Achaeans

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 21 Sep 2011 11:18 and updated at 21 Sep 2011 11:25

ILIAD NOUN

ild.01 Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 He it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to Ilius, through the prophesyings with which Phoebus Apollo had inspired him.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 When they had quarrelled thus angrily, they rose, and broke up the assembly at the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.01 Agamemnon is mad with rage and knows not how to look before and after that the Achaeans may fight by their ships in safety.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 "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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.01 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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 to word as I now bid you.
ild.02 Tell him to get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for he shall take Troy.
ild.02 The dream went when it had heard its message, and soon reached the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.02 He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall take Troy.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall take Troy.
ild.02 Let us now, therefore, arm the sons of the Achaeans.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 Down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, and in a moment she was at the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 With this he went about among the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.02 You do not yet know the full mind of Agamemnon; he was sounding us, and ere long will visit the Achaeans with his displeasure.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 The Achaeans were angry and disgusted, yet none the less he kept on brawling and bawling at the son of Atreus.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 We do not yet know how things are going to be, nor whether the Achaeans are to return with good success or evil.
ild.02 King" Agamemnon, the Achaeans are for making you a by word among all mankind.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 "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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 And Agamemnon answered, Nestor", you have again outdone the sons of the Achaeans in counsel.
ild.02 Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans roared applause.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.02 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 "Hear from my mouth," said he, Trojans" and Achaeans, the saying of Alexandrus, through whom this quarrel has come about.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 The Trojans and Achaeans were glad when they heard this, for they thought that they should now have rest.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 It is they that have brought about this terrible war with the Achaeans.
ild.03 I see that the Achaeans are subject to you in great multitudes.
ild.03 When I was in Phrygia I saw much Horse men, 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.
ild.03 "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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 With this he flew at Alexandrus, caught him by the Horse hair plume of his helmet, and began dragging him towards the Achaeans.
ild.03 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.
ild.03 I will stir up fierce hatred between Trojans and Achaeans, and you shall come to a bad end.
ild.03 Thus spoke the son of Atreus, and the Achaeans shouted in applause.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 Urge on the other Achaeans, that we may join battle at once, for the Trojans have trampled upon their covenants.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 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.
ild.04 For many Trojans and Achaeans on that day lay stretched side by side face downwards upon the earth.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 As for the son of Tydeus, you could not say whether he was more among the Achaeans or the Trojans.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 Aeneas sprang from his Chariot armed with shield and spear, fearing lest the Achaeans should carry off the body.
ild.05 The war is no longer one between Trojans and Achaeans, for the Danaans have now taken to fighting with the immortals.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 Then they rallied and again faced the Achaeans, but the Argives stood compact and firm, and were not driven back.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 Meanwhile the Achaeans carried off the body of Tlepolemus, whereon Ulysses was moved to pity, and panted for the fray as he beheld them.
ild.05 Hector made him no answer, but rushed onward to fall at once upon the Achaeans and.
ild.05 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.
ild.05 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 From this store he will give you a large ransom should he hear of my being alive and at the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 "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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.06 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.
ild.07 And Minerva answered, "So be it, Far Darter; it was in this mind that I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 "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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 If he come alive out of this fight he will have done good service alike to his own soul and to the Achaeans.
ild.07 The herald bore it about and showed it to all the chieftains of the Achaeans, going from left to right; but they none of of them owned it.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 On the other side the Achaeans brought Ajax elated with victory to Agamemnon.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 The Achaeans in like manner heaped their dead sadly and silently on the pyre, and having burned them went back to their ships.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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 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.
ild.07 Surely when the Achaeans have gone home with their ships, you can shatter their wall and Ring it into the sea; you can cover the beach with sand again, and the great wall of the Achaeans will then be utterly effaced.
ild.07 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.
ild.07 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 The Achaeans took their morning meal hastily at the ships, and afterwards put on their armour.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 Nestor knight of Gerene alone stood firm, bulwark of the Achaeans, not of his own will, but one of his Horses was disabled.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 Could we take these two things, the Achaeans would set sail in their ships this self same night.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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 he dead by the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.08 Sorry indeed were the Trojans when light failed them, but welcome and thrice prayed for did darkness fall upon the Achaeans.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.08 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.
ild.09 But Panic, comrade of blood stained Rout, had taken fast hold of the Achaeans and their princes were all of them in despair.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words of Diomed, and presently Nestor rose to speak.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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 every" thing; therefore let no man, not even King Agamemnon, disregard my saying, for he that foments civil discord is a clanless, hearthless outlaw.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 The son of Atreus then bade many councillors of the Achaeans to his quarters prepared a great feast in their honour.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 "All these things will I give him now down, 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 Up, then, and late though it be, save the sons of the Achaeans who faint before the fury of the Trojans.
ild.09 Eschew vain quarrelling, and the Achaeans old and young will respect you more for doing so.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 "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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.09 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 He ought to be going about imploring aid from all the princes of the Achaeans, for we are in extreme danger.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 Are there no younger men among the Achaeans who could go about to rouse the princes? There is no tiring you.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 With this he passed the trench, and with him the other chiefs of the Achaeans who had been called to the council.
ild.10 "My friends," said he, "is there any man bold enough to venture the Trojans, and cut off some straggler, or 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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.
ild.10 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?"
ild.10 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.
ild.10 Ulysses beat them with his bow and they flew onward to the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.10 He laughed as he spoke and drove the Horses over the ditch, while the other Achaeans followed him gladly.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 All of them blamed the son of Saturn for wanting to Live 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 There he let them both lie, and wherever the ranks were thickest thither he flew, while the other Achaeans followed.
ild.11 King Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and cheering on the Achaeans.
ild.11 The Trojans then wheeled round, and again met the Achaeans, while the Argives on their part strengthened their battalions.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 Agamemnon son of Atreus then despoiled him, and carried off his armour into the host of the Achaeans.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 Thus did they turn upon the Trojans and slay them, and the Achaeans were thankful to have breathing time in their flight from Hector.
ild.11 Whereas even though I fall the Achaeans will give me my due rites of burial.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 "Why," said he, Achilles" do you call me? what do you 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 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.
ild.11 Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him, and set off running by the ships and tents of the Achaeans.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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.
ild.11 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?"
ild.11 Wounded Eurypylus made answer, "Noble Patroclus, there is no hope left for the Achaeans but they will perish at their ships.
ild.11 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 your distress.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 Thus did the two go about shouting and cheering the Achaeans on.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 The messenger did as he was told, and set off running along the wall of the Achaeans.
ild.12 Thereon he sprang covertly down for fear some of the Achaeans might see that he was wounded and taunt him.
ild.12 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.
ild.12 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 This done he went his way to the host of the Achaeans.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 Thus did the earth encircler address the Achaeans and urge them on.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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?"
ild.13 None are held back neither by fear nor slackness, but it seems to be the 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.
ild.13 There may be those among the Achaeans who do not know how I fight, but you know it well enough yourself.
ild.13 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?"
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 He fell gasping from his Chariot and Antilochus great Nestor s son, drove his Horses from the Trojans to the Achaeans.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 He kept stepping forward under cover of his shield in every direction, making trial of the ranks to see if they would give way be him, but he could not daunt the courage of the Achaeans.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.13 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with me that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our ships.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their ships into the sea whether they will or no.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 Meanwhile Sleep made off to the ships of the Achaeans, to tell earth encircling Neptune, lord of the earthquake.
ild.14 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.
ild.14 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 Neptune now left the field to go down under the sea, and sorely did the Achaeans miss him.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 From that point I will think it well over, how the Achaeans may have a respite from their troubles.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 I will go before your Horses to smooth the way for them, and will turn the Achaeans in flight.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 While they were spoiling these heroes of their armour, the Achaeans were flying pellmell to the trench and the set stakes, and were forced back within their wall.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 When the heard Jove thunder they flung themselves yet more fiercely on the Achaeans.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 Antilochus"," said he, "you are young and there is none of the Achaeans more fleet of foot or more valiant than you are.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.15 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 And now, tell me, O Muses that hold your mansions on Olympus, how fire was thrown upon the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 Then he again came out, for he still loved to look upon the fierce fight that raged between the Trojans and Achaeans.
ild.16 The son of Atreus King Agamemnon will thus learn his folly in showing no respect to the bravest of the Achaeans.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 Ajaxes"," said he, "may it now please you to show youselves 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 Nevertheless the Achaeans, mindful of their prowess, bore straight down upon them.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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 to 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.
ild.16 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.
ild.16 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 of the Achaeans.
ild.17 For he whose squire has been now killed is the foremost man at the ships of the Achaeans he and his close fighting followers.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 At first the Trojans drove the Achaeans back, and they withdrew from the dead man daunted.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 As he spoke he sprang out far in front of the others, who then rallied and again faced the Achaeans.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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 drag ing it into Ilius, while the Achaeans were no less so on taking it to their ships; and fierce was the fight between them.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 But I can see not a man among the Achaeans to send, for they and their Chariots are alike hidden in darkness.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 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.
ild.17 Patroclus has fallen, who was the bravest of the Achaeans, and sorely will the Danaans miss him.
ild.17 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.
ild.18 "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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 Thus will the fainting sons of the Achaeans gain some brief breathing time, which in battle may hardly be.
ild.18 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 aid not join the Achaeans for he heeded the charge which his mother laid upon him.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 Better let these, rather than the Achaeans, have them.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 One would think that the Achaeans were of your own flesh and blood.
ild.18 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.
ild.18 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 It has been well for Hector and the Trojans, but the Achaeans will long indeed remember our quarrel.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 Thus did he speak, and the Achaeans rejoiced in that he had put away his anger.
ild.19 I will expound to the son of Peleus, and do you other Achaeans heed me and mark me well.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 The elders of the Achaeans gathered round Achilles and prayed him to take food, but he groaned and would not do so.
ild.19 "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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.19 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.
ild.20 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.
ild.20 "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?"
ild.20 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.
ild.20 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.
ild.20 The spurs and crests of many fountained Ida quaked, as also the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.20 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.
ild.20 When Achilles is dead you may then fight among the foremost undaunted, for none other of the Achaeans shall slay you.
ild.20 "Let not the Trojans," he cried, "keep you at arm s length, Achaeans, but go for them and fight them man for man.
ild.20 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.
ild.20 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.21 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 What, again, if 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 The Achaeans shall give him all due funeral rites, while Dogs and Vultures shall work their will upon yourself.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 "Let be, my friends," he cried, "and for all your sorrow, suffer me to go single handed to the ships of the Achaeans.
ild.22 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.
ild.22 Even though he escape the horrors of this woful war with the Achaeans, yet shall his life henceforth be one of labour and sorrow, for others will seize his lands.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 "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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 Afterwards, let those Achaeans who may be left at the ships when I am gone, build it both broad and high.
ild.23 Son" of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, these are the prizes that lie waiting the winners of the Chariot races.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 Meanwhile the Achaeans from their seats were watching how the Horses went, as they scoured the plain amid clouds of their own dust.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 For the winner there was a great tripod ready for setting upon the fire, and the Achaeans valued it among themselves at Twelve Oxen.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 "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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.23 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 "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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 What think you of this matter? for my own part I am greatly moved to pass through the of the Achaeans and go to their ships.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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?"
ild.24 I am now come from the ships on to the plain, for with daybreak the Achaeans will set battle in array about the city.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 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.
ild.24 Then they built a barrow hurriedly over it keeping guard on every side lest the Achaeans should attack them before they had finished.

Arise Greece! from thy silent sleep, 2000 years long it is! Forget not, thy ancient culture, beautiful and marvelous it is!

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