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

expert in these
matters, and was trusted by the people, read the portent."

Hector looked fiercely at him and said, "Polydamas, I like not of your
reading. You can find a better saying than this if you will. If,
however, you have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven robbed
you of your reason. You would have me pay no heed to the counsels of
Jove, nor to the promises he made me--and he bowed his head in
confirmation; you bid me be ruled rather by the flight of wild-fowl.
What care I whether they fly towards dawn or dark, and whether they be
on my right hand or on my left? Let us put our trust rather in the
counsel of great Jove, king of mortals and immortals. There is one
omen, and one only--that a man should fight for his country. Why are
you so fearful? Though we be all of us slain at the ships of the
Argives you are not likely to be killed yourself, for you are not
steadfast nor courageous. If you will not fight, or would talk others
over from doing so, you shall fall forthwith before my spear."

With these words he led the way, and the others followed after with a
cry that rent the air. Then Jove the lord of thunder sent the blast of
a mighty wind from the mountains of Ida, that bore the dust down
towards the ships; he thus lulled the Achaeans into security, and gave
victory to Hector and to the Trojans, who, trusting to their own might
and to the signs he had shown them, essayed to break through the great
wall of the Achaeans. They tore down the breastworks from the walls,
and overthrew the battlements; they upheaved the buttresses, which the
Achaeans had set in front of the wall in order to support it; when they
had pulled these down they made sure of breaking through the wall, but
the Danaans still showed no sign of giving ground; they still fenced
the battlements with their shields of ox-hide, and hurled their
missiles down upon the foe as soon as any came below the wall.

The two Ajaxes went about everywhere on the walls cheering on the
Achaeans, giving fair words to some while they spoke sharply to any one
whom they saw to be remiss. "My friends," they cried, "Argives one and
all--good bad and indifferent, for there was never fight yet, in which
all were of equal prowess--there is now work enough, as you very well
know, for all of you. See that you none of you turn in flight towards
the ships, daunted by the shouting of the foe, but press forward and
keep one another in heart, if it may so be that Olympian Jove the lord
of lightning will vouchsafe us to repel our foes, and drive them back
towards the city."

Thus did the two go about shouting and cheering the Achaeans on. As the
flakes that fall thick upon a winter's day, when Jove is minded to snow
and to display these his arrows to mankind--he lulls the wind to rest,
and snows hour after hour till he has buried the tops of the high
mountains, the headlands that jut into the sea, the grassy plains, and
the tilled fields of men; the snow lies deep upon the forelands, and
havens of the grey sea, but the waves as they come rolling in stay it
that it can come no further, though all else is wrapped as with a
mantle, so heavy are the heavens with snow--even thus thickly did the
stones fall on one side and on the other, some thrown at the Trojans,
and some by the Trojans at the Achaeans; and the whole wall was in an
uproar.

Still the Trojans and brave Hector would not yet have broken down the
gates and the great bar, had not Jove turned his son Sarpedon against
the Argives as a lion against a herd of horned cattle. Before him he
held his shield of hammered bronze, that the smith had beaten so fair
and round, and had lined with ox hides which he had made fast with
rivets of gold all round the shield; this he held in front of him, and
brandishing his two spears came on like some lion of the wilderness,
who has been long famished for want of meat and will dare break even
into a well-fenced homestead to try and get at the sheep. He may find
the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks with dogs and spears, but
he is in no mind to be driven from the fold till he has had a try for
it; he will either spring on a sheep and carry it off, or be hit by a
spear from some strong hand--even so was Sarpedon fain to attack the
wall and break down its battlements. Then he said to Glaucus son of
Hippolochus, "Glaucus, why in Lycia do we receive especial honour as
regards our place at table? Why are the choicest portions served us and
our cups kept brimming, and why do men look up to us as though we were
gods? Moreover we hold a large estate by the banks of the river
Xanthus, fair with orchard lawns and wheat-growing land; it becomes us,
therefore, to take our stand at the head of all the Lycians and bear
the brunt of the fight, that one may say to another, 'Our princes in
Lycia eat the fat of the land and drink best of wine, but they are fine
fellows; they fight well and are ever at the front in battle.' My good
friend, if, when we were once out of this fight, we could escape old
age and death thenceforward and forever, I should neither press forward
myself nor bid you do so, but death in ten thousand shapes hangs ever
over our heads, and no man can elude him; therefore let us go forward
and either win glory for ourselves, or yield it to another."

Glaucus heeded his saying, and the pair forthwith led on the host of
Lycians. Menestheus son of Peteos was dismayed when he saw them, for it
was against his part of the wall that they came--bringing destruction
with them; he looked along the wall for some chieftain to support his
comrades and saw the two Ajaxes, men ever eager for the fray, and
Teucer, who had just come from his tent, standing near them; but he
could not make his voice heard by shouting to them, so great an uproar
was there from crashing shields and helmets and the battering of gates
with a din which reached the skies. For all the gates had been closed,
and the Trojans were hammering at them to try and break their way
through them. Menestheus, therefore, sent Thootes with a message to
Ajax. "Run, good Thootes," he said, "and call Ajax, or better still bid
both come, for it will be all over with us here directly; the leaders
of the Lycians are upon us, men who have ever fought desperately
heretofore. But if they have too much on their hands to let them come,
at any rate let Ajax son of Telamon do so, and let Teucer, the famous
bowman, come with him."

The messenger did as he was told, and set off running along the wall of
the Achaeans. When he reached the Ajaxes he said to them, "Sirs,
princes of the Argives, the son of noble Peteos bids you come to him
for a while and help him. You had better both come if you can, or it
will be all over with him directly; the leaders of the Lycians are upon
him, men who have ever fought desperately heretofore; if you have too
much on your hands to let both come, at any rate let Ajax, son of
Telamon, do so, and let Teucer, the famous bowman, come with him."

Great Ajax son of Telamon heeded the message, and at once spoke to the
son of Oileus. "Ajax," said he, "do you two, yourself and brave
Lycomedes, stay here and keep the Danaans in heart to fight their
hardest. I will go over yonder, and bear my part in the fray, but I
will come back here at once as soon as I have given them the help they
need."

With this, Ajax son of Telamon set off, and Teucer, his brother by the
same father, went also, with Pandion to carry Teucer's bow. They went
along inside the wall, and when they came to the tower where Menestheus
was (and hard pressed indeed did they find him) the brave captains and
leaders of the Lycians were storming the battlements as it were a thick
dark cloud, fighting in close quarters, and raising the battle-cry
aloud.

First, Ajax son of Telamon killed brave Epicles, a comrade of Sarpedon,
hitting him with a jagged stone that lay by the battlements at the very
top of the wall. As men now are, even one who is in the bloom of youth
could hardly lift it with his two hands, but Ajax raised it high aloft
and flung it down, smashing Epicles' four-crested helmet so that the
bones of his head were crushed to pieces, and he fell from the high
wall as though he were diving, with no more life left in him. Then
Teucer wounded Glaucus the brave son of Hippolochus as he was coming on
to attack the wall. He saw his shoulder bare and aimed an arrow at it,
which made Glaucus leave off fighting. Thereon he sprang covertly down
for fear some of the Achaeans might see that he was wounded and taunt
him. Sarpedon was stung with grief when he saw Glaucus leave him, still
he did not leave off fighting, but aimed his spear at Alcmaon the son
of Thestor and hit him. He drew his spear back again and Alcmaon came
down headlong after it with his bronzed armour rattling round him. Then
Sarpedon seized the battlement in his strong hands, and tugged at it
till it all gave way together, and a breach was made through which many
might pass.

Ajax and Teucer then both of them attacked him. Teucer hit him with an
arrow on the band that bore the shield which covered his body, but Jove
saved his son from destruction that he might not fall by the ships'
sterns. Meanwhile Ajax sprang on him and pierced his shield, but the
spear did not go clean through, though it hustled him back that he
could come on no further. He therefore retired a little space from the
battlement, yet without losing all his ground, for he still thought to
cover himself with glory. Then he turned round and shouted to the brave
Lycians saying, "Lycians, why do you thus fail me? For all my prowess I
cannot break through the wall and open a way to the ships
single-handed. Come close on behind me, for the more there are of us
the better."

The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who was
their counsellor and their king. The Argives on their part got their
men in fighting order within the wall, and there was a deadly struggle
between them. The Lycians could not break through the wall and force
their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans drive the Lycians from
the wall now that they had once reached it. As two men, measuring-rods
in hand, quarrel about their boundaries in a field that they own in
common, and stickle for their rights though they be but in a mere
strip, even so did the battlements now serve as a bone of contention,
and they beat one another's round shields for their possession. Many a
man's body was wounded