The Iliad - Homer (ebook reader library .txt) š
- Author: Homer
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As thus the King the serried ranks reviewād, He came where thronging round their skilful chief Idomeneus, the warlike bands of Crete
Were arming for the fight; Idomeneus,
Of courage stubborn as the forest boar, The foremost ranks arrayād; Meriones
The rearmost squadrons had in charge; with joy The monarch Agamemnon saw, and thus
With accents bland Idomeneus addressād: āIdomeneus, above all other Greeks,
In battle and elsewhere, I honour thee; And in the banquet, where the noblest mix The ruddy wine for chiefs alone reserved, Though others drink their share, yet by thy side Thy cup, like mine, still new replenished stands To drink at pleasure. Up then to the fight, And show thyself the warrior that thou art.ā
To whom the Cretan King, Idomeneus:
āIn me, Atrides, thou shalt ever find, As at the first I promisād, comrade true; But go, and stir the other long-haired Greeks To speedy battle; since the Trojans now The truce have broken; and defeat and death Must wait on those who have their oaths forsworn.ā
He said, and Agamemnon went his way
Rejoicing; through the crowd he passād, and came Where stood thā Ajaces; them, in act to arm, Amid a cloud of infantry he found;
And as a goat-herd from his watch-towār crag Beholds a cloud advancing oāer the sea, By Zephyrās breath impellād; as from afar He gazes, black as pitch, it sweeps along Oāer the dark oceanās face, and with it brings A hurricane of rain; he, shuddāring, sees, And drives his flock beneath the sheltāring cave: So thick and dark, about thā Ajaces stirrād, Impatient for the war, the stalwart youths, Black masses, bristling close with spear and shield.
Well pleasād, the monarch Agamemnon saw, And thus addressād them: āValiant chiefs, to you, The leaders of the brass-clad Greeks, I give (āTwere needless and unseemly) no commands; For well ye understand your troops to rouse To deeds of dauntless courage; would to Jove, To Pallas and Apollo, that such mind
As is in you, in all the camp were found; Then soon should Priamās lofty city fall, Takān and destroyād by our victorious hands.ā
Thus saying, them he left, and onward movād.
Nestor, the smooth-tonguād Pylian chief, he found The troops arraying, and to valiant deeds His friends encouraging; stout Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, warlike Prince, And Bias bold, his peopleās sure defence.
In the front rank, with chariot and with horse, He placād the car-borne warriors; in the rear, Numārous and brave, a cloud of infantry, Compactly massād, to stem the tide of war, Between the two he placād thā inferior troops, That eāen against their will they needs must fight.
The horsemen first he chargād, and bade them keep Their horses well in hand, nor wildly rush Amid the tumult: āSee,ā he said, āthat none, In skill or valour over-confident,
Advance before his comrades, nor alone Retire; for so your lines were easier forcād; But ranging each beside a hostile car, Thrust with your spears; for such the better way; By men so disciplinād, in elder days
Were lofty walls and fenced towns destroyād.ā
Thus he, experiencād in the wars of old; Well pleasād, the monarch Agamemnon saw, And thus addressād him; āWould to Heavān, old man, That, as thy spirit, such too were thy strength And vigour of thy limbs; but now old age, The common lot of mortals, weighs thee down; Would I could see some others in thy place, And thou couldst still be numbered with the young!ā
To whom Gerenian Nestor thus replied:
āAtrides, I too fain would see restorād The strength I once possessād, what time I slew The godlike Ereuthalion; but the Gods
On man bestow not all their gifts at once; I then was young, and now am bowād with age, Yet with the chariots can I still go forth, And aid with sage advice: for such the right And privilege of age; to hurl the spear Belongs to younger men, who after me
Were born, who boast their vigour unimpairād.ā
He said; and Agamemnon went his way,
Rejoicing: to Menestheus next he came, The son of Peteus, charioteer renownād; Him found he, circled by thā Athenian bands, The raisers of the war-cry; close beside The sage Ulysses stood, around him rangād, Not unrenownād, the Cephalonian troops: The sound of battle had not reachād their ears; For but of late the Greek and Trojan hosts Were set in motion; they expecting stood, Till other Grecian columns should advance, Assail the Trojans, and renew the war.
Atrides saw, and thus, reproachful, spoke: āO son of Peteus, Heavān-descended King!
And thou too, master of all tricky arts, Why, lingāring, stand ye thus aloof, and wait For others coming? ye should be the first The hot assault of battle to confront; For ye are first my summons to receive, Wheneāer the honourād banquet we prepare: And well ye like to eat the savāry meat, And, at your will, the luscious wine-cups drain: Now stand ye here, and unconcernād would see Ten columns pass before you to the fight.ā
To whom, with stern regard, Ulysses thus: āWhat words have passād the barrier of thy lips, Atrides? how with want of warlike zeal Canst thou reproach us? when the Greeks again The furious war shall waken, thou shalt see (If that thou care to see) amid the ranks Of Troy, the father of Telemachus
In the fore-front: thy words are empty wind.ā
Atrides saw him chafed, and smiling, thus Recalled his former words: āUlysses sage, Laertesā highborn son, not over-much
I give thee blame, or orders; for I know Thy mind to gentle counsels is inclinād; Thy thoughts are one with mine; then come, henceforth Shall all be well; and if a hasty word Have passād, may Heaven regard it as unsaid.ā
Thus saying, them he left, and onward movād.
The son of Tydeus, valiant Diomed,
Standing he found amid his warlike steeds And well-built cars; beside him, Sthenelus, The son of Capaneus; Atrides saw,
And thus addressād him with reproachful words: āAlas! thou son of Tydeus, wise and bold, Why crouch with fear? why thus appallād survey The pass of war? not so had Tydeus crouchād; His hand was ever ready from their foes To guard his comrades; so, at least, they say Whose eyes beheld his labours; I myself Nor met him eāer, nor saw; but, by report, Thy father was the foremost man of men.
A stranger to Mycenae once he came,
With godlike Polynices; not at war,
But seeking succour for the troops that lay Encampād before the sacred walls of Thebes; For reinforcements earnestly they sued; The boon they askād was granted them, but Jove With unpropitious omens turnād them back.
Advancing on their journey, when they reachād Asopusā grassy banks and rushes deep,
The Greeks upon a mission Tydeus sent: He went; and many Thebans there he found Feasting in Eteoclesā royal hall:
Amid them all, a stranger and alone,
He stood unterrified, and challengād all To wrestle with him, and with ease oāerthrew: So mighty was the aid that Pallas gave.
Whereat indignant, they, on his return, An ambush set, of fifty chosen youths; Two were their leaders; Haemonās godlike son, Maeon, and Lycophontes, warrior brave, Son of Autophonus; and these too farād But ill at Tydeusā hand; he slew them all: Maeon alone, obedient to the Gods,
He sparād, and bade him bear the tidings home.
Such Tydeus was: though greater in debate, His son will never rival him in arms.ā
He said: brave Diomed in silence heard, Submissive to the monarchās stern rebuke; Then answerād thus the son of Capaneus: āAtrides, speak not falsely: well thou knowāst The truth, that we our fathers far surpass.
The seven-gated city, Thebes, we took, With smaller force beneath the wall of Mars, Trusting to heavānly signs, and favāring Jove, Where they by blind, presumptuous folly failād; Then equal not our fathersā deeds with ours.ā
To whom thus Diomed, with stern regard: āFather, be silent; hearken to my words: I blame not Agamemnon, King of men,
Who thus to battle stirs the well-greavād Greeks: His will the glory be if we oāercome
The valiant Trojans, and their city take; Great too his loss if they oāer us prevail: Then come, let us too for the fight prepare.ā
He said; and from the car leapād down in arms: Fierce rang the armour on the warriorās breast, That evān the stoutest heart might quail with fear.
As by the west wind drivān, the ocean waves Dash forward on the far-resounding shore, Wave upon wave; first curls the ruffled sea With whitāning crests; anon with thundāring roar It breaks upon the beach, and from the crags Recoiling flings in giant curves its head Aloft, and tosses high the wild sea-spray: Column on column, so the hosts of Greece Pourād, ceaseless, to the war; to each the chiefs Their orders gave; the rest in silence movād: Nor would ye deem that mighty mass endued With power of speech, so silently they moved In awe of their great captains: far around Flashed the bright armour they were girt withal.
On thā other hand, the Trojans, as the flocks That in the court-yard of some wealthy Lord In countless numbers stand, at milking-time, Incessant bleating, as their lambs they hear; So rose their mingled clamours through the camp; For not one language nor one speech was there, But many nations callād from distant lands: These Mars inspirād, and those the blue-eyād Maid; And Fear, and Flight, and Discord unappeasād, Of blood-stainād Mars the sister and the friend: āWith humble crest at first, anon her head, āWhile yet she treads the earth, affronts the skies.
The gage of battle in the midst she threw, Strode through the crowd, and woe to mortals wrought.
When to the midst they came, together rushād Bucklers and lances, and the furious might Of mail-clad warriors; bossy shield on shield Clatterād in conflict; loud the clamour rose.
Then rose too mingled shouts and groans of men Slaying and slain; the earth ran red with blood.
As when, descending from the mountainās brow, Two wintry torrents, from their copious source Pour downward to the narrow pass, where meet Their mingled waters in some deep ravine, Their weight of flood; on the far mountainās side The shepherd hears the roar; so loud arose The shouts and yells of those commingling hosts.
First āmid the foremost ranks Antilochus A Trojan warrior, Echepolus, slew,
A crested chief, Thalesiusā noble son.
Beneath his horsehair-plumed helmetās peak The sharp spear struck; deep in his forehead fixād It piercād the bone; then darkness veilād his eyes, And, like a towār, amid the press he fell.
Him Elephenor, brave Abantian chief,
Son of Chalcodon, seizing by the feet, Draggād from beneath the darts, in haste to strip His armour off; but short-livād was thā attempt; For bold Agenor markād him as he drew
The corpse aside, and with his brass-tippād spear Thrust through his flank, unguarded, as he stoopād, Beside his shield; and slackād his limbs in death.
The spirit was fled; but hotly oāer him ragād The war of Greeks and Trojans; fierce as wolves They fought, man struggling hand to hand with man.
Then Ajax Telamon a stalwart youth,
Son of Anthemion, Simoisius, slew;
Whose mother gave him birth on Simoisā banks, When with her parents down from Idaās heights She drove her flock; thence Simoisius namād: Not destined he his parents to repay
Their early care; for short his term of life, By godlike Ajaxā mighty spear subdued.
Him, to the front advancing, in the breast, By the right nipple, Ajax struck; right through, From front to back, the brass-tippād spear was drivān, Out through the
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