by Homer
your blood, with no care for you; nor will your mother
mourn you on a funeral bier, but Scamander
will carry you as he whirls toward the broad breast of the sea.
Many a fish leaping through the waves will dart up beneath the dark ruffling of the water,
to eat the white shining fat of Lykaon.
May you all die, until we fall upon the city of sacred Ilion,
you fleeing, and I ravaging from behind.
Nor will your river, for all its fair streams and silver eddies,130
defend you, to which you have so long made sacrifice of many bulls,
and cast alive into its eddies single-hoofed horses;
but even so you will die, all, an evil death, until all
have atoned for the murder of Patroclus and the destruction of the Achaeans,
whom you slew by the swift ships while I was away.”
So he spoke; and the river was provoked to growing anger in his heart,
and turned over in his mind how he might stop godlike Achilles’
slaughter, and ward off destruction from the Trojans.
But holding his long-shadowed spear, the son of Peleus,
raging to kill, sprang for Asteropaios,140
the son of Pelegon, born of the wide-flowing river Axios
and of Periboia, the eldest of the daughters of Akessamenos;
for the deep-eddying river lay in love with her.
At this man Achilles charged, and from the river Asteropaios
stood to face him, wielding two spears in his hands; and into his heart
Xanthos put strength, since he was angered for the young men slain in battle,
those whom Achilles tore apart along his waters, and had not pitied.
And when they had advanced almost upon each other,
swift-footed godlike Achilles first addressed the other:
“What man are you, from where, who dares to come against me?150
They are sons of brokenhearted men, who face my might.”
Then in turn the glorious son of Pelegon addressed him:
“Great-hearted son of Peleus, why do you ask my lineage?
I come from the rich soil of Paeonia, far from here,
leading the Paeonian men with their long spears; and this is now
the eleventh dawn for me since I came to Ilion.
And my lineage is from the broad-running river Axios,
the Axios, who lets flow the loveliest water upon the earth,
who bore Pelegon famed for his spear; and men say that he begat me.
And now let us go to battle, illustrious Achilles.”160
So he spoke, threatening; and godlike Achilles raised at the ready
his Pelian ash-spear, and the warrior Asteropaios at the same moment
with both hands cast with two spears, since he was ambidextrous.
And with one spear he struck the shield, but it did not
shatter through it; for the gold checked it, the gift of the god;
with the other he grazed Achilles on the elbow of his right arm,
and a dark cloud of blood gushed out; and passing over him
the spear fixed into the earth, longing to glut itself on flesh.
And then Achilles let fly his straight-flying ash-wood spear
at Asteropaios, raging to kill;170
but missed him, and he struck the high bank of the river,
and the ash-spear was driven up to its middle in the bank.
Then the son of Peleus drawing his sharp sword beside his thigh
sprang for the man, raging; and the other was not able to draw
Achilles’ ash-spear from the steep bank with his strength of hand.
Three times he shook the spear, desperate to withdraw it,
and three times his strength failed; and on the fourth time, bending
the ash-spear of Aeacides toward him, he sought with all his heart to break it.
But before this Achilles stripped his life away at close quarters with his sword;
for he struck him in the stomach beside the navel, and all his bowels180
poured out on the ground; then darkness covered his eyes
as he gasped for breath; and Achilles springing onto his chest
stripped his armor away and spoke vaunting:
“Lie there so; hard it is to compete with the sons
of the almighty son of Cronus, even for those born of a river.
You said you were born of a wide-flowing river,
but I claim the lineage of mighty Zeus.
The man who fathered me is lord over many Myrmidons,
Peleus the son of Aeacus; and Aeacus was born of Zeus.
So Zeus is greater than the rivers that flow to the sea,190
and the descendent of Zeus, in turn, is greater than a man born of a river.
And there is a great river here beside you, if he can somehow
help you; but it is not possible to do battle with Zeus the son of Cronus,
nor does the august river Achelous contend with him,
nor the mighty strength of deep-flowing Ocean,
from whom all rivers and all the sea
and all the fountains and deep wells flow;
but even he fears the lightning bolt of mighty Zeus
and his dread thunder, when it crashes from the heavens.”
He spoke, and withdrew his bronze spear from the riverbank,200
but left the man there, since he had stripped the dear life from him,
lying in the sands, the dark water soaking him.
Eels and fish attended to him,
feeding on his fat, nibbling at his kidneys;
then Achilles set out after the Paeonians, marshalers of the chariot,
who fled in terrified confusion still toward the swirling river,
when they saw their best man in the powerful combat
broken under the hands of the son of Peleus and by the strength of his sword.
There Achilles slew Thersilochos and Mydon and Astypylos and
Mnesos and Thrasios and Ainios and Ophelestes.210
And now swift Achilles would have killed yet more Paeonians,
had the deep-swirling river not addressed him in anger,
likening himself to a man, and shouted from the depths of his eddies:
“O Achilles, you are mighty beyond all men, and beyond all men you
perform outrageous deeds; for the gods themselves defend you always.
If the son of Cronus grants you to destroy every Trojan,
drive them away from me and commit your evil deeds upon the plain.
For my lovely flowing waters are full of corpses,
nor is there any place where I can pour forth my stream into the bright salt sea
crammed with corpses; your killing is annihilation.220
Come and let me alone; I stand aghast, leader of the people.”
Then answering him Achilles of the swift feet spoke:
“As you will, god-cherished Scamander.
But I will not relax my killing of the high-handed Trojans
before driving them to their city and making trial of Hector
to his face, to see whether he will break me, or I him.”
So speaking he charged at the Trojans like something more than human.
And then the deep-eddying river called to Apollo:
“For shame! God of the Silver Bow, child of Zeus, you have not observed
the resolve of the son of Cronus, who many times enjoined you230
to stand by the Trojans and defend them, until
the setting sun at last declines, and darkens the rich plowland.”
He spoke; and spear-famed Achilles leapt into midstream,
springing from the overhanging bank; and with a seething surge the river sped toward him,
and made turbulent all the streaming waters as he churned them and shoved aside the many
bodies that were clotted all alo
ng his stream, those whom Achilles killed;
these he hurled, roaring like a bull, from his banks
onto dry land; but the living he saved along his lovely flowing waters,
sheltering them in his great deep eddies.
And about Achilles rose a churning, dreadful wave;240
its falling torrent drove against his shield; nor was he able to stand
with his feet, but with his hand he grabbed a mighty strong-grown
elm; and it, uprooted, falling,
tore the whole of the steep bank away, and checked the lovely flowing waters
with its close-set branches, and dammed the river itself
as it fell at full length. Springing out of the whirling water Achilles
made a dash to fly across the plain in the swiftness of his feet,
terrified; but the great god did not leave off, and reared against him
with a darkening crest, to stop Achilles the godlike
from his slaughter, and keep destruction from the Trojans.250
The son of Peleus sprang as far as a spear is thrown,
with the rushing speed of a dark eagle, the hunter,
strongest and swiftest of all things on wings.
Like such he flashed, and on his chest the clash of bronze
was terrible to hear; and swerving out from under the water,
he fled, and behind him the river, racing, followed with a mighty roar.
As when a man who makes a ditch guides from a dark water spring
the water’s flowing among his plants and gardens,
mattock in hand, striking the dams from the channel;
and all the small stones are dislodged beneath its flowing,260
and falling on some sloping place it swiftly
comes gurgling forth, and then outstrips even he who guides it;
so the swell of water flowing always caught Achilles,
for all his swiftness; for gods are stronger than men.
And as many times as swift-footed godlike Achilles moved to
take a stand against it, and to determine if all the
immortal gods were driving him to flight, all who hold wide heaven,
as many times did the great wave of the rain-filled river
keep striking his shoulders down from above. He kept leaping, his feet high,
his heart harried with fatigue; but the torrential river overwhelmed his knees’ strength270
as it poured under, eating away the earth beneath his feet.
And the son of Peleus wailed aloud, looking to broad heaven:
“Zeus, father, so not one of the gods undertook to save me, who am pitiable,
from the river—were I to be saved, I would suffer anything.
None of the heavenly gods is so to blame
as my own mother, who charmed me with false words;
for she told me that below the armored Trojans’ battlement
I would be destroyed by the swift arrows of Apollo.
Would that Hector had killed me, who is the best of warriors bred here;
then would a brave man have been the slayer, and brave the man he would have slain;280
but now it is my fate to be taken by a mean death,
trapped in a big river, like a swineherd boy,
whom a gully sweeps away as he crosses in bad weather.”
So he spoke; and in a flash Poseidon and Athena went to him
and stood beside him, assuming the forms of men.
Taking his hand in their hands, they assured him with their words;
and Poseidon who shakes the earth was first of them to speak:
“Son of Peleus, do not shrink back, nor be alarmed;
such allies are we two gods who stand by you
with Zeus approving, I and Pallas Athena.290
Since you are not destined to be killed by a river,
he will soon give way—you yourself will see this.
But we have close advice for you, if you will heed it;
do not rest your hands from war that levels all alike,
until you have penned within Ilion’s famed walls the Trojan men,
those who should escape you. And after you have stripped the life from Hector,
return to your ships; we grant you to win glory.”
So speaking they both departed to the immortals;
then Achilles set out, for the injunction of the gods had stirred him greatly,
toward the plain. And the whole of it was filled with outpoured water,300
and much splendid armor of sturdy young men killed in battle
was floating, and their corpses; and he sprang his knees high
as he rushed straight on against the current, nor did the broad-flowing
river check him; for Athena cast in him great strength.
But neither did Scamander restrain his fury, but all the more
raged against the son of Peleus, and rising high
he reared the crested wave of his flowing waters. And shouting he called to the Simoeis river:
“Dear brother, let us both together contain the strength of this man,
since he will soon sack the great city of lord Priam;
the Trojans will not stand firm throughout the press of battle.310
Come, defend them with all speed, and fill the currents
of your water from the springs, and stir all the torrents in the gullies,
raise a great wave, stir a tumult
of timbers and stones, so that we stop this savage man,
who now is powerful and as determined as a god.
For I think his strength will not help him, nor at all his beauty,
nor that fine armor, which somewhere at the very bottom
of the flood will lie buried beneath the mud; and his own body
I will wrap around with sand, spreading more silted rubble than can be counted,
rubble in abundance, nor will the Achaeans know how to pick out320
his bones; so much silt I will cover over him.
His grave-mound will have been built; he will have no need
of mound building, when the Achaeans perform his funeral rites.”
He spoke, and rushed upon Achilles, seething, racing to a height,
boiling with foam and blood and corpses,
and a surging wave of the rain-filled river
stood upraised; and began to overpower the son of Peleus.
But Hera shouted loud in great fear for Achilles,
lest the huge deep-swirling river sweep him away,
and called at once upon Hephaestus, her own son:330
“Rise up, Crippled One, my child; against you,
we thought, swirling Xanthos was matched in battle!
Come, rescue Achilles quickly, conjure a great fire,
and I will press the West Wind Zephyr and Notos wind of the south, who clears the bright sky of clouds,
to raise a violent whirlwind from the sea,
which will burn away the Trojan armaments and bodies,
as it spreads your deadly flame. Burn the trees along the banks of
Xanthos, set him on fire; do not let him by any means turn you back
with placating words or threats.
Do not stop your fury, until such time when340
I shout out to you; then contain your weariless fire.”
So she spoke and Hephaestus made ready his divinely kindled fire.
First the fire blazed upon the plain, and consumed the dead
in their multitude, who lay in throngs all along it, those whom Achilles killed.
The whole plain dried out, and the bright water was contained;
as when a late summer wind from the north quickly dries
a new-flooded field, and delights he who must till it,
so the entire plain was made dry; and then Hephaestus
consumed the dead. Thence he turned his gleaming fire toward the river;
the elms were set alight and the willows a
nd tamarisk trees,350
the clover was burned and the rushes and the galingale,
which all around the lovely flowing waters of the river grew in abundance.
The eels and the fish below the whirling water were thrown into distress;
across the lovely flowing waters they tumbled here and there,
in their distress under the blasting breath of many-skilled Hephaestus.
The river’s strength was burned away, and he spoke out and called the god by name:
“Hephaestus, none of the gods can set himself against you,
I cannot do battle with you, when you so blaze with fire.
Give over this strife, let godlike Achilles forthwith
drive the Trojans from their city; what have I to do with their war and helping them?”360
He spoke, burning with fire, seething all along his lovely waters.
As when a pot boils when set into a great fire,
melting down lard of a pig made plump with good feeding,
which bubbles up from every quarter when dry wood lies beneath it,
so the river’s lovely streams were ablaze, and his water boiled,
nor had he will to flow on, but stopped his course; for the fiery breath
of skilled Hephaestus reduced him to extremity with its force. And imploring
urgently, he addressed Hera with winged words:
“Hera, why has your son attacked my streams to harry me
beyond all others? It is not I who am so much to blame370
as all of them who are allies of the Trojans.
Come, surely I will make an end, if you bid me,
but let him stop too. And I will swear an oath to this—
never to fend off the day of evil from the Trojans,
not when all of Troy with raging fire is burning,
set ablaze, and the warrior sons of the Achaeans set it blazing.”
And when the white-armed goddess Hera heard him,
she called at once to Hephaestus her dear son:
“Hephaestus, hold back, my splendid child, it is not seemly
to pummel an immortal god like this for the sake of mortals.”380
So she spoke; and Hephaestus quenched his divinely kindled fire,
and backward flowed the wave down along its lovely running stream.
And when the fury of Xanthos had been subdued, then the
two gods desisted; for Hera checked them, angry though she was;
but among the other gods hard and grievous conflict
fell, and the passions in their breasts blew in two directions.
They rushed together with a great crash and the wide earth rang,
and mighty heaven trumpeted around them; Zeus heard