by Homer
and Meges son of Phyleus and Thoas and Meriones and
Lykomedes son of Kreion and Melanippos;240
and they set out to go to the shelter of Agamemnon son of Atreus.
And as soon as the word was spoken, the deed was done;
seven tripods they carried from the shelter, which Agamemnon had pledged to Achilles,
and twenty gleaming cauldrons, and twelve horses;
then forthwith they led out seven women, skilled in flawless works of hand,
and the eighth was Briseïs of the lovely cheeks;
and Odysseus having weighed out fully ten talents of gold
led the way back, and the other young Achaean men carried other gifts along with him.
And these things they set in the midst of the assembly, while Agamemnon
rose to his feet; then Talthybios like a god in voice,250
restraining the boar with his hand, stood beside the shepherd of the people.
With his own hands the son of Atreus drew his knife,
which always hung beside the great scabbard of his sword,
and having cut the first bristles from the boar, raising his hands to Zeus,
he made his prayer; and all the Argives sat by themselves in silence
as was proper, listening to their king.
And in prayer, then, he spoke, looking to broad heaven:
“Let Zeus be witness first, the highest and greatest of the gods,
and the Earth and Sun and Furies, who from beneath the earth
bring low those men who swear false oath,260
that I did not bring my hand to bear upon the girl Briseïs,
not desiring her for the purpose of my bed, nor for any other,
but she remained untouched in my shelters.
And if any word of this is falsely sworn, may the gods give me afflictions
in number, such as they bestow when a man who has sworn an oath transgresses them.”
He spoke, and with pitiless bronze cut through the boar’s throat.
Its body Talthybios, whirling round, then cast into the great gulf
of the gray salt sea, food for the fish; but Achilles
rising to his feet addressed the battle-loving Argives:
“Father Zeus, surely you afflict men with great delusions.270
Otherwise the son of Atreus would never have made the heart within
my breast storm through and through, nor would he stubbornly
have led the girl away against my will. But Zeus it would seem
wished death to come to the Achaeans in great number.
Now go to your dinner, so that we may join the god of battle.”
Then so speaking, he broke up the quickly-called assembly.
The men dispersed each to his own ship,
and the great-hearted Myrmidons attended to the gifts,
and set out bearing them to the ships of swift Achilles.
And these they placed within his shelters, and bade the women sit,280
and his noble henchmen drove the horses to his herd.
Then Briseïs, like to golden Aphrodite,
when she saw Patroclus cut asunder by sharp bronze,
wrapped herself about him and cried shrill, and with her hands tore at
her breasts and soft cheeks and lovely face.
Then weeping she spoke, a woman like the immortal goddesses:
“Patroclus, you who most rejoiced my wretched heart,
I left you alive when I went from the shelter,
but now, coming back, I find you dead,
leader of men; how for me evil follows evil.290
The man to whom my father and lady mother gave me in marriage
saw cut asunder by sharp bronze before my city;
my three cherished brothers, whom my same mother bore,
all were driven to destruction in a day.
But never, when swift Achilles slew my husband,
and sacked the city of godlike Mynes,
never did you let me weep, but used to say
that you would make me godlike Achilles’ wedded wife and take me on the ships
to Phthia, and give a marriage feast among the Myrmidons.
Therefore I have no fill of mourning your death, who were kind to me always.”300
So she spoke, crying, and the women in response mourned
for the sake of Patroclus, but each mourned for her own cares.
And the Achaean elders gathered around Achilles,
begging him to take his meal; but he refused, groaning:
“I beg you, if any of my own companions will yield to my persuasion,
do not bid me sate my heart with food or drink,
when dire grief has come upon me—
for I will remain as I am until the setting of the sun and hold out all the same.”
So speaking Achilles dismissed the other kings,
but the two sons of Atreus remained, and brilliant Odysseus,310
and Nestor and Idomeneus and the old horseman Phoinix,
trying repeatedly to comfort him as he grieved; but in his heart
no comfort would he take at all, until he entered in the bloody maw of war.
And summoning his memories, Achilles deeply sighed and spoke:
“Once it was that you yourself, evil-fated always, dearest of companions,
set out a pleasing meal for me in my shelter
readily and deftly, when the Achaeans raced
to carry war and all its tears to the horse-breaking Trojans;
but now you lie cut asunder, and my heart
takes no part of food and drink, although this is in my shelter,320
but yearns for you. For I could not suffer anything else more evil,
not if I should learn of the dying of my father,
who no doubt in Phthia now lets fall a soft tear
bereft of such a son; while I the son in a foreign land
am waging war with Trojans for the sake of Helen, at whom I shudder;
not if I should learn of the death of my beloved son, raised at my behest on Scyros—
if by chance he still lives—Neoptolemos the godlike in beauty.
Before this the heart within me had hoped
that I alone would die far from the horse-grazed pastures of Argos,
here at Troy, but that you would return to Phthia,330
and that in your swift black ship you might fetch my son
away from Scyros and show him each and every thing I have,
my property, my slaves, and high-roofed great house.
I think Peleus is either already dead and altogether gone,
or perhaps still barely alive he is worn down by grief
in hateful old age, dreading always
The baneful report of me, when he learns that I have died.”
So he spoke weeping, and the old men in response mourned
as they remembered, each thinking of the things left in his own halls.
And the son of Cronus as he saw them weeping pitied them,340
and forthwith addressed Athena in winged words:
“My child, you have wholly forsaken your man.
Or is Achilles no longer any more your heart’s concern?
For he sits before his straight-horned ships
mourning his beloved companion; the others
have departed for their dinner, but he is fasting, without food.
Come, go and drop nectar and delectable ambrosia
into his breast, so that hunger may not come upon him.”
So speaking he urged Athena, who had been eager even before;
she like some long-winged shrill-voiced bird of prey350
leapt out and down from heaven through the high clear air. The Achaeans
were then swiftly getting under arms throughout the camp; and the goddess
dropped into Achilles’ breast nectar and delectable ambrosia,
so that hunger’s distress should not weaken his knees
;
then she departed to the close-built house of her mighty father.
And from the swift ships the men poured forth;
as when thick-falling snow flies forth from Zeus above,
ice-cold beneath the blast of Boreas, the North Wind born of the high clear sky,
so then the close-pressed helmets gleaming bright
were borne forth from the ships, and the bossed shields,360
strong-made breastplates and ash-wood spears.
And their gleam reached the heavens, and all the earth rang with laughter round them
at the lightning flash of bronze; thunder rose beneath the feet
of men, and in their midst godlike Achilles began to arm.
With a gnashing of his teeth, his eyes
shining like fire flare, and sorrow beyond endurance
in his heart, raging at the Trojans,
he put on the gifts of the god, all that Hephaestus had toiled to make for him.
First he strapped the splendid greaves around his shins,
fitted with silver bindings around his ankles;370
next he girt about his chest a breastplate,
and across his shoulders he slung his bronze sword
studded with silver; and then he took his great strong shield,
whose light shone afar, like the moon.
As when to sailors at sea there appears the light
of a watchfire burning, which blazes high on the mountains
in a lonely farmstead, as storm winds carry them unwilling
across the fish-filled sea far from their friends,
so the flare from Achilles’ shield, beautiful and intricately wrought,
reached the high clear air. And lifting his heavy four-ridged helmet380
he placed it about his head; and it shone far like a star,
the helmet crested with horsehair, the gold-maned plume flowing about it,
which Hephaestus had set thickly about its ridge.
And godlike Achilles made trial of himself in his armor,
to see if it fitted him and if his splendid limbs ran freely;
and for him it was as if they were wings that lifted the shepherd of the people.
Then from its stand he drew his father’s spear,
heavy, massive, powerful; this no other of the Achaeans could
wield, but only Achilles knew how to wield it,
the spear of Pelian ash, which Chiron gave to his beloved father390
from the heights of Mount Pelion to be death to warriors.
Then Automedon and Alkimos put the horses they were tending
into harness; and placed the fine breaststraps about them, and set the bits
in their mouths, and drew the reins back tight
toward the bolted chariot; and taking the shining whip
firmly in his hand, Automedon sprang up onto the chariot;
and behind him, under arms, mounted Achilles,
radiant in his armor like Hyperion the sun,
and in a voice of terror he commanded the horses of his father:
“Xanthos and Balios, far-famed foals of the mare Podarge,400
consider some other way to bring your charioteer safely
back to the host of Danaans, when we have had enough of fighting,
nor leave him dead as you left Patroclus.”
Then from beneath the yoke answered him his horse of flashing feet,
Xanthos; abruptly he bowed his head, and all his mane,
streaming out from under the yoke-pad by the yoke, touched the ground;
for Hera the goddess of the white arms gave him voice:
“We shall surely save you for now, mighty Achilles;
but your day of destruction is near; it is not we who are to blame,
but a mighty god and powerful Fate.410
For it was not by our slowness or slackness
that the Trojans took the armor from the shoulders of Patroclus,
but the best of gods, he whom lovely-haired Leto bore,
killed him among the front fighters and gave glory to Hector.
We two could run apace with even the West Wind’s blowing,
which they say is swiftest; but for you Achilles
it is fated to be slain by the might of god and man.”
Then the Furies stopped his voice when he had so spoken.
And greatly troubled swift-footed Achilles answered him:
“Xanthos, why do you prophesize my death? You have no need.420
I myself well know this, that it is my fate to die here,
far from my beloved father and my mother; but even so
I shall take no rest before I drive the Trojans to their fill of war.”
He spoke, and giving shout held his single-hoofed horses into the frontlines.
20.ILIÁDOS Y
So beside the curved ships the Achaeans,
insatiate of battle, armed around you, son of Peleus,
and the Trojans in turn armed on the other side, by the rising of the plain.
And Zeus from the peak of many-folded Olympus ordered Themis
to summon the gods to assembly; ranging everywhere she
ordered them to return to the house of Zeus.
None of the rivers were absent, except for Ocean,
nor any of the nymphs, who dwell in the lovely groves
and river springs and grassy water-meadows;
but coming to the house of Zeus who gathers the clouds10
they took their seats in the polished colonnades that Hephaestus
had made with knowing craft for Zeus the father.
So they were gathered within the house of Zeus; nor was the Earth-Shaker
heedless of the goddess, but out of the salt sea he came with the others,
and took his seat in their midst, and asked of Zeus’ plan:
“Why now, lord of the bright thunderbolt, have you summoned the gods to assembly?
Are you are concerned for the Trojans and Achaeans?
For now the war and fighting are set to blaze between them.”
Then answering him spoke Zeus who gathers the clouds:
“Earth-Shaker, you know what is in my mind,20
the reasons for which I have gathered you; I am concerned about them, dying as they are.
For my part, I will remain seated on a fold of Olympus,
where I will pleasure my heart in watching; but the rest of you
go, until you come among the Trojans and Achaeans,
and give your aid to either side, whichever each of you desires.
For if Achilles goes to battle on his own against the Trojans,
not even for a little will they hold off Peleus’ swift-footed son.
Even before—even seeing him—they used to tremble;
and now, when he rages in his heart for his comrade,
I fear even against fate he will storm their rampart.”30
So spoke the son of Cronus, and stirred up inescapable war.
And the gods set out to go to war, their hearts divided;
to the assembled ships went Hera and Pallas Athena
and Poseidon who holds the earth, and the swift runner
Hermes, who excels in shrewd thought,
and Hephaestus went with them, exulting in his strength,
limping, yet his shrunken legs moved nimbly beneath him.
And to the Trojans went Ares of the shimmering helm, and with him
Phoebus with his unshorn hair and Artemis who showers arrows,
and Leto and the river Xanthos and laughter-loving Aphrodite.40
And as long as the gods kept their distance from the mortal men,
so long did the Achaeans triumph, for Achilles
had appeared, he who for a long time had abandoned the painful battle,
and dreadful trembling seized the limbs of the Trojans, every man,
in terror, when they saw the swift-footed son of Peleus
shining in his armor, the
equal of man-destroying Ares;
but when the Olympians came among the host of men,
then rose powerful Strife who drives the army into battle, and Athena shouted out,
coming up now to the trench dug outside the wall,
and now again giving her great cry by the far-thundering shore;50
and from the other side shouted Ares, like a black storm-cloud,
calling aloud his sharp commands to the Trojans from their city heights,
then again running to Pleasant Hill beside the river Simoeis.
So the blessed gods, goading both sides on,
clashed together, and let grave strife break loose among them.
The father of men and gods thundered terribly
from on high; and from below Poseidon shook
the boundless earth and sheer peaks of the mountains;
all the foothills of Ida and its many springs were shaken,
and its peaks, as too the city of the Trojans and ships of the Achaeans; 60
Hades below lord of the dead beneath the earth, in terror
leapt wailing from his throne in fear that
Poseidon, shaker of the earth, would split the earth above him,
and reveal his house to mortal men and the immortal gods
in all its moldering horror, which even the gods abhor.
Such was the thunderous crash arising as the gods converged in strife.
And against lord Poseidon
Phoebus Apollo took his stand, holding his feathered arrows,
and against the war god stood the gleaming-eyed goddess Athena;
against Hera stood the goddess of the golden arrow and din of hunt, 70
Artemis who showers arrows, sister of the Far-Shooter;
and against Leto stood strong Hermes the swift runner,
and against Hephaestus the mighty, deep-swirling river
that the gods call Xanthos, but men Scamander.
So god was advancing against god; but Achilles
hungered above all else to enter the fray face-to-face with Hector
son of Priam; for beyond all others his heart drove him
to glut Ares, the shield-bearing warrior, with his blood.
But Aeneas it was whom Apollo, driver of armies, sent straight
against the son of Peleus, and inspired mighty power in him80
and he likened his voice to that of Priam’s son Lykaon;
and in this likeness, Apollo son of Zeus addressed him:
“Aeneas, adviser of Trojans, where are your boasts,
those threats you used to make as you drank wine with Trojan kings,
that you would go to battle, man-to-man, with Peleus’ son Achilles?”