[491]
[493] ὅ=ὅτι, § 123.7. The gods granted no offspring to Phoenix in consequence of his father's curses.
[496] οὐδέ τί σε χρή, ‘it befits you not.’
502-512. The allegory of the Suppliant Prayers. In the “Λιταί” Phoenix covertly alludes to Agamemnon, who, he suggests, is now penitent. Agamemnon was misguided and sinned, as in fact he himself confessed (l. 119), though not to Achilles. Now he makes full atonement. If Achilles will accept the atonement, he will be benefited thereby; if he spurns it, he will put himself in the wrong, becoming subject to the same sin of arrogance which before seized Agamemnon. And in his turn he will pay the penalty. The Prayers are appropriately called ‘daughters of Zeus,’ since Zeus is the god and protector of suppliants (Od. 9.270).[503] As suggested by the scholia: the Prayers are called ‘lame’ because men come haltingly to ask forgiveness; ‘wrinkled,’ because the faces of the penitents express sorrow; ‘downcast in gaze,’ because they can not look straight at those whom they have wronged.
[504] ἀλέγουσι κιοῦσαι, ‘anxiously go.’
Ἄτη is sinful arrogance, blindness of heart, described T 91-94: “πρέσβα Διὸς θυγάτηρ Ἄτη, ἢ πάντας ἀᾶται.οὐλομένη: τῇ μέν θ᾽ ἁπαλοὶ πόδες: οὐ γὰρ ἐπ᾽ οὔδει
πίλναται, ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα ἥ γε κατ᾽ ἀνδρῶν κράατα βαίνει
βλάπτουσ᾽ ἀνθρώπους: κατὰ δ᾽ οὖν ἕτερόν γε πίδησεν
”. ‘August daughter of Zeus is Ate, who deludes all men. Hurtful one! Soft indeed are her feet, for she moves not on the ground, but over men's heads she walks, blinding mankind; and of two one at least she takes in her toils.’ Cf. Proverbs xvi, 18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” An example was Uzziah (II Chronicles xxvi, 16): “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.”
[505] οὕνεκα, in sense of “τοὔνεκα”.—With πάσας supply “Λιτάς”.
[507] αἳ δ᾽ ἐξακέονται ὀπίσσω, “while Prayers, to heal her wrongs, move slow behind” (Pope).
[509] δέ, cf. l. 301.
ὤνησαν, ἔκλυον, § 184.—510. ἀνήνηται, ἀναίνομαι.[512] They pray ‘that Ate may overtake him so that he may be blinded in mind and pay the penalty.’
[513] πόρε, with “τιμὴν ἕπεσθαι κτλ.” as object, ‘grant that respect attend.’
[514] ‘Pay such respect to the daughters of Zeus as bends the minds of other men, noble as they are,’ to yield to Prayers.
515-517. A present contrary to fact condition, expressed in terms of the less vivid future, § 207.1.[519] νῦν δ᾽（έ), ‘but as it is.’
διδοῖ, see note on l. 164.[522] τῶν μὴ σύ γε κτλ., ‘do you not throw reproach on their words or on their coming [“πόδας”] hither. But your anger before this was no cause for blame at all.’ The latter implies a converse statement: to continue in anger now, after the supplication of Agamemnon, does deserve reproach.
