The Iliad of Homer

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On this, all of them as one man stood near him, shield on
shoulder. Aeneas on the other side called to his comrades,
looking towards Deiphobus, Paris, and Agenor, who were leaders of
the Trojans along with himself, and the people followed them as
sheep follow the ram when they go down to drink after they have
been feeding, and the heart of the shepherd is glad--even so was
the heart of Aeneas gladdened when he saw his people follow him.

Then they fought furiously in close combat about the body of
Alcathous, wielding their long spears; and the bronze armour
about their bodies rang fearfully as they took aim at one another
in the press of the fight, while the two heroes Aeneas and
Idomeneus, peers of Mars, outvied everyone in their desire to
hack at each other with sword and spear. Aeneas took aim first,
but Idomeneus was on the lookout and avoided the spear, so that
it sped from Aeneas' strong hand in vain, and fell quivering in
the ground. Idomeneus meanwhile smote Oenomaus in the middle of
his belly, and broke the plate of his corslet, whereon his bowels
came gushing out and he clutched the earth in the palms of his
hands as he fell sprawling in the dust. Idomeneus drew his spear
out of the body, but could not strip him of the rest of his
armour for the rain of darts that were showered upon him:
moreover his strength was now beginning to fail him so that he
could no longer charge, and could neither spring forward to
recover his own weapon nor swerve aside to avoid one that was
aimed at him; therefore, though he still defended himself in
hand-to-hand fight, his heavy feet could not bear him swiftly out
of the battle. Deiphobus aimed a spear at him as he was
retreating slowly from the field, for his bitterness against him
was as fierce as ever, but again he missed him, and hit
Ascalaphus, the son of Mars; the spear went through his shoulder,
and he clutched the earth in the palms of his hands as he fell
sprawling in the dust.

Grim Mars of awful voice did not yet know that his son had
fallen, for he was sitting on the summits of Olympus under the
golden clouds, by command of Jove, where the other gods were also
sitting, forbidden to take part in the battle. Meanwhile men
fought furiously about the body. Deiphobus tore the helmet from
off his head, but Meriones sprang upon him, and struck him on the
arm with a spear so that the visored helmet fell from his hand
and came ringing down upon the ground. Thereon Meriones sprang
upon him like a vulture, drew the spear from his shoulder, and
fell back under cover of his men. Then Polites, own brother of
Deiphobus passed his arms around his waist, and bore him away
from the battle till he got to his horses that were standing in
the rear of the fight with the chariot and their driver. These
took him towards the city groaning and in great pain, with the
blood flowing from his arm.

The others still fought on, and the battle-cry rose to heaven
without ceasing. Aeneas sprang on Aphareus son of Caletor, and
struck him with a spear in his throat which was turned towards
him; his head fell on one side, his helmet and shield came down
along with him, and death, life's foe, was shed around him.
Antilochus spied his chance, flew forward towards Thoon, and
wounded him as he was turning round. He laid open the vein that
runs all the way up the back to the neck; he cut this vein clean
away throughout its whole course, and Thoon fell in the dust face
upwards, stretching out his hands imploringly towards his
comrades. Antilochus sprang upon him and stripped the armour from
his shoulders, glaring round him fearfully as he did so. The
Trojans came about him on every side and struck his broad and
gleaming shield, but could not wound his body, for Neptune stood
guard over the son of Nestor, though the darts fell thickly round
him. He was never clear of the foe, but was always in the thick
of the fight; his spear was never idle; he poised and aimed it in
every direction, so eager was he to hit someone from a distance
or to fight him hand to hand.

As he was thus aiming among the crowd, he was seen by Adamas, son
of Asius, who rushed towards him and struck him with a spear in
the middle of his shield, but Neptune made its point without
effect, for he grudged him the life of Antilochus. One half,
therefore, of the spear stuck fast like a charred stake in
Antilochus's shield, while the other lay on the ground. Adamas
then sought shelter under cover of his men, but Meriones followed
after and hit him with a spear midway between the private parts
and the navel, where a wound is particularly painful to wretched
mortals. There did Meriones transfix him, and he writhed
convulsively about the spear as some bull whom mountain herdsmen
have bound with ropes of withes and are taking away perforce.
Even so did he move convulsively for a while, but not for very
long, till Meriones came up and drew the spear out of his body,
and his eyes were veiled in darkness.

Helenus then struck Deipyrus with a great Thracian sword, hitting
him on the temple in close combat and tearing the helmet from his
head; the helmet fell to the ground, and one of those who were
fighting on the Achaean side took charge of it as it rolled at
his feet, but the eyes of Deipyrus were closed in the darkness of
death.

On this Menelaus was grieved, and made menacingly towards
Helenus, brandishing his spear; but Helenus drew his bow, and the
two attacked one another at one and the same moment, the one with
his spear, and the other with his bow and arrow. The son of Priam
hit the breastplate of Menelaus's corslet, but the arrow glanced
from off it. As black beans or pulse come pattering down on to a
threshing-floor from the broad winnowing-shovel, blown by shrill
winds and shaken by the shovel--even so did the arrow glance off
and recoil from the shield of Menelaus, who in his turn wounded
the hand with which Helenus carried his bow; the spear went right
through his hand and stuck in the bow itself, so that to his life
he retreated under cover of his men, with his hand dragging by
his side--for the spear weighed it down till Agenor drew it out
and bound the hand carefully up in a woollen sling which his
esquire had with him.

Pisander then made straight at Menelaus--his evil destiny luring
him on to his doom, for he was to fall in fight with you, O
Menelaus. When the two were hard by one another the spear of the
son of Atreus turned aside and he missed his aim; Pisander then
struck the shield of brave Menelaus but could not pierce it, for
the shield stayed the spear and broke the shaft; nevertheless he
was glad and made sure of victory; forthwith, however, the son of
Atreus drew his sword and sprang upon him. Pisander then seized
the bronze battle-axe, with its long and polished handle of olive
wood that hung by his side under his shield, and the two made at
one another. Pisander struck the peak of Menelaus's crested
helmet just under the crest itself, and Menelaus hit Pisander as
he was coming towards him, on the forehead, just at the rise of
his nose; the bones cracked and his two gore-bedrabbled eyes fell
by his feet in the dust. He fell backwards to the ground, and
Menelaus set his heel upon him, stripped him of his armour, and
vaunted over him saying, "Even thus shall you Trojans leave the
ships of the Achaeans, proud and insatiate of battle though you
be, nor shall you lack any of the disgrace and shame which you
have heaped upon myself. Cowardly she-wolves that you are, you
feared not the anger of dread Jove, avenger of violated
hospitality, who will one day destroy your city; you stole my
wedded wife and wickedly carried off much treasure when you were
her guest, and now you would fling fire upon our ships, and kill
our heroes. A day will come when, rage as you may, you shall be
stayed. O father Jove, you, who they say art above all, both gods
and men, in wisdom, and from whom all things that befall us do
proceed, how can you thus favour the Trojans--men so proud and
overweening, that they are never tired of fighting? All things
pall after a while--sleep, love, sweet song, and stately dance--
still these are things of which a man would surely have his fill
rather than of battle, whereas it is of battle that the Trojans
are insatiate."

So saying Menelaus stripped the blood-stained armour from the
body of Pisander, and handed it over to his men; then he again
ranged himself among those who were in the front of the fight.

Harpalion son of King Pylaemenes then sprang upon him; he had
come to fight at Troy along with his father, but he did not go
home again. He struck the middle of Menelaus's shield with his
spear but could not pierce it, and to save his life drew back
under cover of his men, looking round him on every side lest he
should be wounded. But Meriones aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at
him as he was leaving the field, and hit him on the right
buttock; the arrow pierced the bone through and through, and
penetrated the bladder, so he sat down where he was and breathed
his last in the arms of his comrades, stretched like a worm upon
the ground and watering the earth with the blood that flowed from
his wound. The brave Paphlagonians tended him with all due care;
they raised him into his chariot, and bore him sadly off to the
city of Troy; his father went also with him weeping bitterly, but
there was no ransom that could bring his dead son to life again.

Paris was deeply grieved by the death of Harpalion, who was his
host when he went among the Paphlagonians; he aimed an arrow,
therefore, in order to avenge him. Now there was a certain man
named Euchenor, son of Polyidus the prophet, a brave man and
wealthy, whose home was in Corinth. This Euchenor had set sail
for Troy well knowing that it would be the death of him, for his
good old father Polyidus had often told him that he must either
stay at home and die of a terrible disease, or go with the
Achaeans and perish at the hands of the Trojans; he chose,
therefore, to avoid incurring the heavy fine the Achaeans would
have laid upon him, and at the same time to escape the pain and
suffering of disease. Paris now smote him on the jaw under his
ear, whereon the life went out of him and he was enshrouded in
the darkness of death.

Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. But Hector
had not yet heard, and did not know that the Argives were making
havoc of his men on the left wing of the battle, where the
Achaeans ere long would have triumphed over them, so vigorously
did Neptune cheer them on and help them. He therefore held on at
the point where he had first forced his way through the gates and
the wall, after breaking through the serried ranks of Danaan
warriors. It was here that the ships of Ajax and Protesilaus were
drawn up by the sea-shore; here the wall was at its lowest, and
the fight both of man and horse raged most fiercely. The
Boeotians and the Ionians with their long tunics, the Locrians,
the men of Phthia, and the famous force of the Epeans could
hardly stay Hector as he rushed on towards the ships, nor could
they drive him from them, for he was as a wall of fire. The
chosen men of the Athenians were in the van, led by Menestheus
son of Peteos, with whom were also Pheidas, Stichius, and
stalwart Bias; Meges son of Phyleus, Amphion, and Dracius
commanded the Epeans, while Medon and staunch Podarces led the
men of Phthia. Of these, Medon was bastard son to Oileus and
brother of Ajax, but he lived in Phylace away from his own
country, for he had killed the brother of his stepmother Eriopis,
the wife of Oileus; the other, Podarces, was the son of Iphiclus,
son of Phylacus. These two stood in the van of the Phthians, and
defended the ships along with the Boeotians.

Ajax son of Oileus, never for a moment left the side of Ajax, son
of Telamon, but as two swart oxen both strain their utmost at the
plough which they are drawing in a fallow field, and the sweat
steams upwards from about the roots of their horns--nothing but
the yoke divides them as they break up the ground till they reach
the end of the field--even so did the two Ajaxes stand shoulder
to shoulder by one another. Many and brave comrades followed the
son of Telamon, to relieve him of his shield when he was overcome
with sweat and toil, but the Locrians did not follow so close
after the son of Oileus, for they could not hold their own in a
hand-to-hand fight. They had no bronze helmets with plumes of
horse-hair, neither had they shields nor ashen spears, but they
had come to Troy armed with bows, and with slings of twisted wool
from which they showered their missiles to break the ranks of the
Trojans. The others, therefore, with their heavy armour bore the
brunt of the fight with the Trojans and with Hector, while the
Locrians shot from behind, under their cover; and thus the
Trojans began to lose heart, for the arrows threw them into
confusion.

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. Because heaven has so richly endowed you with the arts of
war, you think that you must therefore excel others in counsel;
but you cannot thus claim preeminence in all things. Heaven has
made one man an excellent soldier; of another it has made a
dancer or a singer and player on the lyre; while yet in another
Jove has implanted a wise understanding of which men reap fruit
to the saving of many, and he himself knows more about it than
any one; therefore I will say what I think will be best. The
fight has hemmed you in as with a circle of fire, and even now
that the Trojans are within the wall some of them stand aloof in
full armour, while others are fighting scattered and outnumbered
near the ships. Draw back, therefore, and call your chieftains
round you, that we may advise together whether to fall now upon
the ships in the hope that heaven may vouchsafe us victory, or to
beat a retreat while we can yet safely do so. I greatly fear that
the Achaeans will pay us their debt of yesterday in full, for
there is one abiding at their ships who is never weary of battle,
and who will not hold aloof much longer."

Thus spoke Polydamas, and his words pleased Hector well. He
sprang in full armour from his chariot and said, "Polydamas,
gather the chieftains here; I will go yonder into the fight, but
will return at once when I have given them their orders."

He then sped onward, towering like a snowy mountain, and with a
loud cry flew through the ranks of the Trojans and their allies.
When they heard his voice they all hastened to gather round
Polydamas, the excellent son of Panthous, but Hector kept on
among the foremost, looking everywhere to find Deiphobus and
prince Helenus, Adamas son of Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus;
living, indeed, and scatheless he could no longer find them, for
the two last were lying by the sterns of the Achaean ships, slain
by the Argives, while the others had been also stricken and
wounded by them; but upon the left wing of the dread battle he
found Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, cheering his men and
urging them on to fight. He went up to him and upbraided him.
"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!"

Alexandrus answered, "Hector, why find fault when there is no one
to find fault with? I should hold aloof from battle on any day
rather than this, for my mother bore me with nothing of the
coward about me. From the moment when you set our men fighting
about the ships we have been staying here and doing battle with
the Danaans. Our comrades about whom you ask me are dead;
Deiphobus and King Helenus alone have left the field, wounded
both of them in the hand, but the son of Saturn saved them alive.
Now, therefore, lead on where you would have us go, and we will
follow with right goodwill; you shall not find us fail you in so
far as our strength holds out, but no man can do more than in him
lies, no matter how willing he may be."

With these words he satisfied his brother, and the two went
towards the part of the battle where the fight was thickest,
about Cebriones, brave Polydamas, Phalces, Orthaeus, godlike
Polyphetes, Palmys, Ascanius, and Morys son of Hippotion, who had
come from fertile Ascania on the preceding day to relieve other
troops. Then Jove urged them on to fight. They flew forth like
the blasts of some fierce wind that strike earth in the van of a
thunderstorm--they buffet the salt sea into an uproar; many and
mighty are the great waves that come crashing in one after the
other upon the shore with their arching heads all crested with
foam--even so did rank behind rank of Trojans arrayed in gleaming
armour follow their leaders onward. The way was led by Hector son
of Priam, peer of murderous Mars, with his round shield before
him--his shield of ox-hides covered with plates of bronze--and
his gleaming helmet upon his temples. He kept stepping forward
under cover of his shield in every direction, making trial of the
ranks to see if they would give way before him, but he could not
daunt the courage of the Achaeans. Ajax was the first to stride
out and challenge him. "Sir," he cried, "draw near; why do you
think thus vainly to dismay the Argives? We Achaeans are
excellent soldiers, but the scourge of Jove has fallen heavily
upon us. Your heart, forsooth, is set on destroying our ships,
but we too have hands that can keep you at bay, and your own fair
town shall be sooner taken and sacked by ourselves. The time is
near when you shall pray Jove and all the gods in your flight,
that your steeds may be swifter than hawks as they raise the dust
on the plain and bear you back to your city."

As he was thus speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand, and
the host of the Achaeans shouted, for they took heart at the
omen. But Hector answered, "Ajax, braggart and false of tongue,
would that I were as sure of being son for evermore to
aegis-bearing Jove, with Queen Juno for my mother, and of being
held in like honour with Minerva and Apollo, as I am that this
day is big with the destruction of the Achaeans; and you shall
fall among them if you dare abide my spear; it shall rend your
fair body and bid you glut our hounds and birds of prey with your
fat and your flesh, as you fall by the ships of the Achaeans."

With these words he led the way and the others followed after
with a cry that rent the air, while the host shouted behind them.
The Argives on their part raised a shout likewise, nor did they
forget their prowess, but stood firm against the onslaught of the
Trojan chieftains, and the cry from both the hosts rose up to
heaven and to the brightness of Jove's presence.

BOOK XIV

Agamemnon proposes that the Achaeans should sail home, and
is rebuked by Ulysses--Juno beguiles Jupiter--Hector is
wounded.

NESTOR was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not
escape him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, "What, noble
Machaon, is the meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting
by our ships grow stronger and stronger; stay here, therefore,
and sit over your wine, while fair Hecamede heats you a bath and
washes the clotted blood from off you. I will go at once to the
look-out station and see what it is all about."

As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was
lying in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had
taken his father's shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod
spear, and as soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of
the Achaeans who, now that their wall was overthrown, were flying
pell-mell before the Trojans. 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. In the
end he deemed it best to go to the son of Atreus; but meanwhile
the hosts were fighting and killing one another, and the hard
bronze rattled on their bodies, as they thrust at one another
with their swords and spears.

The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son
of Atreus, fell in Nestor as they were coming up from their
ships--for theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting
was going on, being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been
beached first, while the wall had been built behind the
hindermost. The stretch of the shore, wide though it was, did not
afford room for all the ships, and the host was cramped for
space, therefore they had placed the ships in rows one behind the
other, and had filled the whole opening of the bay between the
two points that formed it. The kings, leaning on their spears,
were coming out to survey the fight, being in great anxiety, and
when old Nestor met them they were filled with dismay. 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. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles,
are in anger with me that they refuse to fight by the sterns of
our ships."

Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, "It is indeed as you say;
it is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders
from on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we
relied as an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The
Trojans are fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships;
look where you may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of
the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed in a confused mass
and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel
can be of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our
going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is
wounded."

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. I knew when Jove
was willing to defend us, and I know now that he is raising the
Trojans to like honour with the gods, while us, on the other
hand, he has bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all do
as I say; let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and
draw them into the water; let us make them fast to their
mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of night--if
even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may then
draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying
ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and
be saved than be caught and killed."

Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, "Son of Atreus, what are
you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other
and baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has
allotted a life of hard fighting from youth to old age, till we
every one of us perish. Is it thus that you would quit the city
of Troy, to win which we have suffered so much hardship? Hold
your peace, lest some other of the Achaeans hear you say what no
man who knows how to give good counsel, no king over so great a
host as that of the Argives should ever have let fall from his
lips. I despise your judgement utterly for what you have been
saying. Would you, then, have us draw down our ships into the
water while the battle is raging, and thus play further into the
hands of the conquering Trojans? It would be ruin; the Achaeans
will not go on fighting when they see the ships being drawn into
the water, but will cease attacking and keep turning their eyes
towards them; your counsel, therefore, sir captain, would be our
destruction."

Agamemnon answered, "Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the
heart. I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their
ships into the sea whether they will or no. Someone, it may be,
old or young, can offer us better counsel which I shall rejoice
to hear."

Then said Diomed, "Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek,
if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am
younger than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire,
Tydeus, who lies buried at Thebes. For Portheus had three noble
sons, two of whom, Agrius and Melas, abode in Pleuron and rocky
Calydon. The third was the knight Oeneus, my father's father, and
he was the most valiant of them all. Oeneus remained in his own
country, but my father (as Jove and the other gods ordained it)
migrated to Argos. He married into the family of Adrastus, and
his house was one of great abundance, for he had large estates of
rich corn-growing land, with much orchard ground as well, and he
had many sheep; moreover he excelled all the Argives in the use
of the spear. You must yourselves have heard whether these things
are true or no; therefore when I say well despise not my words as
though I were a coward or of ignoble birth. I say, then, let us
go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though we be. When
there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of the
spears lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have
already, but we can spur on others, who have been indulging their
spleen and holding aloof from battle hitherto."

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