Iliad

But as for valour, it is Zeus that increaseth it for men or minisheth it, even as himself willeth, seeing he is mightiest of all. But come, no longer let us talk thus like children,as we twain stand in the midst of the strife of battle. Revilings are there for both of us to utter, revilings full many; a ship of an hundred benches would not bear the load thereof. Glib is the tongue of mortals, and words there be therein many and manifold, and of speech the range is wide on this side and on that.Whatsoever word thou speakest, such shalt thou also hear. But what need have we twain to bandy strifes and wranglings one with the other like women, that when they have waxed wroth in soul-devouring strife go forth into the midst of the streetand wrangle one against the other with words true and false; for even these wrath biddeth them speak. But from battle, seeing I am eager therefor, shalt thou not by words turn me till we have fought with the bronze man to man; nay, come, let us forthwith make trial each of the other with bronze-tipped spears.

Then Achilles in his turn hurled his far-shadowing spear and smote upon Aeneas' shield that was well-balanced upon every side,beneath the outermost rim where the bronze ran thinnest, and thinnest was the backing of bull's-hide; and straight through sped the spear of Pelian ash, and the shield rang beneath the blow. And Aeneas cringed and held from him the shield, being seized with fear; and the spear passed over his back and was stayed in the groundfor all its fury, albeit it tore asunder two circles of the sheltering shield. And having escaped the long spear he stood up, and over his eyes measureless grief was shed, and fear came over him for that the spear was planted so nigh. But Achilles drew his sharp sword and leapt upon him furiously,crying a terrible cry; and Aeneas grasped in his hand a stone—a mighty deed—one that not two mortals could bear, such as men are now; yet lightly did he wield it even alone. Then would Aeneas have smitten him with the stone, as he rushed upon him, either on helm or on the shield that had warded from him woeful destruction,and the son of Peleus in close combat would with his sword have robbed Aeneas of life, had not Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, been quick to see. And forthwith he spake among the immortal gods, saying:

Now look you, verily have I grief for great-hearted Aeneas, who anon shall go down to the house of Hades,slain by the son of Peleus, for that he listened to the bidding of Apollo that smiteth afar—fool that he was! nor will the god in any wise ward from him woeful destruction. But wherefore should he, a guiltless man, suffer woes vainly by reason of sorrows that are not his own?—whereas he ever giveth acceptable gifts to the gods that hold broad heaven.Nay, come, let us head him forth from out of death, lest the son of Cronos be anywise wroth, if so be Achilles slay him; for it is ordained unto him to escape, that the race of Dardanus perish not without seed and be seen no more—of Dardanus whom the son of Cronos loved above all the children born to himfrom mortal women. For at length hath the son of Cronos come to hate the race of Priam; and now verily shall the mighty Aeneas be king among the Trojans, and his sons' sons that shall be born in days to come.

Then made answer to him the ox-eyed, queenly Hera:

Shaker of Earth, of thine own self take counsel in thine heart as touching Aeneas, whether thou wilt save him or suffer him to be slain for all his valour by Achilles, Peleus' son. We twain verily, even Pallas Athene and I,have sworn oaths full many among the immortals never to ward off from the Trojans the day of evil, nay, not when all Troy shall burn in the burning of consuming fire, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans shall be the burners thereof.

Aeneas, what god is it that thus biddeth thee in blindness of heart do battle man to man with the high-hearted son of Peleus, seeing he is a better man than thou, and therewithal dearer to the immortals? Nay, draw thou back, whensoever thou fallest in with him, lest even beyond thy doom thou enter the house of Hades. But when it shall be that Achilles hath met his death and fate, then take thou courage to fight among the foremost, for there is none other of the Achaeans that shall slay thee.

So saying he left him there, when he had told him all. Then quickly from Achilles' eyes he scattered the wondrous mist; and he stared hard with his eyes, and mightily moved spake unto his own great-hearted spirit:

Now look you, verily a great marvel is this that mine eyes behold.My spear lieth here upon the ground, yet the man may I nowise see at whom I hurled it, eager to slay him. Verily, it seemeth, Aeneas likewise is dear to the immortal gods, albeit I deemed that his boasting was idle and vain. Let him go his way! no heart shall he find to make trial of me again,seeing that now he is glad to have escaped from death. But come, I will call to the war-loving Danaans and go forth against the other Trojans to make trial of them.

No longer now stand ye afar from the Trojans, ye goodly Achaeans,but come, let man go forth against man and be eager for the fray. Hard is it for me, how mighty soever I be, to deal with men so many, and to fight them all; not even Ares, for all he is an immortal god, nor Athene could control by dint of toil the jaws of such a fray.Howbeit so far as I avail with hands and feet and might, in no wise, methiinks, shall I be slack, nay, not a whit; but straight through their line will I go, nor deem I that any of the Trojans will be glad, whosoever shall draw nigh my spear.

Ye Trojans, high of heart, fear not the son of Peleus I too with words could fight even the immortals, but with the spear it were hard, for they are mightier far, Neither shall Achilles bring to fulfillment all his words,but a part thereof will he fulfill, and a part leave incomplete. Against him will I go forth, though his hands be even as fire, though his hands be as fire and his fury as the flashing steel.

So spake he, urging them on; and the Trojans with their faces toward the foe lifted their spears on high, and the fury of both sides clashed confusedly, and the battle cry arose.Then Phoebus Apollo drew nigh to Hector, and spake, saying:

Hector, no longer do thou anywise stand forth as a champion against Achilles, but in the throng await thou him and from amid the din of conflict, lest so be he smite thee with a cast of his spear or with his sword in close combat.

Low thou liest, son of Otrynteus, of all men most dread;here is thy death, albeit thy birth was by the Gygaean lake, where is the demesne of thy fathers, even by Hyllus, that teems with fish, and eddying Hermus.

But when Hector beheld his brother Polydorus,clasping his bowels in his hand and sinking to earth, down over his eyes a mist was shed, nor might he longer endure to range apart, but strode against Achilles, brandishing his sharp spear, in fashion like a flame. But when Achilles beheld him, even then sprang he up and spake vauntingly:

Lo, nigh is the man, that above all hath stricken me to the heart, for that he slew the comrade I honoured. Not for long shall we any more shrink one from the other along the dykes of war.

Draw nigh, that thou mayest the sooner enter the toils of destruction.

Son of Peleus, think not with words to affright me, as I were a child, seeing I know well of myself to utter taunts and withal speech that is seemly. I know that thou art valiant, and I am weaker far than thou.Yet these things verily lie on the knees of the gods, whether I,albeit the weaker, shall rob thee of life with a cast of my spear; for my missile too hath been found keen ere now.

Now again, thou dog, art thou escaped from death, though verilythy bane came nigh thee; but once more hath Phoebus Apollo saved thee, to whom of a surety thou must make prayer, whenso thou goest amid the hurtling of spears. Verily I will yet make an end of thee, when I meet thee hereafter, if so be any god is helper to me likewise. But now will I make after others, whomsoever I may light upon.

So saying he smote Dryops full upon the neck with a thrust of his spear, and he fell down before his feet. But he left him there, and stayed from fight Demuchus, Philetor's son, a valiant man and tall, striking him upon the knee with a cast of his spear; and thereafter he smote him with his great sword, and took away his life.Then setting upon Laogonus and Dardanus, sons twain of Bias, he thrust them both from their chariot to the ground, smiting the one with a cast of his spear and the other with his sword in close fight. Then Tros, Alastor's son—he came to clasp his knees, if so be he would spare him, by taking him captive, and let him go alive,and slay him not, having pity on one of like age, fool that he was! nor knew, he this, that with him was to be no hearkening; for nowise soft of heart or gentle of mind was the man, but exceeding fierce— he sought to clasp Achilles' knees with his hands, fain to make his prayer; but he smote him upon the liver with his sword, and forth the liver slipped,and the dark blood welling forth therefrom filled his bosom; and darkness enfolded his eyes, as he swooned. Then with his spear Achilles drew nigh unto Mulius and smote him upon the ear, and clean through the other ear passed the spear-point of bronze. Then smote he Agenor's son Echeclusfull upon the head with his hilted sword, and all the blade grew warm with his blood, and down over his eyes came dark death and mighty fate. Thereafter Deucalion, at the point where the sinews of the elbow join, even there pierced he him through the armwith spear-point of bronze; and he abode his oncoming with arm weighed down, beholding death before him; but Achilles, smiting him with the sword upon his neck, hurled afar his head and therewithal his helmet; and the marrow spurted forth from the spine, and the corpse lay stretched upon the ground. Then went he on after the peerless son of Peires,even Rhigmus, that had come from deep-soiled Thrace. Him he smote in the middle with a cast of his spear, and the bronze was fixed in his belly; and he fell forth from out his car. And Areithous, his squire, as he was turning round the horses, did Achilles pierce in the back with his sharp spear, and thrust him from the car; and the horses ran wild.

As through the deep glens of a parched mountainside rageth wondrous-blazing fire, and the deep forest burneth, and the wind as it driveth it on whirleth the flame everywhither, even so raged he everywhither with his spear, like some god, ever pressing hard upon them that he slew; and the black earth ran with blood.And as a man yoketh bulls broad of brow to tread white barley in a well-ordered threshing-floor, and quickly is the grain trodden out beneath the feet of the loud-bellowing bulls; even so beneath great-souled Achilles his single-hooved horses trampled alike on the dead and on the shields; and with bloodwas all the axle sprinkled beneath, and the rims round about the car, for drops smote upon them from the horses' hooves and from the tires. But the son of Peleus pressed on to win him glory, and with gore were his invincible hands bespattered.

But when they were now come to the ford of the fair-flowing river, even eddying Xanthus that immortal Zeus begat, there Achilles cleft them asunder, and the one part he drave to the plain toward the city, even where the Achaeans were fleeing in routthe day before, what time glorious Hector was raging—thitherward poured forth some in rout, and Hera spread before them a thick mist to hinder them; but the half of them were pent into the deep-flowing river with its silver eddies. Therein they flung themselves with a great din, and the sheer-falling streams resounded,and the banks round about rang loudly; and with noise of shouting swam they this way and that, whirled about in the eddies. And as when beneath the onrush of fire locusts take wing to flee unto a river, and the unwearied fire burneth them with its sudden oncoming, and they shrink down into the water;even so before Achilles was the sounding stream of deep-eddying Xanthus filled confusedly with chariots and with men. But the Zeus-begotten left there his spear upon the bank, leaning against the tamarisk bushes, and himself leapt in like a god with naught but his sword; and grim was the work he purposed in his heart, and turning him this wayand that he smote and smote; and from them uprose hideous groaning as they were smitten with the sword, and the water grew red with blood. And as before a dolphin, huge of maw, other fishes flee and fill the nooks of some harbour of fair anchorage in their terror, for greedily doth he devour whatsoever one he catcheth;even so cowered the Trojans in the streams of the dread river beneath the steep banks. And he, when his hands grew weary of slaying, chose twelve youths alive from out the river as blood-price for dead Patroclus, son of Menoetius. These led he forth dazed like fawns,and bound their hands behind them with shapely thongs, which they themselves wore about their pliant tunics, and gave them to his comrades to lead to the hollow ships. Then himself he sprang back again, full eager to slay.

There met he a son of Dardanian Priamfleeing forth from the river, even Lycaon, whom on a time he had himself taken and brought sore against his will, from his father's orchard being come forth in the night; he was cutting with the sharp bronze the young shoots of a wild fig-tree, to be the rims of a chariot; but upon him, an unlooked-for bane, came goodly Achilles.For that time had he sold him into well-built Lemnos, bearing him thither on his ships, and the son of Jason had given a price for him; but from thence a guest-friend had ransomed him— and a great price he gave—even Eetion of Imbros, and had sent him unto goodly Arisbe; whence he had fled forth secretly and come to the house of his fathers.For eleven days' space had he joy amid his friends, being come forth from Lemnos; but on the twelfth a god cast him once more into the hands of Achilles, who was to send him to the house of Hades, loath though he was to go. When the swift-footed, goodly Achilles was ware of him,all unarmed, without helm or shield, nor had he a spear, but had thrown all these from him to the ground; for the sweat vexed him as he sought to flee from out the river, and weariness overmastered his knees beneath him; then, mightily moved, Achilles spake unto his own great-hearted spirit:

Now look you, verily a great marvel is this that mine eyes behold!In good sooth the great-hearted Trojans that I have slain will rise up again from beneath the murky darkness, seeing this man is thus come back and hath escaped the pitiless day of doom, albeit he was sold into sacred Lemnos; neither hath the deep of the grey sea stayed him, that holdeth back full many against their will.Nay, but come, of the point of our spear also shall he taste, that I may see and know in heart whether in like manner he will come back even from beneath, or whether the life-giving earth will hold him fast, she that holdeth even him that is strong.

So pondered he, and abode; but the other drew nigh him, dazed,eager to touch his knees, and exceeding fain of heart was he to escape from evil death and black fate. Then goodly Achilles lifted on high his long spear, eager to smite him, but Lycaon stooped and ran thereunder, and clasped his knees; and the spear passed over his back and was stayed in the ground,albeit fain to glut itself with the flesh of man. Then Lycaon besought him, with the one hand clasping his knees while with the other he held the sharp spear, and would not let it go; and he spake and addressed him with winged words:

I beseech thee by thy knees, Achilles, and do thou respect me and have pity; in thine eyes, O thounurtured of Zeus, am I even as a sacred suppliant, for at thy table first did I eat of the grain of Demeter on the day when thou didst take me captive in the well-ordered orchard, and didst lead me afar from father and from friends, and sell me into sacred Lemnos; and I fetched thee the price of an hundred oxen.Lo, now have I bought my freedom by paying thrice as much, and this is my twelfth morn since I came to Ilios, after many sufferings; and now again has deadly fate put me in thy hands; surely it must be that I am hated of father Zeus, seeing he hath given me unto thee again;and to a brief span of life did my mother bear me, even Laothoe, daughter of the old man Altes,—Altes that is lord over the war-loving Leleges, holding steep Pedasus on the Satnioeis. His daughter Priam had to wife, and therewithal many another, and of her we twain were born, and thou wilt butcher us both.Him thou didst lay low amid the foremost foot-men, even godlike Polydorus, when thou hadst smitten him with a cast of thy sharp spear, and now even here shall evil come upon me; for I deem not that I shall escape thy hands, seeing a god hath brought me nigh thee. Yet another thing will I tell thee, and do thou lay it to heart:slay me not; since I am not sprung from the same womb as Hector, who slew thy comrade the kindly and valiant.

So spake to him the glorious son of Priam with words of entreaty, but all ungentle was the voice he heard:

Fool, tender not ransom to me, neither make harangue.Until Patroclus met his day of fate, even till then was it more pleasing to me to spare the Trojans, and full many I took alive and sold oversea; but now is there not one that shall escape death, whomsoever before the walls of Ilios God shall deliver into my hands—aye, not one among all the Trojans, and least of all among the sons of Priam. Nay, friend, do thou too die; why lamentest thou thus? Patroclus also died, who was better far than thou. And seest thou not what manner of man am I, how comely and how tall? A good man was my father, and a goddess the mother that bare me; yet over me too hang death and mighty fate.There shall come a dawn or eve or mid-day, when my life too shall some man take in battle, whether he smite me with cast of the spear, or with an arrow from the string.

Lie there now among the fishes that shall lick the blood from thy wound, nor reck aught of thee,[*](1) neither shall thy mother lay thee on a bier and make lament;nay, eddying Scamander shall bear thee into the broad gulf of the sea. Many a fish as he leapeth amid the waves, shall dart up beneath the black ripple to eat the white fat of Lycaon. So perish ye, till we be come to the city of sacred Ilios, ye in flight, and I making havoc in your rear.Not even the fair-flowing river with his silver eddies shall aught avail you, albeit to him, I ween, ye have long time been wont to sacrifice bulls full many, and to cast single-hooved horses while yet they lived.[*](1) into his eddies. Howbeit even so shall ye perish by an evil fate till ye have all paid the price for the slaying of Patroclus and for the woe of the Achaeans,whom by the swift ships ye slew while I tarried afar.

So spake he, and the river waxed the more wroth at heart, and pondered in mind how he should stay goodly Achilles from his labour and ward off ruin from the Trojans. Meanwhile the son of Peleus bearing his far-shadowing spear leapt, eager to slay him,upon Asteropaeus, son of Pelegon, that was begotten of wide-flowing Axius and Periboea, eldest of the daughters of Acessamenus; for with her lay the deep-eddying River. Upon him rushed Achilles, and Asteropaeusstood forth from the river to face him, holding two spears; and courage was set in his heart by Xanthus, being wroth because of the youths slain in battle, of whom Achilles was making havoc along the stream and had no pity. But when they were come near, as they advanced one against the other, then finst unto Asteropaeus spake swift-footed, goodly Achilles:

Who among men art thou, and from whence, that thou darest come forth against me? Unhappy are they whose children face my might.

Great-souled son of Peleus, wherefore enquirest thou of my lineage? I come from deep-soiled Paeonia, a land afar,leading the Paeonians with their long spears, and this is now my eleventh morn, since I came to Ilios. But my lineage is from wide-flowing Axius—Axius, the water whereof flows the fairest over the face of the earth—who begat Pelegon famed for his spear, and he, men say,was my father. Now let us do battle, glorious Achilles.

So spake he threatening, but goodly Achilles raised on high the spear of Pelian ash; howbeit the warrior Asteropaeus hurled with both spears at once, for he was one that could use both hands alike. With the one spear he smote the shield,but it brake not through, for the gold stayed it, the gift of the god and with the other he smote the right forearm of Achilles a grazing blow, and the black blood gushed forth; but the spear-point passed above him and fixed itself in the earth, fain to glut itself with flesh. Then Achilles in his turn hurledat Asteropaeus his straight-flying spear of ash, eager to slay him but missed the man and struck the high bank and up to half its length he fixed in the bank the spear of ash. But the son of Peleus, drawing his sharp sword from beside his thigh, leapt upon him furiously,and the other availed not to draw in his stout hand the ashen spear of Achilles forth from out the bank. Thrice he made it quiver in his eagerness to draw it, and thrice he gave up his effort; but the fourth time his heart was fain to bend and break the ashen spear of the son of Aeacus; howbeit ere that might be Achilles drew nigh and robbed him of life with his sword.In the belly he smote him beside the navel, and forth upon the ground gushed all his bowels, and darkness enfolded his eyes as he lay gasping. And Achilles leapt upon his breast and despoiled him of his arms, and exulted saying:

Lie as thou art! Hard is itto strive with the children of the mighty son of Cronos, albeit for one begotten of a River. Thou verily declarest that thy birth is from the wide-flowing River, whereas I avow me to be of the lineage of great Zeus. The father that begat me is one that is lord among the many Myrmidons, even Peleus, son of Aeacus; and Aeacus was begotten of Zeus.Wherefore as Zeus is mightier than rivers that murmur seaward, so mightier too is the seed of Zeus than the seed of a river. For lo, hard beside thee is a great River, if so be he can avail thee aught; but it may not be that one should fight with Zeus the son of Cronos. With him doth not even king Achelous vie,nor the great might of deep-flowing Ocean, from whom all rivers flow and every sea, and all the springs and deep wells; howbeit even he hath fear of the lightning of great Zeus, and his dread thunder, whenso it crasheth from heaven.

He spake, and drew forth from the bank his spear of bronze, and left Asteropaeus where he was, when he had robbed him of his life, lying in the sands; and the dark water wetted him. With him then the eels and fishes dealt, plucking and tearing the fat about his kidneys;but Achilles went his way after the Paeonians, lords of chariots, who were still huddled in rout along the eddying river, when they saw their best man mightily vanquished in the fierce conflict beneath the hands and sword of the son of Peleus. There slew he Thersilochus and Mydon and Astypylusand Mnesus and Thrasius and Aenius and Ophelestes; and yet more of the Paeonians would swift Achilles have slain, had not the deep-eddying River waxed wroth and called to him in the semblance of a man, sending forth a voice from out the deep eddy:

O Achilles, beyond men art thou in might, and beyond men doest deeds of evil;for ever do the very gods give thee aid. If so be the son of Cronos hath granted thee to slay all the men of Troy, forth out of my stream at least do thou drive them, and work thy direful work on the plain. Lo, full are my lovely streams with dead men, nor can I anywise avail to pour my waters forth into the bright sea,being choked with dead, while thou ever slayest ruthlessly. Nay, come, let be; amazement holds me, thou leader of hosts.

Thus shall it be, Scamander, nurtured of Zeus, even as thou biddest. Howbeit the proud Trojan will I not cease to slayuntil I have pent them in their city, and have made trial of Hector, man to man, whether he shall slay me or I him.

Out upon it, thou lord of the silver bow, child of Zeus, thou verily hast not kept the commandmentof the son of Cronos, who straitly charged thee to stand by the side of the Trojans and to succour them, until the late-setting star of even shall have come forth and darkened the deep-soiled earth.

He spake, and Achilles, famed for his spear, sprang from the bank and leapt into his midst; but the River rushed upon him with surging flood, and roused all his streams tumultuously, and swept along the many deadthat lay thick within his bed, slain by Achilles; these lie cast forth to the land, bellowing the while like a bull, and the living he saved under his fair streams, hiding them in eddies deep and wide.In terrible wise about Achilles towered the tumultuous wave, and the stream as it beat upon his shield thrust him backward, nor might he avail to stand firm upon his feet. Then grasped he an elm, shapely and tall, but it fell uprooted and tore away all the bank, and stretched over the fair streamswith its thick branches, and dammed the River himself, falling all within him; but Achilles, springing forth from the eddy hasted to fly with swift feet over the plain, for he was seized with fear. Howbeit the great god ceased not, but rushed upon him with dark-crested wave, that he might staygoodly Achilles from his labour, and ward off ruin from the Trojans. But the son of Peleus rushed back as far as a spear-cast with the swoop of a black eagle, the mighty hunter, that is alike the strongest and swiftest of winged things; like him he darted, and upon his breastthe bronze rang terribly, while he swerved from beneath the flood and fled ever onward, and the River followed after, flowing with a mighty roar. As when a man that guideth its flow leadeth from a dusky spring a stream of water amid his plants and garden-lots a mattock in his hands and cleareth away the dams from the channel—and as it floweth all the pebbles beneath are swept along therewith, and it glideth swiftly onward with murmuring sound down a sloping place and outstrippeth even him that guideth it;—even thus did the flood of the Riverever overtake Achilles for all he was fleet of foot; for the gods are mightier than men. And oft as swift-footed, goodly Achilles strove to make stand against him and to learn if all the immortals that hold broad heaven were driving him in rout, so often would the great flood of the heaven-fed River beat upon his shoulders from above; and he would spring on high with his feetin vexation of spirit, and the River was ever tiring his knees with its violent flow beneath, and was snatching away the ground from under his feet.

Then the son of Peleus uttered a bitter cry, with a look at the broad heaven:

Father Zeus, how is it that no one of the gods taketh it upon him in my pitiless plight to save me from out the River! thereafter let come upon me what may.None other of the heavenly gods do I blame so much, but only my dear mother, that beguiled me with false words, saying that beneath the wall of the mail-clad Trojans I should perish by the swift missiles of Apollo. Would that Hector had slain me, the best of the men bred here;then had a brave man been the slayer, and a brave man had he slain. But now by a miserable death was it appointed me to be cut off, pent in the great river, like a swine-herd boy whom a torrent sweepeth away as he maketh essay to cross it in winter.

Son of Peleus, tremble not thou overmuch, neither be anywise afraid, such helpers twain are we from the gods—and Zeus approveth thereof —even I and Pallas Athene. Therefore is it not thy doom to be vanquished by a river; nay, he shall soon give respite, and thou of thyself shalt know it. But we will give thee wise counsel, if so be thou wilt hearken. Make not thine hands to cease from evil battleuntil within the famed walls of Ilios thou hast pent the Trojan host, whosoever escapeth. But for thyself, when thou hast bereft Hector of life, come thou back to the ships; lo, we grant thee to win glory.

When the twain had thus spoken, they departed to the immortals, but he went ontoward the plain, or mightily did the bidding of the gods arouse him; and the whole plain was filled with a flood of water, and many goodly arms and corpses of youths slain in battle were floating there. But on high leapt his knees, as he rushed straight on against the flood, nor might the wide-flowing River stay him; for Athene put in him great strength.Nor yet would Scamander abate his fury, but was even more wroth against the son of Peleus, and raising himself on high he made the surge of his flood into a crest, and he called with a shout to Simois:

Dear brother, the might of this man let us stay, though it need the two of us, seeing presently he will lay waste the great city of king Priam,neither will the Trojans abide him in battle. Nay, bear thou aid with speed, and fill thy streams with water from thy springs, and arouse all thy torrents; raise thou a great wave, and stir thou a mighty din of tree-trunks and stones, that we may check this fierce manthat now prevaileth, and is minded to vie even with the gods. For I deem that his strength shall naught avail him, neither anywise his comeliness, nor yet that goodly armour, which, I ween, deep beneath the mere shall lie covered over with slime; and himself will I enwrap in sands and shed over him great store of shinglepast all measuring; nor shall the Achaeans know where to gather his bones, with such a depth of silt shall I enshroud him. Even here shall be his sepulchre, nor shall he have need of a heaped-up mound, when the Achaeans make his funeral.

He spake, and rushed tumultuously upon Achilles, raging on highand seething with foam and blood and dead men. And the dark flood of the heaven-fed River rose towering above him, and was at point to overwhelm the son of Peleus. But Hera called aloud, seized with fear for Achilles, lest the great deep-eddying River should sweep him away.And forthwith she spake unto Hephaestus, her dear son:

Rouse thee, Crook-foot, my child! for it was against thee that we deemed eddying Xanthus to be matched in fight.[*](1) Nay, bear thou aid with speed, and put forth thy flames unstintedly.But I will hasten and rouse from the sea a fierce blast of the West Wind and the white South, that shall utterly consume the dead Trojans and their battle gear, ever driving on the evil flame; and do thou along the banks of Xanthus burn up his trees, and beset him about with fire, nor let him anywise turn thee back with soft words or with threatenings;neither stay thou thy fury, save only when I call to thee with a shout; then do thou stay thy unwearied fire.

Hephaestus, there is none of the gods that can vie with thee, nor will I fight thee, ablaze with fire as thou art. Cease thou from strife,, and as touching the Trojans, let goodly Achilles forthwithdrive them forth from out their city; what part have I in strife or in bearing aid?

So spake he, burning the while with fire, and his fair streams were seething. And as a cauldron boileth within, when the fierce flame setteth upon it, while it melteth the lard of a fatted hog, and it bubbleth in every part, and dry faggots are set thereunder;so burned in fire his fair streams, and the water boiled; nor had he any mind to flow further onward, but was stayed; for the blast of the might of wise-hearted Hephaestus distressed him. Then with instant prayer he spake winged words unto Hera:

Hera, wherefore hath thy son beset my stream to afflict itbeyond all others? I verily am not so much at fault in thine eyes, as are all those others that are helpers of the Trojans. Howbeit I will refrain me, if so thou biddest, and let him also refrain. And I will furthermore swear this oath, never to ward off from the Trojans the day of evil,nay, not when all Troy shall burn with the burning of consuming fire, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans shall be the burners thereof.

Hephaestus, withhold thee, my glorious son; it is nowise seemlythus to smite an immortal god for mortals' sake.

Wherefore now again, thou dog-fly,art thou making gods to clash with gods in strife, in the fierceness[*](1) of thy daring, as thy proud spirit sets thee on? Rememberest thou not what time thou movedst Diomedes, Tydeus' son, to wound me, and thyself in the sight of all didst grasp the spear and let drive straight at me, and didst rend my fair flesh? Therefore shalt thou now methinks, pay the full price of all that thou hast wrought.