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Odysseus went. . . aid of Diomedes: in the Little Iliad(Procl.), these were two separate expeditions. In the first, in which Diomedes played no part, Odysseus disguised himself to enter the city as a spy, where he was recognized by Helen (compare Helen’s own account in Od. 4. 242 ff.); in the second, he stole the Palladion with the help of Diomedes.
Odysseus. . . suggested it to Epeios: in the Little Iliad, Epeios acted on Athene’s advice (Procl.; cf. Od. 8. 493). It is understandable that the idea should also have been attributed to the crafty Odysseus.
three thousand: the text is surely defective here. Stesichorus said that there were a hundred (Eustathius 1698), and later authors give lower figures. Their function was merely to open the city to the main army.
devoured the sons of Laocoon: in the Sack of Troy(Procl.) in the epic cycle, Laocoon was killed with one of his two sons; the portent signified that Troy would be destroyed along with the senior branch of the Trojan royal family, and understanding its meaning, Aeneas, who belonged to the junior branch, withdrew to Mount Ida. Although later authors disagreed on the cause and significance of the episode, it can be assumed here that the snakes are sent by Apollo as a sign of the coming destruction.
Helen. . . Odysseus covered his mouth: see Od. 4. 274 ff.
came to his rescue: because his father Antenor had offered them his hospitality and protection when they visited the city as ambassadors before the Greek landing, see p. 151 and Il. 3. 205 ff.
Aeneas . . . his piety: cf. Xen. On Hunting1. 15 (where he takes the household gods also); this is the tradition developed by Virgil Aen. 2. 699 ff. For the ancients, respect and care for parents was a religious duty (cf. Plato Laws930e ff.). In the Sack of Troy(Procl.) Aeneas left before the sack, while in the Iliad(20. 307 ff.), Poseidon prophesied that he and his descendants would rule in Troy after the destruction of Priam’s family.
Aithra: she was taken captive by the Dioscuri when they were recovering Helen from Attica, p. 143, and became Helen’s maid and went to Troy with her ( Il. 3. 143 f., Plut. Thes. 34).
had later arrived at Troy: i.e. after the period covered by the Iliad;a similar phrase is used of Amphilochos on p. 162, another figure not mentioned by Homer.
Locrian Aias .. . towards the sky: ‘lesser’ Aias (cf. Il. 2. 527 ff), not to be confused with the more famous son of Telamon (who killed himself before the sack, p. 155). In early epic, Aias merely dragged her away, pulling the statue over as he did so (Procl., cf. P. 5. 19. 5); the rape and the statue’s shocked response are Hellenistic developments (first attested for Callimachus in the third century, sc. Il. 13. 66). An important episode, because it gives rise to the wrath of Athene, which plays such an important part in the story of the return voyages.
they hurled Astyanax from the ramparts: as in Proclus’ summary of the Sack of Troy, the killing of Hector’s son (and slaughter of Polyxena) take place after the burning of Troy; Proclus states that in the epic Odysseus killed him, but the full story may have accorded with Eur. Troades721 ff., where it is said that Odysseus argued for his death before the assembly and the Greeks carried out the sentence. In the Little Iliad, Neoptolemos hurled him down duringthe sack, after seizing him from his nurse (quotation in Tzetz. sc. Lycophr. 1268). His fate was predicted in the Iliad(24. 734 ff.).
slaughtered Polyxene: a daughter of Priam and Hecuba not mentioned by Homer. This episode was portrayed in the Sack of Troy(Procl.); according to Euripides Hecuba37 ff, the ghost of Achilles appeared above his grave and claimed her as his prize of honour. His son Neoptolemos slaughtered her (Ibycus, in sc. Eur. Hec. 40, presumably following early epic).
Hecuba was awarded. . . Bitch’s Tomb: this curious story is referred to in Eur. Hecuba1260 ff. and in a lyric fragment of earlier date (PMG fr. 965) and is thus no late invention. In Euripides it is prophesied that she will turn into a dog, disappear into the sea, and her grave, Cynossema (the dog’s tomb), will become a landmark for sailors. It lay at the entrance to the Hellespont on the Thracian bank (Strabo 13. 1. 28, cf. Thuc. 8. 104). Others say that she was stoned rather than drowned (e.g. Ov. Met. 13. 565 ff.). There was an alternative tradition that she was conveyed to Lycia by Apollo (P. 10. 27. 2, reporting Stesichorus).
the most beautiful of Priam’s daughters: cf. Il. 3. 122 ff., where she is the wife of Antenor’s son Helicaon. The earliest surviving source for the present story is Lycophron 316 ff, fourth century. See also QS 13. 544 ff.
took refuge by the altar: that of Athene, which he had defiled (cf. Procl.); this action, and the consequent failure of the Greeks to punish him, merely increases Athene’s anger.
the Greeks gathered. . . sacrifice to Athene: to appease her for the defilement of her statue. According to Od. 3. 136 ff., and the Returns(Procl.), the next poem in the epic cycle, this quarrel was incited by Athene; and it was conducted in an ill-tempered ma
Diomedes. . . with only five ships: see Od. 3. 153 ff. and 276 ff; for the subsequent history of Menelaos, see p. 164.
Mopsos.. . Manto: with this daughter of the seer Teiresias (p. 112) as his mother and Apollo as his father, Mopsos might be expected to surpass even Calchas as a diviner; his kingdom of Colophon lay south of the Troad in Lydia.
When Calchas replied. . . without a doubt: following the Sabbaitic epitome. The Vatican epitome reads, ‘when he [Calchas] made no reply, he himself [Mopsos] said that she was carrying ten piglets, and that one of them was male, and that she would bring them to birth on the following day.’ On this duel between the diviners, see also Strabo 14. 1. 27, where it is indicated that the fig-tree question came from Hes. Cat. (= fr. 278), and that the pig question was reported by Pherecydes (in a different form again, that the sow would give birth to three piglets, and one would be male).
Thetis: the goddess was his grandmother. In the Returns(Procl.) it was she who advised him to travel overland (see below), and the shade of Achilles tried to restrain Agamemnon and his followers from departing (for Agamemnon’s sacrifice was insufficient to appease Athene and they would meet with storms at sea).