by Homer
as he sat upon Olympus, and his heart laughed
in sheer delight, as he saw the gods coming together in conflict.390
For no long time they stood apart; then shield-piercing Ares
led off, and first made for Athena,
bronze-pointed spear in hand, and spoke words of derision:
“Why again, you dog-fly, do you pit the gods together in strife
in your insatiate arrogance, your mighty passion setting you on?
Or do you not recollect, when you incited Diomedes son of Tydeus
to stab me, you yourself, in full view, snatching his spear
to charge straight for me, and tore through my splendid skin?
For this, I think, I will pay you back in turn, such things you have done to me.”
So speaking he stabbed at her tasseled aegis,400
a thing of dread, that not even Zeus’ thunderbolt could rend;
murderous Ares stabbed her here with his long spear.
But drawing back, she seized a stone in her massive hand
that lay in the plain, dark and jagged and huge,
which men in time before placed to be a boundary marker of their field.
With this she struck furious Ares on his neck, and unstrung his knees.
Over seven acres he sprawled as he fell, his hair was fouled with dust,
and his armor clanged around him. Pallas Athena laughed,
and vaunting over him spoke winged words:
“Idiot, you did not take into your head, even now, how much greater410
I claim to be, when you matched your strength with me.
So would you satisfy in full the curses of your mother
Hera, who in her rage plots evil things against you, because you abandoned
the Achaeans, and defend the reckless Trojans.”
So speaking she turned her shining eyes away.
And Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, taking Ares’ hand, led him off
as he groaned the while, trying to collect himself with difficulty.
And as the white-armed goddess Hera saw her,
she addressed at once winged words to Athena:
“Oh for shame, daughter of Zeus who wields the aegis, Atrytone,420
there she is again, that dog-fly leads man-destroying Ares
from the deadly combat through the press of battle; up, go after her.”
So she spoke; and Athena set off after her, glad at heart,
and speeding to her, struck Aphrodite on the breast with her powerful hand;
and on the spot unstrung her knees and very heart.
And vaunting over the two of them as they lay upon the nourishing earth,
Athena spoke winged words:
“May all be of such stuff as this who aid the Trojans,
when they go to battle with the armored Argives—
as bold and daring as Aphrodite430
came as helpmate to Ares, to encounter my might;
then would we long ago have done with war,
having sacked utterly the well-built city of Ilion.”433
At that the lord Earth-Shaker addressed Apollo:435
“Phoebus, why do we two stand apart? It is not right
when the others have begun; it would be shameful if without a fight
we should return to the bronze-floored house of Zeus upon Olympus.
Begin! For you are the younger in age; for me it would not do so well,
since I was born first and know more.440
Young fool, how thoughtless your heart is; do you not recall at all
the ills we suffered in such number around Ilion,
we two alone of all the gods, when to bold Laomedon
we came from Zeus to serve as laborers for a year
for a stated wage, and overseeing our work he gave the orders.
And I built a wall around the city for the Trojans
a wide wall and of exceeding beauty, so that the city would be defended;
Phoebos, you were cowherd for their shambling, twist-horned cattle
in the foothills of many-folded, wooded Ida.
But when the gladdening seasons brought the due time of our payment,450
then Laomedon in his violence robbed us both of all our wages,
and after threatening sent us on our way;
and he threatened that he would bind us hand and foot,
and sell us across the sea to far-off islands,
and he boasted that with his sword he would slice the ears off both of us;
and we two went back again with rancor in our hearts,
angered about our wages, which after promising he did not deliver.
And now you curry favor for the people of this man, nor try with us
to ensure the reckless Trojans be destroyed
utterly and shamefully, with their offspring and their honored wives!”460
Then in turn lord Apollo who shoots from afar addressed him:
“Earth-Shaker, you would not say that I was sound in mind
if I were to go to war with you for the sake of pitiful
mortals, who now come into being like leaves
full of the flame of life, eating the fruit of their fields,
and then fade away without life. Come, with all speed
let us make an end of fighting, let them struggle on by themselves.”
So speaking he turned back; for he forbore in shame
to fight hand to hand with the brother of his father.
But his sister rebuked him greatly, the lady of wild creatures,470
Artemis of the wild, and spoke words of revilement:
“So you flee, Far-Shooter? After yielding all victory to Poseidon,
making idle boast to him?
You fool, why do you vainly carry your useless bow?
Let me never now hear you in our father’s halls
bragging, as you have done before in company of the immortal gods,
that you would go to war face-to-face against Poseidon.”
So she spoke; Apollo who shoots from afar said nothing to her,
but the revered wife of Zeus spoke in anger:479
“How now do you presume, shameless dog, to stand up against me?481
I am dangerous to oppose, when it comes to might,
archer though you be, since Zeus made you a lion among only women,
and granted you to kill which of these you like.
But better that you kill wild beasts along the mountains,
and deer of the wild than contend in strength with those more powerful!
But if you wish to learn of warfare, so as to know well
how much greater I am, when you contend with me in strength—”
She spoke, and grabbed the other’s hands at the wrist
with her left hand, and with her right she snatched the bow and quiver from her shoulders,490
and, with a smile, struck Artemis on the ears with her own weapons
as she turned and twisted; and her swift arrows fell from her quiver.
Weeping, the goddess fled under and away like a wild dove,
which away from a hawk flies into the hollow cleft of a rocky cliff;
for it was not its fate to be seized;
so Artemis fled in tears, and there left her bow and archery.
Then Hermes the messenger, Slayer of Argos, addressed Leto:
“Leto, I will have no fight with you; for it is hard
to bandy blows with the wives of Zeus who gathers the clouds.
Rather boldly boast among the immortal gods500
that you vanquished me with your powerful force.”
So he spoke; and Leto gathered up Artemis’ arrows and curved bow
scattered hither and there amid the whirling dust.
Taking the weapons she went back after her daughter,
who had arrived at the bronze-floored house of Zeus upon Olympus;
the girl was sitting in tears on her father’s knees,
her ambrosial robes quivering around her. And her father, the son of Cronus,
took her to him, and lifted her, laughing softly:
“Now which of the heavenly gods did such a thing to you, dear child?”509
Then in turn the fair-crowned lady of the hunting cry addressed him:511
“Your wife beat me, father, white-armed Hera,
on whose account strife and fighting is the lot of the immortals.”
So they were speaking such things to one another;
but Phoebus Apollo made his way into holy Ilion,
troubled for the walls of the well-built city,
lest the Danaans sack it on that day, against fate.
The rest of the immortal gods went to Olympus,
some in anger, some in great triumph,
and took their seats beside the father of the dark clouds. But Achilles520
kept on slaying alike the Trojans and their single-hoofed horses;
as when smoke reaches into the broad heaven arising
from a city that is in flames, and the wrath of the gods impels it,
and lays toil upon all, and sends suffering to many,
so Achilles lay toil and suffering upon the Trojans.
And standing on the ramparts built by god was aged Priam;
and he looked out to huge Achilles, and the Trojans
roiled in panic-stricken flight before him, nor was there any fighting spirit
to be seen; and groaning he descended from the rampart to the ground,
urging the worthy keepers of the gates beside the wall:530
“Hold the gates wide open in your hands, until my people
come to the city in their flight; for here is Achilles
very near, roiling them in fear; now I think there will be disaster.
But once they have thronged inside the walls to catch their breath,
immediately shut again the closely fitted gates;
for I fear lest this baneful man should leap into our battlements.”
So he spoke; and they drove back the bolts and opened the gates,
which spread wide to be the light of safety. Apollo
sprang toward them, to ward off disaster from the Trojans.
And straight for the city and its high ramparts they fled,540
their throats rough with thirst, covered with dust from the plain;
and Achilles, pressing hard, hung upon them with his spear, a great mad fury
ever gripping at his heart, as he raged to seize glory.
Then the sons of the Achaeans would have taken high-gated Troy
had Phoebus Apollo not stirred on godlike Agenor,
Antenor’s son, a blameless and a powerful man.
Into his heart Apollo cast courage, and stood
near him to ward off the heavy hands of Death,
leaning against an oak tree, shrouded in dense mist.
And when Agenor saw Achilles, the sacker of cities,550
he stood firm, but his heart pitched violently as he waited.
And troubled he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:
“Ah me; if I should flee before powerful Achilles
to where the others in their fear have fled in panic,
he will take me all the same, and cut my coward’s throat.
But suppose I let the others be driven in confusion before
Achilles, the son Peleus, and with speed of my feet flee elsewhere, away from the wall
toward the plain of Ilion, until I reach
the foothills of Ida and make my way into the brush—
then at evening, having washed clean in the river,560
having dried the sweat away, I could go home to Ilion.
But why does my heart debate these things?
He might mark me as I set off from the city to the plain,
and racing after catch me with the swiftness of his feet.
No longer then will it be possible to shun death and fate.
For he is strong beyond the measure of all men.
But what if, before the city, I came face-to-face against him—
for surely the flesh of even this man can be wounded by sharp bronze,
only one life is in him, and men say his is mortal!
It is Zeus the son of Cronus who hands him glory.”570
So speaking, he collected himself to await Achilles, and the brave
heart in him was urgent to fight and go to battle.
As when a leopard steps into view out of her deep thicket
to face the man who hunts her, and in her heart
she feels neither dread nor fear, when she hears the howling of the dogs;
even if the hunter strikes or wounds her first,
even so, even pierced through by the spear, she does not relinquish
her fighting courage, until she either pits herself against him or is killed;
so the son of noble Antenor, godlike Agenor,
had no mind to flee, until he had made trial of Achilles.580
But he held the circle of his shield before him,
and aimed at Achilles with his spear, and shouted loud:
“Surely you greatly hoped within your heart, illustrious Achilles,
on this day to sack the city of the noble Trojans—
fool; many hardships yet lie ahead on her account!
For inside we are many men and brave men,
and before our beloved parents, our wives and sons,
we will protect Ilion; you, in this place, will meet your fate,
terrible and daring warrior though you be.”
He spoke, and hurled the sharp spear from his mighty hand,590
and it struck Achilles’ leg below his knee, nor did he miss his aim;
But the greaves of new-wrought tin around it
rang with a dreadful sound; and back the bronze point sprang from
striking him, nor did it penetrate, but the gifts of the god protected him.
And the son of Peleus charged next at godlike Agenor;
but Apollo did not permit him to win glory,
and snatched Agenor away, and concealed him in dense mist,
and sent him forth from the war, to go home in peace.
Then with a trick he kept the son of Peleus from the Trojan people;
for likening himself in every way to Agenor, the Far-Shooting god600
stood before Achilles’ feet, and Achilles charged forth to pursue him in the swiftness of his feet.
And while Achilles chased him over the wheat-bearing plain,
turning beside the deep-eddying river Scamander,
Apollo always just a little out of reach—with trickery Apollo deceived him,
so that Achilles hoped always to overtake him with his speed of feet—
meanwhile the rest of the Trojans fleeing in a body came
gladly welcomed to their city; and the city was filled with their crowding,
nor did they any longer dare await one another outside the city
and its walls to learn who might have escaped,
who died in the fighting, but in rushing haste they poured610
into the city, every man whose feet and knees could save him.
22.ILIÁDOS X
So those who had fled terrorized like fawns into the city
dried off their sweat and drank and slaked their thirst,
slumped on the splendid ramparts. The Achaeans, however,
drew near the walls with shields inclined against their shoulders;
and there ruinous fate bound Hector to stand his ground,
before the Scaean gates of Ilion.
Now Phoebus Apollo hailed Peleion:
“Why, son of Peleus, do you chase me, with those swift feet,
you a mortal, I an undying god? You must not yet know
that I am divine, you rage after me so furiously!10
Is it of no concern, this business with the Trojans, whom you scattered in fear—
w
ho are by now cowering in the city, while you slope off here?
You will never kill me; I am not marked by fate.”
Then greatly stirred, swift-footed Achilles answered him:
“You have thwarted me, most malevolent of all the gods, you who strike from afar,
turning me here away from the city walls; otherwise many would
have bitten the dirt before they arrived at Ilion.
Saving them, you have robbed me of great glory,
lightly, without fear of retribution;
I would pay you back, if that power were in me.”20
So speaking, he made toward the city, intent on great things,
straining like a prizewinning horse who with his chariot
runs effortlessly, stretching over the plain—
so swiftly did Achilles move his feet and knees.
And old Priam first beheld him with his eyes
as, shining like a star, Achilles streaked across the plain,
the star that comes at summer’s end, its clear gleaming
in the milky murk of night displayed among the multitude of stars—
the star they give the name Orion’s Dog;
most radiant it is, but it makes an evil portent,30
and brings great feverish heat on pitiful mortal men—
just so did his bronze breastplate shine about Achilles running.
The old man cried out and hammered his head
with his hands; crying mightily, he called,
imploring his beloved son; for before the gates Hector
continued to stand firm, intent on combat with Achilles.
To him the old man called piteously, reaching out his hands:
“Hector, for my sake, do not wait for this man
on your own, without allies, lest you straightway meet your fate,
broken by Peleion; since he is so much stronger,40
he is pitiless; would that he were as dear to the gods
as he is to me—in short order would the dogs and vultures devour him
as he lay dead; and bitter pain would leave my heart.
This is the man who has bereaved me of many sons, brave sons,
killing them, or selling them to far-off islands.
Even now there are two, Lykaon and Polydoros,
whom I cannot see in the city of the cowering Trojans,
sons whom Altes’ daughter Laothoë bore me, a queen among women.
If they are alive somewhere among the army, then
I will ransom them for bronze or gold; all this is inside—50
old, illustrious Altes endowed his daughter richly.
But if they have already died and are in the house of Hades,