The Iliad - Homer (ebook reader library .txt) š
- Author: Homer
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Yet were his troops, their leader though they mournād, Not leaderless: Oileusā bastard son,
Medon, of Rhene born, their ranks arrayād.
Who in OEchalia, Eurytusā domain,
In Tricca, and in rough Ithome dwelt,
These Podalirius and Machaon led,
Two skilful leeches, AEsculapiusā sons.
Of these came thirty ships in order due.
Who in Ormenium and Asterium dwelt,
By Hypereiaās fount, and on the heights Of Titanumās white peaks, of these was chief Eurypylus, Euaemonās gallant son;
In his command came forty dark-ribbād ships.
Who in Argissa and Gyrtona dwelt,
Ortha, Elone, and the white-wallād town Of Oloosson, Polypoetes led;
Son of Pirithous, progeny of Jove,
A warrior bold; Hippodamia fair
Him to Pirithous bore, what time he slew The shaggy Centaurs, and from Pelionās heights For refuge āmid the rude AEthices drove.
Nor he alone; with him to Troy there came A scion true of Mars, Leonteus, heir
Of nobly-born Coronus, Caeneusā son.
In their command came forty dark-ribbād ships.
With two and twenty vessels Gouneus came From Cythus; he the Enienes led,
And the Peraebiansā warlike tribes, and those Who dwelt around Dodonaās wintry heights, Or tillād the soil upon the lovely banks Of Titaresius, who to Peneus pours
The tribute of his clearly-flowing stream; Yet mingles not with Peneusā silver waves, But on the surface floats like oil, his source From Styx deriving, in whose awful name Both Gods and men by holiest oaths are bound.
Magnesiaās troops, who dwelt by Peneusā stream, Or beneath Pelionās leafy-quivāring shades, Swift-footed Prothous led, Tenthredonās son; In his command came forty dark-ribbād ships.
These were the leaders and the chiefs of Greece: Say, Muse, of these, who with thā Atridae came, Horses and men, who claimād the highest praise.
Of steeds, the bravest and the noblest far Were those Eumelus drove, Admetusā son: Both swift as birds, in age and colour matchād, Alike in height, as measurād oāer the back; Both mares, by Phoebus of the silver bow Rearād in Pieria, thunderbolts of war.
Of men, while yet Achilles held his wrath, The mightiest far was Ajax Telamon.
For with Achilles, and the steeds that bore The matchless son of Peleus, none might vie: But āmid his beaked ocean-going ships
He lay, with Agamemnon, Atreusā son,
Indignant; while his troops upon the beach With quoits and javālins whilād away the day, And feats of archery; their steeds the while The lotus-grass and marsh-grown parsley croppād, Each standing near their car; the well-wrought cars Lay all unheeded in the warriorsā tents; They, inly pining for their godlike chief, Roamād listless up and down, nor joinād the fray.
Such was the host, which, like devouring fire, Oāerspread the land; the earth beneath them groanād: As when the Lord of thunder, in his wrath, The earthās foundations shakes, in Arimi, Where, buried deep, ātis said, Typhoeus lies; So at their coming, groanād beneath their feet The earth, as quickly oāer the plain they spread.
To Troy, sent down by aegis-bearing Jove, With direful tidings storm-swift Iris came.
At Priamās gate, in solemn conclave met, Were gatherād all the Trojans, young and old: Swift Iris stood amidst them, and, the voice Assuming of Polites, Priamās son,
The Trojan scout, who, trusting to his speed, Was posted on the summit of the mound
Of ancient AEsuetes, there to watch
Till from their ships the Grecian troops should march; His voice assuming, thus the Goddess spoke: āOld man, as erst in peace, so still thou lovāst The strife of words; but fearful war is nigh.
Full many a host in line of battle rangād My eyes have seen; but such a force as this, So mighty and so vast, I neāer beheld: In number as the leaves, or as the sand, Against the city oāer the plain they come.
Then, Hector, for to thee I chiefly speak, This do; thou knowāst how various our allies, Of diffārent nations and discordant tongues: Let each then those command oāer whom he reigns, And his own countrymen in arms array.ā
She said; and Hector knew the voice divine, And all, dissolvād the council, flew to arms, The gates were openād wide; forth pourād the crowd, Both foot and horse; and loud the tumult rose.
Before the city stands a lofty mound,
In the mid plain, by open space enclosād; Men call it Batiaea; but the Gods
The tomb of swift Myrinna; musterād there The Trojans and Allies their troops arrayād.
The mighty Hector of the glancing helm, The son of Priam, led the Trojan host: The largest and the bravest band were they, Bold spearmen all, who followād him in arms.
Anchisesā valiant son, AEneas, led
The Dardans; him, āmid Idaās jutting peaks, Immortal Venus to Anchises bore,
A Goddess yielding to a mortalās love: With him, well skillād in war, Archilochus And Acamas, Antenorās gallant sons.
Who in Zeleia dwelt, at Idaās foot,
Of Trojan race, a wealthy tribe, who drank Of dark AEsepusā waters, these were led By Pandarus, Lycaonās noble son,
Taught by Apolloās self to draw the bow.
Who from Adraste, and Apaesusā realm,
From Pityeia, and the lofty hill
Tereian came, with linen corslets girt, Adrastus and Amphius led; two sons
Of Merops of Percote; deeply versād
Was he in prophecy; and from the war
Would fain have kept his sons; but they, by fate, Doomād to impending death, his caution scornād.
Those who from Practium and Percote came, And who in Sestos and Abydos dwelt,
And in Arisba fair; those Asius led,
The son of Hyrtacus, of heroes chief;
Asius the son of Hyrtacus, who came
From fair Arisba, borne by fiery steeds Of matchless size and strength, from Sellesā stream.
Hippothous led the bold Pelasgian tribes, Who dwell in rich Larissaās fertile soil, Hippothous and Pylaeus, Lethusā sons,
The son of Teutamus, Pelasgian chief.
The Thracians, by fast-flowing Hellespont Encompassād, Acamas and Peirous brave; The spear-skillād Cicones Euphemus led, Son of Troezenus, Ceusā highborn son.
From distant Amydon Pyraecmes brought
The Paeon archers from broad Axiusā banks; Axius, the brightest stream on earth that flows.
The hairy strength of great Pylaemenes The Paphlagonians led from Eneti
(Whence first appearād the stubborn race of mules), Who in Cytorus and in Sesamum,
And round Partheniusā waters had their home; Who dwelt in Cromne, and AEgialus,
And on the lofty Erythinian rock.
By Hodius and Epistrophus were brought From distant Alybe, the wealthy source Of silver ore, the Alizonian bands.
Chromis the Mysians led, and Ennomus;
A skilful augur, but his augury
From gloomy death to save him nought availād; Slain by the son of Peleus, in the stream, Where many another Trojan felt his arm.
From far Ascaniaās lake, with Phorcys joinād, The godlike presence of Ascanius brought The Phrygians, dauntless in the standing fight.
From Lydia came Pylaemenesā two sons,
Born of the lake Gygeian; Antiphus,
And Mesthles; these Maeoniaās forces led, Who dwelt around the foot of Tmolusā hill.
In charge of Nastes came the Carian troops, Of barbarous speech; who in Miletus dwelt, And in the dense entangled forest shade Of Phthiraās hill, and on the lofty ridge Of Mycale, and by Maeanderās stream;
These came with Nastes and Amphimacus; Amphimacus and Nastes, Nomionās sons;
With childish folly to the war he came, Laden with store of gold; yet nought availād His gold to save him from the doom of death; Slain by the son of Peleus in the stream; And all his wealth Achilles bore away.
Sarpedon last, and valiant Glaucus led The Lycian bands, from distant Lyciaās shore, Beside the banks of Xanthusā eddying stream.
ARGUMENT.
THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS.
The armies being ready to engage, a single combat is agreed upon, between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) for the determination of the war. Iris is sent to call Helen to behold the fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where Priam sat with his counsellors, observing the Grecian leaders on the plain below, to whom Helen gives an account of the chief of them. The kings on either part take the solemn oath for the conditions of the combat. The duel ensues, wherein Paris being overcome, is snatched away in a cloud by Venus, and transported to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls, and brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians, demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.
The three-and-twentieth day still continues throughout this book. The scene is sometimes in the field before Troy, and sometimes in Troy itself.
BOOK III.
WHEN by their sevāral chiefs the troops were rangād, With noise and clamour, as a flight of birds, The men of Troy advancād; as when the cranes, Flying the wintry storms, send forth on high Their dissonant clamours, while oāer the ocean stream They steer their course, and on their pinions bear Battle and death to the Pygmaean race.
On thā other side the Greeks in silence movād, Breathing firm courage, bent on mutual aid.
As when the south wind oāer the mountain tops Spreads a thick veil of mist, the shepherdās bane, And friendly to the nightly thief alone, That a stoneās throw the range of vision bounds; So rose the dust-cloud, as in serried ranks With rapid step they movād across the plain.
But when thā opposing forces near were met, A pantherās skin across his shoulders flung, Armād with his bow and sword, in front of all Advancād the godlike Paris; in his hand He poisād two brass-tippād javālins, and defied To mortal combat all the chiefs of Greece.
Him when the warlike Menelaus saw
With haughty strides advancing from the crowd; As when a lion, hunger-pinchād, espies Some mighty beast of chase, or antlerād stag, Or mountain goat, and with exulting spring Strikes down his prey, and on the carcase feeds, Unscarād by baying hounds and eager youths: So Menelaus saw with fierce delight
The godlike Paris; for he deemād that now His vengeance was at hand; and from his car, Armād as he was, he leapād upon the plain.
But when the godlike Paris saw him spring Defiant from the ranks, with quailing heart, Back to his comradesā sheltāring crowd he sprang, In fear of death; as when some travāller spies, Coilād in his path upon the mountain side, A deadly snake, back he recoils in haste, His limbs all trembling, and his cheek all pale; So back recoilād, in fear of Atreusā son, The godlike Paris āmid the Trojan host.
To whom in stern rebuke thus Hector spoke: āThou wretched Paris, though in form so fair, Thou slave of woman, manhoodās counterfeit!
Would thou hadst neāer been born, or died at least Unwedded; so ātwere better far for all, Than thus to live a scandal and reproach.
Well may the long-hairād Greeks triumphant boast, Who think thee, from thine outward show, a chief Among our warriors; but thou hast in truth Nor strength of mind, nor courage in the fight.
How wasāt that such as thou could eāer induce A noble band, in ocean-going ships
To cross the main, with men of other lands Mixing in amity, and bearing thence
A woman, fair of face, by marriage ties Bound to a race of warriors; to thy sire, Thy state, thy people, cause of endless grief, Of triumph to thy foes, contempt to thee!
Durst thou the warlike Menelaus meet,
Thou to thy cost shouldst learn the might of him Whose bride thou didst not fear to bear away: Then shouldst thou find of small avail thy lyre, Or Venusā gifts of beauty and of grace, Or, trampled in the dust, thy flowing hair.
But too forbearing are the men of Troy; Else for the ills that thou hast
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