HKB
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Often appears with: the rise and fall of greatness · strategy and the aims of war · omens, portents, and signs · omens from eagles and animals · mixed fortunes in war · divine retribution · artemis and zeus · advice from prophecy
Usually: verse (1) · the fall of the great (1) · lament (1) · wonder (1)
The chorus of Mycenaean elders recalls the ten-year campaign to Troy and, through songs of birds’ and other omens, warns that Zeus and Artemis have ordained mixed outcomes that foreshadow evil within the royal house of Atreus.
’tis ordered all, And woes, by heaven ordained, must fall— Unsoothed by tears or spilth of wine Poured forth too late, the wrath divine Glares vengeance on the flameless shrine. And we in gray dishonoured eld, Feeble of frame, unfit were held To join the warrior array That then went forth unto the fray: And here at home we tarry, fain Our feeble footsteps to sustain, Each on his staff—so strength doth wa…