Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/187

 WEALTH AND REGALITY OF THE PELOPIDS. 155 himself, but his brother Menelaus, is " more of a king * even than Nestor or Diomedes. The gods have not given to the king of the " much-golden " Mykense greater courage, or strength, or ability, than to T arious other chiefs ; but they have conferred upon him a marked superiority in riches, power and dignity, and have thus singled him out as the appropriate leader of the forces. 1 He enjoys this preeminence as belonging to a privileged family and as inheriting the heaven-descended sceptre of Pelops, the transmission of which is described by Homer in a very remarkable way. The sceptre was made " by Hephaestos, who presented it to Zeus ; Zeus gave it to Hermes, Hermes to the charioteer Pelops ; Pelops gave it to Atreus, the ruler of men ; Atreus at his death left it to Thyestes, the rich cattle-owner ; Thyestes in his turn left it to his nephew Agamemnon to carry, that he might hold dominion over many islands and over all Argos." 2 We have here the unrivalled wealth and power of the " king of men, Agamemnon," traced up to his descent from Pelops, and accounted for, in harmony with the recognized epical agencies, by the present of the special sceptre of Zeus through the hands of Hermes ; the latter being the wealth-giving god, whose bless 1 Iliad, ix. 37. Compare ii. 580. Diomedes addresses Agamemnon - 2oi <Je fiiuv6i%a <5<je Kpovov naif u-yKvTiO/ifjTeu 'LKTJTTTpU ftEV TOl 6&K TETlftijO&ai TTSpl 7TUVTUV 'A/Ui)v (5' OVTOI duKev, 5, TE Kparof earl peyurrov. A similar contrast is drawn by Nestor (H. i. 280) between Agamemnon and Achilles. Nestor says to Agamemnon (fl. ix. 60) 'Arpeidri, ai) /*ev up%e ai) -yap /3 a a i^siirar 6 f kaoi. And this attribute attaches to Menelans as well as to his brother. For when Diomedes is about to choose his companion for the night expedition intc Ihe Trojan camp, Agamemnon thus addresses him (x. 232) : Tbv fj.lv 6r] Irapov Y aiprjaeai, ov K' b&eXycr&a rbv upiarov, brel fiffiaaai -ye iroAAoi av y 1 aldo/ievo? of/ai 6peal, rbv ftev upeiu ai) 6e %Eipov' d-daaeai aldoi CIKUV, ^V 6pouv, el ical /3aai^.evrfp6f i<mv. 'Cc l<par eddeiae 6e irepl S-av&iJ Meve^oy. Iliad, ii. 101.