Delphi Complete Works of Quintus Smyrnaeus

by Quintus Smyrnaeus

  But, spite her prayers, to thraldom dragged they her.

  In all the homes of Troy lay dying men,

  And rose from all a lamentable cry,

  Save only Antenor’s halls; for unto him

  The Argives rendered hospitality’s debt,

  For that in time past had his roof received

  And sheltered godlike Menelaus, when

  He with Odysseus came to claim his own.

  Therefore the mighty sons of Achaea showed

  Grace to him, as to a friend, and spared his life 330

  And substance, fearing Themis who seeth all.

  Then also princely Anchises’ noble son —

  Hard had he fought through Priam’s burg that night

  With spear and valour, and many had he slain —

  When now he saw the city set aflame

  By hands of foes, saw her folk perishing

  In multitudes, her treasures spoiled, her wives

  And children dragged to thraldom from their homes,

  No more he hoped to see the stately walls

  Of his birth-city, but bethought him now 340

  How from that mighty ruin to escape.

  And as the helmsman of a ship, who toils

  On the deep sea, and matches all his craft

  Against the winds and waves from every side

  Rushing against him in the stormy time,

  Forspent at last, both hand and heart, when now

  The ship is foundering in the surge, forsakes

  The helm, to launch forth in a little boat,

  And heeds no longer ship and lading; so

  Anchises’ gallant son forsook the town 350

  And left her to her foes, a sea of fire.

  His son and father alone he snatched from death;

  The old man broken down with years he set

  On his broad shoulders with his own strong hands,

  And led the young child by his small soft hand,

  Whose little footsteps lightly touched the ground;

  And, as he quaked to see that work of deaths

  His father led him through the roar of fight,

  And clinging hung on him the tender child,

  Tears down his soft cheeks streaming. But the man 360

  O’er many a body sprang with hurrying feet,

  And in the darkness in his own despite

  Trampled on many. Cypris guided them,

  Earnest to save from that wild ruin her son,

  His father, and his child. As on he pressed,

  The flames gave back before him everywhere:

  The blast of the Fire-god’s breath to right and left

  Was cloven asunder. Spears and javelins hurled

  Against him by the Achaeans harmless fell.

  Also, to stay them, Calchas cried aloud: 370

  “Forbear against Aeneas’ noble head

  To hurl the bitter dart, the deadly spear!

  Fated he is by the high Gods’ decree

  To pass from Xanthus, and by Tiber’s flood

  To found a city holy and glorious

  Through all time, and to rule o’er tribes of men

  Far-sundered. Of his seed shall lords of earth

  Rule from the rising to the setting sun.

  Yea, with the Immortals ever shall he dwell,

  Who is son of Aphrodite lovely-tressed. 380

  From him too is it meet we hold our hands

  Because he hath preferred his father and son

  To gold, to all things that might profit a man

  Who fleeth exiled to an alien land.

  This one night hath revealed to us a man

  Faithful to death to his father and his child.”

  Then hearkened they, and as a God did all

  Look on him. Forth the city hasted he

  Whither his feet should bear him, while the foe

  Made havoc still of goodly-builded Troy. 390

  Then also Menelaus in Helen’s bower

  Found, heavy with wine, ill-starred Deiphobus,

  And slew him with the sword: but she had fled

  And hidden her in the palace. O’er the blood

  Of that slain man exulted he, and cried:

  “Dog! I, even I have dealt thee unwelcome death

  This day! No dawn divine shall meet thee again

  Alive in Troy — ay, though thou vaunt thyself

  Spouse of the child of Zeus the thunder-voiced!

  Black death hath trapped thee slain in my wife’s bower! 400

  Would I had met Alexander too in fight

  Ere this, and plucked his heart out! So my grief

  Had been a lighter load. But he hath paid

  Already justice’ debt, hath passed beneath

  Death’s cold dark shadow. Ha, small joy to thee

  My wife was doomed to bring! Ay, wicked men

  Never elude pure Themis: night and day

  Her eyes are on them, and the wide world through

  Above the tribes of men she floats in air,

  Holpen of Zeus, for punishment of sin.” 410

  On passed he, dealing merciless death to foes,

  For maddened was his soul with jealousy.

  Against the Trojans was his bold heart full

  Of thoughts of vengeance, which were now fulfilled

  By the dread Goddess Justice, for that theirs

  Was that first outrage touching Helen, theirs

  That profanation of the oaths, and theirs

  That trampling on the blood of sacrifice

  When their presumptuous souls forgat the Gods.

  Therefore the Vengeance-friends brought woes on them 420

  Thereafter, and some died in fighting field,

  Some now in Troy by board and bridal bower.

  Menelaus mid the inner chambers found

  At last his wife, there cowering from the wrath

  Of her bold-hearted lord. He glared on her,

  Hungering to slay her in his jealous rage.

  But winsome Aphrodite curbed him, struck

  Out of his hand the sword, his onrush reined,

  Jealousy’s dark cloud swept she away, and stirred

  Love’s deep sweet well-springs in his heart and eyes. 430

  Swept o’er him strange amazement: powerless all

  Was he to lift the sword against her neck,

  Seeing her splendour of beauty. Like a stock

  Of dead wood in a mountain forest, which

  No swiftly-rushing blasts of north-winds shake,

  Nor fury of south-winds ever, so he stood,

  So dazed abode long time. All his great strength

  Was broken, as he looked upon his wife.

  And suddenly had he forgotten all

  Yea, all her sins against her spousal-troth; 440

  For Aphrodite made all fade away,

  She who subdueth all immortal hearts

  And mortal. Yet even so he lifted up

  From earth his sword, and made as he would rush

  Upon his wife but other was his intent,

  Even as he sprang: he did but feign, to cheat

  Achaean eyes. Then did his brother stay

  His fury, and spake with pacifying words,

  Fearing lest all they had toiled for should be lost:

  “Forbear wrath, Menelaus, now: ‘twere shame 450

  To slay thy wedded wife, for whose sake we

  Have suffered much affliction, while we sought

  Vengeance on Priam. Not, as thou dost deem,

  Was Helen’s the sin, but his who set at naught

  The Guest-lord, and thine hospitable board;

  So with death-pangs hath God requited him.”

  Then hearkened Menelaus to his rede.

  But the Gods, palled in dark clouds, mourned for Troy,

  A ruined glory save fair-tressed Tritonis

  And Hera: their hearts triumphed, when they saw 460

  The burg of god-descended Priam destroyed.

/>   Yet not the wise heart Trito-born herself

  Was wholly tearless; for within her fane

  Outraged Cassandra was of Oileus son

  Lust-maddened. But grim vengeance upon him

  Ere long the Goddess wreaked, repaying insult

  With mortal sufferance. Yea, she would not look

  Upon the infamy, but clad herself

  With shame and wrath as with a cloak: she turned

  Her stern eyes to the temple-roof, and groaned 470

  The holy image, and the hallowed floor

  Quaked mightily. Yet did he not forbear

  His mad sin, for his soul was lust-distraught.

  Here, there, on all sides crumbled flaming homes

  In ruin down: scorched dust with smoke was blent:

  Trembled the streets to the awful thunderous crash.

  Here burned Aeneas’ palace, yonder flamed

  Antimachus’ halls: one furnace was the height

  Of fair-built Pergamus; flames were roaring round

  Apollo’s temple, round Athena’s fane, 480

  And round the Hearth-lord’s altar: flames licked up

  Fair chambers of the sons’ sons of a king;

  And all the city sank down into hell.

  Of Trojans some by Argos’ sons were slain,

  Some by their own roofs crashing down in fire,

  Giving at once in death and tomb to them:

  Some in their own throats plunged the steel, when foes

  And fire were in the porch together seen:

  Some slew their wives and children, and flung themselves

  Dead on them, when despair had done its work 490

  Of horror. One, who deemed the foe afar,

  Caught up a vase, and, fain to quench the flame,

  Hasted for water. Leapt unmarked on him

  An Argive, and his spirit, heavy with wine,

  Was thrust forth from the body by the spear.

  Clashed the void vase above him, as he fell

  Backward within the house. As through his hall

  Another fled, the burning roof-beam crashed

  Down on his head, and swift death came with it.

  And many women, as in frenzied flight 500

  They rushed forth, suddenly remembered babes

  Left in their beds beneath those burning roofs:

  With wild feet sped they back — the house fell in

  Upon them, and they perished, mother and child.

  Horses and dogs in panic through the town

  Fled from the flames, trampling beneath their feet

  The dead, and dashing into living men

  To their sore hurt. Shrieks rang through all the town.

  In through his blazing porchway rushed a man

  To rescue wife and child. Through smoke and flame 510

  Blindly he groped, and perished while he cried

  Their names, and pitiless doom slew those within.

  The fire-glow upward mounted to the sky,

  The red glare o’er the firmament spread its wings,

  And all the tribes of folk that dwelt around

  Beheld it, far as Ida’s mountain-crests,

  And sea-girt Tenedos, and Thracian Samos.

  And men that voyaged on the deep sea cried:

  “The Argives have achieved their mighty task

  After long toil for star-eyed Helen’s sake. 520

  All Troy, the once queen-city, burns in fire:

  For all their prayers, no God defends them now;

  For strong Fate oversees all works of men,

  And the renownless and obscure to fame

  She raises, and brings low the exalted ones.

  Oft out of good is evil brought, and good

  From evil, mid the travail and change of life.”

  So spake they, who from far beheld the glare

  Of Troy’s great burning. Compassed were her folk

  With wailing misery: through her streets the foe 530

  Exulted, as when madding blasts turmoil

  The boundless sea, what time the Altar ascends

  To heaven’s star-pavement, turned to the misty south

  Overagainst Arcturus tempest-breathed,

  And with its rising leap the wild winds forth,

  And ships full many are whelmed ‘neath ravening seas;

  Wild as those stormy winds Achaea’s sons

  Ravaged steep Ilium while she burned in flame.

  As when a mountain clothed with shaggy woods

  Burns swiftly in a fire-blast winged with winds, 540

  And from her tall peaks goeth up a roar,

  And all the forest-children this way and that

  Rush through the wood, tormented by the flame;

  So were the Trojans perishing: there was none

  To save, of all the Gods. Round these were staked

  The nets of Fate, which no man can escape.

  Then were Demophoon and Acamas

  By mighty Theseus’ mother Aethra met.

  Yearning to see them was she guided on

  To meet them by some Blessed One, the while 550

  ‘Wildered from war and fire she fled. They saw

  In that red glare a woman royal-tall,

  Imperial-moulded, and they weened that this

  Was Priam’s queen, and with swift eagerness

  Laid hands on her, to lead her captive thence

  To the Danaans; but piteously she moaned:

  “Ah, do not, noble sons of warrior Greeks,

  To your ships hale me, as I were a foe!

  I am not of Trojan birth: of Danaans came

  My princely blood renowned. In Troezen’s halls 560

  Pittheus begat me, Aegeus wedded me,

  And of my womb sprang Theseus glory-crowned.

  For great Zeus’ sake, for your dear parents’ sake,

  I pray you, if the seed of Theseus came

  Hither with Atreus’ sons, O bring ye me

  Unto their yearning eyes. I trow they be

  Young men like you. My soul shall be refreshed

  If living I behold those chieftains twain.”

  Hearkening to her they called their sire to mind,

  His deeds for Helen’s sake, and how the sons 570

  Of Zeus the Thunderer in the old time smote

  Aphidnae, when, because these were but babes,

  Their nurses hid them far from peril of fight;

  And Aethra they remembered — all she endured

  Through wars, as mother-in-law at first, and thrall

  Thereafter of Helen. Dumb for joy were they,

  Till spake Demophoon to that wistful one:

  “Even now the Gods fulfil thine heart’s desire:

  We whom thou seest are the sons of him,

  Thy noble son: thee shall our loving hands 580

  Bear to the ships: with joy to Hellas’ soil

  Thee will we bring, where once thou wast a queen.”

  Then his great father’s mother clasped him round

  With clinging arms: she kissed his shoulders broad,

  His head, his breast, his bearded lips she kissed,

  And Acamas kissed withal, the while she shed

  Glad tears on these who could not choose but weep.

  As when one tarries long mid alien men,

  And folk report him dead, but suddenly

  He cometh home: his children see his face, 590

  And break into glad weeping; yea, and he,

  His arms around them, and their little heads

  Upon his shoulders, sobs: echoes the home

  With happy mourning’s music-beating wings;

  So wept they with sweet sighs and sorrowless moans.

  Then, too, affliction-burdened Priam’s child,

  Laodice, say they, stretched her hands to heaven,

  Praying the mighty Gods that earth might gape

  To swallow her, ere she defiled her hand

  With thralls’ work; and a God gave ear,
and rent 600

  Deep earth beneath her: so by Heaven’s decree

  Did earth’s abysmal chasm receive the maid

  In Troy’s last hour. Electra’s self withal,

  The Star-queen lovely-robed, shrouded her form

  In mist and cloud, and left the Pleiad-band,

  Her sisters, as the olden legend tells.

  Still riseth up in sight of toil-worn men

  Their bright troop in the skies; but she alone

  Hides viewless ever, since the hallowed town

  Of her son Dardanus in ruin fell, 610

  When Zeus most high from heaven could help her not,

  Because to Fate the might of Zeus must bow;

  And by the Immortals’ purpose all these things

  Had come to pass, or by Fate’s ordinance.

  Still on Troy’s folk the Argives wreaked their wrath,

  And battle’s issues Strife Incarnate held.

  BOOK XIV. HOW THE CONQUERORS SAILED FROM TROY UNTO JUDGMENT OF TEMPEST AND SHIPWRECK.

  Then rose from Ocean Dawn the golden-throned

  Up to the heavens; night into Chaos sank.

  And now the Argives spoiled fair-fenced Troy,

  And took her boundless treasures for a prey.

  Like river-torrents seemed they, that sweep down,

  By rain, floods swelled, in thunder from the hills,

  And seaward hurl tall trees and whatsoe’er

  Grows on the mountains, mingled with the wreck

  Of shattered cliff and crag; so the long lines

  Of Danaans who had wasted Troy with fire 10

  Seemed, streaming with her plunder to the ships.

  Troy’s daughters therewithal in scattered bands

  They haled down seaward — virgins yet unwed,

  And new-made brides, and matrons silver-haired,

  And mothers from whose bosoms foes had torn

  Babes for the last time closing lips on breasts.

  Amidst of these Menelaus led his wife

  Forth of the burning city, having wrought

  A mighty triumph — joy and shame were his.

  Cassandra heavenly-fair was haled the prize 20

  Of Agamemnon: to Achilles’ son

  Andromache had fallen: Hecuba

  Odysseus dragged unto his ship. The tears

  Poured from her eyes as water from a spring;

  Trembled her limbs, fear-frenzied was her heart;

  Rent were her hoary tresses and besprent

  With ashes of the hearth, cast by her hands

  When she saw Priam slain and Troy aflame.

  And aye she deeply groaned for thraldom’s day