8

But I, the old man—for I cannot say 'teacher'—had nothing persuasive to say about these things, not my gray hair, not my words, not my tears. But the boy's love of honor comforted me, and his seeming to love glory more than a girl. But now everything has been turned around, and looking at her, he has yielded. Why did we not take her with us and show her to Achilles? For sight is stronger than hearing for inspiring desire. Therefore, when he saw her, he could not hold out. And putting his hands around her and weeping with pleasure, the noble man said, "For your sake I was angry, for your sake I am reconciled." Did Chiron hand these things down to you? Did I, after him? He trained his feet for running, he exercised him for arms and arrows and preparation for war. He taught him to master wild beasts. How I wish he had taught him to master love. But I, turning to speech, elevated his mind, I educated him; I made the boy a soldier and an orator. "Music," I said, "you have learned, so that you may measure your temper, so that ... you know how to regulate toward pleasures, your soul, leaping in disorder, imposing a yoke from reason. Be moderate toward insolence, and know how to bear a man drunk with wine." Hearing these things, Peleus rejoiced, and he had good hopes for me and for the boy. And he sent me with him to Troy, and in my old age I was seen as a soldier, so that I might also be a counselor, and I was associated with the boy's noble deeds. He brought down Telephus, but I was in the praises; Cycnus fell, and I enjoyed the glory. Cities were counted as fallen, and Phoenix was in all praise and fame. A plague held Greece, and it has been stopped through us. Up to this point I was fortunate and was associated with the best deeds. But what came after this, I weep to say. There was strife and wonders and the chief men of Greece were sick. They spoke, they threatened, they reviled one another. Agamemnon was in the wrong for taking away the prize of honor that was rightfully given for valor. And over this Achilles suffered in his soul, and there was no end. For love, when wronged, knows no truces, nor does desire grant forgetfulness to the mind. At this, Achilles for his part sang over those who were falling well, and Priam over the fall of the Greeks, the one having withdrawn from the Greeks, the other exulting in the opportunity. To me ......... ......... the boy's drunken rage, the immoderate anger of Achilles, the disasters upon these things of Greeks falling one after another, although he threatened what he knows how to do. But nevertheless it seemed best; and we were ambassadors. And all the hope of Greece was in us. And though we found many devices to move a soul possessed by anger and desire, we did not succeed, but there was, it seems, one device for the one who longs: the sight of his beloved. It did not occur to me, the old man, to learn this, nor to Odysseus the wise, nor to Ajax the noble. The failure of all of us made Agamemnon wiser for success. For by sending the girl in the guise of mourning, he got what he wanted. For the son of Peleus could not bear the sight, and pleasure dissolved his anger. And a woman is stronger than a teacher, and a girl than a wise man, and a captive than kinship, and erotic persuasion surpassed that which comes from reason and art. Henceforth, let the son of Thetis conquer the Trojans. For victory will not cover the shame. What will Peleus be to us when he learns these things? We have become glorious, O Chiron. Would that I too had not been present. For it is not the same to be ashamed while present as to hear of these things from afar. But you now, Achilles, enjoy your captive, together with the dishonor from it.

8

ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτης ἐγώ, οὐ γὰρ ἔχω λέγειν διδάσκαλοςἐπὶ τούτοις εἰπεῖν οὐδὲν ἔσχον πιθανόν, οὐ πολιάν, οὐ λόγους, οὐ δάκρυα. παρεμυθεῖτο δέ με τοῦ παιδὸς τὸ φιλότιμον, καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν εὐκλείας μᾶλλον ἢ κόρης ἐρᾶν. νῦν δὲ μετέστραπται πάντα, καὶ ταύτην βλέπων ὑπέκυψε. τί δὲ μὴ μεθ' ἡμῶν αὐτὴν λαβόντες ἐδείξαμεν Ἀχιλλεῖ; ἀκοῆς γὰρ κρείττων εἰς πόθον ἡ θέα. τοιγαροῦν οὐκ ἀντέσχεν ἰδών. περιβαλὼν δὲ τὼ χεῖρε καὶ δακρύσας ὑφ' ἡδονῆς ὁ γεννάδας "διὰ σέ" φησὶν "ὠργίσθην, διὰ σὲ διαλλάττομαι". ταυτί σοι Χείρων παρέδωκε; ταῦτα μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἐγώ; ὁ μὲν ἤσκει τὼ πόδε πρὸς δρόμον, ἐγύμναζεν εἰς ὅπλα καὶ βέλη καὶ πολέμου παρασκευήν. κρατεῖν ἐδίδαξε θηρίων. ὡς ὤφελεν ἔρωτος. ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς λόγον δραμὼν ἀνῆγον τὴν γνώμην, ἐπαίδευον· ἀπέδειξα στρατιώτην τὸν παῖδα καὶ ῥήτορα. "μουσικήν", εἶπον, "ἔγνως, ἵνα μετρῇς τὸν θυμόν, ἵνα ... ῥυθμίζειν οἶσθα πρὸς ἡδονάς, τὴν ψυχήν, ἄτακτα πηδώσας, ἐπιφέρων ἐκ λόγου ζυγόν. ἔχε πρὸς ὕβριν μετρίως, καὶ παροινοῦντα φέρειν ἐπίστασο." τούτων ἀκούων ὑπερέχαιρεν ὁ Πηλεύς, καὶ χρηστὰς εἶχεν ἐπ' ἐμοὶ καὶ τῷ παιδὶ τὰς ἐλπίδας. καί με συνεκπέμπει πρὸς Τροίαν, καὶ μετὰ γῆρας ὤφθην στρατιώτης, ἵνα καὶ σύμβουλος, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ παιδὸς ἐπεγραφόμην καλοῖς καθεῖλε Τήλεφον, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐπαίνοις ἐγώ· ἔπιπτεν ὁ Κύκνος καὶ τῆς εὐκλείας ἀπέλαυον. πόλεις ἠριθμοῦντο πεσοῦσαι, καὶ πάντα ἦν ὁ Φοῖνιξ ἐν ἐπαίνῳ καὶ φήμῃ. νόσος εἶχε τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ πέπαυται δι' ἡμῶν. μέχρι τούτων εὐτυχὴς ἐγὼ καὶ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἐπεγραφόμην. τὰ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα δακρύω λέγων. ἔρις ἦν καὶ θαύματα καὶ νοσοῦντα τῆς Ἑλλάδος τὰ πρῶτα. ἔλεγον, ἠπείλουν, ἐλοιδοροῦντο. ἠδίκει μὲν Ἀγαμέμνων ὅτι ἀφαιρήσεται ὤπερ ἔδει γέρας λαβεῖν ἐπ' ἀριστείᾳ δοθέν. ἐπ' αὐτῷ δὲ πάσχει τὴν ψυχὴν Ἀχιλλεύς, καὶ πέρας οὐκ ἦν. ἔρως γὰρ ἀδικηθεὶς οὐκ οἶδε σπονδὰς οὐδὲ δίδωσι τῇ γνώμῃ λήθην ὁ πόθος. Ἀχιλλεὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τούτοις ᾖδεν εὖ πίπτουσιν, ὁ δὲ Πρίαμος τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ πτώματα, ὁ μὲν ἀποστὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁ δὲ τρυφῶν τῷ καιρῷ. ἐμοὶ ......... ......... εἰς τὸν παῖδα παροινίαν, τὴν ἄμετρον ὀργὴν Ἀχιλλέως, συμφορὰς ἐπὶ τούτοις Ἑλλήνων πιπτόντων ἄλλων ἐπ' ἄλλοις, καίπερ ἀπειλοῦντος ὅπερ οἶδε ποιεῖν. πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐδόκει· καὶ πρέσβεις ἡμεῖς. καὶ πᾶσα τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐν ἡμῖν ὑπῆρχεν ἐλπίς. καὶ πολλὰς μηχανὰς εὑρόντες σεῖσαι ψυχὴν ὀργῇ καὶ πόθῳ κρατουμένην οὐκ ἔσχομεν, ἀλλ' ἦν ἄρα μία μηχανὴ ποθοῦντι τῆς ἐρωμένης ἡ θέα. ταύτην οὐκ ἐπῆλθε μαθεῖν οὐκ ἐμοὶ τῷ πρεσβύτῃ, οὐκ Ὀδυσσεῖ τῷ σοφῷ, οὐκ Αἴαντι τῷ γεννάδᾳ. τὸ μὲν πάντων ἀποτυχεῖν, σοφώτερον ἐποίει πρὸς τὸ τυχεῖν Ἀγαμέμνονα. στείλας γὰρ εἰς σχῆμα πένθους τὴν κόρην, ὅπερ ἤθελεν ἔλαβεν. οὐ γὰρ ἤνεγκεν ὁ τοῦ Πηλέως τὸ θέαμα, τὸν δὲ θυμὸν αὐτοῦ διέλυεν ἡδονή. καὶ διδασκάλου κρείττων γυνή, καὶ κόρη σοφοῦ, καὶ συγγενείας αἰχμάλωτος, καὶ τὴν ἐκ λόγου καὶ τέχνης ἐρωτικὴ παρῆλθε πειθώ. λοιπὸν ὁ Θέτιδος νικάτω τοὺς Τρῶας. οὐ γὰρ καλύψει τὴν αἰσχύνην ἡ νίκη. τίς ἡμῖν ἔσται ταῦτα μαθὼν ὁ Πηλεύς; εὐκλεεῖς, ὦ Χείρων, γεγόναμεν. εἴθε κἀγὼ μὴ παρῆν. οὐ γὰρ ὅμοιον αἰσχύνεσθαι παρόντα καὶ πόρρω τούτων ἀκούειν. σὺ δὲ νῦν, Ἀχιλλεῦ, τῆς αἰχμαλώτου μετὰ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀδοξίας ἀπόλαυε.