Those again who held Pelasgic Argos, Alos, Alope,
and Trachis; and those of Phthia and Hellas the land
of fair women, who were called Myrmidons, Hellenes,
and Achaeans; these had fifty ships, over which Achilles
was in command. But they now took no part in
the war, inasmuch as there was no one to marshal them;
for Achilles stayed by his ships, furious about the
loss of the girl Briseis, whom he had taken from Lyrnessus
at his own great peril, when he had sacked Lyrnessus
and Thebe, and had overthrown Mynes and Epistrophus,
sons of king Evenor, son of Selepus. For her
sake Achilles was still grieving, but ere long he was
again to join them.
And those that held Phylace and the flowery meadows
of Pyrasus, sanctuary of Ceres; Iton, the mother of
sheep; Antrum upon the sea, and Pteleum that lies
upon the grass lands. Of these brave Protesilaus
had been captain while he was yet alive, but he was
now lying under the earth. He had left a wife
behind him in Phylace to tear her cheeks in sorrow,
and his house was only half finished, for he was slain
by a Dardanian warrior while leaping foremost of the
Achaeans upon the soil of Troy. Still, though
his people mourned their chieftain, they were not
without a leader, for Podarces, of the race of Mars,
marshalled them; he was son of Iphiclus, rich in sheep,
who was the son of Phylacus, and he was own brother
to Protesilaus, only younger, Protesilaus being at
once the elder and the more valiant. So the people
were not without a leader, though they mourned him
whom they had lost. With him there came forty
ships.
And those that held Pherae by the Boebean lake, with
Boebe, Glaphyrae, and the populous city of Iolcus,
these with their eleven ships were led by Eumelus,
son of Admetus, whom Alcestis bore to him, loveliest
of the daughters of Pelias.
And those that held Methone and Thaumacia, with Meliboea
and rugged Olizon, these were led by the skilful archer
Philoctetes, and they had seven ships, each with fifty
oarsmen all of them good archers; but Philoctetes
was lying in great pain in the Island of Lemnos, where
the sons of the Achaeans left him, for he had been
bitten by a poisonous water snake. There he lay
sick and sorry, and full soon did the Argives come
to miss him. But his people, though they felt
his loss were not leaderless, for Medon, the bastard
son of Oileus by Rhene, set them in array.
Those, again, of Tricca and the stony region of Ithome,
and they that held Oechalia, the city of Oechalian
Eurytus, these were commanded by the two sons of Aesculapius,
skilled in the art of healing, Podalirius and Machaon.
And with them there came thirty ships.
The men, moreover, of Ormenius, and by the fountain
of Hypereia, with those that held Asterius, and the
white crests of Titanus, these were led by Eurypylus,
the son of Euaemon, and with them there came forty
ships.
Those that held Argissa and Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone,
and the white city of Oloosson, of these brave Polypoetes
was leader. He was son of Pirithous, who was
son of Jove himself, for Hippodameia bore him to Pirithous
on the day when he took his revenge on the shaggy
mountain savages and drove them from Mt. Pelion
to the Aithices. But Polypoetes was not sole
in command, for with him was Leonteus, of the race
of Mars, who was son of Coronus, the son of Caeneus.
And with these there came forty ships.
