Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Smyrnaeus

by Quintus Smyrnaeus

  Naught heard he of her moans unutterable,

  But was afar, fast striding to the ship.

  He seemed, as his feet swiftly bare him on,

  Like some all-radiant star; and at his side

  With Tydeus’ son war-wise Odysseus went,

  And with them twenty gallant-hearted men,

  Whom Deidameia chose as trustiest

  Of all her household, and unto her son 390

  Gave them for henchmen swift to do his will.

  And these attended Achilles’ valiant son,

  As through the city to the ship he sped.

  On, with glad laughter, in their midst he strode;

  And Thetis and the Nereids joyed thereat.

  Yea, glad was even the Raven-haired, the Lord

  Of all the sea, beholding that brave son

  Of princely Achilles, marking how he longed

  For battle. Beardless boy albeit he was,

  His prowess and his might were inward spurs 400

  To him. He hasted forth his fatherland

  Like to the War-god, when to gory strife

  He speedeth, wroth with foes, when maddeneth

  His heart, and grim his frown is, and his eyes

  Flash levin-flame around him, and his face

  Is clothed with glory of beauty terror-blent,

  As on he rusheth: quail the very Gods.

  So seemed Achilles’ goodly son; and prayers

  Went up through all the city unto Heaven

  To bring their noble prince safe back from war; 410

  And the Gods hearkened to them. High he towered

  Above all stateliest men which followed him.

  So came they to the heavy-plunging sea,

  And found the rowers in the smooth-wrought ship

  Handling the tackle, fixing mast and sail.

  Straightway they went aboard: the shipmen cast

  The hawsers loose, and heaved the anchor-stones,

  The strength and stay of ships in time of need.

  Then did the Sea-queen’s lord grant voyage fair

  To these with gracious mind; for his heart yearned 420

  O’er the Achaeans, by the Trojan men

  And mighty-souled Eurypylus hard-bestead.

  On either side of Neoptolemus sat

  Those heroes, gladdening his soul with tales

  Of his sire’s mighty deeds — of all he wrought

  In sea-raids, and in valiant Telephus’ land,

  And how he smote round Priam’s burg the men

  Of Troy, for glory unto Atreus’ sons.

  His heart glowed, fain to grasp his heritage,

  His aweless father’s honour and renown. 430

  In her bower, sorrowing for her son the while,

  Deidameia poured forth sighs and tears.

  With agony of soul her very heart

  Melted in her, as over coals doth lead

  Or wax, and never did her moaning cease,

  As o’er the wide sea her gaze followed him.

  Ay, for her son a mother fretteth still,

  Though it be to a feast that he hath gone,

  By a friend bidden forth. But soon the sail

  Of that good ship far-fleeting o’er the blue 440

  Grew faint and fainter — melted in sea-haze.

  But still she sighed, still daylong made her moan.

  On ran the ship before a following wind,

  Seeming to skim the myriad-surging sea,

  And crashed the dark wave either side the prow:

  Swiftly across the abyss unplumbed she sped.

  Night’s darkness fell about her, but the breeze

  Held, and the steersman’s hand was sure. O’er gulfs

  Of brine she flew, till Dawn divine rose up

  To climb the sky. Then sighted they the peaks 450

  Of Ida, Chrysa next, and Smintheus’ fane,

  Then the Sigean strand, and then the tomb

  Of Aeacus’ son. Yet would Laertes’ seed,

  The man discreet of soul, not point it out

  To Neoptolemus, lest the tide of grief

  Too high should swell within his breast. They passed

  Calydnae’s isles, left Tenedos behind;

  And now was seen the fane of Eleus,

  Where stands Protesilaus’ tomb, beneath

  The shade of towcry elms; when, soaring high 460

  Above the plain, their topmost boughs discern

  Troy, straightway wither all their highest sprays.

  Nigh Ilium now the ship by wind and oar

  Was brought: they saw the long strand fringed with keels

  Of Argives, who endured sore travail of war

  Even then about the wall, the which themselves

  Had reared to screen the ships and men in stress

  Of battle. Even now Eurypylus’ hands

  To earth were like to dash it and destroy;

  But the quick eyes of Tydeus’ strong son marked 470

  How rained the darts and stones on that long wall.

  Forth of the ship he sprang, and shouted loud

  With all the strength of his undaunted breast:

  “Friends, on the Argive men is heaped this day

  Sore travail! Let us don our flashing arms

  With speed, and to yon battle-turmoil haste.

  For now upon our towers the warrior sons

  Of Troy press hard — yea, haply will they tear

  The long walls down, and burn the ships with fire,

  And so the souls that long for home-return 480

  Shall win it never; nay, ourselves shall fall

  Before our due time, and shall lie in graves

  In Troyland, far from children and from wives.”

  All as one man down from the ship they leapt;

  For trembling seized on all for that grim sight —

  On all save aweless Neoptolemus

  Whose might was like his father’s: lust of war

  Swept o’er him. To Odysseus’ tent in haste

  They sped, for close it lay to where the ship

  Touched land. About its walls was hung great store 490

  Of change of armour, of wise Odysseus some,

  And rescued some from gallant comrades slain.

  Then did the brave man put on goodly arms;

  But they in whose breasts faintlier beat their hearts

  Must don the worser. Odysseus stood arrayed

  In those which came with him from Ithaca:

  To Diomede he gave fair battle-gear

  Stripped in time past from mighty Socus slain.

  But in his father’s arms Achilles’ son

  Clad him and lo, he seemed Achilles’ self! 500

  Light on his limbs and lapping close they lay —

  So cunning was Hephaestus’ workmanship —

  Which for another had been a giant’s arms.

  The massive helmet cumbered not his brows;

  Yea, the great Pelian spear-shaft burdened not

  His hand, but lightly swung he up on high

  The heavy and tall lance thirsting still for blood.

  Of many Argives which beheld him then

  Might none draw nigh to him, how fain soe’er,

  So fast were they in that grim grapple locked 510

  Of the wild war that raged all down the wall.

  But as when shipmen, under a desolate isle

  Mid the wide sea by stress of weather bound,

  Chafe, while afar from men the adverse blasts

  Prison them many a day; they pace the deck

  With sinking hearts, while scantier grows their store

  Of food; they weary till a fair wind sings;

  So joyed the Achaean host, which theretofore

  Were heavy of heart, when Neoptolemus came,

  Joyed in the hope of breathing-space from toil. 520

  Then like the aweless lion’s flashed his eyes,

  Which mid the mountains leaps in furious mood


  To meet the hunters that draw nigh his cave,

  Thinking to steal his cubs, there left alone

  In a dark-shadowed glen but from a height

  The beast hath spied, and on the spoilers leaps

  With grim jaws terribly roaring; even so

  That glorious child of Aeacus’ aweless son

  Against the Trojan warriors burned in wrath.

  Thither his eagle-swoop descended first 530

  Where loudest from the plain uproared the fight,

  There weakest, he divined, must be the wall,

  The battlements lowest, since the surge of foes

  Brake heaviest there. Charged at his side the rest

  Breathing the battle-spirit. There they found

  Eurypylus mighty of heart and all his men

  Scaling a tower, exultant in the hope

  Of tearing down the walls, of slaughtering

  The Argives in one holocaust. No mind

  The Gods had to accomplish their desire! 540

  But now Odysseus, Diomede the strong,

  Leonteus, and Neoptolemus, as a God

  In strength and beauty, hailed their javelins down,

  And thrust them from the wall. As dogs and shepherds

  By shouting and hard fighting drive away

  Strong lions from a steading, rushing forth

  From all sides, and the brutes with glaring eyes

  Pace to and fro; with savage lust for blood

  Of calves and kine their jaws are slavering;

  Yet must their onrush give back from the hounds 550

  And fearless onset of the shepherd folk;

  [So from these new defenders shrank the foe]

  A little, far as one may hurl a stone

  Exceeding great; for still Eurypylus

  Suffered them not to flee far from the ships,

  But cheered them on to bide the brunt, until

  The ships be won, and all the Argives slain;

  For Zeus with measureless might thrilled all his frame.

  Then seized he a rugged stone and huge, and leapt

  And hurled it full against the high-built wall. 560

  It crashed, and terribly boomed that rampart steep

  To its foundations. Terror gripped the Greeks,

  As though that wall had crumbled down in dust;

  Yet from the deadly conflict flinched they not,

  But stood fast, like to jackals or to wolves

  Bold robbers of the sheep — when mid the hills

  Hunter and hound would drive them forth their caves,

  Being grimly purposed there to slay their whelps.

  Yet these, albeit tormented by the darts,

  Flee not, but for their cubs’ sake bide and fight; 570

  So for the ships’ sake they abode and fought,

  And for their own lives. But Eurypylus

  Afront of all the ships stood, taunting them:

  “Coward and dastard souls! no darts of yours

  Had given me pause, nor thrust back from your ships,

  Had not your rampart stayed mine onset-rush.

  Ye are like to dogs, that in a forest flinch

  Before a lion! Skulking therewithin

  Ye are fighting — nay, are shrinking back from death!

  But if ye dare come forth on Trojan ground, 580

  As once when ye were eager for the fray,

  None shall from ghastly death deliver you:

  Slain by mine hand ye all shall lie in dust!”

  So did he shout a prophecy unfulfilled,

  Nor heard Doom’s chariot-wheels fast rolling near

  Bearing swift death at Neoptolemus’ hands,

  Nor saw death gleaming from his glittering spear.

  Ay, and that hero paused not now from fight,

  But from the ramparts smote the Trojans aye.

  From that death leaping from above they quailed 590

  In tumult round Eurypylus: deadly fear

  Gripped all their hearts. As little children cower

  About a father’s knees when thunder of Zeus

  Crashes from cloud to cloud, when all the air

  Shudders and groans, so did the sons of Troy,

  With those Ceteians round their great king, cower

  Ever as prince Neoptolemus hurled; for death

  Rode upon all he cast, and bare his wrath

  Straight rushing down upon the heads of foes.

  Now in their hearts those wildered Trojans said 600

  That once more they beheld Achilles’ self

  Gigantic in his armour. Yet they hid

  That horror in their breasts, lest panic fear

  Should pass from them to the Ceteian host

  And king Eurypylus; so on every side

  They wavered ‘twixt the stress of their hard strait

  And that blood-curdling dread, ‘twixt shame and fear.

  As when men treading a precipitous path

  Look up, and see adown the mountain-slope

  A torrent rushing on them, thundering down 610

  The rocks, and dare not meet its clamorous flood,

  But hurry shuddering on, with death in sight

  Holding as naught the perils of the path;

  So stayed the Trojans, spite of their desire

  [To flee the imminent death that waited them]

  Beneath the wall. Godlike Eurypylus

  Aye cheered them on to fight. He trusted still

  That this new mighty foe would weary at last

  With toil of slaughter; but he wearied not.

  That desperate battle-travail Pallas saw, 620

  And left the halls of Heaven incense-sweet,

  And flew o’er mountain-crests: her hurrying feet

  Touched not the earth, borne by the air divine

  In form of cloud-wreaths, swifter than the wind.

  She came to Troy, she stayed her feet upon

  Sigeum’s windy ness, she looked forth thence

  Over the ringing battle of dauntless men,

  And gave the Achaeans glory. Achilles’ son

  Beyond the rest was filled with valour and strength

  Which win renown for men in whom they meet. 630

  Peerless was he in both: the blood of Zeus

  Gave strength; to his father’s valour was he heir;

  So by those towers he smote down many a foe.

  And as a fisher on the darkling sea,

  To lure the fish to their destruction, takes

  Within his boat the strength of fire; his breath

  Kindles it to a flame, till round the boat

  Glareth its splendour, and from the black sea

  Dart up the fish all eager to behold

  The radiance — for the last time; for the barbs 640

  Of his three-pointed spear, as up they leap,

  Slay them; his heart rejoices o’er the prey.

  So that war-king Achilles’ glorious son

  Slew hosts of onward-rushing foes around

  That wall of stone. Well fought the Achaeans all,

  Here, there, adown the ramparts: rang again

  The wide strand and the ships: the battered walls

  Groaned ever. Men with weary ache of toil

  Fainted on either side; sinews and might

  Of strong men were unstrung. But o’er the son 650

  Of battle-stay Achilles weariness

  Crept not: his battle-eager spirit aye

  Was tireless; never touched by palsying fear

  He fought on, as with the triumphant strength

  Of an ever-flowing river: though it roll

  ‘Twixt blazing forests, though the madding blast

  Roll stormy seas of flame, it feareth not,

  For at its brink faint grows the fervent heat,

  The strong flood turns its might to impotence;

  So weariness nor fear could bow the knees 660

  Of Hero Achilles’ gallant-hearted son,

  Still as he fought, st
ill cheered his comrades on.

  Of myriad shafts sped at him none might touch

  His flesh, but even as snowflakes on a rock

  Fell vainly ever: wholly screened was he

  By broad shield and strong helmet, gifts of a God.

  In these exulting did the Aeacid’s son

  Stride all along the wall, with ringing shouts

  Cheering the dauntless Argives to the fray,

  Being their mightiest far, bearing a soul 670

  Insatiate of the awful onset-cry,

  Burning with one strong purpose, to avenge

  His father’s death: the Myrmidons in their king

  Exulted. Roared the battle round the wall.

  Two sons he slew of Meges rich in gold,

  Scion of Dymas — sons of high renown,

  Cunning to hurl the dart, to drive the steed

  In war, and deftly cast the lance afar,

  Born at one birth beside Sangarius’ banks

  Of Periboea to him, Celtus one, 680

  And Eubius the other. But not long

  His boundless wealth enjoyed they, for the

  Fates Span them a thread of life exceeding brief.

  As on one day they saw the light, they died

  On one day by the same hand. To the heart

  Of one Neoptolemus sped a javelin; one

  He smote down with a massy stone that crashed

  Through his strong helmet, shattered all its ridge,

  And dashed his brains to earth. Around them fell

  Foes many, a host untold. The War-god’s work 690

  Waxed ever mightier till the eventide,

  Till failed the light celestial; then the host

  Of brave Eurypylus from the ships drew back

  A little: they that held those leaguered towers

  Had a short breathing-space; the sons of Troy

  Had respite from the deadly-echoing strife,

  From that hard rampart-battle. Verily all

  The Argives had beside their ships been slain,

  Had not Achilles’ strong son on that day

  Withstood the host of foes and their great chief 700

  Eurypylus. Came to that young hero’s side

  Phoenix the old, and marvelling gazed on one

  The image of Peleides. Tides of joy

  And grief swept o’er him — grief, for memories

  Of that swift-footed father — joy, for sight

  Of such a son. He for sheer gladness wept;

  For never without tears the tribes of men

  Live — nay, not mid the transports of delight.

  He clasped him round as father claspeth son

  Whom, after long and troublous wanderings, 710

  The Gods bring home to gladden a father’s heart.