Ilius

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 21 Sep 2011 15:23 and updated at 21 Sep 2011 15:23

ILIAD NOUN

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.02 But they have in the town allies from other places, and it is these that hinder me from being able to sack the rich city of Ilius.
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.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 He gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor sat beside him; the two then went back to Ilius.
ild.04 Jove was angry and answered, "My dear, what harm have Priam and his sons done you that you are so hotly bent on sacking the city of Ilius? Will nothing do for you but you must within their walls and eat Priam raw, with his sons and all the other Trojans to boot? Have it your own way then; for I would not have this matter become a bone of contention between us.
ild.04 Of all inhabited cities under the sun and stars of heaven, there was none that I so much respected as Ilius with Priam and his whole people.
ild.04 The day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be laid low, with Priam and Priam s people, when the son of Saturn from his high throne shall overshadow them with his awful aegis in punishment of their present treachery.
ild.05 In my father s stables there are Eleven excellent Chariots, fresh from the builder, quite new, with cloths spread over them; and by each of them there stand a pair of Horses, champing barley and rye; my old father Lycaon urged me again and again when I was at home and on the point of starting, to take Chariots and Horses with me that I might lead the Trojans in battle, but I would not listen to him; it would have been much better if I had done so, but I was thinking about the Horses, which had been used to eat their fill, and I was afraid that in such a great gathering of men they might be ill fed, so I left them at home and came on foot to Ilius armed only with my bow and arrows.
ild.05 I did ill to take my bow down from its peg on the day I led my band of Trojans to Ilius in Hector s service, and if ever I get home again to set eyes on my native place, my wife, and the greatness of my house, may some one cut my head off then and there if I do not break the bow and set it on a hot fire such pranks as it plays me.
ild.05 These, when they grew up, went to Ilius with the Argive fleet in the cause of Menelaus and Agamemnon sons of Atreus, and there they both of them fell.
ild.05 Far other was Hercules, my own brave and lion hearted father, who came here for the Horses of Laomedon, and though he had Six ships only, and few men to follow him, sacked the city of Ilius and made a wilderness of her highways.
ild.05 And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, Tlepolemus", your father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon s folly in refusing payment to one who had served him well.
ild.05 Now when the Goddess Juno saw the Argives thus falling, she said to Minerva, "Alas, daughter of aegis bearing Jove, unweariable, the promise we made Menelaus that he should not return till he had sacked the city of Ilius will be of none effect if we let Mars rage thus furiously.
ild.06 Has, then, your house fared so well at the hands of the Trojans? Let us not spare a single one of them not even the child unborn and in its mother s womb; let not a man of them be left alive, but let all in Ilius perish, unheeded and forgotten.
ild.06 And now the Trojans would have been routed and driven back into Ilius, had not Priam s son Helenus, wisest of augurs, said to Hector and Aeneas, Hector" and Aeneas, you two are the mainstays of the Trojans and Lycians, for you are foremost at all times, alike in fight and counsel; hold your ground here, and go about among the host to rally them in front of the gates, or they will fling themselves into the arms of their wives, to the great joy of our foes.
ild.06 Tell her to bid the matrons gather at the temple of Minerva in the acropolis; let her then take her key and open the doors of the sacred building; there, upon the knees of Minerva, let her lay the largest, fairest robe she has in her house the one she sets most store by; let her, moreover, promise to sacrifice Twelve yearling heifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the temple of the Goddess, if she will take pity on the town, with the wives and little ones of the Trojans, and keep the son of Tydeus from falling on the goodly city of Ilius; for he fights with fury and fills men s souls with panic.
ild.06 And Hector shouted to the Trojans, Trojans" and allies, be men, my friends, and fight with might and main, while I go to Ilius and tell the old men of our council and our wives to pray to the Gods and vow Hecatombs in their honour.
ild.06 Get the matrons together, and go with offerings to the temple of Minerva driver of the spoil; there, upon the knees of Minerva, lay the largest and fairest robe you have in your house the one you set most store by; promise, moreover, to sacrifice Twelve yearling heifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the temple of the Goddess if she will take pity on the town, with the wives and little ones of the Trojans, and keep the son of Tydeus from off the goodly city of Ilius, for he fights with fury, and fills men s souls with panic.
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 Hector had named him Scamandrius, but the people called him Astyanax, for his father stood alone as chief guardian of Ilius.
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 It may be that you will have to ply the loom in Argos at the bidding of a mistress, or to fetch water from the springs Messeis or Hypereia, treated brutally by some cruel task master; then will one say who sees you weeping, She was wife to Hector, the bravest warrior among the Trojans during the war before Ilius.
ild.06 Jove"," he cried, "grant that this my child may be even as myself, chief among the Trojans; let him be not less excellent in strength, and let him rule Ilius with his might.
ild.06 Go, then, within the house, and busy yourself with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants; for war is man s matter, and mine above all others of them that have been born in Ilius.
ild.07 When, therefore, Minerva saw these men making havoc of the Argives, she darted down to Ilius from the summits of Olympus, and Apollo, who was looking on from Pergamus, went out to meet her; for he wanted the Trojans to be victorious.
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 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 As he spoke he upheld his sceptre in the sight of all the Gods, and Idaeus went back to the strong city of Ilius.
ild.07 Priam had forbidden the Trojans to wail aloud, so they heaped their dead sadly and silently upon the pyre, and having burned them went back to the city of Ilius.
ild.08 All had then been lost and no help for it, for they would have been penned up in Ilius like Sheep, had not the sire of Gods and men been quick to mark, and hurled a fiery flaming thunderbolt which fell just in front of Diomed s Horses with a flare of burning brimstone.
ild.08 Cover him with glory though he is far off; I will promise and I will assuredly perform; if aegis bearing Jove and Minerva grant me to sack the city of Ilius, you shall have the next best meed of honour after my own a tripod, or two Horses with their Chariot, or a Woman who shall go up into your bed.
ild.08 And Teucer answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, you need not urge me; from the moment we began to drive them back to Ilius, I have never ceased so far as in me lies to look out for men whom I can shoot and kill; I have shot Eight barbed shafts, and all of them have been buried in the flesh of warlike youths, but this mad Dog I cannot hit.
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 They then offered unblemished Hecatombs to the immortals, and the wind carried the sweet savour of sacrifice to heaven but the blessed Gods partook not thereof, for they bitterly hated Ilius with Priam and Priam s people.
ild.08 As when the stars shine clear, and the moon is bright there is not a breath of air, not a peak nor glade nor jutting headland but it stands out in the ineffable radiance that breaks from the serene of heaven; the stars can all of them be told and the heart of the shepherd is glad even thus shone the watchfires of the Trojans before Ilius midway between the ships and the river Xanthus.
ild.09 Nay though these too should turn homeward with their ships, Sthenelus and myself will still fight on till we reach the goal of Ilius, for for heaven was with us when we came.
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 To the rest of you, then, I say, Go home, for you will not take Ilius.
ild.09 He said further that he should advise every one to sail home likewise, for that you will not reach the goal of Ilius.
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.11 Down she went to strong Ilius from the crests of Ida, and found Hector son of Priam standing by his Chariot and Horses.
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.12 Nevermore was he to return to wind beaten Ilius, exulting in his Chariot and his Horses; ere he could do so, death of ill omened name had overshadowed him and he had fallen by the spear of Idomeneus the noble son of Deucalion.
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 Jove was minded to give victory to the Trojans and to Hector, so as to do honour to fleet Achilles, nevertheless he did not mean to utterly overthrow the Achaean host before Ilius, and only wanted to glorify Thetis and her valiant son.
ild.13 We too will make you an offer; we will give you the loveliest daughter of the son of Atreus, and will bring her from Argos for you to marry, if you will sack the goodly city of Ilius in company with ourselves; so come along with me, that we may make a covenant at the ships about the marriage, and we will not be hard upon you about gifts of wooing.
ild.13 The Trojans would now have been driven in sorry plight from the ships and tents back to windy Ilius, had not Polydamas presently said to Hector, Hector", there is no persuading you to take advice.
ild.13 Paris"," said he, "evil hearted Paris, fair to see but Woman mad and false of tongue, where are Deiphobus and King Helenus? Where are Adamas son of Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus? Where too is Othryoneus? Ilius is undone and will now surely fall!"
ild.14 Then King Agamemnon said to him, Nestor" son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, why have you left the battle to come hither? I fear that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had fired our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it is all coming true.
ild.14 I have had one lesson already through doing what you asked me, on the day when Jove s mighty son Hercules set sail from Ilius after having sacked the city of the Trojans.
ild.15 Achilles will then send his comrade Patroclus into battle, and Hector will kill him in front of Ilius after he has slain many warriors, and among them my own noble son Sarpedon.
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 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 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 Hector now rebuked him and said, "Why, Melanippus, are we thus remiss? do you take no note of the death of your kinsman, and do you not see how they are trying to take Dolops s armour? Follow me; there must be no fighting the Argives from a distance now, but we must do so in close combat till either we kill them or they take the high wall of Ilius and slay her people.
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 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.17 Think how you may now save your town and citadel by the hands of your own people born in Ilius; for you will get no Lycians to fight for you, seeing what thanks they have had for their incessant hardships.
ild.17 If the Trojans had any of that daring fearless spirit which lays hold of men who are fighting for their country and harassing those who would attack it, we should soon bear off Patroclus into Ilius.
ild.17 His own he sent to the strong city of Ilius and to the Trojans, while he put on the immortal armour of the son of Peleus, which the Gods had given to Peleus, who in his age gave it to his son; but the son did not grow old in his father s armour.
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 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 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 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.18 I bore him fair and strong, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended him as a plant in a goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus.
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.18 Glad indeed will he be who can escape and get back to Ilius, and many a Trojan will become meat for Dogs and Vultures may I never live to hear it.
ild.18 He laid his murderous hands upon the breast of his comrade, groaning again and again as a bearded Lion when a man who was chasing Deer has robbed him of his young in some dense forest; when the Lion comes back he is furious, and searches dingle and dell to track the hunter if he can find him, for he is mad with rage even so with many a sigh did Achilles speak among the Myrmidons saying, "Alas! vain were the words with which I cheered the hero Menoetius in his own house; I said that I would bring his brave son back again to Opoeis after he had sacked Ilius and taken his share of the spoils but Jove does not give all men their heart s desire.
ild.18 I tended him as a plant in a goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus.
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.20 "In the beginning Dardanus was the son of Jove, and founded Dardania, for Ilius was not yet stablished on the plain for men to dwell in, and her people still abode on the spurs of many fountained Ida.
ild.21 I have paid three times as much to gain my freedom; it is but Twelve days that I have come to Ilius after much suffering, and now cruel fate has again thrown me into your hands.
ild.21 Until Patroclus fell I preferred to give the Trojans quarter, and sold beyond the sea many of those whom I had taken alive; but now not a man shall live of those whom heaven delivers into my hands before the city of Ilius and of all Trojans it shall fare hardest with the sons of Priam.
ild.21 There shall the fishes feed on the fat of Lycaon as they dart under the dark ripple of the waters so perish all of you till we reach the citadel of strong Ilius you in flight, and I following after to destroy you.
ild.21 I am from the fertile land of far Paeonia, captain of the Paeonians, and it is now Eleven days that I am at Ilius.
ild.21 It is not your fate to perish in this river; he will abate presently as you will see; moreover we strongly advise you, if you will be guided by us, not to stay your hand from fighting till you have pent the Trojan host within the famed walls of Ilius as many of them as may escape.
ild.21 Had this been so, we should long since have ended the war by sacking the strong city of Ilius.
ild.21 Idiot, you have no sense, and forget how we two alone of all the Gods fared hardly round about Ilius when we came from Jove s house and worked for Laomedon a whole year at a stated wage and he gave us his orders.
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.21 How would it be were I to let Achilles drive the others before him, and then fly from the wall to the plain that is behind Ilius till I reach the spurs of Ida and can hide in the underwood that is thereon? I could then wash the sweat from off me in the river and in the evening return to Ilius.
ild.21 Fool, there will be trouble enough yet before it, for there is many a brave man of us still inside who will stand in front of our dear parents with our wives and children, to defend Ilius.
ild.22 But stern fate bade Hector stay where he was before Ilius and the Scaean gates.
ild.22 Achilles was greatly angered and said, "You have baulked me, Far Darter, most malicious of all Gods, and have drawn me away from the wall, where many another man would have bitten the dust ere he got within Ilius; you have robbed me of great glory and have saved the Trojans at no risk to yourself, for you have nothing to fear, but I would indeed have my revenge if it were in my power to do so.
ild.22 It was as though the whole of frowning Ilius was being smirched with fire.
ild.23 Here a very deep slumber took hold upon him and eased the burden of his sorrows, for his limbs were weary with chasing Hector round windy Ilius.
ild.23 The mare had been given to Agamemnon by echepolus son of Anchises, that he might not have to follow him to Ilius, but might stay at home and take his ease; for Jove had endowed him with great wealth and he lived in spacious Sicyon.
ild.24 All were of this mind save only Juno, Neptune, and Jove s grey eyed daughter, who persisted in the hate which they had ever borne towards Ilius with Priam and his people; for they forgave not the wrong done them by Alexandrus in disdaining the Goddesses who came to him when he was in his Sheepyards, and preferring her who had offered him a wanton to his ruin.
ild.24 Their honour shall not be equal, but of all that dwell in Ilius, Hector was dearest to the Gods, as also to myself, for his offerings never failed me.
ild.24 Meanwhile the son of Saturn sent Iris to the strong city of Ilius.
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 As soon as they had come down from the city and had reached the plain, his sons and sons in law who had followed him went back to Ilius.
ild.24 Now when Priam and Idaeus had driven past the great tomb of Ilius, they stayed their Mules and Horses that they might drink in the river, for the shades of night were falling, when, therefore, Idaeus saw Mercury standing near them he said to Priam, "Take heed, descendant of Dardanus; here is matter which demands consideration.
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 Therefore, noble sir, let us two now take food; you can weep for your dear son hereafter as you are bearing him back to Ilius and many a tear will he cost you.

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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