The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  730 To one man the god has granted the actions of warfare,

  to one to be a dancer, to another the lyre and the singing,

  and in the breast of another Zeus of the wide brows establishes

  wisdom, a lordly thing, and many take profit beside him

  and he saves many, but the man’s own thought surpasses all others.

  735 Now I will tell you the way that it seems best to my mind.

  For you, everywhere the fighting burns in a circle around you,

  but of the great-hearted Trojans since they crossed over the rampart

  some are standing back in their war gear, others are fighting

  fewer men against many, being scattered among the vessels.

  740 Draw back now, and call to this place all of our bravest,

  and then we might work out together our general counsel,

  whether we can fall upon their benched ships, if the god might

  be willing to give such power to us, or whether thereafter

  we can win away from the ships unhurt; since I fear

  745 the Achaians might wreak on us requital for yesterday;

  since beside their ships lurks a man insatiate of fighting

  and I think we can no longer utterly hold him from the fighting.”

  So spoke Poulydamas, and this counsel of safety pleased Hektor,

  and at once in all his armor he leapt to the ground from his chariot

  750 and spoke to him and addressed him in winged words: “Poulydamas,

  do you rather call back to their place all of our bravest.

  I am going over there to meet the attack, and afterward

  I will come back soon, when I have properly given my orders.”

  So he spoke, and went on his way like a snowy mountain,

  755 calling aloud, and swept through the Trojans and their companions.

  But the rest of them rallied quickly around the son of Panthoös,

  courtly Poulydamas, each as they heard the command of Hektor.

  But Hektor ranged the ranks of the foremost fighters, searching

  for Deïphobos, and the strength of Helenos the prince, and for Asios’

  760 son Adamas, and Asios, Hyrtakos’ son, if he might

  find them; but found them no longer utterly unwounded or living,

  but some were lying along the sterns of Achaian vessels,

  they who had lost their lives at the hands of the Argives, and others

  were lying away inside the city with arrow or spear wounds.

  765 But he found one man away to the left of the sorrowful battle,

  brilliant Alexandros, the lord of lovely-haired Helen,

  encouraging his companions and urging them on into battle.

  Hektor came and stood near, and in words of shame he rebuked him:

  “Evil Paris, beautiful, woman-crazy, cajoling:

  770 where is Deïphobos gone, and the strength of the prince Helenos,

  Adamas, Asios’ son, and Asios, son of Hyrtakos?

  Where is Othryoneus? Now all steep Ilion is lost

  utterly; now your own headlong destruction is certain.”

  Then in turn Alexandros the godlike answered him:

  775 “Hektor, since it is your pleasure to blame me when I am blameless,

  it would be better some other time to withdraw from the fighting

  than now. My mother bore me not utterly lacking in warcraft.

  For since that time when by the ships you wakened the battle

  of our companions, we have stayed here and fought the Danaäns

  780 without end. And our companions are killed you ask for.

  Only Deïphobos and the strength of the prince Helenos

  have gone away, wounded each in the hand by strokes

  of the long spears, but the son of Kronos fended death from them.

  Now lead on, wherever your heart and spirit command you,

  785 and we shall follow you eagerly; I think that we shall not

  come short in warcraft, in so far as the strength stays with us.

  But beyond his strength no man can fight, although he be eager.”

  So the hero spoke, and persuaded the heart of his brother.

  They went on, to where the clamor and fighting were greatest,

  790 about Kebriones, and Poulydamas the blameless,

  about Phalkes, and Orthaios, and godlike Polyphetes,

  Palmys, with Askanios and Morys, sons of Hippotion,

  who had come over in their turn from fertile Askania

  on the dawn before, and now Zeus stirred them into the fighting.

  795 They went on, as out of the racking winds the stormblast

  that underneath the thunderstroke of Zeus father drives downward

  and with gigantic clamor hits the sea, and the numerous

  boiling waves along the length of the roaring water

  bend and whiten to foam in ranks, one upon another;

  800 so the Trojans closing in ranks, some leading and others

  after them, in the glare of bronze armor followed their leaders.

  And Hektor led them, Priam’s son, a man like the murderous

  war god, and held the perfect circle of his shield before him

  fenced deep in skins, with a great fold of bronze beaten upon it,

  805 and about his temples was shaken as he went the glittering helmet.

  He would step forward, to probe the Achaian battalions at all points,

  if they might give way where he stalked on under his shield’s cover,

  but could not so confuse the heart in the breasts of the Achaians.

  Aias was first to take long strides forward and challenge him:

  810 “Man, you are mad. Come closer. Why try this way to terrify

  the Argives? It is not that we are so unskilled in fighting,

  but by the wicked whiplash of Zeus we Achaians are beaten.

  I suppose, then, your heart is hopeful utterly to break up

  our ships? We too have prompt hands among us strong to defend them.

  815 Rather, far before this your own strong-founded citadel

  must go down under our hands, stormed and utterly taken.

  And for yourself I say that the time is close, when in flight

  you will pray to Zeus father and the other immortals

  that your bright-maned horses might be swifter than hawks are

  820 as they carry you through the stirred dust of the plain to your city.”

  As he spoke so, an ominous bird winged by at his right hand,

  a towering eagle, and the host of the Achaians, made brave

  by the bird sign, shouted, but glorious Hektor answered him:

  “Aias, you inarticulate ox, what is this you have spoken?

  825 If I could only be called son to Zeus of the aegis

  all the days of my life, and the lady Hera my mother,

  and I be honored, as Apollo and Athene are honored,

  so surely as this is a day that brings evil to the Argives,

  all, and you will be killed with the rest of them, if you have daring

  830 to stand up against my long spear, which will bite your delicate

  body; yet then you will glut the dogs and birds of the Trojans

  with fat and flesh, struck down beside the ships of the Achaians.”

  So he spoke and led the way, and the rest of them followed him

  with unearthly clamor, and all the people shouted behind him.

  835 But the Argives on the other side cried out, and would not

  forget their warcraft, but stood the attack of the bravest Trojans,

  and the clamor from both was driven high to Zeus’ shining ether.

  BOOK FOURTEEN

  Now Nestor failed not to hear their outcry, though he was drinking

  his wine, but spoke in winged words to the son of Asklepios:

  “Take thought how these things shall be done, brilliant Machaon.

&nbs
p; Beside the ships the cry of the strong young men grows greater.

  5 Now, do you sit here and go on drinking the bright wine,

  until Hekamede the lovely-haired makes ready a hot bath

  for you, warming it, and washes away the filth of the bloodstains,

  while I go out and make my way till I find some watchpoint.”

  So he spoke, and took up the wrought shield of his son

  10 Thrasymedes, breaker of horses. It lay in the shelter

  all shining in bronze. Thrasymedes carried the shield of his father.

  Then he caught up a powerful spear edged in sharp bronze

  and stood outside the shelter, and at once saw a shameful action,

  men driven to flight, and others harrying them in confusion,

  15 the great-hearted Trojans, and the wall of the Achaians overthrown.

  As when the open sea is deeply stirred to the ground-swell

  but stays in one place and waits the rapid onset of tearing

  gusts, nor rolls its surf onward in either direction

  until from Zeus the wind is driven down to decide it;

  20 so the aged man pondered, his mind caught between two courses,

  whether to go among the throng of fast-mounted Danaäns

  or in search of Atreus’ son Agamemnon, shepherd of the people.

  And in the division of his heart this way seemed best to him,

  to go after the son of Atreus, while the rest went on with the murderous

  25 battle, and the weariless bronze about their bodies was clashing

  as the men were stabbing with swords and leaf-headed spears.

  Now there came toward Nestor the kings under God’s hand, they who

  had been wounded by the bronze and came back along the ships, Tydeus’

  son, and Odysseus, and Atreus’ son Agamemnon. For there

  30 were ships that had been hauled up far away from the fighting

  along the beach of the gray sea. They had hauled up the first ones

  on the plain, and by the sterns of these had built their defenses;

  for, wide as it was, the seashore was not big enough to make room

  for all the ships, and the people also were straitened; and therefore

  35 they had hauled them up in depth, and filled up the long edge

  of the whole sea-coast, all that the two capes compassed between them.

  These lords walked in a group, each leaning on his spear, to look at

  the clamorous battle, and for each the heart inside his body

  was sorrowful; and Nestor the aged man who now met them

  40 made still more cast down the spirit inside the Achaians.

  Now powerful Agamemnon spoke aloud and addressed him:

  “Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaians,

  why have you left the fighting where men die, and come back here?

  I am afraid huge Hektor may accomplish that word against me

  45 that he spoke, threatening, among the Trojans assembled,

  that he would not make his way back from the ships toward Ilion

  until he had set the ships on fire, and killed the men in them.

  So he spoke then; now all these things are being accomplished.

  Oh, shame, for I think that all the other strong-greaved Achaians

  50 are storing anger against me in their hearts, as Achilleus

  did, and no longer will fight for me by the grounded vessels.”

  Then answered him in turn the Gerenian horseman Nestor:

  “All these things have been brought to fulfillment, nor in any other

  way could even Zeus who thunders on high accomplish it.

  55 For the wall has gone down in which we put our trust, that it

  would be a protection for our ships and us, and could not be broken,

  and our men beside the fast ships are fighting incessantly

  without end, nor could you tell anymore, though you looked hard,

  from which side the Achaians are broken into confusion,

  60 so indiscriminately are they killed, and their crying goes skyward.

  We then must take thought together how these things shall be done

  if wit can do anything for us now. I think that we must not

  enter the fight; a man cannot fight on when he is wounded.”

  Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon spoke to him:

  65 “Nestor, since now they are fighting beside the grounded vessels

  and the wall we built has done us no good, nor the ditch either

  where the Danaäns endured so much, and their hearts were hopeful

  it would be a protection to their ships and them, and could not be broken,

  then such is the way it must be pleasing to Zeus, who is too strong,

  70 that the Achaians must die here forgotten and far from Argos.

  For I knew it, when with full heart he defended the Danaäns,

  and I know it now, when he glorifies these people as if they

  were blessed gods, and has hobbled our warcraft and our hands’ strength.

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

  75 take all those ships that are beached near the sea in the first line

  and haul them down, and row them out on the shining water,

  and moor them at anchor stones out on the deep water, until

  the immortal Night comes down, if the Trojans will give over fighting

  for Night’s sake; then we might haul down all the rest of our vessels.

  80 There is no shame in running, even by night, from disaster.

  The man does better who runs from disaster than he who is caught by it.”

  Then looking darkly at him spoke resourceful Odysseus:

  “Son of Atreus, what sort of word escaped your teeth’s barrier?

  Ruinous! I wish you directed some other unworthy

  85 army, and were not lord over us, over us to whom Zeus

  has appointed the accomplishing of wars, from our youth

  even into our old age until we are dead, each of us.

  Are you really thus eager to abandon the wide-wayed city

  of the Trojans, over which we have taken so many sorrows?

  90 Do not say it; for fear some other Achaian might hear this

  word, which could never at all get past the lips of any man

  who understood inside his heart how to speak soundly,

  who was a sceptered king, and all the people obeyed him

  in numbers like those of the Argives, whose lord you are.

  95 Now I utterly despise your heart for the thing you have spoken;

  you who in the very closing of clamorous battle

  tell us to haul our strong-benched ships to the sea, so that even

  more glory may befall the Trojans, who beat us already,

  and headlong destruction swing our way, since the Achaians

  100 will not hold their battle as the ships are being hauled seaward,

  but will look about, and let go the exultation of fighting.

  There, O leader of the people, your plan will be ruin.”

  Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon answered him:

  “Odysseus, you have hit me somewhere deep in my feelings

  105 with this hard word. But I am not telling the sons of the Achaians

  against their will to drag their benched ships down to the water.

  Now let someone speak who has better counsel than this was;

  young man or old; and what he says will be to my liking.”

  Now among them spoke Diomedes of the great war cry:

  110 “That man is here, we shall not look far for him, if you are willing

  to listen, and not be each astonished in anger against me

  because by birth I am the youngest among you. I also

  can boast that my generation is of an excellent father,

  Tydeus, whom now the heaped earth covers over in Thebe.r />
  115 For there were three blameless sons who were born to Portheus,

  and their home was in Pleuron and headlong Kalydon. Agrios

  was first, then Melas, and the third was Oineus the horseman,

  the father of my father, and in valor beyond the others.

  But Oineus stayed in the land, while my father was driven and settled

  120 in Argos. Such was the will of Zeus and the other immortals.

  He married one of the daughters of Adrestos, and established

  a house rich in substance, and plenty of wheat-grown acres

  were his, with many orchards of fruit trees circled about him,

  and many herds were his. He surpassed all other Achaians

  125 with the spear. If all this is true, you must have heard of it.

  Therefore you could not, saying that I was base and unwarlike

  by birth, dishonor any word that I speak, if I speak well.

  Let us go back to the fighting wounded as we are. We have to.

  Once there, we must hold ourselves out of the onfall, clear of

  130 missiles, so that none will add to the wound he has got already,

  but we shall be there to drive them on, since even before this

  they have favored their anger, and stood far off, and will not fight for us.”

  So he spoke, and they listened well to him, and obeyed him,

  and went on their way. And the lord of men, Agamemnon, led them.

  135 Neither did the glorious shaker of the earth keep blind watch,

  but came among them now in the likeness of an old man,

  and took hold of Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, by the right hand,

  and spoke to him and addressed him in winged words: “Son of Atreus,

  I think that now that baleful heart in the breast of Achilleus

  140 must be happy as he stares at the slaughter of the Achaians

  and their defeat. There is no heart in him, not even a little.

  Even so may the god strike him down, let him go to destruction.

  But with you the blessed gods are not utterly angry.

  There will still be a time when the lords of Troy and their counselors

  145 shall send dust wide on the plain, and you yourself shall look on them

  as they take flight for their city away from the ships and the shelters.”

  So he spoke, and swept on over the plain, with a huge cry

  like the yell nine thousand men send up, or ten thousand

  in battle, as they close in the hateful strife of the war god.

  150 So huge was the cry the powerful earth-shaker let go