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

round about to
see whither he might fly for safety.

Tell me now, O Muses that dwell on Olympus, who was the first of the
Argives to bear away blood-stained spoils after Neptune lord of the
earthquake had turned the fortune of war. Ajax son of Telamon was first
to wound Hyrtius son of Gyrtius, captain of the staunch Mysians.
Antilochus killed Phalces and Mermerus, while Meriones slew Morys and
Hippotion, Teucer also killed Prothoon and Periphetes. The son of
Atreus then wounded Hyperenor shepherd of his people, in the flank, and
the bronze point made his entrails gush out as it tore in among them;
on this his life came hurrying out of him at the place where he had
been wounded, and his eyes were closed in darkness. Ajax son of Oileus
killed more than any other, for there was no man so fleet as he to
pursue flying foes when Jove had spread panic among them.


BOOK XV

Jove awakes, tells Apollo to heal Hector, and the Trojans
again become victorious.

BUT when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set
stakes, and many had fallen by the hands of the Danaans, the Trojans
made a halt on reaching their chariots, routed and pale with fear. Jove
now woke on the crests of Ida, where he was lying with golden-throned
Juno by his side, and starting to his feet he saw the Trojans and
Achaeans, the one thrown into confusion, and the others driving them
pell-mell before them with King Neptune in their midst. He saw Hector
lying on the ground with his comrades gathered round him, gasping for
breath, wandering in mind and vomiting blood, for it was not the
feeblest of the Achaeans who struck him.

The sire of gods and men had pity on him, and looked fiercely on Juno.
"I see, Juno," said he, "you mischief-making trickster, that your
cunning has stayed Hector from fighting and has caused the rout of his
host. I am in half a mind to thrash you, in which case you will be the
first to reap the fruits of your scurvy knavery. Do you not remember
how once upon a time I had you hanged? I fastened two anvils on to your
feet, and bound your hands in a chain of gold which none might break,
and you hung in mid-air among the clouds. All the gods in Olympus were
in a fury, but they could not reach you to set you free; when I caught
any one of them I gripped him and hurled him from the heavenly
threshold till he came fainting down to earth; yet even this did not
relieve my mind from the incessant anxiety which I felt about noble
Hercules whom you and Boreas had spitefully conveyed beyond the seas to
Cos, after suborning the tempests; but I rescued him, and
notwithstanding all his mighty labours I brought him back again to
Argos. I would remind you of this that you may learn to leave off being
so deceitful, and discover how much you are likely to gain by the
embraces out of which you have come here to trick me."

Juno trembled as he spoke, and said, "May heaven above and earth below
be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx--and this is the
most solemn oath that a blessed god can take--nay, I swear also by your
own almighty head and by our bridal bed--things over which I could
never possibly perjure myself--that Neptune is not punishing Hector and
the Trojans and helping the Achaeans through any doing of mine; it is
all of his own mere motion because he was sorry to see the Achaeans
hard pressed at their ships: if I were advising him, I should tell him
to do as you bid him."

The sire of gods and men smiled and answered, "If you, Juno, were
always to support me when we sit in council of the gods, Neptune, like
it or no, would soon come round to your and my way of thinking. If,
then, you are speaking the truth and mean what you say, go among the
rank and file of the gods, and tell Iris and Apollo lord of the bow,
that I want them--Iris, that she may go to the Achaean host and tell
Neptune to leave off fighting and go home, and Apollo, that he may send
Hector again into battle and give him fresh strength; he will thus
forget his present sufferings, and drive the Achaeans back in confusion
till they fall among the ships of Achilles son of Peleus. Achilles will
then send his comrade Patroclus into battle, and Hector will kill him
in front of Ilius after he has slain many warriors, and among them my
own noble son Sarpedon. Achilles will kill Hector to avenge Patroclus,
and from that time I will bring it about that the Achaeans shall
persistently drive the Trojans back till they fulfil the counsels of
Minerva and take Ilius. But I will not stay my anger, nor permit any
god to help the Danaans till I have accomplished the desire of the son
of Peleus, according to the promise I made by bowing my head on the day
when Thetis touched my knees and besought me to give him honour."

Juno heeded his words and went from the heights of Ida to great
Olympus. Swift as the thought of one whose fancy carries him over vast
continents, and he says to himself, "Now I will be here, or there," and
he would have all manner of things--even so swiftly did Juno wing her
way till she came to high Olympus and went in among the gods who were
gathered in the house of Jove. When they saw her they all of them came
up to her, and held out their cups to her by way of greeting. She let
the others be, but took the cup offered her by lovely Themis, who was
first to come running up to her. "Juno," said she, "why are you here?
And you seem troubled--has your husband the son of Saturn been
frightening you?"

And Juno answered, "Themis, do not ask me about it. You know what a
proud and cruel disposition my husband has. Lead the gods to table,
where you and all the immortals can hear the wicked designs which he
has avowed. Many a one, mortal and immortal, will be angered by them,
however peaceably he may be feasting now."

On this Juno sat down, and the gods were troubled throughout the house
of Jove. Laughter sat on her lips but her brow was furrowed with care,
and she spoke up in a rage. "Fools that we are," she cried, "to be thus
madly angry with Jove; we keep on wanting to go up to him and stay him
by force or by persuasion, but he sits aloof and cares for nobody, for
he knows that he is much stronger than any other of the immortals. Make
the best, therefore, of whatever ills he may choose to send each one of
you; Mars, I take it, has had a taste of them already, for his son
Ascalaphus has fallen in battle--the man whom of all others he loved
most dearly and whose father he owns himself to be."

When he heard this Mars smote his two sturdy thighs with the flat of
his hands, and said in anger, "Do not blame me, you gods that dwell in
heaven, if I go to the ships of the Achaeans and avenge the death of my
son, even though it end in my being struck by Jove's lightning and
lying in blood and dust among the corpses."

As he spoke he gave orders to yoke his horses Panic and Rout, while he
put on his armour. On this, Jove would have been roused to still more
fierce and implacable enmity against the other immortals, had not
Minerva, alarmed for the safety of the gods, sprung from her seat and
hurried outside. She tore the helmet from his head and the shield from
his shoulders, and she took the bronze spear from his strong hand and
set it on one side; then she said to Mars, "Madman, you are undone; you
have ears that hear not, or you have lost all judgement and
understanding; have you not heard what Juno has said on coming straight
from the presence of Olympian Jove? Do you wish to go through all kinds
of suffering before you are brought back sick and sorry to Olympus,
after having caused infinite mischief to all us others? Jove would
instantly leave the Trojans and Achaeans to themselves; he would come
to Olympus to punish us, and would grip us up one after another, guilty
or not guilty. Therefore lay aside your anger for the death of your
son; better men than he have either been killed already or will fall
hereafter, and one cannot protect every one's whole family."

With these words she took Mars back to his seat. Meanwhile Juno called
Apollo outside, with Iris the messenger of the gods. "Jove," she said
to them, "desires you to go to him at once on Mt. Ida; when you have
seen him you are to do as he may then bid you."

Thereon Juno left them and resumed her seat inside, while Iris and
Apollo made all haste on their way. When they reached many-fountained
Ida, mother of wild beasts, they found Jove seated on topmost Gargarus
with a fragrant cloud encircling his head as with a diadem. They stood
before his presence, and he was pleased with them for having been so
quick in obeying the orders his wife had given them.

He spoke to Iris first. "Go," said he, "fleet Iris, tell King Neptune
what I now bid you--and tell him true. Bid him leave off fighting, and
either join the company of the gods, or go down into the sea. If he
takes no heed and disobeys me, let him consider well whether he is
strong enough to hold his own against me if I attack him. I am older
and much stronger than he is; yet he is not afraid to set himself up as
on a level with myself, of whom all the other gods stand in awe."

Iris, fleet as the wind, obeyed him, and as the cold hail or snowflakes
that fly from out the clouds before the blast of Boreas, even so did
she wing her way till she came close up to the great shaker of the
earth. Then she said, "I have come, O dark-haired king that holds the
world in his embrace, to bring you a message from Jove. He bids you
leave off fighting, and either join the company of the gods or go down
into the sea; if, however, you take no heed and disobey him, he says he
will come down here and fight you. He would have you keep out of his
reach, for he is older and much stronger than you are, and yet you are
not afraid to set yourself up as on a level with himself, of whom all
the other gods stand in awe."

Neptune was very angry and said, "Great heavens! strong as Jove may be,
he has said more than he can do if he has threatened violence against
me, who am of like honour with himself. We were three brothers whom
Rhea bore to Saturn--Jove, myself, and Hades who rules the world below.
Heaven and earth were divided into three parts, and each of us was to
have an equal share. When we cast lots, it fell to me to have my
dwelling in the sea for evermore; Hades took the darkness of the realms
under