by Homer
seething waves of the tumultuous deep,
whitened to foam, waves in front, then ranks of waves behind;
so the Trojans, closely ranged in ranks in front, then ranks behind,800
glittering with bronze, followed with their leaders.
And Hector son of Priam led them, equal of man-destroying Ares,
and held before him the circle of his shield,
dense-layered with skins and generous bronze hammered on it;
and his shining helmet shook about his temples.
In every point, from either side, he kept testing the ranks as he advanced,
to see if they might give way to him as he strode forward under cover of his shield;
but he did not perturb the spirit in the breasts of the Achaeans.
And Ajax was first to challenge him, advancing with long strides:
“Madman, come close; why do you vainly try to fright the Argives?810
It is not that we lack skill in battle,
but by the harsh lash of Zeus the Achaeans have been broken.
Doubtless your heart hopes to destroy our ships
utterly; but we too have ready strength of hand to defend them.
Sooner by far will your fair-settled city
be seized and sacked under our hands;
and to you yourself I say that time is near, when fleeing in fear
you will pray to father Zeus and the rest of the immortals
that your horses with their beautiful manes be swifter than falcons,
when they carry you to your city, raising dust across the plain.”820
Then as he spoke a bird flew toward him on the right,
a high-flying eagle; and as it did the host of the Achaeans shouted loud,
emboldened by the omen. But shining Hector answered him:
“Ajax, clumsy in speech, plow-ox, what have you said?
I wish I were as surely the son of Zeus who wields the aegis
for all my days, and that lady Hera bore me,
and I were honored as Athena is honored, and Apollo,
as surely as this day now brings evil to the Argives,
every one of them, and you shall be struck among them, should you dare
to await my long spear, which will rend your lily-soft skin,830
and you will glut the dogs and birds of Troy
with your fat and flesh, when you fall beside the ships of the Achaeans.”
So speaking he led on, and the leaders followed
with unearthly din, and the host behind them shouted:
the Argives shouted from the other side, nor did they forget
their courage, but waited as Troy’s best men approached;
and the crying out of both reached to the high clear air and the radiance of Zeus.
14.ILIÁDOS Ξ
Now the shouting did not escape the notice of Nestor, although he was drinking,
and to the son of Asclepius he addressed winged words:
“Take thought, noble Machaon, how these matters will be;
the battle shouts of our sturdy young men grow greater by the ships.
You now sit and drink the dark-gleaming wine,
until Hekamede of the lovely hair has heated warm water to bathe
and washed away your clotted blood,
and I will go to a watch place and quickly look around.”
So speaking he took up the wrought shield of his son
Thrasymedes breaker of horses, which was lying in his shelter10
shining with bronze—for Thrasymedes was carrying his father’s shield—
and took up a strong spear pointed with sharp bronze.
But outside his shelter he halted, and saw at once the shameful work of war,
men fleeing in rout and, driving them to panic from behind,
the prideful Trojans; and the wall of the Achaeans fallen.
As when the great deep sea shimmers dark with silent swell
foreboding the swift passage of shrill winds
but does not break, rolling neither forward nor aside,
until some fair deciding wind descends from Zeus above,
so the old man deliberated, his heart torn20
two ways, whether to go to the throng of Danaans of swift horses,
or to Agamemnon, son of Atreus and shepherd of the people.
And this to him as he pondered seemed to be best,
to go to the son of Atreus. The fighting men continued to kill
each other; the unwearying bronze rang about their bodies
as they stabbed at one another with their swords and double-edged spears.
Then as they came up from the ships, the kings cherished by Zeus fell in with Nestor,
they who had been wounded by bronze weapons—
the son of Tydeus, Odysseus and Agamemnon son of Atreus;
far from the fighting their ships had been drawn up30
on the shore of the gray salt sea; for they had drawn up the first ships
toward the plain, and built the wall by their sterns.
And indeed wide though it was, the beach could not contain
all the ships, and the host was constrained.
Therefore they had hauled the ships up in ranks, and occupied
the whole of the seashore along the deep bay, all that the headlands enclosed.
So these kings having learned late of the battle crying and fighting
came all together leaning on spears, and the heart in the breast of every man
was anguished; and the old man Nestor fell in with them,
and made the hearts of the Achaeans quail in their breasts.40
And lifting his voice lord Agamemnon addressed him:
“O Nestor son of Neleus, great pride of the Achaeans,
why have you left the fighting that destroys men and made your way here?
I fear lest mighty Hector may fulfill his word against me,
as he once threatened, speaking to the Trojans in assembly,
that he would not go back to Ilion from the ships,
until he had destroyed our ships with fire, and killed the men themselves.
So he spoke in the assembly; now all this has been accomplished.
Alas! Sure it is the other strong-greaved Achaeans too
have set down anger in their heart against me, like Achilles,50
and are not willing to fight by our ships’ sterns.”
Then answered him the Gerenian horseman Nestor:
“These things have been prepared ere this, nor
could Zeus the high-thunderer himself work them differently.
For the wall is now fallen, which we trusted
would be unbreachable defense for our ships, and for ourselves,
and by the swift ships our men sustain relentless battle,
without respite; nor would you now know, though looking hard,
from which side the Achaeans in their panic are driven in rout;
they are being killed in such confusion, and the outcry reaches heaven.60
Let us consider how these matters will be,
if a plan can accomplish anything. But I do not recommend that we
enter the fighting; for it is not possible for a wounded man to do battle.”
Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon addressed him:
“Nestor, since the men are fighting by the sterns of the ships
and the wall that was built was no help, nor in any way the ditch,
for which the Danaans suffered much, and hoped in their hearts
would be unbreachable defense for our ships and for ourselves—
this it seems, must please Zeus, supreme in might.69
For I knew it, even when he willingly defended the Danaans,71
and I know it now that he exalts these Trojans like the blessed gods,
and has bound and tied our power and strength of hands.
But come, and let us all be persuaded as I say;
those ships
that were first drawn up close by the water,
let us haul them down, and we will launch all these into the shining salt sea,
and when they’re afloat, we’ll bring them to anchor until divine night
comes, if at that point the Trojans hold back from fighting;
then we might launch the whole fleet.
For there is no blame in fleeing evil, even at night;80
it is better that a fleeing man escape evil than is captured.”
Then looking at him beneath his brows resourceful Odysseus addressed him:
“Son of Atreus, what sort of word has escaped the barrier of your teeth?
Ruinous one—would that you commanded some other worthless army,
and were not lord of us, whom Zeus
has assigned, from youth to old age, to keep winding up the
hard threads of wars, to the bitter end, until we perish to a man.
So then, do you now intend to abandon the wide-wayed city of Troy,
for which we have suffered much hardship?
Be silent, lest some other Achaean hear such an utterance,90
which no man would let pass through his mouth,
no man who knows in his heart how to speak what is fit,
and who bears a scepter, and whom his people trust
in such numbers as those of the Argives among whom you rule.
And now I utterly scorn your judgment, the things you have said—
you, who even as war and battle is joined, urge
us to drag our well-benched ships to the sea, so that the Trojans
have yet more reason to boast, victorious as they already are,
and sheer destruction weighs upon us! For the Achaeans
will not hold the battle while the ships are being hauled to the sea,100
but will look anxiously about them, and hold back their fighting spirit.
Then will your plan bring harm, O leader of the people.”
Then answered him the lord of men Agamemnon:
“O Odysseus, you have touched my heart close with this hard
rebuke; indeed I do not order the sons of the Achaeans against their will
to haul the well-benched ships down to the sea.
May there be someone now who tells a better plan than this,
be he young or old; it would be welcome to me.”
And among them now spoke Diomedes of the war cry:
“That man is near, nor will we search for long, if you are willing110
to be persuaded, and each of you not in anger grudge me
because by birth I am youngest among you.
I too claim to be the child of a noble father,
Tydeus, whom the heaped earth covers over in Thebes.
For to Portheus were born three blameless sons,
and they dwelt in Pleuron and rugged Calydon,
Agrios, Melas, and third was the horseman Oineus,
the father of my father; and in valor he stood above them.
But while he remained there, my father made his home in Argos,
after wandering; for so I suppose Zeus and the other gods wished it.120
And he married one of the daughters of Adrastos, and lived in a house
rich in substance, and possessed in abundance worked fields
bearing wheat, and there were many orchards of fruit around them,
and he had many herds of cattle; and he surpassed all Achaeans
with the spear. These things you have likely heard, if they are true;
therefore not by saying that I was base in birth and courage could you
slight the words I speak, should I state them well.
Come, let us go to the fighting, wounded though we are, out of necessity;
there let us keep ourselves clear of the spears and arrows
of the fighting throng, lest someone suffer wound on wound,130
but, rallying the others, we will send those in who although before
doing loyal service in their heart, stood apart and did not go to battle.”
So he spoke; and the others listened closely and obeyed,
and they set out to go, and the lord of men Agamemnon led them.
But the glorious Earth-Shaker kept no blind watch,
but went among them in the likeness of an old man,
and took hold of the right hand of Atreus’ son Agamemnon,
and speaking addressed him with winged words:
“Son of Atreus, now I think that Achilles’ ruinous heart
rejoices in his breast, as he looks upon the rout and slaughter140
of the Achaeans, since there is no feeling in him, not a little.
Let him perish so, may god blight him.
But with you the blessed gods are not yet wholly angry,
and I think the leaders and counselors of the Trojans
will yet fill the broad plain with their dust; and you yourself will see
them fleeing to their city from the ships and shelters.”
So speaking he shouted in a great voice as he swept across the plain,
as loud as nine thousand men cry in battle, or ten thousand
men joining in the strife of war;
so great was the voice the lord Earth-Shaker launched from his chest,150
and he cast great strength in each Achaean’s heart,
to fight and do battle unceasing.
Now Hera of the golden throne looked with her eyes upon him
from Olympus, from the pinnacle where she stood; and immediately she recognized
him as he busied himself with the battle where men win glory,
her own brother and her husband’s brother, and she rejoiced in her heart;
then she looked toward Zeus sitting on the highest peak of Ida
of the many springs, and hatred grew in her heart.
And then ox-eyed lady Hera strategized
how she might beguile the wits of Zeus who wields the aegis.160
And this plan seemed to her heart to be best,
that she herself go to Ida, well equipped,
to see if he might perchance desire to lie beside her skin
in love-making, and she might pour harmless, balmy sleep
upon his eyelids, and sharp wits.
And setting forth she went to her chamber, which her dear son Hephaestus had built for her,
and who had fitted the snug doors to doorposts
with a secret bolt; this no other god could open;
and entering there she shut the shining doors.
Then first with ambrosia she cleansed from her lovely body170
all impurities, and anointed herself with lush oil,
ambrosial sweet, which had been scented for her;
and when it was stirred, the fragrant breath all through the bronze-floored house of Zeus
spread alike to earth and heaven.
Then having anointed her beautiful skin and hair with this,
and combed it, with her hands she braided the shining
beautiful, ambrosial locks flowing from her immortal head.
And she put about her an ambrosial robe that Athena
had brushed smooth and skillfully finished for her, and set on it many intricate decorations;
and with golden broaches she fastened this across her breast;180
And she girded herself about with a belt fitted with a hundred tassels;
then in her carefully pierced ears she placed earrings,
with three drops, like mulberries, and their rich beauty shone forth;
shining among goddesses she covered herself above with a flowing headdress,
fresh and fine—white shining like the sun;
and beneath her smooth feet she bound her splendid sandals.
Then when she had placed everything about her body in strategic order,
she set out from her chamber, and summoning Aphrodite
apart from the rest of the gods, she spoke a word to her:
“Could
you listen, dear child, to something that I would say,190
or would you refuse me, resentful in your heart
because I aid the Danaans, and you the Trojans?”
Then Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus answered her:
“Hera, eldest goddess, daughter of mighty Cronus,
speak what you will; my heart compels me to accomplish it,
if I am able to accomplish it, and if it can be accomplished.”
Then with calculated guile lady Hera addressed her:
“Grant me now your power of love and desire, with which you
subdue all immortal gods and mortal men.
For I am going to the end of the nourishing earth to visit200
Ocean, the source of the gods, and mother Tethys,
who in their house nurtured me well and raised me,
after receiving me from Rhea, when far-thundering Zeus set
Cronus down beneath the earth and murmuring sea.
I am going to see them, and I will resolve their unending quarrels;
for a long time now they have held back from each other
in love and in bed, since bitterness has entered their desire.
If winning over their dear hearts with words I could restore them
to their bed to be united in lovemaking,
I would ever be called dear to them and even honored.”210
Then laughter-loving Aphrodite answered her:
“It is not possible, nor is it seemly to refuse your request;
for you sleep in the arms of almighty Zeus.”
She spoke, and from her breast unbound a band pricked out with
curious design; and there all her charms were wrought.
And on it was lovemaking, and desire was on it, and on it was the language of love
and its persuasion, which steals the sharp wits of even thinking men.
This it was she dropped in Hera’s hands, and spoke to her and said her name:
“There now, between your breasts place this band
of curious design, on which all things have been devised; nor do I think220
that you will return unsuccessful, whatever your heart desires.”
So she spoke, and ox-eyed lady Hera smiled,
and smiling then she placed it between her breasts.
Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus went to her home;
but Hera in a flash left the peak of Olympus,
crossing Pieria and lovely Emathia,
pressing on over the snowcapped mountains of the horse-tending Thracians,
over their highest peaks, nor touched them with her feet;
from Athos she strode to the heaving sea,
and arrived at Lemnos, the city of divine Thoas.230