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

matters of common
fame, though neither have you ever seen my parents nor I yours. Men say
that you are son to noble Peleus, and that your mother is Thetis,
fair-haired daughter of the sea. I have noble Anchises for my father,
and Venus for my mother; the parents of one or other of us shall this
day mourn a son, for it will be more than silly talk that shall part us
when the fight is over. Learn, then, my lineage if you will--and it is
known to many.

"In the beginning Dardanus was the son of Jove, and founded Dardania,
for Ilius was not yet stablished on the plain for men to dwell in, and
her people still abode on the spurs of many-fountained Ida. Dardanus
had a son, king Erichthonius, who was wealthiest of all men living; he
had three thousand mares that fed by the water-meadows, they and their
foals with them. Boreas was enamoured of them as they were feeding, and
covered them in the semblance of a dark-maned stallion. Twelve filly
foals did they conceive and bear him, and these, as they sped over the
rich plain, would go bounding on over the ripe ears of corn and not
break them; or again when they would disport themselves on the broad
back of Ocean they could gallop on the crest of a breaker. Erichthonius
begat Tros, king of the Trojans, and Tros had three noble sons, Ilus,
Assaracus, and Ganymede who was comeliest of mortal men; wherefore the
gods carried him off to be Jove's cupbearer, for his beauty's sake,
that he might dwell among the immortals. Ilus begat Laomedon, and
Laomedon begat Tithonus, Priam, Lampus, Clytius, and Hiketaon of the
stock of Mars. But Assaracus was father to Capys, and Capys to
Anchises, who was my father, while Hector is son to Priam.

"Such do I declare my blood and lineage, but as for valour, Jove gives
it or takes it as he will, for he is lord of all. And now let there be
no more of this prating in mid-battle as though we were children. We
could fling taunts without end at one another; a hundred-oared galley
would not hold them. The tongue can run all whithers and talk all wise;
it can go here and there, and as a man says, so shall he be gainsaid.
What is the use of our bandying hard like women who when they fall foul
of one another go out and wrangle in the streets, one half true and the
other lies, as rage inspires them? No words of yours shall turn me now
that I am fain to fight--therefore let us make trial of one another
with our spears."

As he spoke he drove his spear at the great and terrible shield of
Achilles, which rang out as the point struck it. The son of Peleus held
the shield before him with his strong hand, and he was afraid, for he
deemed that Aeneas's spear would go through it quite easily, not
reflecting that the god's glorious gifts were little likely to yield
before the blows of mortal men; and indeed Aeneas's spear did not
pierce the shield, for the layer of gold, gift of the god, stayed the
point. It went through two layers, but the god had made the shield in
five, two of bronze, the two innermost ones of tin, and one of gold; it
was in this that the spear was stayed.

Achilles in his turn threw, and struck the round shield of Aeneas at
the very edge, where the bronze was thinnest; the spear of Pelian ash
went clean through, and the shield rang under the blow; Aeneas was
afraid, and crouched backwards, holding the shield away from him; the
spear, however, flew over his back, and stuck quivering in the ground,
after having gone through both circles of the sheltering shield. Aeneas
though he had avoided the spear, stood still, blinded with fear and
grief because the weapon had gone so near him; then Achilles sprang
furiously upon him, with a cry as of death and with his keen blade
drawn, and Aeneas seized a great stone, so huge that two men, as men
now are, would be unable to lift it, but Aeneas wielded it quite easily.

Aeneas would then have struck Achilles as he was springing towards him,
either on the helmet, or on the shield that covered him, and Achilles
would have closed with him and despatched him with his sword, had not
Neptune lord of the earthquake been quick to mark, and said forthwith
to the immortals, "Alas, I am sorry for great Aeneas, who will now go
down to the house of Hades, vanquished by the son of Peleus. Fool that
he was to give ear to the counsel of Apollo. Apollo will never save him
from destruction. Why should this man suffer when he is guiltless, to
no purpose, and in another's quarrel? Has he not at all times offered
acceptable sacrifice to the gods that dwell in heaven? Let us then
snatch him from death's jaws, lest the son of Saturn be angry should
Achilles slay him. It is fated, moreover, that he should escape, and
that the race of Dardanus, whom Jove loved above all the sons born to
him of mortal women, shall not perish utterly without seed or sign. For
now indeed has Jove hated the blood of Priam, while Aeneas shall reign
over the Trojans, he and his children's children that shall be born
hereafter."

Then answered Juno, "Earth-shaker, look to this matter yourself, and
consider concerning Aeneas, whether you will save him, or suffer him,
brave though he be, to fall by the hand of Achilles son of Peleus. For
of a truth we two, I and Pallas Minerva, have sworn full many a time
before all the immortals, that never would we shield Trojans from
destruction, not even when all Troy is burning in the flames that the
Achaeans shall kindle."

When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went into the battle amid
the clash of spears, and came to the place where Achilles and Aeneas
were. Forthwith he shed a darkness before the eyes of the son of
Peleus, drew the bronze-headed ashen spear from the shield of Aeneas,
and laid it at the feet of Achilles. Then he lifted Aeneas on high from
off the earth and hurried him away. Over the heads of many a band of
warriors both horse and foot did he soar as the god's hand sped him,
till he came to the very fringe of the battle where the Cauconians were
arming themselves for fight. Neptune, shaker of the earth, then came
near to him and said, "Aeneas, what god has egged you on to this folly
in fighting the son of Peleus, who is both a mightier man of valour and
more beloved of heaven than you are? Give way before him whensoever you
meet him, lest you go down to the house of Hades even though fate would
have it otherwise. When Achilles is dead you may then fight among the
foremost undaunted, for none other of the Achaeans shall slay you."

The god left him when he had given him these instructions, and at once
removed the darkness from before the eyes of Achilles, who opened them
wide indeed and said in great anger, "Alas! what marvel am I now
beholding? Here is my spear upon the ground, but I see not him whom I
meant to kill when I hurled it. Of a truth Aeneas also must be under
heaven's protection, although I had thought his boasting was idle. Let
him go hang; he will be in no mood to fight me further, seeing how
narrowly he has missed being killed. I will now give my orders to the
Danaans and attack some other of the Trojans."

He sprang forward along the line and cheered his men on as he did so.
"Let not the Trojans," he cried, "keep you at arm's length, Achaeans,
but go for them and fight them man for man. However valiant I may be, I
cannot give chase to so many and fight all of them. Even Mars, who is
an immortal, or Minerva, would shrink from flinging himself into the
jaws of such a fight and laying about him; nevertheless, so far as in
me lies I will show no slackness of hand or foot nor want of endurance,
not even for a moment; I will utterly break their ranks, and woe to the
Trojan who shall venture within reach of my spear."

Thus did he exhort them. Meanwhile Hector called upon the Trojans and
declared that he would fight Achilles. "Be not afraid, proud Trojans,"
said he, "to face the son of Peleus; I could fight gods myself if the
battle were one of words only, but they would be more than a match for
me, if we had to use our spears. Even so the deed of Achilles will fall
somewhat short of his word; he will do in part, and the other part he
will clip short. I will go up against him though his hands be as
fire--though his hands be fire and his strength iron."

Thus urged the Trojans lifted up their spears against the Achaeans, and
raised the cry of battle as they flung themselves into the midst of
their ranks. But Phoebus Apollo came up to Hector and said, "Hector, on
no account must you challenge Achilles to single combat; keep a lookout
for him while you are under cover of the others and away from the thick
of the fight, otherwise he will either hit you with a spear or cut you
down at close quarters."

Thus he spoke, and Hector drew back within the crowd, for he was afraid
when he heard what the god had said to him. Achilles then sprang upon
the Trojans with a terrible cry, clothed in valour as with a garment.
First he killed Iphition son of Otrynteus, a leader of much people whom
a naiad nymph had borne to Otrynteus waster of cities, in the land of
Hyde under the snowy heights of Mt. Tmolus. Achilles struck him full on
the head as he was coming on towards him, and split it clean in two;
whereon he fell heavily to the ground and Achilles vaunted over him
saying, "You be low, son of Otrynteus, mighty hero; your death is here,
but your lineage is on the Gygaean lake where your father's estate
lies, by Hyllus, rich in fish, and the eddying waters of Hermus."

Thus did he vaunt, but darkness closed the eyes of the other. The
chariots of the Achaeans cut him up as their wheels passed over him in
the front of the battle, and after him Achilles killed Demoleon, a
valiant man of war and son to Antenor. He struck him on the temple
through his bronze-cheeked helmet. The helmet did not stay the spear,
but it went right on, crushing the bone so that the brain inside was
shed in all directions, and his lust of fighting was ended. Then he
struck Hippodamas in the midriff as he was springing down from his
chariot in front of him, and trying to escape. He breathed his last,
bellowing like a bull bellows when young men are dragging him to offer
him in sacrifice to the King of Helice, and the heart of the
earth-shaker is glad; even so did he bellow as he lay dying. Achilles
then went in pursuit of Polydorus son of Priam, whom his father had
always forbidden to fight because he was the youngest of his sons, the
one he loved best, and the fastest runner. He, in his folly and showing
off the fleetness of his feet, was rushing about among front