For frequently by a Homeric lottery have many hit upon their destinies; as is testified in the person of Socrates,
For frequently by a Homeric lottery have many hit upon their destinies; as is testified in the person of Socrates, who, whilst he was in prison, hearing the recitation of this verse of Homer, said of Achilles in the Ninth of the Iliads—
Emati ke tritato Phthien eribolon ikoimen,
We, the third day, to fertile Pthia came—
thereby foresaw that on the third subsequent day he was to die.
