τέταρτα δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λάρνακι ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς περιιόντι Βορέας ἐστὶν ἡρπακὼς Ὠρείθυιαν—οὐραὶ δὲ ὄφεων ἀντὶ ποδῶν εἰσὶν αὐτῷ—καὶ Ἡρακλέους ὁ πρὸς Γηρυόνην ἀγών· τρεῖς δὲ ἄνδρες Γηρυόνης εἰσὶν ἀλλήλοις προσεχόμενοι. Θησεὺς δὲ ἔχων λύραν καὶ παρʼ αὐτὸν Ἀριάδνη κατέχουσά ἐστι στέφανον. Ἀχιλλεῖ δὲ καὶ Μέμνονι μαχομένοις παρεστήκασιν αἱ μητέρες·
ἔστι δὲ καὶ Μελανίων καὶ Ἀταλάντη παρʼ αὐτὸν ἔχουσα ἐλάφου νεβρόν. μονομαχοῦντος δὲ Αἴαντι Ἕκτορος κατὰ τὴν πρόκλησιν, μεταξὺ ἕστηκεν αὐτῶν Ἔρις αἰσχίστη τὸ εἶδος ἐοικυῖα· πρὸς δὲ ταύτῃ καὶ Καλλιφῶν Σάμιος ἐν Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερῷ τῆς Ἐφεσίας ἐποίησεν Ἔριν, τὴν μάχην γράψας τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς ναυσὶν Ἑλλήνων. εἰσὶ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ λάρνακι Διόσκουροι, ὁ ἕτερος οὐκ ἔχων πω γένεια, μέση δὲ αὐτῶν Ἑλένη·
Αἴθρα δὲ ἡ Πιτθέως ὑπὸ τῆς Ἑλένης τοῖς ποσὶν ἐς ἔδαφος καταβεβλημένη μέλαιναν ἔχουσά ἐστιν ἐσθῆτα, ἐπίγραμμα δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς ἔπος τε ἑξάμετρον καὶ ὀνόματός ἐστιν ἑνὸς ἐπὶ τῷ ἑξαμέτρῳ προσθήκη· Τυνδαρίδα Ἑλέναν φέρετον, Αἴθραν δʼ ἕλκετον / Ἀθάναθεν. /
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τὸ ἔπος οὕτω πεποίηται· Ἰφιδάμαντος δὲ τοῦ Ἀντήνορος κειμένου μαχόμενος πρὸς Ἀγαμέμνονα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Κόων ἐστί· Φόβος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος τῇ ἀσπίδι ἔπεστιν, ἔχων τὴν κεφαλὴν λέοντος. ἐπιγράμματα δὲ ὑπὲρ μὲν τοῦ Ἰφιδάμαντος νεκροῦ, Ἰφιδάμας οὗτός τε Κόων περιμάρναται αὐτοῦ· / τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀσπίδι,
οὗτος μὲν Φόβος ἐστὶ βροτῶν, ὁ δʼ ἔχων Ἀγαμέμνων. / ἄγει δὲ καὶ Ἑρμῆς παρʼ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Πριάμου τὰς θεὰς κριθησομένας ὑπὲρ τοῦ κάλλους, καὶ ἔστιν ἐπίγραμμα καὶ τούτοις· Ἑρμείας ὅδʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ δείκνυσι διαιτῆν / τοῦ εἴδους Ἥραν καὶ Ἀθάναν καὶ Ἀφροδίταν. / Ἄρτεμις δὲ οὐκ οἶδα ἐφʼ ὅτῳ λόγῳ πτέρυγας ἔχουσά ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων, καὶ τῇ μὲν δεξιᾷ κατέχει πάρδαλιν, τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ τῶν χειρῶν λέοντα. πεποίηται δὲ καὶ Κασσάνδραν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγάλματος Αἴας τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἕλκων, ἐπʼ αὐτῷ δὲ καὶ ἐπίγραμμά ἐστιν· Αἴας Κασσάνδραν ἀπʼ Ἀθαναίας Λοκρὸς ἕλκει. /
τῶν δὲ Οἰδίποδος παίδων Πολυνείκει πεπτωκότι ἐς γόνυ ἔπεισιν Ἐτεοκλῆς. τοῦ Πολυνείκους δὲ ὄπισθεν γυνὴ ἕστηκεν ὀδόντας τε ἔχουσα οὐδὲν ἡμερωτέρους θηρίου καί οἱ τῶν χειρῶν εἰσιν ἐπικαμπεῖς οἱ ὄνυχες· ἐπίγραμμα δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτῇ εἶναί φησι Κῆρα, ὡς τὸν μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ πεπρωμένου τὸν Πολυνείκην ἀπαχθέντα, Ἐτεοκλεῖ δὲ γενομένης καὶ σὺν τῷ δικαίῳ τῆς τελευτῆς. Διόνυσος δὲ ἐν ἄντρῳ κατακείμενος, γένεια ἔχων καὶ ἔκπωμα χρυσοῦν, ἐνδεδυκώς ἐστι ποδήρη χιτῶνα· δένδρα δὲ ἄμπελοι περὶ αὐτὸν καὶ μηλέαι τέ εἰσι καὶ ῥόαι.
ἡ δὲ ἀνωτάτω χώρα—πέντε γὰρ ἀριθμόν εἰσι— παρέχεται μὲν ἐπίγραμμα οὐδέν, λείπεται δὲ εἰκάζειν ἐς τὰ ἐπειργασμένα. εἰσὶν οὖν ἐν σπηλαίῳ γυνὴ καθεύδουσα σὺν ἀνδρὶ ἐπὶ κλίνῃ, καὶ σφᾶς Ὀδυσσέα εἶναι καὶ Κίρκην ἐδοξάζομεν ἀριθμῷ τε τῶν θεραπαινῶν, αἵ εἰσι πρὸ τοῦ σπηλαίου, καὶ τοῖς ποιουμένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν· τέσσαρές τε γάρ εἰσιν αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ ἐργάζονται τὰ ἔργα, ἃ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν Ὅμηρος εἴρηκε. Κένταυρος δὲ οὐ τοὺς πάντας ἵππου πόδας, τοὺς δὲ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν ἔχων ἀνδρός ἐστιν.
ἑξῆς καὶ ἵππων συνωρίδες καὶ γυναῖκες ἐπὶ τῶν συνωρίδων εἰσὶν ἑστῶσαι· πτερὰ δὲ τοῖς ἵπποις χρυσᾶ ἐστι, καὶ ἀνὴρ δίδωσιν ὅπλα μιᾷ τῶν γυναικῶν. ταῦτα ἐς τὴν Πατρόκλου τελευτὴν ἔχειν τεκμαίρονται· Νηρηίδας τε γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν συνωρίδων εἶναι καὶ Θέτιν τὰ ὅπλα λαμβάνειν παρὰ Ἡφαίστου. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἄλλως ὁ τὰ ὅπλα διδοὺς οὔτε τοὺς πόδας ἐστὶν ἐρρωμένος καὶ ὄπισθεν οἰκέτης ἕπεταί οἱ πυράγραν ἔχων·
λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐς τὸν Κένταυρον ὡς Χίρων, ἀπηλλαγμένος ἤδη παρὰ ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἠξιωμένος εἶναι σύνοικος θεοῖς, ῥᾳστώνην τινὰ ἥκοι τοῦ πένθους Ἀχιλλεῖ παρασκευάσων. παρθένους δὲ ἐπὶ ἡμιόνων τὴν μὲν ἔχουσαν τὰς ἡνίας, τὴν δὲ ἐπικειμένην κάλυμμα ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ, Ναυσικᾶν τε νομίζουσιν εἶναι τὴν Ἀλκίνου καὶ τὴν θεράπαιναν, ἐλαυνούσας ἐπὶ τοὺς πλυνούς. τοξεύοντα δὲ ἄνδρα Κενταύρους, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀπεκτονότα ἐξ αὐτῶν, δῆλα Ἡρακλέα τε τὸν τοξεύοντα καὶ Ἡρακλέους εἶναι τὸ ἔργον.
τὸν μὲν δὴ τὴν λάρνακα εἰργασμένον ὅστις ἦν, οὐδαμῶς ἡμῖν δυνατὰ ἦν συμβαλέσθαι· τὰ ἐπιγράμματα δὲ τὰ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς τάχα μέν που καὶ ἄλλος τις ἂν εἴη πεποιηκώς, τῆς δὲ ὑπονοίας τὸ πολὺ ἐς Εὔμηλον τὸν Κορίνθιον εἶχεν ἡμῖν, ἄλλων τε ἕνεκα καὶ τοῦ προσοδίου μάλιστα ὃ ἐποίησεν ἐς Δῆλον.
On the fourth field of the chest as you go round from the left there is Boreas with Orithyia, whom he has snatched away: instead of feet he has the tails of snakes. There is also the combat of Hercules with Geryon: Geryon is three men joined together. There is Theseus with a lyre, and beside him Ariadne grasping a crown. Achilles and Memnon are fighting, and their mothers are standing beside them. There is Melanion, too, and beside him Atalanta with a fawn. Hector is fighting Ajax according to challenge, and between them stands Strife, a most hideous hag. In his picture of the battle at the Greek ships, which may be seen in the sanctuary of Ephesian Artemis, Calliphon of Samos represented Strife in a similar way. On the chest are the Dioscuri, one of them beardless still, and between them is Helen. Aethra, the daughter of Pittheus, clad in black raiment, is cast on the ground under the feet of Helen. Attached to the group is an inscription consisting of a single hexameter verse with the addition of one word :— The two sons of Tyndareus are carrying Helen away, and are dragging Aethra From Athens. Iphidamas, son of Antenor, is lying on the ground, and Coon is defending him against Agamemnon. Terror, a male figure with a lion’s head, is depicted on Agamemnon’s shield. Above the corpse of Iphidamas is an inscription :— This is Iphidamas, Coon is fighting for him ; and on the shield of Agamemnon :— This is the Terror of mortals: he who holds him is Agamemnon. Hermes is leading to Alexander, son of Priam, the goddesses to be judged by him touching their beauty. This group also has an inscription :— This is Hermes: he is showing Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite To Alexander, to judge of their beauty. I do not know for what reason Artemis is represented with wings on her shoulders: in her right hand she grasps a leopard, and in the other hand a lion. Ajax is represented dragging Cassandra from the image of Athena; and there is an inscription at him :— Ajax the Locrian is dragging Cassandra from Athena. There are also the sons of Oedipus: Polynices has fallen on his knee, and Eteocles is rushing at him. Behind Polynices stands a female figure with teeth as cruel as a wild beast’s, and the nails of her fingers are hooked: an inscription beside her declares that she is Doom, implying that Polynices is carried off by fate, and that Eteocles has justly met his end. Dionysus is reclining in a cave: he has a beard and a golden cup, and is clad in a tunic that reaches to his feet: round about him are vines and apple-trees and pomegranate-trees.
The uppermost field, for the fields are five in number, presents no inscription, and we are left to conjecture the meaning of the reliefs. There is a woman in a grotto sleeping with a man upon a bed : we supposed them to be Ulysses and Circe, judging both from the number of the handmaids in front of the grotto, and from the work they were doing ; for the women are four in number, and are doing the works which Homer has described. There is a Centaur not with all his legs those of a horse, but with his forelegs those of a man. Next are chariots drawn by pairs of horses, with women standing in them: the horses have golden wings, and a man is giving arms to one of the women. This scene is conjecturally referred to the death of Patroclus, it being supposed that the women in the chariots are Nereids, and that Thetis is receiving the arms from Hephaestus. Besides, the man who is giving the arms is not strong on his feet, and behind follows a servant with a pair of fire-tongs. As to the Centaur, it is said that he is Chiron who, having quitted this mortal world, and having been found worthy to dwell with gods, has yet come to soothe the grief of Achilles. As to the maidens in the mule-car, one holding the reins, the other with a veil on her head, they believe them to be Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, and the handmaid driving to the washing-troughs. The man shooting at Centaurs, some of whom he has already slain, is clearly Hercules, and the scene is one of his exploits. Who the craftsman was that made the chest we were quite unable to conjecture. As to the inscriptions on it, though they may perhaps be by a different poet, yet on the whole I inclined to guess that they are by Eumelus the Corinthian, chiefly on the ground of the processional hymn which he composed for Delos.
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