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Neither is Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles, to be approved or

deemed to have given his pupil good counsel when he told him that

he should take the gifts of the Greeks and assist them; but that

without a gift he should not lay aside his anger. Neither will we

believe or acknowledge Achilles himself to have been such a lover

of money that he took Agamemnon's gifts, or that when he had

received payment he restored the dead body of Hector, but that

without payment he was unwilling to do so.

Undoubtedly, he said, these are not sentiments which can be

approved.

Loving Homer as I do, I hardly like to say that in attributing

these feelings to Achilles, or in believing that they are truly

attributed to him, he is guilty of downright impiety. As little

can I believe the narrative of his insolence to Apollo, where he

says,

'Thou hast wronged me, O far-darter, most abominable of deities.

Verily I would be even with thee, if I had only the power;'