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Title: The Iliad
Author: Homer
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Iliad" ***
THE ILIAD OF HOMER
Rendered into English Prose for
the use of those who cannot
read
the original
by Samuel Butler
Contents
BOOK I.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
BOOK V.
BOOK VI.
BOOK VII
BOOK VIII.
BOOK IX.
BOOK X.
BOOK XI.
BOOK XII.
BOOK XIII.
BOOK XIV.
BOOK XV.
BOOK XVI.
BOOK XVII.
BOOK XVIII.
BOOK XIX.
BOOK XX.
BOOK XXI.
BOOK XXII.
BOOK XXIII.
BOOK XXIV.
BOOK I.
The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles—Achilles withdraws
from the war, and sends his mother Thetis to ask Jove to help the
Trojans—Scene between Jove and Juno on Olympus.
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that
brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did
it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a
prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove
fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men,
and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.
And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was
the son of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent
a pestilence upon the host to plague the people, because the son
of Atreus had dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had
come to the ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had
brought with him a great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the
sceptre of Apollo wreathed with a suppliant’s wreath, and he
besought the Achaeans, but most of all the two sons of Atreus,
who were their chiefs.
“Sons of Atreus,” he cried, “and all other Achaeans, may the gods
who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to
reach your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a
ransom for her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Jove.”
On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for
respecting the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but
not so Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly
away. “Old man,” said he, “let me not find you tarrying about our
ships, nor yet coming hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your
wreath shall profit you nothing. I will not free her. She shall
grow old in my house at Argos far from her own home, busying
herself with her loom and visiting my couch; so go, and do not
provoke me or it shall be the worse for you.”
The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went
by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo
whom lovely Leto had borne. “Hear me,” he cried, “O god of the
silver bow, that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest
Tenedos with thy might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have
ever decked your temple with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones
in fat of bulls or goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows
avenge these my tears upon the Danaans.”
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down
furious from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver
upon his shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the
rage that trembled within him. He sat himself down away from the
ships with a face as dark as night, and his silver bow rang death
as he shot his arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their
mules and their hounds, but presently he aimed his shafts at the
people themselves, and all day long the pyres of the dead were
burning.
For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but upon
the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly—moved thereto by
Juno, who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had
compassion upon them. Then, when they were got together, he rose
and spoke among them.
“Son of Atreus,” said he, “I deem that we should now turn roving
home if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by
war and pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or
some reader of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell
us why Phoebus Apollo is so angry, and say whether it is for some
vow that we have broken, or hecatomb that we have not offered,
and whether he will accept the savour of lambs and goats without
blemish, so as to take away the plague from us.”
With these words he sat down, and Calchas son of Thestor, wisest
of augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose to
speak. He it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to
Ilius, through the prophesyings with which Phoebus Apollo had
inspired him. With all sincerity and goodwill he addressed them
thus:—
“Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger
of King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and
swear that you will stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I
know that I shall offend one who rules the Argives with might, to
whom all the Achaeans are in subjection. A plain man cannot stand
against the anger of a king, who if he swallow his displeasure
now, will yet nurse revenge till he has wreaked it. Consider,
therefore, whether or no you will protect me.”
And Achilles answered, “Fear not, but speak as it is borne in
upon you from heaven, for by Apollo, Calchas, to whom you pray,
and whose oracles you reveal to us, not a Danaan at our ships
shall lay his hand upon you, while I yet live to look upon the
face of the earth—no, not though you name Agamemnon himself, who
is by far the foremost of the Achaeans.”
Thereon the seer spoke boldly. “The god,” he said, “is angry
neither about vow nor hecatomb, but for his priest’s sake, whom
Agamemnon has dishonoured, in that he would not free his daughter
nor take a ransom for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon
us, and will yet send others. He will not deliver the Danaans
from this pestilence till Agamemnon has restored the girl without
fee or ransom to her father, and has sent a holy hecatomb to
Chryse. Thus we may perhaps appease him.”
With these words he sat down, and Agamemnon rose in anger. His
heart was black with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he
scowled on Calchas and said, “Seer of evil, you never yet
prophesied smooth things concerning me, but have ever loved to
foretell that which was evil. You have brought me neither comfort
nor performance; and now you come seeing among Danaans, and
saying that Apollo has plagued us because I would not take a
ransom for this girl, the daughter of Chryses. I have set my
heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even
than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form
and feature, in understanding and accomplishments. Still I will
give her up if I must, for I would have the people live, not die;
but you must find me a prize instead, or I alone among the
Argives shall be without one. This is not well; for you behold,
all of you, that my prize is to go elsewhither.”
And Achilles answered, “Most noble son of Atreus, covetous beyond
all mankind, how shall the Achaeans find you another prize? We
have no common store from which to take one. Those we took from
the cities have been awarded; we cannot disallow the awards that
have been made already. Give this girl, therefore, to the god,
and if ever Jove grants us to sack the city of Troy we will
requite you three and fourfold.”
Then Agamemnon said, “Achilles, valiant though you be, you shall
not thus outwit me. You shall not overreach and you shall not
persuade me. Are you to keep your own prize, while I sit tamely
under my loss and give up the girl at your bidding? Let the
Achaeans find me a prize in fair exchange to my liking, or I will
come and take your own, or that of Ajax or of Ulysses; and he to
whomsoever I may come shall rue my coming. But of this we will
take thought hereafter; for the present, let us draw a ship into
the sea, and find a crew for her expressly; let us put a hecatomb
on board, and let us send Chryseis also; further, let some chief
man among us be in command, either Ajax, or Idomeneus, or
yourself, son of Peleus, mighty warrior that you are, that we may
offer sacrifice and appease the anger of the god.”
Achilles scowled at him and answered, “You are steeped in
insolence and lust of gain. With what heart can any of the
Achaeans do your bidding, either on foray or in open fighting? I
came not warring here for any ill the Trojans had done me. I have
no quarrel with them. They have not raided my cattle nor my
horses, nor cut down my harvests on the rich plains of Phthia;
for between me and them there is a great space, both mountain and
sounding sea. We have followed you, Sir Insolence! for your
pleasure, not ours—to gain satisfaction from the Trojans for your
shameless self and for Menelaus. You forget this, and threaten to
rob me of the prize for which I have toiled, and which the sons
of the Achaeans have given me. Never when the Achaeans sack any
rich city of the Trojans do I receive so good a prize as you do,
though it is my hands that do the better part of the fighting.
When the sharing comes, your share is far the largest, and I,
forsooth, must go back to my ships, take what I can get and be
thankful, when my labour of fighting is done. Now, therefore, I
shall go back to Phthia; it will be much better for me to return
home with my ships, for I will not stay here dishonoured to
gather gold and substance for you.”
And Agamemnon answered, “Fly if you will, I shall make you no
prayers to stay you. I have others here who will do me honour,
and above all Jove, the lord of counsel. There is no king here so
hateful to me as you are, for you are ever quarrelsome and
ill-affected. What though you be brave? Was it not heaven that
made you so? Go home, then, with your ships and comrades to lord
it over the Myrmidons. I care neither for you nor for your anger;
and thus will I do: since Phoebus Apollo is taking Chryseis from
me, I shall send her with my ship and my followers, but I shall
come to your tent and take your own prize Briseis, that you may
learn how much stronger I am than you are, and that another may
fear to set himself up as equal or comparable with me.”
The son of Peleus was furious, and his heart within his shaggy
breast was divided whether to draw his sword, push the others
aside, and kill the son of Atreus, or to restrain himself and
check his anger. While he was thus in two minds, and was drawing
his mighty sword from its scabbard, Minerva came down from heaven
(for Juno had sent her in the love she bore to them both), and
seized the son of Peleus by his yellow hair, visible to him
alone, for of the others no man could see her. Achilles turned in
amaze, and by the fire that flashed from her eyes at once knew
that she was Minerva. “Why are you here,” said he, “daughter of
aegis-bearing Jove? To see the pride of Agamemnon, son of Atreus?
Let me tell you—and it shall surely be—he shall pay for this
insolence with his life.”
And Minerva said, “I come from heaven, if you will hear me, to
bid you stay your anger. Juno has sent me, who cares for both of
you alike. Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your
sword; rail at him if you will, and your railing will not be
vain, for I tell you—and it shall surely be—that you shall
hereafter receive gifts three times as splendid by reason of this
present insult. Hold, therefore, and obey.”
“Goddess,” answered Achilles, “however angry a man may be, he
must do as you two command him. This will be best, for the gods
ever hear the prayers of him who has obeyed them.”
He stayed his hand on the silver hilt of his sword, and thrust it
back into the scabbard as Minerva bade him. Then she went back to
Olympus among the other gods, and to the house of aegis-bearing
Jove.
But the son of Peleus again began railing at the son of Atreus,
for he was still in a rage. “Wine-bibber,” he cried, “with the
face of a dog and the heart of a hind, you never dare to go out
with the host in fight, nor yet with our chosen men in ambuscade.
You shun this as you do death itself. You had rather go round and
rob his prizes from any man who contradicts you. You devour your
people, for you are king over a feeble folk; otherwise, son of
Atreus, henceforward you would insult no man. Therefore I say,
and swear it with a great oath—nay, by this my sceptre which
shalt sprout neither leaf nor shoot, nor bud anew from the day on
which it left its parent stem upon the mountains—for the axe
stripped it of leaf and bark, and now the sons of the Achaeans
bear it as judges and guardians of the decrees of heaven—so
surely and solemnly do I swear that hereafter they shall look
fondly for Achilles and shall not find him. In the day of your
distress, when your men fall dying by the murderous hand of
Hector, you shall not know how to help them, and shall rend your
heart with rage for the hour when you offered insult to the
bravest of the Achaeans.”
With this the son of Peleus dashed his gold-bestudded sceptre on
the ground and took his seat, while the son of Atreus was
beginning fiercely from his place upon the other side. Then
uprose smooth-tongued Nestor, the facile speaker of the Pylians,
and the words fell from his lips sweeter than honey. Two
generations of men born and bred in Pylos had passed away under
his rule, and he was now reigning over the third. With all
sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:—
“Of a truth,” he said, “a great sorrow has befallen the Achaean
land. Surely Priam with his sons would rejoice, and the Trojans
be glad at heart if they could hear this quarrel between you two,
who are so excellent in fight and counsel. I am older than either
of you; therefore be guided by me. Moreover I have been the
familiar friend of men even greater than you are, and they did
not disregard my counsels. Never again can I behold such men as
Pirithous and Dryas shepherd of his people, or as Caeneus,
Exadius, godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus son of Aegeus, peer of
the immortals. These were the mightiest men ever born upon this
earth: mightiest were they, and when they fought the fiercest
tribes of mountain savages they utterly overthrew them. I came
from distant Pylos, and went about among them, for they would
have me come, and I fought as it was in me to do. Not a man now
living could withstand them, but they heard my words, and were
persuaded by them. So be it also with yourselves, for this is the
more excellent way. Therefore, Agamemnon, though you be strong,
take not this girl away, for the sons of the Achaeans have
already given her to Achilles; and you, Achilles, strive not
further with the king, for no man who by the grace of Jove wields
a sceptre has like honour with Agamemnon. You are strong, and
have a goddess for your mother; but Agamemnon is stronger than
you, for he has more people under him. Son of Atreus, check your
anger, I implore you; end this quarrel with Achilles, who in the
day of battle is a tower of strength to the Achaeans.”
And Agamemnon answered, “Sir, all that you have said is true, but
this fellow must needs become our lord and master: he must be
lord of all, king of all, and captain of all, and this shall
hardly be. Granted that the gods have made him a great warrior,
have they also given him the right to speak with railing?”
Achilles interrupted him. “I should be a mean coward,” he cried,
“were I to give in to you in all things. Order other people
about, not me, for I shall obey no longer. Furthermore I say—and
lay my saying to your heart—I shall fight neither you nor any man
about this girl, for those that take were those also that gave.
But of all else that is at my ship you shall carry away nothing
by force. Try, that others may see; if you do, my spear shall be
reddened with your blood.”
When they had quarrelled thus angrily, they rose, and broke up
the assembly at the ships of the Achaeans. The son of Peleus went
back to his tents and ships with the son of Menoetius and his
company, while Agamemnon drew a vessel into the water and chose a
crew of twenty oarsmen. He escorted Chryseis on board and sent
moreover a hecatomb for the god. And Ulysses went as captain.
These, then, went on board and sailed their ways over the sea.
But the son of Atreus bade the people purify themselves; so they
purified themselves and cast their filth into the sea. Then they
offered hecatombs of bulls and goats without blemish on the
sea-shore, and the smoke with the savour of their sacrifice rose
curling up towards heaven.
Thus did they busy themselves throughout the host. But Agamemnon
did not forget the threat that he had made Achilles, and called
his trusty messengers and squires Talthybius and Eurybates. “Go,”
said he, “to the tent of Achilles, son of Peleus; take Briseis by
the hand and bring her hither; if he will not give her I shall
come with others and take her—which will press him harder.”
He charged them straightly further and dismissed them, whereon
they went their way sorrowfully by the seaside, till they came to
the tents and ships of the Myrmidons. They found Achilles sitting
by his tent and his ships, and ill-pleased he was when he beheld
them. They stood fearfully and reverently before him, and never a
word did they speak, but he knew them and said, “Welcome,
heralds, messengers of gods and men; draw near; my quarrel is not
with you but with Agamemnon who has sent you for the girl
Briseis. Therefore, Patroclus, bring her and give her to them,
but let them be witnesses by the blessed gods, by mortal men, and
by the fierceness of Agamemnon’s anger, that if ever again there
be need of me to save the people from ruin, they shall seek and
they shall not find. Agamemnon is mad with rage and knows not how
to look before and after that the Achaeans may fight by their
ships in safety.”
Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him. He brought
Briseis from the tent and gave her over to the heralds, who took
her with them to the ships of the Achaeans—and the woman was loth
to go. Then Achilles went all alone by the side of the hoar sea,
weeping and looking out upon the boundless waste of waters. He
raised his hands in prayer to his immortal mother, “Mother,” he
cried, “you bore me doomed to live but for a little season;
surely Jove, who thunders from Olympus, might have made that
little glorious. It is not so. Agamemnon, son of Atreus, has done
me dishonour, and has robbed me of my prize by force.”
As he spoke he wept aloud, and his mother heard him where she was
sitting in the depths of the sea hard by the old man her father.
Forthwith she rose as it were a grey mist out of the waves, sat
down before him as he stood weeping, caressed him with her hand,
and said, “My son, why are you weeping? What is it that grieves
you? Keep it not from me, but tell me, that we may know it
together.”
Achilles drew a deep sigh and said, “You know it; why tell you
what you know well already? We went to Thebe the strong city of
Eetion, sacked it, and brought hither the spoil. The sons of the
Achaeans shared it duly among themselves, and chose lovely
Chryseis as the meed of Agamemnon; but Chryses, priest of Apollo,
came to the ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and
brought with him a great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the
sceptre of Apollo, wreathed with a suppliant’s wreath, and he
besought the Achaeans, but most of all the two sons of Atreus who
were their chiefs.
“On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for
respecting the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but
not so Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly
away. So he went back in anger, and Apollo, who loved him dearly,
heard his prayer. Then the god sent a deadly dart upon the
Argives, and the people died thick on one another, for the arrows
went everywhither among the wide host of the Achaeans. At last a
seer in the fulness of his knowledge declared to us the oracles
of Apollo, and I was myself first to say that we should appease
him. Whereon the son of Atreus rose in anger, and threatened that
which he has since done. The Achaeans are now taking the girl in
a ship to Chryse, and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god; but
the heralds have just taken from my tent the daughter of Briseus,
whom the Achaeans had awarded to myself.
“Help your brave son, therefore, if you are able. Go to Olympus,
and if you have ever done him service in word or deed, implore
the aid of Jove. Ofttimes in my father’s house have I heard you
glory in that you alone of the immortals saved the son of Saturn
from ruin, when the others, with Juno, Neptune, and Pallas
Minerva would have put him in bonds. It was you, goddess, who
delivered him by calling to Olympus the hundred-handed monster
whom gods call Briareus, but men Aegaeon, for he is stronger even
than his father; when therefore he took his seat all-glorious
beside the son of Saturn, the other gods were afraid, and did not
bind him. Go, then, to him, remind him of all this, clasp his
knees, and bid him give succour to the Trojans. Let the Achaeans
be hemmed in at the sterns of their ships, and perish on the
sea-shore, that they may reap what joy they may of their king,
and that Agamemnon may rue his blindness in offering insult to
the foremost of the Achaeans.”
Thetis wept and answered, “My son, woe is me that I should have
borne or suckled you. Would indeed that you had lived your span
free from all sorrow at your ships, for it is all too brief;
alas, that you should be at once short of life and long of sorrow
above your peers: woe, therefore, was the hour in which I bore
you; nevertheless I will go to the snowy heights of Olympus, and
tell this tale to Jove, if he will hear our prayer: meanwhile
stay where you are with your ships, nurse your anger against the
Achaeans, and hold aloof from fight. For Jove went yesterday to
Oceanus, to a feast among the Ethiopians, and the other gods went
with him. He will return to Olympus twelve days hence; I will
then go to his mansion paved with bronze and will beseech him;
nor do I doubt that I shall be able to persuade him.”
On this she left him, still furious at the loss of her that had
been taken from him. Meanwhile Ulysses reached Chryse with the
hecatomb. When they had come inside the harbour they furled the
sails and laid them in the ship’s hold; they slackened the
forestays, lowered the mast into its place, and rowed the ship to
the place where they would have her lie; there they cast out
their mooring-stones and made fast the hawsers. They then got out
upon the sea-shore and landed the hecatomb for Apollo; Chryseis
also left the ship, and Ulysses led her to the altar to deliver
her into the hands of her father. “Chryses,” said he, “King
Agamemnon has sent me to bring you back your child, and to offer
sacrifice to Apollo on behalf of the Danaans, that we may
propitiate the god, who has now brought sorrow upon the Argives.”
So saying he gave the girl over to her father, who received her
gladly, and they ranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the
altar of the god. They washed their hands and took up the
barley-meal to sprinkle over the victims, while Chryses lifted up
his hands and prayed aloud on their behalf. “Hear me,” he cried,
“O god of the silver bow, that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla,
and rulest Tenedos with thy might. Even as thou didst hear me
aforetime when I prayed, and didst press hardly upon the
Achaeans, so hear me yet again, and stay this fearful pestilence
from the Danaans.”
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. When they had done
praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads
of the victims and killed and flayed them. They cut out the
thigh-bones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, set some
pieces of raw meat on the top of them, and then Chryses laid them
on the wood fire and poured wine over them, while the young men
stood near him with five-pronged spits in their hands. When the
thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats,
they cut the rest up small, put the pieces upon the spits,
roasted them till they were done, and drew them off: then, when
they had finished their work and the feast was ready, they ate
it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied.
As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, pages filled the
mixing-bowl with wine and water and handed it round, after giving
every man his drink-offering.
Thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song,
hymning him and chaunting the joyous paean, and the god took
pleasure in their voices; but when the sun went down, and it came
on dark, they laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables
of the ship, and when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
appeared they again set sail for the host of the Achaeans. Apollo
sent them a fair wind, so they raised their mast and hoisted
their white sails aloft. As the sail bellied with the wind the
ship flew through the deep blue water, and the foam hissed
against her bows as she sped onward. When they reached the
wide-stretching host of the Achaeans, they drew the vessel
ashore, high and dry upon the sands, set her strong props beneath
her, and went their ways to their own tents and ships.
But Achilles abode at his ships and nursed his anger. He went not
to the honourable assembly, and sallied not forth to fight, but
gnawed at his own heart, pining for battle and the war-cry.
Now after twelve days the immortal gods came back in a body to
Olympus, and Jove led the way. Thetis was not unmindful of the
charge her son had laid upon her, so she rose from under the sea
and went through great heaven with early morning to Olympus,
where she found the mighty son of Saturn sitting all alone upon
its topmost ridges. She sat herself down before him, and with her
left hand seized his knees, while with her right she caught him
under the chin, and besought him, saying:—
“Father Jove, if I ever did you service in word or deed among the
immortals, hear my prayer, and do honour to my son, whose life is
to be cut short so early. King Agamemnon has dishonoured him by
taking his prize and keeping her. Honour him then yourself,
Olympian lord of counsel, and grant victory to the Trojans, till
the Achaeans give my son his due and load him with riches in
requital.”
Jove sat for a while silent, and without a word, but Thetis still
kept firm hold of his knees, and besought him a second time.
“Incline your head,” said she, “and promise me surely, or else
deny me—for you have nothing to fear—that I may learn how greatly
you disdain me.”
At this Jove was much troubled and answered, “I shall have
trouble if you set me quarrelling with Juno, for she will provoke
me with her taunting speeches; even now she is always railing at
me before the other gods and accusing me of giving aid to the
Trojans. Go back now, lest she should find out. I will consider
the matter, and will bring it about as you wish. See, I incline
my head that you may believe me. This is the most solemn promise
that I can give to any god. I never recall my word, or deceive,
or fail to do what I say, when I have nodded my head.”
As he spoke the son of Saturn bowed his dark brows, and the
ambrosial locks swayed on his immortal head, till vast Olympus
reeled.
When the pair had thus laid their plans, they parted—Jove to his
house, while the goddess quitted the splendour of Olympus, and
plunged into the depths of the sea. The gods rose from their
seats, before the coming of their sire. Not one of them dared to
remain sitting, but all stood up as he came among them. There,
then, he took his seat. But Juno, when she saw him, knew that he
and the old merman’s daughter, silver-footed Thetis, had been
hatching mischief, so she at once began to upbraid him.
“Trickster,” she cried, “which of the gods have you been taking
into your counsels now? You are always settling matters in secret
behind my back, and have never yet told me, if you could help it,
one word of your intentions.”
“Juno,” replied the sire of gods and men, “you must not expect to
be informed of all my counsels. You are my wife, but you would
find it hard to understand them. When it is proper for you to
hear, there is no one, god or man, who will be told sooner, but
when I mean to keep a matter to myself, you must not pry nor ask
questions.”
“Dread son of Saturn,” answered Juno, “what are you talking
about? I? Pry and ask questions? Never. I let you have your own
way in everything. Still, I have a strong misgiving that the old
merman’s daughter Thetis has been talking you over, for she was
with you and had hold of your knees this self-same morning. I
believe, therefore, that you have been promising her to give
glory to Achilles, and to kill much people at the ships of the
Achaeans.”
“Wife,” said Jove, “I can do nothing but you suspect me and find
it out. You will take nothing by it, for I shall only dislike you
the more, and it will go harder with you. Granted that it is as
you say; I mean to have it so; sit down and hold your tongue as I
bid you for if I once begin to lay my hands about you, though all
heaven were on your side it would profit you nothing.”
On this Juno was frightened, so she curbed her stubborn will and
sat down in silence. But the heavenly beings were disquieted
throughout the house of Jove, till the cunning workman Vulcan
began to try and pacify his mother Juno. “It will be
intolerable,” said he, “if you two fall to wrangling and setting
heaven in an uproar about a pack of mortals. If such ill counsels
are to prevail, we shall have no pleasure at our banquet. Let me
then advise my mother—and she must herself know that it will be
better—to make friends with my dear father Jove, lest he again
scold her and disturb our feast. If the Olympian Thunderer wants
to hurl us all from our seats, he can do so, for he is far the
strongest, so give him fair words, and he will then soon be in a
good humour with us.”
As he spoke, he took a double cup of nectar, and placed it in his
mother’s hand. “Cheer up, my dear mother,” said he, “and make the
best of it. I love you dearly, and should be very sorry to see
you get a thrashing; however grieved I might be, I could not
help, for there is no standing against Jove. Once before when I
was trying to help you, he caught me by the foot and flung me
from the heavenly threshold. All day long from morn till eve, was
I falling, till at sunset I came to ground in the island of
Lemnos, and there I lay, with very little life left in me, till
the Sintians came and tended me.”
Juno smiled at this, and as she smiled she took the cup from her
son’s hands. Then Vulcan drew sweet nectar from the mixing-bowl,
and served it round among the gods, going from left to right; and
the blessed gods laughed out a loud applause as they saw him
bustling about the heavenly mansion.
Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun they
feasted, and every one had his full share, so that all were
satisfied. Apollo struck his lyre, and the Muses lifted up their
sweet voices, calling and answering one another. But when the
sun’s glorious light had faded, they went home to bed, each in
his own abode, which lame Vulcan with his consummate skill had
fashioned for them. So Jove, the Olympian Lord of Thunder, hied
him to the bed in which he always slept; and when he had got on
to it he went to sleep, with Juno of the golden throne by his
side.
BOOK II.
Jove sends a lying dream to Agamemnon, who thereon calls the
chiefs in assembly, and proposes to sound the mind of his army—In
the end they march to fight—Catalogue of the Achaean and Trojan
forces.
Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept
soundly, but Jove was wakeful, for he was thinking how to do
honour to Achilles, and destroyed much people at the ships of the
Achaeans. In the end he deemed it would be best to send a lying
dream to King Agamemnon; so he called one to him and said to it,
“Lying Dream, go to the ships of the Achaeans, into the tent of
Agamemnon, and say to him word for word as I now bid you. Tell
him to get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for he shall take
Troy. There are no longer divided counsels among the gods; Juno
has brought them to her own mind, and woe betides the Trojans.”
The dream went when it had heard its message, and soon reached
the ships of the Achaeans. It sought Agamemnon son of Atreus and
found him in his tent, wrapped in a profound slumber. It hovered
over his head in the likeness of Nestor, son of Neleus, whom
Agamemnon honoured above all his councillors, and said:—
“You are sleeping, son of Atreus; one who has the welfare of his
host and so much other care upon his shoulders should dock his
sleep. Hear me at once, for I come as a messenger from Jove, who,
though he be not near, yet takes thought for you and pities you.
He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall
take Troy. There are no longer divided counsels among the gods;
Juno has brought them over to her own mind, and woe betides the
Trojans at the hands of Jove. Remember this, and when you wake
see that it does not escape you.”
The dream then left him, and he thought of things that were,
surely not to be accomplished. He thought that on that same day
he was to take the city of Priam, but he little knew what was in
the mind of Jove, who had many another hard-fought fight in store
alike for Danaans and Trojans. Then presently he woke, with the
divine message still ringing in his ears; so he sat upright, and
put on his soft shirt so fair and new, and over this his heavy
cloak. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet, and slung his
silver-studded sword about his shoulders; then he took the
imperishable staff of his father, and sallied forth to the ships
of the Achaeans.
The goddess Dawn now wended her way to vast Olympus that she
might herald day to Jove and to the other immortals, and
Agamemnon sent the criers round to call the people in assembly;
so they called them and the people gathered thereon. But first he
summoned a meeting of the elders at the ship of Nestor king of
Pylos, and when they were assembled he laid a cunning counsel
before them.
“My friends,” said he, “I have had a dream from heaven in the
dead of night, and its face and figure resembled none but
Nestor’s. It hovered over my head and said, ‘You are sleeping,
son of Atreus; one who has the welfare of his host and so much
other care upon his shoulders should dock his sleep. Hear me at
once, for I am a messenger from Jove, who, though he be not near,
yet takes thought for you and pities you. He bids you get the
Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall take Troy. There are
no longer divided counsels among the gods; Juno has brought them
over to her own mind, and woe betides the Trojans at the hands of
Jove. Remember this.’ The dream then vanished and I awoke. Let us
now, therefore, arm the sons of the Achaeans. But it will be well
that I should first sound them, and to this end I will tell them
to fly with their ships; but do you others go about among the
host and prevent their doing so.”
He then sat down, and Nestor the prince of Pylos with all
sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus: “My friends,” said
he, “princes and councillors of the Argives, if any other man of
the Achaeans had told us of this dream we should have declared it
false, and would have had nothing to do with it. But he who has
seen it is the foremost man among us; we must therefore set about
getting the people under arms.”
With this he led the way from the assembly, and the other
sceptred kings rose with him in obedience to the word of
Agamemnon; but the people pressed forward to hear. They swarmed
like bees that sally from some hollow cave and flit in countless
throng among the spring flowers, bunched in knots and clusters;
even so did the mighty multitude pour from ships and tents to the
assembly, and range themselves upon the wide-watered shore, while
among them ran Wildfire Rumour, messenger of Jove, urging them
ever to the fore. Thus they gathered in a pell-mell of mad
confusion, and the earth groaned under the tramp of men as the
people sought their places. Nine heralds went crying about among
them to stay their tumult and bid them listen to the kings, till
at last they were got into their several places and ceased their
clamour. Then King Agamemnon rose, holding his sceptre. This was
the work of Vulcan, who gave it to Jove the son of Saturn. Jove
gave it to Mercury, slayer of Argus, guide and guardian. King
Mercury gave it to Pelops, the mighty charioteer, and Pelops to
Atreus, shepherd of his people. Atreus, when he died, left it to
Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes in his turn left it to be
borne by Agamemnon, that he might be lord of all Argos and of the
isles. Leaning, then, on his sceptre, he addressed the Argives.
“My friends,” he said, “heroes, servants of Mars, the hand of
heaven has been laid heavily upon me. Cruel Jove gave me his
solemn promise that I should sack the city of Priam before
returning, but he has played me false, and is now bidding me go
ingloriously back to Argos with the loss of much people. Such is
the will of Jove, who has laid many a proud city in the dust, as
he will yet lay others, for his power is above all. It will be a
sorry tale hereafter that an Achaean host, at once so great and
valiant, battled in vain against men fewer in number than
themselves; but as yet the end is not in sight. Think that the
Achaeans and Trojans have sworn to a solemn covenant, and that
they have each been numbered—the Trojans by the roll of their
householders, and we by companies of ten; think further that each
of our companies desired to have a Trojan householder to pour out
their wine; we are so greatly more in number that full many a
company would have to go without its cup-bearer. But they have in
the town allies from other places, and it is these that hinder me
from being able to sack the rich city of Ilius. Nine of Jove’s
years are gone; the timbers of our ships have rotted; their
tackling is sound no longer. Our wives and little ones at home
look anxiously for our coming, but the work that we came hither
to do has not been done. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say:
let us sail back to our own land, for we shall not take Troy.”
With these words he moved the hearts of the multitude, so many of
them as knew not the cunning counsel of Agamemnon. They surged to
and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea, when the east and
south winds break from heaven’s clouds to lash them; or as when
the west wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears bow
beneath the blast, even so were they swayed as they flew with
loud cries towards the ships, and the dust from under their feet
rose heavenward. They cheered each other on to draw the ships
into the sea; they cleared the channels in front of them; they
began taking away the stays from underneath them, and the welkin
rang with their glad cries, so eager were they to return.
Then surely the Argives would have returned after a fashion that
was not fated. But Juno said to Minerva, “Alas, daughter of
aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, shall the Argives fly home to
their own land over the broad sea, and leave Priam and the
Trojans the glory of still keeping Helen, for whose sake so many
of the Achaeans have died at Troy, far from their homes? Go about
at once among the host, and speak fairly to them, man by man,
that they draw not their ships into the sea.”
Minerva was not slack to do her bidding. Down she darted from the
topmost summits of Olympus, and in a moment she was at the ships
of the Achaeans. There she found Ulysses, peer of Jove in
counsel, standing alone. He had not as yet laid a hand upon his
ship, for he was grieved and sorry; so she went close up to him
and said, “Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, are you going to fling
yourselves into your ships and be off home to your own land in
this way? Will you leave Priam and the Trojans the glory of still
keeping Helen, for whose sake so many of the Achaeans have died
at Troy, far from their homes? Go about at once among the host,
and speak fairly to them, man by man, that they draw not their
ships into the sea.”
Ulysses knew the voice as that of the goddess: he flung his cloak
from him and set off to run. His servant Eurybates, a man of
Ithaca, who waited on him, took charge of the cloak, whereon
Ulysses went straight up to Agamemnon and received from him his
ancestral, imperishable staff. With this he went about among the
ships of the Achaeans.
Whenever he met a king or chieftain, he stood by him and spoke
him fairly. “Sir,” said he, “this flight is cowardly and
unworthy. Stand to your post, and bid your people also keep their
places. You do not yet know the full mind of Agamemnon; he was
sounding us, and ere long will visit the Achaeans with his
displeasure. We were not all of us at the council to hear what he
then said; see to it lest he be angry and do us a mischief; for
the pride of kings is great, and the hand of Jove is with them.”
But when he came across any common man who was making a noise, he
struck him with his staff and rebuked him, saying, “Sirrah, hold
your peace, and listen to better men than yourself. You are a
coward and no soldier; you are nobody either in fight or council;
we cannot all be kings; it is not well that there should be many
masters; one man must be supreme—one king to whom the son of
scheming Saturn has given the sceptre of sovereignty over you
all.”
Thus masterfully did he go about among the host, and the people
hurried back to the council from their tents and ships with a
sound as the thunder of surf when it comes crashing down upon the
shore, and all the sea is in an uproar.
The rest now took their seats and kept to their own several
places, but Thersites still went on wagging his unbridled
tongue—a man of many words, and those unseemly; a monger of
sedition, a railer against all who were in authority, who cared
not what he said, so that he might set the Achaeans in a laugh.
He was the ugliest man of all those that came before
Troy—bandy-legged, lame of one foot, with his two shoulders
rounded and hunched over his chest. His head ran up to a point,
but there was little hair on the top of it. Achilles and Ulysses
hated him worst of all, for it was with them that he was most
wont to wrangle; now, however, with a shrill squeaky voice he
began heaping his abuse on Agamemnon. The Achaeans were angry and
disgusted, yet none the less he kept on brawling and bawling at
the son of Atreus.
“Agamemnon,” he cried, “what ails you now, and what more do you
want? Your tents are filled with bronze and with fair women, for
whenever we take a town we give you the pick of them. Would you
have yet more gold, which some Trojan is to give you as a ransom
for his son, when I or another Achaean has taken him prisoner? or
is it some young girl to hide and lie with? It is not well that
you, the ruler of the Achaeans, should bring them into such
misery. Weakling cowards, women rather than men, let us sail
home, and leave this fellow here at Troy to stew in his own meeds
of honour, and discover whether we were of any service to him or
no. Achilles is a much better man than he is, and see how he has
treated him—robbing him of his prize and keeping it himself.
Achilles takes it meekly and shows no fight; if he did, son of
Atreus, you would never again insult him.”
Thus railed Thersites, but Ulysses at once went up to him and
rebuked him sternly. “Check your glib tongue, Thersites,” said
be, “and babble not a word further. Chide not with princes when
you have none to back you. There is no viler creature come before
Troy with the sons of Atreus. Drop this chatter about kings, and
neither revile them nor keep harping about going home. We do not
yet know how things are going to be, nor whether the Achaeans are
to return with good success or evil. How dare you gibe at
Agamemnon because the Danaans have awarded him so many prizes? I
tell you, therefore—and it shall surely be—that if I again catch
you talking such nonsense, I will either forfeit my own head and
be no more called father of Telemachus, or I will take you, strip
you stark naked, and whip you out of the assembly till you go
blubbering back to the ships.”
On this he beat him with his staff about the back and shoulders
till he dropped and fell a-weeping. The golden sceptre raised a
bloody weal on his back, so he sat down frightened and in pain,
looking foolish as he wiped the tears from his eyes. The people
were sorry for him, yet they laughed heartily, and one would turn
to his neighbour saying, “Ulysses has done many a good thing ere
now in fight and council, but he never did the Argives a better
turn than when he stopped this fellow’s mouth from prating
further. He will give the kings no more of his insolence.”
Thus said the people. Then Ulysses rose, sceptre in hand, and
Minerva in the likeness of a herald bade the people be still,
that those who were far off might hear him and consider his
council. He therefore with all sincerity and goodwill addressed
them thus:—
“King Agamemnon, the Achaeans are for making you a by-word among
all mankind. They forget the promise they made you when they set
out from Argos, that you should not return till you had sacked
the town of Troy, and, like children or widowed women, they
murmur and would set off homeward. True it is that they have had
toil enough to be disheartened. A man chafes at having to stay
away from his wife even for a single month, when he is on
shipboard, at the mercy of wind and sea, but it is now nine long
years that we have been kept here; I cannot, therefore, blame the
Achaeans if they turn restive; still we shall be shamed if we go
home empty after so long a stay—therefore, my friends, be patient
yet a little longer that we may learn whether the prophesyings of
Calchas were false or true.
“All who have not since perished must remember as though it were
yesterday or the day before, how the ships of the Achaeans were
detained in Aulis when we were on our way hither to make war on
Priam and the Trojans. We were ranged round about a fountain
offering hecatombs to the gods upon their holy altars, and there
was a fine plane-tree from beneath which there welled a stream of
pure water. Then we saw a prodigy; for Jove sent a fearful
serpent out of the ground, with blood-red stains upon its back,
and it darted from under the altar on to the plane-tree. Now
there was a brood of young sparrows, quite small, upon the
topmost bough, peeping out from under the leaves, eight in all,
and their mother that hatched them made nine. The serpent ate the
poor cheeping things, while the old bird flew about lamenting her
little ones; but the serpent threw his coils about her and caught
her by the wing as she was screaming. Then, when he had eaten
both the sparrow and her young, the god who had sent him made him
become a sign; for the son of scheming Saturn turned him into
stone, and we stood there wondering at that which had come to
pass. Seeing, then, that such a fearful portent had broken in
upon our hecatombs, Calchas forthwith declared to us the oracles
of heaven. ‘Why, Achaeans,’ said he, ‘are you thus speechless?
Jove has sent us this sign, long in coming, and long ere it be
fulfilled, though its fame shall last for ever. As the serpent
ate the eight fledglings and the sparrow that hatched them, which
makes nine, so shall we fight nine years at Troy, but in the
tenth shall take the town.’ This was what he said, and now it is
all coming true. Stay here, therefore, all of you, till we take
the city of Priam.”
On this the Argives raised a shout, till the ships rang again
with the uproar. Nestor, knight of Gerene, then addressed them.
“Shame on you,” he cried, “to stay talking here like children,
when you should fight like men. Where are our covenants now, and
where the oaths that we have taken? Shall our counsels be flung
into the fire, with our drink-offerings and the right hands of
fellowship wherein we have put our trust? We waste our time in
words, and for all our talking here shall be no further forward.
Stand, therefore, son of Atreus, by your own steadfast purpose;
lead the Argives on to battle, and leave this handful of men to
rot, who scheme, and scheme in vain, to get back to Argos ere
they have learned whether Jove be true or a liar. For the mighty
son of Saturn surely promised that we should succeed, when we
Argives set sail to bring death and destruction upon the Trojans.
He showed us favourable signs by flashing his lightning on our
right hands; therefore let none make haste to go till he has
first lain with the wife of some Trojan, and avenged the toil and
sorrow that he has suffered for the sake of Helen. Nevertheless,
if any man is in such haste to be at home again, let him lay his
hand to his ship that he may meet his doom in the sight of all.
But, O king, consider and give ear to my counsel, for the word
that I say may not be neglected lightly. Divide your men,
Agamemnon, into their several tribes and clans, that clans and
tribes may stand by and help one another. If you do this, and if
the Achaeans obey you, you will find out who, both chiefs and
peoples, are brave, and who are cowards; for they will vie
against the other. Thus you shall also learn whether it is
through the counsel of heaven or the cowardice of man that you
shall fail to take the town.”
And Agamemnon answered, “Nestor, you have again outdone the sons
of the Achaeans in counsel. Would, by Father Jove, Minerva, and
Apollo, that I had among them ten more such councillors, for the
city of King Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we
should sack it. But the son of Saturn afflicts me with bootless
wranglings and strife. Achilles and I are quarrelling about this
girl, in which matter I was the first to offend; if we can be of
one mind again, the Trojans will not stave off destruction for a
day. Now, therefore, get your morning meal, that our hosts join
in fight. Whet well your spears; see well to the ordering of your
shields; give good feeds to your horses, and look your chariots
carefully over, that we may do battle the livelong day; for we
shall have no rest, not for a moment, till night falls to part
us. The bands that bear your shields shall be wet with the sweat
upon your shoulders, your hands shall weary upon your spears,
your horses shall steam in front of your chariots, and if I see
any man shirking the fight, or trying to keep out of it at the
ships, there shall be no help for him, but he shall be a prey to
dogs and vultures.”
Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans roared applause. As when the
waves run high before the blast of the south wind and break on
some lofty headland, dashing against it and buffeting it without
ceasing, as the storms from every quarter drive them, even so did
the Achaeans rise and hurry in all directions to their ships.
There they lighted their fires at their tents and got dinner,
offering sacrifice every man to one or other of the gods, and
praying each one of them that he might live to come out of the
fight. Agamemnon, king of men, sacrificed a fat five-year-old
bull to the mighty son of Saturn, and invited the princes and
elders of his host. First he asked Nestor and King Idomeneus,
then the two Ajaxes and the son of Tydeus, and sixthly Ulysses,
peer of gods in counsel; but Menelaus came of his own accord, for
he knew how busy his brother then was. They stood round the bull
with the barley-meal in their hands, and Agamemnon prayed,
saying, “Jove, most glorious, supreme, that dwellest in heaven,
and ridest upon the storm-cloud, grant that the sun may not go
down, nor the night fall, till the palace of Priam is laid low,
and its gates are consumed with fire. Grant that my sword may
pierce the shirt of Hector about his heart, and that full many of
his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying round him.”
Thus he prayed, but the son of Saturn would not fulfil his
prayer. He accepted the sacrifice, yet none the less increased
their toil continually. When they had done praying and sprinkling
the barley-meal upon the victim, they drew back its head, killed
it, and then flayed it. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped
them round in two layers of fat, and set pieces of raw meat on
the top of them. These they burned upon the split logs of
firewood, but they spitted the inward meats, and held them in the
flames to cook. When the thigh-bones were burned, and they had
tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small, put the
pieces upon spits, roasted them till they were done, and drew
them off; then, when they had finished their work and the feast
was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that
all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and
drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene, began to speak. “King
Agamemnon,” said he, “let us not stay talking here, nor be slack
in the work that heaven has put into our hands. Let the heralds
summon the people to gather at their several ships; we will then
go about among the host, that we may begin fighting at once.”
Thus did he speak, and Agamemnon heeded his words. He at once
sent the criers round to call the people in assembly. So they
called them, and the people gathered thereon. The chiefs about
the son of Atreus chose their men and marshalled them, while
Minerva went among them holding her priceless aegis that knows
neither age nor death. From it there waved a hundred tassels of
pure gold, all deftly woven, and each one of them worth a hundred
oxen. With this she darted furiously everywhere among the hosts
of the Achaeans, urging them forward, and putting courage into
the heart of each, so that he might fight and do battle without
ceasing. Thus war became sweeter in their eyes even than
returning home in their ships. As when some great forest fire is
raging upon a mountain top and its light is seen afar, even so as
they marched the gleam of their armour flashed up into the
firmament of heaven.
They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the
plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and
thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they
settle till the fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did
their tribes pour from ships and tents on to the plain of the
Scamander, and the ground rang as brass under the feet of men and
horses. They stood as thick upon the flower-bespangled field as
leaves that bloom in summer.
As countless swarms of flies buzz around a herdsman’s homestead
in the time of spring when the pails are drenched with milk, even
so did the Achaeans swarm on to the plain to charge the Trojans
and destroy them.
The chiefs disposed their men this way and that before the fight
began, drafting them out as easily as goatherds draft their
flocks when they have got mixed while feeding; and among them
went King Agamemnon, with a head and face like Jove the lord of
thunder, a waist like Mars, and a chest like that of Neptune. As
some great bull that lords it over the herds upon the plain, even
so did Jove make the son of Atreus stand peerless among the
multitude of heroes.
And now, O Muses, dwellers in the mansions of Olympus, tell
me—for you are goddesses and are in all places so that you see
all things, while we know nothing but by report—who were the
chiefs and princes of the Danaans? As for the common soldiers,
they were so that I could not name every single one of them
though I had ten tongues, and though my voice failed not and my
heart were of bronze within me, unless you, O Olympian Muses,
daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, were to recount them to me.
Nevertheless, I will tell the captains of the ships and all the
fleet together.
Peneleos, Leitus, Arcesilaus, Prothoenor, and Clonius were
captains of the Boeotians. These were they that dwelt in Hyria
and rocky Aulis, and who held Schoenus, Scolus, and the highlands
of Eteonus, with Thespeia, Graia, and the fair city of
Mycalessus. They also held Harma, Eilesium, and Erythrae; and
they had Eleon, Hyle, and Peteon; Ocalea and the strong fortress
of Medeon; Copae, Eutresis, and Thisbe the haunt of doves;
Coronea, and the pastures of Haliartus; Plataea and Glisas; the
fortress of Thebes the less; holy Onchestus with its famous grove
of Neptune; Arne rich in vineyards; Midea, sacred Nisa, and
Anthedon upon the sea. From these there came fifty ships, and in
each there were a hundred and twenty young men of the Boeotians.
Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Mars, led the people that dwelt
in Aspledon and Orchomenus the realm of Minyas. Astyoche a noble
maiden bore them in the house of Actor son of Azeus; for she had
gone with Mars secretly into an upper chamber, and he had lain
with her. With these there came thirty ships.
The Phoceans were led by Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of mighty
Iphitus the son of Naubolus. These were they that held
Cyparissus, rocky Pytho, holy Crisa, Daulis, and Panopeus; they
also that dwelt in Anemorea and Hyampolis, and about the waters
of the river Cephissus, and Lilaea by the springs of the
Cephissus; with their chieftains came forty ships, and they
marshalled the forces of the Phoceans, which were stationed next
to the Boeotians, on their left.
Ajax, the fleet son of Oileus, commanded the Locrians. He was not
so great, nor nearly so great, as Ajax the son of Telamon. He was
a little man, and his breastplate was made of linen, but in use
of the spear he excelled all the Hellenes and the Achaeans. These
dwelt in Cynus, Opous, Calliarus, Bessa, Scarphe, fair Augeae,
Tarphe, and Thronium about the river Boagrius. With him there
came forty ships of the Locrians who dwell beyond Euboea.
The fierce Abantes held Euboea with its cities, Chalcis, Eretria,
Histiaea rich in vines, Cerinthus upon the sea, and the
rock-perched town of Dium; with them were also the men of
Carystus and Styra; Elephenor of the race of Mars was in command
of these; he was son of Chalcodon, and chief over all the
Abantes. With him they came, fleet of foot and wearing their hair
long behind, brave warriors, who would ever strive to tear open
the corslets of their foes with their long ashen spears. Of these
there came fifty ships.
And they that held the strong city of Athens, the people of great
Erechtheus, who was born of the soil itself, but Jove’s daughter,
Minerva, fostered him, and established him at Athens in her own
rich sanctuary. There, year by year, the Athenian youths worship
him with sacrifices of bulls and rams. These were commanded by
Menestheus, son of Peteos. No man living could equal him in the
marshalling of chariots and foot soldiers. Nestor could alone
rival him, for he was older. With him there came fifty ships.
Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis, and stationed them
alongside those of the Athenians.
The men of Argos, again, and those who held the walls of Tiryns,
with Hermione, and Asine upon the gulf; Troezene, Eionae, and the
vineyard lands of Epidaurus; the Achaean youths, moreover, who
came from Aegina and Mases; these were led by Diomed of the loud
battle-cry, and Sthenelus son of famed Capaneus. With them in
command was Euryalus, son of king Mecisteus, son of Talaus; but
Diomed was chief over them all. With these there came eighty
ships.
Those who held the strong city of Mycenae, rich Corinth and
Cleonae; Orneae, Araethyrea, and Licyon, where Adrastus reigned
of old; Hyperesia, high Gonoessa, and Pellene; Aegium and all the
coast-land round about Helice; these sent a hundred ships under
the command of King Agamemnon, son of Atreus. His force was far
both finest and most numerous, and in their midst was the king
himself, all glorious in his armour of gleaming bronze—foremost
among the heroes, for he was the greatest king, and had most men
under him.
And those that dwelt in Lacedaemon, lying low among the hills,
Pharis, Sparta, with Messe the haunt of doves; Bryseae, Augeae,
Amyclae, and Helos upon the sea; Laas, moreover, and Oetylus;
these were led by Menelaus of the loud battle-cry, brother to
Agamemnon, and of them there were sixty ships, drawn up apart
from the others. Among them went Menelaus himself, strong in
zeal, urging his men to fight; for he longed to avenge the toil
and sorrow that he had suffered for the sake of Helen.
The men of Pylos and Arene, and Thryum where is the ford of the
river Alpheus; strong Aipy, Cyparisseis, and Amphigenea; Pteleum,
Helos, and Dorium, where the Muses met Thamyris, and stilled his
minstrelsy for ever. He was returning from Oechalia, where
Eurytus lived and reigned, and boasted that he would surpass even
the Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, if they should sing
against him; whereon they were angry, and maimed him. They robbed
him of his divine power of song, and thenceforth he could strike
the lyre no more. These were commanded by Nestor, knight of
Gerene, and with him there came ninety ships.
And those that held Arcadia, under the high mountain of Cyllene,
near the tomb of Aepytus, where the people fight hand to hand;
the men of Pheneus also, and Orchomenus rich in flocks; of
Rhipae, Stratie, and bleak Enispe; of Tegea and fair Mantinea; of
Stymphelus and Parrhasia; of these King Agapenor son of Ancaeus
was commander, and they had sixty ships. Many Arcadians, good
soldiers, came in each one of them, but Agamemnon found them the
ships in which to cross the sea, for they were not a people that
occupied their business upon the waters.
The men, moreover, of Buprasium and of Elis, so much of it as is
enclosed between Hyrmine, Myrsinus upon the sea-shore, the rock
Olene and Alesium. These had four leaders, and each of them had
ten ships, with many Epeans on board. Their captains were
Amphimachus and Thalpius—the one, son of Cteatus, and the other,
of Eurytus—both of the race of Actor. The two others were Diores,
son of Amarynces, and Polyxenus, son of King Agasthenes, son of
Augeas.
And those of Dulichium with the sacred Echinean islands, who
dwelt beyond the sea off Elis; these were led by Meges, peer of
Mars, and the son of valiant Phyleus, dear to Jove, who
quarrelled with his father, and went to settle in Dulichium. With
him there came forty ships.
Ulysses led the brave Cephallenians, who held Ithaca, Neritum
with its forests, Crocylea, rugged Aegilips, Samos and Zacynthus,
with the mainland also that was over against the islands. These
were led by Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel, and with him there
came twelve ships.
Thoas, son of Andraemon, commanded the Aetolians, who dwelt in
Pleuron, Olenus, Pylene, Chalcis by the sea, and rocky Calydon,
for the great king Oeneus had now no sons living, and was himself
dead, as was also golden-haired Meleager, who had been set over
the Aetolians to be their king. And with Thoas there came forty
ships.
The famous spearsman Idomeneus led the Cretans, who held Cnossus,
and the well-walled city of Gortys; Lyctus also, Miletus and
Lycastus that lies upon the chalk; the populous towns of Phaestus
and Rhytium, with the other peoples that dwelt in the hundred
cities of Crete. All these were led by Idomeneus, and by
Meriones, peer of murderous Mars. And with these there came
eighty ships.
Tlepolemus, son of Hercules, a man both brave and large of
stature, brought nine ships of lordly warriors from Rhodes. These
dwelt in Rhodes which is divided among the three cities of
Lindus, Ielysus, and Cameirus, that lies upon the chalk. These
were commanded by Tlepolemus, son of Hercules by Astyochea, whom
he had carried off from Ephyra, on the river Selleis, after
sacking many cities of valiant warriors. When Tlepolemus grew up,
he killed his father’s uncle Licymnius, who had been a famous
warrior in his time, but was then grown old. On this he built
himself a fleet, gathered a great following, and fled beyond the
sea, for he was menaced by the other sons and grandsons of
Hercules. After a voyage, during which he suffered great
hardship, he came to Rhodes, where the people divided into three
communities, according to their tribes, and were dearly loved by
Jove, the lord of gods and men; wherefore the son of Saturn
showered down great riches upon them.
And Nireus brought three ships from Syme—Nireus, who was the
handsomest man that came up under Ilius of all the Danaans after
the son of Peleus—but he was a man of no substance, and had but a
small following.
And those that held Nisyrus, Crapathus, and Casus, with Cos, the
city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands, these were
commanded by Pheidippus and Antiphus, two sons of King Thessalus
the son of Hercules. And with them there came thirty ships.
Those again who held Pelasgic Argos, Alos, Alope, and Trachis;
and those of Phthia and Hellas the land of fair women, who were
called Myrmidons, Hellenes, and Achaeans; these had fifty ships,
over which Achilles was in command. But they now took no part in
the war, inasmuch as there was no one to marshal them; for
Achilles stayed by his ships, furious about the loss of the girl
Briseis, whom he had taken from Lyrnessus at his own great peril,
when he had sacked Lyrnessus and Thebe, and had overthrown Mynes
and Epistrophus, sons of king Evenor, son of Selepus. For her
sake Achilles was still grieving, but ere long he was again to
join them.
And those that held Phylace and the flowery meadows of Pyrasus,
sanctuary of Ceres; Iton, the mother of sheep; Antrum upon the
sea, and Pteleum that lies upon the grass lands. Of these brave
Protesilaus had been captain while he was yet alive, but he was
now lying under the earth. He had left a wife behind him in
Phylace to tear her cheeks in sorrow, and his house was only half
finished, for he was slain by a Dardanian warrior while leaping
foremost of the Achaeans upon the soil of Troy. Still, though his
people mourned their chieftain, they were not without a leader,
for Podarces, of the race of Mars, marshalled them; he was son of
Iphiclus, rich in sheep, who was the son of Phylacus, and he was
own brother to Protesilaus, only younger, Protesilaus being at
once the elder and the more valiant. So the people were not
without a leader, though they mourned him whom they had lost.
With him there came forty ships.
And those that held Pherae by the Boebean lake, with Boebe,
Glaphyrae, and the populous city of Iolcus, these with their
eleven ships were led by Eumelus, son of Admetus, whom Alcestis
bore to him, loveliest of the daughters of Pelias.
And those that held Methone and Thaumacia, with Meliboea and
rugged Olizon, these were led by the skilful archer Philoctetes,
and they had seven ships, each with fifty oarsmen all of them
good archers; but Philoctetes was lying in great pain in the
Island of Lemnos, where the sons of the Achaeans left him, for he
had been bitten by a poisonous water snake. There he lay sick and
sorry, and full soon did the Argives come to miss him. But his
people, though they felt his loss were not leaderless, for Medon,
the bastard son of Oileus by Rhene, set them in array.
Those, again, of Tricca and the stony region of Ithome, and they
that held Oechalia, the city of Oechalian Eurytus, these were
commanded by the two sons of Aesculapius, skilled in the art of
healing, Podalirius and Machaon. And with them there came thirty
ships.
The men, moreover, of Ormenius, and by the fountain of Hypereia,
with those that held Asterius, and the white crests of Titanus,
these were led by Eurypylus, the son of Euaemon, and with them
there came forty ships.
Those that held Argissa and Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and the white
city of Oloosson, of these brave Polypoetes was leader. He was
son of Pirithous, who was son of Jove himself, for Hippodameia
bore him to Pirithous on the day when he took his revenge on the
shaggy mountain savages and drove them from Mt. Pelion to the
Aithices. But Polypoetes was not sole in command, for with him
was Leonteus, of the race of Mars, who was son of Coronus, the
son of Caeneus. And with these there came forty ships.
Guneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus, and he was
followed by the Enienes and the valiant Peraebi, who dwelt about
wintry Dodona, and held the lands round the lovely river
Titaresius, which sends its waters into the Peneus. They do not
mingle with the silver eddies of the Peneus, but flow on the top
of them like oil; for the Titaresius is a branch of dread Orcus
and of the river Styx.
Of the Magnetes, Prothous son of Tenthredon was commander. They
were they that dwelt about the river Peneus and Mt. Pelion.
Prothous, fleet of foot, was their leader, and with him there
came forty ships.
Such were the chiefs and princes of the Danaans. Who, then, O
Muse, was the foremost, whether man or horse, among those that
followed after the sons of Atreus?
Of the horses, those of the son of Pheres were by far the finest.
They were driven by Eumelus, and were as fleet as birds. They
were of the same age and colour, and perfectly matched in height.
Apollo, of the silver bow, had bred them in Perea—both of them
mares, and terrible as Mars in battle. Of the men, Ajax, son of
Telamon, was much the foremost so long as Achilles’ anger lasted,
for Achilles excelled him greatly and he had also better horses;
but Achilles was now holding aloof at his ships by reason of his
quarrel with Agamemnon, and his people passed their time upon the
sea shore, throwing discs or aiming with spears at a mark, and in
archery. Their horses stood each by his own chariot, champing
lotus and wild celery. The chariots were housed under cover, but
their owners, for lack of leadership, wandered hither and thither
about the host and went not forth to fight.
Thus marched the host like a consuming fire, and the earth
groaned beneath them when the lord of thunder is angry and lashes
the land about Typhoeus among the Arimi, where they say Typhoeus
lies. Even so did the earth groan beneath them as they sped over
the plain.
And now Iris, fleet as the wind, was sent by Jove to tell the bad
news among the Trojans. They were gathered in assembly, old and
young, at Priam’s gates, and Iris came close up to Priam,
speaking with the voice of Priam’s son Polites, who, being fleet
of foot, was stationed as watchman for the Trojans on the tomb of
old Aesyetes, to look out for any sally of the Achaeans. In his
likeness Iris spoke, saying, “Old man, you talk idly, as in time
of peace, while war is at hand. I have been in many a battle, but
never yet saw such a host as is now advancing. They are crossing
the plain to attack the city as thick as leaves or as the sands
of the sea. Hector, I charge you above all others, do as I say.
There are many allies dispersed about the city of Priam from
distant places and speaking divers tongues. Therefore, let each
chief give orders to his own people, setting them severally in
array and leading them forth to battle.”
Thus she spoke, but Hector knew that it was the goddess, and at
once broke up the assembly. The men flew to arms; all the gates
were opened, and the people thronged through them, horse and
foot, with the tramp as of a great multitude.
Now there is a high mound before the city, rising by itself upon
the plain. Men call it Batieia, but the gods know that it is the
tomb of lithe Myrine. Here the Trojans and their allies divided
their forces.
Priam’s son, great Hector of the gleaming helmet, commanded the
Trojans, and with him were arrayed by far the greater number and
most valiant of those who were longing for the fray.
The Dardanians were led by brave Aeneas, whom Venus bore to
Anchises, when she, goddess though she was, had lain with him
upon the mountain slopes of Ida. He was not alone, for with him
were the two sons of Antenor, Archilochus and Acamas, both
skilled in all the arts of war.
They that dwelt in Telea under the lowest spurs of Mt. Ida, men
of substance, who drink the limpid waters of the Aesepus, and are
of Trojan blood—these were led by Pandarus son of Lycaon, whom
Apollo had taught to use the bow.
They that held Adresteia and the land of Apaesus, with Pityeia,
and the high mountain of Tereia—these were led by Adrestus and
Amphius, whose breastplate was of linen. These were the sons of
Merops of Percote, who excelled in all kinds of divination. He
told them not to take part in the war, but they gave him no heed,
for fate lured them to destruction.
They that dwelt about Percote and Practius, with Sestos, Abydos,
and Arisbe—these were led by Asius, son of Hyrtacus, a brave
commander—Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, whom his powerful dark bay
steeds, of the breed that comes from the river Selleis, had
brought from Arisbe.
Hippothous led the tribes of Pelasgian spearsmen, who dwelt in
fertile Larissa—Hippothous, and Pylaeus of the race of Mars, two
sons of the Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus.
Acamas and the warrior Peirous commanded the Thracians and those
that came from beyond the mighty stream of the Hellespont.
Euphemus, son of Troezenus, the son of Ceos, was captain of the
Ciconian spearsmen.
Pyraechmes led the Paeonian archers from distant Amydon, by the
broad waters of the river Axius, the fairest that flow upon the
earth.
The Paphlagonians were commanded by stout-hearted Pylaemanes from
Enetae, where the mules run wild in herds. These were they that
held Cytorus and the country round Sesamus, with the cities by
the river Parthenius, Cromna, Aegialus, and lofty Erithini.
Odius and Epistrophus were captains over the Halizoni from
distant Alybe, where there are mines of silver.
Chromis, and Ennomus the augur, led the Mysians, but his skill in
augury availed not to save him from destruction, for he fell by
the hand of the fleet descendant of Aeacus in the river, where he
slew others also of the Trojans.
Phorcys, again, and noble Ascanius led the Phrygians from the far
country of Ascania, and both were eager for the fray.
Mesthles and Antiphus commanded the Meonians, sons of Talaemenes,
born to him of the Gygaean lake. These led the Meonians, who
dwelt under Mt. Tmolus.
Nastes led the Carians, men of a strange speech. These held
Miletus and the wooded mountain of Phthires, with the water of
the river Maeander and the lofty crests of Mt. Mycale. These were
commanded by Nastes and Amphimachus, the brave sons of Nomion. He
came into the fight with gold about him, like a girl; fool that
he was, his gold was of no avail to save him, for he fell in the
river by the hand of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, and Achilles
bore away his gold.
Sarpedon and Glaucus led the Lycians from their distant land, by
the eddying waters of the Xanthus.
BOOK III.
Alexandria, also called Paris, challenges Menelaus—Helen and
Priam view the Achaeans from the wall—The covenant—Paris and
Menelaus fight, and Paris is worsted—Venus carries him off to
save him—Scene between him and Helen.
When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,
the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that
scream overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing
waters of Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies,
and they wrangle in the air as they fly; but the Achaeans marched
silently, in high heart, and minded to stand by one another.
As when the south wind spreads a curtain of mist upon the
mountain tops, bad for shepherds but better than night for
thieves, and a man can see no further than he can throw a stone,
even so rose the dust from under their feet as they made all
speed over the plain.
When they were close up with one another, Alexandrus came forward
as champion on the Trojan side. On his shoulders he bore the skin
of a panther, his bow, and his sword, and he brandished two
spears shod with bronze as a challenge to the bravest of the
Achaeans to meet him in single fight. Menelaus saw him thus
stride out before the ranks, and was glad as a hungry lion that
lights on the carcase of some goat or horned stag, and devours it
there and then, though dogs and youths set upon him. Even thus
was Menelaus glad when his eyes caught sight of Alexandrus, for
he deemed that now he should be revenged. He sprang, therefore,
from his chariot, clad in his suit of armour.
Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank in
fear of his life under cover of his men. As one who starts back
affrighted, trembling and pale, when he comes suddenly upon a
serpent in some mountain glade, even so did Alexandrus plunge
into the throng of Trojan warriors, terror-stricken at the sight
of the son of Atreus.
Then Hector upbraided him. “Paris,” said he, “evil-hearted Paris,
fair to see, but woman-mad, and false of tongue, would that you
had never been born, or that you had died unwed. Better so, than
live to be disgraced and looked askance at. Will not the Achaeans
mock at us and say that we have sent one to champion us who is
fair to see but who has neither wit nor courage? Did you not,
such as you are, get your following together and sail beyond the
seas? Did you not from your a far country carry off a lovely
woman wedded among a people of warriors—to bring sorrow upon your
father, your city, and your whole country, but joy to your
enemies, and hang-dog shamefacedness to yourself? And now can you
not dare face Menelaus and learn what manner of man he is whose
wife you have stolen? Where indeed would be your lyre and your
love-tricks, your comely locks and your fair favour, when you
were lying in the dust before him? The Trojans are a weak-kneed
people, or ere this you would have had a shirt of stones for the
wrongs you have done them.”
And Alexandrus answered, “Hector, your rebuke is just. You are
hard as the axe which a shipwright wields at his work, and
cleaves the timber to his liking. As the axe in his hand, so keen
is the edge of your scorn. Still, taunt me not with the gifts
that golden Venus has given me; they are precious; let not a man
disdain them, for the gods give them where they are minded, and
none can have them for the asking. If you would have me do battle
with Menelaus, bid the Trojans and Achaeans take their seats,
while he and I fight in their midst for Helen and all her wealth.
Let him who shall be victorious and prove to be the better man
take the woman and all she has, to bear them to his home, but let
the rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace whereby you Trojans
shall stay here in Troy, while the others go home to Argos and
the land of the Achaeans.”
When Hector heard this he was glad, and went about among the
Trojan ranks holding his spear by the middle to keep them back,
and they all sat down at his bidding: but the Achaeans still
aimed at him with stones and arrows, till Agamemnon shouted to
them saying, “Hold, Argives, shoot not, sons of the Achaeans;
Hector desires to speak.”
They ceased taking aim and were still, whereon Hector spoke.
“Hear from my mouth,” said he, “Trojans and Achaeans, the saying
of Alexandrus, through whom this quarrel has come about. He bids
the Trojans and Achaeans lay their armour upon the ground, while
he and Menelaus fight in the midst of you for Helen and all her
wealth. Let him who shall be victorious and prove to be the
better man take the woman and all she has, to bear them to his
own home, but let the rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace.”
Thus he spoke, and they all held their peace, till Menelaus of
the loud battle-cry addressed them. “And now,” he said, “hear me
too, for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I deem that the
parting of Achaeans and Trojans is at hand, as well it may be,
seeing how much have suffered for my quarrel with Alexandrus and
the wrong he did me. Let him who shall die, die, and let the
others fight no more. Bring, then, two lambs, a white ram and a
black ewe, for Earth and Sun, and we will bring a third for Jove.
Moreover, you shall bid Priam come, that he may swear to the
covenant himself; for his sons are high-handed and ill to trust,
and the oaths of Jove must not be transgressed or taken in vain.
Young men’s minds are light as air, but when an old man comes he
looks before and after, deeming that which shall be fairest upon
both sides.”
The Trojans and Achaeans were glad when they heard this, for they
thought that they should now have rest. They backed their
chariots toward the ranks, got out of them, and put off their
armour, laying it down upon the ground; and the hosts were near
to one another with a little space between them. Hector sent two
messengers to the city to bring the lambs and to bid Priam come,
while Agamemnon told Talthybius to fetch the other lamb from the
ships, and he did as Agamemnon had said.
Meanwhile Iris went to Helen in the form of her sister-in-law,
wife of the son of Antenor, for Helicaon, son of Antenor, had
married Laodice, the fairest of Priam’s daughters. She found her
in her own room, working at a great web of purple linen, on which
she was embroidering the battles between Trojans and Achaeans,
that Mars had made them fight for her sake. Iris then came close
up to her and said, “Come hither, child, and see the strange
doings of the Trojans and Achaeans. Till now they have been
warring upon the plain, mad with lust of battle, but now they
have left off fighting, and are leaning upon their shields,
sitting still with their spears planted beside them. Alexandrus
and Menelaus are going to fight about yourself, and you are to be
the wife of him who is the victor.”
Thus spoke the goddess, and Helen’s heart yearned after her
former husband, her city, and her parents. She threw a white
mantle over her head, and hurried from her room, weeping as she
went, not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids, Aethrae,
daughter of Pittheus, and Clymene. And straightway they were at
the Scaean gates.
The two sages, Ucalegon and Antenor, elders of the people, were
seated by the Scaean gates, with Priam, Panthous, Thymoetes,
Lampus, Clytius, and Hiketaon of the race of Mars. These were too
old to fight, but they were fluent orators, and sat on the tower
like cicales that chirrup delicately from the boughs of some high
tree in a wood. When they saw Helen coming towards the tower,
they said softly to one another, “Small wonder that Trojans and
Achaeans should endure so much and so long, for the sake of a
woman so marvellously and divinely lovely. Still, fair though she
be, let them take her and go, or she will breed sorrow for us and
for our children after us.”
But Priam bade her draw nigh. “My child,” said he, “take your
seat in front of me that you may see your former husband, your
kinsmen and your friends. I lay no blame upon you, it is the
gods, not you who are to blame. It is they that have brought
about this terrible war with the Achaeans. Tell me, then, who is
yonder huge hero so great and goodly? I have seen men taller by a
head, but none so comely and so royal. Surely he must be a king.”
“Sir,” answered Helen, “father of my husband, dear and reverend
in my eyes, would that I had chosen death rather than to have
come here with your son, far from my bridal chamber, my friends,
my darling daughter, and all the companions of my girlhood. But
it was not to be, and my lot is one of tears and sorrow. As for
your question, the hero of whom you ask is Agamemnon, son of
Atreus, a good king and a brave soldier, brother-in-law as surely
as that he lives, to my abhorred and miserable self.”
The old man marvelled at him and said, “Happy son of Atreus,
child of good fortune. I see that the Achaeans are subject to you
in great multitudes. When I was in Phrygia I saw much horsemen,
the people of Otreus and of Mygdon, who were camping upon the
banks of the river Sangarius; I was their ally, and with them
when the Amazons, peers of men, came up against them, but even
they were not so many as the Achaeans.”
The old man next looked upon Ulysses; “Tell me,” he said, “who is
that other, shorter by a head than Agamemnon, but broader across
the chest and shoulders? His armour is laid upon the ground, and
he stalks in front of the ranks as it were some great woolly ram
ordering his ewes.”
And Helen answered, “He is Ulysses, a man of great craft, son of
Laertes. He was born in rugged Ithaca, and excels in all manner
of stratagems and subtle cunning.”
On this Antenor said, “Madam, you have spoken truly. Ulysses once
came here as envoy about yourself, and Menelaus with him. I
received them in my own house, and therefore know both of them by
sight and conversation. When they stood up in presence of the
assembled Trojans, Menelaus was the broader shouldered, but when
both were seated Ulysses had the more royal presence. After a
time they delivered their message, and the speech of Menelaus ran
trippingly on the tongue; he did not say much, for he was a man
of few words, but he spoke very clearly and to the point, though
he was the younger man of the two; Ulysses, on the other hand,
when he rose to speak, was at first silent and kept his eyes
fixed upon the ground. There was no play nor graceful movement of
his sceptre; he kept it straight and stiff like a man unpractised
in oratory—one might have taken him for a mere churl or
simpleton; but when he raised his voice, and the words came
driving from his deep chest like winter snow before the wind,
then there was none to touch him, and no man thought further of
what he looked like.”
Priam then caught sight of Ajax and asked, “Who is that great and
goodly warrior whose head and broad shoulders tower above the
rest of the Argives?”
“That,” answered Helen, “is huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans,
and on the other side of him, among the Cretans, stands Idomeneus
looking like a god, and with the captains of the Cretans round
him. Often did Menelaus receive him as a guest in our house when
he came visiting us from Crete. I see, moreover, many other
Achaeans whose names I could tell you, but there are two whom I
can nowhere find, Castor, breaker of horses, and Pollux the
mighty boxer; they are children of my mother, and own brothers to
myself. Either they have not left Lacedaemon, or else, though
they have brought their ships, they will not show themselves in
battle for the shame and disgrace that I have brought upon them.”
She knew not that both these heroes were already lying under the
earth in their own land of Lacedaemon.
Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy oath-offerings
through the city—two lambs and a goatskin of wine, the gift of
earth; and Idaeus brought the mixing bowl and the cups of gold.
He went up to Priam and said, “Son of Laomedon, the princes of
the Trojans and Achaeans bid you come down on to the plain and
swear to a solemn covenant. Alexandrus and Menelaus are to fight
for Helen in single combat, that she and all her wealth may go
with him who is the victor. We are to swear to a solemn covenant
of peace whereby we others shall dwell here in Troy, while the
Achaeans return to Argos and the land of the Achaeans.”
The old man trembled as he heard, but bade his followers yoke the
horses, and they made all haste to do so. He mounted the chariot,
gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor took his seat beside
him; they then drove through the Scaean gates on to the plain.
When they reached the ranks of the Trojans and Achaeans they left
the chariot, and with measured pace advanced into the space
between the hosts.
Agamemnon and Ulysses both rose to meet them. The attendants
brought on the oath-offerings and mixed the wine in the
mixing-bowls; they poured water over the hands of the chieftains,
and the son of Atreus drew the dagger that hung by his sword, and
cut wool from the lambs’ heads; this the men-servants gave about
among the Trojan and Achaean princes, and the son of Atreus
lifted up his hands in prayer. “Father Jove,” he cried, “that
rulest in Ida, most glorious in power, and thou oh Sun, that
seest and givest ear to all things, Earth and Rivers, and ye who
in the realms below chastise the soul of him that has broken his
oath, witness these rites and guard them, that they be not vain.
If Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and all her
wealth, while we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus kills
Alexandrus, let the Trojans give back Helen and all that she has;
let them moreover pay such fine to the Achaeans as shall be
agreed upon, in testimony among those that shall be born
hereafter. And if Priam and his sons refuse such fine when
Alexandrus has fallen, then will I stay here and fight on till I
have got satisfaction.”
As he spoke he drew his knife across the throats of the victims,
and laid them down gasping and dying upon the ground, for the
knife had reft them of their strength. Then they poured wine from
the mixing-bowl into the cups, and prayed to the everlasting
gods, saying, Trojans and Achaeans among one another, “Jove, most
great and glorious, and ye other everlasting gods, grant that the
brains of them who shall first sin against their oaths—of them
and their children—may be shed upon the ground even as this wine,
and let their wives become the slaves of strangers.”
Thus they prayed, but not as yet would Jove grant them their
prayer. Then Priam, descendant of Dardanus, spoke, saying, “Hear
me, Trojans and Achaeans, I will now go back to the wind-beaten
city of Ilius: I dare not with my own eyes witness this fight
between my son and Menelaus, for Jove and the other immortals
alone know which shall fall.”
On this he laid the two lambs on his chariot and took his seat.
He gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor sat beside him;
the two then went back to Ilius. Hector and Ulysses measured the
ground, and cast lots from a helmet of bronze to see which should
take aim first. Meanwhile the two hosts lifted up their hands and
prayed saying, “Father Jove, that rulest from Ida, most glorious
in power, grant that he who first brought about this war between
us may die, and enter the house of Hades, while we others remain
at peace and abide by our oaths.”
Great Hector now turned his head aside while he shook the helmet,
and the lot of Paris flew out first. The others took their
several stations, each by his horses and the place where his arms
were lying, while Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, put on his
goodly armour. First he greaved his legs with greaves of good
make and fitted with ancle-clasps of silver; after this he donned
the cuirass of his brother Lycaon, and fitted it to his own body;
he hung his silver-studded sword of bronze about his shoulders,
and then his mighty shield. On his comely head he set his helmet,
well-wrought, with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly
above it, and he grasped a redoubtable spear that suited his
hands. In like fashion Menelaus also put on his armour.
When they had thus armed, each amid his own people, they strode
fierce of aspect into the open space, and both Trojans and
Achaeans were struck with awe as they beheld them. They stood
near one another on the measured ground, brandishing their
spears, and each furious against the other. Alexandrus aimed
first, and struck the round shield of the son of Atreus, but the
spear did not pierce it, for the shield turned its point.
Menelaus next took aim, praying to Father Jove as he did so.
“King Jove,” he said, “grant me revenge on Alexandrus who has
wronged me; subdue him under my hand that in ages yet to come a
man may shrink from doing ill deeds in the house of his host.”
He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it at the shield of
Alexandrus. Through shield and cuirass it went, and tore the
shirt by his flank, but Alexandrus swerved aside, and thus saved
his life. Then the son of Atreus drew his sword, and drove at the
projecting part of his helmet, but the sword fell shivered in
three or four pieces from his hand, and he cried, looking towards
Heaven, “Father Jove, of all gods thou art the most despiteful; I
made sure of my revenge, but the sword has broken in my hand, my
spear has been hurled in vain, and I have not killed him.”
With this he flew at Alexandrus, caught him by the horsehair
plume of his helmet, and began dragging him towards the Achaeans.
The strap of the helmet that went under his chin was choking him,
and Menelaus would have dragged him off to his own great glory
had not Jove’s daughter Venus been quick to mark and to break the
strap of oxhide, so that the empty helmet came away in his hand.
This he flung to his comrades among the Achaeans, and was again
springing upon Alexandrus to run him through with a spear, but
Venus snatched him up in a moment (as a god can do), hid him
under a cloud of darkness, and conveyed him to his own
bedchamber.
Then she went to call Helen, and found her on a high tower with
the Trojan women crowding round her. She took the form of an old
woman who used to dress wool for her when she was still in
Lacedaemon, and of whom she was very fond. Thus disguised she
plucked her by perfumed robe and said, “Come hither; Alexandrus
says you are to go to the house; he is on his bed in his own
room, radiant with beauty and dressed in gorgeous apparel. No one
would think he had just come from fighting, but rather that he
was going to a dance, or had done dancing and was sitting down.”
With these words she moved the heart of Helen to anger. When she
marked the beautiful neck of the goddess, her lovely bosom, and
sparkling eyes, she marvelled at her and said, “Goddess, why do
you thus beguile me? Are you going to send me afield still
further to some man whom you have taken up in Phrygia or fair
Meonia? Menelaus has just vanquished Alexandrus, and is to take
my hateful self back with him. You are come here to betray me. Go
sit with Alexandrus yourself; henceforth be goddess no longer;
never let your feet carry you back to Olympus; worry about him
and look after him till he make you his wife, or, for the matter
of that, his slave—but me? I shall not go; I can garnish his bed
no longer; I should be a by-word among all the women of Troy.
Besides, I have trouble on my mind.”
Venus was very angry, and said, “Bold hussy, do not provoke me;
if you do, I shall leave you to your fate and hate you as much as
I have loved you. I will stir up fierce hatred between Trojans
and Achaeans, and you shall come to a bad end.”
At this Helen was frightened. She wrapped her mantle about her
and went in silence, following the goddess and unnoticed by the
Trojan women.
When they came to the house of Alexandrus the maid-servants set
about their work, but Helen went into her own room, and the
laughter-loving goddess took a seat and set it for her facing
Alexandrus. On this Helen, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, sat
down, and with eyes askance began to upbraid her husband.
“So you are come from the fight,” said she; “would that you had
fallen rather by the hand of that brave man who was my husband.
You used to brag that you were a better man with hands and spear
than Menelaus. Go, then, and challenge him again—but I should
advise you not to do so, for if you are foolish enough to meet
him in single combat, you will soon fall by his spear.”
And Paris answered, “Wife, do not vex me with your reproaches.
This time, with the help of Minerva, Menelaus has vanquished me;
another time I may myself be victor, for I too have gods that
will stand by me. Come, let us lie down together and make
friends. Never yet was I so passionately enamoured of you as at
this moment—not even when I first carried you off from Lacedaemon
and sailed away with you—not even when I had converse with you
upon the couch of love in the island of Cranae was I so
enthralled by desire of you as now.” On this he led her towards
the bed, and his wife went with him.
Thus they laid themselves on the bed together; but the son of
Atreus strode among the throng, looking everywhere for
Alexandrus, and no man, neither of the Trojans nor of the allies,
could find him. If they had seen him they were in no mind to hide
him, for they all of them hated him as they did death itself.
Then Agamemnon, king of men, spoke, saying, “Hear me, Trojans,
Dardanians, and allies. The victory has been with Menelaus;
therefore give back Helen with all her wealth, and pay such fine
as shall be agreed upon, in testimony among them that shall be
born hereafter.”
Thus spoke the son of Atreus, and the Achaeans shouted in
applause.
BOOK IV.
A quarrel in Olympus—Minerva goes down and persuades Fandarus to
violate the oaths by wounding Menelaus with an arrow—Agamemnon
makes a speech and sends for Machaon—He then goes about among his
captains and upbraids Ulysses and Sthenelus, who each of them
retort fiercely—Diomed checks Sthenelus, and the two hosts then
engage, with great slaughter on either side.
Now the gods were sitting with Jove in council upon the golden
floor while Hebe went round pouring out nectar for them to drink,
and as they pledged one another in their cups of gold they looked
down upon the town of Troy. The son of Saturn then began to tease
Juno, talking at her so as to provoke her. “Menelaus,” said he,
“has two good friends among the goddesses, Juno of Argos, and
Minerva of Alalcomene, but they only sit still and look on, while
Venus keeps ever by Alexandrus’ side to defend him in any danger;
indeed she has just rescued him when he made sure that it was all
over with him—for the victory really did lie with Menelaus. We
must consider what we shall do about all this; shall we set them
fighting anew or make peace between them? If you will agree to
this last Menelaus can take back Helen and the city of Priam may
remain still inhabited.”
Minerva and Juno muttered their discontent as they sat side by
side hatching mischief for the Trojans. Minerva scowled at her
father, for she was in a furious passion with him, and said
nothing, but Juno could not contain herself. “Dread son of
Saturn,” said she, “what, pray, is the meaning of all this? Is my
trouble, then, to go for nothing, and the sweat that I have
sweated, to say nothing of my horses, while getting the people
together against Priam and his children? Do as you will, but we
other gods shall not all of us approve your counsel.”
Jove was angry and answered, “My dear, what harm have Priam and
his sons done you that you are so hotly bent on sacking the city
of Ilius? Will nothing do for you but you must within their walls
and eat Priam raw, with his sons and all the other Trojans to
boot? Have it your own way then; for I would not have this matter
become a bone of contention between us. I say further, and lay my
saying to your heart, if ever I want to sack a city belonging to
friends of yours, you must not try to stop me; you will have to
let me do it, for I am giving in to you sorely against my will.
Of all inhabited cities under the sun and stars of heaven, there
was none that I so much respected as Ilius with Priam and his
whole people. Equitable feasts were never wanting about my altar,
nor the savour of burning fat, which is honour due to ourselves.”
“My own three favourite cities,” answered Juno, “are Argos,
Sparta, and Mycenae. Sack them whenever you may be displeased
with them. I shall not defend them and I shall not care. Even if
I did, and tried to stay you, I should take nothing by it, for
you are much stronger than I am, but I will not have my own work
wasted. I too am a god and of the same race with yourself. I am
Saturn’s eldest daughter, and am honourable not on this ground
only, but also because I am your wife, and you are king over the
gods. Let it be a case, then, of give-and-take between us, and
the rest of the gods will follow our lead. Tell Minerva to go and
take part in the fight at once, and let her contrive that the
Trojans shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon the
Achaeans.”
The sire of gods and men heeded her words, and said to Minerva,
“Go at once into the Trojan and Achaean hosts, and contrive that
the Trojans shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon
the Achaeans.”
This was what Minerva was already eager to do, so down she darted
from the topmost summits of Olympus. She shot through the sky as
some brilliant meteor which the son of scheming Saturn has sent
as a sign to mariners or to some great army, and a fiery train of
light follows in its wake. The Trojans and Achaeans were struck
with awe as they beheld, and one would turn to his neighbour,
saying, “Either we shall again have war and din of combat, or
Jove the lord of battle will now make peace between us.”
Thus did they converse. Then Minerva took the form of Laodocus,
son of Antenor, and went through the ranks of the Trojans to find
Pandarus, the redoubtable son of Lycaon. She found him standing
among the stalwart heroes who had followed him from the banks of
the Aesopus, so she went close up to him and said, “Brave son of
Lycaon, will you do as I tell you? If you dare send an arrow at
Menelaus you will win honour and thanks from all the Trojans, and
especially from prince Alexandrus—he would be the first to
requite you very handsomely if he could see Menelaus mount his
funeral pyre, slain by an arrow from your hand. Take your home
aim then, and pray to Lycian Apollo, the famous archer; vow that
when you get home to your strong city of Zelea you will offer a
hecatomb of firstling lambs in his honour.”
His fool’s heart was persuaded, and he took his bow from its
case. This bow was made from the horns of a wild ibex which he
had killed as it was bounding from a rock; he had stalked it, and
it had fallen as the arrow struck it to the heart. Its horns were
sixteen palms long, and a worker in horn had made them into a
bow, smoothing them well down, and giving them tips of gold. When
Pandarus had strung his bow he laid it carefully on the ground,
and his brave followers held their shields before him lest the
Achaeans should set upon him before he had shot Menelaus. Then he
opened the lid of his quiver and took out a winged arrow that had
not yet been shot, fraught with the pangs of death. He laid the
arrow on the string and prayed to Lycian Apollo, the famous
archer, vowing that when he got home to his strong city of Zelea
he would offer a hecatomb of firstling lambs in his honour. He
laid the notch of the arrow on the oxhide bowstring, and drew
both notch and string to his breast till the arrow-head was near
the bow; then when the bow was arched into a half-circle he let
fly, and the bow twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew
gladly on over the heads of the throng.
But the blessed gods did not forget thee, O Menelaus, and Jove’s
daughter, driver of the spoil, was the first to stand before thee
and ward off the piercing arrow. She turned it from his skin as a
mother whisks a fly from off her child when it is sleeping
sweetly; she guided it to the part where the golden buckles of
the belt that passed over his double cuirass were fastened, so
the arrow struck the belt that went tightly round him. It went
right through this and through the cuirass of cunning
workmanship; it also pierced the belt beneath it, which he wore
next his skin to keep out darts or arrows; it was this that
served him in the best stead, nevertheless the arrow went through
it and grazed the top of the skin, so that blood began flowing
from the wound.
As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to a
piece of ivory that is to be the cheek-piece of a horse, and is
to be laid up in a treasure house—many a knight is fain to bear
it, but the king keeps it as an ornament of which both horse and
driver may be proud—even so, O Menelaus, were your shapely thighs
and your legs down to your fair ancles stained with blood.
When King Agamemnon saw the blood flowing from the wound he was
afraid, and so was brave Menelaus himself till he saw that the
barbs of the arrow and the thread that bound the arrow-head to
the shaft were still outside the wound. Then he took heart, but
Agamemnon heaved a deep sigh as he held Menelaus’s hand in his
own, and his comrades made moan in concert. “Dear brother,” he
cried, “I have been the death of you in pledging this covenant
and letting you come forward as our champion. The Trojans have
trampled on their oaths and have wounded you; nevertheless the
oath, the blood of lambs, the drink-offerings and the right hands
of fellowship in which we have put our trust shall not be vain.
If he that rules Olympus fulfil it not here and now, he will yet
fulfil it hereafter, and they shall pay dearly with their lives
and with their wives and children. The day will surely come when
mighty Ilius shall be laid low, with Priam and Priam’s people,
when the son of Saturn from his high throne shall overshadow them
with his awful aegis in punishment of their present treachery.
This shall surely be; but how, Menelaus, shall I mourn you, if it
be your lot now to die? I should return to Argos as a by-word,
for the Achaeans will at once go home. We shall leave Priam and
the Trojans the glory of still keeping Helen, and the earth will
rot your bones as you lie here at Troy with your purpose not
fulfilled. Then shall some braggart Trojan leap upon your tomb
and say, ‘Ever thus may Agamemnon wreak his vengeance; he brought
his army in vain; he is gone home to his own land with empty
ships, and has left Menelaus behind him.’ Thus will one of them
say, and may the earth then swallow me.”
But Menelaus reassured him and said, “Take heart, and do not
alarm the people; the arrow has not struck me in a mortal part,
for my outer belt of burnished metal first stayed it, and under
this my cuirass and the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths made
me.”
And Agamemnon answered, “I trust, dear Menelaus, that it may be
even so, but the surgeon shall examine your wound and lay herbs
upon it to relieve your pain.”
He then said to Talthybius, “Talthybius, tell Machaon, son to the
great physician, Aesculapius, to come and see Menelaus
immediately. Some Trojan or Lycian archer has wounded him with an
arrow to our dismay, and to his own great glory.”
Talthybius did as he was told, and went about the host trying to
find Machaon. Presently he found standing amid the brave warriors
who had followed him from Tricca; thereon he went up to him and
said, “Son of Aesculapius, King Agamemnon says you are to come
and see Menelaus immediately. Some Trojan or Lycian archer has
wounded him with an arrow to our dismay and to his own great
glory.”
Thus did he speak, and Machaon was moved to go. They passed
through the spreading host of the Achaeans and went on till they
came to the place where Menelaus had been wounded and was lying
with the chieftains gathered in a circle round him. Machaon
passed into the middle of the ring and at once drew the arrow
from the belt, bending its barbs back through the force with
which he pulled it out. He undid the burnished belt, and beneath
this the cuirass and the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths had
made; then, when he had seen the wound, he wiped away the blood
and applied some soothing drugs which Chiron had given to
Aesculapius out of the good will he bore him.
While they were thus busy about Menelaus, the Trojans came
forward against them, for they had put on their armour, and now
renewed the fight.
You would not have then found Agamemnon asleep nor cowardly and
unwilling to fight, but eager rather for the fray. He left his
chariot rich with bronze and his panting steeds in charge of
Eurymedon, son of Ptolemaeus the son of Peiraeus, and bade him
hold them in readiness against the time his limbs should weary of
going about and giving orders to so many, for he went among the
ranks on foot. When he saw men hasting to the front he stood by
them and cheered them on. “Argives,” said he, “slacken not one
whit in your onset; father Jove will be no helper of liars; the
Trojans have been the first to break their oaths and to attack
us; therefore they shall be devoured of vultures; we shall take
their city and carry off their wives and children in our ships.”
But he angrily rebuked those whom he saw shirking and disinclined
to fight. “Argives,” he cried, “cowardly miserable creatures,
have you no shame to stand here like frightened fawns who, when
they can no longer scud over the plain, huddle together, but show
no fight? You are as dazed and spiritless as deer. Would you wait
till the Trojans reach the sterns of our ships as they lie on the
shore, to see whether the son of Saturn will hold his hand over
you to protect you?”
Thus did he go about giving his orders among the ranks. Passing
through the crowd, he came presently on the Cretans, arming round
Idomeneus, who was at their head, fierce as a wild boar, while
Meriones was bringing up the battalions that were in the rear.
Agamemnon was glad when he saw him, and spoke him fairly.
“Idomeneus,” said he, “I treat you with greater distinction than
I do any others of the Achaeans, whether in war or in other
things, or at table. When the princes are mixing my choicest
wines in the mixing-bowls, they have each of them a fixed
allowance, but your cup is kept always full like my own, that you
may drink whenever you are minded. Go, therefore, into battle,
and show yourself the man you have been always proud to be.”
Idomeneus answered, “I will be a trusty comrade, as I promised
you from the first I would be. Urge on the other Achaeans, that
we may join battle at once, for the Trojans have trampled upon
their covenants. Death and destruction shall be theirs, seeing
they have been the first to break their oaths and to attack us.”
The son of Atreus went on, glad at heart, till he came upon the
two Ajaxes arming themselves amid a host of foot-soldiers. As
when a goat-herd from some high post watches a storm drive over
the deep before the west wind—black as pitch is the offing and a
mighty whirlwind draws towards him, so that he is afraid and
drives his flock into a cave—even thus did the ranks of stalwart
youths move in a dark mass to battle under the Ajaxes, horrid
with shield and spear. Glad was King Agamemnon when he saw them.
“No need,” he cried, “to give orders to such leaders of the
Argives as you are, for of your own selves you spur your men on
to fight with might and main. Would, by father Jove, Minerva, and
Apollo that all were so minded as you are, for the city of Priam
would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we should sack it.”
With this he left them and went onward to Nestor, the facile
speaker of the Pylians, who was marshalling his men and urging
them on, in company with Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, and
Bias shepherd of his people. He placed his knights with their
chariots and horses in the front rank, while the foot-soldiers,
brave men and many, whom he could trust, were in the rear. The
cowards he drove into the middle, that they might fight whether
they would or no. He gave his orders to the knights first,
bidding them hold their horses well in hand, so as to avoid
confusion. “Let no man,” he said, “relying on his strength or
horsemanship, get before the others and engage singly with the
Trojans, nor yet let him lag behind or you will weaken your
attack; but let each when he meets an enemy’s chariot throw his
spear from his own; this be much the best; this is how the men of
old took towns and strongholds; in this wise were they minded.”
Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in many a
fight, and King Agamemnon was glad. “I wish,” he said to him,
“that your limbs were as supple and your strength as sure as your
judgment is; but age, the common enemy of mankind, has laid his
hand upon you; would that it had fallen upon some other, and that
you were still young.”
And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, “Son of Atreus, I too
would gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty Ereuthalion; but
the gods will not give us everything at one and the same time. I
was then young, and now I am old; still I can go with my knights
and give them that counsel which old men have a right to give.
The wielding of the spear I leave to those who are younger and
stronger than myself.”
Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found Menestheus,
son of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with him were the
Athenians loud of tongue in battle. Near him also tarried cunning
Ulysses, with his sturdy Cephallenians round him; they had not
yet heard the battle-cry, for the ranks of Trojans and Achaeans
had only just begun to move, so they were standing still, waiting
for some other columns of the Achaeans to attack the Trojans and
begin the fighting. When he saw this Agamemnon rebuked them and
said, “Son of Peteos, and you other, steeped in cunning, heart of
guile, why stand you here cowering and waiting on others? You two
should be of all men foremost when there is hard fighting to be
done, for you are ever foremost to accept my invitation when we
councillors of the Achaeans are holding feast. You are glad
enough then to take your fill of roast meats and to drink wine as
long as you please, whereas now you would not care though you saw
ten columns of Achaeans engage the enemy in front of you.”
Ulysses glared at him and answered, “Son of Atreus, what are you
talking about? How can you say that we are slack? When the
Achaeans are in full fight with the Trojans, you shall see, if
you care to do so, that the father of Telemachus will join battle
with the foremost of them. You are talking idly.”
When Agamemnon saw that Ulysses was angry, he smiled pleasantly
at him and withdrew his words. “Ulysses,” said he, “noble son of
Laertes, excellent in all good counsel, I have neither fault to
find nor orders to give you, for I know your heart is right, and
that you and I are of a mind. Enough; I will make you amends for
what I have said, and if any ill has now been spoken may the gods
bring it to nothing.”
He then left them and went on to others. Presently he saw the son
of Tydeus, noble Diomed, standing by his chariot and horses, with
Sthenelus the son of Capaneus beside him; whereon he began to
upbraid him. “Son of Tydeus,” he said, “why stand you cowering
here upon the brink of battle? Tydeus did not shrink thus, but
was ever ahead of his men when leading them on against the
foe—so, at least, say they that saw him in battle, for I never
set eyes upon him myself. They say that there was no man like
him. He came once to Mycenae, not as an enemy but as a guest, in
company with Polynices to recruit his forces, for they were
levying war against the strong city of Thebes, and prayed our
people for a body of picked men to help them. The men of Mycenae
were willing to let them have one, but Jove dissuaded them by
showing them unfavourable omens. Tydeus, therefore, and Polynices
went their way. When they had got as far the deep-meadowed and
rush-grown banks of the Aesopus, the Achaeans sent Tydeus as
their envoy, and he found the Cadmeans gathered in great numbers
to a banquet in the house of Eteocles. Stranger though he was, he
knew no fear on finding himself single-handed among so many, but
challenged them to contests of all kinds, and in each one of them
was at once victorious, so mightily did Minerva help him. The
Cadmeans were incensed at his success, and set a force of fifty
youths with two captains—the godlike hero Maeon, son of Haemon,
and Polyphontes, son of Autophonus—at their head, to lie in wait
for him on his return journey; but Tydeus slew every man of them,
save only Maeon, whom he let go in obedience to heaven’s omens.
Such was Tydeus of Aetolia. His son can talk more glibly, but he
cannot fight as his father did.”
Diomed made no answer, for he was shamed by the rebuke of
Agamemnon; but the son of Capaneus took up his words and said,
“Son of Atreus, tell no lies, for you can speak truth if you
will. We boast ourselves as even better men than our fathers; we
took seven-gated Thebes, though the wall was stronger and our men
were fewer in number, for we trusted in the omens of the gods and
in the help of Jove, whereas they perished through their own
sheer folly; hold not, then, our fathers in like honour with us.”
Diomed looked sternly at him and said, “Hold your peace, my
friend, as I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge
the Achaeans forward, for the glory will be his if we take the
city, and his the shame if we are vanquished. Therefore let us
acquit ourselves with valour.”
As he spoke he sprang from his chariot, and his armour rang so
fiercely about his body that even a brave man might well have
been scared to hear it.
As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west
wind has lashed it into fury—it has reared its head afar and now
comes crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest high
over the jagged rocks and spews its salt foam in all
directions—even so did the serried phalanxes of the Danaans march
steadfastly to battle. The chiefs gave orders each to his own
people, but the men said never a word; no man would think it, for
huge as the host was, it seemed as though there was not a tongue
among them, so silent were they in their obedience; and as they
marched the armour about their bodies glistened in the sun. But
the clamour of the Trojan ranks was as that of many thousand ewes
that stand waiting to be milked in the yards of some rich
flockmaster, and bleat incessantly in answer to the bleating of
their lambs; for they had not one speech nor language, but their
tongues were diverse, and they came from many different places.
These were inspired of Mars, but the others by Minerva—and with
them came Panic, Rout, and Strife whose fury never tires, sister
and friend of murderous Mars, who, from being at first but low in
stature, grows till she uprears her head to heaven, though her
feet are still on earth. She it was that went about among them
and flung down discord to the waxing of sorrow with even hand
between them.
When they were got together in one place shield clashed with
shield and spear with spear in the rage of battle. The bossed
shields beat one upon another, and there was a tramp as of a
great multitude—death-cry and shout of triumph of slain and
slayers, and the earth ran red with blood. As torrents swollen
with rain course madly down their deep channels till the angry
floods meet in some gorge, and the shepherd on the hillside hears
their roaring from afar—even such was the toil and uproar of the
hosts as they joined in battle.
First Antilochus slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Echepolus,
son of Thalysius, fighting in the foremost ranks. He struck at
the projecting part of his helmet and drove the spear into his
brow; the point of bronze pierced the bone, and darkness veiled
his eyes; headlong as a tower he fell amid the press of the
fight, and as he dropped King Elephenor, son of Chalcodon and
captain of the proud Abantes began dragging him out of reach of
the darts that were falling around him, in haste to strip him of
his armour. But his purpose was not for long; Agenor saw him
haling the body away, and smote him in the side with his
bronze-shod spear—for as he stooped his side was left unprotected
by his shield—and thus he perished. Then the fight between
Trojans and Achaeans grew furious over his body, and they flew
upon each other like wolves, man and man crushing one upon the
other.
Forthwith Ajax, son of Telamon, slew the fair youth Simoeisius,
son of Anthemion, whom his mother bore by the banks of the
Simois, as she was coming down from Mt. Ida, where she had been
with her parents to see their flocks. Therefore he was named
Simoeisius, but he did not live to pay his parents for his
rearing, for he was cut off untimely by the spear of mighty Ajax,
who struck him in the breast by the right nipple as he was coming
on among the foremost fighters; the spear went right through his
shoulder, and he fell as a poplar that has grown straight and
tall in a meadow by some mere, and its top is thick with
branches. Then the wheelwright lays his axe to its roots that he
may fashion a felloe for the wheel of some goodly chariot, and it
lies seasoning by the waterside. In such wise did Ajax fell to
earth Simoeisius, son of Anthemion. Thereon Antiphus of the
gleaming corslet, son of Priam, hurled a spear at Ajax from amid
the crowd and missed him, but he hit Leucus, the brave comrade of
Ulysses, in the groin, as he was dragging the body of Simoeisius
over to the other side; so he fell upon the body and loosed his
hold upon it. Ulysses was furious when he saw Leucus slain, and
strode in full armour through the front ranks till he was quite
close; then he glared round about him and took aim, and the
Trojans fell back as he did so. His dart was not sped in vain,
for it struck Democoon, the bastard son of Priam, who had come to
him from Abydos, where he had charge of his father’s mares.
Ulysses, infuriated by the death of his comrade, hit him with his
spear on one temple, and the bronze point came through on the
other side of his forehead. Thereon darkness veiled his eyes, and
his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the
ground. Hector, and they that were in front, then gave round
while the Argives raised a shout and drew off the dead, pressing
further forward as they did so. But Apollo looked down from
Pergamus and called aloud to the Trojans, for he was displeased.
“Trojans,” he cried, “rush on the foe, and do not let yourselves
be thus beaten by the Argives. Their skins are not stone nor iron
that when hit them you do them no harm. Moreover, Achilles, the
son of lovely Thetis, is not fighting, but is nursing his anger
at the ships.”
Thus spoke the mighty god, crying to them from the city, while
Jove’s redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, went about among the
host of the Achaeans, and urged them forward whenever she beheld
them slackening.
Then fate fell upon Diores, son of Amarynceus, for he was struck
by a jagged stone near the ancle of his right leg. He that hurled
it was Peirous, son of Imbrasus, captain of the Thracians, who
had come from Aenus; the bones and both the tendons were crushed
by the pitiless stone. He fell to the ground on his back, and in
his death throes stretched out his hands towards his comrades.
But Peirous, who had wounded him, sprang on him and thrust a
spear into his belly, so that his bowels came gushing out upon
the ground, and darkness veiled his eyes. As he was leaving the
body, Thoas of Aetolia struck him in the chest near the nipple,
and the point fixed itself in his lungs. Thoas came close up to
him, pulled the spear out of his chest, and then drawing his
sword, smote him in the middle of the belly so that he died; but
he did not strip him of his armour, for his Thracian comrades,
men who wear their hair in a tuft at the top of their heads,
stood round the body and kept him off with their long spears for
all his great stature and valour; so he was driven back. Thus the
two corpses lay stretched on earth near to one another, the one
captain of the Thracians and the other of the Epeans; and many
another fell round them.
And now no man would have made light of the fighting if he could
have gone about among it scatheless and unwounded, with Minerva
leading him by the hand, and protecting him from the storm of
spears and arrows. For many Trojans and Achaeans on that day lay
stretched side by side face downwards upon the earth.
BOOK V.
The exploits of Diomed, who, though wounded by Pandarus,
continues fighting—He kills Pandarus and wounds AEneas—Venus
rescues AEneas, but being wounded by Diomed, commits him to the
care of Apollo and goes to Olympus, where she is tended by her
mother Dione—Mars encourages the Trojans, and AEneas returns to
the fight cured of his wound—Minerva and Juno help the Achaeans,
and by the advice of the former Diomed wounds Mars, who returns
to Olympus to get cured.
Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of
Tydeus, that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover
himself with glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his
shield and helmet like the star that shines most brilliantly in
summer after its bath in the waters of Oceanus—even such a fire
did she kindle upon his head and shoulders as she bade him speed
into the thickest hurly-burly of the fight.
Now there was a certain rich and honourable man among the
Trojans, priest of Vulcan, and his name was Dares. He had two
sons, Phegeus and Idaeus, both of them skilled in all the arts of
war. These two came forward from the main body of Trojans, and
set upon Diomed, he being on foot, while they fought from their
chariot. When they were close up to one another, Phegeus took aim
first, but his spear went over Diomed’s left shoulder without
hitting him. Diomed then threw, and his spear sped not in vain,
for it hit Phegeus on the breast near the nipple, and he fell
from his chariot. Idaeus did not dare to bestride his brother’s
body, but sprang from the chariot and took to flight, or he would
have shared his brother’s fate; whereon Vulcan saved him by
wrapping him in a cloud of darkness, that his old father might
not be utterly overwhelmed with grief; but the son of Tydeus
drove off with the horses, and bade his followers take them to
the ships. The Trojans were scared when they saw the two sons of
Dares, one of them in fright and the other lying dead by his
chariot. Minerva, therefore, took Mars by the hand and said,
“Mars, Mars, bane of men, bloodstained stormer of cities, may we
not now leave the Trojans and Achaeans to fight it out, and see
to which of the two Jove will vouchsafe the victory? Let us go
away, and thus avoid his anger.”
So saying, she drew Mars out of the battle, and set him down upon
the steep banks of the Scamander. Upon this the Danaans drove the
Trojans back, and each one of their chieftains killed his man.
First King Agamemnon flung mighty Odius, captain of the Halizoni,
from his chariot. The spear of Agamemnon caught him on the broad
of his back, just as he was turning in flight; it struck him
between the shoulders and went right through his chest, and his
armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Then Idomeneus killed Phaesus, son of Borus the Meonian, who had
come from Varne. Mighty Idomeneus speared him on the right
shoulder as he was mounting his chariot, and the darkness of
death enshrouded him as he fell heavily from the car.
The squires of Idomeneus spoiled him of his armour, while
Menelaus, son of Atreus, killed Scamandrius the son of Strophius,
a mighty huntsman and keen lover of the chase. Diana herself had
taught him how to kill every kind of wild creature that is bred
in mountain forests, but neither she nor his famed skill in
archery could now save him, for the spear of Menelaus struck him
in the back as he was flying; it struck him between the shoulders
and went right through his chest, so that he fell headlong and
his armour rang rattling round him.
Meriones then killed Phereclus the son of Tecton, who was the son
of Hermon, a man whose hand was skilled in all manner of cunning
workmanship, for Pallas Minerva had dearly loved him. He it was
that made the ships for Alexandrus, which were the beginning of
all mischief, and brought evil alike both on the Trojans and on
Alexandrus himself; for he heeded not the decrees of heaven.
Meriones overtook him as he was flying, and struck him on the
right buttock. The point of the spear went through the bone into
the bladder, and death came upon him as he cried aloud and fell
forward on his knees.
Meges, moreover, slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor, who, though he was
a bastard, had been brought up by Theano as one of her own
children, for the love she bore her husband. The son of Phyleus
got close up to him and drove a spear into the nape of his neck:
it went under his tongue all among his teeth, so he bit the cold
bronze, and fell dead in the dust.
And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, killed Hypsenor, the son of noble
Dolopion, who had been made priest of the river Scamander, and
was honoured among the people as though he were a god. Eurypylus
gave him chase as he was flying before him, smote him with his
sword upon the arm, and lopped his strong hand from off it. The
bloody hand fell to the ground, and the shades of death, with
fate that no man can withstand, came over his eyes.
Thus furiously did the battle rage between them. As for the son
of Tydeus, you could not say whether he was more among the
Achaeans or the Trojans. He rushed across the plain like a winter
torrent that has burst its barrier in full flood; no dykes, no
walls of fruitful vineyards can embank it when it is swollen with
rain from heaven, but in a moment it comes tearing onward, and
lays many a field waste that many a strong man’s hand has
reclaimed—even so were the dense phalanxes of the Trojans driven
in rout by the son of Tydeus, and many though they were, they
dared not abide his onslaught.
Now when the son of Lycaon saw him scouring the plain and driving
the Trojans pell-mell before him, he aimed an arrow and hit the
front part of his cuirass near the shoulder: the arrow went right
through the metal and pierced the flesh, so that the cuirass was
covered with blood. On this the son of Lycaon shouted in triumph,
“Knights Trojans, come on; the bravest of the Achaeans is
wounded, and he will not hold out much longer if King Apollo was
indeed with me when I sped from Lycia hither.”
Thus did he vaunt; but his arrow had not killed Diomed, who
withdrew and made for the chariot and horses of Sthenelus, the
son of Capaneus. “Dear son of Capaneus,” said he, “come down from
your chariot, and draw the arrow out of my shoulder.”
Sthenelus sprang from his chariot, and drew the arrow from the
wound, whereon the blood came spouting out through the hole that
had been made in his shirt. Then Diomed prayed, saying, “Hear me,
daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, if ever you loved my
father well and stood by him in the thick of a fight, do the like
now by me; grant me to come within a spear’s throw of that man
and kill him. He has been too quick for me and has wounded me;
and now he is boasting that I shall not see the light of the sun
much longer.”
Thus he prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard him; she made his limbs
supple and quickened his hands and his feet. Then she went up
close to him and said, “Fear not, Diomed, to do battle with the
Trojans, for I have set in your heart the spirit of your knightly
father Tydeus. Moreover, I have withdrawn the veil from your
eyes, that you know gods and men apart. If, then, any other god
comes here and offers you battle, do not fight him; but should
Jove’s daughter Venus come, strike her with your spear and wound
her.”
When she had said this Minerva went away, and the son of Tydeus
again took his place among the foremost fighters, three times
more fierce even than he had been before. He was like a lion that
some mountain shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is
springing over the wall of a sheep-yard to attack the sheep. The
shepherd has roused the brute to fury but cannot defend his
flock, so he takes shelter under cover of the buildings, while
the sheep, panic-stricken on being deserted, are smothered in
heaps one on top of the other, and the angry lion leaps out over
the sheep-yard wall. Even thus did Diomed go furiously about
among the Trojans.
He killed Astynous, and Hypeiron shepherd of his people, the one
with a thrust of his spear, which struck him above the nipple,
the other with a sword-cut on the collar-bone, that severed his
shoulder from his neck and back. He let both of them lie, and
went in pursuit of Abas and Polyidus, sons of the old reader of
dreams Eurydamas: they never came back for him to read them any
more dreams, for mighty Diomed made an end of them. He then gave
chase to Xanthus and Thoon, the two sons of Phaenops, both of
them very dear to him, for he was now worn out with age, and
begat no more sons to inherit his possessions. But Diomed took
both their lives and left their father sorrowing bitterly, for he
nevermore saw them come home from battle alive, and his kinsmen
divided his wealth among themselves.
Then he came upon two sons of Priam, Echemmon and Chromius, as
they were both in one chariot. He sprang upon them as a lion
fastens on the neck of some cow or heifer when the herd is
feeding in a coppice. For all their vain struggles he flung them
both from their chariot and stripped the armour from their
bodies. Then he gave their horses to his comrades to take them
back to the ships.
When Aeneas saw him thus making havoc among the ranks, he went
through the fight amid the rain of spears to see if he could find
Pandarus. When he had found the brave son of Lycaon he said,
“Pandarus, where is now your bow, your winged arrows, and your
renown as an archer, in respect of which no man here can rival
you nor is there any in Lycia that can beat you? Lift then your
hands to Jove and send an arrow at this fellow who is going so
masterfully about, and has done such deadly work among the
Trojans. He has killed many a brave man—unless indeed he is some
god who is angry with the Trojans about their sacrifices, and and
has set his hand against them in his displeasure.”
And the son of Lycaon answered, “Aeneas, I take him for none
other than the son of Tydeus. I know him by his shield, the visor
of his helmet, and by his horses. It is possible that he may be a
god, but if he is the man I say he is, he is not making all this
havoc without heaven’s help, but has some god by his side who is
shrouded in a cloud of darkness, and who turned my arrow aside
when it had hit him. I have taken aim at him already and hit him
on the right shoulder; my arrow went through the breastpiece of
his cuirass; and I made sure I should send him hurrying to the
world below, but it seems that I have not killed him. There must
be a god who is angry with me. Moreover I have neither horse nor
chariot. In my father’s stables there are eleven excellent
chariots, fresh from the builder, quite new, with cloths spread
over them; and by each of them there stand a pair of horses,
champing barley and rye; my old father Lycaon urged me again and
again when I was at home and on the point of starting, to take
chariots and horses with me that I might lead the Trojans in
battle, but I would not listen to him; it would have been much
better if I had done so, but I was thinking about the horses,
which had been used to eat their fill, and I was afraid that in
such a great gathering of men they might be ill-fed, so I left
them at home and came on foot to Ilius armed only with my bow and
arrows. These it seems, are of no use, for I have already hit two
chieftains, the sons of Atreus and of Tydeus, and though I drew
blood surely enough, I have only made them still more furious. I
did ill to take my bow down from its peg on the day I led my band
of Trojans to Ilius in Hector’s service, and if ever I get home
again to set eyes on my native place, my wife, and the greatness
of my house, may some one cut my head off then and there if I do
not break the bow and set it on a hot fire—such pranks as it
plays me.”
Aeneas answered, “Say no more. Things will not mend till we two
go against this man with chariot and horses and bring him to a
trial of arms. Mount my chariot, and note how cleverly the horses
of Tros can speed hither and thither over the plain in pursuit or
flight. If Jove again vouchsafes glory to the son of Tydeus they
will carry us safely back to the city. Take hold, then, of the
whip and reins while I stand upon the car to fight, or else do
you wait this man’s onset while I look after the horses.”
“Aeneas,” replied the son of Lycaon, “take the reins and drive;
if we have to fly before the son of Tydeus the horses will go
better for their own driver. If they miss the sound of your voice
when they expect it they may be frightened, and refuse to take us
out of the fight. The son of Tydeus will then kill both of us and
take the horses. Therefore drive them yourself and I will be
ready for him with my spear.”
They then mounted the chariot and drove full-speed towards the
son of Tydeus. Sthenelus, son of Capaneus, saw them coming and
said to Diomed, “Diomed, son of Tydeus, man after my own heart, I
see two heroes speeding towards you, both of them men of might
the one a skilful archer, Pandarus son of Lycaon, the other,
Aeneas, whose sire is Anchises, while his mother is Venus. Mount
the chariot and let us retreat. Do not, I pray you, press so
furiously forward, or you may get killed.”
Diomed looked angrily at him and answered: “Talk not of flight,
for I shall not listen to you: I am of a race that knows neither
flight nor fear, and my limbs are as yet unwearied. I am in no
mind to mount, but will go against them even as I am; Pallas
Minerva bids me be afraid of no man, and even though one of them
escape, their steeds shall not take both back again. I say
further, and lay my saying to your heart—if Minerva sees fit to
vouchsafe me the glory of killing both, stay your horses here and
make the reins fast to the rim of the chariot; then be sure you
spring Aeneas’ horses and drive them from the Trojan to the
Achaean ranks. They are of the stock that great Jove gave to Tros
in payment for his son Ganymede, and are the finest that live and
move under the sun. King Anchises stole the blood by putting his
mares to them without Laomedon’s knowledge, and they bore him six
foals. Four are still in his stables, but he gave the other two
to Aeneas. We shall win great glory if we can take them.”
Thus did they converse, but the other two had now driven close up
to them, and the son of Lycaon spoke first. “Great and mighty
son,” said he, “of noble Tydeus, my arrow failed to lay you low,
so I will now try with my spear.”
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it from him. It struck
the shield of the son of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and
passed on till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of
Lycaon shouted out and said, “You are hit clean through the
belly; you will not stand out for long, and the glory of the
fight is mine.”
But Diomed all undismayed made answer, “You have missed, not hit,
and before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you
shall glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood.”
With this he hurled his spear, and Minerva guided it on to
Pandarus’s nose near the eye. It went crashing in among his white
teeth; the bronze point cut through the root of his tongue,
coming out under his chin, and his glistening armour rang
rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground. The horses
started aside for fear, and he was reft of life and strength.
Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear,
fearing lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode
it as a lion in the pride of strength, with shield and spear
before him and a cry of battle on his lips resolute to kill the
first that should dare face him. But the son of Tydeus caught up
a mighty stone, so huge and great that as men now are it would
take two to lift it; nevertheless he bore it aloft with ease
unaided, and with this he struck Aeneas on the groin where the
hip turns in the joint that is called the “cup-bone.” The stone
crushed this joint, and broke both the sinews, while its jagged
edges tore away all the flesh. The hero fell on his knees, and
propped himself with his hand resting on the ground till the
darkness of night fell upon his eyes. And now Aeneas, king of
men, would have perished then and there, had not his mother,
Jove’s daughter Venus, who had conceived him by Anchises when he
was herding cattle, been quick to mark, and thrown her two white
arms about the body of her dear son. She protected him by
covering him with a fold of her own fair garment, lest some
Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him.
Thus, then, did she bear her dear son out of the fight. But the
son of Capaneus was not unmindful of the orders that Diomed had
given him. He made his own horses fast, away from the
hurly-burly, by binding the reins to the rim of the chariot. Then
he sprang upon Aeneas’s horses and drove them from the Trojan to
the Achaean ranks. When he had so done he gave them over to his
chosen comrade Deipylus, whom he valued above all others as the
one who was most like-minded with himself, to take them on to the
ships. He then remounted his own chariot, seized the reins, and
drove with all speed in search of the son of Tydeus.
Now the son of Tydeus was in pursuit of the Cyprian goddess,
spear in hand, for he knew her to be feeble and not one of those
goddesses that can lord it among men in battle like Minerva or
Enyo the waster of cities, and when at last after a long chase he
caught her up, he flew at her and thrust his spear into the flesh
of her delicate hand. The point tore through the ambrosial robe
which the Graces had woven for her, and pierced the skin between
her wrist and the palm of her hand, so that the immortal blood,
or ichor, that flows in the veins of the blessed gods, came
pouring from the wound; for the gods do not eat bread nor drink
wine, hence they have no blood such as ours, and are immortal.
Venus screamed aloud, and let her son fall, but Phoebus Apollo
caught him in his arms, and hid him in a cloud of darkness, lest
some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him;
and Diomed shouted out as he left her, “Daughter of Jove, leave
war and battle alone, can you not be contented with beguiling
silly women? If you meddle with fighting you will get what will
make you shudder at the very name of war.”
The goddess went dazed and discomfited away, and Iris, fleet as
the wind, drew her from the throng, in pain and with her fair
skin all besmirched. She found fierce Mars waiting on the left of
the battle, with his spear and his two fleet steeds resting on a
cloud; whereon she fell on her knees before her brother and
implored him to let her have his horses. “Dear brother,” she
cried, “save me, and give me your horses to take me to Olympus
where the gods dwell. I am badly wounded by a mortal, the son of
Tydeus, who would now fight even with father Jove.”
Thus she spoke, and Mars gave her his gold-bedizened steeds. She
mounted the chariot sick and sorry at heart, while Iris sat
beside her and took the reins in her hand. She lashed her horses
on and they flew forward nothing loth, till in a trice they were
at high Olympus, where the gods have their dwelling. There she
stayed them, unloosed them from the chariot, and gave them their
ambrosial forage; but Venus flung herself on to the lap of her
mother Dione, who threw her arms about her and caressed her,
saying, “Which of the heavenly beings has been treating you in
this way, as though you had been doing something wrong in the
face of day?”
And laughter-loving Venus answered, “Proud Diomed, the son of
Tydeus, wounded me because I was bearing my dear son Aeneas, whom
I love best of all mankind, out of the fight. The war is no
longer one between Trojans and Achaeans, for the Danaans have now
taken to fighting with the immortals.”
“Bear it, my child,” replied Dione, “and make the best of it. We
dwellers in Olympus have to put up with much at the hands of men,
and we lay much suffering on one another. Mars had to suffer when
Otus and Ephialtes, children of Aloeus, bound him in cruel bonds,
so that he lay thirteen months imprisoned in a vessel of bronze.
Mars would have then perished had not fair Eeriboea, stepmother
to the sons of Aloeus, told Mercury, who stole him away when he
was already well-nigh worn out by the severity of his bondage.
Juno, again, suffered when the mighty son of Amphitryon wounded
her on the right breast with a three-barbed arrow, and nothing
could assuage her pain. So, also, did huge Hades, when this same
man, the son of aegis-bearing Jove, hit him with an arrow even at
the gates of hell, and hurt him badly. Thereon Hades went to the
house of Jove on great Olympus, angry and full of pain; and the
arrow in his brawny shoulder caused him great anguish till Paeeon
healed him by spreading soothing herbs on the wound, for Hades
was not of mortal mould. Daring, head-strong, evildoer who recked
not of his sin in shooting the gods that dwell in Olympus. And
now Minerva has egged this son of Tydeus on against yourself,
fool that he is for not reflecting that no man who fights with
gods will live long or hear his children prattling about his
knees when he returns from battle. Let, then, the son of Tydeus
see that he does not have to fight with one who is stronger than
you are. Then shall his brave wife Aegialeia, daughter of
Adrestus, rouse her whole house from sleep, wailing for the loss
of her wedded lord, Diomed the bravest of the Achaeans.”
So saying, she wiped the ichor from the wrist of her daughter
with both hands, whereon the pain left her, and her hand was
healed. But Minerva and Juno, who were looking on, began to taunt
Jove with their mocking talk, and Minerva was first to speak.
“Father Jove,” said she, “do not be angry with me, but I think
the Cyprian must have been persuading some one of the Achaean
women to go with the Trojans of whom she is so very fond, and
while caressing one or other of them she must have torn her
delicate hand with the gold pin of the woman’s brooch.”
The sire of gods and men smiled, and called golden Venus to his
side. “My child,” said he, “it has not been given you to be a
warrior. Attend, henceforth, to your own delightful matrimonial
duties, and leave all this fighting to Mars and to Minerva.”
Thus did they converse. But Diomed sprang upon Aeneas, though he
knew him to be in the very arms of Apollo. Not one whit did he
fear the mighty god, so set was he on killing Aeneas and
stripping him of his armour. Thrice did he spring forward with
might and main to slay him, and thrice did Apollo beat back his
gleaming shield. When he was coming on for the fourth time, as
though he were a god, Apollo shouted to him with an awful voice
and said, “Take heed, son of Tydeus, and draw off; think not to
match yourself against gods, for men that walk the earth cannot
hold their own with the immortals.”
The son of Tydeus then gave way for a little space, to avoid the
anger of the god, while Apollo took Aeneas out of the crowd and
set him in sacred Pergamus, where his temple stood. There, within
the mighty sanctuary, Latona and Diana healed him and made him
glorious to behold, while Apollo of the silver bow fashioned a
wraith in the likeness of Aeneas, and armed as he was. Round this
the Trojans and Achaeans hacked at the bucklers about one
another’s breasts, hewing each other’s round shields and light
hide-covered targets. Then Phoebus Apollo said to Mars, “Mars,
Mars, bane of men, blood-stained stormer of cities, can you not
go to this man, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight even with
father Jove, and draw him out of the battle? He first went up to
the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and
afterwards sprang upon me too, as though he were a god.”
He then took his seat on the top of Pergamus, while murderous
Mars went about among the ranks of the Trojans, cheering them on,
in the likeness of fleet Acamas chief of the Thracians. “Sons of
Priam,” said he, “how long will you let your people be thus
slaughtered by the Achaeans? Would you wait till they are at the
walls of Troy? Aeneas the son of Anchises has fallen, he whom we
held in as high honour as Hector himself. Help me, then, to
rescue our brave comrade from the stress of the fight.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Then
Sarpedon rebuked Hector very sternly. “Hector,” said he, “where
is your prowess now? You used to say that though you had neither
people nor allies you could hold the town alone with your
brothers and brothers-in-law. I see not one of them here; they
cower as hounds before a lion; it is we, your allies, who bear
the brunt of the battle. I have come from afar, even from Lycia
and the banks of the river Xanthus, where I have left my wife, my
infant son, and much wealth to tempt whoever is needy;
nevertheless, I head my Lycian soldiers and stand my ground
against any who would fight me though I have nothing here for the
Achaeans to plunder, while you look on, without even bidding your
men stand firm in defence of their wives. See that you fall not
into the hands of your foes as men caught in the meshes of a net,
and they sack your fair city forthwith. Keep this before your
mind night and day, and beseech the captains of your allies to
hold on without flinching, and thus put away their reproaches
from you.”
So spoke Sarpedon, and Hector smarted under his words. He sprang
from his chariot clad in his suit of armour, and went about among
the host brandishing his two spears, exhorting the men to fight
and raising the terrible cry of battle. Then they rallied and
again faced the Achaeans, but the Argives stood compact and firm,
and were not driven back. As the breezes sport with the chaff
upon some goodly threshing-floor, when men are winnowing—while
yellow Ceres blows with the wind to sift the chaff from the
grain, and the chaff-heaps grow whiter and whiter—even so did the
Achaeans whiten in the dust which the horses’ hoofs raised to the
firmament of heaven, as their drivers turned them back to battle,
and they bore down with might upon the foe. Fierce Mars, to help
the Trojans, covered them in a veil of darkness, and went about
everywhere among them, inasmuch as Phoebus Apollo had told him
that when he saw Pallas Minerva leave the fray he was to put
courage into the hearts of the Trojans—for it was she who was
helping the Danaans. Then Apollo sent Aeneas forth from his rich
sanctuary, and filled his heart with valour, whereon he took his
place among his comrades, who were overjoyed at seeing him alive,
sound, and of a good courage; but they could not ask him how it
had all happened, for they were too busy with the turmoil raised
by Mars and by Strife, who raged insatiably in their midst.
The two Ajaxes, Ulysses and Diomed, cheered the Danaans on,
fearless of the fury and onset of the Trojans. They stood as
still as clouds which the son of Saturn has spread upon the
mountain tops when there is no air and fierce Boreas sleeps with
the other boisterous winds whose shrill blasts scatter the clouds
in all directions—even so did the Danaans stand firm and
unflinching against the Trojans. The son of Atreus went about
among them and exhorted them. “My friends,” said he, “quit
yourselves like brave men, and shun dishonour in one another’s
eyes amid the stress of battle. They that shun dishonour more
often live than get killed, but they that fly save neither life
nor name.”
As he spoke he hurled his spear and hit one of those who were in
the front rank, the comrade of Aeneas, Deicoon son of Pergasus,
whom the Trojans held in no less honour than the sons of Priam,
for he was ever quick to place himself among the foremost. The
spear of King Agamemnon struck his shield and went right through
it, for the shield stayed it not. It drove through his belt into
the lower part of his belly, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Then Aeneas killed two champions of the Danaans, Crethon and
Orsilochus. Their father was a rich man who lived in the strong
city of Phere and was descended from the river Alpheus, whose
broad stream flows through the land of the Pylians. The river
begat Orsilochus, who ruled over much people and was father to
Diocles, who in his turn begat twin sons, Crethon and Orsilochus,
well skilled in all the arts of war. These, when they grew up,
went to Ilius with the Argive fleet in the cause of Menelaus and
Agamemnon sons of Atreus, and there they both of them fell. As
two lions whom their dam has reared in the depths of some
mountain forest to plunder homesteads and carry off sheep and
cattle till they get killed by the hand of man, so were these two
vanquished by Aeneas, and fell like high pine-trees to the
ground.
Brave Menelaus pitied them in their fall, and made his way to the
front, clad in gleaming bronze and brandishing his spear, for
Mars egged him on to do so with intent that he should be killed
by Aeneas; but Antilochus the son of Nestor saw him and sprang
forward, fearing that the king might come to harm and thus bring
all their labour to nothing; when, therefore Aeneas and Menelaus
were setting their hands and spears against one another eager to
do battle, Antilochus placed himself by the side of Menelaus.
Aeneas, bold though he was, drew back on seeing the two heroes
side by side in front of him, so they drew the bodies of Crethon
and Orsilochus to the ranks of the Achaeans and committed the two
poor fellows into the hands of their comrades. They then turned
back and fought in the front ranks.
They killed Pylaemenes peer of Mars, leader of the Paphlagonian
warriors. Menelaus struck him on the collar-bone as he was
standing on his chariot, while Antilochus hit his charioteer and
squire Mydon, the son of Atymnius, who was turning his horses in
flight. He hit him with a stone upon the elbow, and the reins,
enriched with white ivory, fell from his hands into the dust.
Antilochus rushed towards him and struck him on the temples with
his sword, whereon he fell head first from the chariot to the
ground. There he stood for a while with his head and shoulders
buried deep in the dust—for he had fallen on sandy soil till his
horses kicked him and laid him flat on the ground, as Antilochus
lashed them and drove them off to the host of the Achaeans.
But Hector marked them from across the ranks, and with a loud cry
rushed towards them, followed by the strong battalions of the
Trojans. Mars and dread Enyo led them on, she fraught with
ruthless turmoil of battle, while Mars wielded a monstrous spear,
and went about, now in front of Hector and now behind him.
Diomed shook with passion as he saw them. As a man crossing a
wide plain is dismayed to find himself on the brink of some great
river rolling swiftly to the sea—he sees its boiling waters and
starts back in fear—even so did the son of Tydeus give ground.
Then he said to his men, “My friends, how can we wonder that
Hector wields the spear so well? Some god is ever by his side to
protect him, and now Mars is with him in the likeness of mortal
man. Keep your faces therefore towards the Trojans, but give
ground backwards, for we dare not fight with gods.”
As he spoke the Trojans drew close up, and Hector killed two men,
both in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus, heroes well versed
in war. Ajax son of Telamon pitied them in their fall; he came
close up and hurled his spear, hitting Amphius the son of
Selagus, a man of great wealth who lived in Paesus and owned much
corn-growing land, but his lot had led him to come to the aid of
Priam and his sons. Ajax struck him in the belt; the spear
pierced the lower part of his belly, and he fell heavily to the
ground. Then Ajax ran towards him to strip him of his armour, but
the Trojans rained spears upon him, many of which fell upon his
shield. He planted his heel upon the body and drew out his spear,
but the darts pressed so heavily upon him that he could not strip
the goodly armour from his shoulders. The Trojan chieftains,
moreover, many and valiant, came about him with their spears, so
that he dared not stay; great, brave and valiant though he was,
they drove him from them and he was beaten back.
Thus, then, did the battle rage between them. Presently the
strong hand of fate impelled Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, a
man both brave and of great stature, to fight Sarpedon; so the
two, son and grandson of great Jove, drew near to one another,
and Tlepolemus spoke first. “Sarpedon,” said he, “councillor of
the Lycians, why should you come skulking here you who are a man
of peace? They lie who call you son of aegis-bearing Jove, for
you are little like those who were of old his children. Far other
was Hercules, my own brave and lion-hearted father, who came here
for the horses of Laomedon, and though he had six ships only, and
few men to follow him, sacked the city of Ilius and made a
wilderness of her highways. You are a coward, and your people are
falling from you. For all your strength, and all your coming from
Lycia, you will be no help to the Trojans but will pass the gates
of Hades vanquished by my hand.”
And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, “Tlepolemus, your
father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon’s folly in refusing
payment to one who had served him well. He would not give your
father the horses which he had come so far to fetch. As for
yourself, you shall meet death by my spear. You shall yield glory
to myself, and your soul to Hades of the noble steeds.”
Thus spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus upraised his spear. They
threw at the same moment, and Sarpedon struck his foe in the
middle of his throat; the spear went right through, and the
darkness of death fell upon his eyes. Tlepolemus’s spear struck
Sarpedon on the left thigh with such force that it tore through
the flesh and grazed the bone, but his father as yet warded off
destruction from him.
His comrades bore Sarpedon out of the fight, in great pain by the
weight of the spear that was dragging from his wound. They were
in such haste and stress as they bore him that no one thought of
drawing the spear from his thigh so as to let him walk uprightly.
Meanwhile the Achaeans carried off the body of Tlepolemus,
whereon Ulysses was moved to pity, and panted for the fray as he
beheld them. He doubted whether to pursue the son of Jove, or to
make slaughter of the Lycian rank and file; it was not decreed,
however, that he should slay the son of Jove; Minerva, therefore,
turned him against the main body of the Lycians. He killed
Coeranus, Alastor, Chromius, Alcandrus, Halius, Noemon, and
Prytanis, and would have slain yet more, had not great Hector
marked him, and sped to the front of the fight clad in his suit
of mail, filling the Danaans with terror. Sarpedon was glad when
he saw him coming, and besought him, saying, “Son of Priam, let
me not be here to fall into the hands of the Danaans. Help me,
and since I may not return home to gladden the hearts of my wife
and of my infant son, let me die within the walls of your city.”
Hector made him no answer, but rushed onward to fall at once upon
the Achaeans and kill many among them. His comrades then bore
Sarpedon away and laid him beneath Jove’s spreading oak tree.
Pelagon, his friend and comrade, drew the spear out of his thigh,
but Sarpedon fainted and a mist came over his eyes. Presently he
came to himself again, for the breath of the north wind as it
played upon him gave him new life, and brought him out of the
deep swoon into which he had fallen.
Meanwhile the Argives were neither driven towards their ships by
Mars and Hector, nor yet did they attack them; when they knew
that Mars was with the Trojans they retreated, but kept their
faces still turned towards the foe. Who, then, was first and who
last to be slain by Mars and Hector? They were valiant Teuthras,
and Orestes the renowned charioteer, Trechus the Aetolian
warrior, Oenomaus, Helenus the son of Oenops, and Oresbius of the
gleaming girdle, who was possessed of great wealth, and dwelt by
the Cephisian lake with the other Boeotians who lived near him,
owners of a fertile country.
Now when the goddess Juno saw the Argives thus falling, she said
to Minerva, “Alas, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable,
the promise we made Menelaus that he should not return till he
had sacked the city of Ilius will be of no effect if we let Mars
rage thus furiously. Let us go into the fray at once.”
Minerva did not gainsay her. Thereon the august goddess, daughter
of great Saturn, began to harness her gold-bedizened steeds. Hebe
with all speed fitted on the eight-spoked wheels of bronze that
were on either side of the iron axle-tree. The felloes of the
wheels were of gold, imperishable, and over these there was a
tire of bronze, wondrous to behold. The naves of the wheels were
silver, turning round the axle upon either side. The car itself
was made with plaited bands of gold and silver, and it had a
double top-rail running all round it. From the body of the car
there went a pole of silver, on to the end of which she bound the
golden yoke, with the bands of gold that were to go under the
necks of the horses Then Juno put her steeds under the yoke,
eager for battle and the war-cry.
Meanwhile Minerva flung her richly embroidered vesture, made with
her own hands, on to her father’s threshold, and donned the shirt
of Jove, arming herself for battle. She threw her tasselled aegis
about her shoulders, wreathed round with Rout as with a fringe,
and on it were Strife, and Strength, and Panic whose blood runs
cold; moreover there was the head of the dread monster Gorgon,
grim and awful to behold, portent of aegis-bearing Jove. On her
head she set her helmet of gold, with four plumes, and coming to
a peak both in front and behind—decked with the emblems of a
hundred cities; then she stepped into her flaming chariot and
grasped the spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, with which she
quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her. Juno lashed
the horses on, and the gates of heaven bellowed as they flew open
of their own accord—gates over which the Hours preside, in whose
hands are Heaven and Olympus, either to open the dense cloud that
hides them, or to close it. Through these the goddesses drove
their obedient steeds, and found the son of Saturn sitting all
alone on the topmost ridges of Olympus. There Juno stayed her
horses, and spoke to Jove the son of Saturn, lord of all. “Father
Jove,” said she, “are you not angry with Mars for these high
doings? how great and goodly a host of the Achaeans he has
destroyed to my great grief, and without either right or reason,
while the Cyprian and Apollo are enjoying it all at their ease
and setting this unrighteous madman on to do further mischief. I
hope, Father Jove, that you will not be angry if I hit Mars hard,
and chase him out of the battle.”
And Jove answered, “Set Minerva on to him, for she punishes him
more often than any one else does.”
Juno did as he had said. She lashed her horses, and they flew
forward nothing loth midway betwixt earth and sky. As far as a
man can see when he looks out upon the sea from some high beacon,
so far can the loud-neighing horses of the gods spring at a
single bound. When they reached Troy and the place where its two
flowing streams Simois and Scamander meet, there Juno stayed them
and took them from the chariot. She hid them in a thick cloud,
and Simois made ambrosia spring up for them to eat; the two
goddesses then went on, flying like turtledoves in their
eagerness to help the Argives. When they came to the part where
the bravest and most in number were gathered about mighty Diomed,
fighting like lions or wild boars of great strength and
endurance, there Juno stood still and raised a shout like that of
brazen-voiced Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men
together. “Argives,” she cried; “shame on cowardly creatures,
brave in semblance only; as long as Achilles was fighting, if his
spear was so deadly that the Trojans dared not show themselves
outside the Dardanian gates, but now they sally far from the city
and fight even at your ships.”
With these words she put heart and soul into them all, while
Minerva sprang to the side of the son of Tydeus, whom she found
near his chariot and horses, cooling the wound that Pandarus had
given him. For the sweat caused by the hand that bore the weight
of his shield irritated the hurt: his arm was weary with pain,
and he was lifting up the strap to wipe away the blood. The
goddess laid her hand on the yoke of his horses and said, “The
son of Tydeus is not such another as his father. Tydeus was a
little man, but he could fight, and rushed madly into the fray
even when I told him not to do so. When he went all unattended as
envoy to the city of Thebes among the Cadmeans, I bade him feast
in their houses and be at peace; but with that high spirit which
was ever present with him, he challenged the youth of the
Cadmeans, and at once beat them in all that he attempted, so
mightily did I help him. I stand by you too to protect you, and I
bid you be instant in fighting the Trojans; but either you are
tired out, or you are afraid and out of heart, and in that case I
say that you are no true son of Tydeus the son of Oeneus.”
Diomed answered, “I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing
Jove, and will hide nothing from you. I am not afraid nor out of
heart, nor is there any slackness in me. I am only following your
own instructions; you told me not to fight any of the blessed
gods; but if Jove’s daughter Venus came into battle I was to
wound her with my spear. Therefore I am retreating, and bidding
the other Argives gather in this place, for I know that Mars is
now lording it in the field.”
“Diomed, son of Tydeus,” replied Minerva, “man after my own
heart, fear neither Mars nor any other of the immortals, for I
will befriend you. Nay, drive straight at Mars, and smite him in
close combat; fear not this raging madman, villain incarnate,
first on one side and then on the other. But now he was holding
talk with Juno and myself, saying he would help the Argives and
attack the Trojans; nevertheless he is with the Trojans, and has
forgotten the Argives.”
With this she caught hold of Sthenelus and lifted him off the
chariot on to the ground. In a second he was on the ground,
whereupon the goddess mounted the car and placed herself by the
side of Diomed. The oaken axle groaned aloud under the burden of
the awful goddess and the hero; Pallas Minerva took the whip and
reins, and drove straight at Mars. He was in the act of stripping
huge Periphas, son of Ochesius and bravest of the Aetolians.
Bloody Mars was stripping him of his armour, and Minerva donned
the helmet of Hades, that he might not see her; when, therefore,
he saw Diomed, he made straight for him and let Periphas lie
where he had fallen. As soon as they were at close quarters he
let fly with his bronze spear over the reins and yoke, thinking
to take Diomed’s life, but Minerva caught the spear in her hand
and made it fly harmlessly over the chariot. Diomed then threw,
and Pallas Minerva drove the spear into the pit of Mars’s stomach
where his under-girdle went round him. There Diomed wounded him,
tearing his fair flesh and then drawing his spear out again. Mars
roared as loudly as nine or ten thousand men in the thick of a
fight, and the Achaeans and Trojans were struck with panic, so
terrible was the cry he raised.
As a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat,
even so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad
heavens. With all speed he reached high Olympus, home of the
gods, and in great pain sat down beside Jove the son of Saturn.
He showed Jove the immortal blood that was flowing from his
wound, and spoke piteously, saying, “Father Jove, are you not
angered by such doings? We gods are continually suffering in the
most cruel manner at one another’s hands while helping mortals;
and we all owe you a grudge for having begotten that mad
termagant of a daughter, who is always committing outrage of some
kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us, but her you
neither scold nor punish; you encourage her because the pestilent
creature is your daughter. See how she has been inciting proud
Diomed to vent his rage on the immortal gods. First he went up to
the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and then
he sprang upon me too as though he were a god. Had I not run for
it I must either have lain there for long enough in torments
among the ghastly corpses, or have been eaten alive with spears
till I had no more strength left in me.”
Jove looked angrily at him and said, “Do not come whining here,
Sir Facing-both-ways. I hate you worst of all the gods in
Olympus, for you are ever fighting and making mischief. You have
the intolerable and stubborn spirit of your mother Juno: it is
all I can do to manage her, and it is her doing that you are now
in this plight: still, I cannot let you remain longer in such
great pain; you are my own offspring, and it was by me that your
mother conceived you; if, however, you had been the son of any
other god, you are so destructive that by this time you should
have been lying lower than the Titans.”
He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing
herbs upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal
mould. As the juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it
in a moment though it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon
cure fierce Mars. Then Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly
raiment, and he took his seat by his father Jove all glorious to
behold.
But Juno of Argos and Minerva of Alalcomene, now that they had
put a stop to the murderous doings of Mars, went back again to
the house of Jove.
BOOK VI.
Glaucus and Diomed—The story of Bellerophon—Hector and
Andromache.
The fight between Trojans and Achaeans was now left to rage as it
would, and the tide of war surged hither and thither over the
plain as they aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another
between the streams of Simois and Xanthus.
First, Ajax son of Telamon, tower of strength to the Achaeans,
broke a phalanx of the Trojans, and came to the assistance of his
comrades by killing Acamas son of Eussorus, the best man among
the Thracians, being both brave and of great stature. The spear
struck the projecting peak of his helmet: its bronze point then
went through his forehead into the brain, and darkness veiled his
eyes.
Then Diomed killed Axylus son of Teuthranus, a rich man who lived
in the strong city of Arisbe, and was beloved by all men; for he
had a house by the roadside, and entertained every one who
passed; howbeit not one of his guests stood before him to save
his life, and Diomed killed both him and his squire Calesius, who
was then his charioteer—so the pair passed beneath the earth.
Euryalus killed Dresus and Opheltius, and then went in pursuit of
Aesepus and Pedasus, whom the naiad nymph Abarbarea had borne to
noble Bucolion. Bucolion was eldest son to Laomedon, but he was a
bastard. While tending his sheep he had converse with the nymph,
and she conceived twin sons; these the son of Mecisteus now slew,
and he stripped the armour from their shoulders. Polypoetes then
killed Astyalus, Ulysses Pidytes of Percote, and Teucer Aretaon.
Ablerus fell by the spear of Nestor’s son Antilochus, and
Agamemnon, king of men, killed Elatus who dwelt in Pedasus by the
banks of the river Satnioeis. Leitus killed Phylacus as he was
flying, and Eurypylus slew Melanthus.
Then Menelaus of the loud war-cry took Adrestus alive, for his
horses ran into a tamarisk bush, as they were flying wildly over
the plain, and broke the pole from the car; they went on towards
the city along with the others in full flight, but Adrestus
rolled out, and fell in the dust flat on his face by the wheel of
his chariot; Menelaus came up to him spear in hand, but Adrestus
caught him by the knees begging for his life. “Take me alive,” he
cried, “son of Atreus, and you shall have a full ransom for me:
my father is rich and has much treasure of gold, bronze, and
wrought iron laid by in his house. From this store he will give
you a large ransom should he hear of my being alive and at the
ships of the Achaeans.”
Thus did he plead, and Menelaus was for yielding and giving him
to a squire to take to the ships of the Achaeans, but Agamemnon
came running up to him and rebuked him. “My good Menelaus,” said
he, “this is no time for giving quarter. Has, then, your house
fared so well at the hands of the Trojans? Let us not spare a
single one of them—not even the child unborn and in its mother’s
womb; let not a man of them be left alive, but let all in Ilius
perish, unheeded and forgotten.”
Thus did he speak, and his brother was persuaded by him, for his
words were just. Menelaus, therefore, thrust Adrestus from him,
whereon King Agamemnon struck him in the flank, and he fell: then
the son of Atreus planted his foot upon his breast to draw his
spear from the body.
Meanwhile Nestor shouted to the Argives, saying, “My friends,
Danaan warriors, servants of Mars, let no man lag that he may
spoil the dead, and bring back much booty to the ships. Let us
kill as many as we can; the bodies will lie upon the plain, and
you can despoil them later at your leisure.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. And now the
Trojans would have been routed and driven back into Ilius, had
not Priam’s son Helenus, wisest of augurs, said to Hector and
Aeneas, “Hector and Aeneas, you two are the mainstays of the
Trojans and Lycians, for you are foremost at all times, alike in
fight and counsel; hold your ground here, and go about among the
host to rally them in front of the gates, or they will fling
themselves into the arms of their wives, to the great joy of our
foes. Then, when you have put heart into all our companies, we
will stand firm here and fight the Danaans however hard they
press us, for there is nothing else to be done. Meanwhile do you,
Hector, go to the city and tell our mother what is happening.
Tell her to bid the matrons gather at the temple of Minerva in
the acropolis; let her then take her key and open the doors of
the sacred building; there, upon the knees of Minerva, let her
lay the largest, fairest robe she has in her house—the one she
sets most store by; let her, moreover, promise to sacrifice
twelve yearling heifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the
temple of the goddess, if she will take pity on the town, with
the wives and little ones of the Trojans, and keep the son of
Tydeus from falling on the goodly city of Ilius; for he fights
with fury and fills men’s souls with panic. I hold him mightiest
of them all; we did not fear even their great champion Achilles,
son of a goddess though he be, as we do this man: his rage is
beyond all bounds, and there is none can vie with him in
prowess.”
Hector did as his brother bade him. He sprang from his chariot,
and went about everywhere among the host, brandishing his spears,
urging the men on to fight, and raising the dread cry of battle.
Thereon they rallied and again faced the Achaeans, who gave
ground and ceased their murderous onset, for they deemed that
some one of the immortals had come down from starry heaven to
help the Trojans, so strangely had they rallied. And Hector
shouted to the Trojans, “Trojans and allies, be men, my friends,
and fight with might and main, while I go to Ilius and tell the
old men of our council and our wives to pray to the gods and vow
hecatombs in their honour.”
With this he went his way, and the black rim of hide that went
round his shield beat against his neck and his ancles.
Then Glaucus son of Hippolochus, and the son of Tydeus went into
the open space between the hosts to fight in single combat. When
they were close up to one another Diomed of the loud war-cry was
the first to speak. “Who, my good sir,” said he, “who are you
among men? I have never seen you in battle until now, but you are
daring beyond all others if you abide my onset. Woe to those
fathers whose sons face my might. If, however, you are one of the
immortals and have come down from heaven, I will not fight you;
for even valiant Lycurgus, son of Dryas, did not live long when
he took to fighting with the gods. He it was that drove the
nursing women who were in charge of frenzied Bacchus through the
land of Nysa, and they flung their thyrsi on the ground as
murderous Lycurgus beat them with his oxgoad. Bacchus himself
plunged terror-stricken into the sea, and Thetis took him to her
bosom to comfort him, for he was scared by the fury with which
the man reviled him. Thereon the gods who live at ease were angry
with Lycurgus and the son of Saturn struck him blind, nor did he
live much longer after he had become hateful to the immortals.
Therefore I will not fight with the blessed gods; but if you are
of them that eat the fruit of the ground, draw near and meet your
doom.”
And the son of Hippolochus answered, “Son of Tydeus, why ask me
of my lineage? Men come and go as leaves year by year upon the
trees. Those of autumn the wind sheds upon the ground, but when
spring returns the forest buds forth with fresh vines. Even so is
it with the generations of mankind, the new spring up as the old
are passing away. If, then, you would learn my descent, it is one
that is well known to many. There is a city in the heart of
Argos, pasture land of horses, called Ephyra, where Sisyphus
lived, who was the craftiest of all mankind. He was the son of
Aeolus, and had a son named Glaucus, who was father to
Bellerophon, whom heaven endowed with the most surpassing
comeliness and beauty. But Proetus devised his ruin, and being
stronger than he, drove him from the land of the Argives, over
which Jove had made him ruler. For Antea, wife of Proetus, lusted
after him, and would have had him lie with her in secret; but
Bellerophon was an honourable man and would not, so she told lies
about him to Proteus. ‘Proetus,’ said she, ‘kill Bellerophon or
die, for he would have had converse with me against my will.’ The
king was angered, but shrank from killing Bellerophon, so he sent
him to Lycia with lying letters of introduction, written on a
folded tablet, and containing much ill against the bearer. He
bade Bellerophon show these letters to his father-in-law, to the
end that he might thus perish; Bellerophon therefore went to
Lycia, and the gods convoyed him safely.
“When he reached the river Xanthus, which is in Lycia, the king
received him with all goodwill, feasted him nine days, and killed
nine heifers in his honour, but when rosy-fingered morning
appeared upon the tenth day, he questioned him and desired to see
the letter from his son-in-law Proetus. When he had received the
wicked letter he first commanded Bellerophon to kill that savage
monster, the Chimaera, who was not a human being, but a goddess,
for she had the head of a lion and the tail of a serpent, while
her body was that of a goat, and she breathed forth flames of
fire; but Bellerophon slew her, for he was guided by signs from
heaven. He next fought the far-famed Solymi, and this, he said,
was the hardest of all his battles. Thirdly, he killed the
Amazons, women who were the peers of men, and as he was returning
thence the king devised yet another plan for his destruction; he
picked the bravest warriors in all Lycia, and placed them in
ambuscade, but not a man ever came back, for Bellerophon killed
every one of them. Then the king knew that he must be the valiant
offspring of a god, so he kept him in Lycia, gave him his
daughter in marriage, and made him of equal honour in the kingdom
with himself; and the Lycians gave him a piece of land, the best
in all the country, fair with vineyards and tilled fields, to
have and to hold.
“The king’s daughter bore Bellerophon three children, Isander,
Hippolochus, and Laodameia. Jove, the lord of counsel, lay with
Laodameia, and she bore him noble Sarpedon; but when Bellerophon
came to be hated by all the gods, he wandered all desolate and
dismayed upon the Alean plain, gnawing at his own heart, and
shunning the path of man. Mars, insatiate of battle, killed his
son Isander while he was fighting the Solymi; his daughter was
killed by Diana of the golden reins, for she was angered with
her; but Hippolochus was father to myself, and when he sent me to
Troy he urged me again and again to fight ever among the foremost
and outvie my peers, so as not to shame the blood of my fathers
who were the noblest in Ephyra and in all Lycia. This, then, is
the descent I claim.”
Thus did he speak, and the heart of Diomed was glad. He planted
his spear in the ground, and spoke to him with friendly words.
“Then,” he said, “you are an old friend of my father’s house.
Great Oeneus once entertained Bellerophon for twenty days, and
the two exchanged presents. Oeneus gave a belt rich with purple,
and Bellerophon a double cup, which I left at home when I set out
for Troy. I do not remember Tydeus, for he was taken from us
while I was yet a child, when the army of the Achaeans was cut to
pieces before Thebes. Henceforth, however, I must be your host in
middle Argos, and you mine in Lycia, if I should ever go there;
let us avoid one another’s spears even during a general
engagement; there are many noble Trojans and allies whom I can
kill, if I overtake them and heaven delivers them into my hand;
so again with yourself, there are many Achaeans whose lives you
may take if you can; we two, then, will exchange armour, that all
present may know of the old ties that subsist between us.”
With these words they sprang from their chariots, grasped one
another’s hands, and plighted friendship. But the son of Saturn
made Glaucus take leave of his wits, for he exchanged golden
armour for bronze, the worth of a hundred head of cattle for the
worth of nine.
Now when Hector reached the Scaean gates and the oak tree, the
wives and daughters of the Trojans came running towards him to
ask after their sons, brothers, kinsmen, and husbands: he told
them to set about praying to the gods, and many were made
sorrowful as they heard him.
Presently he reached the splendid palace of King Priam, adorned
with colonnades of hewn stone. In it there were fifty
bedchambers—all of hewn stone—built near one another, where the
sons of Priam slept, each with his wedded wife. Opposite these,
on the other side the courtyard, there were twelve upper rooms
also of hewn stone for Priam’s daughters, built near one another,
where his sons-in-law slept with their wives. When Hector got
there, his fond mother came up to him with Laodice the fairest of
her daughters. She took his hand within her own and said, “My
son, why have you left the battle to come hither? Are the
Achaeans, woe betide them, pressing you hard about the city that
you have thought fit to come and uplift your hands to Jove from
the citadel? Wait till I can bring you wine that you may make
offering to Jove and to the other immortals, and may then drink
and be refreshed. Wine gives a man fresh strength when he is
wearied, as you now are with fighting on behalf of your kinsmen.”
And Hector answered, “Honoured mother, bring no wine, lest you
unman me and I forget my strength. I dare not make a
drink-offering to Jove with unwashed hands; one who is
bespattered with blood and filth may not pray to the son of
Saturn. Get the matrons together, and go with offerings to the
temple of Minerva driver of the spoil; there, upon the knees of
Minerva, lay the largest and fairest robe you have in your
house—the one you set most store by; promise, moreover, to
sacrifice twelve yearling heifers that have never yet felt the
goad, in the temple of the goddess if she will take pity on the
town, with the wives and little ones of the Trojans, and keep the
son of Tydeus from off the goodly city of Ilius, for he fights
with fury, and fills men’s souls with panic. Go, then, to the
temple of Minerva, while I seek Paris and exhort him, if he will
hear my words. Would that the earth might open her jaws and
swallow him, for Jove bred him to be the bane of the Trojans, and
of Priam and Priam’s sons. Could I but see him go down into the
house of Hades, my heart would forget its heaviness.”
His mother went into the house and called her waiting-women who
gathered the matrons throughout the city. She then went down into
her fragrant store-room, where her embroidered robes were kept,
the work of Sidonian women, whom Alexandrus had brought over from
Sidon when he sailed the seas upon that voyage during which he
carried off Helen. Hecuba took out the largest robe, and the one
that was most beautifully enriched with embroidery, as an
offering to Minerva: it glittered like a star, and lay at the
very bottom of the chest. With this she went on her way and many
matrons with her.
When they reached the temple of Minerva, lovely Theano, daughter
of Cisseus and wife of Antenor, opened the doors, for the Trojans
had made her priestess of Minerva. The women lifted up their
hands to the goddess with a loud cry, and Theano took the robe to
lay it upon the knees of Minerva, praying the while to the
daughter of great Jove. “Holy Minerva,” she cried, “protectress
of our city, mighty goddess, break the spear of Diomed and lay
him low before the Scaean gates. Do this, and we will sacrifice
twelve heifers that have never yet known the goad, in your
temple, if you will have pity upon the town, with the wives and
little ones of the Trojans.” Thus she prayed, but Pallas Minerva
granted not her prayer.
While they were thus praying to the daughter of great Jove,
Hector went to the fair house of Alexandrus, which he had built
for him by the foremost builders in the land. They had built him
his house, storehouse, and courtyard near those of Priam and
Hector on the acropolis. Here Hector entered, with a spear eleven
cubits long in his hand; the bronze point gleamed in front of
him, and was fastened to the shaft of the spear by a ring of
gold. He found Alexandrus within the house, busied about his
armour, his shield and cuirass, and handling his curved bow;
there, too, sat Argive Helen with her women, setting them their
several tasks; and as Hector saw him he rebuked him with words of
scorn. “Sir,” said he, “you do ill to nurse this rancour; the
people perish fighting round this our town; you would yourself
chide one whom you saw shirking his part in the combat. Up then,
or ere long the city will be in a blaze.”
And Alexandrus answered, “Hector, your rebuke is just; listen
therefore, and believe me when I tell you that I am not here so
much through rancour or ill-will towards the Trojans, as from a
desire to indulge my grief. My wife was even now gently urging me
to battle, and I hold it better that I should go, for victory is
ever fickle. Wait, then, while I put on my armour, or go first
and I will follow. I shall be sure to overtake you.”
Hector made no answer, but Helen tried to soothe him. “Brother,”
said she, “to my abhorred and sinful self, would that a whirlwind
had caught me up on the day my mother brought me forth, and had
borne me to some mountain or to the waves of the roaring sea that
should have swept me away ere this mischief had come about. But,
since the gods have devised these evils, would, at any rate, that
I had been wife to a better man—to one who could smart under
dishonour and men’s evil speeches. This fellow was never yet to
be depended upon, nor never will be, and he will surely reap what
he has sown. Still, brother, come in and rest upon this seat, for
it is you who bear the brunt of that toil that has been caused by
my hateful self and by the sin of Alexandrus—both of whom Jove
has doomed to be a theme of song among those that shall be born
hereafter.”
And Hector answered, “Bid me not be seated, Helen, for all the
goodwill you bear me. I cannot stay. I am in haste to help the
Trojans, who miss me greatly when I am not among them; but urge
your husband, and of his own self also let him make haste to
overtake me before I am out of the city. I must go home to see my
household, my wife and my little son, for I know not whether I
shall ever again return to them, or whether the gods will cause
me to fill by the hands of the Achaeans.”
Then Hector left her, and forthwith was at his own house. He did
not find Andromache, for she was on the wall with her child and
one of her maids, weeping bitterly. Seeing, then, that she was
not within, he stood on the threshold of the women’s rooms and
said, “Women, tell me, and tell me true, where did Andromache go
when she left the house? Was it to my sisters, or to my brothers’
wives? or is she at the temple of Minerva where the other women
are propitiating the awful goddess?”
His good housekeeper answered, “Hector, since you bid me tell you
truly, she did not go to your sisters nor to your brothers’
wives, nor yet to the temple of Minerva, where the other women
are propitiating the awful goddess, but she is on the high wall
of Ilius, for she had heard the Trojans were being hard pressed,
and that the Achaeans were in great force: she went to the wall
in frenzied haste, and the nurse went with her carrying the
child.”
Hector hurried from the house when she had done speaking, and
went down the streets by the same way that he had come. When he
had gone through the city and had reached the Scaean gates
through which he would go out on to the plain, his wife came
running towards him, Andromache, daughter of great Eetion who
ruled in Thebe under the wooded slopes of Mt. Placus, and was
king of the Cilicians. His daughter had married Hector, and now
came to meet him with a nurse who carried his little child in her
bosom—a mere babe. Hector’s darling son, and lovely as a star.
Hector had named him Scamandrius, but the people called him
Astyanax, for his father stood alone as chief guardian of Ilius.
Hector smiled as he looked upon the boy, but he did not speak,
and Andromache stood by him weeping and taking his hand in her
own. “Dear husband,” said she, “your valour will bring you to
destruction; think on your infant son, and on my hapless self who
ere long shall be your widow—for the Achaeans will set upon you
in a body and kill you. It would be better for me, should I lose
you, to lie dead and buried, for I shall have nothing left to
comfort me when you are gone, save only sorrow. I have neither
father nor mother now. Achilles slew my father when he sacked
Thebe the goodly city of the Cilicians. He slew him, but did not
for very shame despoil him; when he had burned him in his
wondrous armour, he raised a barrow over his ashes and the
mountain nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, planted a grove
of elms about his tomb. I had seven brothers in my father’s
house, but on the same day they all went within the house of
Hades. Achilles killed them as they were with their sheep and
cattle. My mother—her who had been queen of all the land under
Mt. Placus—he brought hither with the spoil, and freed her for a
great sum, but the archer-queen Diana took her in the house of
your father. Nay—Hector—you who to me are father, mother,
brother, and dear husband—have mercy upon me; stay here upon this
wall; make not your child fatherless, and your wife a widow; as
for the host, place them near the fig-tree, where the city can be
best scaled, and the wall is weakest. Thrice have the bravest of
them come thither and assailed it, under the two Ajaxes,
Idomeneus, the sons of Atreus, and the brave son of Tydeus,
either of their own bidding, or because some soothsayer had told
them.”
And Hector answered, “Wife, I too have thought upon all this, but
with what face should I look upon the Trojans, men or women, if I
shirked battle like a coward? I cannot do so: I know nothing save
to fight bravely in the forefront of the Trojan host and win
renown alike for my father and myself. Well do I know that the
day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed with
Priam and Priam’s people, but I grieve for none of these—not even
for Hecuba, nor King Priam, nor for my brothers many and brave
who may fall in the dust before their foes—for none of these do I
grieve as for yourself when the day shall come on which some one
of the Achaeans shall rob you for ever of your freedom, and bear
you weeping away. It may be that you will have to ply the loom in
Argos at the bidding of a mistress, or to fetch water from the
springs Messeis or Hypereia, treated brutally by some cruel
task-master; then will one say who sees you weeping, ‘She was
wife to Hector, the bravest warrior among the Trojans during the
war before Ilius.’ On this your tears will break forth anew for
him who would have put away the day of captivity from you. May I
lie dead under the barrow that is heaped over my body ere I hear
your cry as they carry you into bondage.”
He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and
nestled in his nurse’s bosom, scared at the sight of his father’s
armour, and at the horse-hair plume that nodded fiercely from his
helmet. His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took
the helmet from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the
ground. Then he took his darling child, kissed him, and dandled
him in his arms, praying over him the while to Jove and to all
the gods. “Jove,” he cried, “grant that this my child may be even
as myself, chief among the Trojans; let him be not less excellent
in strength, and let him rule Ilius with his might. Then may one
say of him as he comes from battle, ‘The son is far better than
the father.’ May he bring back the blood-stained spoils of him
whom he has laid low, and let his mother’s heart be glad.”
With this he laid the child again in the arms of his wife, who
took him to her own soft bosom, smiling through her tears. As her
husband watched her his heart yearned towards her and he caressed
her fondly, saying, “My own wife, do not take these things too
bitterly to heart. No one can hurry me down to Hades before my
time, but if a man’s hour is come, be he brave or be he coward,
there is no escape for him when he has once been born. Go, then,
within the house, and busy yourself with your daily duties, your
loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for war is
man’s matter, and mine above all others of them that have been
born in Ilius.”
He took his plumed helmet from the ground, and his wife went back
again to her house, weeping bitterly and often looking back
towards him. When she reached her home she found her maidens
within, and bade them all join in her lament; so they mourned
Hector in his own house though he was yet alive, for they deemed
that they should never see him return safe from battle, and from
the furious hands of the Achaeans.
Paris did not remain long in his house. He donned his goodly
armour overlaid with bronze, and hasted through the city as fast
as his feet could take him. As a horse, stabled and fed, breaks
loose and gallops gloriously over the plain to the place where he
is wont to bathe in the fair-flowing river—he holds his head
high, and his mane streams upon his shoulders as he exults in his
strength and flies like the wind to the haunts and feeding ground
of the mares—even so went forth Paris from high Pergamus,
gleaming like sunlight in his armour, and he laughed aloud as he
sped swiftly on his way. Forthwith he came upon his brother
Hector, who was then turning away from the place where he had
held converse with his wife, and he was himself the first to
speak. “Sir,” said he, “I fear that I have kept you waiting when
you are in haste, and have not come as quickly as you bade me.”
“My good brother,” answered Hector, “you fight bravely, and no
man with any justice can make light of your doings in battle. But
you are careless and wilfully remiss. It grieves me to the heart
to hear the ill that the Trojans speak about you, for they have
suffered much on your account. Let us be going, and we will make
things right hereafter, should Jove vouchsafe us to set the cup
of our deliverance before ever-living gods of heaven in our own
homes, when we have chased the Achaeans from Troy.”
BOOK VII.
Hector and Ajax fight—Hector is getting worsted when night comes
on and parts them—They exchange presents—The burial of the dead,
and the building of a wall round their ships by the Achaeans—The
Achaeans buy their wine of Agamemnon and Menelaus.
With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother
Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven
sends a breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain,
and have laboured at their oars till they are faint with toil,
even so welcome was the sight of these two heroes to the Trojans.
Thereon Alexandrus killed Menesthius the son of Areithous; he
lived in Arne, and was son of Areithous the Mace-man, and of
Phylomedusa. Hector threw a spear at Eioneus and struck him dead
with a wound in the neck under the bronze rim of his helmet.
Glaucus, moreover, son of Hippolochus, captain of the Lycians, in
hard hand-to-hand fight smote Iphinous son of Dexius on the
shoulder, as he was springing on to his chariot behind his fleet
mares; so he fell to earth from the car, and there was no life
left in him.
When, therefore, Minerva saw these men making havoc of the
Argives, she darted down to Ilius from the summits of Olympus,
and Apollo, who was looking on from Pergamus, went out to meet
her; for he wanted the Trojans to be victorious. The pair met by
the oak tree, and King Apollo son of Jove was first to speak.
“What would you have,” said he, “daughter of great Jove, that
your proud spirit has sent you hither from Olympus? Have you no
pity upon the Trojans, and would you incline the scales of
victory in favour of the Danaans? Let me persuade you—for it will
be better thus—stay the combat for to-day, but let them renew the
fight hereafter till they compass the doom of Ilius, since you
goddesses have made up your minds to destroy the city.”
And Minerva answered, “So be it, Far-Darter; it was in this mind
that I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans. Tell
me, then, how do you propose to end this present fighting?”
Apollo, son of Jove, replied, “Let us incite great Hector to
challenge some one of the Danaans in single combat; on this the
Achaeans will be shamed into finding a man who will fight him.”
Minerva assented, and Helenus son of Priam divined the counsel of
the gods; he therefore went up to Hector and said, “Hector son of
Priam, peer of gods in counsel, I am your brother, let me then
persuade you. Bid the other Trojans and Achaeans all of them take
their seats, and challenge the best man among the Achaeans to
meet you in single combat. I have heard the voice of the
ever-living gods, and the hour of your doom is not yet come.”
Hector was glad when he heard this saying, and went in among the
Trojans, grasping his spear by the middle to hold them back, and
they all sat down. Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated.
But Minerva and Apollo, in the likeness of vultures, perched on
father Jove’s high oak tree, proud of their men; and the ranks
sat close ranged together, bristling with shield and helmet and
spear. As when the rising west wind furs the face of the sea and
the waters grow dark beneath it, so sat the companies of Trojans
and Achaeans upon the plain. And Hector spoke thus:—
“Hear me, Trojans and Achaeans, that I may speak even as I am
minded; Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and
covenants to nothing, and foreshadows ill for both of us, till
you either take the towers of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished
at your ships. The princes of the Achaeans are here present in
the midst of you; let him, then, that will fight me stand forward
as your champion against Hector. Thus I say, and may Jove be
witness between us. If your champion slay me, let him strip me of
my armour and take it to your ships, but let him send my body
home that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire
when I am dead. In like manner, if Apollo vouchsafe me glory and
I slay your champion, I will strip him of his armour and take it
to the city of Ilius, where I will hang it in the temple of
Apollo, but I will give up his body, that the Achaeans may bury
him at their ships, and the build him a mound by the wide waters
of the Hellespont. Then will one say hereafter as he sails his
ship over the sea, ‘This is the monument of one who died long
since a champion who was slain by mighty Hector.’ Thus will one
say, and my fame shall not be lost.”
Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to
decline the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last
Menelaus rose and rebuked them, for he was angry. “Alas,” he
cried, “vain braggarts, women forsooth not men, double-dyed
indeed will be the stain upon us if no man of the Danaans will
now face Hector. May you be turned every man of you into earth
and water as you sit spiritless and inglorious in your places. I
will myself go out against this man, but the upshot of the fight
will be from on high in the hands of the immortal gods.”
With these words he put on his armour; and then, O Menelaus, your
life would have come to an end at the hands of hands of Hector,
for he was far better the man, had not the princes of the
Achaeans sprung upon you and checked you. King Agamemnon caught
him by the right hand and said, “Menelaus, you are mad; a truce
to this folly. Be patient in spite of passion, do not think of
fighting a man so much stronger than yourself as Hector son of
Priam, who is feared by many another as well as you. Even
Achilles, who is far more doughty than you are, shrank from
meeting him in battle. Sit down your own people, and the Achaeans
will send some other champion to fight Hector; fearless and fond
of battle though he be, I ween his knees will bend gladly under
him if he comes out alive from the hurly-burly of this fight.”
With these words of reasonable counsel he persuaded his brother,
whereon his squires gladly stripped the armour from off his
shoulders. Then Nestor rose and spoke, “Of a truth,” said he,
“the Achaean land is fallen upon evil times. The old knight
Peleus, counsellor and orator among the Myrmidons, loved when I
was in his house to question me concerning the race and lineage
of all the Argives. How would it not grieve him could he hear of
them as now quailing before Hector? Many a time would he lift his
hands in prayer that his soul might leave his body and go down
within the house of Hades. Would, by father Jove, Minerva, and
Apollo, that I were still young and strong as when the Pylians
and Arcadians were gathered in fight by the rapid river Celadon
under the walls of Pheia, and round about the waters of the river
Iardanus. The godlike hero Ereuthalion stood forward as their
champion, with the armour of King Areithous upon his
shoulders—Areithous whom men and women had surnamed ‘the
Mace-man,’ because he fought neither with bow nor spear, but
broke the battalions of the foe with his iron mace. Lycurgus
killed him, not in fair fight, but by entrapping him in a narrow
way where his mace served him in no stead; for Lycurgus was too
quick for him and speared him through the middle, so he fell to
earth on his back. Lycurgus then spoiled him of the armour which
Mars had given him, and bore it in battle thenceforward; but when
he grew old and stayed at home, he gave it to his faithful squire
Ereuthalion, who in this same armour challenged the foremost men
among us. The others quaked and quailed, but my high spirit bade
me fight him though none other would venture; I was the youngest
man of them all; but when I fought him Minerva vouchsafed me
victory. He was the biggest and strongest man that ever I killed,
and covered much ground as he lay sprawling upon the earth. Would
that I were still young and strong as I then was, for the son of
Priam would then soon find one who would face him. But you,
foremost among the whole host though you be, have none of you any
stomach for fighting Hector.”
Thus did the old man rebuke them, and forthwith nine men started
to their feet. Foremost of all uprose King Agamemnon, and after
him brave Diomed the son of Tydeus. Next were the two Ajaxes, men
clothed in valour as with a garment, and then Idomeneus, and
Meriones his brother in arms. After these Eurypylus son of
Euaemon, Thoas the son of Andraemon, and Ulysses also rose. Then
Nestor knight of Gerene again spoke, saying: “Cast lots among you
to see who shall be chosen. If he come alive out of this fight he
will have done good service alike to his own soul and to the
Achaeans.”
Thus he spoke, and when each of them had marked his lot, and had
thrown it into the helmet of Agamemnon son of Atreus, the people
lifted their hands in prayer, and thus would one of them say as
he looked into the vault of heaven, “Father Jove, grant that the
lot fall on Ajax, or on the son of Tydeus, or upon the king of
rich Mycene himself.”
As they were speaking, Nestor knight of Gerene shook the helmet,
and from it there fell the very lot which they wanted—the lot of
Ajax. The herald bore it about and showed it to all the
chieftains of the Achaeans, going from left to right; but they
none of them owned it. When, however, in due course he reached
the man who had written upon it and had put it into the helmet,
brave Ajax held out his hand, and the herald gave him the lot.
When Ajax saw his mark he knew it and was glad; he threw it to
the ground and said, “My friends, the lot is mine, and I rejoice,
for I shall vanquish Hector. I will put on my armour; meanwhile,
pray to King Jove in silence among yourselves that the Trojans
may not hear you—or aloud if you will, for we fear no man. None
shall overcome me, neither by force nor cunning, for I was born
and bred in Salamis, and can hold my own in all things.”
With this they fell praying to King Jove the son of Saturn, and
thus would one of them say as he looked into the vault of heaven,
“Father Jove that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power,
vouchsafe victory to Ajax, and let him win great glory: but if
you wish well to Hector also and would protect him, grant to each
of them equal fame and prowess.”
Thus they prayed, and Ajax armed himself in his suit of gleaming
bronze. When he was in full array he sprang forward as monstrous
Mars when he takes part among men whom Jove has set fighting with
one another—even so did huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans,
spring forward with a grim smile on his face as he brandished his
long spear and strode onward. The Argives were elated as they
beheld him, but the Trojans trembled in every limb, and the heart
even of Hector beat quickly, but he could not now retreat and
withdraw into the ranks behind him, for he had been the
challenger. Ajax came up bearing his shield in front of him like
a wall—a shield of bronze with seven folds of oxhide—the work of
Tychius, who lived in Hyle and was by far the best worker in
leather. He had made it with the hides of seven full-fed bulls,
and over these he had set an eighth layer of bronze. Holding this
shield before him, Ajax son of Telamon came close up to Hector,
and menaced him saying, “Hector, you shall now learn, man to man,
what kind of champions the Danaans have among them even besides
lion-hearted Achilles cleaver of the ranks of men. He now abides
at the ships in anger with Agamemnon shepherd of his people, but
there are many of us who are well able to face you; therefore
begin the fight.”
And Hector answered, “Noble Ajax, son of Telamon, captain of the
host, treat me not as though I were some puny boy or woman that
cannot fight. I have been long used to the blood and butcheries
of battle. I am quick to turn my leathern shield either to right
or left, for this I deem the main thing in battle. I can charge
among the chariots and horsemen, and in hand to hand fighting can
delight the heart of Mars; howbeit I would not take such a man as
you are off his guard—but I will smite you openly if I can.”
He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it from him. It
struck the sevenfold shield in its outermost layer—the eighth,
which was of bronze—and went through six of the layers but in the
seventh hide it stayed. Then Ajax threw in his turn, and struck
the round shield of the son of Priam. The terrible spear went
through his gleaming shield, and pressed onward through his
cuirass of cunning workmanship; it pierced the shirt against his
side, but he swerved and thus saved his life. They then each of
them drew out the spear from his shield, and fell on one another
like savage lions or wild boars of great strength and endurance:
the son of Priam struck the middle of Ajax’s shield, but the
bronze did not break, and the point of his dart was turned. Ajax
then sprang forward and pierced the shield of Hector; the spear
went through it and staggered him as he was springing forward to
attack; it gashed his neck and the blood came pouring from the
wound, but even so Hector did not cease fighting; he gave ground,
and with his brawny hand seized a stone, rugged and huge, that
was lying upon the plain; with this he struck the shield of Ajax
on the boss that was in its middle, so that the bronze rang
again. But Ajax in turn caught up a far larger stone, swung it
aloft, and hurled it with prodigious force. This millstone of a
rock broke Hector’s shield inwards and threw him down on his back
with the shield crushing him under it, but Apollo raised him at
once. Thereon they would have hacked at one another in close
combat with their swords, had not heralds, messengers of gods and
men, come forward, one from the Trojans and the other from the
Achaeans—Talthybius and Idaeus both of them honourable men; these
parted them with their staves, and the good herald Idaeus said,
“My sons, fight no longer, you are both of you valiant, and both
are dear to Jove; we know this; but night is now falling, and the
behests of night may not be well gainsaid.”
Ajax son of Telamon answered, “Idaeus, bid Hector say so, for it
was he that challenged our princes. Let him speak first and I
will accept his saying.”
Then Hector said, “Ajax, heaven has vouchsafed you stature and
strength, and judgement; and in wielding the spear you excel all
others of the Achaeans. Let us for this day cease fighting;
hereafter we will fight anew till heaven decide between us, and
give victory to one or to the other; night is now falling, and
the behests of night may not be well gainsaid. Gladden, then, the
hearts of the Achaeans at your ships, and more especially those
of your own followers and clansmen, while I, in the great city of
King Priam, bring comfort to the Trojans and their women, who vie
with one another in their prayers on my behalf. Let us, moreover,
exchange presents that it may be said among the Achaeans and
Trojans, ‘They fought with might and main, but were reconciled
and parted in friendship.’”
On this he gave Ajax a silver-studded sword with its sheath and
leathern baldric, and in return Ajax gave him a girdle dyed with
purple. Thus they parted, the one going to the host of the
Achaeans, and the other to that of the Trojans, who rejoiced when
they saw their hero come to them safe and unharmed from the
strong hands of mighty Ajax. They led him, therefore, to the city
as one that had been saved beyond their hopes. On the other side
the Achaeans brought Ajax elated with victory to Agamemnon.
When they reached the quarters of the son of Atreus, Agamemnon
sacrificed for them a five-year-old bull in honour of Jove the
son of Saturn. They flayed the carcass, made it ready, and
divided it into joints; these they cut carefully up into smaller
pieces, putting them on the spits, roasting them sufficiently,
and then drawing them off. When they had done all this and had
prepared the feast, they ate it, and every man had his full and
equal share, so that all were satisfied, and King Agamemnon gave
Ajax some slices cut lengthways down the loin, as a mark of
special honour. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink,
old Nestor whose counsel was ever truest began to speak; with all
sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:—
“Son of Atreus, and other chieftains, inasmuch as many of the
Achaeans are now dead, whose blood Mars has shed by the banks of
the Scamander, and their souls have gone down to the house of
Hades, it will be well when morning comes that we should cease
fighting; we will then wheel our dead together with oxen and
mules and burn them not far from the ships, that when we sail
hence we may take the bones of our comrades home to their
children. Hard by the funeral pyre we will build a barrow that
shall be raised from the plain for all in common; near this let
us set about building a high wall, to shelter ourselves and our
ships, and let it have well-made gates that there may be a way
through them for our chariots. Close outside we will dig a deep
trench all round it to keep off both horse and foot, that the
Trojan chieftains may not bear hard upon us.”
Thus he spoke, and the princess shouted in applause. Meanwhile
the Trojans held a council, angry and full of discord, on the
acropolis by the gates of King Priam’s palace; and wise Antenor
spoke. “Hear me,” he said, “Trojans, Dardanians, and allies, that
I may speak even as I am minded. Let us give up Argive Helen and
her wealth to the sons of Atreus, for we are now fighting in
violation of our solemn covenants, and shall not prosper till we
have done as I say.”
He then sat down and Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen rose to
speak. “Antenor,” said he, “your words are not to my liking; you
can find a better saying than this if you will; if, however, you
have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven robbed you of
your reason. I will speak plainly, and hereby notify to the
Trojans that I will not give up the woman; but the wealth that I
brought home with her from Argos I will restore, and will add yet
further of my own.”
On this, when Paris had spoken and taken his seat, Priam of the
race of Dardanus, peer of gods in council, rose and with all
sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus: “Hear me, Trojans,
Dardanians, and allies, that I may speak even as I am minded. Get
your suppers now as hitherto throughout the city, but keep your
watches and be wakeful. At daybreak let Idaeus go to the ships,
and tell Agamemnon and Menelaus sons of Atreus the saying of
Alexandrus through whom this quarrel has come about; and let him
also be instant with them that they now cease fighting till we
burn our dead; hereafter we will fight anew, till heaven decide
between us and give victory to one or to the other.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They took
supper in their companies and at daybreak Idaeus went his way to
the ships. He found the Danaans, servants of Mars, in council at
the stern of Agamemnon’s ship, and took his place in the midst of
them. “Son of Atreus,” he said, “and princes of the Achaean host,
Priam and the other noble Trojans have sent me to tell you the
saying of Alexandrus through whom this quarrel has come about, if
so be that you may find it acceptable. All the treasure he took
with him in his ships to Troy—would that he had sooner
perished—he will restore, and will add yet further of his own,
but he will not give up the wedded wife of Menelaus, though the
Trojans would have him do so. Priam bade me inquire further if
you will cease fighting till we burn our dead; hereafter we will
fight anew, till heaven decide between us and give victory to one
or to the other.”
They all held their peace, but presently Diomed of the loud
war-cry spoke, saying, “Let there be no taking, neither treasure,
nor yet Helen, for even a child may see that the doom of the
Trojans is at hand.”
The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words that
Diomed had spoken, and thereon King Agamemnon said to Idaeus,
“Idaeus, you have heard the answer the Achaeans make you-and I
with them. But as concerning the dead, I give you leave to burn
them, for when men are once dead there should be no grudging them
the rites of fire. Let Jove the mighty husband of Juno be witness
to this covenant.”
As he spoke he upheld his sceptre in the sight of all the gods,
and Idaeus went back to the strong city of Ilius. The Trojans and
Dardanians were gathered in council waiting his return; when he
came, he stood in their midst and delivered his message. As soon
as they heard it they set about their twofold labour, some to
gather the corpses, and others to bring in wood. The Argives on
their part also hastened from their ships, some to gather the
corpses, and others to bring in wood.
The sun was beginning to beat upon the fields, fresh risen into
the vault of heaven from the slow still currents of deep Oceanus,
when the two armies met. They could hardly recognise their dead,
but they washed the clotted gore from off them, shed tears over
them, and lifted them upon their waggons. Priam had forbidden the
Trojans to wail aloud, so they heaped their dead sadly and
silently upon the pyre, and having burned them went back to the
city of Ilius. The Achaeans in like manner heaped their dead
sadly and silently on the pyre, and having burned them went back
to their ships.
Now in the twilight when it was not yet dawn, chosen bands of the
Achaeans were gathered round the pyre and built one barrow that
was raised in common for all, and hard by this they built a high
wall to shelter themselves and their ships; they gave it strong
gates that there might be a way through them for their chariots,
and close outside it they dug a trench deep and wide, and they
planted it within with stakes.
Thus did the Achaeans toil, and the gods, seated by the side of
Jove the lord of lightning, marvelled at their great work; but
Neptune, lord of the earthquake, spoke, saying, “Father Jove,
what mortal in the whole world will again take the gods into his
counsel? See you not how the Achaeans have built a wall about
their ships and driven a trench all round it, without offering
hecatombs to the gods? The fame of this wall will reach as far as
dawn itself, and men will no longer think anything of the one
which Phoebus Apollo and myself built with so much labour for
Laomedon.”
Jove was displeased and answered, “What, O shaker of the earth,
are you talking about? A god less powerful than yourself might be
alarmed at what they are doing, but your fame reaches as far as
dawn itself. Surely when the Achaeans have gone home with their
ships, you can shatter their wall and fling it into the sea; you
can cover the beach with sand again, and the great wall of the
Achaeans will then be utterly effaced.”
Thus did they converse, and by sunset the work of the Achaeans
was completed; they then slaughtered oxen at their tents and got
their supper. Many ships had come with wine from Lemnos, sent by
Euneus the son of Jason, born to him by Hypsipyle. The son of
Jason freighted them with ten thousand measures of wine, which he
sent specially to the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus.
From this supply the Achaeans bought their wine, some with
bronze, some with iron, some with hides, some with whole heifers,
and some again with captives. They spread a goodly banquet and
feasted the whole night through, as also did the Trojans and
their allies in the city. But all the time Jove boded them ill
and roared with his portentous thunder. Pale fear got hold upon
them, and they spilled the wine from their cups on to the ground,
nor did any dare drink till he had made offerings to the most
mighty son of Saturn. Then they laid themselves down to rest and
enjoyed the boon of sleep.
BOOK VIII.
Jove forbids the gods to interfere further—There is an even fight
till midday, but then Jove inclines the scales of victory in
favour of the Trojans, who eventually chase the Achaeans within
their wall—Juno and Minerva set out to help the Trojans: Jove
sends Iris to turn them back, but later on he promises Juno that
she shall have her way in the end—Hector’s triumph is stayed by
nightfall—The Trojans bivouac on the plain.
Now when Morning, clad in her robe of saffron, had begun to
suffuse light over the earth, Jove called the gods in council on
the topmost crest of serrated Olympus. Then he spoke and all the
other gods gave ear. “Hear me,” said he, “gods and goddesses,
that I may speak even as I am minded. Let none of you neither
goddess nor god try to cross me, but obey me every one of you
that I may bring this matter to an end. If I see anyone acting
apart and helping either Trojans or Danaans, he shall be beaten
inordinately ere he come back again to Olympus; or I will hurl
him down into dark Tartarus far into the deepest pit under the
earth, where the gates are iron and the floor bronze, as far
beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth, that you may
learn how much the mightiest I am among you. Try me and find out
for yourselves. Hangs me a golden chain from heaven, and lay hold
of it all of you, gods and goddesses together—tug as you will,
you will not drag Jove the supreme counsellor from heaven to
earth; but were I to pull at it myself I should draw you up with
earth and sea into the bargain, then would I bind the chain about
some pinnacle of Olympus and leave you all dangling in the mid
firmament. So far am I above all others either of gods or men.”
They were frightened and all of them of held their peace, for he
had spoken masterfully; but at last Minerva answered, “Father,
son of Saturn, king of kings, we all know that your might is not
to be gainsaid, but we are also sorry for the Danaan warriors,
who are perishing and coming to a bad end. We will, however,
since you so bid us, refrain from actual fighting, but we will
make serviceable suggestions to the Argives that they may not all
of them perish in your displeasure.”
Jove smiled at her and answered, “Take heart, my child,
Trito-born; I am not really in earnest, and I wish to be kind to
you.”
With this he yoked his fleet horses, with hoofs of bronze and
manes of glittering gold. He girded himself also with gold about
the body, seized his gold whip and took his seat in his chariot.
Thereon he lashed his horses and they flew forward nothing loth
midway twixt earth and starry heaven. After a while he reached
many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, and Gargarus, where
are his grove and fragrant altar. There the father of gods and
men stayed his horses, took them from the chariot, and hid them
in a thick cloud; then he took his seat all glorious upon the
topmost crests, looking down upon the city of Troy and the ships
of the Achaeans.
The Achaeans took their morning meal hastily at the ships, and
afterwards put on their armour. The Trojans on the other hand
likewise armed themselves throughout the city, fewer in numbers
but nevertheless eager perforce to do battle for their wives and
children. All the gates were flung wide open, and horse and foot
sallied forth with the tramp as of a great multitude.
When they were got together in one place, shield clashed with
shield, and spear with spear, in the conflict of mail-clad men.
Mighty was the din as the bossed shields pressed hard on one
another—death—cry and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and
the earth ran red with blood.
Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning their
weapons beat against one another, and the people fell, but when
the sun had reached mid-heaven, the sire of all balanced his
golden scales, and put two fates of death within them, one for
the Trojans and the other for the Achaeans. He took the balance
by the middle, and when he lifted it up the day of the Achaeans
sank; the death-fraught scale of the Achaeans settled down upon
the ground, while that of the Trojans rose heavenwards. Then he
thundered aloud from Ida, and sent the glare of his lightning
upon the Achaeans; when they saw this, pale fear fell upon them
and they were sore afraid.
Idomeneus dared not stay nor yet Agamemnon, nor did the two
Ajaxes, servants of Mars, hold their ground. Nestor knight of
Gerene alone stood firm, bulwark of the Achaeans, not of his own
will, but one of his horses was disabled. Alexandrus husband of
lovely Helen had hit it with an arrow just on the top of its head
where the mane begins to grow away from the skull, a very deadly
place. The horse bounded in his anguish as the arrow pierced his
brain, and his struggles threw others into confusion. The old man
instantly began cutting the traces with his sword, but Hector’s
fleet horses bore down upon him through the rout with their bold
charioteer, even Hector himself, and the old man would have
perished there and then had not Diomed been quick to mark, and
with a loud cry called Ulysses to help him.
“Ulysses,” he cried, “noble son of Laertes where are you flying
to, with your back turned like a coward? See that you are not
struck with a spear between the shoulders. Stay here and help me
to defend Nestor from this man’s furious onset.”
Ulysses would not give ear, but sped onward to the ships of the
Achaeans, and the son of Tydeus flinging himself alone into the
thick of the fight took his stand before the horses of the son of
Neleus. “Sir,” said he, “these young warriors are pressing you
hard, your force is spent, and age is heavy upon you, your squire
is naught, and your horses are slow to move. Mount my chariot and
see what the horses of Tros can do—how cleverly they can scud
hither and thither over the plain either in flight or in pursuit.
I took them from the hero Aeneas. Let our squires attend to your
own steeds, but let us drive mine straight at the Trojans, that
Hector may learn how furiously I too can wield my spear.”
Nestor knight of Gerene hearkened to his words. Thereon the
doughty squires, Sthenelus and kind-hearted Eurymedon, saw to
Nestor’s horses, while the two both mounted Diomed’s chariot.
Nestor took the reins in his hands and lashed the horses on; they
were soon close up with Hector, and the son of Tydeus aimed a
spear at him as he was charging full speed towards them. He
missed him, but struck his charioteer and squire Eniopeus son of
noble Thebaeus in the breast by the nipple while the reins were
in his hands, so that he died there and then, and the horses
swerved as he fell headlong from the chariot. Hector was greatly
grieved at the loss of his charioteer, but let him lie for all
his sorrow, while he went in quest of another driver; nor did his
steeds have to go long without one, for he presently found brave
Archeptolemus the son of Iphitus, and made him get up behind the
horses, giving the reins into his hand.
All had then been lost and no help for it, for they would have
been penned up in Ilius like sheep, had not the sire of gods and
men been quick to mark, and hurled a fiery flaming thunderbolt
which fell just in front of Diomed’s horses with a flare of
burning brimstone. The horses were frightened and tried to back
beneath the car, while the reins dropped from Nestor’s hands.
Then he was afraid and said to Diomed, “Son of Tydeus, turn your
horses in flight; see you not that the hand of Jove is against
you? To-day he vouchsafes victory to Hector; to-morrow, if it so
please him, he will again grant it to ourselves; no man, however
brave, may thwart the purpose of Jove, for he is far stronger
than any.”
Diomed answered, “All that you have said is true; there is a
grief however which pierces me to the very heart, for Hector will
talk among the Trojans and say, ‘The son of Tydeus fled before me
to the ships.’ This is the vaunt he will make, and may earth then
swallow me.”
“Son of Tydeus,” replied Nestor, “what mean you? Though Hector
say that you are a coward the Trojans and Dardanians will not
believe him, nor yet the wives of the mighty warriors whom you
have laid low.”
So saying he turned the horses back through the thick of the
battle, and with a cry that rent the air the Trojans and Hector
rained their darts after them. Hector shouted to him and said,
“Son of Tydeus, the Danaans have done you honour hitherto as
regards your place at table, the meals they give you, and the
filling of your cup with wine. Henceforth they will despise you,
for you are become no better than a woman. Be off, girl and
coward that you are, you shall not scale our walls through any
flinching upon my part; neither shall you carry off our wives in
your ships, for I shall kill you with my own hand.”
The son of Tydeus was in two minds whether or no to turn his
horses round again and fight him. Thrice did he doubt, and thrice
did Jove thunder from the heights of Ida in token to the Trojans
that he would turn the battle in their favour. Hector then
shouted to them and said, “Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians,
lovers of close fighting, be men, my friends, and fight with
might and with main; I see that Jove is minded to vouchsafe
victory and great glory to myself, while he will deal destruction
upon the Danaans. Fools, for having thought of building this weak
and worthless wall. It shall not stay my fury; my horses will
spring lightly over their trench, and when I am at their ships
forget not to bring me fire that I may burn them, while I
slaughter the Argives who will be all dazed and bewildered by the
smoke.”
Then he cried to his horses, “Xanthus and Podargus, and you
Aethon and goodly Lampus, pay me for your keep now and for all
the honey-sweet corn with which Andromache daughter of great
Eetion has fed you, and for she has mixed wine and water for you
to drink whenever you would, before doing so even for me who am
her own husband. Haste in pursuit, that we may take the shield of
Nestor, the fame of which ascends to heaven, for it is of solid
gold, arm-rods and all, and that we may strip from the shoulders
of Diomed the cuirass which Vulcan made him. Could we take these
two things, the Achaeans would set sail in their ships this
self-same night.”
Thus did he vaunt, but Queen Juno made high Olympus quake as she
shook with rage upon her throne. Then said she to the mighty god
of Neptune, “What now, wide ruling lord of the earthquake? Can
you find no compassion in your heart for the dying Danaans, who
bring you many a welcome offering to Helice and to Aegae? Wish
them well then. If all of us who are with the Danaans were to
drive the Trojans back and keep Jove from helping them, he would
have to sit there sulking alone on Ida.”
King Neptune was greatly troubled and answered, “Juno, rash of
tongue, what are you talking about? We other gods must not set
ourselves against Jove, for he is far stronger than we are.”
Thus did they converse; but the whole space enclosed by the
ditch, from the ships even to the wall, was filled with horses
and warriors, who were pent up there by Hector son of Priam, now
that the hand of Jove was with him. He would even have set fire
to the ships and burned them, had not Queen Juno put it into the
mind of Agamemnon, to bestir himself and to encourage the
Achaeans. To this end he went round the ships and tents carrying
a great purple cloak, and took his stand by the huge black hull
of Ulysses’ ship, which was middlemost of all; it was from this
place that his voice would carry farthest, on the one hand
towards the tents of Ajax son of Telamon, and on the other
towards those of Achilles—for these two heroes, well assured of
their own strength, had valorously drawn up their ships at the
two ends of the line. From this spot then, with a voice that
could be heard afar, he shouted to the Danaans, saying, “Argives,
shame on you cowardly creatures, brave in semblance only; where
are now our vaunts that we should prove victorious—the vaunts we
made so vaingloriously in Lemnos, when we ate the flesh of horned
cattle and filled our mixing-bowls to the brim? You vowed that
you would each of you stand against a hundred or two hundred men,
and now you prove no match even for one—for Hector, who will be
ere long setting our ships in a blaze. Father Jove, did you ever
so ruin a great king and rob him so utterly of his greatness?
Yet, when to my sorrow I was coming hither, I never let my ship
pass your altars without offering the fat and thigh-bones of
heifers upon every one of them, so eager was I to sack the city
of Troy. Vouchsafe me then this prayer—suffer us to escape at any
rate with our lives, and let not the Achaeans be so utterly
vanquished by the Trojans.”
Thus did he pray, and father Jove pitying his tears vouchsafed
him that his people should live, not die; forthwith he sent them
an eagle, most unfailingly portentous of all birds, with a young
fawn in its talons; the eagle dropped the fawn by the altar on
which the Achaeans sacrificed to Jove the lord of omens; when,
therefore, the people saw that the bird had come from Jove, they
sprang more fiercely upon the Trojans and fought more boldly.
There was no man of all the many Danaans who could then boast
that he had driven his horses over the trench and gone forth to
fight sooner than the son of Tydeus; long before any one else
could do so he slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Agelaus the
son of Phradmon. He had turned his horses in flight, but the
spear struck him in the back midway between his shoulders and
went right through his chest, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell forward from his chariot.
After him came Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus, the two
Ajaxes clothed in valour as with a garment, Idomeneus and his
companion in arms Meriones, peer of murderous Mars, and Eurypylus
the brave son of Euaemon. Ninth came Teucer with his bow, and
took his place under cover of the shield of Ajax son of Telamon.
When Ajax lifted his shield Teucer would peer round, and when he
had hit any one in the throng, the man would fall dead; then
Teucer would hie back to Ajax as a child to its mother, and again
duck down under his shield.
Which of the Trojans did brave Teucer first kill? Orsilochus, and
then Ormenus and Ophelestes, Daetor, Chromius, and godlike
Lycophontes, Amopaon son of Polyaemon, and Melanippus. All these
in turn did he lay low upon the earth, and King Agamemnon was
glad when he saw him making havoc of the Trojans with his mighty
bow. He went up to him and said, “Teucer, man after my own heart,
son of Telamon, captain among the host, shoot on, and be at once
the saving of the Danaans and the glory of your father Telamon,
who brought you up and took care of you in his own house when you
were a child, bastard though you were. Cover him with glory
though he is far off; I will promise and I will assuredly
perform; if aegis-bearing Jove and Minerva grant me to sack the
city of Ilius, you shall have the next best meed of honour after
my own—a tripod, or two horses with their chariot, or a woman who
shall go up into your bed.”
And Teucer answered, “Most noble son of Atreus, you need not urge
me; from the moment we began to drive them back to Ilius, I have
never ceased so far as in me lies to look out for men whom I can
shoot and kill; I have shot eight barbed shafts, and all of them
have been buried in the flesh of warlike youths, but this mad dog
I cannot hit.”
As he spoke he aimed another arrow straight at Hector, for he was
bent on hitting him; nevertheless he missed him, and the arrow
hit Priam’s brave son Gorgythion in the breast. His mother, fair
Castianeira, lovely as a goddess, had been married from Aesyme,
and now he bowed his head as a garden poppy in full bloom when it
is weighed down by showers in spring—even thus heavy bowed his
head beneath the weight of his helmet.
Again he aimed at Hector, for he was longing to hit him, and
again his arrow missed, for Apollo turned it aside; but he hit
Hector’s brave charioteer Archeptolemus in the breast, by the
nipple, as he was driving furiously into the fight. The horses
swerved aside as he fell headlong from the chariot, and there was
no life left in him. Hector was greatly grieved at the loss of
his charioteer, but for all his sorrow he let him lie where he
fell, and bade his brother Cebriones, who was hard by, take the
reins. Cebriones did as he had said. Hector thereon with a loud
cry sprang from his chariot to the ground, and seizing a great
stone made straight for Teucer with intent to kill him. Teucer
had just taken an arrow from his quiver and had laid it upon the
bow-string, but Hector struck him with the jagged stone as he was
taking aim and drawing the string to his shoulder; he hit him
just where the collar-bone divides the neck from the chest, a
very deadly place, and broke the sinew of his arm so that his
wrist was less, and the bow dropped from his hand as he fell
forward on his knees. Ajax saw that his brother had fallen, and
running towards him bestrode him and sheltered him with his
shield. Meanwhile his two trusty squires, Mecisteus son of
Echius, and Alastor, came up and bore him to the ships groaning
in his great pain.
Jove now again put heart into the Trojans, and they drove the
Achaeans to their deep trench with Hector in all his glory at
their head. As a hound grips a wild boar or lion in flank or
buttock when he gives him chase, and watches warily for his
wheeling, even so did Hector follow close upon the Achaeans, ever
killing the hindmost as they rushed panic-stricken onwards. When
they had fled through the set stakes and trench and many Achaeans
had been laid low at the hands of the Trojans, they halted at
their ships, calling upon one another and praying every man
instantly as they lifted up their hands to the gods; but Hector
wheeled his horses this way and that, his eyes glaring like those
of Gorgo or murderous Mars.
Juno when she saw them had pity upon them, and at once said to
Minerva, “Alas, child of aegis-bearing Jove, shall you and I take
no more thought for the dying Danaans, though it be the last time
we ever do so? See how they perish and come to a bad end before
the onset of but a single man. Hector the son of Priam rages with
intolerable fury, and has already done great mischief.”
Minerva answered, “Would, indeed, this fellow might die in his
own land, and fall by the hands of the Achaeans; but my father
Jove is mad with spleen, ever foiling me, ever headstrong and
unjust. He forgets how often I saved his son when he was worn out
by the labours Eurystheus had laid on him. He would weep till his
cry came up to heaven, and then Jove would send me down to help
him; if I had had the sense to foresee all this, when Eurystheus
sent him to the house of Hades, to fetch the hell-hound from
Erebus, he would never have come back alive out of the deep
waters of the river Styx. And now Jove hates me, while he lets
Thetis have her way because she kissed his knees and took hold of
his beard, when she was begging him to do honour to Achilles. I
shall know what to do next time he begins calling me his
grey-eyed darling. Get our horses ready, while I go within the
house of aegis-bearing Jove and put on my armour; we shall then
find out whether Priam’s son Hector will be glad to meet us in
the highways of battle, or whether the Trojans will glut hounds
and vultures with the fat of their flesh as they be dead by the
ships of the Achaeans.”
Thus did she speak and white-armed Juno, daughter of great
Saturn, obeyed her words; she set about harnessing her
gold-bedizened steeds, while Minerva daughter of aegis-bearing
Jove flung her richly vesture, made with her own hands, on to the
threshold of her father, and donned the shirt of Jove, arming
herself for battle. Then she stepped into her flaming chariot,
and grasped the spear so stout and sturdy and strong with which
she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her. Juno
lashed her horses, and the gates of heaven bellowed as they flew
open of their own accord—gates over which the Hours preside, in
whose hands are heaven and Olympus, either to open the dense
cloud that hides them or to close it. Through these the goddesses
drove their obedient steeds.
But father Jove when he saw them from Ida was very angry, and
sent winged Iris with a message to them. “Go,” said he, “fleet
Iris, turn them back, and see that they do not come near me, for
if we come to fighting there will be mischief. This is what I
say, and this is what I mean to do. I will lame their horses for
them; I will hurl them from their chariot, and will break it in
pieces. It will take them all ten years to heal the wounds my
lightning shall inflict upon them; my grey-eyed daughter will
then learn what quarrelling with her father means. I am less
surprised and angry with Juno, for whatever I say she always
contradicts me.”
With this Iris went her way, fleet as the wind, from the heights
of Ida to the lofty summits of Olympus. She met the goddesses at
the outer gates of its many valleys and gave them her message.
“What,” said she, “are you about? Are you mad? The son of Saturn
forbids going. This is what he says, and this is what he means to
do, he will lame your horses for you, he will hurl you from your
chariot, and will break it in pieces. It will take you all ten
years to heal the wounds his lightning will inflict upon you,
that you may learn, grey-eyed goddess, what quarrelling with your
father means. He is less hurt and angry with Juno, for whatever
he says she always contradicts him but you, bold hussy, will you
really dare to raise your huge spear in defiance of Jove?”
With this she left them, and Juno said to Minerva, “Of a truth,
child of aegis-bearing Jove, I am not for fighting men’s battles
further in defiance of Jove. Let them live or die as luck will
have it, and let Jove mete out his judgements upon the Trojans
and Danaans according to his own pleasure.”
She turned her steeds; the Hours presently unyoked them, made
them fast to their ambrosial mangers, and leaned the chariot
against the end wall of the courtyard. The two goddesses then sat
down upon their golden thrones, amid the company of the other
gods; but they were very angry.
Presently father Jove drove his chariot to Olympus, and entered
the assembly of gods. The mighty lord of the earthquake unyoked
his horses for him, set the car upon its stand, and threw a cloth
over it. Jove then sat down upon his golden throne and Olympus
reeled beneath him. Minerva and Juno sat alone, apart from Jove,
and neither spoke nor asked him questions, but Jove knew what
they meant, and said, “Minerva and Juno, why are you so angry?
Are you fatigued with killing so many of your dear friends the
Trojans? Be this as it may, such is the might of my hands that
all the gods in Olympus cannot turn me; you were both of you
trembling all over ere ever you saw the fight and its terrible
doings. I tell you therefore-and it would have surely been—I
should have struck you with lightning, and your chariots would
never have brought you back again to Olympus.”
Minerva and Juno groaned in spirit as they sat side by side and
brooded mischief for the Trojans. Minerva sat silent without a
word, for she was in a furious passion and bitterly incensed
against her father; but Juno could not contain herself and said,
“What, dread son of Saturn, are you talking about? We know how
great your power is, nevertheless we have compassion upon the
Danaan warriors who are perishing and coming to a bad end. We
will, however, since you so bid us, refrain from actual fighting,
but we will make serviceable suggestions to the Argives, that
they may not all of them perish in your displeasure.”
And Jove answered, “To-morrow morning, Juno, if you choose to do
so, you will see the son of Saturn destroying large numbers of
the Argives, for fierce Hector shall not cease fighting till he
has roused the son of Peleus when they are fighting in dire
straits at their ships’ sterns about the body of Patroclus. Like
it or no, this is how it is decreed; for aught I care, you may go
to the lowest depths beneath earth and sea, where Iapetus and
Saturn dwell in lone Tartarus with neither ray of light nor
breath of wind to cheer them. You may go on and on till you get
there, and I shall not care one whit for your displeasure; you
are the greatest vixen living.”
Juno made him no answer. The sun’s glorious orb now sank into
Oceanus and drew down night over the land. Sorry indeed were the
Trojans when light failed them, but welcome and thrice prayed for
did darkness fall upon the Achaeans.
Then Hector led the Trojans back from the ships, and held a
council on the open space near the river, where there was a spot
clear of corpses. They left their chariots and sat down on the
ground to hear the speech he made them. He grasped a spear eleven
cubits long, the bronze point of which gleamed in front of it,
while the ring round the spear-head was of gold. Spear in hand he
spoke. “Hear me,” said he, “Trojans, Dardanians, and allies. I
deemed but now that I should destroy the ships and all the
Achaeans with them ere I went back to Ilius, but darkness came on
too soon. It was this alone that saved them and their ships upon
the seashore. Now, therefore, let us obey the behests of night,
and prepare our suppers. Take your horses out of their chariots
and give them their feeds of corn; then make speed to bring sheep
and cattle from the city; bring wine also and corn for your
horses and gather much wood, that from dark till dawn we may burn
watchfires whose flare may reach to heaven. For the Achaeans may
try to fly beyond the sea by night, and they must not embark
scatheless and unmolested; many a man among them must take a dart
with him to nurse at home, hit with spear or arrow as he is
leaping on board his ship, that others may fear to bring war and
weeping upon the Trojans. Moreover let the heralds tell it about
the city that the growing youths and grey-bearded men are to camp
upon its heaven-built walls. Let the women each of them light a
great fire in her house, and let watch be safely kept lest the
town be entered by surprise while the host is outside. See to it,
brave Trojans, as I have said, and let this suffice for the
moment; at daybreak I will instruct you further. I pray in hope
to Jove and to the gods that we may then drive those fate-sped
hounds from our land, for ’tis the fates that have borne them and
their ships hither. This night, therefore, let us keep watch, but
with early morning let us put on our armour and rouse fierce war
at the ships of the Achaeans; I shall then know whether brave
Diomed the son of Tydeus will drive me back from the ships to the
wall, or whether I shall myself slay him and carry off his
bloodstained spoils. To-morrow let him show his mettle, abide my
spear if he dare. I ween that at break of day, he shall be among
the first to fall and many another of his comrades round him.
Would that I were as sure of being immortal and never growing
old, and of being worshipped like Minerva and Apollo, as I am
that this day will bring evil to the Argives.”
Thus spoke Hector and the Trojans shouted applause. They took
their sweating steeds from under the yoke, and made them fast
each by his own chariot. They made haste to bring sheep and
cattle from the city, they brought wine also and corn from their
houses and gathered much wood. They then offered unblemished
hecatombs to the immortals, and the wind carried the sweet savour
of sacrifice to heaven—but the blessed gods partook not thereof,
for they bitterly hated Ilius with Priam and Priam’s people. Thus
high in hope they sat through the livelong night by the highways
of war, and many a watchfire did they kindle. As when the stars
shine clear, and the moon is bright—there is not a breath of air,
not a peak nor glade nor jutting headland but it stands out in
the ineffable radiance that breaks from the serene of heaven; the
stars can all of them be told and the heart of the shepherd is
glad—even thus shone the watchfires of the Trojans before Ilius
midway between the ships and the river Xanthus. A thousand
camp-fires gleamed upon the plain, and in the glow of each there
sat fifty men, while the horses, champing oats and corn beside
their chariots, waited till dawn should come.
BOOK IX.
The Embassy to Achilles.
Thus did the Trojans watch. But Panic, comrade of blood-stained
Rout, had taken fast hold of the Achaeans, and their princes were
all of them in despair. As when the two winds that blow from
Thrace—the north and the northwest—spring up of a sudden and
rouse the fury of the main—in a moment the dark waves uprear
their heads and scatter their sea-wrack in all directions—even
thus troubled were the hearts of the Achaeans.
The son of Atreus in dismay bade the heralds call the people to a
council man by man, but not to cry the matter aloud; he made
haste also himself to call them, and they sat sorry at heart in
their assembly. Agamemnon shed tears as it were a running stream
or cataract on the side of some sheer cliff; and thus, with many
a heavy sigh he spoke to the Achaeans. “My friends,” said he,
“princes and councillors of the Argives, the hand of heaven has
been laid heavily upon me. Cruel Jove gave me his solemn promise
that I should sack the city of Troy before returning, but he has
played me false, and is now bidding me go ingloriously back to
Argos with the loss of much people. Such is the will of Jove, who
has laid many a proud city in the dust as he will yet lay others,
for his power is above all. Now, therefore, let us all do as I
say and sail back to our own country, for we shall not take
Troy.”
Thus he spoke, and the sons of the Achaeans for a long while sat
sorrowful there, but they all held their peace, till at last
Diomed of the loud battle-cry made answer saying, “Son of Atreus,
I will chide your folly, as is my right in council. Be not then
aggrieved that I should do so. In the first place you attacked me
before all the Danaans and said that I was a coward and no
soldier. The Argives young and old know that you did so. But the
son of scheming Saturn endowed you by halves only. He gave you
honour as the chief ruler over us, but valour, which is the
highest both right and might he did not give you. Sir, think you
that the sons of the Achaeans are indeed as unwarlike and
cowardly as you say they are? If your own mind is set upon going
home—go—the way is open to you; the many ships that followed you
from Mycene stand ranged upon the seashore; but the rest of us
stay here till we have sacked Troy. Nay though these too should
turn homeward with their ships, Sthenelus and myself will still
fight on till we reach the goal of Ilius, for heaven was with us
when we came.”
The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words of Diomed,
and presently Nestor rose to speak. “Son of Tydeus,” said he, “in
war your prowess is beyond question, and in council you excel all
who are of your own years; no one of the Achaeans can make light
of what you say nor gainsay it, but you have not yet come to the
end of the whole matter. You are still young—you might be the
youngest of my own children—still you have spoken wisely and have
counselled the chief of the Achaeans not without discretion;
nevertheless I am older than you and I will tell you everything;
therefore let no man, not even King Agamemnon, disregard my
saying, for he that foments civil discord is a clanless,
hearthless outlaw.
“Now, however, let us obey the behests of night and get our
suppers, but let the sentinels every man of them camp by the
trench that is without the wall. I am giving these instructions
to the young men; when they have been attended to, do you, son of
Atreus, give your orders, for you are the most royal among us
all. Prepare a feast for your councillors; it is right and
reasonable that you should do so; there is abundance of wine in
your tents, which the ships of the Achaeans bring from Thrace
daily. You have everything at your disposal wherewith to
entertain guests, and you have many subjects. When many are got
together, you can be guided by him whose counsel is wisest—and
sorely do we need shrewd and prudent counsel, for the foe has lit
his watchfires hard by our ships. Who can be other than dismayed?
This night will either be the ruin of our host, or save it.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The
sentinels went out in their armour under command of Nestor’s son
Thrasymedes, a captain of the host, and of the bold warriors
Ascalaphus and Ialmenus: there were also Meriones, Aphareus and
Deipyrus, and the son of Creion, noble Lycomedes. There were
seven captains of the sentinels, and with each there went a
hundred youths armed with long spears: they took their places
midway between the trench and the wall, and when they had done so
they lit their fires and got every man his supper.
The son of Atreus then bade many councillors of the Achaeans to
his quarters and prepared a great feast in their honour. They
laid their hands on the good things that were before them, and as
soon as they had enough to eat and drink, old Nestor, whose
counsel was ever truest, was the first to lay his mind before
them. He, therefore, with all sincerity and goodwill addressed
them thus.
“With yourself, most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
will I both begin my speech and end it, for you are king over
much people. Jove, moreover, has vouchsafed you to wield the
sceptre and to uphold righteousness, that you may take thought
for your people under you; therefore it behooves you above all
others both to speak and to give ear, and to out the counsel of
another who shall have been minded to speak wisely. All turns on
you and on your commands, therefore I will say what I think will
be best. No man will be of a truer mind than that which has been
mine from the hour when you, sir, angered Achilles by taking the
girl Briseis from his tent against my judgment. I urged you not
to do so, but you yielded to your own pride, and dishonoured a
hero whom heaven itself had honoured—for you still hold the prize
that had been awarded to him. Now, however, let us think how we
may appease him, both with presents and fair speeches that may
conciliate him.”
And King Agamemnon answered, “Sir, you have reproved my folly
justly. I was wrong. I own it. One whom heaven befriends is in
himself a host, and Jove has shown that he befriends this man by
destroying much people of the Achaeans. I was blinded with
passion and yielded to my worser mind; therefore I will make
amends, and will give him great gifts by way of atonement. I will
tell them in the presence of you all. I will give him seven
tripods that have never yet been on the fire, and ten talents of
gold. I will give him twenty iron cauldrons and twelve strong
horses that have won races and carried off prizes. Rich, indeed,
both in land and gold is he that has as many prizes as my horses
have won me. I will give him seven excellent workwomen, Lesbians,
whom I chose for myself when he took Lesbos—all of surpassing
beauty. I will give him these, and with them her whom I erewhile
took from him, the daughter of Briseus; and I swear a great oath
that I never went up into her couch, nor have been with her after
the manner of men and women.
“All these things will I give him now, and if hereafter the gods
vouchsafe me to sack the city of Priam, let him come when we
Achaeans are dividing the spoil, and load his ship with gold and
bronze to his liking; furthermore let him take twenty Trojan
women, the loveliest after Helen herself. Then, when we reach
Achaean Argos, wealthiest of all lands, he shall be my son-in-law
and I will show him like honour with my own dear son Orestes, who
is being nurtured in all abundance. I have three daughters,
Chrysothemis, Laodice, and Iphianassa, let him take the one of
his choice, freely and without gifts of wooing, to the house of
Peleus; I will add such dower to boot as no man ever yet gave his
daughter, and will give him seven well established cities,
Cardamyle, Enope, and Hire, where there is grass; holy Pherae and
the rich meadows of Anthea; Aepea also, and the vine-clad slopes
of Pedasus, all near the sea, and on the borders of sandy Pylos.
The men that dwell there are rich in cattle and sheep; they will
honour him with gifts as though he were a god, and be obedient to
his comfortable ordinances. All this will I do if he will now
forgo his anger. Let him then yield; it is only Hades who is
utterly ruthless and unyielding—and hence he is of all gods the
one most hateful to mankind. Moreover I am older and more royal
than himself. Therefore, let him now obey me.”
Then Nestor answered, “Most noble son of Atreus, king of men,
Agamemnon. The gifts you offer are no small ones, let us then
send chosen messengers, who may go to the tent of Achilles son of
Peleus without delay. Let those go whom I shall name. Let
Phoenix, dear to Jove, lead the way; let Ajax and Ulysses follow,
and let the heralds Odius and Eurybates go with them. Now bring
water for our hands, and bid all keep silence while we pray to
Jove the son of Saturn, if so be that he may have mercy upon us.”
Thus did he speak, and his saying pleased them well. Men-servants
poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the
mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round after
giving every man his drink-offering; then, when they had made
their offerings, and had drunk each as much as he was minded, the
envoys set out from the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus; and
Nestor, looking first to one and then to another, but most
especially at Ulysses, was instant with them that they should
prevail with the noble son of Peleus.
They went their way by the shore of the sounding sea, and prayed
earnestly to earth-encircling Neptune that the high spirit of the
son of Aeacus might incline favourably towards them. When they
reached the ships and tents of the Myrmidons, they found Achilles
playing on a lyre, fair, of cunning workmanship, and its
cross-bar was of silver. It was part of the spoils which he had
taken when he sacked the city of Eetion, and he was now diverting
himself with it and singing the feats of heroes. He was alone
with Patroclus, who sat opposite to him and said nothing, waiting
till he should cease singing. Ulysses and Ajax now came
in—Ulysses leading the way—and stood before him. Achilles sprang
from his seat with the lyre still in his hand, and Patroclus,
when he saw the strangers, rose also. Achilles then greeted them
saying, “All hail and welcome—you must come upon some great
matter, you, who for all my anger are still dearest to me of the
Achaeans.”
With this he led them forward, and bade them sit on seats covered
with purple rugs; then he said to Patroclus who was close by him,
“Son of Menoetius, set a larger bowl upon the table, mix less
water with the wine, and give every man his cup, for these are
very dear friends, who are now under my roof.”
Patroclus did as his comrade bade him; he set the chopping-block
in front of the fire, and on it he laid the loin of a sheep, the
loin also of a goat, and the chine of a fat hog. Automedon held
the meat while Achilles chopped it; he then sliced the pieces and
put them on spits while the son of Menoetius made the fire burn
high. When the flame had died down, he spread the embers, laid
the spits on top of them, lifting them up and setting them upon
the spit-racks; and he sprinkled them with salt. When the meat
was roasted, he set it on platters, and handed bread round the
table in fair baskets, while Achilles dealt them their portions.
Then Achilles took his seat facing Ulysses against the opposite
wall, and bade his comrade Patroclus offer sacrifice to the gods;
so he cast the offerings into the fire, and they laid their hands
upon the good things that were before them. As soon as they had
had enough to eat and drink, Ajax made a sign to Phoenix, and
when he saw this, Ulysses filled his cup with wine and pledged
Achilles.
“Hail,” said he, “Achilles, we have had no scant of good cheer,
neither in the tent of Agamemnon, nor yet here; there has been
plenty to eat and drink, but our thought turns upon no such
matter. Sir, we are in the face of great disaster, and without
your help know not whether we shall save our fleet or lose it.
The Trojans and their allies have camped hard by our ships and by
the wall; they have lit watchfires throughout their host and deem
that nothing can now prevent them from falling on our fleet.
Jove, moreover, has sent his lightnings on their right; Hector,
in all his glory, rages like a maniac; confident that Jove is
with him he fears neither god nor man, but is gone raving mad,
and prays for the approach of day. He vows that he will hew the
high sterns of our ships in pieces, set fire to their hulls, and
make havoc of the Achaeans while they are dazed and smothered in
smoke; I much fear that heaven will make good his boasting, and
it will prove our lot to perish at Troy far from our home in
Argos. Up, then, and late though it be, save the sons of the
Achaeans who faint before the fury of the Trojans. You will
repent bitterly hereafter if you do not, for when the harm is
done there will be no curing it; consider ere it be too late, and
save the Danaans from destruction.
“My good friend, when your father Peleus sent you from Phthia to
Agamemnon, did he not charge you saying, ‘Son, Minerva and Juno
will make you strong if they choose, but check your high temper,
for the better part is in goodwill. Eschew vain quarrelling, and
the Achaeans old and young will respect you more for doing so.’
These were his words, but you have forgotten them. Even now,
however, be appeased, and put away your anger from you. Agamemnon
will make you great amends if you will forgive him; listen, and I
will tell you what he has said in his tent that he will give you.
He will give you seven tripods that have never yet been on the
fire, and ten talents of gold; twenty iron cauldrons, and twelve
strong horses that have won races and carried off prizes. Rich
indeed both in land and gold is he who has as many prizes as
these horses have won for Agamemnon. Moreover he will give you
seven excellent workwomen, Lesbians, whom he chose for himself,
when you took Lesbos—all of surpassing beauty. He will give you
these, and with them her whom he erewhile took from you, the
daughter of Briseus, and he will swear a great oath, he has never
gone up into her couch nor been with her after the manner of men
and women. All these things will he give you now down, and if
hereafter the gods vouchsafe him to sack the city of Priam, you
can come when we Achaeans are dividing the spoil, and load your
ship with gold and bronze to your liking. You can take twenty
Trojan women, the loveliest after Helen herself. Then, when we
reach Achaean Argos, wealthiest of all lands, you shall be his
son-in-law, and he will show you like honour with his own dear
son Orestes, who is being nurtured in all abundance. Agamemnon
has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodice, and Iphianassa; you
may take the one of your choice, freely and without gifts of
wooing, to the house of Peleus; he will add such dower to boot as
no man ever yet gave his daughter, and will give you seven
well-established cities, Cardamyle, Enope, and Hire where there
is grass; holy Pheras and the rich meadows of Anthea; Aepea also,
and the vine-clad slopes of Pedasus, all near the sea, and on the
borders of sandy Pylos. The men that dwell there are rich in
cattle and sheep; they will honour you with gifts as though were
a god, and be obedient to your comfortable ordinances. All this
will he do if you will now forgo your anger. Moreover, though you
hate both him and his gifts with all your heart, yet pity the
rest of the Achaeans who are being harassed in all their host;
they will honour you as a god, and you will earn great glory at
their hands. You might even kill Hector; he will come within your
reach, for he is infatuated, and declares that not a Danaan whom
the ships have brought can hold his own against him.”
Achilles answered, “Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, I should give
you formal notice plainly and in all fixity of purpose that there
be no more of this cajoling, from whatsoever quarter it may come.
Him do I hate even as the gates of hell who says one thing while
he hides another in his heart; therefore I will say what I mean.
I will be appeased neither by Agamemnon son of Atreus nor by any
other of the Danaans, for I see that I have no thanks for all my
fighting. He that fights fares no better than he that does not;
coward and hero are held in equal honour, and death deals like
measure to him who works and him who is idle. I have taken
nothing by all my hardships—with my life ever in my hand; as a
bird when she has found a morsel takes it to her nestlings, and
herself fares hardly, even so many a long night have I been
wakeful, and many a bloody battle have I waged by day against
those who were fighting for their women. With my ships I have
taken twelve cities, and eleven round about Troy have I stormed
with my men by land; I took great store of wealth from every one
of them, but I gave all up to Agamemnon son of Atreus. He stayed
where he was by his ships, yet of what came to him he gave
little, and kept much himself.
“Nevertheless he did distribute some meeds of honour among the
chieftains and kings, and these have them still; from me alone of
the Achaeans did he take the woman in whom I delighted—let him
keep her and sleep with her. Why, pray, must the Argives needs
fight the Trojans? What made the son of Atreus gather the host
and bring them? Was it not for the sake of Helen? Are the sons of
Atreus the only men in the world who love their wives? Any man of
common right feeling will love and cherish her who is his own, as
I this woman, with my whole heart, though she was but a fruitling
of my spear. Agamemnon has taken her from me; he has played me
false; I know him; let him tempt me no further, for he shall not
move me. Let him look to you, Ulysses, and to the other princes
to save his ships from burning. He has done much without me
already. He has built a wall; he has dug a trench deep and wide
all round it, and he has planted it within with stakes; but even
so he stays not the murderous might of Hector. So long as I
fought the Achaeans Hector suffered not the battle range far from
the city walls; he would come to the Scaean gates and to the oak
tree, but no further. Once he stayed to meet me and hardly did he
escape my onset: now, however, since I am in no mood to fight
him, I will to-morrow offer sacrifice to Jove and to all the
gods; I will draw my ships into the water and then victual them
duly; to-morrow morning, if you care to look, you will see my
ships on the Hellespont, and my men rowing out to sea with might
and main. If great Neptune vouchsafes me a fair passage, in three
days I shall be in Phthia. I have much there that I left behind
me when I came here to my sorrow, and I shall bring back still
further store of gold, of red copper, of fair women, and of iron,
my share of the spoils that we have taken; but one prize, he who
gave has insolently taken away. Tell him all as I now bid you,
and tell him in public that the Achaeans may hate him and beware
of him should he think that he can yet dupe others for his
effrontery never fails him.
“As for me, hound that he is, he dares not look me in the face. I
will take no counsel with him, and will undertake nothing in
common with him. He has wronged me and deceived me enough, he
shall not cozen me further; let him go his own way, for Jove has
robbed him of his reason. I loathe his presents, and for himself
care not one straw. He may offer me ten or even twenty times what
he has now done, nay—not though it be all that he has in the
world, both now or ever shall have; he may promise me the wealth
of Orchomenus or of Egyptian Thebes, which is the richest city in
the whole world, for it has a hundred gates through each of which
two hundred men may drive at once with their chariots and horses;
he may offer me gifts as the sands of the sea or the dust of the
plain in multitude, but even so he shall not move me till I have
been revenged in full for the bitter wrong he has done me. I will
not marry his daughter; she may be fair as Venus, and skilful as
Minerva, but I will have none of her: let another take her, who
may be a good match for her and who rules a larger kingdom. If
the gods spare me to return home, Peleus will find me a wife;
there are Achaean women in Hellas and Phthia, daughters of kings
that have cities under them; of these I can take whom I will and
marry her. Many a time was I minded when at home in Phthia to woo
and wed a woman who would make me a suitable wife, and to enjoy
the riches of my old father Peleus. My life is more to me than
all the wealth of Ilius while it was yet at peace before the
Achaeans went there, or than all the treasure that lies on the
stone floor of Apollo’s temple beneath the cliffs of Pytho.
Cattle and sheep are to be had for harrying, and a man buy both
tripods and horses if he wants them, but when his life has once
left him it can neither be bought nor harried back again.
“My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may
meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive
but my name will live for ever: whereas if I go home my name will
die, but it will be long ere death shall take me. To the rest of
you, then, I say, ‘Go home, for you will not take Ilius.’ Jove
has held his hand over her to protect her, and her people have
taken heart. Go, therefore, as in duty bound, and tell the
princes of the Achaeans the message that I have sent them; tell
them to find some other plan for the saving of their ships and
people, for so long as my displeasure lasts the one that they
have now hit upon may not be. As for Phoenix, let him sleep here
that he may sail with me in the morning if he so will. But I will
not take him by force.”
They all held their peace, dismayed at the sternness with which
he had denied them, till presently the old knight Phoenix in his
great fear for the ships of the Achaeans, burst into tears and
said, “Noble Achilles, if you are now minded to return, and in
the fierceness of your anger will do nothing to save the ships
from burning, how, my son, can I remain here without you? Your
father Peleus bade me go with you when he sent you as a mere lad
from Phthia to Agamemnon. You knew nothing neither of war nor of
the arts whereby men make their mark in council, and he sent me
with you to train you in all excellence of speech and action.
Therefore, my son, I will not stay here without you—no, not
though heaven itself vouchsafe to strip my years from off me, and
make me young as I was when I first left Hellas the land of fair
women. I was then flying the anger of father Amyntor, son of
Ormenus, who was furious with me in the matter of his concubine,
of whom he was enamoured to the wronging of his wife my mother.
My mother, therefore, prayed me without ceasing to lie with the
woman myself, that so she hate my father, and in the course of
time I yielded. But my father soon came to know, and cursed me
bitterly, calling the dread Erinyes to witness. He prayed that no
son of mine might ever sit upon knees—and the gods, Jove of the
world below and awful Proserpine, fulfilled his curse. I took
counsel to kill him, but some god stayed my rashness and bade me
think on men’s evil tongues and how I should be branded as the
murderer of my father; nevertheless I could not bear to stay in
my father’s house with him so bitter against me. My cousins and
clansmen came about me, and pressed me sorely to remain; many a
sheep and many an ox did they slaughter, and many a fat hog did
they set down to roast before the fire; many a jar, too, did they
broach of my father’s wine. Nine whole nights did they set a
guard over me taking it in turns to watch, and they kept a fire
always burning, both in the cloister of the outer court and in
the inner court at the doors of the room wherein I lay; but when
the darkness of the tenth night came, I broke through the closed
doors of my room, and climbed the wall of the outer court after
passing quickly and unperceived through the men on guard and the
women servants. I then fled through Hellas till I came to fertile
Phthia, mother of sheep, and to King Peleus, who made me welcome
and treated me as a father treats an only son who will be heir to
all his wealth. He made me rich and set me over much people,
establishing me on the borders of Phthia where I was chief ruler
over the Dolopians.
“It was I, Achilles, who had the making of you; I loved you with
all my heart: for you would eat neither at home nor when you had
gone out elsewhere, till I had first set you upon my knees, cut
up the dainty morsel that you were to eat, and held the wine-cup
to your lips. Many a time have you slobbered your wine in baby
helplessness over my shirt; I had infinite trouble with you, but
I knew that heaven had vouchsafed me no offspring of my own, and
I made a son of you, Achilles, that in my hour of need you might
protect me. Now, therefore, I say battle with your pride and beat
it; cherish not your anger for ever; the might and majesty of
heaven are more than ours, but even heaven may be appeased; and
if a man has sinned he prays the gods, and reconciles them to
himself by his piteous cries and by frankincense, with
drink-offerings and the savour of burnt sacrifice. For prayers
are as daughters to great Jove; halt, wrinkled, with eyes
askance, they follow in the footsteps of sin, who, being fierce
and fleet of foot, leaves them far behind him, and ever baneful
to mankind outstrips them even to the ends of the world; but
nevertheless the prayers come hobbling and healing after. If a
man has pity upon these daughters of Jove when they draw near
him, they will bless him and hear him too when he is praying; but
if he deny them and will not listen to them, they go to Jove the
son of Saturn and pray that he may presently fall into sin—to his
ruing bitterly hereafter. Therefore, Achilles, give these
daughters of Jove due reverence, and bow before them as all good
men will bow. Were not the son of Atreus offering you gifts and
promising others later—if he were still furious and implacable—I
am not he that would bid you throw off your anger and help the
Achaeans, no matter how great their need; but he is giving much
now, and more hereafter; he has sent his captains to urge his
suit, and has chosen those who of all the Argives are most
acceptable to you; make not then their words and their coming to
be of none effect. Your anger has been righteous so far. We have
heard in song how heroes of old time quarrelled when they were
roused to fury, but still they could be won by gifts, and fair
words could soothe them.
“I have an old story in my mind—a very old one—but you are all
friends and I will tell it. The Curetes and the Aetolians were
fighting and killing one another round Calydon—the Aetolians
defending the city and the Curetes trying to destroy it. For
Diana of the golden throne was angry and did them hurt because
Oeneus had not offered her his harvest first-fruits. The other
gods had all been feasted with hecatombs, but to the daughter of
great Jove alone he had made no sacrifice. He had forgotten her,
or somehow or other it had escaped him, and this was a grievous
sin. Thereon the archer goddess in her displeasure sent a
prodigious creature against him—a savage wild boar with great
white tusks that did much harm to his orchard lands, uprooting
apple-trees in full bloom and throwing them to the ground. But
Meleager son of Oeneus got huntsmen and hounds from many cities
and killed it—for it was so monstrous that not a few were needed,
and many a man did it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the
goddess set the Curetes and the Aetolians fighting furiously
about the head and skin of the boar.
“So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the
Curetes, and for all their numbers they could not hold their
ground under the city walls; but in the course of time Meleager
was angered as even a wise man will sometimes be. He was incensed
with his mother Althaea, and therefore stayed at home with his
wedded wife fair Cleopatra, who was daughter of Marpessa daughter
of Euenus, and of Ides the man then living. He it was who took
his bow and faced King Apollo himself for fair Marpessa’s sake;
her father and mother then named her Alcyone, because her mother
had mourned with the plaintive strains of the halcyon-bird when
Phoebus Apollo had carried her off. Meleager, then, stayed at
home with Cleopatra, nursing the anger which he felt by reason of
his mother’s curses. His mother, grieving for the death of her
brother, prayed the gods, and beat the earth with her hands,
calling upon Hades and on awful Proserpine; she went down upon
her knees and her bosom was wet with tears as she prayed that
they would kill her son—and Erinys that walks in darkness and
knows no ruth heard her from Erebus.
“Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and
the dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the
elders of the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest
of their priests, and begged him to come out and help them,
promising him a great reward. They bade him choose fifty
plough-gates, the most fertile in the plain of Calydon, the
one-half vineyard and the other open plough-land. The old warrior
Oeneus implored him, standing at the threshold of his room and
beating the doors in supplication. His sisters and his mother
herself besought him sore, but he the more refused them; those of
his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him also prayed him,
but they could not move him till the foe was battering at the
very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls
and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing
wife detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken;
she reminded him how the men are slain, and the city is given
over to the flames, while the women and children are carried into
captivity; when he heard all this, his heart was touched, and he
donned his armour to go forth. Thus of his own inward motion he
saved the city of the Aetolians; but they now gave him nothing of
those rich rewards that they had offered earlier, and though he
saved the city he took nothing by it. Be not then, my son, thus
minded; let not heaven lure you into any such course. When the
ships are burning it will be a harder matter to save them. Take
the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour you as a
god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat the
battle back, but you will not be held in like honour.”
And Achilles answered, “Phoenix, old friend and father, I have no
need of such honour. I have honour from Jove himself, which will
abide with me at my ships while I have breath in my body, and my
limbs are strong. I say further—and lay my saying to your
heart—vex me no more with this weeping and lamentation, all in
the cause of the son of Atreus. Love him so well, and you may
lose the love I bear you. You ought to help me rather in
troubling those that trouble me; be king as much as I am, and
share like honour with myself; the others shall take my answer;
stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in your bed; at daybreak
we will consider whether to remain or go.”
On this he nodded quietly to Patroclus as a sign that he was to
prepare a bed for Phoenix, and that the others should take their
leave. Ajax son of Telamon then said, “Ulysses, noble son of
Laertes, let us be gone, for I see that our journey is vain. We
must now take our answer, unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans
who are waiting to receive it. Achilles is savage and
remorseless; he is cruel, and cares nothing for the love his
comrades lavished upon him more than on all the others. He is
implacable—and yet if a man’s brother or son has been slain he
will accept a fine by way of amends from him that killed him, and
the wrong-doer having paid in full remains in peace among his own
people; but as for you, Achilles, the gods have put a wicked
unforgiving spirit in your heart, and this, all about one single
girl, whereas we now offer you the seven best we have, and much
else into the bargain. Be then of a more gracious mind, respect
the hospitality of your own roof. We are with you as messengers
from the host of the Danaans, and would fain he held nearest and
dearest to yourself of all the Achaeans.”
“Ajax,” replied Achilles, “noble son of Telamon, you have spoken
much to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it all over,
and remember how the son of Atreus treated me with contumely as
though I were some vile tramp, and that too in the presence of
the Argives. Go, then, and deliver your message; say that I will
have no concern with fighting till Hector, son of noble Priam,
reaches the tents of the Myrmidons in his murderous course, and
flings fire upon their ships. For all his lust of battle, I take
it he will be held in check when he is at my own tent and ship.”
On this they took every man his double cup, made their
drink-offerings, and went back to the ships, Ulysses leading the
way. But Patroclus told his men and the maid-servants to make
ready a comfortable bed for Phoenix; they therefore did so with
sheepskins, a rug, and a sheet of fine linen. The old man then
laid himself down and waited till morning came. But Achilles
slept in an inner room, and beside him the daughter of Phorbas
lovely Diomede, whom he had carried off from Lesbos. Patroclus
lay on the other side of the room, and with him fair Iphis whom
Achilles had given him when he took Scyros the city of Enyeus.
When the envoys reached the tents of the son of Atreus, the
Achaeans rose, pledged them in cups of gold, and began to
question them. King Agamemnon was the first to do so. “Tell me,
Ulysses,” said he, “will he save the ships from burning, or did
he refuse, and is he still furious?”
Ulysses answered, “Most noble son of Atreus, king of men,
Agamemnon, Achilles will not be calmed, but is more fiercely
angry than ever, and spurns both you and your gifts. He bids you
take counsel with the Achaeans to save the ships and host as you
best may; as for himself, he said that at daybreak he should draw
his ships into the water. He said further that he should advise
every one to sail home likewise, for that you will not reach the
goal of Ilius. ‘Jove,’ he said, ‘has laid his hand over the city
to protect it, and the people have taken heart.’ This is what he
said, and the others who were with me can tell you the same
story—Ajax and the two heralds, men, both of them, who may be
trusted. The old man Phoenix stayed where he was to sleep, for so
Achilles would have it, that he might go home with him in the
morning if he so would; but he will not take him by force.”
They all held their peace, sitting for a long time silent and
dejected, by reason of the sternness with which Achilles had
refused them, till presently Diomed said, “Most noble son of
Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon, you ought not to have sued the
son of Peleus nor offered him gifts. He is proud enough as it is,
and you have encouraged him in his pride still further. Let him
stay or go as he will. He will fight later when he is in the
humour, and heaven puts it in his mind to do so. Now, therefore,
let us all do as I say; we have eaten and drunk our fill, let us
then take our rest, for in rest there is both strength and stay.
But when fair rosy-fingered morn appears, forthwith bring out
your host and your horsemen in front of the ships, urging them
on, and yourself fighting among the foremost.”
Thus he spoke, and the other chieftains approved his words. They
then made their drink-offerings and went every man to his own
tent, where they laid down to rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.
BOOK X.
Ulysses and Diomed go out as spies, and meet Dolon, who gives
them information: they then kill him, and profiting by what he
had told them, kill Rhesus king of the Thracians and take his
horses.
Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole
night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that
he could get no rest. As when fair Juno’s lord flashes his
lightning in token of great rain or hail or snow when the
snow-flakes whiten the ground, or again as a sign that he will
open the wide jaws of hungry war, even so did Agamemnon heave
many a heavy sigh, for his soul trembled within him. When he
looked upon the plain of Troy he marvelled at the many watchfires
burning in front of Ilius, and at the sound of pipes and flutes
and of the hum of men, but when presently he turned towards the
ships and hosts of the Achaeans, he tore his hair by handfuls
before Jove on high, and groaned aloud for the very disquietness
of his soul. In the end he deemed it best to go at once to Nestor
son of Neleus, and see if between them they could find any way of
the Achaeans from destruction. He therefore rose, put on his
shirt, bound his sandals about his comely feet, flung the skin of
a huge tawny lion over his shoulders—a skin that reached his
feet—and took his spear in his hand.
Neither could Menelaus sleep, for he, too, boded ill for the
Argives who for his sake had sailed from far over the seas to
fight the Trojans. He covered his broad back with the skin of a
spotted panther, put a casque of bronze upon his head, and took
his spear in his brawny hand. Then he went to rouse his brother,
who was by far the most powerful of the Achaeans, and was
honoured by the people as though he were a god. He found him by
the stern of his ship already putting his goodly array about his
shoulders, and right glad was he that his brother had come.
Menelaus spoke first. “Why,” said he, “my dear brother, are you
thus arming? Are you going to send any of our comrades to exploit
the Trojans? I greatly fear that no one will do you this service,
and spy upon the enemy alone in the dead of night. It will be a
deed of great daring.”
And King Agamemnon answered, “Menelaus, we both of us need shrewd
counsel to save the Argives and our ships, for Jove has changed
his mind, and inclines towards Hector’s sacrifices rather than
ours. I never saw nor heard tell of any man as having wrought
such ruin in one day as Hector has now wrought against the sons
of the Achaeans—and that too of his own unaided self, for he is
son neither to god nor goddess. The Argives will rue it long and
deeply. Run, therefore, with all speed by the line of the ships,
and call Ajax and Idomeneus. Meanwhile I will go to Nestor, and
bid him rise and go about among the companies of our sentinels to
give them their instructions; they will listen to him sooner than
to any man, for his own son, and Meriones brother in arms to
Idomeneus, are captains over them. It was to them more
particularly that we gave this charge.”
Menelaus replied, “How do I take your meaning? Am I to stay with
them and wait your coming, or shall I return here as soon as I
have given your orders?” “Wait,” answered King Agamemnon, “for
there are so many paths about the camp that we might miss one
another. Call every man on your way, and bid him be stirring;
name him by his lineage and by his father’s name, give each all
titular observance, and stand not too much upon your own dignity;
we must take our full share of toil, for at our birth Jove laid
this heavy burden upon us.”
With these instructions he sent his brother on his way, and went
on to Nestor shepherd of his people. He found him sleeping in his
tent hard by his own ship; his goodly armour lay beside him—his
shield, his two spears and his helmet; beside him also lay the
gleaming girdle with which the old man girded himself when he
armed to lead his people into battle—for his age stayed him not.
He raised himself on his elbow and looked up at Agamemnon. “Who
is it,” said he, “that goes thus about the host and the ships
alone and in the dead of night, when men are sleeping? Are you
looking for one of your mules or for some comrade? Do not stand
there and say nothing, but speak. What is your business?”
And Agamemnon answered, “Nestor, son of Neleus, honour to the
Achaean name, it is I, Agamemnon son of Atreus, on whom Jove has
laid labour and sorrow so long as there is breath in my body and
my limbs carry me. I am thus abroad because sleep sits not upon
my eyelids, but my heart is big with war and with the jeopardy of
the Achaeans. I am in great fear for the Danaans. I am at sea,
and without sure counsel; my heart beats as though it would leap
out of my body, and my limbs fail me. If then you can do
anything—for you too cannot sleep—let us go the round of the
watch, and see whether they are drowsy with toil and sleeping to
the neglect of their duty. The enemy is encamped hard and we know
not but he may attack us by night.”
Nestor replied, “Most noble son of Atreus, king of men,
Agamemnon, Jove will not do all for Hector that Hector thinks he
will; he will have troubles yet in plenty if Achilles will lay
aside his anger. I will go with you, and we will rouse others,
either the son of Tydeus, or Ulysses, or fleet Ajax and the
valiant son of Phyleus. Some one had also better go and call Ajax
and King Idomeneus, for their ships are not near at hand but the
farthest of all. I cannot however refrain from blaming Menelaus,
much as I love him and respect him—and I will say so plainly,
even at the risk of offending you—for sleeping and leaving all
this trouble to yourself. He ought to be going about imploring
aid from all the princes of the Achaeans, for we are in extreme
danger.”
And Agamemnon answered, “Sir, you may sometimes blame him justly,
for he is often remiss and unwilling to exert himself—not indeed
from sloth, nor yet heedlessness, but because he looks to me and
expects me to take the lead. On this occasion, however, he was
awake before I was, and came to me of his own accord. I have
already sent him to call the very men whom you have named. And
now let us be going. We shall find them with the watch outside
the gates, for it was there I said that we would meet them.”
“In that case,” answered Nestor, “the Argives will not blame him
nor disobey his orders when he urges them to fight or gives them
instructions.”
With this he put on his shirt, and bound his sandals about his
comely feet. He buckled on his purple coat, of two thicknesses,
large, and of a rough shaggy texture, grasped his redoubtable
bronze-shod spear, and wended his way along the line of the
Achaean ships. First he called loudly to Ulysses peer of gods in
counsel and woke him, for he was soon roused by the sound of the
battle-cry. He came outside his tent and said, “Why do you go
thus alone about the host, and along the line of the ships in the
stillness of the night? What is it that you find so urgent?” And
Nestor knight of Gerene answered, “Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,
take it not amiss, for the Achaeans are in great straits. Come
with me and let us wake some other, who may advise well with us
whether we shall fight or fly.”
On this Ulysses went at once into his tent, put his shield about
his shoulders and came out with them. First they went to Diomed
son of Tydeus, and found him outside his tent clad in his armour
with his comrades sleeping round him and using their shields as
pillows; as for their spears, they stood upright on the spikes of
their butts that were driven into the ground, and the burnished
bronze flashed afar like the lightning of father Jove. The hero
was sleeping upon the skin of an ox, with a piece of fine carpet
under his head; Nestor went up to him and stirred him with his
heel to rouse him, upbraiding him and urging him to bestir
himself. “Wake up,” he exclaimed, “son of Tydeus. How can you
sleep on in this way? Can you not see that the Trojans are
encamped on the brow of the plain hard by our ships, with but a
little space between us and them?”
On these words Diomed leaped up instantly and said, “Old man,
your heart is of iron; you rest not one moment from your labours.
Are there no younger men among the Achaeans who could go about to
rouse the princes? There is no tiring you.”
And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, “My son, all that you
have said is true. I have good sons, and also much people who
might call the chieftains, but the Achaeans are in the gravest
danger; life and death are balanced as it were on the edge of a
razor. Go then, for you are younger than I, and of your courtesy
rouse Ajax and the fleet son of Phyleus.”
Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his shoulders—a
skin that reached his feet—and grasped his spear. When he had
roused the heroes, he brought them back with him; they then went
the round of those who were on guard, and found the captains not
sleeping at their posts but wakeful and sitting with their arms
about them. As sheep dogs that watch their flocks when they are
yarded, and hear a wild beast coming through the mountain forest
towards them—forthwith there is a hue and cry of dogs and men,
and slumber is broken—even so was sleep chased from the eyes of
the Achaeans as they kept the watches of the wicked night, for
they turned constantly towards the plain whenever they heard any
stir among the Trojans. The old man was glad and bade them be of
good cheer. “Watch on, my children,” said he, “and let not sleep
get hold upon you, lest our enemies triumph over us.”
With this he passed the trench, and with him the other chiefs of
the Achaeans who had been called to the council. Meriones and the
brave son of Nestor went also, for the princes bade them. When
they were beyond the trench that was dug round the wall they held
their meeting on the open ground where there was a space clear of
corpses, for it was here that when night fell Hector had turned
back from his onslaught on the Argives. They sat down, therefore,
and held debate with one another.
Nestor spoke first. “My friends,” said he, “is there any man bold
enough to venture among the Trojans, and cut off some straggler,
or bring us news of what the enemy mean to do whether they will
stay here by the ships away from the city, or whether, now that
they have worsted the Achaeans, they will retire within their
walls. If he could learn all this and come back safely here, his
fame would be high as heaven in the mouths of all men, and he
would be rewarded richly; for the chiefs from all our ships would
each of them give him a black ewe with her lamb—which is a
present of surpassing value—and he would be asked as a guest to
all feasts and clan-gatherings.”
They all held their peace, but Diomed of the loud war-cry spoke
saying, “Nestor, gladly will I visit the host of the Trojans over
against us, but if another will go with me I shall do so in
greater confidence and comfort. When two men are together, one of
them may see some opportunity which the other has not caught
sight of; if a man is alone he is less full of resource, and his
wit is weaker.”
On this several offered to go with Diomed. The two Ajaxes,
servants of Mars, Meriones, and the son of Nestor all wanted to
go, so did Menelaus son of Atreus; Ulysses also wished to go
among the host of the Trojans, for he was ever full of daring,
and thereon Agamemnon king of men spoke thus: “Diomed,” said he,
“son of Tydeus, man after my own heart, choose your comrade for
yourself—take the best man of those that have offered, for many
would now go with you. Do not through delicacy reject the better
man, and take the worst out of respect for his lineage, because
he is of more royal blood.”
He said this because he feared for Menelaus. Diomed answered, “If
you bid me take the man of my own choice, how in that case can I
fail to think of Ulysses, than whom there is no man more eager to
face all kinds of danger—and Pallas Minerva loves him well? If he
were to go with me we should pass safely through fire itself, for
he is quick to see and understand.”
“Son of Tydeus,” replied Ulysses, “say neither good nor ill about
me, for you are among Argives who know me well. Let us be going,
for the night wanes and dawn is at hand. The stars have gone
forward, two-thirds of the night are already spent, and the third
is alone left us.”
They then put on their armour. Brave Thrasymedes provided the son
of Tydeus with a sword and a shield (for he had left his own at
his ship) and on his head he set a helmet of bull’s hide without
either peak or crest; it is called a skull-cap and is a common
headgear. Meriones found a bow and quiver for Ulysses, and on his
head he set a leathern helmet that was lined with a strong
plaiting of leathern thongs, while on the outside it was thickly
studded with boar’s teeth, well and skilfully set into it; next
the head there was an inner lining of felt. This helmet had been
stolen by Autolycus out of Eleon when he broke into the house of
Amyntor son of Ormenus. He gave it to Amphidamas of Cythera to
take to Scandea, and Amphidamas gave it as a guest-gift to Molus,
who gave it to his son Meriones; and now it was set upon the head
of Ulysses.
When the pair had armed, they set out, and left the other
chieftains behind them. Pallas Minerva sent them a heron by the
wayside upon their right hands; they could not see it for the
darkness, but they heard its cry. Ulysses was glad when he heard
it and prayed to Minerva: “Hear me,” he cried, “daughter of
aegis-bearing Jove, you who spy out all my ways and who are with
me in all my hardships; befriend me in this mine hour, and grant
that we may return to the ships covered with glory after having
achieved some mighty exploit that shall bring sorrow to the
Trojans.”
Then Diomed of the loud war-cry also prayed: “Hear me too,” said
he, “daughter of Jove, unweariable; be with me even as you were
with my noble father Tydeus when he went to Thebes as envoy sent
by the Achaeans. He left the Achaeans by the banks of the river
Aesopus, and went to the city bearing a message of peace to the
Cadmeians; on his return thence, with your help, goddess, he did
great deeds of daring, for you were his ready helper. Even so
guide me and guard me now, and in return I will offer you in
sacrifice a broad-browed heifer of a year old, unbroken, and
never yet brought by man under the yoke. I will gild her horns
and will offer her up to you in sacrifice.”
Thus they prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard their prayer. When
they had done praying to the daughter of great Jove, they went
their way like two lions prowling by night amid the armour and
blood-stained bodies of them that had fallen.
Neither again did Hector let the Trojans sleep; for he too called
the princes and councillors of the Trojans that he might set his
counsel before them. “Is there one,” said he, “who for a great
reward will do me the service of which I will tell you? He shall
be well paid if he will. I will give him a chariot and a couple
of horses, the fleetest that can be found at the ships of the
Achaeans, if he will dare this thing; and he will win infinite
honour to boot; he must go to the ships and find out whether they
are still guarded as heretofore, or whether now that we have
beaten them the Achaeans design to fly, and through sheer
exhaustion are neglecting to keep their watches.”
They all held their peace; but there was among the Trojans a
certain man named Dolon, son of Eumedes, the famous herald—a man
rich in gold and bronze. He was ill-favoured, but a good runner,
and was an only son among five sisters. He it was that now
addressed the Trojans. “I, Hector,” said he, “Will to the ships
and will exploit them. But first hold up your sceptre and swear
that you will give me the chariot, bedight with bronze, and the
horses that now carry the noble son of Peleus. I will make you a
good scout, and will not fail you. I will go through the host
from one end to the other till I come to the ship of Agamemnon,
where I take it the princes of the Achaeans are now consulting
whether they shall fight or fly.”
When he had done speaking Hector held up his sceptre, and swore
him his oath saying, “May Jove the thundering husband of Juno
bear witness that no other Trojan but yourself shall mount those
steeds, and that you shall have your will with them for ever.”
The oath he swore was bootless, but it made Dolon more keen on
going. He hung his bow over his shoulder, and as an overall he
wore the skin of a grey wolf, while on his head he set a cap of
ferret skin. Then he took a pointed javelin, and left the camp
for the ships, but he was not to return with any news for Hector.
When he had left the horses and the troops behind him, he made
all speed on his way, but Ulysses perceived his coming and said
to Diomed, “Diomed, here is some one from the camp; I am not sure
whether he is a spy, or whether it is some thief who would
plunder the bodies of the dead; let him get a little past us, we
can then spring upon him and take him. If, however, he is too
quick for us, go after him with your spear and hem him in towards
the ships away from the Trojan camp, to prevent his getting back
to the town.”
With this they turned out of their way and lay down among the
corpses. Dolon suspected nothing and soon passed them, but when
he had got about as far as the distance by which a mule-plowed
furrow exceeds one that has been ploughed by oxen (for mules can
plow fallow land quicker than oxen) they ran after him, and when
he heard their footsteps he stood still, for he made sure they
were friends from the Trojan camp come by Hector’s orders to bid
him return; when, however, they were only a spear’s cast, or
less, away from him, he saw that they were enemies and ran as
fast as his legs could take him. The others gave chase at once,
and as a couple of well-trained hounds press forward after a doe
or hare that runs screaming in front of them, even so did the son
of Tydeus and Ulysses pursue Dolon and cut him off from his own
people. But when he had fled so far towards the ships that he
would soon have fallen in with the outposts, Minerva infused
fresh strength into the son of Tydeus for fear some other of the
Achaeans might have the glory of being first to hit him, and he
might himself be only second; he therefore sprang forward with
his spear and said, “Stand, or I shall throw my spear, and in
that case I shall soon make an end of you.”
He threw as he spoke, but missed his aim on purpose. The dart
flew over the man’s right shoulder, and then stuck in the ground.
He stood stock still, trembling and in great fear; his teeth
chattered, and he turned pale with fear. The two came breathless
up to him and seized his hands, whereon he began to weep and
said, “Take me alive; I will ransom myself; we have great store
of gold, bronze, and wrought iron, and from this my father will
satisfy you with a very large ransom, should he hear of my being
alive at the ships of the Achaeans.”
“Fear not,” replied Ulysses, “let no thought of death be in your
mind; but tell me, and tell me true, why are you thus going about
alone in the dead of night away from your camp and towards the
ships, while other men are sleeping? Is it to plunder the bodies
of the slain, or did Hector send you to spy out what was going on
at the ships? Or did you come here of your own mere notion?”
Dolon answered, his limbs trembling beneath him: “Hector, with
his vain flattering promises, lured me from my better judgement.
He said he would give me the horses of the noble son of Peleus
and his bronze-bedizened chariot; he bade me go through the
darkness of the flying night, get close to the enemy, and find
out whether the ships are still guarded as heretofore, or
whether, now that we have beaten them, the Achaeans design to
fly, and through sheer exhaustion are neglecting to keep their
watches.”
Ulysses smiled at him and answered, “You had indeed set your
heart upon a great reward, but the horses of the descendant of
Aeacus are hardly to be kept in hand or driven by any other
mortal man than Achilles himself, whose mother was an immortal.
But tell me, and tell me true, where did you leave Hector when
you started? Where lies his armour and his horses? How, too, are
the watches and sleeping-ground of the Trojans ordered? What are
their plans? Will they stay here by the ships and away from the
city, or now that they have worsted the Achaeans, will they
retire within their walls?”
And Dolon answered, “I will tell you truly all. Hector and the
other councillors are now holding conference by the monument of
great Ilus, away from the general tumult; as for the guards about
which you ask me, there is no chosen watch to keep guard over the
host. The Trojans have their watchfires, for they are bound to
have them; they, therefore, are awake and keep each other to
their duty as sentinels; but the allies who have come from other
places are asleep and leave it to the Trojans to keep guard, for
their wives and children are not here.”
Ulysses then said, “Now tell me; are they sleeping among the
Trojan troops, or do they lie apart? Explain this that I may
understand it.”
“I will tell you truly all,” replied Dolon. “To the seaward lie
the Carians, the Paeonian bowmen, the Leleges, the Cauconians,
and the noble Pelasgi. The Lysians and proud Mysians, with the
Phrygians and Meonians, have their place on the side towards
Thymbra; but why ask about all this? If you want to find your way
into the host of the Trojans, there are the Thracians, who have
lately come here and lie apart from the others at the far end of
the camp; and they have Rhesus son of Eioneus for their king. His
horses are the finest and strongest that I have ever seen, they
are whiter than snow and fleeter than any wind that blows. His
chariot is bedight with silver and gold, and he has brought his
marvellous golden armour, of the rarest workmanship—too splendid
for any mortal man to carry, and meet only for the gods. Now,
therefore, take me to the ships or bind me securely here, until
you come back and have proved my words whether they be false or
true.”
Diomed looked sternly at him and answered, “Think not, Dolon, for
all the good information you have given us, that you shall escape
now you are in our hands, for if we ransom you or let you go, you
will come some second time to the ships of the Achaeans either as
a spy or as an open enemy, but if I kill you and an end of you,
you will give no more trouble.”
On this Dolon would have caught him by the beard to beseech him
further, but Diomed struck him in the middle of his neck with his
sword and cut through both sinews so that his head fell rolling
in the dust while he was yet speaking. They took the ferret-skin
cap from his head, and also the wolf-skin, the bow, and his long
spear. Ulysses hung them up aloft in honour of Minerva the
goddess of plunder, and prayed saying, “Accept these, goddess,
for we give them to you in preference to all the gods in Olympus:
therefore speed us still further towards the horses and
sleeping-ground of the Thracians.”
With these words he took the spoils and set them upon a tamarisk
tree, and they marked the place by pulling up reeds and gathering
boughs of tamarisk that they might not miss it as they came back
through the flying hours of darkness. The two then went onwards
amid the fallen armour and the blood, and came presently to the
company of Thracian soldiers, who were sleeping, tired out with
their day’s toil; their goodly armour was lying on the ground
beside them all orderly in three rows, and each man had his yoke
of horses beside him. Rhesus was sleeping in the middle, and hard
by him his horses were made fast to the topmost rim of his
chariot. Ulysses from some way off saw him and said, “This,
Diomed, is the man, and these are the horses about which Dolon
whom we killed told us. Do your very utmost; dally not about your
armour, but loose the horses at once—or else kill the men
yourself, while I see to the horses.”
Thereon Minerva put courage into the heart of Diomed, and he
smote them right and left. They made a hideous groaning as they
were being hacked about, and the earth was red with their blood.
As a lion springs furiously upon a flock of sheep or goats when
he finds them without their shepherd, so did the son of Tydeus
set upon the Thracian soldiers till he had killed twelve. As he
killed them Ulysses came and drew them aside by their feet one by
one, that the horses might go forward freely without being
frightened as they passed over the dead bodies, for they were not
yet used to them. When the son of Tydeus came to the king, he
killed him too (which made thirteen), as he was breathing hard,
for by the counsel of Minerva an evil dream, the seed of Oeneus,
hovered that night over his head. Meanwhile Ulysses untied the
horses, made them fast one to another and drove them off,
striking them with his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip
from the chariot. Then he whistled as a sign to Diomed.
But Diomed stayed where he was, thinking what other daring deed
he might accomplish. He was doubting whether to take the chariot
in which the king’s armour was lying, and draw it out by the
pole, or to lift the armour out and carry it off; or whether
again, he should not kill some more Thracians. While he was thus
hesitating Minerva came up to him and said, “Get back, Diomed, to
the ships or you may be driven thither, should some other god
rouse the Trojans.”
Diomed knew that it was the goddess, and at once sprang upon the
horses. Ulysses beat them with his bow and they flew onward to
the ships of the Achaeans.
But Apollo kept no blind look-out when he saw Minerva with the
son of Tydeus. He was angry with her, and coming to the host of
the Trojans he roused Hippocoon, a counsellor of the Thracians
and a noble kinsman of Rhesus. He started up out of his sleep and
saw that the horses were no longer in their place, and that the
men were gasping in their death-agony; on this he groaned aloud,
and called upon his friend by name. Then the whole Trojan camp
was in an uproar as the people kept hurrying together, and they
marvelled at the deeds of the heroes who had now got away towards
the ships.
When they reached the place where they had killed Hector’s scout,
Ulysses stayed his horses, and the son of Tydeus, leaping to the
ground, placed the blood-stained spoils in the hands of Ulysses
and remounted: then he lashed the horses onwards, and they flew
forward nothing loth towards the ships as though of their own
free will. Nestor was first to hear the tramp of their feet. “My
friends,” said he, “princes and counsellors of the Argives, shall
I guess right or wrong?—but I must say what I think: there is a
sound in my ears as of the tramp of horses. I hope it may be
Diomed and Ulysses driving in horses from the Trojans, but I much
fear that the bravest of the Argives may have come to some harm
at their hands.”
He had hardly done speaking when the two men came in and
dismounted, whereon the others shook hands right gladly with them
and congratulated them. Nestor knight of Gerene was first to
question them. “Tell me,” said he, “renowned Ulysses, how did you
two come by these horses? Did you steal in among the Trojan
forces, or did some god meet you and give them to you? They are
like sunbeams. I am well conversant with the Trojans, for old
warrior though I am I never hold back by the ships, but I never
yet saw or heard of such horses as these are. Surely some god
must have met you and given them to you, for you are both of you
dear to Jove, and to Jove’s daughter Minerva.”
And Ulysses answered, “Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the
Achaean name, heaven, if it so will, can give us even better
horses than these, for the gods are far mightier than we are.
These horses, however, about which you ask me, are freshly come
from Thrace. Diomed killed their king with the twelve bravest of
his companions. Hard by the ships we took a thirteenth man—a
scout whom Hector and the other Trojans had sent as a spy upon
our ships.”
He laughed as he spoke and drove the horses over the ditch, while
the other Achaeans followed him gladly. When they reached the
strongly built quarters of the son of Tydeus, they tied the
horses with thongs of leather to the manger, where the steeds of
Diomed stood eating their sweet corn, but Ulysses hung the
blood-stained spoils of Dolon at the stern of his ship, that they
might prepare a sacred offering to Minerva. As for themselves,
they went into the sea and washed the sweat from their bodies,
and from their necks and thighs. When the sea-water had taken all
the sweat from off them, and had refreshed them, they went into
the baths and washed themselves. After they had so done and had
anointed themselves with oil, they sat down to table, and drawing
from a full mixing-bowl, made a drink-offering of wine to
Minerva.
BOOK XI.
In the forenoon the fight is equal, but Agamemnon turns the
fortune of the day towards the Achaeans until he gets wounded and
leaves the field—Hector then drives everything before him till he
is wounded by Diomed—Paris wounds Diomed—Ulysses, Nestor, and
Idomeneus perform prodigies of valour—Machaon is wounded—Nestor
drives him off in his chariot—Achilles sees the pair driving
towards the camp and sends Patroclus to ask who it is that is
wounded—This is the beginning of evil for Patroclus—Nestor makes
a long speech.
And now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus, harbinger of
light alike to mortals and immortals, Jove sent fierce Discord
with the ensign of war in her hands to the ships of the Achaeans.
She took her stand by the huge black hull of Ulysses’ ship which
was middlemost of all, so that her voice might carry farthest on
either side, on the one hand towards the tents of Ajax son of
Telamon, and on the other towards those of Achilles—for these two
heroes, well-assured of their own strength, had valorously drawn
up their ships at the two ends of the line. There she took her
stand, and raised a cry both loud and shrill that filled the
Achaeans with courage, giving them heart to fight resolutely and
with all their might, so that they had rather stay there and do
battle than go home in their ships.
The son of Atreus shouted aloud and bade the Argives gird
themselves for battle while he put on his armour. First he girded
his goodly greaves about his legs, making them fast with
ankle-clasps of silver; and about his chest he set the
breastplate which Cinyras had once given him as a guest-gift. It
had been noised abroad as far as Cyprus that the Achaeans were
about to sail for Troy, and therefore he gave it to the king. It
had ten courses of dark cyanus, twelve of gold, and ten of tin.
There were serpents of cyanus that reared themselves up towards
the neck, three upon either side, like the rainbows which the son
of Saturn has set in heaven as a sign to mortal men. About his
shoulders he threw his sword, studded with bosses of gold; and
the scabbard was of silver with a chain of gold wherewith to hang
it. He took moreover the richly-dight shield that covered his
body when he was in battle—fair to see, with ten circles of
bronze running all round it. On the body of the shield there were
twenty bosses of white tin, with another of dark cyanus in the
middle: this last was made to show a Gorgon’s head, fierce and
grim, with Rout and Panic on either side. The band for the arm to
go through was of silver, on which there was a writhing snake of
cyanus with three heads that sprang from a single neck, and went
in and out among one another. On his head Agamemnon set a helmet,
with a peak before and behind, and four plumes of horse-hair that
nodded menacingly above it; then he grasped two redoubtable
bronze-shod spears, and the gleam of his armour shot from him as
a flame into the firmament, while Juno and Minerva thundered in
honour of the king of rich Mycene.
Every man now left his horses in charge of his charioteer to hold
them in readiness by the trench, while he went into battle on
foot clad in full armour, and a mighty uproar rose on high into
the dawning. The chiefs were armed and at the trench before the
horses got there, but these came up presently. The son of Saturn
sent a portent of evil sound about their host, and the dew fell
red with blood, for he was about to send many a brave man
hurrying down to Hades.
The Trojans, on the other side upon the rising slope of the
plain, were gathered round great Hector, noble Polydamas, Aeneas
who was honoured by the Trojans like an immortal, and the three
sons of Antenor, Polybus, Agenor, and young Acamas beauteous as a
god. Hector’s round shield showed in the front rank, and as some
baneful star that shines for a moment through a rent in the
clouds and is again hidden beneath them; even so was Hector now
seen in the front ranks and now again in the hindermost, and his
bronze armour gleamed like the lightning of aegis-bearing Jove.
And now as a band of reapers mow swathes of wheat or barley upon
a rich man’s land, and the sheaves fall thick before them, even
so did the Trojans and Achaeans fall upon one another; they were
in no mood for yielding but fought like wolves, and neither side
got the better of the other. Discord was glad as she beheld them,
for she was the only god that went among them; the others were
not there, but stayed quietly each in his own home among the
dells and valleys of Olympus. All of them blamed the son of
Saturn for wanting to give victory to the Trojans, but father
Jove heeded them not: he held aloof from all, and sat apart in
his all-glorious majesty, looking down upon the city of the
Trojans, the ships of the Achaeans, the gleam of bronze, and
alike upon the slayers and on the slain.
Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their
darts rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as
the hour drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest
will get his midday meal—for he has felled till his hands are
weary; he is tired out, and must now have food—then the Danaans
with a cry that rang through all their ranks, broke the
battalions of the enemy. Agamemnon led them on, and slew first
Bienor, a leader of his people, and afterwards his comrade and
charioteer Oileus, who sprang from his chariot and was coming
full towards him; but Agamemnon struck him on the forehead with
his spear; his bronze visor was of no avail against the weapon,
which pierced both bronze and bone, so that his brains were
battered in and he was killed in full fight.
Agamemnon stripped their shirts from off them and left them with
their breasts all bare to lie where they had fallen. He then went
on to kill Isus and Antiphus two sons of Priam, the one a
bastard, the other born in wedlock; they were in the same
chariot—the bastard driving, while noble Antiphus fought beside
him. Achilles had once taken both of them prisoners in the glades
of Ida, and had bound them with fresh withes as they were
shepherding, but he had taken a ransom for them; now, however,
Agamemnon son of Atreus smote Isus in the chest above the nipple
with his spear, while he struck Antiphus hard by the ear and
threw him from his chariot. Forthwith he stripped their goodly
armour from off them and recognized them, for he had already seen
them at ships when Achilles brought them in from Ida. As a lion
fastens on the fawns of a hind and crushes them in his great
jaws, robbing them of their tender life while he on his way back
to his lair—the hind can do nothing for them even though she be
close by, for she is in an agony of fear, and flies through the
thick forest, sweating, and at her utmost speed before the mighty
monster—so, no man of the Trojans could help Isus and Antiphus,
for they were themselves flying in panic before the Argives.
Then King Agamemnon took the two sons of Antimachus, Pisander and
brave Hippolochus. It was Antimachus who had been foremost in
preventing Helen’s being restored to Menelaus, for he was largely
bribed by Alexandrus; and now Agamemnon took his two sons, both
in the same chariot, trying to bring their horses to a stand—for
they had lost hold of the reins and the horses were mad with
fear. The son of Atreus sprang upon them like a lion, and the
pair besought him from their chariot. “Take us alive,” they
cried, “son of Atreus, and you shall receive a great ransom for
us. Our father Antimachus has great store of gold, bronze, and
wrought iron, and from this he will satisfy you with a very large
ransom should he hear of our being alive at the ships of the
Achaeans.”
With such piteous words and tears did they beseech the king, but
they heard no pitiful answer in return. “If,” said Agamemnon,
“you are sons of Antimachus, who once at a council of Trojans
proposed that Menelaus and Ulysses, who had come to you as
envoys, should be killed and not suffered to return, you shall
now pay for the foul iniquity of your father.”
As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth,
smiting him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face
uppermost upon the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did
Agamemnon smite; he cut off his hands and his head—which he sent
rolling in among the crowd as though it were a ball. There he let
them both lie, and wherever the ranks were thickest thither he
flew, while the other Achaeans followed. Foot soldiers drove the
foot soldiers of the foe in rout before them, and slew them;
horsemen did the like by horsemen, and the thundering tramp of
the horses raised a cloud of dust from off the plain. King
Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and cheering on the
Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze—the eddying
gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets shrivel and
are consumed before the blast of the flame—even so fell the heads
of the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus, and many a
noble pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the highways of
war, for lack of drivers who were lying on the plain, more useful
now to vultures than to their wives.
Jove drew Hector away from the darts and dust, with the carnage
and din of battle; but the son of Atreus sped onwards, calling
out lustily to the Danaans. They flew on by the tomb of old Ilus,
son of Dardanus, in the middle of the plain, and past the place
of the wild fig-tree making always for the city—the son of Atreus
still shouting, and with hands all bedrabbled in gore; but when
they had reached the Scaean gates and the oak tree, there they
halted and waited for the others to come up. Meanwhile the
Trojans kept on flying over the middle of the plain like a herd
of cows maddened with fright when a lion has attacked them in the
dead of night—he springs on one of them, seizes her neck in the
grip of his strong teeth and then laps up her blood and gorges
himself upon her entrails—even so did King Agamemnon son of
Atreus pursue the foe, ever slaughtering the hindmost as they
fled pell-mell before him. Many a man was flung headlong from his
chariot by the hand of the son of Atreus, for he wielded his
spear with fury.
But when he was just about to reach the high wall and the city,
the father of gods and men came down from heaven and took his
seat, thunderbolt in hand, upon the crest of many-fountained Ida.
He then told Iris of the golden wings to carry a message for him.
“Go,” said he, “fleet Iris, and speak thus to Hector—say that so
long as he sees Agamemnon heading his men and making havoc of the
Trojan ranks, he is to keep aloof and bid the others bear the
brunt of the battle, but when Agamemnon is wounded either by
spear or arrow, and takes to his chariot, then will I vouchsafe
him strength to slay till he reach the ships and night falls at
the going down of the sun.”
Iris hearkened and obeyed. Down she went to strong Ilius from the
crests of Ida, and found Hector son of Priam standing by his
chariot and horses. Then she said, “Hector son of Priam, peer of
gods in counsel, father Jove has sent me to bear you this
message—so long as you see Agamemnon heading his men and making
havoc of the Trojan ranks, you are to keep aloof and bid the
others bear the brunt of the battle, but when Agamemnon is
wounded either by spear or arrow, and takes to his chariot, then
will Jove vouchsafe you strength to slay till you reach the
ships, and till night falls at the going down of the sun.”
When she had thus spoken Iris left him, and Hector sprang full
armed from his chariot to the ground, brandishing his spear as he
went about everywhere among the host, cheering his men on to
fight, and stirring the dread strife of battle. The Trojans then
wheeled round, and again met the Achaeans, while the Argives on
their part strengthened their battalions. The battle was now in
array and they stood face to face with one another, Agamemnon
ever pressing forward in his eagerness to be ahead of all others.
Tell me now ye Muses that dwell in the mansions of Olympus, who,
whether of the Trojans or of their allies, was first to face
Agamemnon? It was Iphidamas son of Antenor, a man both brave and
of great stature, who was brought up in fertile Thrace, the
mother of sheep. Cisses, his mother’s father, brought him up in
his own house when he was a child—Cisses, father to fair Theano.
When he reached manhood, Cisses would have kept him there, and
was for giving him his daughter in marriage, but as soon as he
had married he set out to fight the Achaeans with twelve ships
that followed him: these he had left at Percote and had come on
by land to Ilius. He it was that now met Agamemnon son of Atreus.
When they were close up with one another, the son of Atreus
missed his aim, and Iphidamas hit him on the girdle below the
cuirass and then flung himself upon him, trusting to his strength
of arm; the girdle, however, was not pierced, nor nearly so, for
the point of the spear struck against the silver and was turned
aside as though it had been lead: King Agamemnon caught it from
his hand, and drew it towards him with the fury of a lion; he
then drew his sword, and killed Iphidamas by striking him on the
neck. So there the poor fellow lay, sleeping a sleep as it were
of bronze, killed in the defence of his fellow-citizens, far from
his wedded wife, of whom he had had no joy though he had given
much for her: he had given a hundred-head of cattle down, and had
promised later on to give a thousand sheep and goats mixed, from
the countless flocks of which he was possessed. Agamemnon son of
Atreus then despoiled him, and carried off his armour into the
host of the Achaeans.
When noble Coon, Antenor’s eldest son, saw this, sore indeed were
his eyes at the sight of his fallen brother. Unseen by Agamemnon
he got beside him, spear in hand, and wounded him in the middle
of his arm below the elbow, the point of the spear going right
through the arm. Agamemnon was convulsed with pain, but still not
even for this did he leave off struggling and fighting, but
grasped his spear that flew as fleet as the wind, and sprang upon
Coon who was trying to drag off the body of his brother—his
father’s son—by the foot, and was crying for help to all the
bravest of his comrades; but Agamemnon struck him with a
bronze-shod spear and killed him as he was dragging the dead body
through the press of men under cover of his shield: he then cut
off his head, standing over the body of Iphidamas. Thus did the
sons of Antenor meet their fate at the hands of the son of
Atreus, and go down into the house of Hades.
As long as the blood still welled warm from his wound Agamemnon
went about attacking the ranks of the enemy with spear and sword
and with great handfuls of stone, but when the blood had ceased
to flow and the wound grew dry, the pain became great. As the
sharp pangs which the Eilithuiae, goddesses of childbirth,
daughters of Juno and dispensers of cruel pain, send upon a woman
when she is in labour—even so sharp were the pangs of the son of
Atreus. He sprang on to his chariot, and bade his charioteer
drive to the ships, for he was in great agony. With a loud clear
voice he shouted to the Danaans, “My friends, princes and
counsellors of the Argives, defend the ships yourselves, for Jove
has not suffered me to fight the whole day through against the
Trojans.”
With this the charioteer turned his horses towards the ships, and
they flew forward nothing loth. Their chests were white with foam
and their bellies with dust, as they drew the wounded king out of
the battle.
When Hector saw Agamemnon quit the field, he shouted to the
Trojans and Lycians saying, “Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanian
warriors, be men, my friends, and acquit yourselves in battle
bravely; their best man has left them, and Jove has vouchsafed me
a great triumph; charge the foe with your chariots that you may
win still greater glory.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and as a
huntsman hounds his dogs on against a lion or wild boar, even so
did Hector, peer of Mars, hound the proud Trojans on against the
Achaeans. Full of hope he plunged in among the foremost, and fell
on the fight like some fierce tempest that swoops down upon the
sea, and lashes its deep blue waters into fury.
What, then is the full tale of those whom Hector son of Priam
killed in the hour of triumph which Jove then vouchsafed him?
First Asaeus, Autonous, and Opites; Dolops son of Clytius,
Opheltius and Agelaus; Aesymnus, Orus and Hipponous steadfast in
battle; these chieftains of the Achaeans did Hector slay, and
then he fell upon the rank and file. As when the west wind
hustles the clouds of the white south and beats them down with
the fierceness of its fury—the waves of the sea roll high, and
the spray is flung aloft in the rage of the wandering wind—even
so thick were the heads of them that fell by the hand of Hector.
All had then been lost and no help for it, and the Achaeans would
have fled pell-mell to their ships, had not Ulysses cried out to
Diomed, “Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we thus
forget our prowess? Come, my good fellow, stand by my side and
help me, we shall be shamed for ever if Hector takes the ships.”
And Diomed answered, “Come what may, I will stand firm; but we
shall have scant joy of it, for Jove is minded to give victory to
the Trojans rather than to us.”
With these words he struck Thymbraeus from his chariot to the
ground, smiting him in the left breast with his spear, while
Ulysses killed Molion who was his squire. These they let lie, now
that they had stopped their fighting; the two heroes then went on
playing havoc with the foe, like two wild boars that turn in fury
and rend the hounds that hunt them. Thus did they turn upon the
Trojans and slay them, and the Achaeans were thankful to have
breathing time in their flight from Hector.
They then took two princes with their chariot, the two sons of
Merops of Percote, who excelled all others in the arts of
divination. He had forbidden his sons to go to the war, but they
would not obey him, for fate lured them to their fall. Diomed son
of Tydeus slew them both and stripped them of their armour, while
Ulysses killed Hippodamus and Hypeirochus.
And now the son of Saturn as he looked down from Ida ordained
that neither side should have the advantage, and they kept on
killing one another. The son of Tydeus speared Agastrophus son of
Paeon in the hip-joint with his spear. His chariot was not at
hand for him to fly with, so blindly confident had he been. His
squire was in charge of it at some distance and he was fighting
on foot among the foremost until he lost his life. Hector soon
marked the havoc Diomed and Ulysses were making, and bore down
upon them with a loud cry, followed by the Trojan ranks; brave
Diomed was dismayed when he saw them, and said to Ulysses who was
beside him, “Great Hector is bearing down upon us and we shall be
undone; let us stand firm and wait his onset.”
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it, nor did he miss
his mark. He had aimed at Hector’s head near the top of his
helmet, but bronze was turned by bronze, and Hector was
untouched, for the spear was stayed by the visored helm made with
three plates of metal, which Phoebus Apollo had given him. Hector
sprang back with a great bound under cover of the ranks; he fell
on his knees and propped himself with his brawny hand leaning on
the ground, for darkness had fallen on his eyes. The son of
Tydeus having thrown his spear dashed in among the foremost
fighters, to the place where he had seen it strike the ground;
meanwhile Hector recovered himself and springing back into his
chariot mingled with the crowd, by which means he saved his life.
But Diomed made at him with his spear and said, “Dog, you have
again got away though death was close on your heels. Phoebus
Apollo, to whom I ween you pray ere you go into battle, has again
saved you, nevertheless I will meet you and make an end of you
hereafter, if there is any god who will stand by me too and be my
helper. For the present I must pursue those I can lay hands on.”
As he spoke he began stripping the spoils from the son of Paeon,
but Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen aimed an arrow at him,
leaning against a pillar of the monument which men had raised to
Ilus son of Dardanus, a ruler in days of old. Diomed had taken
the cuirass from off the breast of Agastrophus, his heavy helmet
also, and the shield from off his shoulders, when Paris drew his
bow and let fly an arrow that sped not from his hand in vain, but
pierced the flat of Diomed’s right foot, going right through it
and fixing itself in the ground. Thereon Paris with a hearty
laugh sprang forward from his hiding-place, and taunted him
saying, “You are wounded—my arrow has not been shot in vain;
would that it had hit you in the belly and killed you, for thus
the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a lion, would have had a
truce from evil.”
Diomed all undaunted answered, “Archer, you who without your bow
are nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in
single combat fighting in full armour, your bow and your arrows
would serve you in little stead. Vain is your boast in that you
have scratched the sole of my foot. I care no more than if a girl
or some silly boy had hit me. A worthless coward can inflict but
a light wound; when I wound a man though I but graze his skin it
is another matter, for my weapon will lay him low. His wife will
tear her cheeks for grief and his children will be fatherless:
there will he rot, reddening the earth with his blood, and
vultures, not women, will gather round him.”
Thus he spoke, but Ulysses came up and stood over him. Under this
cover he sat down to draw the arrow from his foot, and sharp was
the pain he suffered as he did so. Then he sprang on to his
chariot and bade the charioteer drive him to the ships, for he
was sick at heart.
Ulysses was now alone; not one of the Argives stood by him, for
they were all panic-stricken. “Alas,” said he to himself in his
dismay, “what will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly
before these odds, but it will be worse if I am left alone and
taken prisoner, for the son of Saturn has struck the rest of the
Danaans with panic. But why talk to myself in this way? Well do I
know that though cowards quit the field, a hero, whether he wound
or be wounded, must stand firm and hold his own.”
While he was thus in two minds, the ranks of the Trojans advanced
and hemmed him in, and bitterly did they come to rue it. As
hounds and lusty youths set upon a wild boar that sallies from
his lair whetting his white tusks—they attack him from every side
and can hear the gnashing of his jaws, but for all his fierceness
they still hold their ground—even so furiously did the Trojans
attack Ulysses. First he sprang spear in hand upon Deiopites and
wounded him on the shoulder with a downward blow; then he killed
Thoon and Ennomus. After these he struck Chersidamas in the loins
under his shield as he had just sprung down from his chariot; so
he fell in the dust and clutched the earth in the hollow of his
hand. These he let lie, and went on to wound Charops son of
Hippasus own brother to noble Socus. Socus, hero that he was,
made all speed to help him, and when he was close to Ulysses he
said, “Far-famed Ulysses, insatiable of craft and toil, this day
you shall either boast of having killed both the sons of Hippasus
and stripped them of their armour, or you shall fall before my
spear.”
With these words he struck the shield of Ulysses. The spear went
through the shield and passed on through his richly wrought
cuirass, tearing the flesh from his side, but Pallas Minerva did
not suffer it to pierce the entrails of the hero. Ulysses knew
that his hour was not yet come, but he gave ground and said to
Socus, “Wretch, you shall now surely die. You have stayed me from
fighting further with the Trojans, but you shall now fall by my
spear, yielding glory to myself, and your soul to Hades of the
noble steeds.”
Socus had turned in flight, but as he did so, the spear struck
him in the back midway between the shoulders, and went right
through his chest. He fell heavily to the ground and Ulysses
vaunted over him saying, “O Socus, son of Hippasus tamer of
horses, death has been too quick for you and you have not escaped
him: poor wretch, not even in death shall your father and mother
close your eyes, but the ravening vultures shall enshroud you
with the flapping of their dark wings and devour you. Whereas
even though I fall the Achaeans will give me my due rites of
burial.”
So saying he drew Socus’s heavy spear out of his flesh and from
his shield, and the blood welled forth when the spear was
withdrawn so that he was much dismayed. When the Trojans saw that
Ulysses was bleeding they raised a great shout and came on in a
body towards him; he therefore gave ground, and called his
comrades to come and help him. Thrice did he cry as loudly as man
can cry, and thrice did brave Menelaus hear him; he turned,
therefore, to Ajax who was close beside him and said, “Ajax,
noble son of Telamon, captain of your people, the cry of Ulysses
rings in my ears, as though the Trojans had cut him off and were
worsting him while he is single-handed. Let us make our way
through the throng; it will be well that we defend him; I fear he
may come to harm for all his valour if he be left without
support, and the Danaans would miss him sorely.”
He led the way and mighty Ajax went with him. The Trojans had
gathered round Ulysses like ravenous mountain jackals round the
carcase of some horned stag that has been hit with an arrow—the
stag has fled at full speed so long as his blood was warm and his
strength has lasted, but when the arrow has overcome him, the
savage jackals devour him in the shady glades of the forest. Then
heaven sends a fierce lion thither, whereon the jackals fly in
terror and the lion robs them of their prey—even so did Trojans
many and brave gather round crafty Ulysses, but the hero stood at
bay and kept them off with his spear. Ajax then came up with his
shield before him like a wall, and stood hard by, whereon the
Trojans fled in all directions. Menelaus took Ulysses by the
hand, and led him out of the press while his squire brought up
his chariot, but Ajax rushed furiously on the Trojans and killed
Doryclus, a bastard son of Priam; then he wounded Pandocus,
Lysandrus, Pyrasus, and Pylartes; as some swollen torrent comes
rushing in full flood from the mountains on to the plain, big
with the rain of heaven—many a dry oak and many a pine does it
engulf, and much mud does it bring down and cast into the
sea—even so did brave Ajax chase the foe furiously over the
plain, slaying both men and horses.
Hector did not yet know what Ajax was doing, for he was fighting
on the extreme left of the battle by the banks of the river
Scamander, where the carnage was thickest and the war-cry loudest
round Nestor and brave Idomeneus. Among these Hector was making
great slaughter with his spear and furious driving, and was
destroying the ranks that were opposed to him; still the Achaeans
would have given no ground, had not Alexandrus husband of lovely
Helen stayed the prowess of Machaon, shepherd of his people, by
wounding him in the right shoulder with a triple-barbed arrow.
The Achaeans were in great fear that as the fight had turned
against them the Trojans might take him prisoner, and Idomeneus
said to Nestor, “Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean
name, mount your chariot at once; take Machaon with you and drive
your horses to the ships as fast as you can. A physician is worth
more than several other men put together, for he can cut out
arrows and spread healing herbs.”
Nestor knight of Gerene did as Idomeneus had counselled; he at
once mounted his chariot, and Machaon son of the famed physician
Aesculapius, went with him. He lashed his horses and they flew
onward nothing loth towards the ships, as though of their own
free will.
Then Cebriones seeing the Trojans in confusion said to Hector
from his place beside him, “Hector, here are we two fighting on
the extreme wing of the battle, while the other Trojans are in
pell-mell rout, they and their horses. Ajax son of Telamon is
driving them before him; I know him by the breadth of his shield:
let us turn our chariot and horses thither, where horse and foot
are fighting most desperately, and where the cry of battle is
loudest.”
With this he lashed his goodly steeds, and when they felt the
whip they drew the chariot full speed among the Achaeans and
Trojans, over the bodies and shields of those that had fallen:
the axle was bespattered with blood, and the rail round the car
was covered with splashes both from the horses’ hoofs and from
the tyres of the wheels. Hector tore his way through and flung
himself into the thick of the fight, and his presence threw the
Danaans into confusion, for his spear was not long idle;
nevertheless though he went among the ranks with sword and spear,
and throwing great stones, he avoided Ajax son of Telamon, for
Jove would have been angry with him if he had fought a better man
than himself.
Then father Jove from his high throne struck fear into the heart
of Ajax, so that he stood there dazed and threw his shield behind
him—looking fearfully at the throng of his foes as though he were
some wild beast, and turning hither and thither but crouching
slowly backwards. As peasants with their hounds chase a lion from
their stockyard, and watch by night to prevent his carrying off
the pick of their herd—he makes his greedy spring, but in vain,
for the darts from many a strong hand fall thick around him, with
burning brands that scare him for all his fury, and when morning
comes he slinks foiled and angry away—even so did Ajax, sorely
against his will, retreat angrily before the Trojans, fearing for
the ships of the Achaeans. Or as some lazy ass that has had many
a cudgel broken about his back, when he into a field begins
eating the corn—boys beat him but he is too many for them, and
though they lay about with their sticks they cannot hurt him;
still when he has had his fill they at last drive him from the
field—even so did the Trojans and their allies pursue great Ajax,
ever smiting the middle of his shield with their darts. Now and
again he would turn and show fight, keeping back the battalions
of the Trojans, and then he would again retreat; but he prevented
any of them from making his way to the ships. Single-handed he
stood midway between the Trojans and Achaeans: the spears that
sped from their hands stuck some of them in his mighty shield,
while many, though thirsting for his blood, fell to the ground
ere they could reach him to the wounding of his fair flesh.
Now when Eurypylus the brave son of Euaemon saw that Ajax was
being overpowered by the rain of arrows, he went up to him and
hurled his spear. He struck Apisaon son of Phausius in the liver
below the midriff, and laid him low. Eurypylus sprang upon him,
and stripped the armour from his shoulders; but when Alexandrus
saw him, he aimed an arrow at him which struck him in the right
thigh; the arrow broke, but the point that was left in the wound
dragged on the thigh; he drew back, therefore, under cover of his
comrades to save his life, shouting as he did so to the Danaans,
“My friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, rally to the
defence of Ajax who is being overpowered, and I doubt whether he
will come out of the fight alive. Hither, then, to the rescue of
great Ajax son of Telamon.”
Even so did he cry when he was wounded; thereon the others came
near, and gathered round him, holding their shields upwards from
their shoulders so as to give him cover. Ajax then made towards
them, and turned round to stand at bay as soon as he had reached
his men.
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
mares of Neleus, all in a lather with sweat, were bearing Nestor
out of the fight, and with him Machaon shepherd of his people.
Achilles saw and took note, for he was standing on the stern of
his ship watching the hard stress and struggle of the fight. He
called from the ship to his comrade Patroclus, who heard him in
the tent and came out looking like Mars himself—here indeed was
the beginning of the ill that presently befell him. “Why,” said
he, “Achilles, do you call me? What do you want with me?” And
Achilles answered, “Noble son of Menoetius, man after my own
heart, I take it that I shall now have the Achaeans praying at my
knees, for they are in great straits; go, Patroclus, and ask
Nestor who it is that he is bearing away wounded from the field;
from his back I should say it was Machaon son of Aesculapius, but
I could not see his face for the horses went by me at full
speed.”
Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him, and set off
running by the ships and tents of the Achaeans.
When Nestor and Machaon had reached the tents of the son of
Neleus, they dismounted, and an esquire, Eurymedon, took the
horses from the chariot. The pair then stood in the breeze by the
seaside to dry the sweat from their shirts, and when they had so
done they came inside and took their seats. Fair Hecamede, whom
Nestor had had awarded to him from Tenedos when Achilles took it,
mixed them a mess; she was daughter of wise Arsinous, and the
Achaeans had given her to Nestor because he excelled all of them
in counsel. First she set for them a fair and well-made table
that had feet of cyanus; on it there was a vessel of bronze and
an onion to give relish to the drink, with honey and cakes of
barley-meal. There was also a cup of rare workmanship which the
old man had brought with him from home, studded with bosses of
gold; it had four handles, on each of which there were two golden
doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand on. Any one else
would hardly have been able to lift it from the table when it was
full, but Nestor could do so quite easily. In this the woman, as
fair as a goddess, mixed them a mess with Pramnian wine; she
grated goat’s milk cheese into it with a bronze grater, threw in
a handful of white barley-meal, and having thus prepared the mess
she bade them drink it. When they had done so and had thus
quenched their thirst, they fell talking with one another, and at
this moment Patroclus appeared at the door.
When the old man saw him he sprang from his seat, seized his
hand, led him into the tent, and bade him take his place among
them; but Patroclus stood where he was and said, “Noble sir, I
may not stay, you cannot persuade me to come in; he that sent me
is not one to be trifled with, and he bade me ask who the wounded
man was whom you were bearing away from the field. I can now see
for myself that he is Machaon, shepherd of his people. I must go
back and tell Achilles. You, sir, know what a terrible man he is,
and how ready to blame even where no blame should lie.”
And Nestor answered, “Why should Achilles care to know how many
of the Achaeans may be wounded? He recks not of the dismay that
reigns in our host; our most valiant chieftains lie disabled,
brave Diomed, son of Tydeus, is wounded; so are Ulysses and
Agamemnon; Eurypylus has been hit with an arrow in the thigh, and
I have just been bringing this man from the field—he too wounded
with an arrow. Nevertheless, Achilles, so valiant though he be,
cares not and knows no ruth. Will he wait till the ships, do what
we may, are in a blaze, and we perish one upon the other? As for
me, I have no strength nor stay in me any longer; would that I
were still young and strong as in the days when there was a fight
between us and the men of Elis about some cattle-raiding. I then
killed Itymoneus, the valiant son of Hypeirochus, a dweller in
Elis, as I was driving in the spoil; he was hit by a dart thrown
by my hand while fighting in the front rank in defence of his
cows, so he fell and the country people around him were in great
fear. We drove off a vast quantity of booty from the plain, fifty
herds of cattle and as many flocks of sheep; fifty droves also of
pigs, and as many wide-spreading flocks of goats. Of horses,
moreover, we seized a hundred and fifty, all of them mares, and
many had foals running with them. All these did we drive by night
to Pylus, the city of Neleus, taking them within the city; and
the heart of Neleus was glad in that I had taken so much, though
it was the first time I had ever been in the field. At daybreak
the heralds went round crying that all in Elis to whom there was
a debt owing should come; and the leading Pylians assembled to
divide the spoils. There were many to whom the Epeans owed
chattels, for we men of Pylus were few and had been oppressed
with wrong; in former years Hercules had come, and had laid his
hand heavy upon us, so that all our best men had perished. Neleus
had had twelve sons, but I alone was left; the others had all
been killed. The Epeans presuming upon all this had looked down
upon us and had done us much evil. My father chose a herd of
cattle and a great flock of sheep—three hundred in all—and he
took their shepherds with him, for there was a great debt due to
him in Elis, to wit four horses, winners of prizes. They and
their chariots with them had gone to the games and were to run
for a tripod, but King Augeas took them, and sent back their
driver grieving for the loss of his horses. Neleus was angered by
what he had both said and done, and took great value in return,
but he divided the rest, that no man might have less than his
full share.
“Thus did we order all things, and offer sacrifices to the gods
throughout the city; but three days afterwards the Epeans came in
a body, many in number, they and their chariots, in full array,
and with them the two Moliones in their armour, though they were
still lads and unused to fighting. Now there is a certain town,
Thryoessa, perched upon a rock on the river Alpheus, the border
city of Pylus. This they would destroy, and pitched their camp
about it, but when they had crossed their whole plain, Minerva
darted down by night from Olympus and bade us set ourselves in
array; and she found willing soldiers in Pylos, for the men meant
fighting. Neleus would not let me arm, and hid my horses, for he
said that as yet I could know nothing about war; nevertheless
Minerva so ordered the fight that, all on foot as I was, I fought
among our mounted forces and vied with the foremost of them.
There is a river Minyeius that falls into the sea near Arene, and
there they that were mounted (and I with them) waited till
morning, when the companies of foot soldiers came up with us in
force. Thence in full panoply and equipment we came towards noon
to the sacred waters of the Alpheus, and there we offered victims
to almighty Jove, with a bull to Alpheus, another to Neptune, and
a herd-heifer to Minerva. After this we took supper in our
companies, and laid us down to rest each in his armour by the
river.
“The Epeans were beleaguering the city and were determined to
take it, but ere this might be there was a desperate fight in
store for them. When the sun’s rays began to fall upon the earth
we joined battle, praying to Jove and to Minerva, and when the
fight had begun, I was the first to kill my man and take his
horses—to wit the warrior Mulius. He was son-in-law to Augeas,
having married his eldest daughter, golden-haired Agamede, who
knew the virtues of every herb which grows upon the face of the
earth. I speared him as he was coming towards me, and when he
fell headlong in the dust, I sprang upon his chariot and took my
place in the front ranks. The Epeans fled in all directions when
they saw the captain of their horsemen (the best man they had)
laid low, and I swept down on them like a whirlwind, taking fifty
chariots—and in each of them two men bit the dust, slain by my
spear. I should have even killed the two Moliones, sons of Actor,
unless their real father, Neptune lord of the earthquake, had
hidden them in a thick mist and borne them out of the fight.
Thereon Jove vouchsafed the Pylians a great victory, for we
chased them far over the plain, killing the men and bringing in
their armour, till we had brought our horses to Buprasium, rich
in wheat, and to the Olenian rock, with the hill that is called
Alision, at which point Minerva turned the people back. There I
slew the last man and left him; then the Achaeans drove their
horses back from Buprasium to Pylos and gave thanks to Jove among
the gods, and among mortal men to Nestor.
“Such was I among my peers, as surely as ever was, but Achilles
is for keeping all his valour for himself; bitterly will he rue
it hereafter when the host is being cut to pieces. My good
friend, did not Menoetius charge you thus, on the day when he
sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon? Ulysses and I were in the
house, inside, and heard all that he said to you; for we came to
the fair house of Peleus while beating up recruits throughout all
Achaea, and when we got there we found Menoetius and yourself,
and Achilles with you. The old knight Peleus was in the outer
court, roasting the fat thigh-bones of a heifer to Jove the lord
of thunder; and he held a gold chalice in his hand from which he
poured drink-offerings of wine over the burning sacrifice. You
two were busy cutting up the heifer, and at that moment we stood
at the gates, whereon Achilles sprang to his feet, led us by the
hand into the house, placed us at table, and set before us such
hospitable entertainment as guests expect. When we had satisfied
ourselves with meat and drink, I said my say and urged both of
you to join us. You were ready enough to do so, and the two old
men charged you much and straitly. Old Peleus bade his son
Achilles fight ever among the foremost and outvie his peers,
while Menoetius the son of Actor spoke thus to you: ‘My son,’
said he, ‘Achilles is of nobler birth than you are, but you are
older than he, though he is far the better man of the two.
Counsel him wisely, guide him in the right way, and he will
follow you to his own profit.’ Thus did your father charge you,
but you have forgotten; nevertheless, even now, say all this to
Achilles if he will listen to you. Who knows but with heaven’s
help you may talk him over, for it is good to take a friend’s
advice. If, however, he is fearful about some oracle, or if his
mother has told him something from Jove, then let him send you,
and let the rest of the Myrmidons follow with you, if perchance
you may bring light and saving to the Danaans. And let him send
you into battle clad in his own armour, that the Trojans may
mistake you for him and leave off fighting; the sons of the
Achaeans may thus have time to get their breath, for they are
hard pressed and there is little breathing time in battle. You,
who are fresh, might easily drive a tired enemy back to his walls
and away from the tents and ships.”
With these words he moved the heart of Patroclus, who set off
running by the line of the ships to Achilles, descendant of
Aeacus. When he had got as far as the ships of Ulysses, where was
their place of assembly and court of justice, with their altars
dedicated to the gods, Eurypylus son of Euaemon, met him, wounded
in the thigh with an arrow, and limping out of the fight. Sweat
rained from his head and shoulders, and black blood welled from
his cruel wound, but his mind did not wander. The son of
Menoetius when he saw him had compassion upon him and spoke
piteously saying, “O unhappy princes and counsellors of the
Danaans, are you then doomed to feed the hounds of Troy with your
fat, far from your friends and your native land? Say, noble
Eurypylus, will the Achaeans be able to hold great Hector in
check, or will they fall now before his spear?”
Wounded Eurypylus made answer, “Noble Patroclus, there is no hope
left for the Achaeans but they will perish at their ships. All
they that were princes among us are lying struck down and wounded
at the hands of the Trojans, who are waxing stronger and
stronger. But save me and take me to your ship; cut out the arrow
from my thigh; wash the black blood from off it with warm water,
and lay upon it those gracious herbs which, so they say, have
been shown you by Achilles, who was himself shown them by Chiron,
most righteous of all the centaurs. For of the physicians
Podalirius and Machaon, I hear that the one is lying wounded in
his tent and is himself in need of healing, while the other is
fighting the Trojans upon the plain.”
“Hero Eurypylus,” replied the brave son of Menoetius, “how may
these things be? What can I do? I am on my way to bear a message
to noble Achilles from Nestor of Gerene, bulwark of the Achaeans,
but even so I will not be unmindful of your distress.”
With this he clasped him round the middle and led him into the
tent, and a servant, when he saw him, spread bullock-skins on the
ground for him to lie on. He laid him at full length and cut out
the sharp arrow from his thigh; he washed the black blood from
the wound with warm water; he then crushed a bitter herb, rubbing
it between his hands, and spread it upon the wound; this was a
virtuous herb which killed all pain; so the wound presently dried
and the blood left off flowing.
BOOK XII.
The Trojans and their allies break the wall, led on by Hector.
So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus
within the tent, but the Argives and Trojans still fought
desperately, nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to
keep the Trojans in check longer. They had built it to protect
their ships, and had dug the trench all round it that it might
safeguard both the ships and the rich spoils which they had
taken, but they had not offered hecatombs to the gods. It had
been built without the consent of the immortals, and therefore it
did not last. So long as Hector lived and Achilles nursed his
anger, and so long as the city of Priam remained untaken, the
great wall of the Achaeans stood firm; but when the bravest of
the Trojans were no more, and many also of the Argives, though
some were yet left alive—when, moreover, the city was sacked in
the tenth year, and the Argives had gone back with their ships to
their own country—then Neptune and Apollo took counsel to destroy
the wall, and they turned on to it the streams of all the rivers
from Mount Ida into the sea, Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus,
Rhodius, Grenicus, Aesopus, and goodly Scamander, with Simois,
where many a shield and helm had fallen, and many a hero of the
race of demigods had bitten the dust. Phoebus Apollo turned the
mouths of all these rivers together and made them flow for nine
days against the wall, while Jove rained the whole time that he
might wash it sooner into the sea. Neptune himself, trident in
hand, surveyed the work and threw into the sea all the
foundations of beams and stones which the Achaeans had laid with
so much toil; he made all level by the mighty stream of the
Hellespont, and then when he had swept the wall away he spread a
great beach of sand over the place where it had been. This done
he turned the rivers back into their old courses.
This was what Neptune and Apollo were to do in after time; but as
yet battle and turmoil were still raging round the wall till its
timbers rang under the blows that rained upon them. The Argives,
cowed by the scourge of Jove, were hemmed in at their ships in
fear of Hector the mighty minister of Rout, who as heretofore
fought with the force and fury of a whirlwind. As a lion or wild
boar turns fiercely on the dogs and men that attack him, while
these form a solid wall and shower their javelins as they face
him—his courage is all undaunted, but his high spirit will be the
death of him; many a time does he charge at his pursuers to
scatter them, and they fall back as often as he does so—even so
did Hector go about among the host exhorting his men, and
cheering them on to cross the trench.
But the horses dared not do so, and stood neighing upon its
brink, for the width frightened them. They could neither jump it
nor cross it, for it had overhanging banks all round upon either
side, above which there were the sharp stakes that the sons of
the Achaeans had planted so close and strong as a defence against
all who would assail it; a horse, therefore, could not get into
it and draw his chariot after him, but those who were on foot
kept trying their very utmost. Then Polydamas went up to Hector
and said, “Hector, and you other captains of the Trojans and
allies, it is madness for us to try and drive our horses across
the trench; it will be very hard to cross, for it is full of
sharp stakes, and beyond these there is the wall. Our horses
therefore cannot get down into it, and would be of no use if they
did; moreover it is a narrow place and we should come to harm.
If, indeed, great Jove is minded to help the Trojans, and in his
anger will utterly destroy the Achaeans, I would myself gladly
see them perish now and here far from Argos; but if they should
rally and we are driven back from the ships pell-mell into the
trench there will be not so much as a man get back to the city to
tell the tale. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let our
squires hold our horses by the trench, but let us follow Hector
in a body on foot, clad in full armour, and if the day of their
doom is at hand the Achaeans will not be able to withstand us.”
Thus spoke Polydamas and his saying pleased Hector, who sprang in
full armour to the ground, and all the other Trojans, when they
saw him do so, also left their chariots. Each man then gave his
horses over to his charioteer in charge to hold them ready for
him at the trench. Then they formed themselves into companies,
made themselves ready, and in five bodies followed their leaders.
Those that went with Hector and Polydamas were the bravest and
most in number, and the most determined to break through the wall
and fight at the ships. Cebriones was also joined with them as
third in command, for Hector had left his chariot in charge of a
less valiant soldier. The next company was led by Paris,
Alcathous, and Agenor; the third by Helenus and Deiphobus, two
sons of Priam, and with them was the hero Asius—Asius, the son of
Hyrtacus, whose great black horses of the breed that comes from
the river Selleis had brought him from Arisbe. Aeneas, the
valiant son of Anchises, led the fourth; he and the two sons of
Antenor, Archelochus and Acamas, men well versed in all the arts
of war. Sarpedon was captain over the allies, and took with him
Glaucus and Asteropaeus whom he deemed most valiant after
himself—for he was far the best man of them all. These helped to
array one another in their ox-hide shields, and then charged
straight at the Danaans, for they felt sure that they would not
hold out longer and that they should themselves now fall upon the
ships.
The rest of the Trojans and their allies now followed the counsel
of Polydamas but Asius, son of Hyrtacus, would not leave his
horses and his esquire behind him; in his foolhardiness he took
them on with him towards the ships, nor did he fail to come by
his end in consequence. Nevermore was he to return to wind-beaten
Ilius, exulting in his chariot and his horses; ere he could do
so, death of ill-omened name had overshadowed him and he had
fallen by the spear of Idomeneus the noble son of Deucalion. He
had driven towards the left wing of the ships, by which way the
Achaeans used to return with their chariots and horses from the
plain. Hither he drove and found the gates with their doors
opened wide, and the great bar down—for the gatemen kept them
open so as to let those of their comrades enter who might be
flying towards the ships. Hither of set purpose did he direct his
horses, and his men followed him with a loud cry, for they felt
sure that the Achaeans would not hold out longer, and that they
should now fall upon the ships. Little did they know that at the
gates they should find two of the bravest chieftains, proud sons
of the fighting Lapithae—the one, Polypoetes, mighty son of
Pirithous, and the other Leonteus, peer of murderous Mars. These
stood before the gates like two high oak trees upon the
mountains, that tower from their wide-spreading roots, and year
after year battle with wind and rain—even so did these two men
await the onset of great Asius confidently and without flinching.
The Trojans led by him and by Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son of
Asius, Thoon and Oenomaus, raised a loud cry of battle and made
straight for the wall, holding their shields of dry ox-hide above
their heads; for a while the two defenders remained inside and
cheered the Achaeans on to stand firm in the defence of their
ships; when, however, they saw that the Trojans were attacking
the wall, while the Danaans were crying out for help and being
routed, they rushed outside and fought in front of the gates like
two wild boars upon the mountains that abide the attack of men
and dogs, and charging on either side break down the wood all
round them tearing it up by the roots, and one can hear the
clattering of their tusks, till some one hits them and makes an
end of them—even so did the gleaming bronze rattle about their
breasts, as the weapons fell upon them; for they fought with
great fury, trusting to their own prowess and to those who were
on the wall above them. These threw great stones at their
assailants in defence of themselves their tents and their ships.
The stones fell thick as the flakes of snow which some fierce
blast drives from the dark clouds and showers down in sheets upon
the earth—even so fell the weapons from the hands alike of
Trojans and Achaeans. Helmet and shield rang out as the great
stones rained upon them, and Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, in his
dismay cried aloud and smote his two thighs. “Father Jove,” he
cried, “of a truth you too are altogether given to lying. I made
sure the Argive heroes could not withstand us, whereas like
slim-waisted wasps, or bees that have their nests in the rocks by
the wayside—they leave not the holes wherein they have built
undefended, but fight for their little ones against all who would
take them—even so these men, though they be but two, will not be
driven from the gates, but stand firm either to slay or be
slain.”
He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then
was to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans
were fighting about the other gates; I, however, am no god to be
able to tell about all these things, for the battle raged
everywhere about the stone wall as it were a fiery furnace. The
Argives, discomfited though they were, were forced to defend
their ships, and all the gods who were defending the Achaeans
were vexed in spirit; but the Lapithae kept on fighting with
might and main.
Thereon Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, hit Damasus with a
spear upon his cheek-pierced helmet. The helmet did not protect
him, for the point of the spear went through it, and broke the
bone, so that the brain inside was scattered about, and he died
fighting. He then slew Pylon and Ormenus. Leonteus, of the race
of Mars, killed Hippomachus the son of Antimachus by striking him
with his spear upon the girdle. He then drew his sword and sprang
first upon Antiphates whom he killed in combat, and who fell face
upwards on the earth. After him he killed Menon, Iamenus, and
Orestes, and laid them low one after the other.
While they were busy stripping the armour from these heroes, the
youths who were led on by Polydamas and Hector (and these were
the greater part and the most valiant of those that were trying
to break through the wall and fire the ships) were still standing
by the trench, uncertain what they should do; for they had seen a
sign from heaven when they had essayed to cross it—a soaring
eagle that flew skirting the left wing of their host, with a
monstrous blood-red snake in its talons still alive and
struggling to escape. The snake was still bent on revenge,
wriggling and twisting itself backwards till it struck the bird
that held it, on the neck and breast; whereon the bird being in
pain, let it fall, dropping it into the middle of the host, and
then flew down the wind with a sharp cry. The Trojans were struck
with terror when they saw the snake, portent of aegis-bearing
Jove, writhing in the midst of them, and Polydamas went up to
Hector and said, “Hector, at our councils of war you are ever
given to rebuke me, even when I speak wisely, as though it were
not well, forsooth, that one of the people should cross your will
either in the field or at the council board; you would have them
support you always: nevertheless I will say what I think will be
best; let us not now go on to fight the Danaans at their ships,
for I know what will happen if this soaring eagle which skirted
the left wing of our host with a monstrous blood-red snake in its
talons (the snake being still alive) was really sent as an omen
to the Trojans on their essaying to cross the trench. The eagle
let go her hold; she did not succeed in taking it home to her
little ones, and so will it be—with ourselves; even though by a
mighty effort we break through the gates and wall of the
Achaeans, and they give way before us, still we shall not return
in good order by the way we came, but shall leave many a man
behind us whom the Achaeans will do to death in defence of their
ships. Thus would any seer who was expert in these matters, and
was trusted by the people, read the portent.”
Hector looked fiercely at him and said, “Polydamas, I like not of
your reading. You can find a better saying than this if you will.
If, however, you have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has
heaven robbed you of your reason. You would have me pay no heed
to the counsels of Jove, nor to the promises he made me—and he
bowed his head in confirmation; you bid me be ruled rather by the
flight of wild-fowl. What care I whether they fly towards dawn or
dark, and whether they be on my right hand or on my left? Let us
put our trust rather in the counsel of great Jove, king of
mortals and immortals. There is one omen, and one only—that a man
should fight for his country. Why are you so fearful? Though we
be all of us slain at the ships of the Argives you are not likely
to be killed yourself, for you are not steadfast nor courageous.
If you will not fight, or would talk others over from doing so,
you shall fall forthwith before my spear.”
With these words he led the way, and the others followed after
with a cry that rent the air. Then Jove the lord of thunder sent
the blast of a mighty wind from the mountains of Ida, that bore
the dust down towards the ships; he thus lulled the Achaeans into
security, and gave victory to Hector and to the Trojans, who,
trusting to their own might and to the signs he had shown them,
essayed to break through the great wall of the Achaeans. They
tore down the breastworks from the walls, and overthrew the
battlements; they upheaved the buttresses, which the Achaeans had
set in front of the wall in order to support it; when they had
pulled these down they made sure of breaking through the wall,
but the Danaans still showed no sign of giving ground; they still
fenced the battlements with their shields of ox-hide, and hurled
their missiles down upon the foe as soon as any came below the
wall.
The two Ajaxes went about everywhere on the walls cheering on the
Achaeans, giving fair words to some while they spoke sharply to
any one whom they saw to be remiss. “My friends,” they cried,
“Argives one and all—good bad and indifferent, for there was
never fight yet, in which all were of equal prowess—there is now
work enough, as you very well know, for all of you. See that you
none of you turn in flight towards the ships, daunted by the
shouting of the foe, but press forward and keep one another in
heart, if it may so be that Olympian Jove the lord of lightning
will vouchsafe us to repel our foes, and drive them back towards
the city.”
Thus did the two go about shouting and cheering the Achaeans on.
As the flakes that fall thick upon a winter’s day, when Jove is
minded to snow and to display these his arrows to mankind—he
lulls the wind to rest, and snows hour after hour till he has
buried the tops of the high mountains, the headlands that jut
into the sea, the grassy plains, and the tilled fields of men;
the snow lies deep upon the forelands, and havens of the grey
sea, but the waves as they come rolling in stay it that it can
come no further, though all else is wrapped as with a mantle, so
heavy are the heavens with snow—even thus thickly did the stones
fall on one side and on the other, some thrown at the Trojans,
and some by the Trojans at the Achaeans; and the whole wall was
in an uproar.
Still the Trojans and brave Hector would not yet have broken down
the gates and the great bar, had not Jove turned his son Sarpedon
against the Argives as a lion against a herd of horned cattle.
Before him he held his shield of hammered bronze, that the smith
had beaten so fair and round, and had lined with ox hides which
he had made fast with rivets of gold all round the shield; this
he held in front of him, and brandishing his two spears came on
like some lion of the wilderness, who has been long famished for
want of meat and will dare break even into a well-fenced
homestead to try and get at the sheep. He may find the shepherds
keeping watch over their flocks with dogs and spears, but he is
in no mind to be driven from the fold till he has had a try for
it; he will either spring on a sheep and carry it off, or be hit
by a spear from some strong hand—even so was Sarpedon fain to
attack the wall and break down its battlements. Then he said to
Glaucus son of Hippolochus, “Glaucus, why in Lycia do we receive
especial honour as regards our place at table? Why are the
choicest portions served us and our cups kept brimming, and why
do men look up to us as though we were gods? Moreover we hold a
large estate by the banks of the river Xanthus, fair with orchard
lawns and wheat-growing land; it becomes us, therefore, to take
our stand at the head of all the Lycians and bear the brunt of
the fight, that one may say to another, ‘Our princes in Lycia eat
the fat of the land and drink best of wine, but they are fine
fellows; they fight well and are ever at the front in battle.’ My
good friend, if, when we were once out of this fight, we could
escape old age and death thenceforward and forever, I should
neither press forward myself nor bid you do so, but death in ten
thousand shapes hangs ever over our heads, and no man can elude
him; therefore let us go forward and either win glory for
ourselves, or yield it to another.”
Glaucus heeded his saying, and the pair forthwith led on the host
of Lycians. Menestheus son of Peteos was dismayed when he saw
them, for it was against his part of the wall that they
came—bringing destruction with them; he looked along the wall for
some chieftain to support his comrades and saw the two Ajaxes,
men ever eager for the fray, and Teucer, who had just come from
his tent, standing near them; but he could not make his voice
heard by shouting to them, so great an uproar was there from
crashing shields and helmets and the battering of gates with a
din which reached the skies. For all the gates had been closed,
and the Trojans were hammering at them to try and break their way
through them. Menestheus, therefore, sent Thootes with a message
to Ajax. “Run, good Thootes,” he said, “and call Ajax, or better
still bid both come, for it will be all over with us here
directly; the leaders of the Lycians are upon us, men who have
ever fought desperately heretofore. But if they have too much on
their hands to let them come, at any rate let Ajax son of Telamon
do so, and let Teucer, the famous bowman, come with him.”
The messenger did as he was told, and set off running along the
wall of the Achaeans. When he reached the Ajaxes he said to them,
“Sirs, princes of the Argives, the son of noble Peteos bids you
come to him for a while and help him. You had better both come if
you can, or it will be all over with him directly; the leaders of
the Lycians are upon him, men who have ever fought desperately
heretofore; if you have too much on your hands to let both come,
at any rate let Ajax, son of Telamon, do so, and let Teucer, the
famous bowman, come with him.”
Great Ajax son of Telamon heeded the message, and at once spoke
to the son of Oileus. “Ajax,” said he, “do you two, yourself and
brave Lycomedes, stay here and keep the Danaans in heart to fight
their hardest. I will go over yonder, and bear my part in the
fray, but I will come back here at once as soon as I have given
them the help they need.”
With this, Ajax son of Telamon set off, and Teucer, his brother
by the same father, went also, with Pandion to carry Teucer’s
bow. They went along inside the wall, and when they came to the
tower where Menestheus was (and hard pressed indeed did they find
him) the brave captains and leaders of the Lycians were storming
the battlements as it were a thick dark cloud, fighting in close
quarters, and raising the battle-cry aloud.
First, Ajax son of Telamon killed brave Epicles, a comrade of
Sarpedon, hitting him with a jagged stone that lay by the
battlements at the very top of the wall. As men now are, even one
who is in the bloom of youth could hardly lift it with his two
hands, but Ajax raised it high aloft and flung it down, smashing
Epicles’ four-crested helmet so that the bones of his head were
crushed to pieces, and he fell from the high wall as though he
were diving, with no more life left in him. Then Teucer wounded
Glaucus the brave son of Hippolochus as he was coming on to
attack the wall. He saw his shoulder bare and aimed an arrow at
it, which made Glaucus leave off fighting. Thereon he sprang
covertly down for fear some of the Achaeans might see that he was
wounded and taunt him. Sarpedon was stung with grief when he saw
Glaucus leave him, still he did not leave off fighting, but aimed
his spear at Alcmaon the son of Thestor and hit him. He drew his
spear back again and Alcmaon came down headlong after it with his
bronzed armour rattling round him. Then Sarpedon seized the
battlement in his strong hands, and tugged at it till it all gave
way together, and a breach was made through which many might
pass.
Ajax and Teucer then both of them attacked him. Teucer hit him
with an arrow on the band that bore the shield which covered his
body, but Jove saved his son from destruction that he might not
fall by the ships’ sterns. Meanwhile Ajax sprang on him and
pierced his shield, but the spear did not go clean through,
though it hustled him back that he could come on no further. He
therefore retired a little space from the battlement, yet without
losing all his ground, for he still thought to cover himself with
glory. Then he turned round and shouted to the brave Lycians
saying, “Lycians, why do you thus fail me? For all my prowess I
cannot break through the wall and open a way to the ships
single-handed. Come close on behind me, for the more there are of
us the better.”
The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who
was their counsellor and their king. The Argives on their part
got their men in fighting order within the wall, and there was a
deadly struggle between them. The Lycians could not break through
the wall and force their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans
drive the Lycians from the wall now that they had once reached
it. As two men, measuring-rods in hand, quarrel about their
boundaries in a field that they own in common, and stickle for
their rights though they be but in a mere strip, even so did the
battlements now serve as a bone of contention, and they beat one
another’s round shields for their possession. Many a man’s body
was wounded with the pitiless bronze, as he turned round and
bared his back to the foe, and many were struck clean through
their shields; the wall and battlements were everywhere deluged
with the blood alike of Trojans and of Achaeans. But even so the
Trojans could not rout the Achaeans, who still held on; and as
some honest hard-working woman weighs wool in her balance and
sees that the scales be true, for she would gain some pitiful
earnings for her little ones, even so was the fight balanced
evenly between them till the time came when Jove gave the greater
glory to Hector son of Priam, who was first to spring towards the
wall of the Achaeans. When he had done so, he cried aloud to the
Trojans, “Up, Trojans, break the wall of the Argives, and fling
fire upon their ships.”
Thus did he hound them on, and in one body they rushed straight
at the wall as he had bidden them, and scaled the battlements
with sharp spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone
that lay just outside the gates and was thick at one end but
pointed at the other; two of the best men in a town, as men now
are, could hardly raise it from the ground and put it on to a
waggon, but Hector lifted it quite easily by himself, for the son
of scheming Saturn made it light for him. As a shepherd picks up
a ram’s fleece with one hand and finds it no burden, so easily
did Hector lift the great stone and drive it right at the doors
that closed the gates so strong and so firmly set. These doors
were double and high, and were kept closed by two cross-bars to
which there was but one key. When he had got close up to them,
Hector strode towards them that his blow might gain in force and
struck them in the middle, leaning his whole weight against them.
He broke both hinges, and the stone fell inside by reason of its
great weight. The portals re-echoed with the sound, the bars held
no longer, and the doors flew open, one one way, and the other
the other, through the force of the blow. Then brave Hector
leaped inside with a face as dark as that of flying night. The
gleaming bronze flashed fiercely about his body and he had two
spears in his hand. None but a god could have withstood him as he
flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes glared like fire.
Then he turned round towards the Trojans and called on them to
scale the wall, and they did as he bade them—some of them at once
climbing over the wall, while others passed through the gates.
The Danaans then fled panic-stricken towards their ships, and all
was uproar and confusion.
BOOK XIII.
Neptune helps the Achaeans—The feats of Idomeneus—Hector at the
ships.
Now when Jove had thus brought Hector and the Trojans to the
ships, he left them to their never-ending toil, and turned his
keen eyes away, looking elsewhither towards the horse-breeders of
Thrace, the Mysians, fighters at close quarters, the noble
Hippemolgi, who live on milk, and the Abians, justest of mankind.
He no longer turned so much as a glance towards Troy, for he did
not think that any of the immortals would go and help either
Trojans or Danaans.
But King Neptune had kept no blind look-out; he had been looking
admiringly on the battle from his seat on the topmost crests of
wooded Samothrace, whence he could see all Ida, with the city of
Priam and the ships of the Achaeans. He had come from under the
sea and taken his place here, for he pitied the Achaeans who were
being overcome by the Trojans; and he was furiously angry with
Jove.
Presently he came down from his post on the mountain top, and as
he strode swiftly onwards the high hills and the forest quaked
beneath the tread of his immortal feet. Three strides he took,
and with the fourth he reached his goal—Aegae, where is his
glittering golden palace, imperishable, in the depths of the sea.
When he got there, he yoked his fleet brazen-footed steeds with
their manes of gold all flying in the wind; he clothed himself in
raiment of gold, grasped his gold whip, and took his stand upon
his chariot. As he went his way over the waves the sea-monsters
left their lairs, for they knew their lord, and came gambolling
round him from every quarter of the deep, while the sea in her
gladness opened a path before his chariot. So lightly did the
horses fly that the bronze axle of the car was not even wet
beneath it; and thus his bounding steeds took him to the ships of
the Achaeans.
Now there is a certain huge cavern in the depths of the sea
midway between Tenedos and rocky Imbrus; here Neptune lord of the
earthquake stayed his horses, unyoked them, and set before them
their ambrosial forage. He hobbled their feet with hobbles of
gold which none could either unloose or break, so that they might
stay there in that place until their lord should return. This
done he went his way to the host of the Achaeans.
Now the Trojans followed Hector son of Priam in close array like
a storm-cloud or flame of fire, fighting with might and main and
raising the cry battle; for they deemed that they should take the
ships of the Achaeans and kill all their chiefest heroes then and
there. Meanwhile earth-encircling Neptune lord of the earthquake
cheered on the Argives, for he had come up out of the sea and had
assumed the form and voice of Calchas.
First he spoke to the two Ajaxes, who were doing their best
already, and said, “Ajaxes, you two can be the saving of the
Achaeans if you will put out all your strength and not let
yourselves be daunted. I am not afraid that the Trojans, who have
got over the wall in force, will be victorious in any other part,
for the Achaeans can hold all of them in check, but I much fear
that some evil will befall us here where furious Hector, who
boasts himself the son of great Jove himself, is leading them on
like a pillar of flame. May some god, then, put it into your
hearts to make a firm stand here, and to incite others to do the
like. In this case you will drive him from the ships even though
he be inspired by Jove himself.”
As he spoke the earth-encircling lord of the earthquake struck
both of them with his sceptre and filled their hearts with
daring. He made their legs light and active, as also their hands
and their feet. Then, as the soaring falcon poises on the wing
high above some sheer rock, and presently swoops down to chase
some bird over the plain, even so did Neptune lord of the
earthquake wing his flight into the air and leave them. Of the
two, swift Ajax son of Oileus was the first to know who it was
that had been speaking with them, and said to Ajax son of
Telamon, “Ajax, this is one of the gods that dwell on Olympus,
who in the likeness of the prophet is bidding us fight hard by
our ships. It was not Calchas the seer and diviner of omens; I
knew him at once by his feet and knees as he turned away, for the
gods are soon recognised. Moreover I feel the lust of battle burn
more fiercely within me, while my hands and my feet under me are
more eager for the fray.”
And Ajax son of Telamon answered, “I too feel my hands grasp my
spear more firmly; my strength is greater, and my feet more
nimble; I long, moreover, to meet furious Hector son of Priam,
even in single combat.”
Thus did they converse, exulting in the hunger after battle with
which the god had filled them. Meanwhile the earth-encircler
roused the Achaeans, who were resting in the rear by the ships
overcome at once by hard fighting and by grief at seeing that the
Trojans had got over the wall in force. Tears began falling from
their eyes as they beheld them, for they made sure that they
should not escape destruction; but the lord of the earthquake
passed lightly about among them and urged their battalions to the
front.
First he went up to Teucer and Leitus, the hero Peneleos, and
Thoas and Deipyrus; Meriones also and Antilochus, valiant
warriors; all did he exhort. “Shame on you young Argives,” he
cried, “it was on your prowess I relied for the saving of our
ships; if you fight not with might and main, this very day will
see us overcome by the Trojans. Of a truth my eyes behold a great
and terrible portent which I had never thought to see—the Trojans
at our ships—they, who were heretofore like panic-stricken hinds,
the prey of jackals and wolves in a forest, with no strength but
in flight for they cannot defend themselves. Hitherto the Trojans
dared not for one moment face the attack of the Achaeans, but now
they have sallied far from their city and are fighting at our
very ships through the cowardice of our leader and the
disaffection of the people themselves, who in their discontent
care not to fight in defence of the ships but are being
slaughtered near them. True, King Agamemnon son of Atreus is the
cause of our disaster by having insulted the son of Peleus, still
this is no reason why we should leave off fighting. Let us be
quick to heal, for the hearts of the brave heal quickly. You do
ill to be thus remiss, you, who are the finest soldiers in our
whole army. I blame no man for keeping out of battle if he is a
weakling, but I am indignant with such men as you are. My good
friends, matters will soon become even worse through this
slackness; think, each one of you, of his own honour and credit,
for the hazard of the fight is extreme. Great Hector is now
fighting at our ships; he has broken through the gates and the
strong bolt that held them.”
Thus did the earth-encircler address the Achaeans and urge them
on. Thereon round the two Ajaxes there gathered strong bands of
men, of whom not even Mars nor Minerva, marshaller of hosts could
make light if they went among them, for they were the picked men
of all those who were now awaiting the onset of Hector and the
Trojans. They made a living fence, spear to spear, shield to
shield, buckler to buckler, helmet to helmet, and man to man. The
horse-hair crests on their gleaming helmets touched one another
as they nodded forward, so closely serried were they; the spears
they brandished in their strong hands were interlaced, and their
hearts were set on battle.
The Trojans advanced in a dense body, with Hector at their head
pressing right on as a rock that comes thundering down the side
of some mountain from whose brow the winter torrents have torn
it; the foundations of the dull thing have been loosened by
floods of rain, and as it bounds headlong on its way it sets the
whole forest in an uproar; it swerves neither to right nor left
till it reaches level ground, but then for all its fury it can go
no further—even so easily did Hector for a while seem as though
he would career through the tents and ships of the Achaeans till
he had reached the sea in his murderous course; but the closely
serried battalions stayed him when he reached them, for the sons
of the Achaeans thrust at him with swords and spears pointed at
both ends, and drove him from them so that he staggered and gave
ground; thereon he shouted to the Trojans, “Trojans, Lycians, and
Dardanians, fighters in close combat, stand firm: the Achaeans
have set themselves as a wall against me, but they will not check
me for long; they will give ground before me if the mightiest of
the gods, the thundering spouse of Juno, has indeed inspired my
onset.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Deiphobus
son of Priam went about among them intent on deeds of daring with
his round shield before him, under cover of which he strode
quickly forward. Meriones took aim at him with a spear, nor did
he fail to hit the broad orb of ox-hide; but he was far from
piercing it for the spear broke in two pieces long ere he could
do so; moreover Deiphobus had seen it coming and had held his
shield well away from him. Meriones drew back under cover of his
comrades, angry alike at having failed to vanquish Deiphobus, and
having broken his spear. He turned therefore towards the ships
and tents to fetch a spear which he had left behind in his tent.
The others continued fighting, and the cry of battle rose up into
the heavens. Teucer son of Telamon was the first to kill his man,
to wit, the warrior Imbrius, son of Mentor, rich in horses. Until
the Achaeans came he had lived in Pedaeum, and had married
Medesicaste, a bastard daughter of Priam; but on the arrival of
the Danaan fleet he had gone back to Ilius, and was a great man
among the Trojans, dwelling near Priam himself, who gave him like
honour with his own sons. The son of Telamon now struck him under
the ear with a spear which he then drew back again, and Imbrius
fell headlong as an ash-tree when it is felled on the crest of
some high mountain beacon, and its delicate green foliage comes
toppling down to the ground. Thus did he fall with his
bronze-dight armour ringing harshly round him, and Teucer sprang
forward with intent to strip him of his armour; but as he was
doing so, Hector took aim at him with a spear. Teucer saw the
spear coming and swerved aside, whereon it hit Amphimachus, son
of Cteatus son of Actor, in the chest as he was coming into
battle, and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily
to the ground. Hector sprang forward to take Amphimachus’s helmet
from off his temples, and in a moment Ajax threw a spear at him,
but did not wound him, for he was encased all over in his
terrible armour; nevertheless the spear struck the boss of his
shield with such force as to drive him back from the two corpses,
which the Achaeans then drew off. Stichius and Menestheus,
captains of the Athenians, bore away Amphimachus to the host of
the Achaeans, while the two brave and impetuous Ajaxes did the
like by Imbrius. As two lions snatch a goat from the hounds that
have it in their fangs, and bear it through thick brushwood high
above the ground in their jaws, thus did the Ajaxes bear aloft
the body of Imbrius, and strip it of its armour. Then the son of
Oileus severed the head from the neck in revenge for the death of
Amphimachus, and sent it whirling over the crowd as though it had
been a ball, till it fell in the dust at Hector’s feet.
Neptune was exceedingly angry that his grandson Amphimachus
should have fallen; he therefore went to the tents and ships of
the Achaeans to urge the Danaans still further, and to devise
evil for the Trojans. Idomeneus met him, as he was taking leave
of a comrade, who had just come to him from the fight, wounded in
the knee. His fellow-soldiers bore him off the field, and
Idomeneus having given orders to the physicians went on to his
tent, for he was still thirsting for battle. Neptune spoke in the
likeness and with the voice of Thoas son of Andraemon who ruled
the Aetolians of all Pleuron and high Calydon, and was honoured
among his people as though he were a god. “Idomeneus,” said he,
“lawgiver to the Cretans, what has now become of the threats with
which the sons of the Achaeans used to threaten the Trojans?”
And Idomeneus chief among the Cretans answered, “Thoas, no one,
so far as I know, is in fault, for we can all fight. None are
held back neither by fear nor slackness, but it seems to be the
will of almighty Jove that the Achaeans should perish
ingloriously here far from Argos: you, Thoas, have been always
staunch, and you keep others in heart if you see any fail in
duty; be not then remiss now, but exhort all to do their utmost.”
To this Neptune lord of the earthquake made answer, “Idomeneus,
may he never return from Troy, but remain here for dogs to batten
upon, who is this day wilfully slack in fighting. Get your armour
and go, we must make all haste together if we may be of any use,
though we are only two. Even cowards gain courage from
companionship, and we two can hold our own with the bravest.”
Therewith the god went back into the thick of the fight, and
Idomeneus when he had reached his tent donned his armour, grasped
his two spears, and sallied forth. As the lightning which the son
of Saturn brandishes from bright Olympus when he would show a
sign to mortals, and its gleam flashes far and wide—even so did
his armour gleam about him as he ran. Meriones his sturdy squire
met him while he was still near his tent (for he was going to
fetch his spear) and Idomeneus said:
“Meriones, fleet son of Molus, best of comrades, why have you
left the field? Are you wounded, and is the point of the weapon
hurting you? or have you been sent to fetch me? I want no
fetching; I had far rather fight than stay in my tent.”
“Idomeneus,” answered Meriones, “I come for a spear, if I can
find one in my tent; I have broken the one I had, in throwing it
at the shield of Deiphobus.”
And Idomeneus captain of the Cretans answered, “You will find one
spear, or twenty if you so please, standing up against the end
wall of my tent. I have taken them from Trojans whom I have
killed, for I am not one to keep my enemy at arm’s length;
therefore I have spears, bossed shields, helmets, and burnished
corslets.”
Then Meriones said, “I too in my tent and at my ship have spoils
taken from the Trojans, but they are not at hand. I have been at
all times valorous, and wherever there has been hard fighting
have held my own among the foremost. There may be those among the
Achaeans who do not know how I fight, but you know it well enough
yourself.”
Idomeneus answered, “I know you for a brave man: you need not
tell me. If the best men at the ships were being chosen to go on
an ambush—and there is nothing like this for showing what a man
is made of; it comes out then who is cowardly and who brave; the
coward will change colour at every touch and turn; he is full of
fears, and keeps shifting his weight first on one knee and then
on the other; his heart beats fast as he thinks of death, and one
can hear the chattering of his teeth; whereas the brave man will
not change colour nor be frightened on finding himself in ambush,
but is all the time longing to go into action—if the best men
were being chosen for such a service, no one could make light of
your courage nor feats of arms. If you were struck by a dart or
smitten in close combat, it would not be from behind, in your
neck nor back, but the weapon would hit you in the chest or belly
as you were pressing forward to a place in the front ranks. But
let us no longer stay here talking like children, lest we be ill
spoken of; go, fetch your spear from the tent at once.”
On this Meriones, peer of Mars, went to the tent and got himself
a spear of bronze. He then followed after Idomeneus, big with
great deeds of valour. As when baneful Mars sallies forth to
battle, and his son Panic so strong and dauntless goes with him,
to strike terror even into the heart of a hero—the pair have gone
from Thrace to arm themselves among the Ephyri or the brave
Phlegyans, but they will not listen to both the contending hosts,
and will give victory to one side or to the other—even so did
Meriones and Idomeneus, captains of men, go out to battle clad in
their bronze armour. Meriones was first to speak. “Son of
Deucalion,” said he, “where would you have us begin fighting? On
the right wing of the host, in the centre, or on the left wing,
where I take it the Achaeans will be weakest?”
Idomeneus answered, “There are others to defend the centre—the
two Ajaxes and Teucer, who is the finest archer of all the
Achaeans, and is good also in a hand-to-hand fight. These will
give Hector son of Priam enough to do; fight as he may, he will
find it hard to vanquish their indomitable fury, and fire the
ships, unless the son of Saturn fling a firebrand upon them with
his own hand. Great Ajax son of Telamon will yield to no man who
is in mortal mould and eats the grain of Ceres, if bronze and
great stones can overthrow him. He would not yield even to
Achilles in hand-to-hand fight, and in fleetness of foot there is
none to beat him; let us turn therefore towards the left wing,
that we may know forthwith whether we are to give glory to some
other, or he to us.”
Meriones, peer of fleet Mars, then led the way till they came to
the part of the host which Idomeneus had named.
Now when the Trojans saw Idomeneus coming on like a flame of
fire, him and his squire clad in their richly wrought armour,
they shouted and made towards him all in a body, and a furious
hand-to-hand fight raged under the ships’ sterns. Fierce as the
shrill winds that whistle upon a day when dust lies deep on the
roads, and the gusts raise it into a thick cloud—even such was
the fury of the combat, and might and main did they hack at each
other with spear and sword throughout the host. The field
bristled with the long and deadly spears which they bore.
Dazzling was the sheen of their gleaming helmets, their
fresh-burnished breastplates, and glittering shields as they
joined battle with one another. Iron indeed must be his courage
who could take pleasure in the sight of such a turmoil, and look
on it without being dismayed.
Thus did the two mighty sons of Saturn devise evil for mortal
heroes. Jove was minded to give victory to the Trojans and to
Hector, so as to do honour to fleet Achilles, nevertheless he did
not mean to utterly overthrow the Achaean host before Ilius, and
only wanted to glorify Thetis and her valiant son. Neptune on the
other hand went about among the Argives to incite them, having
come up from the grey sea in secret, for he was grieved at seeing
them vanquished by the Trojans, and was furiously angry with
Jove. Both were of the same race and country, but Jove was elder
born and knew more, therefore Neptune feared to defend the
Argives openly, but in the likeness of man, he kept on
encouraging them throughout their host. Thus, then, did these two
devise a knot of war and battle, that none could unloose or
break, and set both sides tugging at it, to the failing of men’s
knees beneath them.
And now Idomeneus, though his hair was already flecked with grey,
called loud on the Danaans and spread panic among the Trojans as
he leaped in among them. He slew Othryoneus from Cabesus, a
sojourner, who had but lately come to take part in the war. He
sought Cassandra, the fairest of Priam’s daughters, in marriage,
but offered no gifts of wooing, for he promised a great thing, to
wit, that he would drive the sons of the Achaeans willy nilly
from Troy; old King Priam had given his consent and promised her
to him, whereon he fought on the strength of the promises thus
made to him. Idomeneus aimed a spear, and hit him as he came
striding on. His cuirass of bronze did not protect him, and the
spear stuck in his belly, so that he fell heavily to the ground.
Then Idomeneus vaunted over him saying, “Othryoneus, there is no
one in the world whom I shall admire more than I do you, if you
indeed perform what you have promised Priam son of Dardanus in
return for his daughter. We too will make you an offer; we will
give you the loveliest daughter of the son of Atreus, and will
bring her from Argos for you to marry, if you will sack the
goodly city of Ilius in company with ourselves; so come along
with me, that we may make a covenant at the ships about the
marriage, and we will not be hard upon you about gifts of
wooing.”
With this Idomeneus began dragging him by the foot through the
thick of the fight, but Asius came up to protect the body, on
foot, in front of his horses which his esquire drove so close
behind him that he could feel their breath upon his shoulder. He
was longing to strike down Idomeneus, but ere he could do so
Idomeneus smote him with his spear in the throat under the chin,
and the bronze point went clean through it. He fell as an oak, or
poplar, or pine which shipwrights have felled for ship’s timber
upon the mountains with whetted axes—even thus did he lie full
length in front of his chariot and horses, grinding his teeth and
clutching at the bloodstained dust. His charioteer was struck
with panic and did not dare turn his horses round and escape:
thereupon Antilochus hit him in the middle of his body with a
spear; his cuirass of bronze did not protect him, and the spear
stuck in his belly. He fell gasping from his chariot and
Antilochus, great Nestor’s son, drove his horses from the Trojans
to the Achaeans.
Deiphobus then came close up to Idomeneus to avenge Asius, and
took aim at him with a spear, but Idomeneus was on the look-out
and avoided it, for he was covered by the round shield he always
bore—a shield of oxhide and bronze with two arm-rods on the
inside. He crouched under cover of this, and the spear flew over
him, but the shield rang out as the spear grazed it, and the
weapon sped not in vain from the strong hand of Deiphobus, for it
struck Hypsenor son of Hippasus, shepherd of his people, in the
liver under the midriff, and his limbs failed beneath him.
Deiphobus vaunted over him and cried with a loud voice saying,
“Of a truth Asius has not fallen unavenged; he will be glad even
while passing into the house of Hades, strong warden of the gate,
that I have sent some one to escort him.”
Thus did he vaunt, and the Argives were stung by his saying.
Noble Antilochus was more angry than any one, but grief did not
make him forget his friend and comrade. He ran up to him,
bestrode him, and covered him with his shield; then two of his
staunch comrades, Mecisteus son of Echius, and Alastor, stooped
down, and bore him away groaning heavily to the ships. But
Idomeneus ceased not his fury. He kept on striving continually
either to enshroud some Trojan in the darkness of death, or
himself to fall while warding off the evil day from the Achaeans.
Then fell Alcathous son of noble Aesyetes; he was son-in-law to
Anchises, having married his eldest daughter Hippodameia, who was
the darling of her father and mother, and excelled all her
generation in beauty, accomplishments, and understanding,
wherefore the bravest man in all Troy had taken her to wife—him
did Neptune lay low by the hand of Idomeneus, blinding his bright
eyes and binding his strong limbs in fetters so that he could
neither go back nor to one side, but stood stock still like
pillar or lofty tree when Idomeneus struck him with a spear in
the middle of his chest. The coat of mail that had hitherto
protected his body was now broken, and rang harshly as the spear
tore through it. He fell heavily to the ground, and the spear
stuck in his heart, which still beat, and made the butt-end of
the spear quiver till dread Mars put an end to his life.
Idomeneus vaunted over him and cried with a loud voice saying,
“Deiphobus, since you are in a mood to vaunt, shall we cry quits
now that we have killed three men to your one? Nay, sir, stand in
fight with me yourself, that you may learn what manner of
Jove-begotten man am I that have come hither. Jove first begot
Minos, chief ruler in Crete, and Minos in his turn begot a son,
noble Deucalion. Deucalion begot me to be a ruler over many men
in Crete, and my ships have now brought me hither, to be the bane
of yourself, your father, and the Trojans.”
Thus did he speak, and Deiphobus was in two minds, whether to go
back and fetch some other Trojan to help him, or to take up the
challenge single-handed. In the end, he deemed it best to go and
fetch Aeneas, whom he found standing in the rear, for he had long
been aggrieved with Priam because in spite of his brave deeds he
did not give him his due share of honour. Deiphobus went up to
him and said, “Aeneas, prince among the Trojans, if you know any
ties of kinship, help me now to defend the body of your sister’s
husband; come with me to the rescue of Alcathous, who being
husband to your sister brought you up when you were a child in
his house, and now Idomeneus has slain him.”
With these words he moved the heart of Aeneas, and he went in
pursuit of Idomeneus, big with great deeds of valour; but
Idomeneus was not to be thus daunted as though he were a mere
child; he held his ground as a wild boar at bay upon the
mountains, who abides the coming of a great crowd of men in some
lonely place—the bristles stand upright on his back, his eyes
flash fire, and he whets his tusks in his eagerness to defend
himself against hounds and men—even so did famed Idomeneus hold
his ground and budge not at the coming of Aeneas. He cried aloud
to his comrades looking towards Ascalaphus, Aphareus, Deipyrus,
Meriones, and Antilochus, all of them brave soldiers—“Hither my
friends,” he cried, “and leave me not single-handed—I go in great
fear by fleet Aeneas, who is coming against me, and is a
redoubtable dispenser of death battle. Moreover he is in the
flower of youth when a man’s strength is greatest; if I was of
the same age as he is and in my present mind, either he or I
should soon bear away the prize of victory.”
On this, all of them as one man stood near him, shield on
shoulder. Aeneas on the other side called to his comrades,
looking towards Deiphobus, Paris, and Agenor, who were leaders of
the Trojans along with himself, and the people followed them as
sheep follow the ram when they go down to drink after they have
been feeding, and the heart of the shepherd is glad—even so was
the heart of Aeneas gladdened when he saw his people follow him.
Then they fought furiously in close combat about the body of
Alcathous, wielding their long spears; and the bronze armour
about their bodies rang fearfully as they took aim at one another
in the press of the fight, while the two heroes Aeneas and
Idomeneus, peers of Mars, outvied everyone in their desire to
hack at each other with sword and spear. Aeneas took aim first,
but Idomeneus was on the lookout and avoided the spear, so that
it sped from Aeneas’ strong hand in vain, and fell quivering in
the ground. Idomeneus meanwhile smote Oenomaus in the middle of
his belly, and broke the plate of his corslet, whereon his bowels
came gushing out and he clutched the earth in the palms of his
hands as he fell sprawling in the dust. Idomeneus drew his spear
out of the body, but could not strip him of the rest of his
armour for the rain of darts that were showered upon him:
moreover his strength was now beginning to fail him so that he
could no longer charge, and could neither spring forward to
recover his own weapon nor swerve aside to avoid one that was
aimed at him; therefore, though he still defended himself in
hand-to-hand fight, his heavy feet could not bear him swiftly out
of the battle. Deiphobus aimed a spear at him as he was
retreating slowly from the field, for his bitterness against him
was as fierce as ever, but again he missed him, and hit
Ascalaphus, the son of Mars; the spear went through his shoulder,
and he clutched the earth in the palms of his hands as he fell
sprawling in the dust.
Grim Mars of awful voice did not yet know that his son had
fallen, for he was sitting on the summits of Olympus under the
golden clouds, by command of Jove, where the other gods were also
sitting, forbidden to take part in the battle. Meanwhile men
fought furiously about the body. Deiphobus tore the helmet from
off his head, but Meriones sprang upon him, and struck him on the
arm with a spear so that the visored helmet fell from his hand
and came ringing down upon the ground. Thereon Meriones sprang
upon him like a vulture, drew the spear from his shoulder, and
fell back under cover of his men. Then Polites, own brother of
Deiphobus passed his arms around his waist, and bore him away
from the battle till he got to his horses that were standing in
the rear of the fight with the chariot and their driver. These
took him towards the city groaning and in great pain, with the
blood flowing from his arm.
The others still fought on, and the battle-cry rose to heaven
without ceasing. Aeneas sprang on Aphareus son of Caletor, and
struck him with a spear in his throat which was turned towards
him; his head fell on one side, his helmet and shield came down
along with him, and death, life’s foe, was shed around him.
Antilochus spied his chance, flew forward towards Thoon, and
wounded him as he was turning round. He laid open the vein that
runs all the way up the back to the neck; he cut this vein clean
away throughout its whole course, and Thoon fell in the dust face
upwards, stretching out his hands imploringly towards his
comrades. Antilochus sprang upon him and stripped the armour from
his shoulders, glaring round him fearfully as he did so. The
Trojans came about him on every side and struck his broad and
gleaming shield, but could not wound his body, for Neptune stood
guard over the son of Nestor, though the darts fell thickly round
him. He was never clear of the foe, but was always in the thick
of the fight; his spear was never idle; he poised and aimed it in
every direction, so eager was he to hit someone from a distance
or to fight him hand to hand.
As he was thus aiming among the crowd, he was seen by Adamas, son
of Asius, who rushed towards him and struck him with a spear in
the middle of his shield, but Neptune made its point without
effect, for he grudged him the life of Antilochus. One half,
therefore, of the spear stuck fast like a charred stake in
Antilochus’s shield, while the other lay on the ground. Adamas
then sought shelter under cover of his men, but Meriones followed
after and hit him with a spear midway between the private parts
and the navel, where a wound is particularly painful to wretched
mortals. There did Meriones transfix him, and he writhed
convulsively about the spear as some bull whom mountain herdsmen
have bound with ropes of withes and are taking away perforce.
Even so did he move convulsively for a while, but not for very
long, till Meriones came up and drew the spear out of his body,
and his eyes were veiled in darkness.
Helenus then struck Deipyrus with a great Thracian sword, hitting
him on the temple in close combat and tearing the helmet from his
head; the helmet fell to the ground, and one of those who were
fighting on the Achaean side took charge of it as it rolled at
his feet, but the eyes of Deipyrus were closed in the darkness of
death.
On this Menelaus was grieved, and made menacingly towards
Helenus, brandishing his spear; but Helenus drew his bow, and the
two attacked one another at one and the same moment, the one with
his spear, and the other with his bow and arrow. The son of Priam
hit the breastplate of Menelaus’s corslet, but the arrow glanced
from off it. As black beans or pulse come pattering down on to a
threshing-floor from the broad winnowing-shovel, blown by shrill
winds and shaken by the shovel—even so did the arrow glance off
and recoil from the shield of Menelaus, who in his turn wounded
the hand with which Helenus carried his bow; the spear went right
through his hand and stuck in the bow itself, so that to his life
he retreated under cover of his men, with his hand dragging by
his side—for the spear weighed it down till Agenor drew it out
and bound the hand carefully up in a woollen sling which his
esquire had with him.
Pisander then made straight at Menelaus—his evil destiny luring
him on to his doom, for he was to fall in fight with you, O
Menelaus. When the two were hard by one another the spear of the
son of Atreus turned aside and he missed his aim; Pisander then
struck the shield of brave Menelaus but could not pierce it, for
the shield stayed the spear and broke the shaft; nevertheless he
was glad and made sure of victory; forthwith, however, the son of
Atreus drew his sword and sprang upon him. Pisander then seized
the bronze battle-axe, with its long and polished handle of olive
wood that hung by his side under his shield, and the two made at
one another. Pisander struck the peak of Menelaus’s crested
helmet just under the crest itself, and Menelaus hit Pisander as
he was coming towards him, on the forehead, just at the rise of
his nose; the bones cracked and his two gore-bedrabbled eyes fell
by his feet in the dust. He fell backwards to the ground, and
Menelaus set his heel upon him, stripped him of his armour, and
vaunted over him saying, “Even thus shall you Trojans leave the
ships of the Achaeans, proud and insatiate of battle though you
be, nor shall you lack any of the disgrace and shame which you
have heaped upon myself. Cowardly she-wolves that you are, you
feared not the anger of dread Jove, avenger of violated
hospitality, who will one day destroy your city; you stole my
wedded wife and wickedly carried off much treasure when you were
her guest, and now you would fling fire upon our ships, and kill
our heroes. A day will come when, rage as you may, you shall be
stayed. O father Jove, you, who they say art above all, both gods
and men, in wisdom, and from whom all things that befall us do
proceed, how can you thus favour the Trojans—men so proud and
overweening, that they are never tired of fighting? All things
pall after a while—sleep, love, sweet song, and stately
dance—still these are things of which a man would surely have his
fill rather than of battle, whereas it is of battle that the
Trojans are insatiate.”
So saying Menelaus stripped the blood-stained armour from the
body of Pisander, and handed it over to his men; then he again
ranged himself among those who were in the front of the fight.
Harpalion son of King Pylaemenes then sprang upon him; he had
come to fight at Troy along with his father, but he did not go
home again. He struck the middle of Menelaus’s shield with his
spear but could not pierce it, and to save his life drew back
under cover of his men, looking round him on every side lest he
should be wounded. But Meriones aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at
him as he was leaving the field, and hit him on the right
buttock; the arrow pierced the bone through and through, and
penetrated the bladder, so he sat down where he was and breathed
his last in the arms of his comrades, stretched like a worm upon
the ground and watering the earth with the blood that flowed from
his wound. The brave Paphlagonians tended him with all due care;
they raised him into his chariot, and bore him sadly off to the
city of Troy; his father went also with him weeping bitterly, but
there was no ransom that could bring his dead son to life again.
Paris was deeply grieved by the death of Harpalion, who was his
host when he went among the Paphlagonians; he aimed an arrow,
therefore, in order to avenge him. Now there was a certain man
named Euchenor, son of Polyidus the prophet, a brave man and
wealthy, whose home was in Corinth. This Euchenor had set sail
for Troy well knowing that it would be the death of him, for his
good old father Polyidus had often told him that he must either
stay at home and die of a terrible disease, or go with the
Achaeans and perish at the hands of the Trojans; he chose,
therefore, to avoid incurring the heavy fine the Achaeans would
have laid upon him, and at the same time to escape the pain and
suffering of disease. Paris now smote him on the jaw under his
ear, whereon the life went out of him and he was enshrouded in
the darkness of death.
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. But Hector
had not yet heard, and did not know that the Argives were making
havoc of his men on the left wing of the battle, where the
Achaeans ere long would have triumphed over them, so vigorously
did Neptune cheer them on and help them. He therefore held on at
the point where he had first forced his way through the gates and
the wall, after breaking through the serried ranks of Danaan
warriors. It was here that the ships of Ajax and Protesilaus were
drawn up by the sea-shore; here the wall was at its lowest, and
the fight both of man and horse raged most fiercely. The
Boeotians and the Ionians with their long tunics, the Locrians,
the men of Phthia, and the famous force of the Epeans could
hardly stay Hector as he rushed on towards the ships, nor could
they drive him from them, for he was as a wall of fire. The
chosen men of the Athenians were in the van, led by Menestheus
son of Peteos, with whom were also Pheidas, Stichius, and
stalwart Bias; Meges son of Phyleus, Amphion, and Dracius
commanded the Epeans, while Medon and staunch Podarces led the
men of Phthia. Of these, Medon was bastard son to Oileus and
brother of Ajax, but he lived in Phylace away from his own
country, for he had killed the brother of his stepmother Eriopis,
the wife of Oileus; the other, Podarces, was the son of Iphiclus,
son of Phylacus. These two stood in the van of the Phthians, and
defended the ships along with the Boeotians.
Ajax son of Oileus, never for a moment left the side of Ajax, son
of Telamon, but as two swart oxen both strain their utmost at the
plough which they are drawing in a fallow field, and the sweat
steams upwards from about the roots of their horns—nothing but
the yoke divides them as they break up the ground till they reach
the end of the field—even so did the two Ajaxes stand shoulder to
shoulder by one another. Many and brave comrades followed the son
of Telamon, to relieve him of his shield when he was overcome
with sweat and toil, but the Locrians did not follow so close
after the son of Oileus, for they could not hold their own in a
hand-to-hand fight. They had no bronze helmets with plumes of
horse-hair, neither had they shields nor ashen spears, but they
had come to Troy armed with bows, and with slings of twisted wool
from which they showered their missiles to break the ranks of the
Trojans. The others, therefore, with their heavy armour bore the
brunt of the fight with the Trojans and with Hector, while the
Locrians shot from behind, under their cover; and thus the
Trojans began to lose heart, for the arrows threw them into
confusion.
The Trojans would now have been driven in sorry plight from the
ships and tents back to windy Ilius, had not Polydamas presently
said to Hector, “Hector, there is no persuading you to take
advice. Because heaven has so richly endowed you with the arts of
war, you think that you must therefore excel others in counsel;
but you cannot thus claim preeminence in all things. Heaven has
made one man an excellent soldier; of another it has made a
dancer or a singer and player on the lyre; while yet in another
Jove has implanted a wise understanding of which men reap fruit
to the saving of many, and he himself knows more about it than
any one; therefore I will say what I think will be best. The
fight has hemmed you in as with a circle of fire, and even now
that the Trojans are within the wall some of them stand aloof in
full armour, while others are fighting scattered and outnumbered
near the ships. Draw back, therefore, and call your chieftains
round you, that we may advise together whether to fall now upon
the ships in the hope that heaven may vouchsafe us victory, or to
beat a retreat while we can yet safely do so. I greatly fear that
the Achaeans will pay us their debt of yesterday in full, for
there is one abiding at their ships who is never weary of battle,
and who will not hold aloof much longer.”
Thus spoke Polydamas, and his words pleased Hector well. He
sprang in full armour from his chariot and said, “Polydamas,
gather the chieftains here; I will go yonder into the fight, but
will return at once when I have given them their orders.”
He then sped onward, towering like a snowy mountain, and with a
loud cry flew through the ranks of the Trojans and their allies.
When they heard his voice they all hastened to gather round
Polydamas, the excellent son of Panthous, but Hector kept on
among the foremost, looking everywhere to find Deiphobus and
prince Helenus, Adamas son of Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus;
living, indeed, and scatheless he could no longer find them, for
the two last were lying by the sterns of the Achaean ships, slain
by the Argives, while the others had been also stricken and
wounded by them; but upon the left wing of the dread battle he
found Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, cheering his men and
urging them on to fight. He went up to him and upbraided him.
“Paris,” said he, “evil-hearted Paris, fair to see but woman-mad
and false of tongue, where are Deiphobus and King Helenus? Where
are Adamas son of Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus? Where too is
Othryoneus? Ilius is undone and will now surely fall!”
Alexandrus answered, “Hector, why find fault when there is no one
to find fault with? I should hold aloof from battle on any day
rather than this, for my mother bore me with nothing of the
coward about me. From the moment when you set our men fighting
about the ships we have been staying here and doing battle with
the Danaans. Our comrades about whom you ask me are dead;
Deiphobus and King Helenus alone have left the field, wounded
both of them in the hand, but the son of Saturn saved them alive.
Now, therefore, lead on where you would have us go, and we will
follow with right goodwill; you shall not find us fail you in so
far as our strength holds out, but no man can do more than in him
lies, no matter how willing he may be.”
With these words he satisfied his brother, and the two went
towards the part of the battle where the fight was thickest,
about Cebriones, brave Polydamas, Phalces, Orthaeus, godlike
Polyphetes, Palmys, Ascanius, and Morys son of Hippotion, who had
come from fertile Ascania on the preceding day to relieve other
troops. Then Jove urged them on to fight. They flew forth like
the blasts of some fierce wind that strike earth in the van of a
thunderstorm—they buffet the salt sea into an uproar; many and
mighty are the great waves that come crashing in one after the
other upon the shore with their arching heads all crested with
foam—even so did rank behind rank of Trojans arrayed in gleaming
armour follow their leaders onward. The way was led by Hector son
of Priam, peer of murderous Mars, with his round shield before
him—his shield of ox-hides covered with plates of bronze—and his
gleaming helmet upon his temples. He kept stepping forward under
cover of his shield in every direction, making trial of the ranks
to see if they would give way before him, but he could not daunt
the courage of the Achaeans. Ajax was the first to stride out and
challenge him. “Sir,” he cried, “draw near; why do you think thus
vainly to dismay the Argives? We Achaeans are excellent soldiers,
but the scourge of Jove has fallen heavily upon us. Your heart,
forsooth, is set on destroying our ships, but we too have hands
that can keep you at bay, and your own fair town shall be sooner
taken and sacked by ourselves. The time is near when you shall
pray Jove and all the gods in your flight, that your steeds may
be swifter than hawks as they raise the dust on the plain and
bear you back to your city.”
As he was thus speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand, and
the host of the Achaeans shouted, for they took heart at the
omen. But Hector answered, “Ajax, braggart and false of tongue,
would that I were as sure of being son for evermore to
aegis-bearing Jove, with Queen Juno for my mother, and of being
held in like honour with Minerva and Apollo, as I am that this
day is big with the destruction of the Achaeans; and you shall
fall among them if you dare abide my spear; it shall rend your
fair body and bid you glut our hounds and birds of prey with your
fat and your flesh, as you fall by the ships of the Achaeans.”
With these words he led the way and the others followed after
with a cry that rent the air, while the host shouted behind them.
The Argives on their part raised a shout likewise, nor did they
forget their prowess, but stood firm against the onslaught of the
Trojan chieftains, and the cry from both the hosts rose up to
heaven and to the brightness of Jove’s presence.
BOOK XIV.
Agamemnon proposes that the Achaeans should sail home, and is
rebuked by Ulysses—Juno beguiles Jupiter—Hector is wounded.
Nestor was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not
escape him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, “What, noble
Machaon, is the meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting
by our ships grow stronger and stronger; stay here, therefore,
and sit over your wine, while fair Hecamede heats you a bath and
washes the clotted blood from off you. I will go at once to the
look-out station and see what it is all about.”
As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was
lying in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had
taken his father’s shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod
spear, and as soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of
the Achaeans who, now that their wall was overthrown, were flying
pell-mell before the Trojans. As when there is a heavy swell upon
the sea, but the waves are dumb—they keep their eyes on the watch
for the quarter whence the fierce winds may spring upon them, but
they stay where they are and set neither this way nor that, till
some particular wind sweeps down from heaven to determine
them—even so did the old man ponder whether to make for the crowd
of Danaans, or go in search of Agamemnon. In the end he deemed it
best to go to the son of Atreus; but meanwhile the hosts were
fighting and killing one another, and the hard bronze rattled on
their bodies, as they thrust at one another with their swords and
spears.
The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son
of Atreus, fell in with Nestor as they were coming up from their
ships—for theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting
was going on, being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been
beached first, while the wall had been built behind the
hindermost. The stretch of the shore, wide though it was, did not
afford room for all the ships, and the host was cramped for
space, therefore they had placed the ships in rows one behind the
other, and had filled the whole opening of the bay between the
two points that formed it. The kings, leaning on their spears,
were coming out to survey the fight, being in great anxiety, and
when old Nestor met them they were filled with dismay. Then King
Agamemnon said to him, “Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the
Achaean name, why have you left the battle to come hither? I fear
that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among
the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had
fired our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it
is all coming true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles,
are in such anger with me that they refuse to fight by the sterns
of our ships.”
Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, “It is indeed as you say;
it is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders
from on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we
relied as an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The
Trojans are fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships;
look where you may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of
the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed in a confused mass
and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel
can be of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our
going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is
wounded.”
And King Agamemnon answered, “Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed
fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the
trench has served us—over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and
which they deemed would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and
our fleet—I see it must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans
should perish ingloriously here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove
was willing to defend us, and I know now that he is raising the
Trojans to like honour with the gods, while us, on the other
hand, he has bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all do
as I say; let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and
draw them into the water; let us make them fast to their
mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of night—if
even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may then
draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying
ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and
be saved than be caught and killed.”
Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, “Son of Atreus, what are
you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other
and baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has
allotted a life of hard fighting from youth to old age, till we
every one of us perish. Is it thus that you would quit the city
of Troy, to win which we have suffered so much hardship? Hold
your peace, lest some other of the Achaeans hear you say what no
man who knows how to give good counsel, no king over so great a
host as that of the Argives should ever have let fall from his
lips. I despise your judgement utterly for what you have been
saying. Would you, then, have us draw down our ships into the
water while the battle is raging, and thus play further into the
hands of the conquering Trojans? It would be ruin; the Achaeans
will not go on fighting when they see the ships being drawn into
the water, but will cease attacking and keep turning their eyes
towards them; your counsel, therefore, sir captain, would be our
destruction.”
Agamemnon answered, “Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the
heart. I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their
ships into the sea whether they will or no. Someone, it may be,
old or young, can offer us better counsel which I shall rejoice
to hear.”
Then said Diomed, “Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek,
if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am
younger than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire,
Tydeus, who lies buried at Thebes. For Portheus had three noble
sons, two of whom, Agrius and Melas, abode in Pleuron and rocky
Calydon. The third was the knight Oeneus, my father’s father, and
he was the most valiant of them all. Oeneus remained in his own
country, but my father (as Jove and the other gods ordained it)
migrated to Argos. He married into the family of Adrastus, and
his house was one of great abundance, for he had large estates of
rich corn-growing land, with much orchard ground as well, and he
had many sheep; moreover he excelled all the Argives in the use
of the spear. You must yourselves have heard whether these things
are true or no; therefore when I say well despise not my words as
though I were a coward or of ignoble birth. I say, then, let us
go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though we be. When
there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of the
spears lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have
already, but we can spur on others, who have been indulging their
spleen and holding aloof from battle hitherto.”
Thus did he speak; whereon they did even as he had said and set
out, King Agamemnon leading the way.
Meanwhile Neptune had kept no blind look-out, and came up to them
in the semblance of an old man. He took Agamemnon’s right hand in
his own and said, “Son of Atreus, I take it Achilles is glad now
that he sees the Achaeans routed and slain, for he is utterly
without remorse—may he come to a bad end and heaven confound him.
As for yourself, the blessed gods are not yet so bitterly angry
with you but that the princes and counsellors of the Trojans
shall again raise the dust upon the plain, and you shall see them
flying from the ships and tents towards their city.”
With this he raised a mighty cry of battle, and sped forward to
the plain. The voice that came from his deep chest was as that of
nine or ten thousand men when they are shouting in the thick of a
fight, and it put fresh courage into the hearts of the Achaeans
to wage war and do battle without ceasing.
Juno of the golden throne looked down as she stood upon a peak of
Olympus and her heart was gladdened at the sight of him who was
at once her brother and her brother-in-law, hurrying hither and
thither amid the fighting. Then she turned her eyes to Jove as he
sat on the topmost crests of many-fountained Ida, and loathed
him. She set herself to think how she might hoodwink him, and in
the end she deemed that it would be best for her to go to Ida and
array herself in rich attire, in the hope that Jove might become
enamoured of her, and wish to embrace her. While he was thus
engaged a sweet and careless sleep might be made to steal over
his eyes and senses.
She went, therefore, to the room which her son Vulcan had made
her, and the doors of which he had cunningly fastened by means of
a secret key so that no other god could open them. Here she
entered and closed the doors behind her. She cleansed all the
dirt from her fair body with ambrosia, then she anointed herself
with olive oil, ambrosial, very soft, and scented specially for
herself—if it were so much as shaken in the bronze-floored house
of Jove, the scent pervaded the universe of heaven and earth.
With this she anointed her delicate skin, and then she plaited
the fair ambrosial locks that flowed in a stream of golden
tresses from her immortal head. She put on the wondrous robe
which Minerva had worked for her with consummate art, and had
embroidered with manifold devices; she fastened it about her
bosom with golden clasps, and she girded herself with a girdle
that had a hundred tassels: then she fastened her earrings, three
brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the
pierced lobes of her ears, and threw a lovely new veil over her
head. She bound her sandals on to her feet, and when she had
arrayed herself perfectly to her satisfaction, she left her room
and called Venus to come aside and speak to her. “My dear child,”
said she, “will you do what I am going to ask of you, or will you
refuse me because you are angry at my being on the Danaan side,
while you are on the Trojan?”
Jove’s daughter Venus answered, “Juno, august queen of goddesses,
daughter of mighty Saturn, say what you want, and I will do it
for you at once, if I can, and if it can be done at all.”
Then Juno told her a lying tale and said, “I want you to endow me
with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring
all things mortal and immortal to your feet. I am going to the
world’s end to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and
mother Tethys: they received me in their house, took care of me,
and brought me up, having taken me over from Rhaea when Jove
imprisoned great Saturn in the depths that are under earth and
sea. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them;
they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not
slept with one another this long while; if I can bring them round
and restore them to one another’s embraces, they will be grateful
to me and love me for ever afterwards.”
Thereon laughter-loving Venus said, “I cannot and must not refuse
you, for you sleep in the arms of Jove who is our king.”
As she spoke she loosed from her bosom the curiously embroidered
girdle into which all her charms had been wrought—love, desire,
and that sweet flattery which steals the judgement even of the
most prudent. She gave the girdle to Juno and said, “Take this
girdle wherein all my charms reside and lay it in your bosom. If
you will wear it I promise you that your errand, be it what it
may, will not be bootless.”
When she heard this Juno smiled, and still smiling she laid the
girdle in her bosom.
Venus now went back into the house of Jove, while Juno darted
down from the summits of Olympus. She passed over Pieria and fair
Emathia, and went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of
the Thracian horsemen, over whose topmost crests she sped without
ever setting foot to ground. When she came to Athos she went on
over the waves of the sea till she reached Lemnos, the city of
noble Thoas. There she met Sleep, own brother to Death, and
caught him by the hand, saying, “Sleep, you who lord it alike
over mortals and immortals, if you ever did me a service in times
past, do one for me now, and I shall be grateful to you ever
after. Close Jove’s keen eyes for me in slumber while I hold him
clasped in my embrace, and I will give you a beautiful golden
seat, that can never fall to pieces; my clubfooted son Vulcan
shall make it for you, and he shall give it a footstool for you
to rest your fair feet upon when you are at table.”
Then Sleep answered, “Juno, great queen of goddesses, daughter of
mighty Saturn, I would lull any other of the gods to sleep
without compunction, not even excepting the waters of Oceanus
from whom all of them proceed, but I dare not go near Jove, nor
send him to sleep unless he bids me. I have had one lesson
already through doing what you asked me, on the day when Jove’s
mighty son Hercules set sail from Ilius after having sacked the
city of the Trojans. At your bidding I suffused my sweet self
over the mind of aegis-bearing Jove, and laid him to rest;
meanwhile you hatched a plot against Hercules, and set the blasts
of the angry winds beating upon the sea, till you took him to the
goodly city of Cos, away from all his friends. Jove was furious
when he awoke, and began hurling the gods about all over the
house; he was looking more particularly for myself, and would
have flung me down through space into the sea where I should
never have been heard of any more, had not Night who cows both
men and gods protected me. I fled to her and Jove left off
looking for me in spite of his being so angry, for he did not
dare do anything to displease Night. And now you are again asking
me to do something on which I cannot venture.”
And Juno said, “Sleep, why do you take such notions as those into
your head? Do you think Jove will be as anxious to help the
Trojans, as he was about his own son? Come, I will marry you to
one of the youngest of the Graces, and she shall be your
own—Pasithea, whom you have always wanted to marry.”
Sleep was pleased when he heard this, and answered, “Then swear
it to me by the dread waters of the river Styx; lay one hand on
the bounteous earth, and the other on the sheen of the sea, so
that all the gods who dwell down below with Saturn may be our
witnesses, and see that you really do give me one of the youngest
of the Graces—Pasithea, whom I have always wanted to marry.”
Juno did as he had said. She swore, and invoked all the gods of
the nether world, who are called Titans, to witness. When she had
completed her oath, the two enshrouded themselves in a thick mist
and sped lightly forward, leaving Lemnos and Imbrus behind them.
Presently they reached many-fountained Ida, mother of wild
beasts, and Lectum where they left the sea to go on by land, and
the tops of the trees of the forest soughed under the going of
their feet. Here Sleep halted, and ere Jove caught sight of him
he climbed a lofty pine-tree—the tallest that reared its head
towards heaven on all Ida. He hid himself behind the branches and
sat there in the semblance of the sweet-singing bird that haunts
the mountains and is called Chalcis by the gods, but men call it
Cymindis. Juno then went to Gargarus, the topmost peak of Ida,
and Jove, driver of the clouds, set eyes upon her. As soon as he
did so he became inflamed with the same passionate desire for her
that he had felt when they had first enjoyed each other’s
embraces, and slept with one another without their dear parents
knowing anything about it. He went up to her and said, “What do
you want that you have come hither from Olympus—and that too with
neither chariot nor horses to convey you?”
Then Juno told him a lying tale and said, “I am going to the
world’s end, to visit Oceanus, from whom all we gods proceed, and
mother Tethys; they received me into their house, took care of
me, and brought me up. I must go and see them that I may make
peace between them: they have been quarrelling, and are so angry
that they have not slept with one another this long time. The
horses that will take me over land and sea are stationed on the
lowermost spurs of many-fountained Ida, and I have come here from
Olympus on purpose to consult you. I was afraid you might be
angry with me later on, if I went to the house of Oceanus without
letting you know.”
And Jove said, “Juno, you can choose some other time for paying
your visit to Oceanus—for the present let us devote ourselves to
love and to the enjoyment of one another. Never yet have I been
so overpowered by passion neither for goddess nor mortal woman as
I am at this moment for yourself—not even when I was in love with
the wife of Ixion who bore me Pirithous, peer of gods in counsel,
nor yet with Danae the daintily-ancled daughter of Acrisius, who
bore me the famed hero Perseus. Then there was the daughter of
Phoenix, who bore me Minos and Rhadamanthus: there was Semele,
and Alcmena in Thebes by whom I begot my lion-hearted son
Hercules, while Semele became mother to Bacchus the comforter of
mankind. There was queen Ceres again, and lovely Leto, and
yourself—but with none of these was I ever so much enamoured as I
now am with you.”
Juno again answered him with a lying tale. “Most dread son of
Saturn,” she exclaimed, “what are you talking about? Would you
have us enjoy one another here on the top of Mount Ida, where
everything can be seen? What if one of the ever-living gods
should see us sleeping together, and tell the others? It would be
such a scandal that when I had risen from your embraces I could
never show myself inside your house again; but if you are so
minded, there is a room which your son Vulcan has made me, and he
has given it good strong doors; if you would so have it, let us
go thither and lie down.”
And Jove answered, “Juno, you need not be afraid that either god
or man will see you, for I will enshroud both of us in such a
dense golden cloud, that the very sun for all his bright piercing
beams shall not see through it.”
With this the son of Saturn caught his wife in his embrace;
whereon the earth sprouted them a cushion of young grass, with
dew-bespangled lotus, crocus, and hyacinth, so soft and thick
that it raised them well above the ground. Here they laid
themselves down and overhead they were covered by a fair cloud of
gold, from which there fell glittering dew-drops.
Thus, then, did the sire of all things repose peacefully on the
crest of Ida, overcome at once by sleep and love, and he held his
spouse in his arms. Meanwhile Sleep made off to the ships of the
Achaeans, to tell earth-encircling Neptune, lord of the
earthquake. When he had found him he said, “Now, Neptune, you can
help the Danaans with a will, and give them victory though it be
only for a short time while Jove is still sleeping. I have sent
him into a sweet slumber, and Juno has beguiled him into going to
bed with her.”
Sleep now departed and went his ways to and fro among mankind,
leaving Neptune more eager than ever to help the Danaans. He
darted forward among the first ranks and shouted saying,
“Argives, shall we let Hector son of Priam have the triumph of
taking our ships and covering himself with glory? This is what he
says that he shall now do, seeing that Achilles is still in
dudgeon at his ship; we shall get on very well without him if we
keep each other in heart and stand by one another. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say. Let us each take the best and
largest shield we can lay hold of, put on our helmets, and sally
forth with our longest spears in our hands; I will lead you on,
and Hector son of Priam, rage as he may, will not dare to hold
out against us. If any good staunch soldier has only a small
shield, let him hand it over to a worse man, and take a larger
one for himself.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The son of
Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon, wounded though they were, set the
others in array, and went about everywhere effecting the
exchanges of armour; the most valiant took the best armour, and
gave the worse to the worse man. When they had donned their
bronze armour they marched on with Neptune at their head. In his
strong hand he grasped his terrible sword, keen of edge and
flashing like lightning; woe to him who comes across it in the
day of battle; all men quake for fear and keep away from it.
Hector on the other side set the Trojans in array. Thereon
Neptune and Hector waged fierce war on one another—Hector on the
Trojan and Neptune on the Argive side. Mighty was the uproar as
the two forces met; the sea came rolling in towards the ships and
tents of the Achaeans, but waves do not thunder on the shore more
loudly when driven before the blast of Boreas, nor do the flames
of a forest fire roar more fiercely when it is well alight upon
the mountains, nor does the wind bellow with ruder music as it
tears on through the tops of when it is blowing its hardest, than
the terrible shout which the Trojans and Achaeans raised as they
sprang upon one another.
Hector first aimed his spear at Ajax, who was turned full towards
him, nor did he miss his aim. The spear struck him where two
bands passed over his chest—the band of his shield and that of
his silver-studded sword—and these protected his body. Hector was
angry that his spear should have been hurled in vain, and
withdrew under cover of his men. As he was thus retreating, Ajax
son of Telamon, struck him with a stone, of which there were many
lying about under the men’s feet as they fought—brought there to
give support to the ships’ sides as they lay on the shore. Ajax
caught up one of them and struck Hector above the rim of his
shield close to his neck; the blow made him spin round like a top
and reel in all directions. As an oak falls headlong when
uprooted by the lightning flash of father Jove, and there is a
terrible smell of brimstone—no man can help being dismayed if he
is standing near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing—even
so did Hector fall to earth and bite the dust. His spear fell
from his hand, but his shield and helmet were made fast about his
body, and his bronze armour rang about him.
The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards
him, hoping to drag him away, and they showered their darts on
the Trojans, but none of them could wound him before he was
surrounded and covered by the princes Polydamas, Aeneas, Agenor,
Sarpedon captain of the Lycians, and noble Glaucus. Of the
others, too, there was not one who was unmindful of him, and they
held their round shields over him to cover him. His comrades then
lifted him off the ground and bore him away from the battle to
the place where his horses stood waiting for him at the rear of
the fight with their driver and the chariot; these then took him
towards the city groaning and in great pain. When they reached
the ford of the fair stream of Xanthus, begotten of Immortal
Jove, they took him from off his chariot and laid him down on the
ground; they poured water over him, and as they did so he
breathed again and opened his eyes. Then kneeling on his knees he
vomited blood, but soon fell back on to the ground, and his eyes
were again closed in darkness for he was still stunned by the
blow.
When the Argives saw Hector leaving the field, they took heart
and set upon the Trojans yet more furiously. Ajax fleet son of
Oileus began by springing on Satnius son of Enops, and wounding
him with his spear: a fair naiad nymph had borne him to Enops as
he was herding cattle by the banks of the river Satnioeis. The
son of Oileus came up to him and struck him in the flank so that
he fell, and a fierce fight between Trojans and Danaans raged
round his body. Polydamas son of Panthous drew near to avenge
him, and wounded Prothoenor son of Areilycus on the right
shoulder; the terrible spear went right through his shoulder, and
he clutched the earth as he fell in the dust. Polydamas vaunted
loudly over him saying, “Again I take it that the spear has not
sped in vain from the strong hand of the son of Panthous; an
Argive has caught it in his body, and it will serve him for a
staff as he goes down into the house of Hades.”
The Argives were maddened by this boasting. Ajax son of Telamon
was more angry than any, for the man had fallen close beside him;
so he aimed at Polydamas as he was retreating, but Polydamas
saved himself by swerving aside and the spear struck Archelochus
son of Antenor, for heaven counselled his destruction; it struck
him where the head springs from the neck at the top joint of the
spine, and severed both the tendons at the back of the head. His
head, mouth, and nostrils reached the ground long before his legs
and knees could do so, and Ajax shouted to Polydamas saying,
“Think, Polydamas, and tell me truly whether this man is not as
well worth killing as Prothoenor was: he seems rich, and of rich
family, a brother, it may be, or son of the knight Antenor, for
he is very like him.”
But he knew well who it was, and the Trojans were greatly
angered. Acamas then bestrode his brother’s body and wounded
Promachus the Boeotian with his spear, for he was trying to drag
his brother’s body away. Acamas vaunted loudly over him saying,
“Argive archers, braggarts that you are, toil and suffering shall
not be for us only, but some of you too shall fall here as well
as ourselves. See how Promachus now sleeps, vanquished by my
spear; payment for my brother’s blood has not been long delayed;
a man, therefore, may well be thankful if he leaves a kinsman in
his house behind him to avenge his fall.”
His taunts infuriated the Argives, and Peneleos was more enraged
than any of them. He sprang towards Acamas, but Acamas did not
stand his ground, and he killed Ilioneus son of the rich
flock-master Phorbas, whom Mercury had favoured and endowed with
greater wealth than any other of the Trojans. Ilioneus was his
only son, and Peneleos now wounded him in the eye under his
eyebrows, tearing the eye-ball from its socket: the spear went
right through the eye into the nape of the neck, and he fell,
stretching out both hands before him. Peneleos then drew his
sword and smote him on the neck, so that both head and helmet
came tumbling down to the ground with the spear still sticking in
the eye; he then held up the head, as though it had been a
poppy-head, and showed it to the Trojans, vaunting over them as
he did so. “Trojans,” he cried, “bid the father and mother of
noble Ilioneus make moan for him in their house, for the wife
also of Promachus son of Alegenor will never be gladdened by the
coming of her dear husband—when we Argives return with our ships
from Troy.”
As he spoke fear fell upon them, and every man looked round about
to see whither he might fly for safety.
Tell me now, O Muses that dwell on Olympus, who was the first of
the Argives to bear away blood-stained spoils after Neptune lord
of the earthquake had turned the fortune of war. Ajax son of
Telamon was first to wound Hyrtius son of Gyrtius, captain of the
staunch Mysians. Antilochus killed Phalces and Mermerus, while
Meriones slew Morys and Hippotion, Teucer also killed Prothoon
and Periphetes. The son of Atreus then wounded Hyperenor shepherd
of his people, in the flank, and the bronze point made his
entrails gush out as it tore in among them; on this his life came
hurrying out of him at the place where he had been wounded, and
his eyes were closed in darkness. Ajax son of Oileus killed more
than any other, for there was no man so fleet as he to pursue
flying foes when Jove had spread panic among them.
BOOK XV.
Jove awakes, tells Apollo to heal Hector, and the Trojans again
become victorious.
But when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set
stakes, and many had fallen by the hands of the Danaans, the
Trojans made a halt on reaching their chariots, routed and pale
with fear. Jove now woke on the crests of Ida, where he was lying
with golden-throned Juno by his side, and starting to his feet he
saw the Trojans and Achaeans, the one thrown into confusion, and
the others driving them pell-mell before them with King Neptune
in their midst. He saw Hector lying on the ground with his
comrades gathered round him, gasping for breath, wandering in
mind and vomiting blood, for it was not the feeblest of the
Achaeans who struck him.
The sire of gods and men had pity on him, and looked fiercely on
Juno. “I see, Juno,” said he, “you mischief-making trickster,
that your cunning has stayed Hector from fighting and has caused
the rout of his host. I am in half a mind to thrash you, in which
case you will be the first to reap the fruits of your scurvy
knavery. Do you not remember how once upon a time I had you
hanged? I fastened two anvils on to your feet, and bound your
hands in a chain of gold which none might break, and you hung in
mid-air among the clouds. All the gods in Olympus were in a fury,
but they could not reach you to set you free; when I caught any
one of them I gripped him and hurled him from the heavenly
threshold till he came fainting down to earth; yet even this did
not relieve my mind from the incessant anxiety which I felt about
noble Hercules whom you and Boreas had spitefully conveyed beyond
the seas to Cos, after suborning the tempests; but I rescued him,
and notwithstanding all his mighty labours I brought him back
again to Argos. I would remind you of this that you may learn to
leave off being so deceitful, and discover how much you are
likely to gain by the embraces out of which you have come here to
trick me.”
Juno trembled as he spoke, and said, “May heaven above and earth
below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx—and this
is the most solemn oath that a blessed god can take—nay, I swear
also by your own almighty head and by our bridal bed—things over
which I could never possibly perjure myself—that Neptune is not
punishing Hector and the Trojans and helping the Achaeans through
any doing of mine; it is all of his own mere motion because he
was sorry to see the Achaeans hard pressed at their ships: if I
were advising him, I should tell him to do as you bid him.”
The sire of gods and men smiled and answered, “If you, Juno, were
always to support me when we sit in council of the gods, Neptune,
like it or no, would soon come round to your and my way of
thinking. If, then, you are speaking the truth and mean what you
say, go among the rank and file of the gods, and tell Iris and
Apollo lord of the bow, that I want them—Iris, that she may go to
the Achaean host and tell Neptune to leave off fighting and go
home, and Apollo, that he may send Hector again into battle and
give him fresh strength; he will thus forget his present
sufferings, and drive the Achaeans back in confusion till they
fall among the ships of Achilles son of Peleus. Achilles will
then send his comrade Patroclus into battle, and Hector will kill
him in front of Ilius after he has slain many warriors, and among
them my own noble son Sarpedon. Achilles will kill Hector to
avenge Patroclus, and from that time I will bring it about that
the Achaeans shall persistently drive the Trojans back till they
fulfil the counsels of Minerva and take Ilius. But I will not
stay my anger, nor permit any god to help the Danaans till I have
accomplished the desire of the son of Peleus, according to the
promise I made by bowing my head on the day when Thetis touched
my knees and besought me to give him honour.”
Juno heeded his words and went from the heights of Ida to great
Olympus. Swift as the thought of one whose fancy carries him over
vast continents, and he says to himself, “Now I will be here, or
there,” and he would have all manner of things—even so swiftly
did Juno wing her way till she came to high Olympus and went in
among the gods who were gathered in the house of Jove. When they
saw her they all of them came up to her, and held out their cups
to her by way of greeting. She let the others be, but took the
cup offered her by lovely Themis, who was first to come running
up to her. “Juno,” said she, “why are you here? And you seem
troubled—has your husband the son of Saturn been frightening
you?”
And Juno answered, “Themis, do not ask me about it. You know what
a proud and cruel disposition my husband has. Lead the gods to
table, where you and all the immortals can hear the wicked
designs which he has avowed. Many a one, mortal and immortal,
will be angered by them, however peaceably he may be feasting
now.”
On this Juno sat down, and the gods were troubled throughout the
house of Jove. Laughter sat on her lips but her brow was furrowed
with care, and she spoke up in a rage. “Fools that we are,” she
cried, “to be thus madly angry with Jove; we keep on wanting to
go up to him and stay him by force or by persuasion, but he sits
aloof and cares for nobody, for he knows that he is much stronger
than any other of the immortals. Make the best, therefore, of
whatever ills he may choose to send each one of you; Mars, I take
it, has had a taste of them already, for his son Ascalaphus has
fallen in battle—the man whom of all others he loved most dearly
and whose father he owns himself to be.”
When he heard this Mars smote his two sturdy thighs with the flat
of his hands, and said in anger, “Do not blame me, you gods that
dwell in heaven, if I go to the ships of the Achaeans and avenge
the death of my son, even though it end in my being struck by
Jove’s lightning and lying in blood and dust among the corpses.”
As he spoke he gave orders to yoke his horses Panic and Rout,
while he put on his armour. On this, Jove would have been roused
to still more fierce and implacable enmity against the other
immortals, had not Minerva, alarmed for the safety of the gods,
sprung from her seat and hurried outside. She tore the helmet
from his head and the shield from his shoulders, and she took the
bronze spear from his strong hand and set it on one side; then
she said to Mars, “Madman, you are undone; you have ears that
hear not, or you have lost all judgement and understanding; have
you not heard what Juno has said on coming straight from the
presence of Olympian Jove? Do you wish to go through all kinds of
suffering before you are brought back sick and sorry to Olympus,
after having caused infinite mischief to all us others? Jove
would instantly leave the Trojans and Achaeans to themselves; he
would come to Olympus to punish us, and would grip us up one
after another, guilty or not guilty. Therefore lay aside your
anger for the death of your son; better men than he have either
been killed already or will fall hereafter, and one cannot
protect every one’s whole family.”
With these words she took Mars back to his seat. Meanwhile Juno
called Apollo outside, with Iris the messenger of the gods.
“Jove,” she said to them, “desires you to go to him at once on
Mt. Ida; when you have seen him you are to do as he may then bid
you.”
Thereon Juno left them and resumed her seat inside, while Iris
and Apollo made all haste on their way. When they reached
many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, they found Jove
seated on topmost Gargarus with a fragrant cloud encircling his
head as with a diadem. They stood before his presence, and he was
pleased with them for having been so quick in obeying the orders
his wife had given them.
He spoke to Iris first. “Go,” said he, “fleet Iris, tell King
Neptune what I now bid you—and tell him true. Bid him leave off
fighting, and either join the company of the gods, or go down
into the sea. If he takes no heed and disobeys me, let him
consider well whether he is strong enough to hold his own against
me if I attack him. I am older and much stronger than he is; yet
he is not afraid to set himself up as on a level with myself, of
whom all the other gods stand in awe.”
Iris, fleet as the wind, obeyed him, and as the cold hail or
snowflakes that fly from out the clouds before the blast of
Boreas, even so did she wing her way till she came close up to
the great shaker of the earth. Then she said, “I have come, O
dark-haired king that holds the world in his embrace, to bring
you a message from Jove. He bids you leave off fighting, and
either join the company of the gods or go down into the sea; if,
however, you take no heed and disobey him, he says he will come
down here and fight you. He would have you keep out of his reach,
for he is older and much stronger than you are, and yet you are
not afraid to set yourself up as on a level with himself, of whom
all the other gods stand in awe.”
Neptune was very angry and said, “Great heavens! strong as Jove
may be, he has said more than he can do if he has threatened
violence against me, who am of like honour with himself. We were
three brothers whom Rhea bore to Saturn—Jove, myself, and Hades
who rules the world below. Heaven and earth were divided into
three parts, and each of us was to have an equal share. When we
cast lots, it fell to me to have my dwelling in the sea for
evermore; Hades took the darkness of the realms under the earth,
while air and sky and clouds were the portion that fell to Jove;
but earth and great Olympus are the common property of all.
Therefore I will not walk as Jove would have me. For all his
strength, let him keep to his own third share and be contented
without threatening to lay hands upon me as though I were nobody.
Let him keep his bragging talk for his own sons and daughters,
who must perforce obey him.”
Iris fleet as the wind then answered, “Am I really, Neptune, to
take this daring and unyielding message to Jove, or will you
reconsider your answer? Sensible people are open to argument, and
you know that the Erinyes always range themselves on the side of
the older person.”
Neptune answered, “Goddess Iris, your words have been spoken in
season. It is well when a messenger shows so much discretion.
Nevertheless it cuts me to the very heart that any one should
rebuke so angrily another who is his own peer, and of like empire
with himself. Now, however, I will give way in spite of my
displeasure; furthermore let me tell you, and I mean what I
say—if contrary to the desire of myself, Minerva driver of the
spoil, Juno, Mercury, and King Vulcan, Jove spares steep Ilius,
and will not let the Achaeans have the great triumph of sacking
it, let him understand that he will incur our implacable
resentment.”
Neptune now left the field to go down under the sea, and sorely
did the Achaeans miss him. Then Jove said to Apollo, “Go, dear
Phoebus, to Hector, for Neptune who holds the earth in his
embrace has now gone down under the sea to avoid the severity of
my displeasure. Had he not done so those gods who are below with
Saturn would have come to hear of the fight between us. It is
better for both of us that he should have curbed his anger and
kept out of my reach, for I should have had much trouble with
him. Take, then, your tasselled aegis, and shake it furiously, so
as to set the Achaean heroes in a panic; take, moreover, brave
Hector, O Far-Darter, into your own care, and rouse him to deeds
of daring, till the Achaeans are sent flying back to their ships
and to the Hellespont. From that point I will think it well over,
how the Achaeans may have a respite from their troubles.”
Apollo obeyed his father’s saying, and left the crests of Ida,
flying like a falcon, bane of doves and swiftest of all birds. He
found Hector no longer lying upon the ground, but sitting up, for
he had just come to himself again. He knew those who were about
him, and the sweat and hard breathing had left him from the
moment when the will of aegis-bearing Jove had revived him.
Apollo stood beside him and said, “Hector son of Priam, why are
you so faint, and why are you here away from the others? Has any
mishap befallen you?”
Hector in a weak voice answered, “And which, kind sir, of the
gods are you, who now ask me thus? Do you not know that Ajax
struck me on the chest with a stone as I was killing his comrades
at the ships of the Achaeans, and compelled me to leave off
fighting? I made sure that this very day I should breathe my last
and go down into the house of Hades.”
Then King Apollo said to him, “Take heart; the son of Saturn has
sent you a mighty helper from Ida to stand by you and defend you,
even me, Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, who have been
guardian hitherto not only of yourself but of your city. Now,
therefore, order your horsemen to drive their chariots to the
ships in great multitudes. I will go before your horses to smooth
the way for them, and will turn the Achaeans in flight.”
As he spoke he infused great strength into the shepherd of his
people. And as a horse, stabled and full-fed, breaks loose and
gallops gloriously over the plain to the place where he is wont
to take his bath in the river—he tosses his head, and his mane
streams over his shoulders as in all the pride of his strength he
flies full speed to the pastures where the mares are feeding—even
so Hector, when he heard what the god said, urged his horsemen
on, and sped forward as fast as his limbs could take him. As
country peasants set their hounds on to a homed stag or wild
goat—he has taken shelter under rock or thicket, and they cannot
find him, but, lo, a bearded lion whom their shouts have roused
stands in their path, and they are in no further humour for the
chase—even so the Achaeans were still charging on in a body,
using their swords and spears pointed at both ends, but when they
saw Hector going about among his men they were afraid, and their
hearts fell down into their feet.
Then spoke Thoas son of Andraemon, leader of the Aetolians, a man
who could throw a good throw, and who was staunch also in close
fight, while few could surpass him in debate when opinions were
divided. He then with all sincerity and goodwill addressed them
thus: “What, in heaven’s name, do I now see? Is it not Hector
come to life again? Every one made sure he had been killed by
Ajax son of Telamon, but it seems that one of the gods has again
rescued him. He has killed many of us Danaans already, and I take
it will yet do so, for the hand of Jove must be with him or he
would never dare show himself so masterful in the forefront of
the battle. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let us order
the main body of our forces to fall back upon the ships, but let
those of us who profess to be the flower of the army stand firm,
and see whether we cannot hold Hector back at the point of our
spears as soon as he comes near us; I conceive that he will then
think better of it before he tries to charge into the press of
the Danaans.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. Those who
were about Ajax and King Idomeneus, the followers moreover of
Teucer, Meriones, and Meges peer of Mars called all their best
men about them and sustained the fight against Hector and the
Trojans, but the main body fell back upon the ships of the
Achaeans.
The Trojans pressed forward in a dense body, with Hector striding
on at their head. Before him went Phoebus Apollo shrouded in
cloud about his shoulders. He bore aloft the terrible aegis with
its shaggy fringe, which Vulcan the smith had given Jove to
strike terror into the hearts of men. With this in his hand he
led on the Trojans.
The Argives held together and stood their ground. The cry of
battle rose high from either side, and the arrows flew from the
bowstrings. Many a spear sped from strong hands and fastened in
the bodies of many a valiant warrior, while others fell to earth
midway, before they could taste of man’s fair flesh and glut
themselves with blood. So long as Phoebus Apollo held his aegis
quietly and without shaking it, the weapons on either side took
effect and the people fell, but when he shook it straight in the
face of the Danaans and raised his mighty battle-cry their hearts
fainted within them and they forgot their former prowess. As when
two wild beasts spring in the dead of night on a herd of cattle
or a large flock of sheep when the herdsman is not there—even so
were the Danaans struck helpless, for Apollo filled them with
panic and gave victory to Hector and the Trojans.
The fight then became more scattered and they killed one another
where they best could. Hector killed Stichius and Arcesilaus, the
one, leader of the Boeotians, and the other, friend and comrade
of Menestheus. Aeneas killed Medon and Iasus. The first was
bastard son to Oileus, and brother to Ajax, but he lived in
Phylace away from his own country, for he had killed a man, a
kinsman of his stepmother Eriopis whom Oileus had married. Iasus
had become a leader of the Athenians, and was son of Sphelus the
son of Boucolos. Polydamas killed Mecisteus, and Polites Echius,
in the front of the battle, while Agenor slew Clonius. Paris
struck Deiochus from behind in the lower part of the shoulder, as
he was flying among the foremost, and the point of the spear went
clean through him.
While they were spoiling these heroes of their armour, the
Achaeans were flying pell-mell to the trench and the set stakes,
and were forced back within their wall. Hector then cried out to
the Trojans, “Forward to the ships, and let the spoils be. If I
see any man keeping back on the other side the wall away from the
ships I will have him killed: his kinsmen and kinswomen shall not
give him his dues of fire, but dogs shall tear him in pieces in
front of our city.”
As he spoke he laid his whip about his horses’ shoulders and
called to the Trojans throughout their ranks; the Trojans shouted
with a cry that rent the air, and kept their horses neck and neck
with his own. Phoebus Apollo went before, and kicked down the
banks of the deep trench into its middle so as to make a great
broad bridge, as broad as the throw of a spear when a man is
trying his strength. The Trojan battalions poured over the
bridge, and Apollo with his redoubtable aegis led the way. He
kicked down the wall of the Achaeans as easily as a child who
playing on the sea-shore has built a house of sand and then kicks
it down again and destroys it—even so did you, O Apollo, shed
toil and trouble upon the Argives, filling them with panic and
confusion.
Thus then were the Achaeans hemmed in at their ships, calling out
to one another and raising their hands with loud cries every man
to heaven. Nestor of Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans,
lifted up his hands to the starry firmament of heaven, and prayed
more fervently than any of them. “Father Jove,” said he, “if ever
any one in wheat-growing Argos burned you fat thigh-bones of
sheep or heifer and prayed that he might return safely home,
whereon you bowed your head to him in assent, bear it in mind
now, and suffer not the Trojans to triumph thus over the
Achaeans.”
All-counselling Jove thundered loudly in answer to the prayer of
the aged son of Neleus. When they heard Jove thunder they flung
themselves yet more fiercely on the Achaeans. As a wave breaking
over the bulwarks of a ship when the sea runs high before a
gale—for it is the force of the wind that makes the waves so
great—even so did the Trojans spring over the wall with a shout,
and drive their chariots onwards. The two sides fought with their
double-pointed spears in hand-to-hand encounter-the Trojans from
their chariots, and the Achaeans climbing up into their ships and
wielding the long pikes that were lying on the decks ready for
use in a sea-fight, jointed and shod with bronze.
Now Patroclus, so long as the Achaeans and Trojans were fighting
about the wall, but were not yet within it and at the ships,
remained sitting in the tent of good Eurypylus, entertaining him
with his conversation and spreading herbs over his wound to ease
his pain. When, however, he saw the Trojans swarming through the
breach in the wall, while the Achaeans were clamouring and struck
with panic, he cried aloud, and smote his two thighs with the
flat of his hands. “Eurypylus,” said he in his dismay, “I know
you want me badly, but I cannot stay with you any longer, for
there is hard fighting going on; a servant shall take care of you
now, for I must make all speed to Achilles, and induce him to
fight if I can; who knows but with heaven’s help I may persuade
him. A man does well to listen to the advice of a friend.”
When he had thus spoken he went his way. The Achaeans stood firm
and resisted the attack of the Trojans, yet though these were
fewer in number, they could not drive them back from the ships,
neither could the Trojans break the Achaean ranks and make their
way in among the tents and ships. As a carpenter’s line gives a
true edge to a piece of ship’s timber, in the hand of some
skilled workman whom Minerva has instructed in all kinds of
useful arts—even so level was the issue of the fight between the
two sides, as they fought some round one and some round another.
Hector made straight for Ajax, and the two fought fiercely about
the same ship. Hector could not force Ajax back and fire the
ship, nor yet could Ajax drive Hector from the spot to which
heaven had brought him.
Then Ajax struck Caletor son of Clytius in the chest with a spear
as he was bringing fire towards the ship. He fell heavily to the
ground and the torch dropped from his hand. When Hector saw his
cousin fallen in front of the ship he shouted to the Trojans and
Lycians saying, “Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians good in close
fight, bate not a jot, but rescue the son of Clytius lest the
Achaeans strip him of his armour now that he has fallen.”
He then aimed a spear at Ajax, and missed him, but he hit
Lycophron a follower of Ajax, who came from Cythera, but was
living with Ajax inasmuch as he had killed a man among the
Cythereans. Hector’s spear struck him on the head below the ear,
and he fell headlong from the ship’s prow on to the ground with
no life left in him. Ajax shook with rage and said to his
brother, “Teucer, my good fellow, our trusty comrade the son of
Mastor has fallen, he came to live with us from Cythera and whom
we honoured as much as our own parents. Hector has just killed
him; fetch your deadly arrows at once and the bow which Phoebus
Apollo gave you.”
Teucer heard him and hastened towards him with his bow and quiver
in his hands. Forthwith he showered his arrows on the Trojans,
and hit Cleitus the son of Pisenor, comrade of Polydamas the
noble son of Panthous, with the reins in his hands as he was
attending to his horses; he was in the middle of the very
thickest part of the fight, doing good service to Hector and the
Trojans, but evil had now come upon him, and not one of those who
were fain to do so could avert it, for the arrow struck him on
the back of the neck. He fell from his chariot and his horses
shook the empty car as they swerved aside. King Polydamas saw
what had happened, and was the first to come up to the horses; he
gave them in charge to Astynous son of Protiaon, and ordered him
to look on, and to keep the horses near at hand. He then went
back and took his place in the front ranks.
Teucer then aimed another arrow at Hector, and there would have
been no more fighting at the ships if he had hit him and killed
him then and there: Jove, however, who kept watch over Hector,
had his eyes on Teucer, and deprived him of his triumph, by
breaking his bowstring for him just as he was drawing it and
about to take his aim; on this the arrow went astray and the bow
fell from his hands. Teucer shook with anger and said to his
brother, “Alas, see how heaven thwarts us in all we do; it has
broken my bowstring and snatched the bow from my hand, though I
strung it this selfsame morning that it might serve me for many
an arrow.”
Ajax son of Telamon answered, “My good fellow, let your bow and
your arrows be, for Jove has made them useless in order to spite
the Danaans. Take your spear, lay your shield upon your shoulder,
and both fight the Trojans yourself and urge others to do so.
They may be successful for the moment but if we fight as we ought
they will find it a hard matter to take the ships.”
Teucer then took his bow and put it by in his tent. He hung a
shield four hides thick about his shoulders, and on his comely
head he set his helmet well wrought with a crest of horse-hair
that nodded menacingly above it; he grasped his redoubtable
bronze-shod spear, and forthwith he was by the side of Ajax.
When Hector saw that Teucer’s bow was of no more use to him, he
shouted out to the Trojans and Lycians, “Trojans, Lycians, and
Dardanians good in close fight, be men, my friends, and show your
mettle here at the ships, for I see the weapon of one of their
chieftains made useless by the hand of Jove. It is easy to see
when Jove is helping people and means to help them still further,
or again when he is bringing them down and will do nothing for
them; he is now on our side, and is going against the Argives.
Therefore swarm round the ships and fight. If any of you is
struck by spear or sword and loses his life, let him die; he dies
with honour who dies fighting for his country; and he will leave
his wife and children safe behind him, with his house and
allotment unplundered if only the Achaeans can be driven back to
their own land, they and their ships.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Ajax on the
other side exhorted his comrades saying, “Shame on you Argives,
we are now utterly undone, unless we can save ourselves by
driving the enemy from our ships. Do you think, if Hector takes
them, that you will be able to get home by land? Can you not hear
him cheering on his whole host to fire our fleet, and bidding
them remember that they are not at a dance but in battle? Our
only course is to fight them with might and main; we had better
chance it, life or death, once for all, than fight long and
without issue hemmed in at our ships by worse men than
ourselves.”
With these words he put life and soul into them all. Hector then
killed Schedius son of Perimedes, leader of the Phoceans, and
Ajax killed Laodamas captain of foot soldiers and son to Antenor.
Polydamas killed Otus of Cyllene a comrade of the son of Phyleus
and chief of the proud Epeans. When Meges saw this he sprang upon
him, but Polydamas crouched down, and he missed him, for Apollo
would not suffer the son of Panthous to fall in battle; but the
spear hit Croesmus in the middle of his chest, whereon he fell
heavily to the ground, and Meges stripped him of his armour. At
that moment the valiant soldier Dolops son of Lampus sprang upon
Lampus was son of Laomedon and noted for his valour, while his
son Dolops was versed in all the ways of war. He then struck the
middle of the son of Phyleus’ shield with his spear, setting on
him at close quarters, but his good corslet made with plates of
metal saved him; Phyleus had brought it from Ephyra and the river
Selleis, where his host, King Euphetes, had given it him to wear
in battle and protect him. It now served to save the life of his
son. Then Meges struck the topmost crest of Dolops’s bronze
helmet with his spear and tore away its plume of horse-hair, so
that all newly dyed with scarlet as it was it tumbled down into
the dust. While he was still fighting and confident of victory,
Menelaus came up to help Meges, and got by the side of Dolops
unperceived; he then speared him in the shoulder, from behind,
and the point, driven so furiously, went through into his chest,
whereon he fell headlong. The two then made towards him to strip
him of his armour, but Hector called on all his brothers for
help, and he especially upbraided brave Melanippus son of
Hiketaon, who erewhile used to pasture his herds of cattle in
Percote before the war broke out; but when the ships of the
Danaans came, he went back to Ilius, where he was eminent among
the Trojans, and lived near Priam who treated him as one of his
own sons. Hector now rebuked him and said, “Why, Melanippus, are
we thus remiss? do you take no note of the death of your kinsman,
and do you not see how they are trying to take Dolops’s armour?
Follow me; there must be no fighting the Argives from a distance
now, but we must do so in close combat till either we kill them
or they take the high wall of Ilius and slay her people.”
He led on as he spoke, and the hero Melanippus followed after.
Meanwhile Ajax son of Telamon was cheering on the Argives. “My
friends,” he cried, “be men, and fear dishonour; quit yourselves
in battle so as to win respect from one another. Men who respect
each other’s good opinion are less likely to be killed than those
who do not, but in flight there is neither gain nor glory.”
Thus did he exhort men who were already bent upon driving back
the Trojans. They laid his words to heart and hedged the ships as
with a wall of bronze, while Jove urged on the Trojans. Menelaus
of the loud battle-cry urged Antilochus on. “Antilochus,” said
he, “you are young and there is none of the Achaeans more fleet
of foot or more valiant than you are. See if you cannot spring
upon some Trojan and kill him.”
He hurried away when he had thus spurred Antilochus, who at once
darted out from the front ranks and aimed a spear, after looking
carefully round him. The Trojans fell back as he threw, and the
dart did not speed from his hand without effect, for it struck
Melanippus the proud son of Hiketaon in the breast by the nipple
as he was coming forward, and his armour rang rattling round him
as he fell heavily to the ground. Antilochus sprang upon him as a
dog springs on a fawn which a hunter has hit as it was breaking
away from its covert, and killed it. Even so, O Melanippus, did
stalwart Antilochus spring upon you to strip you of your armour;
but noble Hector marked him, and came running up to him through
the thick of the battle. Antilochus, brave soldier though he was,
would not stay to face him, but fled like some savage creature
which knows it has done wrong, and flies, when it has killed a
dog or a man who is herding his cattle, before a body of men can
be gathered to attack it. Even so did the son of Nestor fly, and
the Trojans and Hector with a cry that rent the air showered
their weapons after him; nor did he turn round and stay his
flight till he had reached his comrades.
The Trojans, fierce as lions, were still rushing on towards the
ships in fulfilment of the behests of Jove who kept spurring them
on to new deeds of daring, while he deadened the courage of the
Argives and defeated them by encouraging the Trojans. For he
meant giving glory to Hector son of Priam, and letting him throw
fire upon the ships, till he had fulfilled the unrighteous prayer
that Thetis had made him; Jove, therefore, bided his time till he
should see the glare of a blazing ship. From that hour he was
about so to order that the Trojans should be driven back from the
ships and to vouchsafe glory to the Achaeans. With this purpose
he inspired Hector son of Priam, who was eager enough already, to
assail the ships. His fury was as that of Mars, or as when a fire
is raging in the glades of some dense forest upon the mountains;
he foamed at the mouth, his eyes glared under his terrible
eye-brows, and his helmet quivered on his temples by reason of
the fury with which he fought. Jove from heaven was with him, and
though he was but one against many, vouchsafed him victory and
glory; for he was doomed to an early death, and already Pallas
Minerva was hurrying on the hour of his destruction at the hands
of the son of Peleus. Now, however, he kept trying to break the
ranks of the enemy wherever he could see them thickest, and in
the goodliest armour; but do what he might he could not break
through them, for they stood as a tower foursquare, or as some
high cliff rising from the grey sea that braves the anger of the
gale, and of the waves that thunder up against it. He fell upon
them like flames of fire from every quarter. As when a wave,
raised mountain high by wind and storm, breaks over a ship and
covers it deep in foam, the fierce winds roar against the mast,
the hearts of the sailors fail them for fear, and they are saved
but by a very little from destruction—even so were the hearts of
the Achaeans fainting within them. Or as a savage lion attacking
a herd of cows while they are feeding by thousands in the
low-lying meadows by some wide-watered shore—the herdsman is at
his wit’s end how to protect his herd and keeps going about now
in the van and now in the rear of his cattle, while the lion
springs into the thick of them and fastens on a cow so that they
all tremble for fear—even so were the Achaeans utterly
panic-stricken by Hector and father Jove. Nevertheless Hector
only killed Periphetes of Mycenae; he was son of Copreus who was
wont to take the orders of King Eurystheus to mighty Hercules,
but the son was a far better man than the father in every way; he
was fleet of foot, a valiant warrior, and in understanding ranked
among the foremost men of Mycenae. He it was who then afforded
Hector a triumph, for as he was turning back he stumbled against
the rim of his shield which reached his feet, and served to keep
the javelins off him. He tripped against this and fell face
upward, his helmet ringing loudly about his head as he did so.
Hector saw him fall and ran up to him; he then thrust a spear
into his chest, and killed him close to his own comrades. These,
for all their sorrow, could not help him for they were themselves
terribly afraid of Hector.
They had now reached the ships and the prows of those that had
been drawn up first were on every side of them, but the Trojans
came pouring after them. The Argives were driven back from the
first row of ships, but they made a stand by their tents without
being broken up and scattered; shame and fear restrained them.
They kept shouting incessantly to one another, and Nestor of
Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans, was loudest in
imploring every man by his parents, and beseeching him to stand
firm.
“Be men, my friends,” he cried, “and respect one another’s good
opinion. Think, all of you, on your children, your wives, your
property, and your parents whether these be alive or dead. On
their behalf though they are not here, I implore you to stand
firm, and not to turn in flight.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Minerva
lifted the thick veil of darkness from their eyes, and much light
fell upon them, alike on the side of the ships and on that where
the fight was raging. They could see Hector and all his men, both
those in the rear who were taking no part in the battle, and
those who were fighting by the ships.
Ajax could not bring himself to retreat along with the rest, but
strode from deck to deck with a great sea-pike in his hands
twelve cubits long and jointed with rings. As a man skilled in
feats of horsemanship couples four horses together and comes
tearing full speed along the public way from the country into
some large town—many both men and women marvel as they see him
for he keeps all the time changing his horse, springing from one
to another without ever missing his feet while the horses are at
a gallop—even so did Ajax go striding from one ship’s deck to
another, and his voice went up into the heavens. He kept on
shouting his orders to the Danaans and exhorting them to defend
their ships and tents; neither did Hector remain within the main
body of the Trojan warriors, but as a dun eagle swoops down upon
a flock of wild-fowl feeding near a river—geese, it may be, or
cranes, or long-necked swans—even so did Hector make straight for
a dark-prowed ship, rushing right towards it; for Jove with his
mighty hand impelled him forward, and roused his people to follow
him.
And now the battle again raged furiously at the ships. You would
have thought the men were coming on fresh and unwearied, so
fiercely did they fight; and this was the mind in which they
were—the Achaeans did not believe they should escape destruction
but thought themselves doomed, while there was not a Trojan but
his heart beat high with the hope of firing the ships and putting
the Achaean heroes to the sword.
Thus were the two sides minded. Then Hector seized the stern of
the good ship that had brought Protesilaus to Troy, but never
bore him back to his native land. Round this ship there raged a
close hand-to-hand fight between Danaans and Trojans. They did
not fight at a distance with bows and javelins, but with one mind
hacked at one another in close combat with their mighty swords
and spears pointed at both ends; they fought moreover with keen
battle-axes and with hatchets. Many a good stout blade hilted and
scabbarded with iron, fell from hand or shoulder as they fought,
and the earth ran red with blood. Hector, when he had seized the
ship, would not loose his hold but held on to its curved stern
and shouted to the Trojans, “Bring fire, and raise the battle-cry
all of you with a single voice. Now has Jove vouchsafed us a day
that will pay us for all the rest; this day we shall take the
ships which came hither against heaven’s will, and which have
caused us such infinite suffering through the cowardice of our
councillors, who when I would have done battle at the ships held
me back and forbade the host to follow me; if Jove did then
indeed warp our judgements, himself now commands me and cheers me
on.”
As he spoke thus the Trojans sprang yet more fiercely on the
Achaeans, and Ajax no longer held his ground, for he was overcome
by the darts that were flung at him, and made sure that he was
doomed. Therefore he left the raised deck at the stern, and
stepped back on to the seven-foot bench of the oarsmen. Here he
stood on the look-out, and with his spear held back any Trojan
whom he saw bringing fire to the ships. All the time he kept on
shouting at the top of his voice and exhorting the Danaans. “My
friends,” he cried, “Danaan heroes, servants of Mars, be men my
friends, and fight with might and with main. Can we hope to find
helpers hereafter, or a wall to shield us more surely than the
one we have? There is no strong city within reach, whence we may
draw fresh forces to turn the scales in our favour. We are on the
plain of the armed Trojans with the sea behind us, and far from
our own country. Our salvation, therefore, is in the might of our
hands and in hard fighting.”
As he spoke he wielded his spear with still greater fury, and
when any Trojan made towards the ships with fire at Hector’s
bidding, he would be on the look-out for him, and drive at him
with his long spear. Twelve men did he thus kill in hand-to-hand
fight before the ships.
BOOK XVI.
Fire being now thrown on the ship of Protesilaus, Patroclus
fights in the armour of Achilles—He drives the Trojans back, but
is in the end killed by Euphorbus and Hector.
Thus did they fight about the ship of Protesilaus. Then Patroclus
drew near to Achilles with tears welling from his eyes, as from
some spring whose crystal stream falls over the ledges of a high
precipice. When Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for
him and said, “Why, Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like
some silly child that comes running to her mother, and begs to be
taken up and carried—she catches hold of her mother’s dress to
stay her though she is in a hurry, and looks tearfully up until
her mother carries her—even such tears, Patroclus, are you now
shedding. Have you anything to say to the Myrmidons or to myself?
or have you had news from Phthia which you alone know? They tell
me Menoetius son of Actor is still alive, as also Peleus son of
Aeacus, among the Myrmidons—men whose loss we two should bitterly
deplore; or are you grieving about the Argives and the way in
which they are being killed at the ships, through their own
high-handed doings? Do not hide anything from me but tell me that
both of us may know about it.”
Then, O knight Patroclus, with a deep sigh you answered,
“Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, do
not be angry, but I weep for the disaster that has now befallen
the Argives. All those who have been their champions so far are
lying at the ships, wounded by sword or spear. Brave Diomed son
of Tydeus has been hit with a spear, while famed Ulysses and
Agamemnon have received sword-wounds; Eurypylus again has been
struck with an arrow in the thigh; skilled apothecaries are
attending to these heroes, and healing them of their wounds; are
you still, O Achilles, so inexorable? May it never be my lot to
nurse such a passion as you have done, to the baning of your own
good name. Who in future story will speak well of you unless you
now save the Argives from ruin? You know no pity; knight Peleus
was not your father nor Thetis your mother, but the grey sea bore
you and the sheer cliffs begot you, so cruel and remorseless are
you. If however you are kept back through knowledge of some
oracle, or if your mother Thetis has told you something from the
mouth of Jove, at least send me and the Myrmidons with me, if I
may bring deliverance to the Danaans. Let me moreover wear your
armour; the Trojans may thus mistake me for you and quit the
field, so that the hard-pressed sons of the Achaeans may have
breathing time—which while they are fighting may hardly be. We
who are fresh might soon drive tired men back from our ships and
tents to their own city.”
He knew not what he was asking, nor that he was suing for his own
destruction. Achilles was deeply moved and answered, “What, noble
Patroclus, are you saying? I know no prophesyings which I am
heeding, nor has my mother told me anything from the mouth of
Jove, but I am cut to the very heart that one of my own rank
should dare to rob me because he is more powerful than I am.
This, after all that I have gone through, is more than I can
endure. The girl whom the sons of the Achaeans chose for me, whom
I won as the fruit of my spear on having sacked a city—her has
King Agamemnon taken from me as though I were some common
vagrant. Still, let bygones be bygones: no man may keep his anger
for ever; I said I would not relent till battle and the cry of
war had reached my own ships; nevertheless, now gird my armour
about your shoulders, and lead the Myrmidons to battle, for the
dark cloud of Trojans has burst furiously over our fleet; the
Argives are driven back on to the beach, cooped within a narrow
space, and the whole people of Troy has taken heart to sally out
against them, because they see not the visor of my helmet
gleaming near them. Had they seen this, there would not have been
a creek nor grip that had not been filled with their dead as they
fled back again. And so it would have been, if only King
Agamemnon had dealt fairly by me. As it is the Trojans have beset
our host. Diomed son of Tydeus no longer wields his spear to
defend the Danaans, neither have I heard the voice of the son of
Atreus coming from his hated head, whereas that of murderous
Hector rings in my cars as he gives orders to the Trojans, who
triumph over the Achaeans and fill the whole plain with their cry
of battle. But even so, Patroclus, fall upon them and save the
fleet, lest the Trojans fire it and prevent us from being able to
return. Do, however, as I now bid you, that you may win me great
honour from all the Danaans, and that they may restore the girl
to me again and give me rich gifts into the bargain. When you
have driven the Trojans from the ships, come back again. Though
Juno’s thundering husband should put triumph within your reach,
do not fight the Trojans further in my absence, or you will rob
me of glory that should be mine. And do not for lust of battle go
on killing the Trojans nor lead the Achaeans on to Ilius, lest
one of the ever-living gods from Olympus attack you—for Phoebus
Apollo loves them well: return when you have freed the ships from
peril, and let others wage war upon the plain. Would, by father
Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, that not a single man of all the
Trojans might be left alive, nor yet of the Argives, but that we
two might be alone left to tear aside the mantle that veils the
brow of Troy.”
Thus did they converse. But Ajax could no longer hold his ground
for the shower of darts that rained upon him; the will of Jove
and the javelins of the Trojans were too much for him; the helmet
that gleamed about his temples rang with the continuous clatter
of the missiles that kept pouring on to it and on to the
cheek-pieces that protected his face. Moreover his left shoulder
was tired with having held his shield so long, yet for all this,
let fly at him as they would, they could not make him give
ground. He could hardly draw his breath, the sweat rained from
every pore of his body, he had not a moment’s respite, and on all
sides he was beset by danger upon danger.
And now, tell me, O Muses that hold your mansions on Olympus, how
fire was thrown upon the ships of the Achaeans. Hector came close
up and let drive with his great sword at the ashen spear of Ajax.
He cut it clean in two just behind where the point was fastened
on to the shaft of the spear. Ajax, therefore, had now nothing
but a headless spear, while the bronze point flew some way off
and came ringing down on to the ground. Ajax knew the hand of
heaven in this, and was dismayed at seeing that Jove had now left
him utterly defenceless and was willing victory for the Trojans.
Therefore he drew back, and the Trojans flung fire upon the ship
which was at once wrapped in flame.
The fire was now flaring about the ship’s stern, whereon Achilles
smote his two thighs and said to Patroclus, “Up, noble knight,
for I see the glare of hostile fire at our fleet; up, lest they
destroy our ships, and there be no way by which we may retreat.
Gird on your armour at once while I call our people together.”
As he spoke Patroclus put on his armour. First he greaved his
legs with greaves of good make, and fitted with ancle-clasps of
silver; after this he donned the cuirass of the son of Aeacus,
richly inlaid and studded. He hung his silver-studded sword of
bronze about his shoulders, and then his mighty shield. On his
comely head he set his helmet, well wrought, with a crest of
horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it. He grasped two
redoubtable spears that suited his hands, but he did not take the
spear of noble Achilles, so stout and strong, for none other of
the Achaeans could wield it, though Achilles could do so easily.
This was the ashen spear from Mount Pelion, which Chiron had cut
upon a mountain top and had given to Peleus, wherewith to deal
out death among heroes. He bade Automedon yoke his horses with
all speed, for he was the man whom he held in honour next after
Achilles, and on whose support in battle he could rely most
firmly. Automedon therefore yoked the fleet horses Xanthus and
Balius, steeds that could fly like the wind: these were they whom
the harpy Podarge bore to the west wind, as she was grazing in a
meadow by the waters of the river Oceanus. In the side traces he
set the noble horse Pedasus, whom Achilles had brought away with
him when he sacked the city of Eetion, and who, mortal steed
though he was, could take his place along with those that were
immortal.
Meanwhile Achilles went about everywhere among the tents, and
bade his Myrmidons put on their armour. Even as fierce ravening
wolves that are feasting upon a homed stag which they have killed
upon the mountains, and their jaws are red with blood—they go in
a pack to lap water from the clear spring with their long thin
tongues; and they reek of blood and slaughter; they know not what
fear is, for it is hunger drives them—even so did the leaders and
counsellors of the Myrmidons gather round the good squire of the
fleet descendant of Aeacus, and among them stood Achilles himself
cheering on both men and horses.
Fifty ships had noble Achilles brought to Troy, and in each there
was a crew of fifty oarsmen. Over these he set five captains whom
he could trust, while he was himself commander over them all.
Menesthius of the gleaming corslet, son to the river Spercheius
that streams from heaven, was captain of the first company. Fair
Polydora daughter of Peleus bore him to ever-flowing Spercheius—a
woman mated with a god—but he was called son of Borus son of
Perieres, with whom his mother was living as his wedded wife, and
who gave great wealth to gain her. The second company was led by
noble Eudorus, son to an unwedded woman. Polymele, daughter of
Phylas the graceful dancer, bore him; the mighty slayer of Argos
was enamoured of her as he saw her among the singing women at a
dance held in honour of Diana the rushing huntress of the golden
arrows; he therefore—Mercury, giver of all good—went with her
into an upper chamber, and lay with her in secret, whereon she
bore him a noble son Eudorus, singularly fleet of foot and in
fight valiant. When Ilithuia goddess of the pains of child-birth
brought him to the light of day, and he saw the face of the sun,
mighty Echecles son of Actor took the mother to wife, and gave
great wealth to gain her, but her father Phylas brought the child
up, and took care of him, doting as fondly upon him as though he
were his own son. The third company was led by Pisander son of
Maemalus, the finest spearman among all the Myrmidons next to
Achilles’ own comrade Patroclus. The old knight Phoenix was
captain of the fourth company, and Alcimedon, noble son of
Laerceus of the fifth.
When Achilles had chosen his men and had stationed them all with
their captains, he charged them straitly saying, “Myrmidons,
remember your threats against the Trojans while you were at the
ships in the time of my anger, and you were all complaining of
me. ‘Cruel son of Peleus,’ you would say, ‘your mother must have
suckled you on gall, so ruthless are you. You keep us here at the
ships against our will; if you are so relentless it were better
we went home over the sea.’ Often have you gathered and thus
chided with me. The hour is now come for those high feats of arms
that you have so long been pining for, therefore keep high hearts
each one of you to do battle with the Trojans.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they
serried their companies yet more closely when they heard the
words of their king. As the stones which a builder sets in the
wall of some high house which is to give shelter from the
winds—even so closely were the helmets and bossed shields set
against one another. Shield pressed on shield, helm on helm, and
man on man; so close were they that the horse-hair plumes on the
gleaming ridges of their helmets touched each other as they bent
their heads.
In front of them all two men put on their armour—Patroclus and
Automedon—two men, with but one mind to lead the Myrmidons. Then
Achilles went inside his tent and opened the lid of the strong
chest which silver-footed Thetis had given him to take on board
ship, and which she had filled with shirts, cloaks to keep out
the cold, and good thick rugs. In this chest he had a cup of rare
workmanship, from which no man but himself might drink, nor would
he make offering from it to any other god save only to father
Jove. He took the cup from the chest and cleansed it with
sulphur; this done he rinsed it clean water, and after he had
washed his hands he drew wine. Then he stood in the middle of the
court and prayed, looking towards heaven, and making his
drink-offering of wine; nor was he unseen of Jove whose joy is in
thunder. “King Jove,” he cried, “lord of Dodona, god of the
Pelasgi, who dwellest afar, you who hold wintry Dodona in your
sway, where your prophets the Selli dwell around you with their
feet unwashed and their couches made upon the ground—if you heard
me when I prayed to you aforetime, and did me honour while you
sent disaster on the Achaeans, vouchsafe me now the fulfilment of
yet this further prayer. I shall stay here where my ships are
lying, but I shall send my comrade into battle at the head of
many Myrmidons. Grant, O all-seeing Jove, that victory may go
with him; put your courage into his heart that Hector may learn
whether my squire is man enough to fight alone, or whether his
might is only then so indomitable when I myself enter the turmoil
of war. Afterwards when he has chased the fight and the cry of
battle from the ships, grant that he may return unharmed, with
his armour and his comrades, fighters in close combat.”
Thus did he pray, and all-counselling Jove heard his prayer. Part
of it he did indeed vouchsafe him—but not the whole. He granted
that Patroclus should thrust back war and battle from the ships,
but refused to let him come safely out of the fight.
When he had made his drink-offering and had thus prayed, Achilles
went inside his tent and put back the cup into his chest.
Then he again came out, for he still loved to look upon the
fierce fight that raged between the Trojans and Achaeans.
Meanwhile the armed band that was about Patroclus marched on till
they sprang high in hope upon the Trojans. They came swarming out
like wasps whose nests are by the roadside, and whom silly
children love to tease, whereon any one who happens to be passing
may get stung—or again, if a wayfarer going along the road vexes
them by accident, every wasp will come flying out in a fury to
defend his little ones—even with such rage and courage did the
Myrmidons swarm from their ships, and their cry of battle rose
heavenwards. Patroclus called out to his men at the top of his
voice, “Myrmidons, followers of Achilles son of Peleus, be men my
friends, fight with might and with main, that we may win glory
for the son of Peleus, who is far the foremost man at the ships
of the Argives—he, and his close fighting followers. The son of
Atreus King Agamemnon will thus learn his folly in showing no
respect to the bravest of the Achaeans.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they
fell in a body upon the Trojans. The ships rang again with the
cry which the Achaeans raised, and when the Trojans saw the brave
son of Menoetius and his squire all gleaming in their armour,
they were daunted and their battalions were thrown into
confusion, for they thought the fleet son of Peleus must now have
put aside his anger, and have been reconciled to Agamemnon; every
one, therefore, looked round about to see whither he might fly
for safety.
Patroclus first aimed a spear into the middle of the press where
men were packed most closely, by the stern of the ship of
Protesilaus. He hit Pyraechmes who had led his Paeonian horsemen
from the Amydon and the broad waters of the river Axius; the
spear struck him on the right shoulder, and with a groan he fell
backwards in the dust; on this his men were thrown into
confusion, for by killing their leader, who was the finest
soldier among them, Patroclus struck panic into them all. He thus
drove them from the ship and quenched the fire that was then
blazing—leaving the half-burnt ship to lie where it was. The
Trojans were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies,
while the Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting
also without ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the
thunder-cloud, spreads a dense canopy on the top of some lofty
mountain, and all the peaks, the jutting headlands, and forest
glades show out in the great light that flashes from the bursting
heavens, even so when the Danaans had now driven back the fire
from their ships, they took breath for a little while; but the
fury of the fight was not yet over, for the Trojans were not
driven back in utter rout, but still gave battle, and were ousted
from their ground only by sheer fighting.
The fight then became more scattered, and the chieftains killed
one another when and how they could. The valiant son of Menoetius
first drove his spear into the thigh of Areilycus just as he was
turning round; the point went clean through, and broke the bone
so that he fell forward. Meanwhile Menelaus struck Thoas in the
chest, where it was exposed near the rim of his shield, and he
fell dead. The son of Phyleus saw Amphiclus about to attack him,
and ere he could do so took aim at the upper part of his thigh,
where the muscles are thicker than in any other part; the spear
tore through all the sinews of the leg, and his eyes were closed
in darkness. Of the sons of Nestor one, Antilochus, speared
Atymnius, driving the point of the spear through his throat, and
down he fell. Maris then sprang on Antilochus in hand-to-hand
fight to avenge his brother, and bestrode the body spear in hand;
but valiant Thrasymedes was too quick for him, and in a moment
had struck him in the shoulder ere he could deal his blow; his
aim was true, and the spear severed all the muscles at the root
of his arm, and tore them right down to the bone, so he fell
heavily to the ground and his eyes were closed in darkness. Thus
did these two noble comrades of Sarpedon go down to Erebus slain
by the two sons of Nestor; they were the warrior sons of
Amisodorus, who had reared the invincible Chimaera, to the bane
of many. Ajax son of Oileus sprang on Cleobulus and took him
alive as he was entangled in the crush; but he killed him then
and there by a sword-blow on the neck. The sword reeked with his
blood, while dark death and the strong hand of fate gripped him
and closed his eyes.
Peneleos and Lycon now met in close fight, for they had missed
each other with their spears. They had both thrown without
effect, so now they drew their swords. Lycon struck the plumed
crest of Peneleos’ helmet but his sword broke at the hilt, while
Peneleos smote Lycon on the neck under the ear. The blade sank so
deep that the head was held on by nothing but the skin, and there
was no more life left in him. Meriones gave chase to Acamas on
foot and caught him up just as he was about to mount his chariot;
he drove a spear through his right shoulder so that he fell
headlong from the car, and his eyes were closed in darkness.
Idomeneus speared Erymas in the mouth; the bronze point of the
spear went clean through it beneath the brain, crashing in among
the white bones and smashing them up. His teeth were all of them
knocked out and the blood came gushing in a stream from both his
eyes; it also came gurgling up from his mouth and nostrils, and
the darkness of death enfolded him round about.
Thus did these chieftains of the Danaans each of them kill his
man. As ravening wolves seize on kids or lambs, fastening on them
when they are alone on the hillsides and have strayed from the
main flock through the carelessness of the shepherd—and when the
wolves see this they pounce upon them at once because they cannot
defend themselves—even so did the Danaans now fall on the
Trojans, who fled with ill-omened cries in their panic and had no
more fight left in them.
Meanwhile great Ajax kept on trying to drive a spear into Hector,
but Hector was so skilful that he held his broad shoulders well
under cover of his ox-hide shield, ever on the look-out for the
whizzing of the arrows and the heavy thud of the spears. He well
knew that the fortunes of the day had changed, but still stood
his ground and tried to protect his comrades.
As when a cloud goes up into heaven from Olympus, rising out of a
clear sky when Jove is brewing a gale—even with such panic
stricken rout did the Trojans now fly, and there was no order in
their going. Hector’s fleet horses bore him and his armour out of
the fight, and he left the Trojan host penned in by the deep
trench against their will. Many a yoke of horses snapped the pole
of their chariots in the trench and left their master’s car
behind them. Patroclus gave chase, calling impetuously on the
Danaans and full of fury against the Trojans, who, being now no
longer in a body, filled all the ways with their cries of panic
and rout; the air was darkened with the clouds of dust they
raised, and the horses strained every nerve in their flight from
the tents and ships towards the city.
Patroclus kept on heading his horses wherever he saw most men
flying in confusion, cheering on his men the while. Chariots were
being smashed in all directions, and many a man came tumbling
down from his own car to fall beneath the wheels of that of
Patroclus, whose immortal steeds, given by the gods to Peleus,
sprang over the trench at a bound as they sped onward. He was
intent on trying to get near Hector, for he had set his heart on
spearing him, but Hector’s horses were now hurrying him away. As
the whole dark earth bows before some tempest on an autumn day
when Jove rains his hardest to punish men for giving crooked
judgement in their courts, and driving justice therefrom without
heed to the decrees of heaven—all the rivers run full and the
torrents tear many a new channel as they roar headlong from the
mountains to the dark sea, and it fares ill with the works of
men—even such was the stress and strain of the Trojan horses in
their flight.
Patroclus now cut off the battalions that were nearest to him and
drove them back to the ships. They were doing their best to reach
the city, but he would not let them, and bore down on them
between the river and the ships and wall. Many a fallen comrade
did he then avenge. First he hit Pronous with a spear on the
chest where it was exposed near the rim of his shield, and he
fell heavily to the ground. Next he sprang on Thestor son of
Enops, who was sitting all huddled up in his chariot, for he had
lost his head and the reins had been torn out of his hands.
Patroclus went up to him and drove a spear into his right jaw; he
thus hooked him by the teeth and the spear pulled him over the
rim of his car, as one who sits at the end of some jutting rock
and draws a strong fish out of the sea with a hook and a
line—even so with his spear did he pull Thestor all gaping from
his chariot; he then threw him down on his face and he died while
falling. On this, as Erylaus was on coming to attack him, he
struck him full on the head with a stone, and his brains were all
battered inside his helmet, whereon he fell headlong to the
ground and the pangs of death took hold upon him. Then he laid
low, one after the other, Erymas, Amphoterus, Epaltes,
Tlepolemus, Echius son of Damastor, Pyris, Ipheus, Euippus and
Polymelus son of Argeas.
Now when Sarpedon saw his comrades, men who wore ungirdled
tunics, being overcome by Patroclus son of Menoetius, he rebuked
the Lycians saying. “Shame on you, where are you flying to? Show
your mettle; I will myself meet this man in fight and learn who
it is that is so masterful; he has done us much hurt, and has
stretched many a brave man upon the ground.”
He sprang from his chariot as he spoke, and Patroclus, when he
saw this, leaped on to the ground also. The two then rushed at
one another with loud cries like eagle-beaked crook-taloned
vultures that scream and tear at one another in some high
mountain fastness.
The son of scheming Saturn looked down upon them in pity and said
to Juno who was his wife and sister, “Alas, that it should be the
lot of Sarpedon whom I love so dearly to perish by the hand of
Patroclus. I am in two minds whether to catch him up out of the
fight and set him down safe and sound in the fertile land of
Lycia, or to let him now fall by the hand of the son of
Menoetius.”
And Juno answered, “Most dread son of Saturn, what is this that
you are saying? Would you snatch a mortal man, whose doom has
long been fated, out of the jaws of death? Do as you will, but we
shall not all of us be of your mind. I say further, and lay my
saying to your heart, that if you send Sarpedon safely to his own
home, some other of the gods will be also wanting to escort his
son out of battle, for there are many sons of gods fighting round
the city of Troy, and you will make every one jealous. If,
however, you are fond of him and pity him, let him indeed fall by
the hand of Patroclus, but as soon as the life is gone out of
him, send Death and sweet Sleep to bear him off the field and
take him to the broad lands of Lycia, where his brothers and his
kinsmen will bury him with mound and pillar, in due honour to the
dead.”
The sire of gods and men assented, but he shed a rain of blood
upon the earth in honour of his son whom Patroclus was about to
kill on the rich plain of Troy far from his home.
When they were now come close to one another Patroclus struck
Thrasydemus, the brave squire of Sarpedon, in the lower part of
the belly, and killed him. Sarpedon then aimed a spear at
Patroclus and missed him, but he struck the horse Pedasus in the
right shoulder, and it screamed aloud as it lay, groaning in the
dust until the life went out of it. The other two horses began to
plunge; the pole of the chariot cracked and they got entangled in
the reins through the fall of the horse that was yoked along with
them; but Automedon knew what to do; without the loss of a moment
he drew the keen blade that hung by his sturdy thigh and cut the
third horse adrift; whereon the other two righted themselves, and
pulling hard at the reins again went together into battle.
Sarpedon now took a second aim at Patroclus, and again missed
him, the point of the spear passed over his left shoulder without
hitting him. Patroclus then aimed in his turn, and the spear sped
not from his hand in vain, for he hit Sarpedon just where the
midriff surrounds the ever-beating heart. He fell like some oak
or silver poplar or tall pine to which woodmen have laid their
axes upon the mountains to make timber for ship-building—even so
did he lie stretched at full length in front of his chariot and
horses, moaning and clutching at the blood-stained dust. As when
a lion springs with a bound upon a herd of cattle and fastens on
a great black bull which dies bellowing in its clutches—even so
did the leader of the Lycian warriors struggle in death as he
fell by the hand of Patroclus. He called on his trusty comrade
and said, “Glaucus, my brother, hero among heroes, put forth all
your strength, fight with might and main, now if ever quit
yourself like a valiant soldier. First go about among the Lycian
captains and bid them fight for Sarpedon; then yourself also do
battle to save my armour from being taken. My name will haunt you
henceforth and for ever if the Achaeans rob me of my armour now
that I have fallen at their ships. Do your very utmost and call
all my people together.”
Death closed his eyes as he spoke. Patroclus planted his heel on
his breast and drew the spear from his body, whereon his senses
came out along with it, and he drew out both spear-point and
Sarpedon’s soul at the same time. Hard by the Myrmidons held his
snorting steeds, who were wild with panic at finding themselves
deserted by their lords.
Glaucus was overcome with grief when he heard what Sarpedon said,
for he could not help him. He had to support his arm with his
other hand, being in great pain through the wound which Teucer’s
arrow had given him when Teucer was defending the wall as he,
Glaucus, was assailing it. Therefore he prayed to far-darting
Apollo saying, “Hear me O king from your seat, may be in the rich
land of Lycia, or may be in Troy, for in all places you can hear
the prayer of one who is in distress, as I now am. I have a
grievous wound; my hand is aching with pain, there is no
staunching the blood, and my whole arm drags by reason of my
hurt, so that I cannot grasp my sword nor go among my foes and
fight them, though our prince, Jove’s son Sarpedon, is slain.
Jove defended not his son, do you, therefore, O king, heal me of
my wound, ease my pain and grant me strength both to cheer on the
Lycians and to fight along with them round the body of him who
has fallen.”
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He eased his pain,
staunched the black blood from the wound, and gave him new
strength. Glaucus perceived this, and was thankful that the
mighty god had answered his prayer; forthwith, therefore, he went
among the Lycian captains, and bade them come to fight about the
body of Sarpedon. From these he strode on among the Trojans to
Polydamas son of Panthous and Agenor; he then went in search of
Aeneas and Hector, and when he had found them he said, “Hector,
you have utterly forgotten your allies, who languish here for
your sake far from friends and home while you do nothing to
support them. Sarpedon leader of the Lycian warriors has
fallen—he who was at once the right and might of Lycia; Mars has
laid him low by the spear of Patroclus. Stand by him, my friends,
and suffer not the Myrmidons to strip him of his armour, nor to
treat his body with contumely in revenge for all the Danaans whom
we have speared at the ships.”
As he spoke the Trojans were plunged in extreme and ungovernable
grief; for Sarpedon, alien though he was, had been one of the
main stays of their city, both as having much people with him,
and himself the foremost among them all. Led by Hector, who was
infuriated by the fall of Sarpedon, they made instantly for the
Danaans with all their might, while the undaunted spirit of
Patroclus son of Menoetius cheered on the Achaeans. First he
spoke to the two Ajaxes, men who needed no bidding. “Ajaxes,”
said he, “may it now please you to show yourselves the men you
have always been, or even better—Sarpedon is fallen—he who was
first to overleap the wall of the Achaeans; let us take the body
and outrage it; let us strip the armour from his shoulders, and
kill his comrades if they try to rescue his body.”
He spoke to men who of themselves were full eager; both sides,
therefore, the Trojans and Lycians on the one hand, and the
Myrmidons and Achaeans on the other, strengthened their
battalions, and fought desperately about the body of Sarpedon,
shouting fiercely the while. Mighty was the din of their armour
as they came together, and Jove shed a thick darkness over the
fight, to increase the toil of the battle over the body of his
son.
At first the Trojans made some headway against the Achaeans, for
one of the best men among the Myrmidons was killed, Epeigeus, son
of noble Agacles who had erewhile been king in the good city of
Budeum; but presently, having killed a valiant kinsman of his
own, he took refuge with Peleus and Thetis, who sent him to Ilius
the land of noble steeds to fight the Trojans under Achilles.
Hector now struck him on the head with a stone just as he had
caught hold of the body, and his brains inside his helmet were
all battered in, so that he fell face foremost upon the body of
Sarpedon, and there died. Patroclus was enraged by the death of
his comrade, and sped through the front ranks as swiftly as a
hawk that swoops down on a flock of daws or starlings. Even so
swiftly, O noble knight Patroclus, did you make straight for the
Lycians and Trojans to avenge your comrade. Forthwith he struck
Sthenelaus the son of Ithaemenes on the neck with a stone, and
broke the tendons that join it to the head and spine. On this
Hector and the front rank of his men gave ground. As far as a man
can throw a javelin when competing for some prize, or even in
battle—so far did the Trojans now retreat before the Achaeans.
Glaucus, captain of the Lycians, was the first to rally them, by
killing Bathycles son of Chalcon who lived in Hellas and was the
richest man among the Myrmidons. Glaucus turned round suddenly,
just as Bathycles who was pursuing him was about to lay hold of
him, and drove his spear right into the middle of his chest,
whereon he fell heavily to the ground, and the fall of so good a
man filled the Achaeans with dismay, while the Trojans were
exultant, and came up in a body round the corpse. Nevertheless
the Achaeans, mindful of their prowess, bore straight down upon
them.
Meriones then killed a helmed warrior of the Trojans, Laogonus
son of Onetor, who was priest of Jove of Mt. Ida, and was
honoured by the people as though he were a god. Meriones struck
him under the jaw and ear, so that life went out of him and the
darkness of death laid hold upon him. Aeneas then aimed a spear
at Meriones, hoping to hit him under the shield as he was
advancing, but Meriones saw it coming and stooped forward to
avoid it, whereon the spear flew past him and the point stuck in
the ground, while the butt-end went on quivering till Mars robbed
it of its force. The spear, therefore, sped from Aeneas’s hand in
vain and fell quivering to the ground. Aeneas was angry and said,
“Meriones, you are a good dancer, but if I had hit you my spear
would soon have made an end of you.”
And Meriones answered, “Aeneas, for all your bravery, you will
not be able to make an end of every one who comes against you.
You are only a mortal like myself, and if I were to hit you in
the middle of your shield with my spear, however strong and
self-confident you may be, I should soon vanquish you, and you
would yield your life to Hades of the noble steeds.”
On this the son of Menoetius rebuked him and said, “Meriones,
hero though you be, you should not speak thus; taunting speeches,
my good friend, will not make the Trojans draw away from the dead
body; some of them must go under ground first; blows for battle,
and words for council; fight, therefore, and say nothing.”
He led the way as he spoke and the hero went forward with him. As
the sound of woodcutters in some forest glade upon the
mountains—and the thud of their axes is heard afar—even such a
din now rose from earth-clash of bronze armour and of good
ox-hide shields, as men smote each other with their swords and
spears pointed at both ends. A man had need of good eyesight now
to know Sarpedon, so covered was he from head to foot with spears
and blood and dust. Men swarmed about the body, as flies that
buzz round the full milk-pails in spring when they are brimming
with milk—even so did they gather round Sarpedon; nor did Jove
turn his keen eyes away for one moment from the fight, but kept
looking at it all the time, for he was settling how best to kill
Patroclus, and considering whether Hector should be allowed to
end him now in the fight round the body of Sarpedon, and strip
him of his armour, or whether he should let him give yet further
trouble to the Trojans. In the end, he deemed it best that the
brave squire of Achilles son of Peleus should drive Hector and
the Trojans back towards the city and take the lives of many.
First, therefore, he made Hector turn fainthearted, whereon he
mounted his chariot and fled, bidding the other Trojans fly also,
for he saw that the scales of Jove had turned against him.
Neither would the brave Lycians stand firm; they were dismayed
when they saw their king lying struck to the heart amid a heap of
corpses—for when the son of Saturn made the fight wax hot many
had fallen above him. The Achaeans, therefore stripped the
gleaming armour from his shoulders and the brave son of Menoetius
gave it to his men to take to the ships. Then Jove lord of the
storm-cloud said to Apollo, “Dear Phoebus, go, I pray you, and
take Sarpedon out of range of the weapons; cleanse the black
blood from off him, and then bear him a long way off where you
may wash him in the river, anoint him with ambrosia, and clothe
him in immortal raiment; this done, commit him to the arms of the
two fleet messengers, Death, and Sleep, who will carry him
straightway to the rich land of Lycia, where his brothers and
kinsmen will inter him, and will raise both mound and pillar to
his memory, in due honour to the dead.”
Thus he spoke. Apollo obeyed his father’s saying, and came down
from the heights of Ida into the thick of the fight; forthwith he
took Sarpedon out of range of the weapons, and then bore him a
long way off, where he washed him in the river, anointed him with
ambrosia and clothed him in immortal raiment; this done, he
committed him to the arms of the two fleet messengers, Death, and
Sleep, who presently set him down in the rich land of Lycia.
Meanwhile Patroclus, with many a shout to his horses and to
Automedon, pursued the Trojans and Lycians in the pride and
foolishness of his heart. Had he but obeyed the bidding of the
son of Peleus, he would have escaped death and have been
scatheless; but the counsels of Jove pass man’s understanding; he
will put even a brave man to flight and snatch victory from his
grasp, or again he will set him on to fight, as he now did when
he put a high spirit into the heart of Patroclus.
Who then first, and who last, was slain by you, O Patroclus, when
the gods had now called you to meet your doom? First Adrestus,
Autonous, Echeclus, Perimus the son of Megas, Epistor and
Melanippus; after these he killed Elasus, Mulius, and Pylartes.
These he slew, but the rest saved themselves by flight.
The sons of the Achaeans would now have taken Troy by the hands
of Patroclus, for his spear flew in all directions, had not
Phoebus Apollo taken his stand upon the wall to defeat his
purpose and to aid the Trojans. Thrice did Patroclus charge at an
angle of the high wall, and thrice did Apollo beat him back,
striking his shield with his own immortal hands. When Patroclus
was coming on like a god for yet a fourth time, Apollo shouted to
him with an awful voice and said, “Draw back, noble Patroclus, it
is not your lot to sack the city of the Trojan chieftains, nor
yet will it be that of Achilles who is a far better man than you
are.” On hearing this, Patroclus withdrew to some distance and
avoided the anger of Apollo.
Meanwhile Hector was waiting with his horses inside the Scaean
gates, in doubt whether to drive out again and go on fighting, or
to call the army inside the gates. As he was thus doubting
Phoebus Apollo drew near him in the likeness of a young and lusty
warrior Asius, who was Hector’s uncle, being own brother to
Hecuba, and son of Dymas who lived in Phrygia by the waters of
the river Sangarius; in his likeness Jove’s son Apollo now spoke
to Hector saying, “Hector, why have you left off fighting? It is
ill done of you. If I were as much better a man than you, as I am
worse, you should soon rue your slackness. Drive straight towards
Patroclus, if so be that Apollo may grant you a triumph over him,
and you may rule him.”
With this the god went back into the hurly-burly, and Hector bade
Cebriones drive again into the fight. Apollo passed in among
them, and struck panic into the Argives, while he gave triumph to
Hector and the Trojans. Hector let the other Danaans alone and
killed no man, but drove straight at Patroclus. Patroclus then
sprang from his chariot to the ground, with a spear in his left
hand, and in his right a jagged stone as large as his hand could
hold. He stood still and threw it, nor did it go far without
hitting some one; the cast was not in vain, for the stone struck
Cebriones, Hector’s charioteer, a bastard son of Priam, as he
held the reins in his hands. The stone hit him on the forehead
and drove his brows into his head for the bone was smashed, and
his eyes fell to the ground at his feet. He dropped dead from his
chariot as though he were diving, and there was no more life left
in him. Over him did you then vaunt, O knight Patroclus, saying,
“Bless my heart, how active he is, and how well he dives. If we
had been at sea this fellow would have dived from the ship’s side
and brought up as many oysters as the whole crew could stomach,
even in rough water, for he has dived beautifully off his chariot
on to the ground. It seems, then, that there are divers also
among the Trojans.”
As he spoke he flung himself on Cebriones with the spring, as it
were, of a lion that while attacking a stockyard is himself
struck in the chest, and his courage is his own bane—even so
furiously, O Patroclus, did you then spring upon Cebriones.
Hector sprang also from his chariot to the ground. The pair then
fought over the body of Cebriones. As two lions fight fiercely on
some high mountain over the body of a stag that they have killed,
even so did these two mighty warriors, Patroclus son of Menoetius
and brave Hector, hack and hew at one another over the corpse of
Cebriones. Hector would not let him go when he had once got him
by the head, while Patroclus kept fast hold of his feet, and a
fierce fight raged between the other Danaans and Trojans. As the
east and south wind buffet one another when they beat upon some
dense forest on the mountains—there is beech and ash and
spreading cornel; the top of the trees roar as they beat on one
another, and one can hear the boughs cracking and breaking—even
so did the Trojans and Achaeans spring upon one another and lay
about each other, and neither side would give way. Many a pointed
spear fell to ground and many a winged arrow sped from its
bow-string about the body of Cebriones; many a great stone,
moreover, beat on many a shield as they fought around his body,
but there he lay in the whirling clouds of dust, all huge and
hugely, heedless of his driving now.
So long as the sun was still high in mid-heaven the weapons of
either side were alike deadly, and the people fell; but when he
went down towards the time when men loose their oxen, the
Achaeans proved to be beyond all forecast stronger, so that they
drew Cebriones out of range of the darts and tumult of the
Trojans, and stripped the armour from his shoulders. Then
Patroclus sprang like Mars with fierce intent and a terrific
shout upon the Trojans, and thrice did he kill nine men; but as
he was coming on like a god for a time, then, O Patroclus, was
the hour of your end approaching, for Phoebus fought you in fell
earnest. Patroclus did not see him as he moved about in the
crush, for he was enshrouded in thick darkness, and the god
struck him from behind on his back and his broad shoulders with
the flat of his hand, so that his eyes turned dizzy. Phoebus
Apollo beat the helmet from off his head, and it rolled rattling
off under the horses’ feet, where its horse-hair plumes were all
begrimed with dust and blood. Never indeed had that helmet fared
so before, for it had served to protect the head and comely
forehead of the godlike hero Achilles. Now, however, Zeus
delivered it over to be worn by Hector. Nevertheless the end of
Hector also was near. The bronze-shod spear, so great and so
strong, was broken in the hand of Patroclus, while his shield
that covered him from head to foot fell to the ground as did also
the band that held it, and Apollo undid the fastenings of his
corslet.
On this his mind became clouded; his limbs failed him, and he
stood as one dazed; whereon Euphorbus son of Panthous a
Dardanian, the best spearman of his time, as also the finest
horseman and fleetest runner, came behind him and struck him in
the back with a spear, midway between the shoulders. This man as
soon as ever he had come up with his chariot had dismounted
twenty men, so proficient was he in all the arts of war—he it
was, O knight Patroclus, that first drove a weapon into you, but
he did not quite overpower you. Euphorbus then ran back into the
crowd, after drawing his ashen spear out of the wound; he would
not stand firm and wait for Patroclus, unarmed though he now was,
to attack him; but Patroclus unnerved, alike by the blow the god
had given him and by the spear-wound, drew back under cover of
his men in fear for his life. Hector on this, seeing him to be
wounded and giving ground, forced his way through the ranks, and
when close up with him struck him in the lower part of the belly
with a spear, driving the bronze point right through it, so that
he fell heavily to the ground to the great grief of the Achaeans.
As when a lion has fought some fierce wild-boar and worsted
him—the two fight furiously upon the mountains over some little
fountain at which they would both drink, and the lion has beaten
the boar till he can hardly breathe—even so did Hector son of
Priam take the life of the brave son of Menoetius who had killed
so many, striking him from close at hand, and vaunting over him
the while. “Patroclus,” said he, “you deemed that you should sack
our city, rob our Trojan women of their freedom, and carry them
off in your ships to your own country. Fool; Hector and his fleet
horses were ever straining their utmost to defend them. I am
foremost of all the Trojan warriors to stave the day of bondage
from off them; as for you, vultures shall devour you here. Poor
wretch, Achilles with all his bravery availed you nothing; and
yet I ween when you left him he charged you straitly saying,
‘Come not back to the ships, knight Patroclus, till you have rent
the bloodstained shirt of murderous Hector about his body.’ Thus
I ween did he charge you, and your fool’s heart answered him
‘yea’ within you.”
Then, as the life ebbed out of you, you answered, O knight
Patroclus: “Hector, vaunt as you will, for Jove the son of Saturn
and Apollo have vouchsafed you victory; it is they who have
vanquished me so easily, and they who have stripped the armour
from my shoulders; had twenty such men as you attacked me, all of
them would have fallen before my spear. Fate and the son of Leto
have overpowered me, and among mortal men Euphorbus; you are
yourself third only in the killing of me. I say further, and lay
my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little
season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and
they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aeacus.”
When he had thus spoken his eyes were closed in death, his soul
left his body and flitted down to the house of Hades, mourning
its sad fate and bidding farewell to the youth and vigor of its
manhood. Dead though he was, Hector still spoke to him saying,
“Patroclus, why should you thus foretell my doom? Who knows but
Achilles, son of lovely Thetis, may be smitten by my spear and
die before me?”
As he spoke he drew the bronze spear from the wound, planting his
foot upon the body, which he thrust off and let lie on its back.
He then went spear in hand after Automedon, squire of the fleet
descendant of Aeacus, for he longed to lay him low, but the
immortal steeds which the gods had given as a rich gift to Peleus
bore him swiftly from the field.
BOOK XVII.
The fight around the body of Patroclus.
Brave Menelaus son of Atreus now came to know that Patroclus had
fallen, and made his way through the front ranks clad in full
armour to bestride him. As a cow stands lowing over her first
calf, even so did yellow-haired Menelaus bestride Patroclus. He
held his round shield and his spear in front of him, resolute to
kill any who should dare face him. But the son of Panthous had
also noted the body, and came up to Menelaus saying, “Menelaus,
son of Atreus, draw back, leave the body, and let the
bloodstained spoils be. I was first of the Trojans and their
brave allies to drive my spear into Patroclus, let me, therefore,
have my full glory among the Trojans, or I will take aim and kill
you.”
To this Menelaus answered in great anger “By father Jove,
boasting is an ill thing. The pard is not more bold, nor the lion
nor savage wild-boar, which is fiercest and most dauntless of all
creatures, than are the proud sons of Panthous. Yet Hyperenor did
not see out the days of his youth when he made light of me and
withstood me, deeming me the meanest soldier among the Danaans.
His own feet never bore him back to gladden his wife and parents.
Even so shall I make an end of you too, if you withstand me; get
you back into the crowd and do not face me, or it shall be worse
for you. Even a fool may be wise after the event.”
Euphorbus would not listen, and said, “Now indeed, Menelaus,
shall you pay for the death of my brother over whom you vaunted,
and whose wife you widowed in her bridal chamber, while you
brought grief unspeakable on his parents. I shall comfort these
poor people if I bring your head and armour and place them in the
hands of Panthous and noble Phrontis. The time is come when this
matter shall be fought out and settled, for me or against me.”
As he spoke he struck Menelaus full on the shield, but the spear
did not go through, for the shield turned its point. Menelaus
then took aim, praying to father Jove as he did so; Euphorbus was
drawing back, and Menelaus struck him about the roots of his
throat, leaning his whole weight on the spear, so as to drive it
home. The point went clean through his neck, and his armour rang
rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground. His hair
which was like that of the Graces, and his locks so deftly bound
in bands of silver and gold, were all bedrabbled with blood. As
one who has grown a fine young olive tree in a clear space where
there is abundance of water—the plant is full of promise, and
though the winds beat upon it from every quarter it puts forth
its white blossoms till the blasts of some fierce hurricane sweep
down upon it and level it with the ground—even so did Menelaus
strip the fair youth Euphorbus of his armour after he had slain
him. Or as some fierce lion upon the mountains in the pride of
his strength fastens on the finest heifer in a herd as it is
feeding—first he breaks her neck with his strong jaws, and then
gorges on her blood and entrails; dogs and shepherds raise a hue
and cry against him, but they stand aloof and will not come close
to him, for they are pale with fear—even so no one had the
courage to face valiant Menelaus. The son of Atreus would have
then carried off the armour of the son of Panthous with ease, had
not Phoebus Apollo been angry, and in the guise of Mentes chief
of the Cicons incited Hector to attack him. “Hector,” said he,
“you are now going after the horses of the noble son of Aeacus,
but you will not take them; they cannot be kept in hand and
driven by mortal man, save only by Achilles, who is son to an
immortal mother. Meanwhile Menelaus son of Atreus has bestridden
the body of Patroclus and killed the noblest of the Trojans,
Euphorbus son of Panthous, so that he can fight no more.”
The god then went back into the toil and turmoil, but the soul of
Hector was darkened with a cloud of grief; he looked along the
ranks and saw Euphorbus lying on the ground with the blood still
flowing from his wound, and Menelaus stripping him of his armour.
On this he made his way to the front like a flame of fire, clad
in his gleaming armour, and crying with a loud voice. When the
son of Atreus heard him, he said to himself in his dismay, “Alas!
what shall I do? I may not let the Trojans take the armour of
Patroclus who has fallen fighting on my behalf, lest some Danaan
who sees me should cry shame upon me. Still if for my honour’s
sake I fight Hector and the Trojans single-handed, they will
prove too many for me, for Hector is bringing them up in force.
Why, however, should I thus hesitate? When a man fights in
despite of heaven with one whom a god befriends, he will soon rue
it. Let no Danaan think ill of me if I give place to Hector, for
the hand of heaven is with him. Yet, if I could find Ajax, the
two of us would fight Hector and heaven too, if we might only
save the body of Patroclus for Achilles son of Peleus. This, of
many evils would be the least.”
While he was thus in two minds, the Trojans came up to him with
Hector at their head; he therefore drew back and left the body,
turning about like some bearded lion who is being chased by dogs
and men from a stockyard with spears and hue and cry, whereon he
is daunted and slinks sulkily off—even so did Menelaus son of
Atreus turn and leave the body of Patroclus. When among the body
of his men, he looked around for mighty Ajax son of Telamon, and
presently saw him on the extreme left of the fight, cheering on
his men and exhorting them to keep on fighting, for Phoebus
Apollo had spread a great panic among them. He ran up to him and
said, “Ajax, my good friend, come with me at once to dead
Patroclus, if so be that we may take the body to Achilles—as for
his armour, Hector already has it.”
These words stirred the heart of Ajax, and he made his way among
the front ranks, Menelaus going with him. Hector had stripped
Patroclus of his armour, and was dragging him away to cut off his
head and take the body to fling before the dogs of Troy. But Ajax
came up with his shield like wall before him, on which Hector
withdrew under shelter of his men, and sprang on to his chariot,
giving the armour over to the Trojans to take to the city, as a
great trophy for himself; Ajax, therefore, covered the body of
Patroclus with his broad shield and bestrode him; as a lion
stands over his whelps if hunters have come upon him in a forest
when he is with his little ones—in the pride and fierceness of
his strength he draws his knit brows down till they cover his
eyes—even so did Ajax bestride the body of Patroclus, and by his
side stood Menelaus son of Atreus, nursing great sorrow in his
heart.
Then Glaucus son of Hippolochus looked fiercely at Hector and
rebuked him sternly. “Hector,” said he, “you make a brave show,
but in fight you are sadly wanting. A runaway like yourself has
no claim to so great a reputation. Think how you may now save
your town and citadel by the hands of your own people born in
Ilius; for you will get no Lycians to fight for you, seeing what
thanks they have had for their incessant hardships. Are you
likely, sir, to do anything to help a man of less note, after
leaving Sarpedon, who was at once your guest and comrade in arms,
to be the spoil and prey of the Danaans? So long as he lived he
did good service both to your city and yourself; yet you had no
stomach to save his body from the dogs. If the Lycians will
listen to me, they will go home and leave Troy to its fate. If
the Trojans had any of that daring fearless spirit which lays
hold of men who are fighting for their country and harassing
those who would attack it, we should soon bear off Patroclus into
Ilius. Could we get this dead man away and bring him into the
city of Priam, the Argives would readily give up the armour of
Sarpedon, and we should get his body to boot. For he whose squire
has been now killed is the foremost man at the ships of the
Achaeans—he and his close-fighting followers. Nevertheless you
dared not make a stand against Ajax, nor face him, eye to eye,
with battle all round you, for he is a braver man than you are.”
Hector scowled at him and answered, “Glaucus, you should know
better. I have held you so far as a man of more understanding
than any in all Lycia, but now I despise you for saying that I am
afraid of Ajax. I fear neither battle nor the din of chariots,
but Jove’s will is stronger than ours; Jove at one time makes
even a strong man draw back and snatches victory from his grasp,
while at another he will set him on to fight. Come hither then,
my friend, stand by me and see indeed whether I shall play the
coward the whole day through as you say, or whether I shall not
stay some even of the boldest Danaans from fighting round the
body of Patroclus.”
As he spoke he called loudly on the Trojans saying, “Trojans,
Lycians, and Dardanians, fighters in close combat, be men, my
friends, and fight might and main, while I put on the goodly
armour of Achilles, which I took when I killed Patroclus.”
With this Hector left the fight, and ran full speed after his men
who were taking the armour of Achilles to Troy, but had not yet
got far. Standing for a while apart from the woeful fight, he
changed his armour. His own he sent to the strong city of Ilius
and to the Trojans, while he put on the immortal armour of the
son of Peleus, which the gods had given to Peleus, who in his age
gave it to his son; but the son did not grow old in his father’s
armour.
When Jove, lord of the storm-cloud, saw Hector standing aloof and
arming himself in the armour of the son of Peleus, he wagged his
head and muttered to himself saying, “A! poor wretch, you arm in
the armour of a hero, before whom many another trembles, and you
reck nothing of the doom that is already close upon you. You have
killed his comrade so brave and strong, but it was not well that
you should strip the armour from his head and shoulders. I do
indeed endow you with great might now, but as against this you
shall not return from battle to lay the armour of the son of
Peleus before Andromache.”
The son of Saturn bowed his portentous brows, and Hector fitted
the armour to his body, while terrible Mars entered into him, and
filled his whole body with might and valour. With a shout he
strode in among the allies, and his armour flashed about him so
that he seemed to all of them like the great son of Peleus
himself. He went about among them and cheered them on—Mesthles,
Glaucus, Medon, Thersilochus, Asteropaeus, Deisenor and
Hippothous, Phorcys, Chromius and Ennomus the augur. All these
did he exhort saying, “Hear me, allies from other cities who are
here in your thousands, it was not in order to have a crowd about
me that I called you hither each from his several city, but that
with heart and soul you might defend the wives and little ones of
the Trojans from the fierce Achaeans. For this do I oppress my
people with your food and the presents that make you rich.
Therefore turn, and charge at the foe, to stand or fall as is the
game of war; whoever shall bring Patroclus, dead though he be,
into the hands of the Trojans, and shall make Ajax give way
before him, I will give him one half of the spoils while I keep
the other. He will thus share like honour with myself.”
When he had thus spoken they charged full weight upon the Danaans
with their spears held out before them, and the hopes of each ran
high that he should force Ajax son of Telamon to yield up the
body—fools that they were, for he was about to take the lives of
many. Then Ajax said to Menelaus, “My good friend Menelaus, you
and I shall hardly come out of this fight alive. I am less
concerned for the body of Patroclus, who will shortly become meat
for the dogs and vultures of Troy, than for the safety of my own
head and yours. Hector has wrapped us round in a storm of battle
from every quarter, and our destruction seems now certain. Call
then upon the princes of the Danaans if there is any who can hear
us.”
Menelaus did as he said, and shouted to the Danaans for help at
the top of his voice. “My friends,” he cried, “princes and
counsellors of the Argives, all you who with Agamemnon and
Menelaus drink at the public cost, and give orders each to his
own people as Jove vouchsafes him power and glory, the fight is
so thick about me that I cannot distinguish you severally; come
on, therefore, every man unbidden, and think it shame that
Patroclus should become meat and morsel for Trojan hounds.”
Fleet Ajax son of Oileus heard him and was first to force his way
through the fight and run to help him. Next came Idomeneus and
Meriones his esquire, peer of murderous Mars. As for the others
that came into the fight after these, who of his own self could
name them?
The Trojans with Hector at their head charged in a body. As a
great wave that comes thundering in at the mouth of some
heaven-born river, and the rocks that jut into the sea ring with
the roar of the breakers that beat and buffet them—even with such
a roar did the Trojans come on; but the Achaeans in singleness of
heart stood firm about the son of Menoetius, and fenced him with
their bronze shields. Jove, moreover, hid the brightness of their
helmets in a thick cloud, for he had borne no grudge against the
son of Menoetius while he was still alive and squire to the
descendant of Aeacus; therefore he was loth to let him fall a
prey to the dogs of his foes the Trojans, and urged his comrades
on to defend him.
At first the Trojans drove the Achaeans back, and they withdrew
from the dead man daunted. The Trojans did not succeed in killing
any one, nevertheless they drew the body away. But the Achaeans
did not lose it long, for Ajax, foremost of all the Danaans after
the son of Peleus alike in stature and prowess, quickly rallied
them and made towards the front like a wild boar upon the
mountains when he stands at bay in the forest glades and routs
the hounds and lusty youths that have attacked him—even so did
Ajax son of Telamon passing easily in among the phalanxes of the
Trojans, disperse those who had bestridden Patroclus and were
most bent on winning glory by dragging him off to their city. At
this moment Hippothous brave son of the Pelasgian Lethus, in his
zeal for Hector and the Trojans, was dragging the body off by the
foot through the press of the fight, having bound a strap round
the sinews near the ancle; but a mischief soon befell him from
which none of those could save him who would have gladly done so,
for the son of Telamon sprang forward and smote him on his
bronze-cheeked helmet. The plumed headpiece broke about the point
of the weapon, struck at once by the spear and by the strong hand
of Ajax, so that the bloody brain came oozing out through the
crest-socket. His strength then failed him and he let Patroclus’
foot drop from his hand, as he fell full length dead upon the
body; thus he died far from the fertile land of Larissa, and
never repaid his parents the cost of bringing him up, for his
life was cut short early by the spear of mighty Ajax. Hector then
took aim at Ajax with a spear, but he saw it coming and just
managed to avoid it; the spear passed on and struck Schedius son
of noble Iphitus, captain of the Phoceans, who dwelt in famed
Panopeus and reigned over much people; it struck him under the
middle of the collar-bone the bronze point went right through
him, coming out at the bottom of his shoulder-blade, and his
armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Ajax in his turn struck noble Phorcys son of Phaenops in the
middle of the belly as he was bestriding Hippothous, and broke
the plate of his cuirass; whereon the spear tore out his entrails
and he clutched the ground in his palm as he fell to earth.
Hector and those who were in the front rank then gave ground,
while the Argives raised a loud cry of triumph, and drew off the
bodies of Phorcys and Hippothous which they stripped presently of
their armour.
The Trojans would now have been worsted by the brave Achaeans and
driven back to Ilius through their own cowardice, while the
Argives, so great was their courage and endurance, would have
achieved a triumph even against the will of Jove, if Apollo had
not roused Aeneas, in the likeness of Periphas son of Epytus, an
attendant who had grown old in the service of Aeneas’ aged
father, and was at all times devoted to him. In his likeness,
then, Apollo said, “Aeneas, can you not manage, even though
heaven be against us, to save high Ilius? I have known men, whose
numbers, courage, and self-reliance have saved their people in
spite of Jove, whereas in this case he would much rather give
victory to us than to the Danaans, if you would only fight
instead of being so terribly afraid.”
Aeneas knew Apollo when he looked straight at him, and shouted to
Hector saying, “Hector and all other Trojans and allies, shame on
us if we are beaten by the Achaeans and driven back to Ilius
through our own cowardice. A god has just come up to me and told
me that Jove the supreme disposer will be with us. Therefore let
us make for the Danaans, that it may go hard with them ere they
bear away dead Patroclus to the ships.”
As he spoke he sprang out far in front of the others, who then
rallied and again faced the Achaeans. Aeneas speared Leiocritus
son of Arisbas, a valiant follower of Lycomedes, and Lycomedes
was moved with pity as he saw him fall; he therefore went close
up, and speared Apisaon son of Hippasus shepherd of his people in
the liver under the midriff, so that he died; he had come from
fertile Paeonia and was the best man of them all after
Asteropaeus. Asteropaeus flew forward to avenge him and attack
the Danaans, but this might no longer be, inasmuch as those about
Patroclus were well covered by their shields, and held their
spears in front of them, for Ajax had given them strict orders
that no man was either to give ground, or to stand out before the
others, but all were to hold well together about the body and
fight hand to hand. Thus did huge Ajax bid them, and the earth
ran red with blood as the corpses fell thick on one another alike
on the side of the Trojans and allies, and on that of the
Danaans; for these last, too, fought no bloodless fight though
many fewer of them perished, through the care they took to defend
and stand by one another.
Thus did they fight as it were a flaming fire; it seemed as
though it had gone hard even with the sun and moon, for they were
hidden over all that part where the bravest heroes were fighting
about the dead son of Menoetius, whereas the other Danaans and
Achaeans fought at their ease in full daylight with brilliant
sunshine all round them, and there was not a cloud to be seen
neither on plain nor mountain. These last moreover would rest for
a while and leave off fighting, for they were some distance apart
and beyond the range of one another’s weapons, whereas those who
were in the thick of the fray suffered both from battle and
darkness. All the best of them were being worn out by the great
weight of their armour, but the two valiant heroes, Thrasymedes
and Antilochus, had not yet heard of the death of Patroclus, and
believed him to be still alive and leading the van against the
Trojans; they were keeping themselves in reserve against the
death or rout of their own comrades, for so Nestor had ordered
when he sent them from the ships into battle.
Thus through the livelong day did they wage fierce war, and the
sweat of their toil rained ever on their legs under them, and on
their hands and eyes, as they fought over the squire of the fleet
son of Peleus. It was as when a man gives a great ox-hide all
drenched in fat to his men, and bids them stretch it; whereon
they stand round it in a ring and tug till the moisture leaves
it, and the fat soaks in for the many that pull at it, and it is
well stretched—even so did the two sides tug the dead body hither
and thither within the compass of but a little space—the Trojans
steadfastly set on dragging it into Ilius, while the Achaeans
were no less so on taking it to their ships; and fierce was the
fight between them. Not Mars himself the lord of hosts, nor yet
Minerva, even in their fullest fury could make light of such a
battle.
Such fearful turmoil of men and horses did Jove on that day
ordain round the body of Patroclus. Meanwhile Achilles did not
know that he had fallen, for the fight was under the wall of Troy
a long way off the ships. He had no idea, therefore, that
Patroclus was dead, and deemed that he would return alive as soon
as he had gone close up to the gates. He knew that he was not to
sack the city neither with nor without himself, for his mother
had often told him this when he had sat alone with her, and she
had informed him of the counsels of great Jove. Now, however, she
had not told him how great a disaster had befallen him in the
death of the one who was far dearest to him of all his comrades.
The others still kept on charging one another round the body with
their pointed spears and killing each other. Then would one say,
“My friends, we can never again show our faces at the
ships—better, and greatly better, that earth should open and
swallow us here in this place, than that we should let the
Trojans have the triumph of bearing off Patroclus to their city.”
The Trojans also on their part spoke to one another saying,
“Friends, though we fall to a man beside this body, let none
shrink from fighting.” With such words did they exhort each
other. They fought and fought, and an iron clank rose through the
void air to the brazen vault of heaven. The horses of the
descendant of Aeacus stood out of the fight and wept when they
heard that their driver had been laid low by the hand of
murderous Hector. Automedon, valiant son of Diores, lashed them
again and again; many a time did he speak kindly to them, and
many a time did he upbraid them, but they would neither go back
to the ships by the waters of the broad Hellespont, nor yet into
battle among the Achaeans; they stood with their chariot stock
still, as a pillar set over the tomb of some dead man or woman,
and bowed their heads to the ground. Hot tears fell from their
eyes as they mourned the loss of their charioteer, and their
noble manes drooped all wet from under the yokestraps on either
side the yoke.
The son of Saturn saw them and took pity upon their sorrow. He
wagged his head, and muttered to himself, saying, “Poor things,
why did we give you to King Peleus who is a mortal, while you are
yourselves ageless and immortal? Was it that you might share the
sorrows that befall mankind? for of all creatures that live and
move upon the earth there is none so pitiable as he is—still,
Hector son of Priam shall drive neither you nor your chariot. I
will not have it. It is enough that he should have the armour
over which he vaunts so vainly. Furthermore I will give you
strength of heart and limb to bear Automedon safely to the ships
from battle, for I shall let the Trojans triumph still further,
and go on killing till they reach the ships; whereon night shall
fall and darkness overshadow the land.”
As he spoke he breathed heart and strength into the horses so
that they shook the dust from out of their manes, and bore their
chariot swiftly into the fight that raged between Trojans and
Achaeans. Behind them fought Automedon full of sorrow for his
comrade, as a vulture amid a flock of geese. In and out, and here
and there, full speed he dashed amid the throng of the Trojans,
but for all the fury of his pursuit he killed no man, for he
could not wield his spear and keep his horses in hand when alone
in the chariot; at last, however, a comrade, Alcimedon, son of
Laerces son of Haemon caught sight of him and came up behind his
chariot. “Automedon,” said he, “what god has put this folly into
your heart and robbed you of your right mind, that you fight the
Trojans in the front rank single-handed? He who was your comrade
is slain, and Hector plumes himself on being armed in the armour
of the descendant of Aeacus.”
Automedon son of Diores answered, “Alcimedon, there is no one
else who can control and guide the immortal steeds so well as you
can, save only Patroclus—while he was alive—peer of gods in
counsel. Take then the whip and reins, while I go down from the
car and fight.”
Alcimedon sprang on to the chariot, and caught up the whip and
reins, while Automedon leaped from off the car. When Hector saw
him he said to Aeneas who was near him, “Aeneas, counsellor of
the mail-clad Trojans, I see the steeds of the fleet son of
Aeacus come into battle with weak hands to drive them. I am sure,
if you think well, that we might take them; they will not dare
face us if we both attack them.”
The valiant son of Anchises was of the same mind, and the pair
went right on, with their shoulders covered under shields of
tough dry ox-hide, overlaid with much bronze. Chromius and Aretus
went also with them, and their hearts beat high with hope that
they might kill the men and capture the horses—fools that they
were, for they were not to return scatheless from their meeting
with Automedon, who prayed to father Jove and was forthwith
filled with courage and strength abounding. He turned to his
trusty comrade Alcimedon and said, “Alcimedon, keep your horses
so close up that I may feel their breath upon my back; I doubt
that we shall not stay Hector son of Priam till he has killed us
and mounted behind the horses; he will then either spread panic
among the ranks of the Achaeans, or himself be killed among the
foremost.”
On this he cried out to the two Ajaxes and Menelaus, “Ajaxes
captains of the Argives, and Menelaus, give the dead body over to
them that are best able to defend it, and come to the rescue of
us living; for Hector and Aeneas who are the two best men among
the Trojans, are pressing us hard in the full tide of war.
Nevertheless the issue lies on the lap of heaven, I will
therefore hurl my spear and leave the rest to Jove.”
He poised and hurled as he spoke, whereon the spear struck the
round shield of Aretus, and went right through it for the shield
stayed it not, so that it was driven through his belt into the
lower part of his belly. As when some sturdy youth, axe in hand,
deals his blow behind the horns of an ox and severs the tendons
at the back of its neck so that it springs forward and then
drops, even so did Aretus give one bound and then fall on his
back the spear quivering in his body till it made an end of him.
Hector then aimed a spear at Automedon but he saw it coming and
stooped forward to avoid it, so that it flew past him and the
point stuck in the ground, while the butt-end went on quivering
till Mars robbed it of its force. They would then have fought
hand to hand with swords had not the two Ajaxes forced their way
through the crowd when they heard their comrade calling, and
parted them for all their fury—for Hector, Aeneas, and Chromius
were afraid and drew back, leaving Aretus to lie there struck to
the heart. Automedon, peer of fleet Mars, then stripped him of
his armour and vaunted over him saying, “I have done little to
assuage my sorrow for the son of Menoetius, for the man I have
killed is not so good as he was.”
As he spoke he took the blood-stained spoils and laid them upon
his chariot; then he mounted the car with his hands and feet all
steeped in gore as a lion that has been gorging upon a bull.
And now the fierce groanful fight again raged about Patroclus,
for Minerva came down from heaven and roused its fury by the
command of far-seeing Jove, who had changed his mind and sent her
to encourage the Danaans. As when Jove bends his bright bow in
heaven in token to mankind either of war or of the chill storms
that stay men from their labour and plague the flocks—even so,
wrapped in such radiant raiment, did Minerva go in among the host
and speak man by man to each. First she took the form and voice
of Phoenix and spoke to Menelaus son of Atreus, who was standing
near her. “Menelaus,” said she, “it will be shame and dishonour
to you, if dogs tear the noble comrade of Achilles under the
walls of Troy. Therefore be staunch, and urge your men to be so
also.”
Menelaus answered, “Phoenix, my good old friend, may Minerva
vouchsafe me strength and keep the darts from off me, for so
shall I stand by Patroclus and defend him; his death has gone to
my heart, but Hector is as a raging fire and deals his blows
without ceasing, for Jove is now granting him a time of triumph.”
Minerva was pleased at his having named herself before any of the
other gods. Therefore she put strength into his knees and
shoulders, and made him as bold as a fly, which, though driven
off will yet come again and bite if it can, so dearly does it
love man’s blood—even so bold as this did she make him as he
stood over Patroclus and threw his spear. Now there was among the
Trojans a man named Podes, son of Eetion, who was both rich and
valiant. Hector held him in the highest honour for he was his
comrade and boon companion; the spear of Menelaus struck this man
in the girdle just as he had turned in flight, and went right
through him. Whereon he fell heavily forward, and Menelaus son of
Atreus drew off his body from the Trojans into the ranks of his
own people.
Apollo then went up to Hector and spurred him on to fight, in the
likeness of Phaenops son of Asius who lived in Abydos and was the
most favoured of all Hector’s guests. In his likeness Apollo
said, “Hector, who of the Achaeans will fear you henceforward now
that you have quailed before Menelaus who has ever been rated
poorly as a soldier? Yet he has now got a corpse away from the
Trojans single-handed, and has slain your own true comrade, a man
brave among the foremost, Podes son of Eetion.”
A dark cloud of grief fell upon Hector as he heard, and he made
his way to the front clad in full armour. Thereon the son of
Saturn seized his bright tasselled aegis, and veiled Ida in
cloud: he sent forth his lightnings and his thunders, and as he
shook his aegis he gave victory to the Trojans and routed the
Achaeans.
The panic was begun by Peneleos the Boeotian, for while keeping
his face turned ever towards the foe he had been hit with a spear
on the upper part of the shoulder; a spear thrown by Polydamas
had grazed the top of the bone, for Polydamas had come up to him
and struck him from close at hand. Then Hector in close combat
struck Leitus son of noble Alectryon in the hand by the wrist,
and disabled him from fighting further. He looked about him in
dismay, knowing that never again should he wield spear in battle
with the Trojans. While Hector was in pursuit of Leitus,
Idomeneus struck him on the breastplate over his chest near the
nipple; but the spear broke in the shaft, and the Trojans cheered
aloud. Hector then aimed at Idomeneus son of Deucalion as he was
standing on his chariot, and very narrowly missed him, but the
spear hit Coiranus, a follower and charioteer of Meriones who had
come with him from Lyctus. Idomeneus had left the ships on foot
and would have afforded a great triumph to the Trojans if
Coiranus had not driven quickly up to him, he therefore brought
life and rescue to Idomeneus, but himself fell by the hand of
murderous Hector. For Hector hit him on the jaw under the ear;
the end of the spear drove out his teeth and cut his tongue in
two pieces, so that he fell from his chariot and let the reins
fall to the ground. Meriones gathered them up from the ground and
took them into his own hands, then he said to Idomeneus, “Lay on,
till you get back to the ships, for you must see that the day is
no longer ours.”
On this Idomeneus lashed the horses to the ships, for fear had
taken hold upon him.
Ajax and Menelaus noted how Jove had turned the scale in favour
of the Trojans, and Ajax was first to speak. “Alas,” said he,
“even a fool may see that father Jove is helping the Trojans. All
their weapons strike home; no matter whether it be a brave man or
a coward that hurls them, Jove speeds all alike, whereas ours
fall each one of them without effect. What, then, will be best
both as regards rescuing the body, and our return to the joy of
our friends who will be grieving as they look hitherwards; for
they will make sure that nothing can now check the terrible hands
of Hector, and that he will fling himself upon our ships. I wish
that some one would go and tell the son of Peleus at once, for I
do not think he can have yet heard the sad news that the dearest
of his friends has fallen. But I can see not a man among the
Achaeans to send, for they and their chariots are alike hidden in
darkness. O father Jove, lift this cloud from over the sons of
the Achaeans; make heaven serene, and let us see; if you will
that we perish, let us fall at any rate by daylight.”
Father Jove heard him and had compassion upon his tears.
Forthwith he chased away the cloud of darkness, so that the sun
shone out and all the fighting was revealed. Ajax then said to
Menelaus, “Look, Menelaus, and if Antilochus son of Nestor be
still living, send him at once to tell Achilles that by far the
dearest to him of all his comrades has fallen.”
Menelaus heeded his words and went his way as a lion from a
stockyard—the lion is tired of attacking the men and hounds, who
keep watch the whole night through and will not let him feast on
the fat of their herd. In his lust of meat he makes straight at
them but in vain, for darts from strong hands assail him, and
burning brands which daunt him for all his hunger, so in the
morning he slinks sulkily away—even so did Menelaus sorely
against his will leave Patroclus, in great fear lest the Achaeans
should be driven back in rout and let him fall into the hands of
the foe. He charged Meriones and the two Ajaxes straitly saying,
“Ajaxes and Meriones, leaders of the Argives, now indeed remember
how good Patroclus was; he was ever courteous while alive, bear
it in mind now that he is dead.”
With this Menelaus left them, looking round him as keenly as an
eagle, whose sight they say is keener than that of any other
bird—however high he may be in the heavens, not a hare that runs
can escape him by crouching under bush or thicket, for he will
swoop down upon it and make an end of it—even so, O Menelaus, did
your keen eyes range round the mighty host of your followers to
see if you could find the son of Nestor still alive. Presently
Menelaus saw him on the extreme left of the battle cheering on
his men and exhorting them to fight boldly. Menelaus went up to
him and said, “Antilochus, come here and listen to sad news,
which I would indeed were untrue. You must see with your own eyes
that heaven is heaping calamity upon the Danaans, and giving
victory to the Trojans. Patroclus has fallen, who was the bravest
of the Achaeans, and sorely will the Danaans miss him. Run
instantly to the ships and tell Achilles, that he may come to
rescue the body and bear it to the ships. As for the armour,
Hector already has it.”
Antilochus was struck with horror. For a long time he was
speechless; his eyes filled with tears and he could find no
utterance, but he did as Menelaus had said, and set off running
as soon as he had given his armour to a comrade, Laodocus, who
was wheeling his horses round, close beside him.
Thus, then, did he run weeping from the field, to carry the bad
news to Achilles son of Peleus. Nor were you, O Menelaus, minded
to succour his harassed comrades, when Antilochus had left the
Pylians—and greatly did they miss him—but he sent them noble
Thrasymedes, and himself went back to Patroclus. He came running
up to the two Ajaxes and said, “I have sent Antilochus to the
ships to tell Achilles, but rage against Hector as he may, he
cannot come, for he cannot fight without armour. What then will
be our best plan both as regards rescuing the dead, and our own
escape from death amid the battle-cries of the Trojans?”
Ajax answered, “Menelaus, you have said well: do you, then, and
Meriones stoop down, raise the body, and bear it out of the fray,
while we two behind you keep off Hector and the Trojans, one in
heart as in name, and long used to fighting side by side with one
another.”
On this Menelaus and Meriones took the dead man in their arms and
lifted him high aloft with a great effort. The Trojan host raised
a hue and cry behind them when they saw the Achaeans bearing the
body away, and flew after them like hounds attacking a wounded
boar at the loo of a band of young huntsmen. For a while the
hounds fly at him as though they would tear him in pieces, but
now and again he turns on them in a fury, scaring and scattering
them in all directions—even so did the Trojans for a while charge
in a body, striking with sword and with spears pointed at both
the ends, but when the two Ajaxes faced them and stood at bay,
they would turn pale and no man dared press on to fight further
about the dead.
In this wise did the two heroes strain every nerve to bear the
body to the ships out of the fight. The battle raged round them
like fierce flames that when once kindled spread like wildfire
over a city, and the houses fall in the glare of its burning—even
such was the roar and tramp of men and horses that pursued them
as they bore Patroclus from the field. Or as mules that put forth
all their strength to draw some beam or great piece of ship’s
timber down a rough mountain-track, and they pant and sweat as
they go—even so did Menelaus and pant and sweat as they bore the
body of Patroclus. Behind them the two Ajaxes held stoutly out.
As some wooded mountain-spur that stretches across a plain will
turn water and check the flow even of a great river, nor is there
any stream strong enough to break through it—even so did the two
Ajaxes face the Trojans and stem the tide of their fighting
though they kept pouring on towards them and foremost among them
all was Aeneas son of Anchises with valiant Hector. As a flock of
daws or starlings fall to screaming and chattering when they see
a falcon, foe to all small birds, come soaring near them, even so
did the Achaean youth raise a babel of cries as they fled before
Aeneas and Hector, unmindful of their former prowess. In the rout
of the Danaans much goodly armour fell round about the trench,
and of fighting there was no end.
BOOK XVIII.
The grief of Achilles over Patroclus—The visit of Thetis to
Vulcan and the armour that he made for Achilles.
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
fleet runner Antilochus, who had been sent as messenger, reached
Achilles, and found him sitting by his tall ships and boding that
which was indeed too surely true. “Alas,” said he to himself in
the heaviness of his heart, “why are the Achaeans again scouring
the plain and flocking towards the ships? Heaven grant the gods
be not now bringing that sorrow upon me of which my mother Thetis
spoke, saying that while I was yet alive the bravest of the
Myrmidons should fall before the Trojans, and see the light of
the sun no longer. I fear the brave son of Menoetius has fallen
through his own daring and yet I bade him return to the ships as
soon as he had driven back those that were bringing fire against
them, and not join battle with Hector.”
As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and
told his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. “Alas,” he cried,
“son of noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that
they were untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging
about his naked body—for Hector holds his armour.”
A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He
filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it
over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the
refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself
down all huge and hugely at full length, and tore his hair with
his hands. The bondswomen whom Achilles and Patroclus had taken
captive screamed aloud for grief, beating their breasts, and with
their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilochus bent over him the
while, weeping and holding both his hands as he lay groaning for
he feared that he might plunge a knife into his own throat. Then
Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard him as she was
sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her father,
whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus
that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her.
There were Glauce, Thalia and Cymodoce, Nesaia, Speo, Thoe and
dark-eyed Halie, Cymothoe, Actaea and Limnorea, Melite, Iaera,
Amphithoe and Agave, Doto and Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene,
Dexamene, Amphinome and Callianeira, Doris, Panope, and the
famous sea-nymph Galatea, Nemertes, Apseudes and Callianassa.
There were also Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa, Maera, Oreithuia
and Amatheia of the lovely locks, with other Nereids who dwell in
the depths of the sea. The crystal cave was filled with their
multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them
in their lament.
“Listen,” she cried, “sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may
hear the burden of my sorrows. Alas, woe is me, woe in that I
have borne the most glorious of offspring. I bore him fair and
strong, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended
him as a plant in a goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to
Ilius to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to
the house of Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light
of the sun he is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot
help him. Nevertheless I will go, that I may see my dear son and
learn what sorrow has befallen him though he is still holding
aloof from battle.”
She left the cave as she spoke, while the others followed weeping
after, and the waves opened a path before them. When they reached
the rich plain of Troy, they came up out of the sea in a long
line on to the sands, at the place where the ships of the
Myrmidons were drawn up in close order round the tents of
Achilles. His mother went up to him as he lay groaning; she laid
her hand upon his head and spoke piteously, saying, “My son, why
are you thus weeping? What sorrow has now befallen you? Tell me;
hide it not from me. Surely Jove has granted you the prayer you
made him, when you lifted up your hands and besought him that the
Achaeans might all of them be pent up at their ships, and rue it
bitterly in that you were no longer with them.”
Achilles groaned and answered, “Mother, Olympian Jove has indeed
vouchsafed me the fulfilment of my prayer, but what boots it to
me, seeing that my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen—he whom I
valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life?
I have lost him; aye, and Hector when he had killed him stripped
the wondrous armour, so glorious to behold, which the gods gave
to Peleus when they laid you in the couch of a mortal man. Would
that you were still dwelling among the immortal sea-nymphs, and
that Peleus had taken to himself some mortal bride. For now you
shall have grief infinite by reason of the death of that son whom
you can never welcome home—nay, I will not live nor go about
among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for
having slain Patroclus son of Menoetius.”
Thetis wept and answered, “Then, my son, is your end near at
hand—for your own death awaits you full soon after that of
Hector.”
Then said Achilles in his great grief, “I would die here and now,
in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home,
and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What
is there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have
brought no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades
of whom so many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by
my ships a bootless burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have
no peer among the Achaeans, though in council there are better
than I. Therefore, perish strife both from among gods and men,
and anger, wherein even a righteous man will harden his
heart—which rises up in the soul of a man like smoke, and the
taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey. Even so has
Agamemnon angered me. And yet—so be it, for it is over; I will
force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will
pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will
then abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to
send it. Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove—even he could
not escape the hand of death, but fate and Juno’s fierce anger
laid him low, as I too shall lie when I am dead if a like doom
awaits me. Till then I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and
Dardanian women wring tears from their tender cheeks with both
their hands in the grievousness of their great sorrow; thus shall
they know that he who has held aloof so long will hold aloof no
longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in the love you bear me, for
you shall not move me.”
Then silver-footed Thetis answered, “My son, what you have said
is true. It is well to save your comrades from destruction, but
your armour is in the hands of the Trojans; Hector bears it in
triumph upon his own shoulders. Full well I know that his vaunt
shall not be lasting, for his end is close at hand; go not,
however, into the press of battle till you see me return hither;
to-morrow at break of day I shall be here, and will bring you
goodly armour from King Vulcan.”
On this she left her brave son, and as she turned away she said
to the sea-nymphs her sisters, “Dive into the bosom of the sea
and go to the house of the old sea-god my father. Tell him
everything; as for me, I will go to the cunning workman Vulcan on
high Olympus, and ask him to provide my son with a suit of
splendid armour.”
When she had so said, they dived forthwith beneath the waves,
while silver-footed Thetis went her way that she might bring the
armour for her son.
Thus, then, did her feet bear the goddess to Olympus, and
meanwhile the Achaeans were flying with loud cries before
murderous Hector till they reached the ships and the Hellespont,
and they could not draw the body of Mars’s servant Patroclus out
of reach of the weapons that were showered upon him, for Hector
son of Priam with his host and horsemen had again caught up to
him like the flame of a fiery furnace; thrice did brave Hector
seize him by the feet, striving with might and main to draw him
away and calling loudly on the Trojans, and thrice did the two
Ajaxes, clothed in valour as with a garment, beat him from off
the body; but all undaunted he would now charge into the thick of
the fight, and now again he would stand still and cry aloud, but
he would give no ground. As upland shepherds that cannot chase
some famished lion from a carcase, even so could not the two
Ajaxes scare Hector son of Priam from the body of Patroclus.
And now he would even have dragged it off and have won
imperishable glory, had not Iris fleet as the wind, winged her
way as messenger from Olympus to the son of Peleus and bidden him
arm. She came secretly without the knowledge of Jove and of the
other gods, for Juno sent her, and when she had got close to him
she said, “Up, son of Peleus, mightiest of all mankind; rescue
Patroclus about whom this fearful fight is now raging by the
ships. Men are killing one another, the Danaans in defence of the
dead body, while the Trojans are trying to hale it away, and take
it to windy Ilius: Hector is the most furious of them all; he is
for cutting the head from the body and fixing it on the stakes of
the wall. Up, then, and bide here no longer; shrink from the
thought that Patroclus may become meat for the dogs of Troy.
Shame on you, should his body suffer any kind of outrage.”
And Achilles said, “Iris, which of the gods was it that sent you
to me?”
Iris answered, “It was Juno the royal spouse of Jove, but the son
of Saturn does not know of my coming, nor yet does any other of
the immortals who dwell on the snowy summits of Olympus.”
Then fleet Achilles answered her saying, “How can I go up into
the battle? They have my armour. My mother forbade me to arm till
I should see her come, for she promised to bring me goodly armour
from Vulcan; I know no man whose arms I can put on, save only the
shield of Ajax son of Telamon, and he surely must be fighting in
the front rank and wielding his spear about the body of dead
Patroclus.”
Iris said, “We know that your armour has been taken, but go as
you are; go to the deep trench and show yourself before the
Trojans, that they may fear you and cease fighting. Thus will the
fainting sons of the Achaeans gain some brief breathing-time,
which in battle may hardly be.”
Iris left him when she had so spoken. But Achilles dear to Jove
arose, and Minerva flung her tasselled aegis round his strong
shoulders; she crowned his head with a halo of golden cloud from
which she kindled a glow of gleaming fire. As the smoke that goes
up into heaven from some city that is being beleaguered on an
island far out at sea—all day long do men sally from the city and
fight their hardest, and at the going down of the sun the line of
beacon-fires blazes forth, flaring high for those that dwell near
them to behold, if so be that they may come with their ships and
succour them—even so did the light flare from the head of
Achilles, as he stood by the trench, going beyond the wall—but he
did not join the Achaeans for he heeded the charge which his
mother laid upon him.
There did he stand and shout aloud. Minerva also raised her voice
from afar, and spread terror unspeakable among the Trojans.
Ringing as the note of a trumpet that sounds alarm then the foe
is at the gates of a city, even so brazen was the voice of the
son of Aeacus, and when the Trojans heard its clarion tones they
were dismayed; the horses turned back with their chariots for
they boded mischief, and their drivers were awe-struck by the
steady flame which the grey-eyed goddess had kindled above the
head of the great son of Peleus.
Thrice did Achilles raise his loud cry as he stood by the trench,
and thrice were the Trojans and their brave allies thrown into
confusion; whereon twelve of their noblest champions fell beneath
the wheels of their chariots and perished by their own spears.
The Achaeans to their great joy then drew Patroclus out of reach
of the weapons, and laid him on a litter: his comrades stood
mourning round him, and among them fleet Achilles who wept
bitterly as he saw his true comrade lying dead upon his bier. He
had sent him out with horses and chariots into battle, but his
return he was not to welcome.
Then Juno sent the busy sun, loth though he was, into the waters
of Oceanus; so he set, and the Achaeans had rest from the tug and
turmoil of war.
Now the Trojans when they had come out of the fight, unyoked
their horses and gathered in assembly before preparing their
supper. They kept their feet, nor would any dare to sit down, for
fear had fallen upon them all because Achilles had shown himself
after having held aloof so long from battle. Polydamas son of
Panthous was first to speak, a man of judgement, who alone among
them could look both before and after. He was comrade to Hector,
and they had been born upon the same night; with all sincerity
and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:—
“Look to it well, my friends; I would urge you to go back now to
your city and not wait here by the ships till morning, for we are
far from our walls. So long as this man was at enmity with
Agamemnon the Achaeans were easier to deal with, and I would have
gladly camped by the ships in the hope of taking them; but now I
go in great fear of the fleet son of Peleus; he is so daring that
he will never bide here on the plain whereon the Trojans and
Achaeans fight with equal valour, but he will try to storm our
city and carry off our women. Do then as I say, and let us
retreat. For this is what will happen. The darkness of night will
for a time stay the son of Peleus, but if he find us here in the
morning when he sallies forth in full armour, we shall have
knowledge of him in good earnest. Glad indeed will he be who can
escape and get back to Ilius, and many a Trojan will become meat
for dogs and vultures may I never live to hear it. If we do as I
say, little though we may like it, we shall have strength in
counsel during the night, and the great gates with the doors that
close them will protect the city. At dawn we can arm and take our
stand on the walls; he will then rue it if he sallies from the
ships to fight us. He will go back when he has given his horses
their fill of being driven all whithers under our walls, and will
be in no mind to try and force his way into the city. Neither
will he ever sack it, dogs shall devour him ere he do so.”
Hector looked fiercely at him and answered, “Polydamas, your
words are not to my liking in that you bid us go back and be pent
within the city. Have you not had enough of being cooped up
behind walls? In the old-days the city of Priam was famous the
whole world over for its wealth of gold and bronze, but our
treasures are wasted out of our houses, and much goods have been
sold away to Phrygia and fair Meonia, for the hand of Jove has
been laid heavily upon us. Now, therefore, that the son of
scheming Saturn has vouchsafed me to win glory here and to hem
the Achaeans in at their ships, prate no more in this fool’s wise
among the people. You will have no man with you; it shall not be;
do all of you as I now say;—take your suppers in your companies
throughout the host, and keep your watches and be wakeful every
man of you. If any Trojan is uneasy about his possessions, let
him gather them and give them out among the people. Better let
these, rather than the Achaeans, have them. At daybreak we will
arm and fight about the ships; granted that Achilles has again
come forward to defend them, let it be as he will, but it shall
go hard with him. I shall not shun him, but will fight him, to
fall or conquer. The god of war deals out like measure to all,
and the slayer may yet be slain.”
Thus spoke Hector; and the Trojans, fools that they were, shouted
in applause, for Pallas Minerva had robbed them of their
understanding. They gave ear to Hector with his evil counsel, but
the wise words of Polydamas no man would heed. They took their
supper throughout the host, and meanwhile through the whole night
the Achaeans mourned Patroclus, and the son of Peleus led them in
their lament. He laid his murderous hands upon the breast of his
comrade, groaning again and again as a bearded lion when a man
who was chasing deer has robbed him of his young in some dense
forest; when the lion comes back he is furious, and searches
dingle and dell to track the hunter if he can find him, for he is
mad with rage—even so with many a sigh did Achilles speak among
the Myrmidons saying, “Alas! vain were the words with which I
cheered the hero Menoetius in his own house; I said that I would
bring his brave son back again to Opoeis after he had sacked
Ilius and taken his share of the spoils—but Jove does not give
all men their heart’s desire. The same soil shall be reddened
here at Troy by the blood of us both, for I too shall never be
welcomed home by the old knight Peleus, nor by my mother Thetis,
but even in this place shall the earth cover me. Nevertheless, O
Patroclus, now that I am left behind you, I will not bury you,
till I have brought hither the head and armour of mighty Hector
who has slain you. Twelve noble sons of Trojans will I behead
before your bier to avenge you; till I have done so you shall lie
as you are by the ships, and fair women of Troy and Dardanus,
whom we have taken with spear and strength of arm when we sacked
men’s goodly cities, shall weep over you both night and day.”
Then Achilles told his men to set a large tripod upon the fire
that they might wash the clotted gore from off Patroclus. Thereon
they set a tripod full of bath water on to a clear fire: they
threw sticks on to it to make it blaze, and the water became hot
as the flame played about the belly of the tripod. When the water
in the cauldron was boiling they washed the body, anointed it
with oil, and closed its wounds with ointment that had been kept
nine years. Then they laid it on a bier and covered it with a
linen cloth from head to foot, and over this they laid a fair
white robe. Thus all night long did the Myrmidons gather round
Achilles to mourn Patroclus.
Then Jove said to Juno his sister-wife, “So, Queen Juno, you have
gained your end, and have roused fleet Achilles. One would think
that the Achaeans were of your own flesh and blood.”
And Juno answered, “Dread son of Saturn, why should you say this
thing? May not a man though he be only mortal and knows less than
we do, do what he can for another person? And shall not
I—foremost of all goddesses both by descent and as wife to you
who reign in heaven—devise evil for the Trojans if I am angry
with them?”
Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Thetis came to the house of
Vulcan, imperishable, star-bespangled, fairest of the abodes in
heaven, a house of bronze wrought by the lame god’s own hands.
She found him busy with his bellows, sweating and hard at work,
for he was making twenty tripods that were to stand by the wall
of his house, and he set wheels of gold under them all that they
might go of their own selves to the assemblies of the gods, and
come back again—marvels indeed to see. They were finished all but
the ears of cunning workmanship which yet remained to be fixed to
them: these he was now fixing, and he was hammering at the
rivets. While he was thus at work silver-footed Thetis came to
the house. Charis, of graceful head-dress, wife to the far-famed
lame god, came towards her as soon as she saw her, and took her
hand in her own, saying, “Why have you come to our house, Thetis,
honoured and ever welcome—for you do not visit us often? Come
inside and let me set refreshment before you.”
The goddess led the way as she spoke, and bade Thetis sit on a
richly decorated seat inlaid with silver; there was a footstool
also under her feet. Then she called Vulcan and said, “Vulcan,
come here, Thetis wants you”; and the far-famed lame god
answered, “Then it is indeed an august and honoured goddess who
has come here; she it was that took care of me when I was
suffering from the heavy fall which I had through my cruel
mother’s anger—for she would have got rid of me because I was
lame. It would have gone hardly with me had not Eurynome,
daughter of the ever-encircling waters of Oceanus, and Thetis,
taken me to their bosom. Nine years did I stay with them, and
many beautiful works in bronze, brooches, spiral armlets, cups,
and chains, did I make for them in their cave, with the roaring
waters of Oceanus foaming as they rushed ever past it; and no one
knew, neither of gods nor men, save only Thetis and Eurynome who
took care of me. If, then, Thetis has come to my house I must
make her due requital for having saved me; entertain her,
therefore, with all hospitality, while I put by my bellows and
all my tools.”
On this the mighty monster hobbled off from his anvil, his thin
legs plying lustily under him. He set the bellows away from the
fire, and gathered his tools into a silver chest. Then he took a
sponge and washed his face and hands, his shaggy chest and brawny
neck; he donned his shirt, grasped his strong staff, and limped
towards the door. There were golden handmaids also who worked for
him, and were like real young women, with sense and reason, voice
also and strength, and all the learning of the immortals; these
busied themselves as the king bade them, while he drew near to
Thetis, seated her upon a goodly seat, and took her hand in his
own, saying, “Why have you come to our house, Thetis honoured and
ever welcome—for you do not visit us often? Say what you want,
and I will do it for you at once if I can, and if it can be done
at all.”
Thetis wept and answered, “Vulcan, is there another goddess in
Olympus whom the son of Saturn has been pleased to try with so
much affliction as he has me? Me alone of the marine goddesses
did he make subject to a mortal husband, Peleus son of Aeacus,
and sorely against my will did I submit to the embraces of one
who was but mortal, and who now stays at home worn out with age.
Neither is this all. Heaven vouchsafed me a son, hero among
heroes, and he shot up as a sapling. I tended him as a plant in a
goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the
Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house of
Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun, he
is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him; King
Agamemnon has made him give up the maiden whom the sons of the
Achaeans had awarded him, and he wastes with sorrow for her sake.
Then the Trojans hemmed the Achaeans in at their ships’ sterns
and would not let them come forth; the elders, therefore, of the
Argives besought Achilles and offered him great treasure, whereon
he refused to bring deliverance to them himself, but put his own
armour on Patroclus and sent him into the fight with much people
after him. All day long they fought by the Scaean gates and would
have taken the city there and then, had not Apollo vouchsafed
glory to Hector and slain the valiant son of Menoetius after he
had done the Trojans much evil. Therefore I am suppliant at your
knees if haply you may be pleased to provide my son, whose end is
near at hand, with helmet and shield, with goodly greaves fitted
with ancle-clasps, and with a breastplate, for he lost his own
when his true comrade fell at the hands of the Trojans, and he
now lies stretched on earth in the bitterness of his soul.”
And Vulcan answered, “Take heart, and be no more disquieted about
this matter; would that I could hide him from death’s sight when
his hour is come, so surely as I can find him armour that shall
amaze the eyes of all who behold it.”
When he had so said he left her and went to his bellows, turning
them towards the fire and bidding them do their office. Twenty
bellows blew upon the melting-pots, and they blew blasts of every
kind, some fierce to help him when he had need of them, and
others less strong as Vulcan willed it in the course of his work.
He threw tough copper into the fire, and tin, with silver and
gold; he set his great anvil on its block, and with one hand
grasped his mighty hammer while he took the tongs in the other.
First he shaped the shield so great and strong, adorning it all
over and binding it round with a gleaming circuit in three
layers; and the baldric was made of silver. He made the shield in
five thicknesses, and with many a wonder did his cunning hand
enrich it.
He wrought the earth, the heavens, and the sea; the moon also at
her full and the untiring sun, with all the signs that glorify
the face of heaven—the Pleiads, the Hyads, huge Orion, and the
Bear, which men also call the Wain and which turns round ever in
one place, facing Orion, and alone never dips into the stream of
Oceanus.
He wrought also two cities, fair to see and busy with the hum of
men. In the one were weddings and wedding-feasts, and they were
going about the city with brides whom they were escorting by
torchlight from their chambers. Loud rose the cry of Hymen, and
the youths danced to the music of flute and lyre, while the women
stood each at her house door to see them.
Meanwhile the people were gathered in assembly, for there was a
quarrel, and two men were wrangling about the blood-money for a
man who had been killed, the one saying before the people that he
had paid damages in full, and the other that he had not been
paid. Each was trying to make his own case good, and the people
took sides, each man backing the side that he had taken; but the
heralds kept them back, and the elders sate on their seats of
stone in a solemn circle, holding the staves which the heralds
had put into their hands. Then they rose and each in his turn
gave judgement, and there were two talents laid down, to be given
to him whose judgement should be deemed the fairest.
About the other city there lay encamped two hosts in gleaming
armour, and they were divided whether to sack it, or to spare it
and accept the half of what it contained. But the men of the city
would not yet consent, and armed themselves for a surprise; their
wives and little children kept guard upon the walls, and with
them were the men who were past fighting through age; but the
others sallied forth with Mars and Pallas Minerva at their
head—both of them wrought in gold and clad in golden raiment,
great and fair with their armour as befitting gods, while they
that followed were smaller. When they reached the place where
they would lay their ambush, it was on a riverbed to which live
stock of all kinds would come from far and near to water; here,
then, they lay concealed, clad in full armour. Some way off them
there were two scouts who were on the look-out for the coming of
sheep or cattle, which presently came, followed by two shepherds
who were playing on their pipes, and had not so much as a thought
of danger. When those who were in ambush saw this, they cut off
the flocks and herds and killed the shepherds. Meanwhile the
besiegers, when they heard much noise among the cattle as they
sat in council, sprang to their horses, and made with all speed
towards them; when they reached them they set battle in array by
the banks of the river, and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod
spears at one another. With them were Strife and Riot, and fell
Fate who was dragging three men after her, one with a fresh
wound, and the other unwounded, while the third was dead, and she
was dragging him along by his heel: and her robe was bedrabbled
in men’s blood. They went in and out with one another and fought
as though they were living people haling away one another’s dead.
He wrought also a fair fallow field, large and thrice ploughed
already. Many men were working at the plough within it, turning
their oxen to and fro, furrow after furrow. Each time that they
turned on reaching the headland a man would come up to them and
give them a cup of wine, and they would go back to their furrows
looking forward to the time when they should again reach the
headland. The part that they had ploughed was dark behind them,
so that the field, though it was of gold, still looked as if it
were being ploughed—very curious to behold.
He wrought also a field of harvest corn, and the reapers were
reaping with sharp sickles in their hands. Swathe after swathe
fell to the ground in a straight line behind them, and the
binders bound them in bands of twisted straw. There were three
binders, and behind them there were boys who gathered the cut
corn in armfuls and kept on bringing them to be bound: among them
all the owner of the land stood by in silence and was glad. The
servants were getting a meal ready under an oak, for they had
sacrificed a great ox, and were busy cutting him up, while the
women were making a porridge of much white barley for the
labourers’ dinner.
He wrought also a vineyard, golden and fair to see, and the vines
were loaded with grapes. The bunches overhead were black, but the
vines were trained on poles of silver. He ran a ditch of dark
metal all round it, and fenced it with a fence of tin; there was
only one path to it, and by this the vintagers went when they
would gather the vintage. Youths and maidens all blithe and full
of glee, carried the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with
them there went a boy who made sweet music with his lyre, and
sang the Linos-song with his clear boyish voice.
He wrought also a herd of horned cattle. He made the cows of gold
and tin, and they lowed as they came full speed out of the yards
to go and feed among the waving reeds that grow by the banks of
the river. Along with the cattle there went four shepherds, all
of them in gold, and their nine fleet dogs went with them. Two
terrible lions had fastened on a bellowing bull that was with the
foremost cows, and bellow as he might they haled him, while the
dogs and men gave chase: the lions tore through the bull’s thick
hide and were gorging on his blood and bowels, but the herdsmen
were afraid to do anything, and only hounded on their dogs; the
dogs dared not fasten on the lions but stood by barking and
keeping out of harm’s way.
The god wrought also a pasture in a fair mountain dell, and a
large flock of sheep, with a homestead and huts, and sheltered
sheepfolds.
Furthermore he wrought a green, like that which Daedalus once
made in Cnossus for lovely Ariadne. Hereon there danced youths
and maidens whom all would woo, with their hands on one another’s
wrists. The maidens wore robes of light linen, and the youths
well woven shirts that were slightly oiled. The girls were
crowned with garlands, while the young men had daggers of gold
that hung by silver baldrics; sometimes they would dance deftly
in a ring with merry twinkling feet, as it were a potter sitting
at his work and making trial of his wheel to see whether it will
run, and sometimes they would go all in line with one another,
and much people was gathered joyously about the green. There was
a bard also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two tumblers
went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck up
with his tune.
All round the outermost rim of the shield he set the mighty
stream of the river Oceanus.
Then when he had fashioned the shield so great and strong, he
made a breastplate also that shone brighter than fire. He made a
helmet, close fitting to the brow, and richly worked, with a
golden plume overhanging it; and he made greaves also of beaten
tin.
Lastly, when the famed lame god had made all the armour, he took
it and set it before the mother of Achilles; whereon she darted
like a falcon from the snowy summits of Olympus and bore away the
gleaming armour from the house of Vulcan.
BOOK XIX.
Achilles is reconciled with Agamemnon, puts on the armour which
Vulcan had made him, and goes out to fight.
Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hasting from the streams of
Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached
the ships with the armour that the god had given her. She found
her son fallen about the body of Patroclus and weeping bitterly.
Many also of his followers were weeping round him, but when the
goddess came among them she clasped his hand in her own, saying,
“My son, grieve as we may we must let this man lie, for it is by
heaven’s will that he has fallen; now, therefore, accept from
Vulcan this rich and goodly armour, which no man has ever yet
borne upon his shoulders.”
As she spoke she set the armour before Achilles, and it rang out
bravely as she did so. The Myrmidons were struck with awe, and
none dared look full at it, for they were afraid; but Achilles
was roused to still greater fury, and his eyes gleamed with a
fierce light, for he was glad when he handled the splendid
present which the god had made him. Then, as soon as he had
satisfied himself with looking at it, he said to his mother,
“Mother, the god has given me armour, meet handiwork for an
immortal and such as no-one living could have fashioned; I will
now arm, but I much fear that flies will settle upon the son of
Menoetius and breed worms about his wounds, so that his body, now
he is dead, will be disfigured and the flesh will rot.”
Silver-footed Thetis answered, “My son, be not disquieted about
this matter. I will find means to protect him from the swarms of
noisome flies that prey on the bodies of men who have been killed
in battle. He may lie for a whole year, and his flesh shall still
be as sound as ever, or even sounder. Call, therefore, the
Achaean heroes in assembly; unsay your anger against Agamemnon;
arm at once, and fight with might and main.”
As she spoke she put strength and courage into his heart, and she
then dropped ambrosia and red nectar into the wounds of
Patroclus, that his body might suffer no change.
Then Achilles went out upon the seashore, and with a loud cry
called on the Achaean heroes. On this even those who as yet had
stayed always at the ships, the pilots and helmsmen, and even the
stewards who were about the ships and served out rations, all
came to the place of assembly because Achilles had shown himself
after having held aloof so long from fighting. Two sons of Mars,
Ulysses and the son of Tydeus, came limping, for their wounds
still pained them; nevertheless they came, and took their seats
in the front row of the assembly. Last of all came Agamemnon,
king of men, he too wounded, for Coon son of Antenor had struck
him with a spear in battle.
When the Achaeans were got together Achilles rose and said, “Son
of Atreus, surely it would have been better alike for both you
and me, when we two were in such high anger about Briseis, surely
it would have been better, had Diana’s arrow slain her at the
ships on the day when I took her after having sacked Lyrnessus.
For so, many an Achaean the less would have bitten dust before
the foe in the days of my anger. It has been well for Hector and
the Trojans, but the Achaeans will long indeed remember our
quarrel. Now, however, let it be, for it is over. If we have been
angry, necessity has schooled our anger. I put it from me: I dare
not nurse it for ever; therefore, bid the Achaeans arm forthwith
that I may go out against the Trojans, and learn whether they
will be in a mind to sleep by the ships or no. Glad, I ween, will
he be to rest his knees who may fly my spear when I wield it.”
Thus did he speak, and the Achaeans rejoiced in that he had put
away his anger.
Then Agamemnon spoke, rising in his place, and not going into the
middle of the assembly. “Danaan heroes,” said he, “servants of
Mars, it is well to listen when a man stands up to speak, and it
is not seemly to interrupt him, or it will go hard even with a
practised speaker. Who can either hear or speak in an uproar?
Even the finest orator will be disconcerted by it. I will expound
to the son of Peleus, and do you other Achaeans heed me and mark
me well. Often have the Achaeans spoken to me of this matter and
upbraided me, but it was not I that did it: Jove, and Fate, and
Erinys that walks in darkness struck me mad when we were
assembled on the day that I took from Achilles the meed that had
been awarded to him. What could I do? All things are in the hand
of heaven, and Folly, eldest of Jove’s daughters, shuts men’s
eyes to their destruction. She walks delicately, not on the solid
earth, but hovers over the heads of men to make them stumble or
to ensnare them.
“Time was when she fooled Jove himself, who they say is greatest
whether of gods or men; for Juno, woman though she was, beguiled
him on the day when Alcmena was to bring forth mighty Hercules in
the fair city of Thebes. He told it out among the gods saying,
‘Hear me, all gods and goddesses, that I may speak even as I am
minded; this day shall an Ilithuia, helper of women who are in
labour, bring a man child into the world who shall be lord over
all that dwell about him who are of my blood and lineage.’ Then
said Juno all crafty and full of guile, ‘You will play false, and
will not hold to your word. Swear me, O Olympian, swear me a
great oath, that he who shall this day fall between the feet of a
woman, shall be lord over all that dwell about him who are of
your blood and lineage.’
“Thus she spoke, and Jove suspected her not, but swore the great
oath, to his much ruing thereafter. For Juno darted down from the
high summit of Olympus, and went in haste to Achaean Argos where
she knew that the noble wife of Sthenelus son of Perseus then
was. She being with child and in her seventh month, Juno brought
the child to birth though there was a month still wanting, but
she stayed the offspring of Alcmena, and kept back the Ilithuiae.
Then she went to tell Jove the son of Saturn, and said, ‘Father
Jove, lord of the lightning—I have a word for your ear. There is
a fine child born this day, Eurystheus, son to Sthenelus the son
of Perseus; he is of your lineage; it is well, therefore, that he
should reign over the Argives.’
“On this Jove was stung to the very quick, and in his rage he
caught Folly by the hair, and swore a great oath that never
should she again invade starry heaven and Olympus, for she was
the bane of all. Then he whirled her round with a twist of his
hand, and flung her down from heaven so that she fell on to the
fields of mortal men; and he was ever angry with her when he saw
his son groaning under the cruel labours that Eurystheus laid
upon him. Even so did I grieve when mighty Hector was killing the
Argives at their ships, and all the time I kept thinking of Folly
who had so baned me. I was blind, and Jove robbed me of my
reason; I will now make atonement, and will add much treasure by
way of amends. Go, therefore, into battle, you and your people
with you. I will give you all that Ulysses offered you yesterday
in your tents: or if it so please you, wait, though you would
fain fight at once, and my squires shall bring the gifts from my
ship, that you may see whether what I give you is enough.”
And Achilles answered, “Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, you
can give such gifts as you think proper, or you can withhold
them: it is in your own hands. Let us now set battle in array; it
is not well to tarry talking about trifles, for there is a deed
which is as yet to do. Achilles shall again be seen fighting
among the foremost, and laying low the ranks of the Trojans: bear
this in mind each one of you when he is fighting.”
Then Ulysses said, “Achilles, godlike and brave, send not the
Achaeans thus against Ilius to fight the Trojans fasting, for the
battle will be no brief one, when it is once begun, and heaven
has filled both sides with fury; bid them first take food both
bread and wine by the ships, for in this there is strength and
stay. No man can do battle the livelong day to the going down of
the sun if he is without food; however much he may want to fight
his strength will fail him before he knows it; hunger and thirst
will find him out, and his limbs will grow weary under him. But a
man can fight all day if he is full fed with meat and wine; his
heart beats high, and his strength will stay till he has routed
all his foes; therefore, send the people away and bid them
prepare their meal; King Agamemnon will bring out the gifts in
presence of the assembly, that all may see them and you may be
satisfied. Moreover let him swear an oath before the Argives that
he has never gone up into the couch of Briseis, nor been with her
after the manner of men and women; and do you, too, show yourself
of a gracious mind; let Agamemnon entertain you in his tents with
a feast of reconciliation, that so you may have had your dues in
full. As for you, son of Atreus, treat people more righteously in
future; it is no disgrace even to a king that he should make
amends if he was wrong in the first instance.”
And King Agamemnon answered, “Son of Laertes, your words please
me well, for throughout you have spoken wisely. I will swear as
you would have me do; I do so of my own free will, neither shall
I take the name of heaven in vain. Let, then, Achilles wait,
though he would fain fight at once, and do you others wait also,
till the gifts come from my tent and we ratify the oath with
sacrifice. Thus, then, do I charge you: take some noble young
Achaeans with you, and bring from my tents the gifts that I
promised yesterday to Achilles, and bring the women also;
furthermore let Talthybius find me a boar from those that are
with the host, and make it ready for sacrifice to Jove and to the
sun.”
Then said Achilles, “Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, see to
these matters at some other season, when there is breathing time
and when I am calmer. Would you have men eat while the bodies of
those whom Hector son of Priam slew are still lying mangled upon
the plain? Let the sons of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and
without food, till we have avenged them; afterwards at the going
down of the sun let them eat their fill. As for me, Patroclus is
lying dead in my tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet to the
door, and his comrades are mourning round him. Therefore I can
take thought of nothing save only slaughter and blood and the
rattle in the throat of the dying.”
Ulysses answered, “Achilles, son of Peleus, mightiest of all the
Achaeans, in battle you are better than I, and that more than a
little, but in counsel I am much before you, for I am older and
of greater knowledge. Therefore be patient under my words.
Fighting is a thing of which men soon surfeit, and when Jove, who
is war’s steward, weighs the upshot, it may well prove that the
straw which our sickles have reaped is far heavier than the
grain. It may not be that the Achaeans should mourn the dead with
their bellies; day by day men fall thick and threefold
continually; when should we have respite from our sorrow? Let us
mourn our dead for a day and bury them out of sight and mind, but
let those of us who are left eat and drink that we may arm and
fight our foes more fiercely. In that hour let no man hold back,
waiting for a second summons; such summons shall bode ill for him
who is found lagging behind at our ships; let us rather sally as
one man and loose the fury of war upon the Trojans.”
When he had thus spoken he took with him the sons of Nestor, with
Meges son of Phyleus, Thoas, Meriones, Lycomedes son of Creontes,
and Melanippus, and went to the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus.
The word was not sooner said than the deed was done: they brought
out the seven tripods which Agamemnon had promised, with the
twenty metal cauldrons and the twelve horses; they also brought
the women skilled in useful arts, seven in number, with Briseis,
which made eight. Ulysses weighed out the ten talents of gold and
then led the way back, while the young Achaeans brought the rest
of the gifts, and laid them in the middle of the assembly.
Agamemnon then rose, and Talthybius whose voice was like that of
a god came to him with the boar. The son of Atreus drew the knife
which he wore by the scabbard of his mighty sword, and began by
cutting off some bristles from the boar, lifting up his hands in
prayer as he did so. The other Achaeans sat where they were all
silent and orderly to hear the king, and Agamemnon looked into
the vault of heaven and prayed saying, “I call Jove the first and
mightiest of all gods to witness, I call also Earth and Sun and
the Erinyes who dwell below and take vengeance on him who shall
swear falsely, that I have laid no hand upon the girl Briseis,
neither to take her to my bed nor otherwise, but that she has
remained in my tents inviolate. If I swear falsely may heaven
visit me with all the penalties which it metes out to those who
perjure themselves.”
He cut the boar’s throat as he spoke, whereon Talthybius whirled
it round his head, and flung it into the wide sea to feed the
fishes. Then Achilles also rose and said to the Argives, “Father
Jove, of a truth you blind men’s eyes and bane them. The son of
Atreus had not else stirred me to so fierce an anger, nor so
stubbornly taken Briseis from me against my will. Surely Jove
must have counselled the destruction of many an Argive. Go, now,
and take your food that we may begin fighting.”
On this he broke up the assembly, and every man went back to his
own ship. The Myrmidons attended to the presents and took them
away to the ship of Achilles. They placed them in his tents,
while the stable-men drove the horses in among the others.
Briseis, fair as Venus, when she saw the mangled body of
Patroclus, flung herself upon it and cried aloud, tearing her
breast, her neck, and her lovely face with both her hands.
Beautiful as a goddess she wept and said, “Patroclus, dearest
friend, when I went hence I left you living; I return, O prince,
to find you dead; thus do fresh sorrows multiply upon me one
after the other. I saw him to whom my father and mother married
me, cut down before our city, and my three own dear brothers
perished with him on the self-same day; but you, Patroclus, even
when Achilles slew my husband and sacked the city of noble Mynes,
told me that I was not to weep, for you said you would make
Achilles marry me, and take me back with him to Phthia, we should
have a wedding feast among the Myrmidons. You were always kind to
me and I shall never cease to grieve for you.”
She wept as she spoke, and the women joined in her lament-making
as though their tears were for Patroclus, but in truth each was
weeping for her own sorrows. The elders of the Achaeans gathered
round Achilles and prayed him to take food, but he groaned and
would not do so. “I pray you,” said he, “if any comrade will hear
me, bid me neither eat nor drink, for I am in great heaviness,
and will stay fasting even to the going down of the sun.”
On this he sent the other princes away, save only the two sons of
Atreus and Ulysses, Nestor, Idomeneus, and the knight Phoenix,
who stayed behind and tried to comfort him in the bitterness of
his sorrow: but he would not be comforted till he should have
flung himself into the jaws of battle, and he fetched sigh on
sigh, thinking ever of Patroclus. Then he said—
“Hapless and dearest comrade, you it was who would get a good
dinner ready for me at once and without delay when the Achaeans
were hasting to fight the Trojans; now, therefore, though I have
meat and drink in my tents, yet will I fast for sorrow. Grief
greater than this I could not know, not even though I were to
hear of the death of my father, who is now in Phthia weeping for
the loss of me his son, who am here fighting the Trojans in a
strange land for the accursed sake of Helen, nor yet though I
should hear that my son is no more—he who is being brought up in
Scyros—if indeed Neoptolemus is still living. Till now I made
sure that I alone was to fall here at Troy away from Argos, while
you were to return to Phthia, bring back my son with you in your
own ship, and show him all my property, my bondsmen, and the
greatness of my house—for Peleus must surely be either dead, or
what little life remains to him is oppressed alike with the
infirmities of age and ever present fear lest he should hear the
sad tidings of my death.”
He wept as he spoke, and the elders sighed in concert as each
thought on what he had left at home behind him. The son of Saturn
looked down with pity upon them, and said presently to Minerva,
“My child, you have quite deserted your hero; is he then gone so
clean out of your recollection? There he sits by the ships all
desolate for the loss of his dear comrade, and though the others
are gone to their dinner he will neither eat nor drink. Go then
and drop nectar and ambrosia into his breast, that he may know no
hunger.”
With these words he urged Minerva, who was already of the same
mind. She darted down from heaven into the air like some falcon
sailing on his broad wings and screaming. Meanwhile the Achaeans
were arming throughout the host, and when Minerva had dropped
nectar and ambrosia into Achilles so that no cruel hunger should
cause his limbs to fail him, she went back to the house of her
mighty father. Thick as the chill snow-flakes shed from the hand
of Jove and borne on the keen blasts of the north wind, even so
thick did the gleaming helmets, the bossed shields, the strongly
plated breastplates, and the ashen spears stream from the ships.
The sheen pierced the sky, the whole land was radiant with their
flashing armour, and the sound of the tramp of their treading
rose from under their feet. In the midst of them all Achilles put
on his armour; he gnashed his teeth, his eyes gleamed like fire,
for his grief was greater than he could bear. Thus, then, full of
fury against the Trojans, did he don the gift of the god, the
armour that Vulcan had made him.
First he put on the goodly greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and
next he did on the breastplate about his chest. He slung the
silver-studded sword of bronze about his shoulders, and then took
up the shield so great and strong that shone afar with a
splendour as of the moon. As the light seen by sailors from out
at sea, when men have lit a fire in their homestead high up among
the mountains, but the sailors are carried out to sea by wind and
storm far from the haven where they would be—even so did the
gleam of Achilles’ wondrous shield strike up into the heavens. He
lifted the redoubtable helmet, and set it upon his head, from
whence it shone like a star, and the golden plumes which Vulcan
had set thick about the ridge of the helmet, waved all around it.
Then Achilles made trial of himself in his armour to see whether
it fitted him, so that his limbs could play freely under it, and
it seemed to buoy him up as though it had been wings.
He also drew his father’s spear out of the spear-stand, a spear
so great and heavy and strong that none of the Achaeans save only
Achilles had strength to wield it; this was the spear of Pelian
ash from the topmost ridges of Mt. Pelion, which Chiron had once
given to Peleus, fraught with the death of heroes. Automedon and
Alcimus busied themselves with the harnessing of his horses; they
made the bands fast about them, and put the bit in their mouths,
drawing the reins back towards the chariot. Automedon, whip in
hand, sprang up behind the horses, and after him Achilles mounted
in full armour, resplendent as the sun-god Hyperion. Then with a
loud voice he chided with his father’s horses saying, “Xanthus
and Balius, famed offspring of Podarge—this time when we have
done fighting be sure and bring your driver safely back to the
host of the Achaeans, and do not leave him dead on the plain as
you did Patroclus.”
Then fleet Xanthus answered under the yoke—for white-armed Juno
had endowed him with human speech—and he bowed his head till his
mane touched the ground as it hung down from under the yoke-band.
“Dread Achilles,” said he, “we will indeed save you now, but the
day of your death is near, and the blame will not be ours, for it
will be heaven and stern fate that will destroy you. Neither was
it through any sloth or slackness on our part that the Trojans
stripped Patroclus of his armour; it was the mighty god whom
lovely Leto bore that slew him as he fought among the foremost,
and vouchsafed a triumph to Hector. We two can fly as swiftly as
Zephyrus who they say is fleetest of all winds; nevertheless it
is your doom to fall by the hand of a man and of a god.”
When he had thus said the Erinyes stayed his speech, and Achilles
answered him in great sadness, saying, “Why, O Xanthus, do you
thus foretell my death? You need not do so, for I well know that
I am to fall here, far from my dear father and mother; none the
more, however, shall I stay my hand till I have given the Trojans
their fill of fighting.”
So saying, with a loud cry he drove his horses to the front.
BOOK XX.
The gods hold a council and determine to watch the fight, from
the hill Callicolone, and the barrow of Hercules—A fight between
Achilles and AEneas is interrupted by Neptune, who saves
AEneas—Achilles kills many Trojans.
Thus, then, did the Achaeans arm by their ships round you, O son
of Peleus, who were hungering for battle; while the Trojans over
against them armed upon the rise of the plain.
Meanwhile Jove from the top of many-delled Olympus, bade Themis
gather the gods in council, whereon she went about and called
them to the house of Jove. There was not a river absent except
Oceanus, nor a single one of the nymphs that haunt fair groves,
or springs of rivers and meadows of green grass. When they
reached the house of cloud-compelling Jove, they took their seats
in the arcades of polished marble which Vulcan with his
consummate skill had made for father Jove.
In such wise, therefore, did they gather in the house of Jove.
Neptune also, lord of the earthquake, obeyed the call of the
goddess, and came up out of the sea to join them. There, sitting
in the midst of them, he asked what Jove’s purpose might be.
“Why,” said he, “wielder of the lightning, have you called the
gods in council? Are you considering some matter that concerns
the Trojans and Achaeans—for the blaze of battle is on the point
of being kindled between them?”
And Jove answered, “You know my purpose, shaker of earth, and
wherefore I have called you hither. I take thought for them even
in their destruction. For my own part I shall stay here seated on
Mt. Olympus and look on in peace, but do you others go about
among Trojans and Achaeans, and help either side as you may be
severally disposed. If Achilles fights the Trojans without
hindrance they will make no stand against him; they have ever
trembled at the sight of him, and now that he is roused to such
fury about his comrade, he will override fate itself and storm
their city.”
Thus spoke Jove and gave the word for war, whereon the gods took
their several sides and went into battle. Juno, Pallas Minerva,
earth-encircling Neptune, Mercury bringer of good luck and
excellent in all cunning—all these joined the host that came from
the ships; with them also came Vulcan in all his glory, limping,
but yet with his thin legs plying lustily under him. Mars of
gleaming helmet joined the Trojans, and with him Apollo of locks
unshorn, and the archer goddess Diana, Leto, Xanthus, and
laughter-loving Venus.
So long as the gods held themselves aloof from mortal warriors
the Achaeans were triumphant, for Achilles who had long refused
to fight was now with them. There was not a Trojan but his limbs
failed him for fear as he beheld the fleet son of Peleus all
glorious in his armour, and looking like Mars himself. When,
however, the Olympians came to take their part among men,
forthwith uprose strong Strife, rouser of hosts, and Minerva
raised her loud voice, now standing by the deep trench that ran
outside the wall, and now shouting with all her might upon the
shore of the sounding sea. Mars also bellowed out upon the other
side, dark as some black thunder-cloud, and called on the Trojans
at the top of his voice, now from the acropolis, and now speeding
up the side of the river Simois till he came to the hill
Callicolone.
Thus did the gods spur on both hosts to fight, and rouse fierce
contention also among themselves. The sire of gods and men
thundered from heaven above, while from beneath Neptune shook the
vast earth, and bade the high hills tremble. The spurs and crests
of many-fountained Ida quaked, as also the city of the Trojans
and the ships of the Achaeans. Hades, king of the realms below,
was struck with fear; he sprang panic-stricken from his throne
and cried aloud in terror lest Neptune, lord of the earthquake,
should crack the ground over his head, and lay bare his mouldy
mansions to the sight of mortals and immortals—mansions so
ghastly grim that even the gods shudder to think of them. Such
was the uproar as the gods came together in battle. Apollo with
his arrows took his stand to face King Neptune, while Minerva
took hers against the god of war; the archer-goddess Diana with
her golden arrows, sister of far-darting Apollo, stood to face
Juno; Mercury the lusty bringer of good luck faced Leto, while
the mighty eddying river whom men can Scamander, but gods
Xanthus, matched himself against Vulcan.
The gods, then, were thus ranged against one another. But the
heart of Achilles was set on meeting Hector son of Priam, for it
was with his blood that he longed above all things else to glut
the stubborn lord of battle. Meanwhile Apollo set Aeneas on to
attack the son of Peleus, and put courage into his heart,
speaking with the voice of Lycaon son of Priam. In his likeness
therefore, he said to Aeneas, “Aeneas, counsellor of the Trojans,
where are now the brave words with which you vaunted over your
wine before the Trojan princes, saying that you would fight
Achilles son of Peleus in single combat?”
And Aeneas answered, “Why do you thus bid me fight the proud son
of Peleus, when I am in no mind to do so? Were I to face him now,
it would not be for the first time. His spear has already put me
to flight from Ida, when he attacked our cattle and sacked
Lyrnessus and Pedasus; Jove indeed saved me in that he vouchsafed
me strength to fly, else had I fallen by the hands of Achilles
and Minerva, who went before him to protect him and urged him to
fall upon the Lelegae and Trojans. No man may fight Achilles, for
one of the gods is always with him as his guardian angel, and
even were it not so, his weapon flies ever straight, and fails
not to pierce the flesh of him who is against him; if heaven
would let me fight him on even terms he should not soon overcome
me, though he boasts that he is made of bronze.”
Then said King Apollo, son to Jove, “Nay, hero, pray to the
ever-living gods, for men say that you were born of Jove’s
daughter Venus, whereas Achilles is son to a goddess of inferior
rank. Venus is child to Jove, while Thetis is but daughter to the
old man of the sea. Bring, therefore, your spear to bear upon
him, and let him not scare you with his taunts and menaces.”
As he spoke he put courage into the heart of the shepherd of his
people, and he strode in full armour among the ranks of the
foremost fighters. Nor did the son of Anchises escape the notice
of white-armed Juno, as he went forth into the throng to meet
Achilles. She called the gods about her, and said, “Look to it,
you two, Neptune and Minerva, and consider how this shall be;
Phoebus Apollo has been sending Aeneas clad in full armour to
fight Achilles. Shall we turn him back at once, or shall one of
us stand by Achilles and endow him with strength so that his
heart fail not, and he may learn that the chiefs of the immortals
are on his side, while the others who have all along been
defending the Trojans are but vain helpers? Let us all come down
from Olympus and join in the fight, that this day he may take no
hurt at the hands of the Trojans. Hereafter let him suffer
whatever fate may have spun out for him when he was begotten and
his mother bore him. If Achilles be not thus assured by the voice
of a god, he may come to fear presently when one of us meets him
in battle, for the gods are terrible if they are seen face to
face.”
Neptune lord of the earthquake answered her saying, “Juno,
restrain your fury; it is not well; I am not in favour of forcing
the other gods to fight us, for the advantage is too greatly on
our own side; let us take our places on some hill out of the
beaten track, and let mortals fight it out among themselves. If
Mars or Phoebus Apollo begin fighting, or keep Achilles in check
so that he cannot fight, we too, will at once raise the cry of
battle, and in that case they will soon leave the field and go
back vanquished to Olympus among the other gods.”
With these words the dark-haired god led the way to the high
earth-barrow of Hercules, built round solid masonry, and made by
the Trojans and Pallas Minerva for him to fly to when the
sea-monster was chasing him from the shore on to the plain. Here
Neptune and those that were with him took their seats, wrapped in
a thick cloud of darkness; but the other gods seated themselves
on the brow of Callicolone round you, O Phoebus, and Mars the
waster of cities.
Thus did the gods sit apart and form their plans, but neither
side was willing to begin battle with the other, and Jove from
his seat on high was in command over them all. Meanwhile the
whole plain was alive with men and horses, and blazing with the
gleam of armour. The earth rang again under the tramp of their
feet as they rushed towards each other, and two champions, by far
the foremost of them all, met between the hosts to fight—to wit,
Aeneas son of Anchises, and noble Achilles.
Aeneas was first to stride forward in attack, his doughty helmet
tossing defiance as he came on. He held his strong shield before
his breast, and brandished his bronze spear. The son of Peleus
from the other side sprang forth to meet him, like some fierce
lion that the whole country-side has met to hunt and kill—at
first he bodes no ill, but when some daring youth has struck him
with a spear, he crouches openmouthed, his jaws foam, he roars
with fury, he lashes his tail from side to side about his ribs
and loins, and glares as he springs straight before him, to find
out whether he is to slay, or be slain among the foremost of his
foes—even with such fury did Achilles burn to spring upon Aeneas.
When they were now close up with one another Achilles was first
to speak. “Aeneas,” said he, “why do you stand thus out before
the host to fight me? Is it that you hope to reign over the
Trojans in the seat of Priam? Nay, though you kill me Priam will
not hand his kingdom over to you. He is a man of sound judgement,
and he has sons of his own. Or have the Trojans been allotting
you a demesne of passing richness, fair with orchard lawns and
corn lands, if you should slay me? This you shall hardly do. I
have discomfited you once already. Have you forgotten how when
you were alone I chased you from your herds helter-skelter down
the slopes of Ida? You did not turn round to look behind you; you
took refuge in Lyrnessus, but I attacked the city, and with the
help of Minerva and father Jove I sacked it and carried its women
into captivity, though Jove and the other gods rescued you. You
think they will protect you now, but they will not do so;
therefore I say go back into the host, and do not face me, or you
will rue it. Even a fool may be wise after the event.”
Then Aeneas answered, “Son of Peleus, think not that your words
can scare me as though I were a child. I too, if I will, can brag
and talk unseemly. We know one another’s race and parentage as
matters of common fame, though neither have you ever seen my
parents nor I yours. Men say that you are son to noble Peleus,
and that your mother is Thetis, fair-haired daughter of the sea.
I have noble Anchises for my father, and Venus for my mother; the
parents of one or other of us shall this day mourn a son, for it
will be more than silly talk that shall part us when the fight is
over. Learn, then, my lineage if you will—and it is known to
many.
“In the beginning Dardanus was the son of Jove, and founded
Dardania, for Ilius was not yet stablished on the plain for men
to dwell in, and her people still abode on the spurs of
many-fountained Ida. Dardanus had a son, king Erichthonius, who
was wealthiest of all men living; he had three thousand mares
that fed by the water-meadows, they and their foals with them.
Boreas was enamoured of them as they were feeding, and covered
them in the semblance of a dark-maned stallion. Twelve filly
foals did they conceive and bear him, and these, as they sped
over the rich plain, would go bounding on over the ripe ears of
corn and not break them; or again when they would disport
themselves on the broad back of Ocean they could gallop on the
crest of a breaker. Erichthonius begat Tros, king of the Trojans,
and Tros had three noble sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymede who
was comeliest of mortal men; wherefore the gods carried him off
to be Jove’s cupbearer, for his beauty’s sake, that he might
dwell among the immortals. Ilus begat Laomedon, and Laomedon
begat Tithonus, Priam, Lampus, Clytius, and Hiketaon of the stock
of Mars. But Assaracus was father to Capys, and Capys to
Anchises, who was my father, while Hector is son to Priam.
“Such do I declare my blood and lineage, but as for valour, Jove
gives it or takes it as he will, for he is lord of all. And now
let there be no more of this prating in mid-battle as though we
were children. We could fling taunts without end at one another;
a hundred-oared galley would not hold them. The tongue can run
all whithers and talk all wise; it can go here and there, and as
a man says, so shall he be gainsaid. What is the use of our
bandying hard like women who when they fall foul of one another
go out and wrangle in the streets, one half true and the other
lies, as rage inspires them? No words of yours shall turn me now
that I am fain to fight—therefore let us make trial of one
another with our spears.”
As he spoke he drove his spear at the great and terrible shield
of Achilles, which rang out as the point struck it. The son of
Peleus held the shield before him with his strong hand, and he
was afraid, for he deemed that Aeneas’s spear would go through it
quite easily, not reflecting that the god’s glorious gifts were
little likely to yield before the blows of mortal men; and indeed
Aeneas’s spear did not pierce the shield, for the layer of gold,
gift of the god, stayed the point. It went through two layers,
but the god had made the shield in five, two of bronze, the two
innermost ones of tin, and one of gold; it was in this that the
spear was stayed.
Achilles in his turn threw, and struck the round shield of Aeneas
at the very edge, where the bronze was thinnest; the spear of
Pelian ash went clean through, and the shield rang under the
blow; Aeneas was afraid, and crouched backwards, holding the
shield away from him; the spear, however, flew over his back, and
stuck quivering in the ground, after having gone through both
circles of the sheltering shield. Aeneas though he had avoided
the spear, stood still, blinded with fear and grief because the
weapon had gone so near him; then Achilles sprang furiously upon
him, with a cry as of death and with his keen blade drawn, and
Aeneas seized a great stone, so huge that two men, as men now
are, would be unable to lift it, but Aeneas wielded it quite
easily.
Aeneas would then have struck Achilles as he was springing
towards him, either on the helmet, or on the shield that covered
him, and Achilles would have closed with him and despatched him
with his sword, had not Neptune lord of the earthquake been quick
to mark, and said forthwith to the immortals, “Alas, I am sorry
for great Aeneas, who will now go down to the house of Hades,
vanquished by the son of Peleus. Fool that he was to give ear to
the counsel of Apollo. Apollo will never save him from
destruction. Why should this man suffer when he is guiltless, to
no purpose, and in another’s quarrel? Has he not at all times
offered acceptable sacrifice to the gods that dwell in heaven?
Let us then snatch him from death’s jaws, lest the son of Saturn
be angry should Achilles slay him. It is fated, moreover, that he
should escape, and that the race of Dardanus, whom Jove loved
above all the sons born to him of mortal women, shall not perish
utterly without seed or sign. For now indeed has Jove hated the
blood of Priam, while Aeneas shall reign over the Trojans, he and
his children’s children that shall be born hereafter.”
Then answered Juno, “Earth-shaker, look to this matter yourself,
and consider concerning Aeneas, whether you will save him, or
suffer him, brave though he be, to fall by the hand of Achilles
son of Peleus. For of a truth we two, I and Pallas Minerva, have
sworn full many a time before all the immortals, that never would
we shield Trojans from destruction, not even when all Troy is
burning in the flames that the Achaeans shall kindle.”
When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went into the battle
amid the clash of spears, and came to the place where Achilles
and Aeneas were. Forthwith he shed a darkness before the eyes of
the son of Peleus, drew the bronze-headed ashen spear from the
shield of Aeneas, and laid it at the feet of Achilles. Then he
lifted Aeneas on high from off the earth and hurried him away.
Over the heads of many a band of warriors both horse and foot did
he soar as the god’s hand sped him, till he came to the very
fringe of the battle where the Cauconians were arming themselves
for fight. Neptune, shaker of the earth, then came near to him
and said, “Aeneas, what god has egged you on to this folly in
fighting the son of Peleus, who is both a mightier man of valour
and more beloved of heaven than you are? Give way before him
whensoever you meet him, lest you go down to the house of Hades
even though fate would have it otherwise. When Achilles is dead
you may then fight among the foremost undaunted, for none other
of the Achaeans shall slay you.”
The god left him when he had given him these instructions, and at
once removed the darkness from before the eyes of Achilles, who
opened them wide indeed and said in great anger, “Alas! what
marvel am I now beholding? Here is my spear upon the ground, but
I see not him whom I meant to kill when I hurled it. Of a truth
Aeneas also must be under heaven’s protection, although I had
thought his boasting was idle. Let him go hang; he will be in no
mood to fight me further, seeing how narrowly he has missed being
killed. I will now give my orders to the Danaans and attack some
other of the Trojans.”
He sprang forward along the line and cheered his men on as he did
so. “Let not the Trojans,” he cried, “keep you at arm’s length,
Achaeans, but go for them and fight them man for man. However
valiant I may be, I cannot give chase to so many and fight all of
them. Even Mars, who is an immortal, or Minerva, would shrink
from flinging himself into the jaws of such a fight and laying
about him; nevertheless, so far as in me lies I will show no
slackness of hand or foot nor want of endurance, not even for a
moment; I will utterly break their ranks, and woe to the Trojan
who shall venture within reach of my spear.”
Thus did he exhort them. Meanwhile Hector called upon the Trojans
and declared that he would fight Achilles. “Be not afraid, proud
Trojans,” said he, “to face the son of Peleus; I could fight gods
myself if the battle were one of words only, but they would be
more than a match for me, if we had to use our spears. Even so
the deed of Achilles will fall somewhat short of his word; he
will do in part, and the other part he will clip short. I will go
up against him though his hands be as fire—though his hands be
fire and his strength iron.”
Thus urged the Trojans lifted up their spears against the
Achaeans, and raised the cry of battle as they flung themselves
into the midst of their ranks. But Phoebus Apollo came up to
Hector and said, “Hector, on no account must you challenge
Achilles to single combat; keep a lookout for him while you are
under cover of the others and away from the thick of the fight,
otherwise he will either hit you with a spear or cut you down at
close quarters.”
Thus he spoke, and Hector drew back within the crowd, for he was
afraid when he heard what the god had said to him. Achilles then
sprang upon the Trojans with a terrible cry, clothed in valour as
with a garment. First he killed Iphition son of Otrynteus, a
leader of much people whom a naiad nymph had borne to Otrynteus
waster of cities, in the land of Hyde under the snowy heights of
Mt. Tmolus. Achilles struck him full on the head as he was coming
on towards him, and split it clean in two; whereon he fell
heavily to the ground and Achilles vaunted over him saying, “You
be low, son of Otrynteus, mighty hero; your death is here, but
your lineage is on the Gygaean lake where your father’s estate
lies, by Hyllus, rich in fish, and the eddying waters of Hermus.”
Thus did he vaunt, but darkness closed the eyes of the other. The
chariots of the Achaeans cut him up as their wheels passed over
him in the front of the battle, and after him Achilles killed
Demoleon, a valiant man of war and son to Antenor. He struck him
on the temple through his bronze-cheeked helmet. The helmet did
not stay the spear, but it went right on, crushing the bone so
that the brain inside was shed in all directions, and his lust of
fighting was ended. Then he struck Hippodamas in the midriff as
he was springing down from his chariot in front of him, and
trying to escape. He breathed his last, bellowing like a bull
bellows when young men are dragging him to offer him in sacrifice
to the King of Helice, and the heart of the earth-shaker is glad;
even so did he bellow as he lay dying. Achilles then went in
pursuit of Polydorus son of Priam, whom his father had always
forbidden to fight because he was the youngest of his sons, the
one he loved best, and the fastest runner. He, in his folly and
showing off the fleetness of his feet, was rushing about among
front ranks until he lost his life, for Achilles struck him in
the middle of the back as he was darting past him: he struck him
just at the golden fastenings of his belt and where the two
pieces of the double breastplate overlapped. The point of the
spear pierced him through and came out by the navel, whereon he
fell groaning on to his knees and a cloud of darkness
overshadowed him as he sank holding his entrails in his hands.
When Hector saw his brother Polydorus with his entrails in his
hands and sinking down upon the ground, a mist came over his
eyes, and he could not bear to keep longer at a distance; he
therefore poised his spear and darted towards Achilles like a
flame of fire. When Achilles saw him he bounded forward and
vaunted saying, “This is he that has wounded my heart most deeply
and has slain my beloved comrade. Not for long shall we two quail
before one another on the highways of war.”
He looked fiercely on Hector and said, “Draw near, that you may
meet your doom the sooner.” Hector feared him not and answered,
“Son of Peleus, think not that your words can scare me as though
I were a child; I too if I will can brag and talk unseemly; I
know that you are a mighty warrior, mightier by far than I,
nevertheless the issue lies in the lap of heaven whether I, worse
man though I be, may not slay you with my spear, for this too has
been found keen ere now.”
He hurled his spear as he spoke, but Minerva breathed upon it,
and though she breathed but very lightly she turned it back from
going towards Achilles, so that it returned to Hector and lay at
his feet in front of him. Achilles then sprang furiously on him
with a loud cry, bent on killing him, but Apollo caught him up
easily as a god can, and hid him in a thick darkness. Thrice did
Achilles spring towards him spear in hand, and thrice did he
waste his blow upon the air. When he rushed forward for the
fourth time as though he were a god, he shouted aloud saying,
“Hound, this time too you have escaped death—but of a truth it
came exceedingly near you. Phoebus Apollo, to whom it seems you
pray before you go into battle, has again saved you; but if I too
have any friend among the gods I will surely make an end of you
when I come across you at some other time. Now, however, I will
pursue and overtake other Trojans.”
On this he struck Dryops with his spear, about the middle of his
neck, and he fell headlong at his feet. There he let him lie and
stayed Demouchus son of Philetor, a man both brave and of great
stature, by hitting him on the knee with a spear; then he smote
him with his sword and killed him. After this he sprang on
Laogonus and Dardanus, sons of Bias, and threw them from their
chariot, the one with a blow from a thrown spear, while the other
he cut down in hand-to-hand fight. There was also Tros the son of
Alastor—he came up to Achilles and clasped his knees in the hope
that he would spare him and not kill him but let him go, because
they were both of the same age. Fool, he might have known that he
should not prevail with him, for the man was in no mood for pity
or forbearance but was in grim earnest. Therefore when Tros laid
hold of his knees and sought a hearing for his prayers, Achilles
drove his sword into his liver, and the liver came rolling out,
while his bosom was all covered with the black blood that welled
from the wound. Thus did death close his eyes as he lay lifeless.
Achilles then went up to Mulius and struck him on the ear with a
spear, and the bronze spear-head came right out at the other ear.
He also struck Echeclus son of Agenor on the head with his sword,
which became warm with the blood, while death and stern fate
closed the eyes of Echeclus. Next in order the bronze point of
his spear wounded Deucalion in the fore-arm where the sinews of
the elbow are united, whereon he waited Achilles’ onset with his
arm hanging down and death staring him in the face. Achilles cut
his head off with a blow from his sword and flung it helmet and
all away from him, and the marrow came oozing out of his backbone
as he lay. He then went in pursuit of Rhigmus, noble son of
Peires, who had come from fertile Thrace, and struck him through
the middle with a spear which fixed itself in his belly, so that
he fell headlong from his chariot. He also speared Areithous
squire to Rhigmus in the back as he was turning his horses in
flight, and thrust him from his chariot, while the horses were
struck with panic.
As a fire raging in some mountain glen after long drought—and the
dense forest is in a blaze, while the wind carries great tongues
of fire in every direction—even so furiously did Achilles rage,
wielding his spear as though he were a god, and giving chase to
those whom he would slay, till the dark earth ran with blood. Or
as one who yokes broad-browed oxen that they may tread barley in
a threshing-floor—and it is soon bruised small under the feet of
the lowing cattle—even so did the horses of Achilles trample on
the shields and bodies of the slain. The axle underneath and the
railing that ran round the car were bespattered with clots of
blood thrown up by the horses’ hoofs, and from the tyres of the
wheels; but the son of Peleus pressed on to win still further
glory, and his hands were bedrabbled with gore.
BOOK XXI.
The fight between Achilles and the river Scamander—The gods fight
among themselves—Achilles drives the Trojans within their gates.
Now when they came to the ford of the full-flowing river Xanthus,
begotten of immortal Jove, Achilles cut their forces in two: one
half he chased over the plain towards the city by the same way
that the Achaeans had taken when flying panic-stricken on the
preceding day with Hector in full triumph; this way did they fly
pell-mell, and Juno sent down a thick mist in front of them to
stay them. The other half were hemmed in by the deep
silver-eddying stream, and fell into it with a great uproar. The
waters resounded, and the banks rang again, as they swam hither
and thither with loud cries amid the whirling eddies. As locusts
flying to a river before the blast of a grass fire—the flame
comes on and on till at last it overtakes them and they huddle
into the water—even so was the eddying stream of Xanthus filled
with the uproar of men and horses, all struggling in confusion
before Achilles.
Forthwith the hero left his spear upon the bank, leaning it
against a tamarisk bush, and plunged into the river like a god,
armed with his sword only. Fell was his purpose as he hewed the
Trojans down on every side. Their dying groans rose hideous as
the sword smote them, and the river ran red with blood. As when
fish fly scared before a huge dolphin, and fill every nook and
corner of some fair haven—for he is sure to eat all he can
catch—even so did the Trojans cower under the banks of the mighty
river, and when Achilles’ arms grew weary with killing them, he
drew twelve youths alive out of the water, to sacrifice in
revenge for Patroclus son of Menoetius. He drew them out like
dazed fawns, bound their hands behind them with the girdles of
their own shirts, and gave them over to his men to take back to
the ships. Then he sprang into the river, thirsting for still
further blood.
There he found Lycaon, son of Priam seed of Dardanus, as he was
escaping out of the water; he it was whom he had once taken
prisoner when he was in his father’s vineyard, having set upon
him by night, as he was cutting young shoots from a wild fig-tree
to make the wicker sides of a chariot. Achilles then caught him
to his sorrow unawares, and sent him by sea to Lemnos, where the
son of Jason bought him. But a guest-friend, Eetion of Imbros,
freed him with a great sum, and sent him to Arisbe, whence he had
escaped and returned to his father’s house. He had spent eleven
days happily with his friends after he had come from Lemnos, but
on the twelfth heaven again delivered him into the hands of
Achilles, who was to send him to the house of Hades sorely
against his will. He was unarmed when Achilles caught sight of
him, and had neither helmet nor shield; nor yet had he any spear,
for he had thrown all his armour from him on to the bank, and was
sweating with his struggles to get out of the river, so that his
strength was now failing him.
Then Achilles said to himself in his surprise, “What marvel do I
see here? If this man can come back alive after having been sold
over into Lemnos, I shall have the Trojans also whom I have slain
rising from the world below. Could not even the waters of the
grey sea imprison him, as they do many another whether he will or
no? This time let him taste my spear, that I may know for certain
whether mother earth who can keep even a strong man down, will be
able to hold him, or whether thence too he will return.”
Thus did he pause and ponder. But Lycaon came up to him dazed and
trying hard to embrace his knees, for he would fain live, not
die. Achilles thrust at him with his spear, meaning to kill him,
but Lycaon ran crouching up to him and caught his knees, whereby
the spear passed over his back, and stuck in the ground,
hungering though it was for blood. With one hand he caught
Achilles’ knees as he besought him, and with the other he
clutched the spear and would not let it go. Then he said,
“Achilles, have mercy upon me and spare me, for I am your
suppliant. It was in your tents that I first broke bread on the
day when you took me prisoner in the vineyard; after which you
sold me away to Lemnos far from my father and my friends, and I
brought you the price of a hundred oxen. I have paid three times
as much to gain my freedom; it is but twelve days that I have
come to Ilius after much suffering, and now cruel fate has again
thrown me into your hands. Surely father Jove must hate me, that
he has given me over to you a second time. Short of life indeed
did my mother Laothoe bear me, daughter of aged Altes—of Altes
who reigns over the warlike Lelegae and holds steep Pedasus on
the river Satnioeis. Priam married his daughter along with many
other women and two sons were born of her, both of whom you will
have slain. Your spear slew noble Polydorus as he was fighting in
the front ranks, and now evil will here befall me, for I fear
that I shall not escape you since heaven has delivered me over to
you. Furthermore I say, and lay my saying to your heart, spare
me, for I am not of the same womb as Hector who slew your brave
and noble comrade.”
With such words did the princely son of Priam beseech Achilles;
but Achilles answered him sternly. “Idiot,” said he, “talk not to
me of ransom. Until Patroclus fell I preferred to give the
Trojans quarter, and sold beyond the sea many of those whom I had
taken alive; but now not a man shall live of those whom heaven
delivers into my hands before the city of Ilius—and of all
Trojans it shall fare hardest with the sons of Priam. Therefore,
my friend, you too shall die. Why should you whine in this way?
Patroclus fell, and he was a better man than you are. I too—see
you not how I am great and goodly? I am son to a noble father,
and have a goddess for my mother, but the hands of doom and death
overshadow me all as surely. The day will come, either at dawn or
dark, or at the noontide, when one shall take my life also in
battle, either with his spear, or with an arrow sped from his
bow.”
Thus did he speak, and Lycaon’s heart sank within him. He loosed
his hold of the spear, and held out both hands before him; but
Achilles drew his keen blade, and struck him by the collar-bone
on his neck; he plunged his two-edged sword into him to the very
hilt, whereon he lay at full length on the ground, with the dark
blood welling from him till the earth was soaked. Then Achilles
caught him by the foot and flung him into the river to go down
stream, vaunting over him the while, and saying, “Lie there among
the fishes, who will lick the blood from your wound and gloat
over it; your mother shall not lay you on any bier to mourn you,
but the eddies of Scamander shall bear you into the broad bosom
of the sea. There shall the fishes feed on the fat of Lycaon as
they dart under the dark ripple of the waters—so perish all of
you till we reach the citadel of strong Ilius—you in flight, and
I following after to destroy you. The river with its broad silver
stream shall serve you in no stead, for all the bulls you offered
him and all the horses that you flung living into his waters.
None the less miserably shall you perish till there is not a man
of you but has paid in full for the death of Patroclus and the
havoc you wrought among the Achaeans whom you have slain while I
held aloof from battle.”
So spoke Achilles, but the river grew more and more angry, and
pondered within himself how he should stay the hand of Achilles
and save the Trojans from disaster. Meanwhile the son of Peleus,
spear in hand, sprang upon Asteropaeus son of Pelegon to kill
him. He was son to the broad river Axius and Periboea eldest
daughter of Acessamenus; for the river had lain with her.
Asteropaeus stood up out of the water to face him with a spear in
either hand, and Xanthus filled him with courage, being angry for
the death of the youths whom Achilles was slaying ruthlessly
within his waters. When they were close up with one another
Achilles was first to speak. “Who and whence are you,” said he,
“who dare to face me? Woe to the parents whose son stands up
against me.” And the son of Pelegon answered, “Great son of
Peleus, why should you ask my lineage. I am from the fertile land
of far Paeonia, captain of the Paeonians, and it is now eleven
days that I am at Ilius. I am of the blood of the river Axius—of
Axius that is the fairest of all rivers that run. He begot the
famed warrior Pelegon, whose son men call me. Let us now fight,
Achilles.”
Thus did he defy him, and Achilles raised his spear of Pelian
ash. Asteropaeus failed with both his spears, for he could use
both hands alike; with the one spear he struck Achilles’ shield,
but did not pierce it, for the layer of gold, gift of the god,
stayed the point; with the other spear he grazed the elbow of
Achilles’ right arm drawing dark blood, but the spear itself went
by him and fixed itself in the ground, foiled of its bloody
banquet. Then Achilles, fain to kill him, hurled his spear at
Asteropaeus, but failed to hit him and struck the steep bank of
the river, driving the spear half its length into the earth. The
son of Peleus then drew his sword and sprang furiously upon him.
Asteropaeus vainly tried to draw Achilles’ spear out of the bank
by main force; thrice did he tug at it, trying with all his might
to draw it out, and thrice he had to leave off trying; the fourth
time he tried to bend and break it, but ere he could do so
Achilles smote him with his sword and killed him. He struck him
in the belly near the navel, so that all his bowels came gushing
out on to the ground, and the darkness of death came over him as
he lay gasping. Then Achilles set his foot on his chest and
spoiled him of his armour, vaunting over him and saying, “Lie
there—begotten of a river though you be, it is hard for you to
strive with the offspring of Saturn’s son. You declare yourself
sprung from the blood of a broad river, but I am of the seed of
mighty Jove. My father is Peleus, son of Aeacus ruler over the
many Myrmidons, and Aeacus was the son of Jove. Therefore as Jove
is mightier than any river that flows into the sea, so are his
children stronger than those of any river whatsoever. Moreover
you have a great river hard by if he can be of any use to you,
but there is no fighting against Jove the son of Saturn, with
whom not even King Achelous can compare, nor the mighty stream of
deep-flowing Oceanus, from whom all rivers and seas with all
springs and deep wells proceed; even Oceanus fears the lightnings
of great Jove, and his thunder that comes crashing out of
heaven.”
With this he drew his bronze spear out of the bank, and now that
he had killed Asteropaeus, he let him lie where he was on the
sand, with the dark water flowing over him and the eels and
fishes busy nibbling and gnawing the fat that was about his
kidneys. Then he went in chase of the Paeonians, who were flying
along the bank of the river in panic when they saw their leader
slain by the hands of the son of Peleus. Therein he slew
Thersilochus, Mydon, Astypylus, Mnesus, Thrasius, Oeneus, and
Ophelestes, and he would have slain yet others, had not the river
in anger taken human form, and spoken to him from out the deep
waters saying, “Achilles, if you excel all in strength, so do you
also in wickedness, for the gods are ever with you to protect
you: if, then, the son of Saturn has vouchsafed it to you to
destroy all the Trojans, at any rate drive them out of my stream,
and do your grim work on land. My fair waters are now filled with
corpses, nor can I find any channel by which I may pour myself
into the sea for I am choked with dead, and yet you go on
mercilessly slaying. I am in despair, therefore, O captain of
your host, trouble me no further.”
Achilles answered, “So be it, Scamander, Jove-descended; but I
will never cease dealing out death among the Trojans, till I have
pent them up in their city, and made trial of Hector face to
face, that I may learn whether he is to vanquish me, or I him.”
As he spoke he set upon the Trojans with a fury like that of the
gods. But the river said to Apollo, “Surely, son of Jove, lord of
the silver bow, you are not obeying the commands of Jove who
charged you straitly that you should stand by the Trojans and
defend them, till twilight fades, and darkness is over the
earth.”
Meanwhile Achilles sprang from the bank into mid-stream, whereon
the river raised a high wave and attacked him. He swelled his
stream into a torrent, and swept away the many dead whom Achilles
had slain and left within his waters. These he cast out on to the
land, bellowing like a bull the while, but the living he saved
alive, hiding them in his mighty eddies. The great and terrible
wave gathered about Achilles, falling upon him and beating on his
shield, so that he could not keep his feet; he caught hold of a
great elm-tree, but it came up by the roots, and tore away the
bank, damming the stream with its thick branches and bridging it
all across; whereby Achilles struggled out of the stream, and
fled full speed over the plain, for he was afraid.
But the mighty god ceased not in his pursuit, and sprang upon him
with a dark-crested wave, to stay his hands and save the Trojans
from destruction. The son of Peleus darted away a spear’s throw
from him; swift as the swoop of a black hunter-eagle which is the
strongest and fleetest of all birds, even so did he spring
forward, and the armour rang loudly about his breast. He fled on
in front, but the river with a loud roar came tearing after. As
one who would water his garden leads a stream from some fountain
over his plants, and all his ground—spade in hand he clears away
the dams to free the channels, and the little stones run rolling
round and round with the water as it goes merrily down the bank
faster than the man can follow—even so did the river keep
catching up with Achilles albeit he was a fleet runner, for the
gods are stronger than men. As often as he would strive to stand
his ground, and see whether or no all the gods in heaven were in
league against him, so often would the mighty wave come beating
down upon his shoulders, and he would have to keep flying on and
on in great dismay; for the angry flood was tiring him out as it
flowed past him and ate the ground from under his feet.
Then the son of Peleus lifted up his voice to heaven saying,
“Father Jove, is there none of the gods who will take pity upon
me, and save me from the river? I do not care what may happen to
me afterwards. I blame none of the other dwellers on Olympus so
severely as I do my dear mother, who has beguiled and tricked me.
She told me I was to fall under the walls of Troy by the flying
arrows of Apollo; would that Hector, the best man among the
Trojans, might there slay me; then should I fall a hero by the
hand of a hero; whereas now it seems that I shall come to a most
pitiable end, trapped in this river as though I were some
swineherd’s boy, who gets carried down a torrent while trying to
cross it during a storm.”
As soon as he had spoken thus, Neptune and Minerva came up to him
in the likeness of two men, and took him by the hand to reassure
him. Neptune spoke first. “Son of Peleus,” said he, “be not so
exceeding fearful; we are two gods, come with Jove’s sanction to
assist you, I, and Pallas Minerva. It is not your fate to perish
in this river; he will abate presently as you will see; moreover
we strongly advise you, if you will be guided by us, not to stay
your hand from fighting till you have pent the Trojan host within
the famed walls of Ilius—as many of them as may escape. Then kill
Hector and go back to the ships, for we will vouchsafe you a
triumph over him.”
When they had so said they went back to the other immortals, but
Achilles strove onward over the plain, encouraged by the charge
the gods had laid upon him. All was now covered with the flood of
waters, and much goodly armour of the youths that had been slain
was rifting about, as also many corpses, but he forced his way
against the stream, speeding right onwards, nor could the broad
waters stay him, for Minerva had endowed him with great strength.
Nevertheless Scamander did not slacken in his pursuit, but was
still more furious with the son of Peleus. He lifted his waters
into a high crest and cried aloud to Simois saying, “Dear
brother, let the two of us unite to save this man, or he will
sack the mighty city of King Priam, and the Trojans will not hold
out against him. Help me at once; fill your streams with water
from their sources, rouse all your torrents to a fury; raise your
wave on high, and let snags and stones come thundering down you
that we may make an end of this savage creature who is now
lording it as though he were a god. Nothing shall serve him
longer, not strength nor comeliness, nor his fine armour, which
forsooth shall soon be lying low in the deep waters covered over
with mud. I will wrap him in sand, and pour tons of shingle round
him, so that the Achaeans shall not know how to gather his bones
for the silt in which I shall have hidden him, and when they
celebrate his funeral they need build no barrow.”
On this he upraised his tumultuous flood high against Achilles,
seething as it was with foam and blood and the bodies of the
dead. The dark waters of the river stood upright and would have
overwhelmed the son of Peleus, but Juno, trembling lest Achilles
should be swept away in the mighty torrent, lifted her voice on
high and called out to Vulcan her son. “Crook-foot,” she cried,
“my child, be up and doing, for I deem it is with you that
Xanthus is fain to fight; help us at once, kindle a fierce fire;
I will then bring up the west and the white south wind in a
mighty hurricane from the sea, that shall bear the flames against
the heads and armour of the Trojans and consume them, while you
go along the banks of Xanthus burning his trees and wrapping him
round with fire. Let him not turn you back neither by fair words
nor foul, and slacken not till I shout and tell you. Then you may
stay your flames.”
On this Vulcan kindled a fierce fire, which broke out first upon
the plain and burned the many dead whom Achilles had killed and
whose bodies were lying about in great numbers; by this means the
plain was dried and the flood stayed. As the north wind, blowing
on an orchard that has been sodden with autumn rain, soon dries
it, and the heart of the owner is glad—even so the whole plain
was dried and the dead bodies were consumed. Then he turned
tongues of fire on to the river. He burned the elms the willows
and the tamarisks, the lotus also, with the rushes and marshy
herbage that grew abundantly by the banks of the river. The eels
and fishes that go darting about everywhere in the water, these,
too, were sorely harassed by the flames that cunning Vulcan had
kindled, and the river himself was scalded, so that he spoke
saying, “Vulcan, there is no god can hold his own against you. I
cannot fight you when you flare out your flames in this way;
strive with me no longer. Let Achilles drive the Trojans out of
their city immediately. What have I to do with quarrelling and
helping people?”
He was boiling as he spoke, and all his waters were seething. As
a cauldron upon a large fire boils when it is melting the lard of
some fatted hog, and the lard keeps bubbling up all over when the
dry faggots blaze under it—even so were the goodly waters of
Xanthus heated with the fire till they were boiling. He could
flow no longer but stayed his stream, so afflicted was he by the
blasts of fire which cunning Vulcan had raised. Then he prayed to
Juno and besought her saying, “Juno, why should your son vex my
stream with such especial fury? I am not so much to blame as all
the others are who have been helping the Trojans. I will leave
off, since you so desire it, and let your son leave off also.
Furthermore I swear never again will I do anything to save the
Trojans from destruction, not even when all Troy is burning in
the flames which the Achaeans will kindle.”
As soon as Juno heard this she said to her son Vulcan, “Son
Vulcan, hold now your flames; we ought not to use such violence
against a god for the sake of mortals.”
When she had thus spoken Vulcan quenched his flames, and the
river went back once more into his own fair bed.
Xanthus was now beaten, so these two left off fighting, for Juno
stayed them though she was still angry; but a furious quarrel
broke out among the other gods, for they were of divided
counsels. They fell on one another with a mighty uproar—earth
groaned, and the spacious firmament rang out as with a blare of
trumpets. Jove heard as he was sitting on Olympus, and laughed
for joy when he saw the gods coming to blows among themselves.
They were not long about beginning, and Mars piercer of shields
opened the battle. Sword in hand he sprang at once upon Minerva
and reviled her. “Why, vixen,” said he, “have you again set the
gods by the ears in the pride and haughtiness of your heart? Have
you forgotten how you set Diomed son of Tydeus on to wound me,
and yourself took visible spear and drove it into me to the hurt
of my fair body? You shall now suffer for what you then did to
me.”
As he spoke he struck her on the terrible tasselled aegis—so
terrible that not even can Jove’s lightning pierce it. Here did
murderous Mars strike her with his great spear. She drew back and
with her strong hand seized a stone that was lying on the
plain—great and rugged and black—which men of old had set for the
boundary of a field. With this she struck Mars on the neck, and
brought him down. Nine roods did he cover in his fall, and his
hair was all soiled in the dust, while his armour rang rattling
round him. But Minerva laughed and vaunted over him saying,
“Idiot, have you not learned how far stronger I am than you, but
you must still match yourself against me? Thus do your mother’s
curses now roost upon you, for she is angry and would do you
mischief because you have deserted the Achaeans and are helping
the Trojans.”
She then turned her two piercing eyes elsewhere, whereon Jove’s
daughter Venus took Mars by the hand and led him away groaning
all the time, for it was only with great difficulty that he had
come to himself again. When Queen Juno saw her, she said to
Minerva, “Look, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, that
vixen Venus is again taking Mars through the crowd out of the
battle; go after her at once.”
Thus she spoke. Minerva sped after Venus with a will, and made at
her, striking her on the bosom with her strong hand so that she
fell fainting to the ground, and there they both lay stretched at
full length. Then Minerva vaunted over her saying, “May all who
help the Trojans against the Argives prove just as redoubtable
and stalwart as Venus did when she came across me while she was
helping Mars. Had this been so, we should long since have ended
the war by sacking the strong city of Ilius.”
Juno smiled as she listened. Meanwhile King Neptune turned to
Apollo saying, “Phoebus, why should we keep each other at arm’s
length? it is not well, now that the others have begun fighting;
it will be disgraceful to us if we return to Jove’s
bronze-floored mansion on Olympus without having fought each
other; therefore come on, you are the younger of the two, and I
ought not to attack you, for I am older and have had more
experience. Idiot, you have no sense, and forget how we two alone
of all the gods fared hardly round about Ilius when we came from
Jove’s house and worked for Laomedon a whole year at a stated
wage and he gave us his orders. I built the Trojans the wall
about their city, so wide and fair that it might be impregnable,
while you, Phoebus, herded cattle for him in the dales of many
valleyed Ida. When, however, the glad hours brought round the
time of payment, mighty Laomedon robbed us of all our hire and
sent us off with nothing but abuse. He threatened to bind us hand
and foot and sell us over into some distant island. He tried,
moreover, to cut off the ears of both of us, so we went away in a
rage, furious about the payment he had promised us, and yet
withheld; in spite of all this, you are now showing favour to his
people, and will not join us in compassing the utter ruin of the
proud Trojans with their wives and children.”
And King Apollo answered, “Lord of the earthquake, you would have
no respect for me if I were to fight you about a pack of
miserable mortals, who come out like leaves in summer and eat the
fruit of the field, and presently fall lifeless to the ground.
Let us stay this fighting at once and let them settle it among
themselves.”
He turned away as he spoke, for he would lay no hand on the
brother of his own father. But his sister the huntress Diana,
patroness of wild beasts, was very angry with him and said, “So
you would fly, Far-Darter, and hand victory over to Neptune with
a cheap vaunt to boot. Baby, why keep your bow thus idle? Never
let me again hear you bragging in my father’s house, as you have
often done in the presence of the immortals, that you would stand
up and fight with Neptune.”
Apollo made her no answer, but Jove’s august queen was angry and
upbraided her bitterly. “Bold vixen,” she cried, “how dare you
cross me thus? For all your bow you will find it hard to hold
your own against me. Jove made you as a lion among women, and
lets you kill them whenever you choose. You will find it better
to chase wild beasts and deer upon the mountains than to fight
those who are stronger than you are. If you would try war, do so,
and find out by pitting yourself against me, how far stronger I
am than you are.”
She caught both Diana’s wrists with her left hand as she spoke,
and with her right she took the bow from her shoulders, and
laughed as she beat her with it about the ears while Diana
wriggled and writhed under her blows. Her swift arrows were shed
upon the ground, and she fled weeping from under Juno’s hand as a
dove that flies before a falcon to the cleft of some hollow rock,
when it is her good fortune to escape. Even so did she fly
weeping away, leaving her bow and arrows behind her.
Then the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, said to Leto,
“Leto, I shall not fight you; it is ill to come to blows with any
of Jove’s wives. Therefore boast as you will among the immortals
that you worsted me in fair fight.”
Leto then gathered up Diana’s bow and arrows that had fallen
about amid the whirling dust, and when she had got them she made
all haste after her daughter. Diana had now reached Jove’s
bronze-floored mansion on Olympus, and sat herself down with many
tears on the knees of her father, while her ambrosial raiment was
quivering all about her. The son of Saturn drew her towards him,
and laughing pleasantly the while began to question her saying,
“Which of the heavenly beings, my dear child, has been treating
you in this cruel manner, as though you had been misconducting
yourself in the face of everybody?” and the fair-crowned goddess
of the chase answered, “It was your wife Juno, father, who has
been beating me; it is always her doing when there is any
quarrelling among the immortals.”
Thus did they converse, and meanwhile Phoebus Apollo entered the
strong city of Ilius, for he was uneasy lest the wall should not
hold out and the Danaans should take the city then and there,
before its hour had come; but the rest of the ever-living gods
went back, some angry and some triumphant to Olympus, where they
took their seats beside Jove lord of the storm cloud, while
Achilles still kept on dealing out death alike on the Trojans and
on their horses. As when the smoke from some burning city ascends
to heaven when the anger of the gods has kindled it—there is then
toil for all, and sorrow for not a few—even so did Achilles bring
toil and sorrow on the Trojans.
Old King Priam stood on a high tower of the wall looking down on
huge Achilles as the Trojans fled panic-stricken before him, and
there was none to help them. Presently he came down from off the
tower and with many a groan went along the wall to give orders to
the brave warders of the gate. “Keep the gates,” said he, “wide
open till the people come flying into the city, for Achilles is
hard by and is driving them in rout before him. I see we are in
great peril. As soon as our people are inside and in safety,
close the strong gates for I fear lest that terrible man should
come bounding inside along with the others.”
As he spoke they drew back the bolts and opened the gates, and
when these were opened there was a haven of refuge for the
Trojans. Apollo then came full speed out of the city to meet them
and protect them. Right for the city and the high wall, parched
with thirst and grimy with dust, still they fied on, with
Achilles wielding his spear furiously behind them. For he was as
one possessed, and was thirsting after glory.
Then had the sons of the Achaeans taken the lofty gates of Troy
if Apollo had not spurred on Agenor, valiant and noble son to
Antenor. He put courage into his heart, and stood by his side to
guard him, leaning against a beech tree and shrouded in thick
darkness. When Agenor saw Achilles he stood still and his heart
was clouded with care. “Alas,” said he to himself in his dismay,
“if I fly before mighty Achilles, and go where all the others are
being driven in rout, he will none the less catch me and kill me
for a coward. How would it be were I to let Achilles drive the
others before him, and then fly from the wall to the plain that
is behind Ilius till I reach the spurs of Ida and can hide in the
underwood that is thereon? I could then wash the sweat from off
me in the river and in the evening return to Ilius. But why
commune with myself in this way? Like enough he would see me as I
am hurrying from the city over the plain, and would speed after
me till he had caught me—I should stand no chance against him,
for he is mightiest of all mankind. What, then, if I go out and
meet him in front of the city? His flesh too, I take it, can be
pierced by pointed bronze. Life is the same in one and all, and
men say that he is but mortal despite the triumph that Jove son
of Saturn vouchsafes him.”
So saying he stood on his guard and awaited Achilles, for he was
now fain to fight him. As a leopardess that bounds from out a
thick covert to attack a hunter—she knows no fear and is not
dismayed by the baying of the hounds; even though the man be too
quick for her and wound her either with thrust or spear, still,
though the spear has pierced her she will not give in till she
has either caught him in her grip or been killed outright—even so
did noble Agenor son of Antenor refuse to fly till he had made
trial of Achilles, and took aim at him with his spear, holding
his round shield before him and crying with a loud voice. “Of a
truth,” said he, “noble Achilles, you deem that you shall this
day sack the city of the proud Trojans. Fool, there will be
trouble enough yet before it, for there is many a brave man of us
still inside who will stand in front of our dear parents with our
wives and children, to defend Ilius. Here therefore, huge and
mighty warrior though you be, here shall you die.”
As he spoke his strong hand hurled his javelin from him, and the
spear struck Achilles on the leg beneath the knee; the greave of
newly wrought tin rang loudly, but the spear recoiled from the
body of him whom it had struck, and did not pierce it, for the
god’s gift stayed it. Achilles in his turn attacked noble Agenor,
but Apollo would not vouchsafe him glory, for he snatched Agenor
away and hid him in a thick mist, sending him out of the battle
unmolested. Then he craftily drew the son of Peleus away from
going after the host, for he put on the semblance of Agenor and
stood in front of Achilles, who ran towards him to give him chase
and pursued him over the corn lands of the plain, turning him
towards the deep waters of the river Scamander. Apollo ran but a
little way before him and beguiled Achilles by making him think
all the time that he was on the point of overtaking him.
Meanwhile the rabble of routed Trojans was thankful to crowd
within the city till their numbers thronged it; no longer did
they dare wait for one another outside the city walls, to learn
who had escaped and who were fallen in fight, but all whose feet
and knees could still carry them poured pell-mell into the town.
BOOK XXII.
The death of Hector.
Thus the Trojans in the city, scared like fawns, wiped the sweat
from off them and drank to quench their thirst, leaning against
the goodly battlements, while the Achaeans with their shields
laid upon their shoulders drew close up to the walls. But stern
fate bade Hector stay where he was before Ilius and the Scaean
gates. Then Phoebus Apollo spoke to the son of Peleus saying,
“Why, son of Peleus, do you, who are but man, give chase to me
who am immortal? Have you not yet found out that it is a god whom
you pursue so furiously? You did not harass the Trojans whom you
had routed, and now they are within their walls, while you have
been decoyed hither away from them. Me you cannot kill, for death
can take no hold upon me.”
Achilles was greatly angered and said, “You have baulked me,
Far-Darter, most malicious of all gods, and have drawn me away
from the wall, where many another man would have bitten the dust
ere he got within Ilius; you have robbed me of great glory and
have saved the Trojans at no risk to yourself, for you have
nothing to fear, but I would indeed have my revenge if it were in
my power to do so.”
On this, with fell intent he made towards the city, and as the
winning horse in a chariot race strains every nerve when he is
flying over the plain, even so fast and furiously did the limbs
of Achilles bear him onwards. King Priam was first to note him as
he scoured the plain, all radiant as the star which men call
Orion’s Hound, and whose beams blaze forth in time of harvest
more brilliantly than those of any other that shines by night;
brightest of them all though he be, he yet bodes ill for mortals,
for he brings fire and fever in his train—even so did Achilles’
armour gleam on his breast as he sped onwards. Priam raised a cry
and beat his head with his hands as he lifted them up and shouted
out to his dear son, imploring him to return; but Hector still
stayed before the gates, for his heart was set upon doing battle
with Achilles. The old man reached out his arms towards him and
bade him for pity’s sake come within the walls. “Hector,” he
cried, “my son, stay not to face this man alone and unsupported,
or you will meet death at the hands of the son of Peleus, for he
is mightier than you. Monster that he is; would indeed that the
gods loved him no better than I do, for so, dogs and vultures
would soon devour him as he lay stretched on earth, and a load of
grief would be lifted from my heart, for many a brave son has he
reft from me, either by killing them or selling them away in the
islands that are beyond the sea: even now I miss two sons from
among the Trojans who have thronged within the city, Lycaon and
Polydorus, whom Laothoe peeress among women bore me. Should they
be still alive and in the hands of the Achaeans, we will ransom
them with gold and bronze, of which we have store, for the old
man Altes endowed his daughter richly; but if they are already
dead and in the house of Hades, sorrow will it be to us two who
were their parents; albeit the grief of others will be more
short-lived unless you too perish at the hands of Achilles. Come,
then, my son, within the city, to be the guardian of Trojan men
and Trojan women, or you will both lose your own life and afford
a mighty triumph to the son of Peleus. Have pity also on your
unhappy father while life yet remains to him—on me, whom the son
of Saturn will destroy by a terrible doom on the threshold of old
age, after I have seen my sons slain and my daughters haled away
as captives, my bridal chambers pillaged, little children dashed
to earth amid the rage of battle, and my sons’ wives dragged away
by the cruel hands of the Achaeans; in the end fierce hounds will
tear me in pieces at my own gates after some one has beaten the
life out of my body with sword or spear-hounds that I myself
reared and fed at my own table to guard my gates, but who will
yet lap my blood and then lie all distraught at my doors. When a
young man falls by the sword in battle, he may lie where he is
and there is nothing unseemly; let what will be seen, all is
honourable in death, but when an old man is slain there is
nothing in this world more pitiable than that dogs should defile
his grey hair and beard and all that men hide for shame.”
The old man tore his grey hair as he spoke, but he moved not the
heart of Hector. His mother hard by wept and moaned aloud as she
bared her bosom and pointed to the breast which had suckled him.
“Hector,” she cried, weeping bitterly the while, “Hector, my son,
spurn not this breast, but have pity upon me too: if I have ever
given you comfort from my own bosom, think on it now, dear son,
and come within the wall to protect us from this man; stand not
without to meet him. Should the wretch kill you, neither I nor
your richly dowered wife shall ever weep, dear offshoot of
myself, over the bed on which you lie, for dogs will devour you
at the ships of the Achaeans.”
Thus did the two with many tears implore their son, but they
moved not the heart of Hector, and he stood his ground awaiting
huge Achilles as he drew nearer towards him. As a serpent in its
den upon the mountains, full fed with deadly poisons, waits for
the approach of man—he is filled with fury and his eyes glare
terribly as he goes writhing round his den—even so Hector leaned
his shield against a tower that jutted out from the wall and
stood where he was, undaunted.
“Alas,” said he to himself in the heaviness of his heart, “if I
go within the gates, Polydamas will be the first to heap reproach
upon me, for it was he that urged me to lead the Trojans back to
the city on that awful night when Achilles again came forth
against us. I would not listen, but it would have been indeed
better if I had done so. Now that my folly has destroyed the
host, I dare not look Trojan men and Trojan women in the face,
lest a worse man should say, ‘Hector has ruined us by his
self-confidence.’ Surely it would be better for me to return
after having fought Achilles and slain him, or to die gloriously
here before the city. What, again, if I were to lay down my
shield and helmet, lean my spear against the wall and go straight
up to noble Achilles? What if I were to promise to give up Helen,
who was the fountainhead of all this war, and all the treasure
that Alexandrus brought with him in his ships to Troy, aye, and
to let the Achaeans divide the half of everything that the city
contains among themselves? I might make the Trojans, by the
mouths of their princes, take a solemn oath that they would hide
nothing, but would divide into two shares all that is within the
city—but why argue with myself in this way? Were I to go up to
him he would show me no kind of mercy; he would kill me then and
there as easily as though I were a woman, when I had off my
armour. There is no parleying with him from some rock or oak tree
as young men and maidens prattle with one another. Better fight
him at once, and learn to which of us Jove will vouchsafe
victory.”
Thus did he stand and ponder, but Achilles came up to him as it
were Mars himself, plumed lord of battle. From his right shoulder
he brandished his terrible spear of Pelian ash, and the bronze
gleamed around him like flashing fire or the rays of the rising
sun. Fear fell upon Hector as he beheld him, and he dared not
stay longer where he was but fled in dismay from before the
gates, while Achilles darted after him at his utmost speed. As a
mountain falcon, swiftest of all birds, swoops down upon some
cowering dove—the dove flies before him but the falcon with a
shrill scream follows close after, resolved to have her—even so
did Achilles make straight for Hector with all his might, while
Hector fled under the Trojan wall as fast as his limbs could take
him.
On they flew along the waggon-road that ran hard by under the
wall, past the lookout station, and past the weather-beaten wild
fig-tree, till they came to two fair springs which feed the river
Scamander. One of these two springs is warm, and steam rises from
it as smoke from a burning fire, but the other even in summer is
as cold as hail or snow, or the ice that forms on water. Here,
hard by the springs, are the goodly washing-troughs of stone,
where in the time of peace before the coming of the Achaeans the
wives and fair daughters of the Trojans used to wash their
clothes. Past these did they fly, the one in front and the other
giving chase behind him: good was the man that fled, but better
far was he that followed after, and swiftly indeed did they run,
for the prize was no mere beast for sacrifice or bullock’s hide,
as it might be for a common foot-race, but they ran for the life
of Hector. As horses in a chariot race speed round the
turning-posts when they are running for some great prize—a tripod
or woman—at the games in honour of some dead hero, so did these
two run full speed three times round the city of Priam. All the
gods watched them, and the sire of gods and men was the first to
speak.
“Alas,” said he, “my eyes behold a man who is dear to me being
pursued round the walls of Troy; my heart is full of pity for
Hector, who has burned the thigh-bones of many a heifer in my
honour, one while on the crests of many-valleyed Ida, and again
on the citadel of Troy; and now I see noble Achilles in full
pursuit of him round the city of Priam. What say you? Consider
among yourselves and decide whether we shall now save him or let
him fall, valiant though he be, before Achilles, son of Peleus.”
Then Minerva said, “Father, wielder of the lightning, lord of
cloud and storm, what mean you? Would you pluck this mortal whose
doom has long been decreed out of the jaws of death? Do as you
will, but we others shall not be of a mind with you.”
And Jove answered, “My child, Trito-born, take heart. I did not
speak in full earnest, and I will let you have your way. Do
without let or hindrance as you are minded.”
Thus did he urge Minerva who was already eager, and down she
darted from the topmost summits of Olympus.
Achilles was still in full pursuit of Hector, as a hound chasing
a fawn which he has started from its covert on the mountains, and
hunts through glade and thicket. The fawn may try to elude him by
crouching under cover of a bush, but he will scent her out and
follow her up until he gets her—even so there was no escape for
Hector from the fleet son of Peleus. Whenever he made a set to
get near the Dardanian gates and under the walls, that his people
might help him by showering down weapons from above, Achilles
would gain on him and head him back towards the plain, keeping
himself always on the city side. As a man in a dream who fails to
lay hands upon another whom he is pursuing—the one cannot escape
nor the other overtake—even so neither could Achilles come up
with Hector, nor Hector break away from Achilles; nevertheless he
might even yet have escaped death had not the time come when
Apollo, who thus far had sustained his strength and nerved his
running, was now no longer to stay by him. Achilles made signs to
the Achaean host, and shook his head to show that no man was to
aim a dart at Hector, lest another might win the glory of having
hit him and he might himself come in second. Then, at last, as
they were nearing the fountains for the fourth time, the father
of all balanced his golden scales and placed a doom in each of
them, one for Achilles and the other for Hector. As he held the
scales by the middle, the doom of Hector fell down deep into the
house of Hades—and then Phoebus Apollo left him. Thereon Minerva
went close up to the son of Peleus and said, “Noble Achilles,
favoured of heaven, we two shall surely take back to the ships a
triumph for the Achaeans by slaying Hector, for all his lust of
battle. Do what Apollo may as he lies grovelling before his
father, aegis-bearing Jove, Hector cannot escape us longer. Stay
here and take breath, while I go up to him and persuade him to
make a stand and fight you.”
Thus spoke Minerva. Achilles obeyed her gladly, and stood still,
leaning on his bronze-pointed ashen spear, while Minerva left him
and went after Hector in the form and with the voice of
Deiphobus. She came close up to him and said, “Dear brother, I
see you are hard pressed by Achilles who is chasing you at full
speed round the city of Priam, let us await his onset and stand
on our defence.”
And Hector answered, “Deiphobus, you have always been dearest to
me of all my brothers, children of Hecuba and Priam, but
henceforth I shall rate you yet more highly, inasmuch as you have
ventured outside the wall for my sake when all the others remain
inside.”
Then Minerva said, “Dear brother, my father and mother went down
on their knees and implored me, as did all my comrades, to remain
inside, so great a fear has fallen upon them all; but I was in an
agony of grief when I beheld you; now, therefore, let us two make
a stand and fight, and let there be no keeping our spears in
reserve, that we may learn whether Achilles shall kill us and
bear off our spoils to the ships, or whether he shall fall before
you.”
Thus did Minerva inveigle him by her cunning, and when the two
were now close to one another great Hector was first to speak. “I
will no longer fly you, son of Peleus,” said he, “as I have been
doing hitherto. Three times have I fled round the mighty city of
Priam, without daring to withstand you, but now, let me either
slay or be slain, for I am in the mind to face you. Let us, then,
give pledges to one another by our gods, who are the fittest
witnesses and guardians of all covenants; let it be agreed
between us that if Jove vouchsafes me the longer stay and I take
your life, I am not to treat your dead body in any unseemly
fashion, but when I have stripped you of your armour, I am to
give up your body to the Achaeans. And do you likewise.”
Achilles glared at him and answered, “Fool, prate not to me about
covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions,
wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other
out and out all through. Therefore there can be no understanding
between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us,
till one or other shall fall and glut grim Mars with his life’s
blood. Put forth all your strength; you have need now to prove
yourself indeed a bold soldier and man of war. You have no more
chance, and Pallas Minerva will forthwith vanquish you by my
spear: you shall now pay me in full for the grief you have caused
me on account of my comrades whom you have killed in battle.”
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it. Hector saw it
coming and avoided it; he watched it and crouched down so that it
flew over his head and stuck in the ground beyond; Minerva then
snatched it up and gave it back to Achilles without Hector’s
seeing her; Hector thereon said to the son of Peleus, “You have
missed your aim, Achilles, peer of the gods, and Jove has not yet
revealed to you the hour of my doom, though you made sure that he
had done so. You were a false-tongued liar when you deemed that I
should forget my valour and quail before you. You shall not drive
your spear into the back of a runaway—drive it, should heaven so
grant you power, drive it into me as I make straight towards you;
and now for your own part avoid my spear if you can—would that
you might receive the whole of it into your body; if you were
once dead the Trojans would find the war an easier matter, for it
is you who have harmed them most.”
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it. His aim was true
for he hit the middle of Achilles’ shield, but the spear
rebounded from it, and did not pierce it. Hector was angry when
he saw that the weapon had sped from his hand in vain, and stood
there in dismay for he had no second spear. With a loud cry he
called Deiphobus and asked him for one, but there was no man;
then he saw the truth and said to himself, “Alas! the gods have
lured me on to my destruction. I deemed that the hero Deiphobus
was by my side, but he is within the wall, and Minerva has
inveigled me; death is now indeed exceedingly near at hand and
there is no way out of it—for so Jove and his son Apollo the
far-darter have willed it, though heretofore they have been ever
ready to protect me. My doom has come upon me; let me not then
die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some
great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.”
As he spoke he drew the keen blade that hung so great and strong
by his side, and gathering himself together be sprang on Achilles
like a soaring eagle which swoops down from the clouds on to some
lamb or timid hare—even so did Hector brandish his sword and
spring upon Achilles. Achilles mad with rage darted towards him,
with his wondrous shield before his breast, and his gleaming
helmet, made with four layers of metal, nodding fiercely forward.
The thick tresses of gold with which Vulcan had crested the
helmet floated round it, and as the evening star that shines
brighter than all others through the stillness of night, even
such was the gleam of the spear which Achilles poised in his
right hand, fraught with the death of noble Hector. He eyed his
fair flesh over and over to see where he could best wound it, but
all was protected by the goodly armour of which Hector had
spoiled Patroclus after he had slain him, save only the throat
where the collar-bones divide the neck from the shoulders, and
this is a most deadly place: here then did Achilles strike him as
he was coming on towards him, and the point of his spear went
right through the fleshy part of the neck, but it did not sever
his windpipe so that he could still speak. Hector fell headlong,
and Achilles vaunted over him saying, “Hector, you deemed that
you should come off scatheless when you were spoiling Patroclus,
and recked not of myself who was not with him. Fool that you
were: for I, his comrade, mightier far than he, was still left
behind him at the ships, and now I have laid you low. The
Achaeans shall give him all due funeral rites, while dogs and
vultures shall work their will upon yourself.”
Then Hector said, as the life ebbed out of him, “I pray you by
your life and knees, and by your parents, let not dogs devour me
at the ships of the Achaeans, but accept the rich treasure of
gold and bronze which my father and mother will offer you, and
send my body home, that the Trojans and their wives may give me
my dues of fire when I am dead.”
Achilles glared at him and answered, “Dog, talk not to me neither
of knees nor parents; would that I could be as sure of being able
to cut your flesh into pieces and eat it raw, for the ill you
have done me, as I am that nothing shall save you from the
dogs—it shall not be, though they bring ten or twenty-fold ransom
and weigh it out for me on the spot, with promise of yet more
hereafter. Though Priam son of Dardanus should bid them offer me
your weight in gold, even so your mother shall never lay you out
and make lament over the son she bore, but dogs and vultures
shall eat you utterly up.”
Hector with his dying breath then said, “I know you what you are,
and was sure that I should not move you, for your heart is hard
as iron; look to it that I bring not heaven’s anger upon you on
the day when Paris and Phoebus Apollo, valiant though you be,
shall slay you at the Scaean gates.”
When he had thus said the shrouds of death enfolded him, whereon
his soul went out of him and flew down to the house of Hades,
lamenting its sad fate that it should enjoy youth and strength no
longer. But Achilles said, speaking to the dead body, “Die; for
my part I will accept my fate whensoever Jove and the other gods
see fit to send it.”
As he spoke he drew his spear from the body and set it on one
side; then he stripped the blood-stained armour from Hector’s
shoulders while the other Achaeans came running up to view his
wondrous strength and beauty; and no one came near him without
giving him a fresh wound. Then would one turn to his neighbour
and say, “It is easier to handle Hector now than when he was
flinging fire on to our ships”—and as he spoke he would thrust
his spear into him anew.
When Achilles had done spoiling Hector of his armour, he stood
among the Argives and said, “My friends, princes and counsellors
of the Argives, now that heaven has vouchsafed us to overcome
this man, who has done us more hurt than all the others together,
consider whether we should not attack the city in force, and
discover in what mind the Trojans may be. We should thus learn
whether they will desert their city now that Hector has fallen,
or will still hold out even though he is no longer living. But
why argue with myself in this way, while Patroclus is still lying
at the ships unburied, and unmourned—he whom I can never forget
so long as I am alive and my strength fails not? Though men
forget their dead when once they are within the house of Hades,
yet not even there will I forget the comrade whom I have lost.
Now, therefore, Achaean youths, let us raise the song of victory
and go back to the ships taking this man along with us; for we
have achieved a mighty triumph and have slain noble Hector to
whom the Trojans prayed throughout their city as though he were a
god.”
On this he treated the body of Hector with contumely: he pierced
the sinews at the back of both his feet from heel to ancle and
passed thongs of ox-hide through the slits he had made: thus he
made the body fast to his chariot, letting the head trail upon
the ground. Then when he had put the goodly armour on the chariot
and had himself mounted, he lashed his horses on and they flew
forward nothing loth. The dust rose from Hector as he was being
dragged along, his dark hair flew all abroad, and his head once
so comely was laid low on earth, for Jove had now delivered him
into the hands of his foes to do him outrage in his own land.
Thus was the head of Hector being dishonoured in the dust. His
mother tore her hair, and flung her veil from her with a loud cry
as she looked upon her son. His father made piteous moan, and
throughout the city the people fell to weeping and wailing. It
was as though the whole of frowning Ilius was being smirched with
fire. Hardly could the people hold Priam back in his hot haste to
rush without the gates of the city. He grovelled in the mire and
besought them, calling each one of them by his name. “Let be, my
friends,” he cried, “and for all your sorrow, suffer me to go
single-handed to the ships of the Achaeans. Let me beseech this
cruel and terrible man, if maybe he will respect the feeling of
his fellow-men, and have compassion on my old age. His own father
is even such another as myself—Peleus, who bred him and reared
him to be the bane of us Trojans, and of myself more than of all
others. Many a son of mine has he slain in the flower of his
youth, and yet, grieve for these as I may, I do so for
one—Hector—more than for them all, and the bitterness of my
sorrow will bring me down to the house of Hades. Would that he
had died in my arms, for so both his ill-starred mother who bore
him, and myself, should have had the comfort of weeping and
mourning over him.”
Thus did he speak with many tears, and all the people of the city
joined in his lament. Hecuba then raised the cry of wailing among
the Trojans. “Alas, my son,” she cried, “what have I left to live
for now that you are no more? Night and day did I glory in you
throughout the city, for you were a tower of strength to all in
Troy, and both men and women alike hailed you as a god. So long
as you lived you were their pride, but now death and destruction
have fallen upon you.”
Hector’s wife had as yet heard nothing, for no one had come to
tell her that her husband had remained without the gates. She was
at her loom in an inner part of the house, weaving a double
purple web, and embroidering it with many flowers. She told her
maids to set a large tripod on the fire, so as to have a warm
bath ready for Hector when he came out of battle; poor woman, she
knew not that he was now beyond the reach of baths, and that
Minerva had laid him low by the hands of Achilles. She heard the
cry coming as from the wall, and trembled in every limb; the
shuttle fell from her hands, and again she spoke to her
waiting-women. “Two of you,” she said, “come with me that I may
learn what it is that has befallen; I heard the voice of my
husband’s honoured mother; my own heart beats as though it would
come into my mouth and my limbs refuse to carry me; some great
misfortune for Priam’s children must be at hand. May I never live
to hear it, but I greatly fear that Achilles has cut off the
retreat of brave Hector and has chased him on to the plain where
he was singlehanded; I fear he may have put an end to the
reckless daring which possessed my husband, who would never
remain with the body of his men, but would dash on far in front,
foremost of them all in valour.”
Her heart beat fast, and as she spoke she flew from the house
like a maniac, with her waiting-women following after. When she
reached the battlements and the crowd of people, she stood
looking out upon the wall, and saw Hector being borne away in
front of the city—the horses dragging him without heed or care
over the ground towards the ships of the Achaeans. Her eyes were
then shrouded as with the darkness of night and she fell fainting
backwards. She tore the attiring from her head and flung it from
her, the frontlet and net with its plaited band, and the veil
which golden Venus had given her on the day when Hector took her
with him from the house of Eetion, after having given countless
gifts of wooing for her sake. Her husband’s sisters and the wives
of his brothers crowded round her and supported her, for she was
fain to die in her distraction; when she again presently breathed
and came to herself, she sobbed and made lament among the Trojans
saying, “Woe is me, O Hector; woe, indeed, that to share a common
lot we were born, you at Troy in the house of Priam, and I at
Thebes under the wooded mountain of Placus in the house of Eetion
who brought me up when I was a child—ill-starred sire of an
ill-starred daughter—would that he had never begotten me. You are
now going into the house of Hades under the secret places of the
earth, and you leave me a sorrowing widow in your house. The
child, of whom you and I are the unhappy parents, is as yet a
mere infant. Now that you are gone, O Hector, you can do nothing
for him nor he for you. Even though he escape the horrors of this
woeful war with the Achaeans, yet shall his life henceforth be
one of labour and sorrow, for others will seize his lands. The
day that robs a child of his parents severs him from his own
kind; his head is bowed, his cheeks are wet with tears, and he
will go about destitute among the friends of his father, plucking
one by the cloak and another by the shirt. Some one or other of
these may so far pity him as to hold the cup for a moment towards
him and let him moisten his lips, but he must not drink enough to
wet the roof of his mouth; then one whose parents are alive will
drive him from the table with blows and angry words. ‘Out with
you,’ he will say, ‘you have no father here,’ and the child will
go crying back to his widowed mother—he, Astyanax, who erewhile
would sit upon his father’s knees, and have none but the
daintiest and choicest morsels set before him. When he had played
till he was tired and went to sleep, he would lie in a bed, in
the arms of his nurse, on a soft couch, knowing neither want nor
care, whereas now that he has lost his father his lot will be
full of hardship—he, whom the Trojans name Astyanax, because you,
O Hector, were the only defence of their gates and battlements.
The wriggling writhing worms will now eat you at the ships, far
from your parents, when the dogs have glutted themselves upon
you. You will lie naked, although in your house you have fine and
goodly raiment made by hands of women. This will I now burn; it
is of no use to you, for you can never again wear it, and thus
you will have respect shown you by the Trojans both men and
women.”
In such wise did she cry aloud amid her tears, and the women
joined in her lament.
BOOK XXIII.
The funeral of Patroclus, and the funeral games.
Thus did they make their moan throughout the city, while the
Achaeans when they reached the Hellespont went back every man to
his own ship. But Achilles would not let the Myrmidons go, and
spoke to his brave comrades saying, “Myrmidons, famed horsemen
and my own trusted friends, not yet, forsooth, let us unyoke, but
with horse and chariot draw near to the body and mourn Patroclus,
in due honour to the dead. When we have had full comfort of
lamentation we will unyoke our horses and take supper all of us
here.”
On this they all joined in a cry of wailing and Achilles led them
in their lament. Thrice did they drive their chariots all
sorrowing round the body, and Thetis stirred within them a still
deeper yearning. The sands of the seashore and the men’s armour
were wet with their weeping, so great a minister of fear was he
whom they had lost. Chief in all their mourning was the son of
Peleus: he laid his bloodstained hand on the breast of his
friend. “Fare well,” he cried, “Patroclus, even in the house of
Hades. I will now do all that I erewhile promised you; I will
drag Hector hither and let dogs devour him raw; twelve noble sons
of Trojans will I also slay before your pyre to avenge you.”
As he spoke he treated the body of noble Hector with contumely,
laying it at full length in the dust beside the bier of
Patroclus. The others then put off every man his armour, took the
horses from their chariots, and seated themselves in great
multitude by the ship of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, who
thereon feasted them with an abundant funeral banquet. Many a
goodly ox, with many a sheep and bleating goat did they butcher
and cut up; many a tusked boar moreover, fat and well-fed, did
they singe and set to roast in the flames of Vulcan; and rivulets
of blood flowed all round the place where the body was lying.
Then the princes of the Achaeans took the son of Peleus to
Agamemnon, but hardly could they persuade him to come with them,
so wroth was he for the death of his comrade. As soon as they
reached Agamemnon’s tent they told the serving-men to set a large
tripod over the fire in case they might persuade the son of
Peleus to wash the clotted gore from this body, but he denied
them sternly, and swore it with a solemn oath, saying, “Nay, by
King Jove, first and mightiest of all gods, it is not meet that
water should touch my body, till I have laid Patroclus on the
flames, have built him a barrow, and shaved my head—for so long
as I live no such second sorrow shall ever draw nigh me. Now,
therefore, let us do all that this sad festival demands, but at
break of day, King Agamemnon, bid your men bring wood, and
provide all else that the dead may duly take into the realm of
darkness; the fire shall thus burn him out of our sight the
sooner, and the people shall turn again to their own labours.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They made
haste to prepare the meal, they ate, and every man had his full
share so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough
to eat and drink, the others went to their rest each in his own
tent, but the son of Peleus lay grieving among his Myrmidons by
the shore of the sounding sea, in an open place where the waves
came surging in one after another. Here a very deep slumber took
hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows, for his limbs
were weary with chasing Hector round windy Ilius. Presently the
sad spirit of Patroclus drew near him, like what he had been in
stature, voice, and the light of his beaming eyes, clad, too, as
he had been clad in life. The spirit hovered over his head and
said—
“You sleep, Achilles, and have forgotten me; you loved me living,
but now that I am dead you think for me no further. Bury me with
all speed that I may pass the gates of Hades; the ghosts, vain
shadows of men that can labour no more, drive me away from them;
they will not yet suffer me to join those that are beyond the
river, and I wander all desolate by the wide gates of the house
of Hades. Give me now your hand I pray you, for when you have
once given me my dues of fire, never shall I again come forth out
of the house of Hades. Nevermore shall we sit apart and take
sweet counsel among the living; the cruel fate which was my
birth-right has yawned its wide jaws around me—nay, you too
Achilles, peer of gods, are doomed to die beneath the wall of the
noble Trojans.
“One prayer more will I make you, if you will grant it; let not
my bones be laid apart from yours, Achilles, but with them; even
as we were brought up together in your own home, what time
Menoetius brought me to you as a child from Opoeis because by a
sad spite I had killed the son of Amphidamas—not of set purpose,
but in childish quarrel over the dice. The knight Peleus took me
into his house, entreated me kindly, and named me to be your
squire; therefore let our bones lie in but a single urn, the
two-handled golden vase given to you by your mother.”
And Achilles answered, “Why, true heart, are you come hither to
lay these charges upon me? I will of my own self do all as you
have bidden me. Draw closer to me, let us once more throw our
arms around one another, and find sad comfort in the sharing of
our sorrows.”
He opened his arms towards him as he spoke and would have clasped
him in them, but there was nothing, and the spirit vanished as a
vapour, gibbering and whining into the earth. Achilles sprang to
his feet, smote his two hands, and made lamentation saying, “Of a
truth even in the house of Hades there are ghosts and phantoms
that have no life in them; all night long the sad spirit of
Patroclus has hovered over head making piteous moan, telling me
what I am to do for him, and looking wondrously like himself.”
Thus did he speak and his words set them all weeping and mourning
about the poor dumb dead, till rosy-fingered morn appeared. Then
King Agamemnon sent men and mules from all parts of the camp, to
bring wood, and Meriones, squire to Idomeneus, was in charge over
them. They went out with woodmen’s axes and strong ropes in their
hands, and before them went the mules. Up hill and down dale did
they go, by straight ways and crooked, and when they reached the
heights of many-fountained Ida, they laid their axes to the roots
of many a tall branching oak that came thundering down as they
felled it. They split the trees and bound them behind the mules,
which then wended their way as they best could through the thick
brushwood on to the plain. All who had been cutting wood bore
logs, for so Meriones squire to Idomeneus had bidden them, and
they threw them down in a line upon the seashore at the place
where Achilles would make a mighty monument for Patroclus and for
himself.
When they had thrown down their great logs of wood over the whole
ground, they stayed all of them where they were, but Achilles
ordered his brave Myrmidons to gird on their armour, and to yoke
each man his horses; they therefore rose, girded on their armour
and mounted each his chariot—they and their charioteers with
them. The chariots went before, and they that were on foot
followed as a cloud in their tens of thousands after. In the
midst of them his comrades bore Patroclus and covered him with
the locks of their hair which they cut off and threw upon his
body. Last came Achilles with his head bowed for sorrow, so noble
a comrade was he taking to the house of Hades.
When they came to the place of which Achilles had told them they
laid the body down and built up the wood. Achilles then bethought
him of another matter. He went a space away from the pyre, and
cut off the yellow lock which he had let grow for the river
Spercheius. He looked all sorrowfully out upon the dark sea, and
said, “Spercheius, in vain did my father Peleus vow to you that
when I returned home to my loved native land I should cut off
this lock and offer you a holy hecatomb; fifty she-goats was I to
sacrifice to you there at your springs, where is your grove and
your altar fragrant with burnt-offerings. Thus did my father vow,
but you have not fulfilled his prayer; now, therefore, that I
shall see my home no more, I give this lock as a keepsake to the
hero Patroclus.”
As he spoke he placed the lock in the hands of his dear comrade,
and all who stood by were filled with yearning and lamentation.
The sun would have gone down upon their mourning had not Achilles
presently said to Agamemnon, “Son of Atreus, for it is to you
that the people will give ear, there is a time to mourn and a
time to cease from mourning; bid the people now leave the pyre
and set about getting their dinners: we, to whom the dead is
dearest, will see to what is wanted here, and let the other
princes also stay by me.”
When King Agamemnon heard this he dismissed the people to their
ships, but those who were about the dead heaped up wood and built
a pyre a hundred feet this way and that; then they laid the dead
all sorrowfully upon the top of it. They flayed and dressed many
fat sheep and oxen before the pyre, and Achilles took fat from
all of them and wrapped the body therein from head to foot,
heaping the flayed carcases all round it. Against the bier he
leaned two-handled jars of honey and unguents; four proud horses
did he then cast upon the pyre, groaning the while he did so. The
dead hero had had house-dogs; two of them did Achilles slay and
threw upon the pyre; he also put twelve brave sons of noble
Trojans to the sword and laid them with the rest, for he was full
of bitterness and fury. Then he committed all to the resistless
and devouring might of the fire; he groaned aloud and called on
his dead comrade by name. “Fare well,” he cried, “Patroclus, even
in the house of Hades; I am now doing all that I have promised
you. Twelve brave sons of noble Trojans shall the flames consume
along with yourself, but dogs, not fire, shall devour the flesh
of Hector son of Priam.”
Thus did he vaunt, but the dogs came not about the body of
Hector, for Jove’s daughter Venus kept them off him night and
day, and anointed him with ambrosial oil of roses that his flesh
might not be torn when Achilles was dragging him about. Phoebus
Apollo moreover sent a dark cloud from heaven to earth, which
gave shade to the whole place where Hector lay, that the heat of
the sun might not parch his body.
Now the pyre about dead Patroclus would not kindle. Achilles
therefore bethought him of another matter; he went apart and
prayed to the two winds Boreas and Zephyrus vowing them goodly
offerings. He made them many drink-offerings from the golden cup
and besought them to come and help him that the wood might make
haste to kindle and the dead bodies be consumed. Fleet Iris heard
him praying and started off to fetch the winds. They were holding
high feast in the house of boisterous Zephyrus when Iris came
running up to the stone threshold of the house and stood there,
but as soon as they set eyes on her they all came towards her and
each of them called her to him, but Iris would not sit down. “I
cannot stay,” she said, “I must go back to the streams of Oceanus
and the land of the Ethiopians who are offering hecatombs to the
immortals, and I would have my share; but Achilles prays that
Boreas and shrill Zephyrus will come to him, and he vows them
goodly offerings; he would have you blow upon the pyre of
Patroclus for whom all the Achaeans are lamenting.”
With this she left them, and the two winds rose with a cry that
rent the air and swept the clouds before them. They blew on and
on until they came to the sea, and the waves rose high beneath
them, but when they reached Troy they fell upon the pyre till the
mighty flames roared under the blast that they blew. All night
long did they blow hard and beat upon the fire, and all night
long did Achilles grasp his double cup, drawing wine from a
mixing-bowl of gold, and calling upon the spirit of dead
Patroclus as he poured it upon the ground until the earth was
drenched. As a father mourns when he is burning the bones of his
bridegroom son whose death has wrung the hearts of his parents,
even so did Achilles mourn while burning the body of his comrade,
pacing round the bier with piteous groaning and lamentation.
At length as the Morning Star was beginning to herald the light
which saffron-mantled Dawn was soon to suffuse over the sea, the
flames fell and the fire began to die. The winds then went home
beyond the Thracian sea, which roared and boiled as they swept
over it. The son of Peleus now turned away from the pyre and lay
down, overcome with toil, till he fell into a sweet slumber.
Presently they who were about the son of Atreus drew near in a
body, and roused him with the noise and tramp of their coming. He
sat upright and said, “Son of Atreus, and all other princes of
the Achaeans, first pour red wine everywhere upon the fire and
quench it; let us then gather the bones of Patroclus son of
Menoetius, singling them out with care; they are easily found,
for they lie in the middle of the pyre, while all else, both men
and horses, has been thrown in a heap and burned at the outer
edge. We will lay the bones in a golden urn, in two layers of
fat, against the time when I shall myself go down into the house
of Hades. As for the barrow, labour not to raise a great one now,
but such as is reasonable. Afterwards, let those Achaeans who may
be left at the ships when I am gone, build it both broad and
high.”
Thus he spoke and they obeyed the word of the son of Peleus.
First they poured red wine upon the thick layer of ashes and
quenched the fire. With many tears they singled out the whitened
bones of their loved comrade and laid them within a golden urn in
two layers of fat: they then covered the urn with a linen cloth
and took it inside the tent. They marked off the circle where the
barrow should be, made a foundation for it about the pyre, and
forthwith heaped up the earth. When they had thus raised a mound
they were going away, but Achilles stayed the people and made
them sit in assembly. He brought prizes from the ships—cauldrons,
tripods, horses and mules, noble oxen, women with fair girdles,
and swart iron.
The first prize he offered was for the chariot races—a woman
skilled in all useful arts, and a three-legged cauldron that had
ears for handles, and would hold twenty-two measures. This was
for the man who came in first. For the second there was a
six-year old mare, unbroken, and in foal to a he-ass; the third
was to have a goodly cauldron that had never yet been on the
fire; it was still bright as when it left the maker, and would
hold four measures. The fourth prize was two talents of gold, and
the fifth a two-handled urn as yet unsoiled by smoke. Then he
stood up and spoke among the Argives saying—
“Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, these are the prizes that
lie waiting the winners of the chariot races. At any other time I
should carry off the first prize and take it to my own tent; you
know how far my steeds excel all others—for they are immortal;
Neptune gave them to my father Peleus, who in his turn gave them
to myself; but I shall hold aloof, I and my steeds that have lost
their brave and kind driver, who many a time has washed them in
clear water and anointed their manes with oil. See how they stand
weeping here, with their manes trailing on the ground in the
extremity of their sorrow. But do you others set yourselves in
order throughout the host, whosoever has confidence in his horses
and in the strength of his chariot.”
Thus spoke the son of Peleus and the drivers of chariots
bestirred themselves. First among them all uprose Eumelus, king
of men, son of Admetus, a man excellent in horsemanship. Next to
him rose mighty Diomed son of Tydeus; he yoked the Trojan horses
which he had taken from Aeneas, when Apollo bore him out of the
fight. Next to him, yellow-haired Menelaus son of Atreus rose and
yoked his fleet horses, Agamemnon’s mare Aethe, and his own horse
Podargus. The mare had been given to Agamemnon by Echepolus son
of Anchises, that he might not have to follow him to Ilius, but
might stay at home and take his ease; for Jove had endowed him
with great wealth and he lived in spacious Sicyon. This mare, all
eager for the race, did Menelaus put under the yoke.
Fourth in order Antilochus, son to noble Nestor son of Neleus,
made ready his horses. These were bred in Pylos, and his father
came up to him to give him good advice of which, however, he
stood in but little need. “Antilochus,” said Nestor, “you are
young, but Jove and Neptune have loved you well, and have made
you an excellent horseman. I need not therefore say much by way
of instruction. You are skilful at wheeling your horses round the
post, but the horses themselves are very slow, and it is this
that will, I fear, mar your chances. The other drivers know less
than you do, but their horses are fleeter; therefore, my dear
son, see if you cannot hit upon some artifice whereby you may
insure that the prize shall not slip through your fingers. The
woodman does more by skill than by brute force; by skill the
pilot guides his storm-tossed barque over the sea, and so by
skill one driver can beat another. If a man go wide in rounding
this way and that, whereas a man who knows what he is doing may
have worse horses, but he will keep them well in hand when he
sees the doubling-post; he knows the precise moment at which to
pull the rein, and keeps his eye well on the man in front of him.
I will give you this certain token which cannot escape your
notice. There is a stump of a dead tree—oak or pine as it may
be—some six feet above the ground, and not yet rotted away by
rain; it stands at the fork of the road; it has two white stones
set one on each side, and there is a clear course all round it.
It may have been a monument to some one long since dead, or it
may have been used as a doubling-post in days gone by; now,
however, it has been fixed on by Achilles as the mark round which
the chariots shall turn; hug it as close as you can, but as you
stand in your chariot lean over a little to the left; urge on
your right-hand horse with voice and lash, and give him a loose
rein, but let the left-hand horse keep so close in, that the nave
of your wheel shall almost graze the post; but mind the stone, or
you will wound your horses and break your chariot in pieces,
which would be sport for others but confusion for yourself.
Therefore, my dear son, mind well what you are about, for if you
can be first to round the post there is no chance of any one
giving you the go-by later, not even though you had Adrestus’s
horse Arion behind you—a horse which is of divine race—or those
of Laomedon, which are the noblest in this country.”
When Nestor had made an end of counselling his son he sat down in
his place, and fifth in order Meriones got ready his horses. They
then all mounted their chariots and cast lots. Achilles shook the
helmet, and the lot of Antilochus son of Nestor fell out first;
next came that of King Eumelus, and after his, those of Menelaus
son of Atreus and of Meriones. The last place fell to the lot of
Diomed son of Tydeus, who was the best man of them all. They took
their places in line; Achilles showed them the doubling-post
round which they were to turn, some way off upon the plain; here
he stationed his father’s follower Phoenix as umpire, to note the
running, and report truly.
At the same instant they all of them lashed their horses, struck
them with the reins, and shouted at them with all their might.
They flew full speed over the plain away from the ships, the dust
rose from under them as it were a cloud or whirlwind, and their
manes were all flying in the wind. At one moment the chariots
seemed to touch the ground, and then again they bounded into the
air; the drivers stood erect, and their hearts beat fast and
furious in their lust of victory. Each kept calling on his
horses, and the horses scoured the plain amid the clouds of dust
that they raised.
It was when they were doing the last part of the course on their
way back towards the sea that their pace was strained to the
utmost and it was seen what each could do. The horses of the
descendant of Pheres now took the lead, and close behind them
came the Trojan stallions of Diomed. They seemed as if about to
mount Eumelus’s chariot, and he could feel their warm breath on
his back and on his broad shoulders, for their heads were close
to him as they flew over the course. Diomed would have now passed
him, or there would have been a dead heat, but Phoebus Apollo to
spite him made him drop his whip. Tears of anger fell from his
eyes as he saw the mares going on faster than ever, while his own
horses lost ground through his having no whip. Minerva saw the
trick which Apollo had played the son of Tydeus, so she brought
him his whip and put spirit into his horses; moreover she went
after the son of Admetus in a rage and broke his yoke for him;
the mares went one to one side of the course, and the other to
the other, and the pole was broken against the ground. Eumelus
was thrown from his chariot close to the wheel; his elbows,
mouth, and nostrils were all torn, and his forehead was bruised
above his eyebrows; his eyes filled with tears and he could find
no utterance. But the son of Tydeus turned his horses aside and
shot far ahead, for Minerva put fresh strength into them and
covered Diomed himself with glory.
Menelaus son of Atreus came next behind him, but Antilochus
called to his father’s horses. “On with you both,” he cried, “and
do your very utmost. I do not bid you try to beat the steeds of
the son of Tydeus, for Minerva has put running into them, and has
covered Diomed with glory; but you must overtake the horses of
the son of Atreus and not be left behind, or Aethe who is so
fleet will taunt you. Why, my good fellows, are you lagging? I
tell you, and it shall surely be—Nestor will keep neither of you,
but will put both of you to the sword, if we win any the worse a
prize through your carelessness. Fly after them at your utmost
speed; I will hit on a plan for passing them in a narrow part of
the way, and it shall not fail me.”
They feared the rebuke of their master, and for a short space
went quicker. Presently Antilochus saw a narrow place where the
road had sunk. The ground was broken, for the winter’s rain had
gathered and had worn the road so that the whole place was
deepened. Menelaus was making towards it so as to get there
first, for fear of a foul, but Antilochus turned his horses out
of the way, and followed him a little on one side. The son of
Atreus was afraid and shouted out, “Antilochus, you are driving
recklessly; rein in your horses; the road is too narrow here, it
will be wider soon, and you can pass me then; if you foul my
chariot you may bring both of us to a mischief.”
But Antilochus plied his whip, and drove faster, as though he had
not heard him. They went side by side for about as far as a young
man can hurl a disc from his shoulder when he is trying his
strength, and then Menelaus’s mares drew behind, for he left off
driving for fear the horses should foul one another and upset the
chariots; thus, while pressing on in quest of victory, they might
both come headlong to the ground. Menelaus then upbraided
Antilochus and said, “There is no greater trickster living than
you are; go, and bad luck go with you; the Achaeans say not well
that you have understanding, and come what may you shall not bear
away the prize without sworn protest on my part.”
Then he called on his horses and said to them, “Keep your pace,
and slacken not; the limbs of the other horses will weary sooner
than yours, for they are neither of them young.”
The horses feared the rebuke of their master, and went faster, so
that they were soon nearly up with the others.
Meanwhile the Achaeans from their seats were watching how the
horses went, as they scoured the plain amid clouds of their own
dust. Idomeneus captain of the Cretans was first to make out the
running, for he was not in the thick of the crowd, but stood on
the most commanding part of the ground. The driver was a long way
off, but Idomeneus could hear him shouting, and could see the
foremost horse quite plainly—a chestnut with a round white star,
like the moon, on its forehead. He stood up and said among the
Argives, “My friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, can
you see the running as well as I can? There seems to be another
pair in front now, and another driver; those that led off at the
start must have been disabled out on the plain. I saw them at
first making their way round the doubling-post, but now, though I
search the plain of Troy, I cannot find them. Perhaps the reins
fell from the driver’s hand so that he lost command of his horses
at the doubling-post, and could not turn it. I suppose he must
have been thrown out there, and broken his chariot, while his
mares have left the course and gone off wildly in a panic. Come
up and see for yourselves, I cannot make out for certain, but the
driver seems an Aetolian by descent, ruler over the Argives,
brave Diomed the son of Tydeus.”
Ajax the son of Oileus took him up rudely and said, “Idomeneus,
why should you be in such a hurry to tell us all about it, when
the mares are still so far out upon the plain? You are none of
the youngest, nor your eyes none of the sharpest, but you are
always laying down the law. You have no right to do so, for there
are better men here than you are. Eumelus’s horses are in front
now, as they always have been, and he is on the chariot holding
the reins.”
The captain of the Cretans was angry, and answered, “Ajax you are
an excellent railer, but you have no judgement, and are wanting
in much else as well, for you have a vile temper. I will wager
you a tripod or cauldron, and Agamemnon son of Atreus shall
decide whose horses are first. You will then know to your cost.”
Ajax son of Oileus was for making him an angry answer, and there
would have been yet further brawling between them, had not
Achilles risen in his place and said, “Cease your railing, Ajax
and Idomeneus; it is not seemly; you would be scandalised if you
saw any one else do the like: sit down and keep your eyes on the
horses; they are speeding towards the winning-post and will be
here directly. You will then both of you know whose horses are
first, and whose come after.”
As he was speaking, the son of Tydeus came driving in, plying his
whip lustily from his shoulder, and his horses stepping high as
they flew over the course. The sand and grit rained thick on the
driver, and the chariot inlaid with gold and tin ran close behind
his fleet horses. There was little trace of wheel-marks in the
fine dust, and the horses came flying in at their utmost speed.
Diomed stayed them in the middle of the crowd, and the sweat from
their manes and chests fell in streams on to the ground.
Forthwith he sprang from his goodly chariot, and leaned his whip
against his horses’ yoke; brave Sthenelus now lost no time, but
at once brought on the prize, and gave the woman and the
ear-handled cauldron to his comrades to take away. Then he
unyoked the horses.
Next after him came in Antilochus of the race of Neleus, who had
passed Menelaus by a trick and not by the fleetness of his
horses; but even so Menelaus came in as close behind him as the
wheel is to the horse that draws both the chariot and its master.
The end hairs of a horse’s tail touch the tyre of the wheel, and
there is never much space between wheel and horse when the
chariot is going; Menelaus was no further than this behind
Antilochus, though at first he had been a full disc’s throw
behind him. He had soon caught him up again, for Agamemnon’s mare
Aethe kept pulling stronger and stronger, so that if the course
had been longer he would have passed him, and there would not
even have been a dead heat. Idomeneus’s brave squire Meriones was
about a spear’s cast behind Menelaus. His horses were slowest of
all, and he was the worst driver. Last of them all came the son
of Admetus, dragging his chariot and driving his horses on in
front. When Achilles saw him he was sorry, and stood up among the
Argives saying, “The best man is coming in last. Let us give him
a prize for it is reasonable. He shall have the second, but the
first must go to the son of Tydeus.”
Thus did he speak and the others all of them applauded his
saying, and were for doing as he had said, but Nestor’s son
Antilochus stood up and claimed his rights from the son of
Peleus. “Achilles,” said he, “I shall take it much amiss if you
do this thing; you would rob me of my prize, because you think
Eumelus’s chariot and horses were thrown out, and himself too,
good man that he is. He should have prayed duly to the immortals;
he would not have come in last if he had done so. If you are
sorry for him and so choose, you have much gold in your tents,
with bronze, sheep, cattle and horses. Take something from this
store if you would have the Achaeans speak well of you, and give
him a better prize even than that which you have now offered; but
I will not give up the mare, and he that will fight me for her,
let him come on.”
Achilles smiled as he heard this, and was pleased with
Antilochus, who was one of his dearest comrades. So he said—
“Antilochus, if you would have me find Eumelus another prize, I
will give him the bronze breastplate with a rim of tin running
all round it which I took from Asteropaeus. It will be worth much
money to him.”
He bade his comrade Automedon bring the breastplate from his
tent, and he did so. Achilles then gave it over to Eumelus, who
received it gladly.
But Menelaus got up in a rage, furiously angry with Antilochus.
An attendant placed his staff in his hands and bade the Argives
keep silence: the hero then addressed them. “Antilochus,” said
he, “what is this from you who have been so far blameless? You
have made me cut a poor figure and baulked my horses by flinging
your own in front of them, though yours are much worse than mine
are; therefore, O princes and counsellors of the Argives, judge
between us and show no favour, lest one of the Achaeans say,
‘Menelaus has got the mare through lying and corruption; his
horses were far inferior to Antilochus’s, but he has greater
weight and influence.’ Nay, I will determine the matter myself,
and no man will blame me, for I shall do what is just. Come here,
Antilochus, and stand, as our custom is, whip in hand before your
chariot and horses; lay your hand on your steeds, and swear by
earth-encircling Neptune that you did not purposely and
guilefully get in the way of my horses.”
And Antilochus answered, “Forgive me; I am much younger, King
Menelaus, than you are; you stand higher than I do and are the
better man of the two; you know how easily young men are betrayed
into indiscretion; their tempers are more hasty and they have
less judgement; make due allowances therefore, and bear with me;
I will of my own accord give up the mare that I have won, and if
you claim any further chattel from my own possessions, I would
rather yield it to you, at once, than fall from your good graces
henceforth, and do wrong in the sight of heaven.”
The son of Nestor then took the mare and gave her over to
Menelaus, whose anger was thus appeased; as when dew falls upon a
field of ripening corn, and the lands are bristling with the
harvest—even so, O Menelaus, was your heart made glad within you.
He turned to Antilochus and said, “Now, Antilochus, angry though
I have been, I can give way to you of my own free will; you have
never been headstrong nor ill-disposed hitherto, but this time
your youth has got the better of your judgement; be careful how
you outwit your betters in future; no one else could have brought
me round so easily, but your good father, your brother, and
yourself have all of you had infinite trouble on my behalf; I
therefore yield to your entreaty, and will give up the mare to
you, mine though it indeed be; the people will thus see that I am
neither harsh nor vindictive.”
With this he gave the mare over to Antilochus’s comrade Noemon,
and then took the cauldron. Meriones, who had come in fourth,
carried off the two talents of gold, and the fifth prize, the
two-handled urn, being unawarded, Achilles gave it to Nestor,
going up to him among the assembled Argives and saying, “Take
this, my good old friend, as an heirloom and memorial of the
funeral of Patroclus—for you shall see him no more among the
Argives. I give you this prize though you cannot win one; you can
now neither wrestle nor fight, and cannot enter for the
javelin-match nor foot-races, for the hand of age has been laid
heavily upon you.”
So saying he gave the urn over to Nestor, who received it gladly
and answered, “My son, all that you have said is true; there is
no strength now in my legs and feet, nor can I hit out with my
hands from either shoulder. Would that I were still young and
strong as when the Epeans were burying King Amarynceus in
Buprasium, and his sons offered prizes in his honour. There was
then none that could vie with me neither of the Epeans nor the
Pylians themselves nor the Aetolians. In boxing I overcame
Clytomedes son of Enops, and in wrestling, Ancaeus of Pleuron who
had come forward against me. Iphiclus was a good runner, but I
beat him, and threw farther with my spear than either Phyleus or
Polydorus. In chariot-racing alone did the two sons of Actor
surpass me by crowding their horses in front of me, for they were
angry at the way victory had gone, and at the greater part of the
prizes remaining in the place in which they had been offered.
They were twins, and the one kept on holding the reins, and
holding the reins, while the other plied the whip. Such was I
then, but now I must leave these matters to younger men; I must
bow before the weight of years, but in those days I was eminent
among heroes. And now, sir, go on with the funeral contests in
honour of your comrade: gladly do I accept this urn, and my heart
rejoices that you do not forget me but are ever mindful of my
goodwill towards you, and of the respect due to me from the
Achaeans. For all which may the grace of heaven be vouchsafed you
in great abundance.”
Thereon the son of Peleus, when he had listened to all the thanks
of Nestor, went about among the concourse of the Achaeans, and
presently offered prizes for skill in the painful art of boxing.
He brought out a strong mule, and made it fast in the middle of
the crowd—a she-mule never yet broken, but six years old—when it
is hardest of all to break them: this was for the victor, and for
the vanquished he offered a double cup. Then he stood up and said
among the Argives, “Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, I
invite our two champion boxers to lay about them lustily and
compete for these prizes. He to whom Apollo vouchsafes the
greater endurance, and whom the Achaeans acknowledge as victor,
shall take the mule back with him to his own tent, while he that
is vanquished shall have the double cup.”
As he spoke there stood up a champion both brave and of great
stature, a skilful boxer, Epeus, son of Panopeus. He laid his
hand on the mule and said, “Let the man who is to have the cup
come hither, for none but myself will take the mule. I am the
best boxer of all here present, and none can beat me. Is it not
enough that I should fall short of you in actual fighting? Still,
no man can be good at everything. I tell you plainly, and it
shall come true; if any man will box with me I will bruise his
body and break his bones; therefore let his friends stay here in
a body and be at hand to take him away when I have done with
him.”
They all held their peace, and no man rose save Euryalus son of
Mecisteus, who was son of Talaus. Mecisteus went once to Thebes
after the fall of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all
the people of Cadmus. The son of Tydeus was Euryalus’s second,
cheering him on and hoping heartily that he would win. First he
put a waistband round him and then he gave him some well-cut
thongs of ox-hide; the two men being now girt went into the
middle of the ring, and immediately fell to; heavily indeed did
they punish one another and lay about them with their brawny
fists. One could hear the horrid crashing of their jaws, and they
sweated from every pore of their skin. Presently Epeus came on
and gave Euryalus a blow on the jaw as he was looking round;
Euryalus could not keep his legs; they gave way under him in a
moment and he sprang up with a bound, as a fish leaps into the
air near some shore that is all bestrewn with sea-wrack, when
Boreas furs the top of the waves, and then falls back into deep
water. But noble Epeus caught hold of him and raised him up; his
comrades also came round him and led him from the ring, unsteady
in his gait, his head hanging on one side, and spitting great
clots of gore. They set him down in a swoon and then went to
fetch the double cup.
The son of Peleus now brought out the prizes for the third
contest and showed them to the Argives. These were for the
painful art of wrestling. For the winner there was a great tripod
ready for setting upon the fire, and the Achaeans valued it among
themselves at twelve oxen. For the loser he brought out a woman
skilled in all manner of arts, and they valued her at four oxen.
He rose and said among the Argives, “Stand forward, you who will
essay this contest.”
Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, and crafty
Ulysses, full of wiles, rose also. The two girded themselves and
went into the middle of the ring. They gripped each other in
their strong hands like the rafters which some master-builder
frames for the roof of a high house to keep the wind out. Their
backbones cracked as they tugged at one another with their mighty
arms—and sweat rained from them in torrents. Many a bloody weal
sprang up on their sides and shoulders, but they kept on striving
with might and main for victory and to win the tripod. Ulysses
could not throw Ajax, nor Ajax him; Ulysses was too strong for
him; but when the Achaeans began to tire of watching them, Ajax
said to Ulysses, “Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, you shall either
lift me, or I you, and let Jove settle it between us.”
He lifted him from the ground as he spoke, but Ulysses did not
forget his cunning. He hit Ajax in the hollow at back of his
knee, so that he could not keep his feet, but fell on his back
with Ulysses lying upon his chest, and all who saw it marvelled.
Then Ulysses in turn lifted Ajax and stirred him a little from
the ground but could not lift him right off it, his knee sank
under him, and the two fell side by side on the ground and were
all begrimed with dust. They now sprang towards one another and
were for wrestling yet a third time, but Achilles rose and stayed
them. “Put not each other further,” said he, “to such cruel
suffering; the victory is with both alike, take each of you an
equal prize, and let the other Achaeans now compete.”
Thus did he speak and they did even as he had said, and put on
their shirts again after wiping the dust from off their bodies.
The son of Peleus then offered prizes for speed in running—a
mixing-bowl beautifully wrought, of pure silver. It would hold
six measures, and far exceeded all others in the whole world for
beauty; it was the work of cunning artificers in Sidon, and had
been brought into port by Phoenicians from beyond the sea, who
had made a present of it to Thoas. Eueneus son of Jason had given
it to Patroclus in ransom of Priam’s son Lycaon, and Achilles now
offered it as a prize in honour of his comrade to him who should
be the swiftest runner. For the second prize he offered a large
ox, well fattened, while for the last there was to be half a
talent of gold. He then rose and said among the Argives, “Stand
forward, you who will essay this contest.”
Forthwith uprose fleet Ajax son of Oileus, with cunning Ulysses,
and Nestor’s son Antilochus, the fastest runner among all the
youth of his time. They stood side by side and Achilles showed
them the goal. The course was set out for them from the
starting-post, and the son of Oileus took the lead at once, with
Ulysses as close behind him as the shuttle is to a woman’s bosom
when she throws the woof across the warp and holds it close up to
her; even so close behind him was Ulysses—treading in his
footprints before the dust could settle there, and Ajax could
feel his breath on the back of his head as he ran swiftly on. The
Achaeans all shouted applause as they saw him straining his
utmost, and cheered him as he shot past them; but when they were
now nearing the end of the course Ulysses prayed inwardly to
Minerva. “Hear me,” he cried, “and help my feet, O goddess.” Thus
did he pray, and Pallas Minerva heard his prayer; she made his
hands and his feet feel light, and when the runners were at the
point of pouncing upon the prize, Ajax, through Minerva’s spite
slipped upon some offal that was lying there from the cattle
which Achilles had slaughtered in honour of Patroclus, and his
mouth and nostrils were all filled with cow dung. Ulysses
therefore carried off the mixing-bowl, for he got before Ajax and
came in first. But Ajax took the ox and stood with his hand on
one of its horns, spitting the dung out of his mouth. Then he
said to the Argives, “Alas, the goddess has spoiled my running;
she watches over Ulysses and stands by him as though she were his
own mother.” Thus did he speak and they all of them laughed
heartily.
Antilochus carried off the last prize and smiled as he said to
the bystanders, “You all see, my friends, that now too the gods
have shown their respect for seniority. Ajax is somewhat older
than I am, and as for Ulysses, he belongs to an earlier
generation, but he is hale in spite of his years, and no man of
the Achaeans can run against him save only Achilles.”
He said this to pay a compliment to the son of Peleus, and
Achilles answered, “Antilochus, you shall not have praised me to
no purpose; I shall give you an additional half talent of gold.”
He then gave the half talent to Antilochus, who received it
gladly.
Then the son of Peleus brought out the spear, helmet and shield
that had been borne by Sarpedon, and were taken from him by
Patroclus. He stood up and said among the Argives, “We bid two
champions put on their armour, take their keen blades, and make
trial of one another in the presence of the multitude; whichever
of them can first wound the flesh of the other, cut through his
armour, and draw blood, to him will I give this goodly Thracian
sword inlaid with silver, which I took from Asteropaeus, but the
armour let both hold in partnership, and I will give each of them
a hearty meal in my own tent.”
Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, as also mighty
Diomed son of Tydeus. When they had put on their armour each on
his own side of the ring, they both went into the middle eager to
engage, and with fire flashing from their eyes. The Achaeans
marvelled as they beheld them, and when the two were now close up
with one another, thrice did they spring forward and thrice try
to strike each other in close combat. Ajax pierced Diomed’s round
shield, but did not draw blood, for the cuirass beneath the
shield protected him; thereon the son of Tydeus from over his
huge shield kept aiming continually at Ajax’s neck with the point
of his spear, and the Achaeans alarmed for his safety bade them
leave off fighting and divide the prize between them. Achilles
then gave the great sword to the son of Tydeus, with its
scabbard, and the leathern belt with which to hang it.
Achilles next offered the massive iron quoit which mighty Eetion
had erewhile been used to hurl, until Achilles had slain him and
carried it off in his ships along with other spoils. He stood up
and said among the Argives, “Stand forward, you who would essay
this contest. He who wins it will have a store of iron that will
last him five years as they go rolling round, and if his fair
fields lie far from a town his shepherd or ploughman will not
have to make a journey to buy iron, for he will have a stock of
it on his own premises.”
Then uprose the two mighty men Polypoetes and Leonteus, with Ajax
son of Telamon and noble Epeus. They stood up one after the other
and Epeus took the quoit, whirled it, and flung it from him,
which set all the Achaeans laughing. After him threw Leonteus of
the race of Mars. Ajax son of Telamon threw third, and sent the
quoit beyond any mark that had been made yet, but when mighty
Polypoetes took the quoit he hurled it as though it had been a
stockman’s stick which he sends flying about among his cattle
when he is driving them, so far did his throw out-distance those
of the others. All who saw it roared applause, and his comrades
carried the prize for him and set it on board his ship.
Achilles next offered a prize of iron for archery—ten
double-edged axes and ten with single edges: he set up a ship’s
mast, some way off upon the sands, and with a fine string tied a
pigeon to it by the foot; this was what they were to aim at.
“Whoever,” he said, “can hit the pigeon shall have all the axes
and take them away with him; he who hits the string without
hitting the bird will have taken a worse aim and shall have the
single-edged axes.”
Then uprose King Teucer, and Meriones the stalwart squire of
Idomeneus rose also, They cast lots in a bronze helmet and the
lot of Teucer fell first. He let fly with his arrow forthwith,
but he did not promise hecatombs of firstling lambs to King
Apollo, and missed his bird, for Apollo foiled his aim; but he
hit the string with which the bird was tied, near its foot; the
arrow cut the string clean through so that it hung down towards
the ground, while the bird flew up into the sky, and the Achaeans
shouted applause. Meriones, who had his arrow ready while Teucer
was aiming, snatched the bow out of his hand, and at once
promised that he would sacrifice a hecatomb of firstling lambs to
Apollo lord of the bow; then espying the pigeon high up under the
clouds, he hit her in the middle of the wing as she was circling
upwards; the arrow went clean through the wing and fixed itself
in the ground at Meriones’ feet, but the bird perched on the
ship’s mast hanging her head and with all her feathers drooping;
the life went out of her, and she fell heavily from the mast.
Meriones, therefore, took all ten double-edged axes, while Teucer
bore off the single-edged ones to his ships.
Then the son of Peleus brought in a spear and a cauldron that had
never been on the fire; it was worth an ox, and was chased with a
pattern of flowers; and those that throw the javelin stood up—to
wit the son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, and Meriones,
stalwart squire of Idomeneus. But Achilles spoke saying, “Son of
Atreus, we know how far you excel all others both in power and in
throwing the javelin; take the cauldron back with you to your
ships, but if it so please you, let us give the spear to
Meriones; this at least is what I should myself wish.”
King Agamemnon assented. So he gave the bronze spear to Meriones,
and handed the goodly cauldron to Talthybius his esquire.
BOOK XXIV.
Priam ransoms the body of Hector—Hector’s funeral.
The assembly now broke up and the people went their ways each to
his own ship. There they made ready their supper, and then
bethought them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still
wept for thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all
things bow, could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he
turn as he yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus;
he thought of all they had done together, and all they had gone
through both on the field of battle and on the waves of the weary
sea. As he dwelt on these things he wept bitterly and lay now on
his side, now on his back, and now face downwards, till at last
he rose and went out as one distraught to wander upon the
seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over beach and sea, he
yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body of Hector
behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag it
round the tomb of the son of Menoetius, and then went back into
his tent, leaving the body on the ground full length and with its
face downwards. But Apollo would not suffer it to be disfigured,
for he pitied the man, dead though he now was; therefore he
shielded him with his golden aegis continually, that he might
take no hurt while Achilles was dragging him.
Thus shamefully did Achilles in his fury dishonour Hector; but
the blessed gods looked down in pity from heaven, and urged
Mercury, slayer of Argus, to steal the body. All were of this
mind save only Juno, Neptune, and Jove’s grey-eyed daughter, who
persisted in the hate which they had ever borne towards Ilius
with Priam and his people; for they forgave not the wrong done
them by Alexandrus in disdaining the goddesses who came to him
when he was in his sheepyards, and preferring her who had offered
him a wanton to his ruin.
When, therefore, the morning of the twelfth day had now come,
Phoebus Apollo spoke among the immortals saying, “You gods ought
to be ashamed of yourselves; you are cruel and hard-hearted. Did
not Hector burn you thigh-bones of heifers and of unblemished
goats? And now dare you not rescue even his dead body, for his
wife to look upon, with his mother and child, his father Priam,
and his people, who would forthwith commit him to the flames, and
give him his due funeral rites? So, then, you would all be on the
side of mad Achilles, who knows neither right nor ruth? He is
like some savage lion that in the pride of his great strength and
daring springs upon men’s flocks and gorges on them. Even so has
Achilles flung aside all pity, and all that conscience which at
once so greatly banes yet greatly boons him that will heed it. A
man may lose one far dearer than Achilles has lost—a son, it may
be, or a brother born from his own mother’s womb; yet when he has
mourned him and wept over him he will let him bide, for it takes
much sorrow to kill a man; whereas Achilles, now that he has
slain noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb
of his comrade. It were better of him, and for him, that he
should not do so, for brave though he be we gods may take it ill
that he should vent his fury upon dead clay.”
Juno spoke up in a rage. “This were well,” she cried, “O lord of
the silver bow, if you would give like honour to Hector and to
Achilles; but Hector was mortal and suckled at a woman’s breast,
whereas Achilles is the offspring of a goddess whom I myself
reared and brought up. I married her to Peleus, who is above
measure dear to the immortals; you gods came all of you to her
wedding; you feasted along with them yourself and brought your
lyre—false, and fond of low company, that you have ever been.”
Then said Jove, “Juno, be not so bitter. Their honour shall not
be equal, but of all that dwell in Ilius, Hector was dearest to
the gods, as also to myself, for his offerings never failed me.
Never was my altar stinted of its dues, nor of the
drink-offerings and savour of sacrifice which we claim of right.
I shall therefore permit the body of mighty Hector to be stolen;
and yet this may hardly be without Achilles coming to know it,
for his mother keeps night and day beside him. Let some one of
you, therefore, send Thetis to me, and I will impart my counsel
to her, namely that Achilles is to accept a ransom from Priam,
and give up the body.”
On this Iris fleet as the wind went forth to carry his message.
Down she plunged into the dark sea midway between Samos and rocky
Imbrus; the waters hissed as they closed over her, and she sank
into the bottom as the lead at the end of an ox-horn, that is
sped to carry death to fishes. She found Thetis sitting in a
great cave with the other sea-goddesses gathered round her; there
she sat in the midst of them weeping for her noble son who was to
fall far from his own land, on the rich plains of Troy. Iris went
up to her and said, “Rise Thetis; Jove, whose counsels fail not,
bids you come to him.” And Thetis answered, “Why does the mighty
god so bid me? I am in great grief, and shrink from going in and
out among the immortals. Still, I will go, and the word that he
may speak shall not be spoken in vain.”
The goddess took her dark veil, than which there can be no robe
more sombre, and went forth with fleet Iris leading the way
before her. The waves of the sea opened them a path, and when
they reached the shore they flew up into the heavens, where they
found the all-seeing son of Saturn with the blessed gods that
live for ever assembled near him. Minerva gave up her seat to
her, and she sat down by the side of father Jove. Juno then
placed a fair golden cup in her hand, and spoke to her in words
of comfort, whereon Thetis drank and gave her back the cup; and
the sire of gods and men was the first to speak.
“So, goddess,” said he, “for all your sorrow, and the grief that
I well know reigns ever in your heart, you have come hither to
Olympus, and I will tell you why I have sent for you. This nine
days past the immortals have been quarrelling about Achilles
waster of cities and the body of Hector. The gods would have
Mercury slayer of Argus steal the body, but in furtherance of our
peace and amity henceforward, I will concede such honour to your
son as I will now tell you. Go, then, to the host and lay these
commands upon him; say that the gods are angry with him, and that
I am myself more angry than them all, in that he keeps Hector at
the ships and will not give him up. He may thus fear me and let
the body go. At the same time I will send Iris to great Priam to
bid him go to the ships of the Achaeans, and ransom his son,
taking with him such gifts for Achilles as may give him
satisfaction.”
Silver-footed Thetis did as the god had told her, and forthwith
down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus. She went to
her son’s tents where she found him grieving bitterly, while his
trusty comrades round him were busy preparing their morning meal,
for which they had killed a great woolly sheep. His mother sat
down beside him and caressed him with her hand saying, “My son,
how long will you keep on thus grieving and making moan? You are
gnawing at your own heart, and think neither of food nor of
woman’s embraces; and yet these too were well, for you have no
long time to live, and death with the strong hand of fate are
already close beside you. Now, therefore, heed what I say, for I
come as a messenger from Jove; he says that the gods are angry
with you, and himself more angry than them all, in that you keep
Hector at the ships and will not give him up. Therefore let him
go, and accept a ransom for his body.”
And Achilles answered, “So be it. If Olympian Jove of his own
motion thus commands me, let him that brings the ransom bear the
body away.”
Thus did mother and son talk together at the ships in long
discourse with one another. Meanwhile the son of Saturn sent Iris
to the strong city of Ilius. “Go,” said he, “fleet Iris, from the
mansions of Olympus, and tell King Priam in Ilius, that he is to
go to the ships of the Achaeans and free the body of his dear
son. He is to take such gifts with him as shall give satisfaction
to Achilles, and he is to go alone, with no other Trojan, save
only some honoured servant who may drive his mules and waggon,
and bring back the body of him whom noble Achilles has slain. Let
him have no thought nor fear of death in his heart, for we will
send the slayer of Argus to escort him, and bring him within the
tent of Achilles. Achilles will not kill him nor let another do
so, for he will take heed to his ways and sin not, and he will
entreat a suppliant with all honourable courtesy.”
On this Iris, fleet as the wind, sped forth to deliver her
message. She went to Priam’s house, and found weeping and
lamentation therein. His sons were seated round their father in
the outer courtyard, and their raiment was wet with tears: the
old man sat in the midst of them with his mantle wrapped close
about his body, and his head and neck all covered with the filth
which he had clutched as he lay grovelling in the mire. His
daughters and his sons’ wives went wailing about the house, as
they thought of the many and brave men who lay dead, slain by the
Argives. The messenger of Jove stood by Priam and spoke softly to
him, but fear fell upon him as she did so. “Take heart,” she
said, “Priam offspring of Dardanus, take heart and fear not. I
bring no evil tidings, but am minded well towards you. I come as
a messenger from Jove, who though he be not near, takes thought
for you and pities you. The lord of Olympus bids you go and
ransom noble Hector, and take with you such gifts as shall give
satisfaction to Achilles. You are to go alone, with no Trojan,
save only some honoured servant who may drive your mules and
waggon, and bring back to the city the body of him whom noble
Achilles has slain. You are to have no thought, nor fear of
death, for Jove will send the slayer of Argus to escort you. When
he has brought you within Achilles’ tent, Achilles will not kill
you nor let another do so, for he will take heed to his ways and
sin not, and he will entreat a suppliant with all honourable
courtesy.”
Iris went her way when she had thus spoken, and Priam told his
sons to get a mule-waggon ready, and to make the body of the
waggon fast upon the top of its bed. Then he went down into his
fragrant store-room, high-vaulted, and made of cedar-wood, where
his many treasures were kept, and he called Hecuba his wife.
“Wife,” said he, “a messenger has come to me from Olympus, and
has told me to go to the ships of the Achaeans to ransom my dear
son, taking with me such gifts as shall give satisfaction to
Achilles. What think you of this matter? for my own part I am
greatly moved to pass through the camps of the Achaeans and go to
their ships.”
His wife cried aloud as she heard him, and said, “Alas, what has
become of that judgement for which you have been ever famous both
among strangers and your own people? How can you venture alone to
the ships of the Achaeans, and look into the face of him who has
slain so many of your brave sons? You must have iron courage, for
if the cruel savage sees you and lays hold on you, he will know
neither respect nor pity. Let us then weep Hector from afar here
in our own house, for when I gave him birth the threads of
overruling fate were spun for him that dogs should eat his flesh
far from his parents, in the house of that terrible man on whose
liver I would fain fasten and devour it. Thus would I avenge my
son, who showed no cowardice when Achilles slew him, and thought
neither of flight nor of avoiding battle as he stood in defence
of Trojan men and Trojan women.”
Then Priam said, “I would go, do not therefore stay me nor be as
a bird of ill omen in my house, for you will not move me. Had it
been some mortal man who had sent me some prophet or priest who
divines from sacrifice—I should have deemed him false and have
given him no heed; but now I have heard the goddess and seen her
face to face, therefore I will go and her saying shall not be in
vain. If it be my fate to die at the ships of the Achaeans even
so would I have it; let Achilles slay me, if I may but first have
taken my son in my arms and mourned him to my heart’s
comforting.”
So saying he lifted the lids of his chests, and took out twelve
goodly vestments. He took also twelve cloaks of single fold,
twelve rugs, twelve fair mantles, and an equal number of shirts.
He weighed out ten talents of gold, and brought moreover two
burnished tripods, four cauldrons, and a very beautiful cup which
the Thracians had given him when he had gone to them on an
embassy; it was very precious, but he grudged not even this, so
eager was he to ransom the body of his son. Then he chased all
the Trojans from the court and rebuked them with words of anger.
“Out,” he cried, “shame and disgrace to me that you are. Have you
no grief in your own homes that you are come to plague me here?
Is it a small thing, think you, that the son of Saturn has sent
this sorrow upon me, to lose the bravest of my sons? Nay, you
shall prove it in person, for now he is gone the Achaeans will
have easier work in killing you. As for me, let me go down within
the house of Hades, ere mine eyes behold the sacking and wasting
of the city.”
He drove the men away with his staff, and they went forth as the
old man sped them. Then he called to his sons, upbraiding
Helenus, Paris, noble Agathon, Pammon, Antiphonus, Polites of the
loud battle-cry, Deiphobus, Hippothous, and Dius. These nine did
the old man call near him. “Come to me at once,” he cried,
“worthless sons who do me shame; would that you had all been
killed at the ships rather than Hector. Miserable man that I am,
I have had the bravest sons in all Troy—noble Nestor, Troilus the
dauntless charioteer, and Hector who was a god among men, so that
one would have thought he was son to an immortal—yet there is not
one of them left. Mars has slain them and those of whom I am
ashamed are alone left me. Liars, and light of foot, heroes of
the dance, robbers of lambs and kids from your own people, why do
you not get a waggon ready for me at once, and put all these
things upon it that I may set out on my way?”
Thus did he speak, and they feared the rebuke of their father.
They brought out a strong mule-waggon, newly made, and set the
body of the waggon fast on its bed. They took the mule-yoke from
the peg on which it hung, a yoke of boxwood with a knob on the
top of it and rings for the reins to go through. Then they
brought a yoke-band eleven cubits long, to bind the yoke to the
pole; they bound it on at the far end of the pole, and put the
ring over the upright pin making it fast with three turns of the
band on either side the knob, and bending the thong of the yoke
beneath it. This done, they brought from the store-chamber the
rich ransom that was to purchase the body of Hector, and they set
it all orderly on the waggon; then they yoked the strong
harness-mules which the Mysians had on a time given as a goodly
present to Priam; but for Priam himself they yoked horses which
the old king had bred, and kept for his own use.
Thus heedfully did Priam and his servant see to the yolking of
their cars at the palace. Then Hecuba came to them all sorrowful,
with a golden goblet of wine in her right hand, that they might
make a drink-offering before they set out. She stood in front of
the horses and said, “Take this, make a drink-offering to father
Jove, and since you are minded to go to the ships in spite of me,
pray that you may come safely back from the hands of your
enemies. Pray to the son of Saturn lord of the whirlwind, who
sits on Ida and looks down over all Troy, pray him to send his
swift messenger on your right hand, the bird of omen which is
strongest and most dear to him of all birds, that you may see it
with your own eyes and trust it as you go forth to the ships of
the Danaans. If all-seeing Jove will not send you this messenger,
however set upon it you may be, I would not have you go to the
ships of the Argives.”
And Priam answered, “Wife, I will do as you desire me; it is well
to lift hands in prayer to Jove, if so be he may have mercy upon
me.”
With this the old man bade the serving-woman pour pure water over
his hands, and the woman came, bearing the water in a bowl. He
washed his hands and took the cup from his wife; then he made the
drink-offering and prayed, standing in the middle of the
courtyard and turning his eyes to heaven. “Father Jove,” he said,
“that rulest from Ida, most glorious and most great, grant that I
may be received kindly and compassionately in the tents of
Achilles; and send your swift messenger upon my right hand, the
bird of omen which is strongest and most dear to you of all
birds, that I may see it with my own eyes and trust it as I go
forth to the ships of the Danaans.”
So did he pray, and Jove the lord of counsel heard his prayer.
Forthwith he sent an eagle, the most unerring portent of all
birds that fly, the dusky hunter that men also call the Black
Eagle. His wings were spread abroad on either side as wide as the
well-made and well-bolted door of a rich man’s chamber. He came
to them flying over the city upon their right hands, and when
they saw him they were glad and their hearts took comfort within
them. The old man made haste to mount his chariot, and drove out
through the inner gateway and under the echoing gatehouse of the
outer court. Before him went the mules drawing the four-wheeled
waggon, and driven by wise Idaeus; behind these were the horses,
which the old man lashed with his whip and drove swiftly through
the city, while his friends followed after, wailing and lamenting
for him as though he were on his road to death. As soon as they
had come down from the city and had reached the plain, his sons
and sons-in-law who had followed him went back to Ilius.
But Priam and Idaeus as they showed out upon the plain did not
escape the ken of all-seeing Jove, who looked down upon the old
man and pitied him; then he spoke to his son Mercury and said,
“Mercury, for it is you who are the most disposed to escort men
on their way, and to hear those whom you will hear, go, and so
conduct Priam to the ships of the Achaeans that no other of the
Danaans shall see him nor take note of him until he reach the son
of Peleus.”
Thus he spoke and Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus,
did as he was told. Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden
sandals with which he could fly like the wind over land and sea;
he took the wand with which he seals men’s eyes in sleep, or
wakes them just as he pleases, and flew holding it in his hand
till he came to Troy and to the Hellespont. To look at, he was
like a young man of noble birth in the hey-day of his youth and
beauty with the down just coming upon his face.
Now when Priam and Idaeus had driven past the great tomb of
Ilius, they stayed their mules and horses that they might drink
in the river, for the shades of night were falling, when,
therefore, Idaeus saw Mercury standing near them he said to
Priam, “Take heed, descendant of Dardanus; here is matter which
demands consideration. I see a man who I think will presently
fall upon us; let us fly with our horses, or at least embrace his
knees and implore him to take compassion upon us?”
When he heard this the old man’s heart failed him, and he was in
great fear; he stayed where he was as one dazed, and the hair
stood on end over his whole body; but the bringer of good luck
came up to him and took him by the hand, saying, “Whither,
father, are you thus driving your mules and horses in the dead of
night when other men are asleep? Are you not afraid of the fierce
Achaeans who are hard by you, so cruel and relentless? Should
some one of them see you bearing so much treasure through the
darkness of the flying night, what would not your state then be?
You are no longer young, and he who is with you is too old to
protect you from those who would attack you. For myself, I will
do you no harm, and I will defend you from any one else, for you
remind me of my own father.”
And Priam answered, “It is indeed as you say, my dear son;
nevertheless some god has held his hand over me, in that he has
sent such a wayfarer as yourself to meet me so opportunely; you
are so comely in mien and figure, and your judgement is so
excellent that you must come of blessed parents.”
Then said the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, “Sir, all that
you have said is right; but tell me and tell me true, are you
taking this rich treasure to send it to a foreign people where it
may be safe, or are you all leaving strong Ilius in dismay now
that your son has fallen who was the bravest man among you and
was never lacking in battle with the Achaeans?”
And Priam said, “Who are you, my friend, and who are your
parents, that you speak so truly about the fate of my unhappy
son?”
The slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, answered him, “Sir, you
would prove me, that you question me about noble Hector. Many a
time have I set eyes upon him in battle when he was driving the
Argives to their ships and putting them to the sword. We stood
still and marvelled, for Achilles in his anger with the son of
Atreus suffered us not to fight. I am his squire, and came with
him in the same ship. I am a Myrmidon, and my father’s name is
Polyctor: he is a rich man and about as old as you are; he has
six sons besides myself, and I am the seventh. We cast lots, and
it fell upon me to sail hither with Achilles. I am now come from
the ships on to the plain, for with daybreak the Achaeans will
set battle in array about the city. They chafe at doing nothing,
and are so eager that their princes cannot hold them back.”
Then answered Priam, “If you are indeed the squire of Achilles
son of Peleus, tell me now the whole truth. Is my son still at
the ships, or has Achilles hewn him limb from limb, and given him
to his hounds?”
“Sir,” replied the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, “neither
hounds nor vultures have yet devoured him; he is still just lying
at the tents by the ship of Achilles, and though it is now twelve
days that he has lain there, his flesh is not wasted nor have the
worms eaten him although they feed on warriors. At daybreak
Achilles drags him cruelly round the sepulchre of his dear
comrade, but it does him no hurt. You should come yourself and
see how he lies fresh as dew, with the blood all washed away, and
his wounds every one of them closed though many pierced him with
their spears. Such care have the blessed gods taken of your brave
son, for he was dear to them beyond all measure.”
The old man was comforted as he heard him and said, “My son, see
what a good thing it is to have made due offerings to the
immortals; for as sure as that he was born my son never forgot
the gods that hold Olympus, and now they requite it to him even
in death. Accept therefore at my hands this goodly chalice; guard
me and with heaven’s help guide me till I come to the tent of the
son of Peleus.”
Then answered the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, “Sir, you
are tempting me and playing upon my youth, but you shall not move
me, for you are offering me presents without the knowledge of
Achilles whom I fear and hold it great guilt to defraud, lest
some evil presently befall me; but as your guide I would go with
you even to Argos itself, and would guard you so carefully
whether by sea or land, that no one should attack you through
making light of him who was with you.”
The bringer of good luck then sprang on to the chariot, and
seizing the whip and reins he breathed fresh spirit into the
mules and horses. When they reached the trench and the wall that
was before the ships, those who were on guard had just been
getting their suppers, and the slayer of Argus threw them all
into a deep sleep. Then he drew back the bolts to open the gates,
and took Priam inside with the treasure he had upon his waggon.
Ere long they came to the lofty dwelling of the son of Peleus for
which the Myrmidons had cut pine and which they had built for
their king; when they had built it they thatched it with coarse
tussock-grass which they had mown out on the plain, and all round
it they made a large courtyard, which was fenced with stakes set
close together. The gate was barred with a single bolt of pine
which it took three men to force into its place, and three to
draw back so as to open the gate, but Achilles could draw it by
himself. Mercury opened the gate for the old man, and brought in
the treasure that he was taking with him for the son of Peleus.
Then he sprang from the chariot on to the ground and said, “Sir,
it is I, immortal Mercury, that am come with you, for my father
sent me to escort you. I will now leave you, and will not enter
into the presence of Achilles, for it might anger him that a god
should befriend mortal men thus openly. Go you within, and
embrace the knees of the son of Peleus: beseech him by his
father, his lovely mother, and his son; thus you may move him.”
With these words Mercury went back to high Olympus. Priam sprang
from his chariot to the ground, leaving Idaeus where he was, in
charge of the mules and horses. The old man went straight into
the house where Achilles, loved of the gods, was sitting. There
he found him with his men seated at a distance from him: only
two, the hero Automedon, and Alcimus of the race of Mars, were
busy in attendance about his person, for he had but just done
eating and drinking, and the table was still there. King Priam
entered without their seeing him, and going right up to Achilles
he clasped his knees and kissed the dread murderous hands that
had slain so many of his sons.
As when some cruel spite has befallen a man that he should have
killed some one in his own country, and must fly to a great man’s
protection in a land of strangers, and all marvel who see him,
even so did Achilles marvel as he beheld Priam. The others looked
one to another and marvelled also, but Priam besought Achilles
saying, “Think of your father, O Achilles like unto the gods, who
is such even as I am, on the sad threshold of old age. It may be
that those who dwell near him harass him, and there is none to
keep war and ruin from him. Yet when he hears of you being still
alive, he is glad, and his days are full of hope that he shall
see his dear son come home to him from Troy; but I, wretched man
that I am, had the bravest in all Troy for my sons, and there is
not one of them left. I had fifty sons when the Achaeans came
here; nineteen of them were from a single womb, and the others
were borne to me by the women of my household. The greater part
of them has fierce Mars laid low, and Hector, him who was alone
left, him who was the guardian of the city and ourselves, him
have you lately slain; therefore I am now come to the ships of
the Achaeans to ransom his body from you with a great ransom.
Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father
and have compassion upon me, who am the more pitiable, for I have
steeled myself as no man yet has ever steeled himself before me,
and have raised to my lips the hand of him who slew my son.”
Thus spoke Priam, and the heart of Achilles yearned as he
bethought him of his father. He took the old man’s hand and moved
him gently away. The two wept bitterly—Priam, as he lay at
Achilles’ feet, weeping for Hector, and Achilles now for his
father and now for Patroclus, till the house was filled with
their lamentation. But when Achilles was now sated with grief and
had unburthened the bitterness of his sorrow, he left his seat
and raised the old man by the hand, in pity for his white hair
and beard; then he said, “Unhappy man, you have indeed been
greatly daring; how could you venture to come alone to the ships
of the Achaeans, and enter the presence of him who has slain so
many of your brave sons? You must have iron courage: sit now upon
this seat, and for all our grief we will hide our sorrows in our
hearts, for weeping will not avail us. The immortals know no
care, yet the lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the
floor of Jove’s palace there stand two urns, the one filled with
evil gifts, and the other with good ones. He for whom Jove the
lord of thunder mixes the gifts he sends, will meet now with good
and now with evil fortune; but he to whom Jove sends none but
evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger of scorn, the hand of
famine will pursue him to the ends of the world, and he will go
up and down the face of the earth, respected neither by gods nor
men. Even so did it befall Peleus; the gods endowed him with all
good things from his birth upwards, for he reigned over the
Myrmidons excelling all men in prosperity and wealth, and mortal
though he was they gave him a goddess for his bride. But even on
him too did heaven send misfortune, for there is no race of royal
children born to him in his house, save one son who is doomed to
die all untimely; nor may I take care of him now that he is
growing old, for I must stay here at Troy to be the bane of you
and your children. And you too, O Priam, I have heard that you
were aforetime happy. They say that in wealth and plenitude of
offspring you surpassed all that is in Lesbos, the realm of Makar
to the northward, Phrygia that is more inland, and those that
dwell upon the great Hellespont; but from the day when the
dwellers in heaven sent this evil upon you, war and slaughter
have been about your city continually. Bear up against it, and
let there be some intervals in your sorrow. Mourn as you may for
your brave son, you will take nothing by it. You cannot raise him
from the dead, ere you do so yet another sorrow shall befall
you.”
And Priam answered, “O king, bid me not be seated, while Hector
is still lying uncared for in your tents, but accept the great
ransom which I have brought you, and give him to me at once that
I may look upon him. May you prosper with the ransom and reach
your own land in safety, seeing that you have suffered me to live
and to look upon the light of the sun.”
Achilles looked at him sternly and said, “Vex me, sir, no longer;
I am of myself minded to give up the body of Hector. My mother,
daughter of the old man of the sea, came to me from Jove to bid
me deliver it to you. Moreover I know well, O Priam, and you
cannot hide it, that some god has brought you to the ships of the
Achaeans, for else, no man however strong and in his prime would
dare to come to our host; he could neither pass our guard unseen,
nor draw the bolt of my gates thus easily; therefore, provoke me
no further, lest I sin against the word of Jove, and suffer you
not, suppliant though you are, within my tents.”
The old man feared him and obeyed. Then the son of Peleus sprang
like a lion through the door of his house, not alone, but with
him went his two squires Automedon and Alcimus who were closer to
him than any others of his comrades now that Patroclus was no
more. These unyoked the horses and mules, and bade Priam’s herald
and attendant be seated within the house. They lifted the ransom
for Hector’s body from the waggon, but they left two mantles and
a goodly shirt, that Achilles might wrap the body in them when he
gave it to be taken home. Then he called to his servants and
ordered them to wash the body and anoint it, but he first took it
to a place where Priam should not see it, lest if he did so, he
should break out in the bitterness of his grief, and enrage
Achilles, who might then kill him and sin against the word of
Jove. When the servants had washed the body and anointed it, and
had wrapped it in a fair shirt and mantle, Achilles himself
lifted it on to a bier, and he and his men then laid it on the
waggon. He cried aloud as he did so and called on the name of his
dear comrade, “Be not angry with me, Patroclus,” he said, “if you
hear even in the house of Hades that I have given Hector to his
father for a ransom. It has been no unworthy one, and I will
share it equitably with you.”
Achilles then went back into the tent and took his place on the
richly inlaid seat from which he had risen, by the wall that was
at right angles to the one against which Priam was sitting.
“Sir,” he said, “your son is now laid upon his bier and is
ransomed according to desire; you shall look upon him when you
take him away at daybreak; for the present let us prepare our
supper. Even lovely Niobe had to think about eating, though her
twelve children—six daughters and six lusty sons—had been all
slain in her house. Apollo killed the sons with arrows from his
silver bow, to punish Niobe, and Diana slew the daughters,
because Niobe had vaunted herself against Leto; she said Leto had
borne two children only, whereas she had herself borne
many—whereon the two killed the many. Nine days did they lie
weltering, and there was none to bury them, for the son of Saturn
turned the people into stone; but on the tenth day the gods in
heaven themselves buried them, and Niobe then took food, being
worn out with weeping. They say that somewhere among the rocks on
the mountain pastures of Sipylus, where the nymphs live that
haunt the river Achelous, there, they say, she lives in stone and
still nurses the sorrows sent upon her by the hand of heaven.
Therefore, noble sir, let us two now take food; you can weep for
your dear son hereafter as you are bearing him back to Ilius—and
many a tear will he cost you.”
With this Achilles sprang from his seat and killed a sheep of
silvery whiteness, which his followers skinned and made ready all
in due order. They cut the meat carefully up into smaller pieces,
spitted them, and drew them off again when they were well
roasted. Automedon brought bread in fair baskets and served it
round the table, while Achilles dealt out the meat, and they laid
their hands on the good things that were before them. As soon as
they had had enough to eat and drink, Priam, descendant of
Dardanus, marvelled at the strength and beauty of Achilles for he
was as a god to see, and Achilles marvelled at Priam as he
listened to him and looked upon his noble presence. When they had
gazed their fill Priam spoke first. “And now, O king,” he said,
“take me to my couch that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed
boon of sleep. Never once have my eyes been closed from the day
your hands took the life of my son; I have grovelled without
ceasing in the mire of my stable-yard, making moan and brooding
over my countless sorrows. Now, moreover, I have eaten bread and
drunk wine; hitherto I have tasted nothing.”
As he spoke Achilles told his men and the women-servants to set
beds in the room that was in the gatehouse, and make them with
good red rugs, and spread coverlets on the top of them with
woollen cloaks for Priam and Idaeus to wear. So the maids went
out carrying a torch and got the two beds ready in all haste.
Then Achilles said laughingly to Priam, “Dear sir, you shall lie
outside, lest some counsellor of those who in due course keep
coming to advise with me should see you here in the darkness of
the flying night, and tell it to Agamemnon. This might cause
delay in the delivery of the body. And now tell me and tell me
true, for how many days would you celebrate the funeral rites of
noble Hector? Tell me, that I may hold aloof from war and
restrain the host.”
And Priam answered, “Since, then, you suffer me to bury my noble
son with all due rites, do thus, Achilles, and I shall be
grateful. You know how we are pent up within our city; it is far
for us to fetch wood from the mountain, and the people live in
fear. Nine days, therefore, will we mourn Hector in my house; on
the tenth day we will bury him and there shall be a public feast
in his honour; on the eleventh we will build a mound over his
ashes, and on the twelfth, if there be need, we will fight.”
And Achilles answered, “All, King Priam, shall be as you have
said. I will stay our fighting for as long a time as you have
named.”
As he spoke he laid his hand on the old man’s right wrist, in
token that he should have no fear; thus then did Priam and his
attendant sleep there in the forecourt, full of thought, while
Achilles lay in an inner room of the house, with fair Briseis by
his side.
And now both gods and mortals were fast asleep through the
livelong night, but upon Mercury alone, the bringer of good luck,
sleep could take no hold for he was thinking all the time how to
get King Priam away from the ships without his being seen by the
strong force of sentinels. He hovered therefore over Priam’s head
and said, “Sir, now that Achilles has spared your life, you seem
to have no fear about sleeping in the thick of your foes. You
have paid a great ransom, and have received the body of your son;
were you still alive and a prisoner the sons whom you have left
at home would have to give three times as much to free you; and
so it would be if Agamemnon and the other Achaeans were to know
of your being here.”
When he heard this the old man was afraid and roused his servant.
Mercury then yoked their horses and mules, and drove them quickly
through the host so that no man perceived them. When they came to
the ford of eddying Xanthus, begotten of immortal Jove, Mercury
went back to high Olympus, and dawn in robe of saffron began to
break over all the land. Priam and Idaeus then drove on toward
the city lamenting and making moan, and the mules drew the body
of Hector. No one neither man nor woman saw them, till Cassandra,
fair as golden Venus standing on Pergamus, caught sight of her
dear father in his chariot, and his servant that was the city’s
herald with him. Then she saw him that was lying upon the bier,
drawn by the mules, and with a loud cry she went about the city
saying, “Come hither Trojans, men and women, and look on Hector;
if ever you rejoiced to see him coming from battle when he was
alive, look now on him that was the glory of our city and all our
people.”
At this there was not man nor woman left in the city, so great a
sorrow had possessed them. Hard by the gates they met Priam as he
was bringing in the body. Hector’s wife and his mother were the
first to mourn him: they flew towards the waggon and laid their
hands upon his head, while the crowd stood weeping round them.
They would have stayed before the gates, weeping and lamenting
the livelong day to the going down of the sun, had not Priam
spoken to them from the chariot and said, “Make way for the mules
to pass you. Afterwards when I have taken the body home you shall
have your fill of weeping.”
On this the people stood asunder, and made a way for the waggon.
When they had borne the body within the house they laid it upon a
bed and seated minstrels round it to lead the dirge, whereon the
women joined in the sad music of their lament. Foremost among
them all Andromache led their wailing as she clasped the head of
mighty Hector in her embrace. “Husband,” she cried, “you have
died young, and leave me in your house a widow; he of whom we are
the ill-starred parents is still a mere child, and I fear he may
not reach manhood. Ere he can do so our city will be razed and
overthrown, for you who watched over it are no more—you who were
its saviour, the guardian of our wives and children. Our women
will be carried away captives to the ships, and I among them;
while you, my child, who will be with me will be put to some
unseemly tasks, working for a cruel master. Or, may be, some
Achaean will hurl you (O miserable death) from our walls, to
avenge some brother, son, or father whom Hector slew; many of
them have indeed bitten the dust at his hands, for your father’s
hand in battle was no light one. Therefore do the people mourn
him. You have left, O Hector, sorrow unutterable to your parents,
and my own grief is greatest of all, for you did not stretch
forth your arms and embrace me as you lay dying, nor say to me
any words that might have lived with me in my tears night and day
for evermore.”
Bitterly did she weep the while, and the women joined in her
lament. Hecuba in her turn took up the strains of woe. “Hector,”
she cried, “dearest to me of all my children. So long as you were
alive the gods loved you well, and even in death they have not
been utterly unmindful of you; for when Achilles took any other
of my sons, he would sell him beyond the seas, to Samos Imbrus or
rugged Lemnos; and when he had slain you too with his sword, many
a time did he drag you round the sepulchre of his comrade—though
this could not give him life—yet here you lie all fresh as dew,
and comely as one whom Apollo has slain with his painless
shafts.”
Thus did she too speak through her tears with bitter moan, and
then Helen for a third time took up the strain of lamentation.
“Hector,” said she, “dearest of all my brothers-in-law—for I am
wife to Alexandrus who brought me hither to Troy—would that I had
died ere he did so—twenty years are come and gone since I left my
home and came from over the sea, but I have never heard one word
of insult or unkindness from you. When another would chide with
me, as it might be one of your brothers or sisters or of your
brothers’ wives, or my mother-in-law—for Priam was as kind to me
as though he were my own father—you would rebuke and check them
with words of gentleness and goodwill. Therefore my tears flow
both for you and for my unhappy self, for there is no one else in
Troy who is kind to me, but all shrink and shudder as they go by
me.”
She wept as she spoke and the vast crowd that was gathered round
her joined in her lament. Then King Priam spoke to them saying,
“Bring wood, O Trojans, to the city, and fear no cunning ambush
of the Argives, for Achilles when he dismissed me from the ships
gave me his word that they should not attack us until the morning
of the twelfth day.”
Forthwith they yoked their oxen and mules and gathered together
before the city. Nine days long did they bring in great heaps of
wood, and on the morning of the tenth day with many tears they
took brave Hector forth, laid his dead body upon the summit of
the pile, and set the fire thereto. Then when the child of
morning, rosy-fingered dawn, appeared on the eleventh day, the
people again assembled, round the pyre of mighty Hector. When
they were got together, they first quenched the fire with wine
wherever it was burning, and then his brothers and comrades with
many a bitter tear gathered his white bones, wrapped them in soft
robes of purple, and laid them in a golden urn, which they placed
in a grave and covered over with large stones set close together.
Then they built a barrow hurriedly over it keeping guard on every
side lest the Achaeans should attack them before they had
finished. When they had heaped up the barrow they went back again
into the city, and being well assembled they held high feast in
the house of Priam their king.
Thus, then, did they celebrate the funeral of Hector tamer of
horses.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Iliad" ***
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