The Iliad
Book XIV
Nestor was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not escape
him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, "What, noble Machaon, is the
meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting by our ships grow stronger
and stronger; stay here, therefore, and sit over your wine, while fair
Hecamede heats you a bath and washes the clotted blood from off you. I
will go at once to the look-out station and see what it is all
about."
As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was
lying in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had taken
his father′s shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear, and
as soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of the Achaeans who,
now that their wall was overthrown, were flying pell-mell before the Trojans.
As when there is a heavy swell upon the sea, but the waves are dumb- they
keep their eyes on the watch for the quarter whence the fierce winds may
spring upon them, but they stay where they are and set neither this way
nor that, till some particular wind sweeps down from heaven to determine
them- even so did the old man ponder whether to make for the crowd of Danaans,
or go in search of Agamemnon. In the end he deemed it best to go to the
son of Atreus; but meanwhile the hosts were fighting and killing one another,
and the hard bronze rattled on their bodies, as they thrust at one another
with their swords and spears.
The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son
of Atreus, fell in Nestor as they were coming up from their ships- for
theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting was going on, being
on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been beached first, while the
wall had been built behind the hindermost. The stretch of the shore, wide
though it was, did not afford room for all the ships, and the host was
cramped for space, therefore they had placed the ships in rows one behind
the other, and had filled the whole opening of the bay between the two
points that formed it. The kings, leaning on their spears, were coming
out to survey the fight, being in great anxiety, and when old Nestor met
them they were filled with dismay. Then King Agamemnon said to him, "Nestor
son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, why have you left the battle
to come hither? I fear that what dread Hector said will come true, when
he vaunted among the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till
he had fired our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it
is all coming true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in
anger with me that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our
ships."
Then Nestor knight of Gerene answered, "It is indeed as you say;
it is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders from on
high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we relied as an impregnable
bulwark both for us and our fleet. The Trojans are fighting stubbornly
and without ceasing at the ships; look where you may you cannot see from
what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed
in a confused mass and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think,
if counsel can be of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise
our going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is
wounded."
And King Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed
fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the trench
has served us- over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and which they deemed
would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet- I see it must
be the will of Jove that the Achaeans should perish ingloriously here,
far from Argos. I knew when Jove was willing to defend us, and I know now
that he is raising the Trojans to like honour with the gods, while us,
on the other hand, he bas bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all
do as I say; let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and draw
them into the water; let us make them fast to their mooring-stones a little
way out, against the fall of night- if even by night the Trojans will desist
from fighting; we may then draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing
wrong in flying ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should
fly and be saved than be caught and killed."
Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, "Son of Atreus, what are
you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other and baser
army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has allotted a life of hard
fighting from youth to old age, till we every one of us perish. Is it thus
that you would quit the city of Troy, to win which we have suffered so
much hardship? Hold your peace, lest some other of the Achaeans hear you
say what no man who knows how to give good counsel, no king over so great
a host as that of the Argives should ever have let fall from his lips.
I despise your judgement utterly for what you have been saying. Would you,
then, have us draw down our ships into the water while the battle is raging,
and thus play further into the hands of the conquering Trojans? It would
be ruin; the Achaeans will not go on fighting when they see the ships being
drawn into the water, but will cease attacking and keep turning their eyes
towards them; your counsel, therefore, Sir captain, would be our
destruction."
Agamemnon answered, "Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the heart.
I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their ships into the sea
whether they will or no. Some one, it may be, old or young, can offer us
better counsel which I shall rejoice to hear."
Then said Diomed, "Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek,
if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am younger
than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire, Tydeus, who lies
buried at Thebes. For Portheus had three noble sons, two of whom, Agrius
and Melas, abode in Pleuron and rocky Calydon. The third was the knight
Oeneus, my father′s father, and he was the most valiant of them all. Oeeneus
remained in his own country, but my father (as Jove and the other gods
ordained it) migrated to Argos. He married into the family of Adrastus,
and his house was one of great abundance, for he had large estates of rich
corn-growing land, with much orchard ground as well, and he had many sheep;
moreover he excelled all the Argives in the use of the spear. You must
yourselves have heard whether these things are true or no; therefore when
I say well despise not my words as though I were a coward or of ignoble
birth. I say, then, let us go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though
we be. When there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of
the spears lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have already,
but we can spur on others, who have been indulging their spleen and holding
aloof from battle hitherto."
Thus did he speak; whereon they did even as he had said and set
out, King Agamemnon leading the way.
Meanwhile Neptune had kept no blind look-out, and came up to them
in the semblance of an old man. He took Agamemnon′s right hand in his own
and said, "Son of Atreus, I take it Achilles is glad now that he sees the
Achaeans routed and slain, for he is utterly without remorse- may he come
to a bad end and heaven confound him. As for yourself, the blessed gods
are not yet so bitterly angry with you but that the princes and counsellors
of the Trojans shall again raise the dust upon the plain, and you shall
see them flying from the ships and tents towards their
city."
With this he raised a mighty cry of battle, and sped forward to
the plain. The voice that came from his deep chest was as that of nine
or ten thousand men when they are shouting in the thick of a fight, and
it put fresh courage into the hearts of the Achaeans to wage war and do
battle without ceasing.
Juno of the golden throne looked down as she stood upon a peak
of Olympus and her heart was gladdened at the sight of him who was at once
her brother and her brother-in-law, hurrying hither and thither amid the
fighting. Then she turned her eyes to Jove as he sat on the topmost crests
of many-fountained Ida, and loathed him. She set herself to think how she
might hoodwink him, and in the end she deemed that it would be best for
her to go to Ida and array herself in rich attire, in the hope that Jove
might become enamoured of her, and wish to embrace her. While he was thus
engaged a sweet and careless sleep might be made to steal over his eyes
and senses.
She went, therefore, to the room which her son Vulcan had made
her, and the doors of which he had cunningly fastened by means of a secret
key so that no other god could open them. Here she entered and closed the
doors behind her. She cleansed all the dirt from her fair body with ambrosia,
then she anointed herself with olive oil, ambrosial, very soft, and scented
specially for herself- if it were so much as shaken in the bronze-floored
house of Jove, the scent pervaded the universe of heaven and earth. With
this she anointed her delicate skin, and then she plaited the fair ambrosial
locks that flowed in a stream of golden tresses from her immortal head.
She put on the wondrous robe which Minerva had worked for her with consummate
art, and had embroidered with manifold devices; she fastened it about her
bosom with golden clasps, and she girded herself with a girdle that had
a hundred tassels: then she fastened her earrings, three brilliant pendants
that glistened most beautifully, through the pierced lobes of her ears,
and threw a lovely new veil over her head. She bound her sandals on to
her feet, and when she had arrayed herself perfectly to her satisfaction,
she left her room and called Venus to come aside and speak to her. "My
dear child," said she, "will you do what I am going to ask of you, or will
refuse me because you are angry at my being on the Danaan side, while you
are on the Trojan?"
Jove′s daughter Venus answered, "Juno, august queen of goddesses,
daughter of mighty Saturn, say what you want, and I will do it for at once,
if I can, and if it can be done at all."
Then Juno told her a lying tale and said, "I want you to endow
me with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring all
things mortal and immortal to your feet. I am going to the world′s end
to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and mother Tethys: they
received me in their house, took care of me, and brought me up, having
taken me over from Rhaea when Jove imprisoned great Saturn in the depths
that are under earth and sea. I must go and see them that I may make peace
between them; they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have
not slept with one another this long while; if I can bring them round and
restore them to one another′s embraces, they will be grateful to me and
love me for ever afterwards."
Thereon laughter-loving Venus said, "I cannot and must not refuse
you, for you sleep in the arms of Jove who is our king."
As she spoke she loosed from her bosom the curiously embroidered
girdle into which all her charms had been wrought- love, desire, and that
sweet flattery which steals the judgement even of the most prudent. She
gave the girdle to Juno and said, "Take this girdle wherein all my charms
reside and lay it in your bosom. If you will wear it I promise you that
your errand, be it what it may, will not be bootless."
When she heard this Juno smiled, and still smiling she laid the
girdle in her bosom.
Venus now went back into the house of Jove, while Juno darted down
from the summits of Olympus. She passed over Pieria and fair Emathia, and
went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of the Thracian horsemen,
over whose topmost crests she sped without ever setting foot to ground.
When she came to Athos she went on over the, waves of the sea till she
reached Lemnos, the city of noble Thoas. There she met Sleep, own brother
to Death, and caught him by the hand, saying, "Sleep, you who lord it alike
over mortals and immortals, if you ever did me a service in times past,
do one for me now, and I shall be grateful to you ever after. Close Jove′s
keen eyes for me in slumber while I hold him clasped in my embrace, and
I will give you a beautiful golden seat, that can never fall to pieces;
my clubfooted son Vulcan shall make it for you, and he shall give it a
footstool for you to rest your fair feet upon when you are at
table."
Then Sleep answered, "Juno, great queen of goddesses, daughter
of mighty Saturn, I would lull any other of the gods to sleep without compunction,
not even excepting the waters of Oceanus from whom all of them proceed,
but I dare not go near Jove, nor send him to sleep unless he bids me. I
have had one lesson already through doing what you asked me, on the day
when Jove′s mighty son Hercules set sail from Ilius after having sacked
the city of the Trojans. At your bidding I suffused my sweet self over
the mind of aegis-bearing Jove, and laid him to rest; meanwhile you hatched
a plot against Hercules, and set the blasts of the angry winds beating
upon the sea, till you took him to the goodly city of Cos away from all
his friends. Jove was furious when he awoke, and began hurling the gods
about all over the house; he was looking more particularly for myself,
and would have flung me down through space into the sea where I should
never have been heard of any more, had not Night who cows both men and
gods protected me. I fled to her and Jove left off looking for me in spite
of his being so angry, for he did not dare do anything to displease Night.
And now you are again asking me to do something on which I cannot
venture."
And Juno said, "Sleep, why do you take such notions as those into
your head? Do you think Jove will be as anxious to help the Trojans, as
he was about his own son? Come, I will marry you to one of the youngest
of the Graces, and she shall be your own- Pasithea, whom you have always
wanted to marry."
Sleep was pleased when he heard this, and answered, "Then swear
it to me by the dread waters of the river Styx; lay one hand on the bounteous
earth, and the other on the sheen of the sea, so that all the gods who
dwell down below with Saturn may be our witnesses, and see that you really
do give me one of the youngest of the Graces- Pasithea, whom I have always
wanted to marry."
Juno did as he had said. She swore, and invoked all the gods of
the nether world, who are called Titans, to witness. When she had completed
her oath, the two enshrouded themselves in a thick mist and sped lightly
forward, leaving Lemnos and Imbrus behind them. Presently they reached
many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, and Lectum where they left
the sea to go on by land, and the tops of the trees of the forest soughed
under the going of their feet. Here Sleep halted, and ere Jove caught sight
of him he climbed a lofty pine-tree- the tallest that reared its head towards
heaven on all Ida. He hid himself behind the branches and sat there in
the semblance of the sweet-singing bird that haunts the mountains and is
called Chalcis by the gods, but men call it Cymindis. Juno then went to
Gargarus, the topmost peak of Ida, and Jove, driver of the clouds, set
eyes upon her. As soon as he did so he became inflamed with the same passionate
desire for her that he had felt when they had first enjoyed each other′s
embraces, and slept with one another without their dear parents knowing
anything about it. He went up to her and said, "What do you want that you
have come hither from Olympus- and that too with neither chariot nor horses
to convey you?"
Then Juno told him a lying tale and said, "I am going to the world′s
end, to visit Oceanus, from whom all we gods proceed, and mother Tethys;
they received me into their house, took care of me, and brought me up.
I must go and see them that I may make peace between them: they have been
quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not slept with one another
this long time. The horses that will take me over land and sea are stationed
on the lowermost spurs of many-fountained Ida, and I have come here from
Olympus on purpose to consult you. I was afraid you might be angry with
me later on, if I went to the house of Oceanus without letting you
know."
And Jove said, "Juno, you can choose some other time for paying
your visit to Oceanus- for the present let us devote ourselves to love
and to the enjoyment of one another. Never yet have I been so overpowered
by passion neither for goddess nor mortal woman as I am at this moment
for yourself- not even when I was in love with the wife of Ixion who bore
me Pirithous, peer of gods in counsel, nor yet with Danae the daintily-ancled
daughter of Acrisius, who bore me the famed hero Perseus. Then there was
the daughter of Phoenix, who bore me Minos and Rhadamanthus: there was
Semele, and Alcmena in Thebes by whom I begot my lion-hearted son Hercules,
while Semele became mother to Bacchus the comforter of mankind. There was
queen Ceres again, and lovely Leto, and yourself- but with none of these
was I ever so much enamoured as I now am with you."
Juno again answered him with a lying tale. "Most dread son of Saturn,"
she exclaimed, "what are you talking about? Would you have us enjoy one
another here on the top of Mount Ida, where everything can be seen? What
if one of the ever-living gods should see us sleeping together, and tell
the others? It would be such a scandal that when I had risen from your
embraces I could never show myself inside your house again; but if you
are so minded, there is a room which your son Vulcan has made me, and he
has given it good strong doors; if you would so have it, let us go thither
and lie down."
And Jove answered, "Juno, you need not be afraid that either god
or man will see you, for I will enshroud both of us in such a dense golden
cloud, that the very sun for all his bright piercing beams shall not see
through it."
With this the son of Saturn caught his wife in his embrace; whereon
the earth sprouted them a cushion of young grass, with dew-bespangled lotus,
crocus, and hyacinth, so soft and thick that it raised them well above
the ground. Here they laid themselves down and overhead they were covered
by a fair cloud of gold, from which there fell glittering
dew-drops.
Thus, then, did the sire of all things repose peacefully on the
crest of Ida, overcome at once by sleep and love, and he held his spouse
in his arms. Meanwhile Sleep made off to the ships of the Achaeans, to
tell earth-encircling Neptune, lord of the earthquake. When he had found
him he said, "Now, Neptune, you can help the Danaans with a will, and give
them victory though it be only for a short time while Jove is still sleeping.
I have sent him into a sweet slumber, and Juno has beguiled him into going
to bed with her."
Sleep now departed and went his ways to and fro among mankind,
leaving Neptune more eager than ever to help the Danaans. He darted forward
among the first ranks and shouted saying, "Argives, shall we let Hector
son of Priam have the triumph of taking our ships and covering himself
with glory? This is what he says that he shall now do, seeing that Achilles
is still in dudgeon at his ship; We shall get on very well without him
if we keep each other in heart and stand by one another. Now, therefore,
let us all do as I say. Let us each take the best and largest shield we
can lay hold of, put on our helmets, and sally forth with our longest spears
in our hands; will lead you on, and Hector son of Priam, rage as he may,
will not dare to hold out against us. If any good staunch soldier has only
a small shield, let him hand it over to a worse man, and take a larger
one for himself."
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The son of
Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon, wounded though they were, set the others
in array, and went about everywhere effecting the exchanges of armour;
the most valiant took the best armour, and gave the worse to the worse
man. When they had donned their bronze armour they marched on with Neptune
at their head. In his strong hand he grasped his terrible sword, keen of
edge and flashing like lightning; woe to him who comes across it in the
day of battle; all men quake for fear and keep away from
it.
Hector on the other side set the Trojans in array. Thereon Neptune
and Hector waged fierce war on one another- Hector on the Trojan and Neptune
on the Argive side. Mighty was the uproar as the two forces met; the sea
came rolling in towards the ships and tents of the Achaeans, but waves
do not thunder on the shore more loudly when driven before the blast of
Boreas, nor do the flames of a forest fire roar more fiercely when it is
well alight upon the mountains, nor does the wind bellow with ruder music
as it tears on through the tops of when it is blowing its hardest, than
the terrible shout which the Trojans and Achaeans raised as they sprang
upon one another.
Hector first aimed his spear at Ajax, who was turned full towards
him, nor did he miss his aim. The spear struck him where two bands passed
over his chest- the band of his shield and that of his silver-studded sword-
and these protected his body. Hector was angry that his spear should have
been hurled in vain, and withdrew under cover of his men. As he was thus
retreating, Ajax son of Telamon struck him with a stone, of which there
were many lying about under the men′s feet as they fought- brought there
to give support to the ships′ sides as they lay on the shore. Ajax caught
up one of them and struck Hector above the rim of his shield close to his
neck; the blow made him spin round like a top and reel in all directions.
As an oak falls headlong when uprooted by the lightning flash of father
Jove, and there is a terrible smell of brimstone- no man can help being
dismayed if he is standing near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing-
even so did Hector fall to earth and bite the dust. His spear fell from
his hand, but his shield and helmet were made fast about his body, and
his bronze armour rang about him.
The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards him,
hoping to drag him away, and they showered their darts on the Trojans,
but none of them could wound him before he was surrounded and covered by
the princes Polydamas, Aeneas, Agenor, Sarpedon captain of the Lycians,
and noble Glaucus: of the others, too, there was not one who was unmindful
of him, and they held their round shields over him to cover him. His comrades
then lifted him off the ground and bore him away from the battle to the
place where his horses stood waiting for him at the rear of the fight with
their driver and the chariot; these then took him towards the city groaning
and in great pain. When they reached the ford of the air stream of Xanthus,
begotten of Immortal Jove, they took him from off his chariot and laid
him down on the ground; they poured water over him, and as they did so
he breathed again and opened his eyes. Then kneeling on his knees he vomited
blood, but soon fell back on to the ground, and his eyes were again closed
in darkness for he was still sturined by the blow.
When the Argives saw Hector leaving the field, they took heart
and set upon the Trojans yet more furiously. Ajax fleet son of Oileus began
by springing on Satnius son of Enops and wounding him with his spear: a
fair naiad nymph had borne him to Enops as he was herding cattle by the
banks of the river Satnioeis. The son of Oileus came up to him and struck
him in the flank so that he fell, and a fierce fight between Trojans and
Danaans raged round his body. Polydamas son of Panthous drew near to avenge
him, and wounded Prothoenor son of Areilycus on the right shoulder; the
terrible spear went right through his shoulder, and he clutched the earth
as he fell in the dust. Polydamas vaunted loudly over him saying, "Again
I take it that the spear has not sped in vain from the strong hand of the
son of Panthous; an Argive has caught it in his body, and it will serve
him for a staff as he goes down into the house of Hades."
The Argives were maddened by this boasting. Ajax son of Telamon
was more angry than any, for the man had fallen close be, him; so he aimed
at Polydamas as he was retreating, but Polydamas saved himself by swerving
aside and the spear struck Archelochus son of Antenor, for heaven counselled
his destruction; it struck him where the head springs from the neck at
the top joint of the spine, and severed both the tendons at the back of
the head. His head, mouth, and nostrils reached the ground long before
his legs and knees could do so, and Ajax shouted to Polydamas saying, "Think,
Polydamas, and tell me truly whether this man is not as well worth killing
as Prothoenor was: he seems rich, and of rich family, a brother, it may
be, or son of the knight Antenor, for he is very like
him."
But he knew well who it was, and the Trojans were greatly angered.
Acamas then bestrode his brother′s body and wounded Promachus the Boeotian
with his spear, for he was trying to drag his brother′s body away. Acamas
vaunted loudly over him saying, "Argive archers, braggarts that you are,
toil and suffering shall not be for us only, but some of you too shall
fall here as well as ourselves. See how Promachus now sleeps, vanquished
by my spear; payment for my brother′s blood has not long delayed; a man,
therefore, may well be thankful if he leaves a kinsman in his house behind
him to avenge his fall."
His taunts infuriated the Argives, and Peneleos was more enraged
than any of them. He sprang towards Acamas, but Acamas did not stand his
ground, and he killed Ilioneus son of the rich flock-master Phorbas, whom
Mercury had favoured and endowed with greater wealth than any other of
the Trojans. Ilioneus was his only son, and Peneleos now wounded him in
the eye under his eyebrows, tearing the eye-ball from its socket: the spear
went right through the eye into the nape of the neck, and he fell, stretching
out both hands before him. Peneleos then drew his sword and smote him on
the neck, so that both head and helmet came tumbling down to the ground
with the spear still sticking in the eye; he then held up the head, as
though it had been a poppy-head, and showed it to the Trojans, vaunting
over them as he did so. "Trojans," he cried, "bid the father and mother
of noble Ilioneus make moan for him in their house, for the wife also of
Promachus son of Alegenor will never be gladdened by the coming of her
dear husband- when we Argives return with our ships from
Troy."
As he spoke fear fell upon them, and every man looked round about
to see whither he might fly for safety.
Tell me now, O Muses that dwell on Olympus, who was the first of
the Argives to bear away blood-stained spoils after Neptune lord of the
earthquake had turned the fortune of war. Ajax son of Telamon was first
to wound Hyrtius son of Gyrtius, captain of the staunch Mysians. Antilochus
killed Phalces and Mermerus, while Meriones slew Morys and Hippotion, Teucer
also killed Prothoon and Periphetes. The son of Atreus then wounded Hyperenor
shepherd of his people, in the flank, and the bronze point made his entrails
gush out as it tore in among them; on this his life came hurrying out of
him at the place where he had been wounded, and his eyes were closed in
darkness. Ajax son of Oileus killed more than any other, for there was
no man so fleet as he to pursue flying foes when Jove had spread panic
among them.
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