The Iliad, Homer [big screen ebook reader .txt] 📗

silent were they in their
obedience; and as they marched the armour about their bodies glistened
in the sun. But the clamour of the Trojan ranks was as that of many
thousand ewes that stand waiting to be milked in the yards of some rich
flockmaster, and bleat incessantly in answer to the bleating of their
lambs; for they had not one speech nor language, but their tongues were
diverse, and they came from many different places. These were inspired
of Mars, but the others by Minerva--and with them came Panic, Rout, and
Strife whose fury never tires, sister and friend of murderous Mars,
who, from being at first but low in stature, grows till she uprears her
head to heaven, though her feet are still on earth. She it was that
went about among them and flung down discord to the waxing of sorrow
with even hand between them.

When they were got together in one place shield clashed with shield and
spear with spear in the rage of battle. The bossed shields beat one
upon another, and there was a tramp as of a great multitude--death-cry
and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red with
blood. As torrents swollen with rain course madly down their deep
channels till the angry floods meet in some gorge, and the shepherd on
the hillside hears their roaring from afar--even such was the toil and
uproar of the hosts as they joined in battle.

First Antilochus slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Echepolus, son
of Thalysius, fighting in the foremost ranks. He struck at the
projecting part of his helmet and drove the spear into his brow; the
point of bronze pierced the bone, and darkness veiled his eyes;
headlong as a tower he fell amid the press of the fight, and as he
dropped King Elephenor, son of Chalcodon and captain of the proud
Abantes began dragging him out of reach of the darts that were falling
around him, in haste to strip him of his armour. But his purpose was
not for long; Agenor saw him haling the body away, and smote him in the
side with his bronze-shod spear--for as he stooped his side was left
unprotected by his shield--and thus he perished. Then the fight between
Trojans and Achaeans grew furious over his body, and they flew upon
each other like wolves, man and man crushing one upon the other.

Forthwith Ajax, son of Telamon, slew the fair youth Simoeisius, son of
Anthemion, whom his mother bore by the banks of the Simois, as she was
coming down from Mt. Ida, where she had been with her parents to see
their flocks. Therefore he was named Simoeisius, but he did not live to
pay his parents for his rearing, for he was cut off untimely by the
spear of mighty Ajax, who struck him in the breast by the right nipple
as he was coming on among the foremost fighters; the spear went right
through his shoulder, and he fell as a poplar that has grown straight
and tall in a meadow by some mere, and its top is thick with branches.
Then the wheelwright lays his axe to its roots that he may fashion a
felloe for the wheel of some goodly chariot, and it lies seasoning by
the waterside. In such wise did Ajax fell to earth Simoeisius, son of
Anthemion. Thereon Antiphus of the gleaming corslet, son of Priam,
hurled a spear at Ajax from amid the crowd and missed him, but he hit
Leucus, the brave comrade of Ulysses, in the groin, as he was dragging
the body of Simoeisius over to the other side; so he fell upon the body
and loosed his hold upon it. Ulysses was furious when he saw Leucus
slain, and strode in full armour through the front ranks till he was
quite close; then he glared round about him and took aim, and the
Trojans fell back as he did so. His dart was not sped in vain, for it
struck Democoon, the bastard son of Priam, who had come to him from
Abydos, where he had charge of his father's mares. Ulysses, infuriated
by the death of his comrade, hit him with his spear on one temple, and
the bronze point came through on the other side of his forehead.
Thereon darkness veiled his eyes, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell heavily to the ground. Hector, and they that were in
front, then gave round while the Argives raised a shout and drew off
the dead, pressing further forward as they did so. But Apollo looked
down from Pergamus and called aloud to the Trojans, for he was
displeased. "Trojans," he cried, "rush on the foe, and do not let
yourselves be thus beaten by the Argives. Their skins are not stone nor
iron that when hit them you do them no harm. Moreover, Achilles, the
son of lovely Thetis, is not fighting, but is nursing his anger at the
ships."

Thus spoke the mighty god, crying to them from the city, while Jove's
redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, went about among the host of the
Achaeans, and urged them forward whenever she beheld them slackening.

Then fate fell upon Diores, son of Amarynceus, for he was struck by a
jagged stone near the ancle of his right leg. He that hurled it was
Peirous, son of Imbrasus, captain of the Thracians, who had come from
Aenus; the bones and both the tendons were crushed by the pitiless
stone. He fell to the ground on his back, and in his death throes
stretched out his hands towards his comrades. But Peirous, who had
wounded him, sprang on him and thrust a spear into his belly, so that
his bowels came gushing out upon the ground, and darkness veiled his
eyes. As he was leaving the body, Thoas of Aetolia struck him in the
chest near the nipple, and the point fixed itself in his lungs. Thoas
came close up to him, pulled the spear out of his chest, and then
drawing his sword, smote him in the middle of the belly so that he
died; but he did not strip him of his armour, for his Thracian
comrades, men who wear their hair in a tuft at the top of their heads,
stood round the body and kept him off with their long spears for all
his great stature and valour; so he was driven back. Thus the two
corpses lay stretched on earth near to one another, the one captain of
the Thracians and the other of the Epeans; and many another fell round
them.

And now no man would have made light of the fighting if he could have
gone about among it scatheless and unwounded, with Minerva leading him
by the hand, and protecting him from the storm of spears and arrows.
For many Trojans and Achaeans on that day lay stretched side by side
face downwards upon the earth.


BOOK V

The exploits of Diomed, who, though wounded by Pandarus,
continues fighting--He kills Pandarus and wounds AEneas--Venus
rescues AEneas, but being wounded by Diomed, commits him
to the care of Apollo and goes to Olympus, where she is tended
by her mother Dione--Mars encourages the Trojans, and
AEneas returns to the fight cured of his wound--Minerva and
Juno help the Achaeans, and by the advice of the former
Diomed wounds Mars, who returns to Olympus to get cured.

Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of Tydeus,
that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover himself with
glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his shield and helmet like
the star that shines most brilliantly in summer after its bath in the
waters of Oceanus--even such a fire did she kindle upon his head and
shoulders as she bade him speed into the thickest hurly-burly of the
fight.

Now there was a certain rich and honourable man among the Trojans,
priest of Vulcan, and his name was Dares. He had two sons, Phegeus and
Idaeus, both of them skilled in all the arts of war. These two came
forward from the main body of Trojans, and set upon Diomed, he being on
foot, while they fought from their chariot. When they were close up to
one another, Phegeus took aim first, but his spear went over Diomed's
left shoulder without hitting him. Diomed then threw, and his spear
sped not in vain, for it hit Phegeus on the breast near the nipple, and
he fell from his chariot. Idaeus did not dare to bestride his brother's
body, but sprang from the chariot and took to flight, or he would have
shared his brother's fate; whereon Vulcan saved him by wrapping him in
a cloud of darkness, that his old father might not be utterly
overwhelmed with grief; but the son of Tydeus drove off with the
horses, and bade his followers take them to the ships. The Trojans were
scared when they saw the two sons of Dares, one of them in fright and
the other lying dead by his chariot. Minerva, therefore, took Mars by
the hand and said, "Mars, Mars, bane of men, bloodstained stormer of
cities, may we not now leave the Trojans and Achaeans to fight it out,
and see to which of the two Jove will vouchsafe the victory? Let us go
away, and thus avoid his anger."

So saying, she drew Mars out of the battle, and set him down upon the
steep banks of the Scamander. Upon this the Danaans drove the Trojans
back, and each one of their chieftains killed his man. First King
Agamemnon flung mighty Odius, captain of the Halizoni, from his
chariot. The spear of Agamemnon caught him on the broad of his back,
just as he was turning in flight; it struck him between the shoulders
and went right through his chest, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell heavily to the ground.

Then Idomeneus killed Phaesus, son of Borus the Meonian, who had come
from Varne. Mighty Idomeneus speared him on the right shoulder as he
was mounting his chariot, and the darkness of death enshrouded him as
he fell heavily from the car.

The squires of Idomeneus spoiled him of his armour, while Menelaus, son
of Atreus, killed Scamandrius the son of Strophius, a mighty huntsman
and keen lover of the chase. Diana herself had taught him how to kill
every kind of wild creature that is bred in mountain forests, but
neither she nor his famed skill in archery could now save him, for the
spear of Menelaus struck him in the back as he was flying; it struck
him between the shoulders and went right through his chest, so that he
fell headlong and his armour rang rattling round him.

Meriones then killed Phereclus the son of Tecton, who was the son of
Hermon, a man whose hand was skilled in all manner of cunning
workmanship, for Pallas Minerva had dearly loved him. He it was that
made the ships for Alexandrus, which were the beginning of all
mischief, and brought evil alike both on the Trojans and on Alexandrus
himself; for he heeded not the decrees of heaven. Meriones overtook him
as he was flying, and struck him on the right buttock. The point of the
spear went through the bone into the bladder, and death came upon him
as he cried aloud and fell forward on his knees.

Meges, moreover, slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor, who, though he was a
bastard, had been brought up by Theano as one of her own children, for
the love she bore her husband. The son of