Periclymenos, the brother of Nestor, is endowed by Neptune with the power of assuming whatever shape he pleases—In the form of an eagle he assaults Hercules, who mortally wounds him with an arrow.
This tale, by Nestor told, did much displease Tlepolemus, the seed of Hercules; For often he had heard his father say That he himself was present at the fray, And more than shared the glories of the day.
“Old Chronicle,” he said, “among the rest, You might have named Alcides at the least: Is he not worth your praise?” The Pylian prince Sigh’d ere he spoke, then made this proud defence: “My former woes, in long oblivion drown’d, I would have lost; but you renew the wound: Better to pass him o’er, than to relate The cause I have your mighty sire to hate: His fame has fill’d the world, and reach’d the sky, (Which, oh I wish, with truth, I could deny!) We praise not Hector, though his name, we know, Is great in arms: ’tis hard to praise a foe.