Complete Works of Homer

by Homer

And placed him by his peers in field, who did with joy admire

  To see him both alive and safe, and all his powers entire,

  Yet stood not sifting how it chanced, another sort of task,

  Then stirring th' idle sieve of news, did all their forces ask,

  Inflamed by Phcebus, harmful Mars, and Eris eag'rer far.

  The Greeks had none to hearten them; their hearts rose with the war;

  But chiefly Diomed, Ithacus, and both th' Ajaces used

  Stirring examples and good words; their own fames had infused

  Spirit enough into their bloods, to make them neither fear

  The Trojans' force, nor Fate itself, but still expecting were,

  When most was done, what would be more; their ground they still made good,

  And in their silence, and set powers, like fair still clouds, they stood,

  With which Jove crowns the tops of hills, in any quiet day,

  When Boreas and the ruder winds (that use to drive away

  Air's dusky vapours, being loose, in many a whistling gale)

  Are pleasingly bound up, and calm, and not a breath exhale.

  So firmly stood the Greeks, nor fled for all the Ilion's aid.

  Atrides yet coasts through the troops, confirming men so staid :

  “O friends," said he, " hold up your minds; strength is but strength of will;

  Reverence each other's good in fight, and shame at things done ill.

  Where soldiers show an honest shame, and love of honour lives

  That ranks men with the first in fight, death fewer liveries gives

  Than life, or than where Fame's neglect makes cowards fight at length.

  Flight neither both the body grace, nor shows the mind hath strength."

  He said, and swiftly through the troops a mortal lance did send,

  That reft a standard-bearer's life, renowned ^Eneas' friend,

  De'icoon Pergasides, whom all the Trojans loved

  As he were one of Priam's sons, his mind was so approved

  In always fighting with the first. The lance his target took,

  Which could not interrupt the blow that through it clearly strook,

  And in his belly's rim was sheathed, beneath his girdle-stead.

  He sounded falling, and his arms with him resounded, dead.

  Then fell two princes of the Greeks by great iEneas' ire,

  Diocleus' sons, Orsilochus and Crethon, whose kind sire

  In bravely-builded Phsera dwelt, rich, and of sacred blood.

  He was descended lineally from great Alphseus' flood,

  That broadly flows through Pylos' fields; Alphseus did beget

  Orsilochus, who in the rule of many men was set;

  And that Orsilochus begat the rich Diocleus;

  Diocleus sire to Crethon was and this Orsilochus.

  Both these, arrived at man's estate, with both th' Atrides went

  To honour them in th' Ilion wars; and both were one way sent,

  To death as well as Troy, for death hid both in one black hour.

  As two young lions (with their dam sustained but to devour)

  Bred on the tops of some steep hill, and in the gloomy deep

  Of an inaccessible wood, rush out, and prey on sheep,

  Steers, oxen, and destroy men's stalls, so long that they come short,

  And by the owner's steel are slain; in such unhappy sort

  Fell these beneath ^Eneas' power. When Menelaus viewed

  Like two tall fir-trees these two fall, their timeless falls he rued,

  And to the first fight, where they lay, a vengeful force he took;

  His arms beat back the sun in flames, a dreadful lance he shook.

  Mars put the fury in his mind, that by ^Eneas' hands,

  Who was to make the slaughter good, he might have strewed the sands.

  Antilochus, old Nestor's son, observing he was bent

  To urge a combat of such odds, and knowing the event

  Being ill on his part, all their pains (alone sustained for him)

  Erred from their end, made after hard, and took them in the trim

  Of an encounter. Both their hands and darts advanced, and shook,

  And both pitched in full stand of charge, when suddenly the look

  Of Anchisiades took note of Nestor's valiant son,

  In full charge too; which, two to one, made Venus' issue shun

  The hot adventure, though he were a soldier well approved.

  Then drew they off their slaughtered friends; who given to their beloved,

  They turned where fight showed deadliest hate, and there mixed with the dead

  Pylsemen, that the targeteers of Paphlagonia led,

  A man like Mars; and with him fell good Mydon that did guide

  His chariot, Atymnus' son. The prince Pylasmen died

  By Menelaus; Nestor's joy slew Mydon; one before

  The other in the chariot. Atrides' lance did gore

  Pyloemen's shoulder in the blade. Antilochus did force

  A mighty stone up from the earth, and as he turned his horse,

  Strook Mydon's elbow in the midst, the reins of ivory

  Fell from his hands into the dust; Antilochus let fly

  His sword withal, and, rushing in, a blow so deadly laid

  Upon his temples, that he groaned, tumbled to earth, and stayed

  A mighty while preposterously (because the dust was deep)

  Upon his neck and shoulders there, even till his foe took keep

  Of his prized horse, and made them stir, and then he prostrate fell.

  His horse Antilochus took home. When Hector had heard tell,

  Amongst the uproar, of their deaths, he laid out all his voice,

  And ran upon the Greeks. Behind came many men of choice,

  Before him marched great Mars himself, matched with his female mate,

  The dread Bellona. She brought on, to fight for mutual fate,

  A tumult that was wild and mad. He shook a horrid lance,

  And now led Hector, and anon behind would make the chance.

  This sight when great Tydides saw, his hair stood upon end;

  And him, whom all the skill and power of arms did late attend,

  Now like a man in counsel poor, that, travelling, goes amiss,

  And having passed a boundless plain, not knowing where he is,

  Comes on the sudden where he sees a river rough, and raves

  With his own billows ravished into the king of waves,

  Murmurs with foam, and frights him back; so he, amazed, retired,

  And thus would make good his amaze : " O friends, we all admired

  Great Hector, as one of himself, well-darting, bold in war,

  When some God guards him still from death, and makes him dare so far

  Now Mars himself, formed like a man, is present in his rage,

  And therefore, whatsoever cause importunes you to wage

  War with these Trojans, never strive, but gently take your rod,

  Lest in your bosoms for a man ye ever find a God."

  As Greece retired, the power of Troy did much more forward prease,

  And Hector two brave men of war sent to the fields of peace;

  Menestheus, and Anchialus; one chariot bare them both.

  Their falls made Ajax Telamon ruthful of heart, and wroth,

  Who lightened out a lance that smote Amphius Selages,,

  That dwelt in Paesos, rich in lands, and did huge goods possess,

  But Fate, to Priam and his sons, conducted his supply.

  The javelin on his girdle struck, and pierced mortally

  His belly's lower part; he fell; his arms had looks so trim,

  That Ajax needs would prove their spoil; the Trojans poured O11 him

  Whole storms of lances, large and sharp, of which a number stuck

  In his rough shield; yet from the slain he did his javelin pluck,

  But could not from his shoulders force the arms he di
d affect,

  The Trojans with such drifts of darts the body did protect;

  And wisely Telamonius feared their valorous defence,

  So many, and so strong of hand, stood in with such expense

  Of deadly prowess, who repelled, though big, strong, bold, he were,

  The famous Ajax, and their friend did from his rapture bear.

  Thus this place filled with strength of fight; in th' army's other prease,

  Tlepolemus, a tall big man, the son of Hercules,

  A cruel destiny inspired with strong desire to prove

  Encounter with Sarpedon's strength, the son of cloudy Jove;

  Who, coming on to that stern end, had chosen him his foe.

  Thus Jove's great nephew, and his son, 'gainst one another go.

  Tlepolemus, to make his end more worth the will of fate,

  Began as if he had her power, and showed the mortal state

  Of too much confidence in man, with this superfluous brave :

  “Sarpedon, what necessity or needless humour drave

  Thy form to these wars, which in heart I know thou'dost abhor,

  A man not seen in deeds of arms, a Lycian counsellor?

  They lie that call thee son to Jove, since Jove bred none so late;

  The men of elder times were they that his high power hegat,

  Such men as had Herculean force. My father Hercules

  Was Jove's true issue; he was hold; his deeds did w'ell express

  They sprung out of a lion's heart. He whilom came to Troy

  (For horse that Jupiter gave Tros for Ganymed, his boy)

  With six ships only, and few men, and tore the city down,

  Left all her broad ways desolate, and made the horse his own.

  For thee, thy mind is ill disposed, thy body's powers are poor,

  And therefore are thy troops so weak; the. soldier evermore

  Follows the temper of his chief; and thou pull'st down a side.

  But say thou art the son of Jove, and hast thy means supplied

  With forces fitting his descent, the powers that I compel

  Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hell"

  Jove's Lycian issue answered him : " Tlepolemus, 'tis true

  Thy father holy Ilion in that sort overthrew;

  Th' injustice of the king was cause, that, where thy father had

  Used good deservings to his state, he quitted him with bad.

  Hesione, the joy and grace of king Laomedon,

  Thy father rescued from a whale, and gave to Telamon

  In honoured nuptials (Telamon, from whom your strongest Greek

  Boasts to have issued), and this grace might well expect the like;

  Yet he gave taunts for thanks, and kept, against his oath, his horse,

  And therefore both thy father's strength, and justice, might enforce

  The wreak he took on Troy; but this and thy cause differ far.

  Sons seldom heir their fathers' worths. Thou canst not make his war.

  What thou assum'st for him, is mine, to be on thee imposed."

  With this he threw an ashen dart; and then Tlepolemus loosed

  Another from his glorious hand. Both at one instant flew,

  Both struck, both wounded. From his neck Sarpedon's javelin drew

  The life-blood of Tlepolemus; full in the midst it fell;

  And what he threatened, th' cither gave, that darkness, and that hell.

  Sarpedon's left thigh took the lance; it pierced the solid bone,

  And with his raging head ran through; but Jove preserved his son.

  The dart yet vexed him bitterly, which should have been pulled out,

  But none considered then so much, so thick came on the rout,

  And filled each hand so fall of cause to ply his own defence;

  'Twas held enough, both fallen, that both were nobly carried thence.

  TJlysses knew th' events of both, and took it much to heart

  That his friend's enemy should 'scape; and in a twofold part

  His thoughts contended, if he should pursue Sarpedon's life,

  Or take his friend's wreak on his men. Fate did conclude this strife,

  By whom 'twas otherwise decreed than that Ulysses' steel

  Should end Sarpedon. In this doubt Minerva took the wheel

  From fickle Chance, and made his mind resolve to right his friend

  With that blood he could surest draw. Then did Revenge extend

  Her full power on the multitude; then did he never miss;

  Alastor, Halius, Chromius, Noemon, Prytanis,

  Alcander and a number more, he slew, and more had slain,

  If Hector had not understood, whose power made in amain,

  And struck fear through the Grecian troops, but to Sarpedon gave

  Hope of full rescue, who thus cried: " O Hector! Help and save

  My body from the spoil of Greece, that to your loved town

  My friends may see me borne, and then let earth possess her own

  In this soil, for whose sake I left my country's; for no da
  Shall ever show me that again, nor to my wife display,

  And young hope of my name, the joy of my much thirsted sight;

  All which I left for Troy, for them let Troy then do this right.''

  To all this Hector gives no word, but greedily he strives

  With all speed to repel the Greeks, and shed in floods their lives,

  And left Sarpedon; but what face soever he put on

  Of following the common cause, he left this prince alone

  For his particular grudge, because, so late, he was so plain

  In his reproof before the host, and that did he retain;

  However, for example sake, he would not show it then,

  And for his shame too, since 'twas just. But good Sarpedon's men

  Ventured themselves, and forced him off, and set him underneath

  The goodly beech of Jupiter, where now they did unsheath

  The ashen lance; strong Pelagon, his friend, most loved, most true,

  Enforced it from his maimed thigh; with which his spirit flew,

  And darkness over-flew his eyes; yet with a gentle gale,

  That round about the dying prince cool Boreas did exhale,

  He was revived, recomforted, that else had grieved and died.

  All this time flight drave to the fleet the Argives, who applied

  No weapon 'gainst the proud pursuit, nor ever turned a head,

  They knew so well that Mars pursued, and dreadful Hector led.

  Then who was first, who last, whose lives the iron Mars did seize,

  And Priam's Hector? Helenus, surnamed (Enopides;

  Good Teuthras; and Orestes, skilled in managing of horse;

  Bold GSnomaus; and a man renowned for martial force,

  Trechus, the great iEtolian chief; Oresbius, that did wear

  The gaudy mitre, studied wealth extremely, and dwelt near

  Th' Atlantic lake Cephisides, in Hyla by whose seat

  The good men of Bceotia dwelt. This slaughter grew so great,

  It flew to heaven; Saturnia discerned it, and cried out

  To Pallas : " O unworthy sight' To see a field so fought,

  And break our words to Sparta's king, that Ilion should be raced,

  And he return revenged, when thus we see his Greeks disgraced,

  And bear the harmful rage of Mars! Come, let us use our care,

  That we dishonour not our powers." Minerva was as yare

  As she at the despite of Troy. Her golden-bridled steeds

  Then Saturn's daughter brought abroad; and Hebe, she proceeds

  -T' address her chariot; instantly she gives it either wheel,

  Beamed with eight spokes of sounding brass; the axle-tree was steel;

  The fell'ffs incorruptible gold, their upper bands of brass,

  Their matter most unvalued, their work of wondrous grace;

 
; The naves, in which the spokes were driven, were all with silver bound;

  The chariot's seat two hoops of gold and silver strengthened round,

  Edged with a gold and silver fringe; the beam, that looked before,

  Was massy silver; on whose top, gears all of gold it wore,

  And golden poitrils. Juno mounts, and her hot horses reined,

  That thirsted for contention, and still of peace complained.

  Minerva wrapt her in the robe that curiously she wove

  With glorious colours, as she sate on th' azure floor of Jove,

  And wore the arms that he puts on, bent to the tearful field.

  About her broad-spread shoulders hung his huge and horrid shield,

  Fringed round with ever-fighting snakes; through it was drawn to life

  The miseries and deaths of fight, in it frowned bloody Strife,

  In it shined sacred Fortitude, in it fell Pursuit flew,

  In it the monster Gorgon's head, in which held out to view

  Where all the dire ostents of Jove; on her big head she placed

  His four-plumed glittering casque of gold, so admirably vast

  It would an hundred garrisons of soldiers comprehend.

  Then to her shining chariot her vigorous feet ascend;

  And in her violent hand she takes his grave, huge, solid lance,

  With which the conquests of her wrath she useth to advance,

  And overturns whole fields of men, to show she was the seed

  Of him that thunders. Then heaven's Queen, to urge her horses' speed,

  Takes up the scourge, and forth they fly. The ample gates of heaven

  Rung, and flew open of themselves; the charge whereof is given,

  With all Olympus, and the sky, to the distinguished Hours,

  That clear or hide it all in clouds, or pour it down in showers,

  This way their scourge-obeying horse made haste, and soon they won

  The top of all the topful heavens, where aged Saturn's son

  Sat severed from the other Gods; then stayed the white-armed Queen

  Her steeds, and asked of Jove, if Mars did not incense his spleen

  With his foul deeds, in ruining so many and so great

  In the command and grace of Greece, and in so rude a heat?

  At which, she said, Apollo laughed, and Yenus, who still sue

  To that mad God, for violence that never justice knew;

  For whose impiety, she asked, if, with his wished love,

  Herself might free the field of him? He bade her rather move

  Athenia to the charge she sought, who used of old to be

  The bane of Mars, and had as well the gift of spoil as he.