The Iliad (Trans. Caroline Alexander)

by Homer

  got to him first, before he stabbed, nor did he miss,

  striking his shoulder hard; and the head of the spear rent

  the top of the arm from its muscles, and shattered utterly the bone;

  he fell with a thud, and darkness covered over his eyes.

  So the two men broken by two brothers

  entered Erebus, noble companions of Sarpedon—

  the spear-skilled sons of Amisodaros, who

  reared the raging Chimaera to be a bane to many men.

  And Ajax son of Oïleus, lunging forward, took Kleoboulos330

  alive, tripped up in the rout; and on the spot

  unstrung his strength, striking his neck with his hilted sword,

  and all the sword was made hot with blood; and over his eyes

  crimson death and powerful fate took him.

  And Peneleos and Lykon charged together; for with spear-casts

  they had missed each other, and both had made their cast in vain;

  and so they charged at each other again with swords. Then Lykon

  smote the ridge of the other’s horsehair-crested helmet; but his splendid

  sword shattered about it; and Peneleos slashed the other’s neck below the ears,

  his whole sword plunged in, and only his skin held,340

  and his head dangled to the side; and his limbs were made slack.

  Then Meriones catching Akamas with the swiftness of his feet

  stabbed him down through his right shoulder as he was about to mount behind his horses;

  he fell from his chariot, and down upon his eyes spread the mist of death.

  And Idomeneus stabbed Erymas in his mouth with the pitiless bronze;

  the bronze spearhead made its way right on through

  below the brain, then shivered the white bones,

  and his teeth were shaken out; both his eyes

  filled with blood, so through his mouth and down through his nose

  he spouted blood as he gaped for breath, and the black cloud of death folded round him.350

  So these Danaan leaders were killing each their man.

  As ravaging wolves beset lambs or kids,

  seizing them out from under the flocks that in the mountains

  have been separated through the folly of their shepherd,

  and swiftly the wolves with bold heart snatch them as prey,

  so the Danaans beset the Trojans; and they recalled only

  shameful flight, and forget their fighting courage.

  And great Ajax aimed always to hurl his spear at Hector

  of the brazen helm; but with his skill in warfare Hector,

  his broad shoulders protected with his bullhide shield,360

  kept watch for the hiss of arrows and thud of spears.

  Well he marked the turn of victory’s tide,

  but even so he stood his ground, standing by his loyal companions.

  As when from Olympus a thundercloud rises into heaven

  from out of the bright upper air, when Zeus pulls tight the violent winds,

  so out from the ships arose a storm of shouting and confusion,

  and the Trojans in disorder crossed the ditch again. Swift-footed horses

  carried Hector off, armor and all, and he left behind the Trojan

  host, whom the deep ditch checked against their will;

  and many swift chariot-drawing horses, snapping their yoke-poles370

  in the ditch, left their masters’ chariots behind.

  And Patroclus followed calling to the Danaans,

  his mind set on evil for the Trojans; they in shouting and confusion of flight

  filled all the byways, for their ranks were cut to pieces. The swirl of dust

  billowed to the clouds, and the single-hoofed horses ran at full stretch

  back to the city from the ships and shelters.

  And Patroclus—where he saw the Trojan host most struck with panic,

  there he drove, shouting his commands; men pitched headlong

  from their chariots beneath his axles, the chariots crashed and rattled;

  then straight over the ditch his swift horses leapt,380

  straining forward; and his heart pressed him to speed against Hector,382

  for he longed to strike him; but Hector’s swift horses carried him away.

  As beneath a tempest the whole black-clouded earth is made heavy

  on an autumn’s day, when Zeus pours his most violent deluge,

  when he rages in his anger at mankind,

  who in the place of assembly impose by force their crooked judgments,

  and drive out Justice, heedless of the gaze of gods,

  and all their running rivers are filled to flooding,

  then the torrents cut away the many hillsides,390

  and the running water thunders loud into the dark, tumultuous sea

  headlong from the mountains, and the worked fields of men are washed away,

  so the Trojan horses thundered loud as they raced on.

  And Patroclus, when he had cut off the front ranks of the Trojans,

  turning back, he penned them against the ships, nor

  for all their desire did he allow them to set foot within their city, but between

  the ships and the river and their city’s high walls

  he rushed among and killed them, and exacted vengeance for many.

  First he struck Pronoös with his shining spear

  in the chest where he was exposed beside his shield, and unstrung his limbs;400

  and he fell with a thud. Then Thestor, son of Enops,

  he next attacked—Thestor in his well-polished chariot

  sat crouching, struck out of his wits, the reins slipped

  from his hands, and Patroclus approaching with his spear struck

  his right jaw, and drove the spear through his teeth.

  And catching him by the spear he dragged him over the chariot rail, as when a man

  sitting on a jutting rock hauls a lively fish

  out from the sea with his line and hook of bright bronze;

  so he hauled Thestor out of his chariot gaping on his shining spear,

  then shoved him down upon his face; and his spirit left him as he was falling.410

  Then with a stone he struck Erylaos as he was rushing for him

  down through the middle of his head; and the whole of his head within its strong helmet

  was cleaved in two; and he dropped face forward

  on the ground, and death which shatters the spirit seeped around him.

  Then Erymas and Amphoteros and Epaltes

  and Tlepolemos, Damastor’s son, and Echios and Pyris

  and Ipheus and Euippos and Polymelos son of Argeas—

  all of them, one after the other, he brought low to the nourishing earth.

  And when Sarpedon saw his loose-robed Lycian comrades

  broken at the hands of Patroclus, son of Menoetius,420

  he called out, addressing the godlike Lycians:

  “For shame, O Lycians! Whither do you flee? Now be swift to fight.

  For I will go forth to meet this man, so that I may learn

  who this is who holds sway over us and has worked so much evil

  on the Trojans, since the knees of many men, brave men, he has unstrung.”

  He spoke and leapt from his chariot in his armor to the ground;

  and from the other side Patroclus leapt from his chariot, when he saw him.

  And they, as great birds of prey, hook-clawed, bent-beaked,

  screaming loud on a high rock go to battle,

  so these, screaming, charged at one another.430

  And seeing them the son of devious Cronus pitied them,

  and he spoke to Hera, his sister and his wife:

  “Alas for me, that Sarpedon, dearest of men to me,

  is destined to be broken by the hand of Patroclus son of Menoetius.

  My heart is inclined two ways in my breast as I debate this
,

  whether snatching him alive from tearful battle

  I should set him down in the rich country of Lycia,

  or now beat him down at the hands of Menoetius’ son.”

  Then answered him ox-eyed lady Hera:

  “Most dread son of Cronus, what kind of word have you spoken?440

  This mortal man, long ago consigned to his allotted fate—

  you wish to release him from the hard-sorrow death?

  Do so; but not all the other gods will approve.

  And something else I will tell you, and you put it away in your mind—

  if you should send Sarpedon to his home alive,

  take care, lest some other of the gods should also wish

  to send his beloved son away from the ferocious combat.

  For around the great city of Priam there are fighting many

  sons of the immortals; you will arouse a terrible rancor in them.

  But if he is dear to you, and your heart feels pity,450

  then let him in this ferocious combat

  be killed at the hands of Menoetius’ son Patroclus,

  but when his soul and his life force have left him,

  send Death and gentle Sleep to carry him

  until they come to the country of broad Lycia,

  where his brothers and his kinsmen will bury him

  with a tomb and marking stone, for this is the honor of the dead.”

  So she spoke; and the father of gods and of men did not disobey.

  But to the earth he rained drops of blood

  honoring his beloved son, whom Patroclus was to460

  destroy in Troy’s rich soil, far from the land of his father.

  And when they had advanced almost upon each other,

  then Patroclus struck illustrious Thrasydemos,

  who was the good henchmen of his lord Sarpedon,

  in the lower belly, and unstrung his limbs.

  And Sarpedon attacking second missed Patroclus

  with his shining spear, but struck the horse Pedasos

  on the right shoulder with the spear; and he crashed down, gasping out his life,

  and collapsed in the dust screaming, and his life-spirit flew away.

  And the paired horses wheeled apart, the yoke groaned, their reins470

  were tangled, since their trace horse lay in the dust.

  But spear-famed Automedon found an end to this;

  drawing his fine-edged sword from beside his sturdy thigh,

  darting forward with swift skill, he cut away the trace;

  and the two horses righted themselves, and were pulled on course by the reins.

  And again the two men came together in heart-devouring strife.

  And again Sarpedon missed with his shining spear,

  and over Patroclus’ left shoulder the spear-point

  passed, nor struck him. But then Patroclus attacked with his bronze-headed spear;

  and from his hand the shaft did not fly in vain,480

  but struck, there where the lungs close in around the beating heart;

  Sarpedon fell as when an oak falls, or white poplar,

  or stately pine that in the mountains timbering men

  fell with fresh-whetted axes to make a ship;

  so he lay stretched out before his chariot and horses,

  roaring, clutching at the bloodied dust.

  As when a lion coming among a herd slaughters a fiery, great-hearted

  bull among the shambling cattle,

  and it dies groaning under the lions’ jaws,

  so at the hands of Patroclus did the leader of the shield-bearing Lycians490

  rage as he lay dying, and called by name his beloved comrade:

  “Glaukos old friend, warrior among men, now you must

  be a spearman and brave warrior;

  if you are quick, let bitter war be your desire.

  Before all else, range everywhere to rouse the Lycian leaders

  to go to battle round Sarpedon;

  and then you yourself fight for me with your bronze spear.

  For I will be a disgrace and a rebuke for you

  all your days through if the Achaeans

  strip the armor from me, fallen among the gathering of their ships.500

  Hold on strongly, and rally all the people.”

  Then as he was so speaking, the end that is death covered

  his nose and eyes. Patroclus stepping with his heel upon his chest

  yanked his spear from the flesh, and the lungs followed with it;

  so he drew forth the man’s soul and his spear-point together.

  And the Myrmidons kept hold of Sarpedon’s panting horses,

  as they strained for flight, free of their masters’ chariot.

  But a dreadful grief descended on Glaukos as he heard Sarpedon’s voice,

  and his heart was stirred, because he was not able to defend him.

  Taking his own arm with his hand he pressed it; for his wound bore hard510

  upon him where Teucer, warding off harm from his companions,

  had struck him with his arrow as he rushed the high rampart.

  And praying, Glaukos addressed Apollo who shoots from afar:

  “Hear me, lord, you who are somewhere in the rich land of Lycia,

  or in Troy; for you are able, wherever you are, to hear

  a man in distress, as distress comes to me now.

  For I have this mighty wound, and my arm

  is pierced around with sharp pain, nor can I staunch the blood,

  and my shoulder is heavy beneath it;

  I cannot hold my spear steady, nor can I join in battle520

  going among my enemies. And the best of men has perished,

  Sarpedon, son of Zeus—who did not defend his own son.

  But you, lord, heal this powerful wound for me,

  calm the pains, and give me strength, so that

  summoning my Lycian companions I stir them to do battle,

  and myself fight about the body of the man who has died.”

  So he spoke praying, and Phoebus Apollo heard him;

  at once he stopped the pains, and from the grievous wound

  he staunched the dark blood, and cast strength in his spirit.

  And Glaukos knew this within his heart and he rejoiced,530

  because the great god had heard his praying at once.

  First, ranging everywhere he roused the Lycian leaders

  to go to battle round Sarpedon;

  and then with long strides he went among the Trojans,

  to Poulydamas the son of Panthoös, and shining Agenor,

  then to Aeneas and to Hector of the brazen helm.

  And standing close to him he spoke winged words:

  “Hector, now do you take no thought at all of your allies,

  who for your sake, far from their friends and fatherland,

  waste away their lives, but you are unwilling to fight for them.540

  Sarpedon lies dead, lord of the spear-bearing Lycians,

  who protected broad Lycia with his just judgment and strength;

  brazen Ares has broken him with his spear at the hands of Patroclus.

  Come friends, take your stand by him, feel shame in your heart

  lest they strip his armor away, and maltreat his body,

  they the Myrmidons, in anger that so many Danaans have died,

  those whom we killed by their swift ships with our spears.”

  So he spoke, and there swept the Trojans, head to foot, a wave of grief,

  uncontainable, unrelenting, since Sarpedon had been a support of their city,

  outlander though he was; for with him many550

  troops had followed, and he had been preeminent in waging battle.

  And in pressing haste they made straight for the Danaans; and leading them

  was Hector, angered for Sarpedon. But the Achaeans

  were rallied by Patroclus, the rugged-hearted son of Menoetius;

&nb
sp; and he first addressed the two Aiantes, both already burning to do battle:

  “Aiantes, now let it be your desire to fight

  as such as you were among men before, or yet better.

  The man lies dead who first leapt upon the Achaean’s rampants,

  Sarpedon. Come, let us see if we can mutilate and shame him and seize

  the armor from his shoulders to bear away; and any one of his companions560

  who defends the body, let us beat him down with our pitiless bronze.”

  So he spoke, but they already burned to fight them off.

  And when the men on both sides had strengthened their ranks,

  Trojans and Lycians and Myrmidons and Achaeans

  met to fight about the body of the man who died,

  shouting fearfully; and the arms of the men rang loud.

  And Zeus spread a deadly darkness on the ferocious combat,

  so that over his beloved son there would be deadly toil of fighting.

  The Trojans first pushed back the dark-eyed Achaeans;

  then not the worst among the Myrmidons was struck—570

  shining Epeigeus, the son of great-hearted Agakles,

  who ruled in well-settled Boudeion

  in time before; but after slaying his noble cousin

  he had come as suppliant to Peleus and Thetis of the silver feet;

  and they sent him to accompany Achilles, breaker of men,

  to Ilion of the horses, to wage battle with the Trojans.

  This man shining Hector struck, as he took hold of Sarpedon’s body,

  on the head with a boulder; and the whole of his head within its strong helmet

  was cleaved in two; and he dropped face forward

  upon the corpse, and death which shatters the spirit seeped around him.580

  And grief descended on Patroclus for his dead companion,

  and he made straight through the frontlines like a swift hawk,

  who sets to scattered flight the daws and starlings;

  so rider Patroclus, straight for the Lycians

  you rushed, and for the Trojans, your heart enraged over your companion.

  And he struck Sthenelaos, the dear son of Ithaimenes,

  on his neck with a boulder, and smashed the tendons from it.

  Then the frontline fighters and shining Hector fell back;

  as far as a cast is made of a long hunting javelin,

  which a man hurls forth making trial of his strength, either in contest590

  or also in war when his life-shattering enemies press close,

  so far did the Trojans give way, and the Achaeans push them.

  Then Glaukos, leader of the shield-bearing Lycians, was first