The Iliad 2.867–877

These were led by captains twain, Amphimachus and Nastes—Nastes and Amphimachus, the glorious children of Nomion. And he1 came to the war all decked with gold, like a girl, fool that he was; but his gold in no wise availed to ward off woeful destruction; nay, he was slain in the river beneath the hands of the son of Aeacus, swift of foot; and Achilles, wise of heart, bare off the gold. And Sarpedon and peerless Glaucus were captains of the Lycians from afar out of Lycia, from the eddying Xanthus.

Νάστης αὖ Καρῶν ἡγήσατο βαρβαροφώνων, οἳ Μίλητον ἔχον Φθιρῶν τʼ ὄρος ἀκριτόφυλλον Μαιάνδρου τε ῥοὰς Μυκάλης τʼ αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα· τῶν μὲν ἄρʼ Ἀμφίμαχος καὶ Νάστης ἡγησάσθην, Νάστης Ἀμφίμαχός τε Νομίονος ἀγλαὰ τέκνα, ὃς καὶ χρυσὸν ἔχων πόλεμον δʼ ἴεν ἠΰτε κούρη νήπιος, οὐδέ τί οἱ τό γʼ ἐπήρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον, ἀλλʼ ἐδάμη ὑπὸ χερσὶ ποδώκεος Αἰακίδαο ἐν ποταμῷ, χρυσὸν δʼ Ἀχιλεὺς ἐκόμισσε δαΐφρων. Σαρπηδὼν δʼ ἦρχεν Λυκίων καὶ Γλαῦκος ἀμύμων τηλόθεν ἐκ Λυκίης, Ξάνθου ἄπο δινήεντος.

Lattimore commentary

The “outland” (literally “barbarous sounding”) speech of the Karians seems to be an archaizing touch, as Greek-speakers inhabited the place from Mykenaian times onward. But there is evidence Karian did survive alongside the newcomers’ tongue even through the Classical period. Nastes, “like a girl,” is a grace note to the Catalogue of Trojan Allies, an elegiac touch that contrasts the pomp and beauty of war with its darker realities of death. He is never mentioned again.

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