The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  that Ruin may overtake this man, that he be hurt, and punished.

  So, Achilleus: grant, you also, that Zeus’ daughters be given

  their honor, which, lordly though they be, curbs the will of others.

  515 Since, were he not bringing gifts and naming still more hereafter,

  Atreus’ son; were he to remain still swollen with rancor,

  even I would not bid you throw your anger aside, nor

  defend the Argives, though they needed you sorely. But see now,

  he offers you much straightway, and has promised you more hereafter;

  520 he has sent the best men to you to supplicate you, choosing them

  out of the Achaian host, those who to yourself are the dearest

  of all the Argives. Do not you make vain their argument

  nor their footsteps, though before this one could not blame your anger.

  Thus it was in the old days also, the deeds that we hear of

  525 from the great men, when the swelling anger descended upon them.

  The heroes would take gifts; they would listen, and be persuaded.

  For I remember this action of old, it is not a new thing,

  and how it went; you are all my friends, I will tell it among you.

  The Kouretes and the steadfast Aitolians were fighting

  530 and slaughtering one another about the city of Kalydon,

  the Aitolians in lovely Kalydon’s defense, the Kouretes

  furious to storm and sack it in war. For Artemis,

  she of the golden chair, had driven this evil upon them,

  angered that Oineus had not given the pride of the orchards

  535 to her, first fruits; the rest of the gods were given due sacrifice,

  but alone to this daughter of great Zeus he had given nothing.

  He had forgotten, or had not thought, in his hard delusion,

  and in wrath at his whole mighty line the Lady of Arrows

  sent upon them the fierce wild boar with the shining teeth, who

  540 after the way of his kind did much evil to the orchards of Oineus.

  For he ripped up whole tall trees from the ground and scattered them headlong

  roots and all, even to the very flowers of the orchard.

  The son of Oineus killed this boar, Meleagros, assembling

  together many hunting men out of numerous cities

  545 with their hounds; since the boar might not have been killed by a few men,

  so huge was he, and had put many men on the sad fire for burning.

  But the goddess again made a great stir of anger and crying

  battle, over the head of the boar and the bristling boar’s hide,

  between Kouretes and the high-hearted Aitolians. So long

  550 as Meleagros lover of battle stayed in the fighting

  it went the worse for the Kouretes, and they could not even

  hold their ground outside the wall, though they were so many.

  But when the anger came upon Meleagros, such anger

  as wells in the hearts of others also, though their minds are careful,

  555 he, in the wrath of his heart against his own mother, Althaia,

  lay apart with his wedded bride, Kleopatra the lovely,

  daughter of sweet-stepping Marpessa, child of Euenos,

  and Idas, who was the strongest of all men upon earth

  in his time; for he even took up the bow to face the King’s onset,

  560 Phoibos Apollo, for the sake of the sweet-stepping maiden;

  a girl her father and honored mother had named in their palace

  Alkyone, sea-bird, as a by-name, since for her sake

  her mother with the sorrow-laden cry of a sea-bird

  wept because far-reaching Phoibos Apollo had taken her;

  565 with this Kleopatra he lay mulling his heart-sore anger,

  raging by reason of his mother’s curses, which she called down

  from the gods upon him, in deep grief for the death of her brother,

  and many times beating with her hands on the earth abundant

  she called on Hades and on honored Persephonē, lying

  570 at length along the ground, and the tears were wet on her bosom,

  to give death to her son; and Erinys, the mist-walking,

  she of the heart without pity, heard her out of the dark places.

  Presently there was thunder about the gates, and the sound rose

  of towers under assault, and the Aitolian elders

  575 supplicated him, sending their noblest priests of the immortals,

  to come forth and defend them; they offered him a great gift:

  wherever might lie the richest ground in lovely Kalydon,

  there they told him to choose out a piece of land, an entirely

  good one, of fifty acres, the half of it to be vineyard

  580 and the half of it unworked ploughland of the plain to be furrowed.

  And the aged horseman Oineus again and again entreated him,

  and took his place at the threshold of the high-vaulted chamber

  and shook against the bolted doors, pleading with his own son.

  And again and again his honored mother and his sisters

  585 entreated him, but he only refused the more; then his own friends

  who were the most honored and dearest of all entreated him;

  but even so they could not persuade the heart within him

  until, as the chamber was under close assault, the Kouretes

  were mounting along the towers and set fire to the great city.

  590 And then at last his wife, the fair-girdled bride, supplicated

  Meleagros, in tears, and rehearsed in their numbers before him

  all the sorrows that come to men when their city is taken:

  they kill the men, and the fire leaves the city in ashes,

  and strangers lead the children away and the deep-girdled women.

  595 And the heart, as he listened to all this evil, was stirred within him,

  and he rose, and went, and closed his body in shining armor.

  So he gave way in his own heart, and drove back the day of evil

  from the Aitolians; yet these no longer would make good

  their many and gracious gifts; yet he drove back the evil from them.

  600 Listen, then; do not have such a thought in your mind; let not

  the spirit within you turn you that way, dear friend. It would be worse

  to defend the ships after they are burning. No, with gifts promised

  go forth. The Achaians will honor you as they would an immortal.

  But if without gifts you go into the fighting where men perish,

  605 your honor will no longer be as great, though you drive back the battle.”

  Then in answer to him spoke Achilleus of the swift feet:

  “Phoinix my father, aged, illustrious, such honor is a thing

  I need not. I think I am honored already in Zeus’ ordinance

  which will hold me here beside my curved ships as long as life’s wind

  610 stays in my breast, as long as my knees have their spring beneath me.

  And put away in your thoughts this other thing I tell you.

  Stop confusing my heart with lamentation and sorrow

  for the favor of great Atreides. It does not become you

  to love this man, for fear you turn hateful to me, who love you.

  615 It should be your pride with me to hurt whoever shall hurt me.

  Be king equally with me; take half of my honor.

  These men will carry back the message; you stay here and sleep here

  in a soft bed, and we shall decide tomorrow, as dawn shows,

  whether to go back home again or else to remain here.”

  620 He spoke, and, saying nothing, nodded with his brows to Patroklos

  to make up a neat bed for Phoinix, so the others might presently

  think of going home fro
m his shelter. The son of Telamon,

  Aias the godlike, saw it, and now spoke his word among them:

  “Son of Laërtes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus:

  625 let us go. I think that nothing will be accomplished

  by argument on this errand; it is best to go back quickly

  and tell this story, though it is not good, to the Danaäns

  who sit there waiting for us to come back, seeing that Achilleus

  has made savage the proud-hearted spirit within his body.

  630 He is hard, and does not remember that friends’ affection

  wherein we honored him by the ships, far beyond all others.

  Pitiless. And yet a man takes from his brother’s slayer

  the blood price, or the price for a child who was killed, and the guilty

  one, when he has largely repaid, stays still in the country,

  635 and the injured man’s heart is curbed, and his pride, and his anger

  when he has taken the price; but the gods put in your breast a spirit

  not to be placated, bad, for the sake of one single

  girl. Yet now we offer you seven, surpassingly lovely,

  and much beside these. Now make gracious the spirit within you.

  640 Respect your own house; see, we are under the same roof with you,

  from the multitude of the Danaäns, we who desire beyond all

  others to have your honor and love, out of all the Achaians.”

  Then in answer to him spoke Achilleus of the swift feet:

  “Son of Telamon, seed of Zeus, Aias, lord of the people:

  645 all that you have said seems spoken after my own mind.

  Yet still the heart in me swells up in anger, when I remember

  the disgrace that he wrought upon me before the Argives,

  the son of Atreus, as if I were some dishonored vagabond.

  Do you then go back to him, and take him this message:

  650 that I shall not think again of the bloody fighting

  until such time as the son of wise Priam, Hektor the brilliant,

  comes all the way to the ships of the Myrmidons, and their shelters,

  slaughtering the Argives, and shall darken with fire our vessels.

  But around my own shelter, I think, and beside my black ship

  655 Hektor will be held, though he be very hungry for battle.”

  He spoke, and they taking each a two-handled cup poured out

  a libation, then went back to their ships, and Odysseus led them.

  Now Patroklos gave the maids and his followers orders

  to make up without delay a neat bed for Phoinix.

  660 And these obeyed him and made up the bed as he had commanded,

  laying fleeces on it, and a blanket, and a sheet of fine linen.

  There the old man lay down and waited for the divine Dawn.

  But Achilleus slept in the inward corner of the strong-built shelter,

  and a woman lay beside him, one he had taken from Lesbos,

  665 Phorbas’ daughter, Diomede of the fair coloring.

  In the other corner Patroklos went to bed; with him also

  was a girl, Iphis the fair-girdled, whom brilliant Achilleus

  gave him, when he took sheer Skyros, Enyeus’ citadel.

  Now when these had come back to the shelters of Agamemnon,

  670 the sons of the Achaians greeted them with their gold cups

  uplifted, one after another, standing, and asked them questions.

  And the first to question them was the lord of men, Agamemnon:

  “Tell me, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians:

  is he willing to fight the ravening fire away from our vessels,

  675 or did he refuse, and does the anger still hold his proud heart?”

  Then long-suffering great Odysseus spoke to him in answer:

  “Son of Atreus, most lordly, king of men, Agamemnon.

  That man will not quench his anger, but still more than ever

  is filled with rage. He refuses you and refuses your presents.

  680 He tells you yourself to take counsel among the Argives

  how to save your ships, and the people of the Achaians.

  And he himself has threatened that tomorrow as dawn shows

  he will drag down his strong-benched, oarswept ships to the water.

  He said it would be his counsel to others also, to sail back

  685 home again, since no longer will you find any term set

  on the sheer city of Ilion, since Zeus of the wide brows has strongly

  held his own hand over it, and its people are made bold.

  So he spoke. There are these to attest it who went there with me

  also, Aias, and the two heralds, both men of good counsel.

  690 But aged Phoinix stayed there for the night, as Achilleus urged him,

  so he might go home in the ships to the beloved land of his fathers

  if Phoinix will; but he will never use force to persuade him.”

  So he spoke, and all of them stayed stricken to silence

  in amazement at his words. He had spoken to them very strongly.

  695 For a long time the sons of the Achaians said nothing, in sorrow,

  but at long last Diomedes of the great war cry spoke to them:

  “Son of Atreus, most lordly and king of men, Agamemnon,

  I wish you had not supplicated the blameless son of Peleus

  with innumerable gifts offered. He is a proud man without this,

  700 and now you have driven him far deeper into his pride. Rather

  we shall pay him no more attention, whether he comes in with us

  or stays away. He will fight again, whenever the time comes

  that the heart in his body urges him to, and the god drives him.

  Come then, do as I say, and let us all be won over.

  705 Go to sleep, now that the inward heart is made happy

  with food and drink, for these are the strength and courage within us.

  But when the lovely dawn shows forth with rose fingers, Atreides,

  rapidly form before our ships both people and horses

  stirring them on, and yourself be ready to fight in the foremost.”

  710 So he spoke, and all the kings gave him their approval,

  acclaiming the word of Diomedes, breaker of horses.

  Then they poured a libation, and each man went to his shelter,

  where they went to their beds and took the blessing of slumber.

  BOOK TEN

  Now beside their ships the other great men of the Achaians

  slept night long, with the soft bondage of slumber upon them;

  but the son of Atreus, Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,

  was held by no sweet sleep as he pondered deeply within him.

  5 As when the lord of Hera the lovely-haired flashes his lightning

  as he brings on a great rainstorm, or a hail incessant,

  or a blizzard, at such time when the snowfall scatters on ploughlands,

  or drives on somewhere on earth the huge edge of tearing battle,

  such was Agamemnon, with the beating turmoil in his bosom

  10 from the deep heart, and all his wits were shaken within him.

  Now he would gaze across the plain to the Trojan camp, wondering

  at the number of their fires that were burning in front of Ilion,

  toward the high calls of their flutes and pipes, the murmur of people.

  Now as he would look again to the ships and the Achaian

  15 people, he would drag the hair by its roots from his head, looking

  toward Zeus on high, and his proud heart was stricken with lamentation.

  Now to his mind this thing appeared to be the best counsel,

  first among men to seek out Nestor, the son of Neleus,

  to see if Nestor with him could work out a plan that would not fail,

  20 and one that mig
ht drive the evil away from all the Danaäns.

  He stood upright, and slipped the tunic upon his body,

  and underneath his shining feet he bound the fair sandals,

  and thereafter slung across him the tawny hide of a lion

  glowing and huge, that swung to his feet, and took up a spear.

  25 So likewise trembling seized Menelaos, neither on his eyes

  had sweet slumber descending settled, for fear that the Argives

  might suffer some hurt, they who for his sake over much water

  had come to Troy, bearing their bold attack to the Trojans.

  First of all he mantled his broad back in a leopard’s

  30 spotted hide, then lifting the circle of a brazen helmet

  placed it upon his head, and took up a spear in his big hand,

  and went on his way to waken his brother, who was the great king

  of all Argives, one honored in his own land as a god is.

  He found him putting the splendid armor about his shoulders

  35 beside the stern of his ship, and was welcomed as he came up to him.

  It was Menelaos of the great war cry who spoke first:

  “Why this arming, my brother? Is it some one of your companions

  you are stirring to go and spy on the Trojans? Yet I fear sadly

  there will not be any man to undertake this endeavor,

  40 going against enemy fighters to spy on them, alone, through

  the immortal night. Such a man will have to be very bold-hearted.”

  Then in turn powerful Agamemnon answered him:

  “You and I, illustrious, O Menelaos, have need now

  of crafty counsel, if any man is to defend and rescue

  45 the Argives and their ships, since the heart of Zeus is turned from us.

  For the sacrifices of Hektor have stirred his heart more than ours have.

  No, for I never saw nor heard from the lips of another

  of a single man in a day imagining so much evil

  as Hektor, beloved of Zeus, has wrought on the sons of the Achaians,

  50 alone, being called true son neither of a god nor a goddess.

  He has done things I think the Argives will remember with sorrow

  long into the future, such harm has he devised the Achaians.

  But go now, running lightly beside the ships, and call to us

  Idomeneus and Aias, while I shall go after Nestor

  55 the brilliant, and waken him to rise, if he might be willing

  to approach the sacred duty of the guards, or give orders to them.

  Above all, these would listen to him, seeing that his own son