The Iliad (Penguin Classics)

by Homer

  (200) Swift-footed Achilles replied and said:

  Achilles to fight; gifts brought

  ’Most glorious son of Atreus, Agamemnon lord of men, you ought to be taking these steps at some other time, when there is a lull in the fighting and my blood is not up, as it is now. But our men who fell to Hector when Zeus gave him the glory are still lying mangled out on the plain – and you and Odysseus are urging us to eat! I would make the men fight now, fasting and hungry, and then prepare a huge meal for them at sunset after we have avenged the insult done to us. Till that’s done, no food or drink will pass (210) my lips, with my companion lying dead in my hut, pierced by the sharp bronze spear, his feet lying towards the door and his comrades weeping round him. None of your proposals interests me – only slaughter and bloodshed and the groans of the dying.’

  Quick-thinking Odysseus replied and said:

  ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, greatest of the Greeks, you are a stronger man than I and not a little better with the spear, but in view of my greater age and experience, my judgement is much (220) sounder than yours. That being so, prepare yourself for what I am about to say.

  ‘Men have soon had enough of pitched battle: their weapons may scatter heaps of dead over the ground like straw, but after Zeus, controller of war on earth, has tipped the scales to decide who wins, the resulting reward for their risk is small. You wish the troops to express their grief at a man’s death by fasting. That is impossible. Day after day, one after the other, men fall in their hundreds – would we ever find rest from struggle and suffering? No: we must steel our hearts, bury our dead and let one day’s tears suffice.

  (230) ’All those who have survived the carnage must now turn their thoughts to food and drink, so that we can carry on the struggle without let-up to the bitter end with our bronze armour – that never tires – on our backs. So let none of you hold back and wait for any second call to action. This is the summons. There will be trouble for anyone left behind at the ships. The whole army must advance together and unleash the dogs of war against those horse-taming Trojans.’

  He spoke and chose to help him illustrious Nestor’s sons, (240) with Meges, Thoas, Meriones, Lycomedes and Melanippus, and they set out for Agamemnon’s hut. Once there, no sooner said than done: they fetched out from his quarters the seven tripods he had promised Achilles, the twenty cauldrons of gleaming copper and the twelve horses; and immediately after, the seven women skilled in arts and crafts, fair-cheeked Briseis making the eighth. Then Odysseus who had weighed out ten talents of gold, led the way back, followed by the other young Greeks carrying the gifts.

  They laid them down in the middle of the assembly, and (250) Agamemnon rose to his feet. Beside him stood Talthybius, whose voice was like a god’s, holding a boar in his arms. Agamemnon drew out the knife that hung by the great scabbard of his sword and made the first offering by cutting a little hair from the boar’s head and lifting up his hands in prayer to Zeus, while the Greeks all sat quietly in their own places in the proper way, listening to their leader. He looked up into the broad skies and prayed:

  Agamemnon and Achilles renounce the quarrel

  ’I call on Zeus, highest and best of the gods, and then on the (260) Earth and Sun and the Furies who punish men for perjury in the world below, to be my witnesses that I never laid hands on the girl Briseis to bring her to my bed, or for any other purpose. She stayed in my hut unmolested. If a word of this is false, may the gods inflict on me all the sufferings that they impose on those who take their names in vain.’

  He spoke and cut the boar’s throat with the relentless bronze. Talthybius took the carcass and with a swing flung it out over the broad expanse of the grey sea for the fish to eat. Then Achilles rose to address the war-loving Greeks:

  (270) ’Father Zeus, what tremendous delusions you inflict on men! Agamemnon would never have provoked me to such lasting bitterness nor stubbornly taken the girl against my will, if Zeus had not wanted a Greek massacre. But go now, take your meal, and then to battle!’

  So he spoke, and quickly dismissed the assembly. They scattered to their several ships, and the Myrmidons took charge of the gifts and carried them off to godlike Achilles’ ship (280) where they placed them in his hut and sat the women down. The horses were driven in among his own herd by his noble attendants.

  Briseis (1.346) and Achilles mourn Patroclus

  But when Briseis, who looked like golden Aphrodite, saw Patroclus lying there, mangled by the sharp bronze spear, she gave a piercing scream, threw herself on his body and tore with her hands at her breast and tender neck and fair cheeks. Lovely as the goddesses, she spoke in tears:

  ‘Oh, Patroclus, my heart’s delight! Oh, my misery! I left you in this hut alive when I went away; and now I have come back, (290) commander of men, to find you dead. Such is my life, an endless chain of disaster. I saw the husband to whom my father and my lady mother gave me mangled in front of his town by the cruel spear; and I saw my three brothers, my dear brothers, borne by the same mother as myself, all meet their doom. But you, when swift-footed Achilles killed my husband and sacked lord Mynes’ town, you would not even let me weep; you said you would make me Achilles’ lawful wife and take me in your ships to your home in Phthia and give me a wedding-feast among the (300) Myrmidons. You were always so gentle with me. So in death I mourn you inconsolably.’

  So she spoke in tears, and the other women took up the cry, each one recalling through Patroclus her own misfortunes. As for Achilles, the Greek chieftains gathered round and entreated him to take food. But he refused with a groan:

  ‘If you have any regard for my wishes, I entreat you, don’t ask me to satisfy my thirst and hunger now. My grief is too dreadful. I intend to hold out, at all costs, till sunset.’

  With these words he dismissed the rest, but Agamemnon (310) and Menelaus stayed, and so did godlike Odysseus, Nestor, Idomeneus and Phoenix the old charioteer. They tried to comfort him in his anguish. But his heart would find no comfort till he hurled himself into the jaws of bloody battle. Memories came crowding round, and with many a sigh he said:

  ‘How often you yourself, my most unhappy and beloved companion, have set a delicious meal before me in this hut, with speed and skill, when the Greeks were set to bring war with all its tears on the horse-taming Trojans. As it is, you lie mangled (320) here, and my heart rejects all thought of food. Not that I lack it. I lack you.

  ‘I could have suffered no crueller blow than this, not even the news of my father Peleus’ death, who is no doubt shedding soft tears in Phthia at this moment for me, the dear son he has lost – while I am fighting Trojans in a foreign land for wretched Helen’s sake; nor even if they told me my own son godlike Neoptolemus was dead, who is growing up in Scyros, if he is still alive anywhere. And yet I liked to think that I alone would perish here in Troy, far from Thessaly where the horses (330) graze, and that you, Patroclus, would get home to Phthia and be able to fetch my son from Scyros in a fast black ship and show him everything, my possessions and slaves and great high-roofed palace. Now surely Peleus, if he is not dead and gone by now, is only half-alive, crushed by the burden of old age and in daily expectation of the dreadful news that I myself am dead.’

  So Achilles spoke in tears, and the leaders took up the cry, each of them remembering what he had left at home.

  (340) Zeus son of Cronus took pity on them when he saw their grief and immediately spoke to Athene with winged words:

  ATHENE feeds Achilles

  ’My child, you have deserted your favourite. Is there then no longer any room in your heart for Achilles, who is sitting there in front of his high-beaked ships mourning for his dear companion and fasting, refusing to touch a thing, while all the rest have gone to eat? Go and distil some nectar and lovely ambrosia into his chest to save him from starvation.’

  With these words he spurred on Athene, who had already set her heart on action. She swooped down from the skies through (350) the upper air like a shrieking, long-winged sea-bird. W
hile the Greeks were arming themselves throughout the camp, she distilled nectar and lovely ambrosia into Achilles’ chest to preserve him from the pangs of hunger. This done, she made her way back to her almighty Father’s palace, as the troops poured out from among the swift ships. Like cold snowflakes teeming thickly down from the sky before the onset of a clear-born (360) northerly gale, so thickly did the shining helmets, bossed shields, plated armour and ash spears emerge from the ships. Brightness lit up the sky, the whole earth round about laughed at the glitter of bronze, and the land resounded to the thunder of marching feet.

  Achilles arms for battle

  In the middle of all this, godlike Achilles armed for battle. He ground his teeth, his eyes blazed like flames of fire and unendurable grief consumed him as he put on the divine gifts that Hephaestus had made for him, raging against the Trojans. First he placed fine leg-guards on (370) his shins, fitted with silver ankle-clips. Then he put on his body-armour and slung his bronze, silver-riveted sword over his shoulder. Then he took up the great, heavy shield, whose brightness flashed into the distance like the moon’s. Like the gleam that sailors catch at sea from a fire burning on a lonely upland farm, when the winds drive them unwillingly from home over the teeming seas, such was the gleam that went up into the (380) sky from Achilles’ ornamented shield. Next he picked up his massive helmet and placed it on his head. It sparkled like a star, and above it danced the golden plumes that Hephaestus had lavished on the crest. Godlike Achilles tried himself in the armour to see if it fitted and allowed his splendid limbs free movement. It was like a pair of wings to this shepherd of the people and lifted him up. Finally he took his father’s spear from its case, long, thick and heavy. No Greek could wield this but Achilles, who alone knew how to handle it. It was made from (390) an ash-tree on the top of Mount Pelion and had been a gift from Cheiron to Achilles’ father, Peleus, to bring death to warriors.

  Meanwhile Automedon and Alcimedon were busy seeing to the yoking of the horses. They fitted the yoke-straps round their chests, put the bits in their mouths and drew the reins back into the chariot. Then Automedon picked up a shining whip that fitted his grip and leapt in behind the pair. Achilles, armed for battle, followed him in, resplendent in his armour like the shining sun, and called to his father’s horses in a terrible voice:

  (400) ’Xanthus and Balius, Podarge’s legendary foals, try this time to think more carefully about bringing your charioteer back to his friends alive when the fighting is done, instead of leaving him dead on the battlefield as you left Patroclus.’

  From under the yoke flashing-footed Xanthus replied. He had lowered his head so his mane came tumbling down from the yoke-pad and swept the ground. The goddess white-armed Hera had endowed him with human speech:

  Achilles’ horsepredicts his death

  ’Indeed, imperious Achilles, we will once more bring you safely home today. But the day of your death is drawing near; and it is not we who will be (410) the cause of it, but a great god and inexorable destiny. Nor was it by our laziness or lack of speed that the Trojans were enabled to strip the armour from Patroclus’ shoulders. It was the best of gods, Apollo son of lovely-haired Leto, who killed him in the front line and let Hector have the glory. We could run with the speed of the west wind – and they say nothing is faster – but you are still destined to fall in battle at the hands of a god and of a man.’

  As he spoke, the Furies struck him dumb. Angrily swift-footed Achilles replied:

  (420) ’Xanthus, why prophesy my death? There is no need. I know well enough I am destined to perish here, far from my dear father and mother. But I am still not going to stop till I have given the Trojans their fill of battle.’

  He spoke, raised the battle-cry among the leaders and drove his powerful horses forward.

  20

  ACHILLES ON THE RAMPAGE

  1–74: ZEUS summons an assembly of gods and, worried that Achilles might immediately storm Ilium, tells them that they can now intervene. The gods march out to battle, and nature is so shaken by the onslaught that Hades almost cracks open.

  75–155: APOLLO persuades Aeneas to face Achilles. The gods decide not to take sides.

  156–352: Achilles and Aeneas meet. Aeneas is rescued by POSEIDON, to Achilles’ disgust.

  353–454: APOLLO advises Hector to withdraw. Achilles’ rampage begins, and APOLLO has to rescue Hector from him.

  455–503: Achilles’ rampage continues, his chariot red with blood.

  So beside the beaked ships the Greeks armed for battle led by you, son of Peleus, always spoiling for a fight, and on the other side the Trojans too lined up on the high ground of the plain. At the same time, from the summit of rugged Olympus Zeus ordered Themis to call the gods to assembly, and she went the rounds and summoned them to his palace. Apart from Ocean, not a single River stayed away, nor did any of the Nymphs that haunt delightful woods, the sources of streams and the grassy (10) water-meadows. They all came to the cloud-gatherer’s house and sat down in the polished colonnade that Hephaestus with his supreme skill had made for Father Zeus.

  When they had all gathered in the palace, earthshaker Poseidon (who had not ignored the goddess’ call but came up out of the sea to join them and sat down in their midst) inquired what purpose Zeus had in mind:

  ‘Lord of the vivid lightning, why have you ordered the gods (20) to assemble? Are you concerned for the Trojans and Greeks? Battle between the two of them is very close to flaring up.’

  Zeus who marshals the clouds replied and said:

  Gods allowed to support their favourites (8.10)

  ‘Earthshaker, you know what is in my mind and why I have summoned this gathering. Yes, they do concern me, dying as they are. Nevertheless I am going to stay here seated in some glen on Olympus from which I can enjoy the divine spectacle – since I now give the rest of you my permission to join the Trojans and Greeks and give your help to either side, as the inclination takes you. My reason is that, if Achilles fights the Trojans without intervention from you, the Trojans will not stand up to him for a moment. Even before this, they would take one look at him and run; but now he has been embittered by the loss of his (30) companion, I am afraid he will cheat destiny and storm the walls of Ilium.’

  So spoke the son of Cronus and provoked unstoppable conflict. The immortals at once set out for the scene of action in two hostile groups. Hera and Pallas Athene made their way to the Greek ships. So did Poseidon who encircles the world and Hermes the runner, incomparably astute. Hephaestus accompanied them, exulting in his strength, for though he limped, his stunted legs were nimble enough. To the Trojan side went Ares of the flashing helmet, flowing-haired Apollo, Artemis who (40) delights in arrows, Leto, River Scamander and laughter-loving Aphrodite.

  Up to the moment when the gods became involved, the Greeks carried all before them. Achilles had reappeared after his long absence from war and its agonies, and the limbs of all the Trojans shook in terror at the sight of swift-footed son of Peleus, resplendent in his arms, equal of the murderous War-god Ares. But when the Olympians joined the ranks of men, Strife who drives on armies rose in all her strength. While Athene raised her war-cry, standing now by the ditch beyond the Greek wall, (50) and now sending her voice down the thundering shore, she was answered on the other side by Ares, who resembled a black squall and screamed his orders to the Trojans, at one moment from the heights of the citadel, and at the next from the banks of River Simoïs, as he ran along the slopes of Callicolone.

  Hades almost splits open with the noise

  So the blessed gods, encouraging the two forces, threw them at each other’s throats and at the same time opened up the bitter rivalry in their own ranks. Up on high the Father of men and gods thundered ominously, and down below Poseidon caused the boundless earth and lofty mountain-tops to shake. The foothills and peaks (60) of Mount Ida of the many springs were shaken; Ilium and the Greek ships trembled; and in the underworld Hades, lord of the dead, took fright and leapt with a cry from his thron
e. He was afraid earthshaker Poseidon might split open the ground above his head and expose to mortal and immortal eyes the horrible decaying chambers that fill the gods themselves with loathing.

  Such was the cosmic crash of gods joining in conflict. Poseidon was faced by Phoebus Apollo with his winged arrows, and the goddess grey-eyed Athene by Ares; Hera was confronted by (70) Apollo’s sister, Artemis of the golden distaff who delights in arrows; Leto by the strong runner Hermes, and Hephaestus by the mighty eddying River, who is called Xanthus by the gods and Scamander by mankind. So they went to war, god against god. As for Achilles, he wished for nothing better than to meet Hector son of Priam in the turmoil: he wanted Ares the shield-bearing warrior to gorge himself on his blood. But (80) Apollo who drives on armies immediately intervened to fill Aeneas with determination and send him to confront Achilles son of Peleus. Disguising himself and imitating the voice of Lycaon, one of Priam’s sons, Apollo son of Zeus said:

  APOLLO launches Aeneas at Achilles

  ‘Aeneas, adviser of the Trojans, what has become of all your threats? Did you not tell the Trojan leaders over the wine-cups that you would face Achilles son of Peleus man to man?’

  Aeneas replied and said:

  ‘Lycaon, why do you order me to pit myself against the proud son of Peleus? I have no stomach for it, since this will not be the (90) first time I have been confronted by him. Once before, he turned me to flight with his spear under Mount Ida, when he raided our cattle and sacked Lyrnessus and Pedasus, where the Leleges live. On that occasion I was saved by Zeus who gave me the determination and speed of foot, or I should have fallen to Achilles and Athene. She had gone ahead of him to protect him and told him to slaughter the Leleges and Trojans with his spear.