Iliad

He spake, and hurled his spear swiftly and smote a foremost warrior, a comrade of great-souled Aeneas, Deïcoön,son of Pergasus, whom the Trojans honoured even as the sons of Priam, for that he was swift to fight amid the foremost. Him did lord Agamemnon smite with his spear upon the shield, and this stayed not the spear, but clean through it passed the bronze, and into the lower belly he drave it through the belt;and he fell with a thud, and upon him his armour clanged. Then Aeneas slew two champions of the Danaans, the sons of Diocles, Crethon and Orsilochus, whose father dwelt in well-built Pheme, a man rich in substance, and in lineage was he sprung from the riverAlpheius that flows in broad stream through the land of the Pylians, and that begat Orsilochus to be king over many men. And Orsilochus begat greatsouled Diocles, and of Diocles were born twin sons, Crethon and Orsilochus, well skilled in all manner of fighting.Now when the twain had reached manhood, they followed with the Argives on the black ships to Ilios famed for its horses, seeking to win recompense for the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus; but their own selves in that land did the doom of death enfold. Like them two lions upon the mountain topsare reared by their dam in the thickets of a deep wood; and the twain snatch cattle and goodly sheep and make havoc of the farmsteads of men, until themuselves are slain by the hands of men with the sharp bronze; even in such wise were these twain vanquished beneath the hands of Aeneas, and fell like tall fir-trees. But as they fell Menelaus dear to Ares had pity for them, and strode through the foremost fighters, harnessed in flaming bronze and brandishing his spear; and Ares roused his might with intent that he might be vanquished beneath the hands of Aeneas.But Antilochus, son of great-souled Nestor, beheld him, and strode through the foremost fighters; for greatly did he fear for the shepherd of the host, lest aught befall him, and he utterly thwart them of their toil. Now the twain were holding forth their hands and their sharp spears each against the other, fain to do battle,when Antilochus came close beside the shepheard of the host. Then Aeneas abode not, swift warrior though he was, when he beheld the two holding their ground side by side; and they, when they had dragged the dead to the host of the Achaeans, laid the hapless pair in the arms of their comrades,and themselves turned back and fought amid the foremost.

Then the twain slew Pylaemenes, peer of Ares, the leader of the great-souled Paphlagonian shieldmen. Him as he stood still, the son of Atreus, spear-famed Menelaus, pierced with his spear, smiting him upon the collar-bone;and Antilochus made a cast at Mydon, his squire and charioteer, the goodly son of Atymnius, even as he was turning the single-hooved horses, and smote him with a stone full upon the elbow; and the reins, white with ivory, fell from his hands to the ground in the dust. Then Antilochus leapt upon him and drave his sword into his temple,and gasping he fell forth from out the well-built car headlong in the dust on his head and shoulders. Long time he stood there—for he lighted on deep sand—until his horses kicked him and cast him to the ground in the dust; and them Antilochus lashed, and drave into the host of the Achaeans. But Hector marked them across the ranks, and rushed upon them shouting aloud, and with him followed the strong battalions of the Trojans; and Ares led them and the queen Enyo, she bringing ruthless Din of War,[*](239.1) while Ares wielded in his hands a monstrous spear,and ranged now in front of Hector and now behind him. At sight of him Diomedes, good at the war-cry shuddered; and even as a man in passing over a great plain halteth in dismay at a swift-streaming river that floweth on to the sea, and seeing it seething with foam starteth backward,even so now did the son of Tydeus give ground, and he spake to the host:

Friends, look you how we were ever wont to marvel at goodly Hector, deeming him a spearman and a dauntless warrior; whereas ever by his side is some god that wardeth from him ruin, even as now Ares is by his side in the likeness of a mortal man.But with faces turned toward the Trojans give ye ground ever backwards, neither rage ye to fight amain with gods.

So these toiled in the mighty conflict, but Tlepolemus, son of Heracles, a valiant man and tall, was roused by resistless fate against godlike Sarpedon.And when they were come near as they advanced one against the other, the son and grandson of Zeus the cloud-gatherer, then Tlepolemus was first to speak, saying:

Sarpedon, counsellor of the Lycians, why must thou be skulking here, that art a man unskilled in battle?They speak but a lie that say thou art sprung from Zeus that beareth the aegis, seeing thou art inferior far to those warriors that were sprung from Zeus in the days of men of old. Of other sort, men say, was mighty Heracles, my father, staunch in fight, the lionhearted,who on a time came hither by reason of the mares of Laomedon with but six ships and a scantier host, yet sacked the city of Ilios and made waste her streets. But thine is a coward's heart, and thy people are minishing. In no wise methinks shall thy coming from Lycia prove a defence to the men of Troy,though thou be never so strong, but thou shalt be vanquished by my hand and pass the gates of Hades.

Tlepolemus, thy sire verily destroyed sacred Ilios through the folly of the lordly man, Laomedon,who chid with harsh words him that had done him good service, and rendered him not the mares for the sake of which he had come from afar. But for thee, I deem that death and black fate shall here be wrought by my hands, and that vanquished beneath my spear thou shalt yield glory to me, and thy soul to Hades of the goodly steeds.

And on the other side the well-greaved Achaeans bare Tlepolemus from out the fight, and goodly Odysseusof the enduring soul was ware of it, and his spirit waxed furious within him; and he pondered then in heart and soul whether he should pursue further after the son of Zeus that thundereth aloud, or should rather take the lives of more Lycians. But not for great-hearted Odysseus was it ordainedto slay with the sharp bronze the valiant son of Zeus; wherefore Athene turned his mind toward the host of the Lycians. Then slew he Coeranus and Alastor and Chromius and Alcandrus and Halius and Noëmon and Prytanis; and yet more of the Lycians would goodly Odysseus have slain,but that great Hector of the flashing helm was quick to see, and strode through the foremost fighters harnessed in flaming bronze, bringing terror to the Danaans.Then glad at his coming was Sarpedon, son of Zeus, and spake to him a piteous word:

Son of Priam, suffer me not to lie here a prey to the Danaans, but bear me aid; thereafter, if need be, let life depart from me in your city, seeing it might not be that I should return home to mine own native land to make glad my dear wife and infant son.

But when the goddess, white-armed Hera, was ware of them as they made havoc of the Argives in the fierce conflict, forthwith she spake winged words to Athene:

Out upon it, thou child of Zeus that beareth the aegis, unwearied one,verily it was for naught that we pledged our word to Menelaus, that not until he had sacked well-walled Ilios should he get him home, if we are to suffer baneful Ares thus to rage. Nay, come, let us twain likewise bethink us of furious valour.

Father Zeus, hast thou no indignation with Ares for these violent deeds, that he hath destroyed so great and so goodly a host of the Achaeans recklessly and in no seemly wise to my sorrow;while at their ease Cypris and Apollo of the silver bow take their joy, having set on this madman that regardeth not any law? Father Zeus, wilt thou in any wise be wroth with me if I smite Ares in sorry fashion and drive him out of the battle?

Then in answer spake to her Zeus, the cloud-gatherer:

Nay, come now, rouse against him Athene, driver of the spoil, who has ever been wont above others to bring sore pain upon him.

Fie, ye Argives, base things of shame fair in semblance only! So long as goodly Achilles was wont to fare into battle, never would the Trojans come forth even before the Dardanian gate;for of his mighty spear had they dread; but now far from the city they are fighting at the hollow ships.

So saying she roused the strength and spirit of every man. And to the side of Tydeus' son sprang the goddess, flashing-eyed Athene. She found that prince beside his horses and car,cooling the wound that Pandarus had dealt him with his arrow. For the sweat vexed him beneath the broad baldric of his round shield; therewith was he vexed and his arm grew weary, so he was lifting up the baldric and wiping away the dark blood. Then the goddess laid hold of the yoke of his horses, and said:

Verily little like himself was the son that Tydeus begat. Tydeus was small in stature, but a warrior. Even when I would not suffer him to fight or make a show of prowess, what time he came, and no Achaean with him, on an embassage to Thebes into the midst of the many Cadmeians—I bade him feast in their halls in peace—yet he having his valiant soul as of old challenged the youths of the Cadmeians and vanquished them in everything full easily; so ' present a helper was I to him. But as for thee, I verily stand by thy side and guard thee,and of a ready heart I bid thee fight with the Trojans, yet either hath weariness born of thy many onsets entered into thy limbs, or haply spiritless terror possesseth thee. Then art thou no offspring of Tydeus, the wise-hearted son of Oeneus.

I know thee, daughter of Zeus that beareth the aegis; therefore with a ready heart will I tell thee my thought and hide it not. In no wise doth spiritless terror possess me nor any slackness, but I am still mindful of thy behest which thou didst lay upon me. Thou wouldest not suffer me to fight face to face with the other blessed gods,but if Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus should enter the battle, her thou badest me smite with the sharp bronze. Therefore it is that I now give ground myself and have given command to all the rest of the Argives to be gathered here likewise; for I discern Ares lording it over the battle-field.

Son of Tydeus, Diomedes, dear to my heart, fear thou not Ares for that, neither any other of the immortals; so present a helper am I to thee. Nay, come, at Ares first drive thou thy single-hooved horses,and smite him in close fight, neither have thou awe of furious Ares that raveth here a full-wrought bane, a renegade, that but now spake with me and Hera, and made as though he would fight against the Trojans but give aid to the Argives; yet now he consorteth with the Trojans and hath forgotten these.

So saying, with her hand she drew back Sthenelus, and thrust him from the car to earth, and he speedily leapt down; and she stepped upon the car beside goodly Diomedes, a goddess eager for battle. Loudly did the oaken axle creak beneath its burden, for it bare a dread goddess and a peerless warrior.Then Pallas Athene grasped the lash and the reins, and against Ares first she speedily drave the single-hooved horses. He was stripping of his armour huge Periphas that was far the best of the Aetolians, the glorious son of Ochesius. Him was blood-stained Ares stripping; but Atheneput on the cap of Hades, to the end that mighty Ares should not see her. Now when Ares, the bane of mortals, was ware of goodly Diomedes, he let be huge Periphas to lie where he was, even where at the first he had slain him and taken away his life but made straight for Diomedes, tamer of horses.And when they were now come near as they advanced one against the other, Ares first let drive over the yoke and the reins of the horses with his spear of bronze, eager to take away the other's life; but the spear the goddess, flashing-eyed Athene, caught in her hand and thrust above the car to fly its way in vain.Next Diomedes, good at the war-cry, drave at Ares with his spear of bronze, and Pallas Athene sped it mightily against his nethermost belly, where he was girded with his taslets. There did he thrust and smite him, rending the fair flesh, and forth he drew the spear again. Then brazen Ares bellowedloud as nine thousand warriors or ten thousand cry in battle, when they join in the strife of the War-god; and thereat trembling came upon Achaeans alike and Trojans, and fear gat hold of them; so mightily bellowed Ares insatiate of war.

Even as a black darkness appeareth from the cloudswhen after heat a blustering wind ariseth, even in such wise unto Diomedes, son of Tydeus, did brazen Ares appear, as he fared amid the clouds unto broad heaven. Speedily he came to the abode of the gods, to steep Olympus, and sate him down by the side of Zeus, son of Cronos, grieved at heart, and shewed the immortal blood flowing from the wound,and with wailing spake to him winged words:

Father Zeus, hast thou no indignation to behold these violent deeds? Ever do we gods continually suffer most cruelly by one another's devices, whenas we show favour to men.With thee are we all at strife, for thou art father to that mad and baneful maid, whose mind is ever set on deeds of lawlessness. For all the other gods that are in Olympus are obedient unto thee, and subject to thee, each one of us; but to her thou payest no heed whether in word or in deed,but rather settest her on, for that this pestilent maiden is thine own child. Now hath she set on the son of Tydeus, Diomedes high of heart, to vent his rage upon immortal gods. Cypris first he wounded with a thrust in close fight upon the hand at the wrist, and thereafter rushed upon mine own self as he had been a god.Howbeit my swift feet bare me away; otherwise had I long suffered woes there amid the gruesome heaps of the dead, or else had lived strengthless by reason of the smitings of the spear.

Sit thou not in any wise by me and whine, thou renegade.Most hateful to me art thou of all gods that hold Olympus, for ever is strife dear to thee and wars and fightings. Thou hast the unbearable, unyielding spirit of thy mother, even of Hera; her can I scarce control by my words. Wherefore it is by her promptings, meseems, that thou sufferest thus.Howbeit I will no longer endure that thou shouldest be in pain, for thou art mine offspring, and it was to me that thy mother bare thee; but wert thou born of any other god, thus pestilent as thou art, then long ere this hadst thou been lower than the sons of heaven.

He spake, and bade Paeëon heal his hurt;and Paeëon spread thereon simples that slay pain, and healed him; for verily he was in no wise of mortal mould. Even as the juice of the fig speedily maketh to grow thick the white milk that is liquid, but is quickly curdled as a man stirreth it, even so swiftly healed he furious Ares.And Hebe bathed him, and clad him in beautiful raiment, and he sate him down by the side of Zeus, son of Cronos, exulting in his glory. Then back to the palace of great Zeus fared Argive Hera and Alalcomenean Athene, when they had made Ares, the bane of mortals, to cease from his man-slaying.

So was the dread strife of the Trojans and Achaeans left to itself, and oft to this side and to that surged the battle over the plain, as they aimed one at the other their bronze-tipped spears between the Simoïs and the streams of Xanthus. Aias, son of Telamon, bulwark of the Achaeans was first to break a battalion of the Trojans, and to bring a light of deliverance to his comrades, for he smote a man that was chiefest among the Thracians, even Eüssorus' son Acamas, a valiant man and tall. Him he was first to smite upon the horn of his helmet with thick crest of horse-hair,and drave the spear into his forehead so that the point of bronze pierced within the bone; and darkness enfolded his eyes. And Diomedes, good at the war-cry, slew Axylus, Teuthras' son, that dwelt in well-built Arisbe, a man rich in substance, that was beloved of all men;for he dwelt in a home by the high-road and was wont to give entertainment to all. Howbeit of all these was there not one on this day to meet the foe before his face, and ward from him woeful destruction; but Diomedes robbed the twain of life, himself and his squire Calesius, that was then the driver of his car; so they two passed beneath the earth. Then Euryalus slew Dresus and Opheltius, and went on after Aesepus and Pedasus, whom on a time the fountain-nymph Abarbarea bare to peerless Bucolion. Now Bucolion was son of lordly Laomedon, his eldest born, though the mother that bare him was unwed;he while shepherding his flocks lay with the nymph in love, and she conceived and bare twin sons. Of these did the son of Mecisteus loose the might and the glorious limbs and strip the armour from their shoulders. And Polypoetes staunch in fight slew Astyalus,and Odysseus with his spear of bronze laid low Pidytes of Percote, and Teucer goodly Aretaon. And Antilochus, son of Nestor, slew Ablerus with his bright spear, and the king of men, Agamemnon, slew Elatus that dwelt in steep Pedasus by the banks of fair-flowing Satnioeis.And the warrior Leïtus slew Phylacus, as he fled before him; and Eurypylus laid Melanthius low.

But Adrastus did Menelaus, good at the warcry, take alive; for his two horses, coursing in terror over the plain, became entangled in a tamarisk bough, and breaking the curved car at the end of the pole,themselves went on toward the city whither the rest were fleeing in rout; but their master rolled from out the car beside the wheel headlong in the dust upon his face. And to his side came Menelaus, son of Atreus, bearing his far-shadowing spear.Then Adrastus clasped him by the knees and besought him:

Take me alive, thou son of Atreus, and accept a worthy ransom; treasures full many lie stored in the palace of my wealthy father, bronze and gold and iron wrought with toil; thereof would my father grant thee ransom past counting,should he hear that I am alive at the ships of the Achaeans.

Soft-hearted Menelaus, why carest thou thus for the men? Hath then so great kindness been done thee in thy house by Trojans? Of them let not one escape sheer destruction and the might of our hands, nay, not the man-child whom his mother bears in her womb; let not even him escape,but let all perish together out of Ilios, unmourned and unmarked.

My friends, Danaan warriors, squires of Ares, let no man now abide behind in eager desire for spoil, that he may come to the ships bearing the greatest store;nay, let us slay the men; thereafter in peace shall ye strip the armour from the corpses that lie dead over the plain.

So saying he aroused the strength and spirit of every man. Then would the Trojans have been driven again by the Achaeans dear to Ares up to Ilios, vanquished in their weakness,had not the son of Priam, Helenus, far the best of augurs, come up to Aeneas and Hector, and said to them:

Aeneas and Hector, seeing that upon you above all others rests the war-toil of Trojans and Lycians, for that in every undertaking ye are the best both in war and in counsel,hold ye your ground, and go ye this way and that throughout the host and keep them back before the gates, or ever in flight they fling themselves in their women's arms, and be made a joy to their foemen. But when ye have aroused all our battalions, we verily will abide here and fight against the Danaans,sore wearied though we be, for necessity weighs hard upon us; but do thou, Hector, go thy way to the city and speak there to her that is thy mother and mine; let her gather the aged wives to the temple of flashing-eyed Athene in the citadel, and when she has opened with the key the doors of the holy house,the robe that seemeth to her the fairest and amplest in her hall, and that is far dearest to her own self, this let her lay upon the knees of fair-haired Athene, and vow to her that she will sacrifice in her temple twelve sleek heifers that have not felt the goad, if she will have compassionon the city and the Trojan's wives and their little children; in hope she may hold back from sacred Ilios the son of Tydeus, that savage spearman, a mighty deviser of rout, who has verily, meseems, proved himself the mightiest of the Achaeans. Not even Achilles did we ever fear on this wise, that leader of men,who, they say, is born of a goddess; nay this man rageth beyond all measure, and no one can vie with him in might.

Ye Trojans, high of heart, and far-famed allies, be men, my friends, and bethink you of furious valour, the while I go to Ilios and bid the elders that give counsel, and our wivesto make prayer to the gods, and promise them hecatombs.