The Iliad

by Robert Fagels

  when he would fall to the power of great Achilles.

  But now he was bent on breaking men, probing the lines

  wherever he saw the largest mass and the finest gear

  but he could not smash through yet for all his fury.

  They closed ranks, they packed like a stone wall,

  a granite cliff that towers against the churning surf,

  standing up to the screaming winds, their sudden assaults

  and the breaking waves they spawn that crash against its base—

  so the Danaans stood the Trojan onslaught, rock-solid

  and never flinched in fear. But Hector all afire,

  blazing head to foot, charged at their main force,

  bursting down as a wave bursts down on a veering ship,

  down from under the clouds it batters, bred by gate-winds—

  showers of foam overwhelm the hull, blot it all from sight,

  the hurricane’s killing blast thundering into the sails

  and scudding clear of death by the skin of their teeth

  the sailors quake, their hearts race on with terror—

  so the Achaeans’ courage quaked. And Hector lunged again

  like a murderous lion mad for kills, charging cattle

  grazing across the flats of a broad marshy pasture,

  flocks by the hundred led by an unskilled herdsman

  helpless to keep the marauder off a longhom heifer—

  no fighting that bloody slaughter—all he can do

  is keep pace with the lead or straggling heads,

  leaving the center free for the big cat’s pounce

  and it eats a heifer raw as the rest stampede away.

  And so the Achaeans stampeded now, unearthly terror,

  all of them routed now by Father Zeus and Hector—

  though Hector killed just one ...

  Periphetes, a Mycenaean, favorite son of Copreus,

  Eurystheus’ herald who summoned rugged Heracles

  time and again to grinding labors. Copreus, yes,

  that worthless father who sired a better son,

  better at every skill, primed for speed and war

  and his wits outstripped the best in all Mycenae,

  but all of it went now to build Prince Hector’s glory.

  As the Argive spun in retreat his shield-rim tripped him—

  down to his feet that shield he bore to keep off spears—

  he stumbled over it now, pitched back, helmet clanging

  harshly against his brows as the man hit the ground..

  But Hector marked him at once, rushed up to his side

  and staked a spear in his chest to kill the fighter

  right in the eyes of loyal comrades standing by.

  Sick for their friend but what could they do? Nothing—

  just shake with dread in the face of mighty Hector.

  Now the Achaeans milled among the shipways,

  shielded round by the looming superstructures,

  stem on stern drawn up on the first line inland.

  But the Trojans stormed them there and back they fell,

  they had no choice, edging away from the front ships

  but once at the tents nearby they held their ground,

  massing ranks, no scattering back through camp.

  Their proud discipline gripped them, terror too—

  they rallied each other, nonstop, war cries rising.

  Noble Nestor was first, Achaea’s watch and ward,

  pleading, begging each man for his parents’ sake,

  “Be men, my friends! Discipline fill your hearts,

  maintain your pride in the eyes of other men!

  Remember, each of you, sons, wives, wealth, parents—

  are mother and father dead or alive? No matter,

  I beg you for their sakes, loved ones far away—

  now stand and fight, no turning back, no panic.”

  With that he put new strength in each man’s spirit.

  Athena thrust from their eyes the blinding battle-haze,

  the darkness sent by the gods, and a hard bright light

  burst down in both directions, out to the ships

  and down the lines where fighting drew dead even.

  Now they could make out Hector lord of the war cry,

  all his troops, squads in reserve and clear of battle,

  forward squads that fought at the fast trim ships.

  Ajax’ challenge—how could it please his courage still

  to hang back now where other Achaeans held the rear?

  No more. Up and down the decks of the ships he went

  with his great plunging strides, swinging in hand

  his enormous polished pike for fights at sea,

  clamped with clinchers, twenty-two forearms long.

  Ajax skilled as a show-rider, a virtuoso horseman

  who picks from the herd four stallions, yokes them tight

  and galloping off the plain comes racing toward a large city,

  over a trafficked road and the crowds gaze in wonder,

  men and women watching, as sure-footed, never a slip,

  the rider keeps on leaping, swinging from back to back

  and the pounding team flies on. So Ajax swung now,

  leaping from deck to deck on the fast trim ships,

  ranging with huge strides as his voice hit the skies,

  keeping up a terrific bellowing, calling Argives on

  to defend the ships and shelters.

  And Hector too—

  how could he hold back with his massing, armored Trojans?

  Now like a flashing eagle swooping down on bird-flocks,

  winged thousands feeding, swarming a river’s banks,

  geese, cranes or swans with their long lancing necks—

  so swooping Hector went headfirst at a warship,

  charged its purple prow, and Zeus behind him

  thrust him on with his mighty, deathless hand,

  urging the soldiers on who crowded Hector’s back.

  And again a desperate battle broke at the ships.

  You’d think they waded into the fighting, fresh troops,

  unbruised, unbroken, they fought with such new fire.

  And what were the fighters thinking? Only this:

  the Argives certain they’d never flee the worst,

  they’d perish then and there,

  but the hopes soared in every Trojan’s heart

  to torch the ships and slaughter Argive heroes—

  so ran their thoughts, closing for the kill. At last

  Hector grappled a ship’s stern, a beauty built for speed—

  it swept the seas with Protesilaus, bore him to Troy

  but never bore him back to his fatherland again.

  Now churning round that ship Achaeans and Trojans

  hacked each other at close range. No more war at a distance,

  waiting to take the long flights of spears and arrows—

  they stood there man-to-man and matched their fury,

  killing each other now with hatchets, battle-axes,

  big swords, two-edged spears, and many a blade,

  magnificent, heavy-hilted and thonged in black

  lay strewn on the ground—some dropped from hands,

  some fell as the fighters’ shoulder-straps were cut—

  and the earth ran black with blood. And Hector held fast,

  he never let go of the high stem, he hugged its horn,

  arms locked in a death-grip, crying out to Trojans,

  “Bring fire! Up with the war cries, all together!

  Now Zeus hands us a day worth all the rest,

  today we seize these ships—

  they stormed ashore against the will of the gods,

  they came here freighted with years of pain for us,

  and all thanks to our city elders. What cowards!

  Whenever I longed to fight at the ships’ high stems

  the old m
en kept me back, they held the troops in check.

  Oh but if Zeus’s lightning blinded us those days,

  it’s Zeus who drives us, hurls us on today!”

  The harder he cried

  the harder his forces charged against the Argives.

  Not even Ajax held his post, no longer now:

  forced by the shafts he backed away by inches,

  certain he’d die there—down he leapt from the decks,

  down to bestride the seven-foot bridge amidships.

  There he stood, tensing, braced to take them on—

  his huge pike kept beating the Trojans off the hulls,

  any attacker flinging tireless fire, and all the time

  that terrible voice of his, bellowing out to cohorts,

  “Friends! Fighting Danaans! Aides-in-arms of Ares!

  Fight like men, my comrades—call up your battle-fury!

  You think we have reserves in the rear to back us up?

  Some stronger wall to shield our men from disaster?

  No, there’s no great citadel standing near with towers

  where we could defend ourselves and troops could turn the tide.

  No—we’re here on the plain of Troy—all Troy’s in arms!

  Dug in, backs to the sea, land of our fathers far away!

  Fight—the light of safety lies in our fighting hands,

  not spines gone soft in battle!”

  And with each cry

  he thrust his slashing pike with a fresh new fury.

  And any Trojan crashing against the beaked ships,

  torch ablaze in hand, straining to please Hector

  who urged him on ... Ajax ready and waiting there

  would stab each man with his long, rugged pike—

  twelve he impaled point-blank, struggling up the hulls.

  BOOK SIXTEEN

  Patroclus Fights and Dies

  So they fought to the death around that benched beaked ship

  as Patroclus reached Achilles, his great commander,

  and wept warm tears like a dark spring running down

  some desolate rock face, its shaded currents flowing.

  And the brilliant runner Achilles saw him coming,

  filled with pity and spoke out winging words:

  “Why in tears, Patroclus?

  Like a girl, a baby running after her mother,

  begging to be picked up, and she tugs her skirts,

  holding her back as she tries to hurry off—all tears,

  fawning up at her, till she takes her in her arms ...

  That’s how you look, Patroclus, streaming live tears.

  But why? Some news for the Myrmidons, news for me?

  Some message from Phthia that you alone have heard?

  They tell me Menoetius, Actor’s son, is still alive,

  and Peleus, Aeacus’ son, lives on among his Myrmidons—

  if both our fathers had died, we’d have some cause for grief.

  Or weeping over the Argives, are you? Seeing them die

  against the hollow ships, repaid for their offenses?

  Out with it now! Don’t harbor it deep inside you.

  We must share it all.”

  With a wrenching groan

  you answered your friend, Patroclus O my rider:

  “Achilles, son of Peleus, greatest of the Achaeans,

  spare me your anger, please—

  such heavy blows have overwhelmed the troops.

  Our former champions, all laid up in the ships,

  all are hit by arrows or run through by spears.

  There’s powerful Diomedes brought down by an archer,

  Odysseus wounded, and Agamemnon too, the famous spearman,

  and Eurypylus took an arrow-shot in the thigh ...

  Healers are working over them, using all their drugs,

  trying to bind the wounds—

  But you are intractable, Achilles!

  Pray god such anger never seizes me, such rage you nurse.

  Cursed in your own courage! What good will a man,

  even one in the next generation, get from you

  unless you defend the Argives from disaster?

  You heart of iron! He was not your father,

  the horseman Peleus—Thetis was not your mother.

  Never. The salt gray sunless ocean gave you birth

  and the towering blank rocks—your temper’s so relentless.

  But still, if down deep some prophecy makes you balk,

  some doom your noble mother revealed to you from Zeus,

  well and good: at least send me into battle, quickly.

  Let the whole Myrmidon army follow my command—

  I might bring some light of victory to our Argives!

  And give me your own fine armor to buckle on my back,

  so the Trojans might take me for you, Achilles, yes,

  hold off from attack, and Achaea’s fighting sons

  get second wind, exhausted as they are ...

  Breathing room in war is all too brief.

  We’re fresh, unbroken. The enemy’s battte-weary—

  we could roll those broken Trojans back to Troy,

  clear of the ships and shelters!“

  So he pleaded,

  lost in his own great innocence ...

  condemned to beg for his own death and brutal doom.

  And moved now to his depths, the famous runner cried,

  “No, no, my prince, Patroclus, what are you saying?

  Prophecies? None that touch me. None I know of.

  No doom my noble mother revealed to me from Zeus,

  just this terrible pain that wounds me to the quick—

  when one man attempts to plunder a man his equal,

  to commandeer a prize, exulting so in his own power.

  That’s the pain that wounds me, suffering such humiliation.

  That girt—the sons of Achaea picked her as my prize,

  and I’d sacked a walled city, won her with my spear

  but right from my grasp he tears her, mighty Agamemnon,

  that son of Atreus! Treating me like some vagabond,

  some outcast stripped of all my rights ...

  Enough.

  Let bygones be bygones now. Done is done.

  How on earth can a man rage on forever?

  Still, by god, I said I would not relax my anger,

  not till the cries and carnage reached my own ships.

  So you, you strap my splendid armor on your back,

  you lead our battle-hungry Myrmidons into action!—

  if now, in fact, the black cloud of the Trojans

  blasts down on the ships with full gale force,

  our backs to the breaking surf but clinging still

  to a cramped strip of land—the Argives, lost.

  The whole city of Troy comes trampling down on us,

  daring, wild—why? They cannof see the brow of my helmet

  flash before their eyes—Oh they’d soon run for their lives

  and choke the torrent-beds of the field with all their corpses

  if only the mighty Agamemnon met me with respect:

  now, as it is, they’re fighting round our camp!