Iliad

Thus in quiet slept the Father on topmost Gargarus, by sleep and love overmastered, and clasped in his arms his wife. But sweet Sleep set out to run to the ships of the Argivesto bear word to the Enfolder and Shaker of Earth. And he came up to him, and spake winged words, saying:

With a ready heart now, Poseidon, do thou bear aid to the Danaans, and vouchsafe them glory, though it be for a little space, while yet Zeus sleepeth; for over him have I shed soft slumber,and Hera hath beguiled him to couch with her in love.

Argives, are we again in good sooth to yield victory to Hector,son of Priam, that he may take the ships and win him glory? Nay, even so he saith, and vaunteth that it shall be, for that Achilles abideth by the hollow ships, filled with wrath at heart. Howbeit him shall we in no wise miss overmuch if we others bestir ourselves to bear aid one to the other.Nay, come, even as I shall bid, let us all obey. In the shields that are best in the host and largest let us harness ourselves, and our heads let us cover with helms all-gleaming, and in our hands take the longest spears, and so go forth. And I will lead the way, nor, methinks,will Hector, son of Priam, longer abide, how eager soever he be. And whoso is a man, staunch in fight, but hath a small shield on his shoulder, let him give it to a worser man, and himself harness him in a large shield.

So spake he, and they readily hearkened to him, and obeyed. And the kings themselves, albeit they were wounded, set them in array,even the son of Tydeus, and Odysseus, and Atreus' son Agamemnon. And going throughout all the host, they made exchange of battle-gear. In good armour did the good warrior harness him, and to the worse they gave the worse. Then when they had clothed their bodies in gleaming bronze, they set forth, and Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, led them,bearing in his strong hand a dread sword, long of edge, like unto the lightning, wherewith it is not permitted that any should mingle in dreadful war, but terror holds men aloof therefrom. But the Trojans over against them was glorious Hector setting in array. Then verily were strained the cords of war's most dreadful strifeby dark-haired Poseidon and glorious Hector, bearing aid the one to the Trojans, the other to the Argives. And the sea surged up to the huts and ships of the Argives, and the two sides clashed with a mighty din. Not so loudly bellows the wave of the sea upon the shore,driven up from the deep by the dread blast of the North Wind, nor so loud is the roar of blazing fire in the glades of a nuountain when it leapeth to burn the forest, nor doth the wind shriek so loud amid the high crests of the oaks—the wind that roareth the loudest in its rage—as then was the cry of Trojans and Achaeans, shouting in terrible wise as they leapt upon each other.

At Aias did glorious Hector first cast his spear, as he was turned full toward him, and missed him not, but smote him where the two baldrics—one of his shield and one of his silver-studded sword—were stretched across his breast; and they guarded his tender flesh. And Hector waxed wroth for that the swift shaft had flown vainly from his hand, and back he shrank into the throng of his comrades, avoiding fate. But thereupon as he drew back, great Telamonian Aias smote him with a stone;for many there were, props of the swift ships, that rolled amid their feet as they fought; of these he lifted one on high, and smote Hector on the chest over the shield-rim, hard by the neck, and set him whirling like a top with the blow; and he spun round and round. And even as when beneath the blast of father Zeus an oak falleth uprooted,and a dread reek of brimstone ariseth therefrom—then verily courage no longer possesseth him that looketh thereon and standeth near by, for dread is the bolt of great Zeus—even so fell mighty Hector forthwith to the ground in the dust. And the spear fell from his hand, but the shield was hurled upon him,and the helm withal, and round about him rang his armour dight with bronze. Then with loud shouts they ran up, the sons of the Achaeans, hoping to drag him off, and they hurled their spears thick and fast; but no one availed to wound the shepherd of the host with thrust or with cast, for ere that might be, the bravest stood forth to guard him,even Polydamas, and Aeneas, and goodly Agenor, and Sarpedon, leader of the Lycians, and peerless Glaucus withal, and of the rest was no man unheedful of him, but before him they held their round shields; and his comrades lifted him up in their arms and bare him forth from the toil of war until he came to the swift horsesthat stood waiting for him at the rear of the battle and the conflict, with their charioteer and chariot richly dight. These bare him groaning heavily toward the city. But when they were now come to the ford of the fair-flowing river, even eddying Xanthus, that immortal Zeus begat,there they lifted him from the chariot to the ground and poured water upon him. And he revived, and looked up with his eyes, and kneeling on his knees he vomited forth black blood. Then again he sank back upon the ground, and both his eyes were enfolded in black night; and the blow still overwhelmed his spirit.

But when the Argives saw Hector withdrawing, they leapt yet the more upon the Trojans, and bethought them of battle. Then far the first did swift Aias, son of Oïleus, leap upon Satnius and wound him with a thrust of his sharp spear, even the son of Enops, whom a peerless Naiad nymph conceivedto Enops, as he tended his herds by the banks of Satnioeis. To him did the son of Oïleus, famed for his spear, draw nigh, and smite him upon the flank; and he fell backward, and about him Trojans and Danaans joined in fierce conflict. To him then came Polydamas, wielder of the spear, to bear him aid,even the son of Panthous, and he cast and smote upon the right shoulder Prothoënor, son of Areïlycus, and through the shoulder the mighty spear held its way; and he fell in the dust and clutched the ground with his palm. And Polydamas exulted over him in terrible wise, and cried aloud:

Hah, methinks, yet again from the strong hand of the great-souled son of Panthoushath the spear leapt not in vain. Nay, one of the Argives hath got it in his flesh, and leaning thereon for a staff; methinks, will he go down into the house of Hades.

Bethink thee, Polydamas, and tell me in good sooth, was not this man worthy to be slain in requital for Prothoënor? No mean man seemeth he to me, nor of mean descent, but a brother of Antenor, tamer of horses, or haply a son; for he is most like to him in build.

So spake he, knowing the truth full well, and sorrow seized the hearts of the Trojans. Then Acamas, as he bestrode his brother, smote with a thrust of his spear the Boeotian Promachus, who was seeking to drag the body from beneath him by the feet. And over him Acamas exulted in terrible wise, and cried aloud:

Ye Argives, that rage with the bow, insatiate of threatenings,not for us alone, look you, shall there be toil and woe, but even in like manner shall ye too be slain. Mark how your Promachus sleepeth, vanquished by my spear, to the end that the blood-price of my brother be not long unpaid. Aye, and for this reason doth a man praythat a kinsman be left him in his halls, to be a warder off of ruin.

Tell, I pray you, ye Trojans, to the dear father and the mother of lordly Ilioneus to make wailing in their halls, for neither will the wife of Promachus, son of Alegenor, rejoice in the coming of her dear husband,when we youths of the Achdeans return with our ships from out of Troy-land.

So spake he, and thereat trembIing seized the limbs of them all, and each man gazed about to see how he might escape utter destruction. TeIl me now, ye Muses, that have dwellings on Olympus, who was first of the Achaeans to bear away the bloody spoils of warriors,when once the famed Shaker of Earth had turned the battle. Aias verily was first, the son of Telamon. He smote Hyrtius, the son of Gyrtius, leader of the Mysians stalwart of heart; and Antilochus stripped the spoils from Phalces and Mermerus, and Meriones slew Morys and Hippotion,and Teucer laid low Prothoön and Periphetes,; thereafter Atreus' son smote with a thrust in the flank Hyperenor, shepherd of the host, and the bronze let forth the bowels, as it clove through, and his soul sped hastening through the stricken wound, and darkness enfolded his eyes.But most men did Aias slay, the swift son of Oïleus; for there was none other like him to pursue with speed of foot amid the rout of men, when Zeus turned them to flight.

But when the Trojans in their flight had passed over the palisade and the trench, and many had been vanquished beneath the hands of the Danaans, then beside their chariots they stayed, and were halted, pale with fear, terror-stricken; and Zeus awokeon the peaks of Ida beside Hera of the golden throne. Then he sprang up, and stood, and saw Trojans alike and Achaeans, these in rout, and the Argives driving them on from the rear, and amid them the lord Poseidon. And Hector he saw lying on the plain, while about him sat his comrades,and he was gasping with painful breath, distraught in mind, and vomiting blood; for not the weakest of the Achaeans was it that had smitten him. At sight of him the father of men and gods had pity, and with a dread glance from beneath his brows he spake to Hera, saying:

Hera, that art hard to deal with, it is the craft of thine evil wilesthat hath stayed goodly Hector from the fight, and hath driven the host in rout. Verily I know not but thou shalt yet be the first to reap the fruits of thy wretched ill-contriving, and I shall scourge thee with stripes. Dost thou not remember when thou wast hung from on high, and from thy feet I suspended two anvils, and about thy wrists casta band of gold that might not be broken? And in the air amid the clouds thou didst hang, and the gods had indignation throughout high Olympus; howbeit they availed not to draw nigh and loose thee. Nay, whomsoever I caught, I would seize and hurl from the threshold until he reached the earth, his strength all spent. Yet not even so was my hearteased of its ceaseless pain for godlike Heracles, whom thou when thou hadst leagued thee with the North Wind and suborned his blasts, didst send over the unresting sea, by thine evil devising, and thereafter didst bear him away unto well-peopled Cos. Him did I save from thence, and brought againto horse-pasturing Argos, albeit after he had laboured sore. Of these things will I mind thee yet again, that thou mayest cease from thy beguilings, to the end that thou mayest see whether they anywise avail thee, the dalliance and the couch, wherein thou didst lie with me when thou hadst come forth from among the gods, and didst beguile me.

So spake he, and the ox-eyed, queenly Hera shuddered;and she spake and addressed him with winged words:

Hereto now be Earth my witness and the broad Heaven above, and the down-flowing water of Styx, which is the greatest and most dread oath for the blessed gods, and thine own sacred head, and the couch of us twain, couch of our wedded love,whereby I verily would never forswear myself —not by my will doth Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, work harm to the Trojans and Hector, and give succour to their foes. Nay, I ween, it is his own soul that urgeth and biddeth him on, and he hath seen the Achaeans sore-bested by their ships and taken pity upon them.But I tell thee, I would counsel even him to walk in that way, wherein thou, O lord of the dark cloud, mayest lead him.

If in good sooth, O ox-eyed, queenly Hera,thy thought hereafter were to be one with my thought as thou sittest among the immortals, then would Poseidon, how contrary soever his wish might be, forthwith bend his mind to follow thy heart and mine. But if verily thou speakest in frankness and in truth, go thou now among the tribes of gods and callIris to come hither, and Apollo, famed for his bow, that she may go amid the host of the brazen-coated Achaeans, and bid the lord Poseidon that he cease from war, and get him to his own house; but let Phoebus Apollo rouse Hector to the fight,and breathe strength into him again, and make him forget the pains that now distress his heart; and let him drive the Achaeans back once more, when he has roused in them craven panic; so shall they flee and fall among the many-benched ships of Achilles, son of Peleus, and he shall send forth his comradePatroclus, howbeit him shall glorious Hector slay with the spear before the face of Ilios, after himself hath slain many other youths, and among them withal my son, goodly Sarpedon. And in wrath for Patroclus shall goodly Achilles slay Hector. Then from that time forth shall I cause a driving back of the Trojans from the shipsevermore continually, until the Achaeans shall take steep Ilios through the counsels of Athene. But until that hour neither do I refrain my wrath, nor will I suffer any other of the immortals to bear aid to the Danaans here, until the desire of the son of Peleus be fulfilled,even as I promised at the first and bowed my head thereto, on the day when the goddess Thetis clasped my knees, beseeching me to do honour to Achilles, sacker of cities.

So spake he, and the goddess, white-armed Hera, failed not to hearken, but went her way from the mountains of Ida unto high Olympus.And even as swiftly darteth the mind of a man who hath travelled over far lands and thinketh in the wisdom of his heart,

Would I were here, or there,

Hera, wherefore art thou come? Thou art as one distraught. In good sooth the son of Cronos hath affrighted thee, he thine own husband.

Ask me not at large concerning this, O goddess Themis; of thyself thou knowest what manner of mood is his, how over-haughty and unbending.Nay, do thou begin for the gods the equal feast in the halls, and this shalt thou hear amid all the immortals, even what manner of evil deeds Zeus declareth. In no wise, methinks, will it delight in like manner the hearts of all, whether mortals or gods, if so be any even now still feasteth with a joyful mind.

Fools, that in our witlessness are wroth against Zeus!In sooth we are even yet fain to draw nigh unto him and thwart him of his will by word or by constraint, but he sitteth apart and recketh not, neither giveth heed thereto; for he deemeth that among the immortal gods he is manifestly supreme in might and strength. Wherefore content ye yourselves with whatsoever evil thing he sendeth upon each.Even now I deem that sorrow hath been wrought for Ares, seeing that his son, dearest of men to him, hath perished in battle, even Ascalaphus, whom mighty Ares declareth to be his own.

So spake she, but Ares smote his sturdy thighs with the flat of his hands, and with wailing spake, and said:

Count it not blame for me now, O ye that have dwellings on Olympus, if I go to the ships of the Achaeans and avenge the slaying of my son, even though it be my fate to be smitten with the bolt of Zeus, and to lie low in blood and dust amid the dead.

Thou madman, distraught of wit, thou art beside thyself! Verily it is for naught that thou hast ears for hearing, and thine understanding and sense of right are gone from thee.Hearest thou not what the goddess, white-armed Hera, saith, she that is but now come from Olympian Zeus? Wouldest thou thyself fulfill the measure of manifold woes, and so return to Olympus despite thy grief, perforce, and for all the rest sow the seeds of grievous woe?For he will forthwith leave the Trojans, high of heart, and the Achaeans, and will hie him to Olympus to set us all in tumult, and will lay hands upon each in turn, the guilty alike and him in whom is no guilt. Wherefore now I bid thee put away thy wrath for thine own son. For ere now many a one more excellent than he in might and strength of hand hath been slain,or will yet be slain; and a hard thing it is to preserve the lineage and offspring of men.

Zeus biddeth you twain go to Ida with all the speed ye may; and when ye have come, and looked upon the face of Zeus, then do ye whatsoever he may order and command.

When she had thus spoken queenly Hera returned againand sate her down upon her throne; and the twain sprang up and sped forth upon their way. To many-fountained Ida they came, mother of wild beasts, and found Zeus, whose voice is borne afar, seated on topmost Gargarus; and about him a fragrant cloud was wreathed. The twain then came before the face of Zeus, the cloud-gatherer,and at sight of them his heart waxed nowise wroth, for that they had speedily obeyed the words of his dear wife. And to Iris first he spake winged words:

Up, go, swift Iris; unto the lord Poseidon bear thou all these tidings, and see thou tell him true.Bid him cease from war and battle, and go to join the tribes of gods, or into the bright sea. And if so be he will not obey my words, but shall set them at naught, let him bethink him then in mind and heart, lest, how strong soever he be, he have no hardihood to abide my on-coming;for I avow me to be better far than he in might, and the elder born. Yet his heart counteth it but a little thing to declare himself the peer of me of whom even the other gods are adread.

A message for thee, O Earth-Enfolder, thou dark-haired god,have I come hither to bring from Zeus, that beareth the aegis. He biddeth thee cease from war and battle, and go to join the tribes of gods, or into the bright sea. And if so be thou wilt not obey his words, but shalt set them at naught, he threateneth that he will himself come hither to set his might against thine in battle;and he biddeth thee avoid thee out of his hands; for he avoweth him to be better far than thou in might, and the elder born. Yet thy heart counteth it but a little thing to declare thyself the peer of him, of whom even the other gods are adread.

Then, stirred to hot anger, the glorious Shaker of Earth spake unto her:

Out upon it, verily strong though he be he hath spoken overweeningly, if in sooth by force and in mine own despite he will restrain me that am of like honour with himself. For three brethren are we, begotten of Cronos, and born of Rhea,—Zeus, and myself, and the third is Hades, that is lord of the dead below. And in three-fold wise are all things divided, and unto each hath been apportioned his own domain.I verily, when the lots were shaken, won for my portion the grey sea to be my habitation for ever, and Hades won the murky darkness, while Zeus won the broad heaven amid the air and the clouds; but the earth and high Olympus remain yet common to us all. Wherefore will I not in any wise walk after the will of Zeus; nay in quietlet him abide in his third portion, how strong soever he be.And with might of hand let him not seek to affright me, as though I were some coward. His daughters and his sons were it better for him to threaten with blustering words, even them that himself begat, who perforce will hearken to whatsoever he may bid.

Is it thus in good sooth, O Earth-Enfolder, thou dark-haired god, that I am to bear to Zeus this message, unyielding and harsh, or wilt thou anywise turn thee; for the hearts of the good may be turned? Thou knowest how the Erinyes ever follow to aid the elder-born.

Goddess Iris, this word of thine is right fitly spoken; and a good thing verily is this, when a messenger hath an understanding heart. But herein dread grief cometh upon my heart and soul, whenso any is minded to upbraid with angry wordsone of like portion with himself, to whom fate hath decreed an equal share. Howbeit for this present will I yield, despite mine indignation; yet another thing will I tell thee, and make this threat in my wrath: if in despite of me, and of Athene, driver of the spoil,and of Hera, and Hermes, and lord Hephaestus, he shall spare steep Ilios, and shall be minded not to lay it waste, neither to give great might to the Argives, let him know this, that between us twain shall be wrath that naught can appease.

Then unto Apollo spake Zeus, the cloud-gatherer:

Go now, dear Phoebus, unto Hector, harnessed in bronze, for now is the Enfolder and Shaker of Earth gone into the bright sea, avoiding our utter wrath; else verily had others too heard of our strife,even the gods that are in the world below with Cronos. But this was better for both, for me and for his own self, that ere then he yielded to my hands despite his wrath, for not without sweat would the issue have been wrought. But do thou take in thine hands the tasselled aegis,and shake it fiercely over the Achaean warriors to affright them withal. And for thine own self, thou god that smitest afar, let glorious Hector be thy care, and for this time's space rouse in him great might, even until the Achaeans shall come in flight unto their ships and the Hellespont. From that moment will I myself contrive word and deed,to the end that yet again the Achaeans may have respite from their toil.

Hector, son of Priam, why is it that thou apart from the restabidest here fainting? Is it haply that some trouble is come upon thee?

Who of the gods art thou, mightiest one, that dost make question of me face to face? Knowest thou not that at the sterns of the Achaeans' ships as I made havoc of his comrades, Aias, good at the war-cry, smote meon the breast with a stone, and made me cease from my furious might? Aye, and I deemed that on this day I should behold the dead and the house of Hades, when I had gasped forth my life.

Then spake to him again the lord Apollo, that worketh afar:

Be now of good cheer, so mighty a helper hath the son of Cronossent forth from Ida to stand by thy side and succour thee, even me, Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, that of old ever protect thee, thyself and the steep citadel withal. But come now, bid thy many charioteers drive against the hollow ships their swift horses,and I will go before and make smooth all the way for the chariots, and will turn in flight the Achaean warriors.