Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Smyrnaeus

by Quintus Smyrnaeus

  To follow them — would God thou hadst never come!

  For by thy counsel left we in Lemnos’ isle

  Groaning in agony Poeas’ son renowned.

  And not for him alone was ruin devised

  Of thee; for godlike Palamedes too

  Didst thou contrive destruction — ha, he was

  Alike in battle and council better than thou!

  And now thou dar’st to rise up against me, 230

  Neither remembering my kindness, nor

  Having respect unto the mightier man

  Who rescued thee erewhile, when thou didst quaff

  In fight before the onset of thy foes,

  When thou, forsaken of all Greeks beside,

  Midst tumult of the fray, wast fleeing too!

  Oh that in that great fight Zeus’ self had stayed

  My dauntless might with thunder from his heaven!

  Then with their two-edged swords the Trojan men

  Had hewn thee limb from limb, and to their dogs 240

  Had cast thy carrion! Then thou hadst not presumed

  To meet me, trusting in thy trickeries!

  Wretch, wherefore, if thou vauntest thee in might

  Beyond all others, hast thou set thy ships

  In the line’s centre, screened from foes, nor dared

  As I, on the far wing to draw them up?

  Because thou wast afraid! Not thou it was

  Who savedst from devouring fire the ships;

  But I with heart unquailing there stood fast

  Facing the fire and Hector ay, even he 250

  Gave back before me everywhere in fight.

  Thou — thou didst fear him aye with deadly fear!

  Oh, had this our contention been but set

  Amidst that very battle, when the roar

  Of conflict rose around Achilles slain!

  Then had thine own eyes seen me bearing forth

  Out from the battle’s heart and fury of foes

  That goodly armour and its hero lord

  Unto the tents. But here thou canst but trust

  In cunning speech, and covetest a place 260

  Amongst the mighty! Thou — thou hast not strength

  To wear Achilles’ arms invincible,

  Nor sway his massy spear in thy weak hands!

  But I they are verily moulded to my frame:

  Yea, seemly it is I wear those glorious arms,

  Who shall not shame a God’s gifts passing fair.

  But wherefore for Achilles’ glorious arms

  With words discourteous wrangling stand we here?

  Come, let us try in strife with brazen spears

  Who of us twain is best in murderous right! 270

  For silver-footed Thetis set in the midst

  This prize for prowess, not for pestilent words.

  In folkmote may men have some use for words:

  In pride of prowess I know me above thee far,

  And great Achilles’ lineage is mine own.”

  He spake: with scornful glance and bitter speech

  Odysseus the resourceful chode with him:

  “Aias, unbridled tongue, why these vain words

  To me? Thou hast called me pestilent, niddering,

  And weakling: yet I boast me better far 280

  Than thou in wit and speech, which things increase

  The strength of men. Lo, how the craggy rock,

  Adamantine though it seem, the hewers of stone

  Amid the hills by wisdom undermine

  Full lightly, and by wisdom shipmen cross

  The thunderous-plunging sea, when mountain-high

  It surgeth, and by craft do hunters quell

  Strong lions, panthers, boars, yea, all the brood

  Of wild things. Furious-hearted bulls are tamed

  To bear the yoke-bands by device of men. 290

  Yea, all things are by wit accomplished. Still

  It is the man who knoweth that excels

  The witless man alike in toils and counsels.

  For my keen wit did Oeneus’ valiant son

  Choose me of all men with him to draw nigh

  To Hector’s watchmen: yea, and mighty deeds

  We twain accomplished. I it was who brought

  To Atreus’ sons Peleides far-renowned,

  Their battle-helper. Whensoe’er the host

  Needeth some other champion, not for the sake 300

  Of thine hands will he come, nor by the rede

  Of other Argives: of Achaeans I

  Alone will draw him with soft suasive words

  To where strong men are warring. Mighty power

  The tongue hath over men, when courtesy

  Inspires it. Valour is a deedless thing;

  And bulk and big assemblage of a man

  Cometh to naught, by wisdom unattended.

  But unto me the Immortals gave both strength

  And wisdom, and unto the Argive host 310

  Made me a blessing. Nor, as thou hast said,

  Hast thou in time past saved me when in flight

  From foes. I never fled, but steadfastly

  Withstood the charge of all the Trojan host.

  Furious the enemy came on like a flood

  But I by might of hands cut short the thread

  Of many lives. Herein thou sayest not true

  Me in the fray thou didst not shield nor save,

  But for thine own life roughtest, lest a spear

  Should pierce thy back if thou shouldst turn to flee 320

  From war. My ships? I drew them up mid-line,

  Not dreading the battle-fury of any foe,

  But to bring healing unto Atreus’ sons

  Of war’s calamities: and thou didst set

  Far from their help thy ships. Nay more, I seamed

  With cruel stripes my body, and entered so

  The Trojans’ burg, that I might learn of them

  All their devisings for this troublous war.

  Nor ever I dreaded Hector’s spear; myself

  Rose mid the foremost, eager for the fight, 330

  When, prowess-confident, he defied us all.

  Yea, in the fight around Achilles, I

  Slew foes far more than thou; ’twas I who saved

  The dead king with this armour. Not a whit

  I dread thy spear now, but my grievous hurt

  With pain still vexeth me, the wound I gat

  In fighting for these arms and their slain lord.

  In me as in Achilles is Zeus’ blood.”

  He spake; strong Aias answered him again.

  “Most cunning and most pestilent of men, 340

  Nor I, nor any other Argive, saw

  Thee toiling in that fray, when Trojans strove

  Fiercely to hale away Achilles slain.

  My might it was that with the spear unstrung

  The knees of some in fight, and others thrilled

  With panic as they pressed on ceaselessly.

  Then fled they in dire straits, as geese or cranes

  Flee from an eagle swooping as they feed

  Along a grassy meadow; so, in dread

  The Trojans shrinking backward from my spear 350

  And lightening sword, fled into Ilium

  To ‘scape destruction. If thy might came there

  Ever at all, not anywhere nigh me

  With foes thou foughtest: somewhere far aloot

  Mid other ranks thou toiledst, nowhere nigh

  Achilles, where the one great battle raged.”

  He spake; replied Odysseus the shrewd heart:

  “Aias, I hold myself no worse than thou

  In wit or might, how goodly in outward show

  Thou be soever. Nay, I am keener far 360

  Of wit than thou in all the Argives’ eyes.

  In battle-prowess do I equal thee

  Haply surpass; and this the Trojans know,

  Who tremble when they see me from afar.

  Aye, thou to
o know’st, and others know my strength

  By that hard struggle in the wrestling-match,

  When Peleus’ son set glorious prizes forth

  Beside the barrow of Patroclus slain.”

  So spake Laertes’ son the world-renowned.

  Then on that strife disastrous of the strong 370

  The sons of Troy gave judgment. Victory

  And those immortal arms awarded they

  With one consent to Odysseus mighty in war.

  Greatly his soul rejoiced; but one deep groan

  Brake from the Greeks. Then Aias’ noble might

  Stood frozen stiff; and suddenly fell on him

  Dark wilderment; all blood within his frame

  Boiled, and his gall swelled, bursting forth in flood.

  Against his liver heaved his bowels; his heart

  With anguished pangs was thrilled; fierce stabbing throes 380

  Shot through the filmy veil ‘twixt bone and brain;

  And darkness and confusion wrapped his mind.

  With fixed eyes staring on the ground he stood

  Still as a statue. Then his sorrowing friends

  Closed round him, led him to the shapely ships,

  Aye murmuring consolations. But his feet

  Trod for the last time, with reluctant steps,

  That path; and hard behind him followed Doom.

  When to the ships beside the boundless sea

  The Argives, faint for supper and for sleep, 390

  Had passed, into the great deep Thetis plunged,

  And all the Nereids with her. Round them swam

  Sea-monsters many, children of the brine.

  Against the wise Prometheus bitter-wroth

  The Sea-maids were, remembering how that Zeus,

  Moved by his prophecies, unto Peleus gave

  Thetis to wife, a most unwilling bride.

  Then cried in wrath to these Cymothoe:

  “O that the pestilent prophet had endured

  All pangs he merited, when, deep-burrowing, 400

  The eagle tare his liver aye renewed!”

  So to the dark-haired Sea-maids cried the Nymph.

  Then sank the sun: the onrush of the night

  Shadowed the fields, the heavens were star-bestrewn;

  And by the long-prowed ships the Argives slept

  By ambrosial sleep o’ermastered, and by wine

  The which from proud Idomeneus’ realm of Crete:

  The shipmen bare o’er foaming leagues of sea.

  But Aias, wroth against the Argive men,

  Would none of meat or drink, nor clasped him round 410

  The arms of sleep. In fury he donned his mail,

  He clutched his sword, thinking unspeakable thoughts;

  For now he thought to set the ships aflame,

  And slaughter all the Argives, now, to hew

  With sudden onslaught of his terrible sword

  Guileful Odysseus limb from limb. Such things

  He purposed — nay, had soon accomplished all,

  Had Pallas not with madness smitten him;

  For over Odysseus, strong to endure, her heart

  Yearned, as she called to mind the sacrifices 420

  Offered to her of him continually.

  Therefore she turned aside from Argive men

  The might of Aias. As a terrible storm,

  Whose wings are laden with dread hurricane-blasts,

  Cometh with portents of heart-numbing fear

  To shipmen, when the Pleiads, fleeing adread

  From glorious Orion, plunge beneath

  The stream of tireless Ocean, when the air

  Is turmoil, and the sea is mad with storm;

  So rushed he, whithersoe’er his feet might bear. 430

  This way and that he ran, like some fierce beast

  Which darteth down a rock-walled glen’s ravines

  With foaming jaws, and murderous intent

  Against the hounds and huntsmen, who have torn

  Out of the cave her cubs, and slain: she runs

  This way and that, and roars, if mid the brakes

  Haply she yet may see the dear ones lost;

  Whom if a man meet in that maddened mood,

  Straightway his darkest of all days hath dawned;

  So ruthless-raving rushed he; blackly boiled 440

  His heart, as caldron on the Fire-god’s hearth

  Maddens with ceaseless hissing o’er the flames

  From blazing billets coiling round its sides,

  At bidding of the toiler eager-souled

  To singe the bristles of a huge-fed boar;

  So was his great heart boiling in his breast.

  Like a wild sea he raved, like tempest-blast,

  Like the winged might of tireless flame amidst

  The mountains maddened by a mighty wind,

  When the wide-blazing forest crumbles down 450

  In fervent heat. So Aias, his fierce heart

  With agony stabbed, in maddened misery raved.

  Foam frothed about his lips; a beast-like roar

  Howled from his throat. About his shoulders clashed

  His armour. They which saw him trembled, all

  Cowed by the fearful shout of that one man.

  From Ocean then uprose Dawn golden-reined:

  Like a soft wind upfloated Sleep to heaven,

  And there met Hera, even then returned

  To Olympus back from Tethys, unto whom 460

  But yester-morn she went. She clasped him round,

  And kissed him, who had been her marriage-kin

  Since at her prayer on Ida’s erest he had lulled

  To sleep Cronion, when his anger burned

  Against the Argives. Straightway Hera passed

  To Zeus’s mansion, and Sleep swiftly flew

  To Pasithea’s couch. From slumber woke

  All nations of the earth. But Aias, like

  Orion the invincible, prowled on,

  Still bearing murderous madness in his heart. 470

  He rushed upon the sheep, like lion fierce

  Whose savage heart is stung with hunger-pangs.

  Here, there, he smote them, laid them dead in dust

  Thick as the leaves which the strong North-wind’s might

  Strews, when the waning year to winter turns;

  So on the sheep in fury Aias fell,

  Deeming he dealt to Danaans evil doom.

  Then to his brother Menelaus came,

  And spake, but not in hearing of the rest:

  “This day shall surely be a ruinous day 480

  For all, since Aias thus is sense-distraught.

  It may be he will set the ships aflame,

  And slay us all amidst our tents, in wrath

  For those lost arms. Would God that Thetis ne’er

  Had set them for the prize of rivalry!

  Would God Laertes’ son had not presumed

  In folly of soul to strive with a better man!

  Fools were we all; and some malignant God

  Beguiled us; for the one great war-defence

  Left us, since Aeacus’ son in battle fell, 490

  Was Aias’ mighty strength. And now the Gods

  Will to our loss destroy him, bringing bane

  On thee and me, that all we may fill up

  The cup of doom, and pass to nothingness.”

  He spake; replied Agamemnon, lord of spears:

  “Now nay, Menelaus, though thine heart he wrung,

  Be thou not wroth with the resourceful king

  Of Cephallenian folk, but with the Gods

  Who plot our ruin. Blame not him, who oft

  Hath been our blessing and our enemies’ curse.” 500

  So heavy-hearted spake the Danaan kings.

  But by the streams of Xanthus far away

  ‘Neath tamarisks shepherds cowered to hide from death,

  As when from a swift eagle cower hares

  ‘Neath tangled cops
es, when with sharp fierce scream

  This way and that with wings wide-shadowing

  He wheeleth very nigh; so they here, there,

  Quailed from the presence of that furious man.

  At last above a slaughtered ram he stood,

  And with a deadly laugh he cried to it: 510

  “Lie there in dust; be meat for dogs and kites!

  Achilles’ glorious arms have saved not thee,

  For which thy folly strove with a better man!

  Lie there, thou cur! No wife shall fall on thee,

  And clasp, and wail thee and her fatherless childs,

  Nor shalt thou greet thy parents’ longing eyes,

  The staff of their old age! Far from thy land

  Thy carrion dogs and vultures shall devour!”

  So cried he, thinking that amidst the slain

  Odysseus lay blood-boltered at his feet. 520

  But in that moment from his mind and eyes

  Athena tore away the nightmare-fiend

  Of Madness havoc-breathing, and it passed

  Thence swiftly to the rock-walled river Styx

  Where dwell the winged Erinnyes, they which still

  Visit with torments overweening men.

  Then Aias saw those sheep upon the earth

  Gasping in death; and sore amazed he stood,

  For he divined that by the Blessed Ones

  His senses had been cheated. All his limbs 530

  Failed under him; his soul was anguished-thrilled:

  He could not in his horror take one step

  Forward nor backward. Like some towering rock

  Fast-rooted mid the mountains, there he stood.

  But when the wild rout of his thoughts had rallied,

  He groaned in misery, and in anguish wailed:

  “Ah me! why do the Gods abhor me so?

  They have wrecked my mind, have with fell madness filled,

  Making me slaughter all these innocent sheep!

  Would God that on Odysseus’ pestilent heart 540

  Mine hands had so avenged me! Miscreant, he

  Brought on me a fell curse! O may his soul

  Suffer all torments that the Avenging Fiends

  Devise for villains! On all other Greeks

  May they bring murderous battle, woeful griefs,

  And chiefly on Agamemnon, Atreus’ son!

  Not scatheless to the home may he return

  So long desired! But why should I consort,

  I, a brave man, with the abominable?

  Perish the Argive host, perish my life, 550

  Now unendurable! The brave no more

  Hath his due guerdon, but the baser sort

  Are honoured most and loved, as this Odysseus