Note 361 — Chapter VII · THE PELOPIDS.
Reading edition
Iliad, ix. 37. Compare ii. 580. Diomêdês addresses Agamemnôn—
Σοὶ δὲ διάνδιχα δῶκε Κρόνου παῖς ἀγκυλομήτεω· Σκήπτρῳ μέν τοι δῶκε τετιμῆσθαι περὶ πάντων· Ἀλκὴν δ᾽ οὔ τοι δῶκεν, ὅ,τε κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον.
A similar contrast is drawn by Nestôr (Il. i. 280) between Agamemnôn and Achilles. Nestôr says to Agamemnôn (Il. ix. 69)—
Ἀτρείδη, σὺ μὲν ἄρχε· σὺ γὰρ βασιλεύτατός ἐσσι.
And this attribute attaches to Menelaus as well as to his brother. For when Diomêdês is about to choose his companion for the night expedition into the Trojan camp, Agamemnôn thus addresses him (x. 232):
Τὸν μὲν δὴ ἕταρόν γ᾽ αἱρήσεαι, ὅν κ᾽ ἐθέλῃσθα Φαινομένων τὸν ἄριστον, ἐπεὶ μεμάασί γε πολλοί· Μηδὲ σύ γ᾽ αἰδόμενος σῇσι φρεσὶ, τὸν μὲν ἀρείω Καλλείπειν, σὺ δὲ χείρον᾽ ὀπάσσεαι αἰδοῖ εἴκων Ἐς γενεὴν ὁρόων, εἰ καὶ βασιλεύτερός ἐστιν. Ὡς ἔφατ᾽, ἔδδεισε δὲ περὶ ξανθῷ Μενελάῳ.