Note 283 — ARRIAN ON COURSING.
William Dansey translation
Πολυδάμαντι οὐκ ἐῶντι. From Pope’s translation I extract a part of the speech of Polydamas, with the omen referred to:
B. xii. 253.
Seek not this day the Grecian ships to gain; For sure to warn us Jove his omen sent, And thus my mind explains its clear event: The victor eagle whose sinister flight Retards our host, and fills our hearts with fright, Dismiss’d his conquest in the middle skies, Allow’d to seize, but not retain the prize, &c.
Pope’s version of Hector’s reply to this speech of Polydamas, is one of the most splendid specimens of his talent to be found in the poem—as the whole incident is perhaps the finest of Flaxman’s beautiful illustrations of the immortal bard.