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197 --_Ungrateful,_ because the cause in which they were engaged was
unjust.

"Struck by the lab'ring priests' uplifted hands
The victims fall: to heav'n they make their pray'r,
The curling vapours load the ambient air.
But vain their toil: the pow'rs who rule the skies
Averse beheld the ungrateful sacrifice. "

Merrick's Tryphiodorus, vi. 527, sqq.

198 "As when about the silver moon, when aire is free from
winde,
And stars shine cleare, to whose sweet beams high prospects on the
brows
Of all steepe hills and pinnacles thrust up themselves for shows,
And even the lowly valleys joy to glitter in their sight;
When the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light,
And all the signs in heaven are seene, that glad the shepherd's
heart. "

Chapman.

199 This flight of the Greeks, according to Buttmann, Lexil. p. 358, was
not a supernatural flight caused by the gods, but "a great and
general one, caused by Hector and the Trojans, but with the approval
of Jove. "

200 Grote, vol. ii. p. 91, after noticing the modest calmness and
respect with which Nestor addresses Agamemnon, observes, "The
Homeric Council is a purely consultative body, assembled not with
any power of peremptorily arresting mischievous resolves of the
king, but solely for his information and guidance. "

201 In the heroic times, it is not unfrequent for the king to receive
presents to purchase freedom from his wrath, or immunity from his
exactions.
Such gifts gradually became regular, and formed the
income of the German, (Tacit. Germ. Section 15) Persian, (Herodot.
iii. 89), and other kings. So, too, in the middle ages, 'The feudal
aids are the beginning of taxation, of which they for a long time
answered the purpose. ' (Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. x. pt. 1, p. 189)
This fact frees Achilles from the apparent charge of sordidness.
Plato, however, (De Rep. vi. 4), says, "We cannot commend Phoenix,
the tutor of Achilles, as if he spoke correctly, when counselling
him to accept of presents and assist the Greeks, but, without
presents, not to desist from his wrath, nor again, should we commend
Achilles himself, or approve of his being so covetous as to receive
presents from Agamemnon," &c.

202 It may be observed, that, brief as is the mention of Briseis in the
Iliad, and small the part she plays--what little is said is
pre-eminently calculated to enhance her fitness to be the bride of
Achilles. Purity, and retiring delicacy, are features well
contrasted with the rough, but tender disposition of the hero.