by Homer
Dolops, whom Lampos son of Laomedon
bore to be best of his sons, well skilled in deeds of fierce courage;
he then struck Meges’ shield in the middle with his spear
attacking from close in. But Meges’ tight-made breastplate saved him,
which he wore with fitted plates; this breastplate Meges’ father Phyleus once530
carried out of Ephyra, away from the river Selleëis;
for a guest friend, Euphetes lord of men, gave it to him
to wear to war, as a defense against his enemies;
and now it warded off death from the body of his son.
But Meges with his sharp spear struck the curved crown of Dolops’ helmet,
bronze-strengthened and crested with horsehair, on the very peak,
and tore the horsehair crest from it; the whole plume fell to the ground
in the dust, resplendent with freshly crimsoned dye.
But as Dolops stood his ground and battled with him, and still hoped for victory,
warlike Menelaos came as defender to Meges,540
sidling up unobserved, and took his stand with his spear and struck
Dolops in the shoulder from behind;
the spear-point sped eagerly through his chest,
straining forward; then he slumped and fell face down.
The two men went to strip the bronze-strengthened armor
from his shoulders; and Hector called out to all his kinsmen
loudly, but first rebuked the son of Hiketaon,
strong Melanippos; he at one time pastured his shambling cattle
in Percote, when the enemy men were far away;
but when the double-ended ships of the Danaans came,
he returned to Ilion, and distinguished himself among the Trojans,550
and made his home near Priam; and Priam honored him like his sons.
This man Hector rebuked and called out by name:
“In this way, Melanippos, shall we now hang back? Does your heart
have no care for the killing of your cousin?
Do you not see how diligent they are about the arms of Dolops?
Come, follow me; we can no longer avoid close combat
with the Argives—either we kill them, or top to bottom,
they take sheer Ilion and her people are killed.”
So speaking he led on, and the other followed with him, a man like a god.
And great Telamonian Ajax rallied the Argives:560
“O friends, be men, and let shame be in your heart;
fear shame before each other throughout the mighty combat;
when men fear shame, more are safe than slain,
but when men flee, neither glory nor any victory is seen.”
So he spoke, and the men themselves burned to defend themselves,
and took his words to heart, and secured their ships
with a fence of bronze; but Zeus stirred on the Trojans.
And Menelaos of the war cry urged Antilochos:
“Antilochos, no other of the Achaeans is younger than you,
nor swifter in feet, nor as brave in waging battle;570
if you were to jump forth you could strike one of the Trojan men.”
So speaking he hastened back again, but stirred the other;
and Antilochos leapt out from the frontline fighters and menaced with his shining spear,
looking close about him; the Trojans gave way before
him as he cast his spear. And not in vain did he throw the shaft,
but struck the son of Hiketaon, great-hearted Melanippos,
on the chest beside the nipple as he made his way to battle;
he fell with a thud, and darkness covered his eyes.
And Antilochos rushed toward him, like a dog that springs for
a wounded fawn that as it flies from its covert580
a hunter strikes with a cast of his spear, and undoes the strength of its limbs.
So toward you, Melanippos, steadfast Antilochos leapt
to strip your armor. But he did not escape the notice of shining Hector,
who came running through the fighting throng to face him.
And Antilochos, quick to fight though he was, did not await him,
but shrank in fear like a wild beast who has committed violence,
who having killed a dog or a herdsman among his cattle
takes flight, before a mob of men has been assembled;
so the son of Nestor fled in fear, and Hector and the Trojans
with unearthly din poured their doleful spears and arrows after him;590
then wheeling about, Antilochos took his stand when he reached the band of his companions.
And the Trojans like flesh-eating lions
surged toward the ships, fulfilling the plans of Zeus,
who roused in them always their great spirit, and bewitched the senses
of the Argives and deprived them of glory, but spurred the others on.
For Zeus’ heart desired to give glory to Hector
son of Priam, so that he would hurl upon the curved ships demonic
and unwearying fire, and bring to fulfillment the whole extravagant
prayer of Thetis. So all-devising Zeus awaited this—
to see with his own eyes the blaze of one ship burning;600
from that point he intended to effect in turn retreat
of the Trojans from the ships, and give glory to the Danaans.
With these things in mind he urged on Hector son of Priam
toward the hollow ships, eager as he already was.
And Hector raged like spear-wielding Ares, or as baneful fire
rages in the mountains, in the thickets of deep woods;
there was foam about his mouth, his eyes
glittered beneath his savage brows; the helmet around
his temples was shaken terribly as he
fought; for Zeus himself from out of the clear sky was ally to him,610
Zeus who honored him alone among so many men
and gave him glory; for Hector was to be
short-lived; already Pallas Athena was stirring against him
his fated day of death through the might of the son of Peleus.
And Hector sought to break apart the ranks of men, testing them,
there where he saw the fighting throng was greatest and armaments best;
yet he was not able, for all his great raging, to break them apart.
For the men stood firm against him, closely ranged together like a wall, like a massive
wild rock close to the gray salt sea,
which withstands the rushing passage of the shrieking winds620
and the swelling waves that spit and roar against the headland;
so the Danaans withstood the Trojans steadfastly nor did they flee.
But glittering in the firelight, Hector leapt everywhere into the fighting throng,
and fell on them, as when upon a fast ship there falls a furious wave
that reaches to clouds born of the winds, and the whole of the ship is
buried under foam, and the dreadful blast of wind
roars against the sail, and the sailors’ wits are shaken
in their terror; for only by a little are they carried out from under death;
so was the heart rent in the breast of each Achaean.
Then Hector came like a baleful lion upon cattle,630
which in the lowland of a great marsh-meadow graze
in their great number, the herdsman among them wholly unskilled
in battling a wild beast about the carcass of his twist-horned cow,
always he walks with the first cow, or with the last,
but the lion attacks the middle,
and devours his cow, and all the herd flees before him; so the Achaeans
fled in holy terror before Hector and father Zeus,
all of them; yet Hector only killed Periphetes of Mycenae,
the belov
ed son of Kopreus, who as messenger of lord Eurystheus
went often to strong Heracles.640
He was born a better son of a far lesser father
in respect to every kind of skill, both speed of feet and waging battle,
and for judgment he was in the first ranks of Mycenaeans.
He, then, now handed Hector triumphant glory;
for having turned his back he was caught on the rim of his shield,
which he carried extending to his feet, as a barrier for spears;
tangled on this he fell face up, and the helmet around his brows
clashed terribly around him as he fell.
And Hector took sharp notice, and running up stood close beside him,
and fixed his spear into his chest, and hard by Periphetes’ own comrades, killed650
him; and they were not able, for all their anguish for their comrade,
to be of help, for they themselves feared greatly shining Hector.
And the Achaeans got among the ships, and the ends
of those ships drawn inland first gave them protection; but the Trojans poured in.
Then back from the frontline ships the Argives fell
by force, and there beside the shelters stood their ground
together, and did not scatter through the camp; for shame held them
and fear; and they called to one another continuously.
Now again Gerenian Nestor, the Achaeans’ defense, more than all
beseeched each man, imploring him in the name of his parents:660
“O friends, be men, and in your heart put a sense of shame
before your fellow man, and remember too, each of you,
your children and wives and property and parents,
you whose parents are living and you whose parents have died.
And for the sake of those who are not here I implore you
to take a strong stand, and do not be turned to flight.”
So speaking he roused the courage and spirit of each man.
Then from their eyes Athena drove the clouded mist
of divine enchantment, and a great light came on them from either side,
from the ships and from the fighting that levels all,670
they made out Hector of the war cry and his companions,
both those standing back in the rear who did not fight,
and those battling by the swift ships.
And it no longer pleased Ajax’s great-hearted spirit
to stand there where the other sons of the Achaeans hung back,
but he ranged the ships’ raised decks with his long strides,
wielding in his hands a great polished sea-fighting pike,
jointed with bolts, twenty-two cubits long.
As when a man who is skilled in the riding of horses
has harnessed four horses together, chosen from many,680
and speeds out of the plain toward a great city, racing
along a public road, and many watch him in wonder,
men and women; and without hesitation and always sure-footed
he changes, leaping, from one to the other, and the horses fly along;
so Ajax ranged upon deck after deck of the swift ships
with his long strides; and his voice reached the clear sky of heaven,
and shouting always in a voice of terror he urged the Danaans
to defend the ships and the shelters. Nor did Hector
await in the noisy throng of close-armored Trojans,
but as a flame-bright eagle swoops upon a flock of winged birds690
as they feed beside a river,
geese or cranes or long-necked swans,
so Hector made directly for a dark-prowed ship
flying straight toward it; and from behind Zeus drove him
with his mighty hand, and drove his army with him.
Once more there was fierce fighting by the ships.
You would have thought the men tireless, unwearying
as they faced off in the battle; so vehemently they fought.
And this is how those fighting thought: the Achaeans
did not imagine they would escape from evil, but would be destroyed,700
and the heart in each Trojan’s breast hoped
to set the ships ablaze and kill the Achaean warriors.
And with these thoughts in mind they took their stand against each other;
Hector lay hold of the stern of a sea-going ship,
a splendid one, swift at sea, that bore Protesilaos
to Troy, but did not bring him back to his fatherland.
Around his ship Achaeans and Trojans
slew one another at close quarters; they did not now
await the rush of bowmen’s arrows at long range, nor the rush of spears,
but standing close, all of one mind,710
they fought with hatchets and axes
and great swords and two-edged spears.
Many swords, splendid ones, hilted and bound with black leather,
fell to the ground from the hands and shoulders
of the fighting men; and the dark earth flowed with blood.
And when Hector seized the stern, he did not relax his grip at all,
but holding the stern-post with his hands, he called to the Trojans:
“Bring fire, all of you together, raise the battle!
Now Zeus has given us one day worth all the others,
to seize the ships, the ships that coming here against the gods’ will720
has laid much suffering on us, through the cowardice of our elder counselors,
who kept me from fighting when I wished to
by the ships’ sterns, and checked our army.
But if at that time far-thundering Zeus caused our wits to fail,
now he himself urges and commands us.”
So he spoke, and his men attacked the Argives all the harder.
And Ajax no longer withstood their attack, for he was battered by spears and arrows,
yet he withdrew only a little, expecting to die,
onto the seven-foot thwart, and left the high deck of the balanced ship.
There he took his stand, on the lookout, and always with his spear730
he fended from the ships any Trojan who carried unwearying fire.
And shouting always in a fearsome voice he urged the Danaans:
“O friends, Danaan warriors, henchmen of Ares,
be men, my friends, and recollect your fierce courage.
Or do we think there are allies behind us,
or some wall better than this, which might ward off disaster from our men?
There is no nearby city fitted with ramparts,
harboring a people with strength in reserve, in which we could defend
ourselves,
but on the plain of the close-armored Trojans,
our backs against the sea, we sit a long way from our native land.740
Therefore salvation’s light is in our strength of hands, not in soft platitudes of war.”
He spoke, and in fury laid on with his sharp spear.
Any Trojan who moved to the hollow ships
with fire for burning, in obedience to Hector’s order,
Ajax would stab, at the ready with his long spear;
and twelve men he struck before the ships, at close quarters.
16.ILIÁDOS Π
So they fought around the well-benched ship;
but Patroclus was drawing close to Achilles, shepherd of his people,
streaming hot tears like a dark-water spring,
which down sheer rock streams somber water.
And seeing him swift-footed godlike Achilles pitied him,
and speaking out, he addressed him with winged words:
“Why are you tearful, Patroclus, like a foolish
girl, who runs after her mother demanding to be picked up,
grasping her dress, and holds her back as she hurries,
and looks
at her weeping, until she is picked up?10
Like her, Patroclus, you let your soft tear fall.
Have you something to proclaim to the Myrmidons or me,
some message from Phthia you alone have heard?
But they say Menoetius still lives, Aktor’s son,
and Peleus, son of Aeacus, is alive among the Myrmidons;
should both of those die we would surely be grieved—
or do you weep in pity for the Argives, because they perish
by the hollow ships on account of their arrogance?
Speak out, don’t hide it, so that we both know.”
Then groaning deeply you addressed him, rider Patroclus:20
“O Achilles, son of Peleus, far greatest of the Achaeans,
do not be angry; for such distress assails the Achaeans.
Now all who were before our best men
are lying in the ships wounded by arrows and cut by spears.
The son of Tydeus, powerful Diomedes, is wounded,
Odysseus has been struck by a spear, as has spear-famed Agamemnon;
and Eurypylos has been wounded in the thigh by an arrow;
the physicians with their many drugs attend them,
healing their wounds; but it is you cannot be treated, Achilles.
May it never take hold of me, this anger that you harbor.30
Cursed in valor! Yet how will other men born hereafter profit from you,
if you do not ward off shameful destruction from the Argives?
Pitiless one: your father was not the horseman Peleus,
nor Thetis your mother, but the gray sea bore you
and the wild cliffs, since your mind is unbending.
But if in your heart you shrink from some divine prophecy
and your lady mother has revealed something to you from Zeus,
send me forth at least without delay, and let the rest of the host of Myrmidons
follow with me, that I might be salvation’s light to the Danaans.
And give me your arms to wear upon my shoulders,40
with the hope that likening myself to you the Trojans will hold off
from fighting, and the warrior sons of the Achaeans draw breath
in their extremity; for respite in war is brief.
Fresh forces would easily push battle-weary men
to their city, from the ships and from our shelters.”
So he spoke beseeching, the great fool; for he was to
beseech his own evil death and destruction.
Then greatly troubled swift-footed Achilles answered him:
“O, Zeus-descended Patroclus, what a thing you have said!