Atrides Atridae Atreids : descendants of Atreus, esp. Agamemnon & Menelaus.
... and valiant, Doubtless the winds of the north have made him a runner and spearman. Shall not then force be the King? is not strength the seal of the Godhead? This my soul replies, Agamemnon the Atreid only Choosing for leader and king I have come to the toil and the warfare. Wisdom and greatness he owns and the wealth and renown of his fathers.' But for this whelp of the northlands, nursling... the slave of the Phrygian, Though Menelaus the Spartan abandon his wife to the Trojans And from the field where he lavished the unvalued blood of his people Flee to a hearth dishonoured. Not the Atreid's sullied grandeurs, Greece to defend we have toiled through the summers and lingering autumns Blind with our blood; for our country we bleed repelling her foemen. Dear is that loss to our veins... among men who is valiant, wise and far-seeing, One of ourselves and the knot of our wills and the sword of our action. Him they advise and obey and cover his errors with silence. Not Agamemnon the Atreid, Greeks, we obey in this mortal; Greece we obey; for she walks in his gait and commands by his gestures. Evil he works then who loosens this living knot of Achaia; Page 430 Falling apart ...
... up with his vigour: As in a stormy day In thick-set woods a ravenous fire wraps in his fierce repair The shaken trees and by the roots doth toss them into air; Even so beneath Atrides' sword flew up Troy's flying heels, Their horse drew empty chariots, and sought their thundering wheels Some fresh directors through the field, where least the pursuit drives. Thick fell ...
... because Achilles spared your life. Now, yes, you've ransomed your dear son — for a king's ransom. But wouldn't the sons you left behind be forced to pay three times as much for you alive? What if Atrides Agamemnon learns you're here — what if the whole Achaean army learns you're here?" The old king woke in terror, roused the herald. Hermes harnessed the mules and team for both men, drove them ...
... tastes & impossible ideals, and the best of them had in a wonderful degree the poet's faculty of imparting this enthusiasm to others. The terrible fate which dogged them was no mysterious doom of the Atridae, but the natural inexorable result of the incompatibility between their temperament & their position. Charles II was the only capable man in his line, the only one who set before him a worldly & unideal ...
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