“For you will not go to sleep at a smithy or at some lounge, but you will keep talking here.”[118]
On the right as you enter the building is a painting of the capture of Ilium and the return of the Greeks. And they are making preparations for Menelaus’ hoisting sail, and his ship is painted with boys and sailors all mixed up together on board: and in the middle of the ship is Phrontis the pilot with two punting poles. Homer[119] has represented Nestor among other things telling Telemachus about Phrontis, how he was the son of Onetor, and pilot of Menelaus, and most able in his art, and how he died as he sailed past Sunium in Attica. And Menelaus, who was up to this time sailing with Nestor, was now left behind, that he might discharge all due funeral rites for Phrontis. Beneath Phrontis in the painting of Polygnotus is Ithæmenes carrying some garment, and Echœax descending the gangway-ladder with a brazen water-pot. And Polites and Strophius and Alphius are represented taking down the tent of Menelaus, which is not far from the ship. And Amphialus is taking down another tent, a boy is sitting at his feet, but there is no inscription on him, and Phrontis is the only person with a beard. His was the only name in the group that Polygnotus got out of the Odyssey: the others I imagine he invented. There too stands Briseis, and Diomede near her, and Iphis in front of them both, they all appear to be gazing at Helen’s beauty. And Helen is seated, and near her is Eurybates, who has no beard, and was I suppose the herald of Odysseus. And Helen’s handmaids are by, Panthalis standing at her side, and Electra fastening her sandals: these names are different however from those Homer gives in the Iliad, when he describes Helen and her maids going on to the walls.[120] And above Helen sits a man clothed in purple, looking very dejected: before reading the inscription one would conjecture that it is Helenus the son of Priam. And near Helenus is Meges, who is wounded in the shoulder, as he is described by Lescheos of Pyrrha, the son of Æschylinus, in his Capture of Ilium, he was wounded he says by Admetus the son of Augeas in the night-attack of the Trojans. And next to Meges is Lycomedes the son of Creon, who is wounded on the wrist, as Lescheos says he was by Agenor. It is manifest that Polygnotus must have read Lescheos’ poem, or he would not have painted their wounds so accurately. He has also depicted Lycomedes with a third wound in the ankle, and a fourth on the head. Euryalus also the son of Mecisteus is represented as wounded in the head and wrist. All these are above Helen in the painting: and next Helen is Æthra the mother of Theseus with her head shaven, and Theseus’ son Demophon apparently wondering whether he could save her. And the Argives say that Melanippus was the son of Theseus by the daughter of Sinis, and that he won the prize in the race, when the Epigoni restored the Nemean games which were originally introduced by Adrastus. Lescheos has stated that Æthra escaped when Ilium was taken, and got to the Greek camp, and was recognized by the sons of Theseus, and Demophon asked her of Agamemnon. And he said he would willingly gratify Demophon, but could not do so before he obtained the consent of Helen, so a messenger was sent to Helen and she gave her consent. I think therefore the picture represents Eurybates coming to Helen on this errand, and delivering the message of Agamemnon. And the Trojan women in the painting look in sad dejection as if they were captives already. There is Andromache, with a babyboy at her breast. Lescheos says that this babyboy was hurled from a tower, not in consequence of any decree of the Greeks, but simply from the private hatred of Neoptolemus. There too is Medesicaste, one of the illegitimate daughters of Priam, of whom Homer says that she dwelt in the town of Pedæum, and married Imbrius the son of Mentor.[121] Andromache and Medesicaste are represented veiled: but Polyxena has her hair plaited after the manner of maidens. The Poets represent her to have been slain at the tomb of Achilles, and I have seen paintings both at Athens and Pergamus beyond the river Caicus of her death. Polygnotus has also introduced Nestor into the same painting, with a hat on his head and a spear in his hand: and a horse near seems to be rolling in the dust. Near the horse is the sea-shore, and you can see the pebbles, but the rest of the scene does not resemble a sea view.
[118] Odyssey, xviii. 328, 329. See Dr. Hayman’s admirable note on this passage.
[119] Odyssey, iii. 276 sq.
[120] Iliad, iii. 144. Their names there are Æthra and Clymene.
[121] Iliad, xiii. 171-173.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Above the women between Æthra and Nestor are the captives, Clymene, and Creusa, and Aristomache, and Xenodice. Clymene is enumerated among the captives by Stesichorus in his Fall of Ilium: Aristomache likewise is represented in the poem called The Return from Ilium as the daughter of Priam, and wife of Critolaus the son of Hicetaon: but I do not remember either poet or prose-writer making mention of Xenodice: and as to Creusa, they say that the Mother of the Gods and Aphrodite rescued her from slavery to the Greeks, and that she was the wife of Æneas, though Lescheos and the author of the Cyprian Poems represent Eurydice as the wife of Æneas. Above these are painted Deinome Metioche Pisis and Cleodice reclining on a couch: Deinome is the only one of these mentioned in the poem called The Little Iliad, so I think Polygnotus must have invented the other names. Here too is Epeus naked knocking down the walls of Troy, and above the walls is the head only of the Wooden Horse. Here too is Polypœtes, the son of Pirithous, with his head bound by a fillet, and near him Acamas, the son of Theseus, with a helmet on his head, and a crest on the helmet. Here too is Odysseus with a coat of mail on. And Ajax the son of Oileus is standing near the altar with a shield in his hand, taking his oath in connection with the violation of Cassandra: Cassandra is seated on the ground and holding fast the wooden statue of Athene, for she tore it from its base, when Ajax dragged her away from the altar. And the sons of Atreus are painted with their helmets on: and on Menelaus’ shield is a representation of the dragon that appeared to him as an omen during the sacrifice at Aulis. They are administering the oath to Ajax. And near the painting of the horse by Nestor’s side[122] is Neoptolemus killing Elasus, whoever he was;[123] his dying agony is well depicted: and Astynous, who is mentioned by Lescheos, has fallen on to his knee, and Neoptolemus is in the act of smiting him with the sword. And Polygnotus has represented Neoptolemus alone of all the Greeks continuing to butcher the Trojans, that the painting should correspond with the scenes depicted on the tomb of Neoptolemus. Homer indeed calls Achilles’ son everywhere by the name of Neoptolemus, but the Cyprian Poems say he was called Pyrrhus by Lycomedes, and that the name Neoptolemus was given him by Phœnix, because he[124] was very young when he first went to the wars. Here too is the painting of an altar, and a little boy clinging to it in dire fear: a brazen coat of mail lies on the altar, such as was worn in old times, for in our days we seldom see such. It consisted of two pieces called Gyala, one a protection for the breast and belly, the other for the back, both joined together by clasps. And such coats of mail would afford sufficient protection without a shield: and so Homer represented Phorcys the Phrygian without a shield, because he was armed with this kind of coat of mail.[125] In Polygnotus’ painting I recognize a coat of mail of this kind: and in the temple of Ephesian Artemis Calliphon of Samos has painted some women fitting this kind of coat of mail on Patroclus. And Polygnotus has represented Laodice standing on the other side of the altar. I do not find her name mentioned by any poet among the captive Trojan women: and it seems probable enough that the Greeks let her go. For Homer has represented in the Iliad that Menelaus and Odysseus were entertained by Antenor, and that Laodice was the wife of Antenor’s son Helicaon.[126] And Lescheos states that Helicaon was wounded in the night-engagement, and recognized by Odysseus, and rescued out of the battle alive. It follows therefore, from the affection of Menelaus and Odysseus for the family of Antenor, that Agamemnon and Menelaus would have offered no violence to Helicaon’s wife. What Euphorion of Chalcis therefore has written about Laodice is very improbable. And next Laodice is a stone prop, and a bronze laver on it. And Medusa sits on the ground holding this prop with both her hands. Whoever has read the Ode of Himeræus will include her among the daughters of Priam. And near Medusa is an old woman closely shaven, (or possibly a eunuch), with a naked child in his or her arms: the child’s hand is before its eyes for fear.
[122] See [ch. 26] nearly at the end.
[123] An Elasus is mentioned in Iliad, xvi. 696.