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The
Brownstone Journal >>
Issues >> Vol.
XII Spring 2005
Achilles' Response
Translated by Derek Hadad
Many blooming maidens of Achaia are there
Up and down both Hellas and Phthia,
Daughters of the noblest of men, who also guard sacred citadels.
Of those girls, whomever I desire I could make my beloved partner.
And my manly heart much more rushes to that place
To take a wedded wife in marriage, a partner of my choice,
And to take delight in the accoutrements which aged Peleus has
acquired.
For my soul is worth not even as much as what they say Ilion
possesses -
That greatly inhabited city which before was in a time of peace,
Before the arrival of the sons of the Achaeans -
Nor worth as much as what the stone path of the Archer keeps
within,
In the rocky peaks of Phoibos Apollo at the Temple of Pytho.
Yes, there are cattle and rich flocks to be plundered,
As well as trophies and the chestnut manes of horses to be gotten;
However, the soul of a man cannot come back,
Neither to be plundered nor caught,
Once it has passed out of our mouths and into the ether.
My mother, goddess of silver feet, Thetis
Says that two opposing fates carry me
To the fulfillment of my death:
If on the one hand, staying back I should fight round the city
of the Trojans,
Lost indeed is my return home, yet
Imperishable my glory will be;
If, on the other hand, homeward I should arrive at my dear fatherland,
Lost is my noble fame, but over a long time my
Life will extend, nor will the fulfillment of my death overtake
me quickly.
And I would advise others as well to sail off homeward,
Since no longer will you gain your goal for lofty Troy.
For certainly Far-Seeing Zeus has been holding his own hand
over
Their city and emboldened, the people take courage by their
hearths.
Derek Hadad (CAS 06) is majoring in Ancient Greek
& Latin as well as Classical Civilization. He is co-President
of the Undergraduate Classics Association.TBJ
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