippus with the Coans was driven first to Andros, and then to Cyprus, where he settled. Elephenor died in Troy,21 but his people were cast away in the Ionian gulf and inhabited Apollonia in Epirus. And the people of Tlepolemus touched at Crete; then they were driven out of their course by winds and settled in the Iberian islands. ...The people of Protesilaus were cast away on Pellene near the plain of Canastrum.22 And Philoctetes was driven to Campania in Italy, and after making war on the Lucanians, he settled in Crimissa, near Croton and Thurium23; and, his wanderings over, he founded a sanctuary of Apollo the Wanderer （Alaios）, to whom also he dedicated his bow, as Euphorion says.24
”Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 911
[16] Demophon with a few ships put in to the land of the Thracian Bisaltians,27 and there Phyllis, the king's daughter, falling in love with him, was given him in marriage by her father with the kingdom for her dower. But he wished to depart to his own country, and after many entreaties and swearing to return, he did depart. And Phyllis accompanied him as far as what are called the Nine Roads, and she gave him a casket, telling him that it contained a sacrament of Mother Rhea, and that he was not to open it until he should have abandoned all hope of returning to her. [17] And Demophon went to Cyprus and dwelt there. And when the appointed time was past, Phyllis called down curses on Demophon and killed herself; and Demophon opened the casket, and, being struck with fear, he mounted his horse and galloping wildly met his end; for, the horse stumbling, he was thrown and fell on his sword. But his people settled in Cyprus. [18] Podalirius went to Delphi and inquired of the oracle where he should settle; and on receiving an oracle that he should settle in the city where, if the encompassing heaven were to fall, he would suffer no harm, he settled in that place of the Carian Chersonnese which is encircled by mountains all round the horizon.28 [19] Amphilochus son of Alcmaeon, who, according to some, arrived later at Troy, was driven in the storm to the home of Mopsus; and, as some say, they fought a single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.29 [20] The Locrians regained their own country with difficulty, and three years afterwards, when Locris was visited by a plague, they received an oracle bidding them to propitiate Athena at Ilium and to send two maidens as suppliants for a thousand years. The lot first fell on Periboea and Cleopatra. [21] And when they came to Troy they were chased by the natives and took refuge in the sanctuary. And they did not approach the goddess, but swept and sprinkled the sanctuary; and they did not go out of the temple, and their hair was cropped, and they wore single garments and no shoes. [22] And when the first maidens died, they sent others; and they entered into the city by night, lest, being seen outside the precinct, they should be put to the sword; but afterwards they sent babes with their nurses. And when the thousand years were passed, after the Phocian war they ceased to send suppliants.30 [23] After Agamemnon had returned to Mycenae with Cassandra, he was murdered by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra; for she gave him a shirt without sleeves and without a neck, and while he was putting it on he was cut down, and Aegisthus reigned over Mycenae.31 And they killed Cassandra also.32 [24] But Electra, one of Agamemnon's daughters, smuggled away her brother Orestes and gave him to Strophius, the Phocian, to bring up; and he brought him up with Pylades, his own son.33 And when Orestes was grown up, he repaired to Delphi and asked the god whether he should take vengeance on his father's murderers. [25] The god gave him leave, so he departed secretly to Mycenae in company with Pylades, and killed both his mother and Aegisthus.34 And not long afterwards, being afflicted with madness and pursued by the Furies, he repaired to Athens and was tried in the Areopagus. He is variously said to have been brought to trial by the Furies, or by Tyndareus, or by Erigone, daughter of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra; and the votes at his trial being equal he was acquitted.35 [26] When he inquired how he should be rid of his disorder, the god answered that he would be rid of it if he should fetch the wooden image that was in the land of the Taurians.36 Now the Taurians are a part of the Scythians, who murder strangers37 and throw them into the sacred fire, which was in the precinct, being wafted up from Hades through a certain rock.38 [27] So when Orestes was come with Pylades to the land of the Taurians, he was detected, caught, and carried in bonds before Thoas the king, who sent them both to the priestess. But being recognized by his sister, who acted as priestess among the Taurians, he fled with her, carrying off the wooden image.39 It was conveyed to Athens and is now called the image of Tauropolus.40 But some say that Orestes was driven in a storm to the island of Rhodes, ... and in accordance with an oracle the image was dedicated in a fortification wall.41 [28] and having come to Mycenae, he united his sister Electra in marriage to Pylades,42 and having himself married Hermione, or, according to some, Erigone, he begat Tisamenus,43 and was killed by the bite of a snake at Oresteum in Arcadia.44 [29] Menelaus, with five ships in all under his command, put in at Sunium, a headland of Attica; and being again driven thence by winds to Crete he drifted far away, and wandering up and down Libya, and Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Egypt, he collected much treasure.45 And according to some, he discovered Helen at the court of Proteus, king of Egypt; for till then Menelaus had only a phantom of her made of clouds.46 And after wandering for eight years he came to port at Mycenae, and there found Orestes, who had avenged his father's murder. And having come to Sparta he regained his own kingdom,47 and being made immortal by Hera he went to the Elysian Fields with Helen.48“ Navaethus is a river of Italy.25 It was called so, according to Apollodorus and the rest, because after the capture of Ilium the daughters of Laomedon, the sisters of Priam, to wit, Aethylla, Astyoche, and Medesicaste, with the other female captives, finding themselves in that part of Italy, and dreading slavery in Greece, set fire to the vessels; whence the river was called Navaethus and the women were called Nauprestides; and the Greeks who were with the women, having lost the vessels, settled there.26
”Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 921
