by Homer
but I am going right through their line; nor do I think that any Trojan man
will be happy, who should approach my spear.”
So he spoke urging them on; and to the Trojans shining Hector
shouted orders, for he was minded to go against Achilles:
“Trojans, high-hearted warriors, do not fear the son of Peleus.
With words I too might go to battle even with the gods;
but with a spear this is more difficult, since they are far stronger.
Nor does Achilles give fulfillment to all his words,
but one thing he accomplishes, another even he cuts short half done.370
So I am going against him, though his hands are like fire—
though his hands are like fire and his strength like flashing iron!”
So he spoke urging them on, and the Trojans, facing him, raised
their spears; and their fury massed together, and their cry of battle rose.
But just then Phoebus Apollo came up and spoke to Hector:
“Hector, do not think to battle with Achilles out in front of other men,
but wait among the crowd and away from the tumult of battle,
lest he strike you with a spear-cast, or stab you at close quarters with his sword.”
So he spoke; and Hector at once plunged into the throng of men,
shaken, when he heard the voice of the god speaking.380
But Achilles, his heart clad in valor, sprang for the Trojans,
shouting his terifying cry. And first he killed Iphition,
the brave son of Otrynteus, leader of many men,
whom a nymph of the river bore to Otrynteus, sacker of cities,
below snowy Mount Tmolos, in the rich land of Hyde;
this man godlike Achilles smote with his spear across the middle of the head
as he charged straight at him; and the whole of the head was split in two,
and he fell with a thud. And over him godlike Achilles vaunted:
“Lie dead, son of Otrynteus, most terrifying of all men.
Your death is here, but your people are by Lake390
Gygaia, where the land of your fathers is,
by the fish-breeding river Hyllos and the eddies of Hermos.”
So he spoke vaunting, and darkness closed the other’s eyes.
And the Achaean chariots cut him to pieces with their wheels
at the front of the fighting; and after him it was noble Demoleon,
who stems the tide of battle, a son of Antenor,
whom Achilles struck about the temple through the brazen cheek piece of his helmet;
nor did the bronze helmet withstand the blow, but right through it
the spear-point, straining forward, crushed bone, and the brains
were all spattered within it; so Achilles destroyed the man for all his fury.400
Then Hippodamas, as he leapt from his chariot,
fleeing before him, Achilles stabbed with his spear in the back;
the man gasped out his life bellowing, like a bull
bellows as it is dragged about lord Poseidon’s shrine at Helike,
when the young men drag it, and the Earth-Shaker rejoices in them;
and so his brave spirit left his bones as he was bellowing.
Then with his spear Achilles went after godlike Polydoros
son of Priam; always his father forbade him to go to battle,
because among his sons he was the youngest of his offspring
and was dearest to him; in speed of feet he excelled all men;410
but this time, in his youthful folly, displaying his outstanding speed,
he raced on through the front ranks until he lost his life.
Swift-footed godlike Achilles struck him with his spear
midway in the back as he rushed past, there where the golden buckles
of his belt came together and the two halves of the breastplate met.
Straight on beside his navel the spear-point passed;
he dropped to his knees screaming, the dark mist embraced him,
and in his hands he held his bowels before him, as he sank.
And Hector when he saw his brother Polydoros
holding his bowels in his own hands, sinking toward the earth,420
then mist seeped down upon his eyes; he could no longer bear
to range about at a distance, but balancing his spear
he came at Achilles, like a flame of fire. And Achilles
sprang up when he saw him, and spoke a word in triumph:
“Here is the man, who above all others has touched my heart to the quick,
who slew my cherished companion; we will no longer
cower from each other between the lines of battle.”
He spoke, and looking from beneath his brows addressed glorious Hector:
“Come nearer, so that you may come the quicker to death’s border.”
Then not at all afraid, Hector of the shimmering helm answered him:430
“Son of Peleus, do not hope to frighten me with words
as if I were a child, since I myself well know too
how to speak both taunts and words of slander.
I know you are brave, and I am weaker than you.
But these things lie in the laps of the gods,
and it may be that weaker though I am, I shall take your life
as I cast with my spear, since even my spear has been sharp in time before.”
He spoke, and balancing his spear he hurled it forth; but Athena
with her breath turned it back from illustrious Achilles,
blowing very gently, and the spear came back again to glorious Hector,440
and fell before his feet. Then Achilles
with blazing speed sprang forward, raging to kill,
shouting his terrifying cry; but Apollo snatched Hector away
lightly, god that he was, enfolded in dense mist.
Three times swift-footed godlike Achilles charged
with his bronze spear, and three times he struck at deep mist.446
And with a terrible shout he flung at Hector winged words:448
“You escaped death once again now, dog; yet very close it was the evil
came to you; now once more Phoebus Apollo saved you,450
to whom no doubt you make prayer when you approach the thud of spears.
Meeting again, I will surely finish you,
if one of the gods should be my ally too.
Now I will go after the other Trojans, whomever I catch.”
So speaking he stabbed Dryops in the middle of the neck with his spear,
and he dropped before his feet. And Achilles left him,
and it was Demouchos son of Philetor, a good man and great,
he next checked with a spear strike to the knee. Then stabbing him
with his great sword he stripped his life away.
Next he charged at Laogonos and Dardanos, both sons of Bias,460
thrusting both from their chariot to the ground,
striking one with his spear, and stabbing the other at close quarters with his sword.
But Tros the son of Alastor—he made straight for Achilles’ knees,
in the hope that Achilles might somehow spare him, taking him alive to let him go,
and not kill him, pitying him as a youth of his own age—
fool, he did not see that Achilles had no mind to be persuaded;
for this was not some sweet-tempered or some gentle man,
but a man of urgent fury. Yet Tros grasped his knees with his hands
straining to make entreaty, and Achilles with his sword stabbed him beneath by the liver;
his liver slipped out from the wound, and its black blood470
filled his lap; darkness covered him over his eyes,
his life gone. And Achilles coming up to Moulios stabbed
him with his spear beside his ear; right through the other ear drove
the bronze spear-point. And
next he smote Echeklos the son of Agenor
in the middle of his head with his hilted sword,
and all the sword was made hot with blood; and over his eyes
crimson death and powerful fate took him.
Then Deukalion—there where the tendons of the elbow
join, there Achilles pierced him through his arm
with his bronze-pointed spear. And his arm hanging heavy, he awaited Achilles,480
beholding death before his face; and Achilles striking his neck with his sword,
sent the head and helmet flying far away; the marrow,
throbbed forth from his spine, and Deukalion lay stretched along the earth.
And Achilles set out after Peires’ blameless son
Rhigmos, who had come from the rich soil of Thrace;
this man Achilles struck in the abdomen with his spear, and the bronze point fixed in his belly,
and he fell from his chariot. Then with his sharp spear he struck Areïthoös, his henchman,
in the back as he was turning the horses around,
and shoved him from the chariot; and the horses fled in panic.
And as demonic fire rages through deep valleys490
of a sun-parched mountain, and the dense forest is consumed,
and everywhere the careening wind rolls the flames along,
so Achilles swept everywhere with his spear like something more than human,
driving before him those whom he killed; and the earth ran black with blood.
As when a man puts a yoke to his broad-browed bull oxen team
to crush white barley on a well-laid threshing-floor,
and it is quickly husked beneath the loud-bellowing oxen’s feet,
so under the hands of great-hearted Achilles his single-hoofed horses
trampled alike the dead and their shields; and the axle beneath
was spattered all with blood, and the rails which ran around the chariot,500
struck by droplets from the hooves of the horses
and rims of the wheels; and he strained to seize glory,
he the son of Peleus, his invincible hands spattered with gore.
21.ILIÁDOS φ
And when they reached the crossing of the fair-flowing stream
of whirling Xanthos, born of immortal Zeus,
there Achilles split the Trojans, chasing half from the plain
toward their city, to where the Achaeans had fled bewildered with fear
the day before, while shining Hector raged;
there the Trojans streamed in rout, but Hera
began to spread dense mist ahead to check them; and the other half
were crammed into the deep-flowing, silver-eddied river.
In they fell, with a great crashing splash, and the headlong flowing waters roared,
and the banks echoed loud all round; crying in distress, men10
were trying to swim, spun here and there through the eddies.
As when from under rushing fire locusts take to the air,
fleeing toward a river, and the weariless fire blazes,
stirred of a sudden, and the locusts shrink into the water,
so before Achilles the flowing water of deep-eddying Xanthos
was filled with the mingled roar of men and horses.
Then god-born Achilles left his spear there on the bank
propped against the tamarisks, and leapt in like something more than human,
gripping his sword, intent in his heart on dark deeds;
he struck, turning this side and that; abject groaning rose from those20
stricken by his sword, and the water was made red with blood.
As before a great-mawed dolphin other fish
seeking safety fill the inmost coves of a well-sheltered harbor
in their fear—for greedily it will devour whatever it catches—
so the Trojans all along the running waters of the terrible river
cowered under its steep banks; and Achilles, when he had wearied his hands with slaughtering,
picked out twelve youths alive from the river,
blood payment for the dying of Menoetius’ son Patroclus;
these he led out of the river dazed with fear like fawns,
and bound their hands behind them with straps of well-cut leather,30
which they wore around their own strong-woven tunics,
and gave them to his companions to lead away to the hollow ships;
then he charged back, raging still to cut more men to pieces.
And there he encountered a son of Dardanian Priam
fleeing from the river, Lykaon, whom Achilles himself once
captured and took by force from his father’s orchards
while on night excursion; the youth had been cutting with sharp bronze a wild fig tree
of its young branches, to be rails for his chariot;
then evil unforeseen had come to him in godlike Achilles;
at that time, Achilles sold him across the sea, leading him off40
to well-built Lemnos in his ships, and the son of Jason paid for him;
there a guest friend, Eëtion of Imbros, ransomed him,
paying a great price, and dispatched him to bright Arisbe.
From there, slipping away, he arrived at his father’s house,
and for eleven days rejoiced his heart among his dear ones
after coming back from Lemnos; but on the twelfth day a god
cast him again in the hands of Achilles, who would
dispatch him, unwilling yet, on his way to the house of Hades.
When, then, swift-footed godlike Achilles saw Lykaon
naked, without helmet or shield, nor did he hold a spear—50
but all these things he had flung away to the ground as, wrung with sweat,
he fled from the river, and exhaustion overwhelmed his limbs—
then Achilles, troubled, spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:
“What is this? A great wonder is this I see with my eyes.
Surely the great-hearted Trojans whom I killed
will rise again from under the misted realm of darkness,
seeing how this man appears, having escaped his pitiless day of death,
he who was sold into holy Lemnos, nor did the deep
of the gray salt sea keep hold of him, which detains so many against their will.
But come, and let him have a taste of my spear-point,60
so that I may know in my mind and learn
whether likewise he will return even from Hades, or
whether the life-giving earth will keep him, which detains even the mighty below.”
So his thoughts churned as he waited; but the other came close to him, dazed with fear,
seeking to lay hold of his knees; and beyond all measure he desired in his heart
to escape death and evil and dark fate.
He, godlike Achilles, lifted his great spear,
seeking to stab him; but Lykaon ran under it and seized his knees,
crouching, and the spear flying forward over his back
stuck in the ground, eager to sate itself on human flesh.70
And with one hand holding Achilles’ knees he made supplication,
with the other he held the pointed spear, nor let it go;
and speaking winged words he addressed him:
“At your knees I implore you, Achilles; respect me and have mercy on me.
I am as your suppliant, god-cherished Achilles; respect my claim;
for it was in your presence first I tasted the bread of Demeter
on the day when you captured me in our well-laid orchard,
and sold me across the sea, taking me far from my father and friends
to holy Lemnos, and I earned you a hundred cattle.
Then paying three times as much I was freed for ransom; and this is the twelfth dawn80
for me, since I came to Ilion,
after suffering much; now again de
adly fate
has put me in your hands; I must surely be hated by father Zeus,
who handed me to you again; to a short life my mother
Laothoë bore me, the daughter of aged Altes,
Altes, who rules the battle-loving Leleges,
holding steep Pedasos by the river Satnioeis.
Priam took his daughter in marriage—among many other women—
and we two sons were born of her; and you will cut the throats of both.
One already you killed among the foremost warriors,90
godlike Polydoros, when you struck him with your sharp spear;
and now you will be my death here; for I do not believe
I will escape your hands, since some divine force has brought me to this place.
Yet I will say one other thing to you, and put this within your heart;
do not kill me, since I am not born of the same womb as Hector,
who slew your strong and gentle comrade.”
So the glorious son of Priam addressed him,
entreating him with his words; but the voice he heard was implacable:
“Fool, do not with me propose ransom nor argue a case.
Before the day of fate reached Patroclus, it is true,100
until then my heart chose to spare
the Trojans, and many I took alive and sold.
But now there is no one who will escape death, whom god
puts in my hands before the gates of Ilion,
of all the Trojans, but especially the sons of Priam.
Come friend, you die too; why bewail this so?
Even Patroclus died, who was far better than you.
Do you not see how magnificent and mighty I am?
I am born of a noble father, and a goddess the mother who bore me,
yet death and powerful fate is upon me too;110
there will be a dawn or an afternoon or noon,
when someone will take the life from even me in battle,
striking with a spear or an arrow from a bowstring.”
So he spoke; and the knees and very heart of the other went slack.
He let go the spear, and sank to the ground spreading both arms wide;
and Achilles, drawing his sharp sword,
struck him on the neck by the collarbone, and the whole of his
double-edged sword plunged in; and Lykaon face down upon the earth
lay outstretched; and his dark blood flowed forth, and soaked the earth.
Seizing his foot, Achilles flung him to the river to be carried off,120
and vaunting over him spoke winged words:
“Lie there now with the fish, who will lick you, your wounds,