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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5065#0030
THE TWO A J ACES. 21
numerous and valiant brethren in anus who follow him in the combats, and receive his buckler
when the hero is fatigued (II. XIII. 709-711) ; but two of his companions are represented in
the Iliad as especially dear and attached to him by inclination and by friendship. The one is
Teucer, his half brother,2 the other is Ajax, son of Oileus and King of Opus in Locris.
Sophocles, in his immortal tragedy of Ajax, which has been handed down to us in a more
genuine state than most of the pieces of the Greek drama, has beautifully delineated the
attachment of the hero for his brother Teucer, as well as the warm and fraternal affection of
Teucer after the hero's death, notwithstanding the difficulty of his situation, and his conflict
with powerful adversaries. But the parts of the Iliad where the two Ajaces appear together,
and where their amity is treated of, are still more frequent. They scarcely, it may be said,
quit each other. The youngest of the two, the swift Ajax, (in the Iliad and in the imitators
of Homer, such as Quintus, Tryphiodoros, &c, his usual epithet is raxvg), does not himself
command his Locrians,3 but adheres closely to the person of the son of Telamon, and accom-
panies him in all the battles of the Iliad. We may particularly refer to Iliad XIII. 701-708.
The passages in which these heroes appear together, and their constant union is described,
are very numerous.4
This intimacy of the two Ajaces in the epos of Homer was not unobserved by Greek
authors of subsequent ages. Thus Philostratos relates that Homer disputing at Chalcis the
prize of song with Hesiod, selected for that purpose the passage which relates to the two
Ajaces.5 For the same reason these two heroes are brought together in Euripides6 and in
several works of art, for instance in the picture described by Philostratos, in which are seen the
body of the youthful Antilochos (slain by Memnon), and some of the Greek heroes who lament
his loss.7
If then one of the best Greek versions of the story of Penthesilea (and Quintus has
certainly not chosen the worst version of it) makes the two Ajaces enact parts in this exploit ;
if we further consider that the subject of the groups of the bronzes is drawn from the
history of Penthesilea; and that there are but two Greek heroes, altogether symmetrical,
that could be here represented combating Amazons (for the size of the plates did not allow
them to be adorned with other figures), it may be fairly presumed that, where the choice
was to be made of two out of six heroes who, according to the old traditional story, van-
quished Penthesilea and her companions, the Greek artist would willingly have selected for
the subject of his two symmetrical groups, precisely those two Greek heroes whose constant
union, and invariable friendship, praised by the epos of Homer, was often represented by
other works of art and of poetry.
2. The following considerations, in my opinion, are of still greater weight. An artist of
the present day would be at liberty to delineate Raymond and his sons, Ogier the Dane, or
Rollo, nearly as his imagination might prompt him, for neither the religion, nor the rude
2 See, for instance, II. VIII. 266-272, 330-331. XII. 350, &c.
3 The reason of this circumstance is found in the Iliad, XIII. 712-718. The Locrians, as archers lightly armed,
could not be employed in close combat (tv (rracJip vafilvg) against heavily armed troops.
* For example, II. II. 406. IV. 273 et seq. V. 519. VI. 436. VII. 164. VIII. 79, 262. XII. 265, 335, 343-353.
XIII. 46, 126, 197, 313, 701 et seq. XV. 300. XVII. 507, 531, 668, 707, 732, 747, 752. XVIII. 157-163.
5 Philostratos Heroica, cap. XVIII. § 2. p. 727 (Edit. Olearii) ore $rj aaai a^w (Homer and Hesiod) lv XuXkiSi,
tov jutv (Homer) to tiri} to 7T£pi rotv AldvToiv icai u>e at <j>a\ayytg ai)TOig dpapvtai tc kol KapTtpai %aav, k. t. X.
It may be doubted whether the passage in Homer here alluded to was II. XIII. 126 et seq., as Olearius and Boissonade
supposed ; I am more inclined to believe that it was II. IV. 273 et seq.
6 Iphigenia in Aulis. v. 192, and foil, where the choir sings :
KdTeiSov §£ § v A'iavr £ <T V V £ $ p lO,
tov 'OiXlwQ, TcXa^wvoc re yovov,
Tr\q 'SaXa/uuvog arkfyavov.
7 Philostr. Icon. lib. II. cap. 7. p. 63, ed. Jacobs and Welcker (Lipsiee, 1825, in 8vo) : KpaTovvTtg St oJ 'Ay/uch
tov awfiaTos, oSvpovrcu tov 'AvtiXo^ov oi 'ArpEiSai, icai 6 £K tt)q 'I0aKJ)e, Kat 6 £K tov TvSiwc, icat oi bfi<l>vvjxoi (the
two Ajaces). According to a Crotonean fable, both Ajaces were likewise with the immortalized Achilles in the isle
Leuke (See Pausan. 1. III. c. 19. § 11.).
o
numerous and valiant brethren in anus who follow him in the combats, and receive his buckler
when the hero is fatigued (II. XIII. 709-711) ; but two of his companions are represented in
the Iliad as especially dear and attached to him by inclination and by friendship. The one is
Teucer, his half brother,2 the other is Ajax, son of Oileus and King of Opus in Locris.
Sophocles, in his immortal tragedy of Ajax, which has been handed down to us in a more
genuine state than most of the pieces of the Greek drama, has beautifully delineated the
attachment of the hero for his brother Teucer, as well as the warm and fraternal affection of
Teucer after the hero's death, notwithstanding the difficulty of his situation, and his conflict
with powerful adversaries. But the parts of the Iliad where the two Ajaces appear together,
and where their amity is treated of, are still more frequent. They scarcely, it may be said,
quit each other. The youngest of the two, the swift Ajax, (in the Iliad and in the imitators
of Homer, such as Quintus, Tryphiodoros, &c, his usual epithet is raxvg), does not himself
command his Locrians,3 but adheres closely to the person of the son of Telamon, and accom-
panies him in all the battles of the Iliad. We may particularly refer to Iliad XIII. 701-708.
The passages in which these heroes appear together, and their constant union is described,
are very numerous.4
This intimacy of the two Ajaces in the epos of Homer was not unobserved by Greek
authors of subsequent ages. Thus Philostratos relates that Homer disputing at Chalcis the
prize of song with Hesiod, selected for that purpose the passage which relates to the two
Ajaces.5 For the same reason these two heroes are brought together in Euripides6 and in
several works of art, for instance in the picture described by Philostratos, in which are seen the
body of the youthful Antilochos (slain by Memnon), and some of the Greek heroes who lament
his loss.7
If then one of the best Greek versions of the story of Penthesilea (and Quintus has
certainly not chosen the worst version of it) makes the two Ajaces enact parts in this exploit ;
if we further consider that the subject of the groups of the bronzes is drawn from the
history of Penthesilea; and that there are but two Greek heroes, altogether symmetrical,
that could be here represented combating Amazons (for the size of the plates did not allow
them to be adorned with other figures), it may be fairly presumed that, where the choice
was to be made of two out of six heroes who, according to the old traditional story, van-
quished Penthesilea and her companions, the Greek artist would willingly have selected for
the subject of his two symmetrical groups, precisely those two Greek heroes whose constant
union, and invariable friendship, praised by the epos of Homer, was often represented by
other works of art and of poetry.
2. The following considerations, in my opinion, are of still greater weight. An artist of
the present day would be at liberty to delineate Raymond and his sons, Ogier the Dane, or
Rollo, nearly as his imagination might prompt him, for neither the religion, nor the rude
2 See, for instance, II. VIII. 266-272, 330-331. XII. 350, &c.
3 The reason of this circumstance is found in the Iliad, XIII. 712-718. The Locrians, as archers lightly armed,
could not be employed in close combat (tv (rracJip vafilvg) against heavily armed troops.
* For example, II. II. 406. IV. 273 et seq. V. 519. VI. 436. VII. 164. VIII. 79, 262. XII. 265, 335, 343-353.
XIII. 46, 126, 197, 313, 701 et seq. XV. 300. XVII. 507, 531, 668, 707, 732, 747, 752. XVIII. 157-163.
5 Philostratos Heroica, cap. XVIII. § 2. p. 727 (Edit. Olearii) ore $rj aaai a^w (Homer and Hesiod) lv XuXkiSi,
tov jutv (Homer) to tiri} to 7T£pi rotv AldvToiv icai u>e at <j>a\ayytg ai)TOig dpapvtai tc kol KapTtpai %aav, k. t. X.
It may be doubted whether the passage in Homer here alluded to was II. XIII. 126 et seq., as Olearius and Boissonade
supposed ; I am more inclined to believe that it was II. IV. 273 et seq.
6 Iphigenia in Aulis. v. 192, and foil, where the choir sings :
KdTeiSov §£ § v A'iavr £ <T V V £ $ p lO,
tov 'OiXlwQ, TcXa^wvoc re yovov,
Tr\q 'SaXa/uuvog arkfyavov.
7 Philostr. Icon. lib. II. cap. 7. p. 63, ed. Jacobs and Welcker (Lipsiee, 1825, in 8vo) : KpaTovvTtg St oJ 'Ay/uch
tov awfiaTos, oSvpovrcu tov 'AvtiXo^ov oi 'ArpEiSai, icai 6 £K tt)q 'I0aKJ)e, Kat 6 £K tov TvSiwc, icat oi bfi<l>vvjxoi (the
two Ajaces). According to a Crotonean fable, both Ajaces were likewise with the immortalized Achilles in the isle
Leuke (See Pausan. 1. III. c. 19. § 11.).
o