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

us their
debt of yesterday in full, for there is one abiding at their ships who
is never weary of battle, and who will not hold aloof much longer."

Thus spoke Polydamas, and his words pleased Hector well. He sprang in
full armour from his chariot and said, "Polydamas, gather the
chieftains here; I will go yonder into the fight, but will return at
once when I have given them their orders."

He then sped onward, towering like a snowy mountain, and with a loud
cry flew through the ranks of the Trojans and their allies. When they
heard his voice they all hastened to gather round Polydamas, the
excellent son of Panthous, but Hector kept on among the foremost,
looking everywhere to find Deiphobus and prince Helenus, Adamas son of
Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus; living, indeed, and scatheless he
could no longer find them, for the two last were lying by the sterns of
the Achaean ships, slain by the Argives, while the others had been also
stricken and wounded by them; but upon the left wing of the dread
battle he found Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, cheering his men
and urging them on to fight. He went up to him and upbraided him.
"Paris," said he, "evil-hearted Paris, fair to see but woman-mad and
false of tongue, where are Deiphobus and King Helenus? Where are Adamas
son of Asius, and Asius son of Hyrtacus? Where too is Othryoneus? Ilius
is undone and will now surely fall!"

Alexandrus answered, "Hector, why find fault when there is no one to
find fault with? I should hold aloof from battle on any day rather than
this, for my mother bore me with nothing of the coward about me. From
the moment when you set our men fighting about the ships we have been
staying here and doing battle with the Danaans. Our comrades about whom
you ask me are dead; Deiphobus and King Helenus alone have left the
field, wounded both of them in the hand, but the son of Saturn saved
them alive. Now, therefore, lead on where you would have us go, and we
will follow with right goodwill; you shall not find us fail you in so
far as our strength holds out, but no man can do more than in him lies,
no matter how willing he may be."

With these words he satisfied his brother, and the two went towards the
part of the battle where the fight was thickest, about Cebriones, brave
Polydamas, Phalces, Orthaeus, godlike Polyphetes, Palmys, Ascanius, and
Morys son of Hippotion, who had come from fertile Ascania on the
preceding day to relieve other troops. Then Jove urged them on to
fight. They flew forth like the blasts of some fierce wind that strike
earth in the van of a thunderstorm--they buffet the salt sea into an
uproar; many and mighty are the great waves that come crashing in one
after the other upon the shore with their arching heads all crested
with foam--even so did rank behind rank of Trojans arrayed in gleaming
armour follow their leaders onward. The way was led by Hector son of
Priam, peer of murderous Mars, with his round shield before him--his
shield of ox-hides covered with plates of bronze--and his gleaming
helmet upon his temples. He kept stepping forward under cover of his
shield in every direction, making trial of the ranks to see if they
would give way before him, but he could not daunt the courage of the
Achaeans. Ajax was the first to stride out and challenge him. "Sir," he
cried, "draw near; why do you think thus vainly to dismay the Argives?
We Achaeans are excellent soldiers, but the scourge of Jove has fallen
heavily upon us. Your heart, forsooth, is set on destroying our ships,
but we too have hands that can keep you at bay, and your own fair town
shall be sooner taken and sacked by ourselves. The time is near when
you shall pray Jove and all the gods in your flight, that your steeds
may be swifter than hawks as they raise the dust on the plain and bear
you back to your city."

As he was thus speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand, and the
host of the Achaeans shouted, for they took heart at the omen. But
Hector answered, "Ajax, braggart and false of tongue, would that I were
as sure of being son for evermore to aegis-bearing Jove, with Queen
Juno for my mother, and of being held in like honour with Minerva and
Apollo, as I am that this day is big with the destruction of the
Achaeans; and you shall fall among them if you dare abide my spear; it
shall rend your fair body and bid you glut our hounds and birds of prey
with your fat and your flesh, as you fall by the ships of the Achaeans."

With these words he led the way and the others followed after with a
cry that rent the air, while the host shouted behind them. The Argives
on their part raised a shout likewise, nor did they forget their
prowess, but stood firm against the onslaught of the Trojan chieftains,
and the cry from both the hosts rose up to heaven and to the brightness
of Jove's presence.


BOOK XIV

Agamemnon proposes that the Achaeans should sail home, and
is rebuked by Ulysses--Juno beguiles Jupiter--Hector is
wounded.

NESTOR was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not escape
him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, "What, noble Machaon, is
the meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting by our ships grow
stronger and stronger; stay here, therefore, and sit over your wine,
while fair Hecamede heats you a bath and washes the clotted blood from
off you. I will go at once to the look-out station and see what it is
all about."

As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was lying
in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had taken his
father's shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear, and as
soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of the Achaeans who, now
that their wall was overthrown, were flying pell-mell before the
Trojans. As when there is a heavy swell upon the sea, but the waves are
dumb--they keep their eyes on the watch for the quarter whence the
fierce winds may spring upon them, but they stay where they are and set
neither this way nor that, till some particular wind sweeps down from
heaven to determine them--even so did the old man ponder whether to
make for the crowd of Danaans, or go in search of Agamemnon. In the end
he deemed it best to go to the son of Atreus; but meanwhile the hosts
were fighting and killing one another, and the hard bronze rattled on
their bodies, as they thrust at one another with their swords and
spears.

The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son of
Atreus, fell in with Nestor as they were coming up from their
ships--for theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting was
going on, being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been beached
first, while the wall had been built behind the hindermost. The stretch
of the shore, wide though it was, did not afford room for all the
ships, and the host was cramped for space, therefore they had placed
the ships in rows one behind the other, and had filled the whole
opening of the bay between the two points that formed it. The kings,
leaning on their spears, were coming out to survey the fight, being in
great anxiety, and when old Nestor met them they were filled with
dismay. Then King Agamemnon said to him, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour
to the Achaean name, why have you left the battle to come hither? I
fear that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among
the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had fired
our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it is all coming
true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with me
that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our ships."

Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, "It is indeed as you say; it is
all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders from on high
cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we relied as an
impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The Trojans are fighting
stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships; look where you may you
cannot see from what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is coming; they
are being killed in a confused mass and the battle-cry ascends to
heaven; let us think, if counsel can be of any use, what we had better
do; but I do not advise our going into battle ourselves, for a man
cannot fight when he is wounded."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed
fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the trench
has served us--over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and which they
deemed would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet--I see
it must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans should perish
ingloriously here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove was willing to
defend us, and I know now that he is raising the Trojans to like honour
with the gods, while us, on the other hand, he has bound hand and foot.
Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let us bring down the ships
that are on the beach and draw them into the water; let us make them
fast to their mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of
night--if even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may
then draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying
ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and be
saved than be caught and killed."

Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, "Son of Atreus, what are you
talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other and baser
army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has allotted a life of
hard fighting from youth to old age, till we every one of us perish. Is
it thus that you would quit the city of Troy, to win which we have
suffered so much hardship? Hold your peace, lest some other of the
Achaeans hear you say what no man who knows how to give good counsel,
no king over so great a host as that of the Argives should ever have
let fall from his lips. I despise your judgement utterly for what you
have been saying. Would you, then, have us draw down our ships into the
water while the battle is raging, and thus play further into the hands
of the conquering Trojans? It would be ruin; the Achaeans will not go
on fighting when they see the ships being drawn into the water, but
will cease attacking and keep turning their eyes towards them; your
counsel, therefore, sir captain, would be our destruction."

Agamemnon answered, "Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the heart. I
am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their ships into the sea
whether they will or no. Someone, it may be, old or young, can offer us
better counsel which I shall rejoice to hear."

Then said Diomed, "Such an one is at hand;