Seite 805 von 1391

Then we will once more entreat Homer and the other poets not to

depict Achilles, who is the son of a goddess, first lying on his

side, then on his back, and then on his face; then starting up

and sailing in a frenzy along the shores of the barren sea; now

taking the sooty ashes in both his hands and pouring them over

his head, or weeping and wailing in the various modes which Homer

has delineated. Nor should he describe Priam the kinsman of the

gods as praying and beseeching,

'Rolling in the dirt, calling each man loudly by his name.'

Still more earnestly will we beg of him at all events not to

introduce the gods lamenting and saying,

'Alas! my misery! Alas! that I bore the bravest to my sorrow.'

But if he must introduce the gods, at any rate let him not dare

so completely to misrepresent the greatest of the gods, as to

make him say-

'O heavens! with my eyes verily I behold a dear friend of mine

chased round and round the city, and my heart is sorrowful.'

Or again:-