Complete Works of Homer

by Homer

  Which Pallas far-off echoed, who did betwixt them hoise

  Shrill tumult to a topless height. And as a voice is heard

  With emulous affection, when any town is sphered

  With siege of such a foe as kills men's minds, and for the town

  Makes sound his trumpet; so the voice from Thetis' issue thrown

  Won emulously th' ears of all. His brazen voice once heard,

  The minds of all were startled so they yielded; and so feared

  The fair-maned horses that they flew back, and their chariots turned

  Presaging in their augurous hearts the labours that they mourned

  A little after, and their guides a repercussive dread

  Took from the horrid radiance of his refulgent head,

  Which Pallas set on fire with grace. Thrice great Achilles spake,

  And thrice, in heat of all the charge, the Trojans started back.

  Twelve men of greatest strength in Troy left with their lives exhaled

  Their chariots and their darts, to death with his three summons called.

  And then the Grecians spritefully drew from the darts the corse,

  And hearsed it, bearing it to fleet, his friends with all remorse

  Marching about it. His great friend dissolving then in tears

  To see his truly-loved returned so horsed upon an hearse,

  Whom with such horse and chariot he set out safe and whole,

  Now wounded with unpitying steel, now sent without a soul,

  Never again to be restored, never received but so,

  He followed mourning bitterly. The sun, yet far to go,

  Juno commanded to go down; who in his power's despite

  Sunk to the ocean, over earth dispersing sudden night.

  And then the Greeks and Trojans both gave up their horse and-darts.

  The Trojans all to council called, ere they refreshed their hearts

  With any supper, nor would sit; they grew so stiff with fear

  To see, so long from heavy fight, Aeacides appear.

  Polydamas began to speak, who only could discern

  Things future by things past, and was vowed friend to Hector, born

  In one night both. He thus advised : " Consider well, my friends,

  In this so great and sudden change that now itself extends,

  What change is best for us t' oppose. To this stands my command :

  Make now the town our strength, not here abide light's rosy hand,

  Our wall being far off, and our foe, much greater, still as near.

  Till this foe came, I well was pleased to keep our watches here,

  My fit hope of the fleet's surprise inclined me so, but now

  'Tis stronglier guarded, and, their strength increased, we must allow

  Our own proportionate amends. I doubt exceedingly

  That this indifferency of fight 'twixt us and th' enemy,

  And these bounds we prefix to them, will nothing so confine

  Th' uncurbed mind of Aeacides. The height of his design

  Aims at our city and our wives, and all bars in his way,

  Being backed with less than walls, his pow'r will scorn to make his stay,

  And over-run, as over-seen and not his object. Then

  Let Troy be freely our retreat, lest, being enforced, our men

  'Twixt this and that be taken up by vultures, who by night

  May safe come off, it being a time untimely for his might

  To spend at random; that being sure. If next light show us here

  To his assaults, each man will wish that Troy his refuge were,

  And then feel what he hears not now. I would to heaven mine ear

  Were free even now of those complaints that you must after hear

  If ye remove not! If ye yield, though wearied with a fight

  So late and long, we shall have strength in council and the night.

  And (where we here have no more force than need will force us to,

  And which must rise out of our nerves) high ports, tow'rs, walls will do

  What wants in us; and in the morn, all armed upon our tow'rs,

  • We all will stand out to our foe. 'Twill trouble all his pow'rs

  To come from fleet and give us charge, when his higb -crested horse

  His rage shall satiate with the toil of this and that way's course,

  Yain entry seeking underneath our well-defended walls,

  And he be glad to turn to fleet, about his funerals.

  For of his entry here at home, what mind will serve his thirst,

  Or ever feed him with sacked Troy? The dogs shall eat him first."

  At this speech Hector bent his brows, and said : " This makes not great

  Your grace with me, Polydamas, that argue for retreat

  To Troy's old prison. Have we not enough of those tow'rs yet?

  And is not Troy yet charged enough, with impositions set

  Upon her citizens, to keep our men from spoil without,

  But still we must impose within? That houses with our rout

  As well as purses may be plagued? Beforetime Priam's town

  Trafficked with divers-languaged men, and all gave the renown

  Of rich Troy to it, brass and gold abounding; but her store

  Is now from every house exhaust, possessions evermore

  Are sold out into Phrygia and lovely Mseony,

  And have been ever since Jove's wrath. And now his clemency

  Gives me the mean to quit our want with glory, and conclude

  The Greeks in sea-boards and our seas, to slack it, and extrude

  His offered bounty by our flight. Fool that thou art, bewray

  This counsel to no common ear, for no man shall obey;

  If any will, I'll check his will. But what our self command,

  Let all observe. Take suppers all, keep watch of every hand.

  If any Trojan have some spoil that takes his too much care,

  Make- him dispose it publicly; 'tis better any fare

  The better for him than the.Greeks. When light then decks the skies,

  Let all arm for a fierce assault. If great Achilles rise,

  And will enforce our greater toil, it may rise so to him.

  On my back he shall find no wings, my spirit shall force my limb

  To stand his worst, and give or take. Mars is our common lord,

  And the desirous swordsman's life he ever puts to sword."

  This counsel gat applause of all, so much were all unwise;

  Minerva robbed them of their brains, to like the ill advice

  The great man gave, and leave the good since by the meaner given.

  All took their suppers; but the Greeks spent all the heavy even

  About Patroclus' mournful rites, Pelides leading all

  In all the forms of heaviness. He by his side did fall,

  And his man-slaughtering hands imposed into his oft-kissed breast,

  Sighs blew up sighs, and lion-like, graced with a goodly crest,

  That in his absence being robbed by hunters of his whelps,

  Returns to his so desolate den, and, for his wanted helps,

  Beholding his unlooked-for wants, flies roaring back again,

  Hunts the sly hunter, many a vale resounding his disdain;

  So mourned Pelides his late loss, so weighty were his moans,

  Which, for their dumb sounds, now gave words to all his Myrmidons :

  ""O Gods," said he, "how vain a vow I made, to cheer the mind

  Of sad Menoetius, when his son his hand to mine resigned,

  That high-towered Opus he should see, and leave rased Ilion

  With spoil and honour, even with me! But Jove vouchsafes to none

  Wished passages to all his vows; we both were destinate

  To bloody one earth here in Troy, nor any more estate

  In my return hath Peleus or Thetis; but because

  I last must undergo the ground, I'll keep no funer
al laws,

  O my Patroclus, for thy corse, before I hither bring

  The arms of Hector and his head to thee for offering.

  Twelve youths, the most renowned of Troy, I'll sacrifice beside,

  Before thy heap of funeral, to thee unpacified.

  In mean time, by our crooked sterns lie drawing tears from me,

  And round about thy honoured corse these dames of Dardanie

  And Ilion with the ample breasts (whom our long spears and povv'rs

  And labours purchased from the rich and by-us-ruined tow'rs,

  And cities strong and populous with divers-languaged men)

  Shall kneel, and neither day nor night be licensed to abstain

  From solemn watches, their toiled eyes held ope with endless tears."

  This passion past, he gave command to his near soldiers

  To put a tripod to the fire, to cleanse the festered gore

  From off the person. They obeyed, and presently did pour

  Fresh water in it, kindled wood, and with an instant flame

  The belly of the tripod girt, till fire's hot quality came

  Up to the water. Then they washed and filled the mortal wound

  With wealthy oil of nine years old, then wrapped the body round

  In largeness of a fine white sheet, and put it then in bed;

  When all watched all night with their lord, and spent sighs on the dead.

  Then Jove asked Juno : " If at length she had sufficed her spleen,

  Achilles being won to arms? Or if she had not been

  The natural mother of the Greeks, she did so still prefer

  Their quarrel?" She, incensed, asked : " Why he still was taunting her

  For doing good to those she loved, since man to man might show

  Kind offices, though thrall to death, and though they did not know

  Half such deep counsels as disclosed beneath her far-seeing state,

  She, reigning queen of Goddesses, and being ingenerate

  Of one stock with himself, besides the state of being his wife?

  And must her wrath, and ill to Troy, continue such a strife

  From time to time 'twixt him and her? " This private speech they had.

  And now the silver-footed Queen had her ascension made

  To that incorruptible house, that starry golden court

  Of fiery Vulcan, beautiful amongst th' immortal sort,

  Which yet the lame God built himself. She found him in a sweat

  About his bellows, and in haste had twenty tripods beat

  . To set for stools about the sides of his well-builded hall,

  To whose feet little wheels of gold he put, to go withal,

  And enter his rich dining-room, alone, their motion free,

  ¦A,nd back again go out alone, miraculous to see.

  And thus much he had done of them, yet handles were to add,

  For which he now was making studs. And while their fashion had

  Employment of his skilful hand, bright Thetis was come near,

  Whom first fair well-haired Charis saw, that was the nuptial fere

  Of famous Vulcan, who the hand of Thetis took, and said :

  “Why, fair-trained, loved, and honoured dame, are we thus visited

  By your kind presence? You, I think, were never here before.

  Come near, that I may banquet you, and make you visit more."

  She led her in, and in a chair of silver (being the fruit

  Of Vulcan's hand) she made her sit, a footstool of a suit

  Apposing to her crystal feet; and called the God of fire,

  For Thetis was arrived, she said, and entertained desire

  Of some grace that his art might grant. " Thetis to me," said he,

  “Is mighty, and most reverend, as one that nourished me,

  When grief consumed me, being cast from heaven by want of shame

  In my proud mother, who, because she brought me forth so lame,

  Would have me made away, and then had I been much distressed

  Had Thetis and Eurynome in either's silver breast

  Not rescued me; Eurynome that to her father had

  Reciprocal Oceanus. Nine years with them I made

  A number of well-arted things, round bracelets, buttons brave,

  Whistles and carquenets. My forge stood in a hollow cave,

  About which, murmuring with foam, th' unmeasured ocean

  Was ever beating; my abode known nor to God nor man,

  But Thetis and Eurynome, and they would see me still,

  They were my loving guardians. Now then the starry hill,

  And our particular roof, thus graced with bright-haired Thetis here,

  It fits me always to repay a recompense as dear

  To her thoughts as my life to me. Haste, Charis, and appose

  Some dainty guest-rites to our friend, while I my bellows loose

  From fire and lay up all my tools." Then from an anvil rose

  Th' unwieldy monster, halted down, and all awry he went.

  He took his bellows from the fire, and every instrument

  Locked safe up in a silver chest. Then with a sponge he drest

  His face all over, neck and hands, and all his hairy breast,

  Put on his coat, his sceptre took, and then went halting forth,

  Handmaids of gold attending him, resembling in all worth

  Living young damsels, filled with minds and wisdom, and were trained

  In all immortal ministry, virtue and voice contained,

  And moved with voluntary pow'rs; and these still waited on

  Their fiery sovereign, who (not apt to walk) sate near the throne

  Of fair-haired Thetis, took her hand, and thus he courted her :

  <: For what affair, O fair-trained queen, reverend to me, and dear,

  Is our court honoured with thy state, that hast not heretofore

  Performed this kindness? Speak thy thoughts, thy suit can he no more

  Than my mind gives me charge to grant. Can my pow'r get it wrought?

  Or that it have not only pow'r of only act in thought?"

  She thus : " O Yulcan, is there one of all that are of heaven

  That in her never-quiet mind Saturnius hath given

  So much affliction as to me, whom only he suhjects,

  Of all the sea-nymphs to a man, and makes me hear th' effects

  Of his frail bed, and all against the freedom of my will,

  , And he worn to his root with age? From him another ill

  Ariseth to me : Jupiter, you know, hath given a son,

  The excellent'st of men, to me, whose education

  On my part well hath answered his own worth, having grown

  As in a fruitful soil a tree that puts not up alone

  His body to a naked height, but jointly gives his growth

  A thousand branches; yet to him so short a life I hrought,

  That never I shall see him more returned to Peleus' court.

  And all that short life he hath spent in most unhappy sort;

  For first he won a worthy dame, and had her by the hands

  Of all the Grecians, yet this dame Atrides countermands;

  For which in much disdain he mourned, and almost pined away,

  And yet for this wrong he received some honour, I must say.

  The Greeks being shut up at their ships, not suffered to advance

  A head out of their hattered sterns, and mighty suppliance

  By all their grave men hath heen made, gifts, honours, all proposed

  For his reflection; yet he still kept close, and saw enclosed

  Their whole host in this general plague. But now his friend put on

  His arms, being sent by him to field, and many a Myrmidon

  In conduct of him. All the day they fought before the gates

  Of Scaea, and most certainly that day had seen the dates

  Of all Troy's honours in her dust, if Phoebus (having done

&nb
sp; Much mischief more) the envied life of good Menoetius' son

  Had not with partial hands enforced, and all the honour given

  To Hector, who hath prized his arms. And therefore I am driven

  T' embrace thy knees for new defence to my loved son. Alas!

  His life, prefixed so short a date, had need spend that with grace.

  A shield then for him, and a helm, fair greaves, and curets, such

  As may renown thy workmanship, and honour him as much,

  I sue for at thy famous hands." " Be confident," said he,

  “Let these wants breed thy thoughts no care. I would it lay in me

  To hide him from his heavy death, when fate shall seek for him,

  As well as with renowned arms to fit his goodly limb,

  Which thy hands shall convey to him, and all eyes shall admire,

  See, and desire again to see thy satisfied desire."

  This said, he left her there, and forth did to his bellows go,

  Apposed them to the fire again, commanding them to blow.

  Through twenty holes made to his hearth at once blew twenty pair,

  That fired his coals, sometimes with soft, sometimes with vehement, air,

  As he willed, and his work required. Amids the flame he cast

  Tin, silver, precious gold, and brass; and in the stock he placed

  A mighty anvil; his right hand a weighty hammer held,

  His left his tongs. And first he forged a strong and spacious shield

  Adorned with twenty several hues; about whose verge he beat

  A ring, threefold and radiant, and on the back he set

  A silver handle : fivefold were the equal lines he drew

  About the whole circumference, in which his hand did shew

  (Directed with a knowing mind) a rare variety;

  For in it he presented Earth; in it the Sea and Sky;

  In it the never-wearied Sun, the moon exactly round,

  And all those Stars with which the brows of ample heaven are crowned,

  Orion, all the Pleiades, and those seven Atlas got,

  The close-beamed Hyades, the Bear, surnamed the Chariot,

  That turns about heaven's axle-tree, holds ope a constant eye

  Upon Orion, and of all the cressets in the sky

  His golden forehead never bows to th' Ocean empery."

  Two cities in the spacious field he built, with goodly state

  Of divers-languaged men. The one did nuptials celebrate,

  Observing at them solemn feasts, the brides from forth their bow'rs

  With torches ushered through the streets, a world of paramours

  Excited by them; youths and maids in lovely circles danced,