by Homer
gathering the army throughout all-nourishing Achaea,770
and there we found the warrior Menoetius inside
and you, by Achilles’ side; and the aged horseman Peleus
was burning the fat-rich thighbones of an ox to Zeus who hurls the thunderbolt,
in an enclosure of his courtyard; and he was holding a golden goblet,
making libations of fire-bright wine on the fiery sacrifices;
you two were busy with the meat of the ox, when we two
stood in the entrance. In amazement Achilles sprang up,
and led us in, taking us by the hand, and urged us to be seated;
and duly set before us tokens of hospitality, which are the right of strangers;
then when we were satisfied with eating and drinking,780
I began my speech, urging you to come with us;
both of you were very eager, both of them gave many instructions;
old Peleus enjoined his son Achilles
always to be best and to be better than all others,
and right there and then Menoetius, son of Aktor, enjoined you thus:
‘My son, in birth Achilles is your superior,
but you are older; in strength he is far the better;
but speak you well to him and put in his mind close counsel
and point the way; he will listen for his own good end.’
So the old man instructed, but you have forgotten. Yet even now790
you might speak these things to brilliant Achilles, in the hope that he might yet be persuaded.
Who knows, if with help from some god you might stir his heart,
winning him over? For the persuasion of a comrade is a worthy thing.
“But if in his heart he shrinks from some divine prophecy
and his lady mother has revealed something to him from Zeus,
come, let him send you at least forth, and let the rest of the host follow with you,
the Myrmidons, so that you might be salvation’s light to the Danaans.
And let him give you his splendid armor to wear to war,
with the hope that likening you to him the Trojans will back off
from fighting, and the warrior sons of the Achaeans draw breath800
in their extremity; for respite in war is brief.
Fresh forces would easily push battle-weary men
to their city away from the ships and our shelters.”
So he spoke, and stirred the heart in the other’s breast;
and he set out running along the ships to Achilles Aeacides.
But when in his running Patroclus came to the ships
of godlike Odysseus, where was the place of assembly and tribunal,
and where also stood their altars to the gods,
there Eurypylos encountered him, the son of Zeus-descended
Euaimon, who had been wounded in his thigh by an arrow,810
hobbling out of battle; running sweat streamed down
his head and shoulders, and from his grievous wound
dark blood gushed; but still his wits were unshaken.
Seeing him the valiant son of Menoetius was filled with pity,
and in sorrow he spoke winged words:
“Poor wretches, leaders and counselors of the Danaans,
so it is then that far from your dear ones and fatherland you were destined
to glut the running dogs in Troy with your white flesh.
But come, tell me this, Eurypylos, cherished by Zeus, brother warrior,
somehow, yet, will the Achaeans sustain monstrous Hector,820
or will they be destroyed before this at his hand, broken with his spear?”
Then in turn Eurypylos with wise understanding addressed him in reply:
“No longer, Patroclus, Zeus-descended, will there be defense
of the Achaeans, but into their dark ships will they fall.
All those now, whoever before were our best men,
lie in the ships wounded by spear or arrow
at the hands of the Trojans; and Hector’s strength rises always.
Come, you at least save me, taking me to my dark ship,
and cut the arrow from my thigh, and from it wash the dark blood
with warm water, and sprinkle on soothing herbs,830
good ones, which they say you learned of from Achilles,
which Chiron taught him, the most honorable of the Centaurs.
As for the healers, Podaleirios and Machaon,
Machaon I suspect lies in his shelter wounded,
himself in need of a blameless healer;
the other on the Trojan plain still withstands the piercing war.”
Then in turn the valiant son of Menoetius addressed him:
“How can these things be? What shall we do, Eurypylos, brother warrior?
I am on my way to tell brilliant Achilles of the counsel
that Gerenian Nestor, watchman of the Achaeans, charged me.840
Nevertheless I will not neglect you in your affliction.”
He spoke, and taking hold of Eurypylos beneath his chest he led the shepherd of the people
to his shelter; and seeing him his henchman put oxhides under him.
Stretching him out there, Patroclus with his knife cut from his thigh
the piercing, sharp arrow, and washed the dark blood from him
with warm water, and applied a bitter root,
crumbling it with his hands, one that stills pain, which stopped all his
pangs of pain. And the wound dried up, and the blood ceased to flow.
12.ILIÁDOS M
So the valiant son of Menoetius tended wounded Eurypylos
in his shelter; and in massed throngs the men fought on,
Argives and Trojans. Nor was the ditch of the Danaans destined
to survive hereafter, nor the broad wall above it,
which they built in defense of the ships and drove around the ditch,
without giving to the gods glorious sacrifice of hecatombs,
to protect the swift ships and vast plunder
enclosed within. For the wall had been built against the will of the immortal
gods; and therefore it stood firm for no great time.
As long as Hector was alive and Achilles filled with wrath10
and the city of lord Priam was not sacked,
so long the great wall of the Achaeans stood firm.
But when all the best of the Trojans were dead,
and many of the Argives killed, while some survived,
and the city of Priam had been sacked in the tenth year,
and the Argives had set out in their ships to their beloved fatherland,
then did Poseidon and Apollo devise a plan
to level the wall, channeling the might of the rivers,
all the rivers that stream from the hills of Ida to the sea—
Rhesos and Heptaporos and Karesos and Rhodios20
and Granicus and Aisepos and shining Scamander
and Simoeis, beside which many oxhide shields and crested helmets
had fallen in the dust, along with the race of almost divine men.
And Phoebus Apollo diverted the mouths of all the rivers to one place,
and for nine days he hurled their rolling waters against the wall; and Zeus rained
without respite, so as more rapidly to render the defenses seaborne flotsam;
and the Earth-Shaker himself, trident in hand,
took the lead, and with the waves dislodged all foundations
of wood and stone, which the toiling Achaeans had set.
And he made all smooth along the powerfully flowing Hellespont,30
and covered back again the great shore with sand,
having destroyed the wall; and he turned the rivers to run
along their beds, where before their lovely flowing water used to roll.
These things Poseidon and Apollo intended in time to come;
but for now battle
and the din of war blazed round
the well-built wall, and the timbers of the ramparts resounded
as they were struck; Argives broken under the lash of Zeus,
cowering in the hollow ships, were stayed
in dread of Hector, violent master of the rout;
he, as before, fought on, like a whirling storm wind.40
As when in the midst of dogs and hunting men
a wild boar or lion wheels about, reveling in his strength,
and the men arraying themselves like a wall of defense
stand to face him and hurl from their hands
volleys of spears; but never does his noble heart
feel fear, nor does he flee—and his courage will kill him—
and relentlessly he wheels about testing the ranks of men,
and wherever he charges, there the ranks of men give way;
so Hector going along the battle throng turned and twisted
exhorting his companions to cross the ditch; yet his50
own swift-footed horses had not the courage to dare, but whinnying
drew up to the edge of the trench lip; for they were in terror of the wide ditch,
for it was neither easy to overleap from up close
nor to pass through, for around the whole ditch steep overhanging banks
reared on either sides, crowned with stakes,
sharp-pointed, that the sons of the Achaeans had fixed
close-set and massive, as a deterrent to enemy men.
A horse straining with a well-wheeled chariot there could not easily
get within, and the Trojans were pressing to see whether they could
accomplish this on foot.
Then Poulydamas standing beside bold Hector spoke:60
“Hector and you other leaders of the Trojans and allies,
we would be reckless to drive the swift horses through the ditch.
Surely it is disastrous to try; sharp-pointed stakes have been set upon it,
and next to them is the wall of the Achaeans.
It is not possible to dismount and fight between them
with the chariots; it is narrow, there where I think we will come to harm.
If Zeus the high-thunderer, intent on baneful deeds, destroys them
utterly, and is eager to aid the Trojans,
then assuredly I wish this would happen at once,
and the Achaeans die here, nameless, far from Argos.70
But if they should rally round, and there should be counterattack
from the ships, we would be entangled in the trench they dug—
then I think not even a returning messenger would
get back to the city under attack of the Achaeans when they have rallied.
Come, do as I say, let us all be persuaded;
assemble the horses and their attendants at the ditch,
and let us ourselves on foot, under arms with our weapons,
all follow Hector in a body; then the Achaeans
will not stand, if the shackles of destruction are fastened on them.”
So spoke Poulydamas, and his words of caution found favor with Hector.80
At once he sprang from his chariot in his armor to the ground;
nor did the rest of the Trojans stay up upon their chariots,
but all sprang away when they saw shining Hector.
Then each man gave orders to his charioteer
to draw his horses up in good array there at the ditch;
and having divided up, arrayed themselves in order,
marshaled into five divisions, the men followed their leaders.
Those who went with Hector and blameless Poulydamas,
they were the most numerous and the best, and most determined
to shatter the wall and battle by the hollow ships;90
and Kebriones was third to follow with them; for by his chariot
Hector left another man, inferior to Kebriones his charioteer.
Paris was leader of the second body along with Alkathoös and Agenor;
Helenos and godlike Deïphobos led the third,
two sons of Priam; and with them was Asios the warrior,
Asios son of Hyrtakos, whose great blazing
horses carried him from Arisbe, away from the river Selleëis.
And of the fourth company Anchises’ brave son was leader,
Aeneas, and with him were two sons of Antenor,
Archelochos and Akamas, both skilled in all forms of fighting.100
Sarpedon was leader of the glorious allies,
and chose in addition Glaukos and warlike Asteropaios;
for these men seemed to him far and away the best
of the others after himself; for Sarpedon was preeminent over all.
And when they joined together, wrought shield to shield,
then in impatient speed they charged straight for the Danaans, and they thought
the Achaeans would no longer hold their ground, but would fall back
upon their dark ships.
The rest of the Trojans and far-renowned allies
trusted in the plan of blameless Poulydamas;
but not Asios the son of Hyrtakos, leader of men, who was not willing110
to leave his horses there and his attending charioteer,
but approached the swift ships, horses and all—
the fool, he was not destined to elude evil death
as he gloried in his chariot and horses by the ships,
nor to return back home to windy Ilion;
before that accursed fate enveloped him
on the spear of Idomeneus, noble son of Deucalion.
Asios charged to the left of the ships, the very place where the Achaeans
would return with their horses and chariots from the plain;
there he drove his horses and chariot across, nor did he find120
the gates shut, nor the long bolt drawn,
but men opening it wide, in the hope that they might give safe passage to any
of their companions fleeing to the ships from the war.
Aiming straight to this place Asios held his horses, and his men followed
shouting their piercing cries; for they thought the Achaeans would not
hold their ground, but would fall back on their dark ships—
the fools; for at the gates they found two outstanding men,
the high-hearted sons of Lapith spearmen,
one the son of Peirithoös, powerful Polypoites,
the other Leonteus, like to man-destroying Ares.130
These two, there before the towering gates,
stood firm, like high-headed oaks in the mountains,
which withstand wind and driving rain all their days,
made fast by their great, far-reaching roots;
so they two trusting in their strength of hand and might
awaited the coming of great Asios, nor fled.
And the Trojan men went straight for the well-built wall, holding high
their shields of tanned oxhide, with a great war-shout,
all around lord Asios and Iamenos and Orestes
and Adamas the son of Asios, and Thoön, and Oinomaos.140
For some time the Lapiths inside the wall were urging the strong-greaved Achaeans
to fight in defense of the ships;
but when they saw the Trojans charging
the wall, then was there uproar and panic among the Danaans,
and the two Lapiths flew out of the gates and began to fight before them,
like two wild boars that in the mountains
await an approaching band of dogs and men,
and slicing slantwise smash the woods around them
felling trees by the roots, amid the grinding clatter of their teeth,
until someone striking at them takes their lives.150
So the bronze shining armor ground and clattered on the chests
of the men, struck as they faced their foe; for t
hey were fighting violently,
trusting in their strength and in their people above them.
And those above were letting fly with boulders from the well-built ramparts,
fighting for themselves, their shelters,
and the fast-running ships; the boulders fell to the ground like snow
that a furious wind, convulsing mottled clouds,
pours down in drifts upon the nourishing earth.
So the missiles rained from the hands of both Trojans
and Achaeans; and the helmets rang hollow around them,160
and the bossed shields, struck by boulders like millstones.
Then Asios the son of Hyrtakos cried aloud and struck his thighs,
and in distress he spoke a word:
“Father Zeus, so now even you turn out to be a liar
through and through; I did not think the Argive warriors
would withstand our might and unassailable strength of hands.
But they, like flickering-waisted wasps or bees,
who have made their hives by the rugged roadside,
and do not leave their hollow home, but staying their ground
for the sake of their children fight off the men who hunt their honey,170
so these men, although only two, refuse to withdraw
from the gates, until either they have killed or been killed.”
So he spoke, but uttering these things he did not persuade the mind of Zeus;
for Zeus’ heart desired to give Hector glory.
And other men battled about the other gates—
heavy work it is for me, as if a god, to relate all things;
for everywhere demonic fire reared about the wall
of stone; and the Argives, stricken though they were, by necessity
battled for their ships. And the gods grieved in their hearts,
all who were allies in war of the Danaans.180
And the Lapiths kept clashing in warfare and battle.
There the son of Peirithoös, powerful Polypoites,
with his spear struck Damasos through his bronze-cheeked helm;
nor did the bronze helmet withstand it, but right through
the brazen point crushed bone, and the brains
were all spattered within it; so he destroyed him for all his fury.
And then he killed Pylon and Ormenos.
Then Leonteus, follower of Ares, struck the son of Antimachos,
Hippomachos, with his spear, hitting down across his war-belt.
Then drawing his sharp sword from its sheath,190
darting forward from the throng, he first struck Antiphates
at close quarters; and on his back Antiphates lay stretched upon the ground;