The Iliad - Homer (ebook reader library .txt) š
- Author: Homer
- Performer: -
Book online Ā«The Iliad - Homer (ebook reader library .txt) šĀ». Author Homer
With care Automedon and Alcimus
The horses yokād, with collars fair attachād: Placād in their mouths the bits, and passād the reins Back to the well-built car: Automedon
Sprang on the car, with shining lash in hand: Behind, Achilles came, arrayād for war, In arms all glittāring as the gorgeous sun, And loudly to his fatherās steeds he callād: āXanthus and Balius, noble progeny
Of swift Podarge, now in other sort
Back to the Grecian ranks in safety bear, When he shall quit the field, your charioteer; Nor leave him, as ye left Patroclus, slain.ā
To whom in answer from beneath the yoke Xanthus, the noble horse, with glancing feet: Bowing his head the while, till all his mane Down from thā yokeband streaming, reachād the ground; By Juno, white-armād Queen, with speech endued: āYes, great Achilles, we this day again Will bear thee safely; but thy day of doom Is nigh at hand; nor we shall cause thy death, But Heavānās high will, and Fateās imperious powār.
By no default of ours, nor lack of speed, The Trojans strippād Patroclus of his arms: The mighty God, fair-hairād Latonaās son, Achievād his death, and Hectorās victāry gainād.
Our speed of foot may vie with Zephyrās breeze, Deemād swiftest of the winds; but thou art doomād To die, by force combinād of God and man.ā
He said; his farther speech the Furies stayād.
To whom in wrath Achilles swift of foot; āXanthus, why thus predict my coming fate?
It ill beseems thee! well I know myself That I am fated here in Troy to die,
Far from my home and parents; yet withal I cease not, till these Trojans from the field Before me fly.ā He said, and to the front, His war-cry shouting, urgād his fiery steeds.
ARGUMENT.
THE BATTLE OF THE GODS, AND THE ACTS OF ACHILLES.
Jupiter, upon Achillesā return to the battle, calls a council of the gods and permits them to assist either party. The terrors of the combat described when the deities are engaged. Apollo encourages AEneas to meet Achilles. After a long conversation, these two heroes encounter; but AEneas is preserved by the assistance of Neptune. Achilles falls upon the rest of the Trojans, and is upon the point of killing Hector, but Apollo conveys him away in a cloud. Achilles pursues the Trojans with a great slaughter.
The same day continues. The scene is in the field before Troy.
BOOK XX.
Round thee, Achilles, eager for the fray, Stood thus accoutred, by their beaked ships, The sons of Greece; the Trojan host, opposād, Stood on the sloping margin of the plain.
Then Jove to Themis gave command to call The Gods to council from the lofty height Of many-ridgād Olympus; to the house
Of Jove she summonād them from evāry side.
Thence of the Rivers, save Oceanus,
Not one was absent; nor of Nymphs, who haunt Clear fount, or shady grove, or grassy mead.
They, at the Cloud-compellerās house arrivād, Within the polishād corridor reclinād, Which Vulcanās cunning hand for Jove had built.
There were they gatherād in thā abode of Jove: Nor did thā Earth-shaking Neptune slight the call, But came from oceanās depths, and in the midst He sat, and thus the will of Jove enquirād: āWhy, Lord of lightning, hast thou summonād here The Gods to council? dost thou aught devise Touching the Greeks and Trojans? who eāen now Kindle anew, it seems, the blaze of war.ā
To whom the Cloud-compeller, answāring, thus: āThe purpose, Neptune, well thou knowāst thyself For which I callād ye; true, they needs must die, But still they claim my care; yet here will I Upon Olympusā lofty ridge remain,
And view, serene, the combat; you, the rest, Go, as you list, to Trojans or to Greeks, And at your pleasure either party aid.
For if we leave Achilles thus alone
To fight against the Trojans, not an hour Will they before the son of Peleus stand.
They dreaded him before; but now, I fear, Since rousād to fury by his comradeās death, He eāen in fateās despite may storm the wall.ā
Thus Saturnās son, and quenchless battle rousād: The Gods, divided, hastenād to the war: Juno and Pallas to the ships of Greece, With them thā Earth-shaker, and the helpful God, Hermes, for cunning subtleties unmatchād; And Vulcan too, exulting in his strength, Yet halting, and on feeble limbs sustainād.
Mars of the glancing helm took part with Troy, And golden Phoebus with his locks unshorn, Latona too, and Dian, Archer-Queen,
Xanthus, and Venus, laughter-loving dame.
While from the fight of men the Gods abstainād, High rose the Grecian vaunts, as, long withdrawn, Achilles on the field again appearād:
And evāry Trojanās limbs with terror quakād, Trembling, as Peleusā godlike son they saw, In arms all-glittāring, fierce as blood-stainād Mars.
But when thā Immortals mingled in the throng, Then furious waxād the spirit-stirring strife; Then Pallas raisād her war-cry, standing now Beside the deep-dug trench, without the wall, Now shouting loud along the sounding beach.
On thā other side, as with the tempestās roar, Mars to the Trojans shouted loud; one while From Iliumās topmost height; anon again From the fair hill, oāerhanging Simoisā stream.
Thus, either side exciting to the fray, Thā immortal Gods unchainād the angry war.
Thunderād on high the Sire of Gods and men With awful din; while Neptune shook beneath The boundless earth, and lofty mountain tops.
The spring-abounding Ida quakād and rockād From her firm basis to her loftiest peak, And Troyās proud city, and the ships of Greece.
Pluto, thā infernal monarch, heard alarmād, And, springing from his throne, cried out in fear, Lest Neptune, breaking through the solid earth, To mortals and Immortals should lay bare His dark and drear abode, of Gods abhorrād.
Such was the shock when Gods in battle met; For there to royal Neptune stood opposād Phoebus Apollo with his arrows keen;
The blue-eyād Pallas to the God of War; To Juno, Dian, heavānly Archeress,
Sister of Phoebus, golden-shafted Queen.
Stout Hermes, helpful God, Latona facād; While Vulcan met the mighty rolling stream, Xanthus by Gods, by men Scamander callād.
Thus Gods encounterād Gods: Achillesā soul Meantime was burning āmid the throng to meet Hector, the son of Priam; with whose blood He longād to glut thā insatiate Lord of War.
Apollo then, the spirit-stirring God,
AEneas movād Achilles to confront,
And fillād with courage high; and thus, the voice Assuming of Lycaon, Priamās son,
Apollo, son of Jove, the chief addressād: āAEneas, prince and councillor of Troy, Where are the vaunts, which oāer the wine-cup late Thou madāst amid thā assembled chiefs of Troy, That hand to hand thou wouldst Achilles meet?ā
To whom AEneas thus in answer spoke:
āWhy, son of Priam, urge me to contend, Against my will, with Peleusā mighty son?
Not for the first time should I now engage Achilles swift of foot: I met him once, And fled before his spear, on Idaās hill, When on our herds he fell; Lyrnessus then He razād, and Pedasus; me Jove preservād, With strength, endowing, and with speed of foot.
Else had I fallān beneath Achillesā hand, By Pallas aided; who before him moves, Light of his life, and guides his brazen spear Trojans and Leleges alike to slay.
āTis not in mortal man with him to fight, Whom still some God attends, and guards from harm; And, eāen unaided, to the mark his spear Unerring flies, uncheckād until it pierce A warriorās breast; yet if the Gods the scale Impartial held, all brass-clad as he is, Oāer me no easy triumph should he gain.ā
To whom the King Apollo, son of Jove:
āBrave chief, do thou too to thā immortal Gods Address thy prayār; men say that thou art sprung From Venus, child of Jove; his mother owns A humbler origin; one born to Jove,
The other to the aged Ocean God.
On then with dauntless spear, nor be dismayād By his high tone and vaunting menaces.ā
His words with courage fillād the heroās breast, And on he sprang, in dazzling arms arrayed; But not unmarkād of white-armād Juno passād, To meet Achilles, through the press of men, Who thus addressād the Gods, to council callād: āNeptune and Pallas both, bethink ye well What now should be our course; AEneas comes, In dazzling arms arrayād, to meet in fight The son of Peleus; Phoebus sends him forth.
Say, then, shall we, encountāring, to retreat Perforce constrain him? or shall one of us Beside Achilles stand, and give him strength That he may nothing lack; and know himself By all the mightiest of thā immortal Gods Belovād, and those how powārless, by whose aid The Trojans yet maintain defensive war?
Therefore, to join the battle, came we all From high Olympus, that in this dayās fight No ill befall him; though the time shall come For him to meet the doom, by fate decreed, When at his birth his thread of life was spun.
But if Achilles from a voice divine
Receive not this assurance, he may well Be struck with fear, if haply to some God He find himself opposād: ātis hard for man To meet, in presence visible, a God.ā
To whom Earth-shaking Neptune thus replied: āJuno, thine anger carry not too far;
It ill beseems thee. Not with my consent Shall we, the stronger far, provoke to arms The other Gods; but rather, from the field Retiring, let us from on high survey,
To mortals left, the turmoil of the war.
Should Mars or Phoebus then begin the fight, Or stay Achilles, and his arm restrain, Then in the contest we too may engage; And soon, methinks, will they be fain to join, Drivān from the field, the Synod of the Gods, Subdued perforce by our victorious hands.ā
The dark-hairād monarch spoke; and led the way To the high wall, by Trojans built of old, With Pallasā aid, for godlike Hercules; Within whose circle he might safety seek, When from the beach the monster of the deep Might chase him toward the plain; there Neptune sat, And with him, the other Gods, a veil of cloud Impenetrable around their shoulders spread.
On thā other side, upon the fair hillās brow, Phoebus with Mars the fort-destroyer sat.
On either side they sat, each facing each With hostile counsels; yet reluctant both To take thā initiative of ruthless war; Till Jove, enthronād on high, the signal gave.
Then all the plain, with men and horses throngād, The brazen gleam illuminād; rang the earth Beneath their feet, as to the battle-shock They rushād; but in the midst, both hosts between, Eager for fight, stood forth two warriors bold, Proudly pre-eminent; Anchisesā son
AEneas, and Achillesā godlike might.
AEneas first with threatāning mien advancād, Nodding his pondārous helm; before his breast His shield he bore, and poisād his brazen spear.
Him met Achilles from thā opposing ranks; Fierce as a ravāning lion, whom to slay Pour forth the stalwart youths, thā united strength Of the rousād village; he unheeding moves At first; but wounded by a javālin thrown By some bold youth, he turns, with gaping jaws, And frothing fangs, collecting for the spring, His breast too narrow for his mighty heart; And with his tail he lashes both his flanks And sides, as though to rouse his utmost rage; Then on, in pride of strength, with glaring eyes He dashes, if some hunter he may slay, Or in the foremost rank himself be slain.
So movād his dauntless spirit Peleusā son AEneas to confront; when near they came, Thus first Achilles, swift of foot, began: āAEneas, why so far before the ranks
Advancād? dost thou presume
Comments (0)