THE TROJAN SAGA AND THE ILIAD 449tragic defeat in the contest with Odysseus for the armor of Achilles, discussed
later in this chapter.AJAX THE LESS (OR LESSER)
Ajax the Less (as Homer calls him), prince of the Locrians and son of Oileus, is
a less attractive character than his namesake. Although he figured prominently
in the fighting and was the leader of a large contingent, his sacrilegious viola-
tion of Cassandra during the sack of Troy diminished his stature and led to his
death on the voyage back to Greece (p. 482).IDOMENEUS
Another important fighter with a large contingent was Idomeneus, son of Deu-
calion and leader of the Cretans. He stood in a different relationship to Agamem-
non from most of the other leaders in that he came as a voluntary ally. He had
long been a friend of Menelaiis, and Agamemnon showed him great respect. In
Book 13 of the Iliad he defends the Greek camp bravely and kills a number of
leading Trojan warriors. Good as he was, however, as fighter and counselor at
Troy, his most important legend is concerned with his return (p. 483).^10ODYSSEUS
When Menelaiis and Agamemnon sent heralds throughout Greece and the is-
lands to summon the Greek leaders and their contingents to the war, not all the
Greek heroes came willingly; two of the most important, Odysseus and Achilles,
attempted to avoid the war by subterfuge.
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, pretended to be mad. When Agamemnon's envoys
came, he yoked an ox and an ass and plowed a field, sowing salt in the furrows.
One of the envoys, Palamedes, took Odysseus' infant son Telemachus from his
mother, Penelope, and put him in the path of the plow. Odysseus was sane
enough to avoid him; his pretense was uncovered, and he joined the expedition.^11
Odysseus was the craftiest and wisest of the Greeks, as well as a brave war-
rior. He was the best in council, and his powerful speech in Book 2 (284-332)
decided the debate in favor of staying before Troy to finish the war. He attacked
the unattractive and sardonic Thersites for intervening in the debate, when only
princes should speak, and for this he was greatly honored by the Greeks. He
was the principal speaker in the embassy to Achilles in Book 9, and he under-
took the dangerous night mission with Diomedes as well as other missions men-
tioned earlier. Above all Odysseus was a skilled speaker, and this is brought out
in the teichoskopia (Iliad 3. 191-224):f
Next the old man [Priam] asked about Odysseus. "Come, tell me also about this
man, dear child, who he is. He is shorter by a head than Agamemnon, son of