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CHAPTER XXV. Above the fountain is a building which contains some paintings of Polygnotus, it is the votive offering of the people of Cnidos, and is called The Lounge by the people of Delphi, because they used to assemble there in old times and discuss both serious and trifling subjects. That there were many such places throughout Greece Homer has shown in Melantho's reviling of Odysseus : " For you will not go to sleep at a smithy or at some lounge, but you will keep talking here." l On the right as you enter the building is a painting of the capture of Ilium and the return of the Greeks. And they are making preparations for Menelaus' hoisting sail, and his ship is painted with boys and sailors all mixed up together on board : and in the middle of the ship is Phrontis the pilot with two punting poles. Homer 2 has represented Nestor among other things telling Telemachus about Phrontis, how he was the son of Onetor, and pilot of Menelaus, and most able in his art, and how he died as he sailed past Sunium in Attica. And Menelaus, who was up to this time sailing with Nestor, was now left behind, that he might discharge all due funeral rites for Phrontis. Beneath Phrontis in the painting of Polygnotus is Ithaemenes carrying some garment, and Echoeax descending the gangway ladder with a brazen water-pot. And Polites and Strophius and Alphius are represented taking down the tent of Menelaus, which is not far from the ship. And Amphialus is taking down another tent, a boy is sitting at his feet, but there is no inscription on him, and Phrontis is the only person with a beard. His was the only name in the group that Polygnotus got out of the Odyssey: the others I magine he invented. There too stands Briseis, and Diomede near her, and Iphis in front of them both, they all appear to be gazing at Helen's beauty. And Helen is seated, and near her is Eurybates, who has no beard, and was I suppose the herald of Odysseus. And Helen's handmaids are by, Panthalis standing at her side, and Electra fastening her sandals : these names are different however from those Homer gives in the Iliad, when he describes Helen and her maids going on to the walls. 2 And above Helen sits a man clothed in purple, looking very dejected : before reading the inscription one would conjecture that it is Helenus the son of Priam. And near Helenus is Meges, who is wounded in the shoulder, as he is described bv Lescheos of Pyrrha, the son of Aeschylinus, in his Capture of Ilium, he was wounded he says by Admetus the son of Augean in the night-attack of the Trojans. And next to Meges is Lycomedes the son of Creon, who is wounded on the wrist, as Lescheos says he was by Agenor. It is manifest that Polygnotus must have read Lescheos' poem, or he would not have painted their wounds so accurately. He has also depicted Lycomedes with a third wound in the ankle, and a fourth on the head. Euryalus also the son of Mecisteus is represented as wounded in the head and wrist. All these are above Helen in the painting : and next Helen is Aethra the mother of Theseus with her head shaven, and Theseus' son Demophon apparently wondering whether he could save her. And the Argives say that Melanippus was the son of Theseus by the daughter of Sinis, and that he won the prize in the race, when the Epigoni restored the Nemean games which were originally introduced by Adrastus. Lescheos has stated that Aethra escaped when Ilium was taken, and got to the Greek camp, and was recognized by the sons of Theseus, and Demophon asked her of Agamemnon. And he said he would willingly gratify Demophon, but could not do so before he obtained the consent of Helen, so a messenger was sent to Helen and she gave her consent. I think therefore the picture represents Eurybates coming to Helen on this errand, and delivering the message of Agamemnon. And the Trojan women in the painting look in sad dejection as if they were captives already. There is Andromache, with a baby- boy at her breast. Lescheos says that this babyboy was hurled from a tower, not in consequence of any decree of the Greeks, but simply from the private hatred of Neoptolemus. There too is Medesicaste, one of the illegitimate daughters of Priam, of whom Homer says that she dwelt in the town of Pedaeum, and married Imbrius the son of Mentor. 4 Andromache and Medesicaste are represented veiled: but Polyxena has her hair plaited after the manner of maidens. The Poets represent her to have been slain at the tomb of Achilles, and I have seen paintings both at Athens and Pergamus beyond the river Caicus of her death. Polygnotus has also introduced Nestor into the same painting, with a hat on his head and a spear in his hand : and a horse near seems to be rolling in the dust. Near the horse is the sea-shore, and you can see the pebbles, but the rest of the scene does not resemble a sea view. 1 Odyssey, xviii. 328, 329. See Dr Hayman's admirable note on this passage. 2 Odyssey, iii. 276 sq. 3 Iliad, iii. 144. Their names there are Aethra and Clymene. 4 Iliad, xiii. 171-173.
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