Seba.Health
The Iliad 10.204–217
to go among the great-souled Trojans, if so be he might slay some straggler of the foemen, or haply hear some rumour among the Trojans, and what counsel they devise among themselves, whether to abide where they be by the ships afar, or to withdraw again to the city, seeing they have worsted the Achaeans? All this might he learn, and come back to us unscathed: great would his fame be under heaven among all men, and a goodly gift shall be his. For of all the princes that hold sway over the ships, of all these shall every man give him a black ewe with a lamb at the teat— therewith may no possession compare;—and ever shall he be with us at feasts and drinking-bouts.
ὦ φίλοι οὐκ ἂν δή τις ἀνὴρ πεπίθοιθʼ ἑῷ αὐτοῦ
θυμῷ τολμήεντι μετὰ Τρῶας μεγαθύμους
ἐλθεῖν, εἴ τινά που δηΐων ἕλοι ἐσχατόωντα,
ἤ τινά που καὶ φῆμιν ἐνὶ Τρώεσσι πύθοιτο,
ἅσσά τε μητιόωσι μετὰ σφίσιν, ἢ μεμάασιν
αὖθι μένειν παρὰ νηυσὶν ἀπόπροθεν, ἦε πόλιν δὲ
ἂψ ἀναχωρήσουσιν, ἐπεὶ δαμάσαντό γʼ Ἀχαιούς.
ταῦτά κε πάντα πύθοιτο, καὶ ἂψ εἰς ἡμέας ἔλθοι
ἀσκηθής· μέγα κέν οἱ ὑπουράνιον κλέος εἴη
πάντας ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους, καί οἱ δόσις ἔσσεται ἐσθλή·
ὅσσοι γὰρ νήεσσιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι
τῶν πάντων οἱ ἕκαστος ὄϊν δώσουσι μέλαιναν
θῆλυν ὑπόρρηνον· τῇ μὲν κτέρας οὐδὲν ὁμοῖον,
αἰεὶ δʼ ἐν δαίτῃσι καὶ εἰλαπίνῃσι παρέσται.
Lattimore commentary