1. ANTILOCHUS: I was surprised at what you had to say the other day, Achilles, to Odysseus on the subject of death. What ignoble words! What little credit they reflected on both of your teachers, Chiron and Phoenix! I was listening, you know, when you said you would gladly “if but on earth above” be thrall to any man “whose lot is poverty, whose substance small”, rather than be king of all the dead. To speak thus might perhaps have been right for some mean cowardly Phrygian, who loves life regardless of honour, but for the son of Peleus, who surpassed all the heroes in his love of danger, to have such mean ideas for himself is utterly shameful, and opposed to the way you acted in life; for, though you could have had a long and obscure reign in the land of Phthia, you gladly preferred death with glory.
1. ΑΝΤΙΛΟΧΟΣ: Οἷα πρῴην, Ἀχιλλεῦ, πρὸς τὸν Ὀδυσσέα σοι εἴρηται περὶ τοῦ θανάτου, ὡς ἀγεννῆ καὶ ἀνάξια τοῖν διδασκάλοιν ἀμφοῖν, Χείρωνός τε καὶ Φοίνικος. ἠκροώμην γάρ, ὁπότε ἔφης βούλεσθαι ἐπάρουρος ὢν θητεύειν παρά τινι τῶν ἀκλήρων, “ᾧ μὴ βίοτος πολὺς εἴη,” μᾶλλον ἢ πάντων ἀνάσσειν τῶν νεκρῶν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀγεννῆ τινα Φρύγα δειλὸν καὶ πέρα τοῦ καλῶς ἔχοντος φιλόζῳον ἴσως ἐχρῆν λέγειν, τὸν Πηλέως δὲ υἱόν, τὸν φιλοκινδυνότατον ἡρώων ἁπάντων, ταπεινὰ οὕτω περὶ αὑτοῦ διανοεῖσθαι πολλὴ αἰσχύνη καὶ ἐναντιότης πρὸς τὰ πεπραγμένα σοι ἐν τῷ βίῳ, ὃς ἐξὸν ἀκλεῶς ἐν τῇ Φθιώτιδι πολυχρόνιον βασιλεύειν, ἑκὼν προείλου τὸν μετὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς δόξης θάνατον.
2. ACHILLES: But in those days, son of Nestor, I still had no experience of this place, and, not knowing which existence was preferable, I preferred that miserable empty shadow of glory to life itself; but now I realise that glory is useless, however much men above hymn its praises, that among the dead all have but equal honour, and neither the beauty nor the strength we had remain with us, but we lie buried in the same darkness, all of us quite alike, and no better one than the other, and I am neither feared by the Trojan dead nor respected by the Greeks, but there is complete equality of speech and one dead man is like another, “be he mean or be he great”. That’s why I’m distressed and annoyed at not being a thrall alive on earth.
2. ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ: Ὦ παῖ Νέστορος, ἀλλὰ τότε μὲν ἄπειρος ἔτι τῶν ἐνταῦθα ὢν καὶ τὸ βέλτιον ἐκείνων ὁπότερον ἦν ἀγνοῶν τὸ δύστηνον ἐκεῖνο δοξάριον προετίμων τοῦ βίου, νῦν δὲ συνίημι ἤδη ὡς ἐκείνη μὲν ἀνωφελής, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα οἱ ἄνω ῥαψῳδήσουσιν. μετὰ νεκρῶν δὲ ὁμοτιμία, καὶ οὔτε τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖνο, ὦ Ἀντίλοχε, οὔτε ἡ ἰσχὺς πάρεστιν, ἀλλὰ κείμεθα ἅπαντες ὑπὸ τῷ αὐτῷ ζόφῳ ὅμοιοι καὶ κατ' οὐδὲν ἀλλήλων διαφέροντες, καὶ οὔτε οἱ τῶν Τρώων νεκροὶ δεδίασίν με οὔτε οἱ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν θεραπεύουσιν, ἰσηγορία δὲ ἀκριβὴς καὶ νεκρὸς ὅμοιος, “ἠμὲν κακὸς ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσθλός.” ταῦτά με ἀνιᾷ καὶ ἄχθομαι, ὅτι μὴ θητεύω ζῶν.
3. ANTILOCHUS: But what can one do about it, Achilles? Nature has decreed that, come what may, all men must die; we must, therefore, abide by her law, and not be distressed at the way she orders things. In any case you can see such of us, your old companions, as are present here, and assuredly, Odysseus too will join us down here before very long. It’s a comfort that all share in this, and that one doesn’t suffer this alone and by oneself. You can see Heracles and Meleager and other great men, who would, I think, refuse a return to earth, if they were sent up to be thralls to poor men without substance.
3. ΑΝΤΙΛΟΧΟΣ: Ὅμως τί οὖν ἄν τις πάθοι, ὦ Ἀχιλλεῦ; ταῦτα γὰρ ἔδοξε τῇ φύσει, πάντως ἀποθνήσκειν ἅπαντας, ὥστε χρὴ ἐμμένειν τῷ νόμῳ καὶ μὴ ἀνιᾶσθαι τοῖς διατεταγμένοις. ἄλλως τε ὁρᾷς τῶν ἑταίρων ὅσοι περὶ σέ ἐσμεν οἵδε· μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ καὶ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἀφίξεται πάντως. φέρει δὲ παραμυθίαν καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ πράγματος καὶ τὸ μὴ μόνον αὐτὸν πεπονθέναι. ὁρᾷς τὸν Ηρακλέα καὶ τὸν Μελέαγρον καὶ ἄλλους θαυμαστοὺς ἄνδρας, οἳ οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι δέξαιντο ἀνελθεῖν, εἴ τις αὐτοὺς ἀναπέμψειε θητεύσοντας ἀκλήροις καὶ ἀβίοις ἀνδράσιν.
4. ACHILLES: You give your advice out of friendship; but somehow I am distressed by my memory of life above, just as I think each of you is. If you won’t admit it, you show yourselves my inferiors, by submitting to it without protest.
4. ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ: Ἑταιρικὴ μὲν ἡ παραίνεσις, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅπως ἡ μνήμη τῶν παρὰ τὸν βίον ἀνιᾷ, οἶμαι δὲ καὶ ὑμῶν ἕκαστον· εἰ δὲ μὴ ὁμολογεῖτε, ταύτῃ χείρους ἐστὲ καθ' ἡσυχίαν αὐτὸ πάσχοντες.
ANTILOCHUS: No, but your betters, Achilles. We see the uselessness of speaking. We’ve resolved to say nothing, and to bear and endure it all, for fear that we too become a laughing-stock, as you have by indulging in wishes of that sort.
ΑΝΤΙΛΟΧΟΣ: Οὔκ, ἀλλ’ ἀμείνους, ὦ Ἀχιλλεῦ· τὸ γὰρ ἀνωφελὲς τοῦ λέγειν ὁρῶμεν· σιωπᾶν γὰρ καὶ φέρειν καὶ ἀνέχεσθαι δέδοκται ἡμῖν, μὴ καὶ γέλωτα ὄφλωμεν ὥσπερ σὺ τοιαῦτα εὐχόμενος.