Danaans

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 21 Sep 2011 14:36 and updated at 21 Sep 2011 14:36

ILIAD NOUN

ild.01 If I have ever decked your temple with garlands, or burned your thigh bones in fat of Bulls or Goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon the Danaans.
ild.01 He will not deliver the Danaans from this pestilence till Agamemnon has restored the girl without fee or ransom to her father, and has sent a holy Hecatomb to Chryse.
ild.01 You have brought me neither comfort nor performance; and now you come seeing among Danaans, and saying that Apollo has plagued us because I would not take a ransom for this girl, the daughter of Chryses.
ild.01 Chryses"," said he, King" Agamemnon has sent me to bring you back your child, and to offer sacrifice to Apollo on behalf of the Danaans, that we may propitiate the God, who has now brought sorrow upon the Argives.
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.02 He thought that on that same day he was to take the city of Priam, but he little knew what was in the mind of Jove, who had many another hard fought fight in store alike for Danaans and Trojans.
ild.02 How dare you gibe at Agamemnon because the Danaans have awarded him so many prizes? I tell you, therefore and it shall surely be that if I again catch you talking such nonsense, I will either forfeit my own head and be no more called father of Telemachus, or I will take you, strip you stark naked, and whip you out of the assembly till you go blubbering back to the ships.
ild.02 And now, O Muses, dwellers in the mansions of Olympus, tell me for you are Goddesses and are in all places so that you see all things, while we know nothing but by report who were the chiefs and princes of the Danaans? As for the common soldiers, they were so that I could not name every single one of them though I had Ten tongues, and though my voice failed not and my heart were of Bronze within me, unless you, O Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis bearing Jove, were to recount them to me.
ild.02 And Nireus brought three ships from Syme Nireus, who was the handsomest man that came up under Ilius of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus but he was a man of no substance, and had but a small following.
ild.02 Such were the chiefs and princes of the Danaans.
ild.04 As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west wind has lashed it into fury it has reared its head afar and now comes crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest high over the jagged rocks and spews its salt foam in all directions even so did the serried phalanxes of the Danaans march steadfastly to battle.
ild.05 Upon this the Danaans drove the Trojans back, and each one of their chieftains killed his man.
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 Fierce Mars, to help the Trojans, covered them in a veil of darkness, and went about everywhere among them, inasmuch as Phoebus Apollo had told him that when he saw Pallas, Minerva leave the fray he was to put courage into the hearts of the Trojans for it was she who was helping the Danaans.
ild.05 The two Ajaxes, Ulysses and Diomed, cheered the Danaans on, fearless of the fury and onset of the Trojans.
ild.05 They stood as still as clouds which the son of Saturn has spread upon the mountain tops when there is no air and fierce Boreas sleeps with the other boisterous winds whose shrill blasts scatter the clouds in all directions even so did the Danaans stand firm and unflinching against the Trojans.
ild.05 Then Aeneas killed two champions of the Danaans, Crethon and Orsilochus.
ild.05 He killed Coeranus, Alastor, Chromius, Alcandrus, Halius, Noemon, and Prytanis, and would have slain yet more, had not great Hector marked him, and sped to the front of the fight clad in his suit of mail, filling the Danaans with terror.
ild.05 Sarpedon was glad when he saw him coming, and besought him, saying, Son" of Priam, let me not he here to fall into the hands of the Danaans.
ild.06 Then, when you have put heart into all our companies, we will stand firm here and fight the Danaans however hard they press us, for there is nothing else to be done.
ild.07 "What would you have said he, "daughter of great Jove, that your proud spirit has sent you hither from Olympus? Have you no pity upon the Trojans, and would you incline the scales of victory in favour of the Danaans? Let me persuade you for it will be better thus stay the combat for to day, but let them renew the fight hereafter till they compass the doom of Ilius, since you Goddesses have made up your minds to destroy the city.
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 "Alas," he cried, "vain braggarts, Women forsooth not men, double dyed indeed will be the stain upon us if no man of the Danaans will now face Hector.
ild.07 Holding this shield before him, Ajax son of Telamon came close up to Hector, and menaced him saying, Hector", you shall now learn, man to man, what kind of champions the Danaans have among them even besides lion hearted Achilles cleaver of the ranks of men.
ild.07 He found the Danaans, servants of Mars, in council at the stern of Agamemnon s ship, and took his place in the midst of them.
ild.08 If I see anyone acting apart and helping either Trojans or Danaans, he shall be beaten inordinately ere he come back again to Olympus; or I will hurl him down into dark Tartarus far into the deepest pit under the earth, where the gates are Iron and the floor Bronze, as far beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth, that you may learn how much the mightiest I am among you.
ild.08 Hector shouted to him and said, Son" of Tydeus, the Danaans have done you honour hitherto as regards your place at table, the meals they give you, and the filling of your cup with wine.
ild.08 Hector then shouted to them and said, Trojans", Lycians, and Dardanians, lovers of close fighting, be men, my friends, and fight with might and with main; I see that Jove is minded to vouchsafe victory and great glory to myself, while he will deal destruction upon the Danaans.
ild.08 Then said she to the mighty God of Neptune, "What now, wide ruling lord of the earthquake? Can you find no compassion in your heart for the dying Danaans, who bring you many a welcome offering to Helice and to Aegae? Wish them well then.
ild.08 If all of us who are with the Danaans were to drive the Trojans back and keep Jove from helping them, he would have to sit there sulking alone on Ida.
ild.08 From this spot then, with a voice that could be heard afar, he shouted to the Danaans, saying, Argives", shame on you cowardly creatures, brave in semblance only; where are now our vaunts that we should prove victorious the vaunts we made so vaingloriously in Lemnos, when we ate the flesh of horned Cattle and filled our mixing bowls to the brim? You vowed that you would each of you stand against a hundred or two hundred men, and now you prove no match even for one for Hector, who will be ere long setting our ships in a blaze.
ild.08 There was no man of all the many Danaans who could then boast that he had driven his Horses over the trench and gone forth to fight sooner than the son of Tydeus; long before any one else could do so he slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Agelaus the son of Phradmon.
ild.08 He went up to him and said, Teucer", man after my own heart, son of Telamon, captain among the host, shoot on, and be at once the saving of the Danaans and the glory of your father Telamon, who brought you up and took care of you in his own house when you were a child, bastard though you were.
ild.08 Juno when she saw them had pity upon them, and at once said to Minerva, "Alas, child of aegis bearing Jove, shall you and I take no more thought for the dying Danaans, though it be the last time we ever do so? See how they perish and come to a bad end before the onset of but a single man.
ild.08 Let them live or die as luck will have it, and let Jove mete out his judgements upon the Trojans and Danaans according to his own pleasure.
ild.09 In the first place you attacked me before all the Danaans and said that I was a coward and no soldier.
ild.09 You will repent bitterly hereafter if you do not, for when the harm is done there will be no curing it; consider ere it be too late, and save the Danaans from destruction.
ild.09 I will be appeased neither by Agamemnon son of Atreus nor by any other of the Danaans, for I see that I have no thanks for all my fighting.
ild.09 We must now take our answer, unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans who are waiting to receive it.
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.10 I am in great fear for the Danaans.
ild.11 Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their darts rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as the hour drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest will get his midday meal for he has felled till his hands are weary; he is tired out, and must now have food then the Danaans with a cry that rang through all their ranks, broke the battalions of the enemy.
ild.11 Jove drew Hector away from the darts and dust, with the carnage and din of battle; but the son of Atreus sped onwards, calling out lustily to the Danaans.
ild.11 With a loud clear voice he shouted to the Danaans, "My friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, defend the ships yourselves, for Jove has not suffered me to fight the whole day through against the Trojans.
ild.11 "Alas," said he to himself in his dismay, "what will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly before these odds, but it will be worse if I am left alone and taken prisoner, for the son of Saturn has struck the rest of the Danaans with panic.
ild.11 Let us make our way through the throng; it will be well that we defend him; I fear he may come to harm for all his valour if he be left without support, and the Danaans would miss him sorely.
ild.11 Hector tore his way through and flung himself into the thick of the fight, and his presence threw the Danaans into confusion, for his spear was not long idle; nevertheless though he went among the ranks with sword and spear, and throwing great stones, he avoided Ajax son of Telamon, for Jove would have been angry with him if he had fought a better man than himself.
ild.11 Eurypylus sprang upon him, and stripped the armour from his shoulders; but when Alexandrus saw him, he aimed an arrow at him which struck him in the right thigh; the arrow broke, but the point that was left in the wound dragged on the thigh; he drew back, therefore, under cover of his comrades to save his life, shouting as he did so to the Danaans, "My friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, rally to the defence of Ajax who is being overpowered, and I doubt whether he will come out of the fight alive.
ild.11 If, however, he is fearful about some oracle, or if his mother has told him something from Jove, then let him send you, and let the rest of the Myrmidons follow with you, if perchance you may bring light and saving to the Danaans.
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.12 These helped to array one another in their ox hide shields, and then charged straight at the Danaans, for they felt sure that they would not hold out longer and that they should themselves now fall upon the ships.
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 Trojans were struck with terror when they saw the snake, portent of aegis bearing Jove, writhing in the midst of them, and Polydamas went up to Hector and said, Hector", at our councils of war you are ever given to rebuke me, even when I speak wisely, as though it were not well, forsooth, that one of the people should cross your will either in the field or at the council board; you would have them support you always: nevertheless I will say what I think will be best; let us not now go on to fight the Danaans at their ships, for I know what will happen if this soaring Eagle which skirted the left wing of our with a monstrous blood red snake in its talons (the snake being still alive) was really sent as an omen to the Trojans on their essaying to cross the trench.
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 Ajax"," said he, "do you two, yourself and brave Lycomedes, stay here and keep the Danaans in heart to fight their hardest.
ild.12 The Lycians could not break through the wall and force their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans drive the Lycians from the wall now that they had once reached it.
ild.12 The Danaans then fled panic stricken towards their ships, and all was uproar and confusion.
ild.13 He no longer turned so much as a glance towards Troy, for he did not think that any of the immortals would go and help either Trojans or Danaans.
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 And now Idomeneus, though his hair was already flecked with grey, called loud on the Danaans and spread panic among the Trojans as he leaped in among them.
ild.13 From the moment when you set our men fighting about the ships we have been staying here and doing battle with the Danaans.
ild.14 As when there is a heavy swell upon the sea, but the waves are dumb they keep their eyes on the watch for the quarter whence the fierce winds may spring upon them, but they stay where they are and set neither this way nor that, till some particular wind sweeps down from heaven to determine them even so did the old man ponder whether to make for the crowd of Danaans, or go in search of Agamemnon.
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 When he had found him he said, "Now, Neptune, you can help the Danaans with a will, and give them victory though it be only for a short time while Jove is still sleeping.
ild.14 Sleep now departed and went his ways to and fro among mankind, leaving Neptune more eager than ever to help the Danaans.
ild.14 The son of Oileus came up to him and struck him in the flank so that he fell, and a fierce fight between Trojans and Danaans raged round his body.
ild.15 BUT when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set stakes, and many had fallen by the hands of the Danaans, the Trojans made a halt on reaching their Chariots, routed and pale with fear.
ild.15 But I will not stay my anger, nor permit any God to help the Danaans till I have accomplished the desire of the son of Peleus, according to the promise I made by bowing my head on the day when Thetis touched my knees and besought me to give him honour.
ild.15 He has killed many of us Danaans already, and I take it will yet do so, for the hand of Jove must be with him or he would never dare show himself so masterful in the forefront of the battle.
ild.15 Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let us order the main body of our forces to fall back upon the ships, but let those of us who profess to be the flower of the army stand firm, and see whether we cannot hold Hector back at the point of our spears as soon as he comes near us; I conceive that he will then think better of it before he tries to charge into the press of the Danaans.
ild.15 So long as Phoebus Apollo held his aegis quietly and without shaking it, the weapons on either side took effect and the people fell, but when he shook it straight in the face of the Danaans and raised his mighty battle cry their hearts fainted within them and they forgot their former prowess.
ild.15 As when two wild beasts spring in the dead of night on a herd of Cattle or a large flock of Sheep when the herdsman is not there even so were the Danaans struck helpless, for Apollo filled them with panic and gave victory to Hector and the Trojans.
ild.15 Ajax son of Telamon answered, "My good fellow, let your bow and your arrows be, for Jove has made them useless in order to spite the Danaans.
ild.15 The two then made towards him to strip him of his armour, but Hector called on all his brothers for help, and he especially upbraided brave Melanippus son of Hiketaon, who erewhile used to pasture his herds of Cattle in Percote before the war broke out; but when the ships of the Danaans came, he went back to Ilius, where he was eminent among the Trojans, and lived near Priam who treated him as one of his own sons.
ild.15 He kept on shouting his orders to the Danaans and exhorting them to defend their ships and tents; neither did Hector remain within the main body of the Trojan warriors, but as a dun Eagle swoops down upon a flock of wild fowl feeding near a river geese, it may be, or cranes, or long necked swans even so did Hector make straight for a dark prowed ship, rushing right towards it; for Jove with his mighty hand impelled him forward, and roused his people to follow him.
ild.15 Round this ship there raged a close hand to hand fight between Danaans and Trojans.
ild.15 All the time he kept on shouting at the top of his voice and exhorting the Danaans.
ild.16 If however you are kept back through knowledge of some oracle, or if your mother Thetis has told you something from the mouth of Jove, at least send me and the Myrmidons with me, if I may bring deliverance to the Danaans.
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 Do, however, as I now bid you, that you may win me great honour from all the Danaans, and that they may restore the girl to me again and give me rich gifts into the bargain.
ild.16 The Trojans were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies, while the Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting also without ceasing.
ild.16 As when Jove, gatherer of the thunder cloud, spreads a dense canopy on the top of some lofty mountain, and all the peaks, the jutting headlands, and forest glades show out in the great light that flashes from the bursting heavens, even so when the Danaans had now driven back the fire from their ships, they took breath for a little while; but the fury of the fight was not yet over, for the Trojans were not driven back in utter rout, but still gave battle, and were ousted from their ground only by sheer fighting.
ild.16 Thus did these chieftains of the Danaans each of them kill his man.
ild.16 As ravening Wolves seize on kids or lambs, fastening on them when they are alone on the hillsides and have strayed from the main flock through the carelessness of the shepherd and when the Wolves see this they pounce upon them at once because they cannot defend themselves even so did the Danaans now fall on the Trojans, who fled with ill omened cries in their panic and had no more fight left in them.
ild.16 Patroclus gave chase, calling impetuously on the Danaans and full of fury against the Trojans, who, being now no longer in a body, filled all the ways with their cries of panic and rout; the air was darkened with the clouds of dust they raised, and the Horses strained every nerve in their flight from the tents and ships towards the city.
ild.16 Stand by him, my friends, and suffer not the Myrmidons to strip him of his armour, nor to treat his body with contumely in revenge for all the Danaans whom we have speared at the ships.
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 Hector let the other Danaans alone and killed no man, but drove straight at Patroclus.
ild.16 Hector would not let him go when he had once got him by the head, while Patroclus kept fast hold of his feet, and a fierce fight raged between the other Danaans and Trojans.
ild.17 Yet Hyperenor did not see out the days of his youth when he made light of me and withstood me, deeming me the meanest soldier among the Danaans.
ild.17 Are you likely, sir, to do anything to help a man of less note, after leaving Sarpedon, who was at once your guest and comrade in arms, to be the spoil and prey of the Danaans? So long as he lived he did good service both to your city and yourself; yet you had no stomach to save his body from the Dogs.
ild.17 Come hither then, my friend, stand by me and see indeed whether I shall play the coward the whole day through as you say, or whether I shall not stay some even of the boldest Danaans from fighting round the body of Patroclus.
ild.17 When he had thus spoken they charged full weight upon the Danaans with their spears held out before them, and the hopes of each ran high that he should force Ajax son of Telamon to yield up the body fools that they were, for he was about to take the lives of many.
ild.17 Call then upon the princes of the Danaans if there is any who can hear us.
ild.17 Menelaus did as he said, and shouted to the Danaans for help at the top of his voice.
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 In his likeness, then, Apollo said, Aeneas", can you not manage, even though heaven be against us, to save high Ilius? I have known men, whose numbers, courage, and self reliance have saved their people in spite of Jove, whereas in this case he would much rather give victory to us than to the Danaans, if you would only fight instead of being so terribly afraid.
ild.17 Therefore let us make for the Danaans, that it may go hard with them ere they bear away dead Patroclus to the ships.
ild.17 Asteropaeus flew forward to avenge him and attack the Danaans, but this might no longer be, inasmuch as those about Patroclus were well covered by their shields, and held their spears in front of them, for Ajax had given them strict orders that no man was either to give ground, or to stand out before the others, but all were to hold well together about the body and fight hand to hand.
ild.17 Thus did huge Ajax bid them, and the earth ran red with blood as the corpses fell thick on one another alike on the side of the Trojans and allies, and on that of the Danaans; for these last, too, fought no bloodless fight though many fewer of them perished, through the care they took to defend and stand by one another.
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 And now the fierce groanful fight again raged about Patroclus, for Minerva came down from heaven and roused its fury by the command of far seeing Jove, who had changed his mind and sent her to encourage the Danaans.
ild.17 You must see with your own eyes that heaven is heaping calamity upon the Danaans, and giving victory to the Trojans.
ild.17 Patroclus has fallen, who was the bravest of the Achaeans, and sorely will the Danaans miss him.
ild.17 In the rout of the Danaans much goodly armour fell round about the trench, and of fighting there was no end.
ild.18 Men are killing one another, the Danaans in defence of the dead body, while the Trojans are trying to hale it away, and take it to wind Ilius: Hector is the most furious of them all; he is for cutting the head from the body and fixing it on the stakes of the wall.
ild.20 I will now give my orders to the Danaans and attack some other of the Trojans.
ild.21 Thus did they converse, and meanwhile Phoebus Apollo entered the strong city of Ilius, for he was uneasy lest the wall should not hold out and the Danaans should take the city then and there, before its hour had come; but the rest of the ever living Gods went back, some angry and some triumphant to Olympus, where they took their seats beside Jove lord of the storm cloud, while Achilles still kept on dealing out death alike on the Trojans and on their As when the smoke from some burning city ascends to heaven when the anger of the Gods has kindled it there is then toil for all, and sorrow for not a few even so did Achilles bring toil and sorrow on the Trojans.
ild.24 Pray to the son of Saturn lord of the whirlwind, who sits on Ida and looks down over all Troy, pray him to send his swift messenger on your right hand, the bird of omen which is strongest and most dear to him of all birds, that you may see it with your own eyes and trust it as you go forth to the ships of the Danaans.
ild.24 Father" Jove," he said, "that rulest from Ida, most glorious and most great, grant that I may be received kindly and compassionately in the tents of Achilles; and send your swift messenger upon my right hand, the bird of omen which is strongest and most dear to you of all birds, that I may see it with my own eyes and trust it as I go forth to the ships of the Danaans.
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.

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

Share:- Facebook