off, and grinning spoke his word out among the Argives:
“Friends, you all know well what I tell you, that still the immortals
continue to favor the elder men. For see now, Aias
is elder than I, if only by a little, but this man
790 is out of another age than ours and one of the ancients.
But his, they say, is a green old age. It would be a hard thing
for any Achaian to match his speed. Except for Achilleus.”
So he spoke, and glorified the swift-footed Peleion.
And Achilleus gave him an answer for what he said, and spoke to him:
795 “Antilochos, your good word for me shall not have been spoken
in vain. I shall give you another half-talent of gold in addition.”
He spoke, and put it in Antilochos’ hands, who received it joyfully.
Then the son of Peleus carried into the circle and set down
a far-shadowing spear, and set down beside it a shield and a helmet:
800 the armor of Sarpedon, that Patroklos stripped from his body.
He stood upright and spoke his word out among the Argives:
“We invite two men, the best among you, to contend for these prizes.
Let them draw their armor upon them and take up the rending bronze spears
and stand up to each other in the trial of close combat. The fighter
805 who is first of the two to get in a stroke at the other’s fair body,
to get through armor and dark blood and reach to the vitals,
to that man I will give this magnificent silver-nailed
sword of Thrace I stripped from the body of Asteropaios.
But let both men carry off this armor and have it in common;
810 and we shall set out a brave dinner before them both in our shelters.”
So he spoke, and there rose up huge Telamonian Aias,
and next the son of Tydeus rose up, strong Diomedes.
When these were in their armor on either side of the assembly,
they came together in the middle space, furious for the combat,
815 with dangerous looks, and wonder settled on all the Achaians.
Then as, moving forward, the two were closing in on each other,
there were three charges, three times they swept in close. Then Aias
stabbed at Diomedes shield on its perfect circle
but did not get through to the skin, for the corselet inside it guarded him.
820 The son of Tydeus, over the top of the huge shield, was always
menacing the neck of Aias with the point of the shining
spear, but when the Achaians saw it in fear for Aias
they called for them to stop and divide the prizes evenly.
But the hero Achilleus carried the great sword, with its scabbard
825 and carefully cut sword belt, and gave it to Diomedes.
Now the son of Peleus set in place a lump of pig-iron,
which had once been the throwing-weight of Eëtion in his great strength;
but now swift-footed brilliant Achilleus had slain him and taken
the weight away in the ships along with the other possessions.
830 He stood upright and spoke his word out among the Argives:
“Rise up, you who would endeavor to win this prize also.
For although the rich demesnes of him who wins it lie far off
indeed, yet for the succession of five years he will have it
to use; for his shepherd for want of iron will not have to go in
835 to the city for it, nor his ploughman either. This will supply them.”
So he spoke, and up stood Polypoites the stubborn in battle,
and Leonteus in his great strength, a godlike man, and there rose up
Aias, the son of Telamon, and brilliant Epeios.
They stood in order to throw, and great Epeios took up the weight
840 and whirled and threw it, and all the Achaians laughed when they saw him.
Second to throw in turn was Leonteus, scion of Ares,
and third in turn huge Telamonian Aias threw it
from his ponderous hand, and overpassed the marks of all others.
But when Polypoites stubborn in battle caught up the iron,
845 he overthrew the entire field by as far as an ox-herd
can cast with his throwing stick which spins through the air and comes down
where the cattle graze in their herds, and all the Achaians applauded,
and the companions of powerful Polypoites uprising
carried the prize of the king away to the hollow vessels.
850 But Achilleus set gloomy iron forth once more, for the archers.
He set ten double-bladed axes forth, ten with single
blades, and planted far away on the sands the mast pole
of a dark-prowed ship, and tethered a tremulous wild pigeon to it
by a thin string attached to her foot, then challenged the archers
855 to shoot at her: “Now let the man who hits the wild pigeon
take up and carry away home with him all the full axes.
But if one should miss the bird and still hit the string, that man,
seeing that he is the loser, still shall have the half-axes.”
So he spoke, and there rose up in his strength the lord Teukros,
860 and Meriones rose up, Idomeneus’ powerful henchman.
They chose their lots, and shook them up in a brazen helmet,
and Teukros was allotted first place to shoot. He let fly
a strong-shot arrow, but did not promise the lord of archery
that he would accomplish for him a grand sacrifice of lambs first born.
865 He missed the bird, for Apollo begrudged him that, but he did hit
the string beside the foot where the bird was tied, and the tearing
arrow went straight through and cut the string, and the pigeon
soared swift up toward the sky, while the string dropped and dangled
toward the ground. But still the Achaians thundered approval.
870 Meriones in a fury of haste caught the bow from his hand,
but had had out an arrow before, while Teukros was aiming,
and forthwith promised to the one who strikes from afar, Apollo,
that he would accomplish for him a grand sacrifice of lambs first born.
Way up under the clouds he saw the tremulous wild dove
875 and as she circled struck her under the wing in the body
and the shaft passed clean through and out of her, so that it dropped back
and stuck in the ground beside the foot of Meriones, but the bird
dropped and fell on top of the mast of the dark-prowed vessel
and drooped her neck and the beating wings went slack, and the spirit
880 of life fled swift away from her limbs. Far down from the mast peak
she dropped to earth. And the people gazed upon it and wondered.
Then Meriones gathered up all ten double axes,
but Teukros carried the half-axes back to the hollow ships.
Then the son of Peleus carried into the circle and set down
885 a far-shadowing spear and an unfired cauldron with patterns
of flowers on it, the worth of an ox. And the spear-throwers rose up.
The son of Atreus rose, wide-powerful Agamemnon,
and Meriones rose up, Idomeneus’ powerful henchman.
But now among them spoke swift-footed brilliant Achilleus:
890 “Son of Atreus, for we know how much you surpass all others,
by how much you are greatest for strength among the spear-throwers,
therefore take this prize and keep it and go back to your hollow
ships; but let us give the spear to the hero Meriones;
if your own heart would have it this way, for so I invite you.”
895 He spoke, nor did Agamemnon lord of men diso
bey him.
The hero gave the bronze spear to Meriones, and thereafter
handed his prize, surpassingly lovely, to the herald Talthybios.
BOOK TWENTY-FOUR
And the games broke up, and the people scattered to go away, each man
to his fast-running ship, and the rest of them took thought of their dinner
and of sweet sleep and its enjoyment; only Achilleus
wept still as he remembered his beloved companion, nor did sleep
5 who subdues all come over him, but he tossed from one side to the other
in longing for Patroklos, for his manhood and his great strength
and all the actions he had seen to the end with him, and the hardships
he had suffered; the wars of men; hard crossing of the big waters.
Remembering all these things he let fall the swelling tears, lying
10 sometimes along his side, sometimes on his back, and now again
prone on his face; then he would stand upright, and pace turning
in distraction along the beach of the sea, nor did dawn rising
escape him as she brightened across the sea and the beaches.
Then, when he had yoked running horses under the chariot
15 he would fasten Hektor behind the chariot, so as to drag him,
and draw him three times around the tomb of Menoitios’ fallen
son, then rest again in his shelter, and throw down the dead man
and leave him to lie sprawled on his face in the dust. But Apollo
had pity on him, though he was only a dead man, and guarded
20 the body from all ugliness, and hid all of it under the golden
aegis, so that it might not be torn when Achilleus dragged it.
So Achilleus in his standing fury outraged great Hektor.
The blessed gods as they looked upon him were filled with compassion
and kept urging clear-sighted Argeïphontes to steal the body.
25 There this was pleasing to all the others, but never to Hera
nor Poseidon, nor the girl of the gray eyes, who kept still
their hatred for sacred Ilion as in the beginning,
and for Priam and his people, because of the delusion of Paris
who insulted the goddesses when they came to him in his courtyard
30 and favored her who supplied the lust that led to disaster.
But now, as it was the twelfth dawn after the death of Hektor,
Phoibos Apollo spoke his word out among the immortals:
“You are hard, you gods, and destructive. Now did not Hektor
burn thigh pieces of oxen and unblemished goats in your honor?
35 Now you cannot bring yourselves to save him, though he is only
a corpse, for his wife to look upon, his child and his mother
and Priam his father, and his people, who presently thereafter
would burn his body in the fire and give him his rites of burial.
No, you gods; your desire is to help this cursed Achilleus
40 within whose breast there are no feelings of justice, nor can
his mind be bent, but his purposes are fierce, like a lion
who when he has given way to his own great strength and his haughty
spirit, goes among the flocks of men, to devour them.
So Achilleus has destroyed pity, and there is not in him
45 any shame; which does much harm to men but profits them also.
For a man must some day lose one who was even closer
than this; a brother from the same womb, or a son. And yet
he weeps for him, and sorrows for him, and then it is over,
for the Destinies put in mortal men the heart of endurance.
50 But this man, now he has torn the heart of life from great Hektor,
ties him to his horses and drags him around his beloved companion’s
tomb; and nothing is gained thereby for his good, or his honor.
Great as he is, let him take care not to make us angry;
for see, he does dishonor to the dumb earth in his fury.”
55 Then bitterly Hera of the white arms answered him, saying:
“What you have said could be true, lord of the silver bow, only
if you give Hektor such pride of place as you give to Achilleus.
But Hektor was mortal, and suckled at the breast of a woman,
while Achilleus is the child of a goddess, one whom I myself
60 nourished and brought up and gave her as bride to her husband
Peleus, one dear to the hearts of the immortals, for you all
went, you gods, to the wedding; and you too feasted among them
and held your lyre, O friend of the evil, faithless forever.”
In turn Zeus who gathers the clouds spoke to her in answer:
65 “Hera, be not utterly angry with the gods, for there shall not
be the same pride of place given both. Yet Hektor also
was loved by the gods, best of all the mortals in Ilion.
I loved him too. He never failed of gifts to my liking.
Never yet has my altar gone without fair sacrifice,
70 the smoke and the savor of it, since that is our portion of honor.
The stealing of him we will dismiss, for it is not possible
to take bold Hektor secretly from Achilleus, since always
his mother is near him night and day; but it would be better
if one of the gods would summon The tis here to my presence
75 so that I can say a close word to her, and see that Achilleus
is given gifts by Priam and gives back the body of Hektor.”
He spoke, and Iris storm-footed sprang away with the message,
and at a point between Samos and Imbros of the high cliffs
plunged in the dark water, and the sea crashed moaning about her.
80 She plummeted to the sea floor like a lead weight which, mounted
along the horn of an ox who ranges the fields, goes downward
and takes death with it to the raw-ravening fish. She found Thetis
inside the hollow of her cave, and gathered about her
sat the rest of the sea goddesses, and she in their midst
85 was mourning the death of her blameless son, who so soon was destined
to die in Troy of the rich soil, far from the land of his fathers.
Iris the swift-foot came close beside her and spoke to her:
“Rise, Thetis. Zeus whose purposes are infinite calls you.”
In turn Thetis the goddess, the silver-footed, answered her:
90 “What does he, the great god, want with me? I feel shamefast
to mingle with the immortals, and my heart is confused with sorrows.
But I will go. No word shall be in vain, if he says it.”
So she spoke, and shining among the divinities took up
her black veil, and there is no darker garment. She went
95 on her way, and in front of her rapid wind-footed Iris
guided her, and the wave of the water opened about them.
They stepped out on the dry land and swept to the sky. There they found
the son of Kronos of the wide brows, and gathered about him
sat all the rest of the gods, the blessed, who live forever.
100 She sat down beside Zeus father, and Athene made a place for her.
Hera put into her hand a beautiful golden goblet
and spoke to her to comfort her, and Thetis accepting drank from it.
The father of gods and men began the discourse among them:
“You have come to Olympos, divine Thetis, for all your sorrow,
105 with an unforgotten grief in your heart. I myself know this.
But even so I will tell you why I summoned you hither.
For nine days there has risen a quarrel among the immortals
over the body of Hektor, and Achilleus, stormer of cities.
They keep urging clear-sighted Argeïphontes to steal the body,
110 but I still put upon Achilleus the honor that he has, guarding
your reverence and your love for me into time afterward. Go then
in all speed to the encampment and give to your son this message:
tell him that the gods frown upon him, that beyond all other
immortals I myself am angered that in his heart’s madness
115 he holds Hektor beside the curved ships and did not give him
back. Perhaps in fear of me he will give back Hektor.
Then I will send Iris to Priam of the great heart, with an order
to ransom his dear son, going down to the ships of the Achaians
and bringing gifts to Achilleus which might soft en his anger.”
120 He spoke and the goddess silver-foot Thetis did not disobey him
but descended in a flash of speed from the peaks of Olympos
and made her way to the shelter of her son, and there found him
in close lamentation, and his beloved companions about him
were busy at their work and made ready the morning meal, and there
125 stood a great fleecy sheep being sacrificed in the shelter.
His honored mother came close to him and sat down beside him,
and stroked him with her hand and called him by name and spoke to him:
“My child, how long will you go on eating your heart out in sorrow
and lamentation, and remember neither your food nor going
130 to bed? It is a good thing even to lie with a woman
in love. For you will not be with me long, but already
death and powerful destiny stand closely above you.
But listen hard to me, for I come from Zeus with a message.
He says that the gods frown upon you, that beyond all other
135 immortals he himself is angered that in your heart’s madness
you hold Hektor beside the curved ships and did not redeem him.
Come, then, give him up and accept ransom for the body.”
Then in turn Achilleus of the swift feet answered her:
“So be it. He can bring the ransom and take off the body,
140 if the Olympian himself so urgently bids it.”
So, where the ships were drawn together, the son and his mother
conversed at long length in winged words. But the son of Kronos
stirred Iris to go down to sacred Ilion, saying:
“Go forth, Iris the swift, leaving your place on Olympos,
145 and go to Priam of the great heart within Ilion, tell him
The Iliad of Homer Page 67