The Iliad
Book IV
Now the gods were sitting with Jove in council upon the golden floor while
Hebe went round pouring out nectar for them to drink, and as they pledged
one another in their cups of gold they looked down upon the town of Troy.
The son of Saturn then began to tease Juno, talking at her so as to provoke
her. "Menelaus," said he, "has two good friends among the goddesses, Juno
of Argos, and Minerva of Alalcomene, but they only sit still and look on,
while Venus keeps ever by Alexandrus′ side to defend him in any danger;
indeed she has just rescued him when he made sure that it was all over
with him- for the victory really did lie with Menelaus. We must consider
what we shall do about all this; shall we set them fighting anew or make
peace between them? If you will agree to this last Menelaus can take back
Helen and the city of Priam may remain still inhabited."
Minerva and Juno muttered their discontent as they sat side by
side hatching mischief for the Trojans. Minerva scowled at her father,
for she was in a furious passion with him, and said nothing, but Juno could
not contain herself. "Dread son of Saturn," said she, "what, pray, is the
meaning of all this? Is my trouble, then, to go for nothing, and the sweat
that I have sweated, to say nothing of my horses, while getting the people
together against Priam and his children? Do as you will, but we other gods
shall not all of us approve your counsel."
Jove was angry and answered, "My dear, what harm have Priam and
his sons done you that you are so hotly bent on sacking the city of Ilius?
Will nothing do for you but you must within their walls and eat Priam raw,
with his sons and all the other Trojans to boot? Have it your own way then;
for I would not have this matter become a bone of contention between us.
I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, if ever I want to sack
a city belonging to friends of yours, you must not try to stop me; you
will have to let me do it, for I am giving in to you sorely against my
will. Of all inhabited cities under the sun and stars of heaven, there
was none that I so much respected as Ilius with Priam and his whole people.
Equitable feasts were never wanting about my altar, nor the savour of burning
fat, which is honour due to ourselves."
"My own three favourite cities," answered Juno, "are Argos, Sparta,
and Mycenae. Sack them whenever you may be displeased with them. I shall
not defend them and I shall not care. Even if I did, and tried to stay
you, I should take nothing by it, for you are much stronger than I am,
but I will not have my own work wasted. I too am a god and of the same
race with yourself. I am Saturn′s eldest daughter, and am honourable not
on this ground only, but also because I am your wife, and you are king
over the gods. Let it be a case, then, of give-and-take between us, and
the rest of the gods will follow our lead. Tell Minerva to go and take
part in the fight at once, and let her contrive that the Trojans shall
be the first to break their oaths and set upon the Achaeans."
The sire of gods and men heeded her words, and said to Minerva,
"Go at once into the Trojan and Achaean hosts, and contrive that the Trojans
shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon the
Achaeans."
This was what Minerva was already eager to do, so down she darted
from the topmost summits of Olympus. She shot through the sky as some brilliant
meteor which the son of scheming Saturn has sent as a sign to mariners
or to some great army, and a fiery train of light follows in its wake.
The Trojans and Achaeans were struck with awe as they beheld, and one would
turn to his neighbour, saying, "Either we shall again have war and din
of combat, or Jove the lord of battle will now make peace between
us."
Thus did they converse. Then Minerva took the form of Laodocus,
son of Antenor, and went through the ranks of the Trojans to find Pandarus,
the redoubtable son of Lycaon. She found him standing among the stalwart
heroes who had followed him from the banks of the Aesopus, so she went
close up to him and said, "Brave son of Lycaon, will you do as I tell you?
If you dare send an arrow at Menelaus you will win honour and thanks from
all the Trojans, and especially from prince Alexandrus- he would be the
first to requite you very handsomely if he could see Menelaus mount his
funeral pyre, slain by an arrow from your hand. Take your home aim then,
and pray to Lycian Apollo, the famous archer; vow that when you get home
to your strong city of Zelea you will offer a hecatomb of firstling lambs
in his honour."
His fool′s heart was persuaded, and he took his bow from its case.
This bow was made from the horns of a wild ibex which he had killed as
it was bounding from a rock; he had stalked it, and it had fallen as the
arrow struck it to the heart. Its horns were sixteen palms long, and a
worker in horn had made them into a bow, smoothing them well down, and
giving them tips of gold. When Pandarus had strung his bow he laid it carefully
on the ground, and his brave followers held their shields before him lest
the Achaeans should set upon him before he had shot Menelaus. Then he opened
the lid of his quiver and took out a winged arrow that had yet been shot,
fraught with the pangs of death. He laid the arrow on the string and prayed
to Lycian Apollo, the famous archer, vowing that when he got home to his
strong city of Zelea he would offer a hecatomb of firstling lambs in his
honour. He laid the notch of the arrow on the oxhide bowstring, and drew
both notch and string to his breast till the arrow-head was near the bow;
then when the bow was arched into a half-circle he let fly, and the bow
twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew gladly on over the heads
of the throng.
But the blessed gods did not forget thee, O Menelaus, and Jove′s
daughter, driver of the spoil, was the first to stand before thee and ward
off the piercing arrow. She turned it from his skin as a mother whisks
a fly from off her child when it is sleeping sweetly; she guided it to
the part where the golden buckles of the belt that passed over his double
cuirass were fastened, so the arrow struck the belt that went tightly round
him. It went right through this and through the cuirass of cunning workmanship;
it also pierced the belt beneath it, which he wore next his skin to keep
out darts or arrows; it was this that served him in the best stead, nevertheless
the arrow went through it and grazed the top of the skin, so that blood
began flowing from the wound.
As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to
a piece of ivory that is to be the cheek-piece of a horse, and is to be
laid up in a treasure house- many a knight is fain to bear it, but the
king keeps it as an ornament of which both horse and driver may be proud-
even so, O Menelaus, were your shapely thighs and your legs down to your
fair ancles stained with blood.
When King Agamemnon saw the blood flowing from the wound he was
afraid, and so was brave Menelaus himself till he saw that the barbs of
the arrow and the thread that bound the arrow-head to the shaft were still
outside the wound. Then he took heart, but Agamemnon heaved a deep sigh
as he held Menelaus′s hand in his own, and his comrades made moan in concert.
"Dear brother, "he cried, "I have been the death of you in pledging this
covenant and letting you come forward as our champion. The Trojans have
trampled on their oaths and have wounded you; nevertheless the oath, the
blood of lambs, the drink-offerings and the right hands of fellowship in
which have put our trust shall not be vain. If he that rules Olympus fulfil
it not here and now, he. will yet fulfil it hereafter, and they shall pay
dearly with their lives and with their wives and children. The day will
surely come when mighty Ilius shall be laid low, with Priam and Priam′s
people, when the son of Saturn from his high throne shall overshadow them
with his awful aegis in punishment of their present treachery. This shall
surely be; but how, Menelaus, shall I mourn you, if it be your lot now
to die? I should return to Argos as a by-word, for the Achaeans will at
once go home. We shall leave Priam and the Trojans the glory of still keeping
Helen, and the earth will rot your bones as you lie here at Troy with your
purpose not fulfilled. Then shall some braggart Trojan leap upon your tomb
and say, ′Ever thus may Agamemnon wreak his vengeance; he brought his army
in vain; he is gone home to his own land with empty ships, and has left
Menelaus behind him.′ Thus will one of them say, and may the earth then
swallow me."
But Menelaus reassured him and said, "Take heart, and do not alarm
the people; the arrow has not struck me in a mortal part, for my outer
belt of burnished metal first stayed it, and under this my cuirass and
the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths made me."
And Agamemnon answered, "I trust, dear Menelaus, that it may be
even so, but the surgeon shall examine your wound and lay herbs upon it
to relieve your pain."
He then said to Talthybius, "Talthybius, tell Machaon, son to the
great physician, Aesculapius, to come and see Menelaus immediately. Some
Trojan or Lycian archer has wounded him with an arrow to our dismay, and
to his own great glory."
Talthybius did as he was told, and went about the host trying to
find Machaon. Presently he found standing amid the brave warriors who had
followed him from Tricca; thereon he went up to him and said, "Son of Aesculapius,
King Agamemnon says you are to come and see Menelaus immediately. Some
Trojan or Lycian archer has wounded him with an arrow to our dismay and
to his own great glory."
Thus did he speak, and Machaon was moved to go. They passed through
the spreading host of the Achaeans and went on till they came to the place
where Menelaus had been wounded and was lying with the chieftains gathered
in a circle round him. Machaon passed into the middle of the ring and at
once drew the arrow from the belt, bending its barbs back through the force
with which he pulled it out. He undid the burnished belt, and beneath this
the cuirass and the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths had made; then,
when he had seen the wound, he wiped away the blood and applied some soothing
drugs which Chiron had given to Aesculapius out of the good will he bore
him.
While they were thus busy about Menelaus, the Trojans came forward
against them, for they had put on their armour, and now renewed the
fight.
You would not have then found Agamemnon asleep nor cowardly and
unwilling to fight, but eager rather for the fray. He left his chariot
rich with bronze and his panting steeds in charge of Eurymedon, son of
Ptolemaeus the son of Peiraeus, and bade him hold them in readiness against
the time his limbs should weary of going about and giving orders to so
many, for he went among the ranks on foot. When he saw men hasting to the
front he stood by them and cheered them on. "Argives," said he, "slacken
not one whit in your onset; father Jove will be no helper of liars; the
Trojans have been the first to break their oaths and to attack us; therefore
they shall be devoured of vultures; we shall take their city and carry
off their wives and children in our ships."
But he angrily rebuked those whom he saw shirking and disinclined
to fight. "Argives," he cried, "cowardly miserable creatures, have you
no shame to stand here like frightened fawns who, when they can no longer
scud over the plain, huddle together, but show no fight? You are as dazed
and spiritless as deer. Would you wait till the Trojans reach the sterns
of our ships as they lie on the shore, to see, whether the son of Saturn
will hold his hand over you to protect you?"
Thus did he go about giving his orders among the ranks. Passing
through the crowd, he came presently on the Cretans, arming round Idomeneus,
who was at their head, fierce as a wild boar, while Meriones was bringing
up the battalions that were in the rear. Agamemnon was glad when he saw
him, and spoke him fairly. "Idomeneus," said he, "I treat you with greater
distinction than I do any others of the Achaeans, whether in war or in
other things, or at table. When the princes are mixing my choicest wines
in the mixing-bowls, they have each of them a fixed allowance, but your
cup is kept always full like my own, that you may drink whenever you are
minded. Go, therefore, into battle, and show yourself the man you have
been always proud to be."
Idomeneus answered, "I will be a trusty comrade, as I promised
you from the first I would be. Urge on the other Achaeans, that we may
join battle at once, for the Trojans have trampled upon their covenants.
Death and destruction shall be theirs, seeing they have been the first
to break their oaths and to attack us."
The son of Atreus went on, glad at heart, till he came upon the
two Ajaxes arming themselves amid a host of foot-soldiers. As when a goat-herd
from some high post watches a storm drive over the deep before the west
wind- black as pitch is the offing and a mighty whirlwind draws towards
him, so that he is afraid and drives his flock into a cave- even thus did
the ranks of stalwart youths move in a dark mass to battle under the Ajaxes,
horrid with shield and spear. Glad was King Agamemnon when he saw them.
"No need," he cried, "to give orders to such leaders of the Argives as
you are, for of your own selves you spur your men on to fight with might
and main. Would, by father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo that all were so minded
as you are, for the city of Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands,
and we should sack it."
With this he left them and went onward to Nestor, the facile speaker
of the Pylians, who was marshalling his men and urging them on, in company
with Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, and Bias shepherd of his people.
He placed his knights with their chariots and horses in the front rank,
while the foot-soldiers, brave men and many, whom he could trust, were
in the rear. The cowards he drove into the middle, that they might fight
whether they would or no. He gave his orders to the knights first, bidding
them hold their horses well in hand, so as to avoid confusion. "Let no
man," he said, "relying on his strength or horsemanship, get before the
others and engage singly with the Trojans, nor yet let him lag behind or
you will weaken your attack; but let each when he meets an enemy′s chariot
throw his spear from his own; this be much the best; this is how the men
of old took towns and strongholds; in this wise were they
minded."
Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in many a fight,
and King Agamemnon was glad. "I wish," he said to him, that your limbs
were as supple and your strength as sure as your judgment is; but age,
the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would that it
had fallen upon some other, and that you were still
young."
And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, "Son of Atreus, I too would
gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty Ereuthalion; but the gods will
not give us everything at one and the same time. I was then young, and
now I am old; still I can go with my knights and give them that counsel
which old men have a right to give. The wielding of the spear I leave to
those who are younger and stronger than myself."
Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found Menestheus,
son of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with him were the Athenians loud
of tongue in battle. Near him also tarried cunning Ulysses, with his sturdy
Cephallenians round him; they had not yet heard the battle-cry, for the
ranks of Trojans and Achaeans had only just begun to move, so they were
standing still, waiting for some other columns of the Achaeans to attack
the Trojans and begin the fighting. When he saw this Agamemnon rebuked
them and said, "Son of Peteos, and you other, steeped in cunning, heart
of guile, why stand you here cowering and waiting on others? You two should
be of all men foremost when there is hard fighting to be done, for you
are ever foremost to accept my invitation when we councillors of the Achaeans
are holding feast. You are glad enough then to take your fill of roast
meats and to drink wine as long as you please, whereas now you would not
care though you saw ten columns of Achaeans engage the enemy in front of
you."
Ulysses glared at him and answered, "Son of Atreus, what are you
talking about? How can you say that we are slack? When the Achaeans are
in full fight with the Trojans, you shall see, if you care to do so, that
the father of Telemachus will join battle with the foremost of them. You
are talking idly."
When Agamemnon saw that Ulysses was angry, he smiled pleasantly
at him and withdrew his words. "Ulysses," said he, "noble son of Laertes,
excellent in all good counsel, I have neither fault to find nor orders
to give you, for I know your heart is right, and that you and I are of
a mind. Enough; I will make you amends for what I have said, and if any
ill has now been spoken may the gods bring it to nothing."
He then left them and went on to others. Presently he saw the son
of Tydeus, noble Diomed, standing by his chariot and horses, with Sthenelus
the son of Capaneus beside him; whereon he began to upbraid him. "Son of
Tydeus," he said, "why stand you cowering here upon the brink of battle?
Tydeus did not shrink thus, but was ever ahead of his men when leading
them on against the foe- so, at least, say they that saw him in battle,
for I never set eyes upon him myself. They say that there was no man like
him. He came once to Mycenae, not as an enemy but as a guest, in company
with Polynices to recruit his forces, for they were levying war against
the strong city of Thebes, and prayed our people for a body of picked men
to help them. The men of Mycenae were willing to let them have one, but
Jove dissuaded them by showing them unfavourable omens. Tydeus, therefore,
and Polynices went their way. When they had got as far the deep-meadowed
and rush-grown banks of the Aesopus, the Achaeans sent Tydeus as their
envoy, and he found the Cadmeans gathered in great numbers to a banquet
in the house of Eteocles. Stranger though he was, he knew no fear on finding
himself single-handed among so many, but challenged them to contests of
all kinds, and in each one of them was at once victorious, so mightily
did Minerva help him. The Cadmeans were incensed at his success, and set
a force of fifty youths with two captains- the godlike hero Maeon, son
of Haemon, and Polyphontes, son of Autophonus- at their head, to lie in
wait for him on his return journey; but Tydeus slew every man of them,
save only Maeon, whom he let go in obedience to heaven′s omens. Such was
Tydeus of Aetolia. His son can talk more glibly, but he cannot fight as
his father did."
Diomed made no answer, for he was shamed by the rebuke of Agamemnon;
but the son of Capaneus took up his words and said, "Son of Atreus, tell
no lies, for you can speak truth if you will. We boast ourselves as even
better men than our fathers; we took seven-gated Thebes, though the wall
was stronger and our men were fewer in number, for we trusted in the omens
of the gods and in the help of Jove, whereas they perished through their
own sheer folly; hold not, then, our fathers in like honour with
us."
Diomed looked sternly at him and said, "Hold your peace, my friend,
as I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge the Achaeans forward,
for the glory will be his if we take the city, and his the shame if we
are vanquished. Therefore let us acquit ourselves with
valour."
As he spoke he sprang from his chariot, and his armour rang so
fiercely about his body that even a brave man might well have been scared
to hear it.
As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west
wind has lashed it into fury- it has reared its head afar and now comes
crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest high over the jagged
rocks and spews its salt foam in all directions- even so did the serried
phalanxes of the Danaans march steadfastly to battle. The chiefs gave orders
each to his own people, but the men said never a word; no man would think
it, for huge as the host was, it seemed as though there was not a tongue
among them, so silent were they in their obedience; and as they marched
the armour about their bodies glistened in the sun. But the clamour of
the Trojan ranks was as that of many thousand ewes that stand waiting to
be milked in the yards of some rich flockmaster, and bleat incessantly
in answer to the bleating of their lambs; for they had not one speech nor
language, but their tongues were diverse, and they came from many different
places. These were inspired of Mars, but the others by Minerva- and with
them came Panic, Rout, and Strife whose fury never tires, sister and friend
of murderous Mars, who, from being at first but low in stature, grows till
she uprears her head to heaven, though her feet are still on earth. She
it was that went about among them and flung down discord to the waxing
of sorrow with even hand between them.
When they were got together in one place shield clashed with shield
and spear with spear in the rage of battle. The bossed shields beat one
upon another, and there was a tramp as of a great multitude- death-cry
and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red with blood.
As torrents swollen with rain course madly down their deep channels till
the angry floods meet in some gorge, and the shepherd the hillside hears
their roaring from afar- even such was the toil and uproar of the hosts
as they joined in battle.
First Antilochus slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Echepolus,
son of Thalysius, fighting in the foremost ranks. He struck at the projecting
part of his helmet and drove the spear into his brow; the point of bronze
pierced the bone, and darkness veiled his eyes; headlong as a tower he
fell amid the press of the fight, and as he dropped King Elephenor, son
of Chalcodon and captain of the proud Abantes began dragging him out of
reach of the darts that were falling around him, in haste to strip him
of his armour. But his purpose was not for long; Agenor saw him haling
the body away, and smote him in the side with his bronze-shod spear- for
as he stooped his side was left unprotected by his shield- and thus he
perished. Then the fight between Trojans and Achaeans grew furious over
his body, and they flew upon each other like wolves, man and man crushing
one upon the other.
Forthwith Ajax, son of Telamon, slew the fair youth Simoeisius,
son of Anthemion, whom his mother bore by the banks of the Simois, as she
was coming down from Mt. Ida, where she had been with her parents to see
their flocks. Therefore he was named Simoeisius, but he did not live to
pay his parents for his rearing, for he was cut off untimely by the spear
of mighty Ajax, who struck him in the breast by the right nipple as he
was coming on among the foremost fighters; the spear went right through
his shoulder, and he fell as a poplar that has grown straight and tall
in a meadow by some mere, and its top is thick with branches. Then the
wheelwright lays his axe to its roots that he may fashion a felloe for
the wheel of some goodly chariot, and it lies seasoning by the waterside.
In such wise did Ajax fell to earth Simoeisius, son of Anthemion. Thereon
Antiphus of the gleaming corslet, son of Priam, hurled a spear at Ajax
from amid the crowd and missed him, but he hit Leucus, the brave comrade
of Ulysses, in the groin, as he was dragging the body of Simoeisius over
to the other side; so he fell upon the body and loosed his hold upon it.
Ulysses was furious when he saw Leucus slain, and strode in full armour
through the front ranks till he was quite close; then he glared round about
him and took aim, and the Trojans fell back as he did so. His dart was
not sped in vain, for it struck Democoon, the bastard son of Priam, who
had come to him from Abydos, where he had charge of his father′s mares.
Ulysses, infuriated by the death of his comrade, hit him with his spear
on one temple, and the bronze point came through on the other side of his
forehead. Thereon darkness veiled his eyes, and his armour rang rattling
round him as he fell heavily to the ground. Hector, and they that were
in front, then gave round while the Argives raised a shout and drew off
the dead, pressing further forward as they did so. But Apollo looked down
from Pergamus and called aloud to the Trojans, for he was displeased. "Trojans,"
he cried, "rush on the foe, and do not let yourselves be thus beaten by
the Argives. Their skins are not stone nor iron that when hit them you
do them no harm. Moreover, Achilles, the son of lovely Thetis, is not fighting,
but is nursing his anger at the ships."
Thus spoke the mighty god, crying to them from the city, while
Jove′s redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, went about among the host
of the Achaeans, and urged them forward whenever she beheld them
slackening.
Then fate fell upon Diores, son of Amarynceus, for he was struck
by a jagged stone near the ancle of his right leg. He that hurled it was
Peirous, son of Imbrasus, captain of the Thracians, who had come from Aenus;
the bones and both the tendons were crushed by the pitiless stone. He fell
to the ground on his back, and in his death throes stretched out his hands
towards his comrades. But Peirous, who had wounded him, sprang on him and
thrust a spear into his belly, so that his bowels came gushing out upon
the ground, and darkness veiled his eyes. As he was leaving the body, Thoas
of Aetolia struck him in the chest near the nipple, and the point fixed
itself in his lungs. Thoas came close up to him, pulled the spear out of
his chest, and then drawing his sword, smote him in the middle of the belly
so that he died; but he did not strip him of his armour, for his Thracian
comrades, men who wear their hair in a tuft at the top of their heads,
stood round the body and kept him off with their long spears for all his
great stature and valour; so he was driven back. Thus the two corpses lay
stretched on earth near to one another, the one captain of the Thracians
and the other of the Epeans; and many another fell round
them.
And now no man would have made light of the fighting if he could
have gone about among it scatheless and unwounded, with Minerva leading
him by the hand, and protecting him from the storm of spears and arrows.
For many Trojans and Achaeans on that day lay stretched side by side face
downwards upon the earth.
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