§9.5.5πρώτους δὴ καταλέγει τοὺς ὑπʼ Ἀχιλλεῖ τοὺς τὸ νότιον πλευρὸν κατέχοντας καὶ παρακειμένους τῇ τε Οἴτῃ καὶ τοῖς Ἐπικνημιδίοις Λοκροῖς
ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον,
οἵ τʼ Ἄλον οἵ τʼ Ἀλόπην οἵ τε Τρηχῖνʼ ἐνέμοντο,
οἵ τʼ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδʼ Ἑλλάδα καλλιγύναικα,
Μυρμιδόνες δὲ καλεῦντο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἀχαιοί. συζεύγνυσι δὲ τούτοις καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τῷ Φοίνικι καὶ κοινὸν ἀμφοῖν ποιεῖ τὸν στόλον.
Indeed, first he lists those under Achilles, those who occupy the southern side and lie adjacent both to Oeta and to the Epicnemidian Locrians: ὅσσοι τὸ Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος ἔναιον, οἵ τʼ Ἄλον οἵ τʼ Ἀλόπην οἵ τε Τρηχῖνʼ ἐνέμοντο, οἵ τʼ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδʼ Ἑλλάδα καλλιγύναικα, Μυρμιδόνες δὲ καλεῦντο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἀχαιοί. 'All those who dwelt in Pelasgian Argos, and those who inhabited Halus and Alope and Trachis, and those who held Phthia and Hellas, the land of fair women, and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans.' And with these he also joins those under Phoenix, and makes the expedition common to both.
ὁ μὲν οὖν ποιητὴς οὐδαμοῦ μέμνηται Δολοπικῆς στρατιᾶς κατὰ τοὺς περὶ Ἴλιον ἀγῶνας· οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτῶν τὸν ἡγεμόνα Φοίνικα πεποίηκεν εἰς τοὺς κινδύνους ἐξιόντα, καθάπερ τὸν Νέστορα· ἄλλοι δʼ εἰρήκασι, καθάπερ καὶ Πίνδαρος μνησθεὶς τοῦ Φοίνικος
ὃς Δολόπων ἄγαγε θρασὺν ὅμιλον σφενδονᾶσαι, ἱπποδάμων Δαναῶν βέλεσι πρόσφορον. τοῦτο δὴ καὶ παρὰ τῷ ποιητῇ κατὰ τὸ σιωπώμενον, ὡς εἰώθασι λέγειν οἱ γραμματικοί, συνυπακουστέον.
Now the poet nowhere mentions a Dolopian army during the struggles around Ilium; for he has not even depicted their leader, Phoenix, as going out into dangers, as he did Nestor; but others have said so, as Pindar also, when mentioning Phoenix: ὃς Δολόπων ἄγαγε θρασὺν ὅμιλον σφενδονᾶσαι, ἱπποδάμων Δαναῶν βέλεσι πρόσφορον. 'who led the bold throng of Dolopians to use the sling, a defense against the missiles of the horse-taming Danaans.' This, indeed, must also be understood in the poet's work 'by way of silence', as the grammarians are accustomed to say.
γελοῖον γὰρ τὸ τὸν βασιλέα μετέχειν τῆς στρατείας, τοὺς δʼ ὑπηκόους μὴ παρεῖναι· οὐδὲ γὰρ συστρατεύειν ἂν τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ δόξειεν, ἀλλὰ μόνον ἐπιστάτης καὶ ῥήτωρ ἕπεσθαι, εἰ δʼ ἄρα, σύμβουλος.
For it is ridiculous that the king should take part in the campaign while his subjects are not present; for otherwise he would not even seem to campaign with Achilles, but only to follow as a guardian and speaker, or at most, as a counselor.
τὰ δʼ ἔπη βούλεται καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῦν· τοιοῦτον γὰρ τὸ
μύθων τε ῥητῆρʼ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων. ταῦτα λέγων.
And the verses intend to show this also; for such is the meaning of: μύθων τε ῥητῆρʼ ἔμεναι πρηκτῆρά τε ἔργων. 'to be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds,' when saying these things.
§9.5.6εἴρηται τό τε ὑπὸ τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ νικι· αὐτὰ δὲ λεχθέντα περὶ τῶν ὑπʼ ἐν ἀντιλογίᾳ ἐστί.
The region under Achilles has been mentioned; but the things said about those under him are in dispute.
τό τε Ἄργος τὸ Πελασγικὸν καὶ πόλιν δέχονται Θετταλικὴν περὶ Λάρισαν ἱδρυμένην ποτὲ νῦν δʼ οὐκέτι οὖσαν· οἱ δʼ οὐ πόλιν ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν Θετταλῶν πεδίον οὕτως ὀνοματικῶς λεγόμενον, θεμένου τοὔνομα Ἄβαντος ἐξ Ἄργους δεῦρʼ ἀποικήσαντος.
For, as to Pelasgian Argos, some take it to be a Thessalian city once situated near Larissa, but now no longer existing; while others take it to be not a city, but the plain of the Thessalians, so called by name, Abas having given it this name when he migrated hither from Argos.
Φθίαν τε οἱ μὲν τὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι τῇ Ἑλλάδι καὶ Ἀχαΐᾳ, ταύτας δʼ εἶναι διατεμνομένης τῆς συμπάσης Θετταλίας θάτερον μέρος τὸ νότιον· οἱ δὲ διαιροῦσιν.
And as for Phthia, some say it is the same as Hellas and Achaea, and that these constitute one of the two parts of the whole of Thessaly when it is divided, namely the southern part; but others distinguish them.
ἔοικε δʼ ὁ ποιητὴς δύο ποιεῖν τήν τε Φθίαν καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὅταν οὕτως φῇ
οἵ τʼ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδʼ Ἑλλάδα,
ὡς δυεῖν οὐσῶν· καὶ ὅταν οὕτως
φεῦ ἔπειτʼ ἀπάνευθε διʼ Ἑλλάδος εὐρυχόροιο, Φθίην δʼ ἐξικόμην,
καὶ ὅτι
πολλαὶ ς εἰσὶν ἀνʼ Ἑλλάδα τε Φθίην τε. ὁ μὲν οὖν ποιητὴς δύο ποιεῖ, πότερον δὲ πόλεις ἢ χώρας οὐ δηλοῖ.
And the poet seems to make Phthia and Hellas two distinct things when he says: οἵ τʼ εἶχον Φθίην ἠδʼ Ἑλλάδα, 'and those who held Phthia and Hellas,' as though they were two; and when he says: φεῦ ἔπειτʼ ἀπάνευθε διʼ Ἑλλάδος εὐρυχόροιο, Φθίην δʼ ἐξικόμην, 'then I fled far away through wide-spaced Hellas, and came to Phthia,' and because: πολλαὶ ς εἰσὶν ἀνʼ Ἑλλάδα τε Φθίην τε. 'there are many women in Hellas and Phthia.' So then, while the poet makes them two, he does not make it clear whether they are cities or countries.
οἱ δʼ ὕστερον τὴν Ἑλλάδα οἱ μὲν εἰπόντες χώραν διατετάσθαι φασὶν τὰς Θήβας τὰς Φθιώτιδας ἀπὸ Παλαιφαρσάλου (ἐν δὲ τῇ χώρᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ τὸ Θετίδειον ἔστι πλησίον τῶν Φαρσάλων ἀμφοῖν τῆς τε παλαιᾶς καὶ τῆς νέας, κἀκ τοῦ Θετιδείου τεκμαιρόμενοι τῆς ὑπὸ τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ μέρος εἶναι καὶ τήνδε τὴν χώραν), οἱ δʼ εἰπόντες πόλιν Φαρσάλιοι μὲν δεικνύουσιν ἀπὸ ἑξήκοντα σταδίων τῆς ἑαυτῶν πόλεως κατεσκαμμένην πόλιν ἣν πεπιστεύκασιν εἶναι τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ δύο κρήνας πλησίον Μεσσηίδα καὶ Ὑπέρειαν, Μελιταιεῖς δʼ ἄπωθεν ἑαυτῶν ὅσον δέκα σταδίους οἰκεῖσθαι τὴν Ἑλλάδα πέραν τοῦ Ἐνιπέως, ἡνίκα ἡ ἑαυτῶν πόλις Πύρρα ὠνομάζετο, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐν ταπεινῷ χωρίῳ κειμένης εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν μετοικῆσαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας· μαρτύριον δʼ εἶναι τὸν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ τῇ σφετέρᾳ τάφον τοῦ Ἕλληνος τοῦ Δευκαλίωνος υἱοῦ καὶ Πύρρας.
But of later writers, those who call Hellas a country say that it extends from Palaepharsalus to Phthiotic Thebes (and in this country is also the Thetideum, near both Pharsaluses, the old and the new, and they infer from the Thetideum that this country too was a part of the territory under Achilles); while those who call it a city: the Pharsalians, on the one hand, point out a ruined city sixty stadia distant from their own city, which they believe to be Hellas, and two springs near it, Messeis and Hypereia; and the Melitaeans, on the other hand, say that Hellas was inhabited at a distance of about ten stadia from themselves, across the Enipeus, at the time when their own city was called Pyrrha, and that the Hellenes migrated from Hellas, which lay in a low-lying place, into their own city; and they say that a proof of this is the tomb of Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, which is in their agora.
ἱστορεῖται γὰρ ὁ Δευκαλίων τῆς Φθιώτιδος ἄρξαι καὶ ἁπλῶς τῆς Θετταλίας·
For it is recorded that Deucalion ruled over Phthiotis, and simply over Thessaly.
ὁ δʼ Ἐνιπεὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ὄθρυος παρὰ Φάρσαλον ῥυεὶς εἰς τὸν Ἀπιδανὸν παραβάλλει, ὁ δʼ εἰς τὸν Πηνειόν.
And the Enipeus, flowing from Othrys past Pharsalus, empties into the Apidanus, and the latter into the Peneus.
περὶ μὲν Ἑλλήνων ταῦτα.
So much for the Hellenes.