DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5065#0040
STATUES OF AJAX IN ROME AND FLORENCE. 31
published in 1792, evidently deserved. Homer in fact speaks neither of Diomedes, nor
of Ulysses in the defence of the body of Patroclos. In the combats which take place
around the dead hero, and which, described with very brilliant colours, occupy the whole
of the XVIIth and part of the XVIIIth book, the two Ajaces, Menelaos and Meriones, are
from beginning to end the chief actors ; neither Diomedes nor Ulysses are even once named
in the two books. Moreover the nravrocre irarrTaivav (which is related of Menelaos in the
XVIIth book, v. 674) is inapplicable to the group of Pasquino, to that of Florence, and
equally to the beautiful head in the Vatican, for in these compositions the standing figure
holds the dead body between its arms, defends it, and seems to be occupied in endeavouring
to save it; whereas this tcclvtoge irturrdlviav " looking around in all directions" is said of
Menelaos, when he has already quitted the body, and when he is going, by the advice of
Ajax, into the ranks to seek for Antilochos. It is, therefore, for his own security, and not
for that of the dead body, and also to find the young Antilochos, if possible, that Menelaos
" glances his eyes around, piercing as those of an eagle," &c. Hence it is clear that the
following assertion of Visconti—" II figlio d'Atreo piu non bada all' estinto, ma solleva e
quasi par che giri lo sguardo attorno, navToas trairraCiwv, come Omero si esprime descri-
vendoci quest' azione di Menelao" is not at all verified by the facts alleged in Homer.
The same author is not more successful in the application he makes to these groups of
the expressions of Homer—oXoq dsipag vekpov vttsic Tpu)(ov and—epvctev fisra eBvo£ etuipwv
(II. XVII. 588 and 581); for those groups cannot in any manner be thought, as Visconti
erroneously imagined, to represent the moment when the contending parties were alternately
taking possession of the body—(which the XVIIth book describes to us frequently, according
as the Greeks or the Trojans had the advantage)—but they exhibit a more prolonged possession
of the body in dispute : whereas Menelaos, as indicated by the above quoted words of Homer,
was only momentarily master of it.2
These groups do not, therefore, represent Menelaos, but Ajax son of Telamon defending
against the enemy the body of the young friend of Achilles slain by Hector ; and the real
theme of this representation of Art is found in Iliad, XVII. v. 132 and foil.
A'laQ d'dji^t Mevotridciy, (rdicog evpv KaXvipag,
lorij/cet, wg Tig re \eojv 7tepI olat tekego-iv,
£ pa re vrjiri dyovri avvavr{\uo)VTai ev vXy
avdpsQ BTtaKTriQi-Q' b de te o-S'eWi (iXs/xeaivei,
irdv Se t ettutkvviov icara) 'eXketul, baae KaXvirroiv'
U)Q Al«£ TTEpl YiaTPOKkif) 7)P(o'i |3£|3?JK£l.
A simple exposition of the contents of this XVIIth book of the Iliad will offer us the
best and most conclusive proof that Ajax the son of Telamon is indeed the principal per-
sonage in the defence of the body of Patroclos. In differing from a highly respectable modern
authority, that of E. Q. Visconti, I rely upon an ancient and a greater one, viz. that of the
Iliad itself, for the proof of what I advance.3
2 Visconti might have much better applied to his Menelaos the words of Homer (II. XVII. v. 4.): afi(j>l 8' lip' ahr^
fidiv, o»c tlq nepl TropraKi jui)r»)p irpwroroKog. But even these words do not apply to the moment expressed in these
remarkable sculptures.
3 See Additional Note XIII.
published in 1792, evidently deserved. Homer in fact speaks neither of Diomedes, nor
of Ulysses in the defence of the body of Patroclos. In the combats which take place
around the dead hero, and which, described with very brilliant colours, occupy the whole
of the XVIIth and part of the XVIIIth book, the two Ajaces, Menelaos and Meriones, are
from beginning to end the chief actors ; neither Diomedes nor Ulysses are even once named
in the two books. Moreover the nravrocre irarrTaivav (which is related of Menelaos in the
XVIIth book, v. 674) is inapplicable to the group of Pasquino, to that of Florence, and
equally to the beautiful head in the Vatican, for in these compositions the standing figure
holds the dead body between its arms, defends it, and seems to be occupied in endeavouring
to save it; whereas this tcclvtoge irturrdlviav " looking around in all directions" is said of
Menelaos, when he has already quitted the body, and when he is going, by the advice of
Ajax, into the ranks to seek for Antilochos. It is, therefore, for his own security, and not
for that of the dead body, and also to find the young Antilochos, if possible, that Menelaos
" glances his eyes around, piercing as those of an eagle," &c. Hence it is clear that the
following assertion of Visconti—" II figlio d'Atreo piu non bada all' estinto, ma solleva e
quasi par che giri lo sguardo attorno, navToas trairraCiwv, come Omero si esprime descri-
vendoci quest' azione di Menelao" is not at all verified by the facts alleged in Homer.
The same author is not more successful in the application he makes to these groups of
the expressions of Homer—oXoq dsipag vekpov vttsic Tpu)(ov and—epvctev fisra eBvo£ etuipwv
(II. XVII. 588 and 581); for those groups cannot in any manner be thought, as Visconti
erroneously imagined, to represent the moment when the contending parties were alternately
taking possession of the body—(which the XVIIth book describes to us frequently, according
as the Greeks or the Trojans had the advantage)—but they exhibit a more prolonged possession
of the body in dispute : whereas Menelaos, as indicated by the above quoted words of Homer,
was only momentarily master of it.2
These groups do not, therefore, represent Menelaos, but Ajax son of Telamon defending
against the enemy the body of the young friend of Achilles slain by Hector ; and the real
theme of this representation of Art is found in Iliad, XVII. v. 132 and foil.
A'laQ d'dji^t Mevotridciy, (rdicog evpv KaXvipag,
lorij/cet, wg Tig re \eojv 7tepI olat tekego-iv,
£ pa re vrjiri dyovri avvavr{\uo)VTai ev vXy
avdpsQ BTtaKTriQi-Q' b de te o-S'eWi (iXs/xeaivei,
irdv Se t ettutkvviov icara) 'eXketul, baae KaXvirroiv'
U)Q Al«£ TTEpl YiaTPOKkif) 7)P(o'i |3£|3?JK£l.
A simple exposition of the contents of this XVIIth book of the Iliad will offer us the
best and most conclusive proof that Ajax the son of Telamon is indeed the principal per-
sonage in the defence of the body of Patroclos. In differing from a highly respectable modern
authority, that of E. Q. Visconti, I rely upon an ancient and a greater one, viz. that of the
Iliad itself, for the proof of what I advance.3
2 Visconti might have much better applied to his Menelaos the words of Homer (II. XVII. v. 4.): afi(j>l 8' lip' ahr^
fidiv, o»c tlq nepl TropraKi jui)r»)p irpwroroKog. But even these words do not apply to the moment expressed in these
remarkable sculptures.
3 See Additional Note XIII.