The Iliad

Sing, goddess, the wrath of Peleus' son Achilles,the ruinous wrath that brought ten thousand sorrows on the Achaeans,and hurled down to Hades many strong souls of heroes,and made their bodies themselves the feast of dogsand all birds — and the will of Zeus was brought to pass:from the hour when first the son of Atreus, lord of men, and godlike Achillesstood quarreling, divided. Which of the gods set them fighting?

The son of Leto and of Zeus. He, angered by the king,sicked a wasting plague on the army, and the men died dying,because the son of Atreus had dishonored Chryses the priest.For the priest had come to the Achaean's fast shipsto ransom his daughter, holding wreathed staff and laurel boughof the Far-Shooter, and all the Achaeans pleaded with him,the sons of Atreus above all, the marshal men of both armies.But it pleased the heart of Atreus' son, Agamemnon, to disgrace him.Harshly he sent him away, and laid a heavy word upon him:"Old man, do not let me find you lingering by the hollow ships,now, or coming back later — or the god's wreath and staffwill not save you. Her I will not set free. Old age will take her first,far from her country, in Argos, in my house,where she will work at the loom and share my bed. Go — do not anger me,so you may return in safety." So he spoke, and the old man feared himand obeyed the word, going in silence along the roar of the sea-bank.But when he had gone far from the camp, the old man prayedto Lord Apollo, whom fair-haired Leto bore:"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who stand over Chryse and holy Killa,who rule Tenedos with might — Sminthian, if ever I roofed for you a pleasing shrine,if ever I burned for you rich thighbones of bulls and goats,bring to pass this prayer for me: let the Danaans pay for my tearswith your arrows." So he spoke in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard him.Down from the peaks of Olympus he came, his heart full of fury,the bow and covered quiver on his shoulders; the arrows rattledon the shoulder of the wrathful god as he moved, and his coming was like night.Then he knelt apart from the ships, and let fly — and terriblerang the twang of the silver bow. First he struck the mules and the swift hounds,but then, letting go a piercing shaft at the men themselves, he struck,and the blazing pyres of corpses burned without end.

Nine days the god's arrows went through the army.On the tenth, Achilles called the people to assembly:for white-armed Hera put it in his heart, for she grievedfor the Danaans who died dying. When the assembly formed, the place of speech filled.Up rose the swift-footed son of Peleus and spoke among them:"Son of Atreus — now, I think, we shall go home driven back,if indeed we escape death — if war and plague togetherdo not finish the Achaeans. But come: let us ask some seer,some priest, some reader of dreams — for a dream too is from Zeus —who caused this plague, why Phoebus is so wroth:is it a hecatomb he blames, or a hundred rams? Perhaps he will acceptthe savor of lambs and unblemished goats, and wish to lift this pest from us."So he spoke and sat, and up among them stood Calchas,son of Thestor, by far the best of the bird-readers,who knew the things that are, the things to be, and the things that were,and who had led the ships of the Achaeans to Iliosthrough the second sight Phoebus Apollo gave him. With good will he spoke:"Achilles, dear to Zeus, you ask me to name the Far-Shooter's anger.Then hear me — but I bind you, and swear it first:by this staff, which shall never again sprout leaf and shootnow that it first left its trunk in the mountains, nor grow green again,around which the sons of Achaeans carry justice in their hands,the judges who guard the ordinances of Zeus — such an oath as this:surely you will protect me by ship and word and mighty handwhile I speak what must be, though Agamemnon, lord of men,be angered — though he rule the Argives mightily, and the Achaeans with him."Then the swift-footed, brilliant Achilles answered him:"Take heart; speak out the prophecy you know. By Apollo,beloved of Zeus, to whom you pray, you who reveal the will of the Far-Shooterto the Danaans — no man alive, not one of the Achaeans,while I draw breath among the living and see the light,shall lay a heavy hand on you beside the hollow ships —no, not Agamemnon, who boasts himself the best of the Achaeans."Then the blameless seer took courage and spoke: "It is not sacrifice,not hecatomb, that he blames — but for his priestwhom the son of Atreus dishonored and would not set free.That is why the Far-Shooter gives the people sorrow, and will give it:he will not drive off the loathsome plague from the Danaansuntil we give back the girl with flashing eyes to her father,unpriced, unransomed — and carry a sacred hecatomb to Chryse.Then, appeased, we might move him to change his mind."So speaking he sat down; and among them up stood the hero,son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, grieving,and his dark heart within him filled utterly with fury,and his eyes were like blazing fire. He fixed his glareon Calchas first, and gave him his word of contempt:"Seer of evil: you have never yet told me one good prophecy.You delight in prophecy gone wrong; nothing good ever comes to speech or deed.Now you divine among the Danaans why the Far-Shooter torments us:because I would not take the shining price of the girl Chryseis.For I want her in my halls; I prefer her to Clytemnestra,my wedded wife — for she is no worse in face or statureor mind or handiwork. Still, if she is pleasing, even soI will give her back, if it is better for all: I want the army saved,not destroyed. But prepare me a prize at once, so I aloneam not without honor among the Argives — since it is plainmy prize departs. All of you can see it."Then the brilliant, swift-footed Achilles answered him:"Son of Atreus, most glorious, most covetous of all —how shall the great-hearted Achaeans give you a prize?We know of no great common store lying by. What we wonfrom the plundered cities has been divided; to divide the people's spoils backis not right. Now send her back, this girl, to the god — and the Achaeanswill repay you three and four times over, if Zeus grantsthat we sack great Troy, the well-built city."Then Agamemnon, lord of men, answered him:"Never hope that, brilliant Achilles, nor try to deceive me:you will not seize me or out-speech me. For what joy is it to meif you keep your prize while I sit idle here? Is it this: you meanto keep your own prize and have me sit here short? Or do you meanI must go without and you command me to send her back? No —if the great-hearted Achaeans give me a prize, matched to my liking,equal in worth — if they do not, then I will come myselfand take your prize, or Ajax's, or Odysseus' — and the man I come towill be angry. But of that, we will think later. Come, let a black shipbe dragged to the bright sea, and rowers and oars, and aboard hera hecatomb; and Chryseis of the fair cheeks put aboard, her;and let one man lead her, a counselor — Ajax, or Idomeneus,or brilliant Odysseus, or you, son of Peleus, most violent of men —to make sacrifice to the Far-Shooter and appease the god."Then Achilles, looking darkly at him, answered under his brows:"Ah me, clothed in shamelessness, all cunning: how shall any Achaeanobey your word — march out on campaign, or fight men strongly?I did not come to fight the spear-famed Trojans: they are nooffense to me. They never stole my cattle, never my horses,never, in Phthia the nourishing, the mother of flocks, did they strip my crops —for between us lie the shady mountains and the sounding sea.But you, shameless one, we followed — to win your favor,to win honor for Menelaus, you dog-face, from the Trojans.All this you disregard and forget; and now you threatento strip my prize yourself, for which I toiled hard, which the sons of the Achaeans gave me.Never have I a prize equal to yours when the Achaeanssack a well-walled city of the Trojans: no — the greater part of the hot battle-handsfalls to me; but when the dividing comes, your prize is far greater,while I go back to the fast ships with a small thing, yet dear —when I have wearied myself with fighting. So now I go to Phthia:far better to go home with my beaked ships. I do not thinkI will stay here, heaping up wealth and riches for you,while you sit gathering honor." Then the lord of men, Agamemnon, answered:"Flee, if your heart runs to it. I will not beg you to stay for your sake.There are others who will honor me — above all Zeus the counselor.To me you are the most hateful of the kings Zeus nourishes:always strife is dear to you — wars and battle. What if you are strong?A god gave it to you. Go home with your ships and your men, lord over the Myrmidons.I do not care for you, nor care for your anger. But here is my threat to you:even as Phoebus Apollo is stripping the daughter of Chryses from me,I will take her back with my own ships and my own men:fair-cheeked Briseis. I will go myself to your shelter and takethe blooming prize of war, so you may learn how far I am greater than you,and so another may shrink from speaking as my equal, eye to eye."

So he spoke. And the son of Peleus felt a dark grief, and his heartwithin his shaggy breast turned two ways: should he draw the sharp blade at his hipand scatter the crowd, and kill the son of Atreus — or restrain his furyand master his spirit? While he turned this over in his mind and heart,and drew his great blade from its sheath, Athena camedown from heaven: the white-armed goddess Hera sent her —she loved and cared for both men alike. She stood behind him,caught the son of Peleus by his tawny hair, appearing to him alone;none of the others saw her. Achilles wondered, and turned:and he knew Pallas Athena at once — the terrible gleam of her eyes.Then winged words flew from him: "Why have you come again,child of Zeus who bears the aegis? Is it to watch the outrageof Agamemnon, son of Atreus? I tell you — and I think it will be so —for this arrogance, his own life will be paid."Then the bright-eyed goddess Athena answered him:"I came to check your fury — if only you will obey —from heaven I came; the white-armed goddess Hera sent me,who loves and cares for you both alike. Come, end this quarrel:do not draw your blade against him — wound him with words instead.For this I tell you, and it will come to pass: hereafterthree times as many shining gifts will be heaped on youfor this outrage. Restrain yourself; obey us."Then the swift-footed Achilles answered: "Goddess,a man must follow your word, however angry his heart:so it is better. Whoever obeys the gods — the gods hear him."He spoke, and his heavy hand fell on the silver hilt, and he drovethe great blade back into its sheath, and did not betray the word of Athena.She went to Olympus, to the house of Zeus who bears the aegis,with the other gods; while the son of Peleus went on wounding Agamemnonwith bitter words, and did not yet let his fury go:"You drunkard, with the eyes of a dog and the heart of a deer!Never in your life have you dared to arm for war with your men,or to go into ambush with the best of the Achaeans. No —to you that is death. It is far easier, all along the wide camp of the Achaeans,to steal the prize of any man who speaks against you.King who feed on your people: since you rule men who are nothing,you must be a son of Atreus — else, son of Atreus, this were your last outrage.But I will speak out, and swear a great oath upon it:by this staff — which shall never again sprout leaf and shoot,now that it first left its trunk in the mountains, nor grow green again,around which the sons of the Achaeans carry justice in their hands,the judges who guard the ordinances of Zeus from Zeus —as surely as this shall fail to come back to the woods and earth,even if it is bound with bronze and gold — so surelywill a great thirst for Achilles come upon the sons of the Achaeans:and then your grief will find no cure, though you are sorry,when the war-god's bane cuts down the army, humbled — and you,eaten by your own grief, will grind your heart within you,that you honored the best of the Achaeans not at all."So the son of Peleus spoke, and threw the staff studded with goldand studs to the ground, and sat. And on the other side the son of Atreusblazed. But the sweet-voiced singer Nestor rose between them,the sweet-speaking orator of Pylos, from whose tonguespeech flowed sweeter than honey. Two generations of mortal menhe had seen pass away, who before were born and grew in holy Pylos,and he ruled among the third. He spoke with good will, saying:"Oh — what a great grief has come to the land of Achaea!Priam and Priam's sons would leap for joy,and the other Trojans rejoice in their hearts, if they heardthese two quarreling — you two, the first in counsel,the first in battle. But obey: you are both younger than I.Before now I walked with men better than you,and they never made light of me: for I have seen such men as I shall neversee again — perithous, and Dryas, shepherd of the people,Caineus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus,and Aegeus, son of Aegeus, like the immortals in form.With the strongest of earth's men they walked, with the strongest,against the wild beast of the mountains — and destroyed the wild, savage Centaurs.I was with them, coming from Pylos, a long way off, from a distant land.And they took no counsel against me. Even such as theydid as I counseled, and obeyed my word. But obey: better to obey.Do not take the girl: leave her, as the sons of the Achaeans first gave her,my prize, as I was given a greater. But you, son of Peleus,do not wish to strive against a king, might against might,since the scepter-bearing king, to whom Zeus gave glory,never has an equal honor. And though you are the stronger,and a goddess mother bore you — he is greater: he rules over more.Son of Atreus, hold back your fury. I beg youto set aside your anger against Achilles, who isa great wall of war to all the Achaeans in this sorrow."Then Agamemnon, lord of men, answered him:"Old man, all this you have spoken well and wisely.But this man wants to be above all others; he wants to rule all,to be king over all, to give orders to all — but one will not obey.If the gods, who live forever, made him a spearman — is that whyhe gives us such speeches to hear?" Then the brilliant Achillesbroke in and answered him: "Truly, I would be calleda coward and a nothing, if I yield to you in every word.Lay down other commands to other men; do not order me —I will not obey you any longer. But hear me well, and I say it to you:I will not fight for this girl, not against you nor any other man:you gave — you take her back. But of my other goods, the swift black ships,you shall take nothing by force against my will. Come, if you dare, try the people —let them see. Your own blood will run around my spear."So they spoke to one another in the quarrel. And they stood upand broke the assembly by the ships of the Achaeans. The son of Peleuswent back to his shelter and his well-built ships with the son of Menoetiusand their companions. But the son of Atreus dragged a swift ship to the sea,and chose twenty rowers, and aboard her loaded a hecatomb for the god,and brought aboard Chryseis of the fair cheeks, and put with herthe brilliant Odysseus as leader. These boarded, and sat upon the benches.And Odysseus of many counsels commanded the people to board.They boarded and sat upon the benches, and the oars struck the gray sea.And for us the ships went out over the great gulf of the sea.

But the son of Atreus ordered the army to purify itself.And they purified, and cast the purifications into the sea.And to Apollo they offered full hecatombs of bulls and goatsalong the shore of the barren sea; and the savor reached heaven, winding up in smoke.So they toiled in the army. But Agamemnon did not forgetthe quarrel he had threatened: Briseis of the fair cheeks. He calledTalthybios and Eurybates, heralds and swift messengers, who served him:"Go to the shelter of Peleus' son Achilles: takethe fair-cheeked Briseis by the hand, and lead her here.And if he will not give her, I will come myself, with a greater force,and take her — and it will be worse for him." So he sent them,and laid on them a harsh command. And they went unwillingly along the shoreof the barren sea, and came to the shelters and ships of the Myrmidons.They found him sitting beside his shelter and his black ship.And Achilles saw nothing of them, and they were afraid, and did not salute himwith their words; and he knew them in his heart, and said:"Be welcome, heralds, messengers of Zeus and of men: come near.You are not to blame in my eyes — but the man who sent you:it is Agamemnon, who sent you for the girl Briseis.Go, Patroclus, dear to Zeus, and bring out the girl,and give her to them to lead away. But let the two of them be witnessesbefore the blessed gods, before mortal men, before that hard-hearted king,if ever hereafter there is need of me to beat back shameful ruin.For he rages with a black heart, and does not knowto look before and after, how the Achaeans by their shipsmight fight in safety." So he spoke, and Patroclus obeyedhis dear companion, and led Briseis of the fair cheeks from the shelterand gave her to the heralds to lead away. And she went unwillingly.But Achilles, weeping, went apart from his companionsand sat on the shore of the gray sea, looking out on the winedark water.Stretching out his hands, he prayed to his dear mother:"Mother, since you bore me to a life so short,the Olympian who works from far away should have given me honor —but now he has given me nothing. The son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,has dishonored me: he has taken my prize, and keeps it, tearing it away."So he spoke weeping, and his noble mother heard him,where she sat in the depths of the sea beside her old father.Swiftly she rose from the gray sea, like a mist, and satbefore him as he wept, and stroked him with her hand, and called him by name:"My child — why do you weep? What sorrow has come upon your heart?Speak; do not hide it, so we may both know."Then, groaning deeply, the swift-footed Achilles answered:"You know. Why should I tell the one who knows? We wentto Thebe, the holy city of Eetion, and sacked it, and carried off everything.The sons of the Achaeans divided everything fairly among themselves,and chose for the son of Atreus the lovely-cheeked Chryseis.Then Chryses, priest of the Far-Shooter Apollo, came to the fast shipsof the bronze-clad Achaeans, to ransom his daughter, bringing boundless ransom,holding in his hands the wreathed staff of the Far-Shooter, and the laurel bough,and he begged all the Achaeans — but above all the two sons of Atreus,the marshals of both armies: "Sons of Atreus, and you other well-greaved Achaeans,may the gods who have homes on Olympus grant you to sack Priam's cityand return home safe. But set my daughter free for me, and accept the ransom,out of reverence for the son of Zeus, the Far-Shooting Apollo."Then all the Achaeans shouted assent, to honor the priestand take the shining ransom. But it did not please the heart of Atreus' son,Agamemnon. He sent him off harshly, and laid a heavy word on him.And the old man went away in anger. And Apollo heard him speaking —for he loved him greatly — and sent a sharp arrow against the Argives.Then the men died dying, one after another, and the god's shaftswent through the whole wide army of the Achaeans, everywhere,and the oracles of the god struck down the people without end.But now the Far-Shooter has killed, in anger, the son of Atreus:he sent the good herald straightway to take Briseis.But come — if you know how, protect your own child. Go to Olympusand call upon Zeus, if ever you have gladdened his heart by word or deed.Often I have heard you boasting in my father's halls,saying that you alone, of all the dark-clouded immortals,saved the son of Cronus, lord of the storm-cloud, from shameful ruin:on the day when the other Olympians wished to bind him —Hera, and Poseidon, and Pallas Athena. But you came, goddess,and freed him from his bonds, quickly calling the hundred-handed oneup to high Olympus, whom the gods call Briareos,but all men call Aegaeon — for he is stronger than his father.He sat by the side of the son of Cronus, rejoicing in his glory,and the blessed gods feared him, and did not bind him.Remind him of these things; sit close, hold his knees,and beg him to stand by the Trojans, and pen the Achaeansback among the sterns and the sea, while they are killed dying —so that they may all have use of their king, so that even the son of Atreus,wide-ruling Agamemnon, may know his own blindness:that he honored the best of the Achaeans not at all."Then Thetis answered him, her cheeks wet with tears:"Oh my child! Why did I rear you, born to so much pain?Would that you could sit by the ships without tears, without sorrow:so short is the whole span of your life allotted, and not long —and now, beyond all men, you are doomed to an early death and bitter sorrow.I bore you under an evil fate. But I will speak these wordsto Zeus who delights in thunder, who bears the storm-cloud: perhaps he will hear.But you: stay by your ships, enraged at the Achaeans, and holdaltogether apart from the war. Yesterday Zeus went to Oceanus,to the blameless Ethiopians, at a feast — and all the gods went with him.On the twelfth day he will come back to Olympus, and then I will goto the house of Zeus, bronze-floored, and I will hold his knees,and I think I will persuade him." So speaking, she went away,and left him there, his heart heavy for the fair-girdled woman they had taken,though he did not will it.

But Odysseus came to Chryse with the sacred hecatomb.When they had entered the deep harbor, they furled the sailsand stowed them in the black ship, and lowered the mastswiftly, easing it into its cradle, and rowed her in with oarsto her mooring. They threw out anchor-stones and made fastthe hawsers from the stern; and they went out on the shore of the sea,and carried out the hecatomb to the Far-Shooter Apollo,and set down the daughter of Chryses. And the brilliant Odysseusled her to the altar, and set her in her dear father's hands,and spoke to him: "O Chryses: the son of Atreus, Agamemnon,sent me to bring your daughter here, and to offer to the Far-Shootera sacred hecatomb for the Danaans — so the god may be appeased,who has now sown sorrow and grief upon the Argives."So he spoke, and set her in her father's hands. And the old man rejoiced,and straightway praised the god in words: "I would surely pray to you,lord Apollo, who shoot from afar: may the Achaeans find in youwhat they pray for." So he spoke aloud, and Apollo heard him praying.Then, when they had prayed and scattered barley, they firstdrew back the heads of the victims and cut their throats, and flayed them,and cut slices from the thighbones and wrapped them in fat,double folds, and laid raw meat upon them; and the old man burned themon cleft wood, and poured gleaming wine over them,and beside him the young men held five-pronged forks in their hands.But when the thighbones were burned and they had tasted the innards,they cut the rest into pieces and pierced them with spits,roasting them carefully, and drew all off from the spits.But when the work was done and the meal prepared, they feasted,and every man had his fill of food and drink. And thenthe young men filled the mixing-bowls with wine to the brim,and passed to all men drops in the cups. And all day longthe young men of the Achaeans propitiated the god with singing,singing the beautiful paean, hymning the Far-Shooter;and his heart was glad to hear. But when the sun went downand darkness came on, they laid themselves to sleepby the stern-cables of the ship. But when early Dawnshowed her rosy fingers, they went back to the wide campof the Achaeans. And the Far-Shooter Apollo sent thema fair following wind; and they raised the mast and spreadthe white sails. And the wind filled the belly of the sail,and the bright wave roared loudly about the keel as the ship ran,cutting her way through the waves. But when they came to the wide campof the Achaeans, they drew the black ship up onto the land,high upon the sand, and drove long stays beneath her,and then dispersed, each man to his shelter and his ship.But the son of Peleus, godlike, swift-footed Achillessat by his fast ships, nursing his fury. He did not goto the assembly that brings glory, nor to the field of war,but wasted his dear heart, staying there — and he longedalways for the war-cry and for battle.

But the son of Atreus did not forget the threat he had spokenagainst Achilles — for the Dream had said: arm the host. Hmm — no: nowthe ships of Odysseus had gone to Chryse with the sacred hecatomb,and the army purified itself, and the pyres of the deadburned thick along the shore, and still Achilles sat apart.Not until the twelfth morning did the gods return to Olympus,Zeus leading; and Thetis rose from the gray sea at dawnto keep her son's promise. She found the son of Cronussitting apart on the topmost ridge of many-folded Olympus,and she caught his left knee with her left hand,and his chin with her right, and prayed to Zeus:"Father Zeus, if ever among the immortals I have stood by youin word or deed, grant me this: honor my son,who is doomed to the shortest life of all. Agamemnon,son of Atreus, has dishonored him: he seized his prize and keeps it.But honor him, Olympian Zeus of the counsels: give strength to the Trojansuntil the Achaeans repay my son, and exalt him with great gifts."She spoke; and Zeus the cloud-gatherer sat silent a long time.But Thetis held his knees, and clung, and asked again:"Promise me plainly, and bow your head — or refuse me —so I may know how far the gods dishonor you." And Zeus,greatly troubled, answered her: "It is a sorry business:you will set me against Hera, when she taunts me with her insults.Even now among the immortals she never stops accusing me,saying I help the Trojans. Go now, lest she see you,and leave the rest to me: I will nod my head to you,so you may believe. This among the immortals is the greatestpledge from me: nothing I bow my head to can be recalled,or false, or unfulfilled." The son of Cronus spoke, and benthis dark brows, and the deathless hair of the kingfell forward from his deathless head, and great Olympus shook.So the two parted: she dove from bright Olympus into the deep sea,and Zeus went to his own hall. And all the gods rose togetherfrom their seats before their father: none dared to sit waiting,all stood to meet him. He sat upon his throne; but Hera,seeing, knew at once: silver-footed Thetis, daughterof the Old Man of the Sea, had been scheming with him. At onceshe taunted the son of Cronus: "Which of the gods has beenscheming with you now, schemer? Always it delights youto creep away from me and take secret counsel —and never, even a little, do you willingly tell mewhat you have resolved." And the father of gods and men answered:"Hera, do not hope to know all my words: they are hardfor you, my wife, though you share my bed. But what is fittingfor others to hear, no god or man shall hear before you:what I plan apart from the gods — do not question, do not pry."And the great-eyed lady Hera answered him:"Dread son of Cronus, what a word is this! Before nowI never questioned you, never pried. But nowyou take your ease in counsel without me. For I am afraid:Thetis, daughter of the Old Man of the Sea, silver-footed,rose with you at early dawn — I saw it with my eyes.And now you have nodded yes to her, and promised: to honorher son Achilles, and destroy many beside the ships of the Achaeans."Then Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered: "Madam,you imagine everything, and yet you escape me:you have not heard my plan. But this I say:no immortal, no man, shall learn my mindbefore I bring it to pass — not Hera herself,though she divide all things from me. Be silent, sit by me,and obey my word — lest all the gods in Olympusfail to defend you, when I come nearand lay my unbreakable hands upon you." He spoke;and the great-eyed lady Hera was afraid, and sat in silence,bending her heart. And the gods throughout the house of Zeuswere troubled. Then the famous smith Hephaestus roseto bring comfort to his white-armed mother: "It is ruinous work,this — unbearable. If you two quarrel like this for mortal menand stir the gods to strife, there will be no pleasure in the feast:bad things win. I advise my mother — she knows it in her heart —to be pleasant to our father Zeus, that he may not againscold her and spoil our dinner. For if the Olympian lordof lightning means to bind us all, who can withstand him?Remember the last time: I, striving to save you,caught him by the knees — and he seized me by the footand hurled me from the divine threshold. All day I fell,and at sunset I landed in Lemnos, little life in me.There the Sintian men cared for me when I fell." So he spoke,and the white-armed goddess Hera smiled, and smilingtook the double cup from her son's hand. And he pouredsweet wine for all the gods, left to right,drawing nectar from the bowl. And unquenchable laughterarose among the blessed gods, watching Hephaestus bustlethrough the palace. And so they feasted all day till sunset,and none lacked a fair share, nor failed of the lovely lyrein Apollo's hands, nor the Muses singing with beautiful voices,answering one another. But when the sun's bright light went down,each went home to sleep, each to the housethe famous lame Smith had built for each, with knowledge of his craft.And Zeus, the Olympian lord of lightning, went to his bed,where of old he lay when sweet sleep came upon him. There he climbed,and slept, and beside him lay golden-throned Hera.

All the other gods and men, the horse-helmed warriors,slept all night long; but sweet sleep did not hold Zeus.No, he pondered in his heart how he might do honor to Achillesand destroy many beside the ships of the Achaeans.And this plan seemed best to him in his heart:to send a baneful Dream to Atreus' son Agamemnon.And calling to him he spoke winged words:"Go, baneful Dream, to the swift ships of the Achaeans.Go into the hut of Agamemnon, son of Atreus,and tell him everything exactly as I command you:bid him arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now he might take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for no longer do the immortals who holdtheir Olympian homes take counsel apart; Hera has bent them allwith her pleading, and sorrows hang over the Trojans."So he spoke, and the Dream went when he had heard that word;swiftly he came to the swift ships of the Achaeans,and went to Agamemnon, son of Atreus; and he found himsleeping in his hut, and ambrosial sleep was poured about him.He stood above his head, like the son of Neleus,like Nestor, whom Agamemnon honored most of the elders;in his likeness the divine Dream spoke to him:"You sleep, son of Atreus, breaker of horses, tamer in battle;a man who counsels the people should not sleep all night long,one to whom the hosts are entrusted and so much is a care.Now hear me quickly; I am a messenger from Zeus,who, though far from you, cares greatly for you and pities you.He bids you arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now you might take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for no longer do the immortals who holdtheir Olympian homes take counsel apart; Hera has bent them allwith her pleading, and sorrows hang over the Trojansfrom Zeus. But keep this in your mind, and let no forgettingseize you when honey-hearted sleep lets you go."So speaking he departed, and left him therepondering in his heart things that were not to be fulfilled.For he thought he would take the city of Priam that very day,fool, and he did not know the deeds Zeus was devising;for Zeus was yet to bring pains and groaningson Trojans and Danaans through mighty battles.He woke from sleep, and a divine voice was poured about him;he sat upright and put on his soft tunic,a fair new one, and flung a great cloak about him;under his shining feet he bound fair sandals,and about his shoulders slung a silver-studded sword;he took up the scepter of his fathers, forever imperishable,and with it he went down along the ships of the bronze-clad Achaeans.Dawn, the goddess, went up to great Olympusto tell the light to Zeus and the other immortals;but he ordered the clear-voiced heraldsto summon the long-haired Achaeans to assembly.They summoned them, and they gathered very quickly.First he seated a council of the great-hearted eldersbeside the ship of Nestor, the king born in Pylos;gathering them together he set out his close-packed plan:"Listen, friends: a divine dream came to me in sleepthrough the immortal night; and it was most like to godlike Nestorin form and size and build.It stood above my head and spoke a word to me:'You sleep, son of Atreus, breaker of horses, tamer in battle;a man who counsels the people should not sleep all night long,one to whom the hosts are entrusted and so much is a care.Now hear me quickly; I am a messenger from Zeus,who, though far from you, cares greatly for you and pities you.He bids you arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now you might take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for no longer do the immortals who holdtheir Olympian homes take counsel apart; Hera has bent them allwith her pleading, and sorrows hang over the Trojansfrom Zeus. But keep this in your mind.' So he spoke andwent off, flying away, and sweet sleep let me go.But come, if in any way we may arm the sons of the Achaeans.Yet first I myself will test them with words, as is right,and bid them flee with their many-benched ships;and you, from this side and that, hold them back with words."So he spoke and sat down, and among them roseNestor, who was lord of sandy Pylos,and with good will he spoke in the assembly and said:"Friends, leaders and counselors of the Argives,if any other of the Achaeans had told this dream,we would call it a lie and turn away from it the more;but now he who claims to be far the best of the Achaeans has seen it;so come, let us arm the sons of the Achaeans."So speaking he led the way out of the council,and the sceptered kings rose up and obeyed the shepherd of the people;and the people hurried on.As the swarms of busy bees gofrom a hollow rock, ever coming fresh,and fly in clusters over the spring flowers —some swarm here in throngs, and some there —so from the ships and the huts the many tribes of themmarched in order in front of the deep shorein companies to the assembly; and among them Rumour blazed,Zeus' messenger, urging them to go; and they gathered.The assembly was in an uproar, and the earth groaned beneath themas the people sat down, and there was a clamor; nine heraldsshouting tried to hold them back, if they might everpause from their shouting and hear the god-nurtured kings.With effort the people sat down and were held in their seats,ceasing their clamor; and lord Agamemnon rose upholding the scepter that Hephaestus had labored to make.Hephaestus gave it to Zeus, the lord son of Cronus,and Zeus gave it to the guide, the slayer of Argus;and lord Hermes gave it to Pelops, driver of horses,and Pelops in turn gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the people,and Atreus, dying, left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks,and Thyestes in turn left it to Agamemnon to carry,to rule over many islands and all of Argos.Leaning on this he spoke his words to the Argives:"Friends, heroes, Danaans, servants of Ares:Zeus the son of Cronus has bound me fast in heavy ruin,cruel god, who once promised me and nodded his headthat I should return after sacking well-walled Ilios;but now he has devised a wicked deceit, and bids mecome to Argos in dishonor, since I have destroyed much people.So it must be dear to Zeus the all-powerful,who has broken the heads of many citiesand will yet break more; for his power is greatest.For this is shameful even for men to come and hear:that so great and so many a host of Achaeansshould wage a fruitless war and fightagainst fewer men, and no end has yet appeared.For if we Achaeans and the Trojans were willingto cut faithful oaths and be counted on both sides,and the Trojans be numbered by their hearths, all that there are,and we Achaeans be marshaled into groups of ten,and each group of ten take one Trojan man to pour its wine,many groups of ten would lack a wine-pourer.So many more, I say, are the sons of the Achaeansthan the Trojans who dwell in the city; but there are allies,spearmen from many cities, and theseconfound me greatly and will not let me, though I wish it,sack the well-inhabited citadel of Ilios.Nine years of great Zeus have already passed,and the timbers of the ships have rotted and the ropes are loosed;and our wives somewhere and our little childrensit in their halls and wait for us; but our workis still unaccomplished, the work for which we came here.But come, let us all obey as I shall speak:let us flee with our ships to our dear fatherland;for no longer shall we take wide-wayed Troy."So he spoke, and stirred the heart in the breastsof all of them among the throng, all who had not heard his counsel;and the assembly was moved like the long waves of the sea,of the Icarian sea, which the East Wind and the South Windrouse as they rush down from the clouds of father Zeus.And as when the West Wind comes and shakes a deep field of grain,blowing fiercely over it, and the ears of corn bow down,so their whole assembly was moved; and with a shoutthey rushed to the ships, and dust rose upunder their feet and hung in the air; and they called to one anotherto seize the ships and drag them into the bright sea,and they cleared the launching-trenches; and their cry went up to the skyas they hurried homeward; and they tore the props from beneath the ships.Then a homecoming beyond fate would have been accomplished for the Argivesif Hera had not spoken a word to Athena:"Alas, child of Zeus who holds the aegis, unwearying one,so then they will flee home to their dear fatherland,the Argives, over the broad back of the sea,and they will leave as a boast to Priam and the TrojansArgive Helen, for whose sake many of the Achaeanshave perished in Troy, far from the land of their dear fatherland.But go now down through the host of the bronze-clad Achaeans;with your gentle words hold back each man,and do not let them drag the curved ships to the sea."So she spoke, and the bright-eyed goddess Athena did not disobey,but darted down from the peaks of Olympus;swiftly she came to the swift ships of the Achaeans.Then she found Odysseus, the equal of Zeus in counsel,standing still; he was not touching his black well-benched ship,since grief had come to his heart and spirit;and standing near him bright-eyed Athena spoke:"Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus, Odysseus of many devices,will you indeed flee home to your dear fatherland,falling into your many-benched ships,and leave as a boast to Priam and the TrojansArgive Helen, for whose sake many of the Achaeanshave perished in Troy, far from the land of their dear fatherland?But go now through the host of the Achaeans, and linger no longer;with your gentle words hold back each man,and do not let them drag the curved ships to the sea."So she spoke, and he knew the voice of the goddess as she spoke,and he ran, and threw off his cloak; and Eurybates,the Ithacan herald, who served him, picked it up;and he himself went straight up to Agamemnon, son of Atreus,and received from him the scepter of his fathers, forever imperishable;with it he went along the ships of the bronze-clad Achaeans.Whichever king or man of note he came upon,standing beside him he held him back with gentle words:"My friend, it is not fitting that you be frightened like a coward,but sit yourself down and sit the rest of the people down;for you do not yet clearly know what the mind of Atreus' son is;now he is testing them, but soon he will fall upon the sons of the Achaeans.And not all of us heard what he said in the council.Lest in anger he do some harm to the sons of the Achaeans;for the wrath of god-nurtured kings is great,and their honor is from Zeus, and Zeus the counselor loves him."And whatever man of the people he saw shouting out,he drove him with the scepter and rebuked him with words:"My friend, sit still and hear the word of otherswho are better than you; you are unwarlike and strengthless,never counted in war or in counsel.We Achaeans shall certainly not all be kings here;no good is the rule of many; let there be one lord,one king, to whom the son of Cronus, crooked of counsel, has giventhe scepter and the ordinances, that he may counsel for them."So he, taking command, marshaled the army; and they rushed backto the assembly again, from the ships and the huts,with a roar, as when a wave of the loud-resounding seathunders on a great beach, and the deep echoes.The others sat down and were held in their seats;but Thersites alone, the unmeasured of speech, still kept chattering,who knew in his own heart many disordered words,at random, and not in order, to quarrel with kings,but whatever seemed to him to be laughable to the Argives;he was the ugliest man who came beneath Ilios:he was bandy-legged and lame in one foot; and his two shoulderswere hunched together over his chest; and abovehis head was pointed, and thin wool grew upon it.He was most hateful to Achilles above all, and to Odysseus,for with both he quarreled; and now with godlike Agamemnonhe shrieked sharp insults; and the Achaeanswere violently angry with him and resented him in their hearts.But he, shouting loudly, kept abusing Agamemnon with words:"Son of Atreus, what do you complain of now, and what do you want?Your huts are full of bronze, and many womenare in your huts, chosen out, whom we Achaeansgive to you first whenever we take a city.Or are you still in need of gold, which some Trojanhorse-taming man may bring from Ilios as ransom for his son,whom I might bind and lead away, or another of the Achaeans,or a young woman, to lie with in love,whom you keep apart for yourself? It is not fittingthat you, being a leader, should bring evils on the sons of the Achaeans.You poor fools, base disgraces, Achaean women, no longer men,let us go home with our ships, and leave this manhere in Troy to gorge on his prizes, so that he may seewhether we also fight for him at all or not —he who has just now dishonored Achilles, a man far better than he;for he took his prize and keeps it, having seized it himself.But there is no anger in Achilles' heart; he is forbearing;for otherwise, son of Atreus, you would now have insulted for the last time."So he spoke, abusing Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,Thersites; and godlike Odysseus stood beside him at once,and looking darkly at him rebuked him with a harsh word:"Thersites, reckless of speech, though you are a clear speaker,hold back, and do not wish to quarrel with kings alone;for I say no other mortal is worse than youof all who came with the sons of Atreus beneath Ilios.So you should not carry kings in your mouth as you speak,nor cast insults at them, nor watch for your homecoming.For we do not yet clearly know how these things will be,whether we sons of the Achaeans shall go home well or badly.So now you sit here insulting Agamemnon, son of Atreus, shepherd of the people,because the hero Danaans give him very many gifts;and you speak mocking words.But I will tell you plainly, and it shall be accomplished:if I find you still raving like this again,may the head of Odysseus no longer stand on his shoulders,and may I no longer be called the father of Telemachus,if I do not seize you and strip off your dear clothes,your cloak and your tunic, which cover your shame,and send you weeping to the swift ships,striking you out of the assembly with unseemly blows."So he spoke, and struck his back and his shoulderswith the scepter; and he doubled over, and a great tear fell from him;and a bloody welt rose up on his backfrom the golden scepter; and he sat down and was afraid,and in his pain he wiped away the tear, looking helpless.And they, though grieved, laughed sweetly at him;and one would speak to another, looking at his neighbor:"Oh, surely Odysseus has done countless good things,leading good counsels and setting war in order;but now he has done this, by far the best thing among the Argives,he who has stopped this slanderer, this babbler, from assemblies.Surely his proud spirit will not let him againabuse kings with insulting words."So the crowd spoke; and Odysseus, sacker of cities, rose upholding the scepter; and beside him bright-eyed Athena,like a herald, ordered the people to be silent,so that both the first and the last sons of the Achaeansmight hear his word and understand his counsel.And with good will he spoke to them in the assembly:"Son of Atreus, now indeed the lordly Achaeans wish to make youthe most disgraced of all mortal men,and they will not fulfill the promise which they madewhen they came here from horse-pasturing Argos:that you would return after sacking well-walled Ilios.For like young children or widowed womenthey wail to one another to go home.Truly it is a toil to go home, being distressed;and indeed a man who stays one month away from his wifegrows angry in his many-benched ship, whom the stormsof winter and the troubled sea keep back.But for us the ninth revolving year is hereas we wait in this place; so I do not blame the Achaeansfor being restless beside the curved ships; but even soit is shameful to wait long and return empty.Endure, friends, and stay a while, so that we may learnwhether Calchas prophesies truly or not.For well we know this in our hearts, and you are allwitnesses, all whom the fates of death have not carried off:yesterday and the day before, when the ships of the Achaeansgathered at Aulis, bringing evils to Priam and the Trojans,and we around a spring on the holy altarsoffered perfect hecatombs to the immortalsbeneath a fair plane tree, from which bright water flowed —there appeared a great sign: a snake, blood-red upon its back,terrible, which the Olympian himself sent into the light;darting out from under the altar it rushed to the plane tree.There were the nestlings of a sparrow, tender children,on the topmost branch, cowering beneath the leaves,eight of them, and the mother was the ninth, who bore the children;there he ate them piteously as they chirped;and the mother fluttered about, mourning her dear children;and he coiled and seized her by the wing as she cried.But when he had eaten the sparrow's children and herself as well,the god who had shown him made him conspicuous;for the son of Cronus, crooked of counsel, turned him to stone.And we stood and wondered at what had happened.So when the terrible portents had come to the hecatombs of the gods,Calchas at once spoke, prophesying:'Why have you fallen silent, long-haired Achaeans?Zeus the counselor has shown us this great sign,late, late-fulfilled, whose fame shall never perish.As this snake ate the sparrow's children and herself,eight of them, and the mother was the ninth, who bore the children,so we shall fight for that many years in this place,and in the tenth we shall take the wide-wayed city.'So he spoke; and now all this is being fulfilled.But come, all you well-greaved Achaeans, wait hereuntil we take the great city of Priam."So he spoke, and the Argives shouted greatly, and around them the shipsrang terribly with the shout of the Achaeans,as they praised the word of godlike Odysseus.And among them spoke Gerenian horseman Nestor:"Oh, surely you are talking in assembly like children,infants, who care nothing for the works of war.Where will our covenants and oaths go?In the fire may the counsels and the plans of men be,and the unmixed libations and the right hands in which we trusted.For we quarrel vainly with words, and no remedycan we find, though we have been here a long time.Son of Atreus, do you, holding your unshaken counsel as before,lead the Argives through the strong battles,and let these perish, one or two, who counselapart from the Achaeans; no accomplishment will come of them.But before going to Argos, before learning whetherthe promise of Zeus who holds the aegis is a lie or not.For I say that the all-powerful son of Cronus nodded assenton that day when we embarked in our swift ships,we Argives, bringing slaughter and death to the Trojans,lightening on the right hand, showing auspicious signs.So let no one hurry to go home beforehe has lain with the wife of some Trojan,and taken vengeance for the struggles and the groans of Helen.But if anyone is exceedingly eager to go home,let him touch his own well-benched black ship,so that before the others he may meet death and doom.But you, lord, yourself plan well and be persuaded by another;the word I speak shall not be cast away.Sort the men by tribes and by clans, Agamemnon,so that clan may help clan and tribe help tribe.And if you do this and the Achaeans obey you,then you will know who among the leaders is base, and who among the people,and who is noble; for they will fight in their own companies.And you will know whether it is by divine will that you will not sack the city,or by the cowardice of men and their ignorance of war."Answering him, lord Agamemnon spoke:"Truly, old man, in council you surpass the sons of the Achaeans.Ah, Father Zeus, and Athena, and Apollo,if only I had ten such counselors among the Achaeans!Then the city of lord Priam would soon bow its head,taken and sacked by our hands.But Zeus who holds the aegis, son of Cronus, has given me pains,who casts me into fruitless quarrels and strifes.For I and Achilles quarreled over a girlwith opposing words, and I was the first to be angry;but if we ever take counsel as one, then no longerwill there be any delay of evil for the Trojans, not even a little.But now go to your meal, so that we may join in war.Let each man sharpen his spear well and set his shield well,and let each give his swift-footed horses their meal,and let each look well to his chariot and take thought of war,so that all day long we may contend in hateful war.For there will be no rest at all, not even a little,unless night comes and separates the fury of men.The strap about a man's chest will sweatunder the covering shield, and his hand will grow weary about the spear,and his horse will sweat, drawing the well-made chariot.And whoever I see wanting to hang back away from the battleand linger beside the curved ships, it will not thenbe enough for him to escape the dogs and the birds."So he spoke, and the Argives shouted greatly, as when a waveon a high shore, when the South Wind comes and stirs it,against a jutting rock, which the waves never leaveof all the winds, when they blow this way and that.They rose up and rushed out, scattering among the ships,and they lit fires by the huts and took their meal.And one sacrificed to one of the everlasting gods, another to another,praying to escape death and the onset of Ares.But Agamemnon, lord of men, sacrificed an ox,a fat five-year-old, to the all-powerful son of Cronus,and he called the elders, the best of the Panachaeans,first Nestor and lord Idomeneus,and then the two Ajaxes and the son of Tydeus,and sixth Odysseus, the equal of Zeus in counsel.And Menelaus, good at the war-cry, came of his own accord;for he knew in his heart how his brother labored.They stood around the ox and took up the barley grains;and praying among them spoke lord Agamemnon:"Zeus, most glorious, greatest, who dwell in the dark clouds of the sky,let not the sun go down nor darkness comebefore I cast down the blazing hall of Priamheadlong, and burn its doors with hostile fire,and cut the tunic of Hector about his chestin tatters with bronze; and let many of his comradesabout him lie face down in the dust, biting the ground."So he spoke, and the son of Cronus did not yet fulfill it for him,but he received the offerings and increased his unenviable toil.But when they had prayed and thrown the barley grains,they first drew back the head and cut its throat and flayed it,and they cut out the thigh bones and covered them with fat,making them double, and laid raw pieces upon them;and they burned them on leafless sticks,and spitted the entrails and held them over the fire of Hephaestus.But when the thighs were burned and they had tasted the entrails,they cut up the rest and pierced it on spits,and roasted it carefully and drew it all off.But when they had ceased from labor and prepared the feast,they feasted, and their hearts lacked nothing of the equal feast.But when they had put away desire of drink and food,Gerenian horseman Nestor began to speak among them:"Most glorious son of Atreus, lord of men, Agamemnon,let us no longer now talk here, nor delaythe work any longer, which the god puts into our hands.But come, let the heralds of the bronze-clad Achaeansgather the host, summoning them along the ships,but let us, assembled here, throughout the wide host of the Achaeans,go forward, so that the sooner we may rouse sharp Ares."So he spoke, and Agamemnon, lord of men, did not disobey him.At once he ordered the clear-voiced heraldsto summon the long-haired Achaeans to war.They made the summons, and the men gathered very swiftly.And around the son of Atreus the kings nurtured by Zeusrushed to and fro marshalling them, and with them bright-eyed Athenabearing her honored aegis, ageless and immortal,from which a hundred golden tassels hang,all well-woven, and each worth a hundred oxen;with it she darted flashing through the host of the Achaeans,urging them on, and she roused strength in the heart of each manunceasing, to wage war and to fight.And straightway war became sweeter to them than to returnin the hollow ships to their dear native land.As devouring fire burns over the boundless foreston the mountain peaks, and its gleam is seen from afar,so from the bronze, as they marched, the wondrousall-shining splendor went through the upper air to the sky.And as the many tribes of winged birds,of geese or cranes or long-necked swans,in the Asian meadow about the streams of the Cayster,fly hither and thither exulting in their wings,settling down with cries, and the meadow resounds,so their many tribes poured out from the ships and the hutsinto the Scamandrian plain; and beneath them the earthrang terribly under the feet of the men themselves and of their horses.They stood in the flowery Scamandrian meadow,countless, as many as the leaves and the flowers that come in their season.As the many tribes of thronging fliesthat wander through the shepherd's foldin the season of spring, when the milk drenches the pails,so many long-haired Achaeans upon the plaintook their stand against the Trojans, eager to break them.And as goatherds easily separate the broad flocks of goatsonce they have mingled in the pasture,so did their leaders marshal them here and thereto go into the battle; and among them lord Agamemnon,in eyes and head like Zeus who delights in thunder,in waist like Ares, in chest like Poseidon.As a bull stands out far the foremost of all the herd,for he is conspicuous among the gathered cattle,such did Zeus make the son of Atreus on that day,conspicuous among many and outstanding among the heroes.Tell me now, Muses who hold the Olympian halls,for you are goddesses and are present and know all things,while we hear only rumor and know nothing,who they were, the leaders and lords of the Danaans.The multitude I could not tell nor name,not even if I had ten tongues and ten mouths,and an unbroken voice, and a heart of bronze within me,unless the Olympian Muses, the daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus,should bring to my mind all who came beneath Ilion.But I will tell the leaders of the ships and all the ships together.Of the Boeotians Peneleos and Leitus led,and Arcesilaus and Prothoenor and Clonius,and those who dwelt in Hyrie and rocky Aulis,Schoenus and Scolus and many-ridged Eteonus,Thespia and Graia and spacious Mycalessus,and those who dwelt about Harma and Eilesium and Erythrae,and those who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon,Ocalea and well-built Medeon,Copae and Eutresis and dove-rich Thisbe,and those of Coroneia and grassy Haliartus,and those who held Plataea and those who dwelt in Glisas,and those who held Hypothebae, the well-built citadel,and sacred Onchestus, the shining grove of Poseidon,and those who held grape-rich Arne, and those of Mideaand godly Nisa and Anthedon at the farthest border.Of these fifty ships went forth, and in eacha hundred and twenty young Boeotians embarked.And those who dwelt in Aspledon and Minyan Orchomenus,of these Ascalaphus and Ialmenus were leaders, the sons of Ares,whom Astyoche bore in the house of Actor son of Azeus,a reverent maiden who had gone up to the upper chamberto mighty Ares; and he lay with her in secret.With them thirty hollow ships were arrayed.And of the Phocians Schedius and Epistrophus led,the sons of great-hearted Iphitus son of Naubolus,those who held Cyparissus and rocky Pytho,and godly Crisa and Daulis and Panopeus,and those who dwelt about Anemoreia and Hyampolis,and those who dwelt beside the divine river Cephisus,and those who held Lilaea at the springs of the Cephisus;with them forty black ships followed.These set up the ranks of the Phocians, marshalling them,and close beside the Boeotians on the left they armed themselves.And of the Locrians swift Ajax son of Oileus led,the lesser one, not so tall as Telamonian Ajax,but far smaller; a little man in a linen corselet,yet with the spear he surpassed all the Hellenes and Achaeans,those who dwelt in Cynus and Opoeis and Calliarus,and Bessa and Scarphe and lovely Augeae,and Tarphe and Thronium about the streams of Boagrius;with him forty black ships followedof the Locrians, who dwell across from sacred Euboea.And those who held Euboea, the Abantes breathing might,and Chalcis and Eretria and grape-rich Histiaea,and Cerinthus by the sea and the steep citadel of Dion,and those who held Carystus and those who dwelt in Styra,of these Elephenor led, the offspring of Ares,son of Chalcodon, leader of the great-hearted Abantes.With him the swift Abantes followed, their hair long behind,spearmen eager with outstretched ash spearsto break the corslets on the chests of the enemy;with him forty black ships followed.And those who held Athens, the well-built citadel,the people of great-hearted Erechtheus, whom once Athena,the daughter of Zeus, reared, and the grain-giving earth bore him,and she set him down in Athens in her own rich temple,where the young men of the Athenians propitiate him with bulls and ramsas the years come round in their turning;of these Menestheus, the son of Peteos, led.No man upon the earth was ever like himat marshalling horses and men who bear the shield;Nestor alone could rival him, for he was the elder born;with him fifty black ships followed.And Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis,and leading them he set them where the ranks of the Athenians stood.And those who held Argos and walled Tiryns,Hermione and Asine, which lie upon the deep gulf,Troezen and Eiones and vine-clad Epidaurus,and those who held Aegina and Mases, the young men of the Achaeans,of these Diomedes good at the war-cry led,and Sthenelus, the dear son of famous Capaneus;and with them came a third, Euryalus, a man like the gods,the son of Mecisteus, son of lord Talaus;and over them all Diomedes good at the war-cry was leader;with them eighty black ships followed.And those who held Mycenae, the well-built citadel,and wealthy Corinth and well-built Cleonae,and dwelt in Orneae and lovely Araethyrea,and Sicyon, where Adrastus first was king,and those of Hyperesia and steep Gonoessa,and those who held Pellene and dwelt about Aegium,and all along the Aegialus and about wide Helice,of these a hundred ships lord Agamemnon led,the son of Atreus; with him by far the most and the bestof the hosts followed; and he himself put on the gleaming bronze,exulting, and he stood out among all the heroes,because he was the best and led by far the most men.And those who held hollow Lacedaemon full of ravines,and Pharis and Sparta and dove-rich Messa,and dwelt in Bryseae and lovely Augeae,and those who held Amyclae and Helos, the seaside town,and those who held Laas and dwelt about Oetylus,of these his brother led, Menelaus good at the war-cry,with sixty ships; and apart by themselves they armed.And he himself went among them, trusting in his own eagerness,urging them on to war; and most of all he longed in his heartto avenge the struggles and the groans of Helen.And those who dwelt in Pylos and lovely Arene,and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well-built Aepy,and dwelt in Cyparisseis and Amphigeneia,and Pteleos and Helos and Dorion, where the Musesmet Thamyris the Thracian and stopped him from his singingas he came from Oechalia, from Eurytus of Oechalia;for he boasted in his pride that he would win, even if the Musesthemselves should sing, the daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus.And they in anger made him maimed, and his wondrous songthey took away, and made him forget his lyre-playing;of these Gerenian horseman Nestor led,and with him ninety hollow ships were arrayed.And those who held Arcadia beneath the steep mountain of Cyllene,beside the tomb of Aepytus, where men fight hand to hand,and those who dwelt in Pheneus and Orchomenus rich in flocks,and Rhipe and Stratie and windy Enispe,and held Tegea and lovely Mantinea,and held Stymphalus and dwelt in Parrhasia,of these lord Agapenor, the son of Ancaeus, led,with sixty ships; and many in each shipArcadian men embarked, skilled in war;for Agamemnon, lord of men, himself gave themwell-benched ships to cross the wine-dark sea,the son of Atreus, since the works of the sea were not their concern.And those who dwelt in Buprasium and divine Elis,as far as Hyrmine and Myrsinus at the borderand the rock of Olenus and Alesium enclose within,of these there were four leaders, and with each man tenswift ships followed, and many Epeians embarked.Of these Amphimachus and Thalpius were the leaders,sons, one of Cteatus and the other of Eurytus, the two Actoriones;and over the third led Diores, mighty son of Amarynceus;and over the fourth led godlike Polyxenus,the son of Agasthenes, son of lord Augeas.And those from Dulichium and the sacred Echinaeislands, which lie across the sea facing Elis,of these Meges led, the equal of Ares,the son of Phyleus, whom horseman Phyleus, dear to Zeus, begot,who once removed to Dulichium in anger at his father;with him forty black ships followed.And Odysseus led the great-hearted Cephallenians,who held Ithaca and Neritum quivering with leaves,and dwelt in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips,and those who held Zacynthus and those who dwelt about Samos,and those who held the mainland and dwelt in the lands facing it;of these Odysseus led, in counsel equal to Zeus;with him twelve ships followed, red-cheeked.And of the Aetolians Thoas led, the son of Andraemon,those who dwelt in Pleuron and Olenus and Pylene,and seaside Chalcis and rocky Calydon;for the sons of great-hearted Oeneus were no longer,nor was he himself still alive, and fair-haired Meleager had died;so all things had been entrusted to him, to rule over the Aetolians;with him forty black ships followed.And of the Cretans Idomeneus, famed for the spear, led,those who held Cnossus and walled Gortyn,Lyctus and Miletus and gleaming Lycastus,and Phaestus and Rhytium, well-inhabited cities,and the others who dwelt about Crete of a hundred cities;of these Idomeneus, famed for the spear, was the leader,and Meriones, the equal of Enyalius, the slayer of men;with them eighty black ships followed.And Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, both noble and great,brought nine ships from Rhodes, of the proud Rhodians,who dwelt about Rhodes, marshalled in three divisions,Lindus and Ialysus and gleaming Cameirus;of these Tlepolemus, famed for the spear, led,whom Astyocheia bore to the might of Heracles,whom he brought from Ephyra, from the river Selleeis,after he had sacked many cities of men nurtured by Zeus.And when Tlepolemus had been reared in the well-built hall,he straightway killed his own father's dear uncle,Licymnius, already growing old, the offspring of Ares;and at once he built ships, and gathering a great hosthe went in flight over the sea; for the others threatened him,the sons and the sons' sons of the might of Heracles.And he came to Rhodes, wandering and suffering woes;and they settled in three divisions by tribes, and they were lovedby Zeus, who rules over gods and men,and the son of Cronos poured wondrous wealth upon them.Nireus again brought three well-balanced ships from Syme,Nireus, the son of Aglaea and of lord Charops,Nireus, who came to Ilion the fairest man of allthe other Danaans, after the blameless son of Peleus;but he was a weakling, and few men followed him.And those who held Nisyros and Crapathos and Casos,and Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands,of these Pheidippus and Antiphus were the leaders,the two sons of Thessalus, the son of lord Heracles;with them thirty hollow ships were arrayed.Now again, all those who dwelt in Pelasgian Argos,and those who dwelt in Alos and Alope and Trachis,and those who held Phthia and Hellas, the land of fair women,and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans,of these Achilles was the leader of fifty ships.But they gave no thought to hateful-sounding war,for there was no one to lead them into the ranks;for swift-footed godlike Achilles lay among the ships,angry over the fair-haired maiden Briseis,whom he had taken from Lyrnessus after much toiling,when he had sacked Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebe,and laid low Mynes and Epistrophus, spearmen,the sons of Evenus, son of lord Selepius;over her he lay grieving, and soon he was to rise up again.And those who held Phylace and flowery Pyrasus,the sacred precinct of Demeter, and Iton, the mother of sheep,and seaside Antron and grassy Pteleos,of these warlike Protesilaus ledwhile he was alive; but then the black earth already held him.And his wife was left in Phylace, her cheeks torn with grief on both sides,and his house half-finished; him a Dardanian man killedas he leapt from his ship, by far the first of the Achaeans.Nor were they without a leader, though they longed for their leader;but Podarces marshalled them, the offspring of Ares,the son of Iphiclus, son of Phylacus of many flocks,own brother of great-hearted Protesilaus,younger in birth; and the other was both elder and better,the hero Protesilaus, warlike; and the people lacked nothingof a leader, though they longed for him, good man that he was;with him forty black ships followed.And those who dwelt in Pherae beside the Boebean lake,Boebe and Glaphyrae and well-built Iolcus,of these the dear son of Admetus led eleven ships,Eumelus, whom the most divine of women bore to Admetus,Alcestis, fairest in form of the daughters of Pelias.And those who dwelt in Methone and Thaumacia,and held Meliboea and rugged Olizon,of these Philoctetes led, well skilled in the bow,with seven ships; and in each fifty oarsmenembarked, well skilled with the bow to fight mightily.But he lay on an island suffering grievous pains,in sacred Lemnos, where the sons of the Achaeans left himwasting with the evil wound of the baneful water-snake;there he lay grieving; and soon the Argives were to rememberlord Philoctetes beside the ships.Nor were they without a leader, though they longed for their leader;but Medon marshalled them, the bastard son of Oileus,whom Rhene bore to Oileus, the sacker of cities.And those who held Tricca and rocky Ithome,and those who held Oechalia, the city of Eurytus of Oechalia,of these the two sons of Asclepius were the leaders,good healers, Podaleirius and Machaon;with them thirty hollow ships were arrayed.And those who held Ormenium, and those of the spring Hypereia,and those who held Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus,of these Eurypylus led, the shining son of Euaemon;with him forty black ships followed.And those who held Argissa and dwelt in Gyrtone,Orthe and Elone and the white city of Oloosson,of these Polypoetes, staunch in battle, led,the son of Peirithous, whom immortal Zeus begot;him famous Hippodameia bore to Peirithouson the day when he took vengeance on the shaggy Centaursand drove them from Pelion and pushed them back to the Aethices.Not alone, for with him came Leonteus, the offspring of Ares,the son of high-hearted Coronus, son of Caeneus;with them forty black ships followed.And Gouneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus;with him the Enienes followed and the staunch Perrhaebians,who had set their homes about wintry Dodona,and those who tilled their fields about lovely Titaresius,which sends its fair-flowing water into the Peneus;yet it does not mingle with the silver-eddied Peneus,but flows over it like olive oil;for it is a branch of the dread water of Styx, the river of oaths.And of the Magnetes Prothous led, the son of Tenthredon,who dwelt about the Peneus and Pelion quivering with leaves;of these swift Prothous was the leader,and with him forty black ships followed.These then were the leaders and the lords of the Danaans.Who then was by far the best of them? Tell me, Muse,of the men themselves and of the horses that followed with the sons of Atreus.The horses of the son of Pheres were by far the best,which Eumelus drove, swift-footed as birds,alike in coat, both mares, equal in age, level along the back;the silver-bowed Apollo reared them in Pereia,both female, carriers of the terror of Ares.And of the men by far the best was Telamonian Ajax,so long as Achilles kept his anger; for he was far the greatest,and the horses that carried the blameless son of Peleus.But he lay among the curved sea-crossing ships,raging in anger at Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,the son of Atreus; and his men beside the breaking of the seatook their pleasure in discus and in javelin throwingand with bows; and the horses, each beside his own chariot,cropping the lotus and the marsh-grown parsley,stood still; and the well-covered chariots of the lords layin the huts; and they, longing for their warlike leader,wandered hither and thither through the camp and did not fight.And they marched as though the whole earth were being devoured by fire;and the ground groaned beneath them, as beneath Zeus who delights in thunderin his anger, when he lashes the earth about Typhoeus,in the land of the Arimoi, where they say are the couches of Typhoeus;so the earth groaned mightily beneath their feetas they came; and very swiftly they passed across the plain.To the Trojans came a messenger, swift-footed wind-swift Iris,from aegis-bearing Zeus with a message of grief.They were holding assembly at the doors of Priam,all gathered together, both young and old;and standing near, swift-footed Iris spoke to them,and she likened her voice to that of Polites, the son of Priam,who sat as a lookout for the Trojans, trusting in his swiftness,on the topmost tomb of old Aesyetes,watching for the moment when the Achaeans would set out from the ships;likening herself to him, swift-footed Iris spoke:"Old man, your words are always dear to you and endless,as once in time of peace; but war has risen that cannot be avoided.Truly I have gone into many battles of men,but never yet have I seen such a host as this.For very like leaves or grains of sandthey come across the plain to fight against the city.Hector, to you above all I give this charge, to do as follows:for many allies are throughout the great city of Priam,and the tongue of men scattered far is different for different peoples;let each man give the signal to those over whom he rules,and let him lead them out, having marshalled his townsmen."So she spoke, and Hector did not fail to mark the word of the goddess,and at once he broke up the assembly; and they rushed to arms.All the gates were opened, and the host rushed out,both foot and horse; and a great din arose.There is a certain steep mound before the city,in the plain, apart, running round on either side,which men indeed call Batieia,but the immortals call it the tomb of much-leaping Myrine;there then the Trojans and the allies were marshalled apart.Of the Trojans great Hector of the shining helmet led,the son of Priam; with him by far the most and the bestof the men armed themselves, eager with their spears.And of the Dardanians the noble son of Anchises led,Aeneas, whom divine Aphrodite bore to Anchises,a goddess who lay with a mortal in the foothills of Ida;not alone, for with him came two sons of Antenor,Archelochus and Acamas, well skilled in all battle.And those who dwelt in Zeleia beneath the lowest foot of Ida,wealthy, drinking the dark water of Aesepus,Trojans, of these the shining son of Lycaon led,Pandarus, to whom Apollo himself gave the bow.And those who held Adresteia and the country of Apaisus,and held Pityeia and the steep mountain of Tereia,of these Adrestus led and Amphius of the linen corselet,the two sons of Merops of Percote, who beyond all menknew the arts of prophecy, and would not let his sonsgo to man-destroying war; but the two did not at allobey him, for the fates of black death led them on.And those who dwelt about Percote and Practius,and held Sestos and Abydos and divine Arisbe,of these Asius led, the son of Hyrtacus, leader of men,Asius son of Hyrtacus, whom from Arisbe his horses carried,tawny, huge, from the river Selleeis.And Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgians, spearmen,those who dwelt in Larisa of the rich soil;of these Hippothous led and Pylaeus, the offspring of Ares,the two sons of Lethus the Pelasgian, son of Teutamus.And Acamas and the hero Peiroos led the Thracians,as many as the strong-flowing Hellespont encloses.And Euphemus was the leader of the Ciconians, spearmen,the son of Troezenus, Zeus-nurtured son of Ceas.And Pyraechmes led the Paeonians of the curved bows,from afar, from Amydon, from the wide-flowing Axius,the Axius whose water is the fairest that spreads over the earth.And of the Paphlagonians led Pylaemenes of the shaggy heart,from the land of the Eneti, whence is the breed of wild mules;they held Cytorus and dwelt about Sesamus,and about the river Parthenius they had their famous homes,and Cromna and Aegialus and the high Erythini.And of the Halizones Odius and Epistrophus led,from afar, from Alybe, where is the birth-place of silver.And of the Mysians Chromis led and Ennomus the bird-diviner;but he did not ward off black death by his birds of omen,but was overcome by the hands of the swift-footed descendant of Aeacusin the river, where he was laying waste the Trojans and others.And Phorcys led the Phrygians and godlike Ascaniusfrom far Ascania; and they were eager to fight in battle.And of the Maeonians Mesthles and Antiphus were the leaders,the two sons of Talaemenes, whom the Gygaean lake bore,and they led the Maeonians who were born beneath Tmolus.And Nastes led the Carians of barbarous speech,who held Miletus and the mountain of Phthires with its countless leaves,and the streams of the Maeander and the steep peaks of Mycale;of these Amphimachus and Nastes were the leaders,Nastes and Amphimachus, the shining children of Nomion;and he went to war carrying gold like a maiden,fool, and it did not save him from wretched destruction,but he was overcome by the hands of the swift-footed descendant of Aeacusin the river, and warlike Achilles carried off the gold.And Sarpedon led the Lycians and blameless Glaucus,from far Lycia, from the eddying Xanthus.

But when they had marshalled, each with their own leaders,the Trojans came with clamour and war-cry, like birds,even as the cry of cranes sounds before the face of heaven,which, when they have fled the storm and the measureless rain,fly with clamour toward the streams of Ocean,bringing slaughter and death to the Pygmy men;and in the mist they bring on their evil strife.But the Achaeans came in silence, breathing fury,eager in heart to defend one another.As when the South Wind pours mist upon the mountain peaks,no friend at all to shepherds, but better than night for a thief,and a man sees only as far as he casts a stone,so beneath their feet a whirling dust-cloud roseas they came; and very swiftly they sped across the plain.But when they were near, coming on against one another,godlike Alexandros came forth as champion of the Trojans,wearing a leopard's skin on his shoulders, and curved bows,and a sword; and two spears tipped with bronzehe brandished, and challenged all the best of the Argivesto fight against him in grim battle.Him when Menelaos, dear to Ares, markedcoming out before the throng with long strides,as a lion rejoices when he lights on a great carcass,having found a horned stag or a wild goat,in his hunger; for he devours it eagerly, though swift houndsand lusty young huntsmen press hard upon him,so Menelaos rejoiced when he saw godlike Alexandroswith his eyes; for he thought to punish the transgressor.Forthwith he leapt from his chariot with his armour to the ground.But when godlike Alexandros marked himappearing among the champions, his own heart was struck with dread,and he shrank back into the troop of his comrades, shunning death.As when a man, seeing a serpent in the mountain glens,starts back, and trembling seizes his limbs,and he withdraws, and pallor takes his cheeks,so again Alexandros sank into the throng of the proud Trojans,fearing the son of Atreus, Alexandros of godlike face.Him Hektor rebuked when he saw him, with shameful words:Wretched Paris, best in beauty, mad for women, deceiver,would that you had never been born, or had died unwed!That I would wish, and it would be far betterthan that you should be thus a disgrace and a thing of scorn to others.Surely the long-haired Achaeans laugh aloud,deeming him a champion, because he has a fairshape; but there is no strength in his heart, nor any prowess.Was it being such a man that, in your sea-crossing ships,sailing the sea, gathering your trusty comrades,you mingled with strangers, and brought away a fair woman,from a distant land, a daughter-in-law of warrior men,a great sorrow to your father, and to your city, and to all your people,a joy to your enemies, and a shame to yourself?Would you not then abide Menelaos, dear to Ares?You would know of what a man you hold his blooming wife;your lyre would not help you, nor the gifts of Aphrodite,nor your hair, nor your beauty, when you are mingled with the dust.But the Trojans are great cowards; surely by nowyou would have worn a tunic of stone for the evils you have wrought.Him again godlike Alexandros answered:Hektor, since you have rebuked me rightly, and not beyond what is right,your heart is always like an unyielding axethat goes through timber by a man's hand, who with skillhews out ship-timber, and it furthers the man's stroke;so in your breast is a fearless mind.Do not taunt me with the lovely gifts of golden Aphrodite;the glorious gifts of the gods are not to be cast away,such as they themselves give; no man would choose them of his own will.But now, if you wish me to war and to fight,make the other Trojans and all the Achaeans sit down,and set me in the midst, and Menelaos dear to Ares,to fight together for Helen and all the treasures;and whichever of the two wins and proves the better,let him take all the treasures well and lead the woman home;and let the rest, cutting faithful oaths of friendship,dwell in fertile Troy, and let the others returnto horse-pasturing Argos and Achaea, land of fair women.So he spoke, and Hektor rejoiced greatly hearing the word,and going into the midst he held back the ranks of the Trojans,grasping his spear by the middle; and they all sat down.But the long-haired Achaeans shot arrows at him,aiming with arrows, and hurling stones;but Agamemnon, lord of men, shouted aloud:Hold, Argives; do not shoot, you sons of the Achaeans;for Hektor of the shining helmet promises to say something.So he spoke, and they held from battle and fell silentat once; and Hektor spoke among both hosts:Hear me, Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans,the word of Alexandros, for whose sake the quarrel has arisen.He bids the other Trojans and all the Achaeanslay their fair armour down on the much-nourishing earth,and that he himself in the midst, and Menelaos dear to Ares,alone should fight for Helen and all the treasures.And whichever of the two wins and proves the better,let him take all the treasures well and lead the woman home;and let the rest of us cut faithful oaths of friendship.So he spoke, and they all became hushed in silence;and among them spoke Menelaos, good at the war-cry:Hear me also now; for grief comes mostto my heart, and I deem that they should now be parted,Argives and Trojans, since you have suffered many evilsfor my quarrel and for the beginning made by Alexandros.And whichever of us two has death and fate appointed,let him die; and do you others be parted at once.Bring lambs, one white, the other black,for Earth and Sun; and for Zeus we will bring another;and bring the mighty Priam, so that he may cut the oathshimself, since his sons are overbearing and faithless,lest someone by transgression harm the oaths of Zeus.The minds of younger men are always fluttering;but where an old man is present, he looks both forward and back,so that it may be best for both sides alike.So he spoke, and the Achaeans and the Trojans rejoiced,hoping to cease from woeful war.And they checked their horses by the ranks, and stepped out themselves,and took off their armour; they laid it on the groundclose to one another, and the space between was small.And Hektor sent two heralds to the cityswiftly, to bring the lambs and to call Priam;and lord Agamemnon sent forth Talthybiosto go to the hollow ships, and he bade him bringa lamb; and he did not disobey godlike Agamemnon.And Iris came as messenger to white-armed Helen,likened to the wife of the son of Antenor, her husband's sister,whom lord Helikaon, son of Antenor, had to wife,Laodike, fairest in form of the daughters of Priam.She found her in the hall; and she was weaving a great web,a double-folded purple cloth, and she was embroidering in it many strugglesof the horse-taming Trojans and the bronze-clad Achaeans,which they suffered for her sake at the hands of Ares.And standing near, swift-footed Iris spoke to her:Come here, dear lady, that you may see the wondrous deedsof the horse-taming Trojans and the bronze-clad Achaeans,who before were bringing tearful war upon one anotheron the plain, longing for ruinous war;they now sit in silence, and the war has ceased,leaning on their shields, and beside them their long spears are planted.But Alexandros and Menelaos dear to Areswill fight with long spears for you;and to him who wins you shall be called his dear wife.So speaking, the goddess cast sweet longing into her heartfor her former husband, and her city, and her parents.And at once she veiled herself in shining linenand rushed from her chamber, shedding a soft tear,not alone, for two handmaids followed with her,Aithra, daughter of Pittheus, and ox-eyed Klymene;and quickly then they came to where the Scaean Gates were.And those around Priam, and Panthoos, and Thymoites,Lampos, and Klytios, and Hiketaon, scion of Ares,and Oukalegon, and Antenor, both prudent,sat as elders of the people at the Scaean Gates,now ceased from war through age, but good speakers,like cicadas, which in the forest,seated on a tree, send forth a lily-like voice;such were the leaders of the Trojans sitting on the tower.And when they saw Helen coming up to the tower,softly they spoke winged words to one another:No blame is it that Trojans and well-greaved Achaeansfor such a woman should suffer woes for a long time;she is terribly like the immortal goddesses to look upon.But even so, being such, let her go home in the ships,and not be left a sorrow to us and our children hereafter.So they spoke, and Priam called Helen with his voice:Come here before me, dear child, sit beside me,that you may see your former husband, and your kin, and your friends;you are no cause of blame to me; the gods are the cause to mewho roused against me the tearful war with the Achaeans;so tell me the name of this enormous man too,who this Achaean man is, so goodly and so tall.Indeed others are even taller by a head,but so fair a man I have never yet seen with my eyes,nor so majestic; for he is like a kingly man.Helen, shining among women, answered him with words:Reverend you are to me, dear father-in-law, and terrible;would that evil death had pleased me when I came herefollowing your son, leaving my bridal chamber and my kinand my tender child and my lovely companions of like age.But those things did not happen; therefore weeping I have melted away.And this I will tell you, which you ask and inquire of me:this is the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,both a good king and a strong spearman;and he was my brother-in-law, shameless that I am, if indeed he ever was.So she spoke, and the old man marvelled, and said:O blessed son of Atreus, born of fate, happy and fortunate,surely many sons of the Achaeans are subdued under you.Once I also entered vine-rich Phrygia,where I saw the most numerous Phrygian men with nimble horses,the hosts of Otreus and of godlike Mygdon,who were then encamped beside the banks of the Sangarios;for I too was reckoned among them as an allyon the day when the Amazons, match for men, came.But not even they were as many as the glancing-eyed Achaeans.Second, the old man, seeing Odysseus, asked:Come, tell me, dear child, who this one is;he is shorter by a head than Agamemnon son of Atreus,but broader in shoulders and chest to look upon.His armour lies on the much-nourishing earth,but he himself, like a ram, goes up and down the ranks of men;I liken him to a thick-fleeced ram,that goes through a great flock of white sheep.Then Helen, born of Zeus, answered him:This is Laertes' son, wily Odysseus,who was raised in the land of Ithaca, rugged though it be,knowing all manner of wiles and close counsels.Then Antenor, prudent, spoke to her in answer:Woman, truly you have spoken this word unerringly;for once godlike Odysseus came here tooon an embassy for your sake, with Menelaos dear to Ares;and I entertained them and loved them in my halls,and I learned the stature of both and their close counsels.But when they mingled in the assembly of the Trojans,when they stood, Menelaos overtopped him with broad shoulders,but when both were seated, Odysseus was the more majestic.But when they wove words and counsels before all,Menelaos indeed spoke fluently,few words, but very clearly, since he was not a man of many wordsnor one to misspeak; and he was also younger in birth.But when wily Odysseus sprang up,he would stand and look down, fixing his eyes on the ground,and he did not wield the staff backward nor forward,but held it unwaveringly, like a man without knowledge;you would say he was some sullen man, and simply foolish.But when he sent forth his great voice from his chest,and words like winter snowflakes,then no other mortal could contend with Odysseus;then we did not so marvel at the sight of the form of Odysseus.Third, the old man, seeing Aias, asked:Who then is this other Achaean man, so goodly and so tall,pre-eminent among the Argives in head and broad shoulders?Helen of the long robe, shining among women, answered him:This is the enormous Aias, bulwark of the Achaeans;and Idomeneus stands on the other side among the Cretans like a god,and around him the leaders of the Cretans are gathered.Often Menelaos, dear to Ares, entertained himin our house, whenever he came from Crete.But now I see all the other glancing-eyed Achaeans,whom I could well recognize and tell the name of;but two I cannot see, the marshals of the peoples,Castor, tamer of horses, and Polydeukes, good with the fist,my own brothers, whom one mother bore to me.Either they did not follow from lovely Lacedaemon,or they followed here in the sea-crossing ships,but now do not wish to go down into the battle of men,fearing the shames and the many reproaches that are mine.So she spoke, but the life-giving earth already held themthere in Lacedaemon, in their own dear native land.And the heralds through the city brought the faithful oaths of the gods,two lambs and wine, the gladdening fruit of the field,in a goatskin; and the herald Idaios brought a shining mixing-bowland golden cups;and standing beside the old man he urged him with words:Rise, son of Laomedon, the best men call you,of the horse-taming Trojans and the bronze-clad Achaeans,to come down to the plain, that you may cut faithful oaths.For Alexandros and Menelaos dear to Areswill fight with long spears for the woman;and to him who wins, the woman and the treasures shall follow;and let the rest of us, cutting faithful oaths of friendship,dwell in fertile Troy, and let those others returnto horse-pasturing Argos and Achaea, land of fair women.So he spoke; the old man shuddered, and bade his companionsyoke the horses; and they obeyed readily.Priam climbed up, and pulled the reins back;and beside him Antenor stepped into the very beautiful chariot;and the two drove their swift horses through the Scaean Gates onto the plain.But when they came among the Trojans and the Achaeans,stepping down from the chariot onto the much-nourishing earth,they went into the midst of the Trojans and Achaeans.Then at once Agamemnon, lord of men, rose up,and wily Odysseus; and the noble heraldsgathered the faithful oaths of the gods, and mixed wine in the bowl,and poured water over the hands of the kings.The son of Atreus, drawing the knife with his hands,which always hung beside his great sword-sheath,cut hair from the heads of the lambs; and thenthe heralds distributed it to the best of the Trojans and Achaeans.And among them the son of Atreus prayed aloud, lifting up his hands:Father Zeus, ruling from Ida, most glorious, most great,and Sun, who behold all things and hear all things,and rivers, and earth, and you two who beneath the earthpunish men who have died, whoever swears a false oath,be you witnesses, and guard the faithful oaths.If Alexandros slays Menelaos,then let him himself have Helen and all the treasures,and let us go home in our sea-crossing ships;but if fair-haired Menelaos kills Alexandros,then the Trojans must give back Helen and all the treasures,and pay the Argives such recompense as is fitting,which may also be among men who are yet to be.But if Priam and the sons of Priam are unwillingto pay me recompense when Alexandros has fallen,then I myself will fight even thereafter for the penalty,remaining here, until I reach the end of the war.He spoke, and cut the throats of the lambs with the pitiless bronze;and he laid them on the ground gasping,bereft of life; for the bronze had taken away their strength.And drawing wine from the bowl with cupsthey poured it out, and prayed to the gods who live forever.And thus one of the Achaeans and Trojans would say:Zeus, most glorious, most great, and you other immortal gods,whichever of the two sides first does harm against the oaths,so may their brains flow to the ground as this wine does,theirs and their children's, and may their wives be taken by others.So they spoke, but the son of Kronos did not yet fulfill it for them.And among them Dardanid Priam spoke a word:Hear me, Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans:I indeed am going back to windy Ilion,since I will not endure to see with my eyesmy dear son fighting with Menelaos dear to Ares.Zeus surely knows this, and the other immortal gods,to whichever of the two the end of death is fated.He spoke, and the godlike man placed the lambs in the chariot,and he himself climbed up, and pulled the reins back;and beside him Antenor stepped into the very beautiful chariot.And the two went back toward Ilion;and Hektor, son of Priam, and godlike Odysseusfirst measured out the ground, and thentaking lots they shook them in a bronze helmet,to see which of the two should first let fly his bronze spear.And the people prayed, and lifted up their hands to the gods,and thus one of the Achaeans and Trojans would say:Father Zeus, ruling from Ida, most glorious, most great,whichever of the two brought these deeds about between the two hosts,grant that he, perishing, go down into the house of Hades,and that for us there be friendship and faithful oaths.So they spoke, and great Hektor of the shining helmet shook the lots,looking away; and the lot of Paris leapt out swiftly.Then they sat down along the ranks, where for each manhis high-stepping horses and his dappled armour lay;and he put on his fair armour about his shoulders,godlike Alexandros, husband of fair-haired Helen.First he placed the greaves about his shins,fair ones, fitted with silver ankle-clasps;secondly he put on the corselet about his chest,his own brother Lykaon's; and it fitted him.And he cast about his shoulders a sword with silver studs,of bronze, and then a shield great and sturdy;and on his sturdy head he set a well-made helmetwith horse-hair crest; and the plume nodded terribly above;and he took a sturdy spear, which fitted his palms.So likewise Menelaos, dear to Ares, put on his armour.And when they had armed themselves on either side of the throng,they went into the midst of the Trojans and Achaeans,glaring terribly; and amazement seized those who looked on,both the horse-taming Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans.And they stood near in the measured space,shaking their spears at each other in anger.First Alexandros let fly his long-shadowed spear,and struck the shield of the son of Atreus, even on every side,but the bronze did not break it, and the point was bent backin the strong shield; and he rose up second with the bronze,Menelaos son of Atreus, praying to father Zeus:Lord Zeus, grant that I punish him who first did evil to me,godlike Alexandros, and subdue him beneath my hands,so that even among men born hereafter one may shudderto do evil to a host who offers him friendship.He spoke, and swinging it let fly his long-shadowed spear,and struck the shield of the son of Priam, even on every side;straight through the shining shield went the mighty spear,and it was driven through the richly-worked corselet;and straight on beside his flank the spear cut through the tunic,and he shrank aside and avoided black death.And the son of Atreus, drawing his silver-studded sword,struck, raising it, the horn of the helmet; but about itit broke in three and in four pieces and fell from his hand.And the son of Atreus groaned, looking up to the wide heaven:Father Zeus, no other of the gods is more destructive than you;truly I thought to punish Alexandros for his wickedness;but now the sword is broken in my hands, and the spearhas sped from my palms in vain, and I did not hit him.He spoke, and rushing on caught the horse-haired helmet,and twisted it and dragged him toward the well-greaved Achaeans;and the richly-embroidered strap choked him under his tender throat,which was stretched beneath his chin as the holder of the helmet.And now he would have dragged him and won boundless glory,had not the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, quickly marked it,who broke the strap for him, of a bull slain by force;and the empty helmet followed along with his thick hand.Then the hero whirled it and threw it among the well-greaved Achaeans,and his trusty comrades caught it up;but he sprang back again, eager to kill himwith the bronze spear; but Aphrodite snatched him away,very easily, as a god can, and covered him in thick mist,and set him down in his fragrant, sweet-smelling chamber.And she herself went to call Helen; and she found heron the high tower, and around her the Trojan women were in throngs;and with her hand she caught and shook her nectarous robe,and likened to an old woman born long ago, she spoke to her,a wool-worker, who when she dwelt in Lacedaemonused to work fair wool, and she loved her most;likened to her, shining Aphrodite spoke to her:Come here; Alexandros calls you to come home.He is there in the chamber, on the inlaid bed,gleaming in beauty and in garments; you would not saythat he had come from fighting a man, but rather that he goesto a dance, or that he has just sat down from a dance.So she spoke, and stirred the heart in her breast;and when she marked the goddess's very beautiful neckand her lovely breasts and her flashing eyes,then she marvelled, and spoke a word and named her:Strange goddess, why do you long to deceive me in this way?Will you lead me somewhere further, to some well-peopled city,either of Phrygia or of lovely Maeonia,if there too some man of the mortal races is dear to you?Because now Menelaos has conquered godlike Alexandros,and wishes to lead me, hateful as I am, home,is it for this that you now stand here with deceitful mind?Go sit beside him, and give up the way of the gods,and may you never again turn back to Olympus on your feet,but always grieve for him and watch over him,until he makes you either his wife or his slave.But I will not go there; it would be a thing of shameto serve his bed; and all the Trojan women will blame mehereafter; and I have endless griefs in my heart.Then shining Aphrodite, angered, spoke to her:Do not provoke me, wretch, lest in my anger I abandon you,and hate you as terribly as I have loved you now,and contrive bitter hatreds between both sides,Trojans and Danaans, and you may perish by an evil doom.So she spoke, and Helen, born of Zeus, feared,and went, covering herself with her shining white robe,in silence, and she escaped the notice of all the Trojan women; and the goddess led the way.And when they came to the very beautiful house of Alexandros,the handmaids turned swiftly to their tasks,but she, shining among women, went to the high-roofed chamber.And smiling Aphrodite, taking a chair, brought itand set it down for her facing Alexandros;there Helen sat down, daughter of Zeus who bears the aegis,turning her eyes aside, and she rebuked her husband with words:You have come from the war; would that you had perished there,subdued by the strong man who was my former husband.Surely before you boasted that in your strength and hands and spearyou were better than Menelaos dear to Ares.But come now, challenge Menelaos dear to Aresto fight against him again; but I for my partbid you cease, and not with fair-haired Menelaosto wage opposing war and to fightfoolishly, lest you soon be subdued by his spear.And Paris answered her with words and said:Do not, woman, rebuke my heart with harsh reproaches;for now Menelaos has won with Athena,but I will conquer him in turn; for the gods are with us too.But come, let us delight in love, lying together;for never yet has desire so enfolded my mind,not even when first from lovely LacedaemonI sailed, having seized you in my sea-crossing ships,and on the island of Cranae I mingled with you in love and bed,as now I long for you, and sweet desire seizes me.He spoke, and led the way to the bed; and his wife followed with him.So the two lay down in the pierced bed,while the son of Atreus went up and down the throng like a wild beast,if perhaps he might catch sight of godlike Alexandros.But none of the Trojans or of the famous allies couldthen point out Alexandros to Menelaos dear to Ares;for they did not hide him out of friendship, if any had seen him;for he was hated by them all equally with black death.And among them spoke Agamemnon, lord of men:Hear me, Trojans and Dardanians and allies:the victory is shown to be that of Menelaos, dear to Ares;and do you give up Argive Helen and the treasures with her,and pay such recompense as is fitting,which may also be among men who are yet to be.So spoke the son of Atreus, and the other Achaeans approved.

So the gods sat in council beside Zeusupon the golden floor, and among them lady Hebepoured out the nectar; and they in golden cupsgreeted one another, looking upon the city of the Trojans.At once the son of Cronos sought to provoke Herawith mocking words, speaking sidelong to sting her:Two of the goddesses stand as helpers to Menelaus,Hera of Argos and Alalcomenean Athena.But these two sit apart and look onand take their pleasure; while for him smile-loving Aphroditeever walks beside him and wards off the fates of death,and even now has saved him when he thought to die.Yet the victory is dear-to-Ares Menelaus';but let us take counsel how these deeds shall be,whether once more evil war and dread battlewe shall stir up, or cast friendship between the two hosts.But if somehow this might be dear and sweet to all,then let the city of lord Priam yet be inhabited,and let Menelaus lead Argive Helen home again.So he spoke, and Athena and Hera murmured against it;they sat close beside him, and planned evils for the Trojans.Athena indeed was silent and spoke no word,sullen against father Zeus, and wild anger seized her;but Hera's breast could not hold her wrath, and she spoke:Most dread son of Cronos, what a word have you spoken!How can you wish to make my toil vain and unaccomplished,the sweat I sweated in my labor, and my horses were weariedas I gathered the host, evils for Priam and for his sons.Do it; yet not all we other gods will praise you.Then greatly vexed, Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered her:Strange lady, what have Priam and the sons of Priamdone to you, so many evils, that you rage relentlesslyto sack the well-built citadel of Ilion?If you yourself could pass the gates and the long wallsand eat raw Priam and the sons of Priamand the other Trojans, then might you heal your wrath.Do as you wish; but let this quarrel not hereafterbecome between you and me a great strife for both of us.And another thing I will tell you; lay it in your heart:whenever I too, eager to sack a city,desire one where men dear to you were born,do not delay my wrath, but let me have my way;for I also yielded to you, willing though my heart was unwilling.For of all the cities beneath the sun and the starry heavenwherein mortal men upon the earth have dwelt,among them sacred Ilion was honored by my heartand Priam and the people of Priam of the good ashen spear.For never did my altar lack an equal feastof libation and burnt fat; for that is the honor we have won.Then ox-eyed lady Hera answered him:Three cities are by far the dearest to me:Argos and Sparta and Mycenae of the broad streets;sack these whenever they grow hateful to your heart;before these I do not stand against you, nor begrudge you.For even if I begrudge and do not let you sack them,my grudging accomplishes nothing, since you are far stronger.But my labor too must not be left unaccomplished;for I also am a god, and my lineage is from where yours is,and crooked-counselled Cronos begot me as eldest,both in birth and because I am called your wife,and you rule among all the immortals.Yet in this let us yield to one another,I to you, and you to me; and the other gods will follow,the immortals. So do you quickly charge Athenato go into the dread battle of Trojans and Achaeans,and to try how the Trojans may first, over the oaths,begin to do harm to the far-famed Achaeans.So she spoke, and the father of men and gods did not disobey;at once he spoke winged words to Athena:Go with all speed to the host, among Trojans and Achaeans,and try how the Trojans may first, over the oaths,begin to do harm to the far-famed Achaeans.So speaking he urged on Athena, eager already,and she darted down from the peaks of Olympus.As the son of crooked-counselled Cronos sends a star,a sign to sailors or to the broad host of peoples,a bright one; and from it many sparks fly forth —like this Pallas Athena darted down to the earth,and leapt into the midst; and wonder seized those who saw,both the horse-taming Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans.And thus would one say, looking at his neighbor:Either once more evil war and dread battleshall be, or Zeus is setting friendship between the two hosts,Zeus, who is appointed steward of the war of men.So then would one say, of Achaeans and of Trojans alike.And she, like a man, went down into the throng of the Trojansto Laodocus, son of Antenor, the mighty spearman,seeking godlike Pandarus, if she might find him anywhere.She found the blameless and mighty son of Lycaonstanding; and around him the strong ranks of shield-bearingmen who followed him from the streams of Aesepus;and standing near she spoke winged words:Would you now obey me in something, wise son of Lycaon?Would you dare to send a swift arrow at Menelaus,and you would win grace and glory from all the Trojans,and most of all from king Alexander.From him you would carry off splendid gifts first of all,if he sees Menelaus, the warlike son of Atreus,subdued by your arrow, mounting the painful pyre.Come then, shoot at glorious Menelaus,and vow to Apollo, Lycian-born, famed with the bow,to offer a famous hecatomb of firstborn lambswhen you return home to the sacred city of Zeleia.So spoke Athena, and she persuaded his foolish heart;at once he drew the polished bow of a wild ibexthat he himself had once struck below the chest,waiting for it in ambush as it came out on a rock,and hit it in the chest; and it fell on its back against the rock.Its horns, grown from its head, were sixteen hands long;and a horn-working craftsman had fitted them after smoothing,and after smoothing it all well he set on a golden tip.And he set it down well, after stretching it toward the groundand leaning it aside; and his noble comrades held shields before himlest the warlike sons of the Achaeans leap up beforebefore Menelaus, the warlike son of Atreus, was struck.Then he drew the lid of the quiver and took out an arrow,unshot, winged, the bringer of black pains;and swiftly he fitted the bitter shaft upon the string,and vowed to Apollo, Lycian-born, famed with the bow,to offer a famous hecatomb of firstborn lambswhen he returned home to the sacred city of Zeleia.He drew together, gripping both the notched end and the ox sinew;he brought the string to his breast, and the iron to the bow.But when he had bent the great rounded bow,the bow twanged, the string cried aloud, and the arrow leaptsharp-pointed through the throng, eager to fly.Nor did the blessed gods forget you, Menelaus,the immortals; and first the daughter of Zeus, driver of spoil,who stood before you and warded off the bitter shaft.She held it off from his flesh as much as a motherkeeps a fly from her child when he lies in sweet sleep,and she herself guided it to where the clasps of the belt,the golden ones, held fast, and the doubled corselet met.The bitter arrow fell into the fitted belt;through the cunningly wrought belt it was driven,and through the richly-worked corselet it pressed,and through the belt-guard he wore, a defense of the flesh, a fence against spears,which protected him most; yet through even this it passed.And the arrow grazed the outermost surface of the man's flesh;and at once dark blood flowed from the wound.As when a woman stains ivory with purple dye,a Maeonian or Carian woman, to be a cheek-piece for horses;it lies in the chamber, and many horsemen have prayedto wear it; but it lies as an ornament for a king,both a glory for the horse and a boast for the charioteer —like this, Menelaus, your thighs were stained with blood,your shapely thighs and calves and fair ankles beneath.Then Agamemnon, lord of men, shudderedwhen he saw the dark blood flowing down from the wound;and Menelaus himself, dear to Ares, shuddered too.But when he saw the sinew and the barbs outside,his spirit gathered back again within his chest.Groaning heavily, lord Agamemnon spoke among them,holding Menelaus by the hand, and his comrades groaned with him:Dear brother, I swore oaths for your deathwhen I set you alone before the Achaeans to fight the Trojans,and thus the Trojans struck you and trampled the faithful oaths.Not in vain at all is the oath and the blood of the lambsand the unmixed libations and the right hands in which we trusted.For even if the Olympian has not accomplished it at once,yet he will accomplish it at last, and they shall pay with a great pricewith their own heads, their wives and their children.For I know this well in my mind and in my heart:the day shall be when sacred Ilion shall perishand Priam and the people of Priam of the good ashen spear,and Zeus the son of Cronos, high-throned, dwelling in the upper air,shall himself shake his dark aegis over them all,in anger for this deceit; these things shall not be unaccomplished.But dread grief shall be mine for you, O Menelaus,if you die and fulfill the doom of your life.And I would come to thirsty Argos most disgraced;for at once the Achaeans will remember their native land;and we would leave as a boast to Priam and the TrojansArgive Helen; and the plowland will rot your bonesas you lie in Troy over an unfinished task.And some one of the overweening Trojans will say thus,leaping upon the tomb of glorious Menelaus:Would that Agamemnon might so fulfill his wrath upon all,as now he has led the host of the Achaeans here in vain,and has gone home to his dear native landwith empty ships, leaving good Menelaus.So someone will say; then may the broad earth open for me.Then fair-haired Menelaus spoke, encouraging him:Take heart, and do not yet terrify the host of the Achaeans;the sharp weapon did not stick in a vital place, but before thatthe all-gleaming belt protected me, and beneath itthe waist-guard and the belt-guard, which bronze-working men had made.Then lord Agamemnon answered him:Would that it were so, dear Menelaus;but a healer will smear the wound and lay ondrugs that will stop the black pains.He spoke, and called to Talthybius, the godlike herald:Talthybius, call Machaon here as quickly as you can,the man, son of Asclepius, the blameless healer,so that he may look upon Menelaus, the warlike son of Atreus,whom someone skilled with the bow has shot and struck,of the Trojans or the Lycians — glory for him, grief for us.So he spoke, and the herald did not disobey when he heard,but went along the host of the bronze-clad Achaeanslooking about for the hero Machaon; and he noticed himstanding; and around him the strong ranks of shield-bearingmen who followed him from horse-pasturing Tricca.And standing near he spoke winged words:Rise, son of Asclepius, lord Agamemnon calls you,so that you may look upon Menelaus, the warlike leader of the Achaeans,whom someone skilled with the bow has shot and struck,of the Trojans or the Lycians — glory for him, grief for us.So he spoke, and stirred the spirit in his chest;and they went through the throng along the broad host of the Achaeans.But when they came to where fair-haired Menelaushad been struck, and around him had gathered all the bestin a circle, and he stood among them, a man like a god,at once he drew the arrow from the fitted belt;and as it was drawn out the sharp barbs bent back again.He loosed the all-gleaming belt and beneath itthe waist-guard and the belt-guard, which bronze-working men had made.But when he saw the wound where the bitter arrow had fallen,after sucking out the blood, knowing gentle drugs,he sprinkled on them, which Cheiron once gave his father in kindness.While they tended Menelaus, good at the war-cry,meanwhile the ranks of the shield-bearing Trojans came on;and they again put on their armor, and remembered their battle-fury.Then you would not see noble Agamemnon sleepingnor cowering, nor unwilling to fight,but hurrying greatly into the glory-giving battle.For he left his horses and his chariot inlaid with bronze;and a squire held them apart, snorting,Eurymedon, son of Ptolemaeus, son of Peiraeus;and he charged him very much to hold them near wheneverweariness should seize his limbs as he ranged through many ranks;but he went on foot, ranging through the ranks of men.And those of the swift-horsed Danaans he saw hurrying,them he encouraged greatly, standing beside them with words:Argives, do not yet slacken your furious valor;for father Zeus will not be a helper to liars,but those who first did harm over the oaths —their own tender flesh the vultures shall eat,and we shall lead away their dear wives and infant childrenin our ships, when we have taken their citadel.And any he saw slackening from hateful war,them he would rebuke greatly with angry words:Argives, archers, men of shame, are you not ashamed?Why do you stand thus dumbfounded like fawns,which, when they are wearied running over a great plain,stand still, and no valor comes into their hearts?So you stand dumbfounded and do not fight.Or do you wait for the Trojans to come near, where the shipswith good sterns are drawn up on the shore of the gray sea,so that you may see whether the son of Cronos holds his hand over you?So he, ranging as lord, went through the ranks of men;and he came to the Cretans, going through the throng of men.And they were arming around the wise Idomeneus;Idomeneus among the foremost fighters, like a boar in valor,and Meriones urging on the hindmost ranks.Seeing them, Agamemnon, lord of men, rejoiced,and at once spoke to Idomeneus with gentle words:Idomeneus, I honor you above the swift-horsed Danaansboth in war and in other work,and at the feast, when the elders' flaming winethe best of the Argives mix in the bowl.For even if the other long-haired Achaeansdrink their measured cup, your cup always standsfuller, as mine does, to drink when your heart bids.But rouse yourself to war, such as you claim to have been before.Then Idomeneus, leader of the Cretans, answered him:Son of Atreus, I shall be a very trusty comradeto you, as I first promised and nodded assent;but rouse the other long-haired Achaeansso that we may fight as quickly as possible, since the Trojans have poured outthe oaths; and for them death and sorrows hereaftershall be, since they first did harm over the oaths.So he spoke, and the son of Atreus passed on, glad at heart.He came to the Ajaxes, going through the throng of men;and the two were arming, and with them followed a cloud of footmen.As when from a lookout a goatherd sees a cloudcoming over the deep under the onset of the West Wind;and to him, being far off, it seems blacker than pitchas it comes over the deep, and it brings a great squall,and he shudders at the sight, and drives his flock under a cave —like this, with the Ajaxes, of Zeus-nourished young menthe dense phalanxes moved into hostile war,dark, bristling with shields and with spears.And seeing them, lord Agamemnon rejoiced,and speaking he addressed them with winged words:Ajaxes, leaders of the bronze-clad Argives,you two — for it is not fitting to urge you, and I do not command it —for you yourselves bid the host fight mightily.O father Zeus, and Athena, and Apollo,may such a spirit be in the breasts of all;then the city of lord Priam would soon sinktaken and sacked beneath our hands.So speaking he left them there, and went on to others;there he found Nestor, the clear-voiced orator of the Pylians,marshalling his comrades and urging them to fight,around great Pelagon and Alastor and Chromiusand lord Haemon and Bias, shepherd of the people;first he set the horsemen with their horses and chariots,and behind them he set the footmen, many and brave,to be a fence of war; and the cowards he drove into the middle,so that even one unwilling might fight from necessity.First he charged the horsemen; for he bade themhold their swift horses in check and not be thrown into confusion in the crowd:and let no one, trusting in his horsemanship and his valor,be eager to fight the Trojans alone before the others,nor fall back; for you will be the weaker.And whichever man comes from his own chariot to another's,let him thrust with his spear, for thus it is far better.Thus did men of old sack cities and walls,holding this mind and spirit in their breasts.So the old man urged them, long skilled in wars;and seeing him, lord Agamemnon rejoiced,and speaking he addressed him with winged words:Old man, would that as your spirit is in your dear breast,so your knees might follow, and your strength be steadfast;but hateful old age wears you down. Would that some otherof men had it, and you were among the younger men.Then the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:Son of Atreus, I too would very much wishto be as I was when I killed noble Ereuthalion.But the gods did not give all things at once to men:if I was young then, now old age attends me.But even so I will be among the horsemen and will command themwith counsel and with words; for that is the honor of the old.The spears are wielded by the younger men, who areborn later than I and trust in their strength.So he spoke, and the son of Atreus passed on, glad at heart.He found Menestheus, son of Peteos, driver of horses,standing; and around him the Athenians, masters of the war-cry;and close by stood Odysseus of many devices,and beside him the ranks of the Cephallenians, not weak,stood; for as yet the host had not heard the war-cry,but newly moving together the phalanxes stirred,of the horse-taming Trojans and the Achaeans; and they waited, standing,for when another tower of Achaeans should come onand charge the Trojans and begin the war.Seeing them, Agamemnon, lord of men, rebuked them,and speaking he addressed them with winged words:Son of Peteos, Zeus-nourished king,and you, schooled in evil tricks, crafty-minded,why do you cower apart and wait for others?It would befit you two, being among the foremost,to stand and face the burning battle;for you two are the first to hear of my feast,whenever we Achaeans prepare a feast for the elders.Then you love to eat roast meats and to drinkcups of honey-sweet wine as long as you wish;but now you would gladly look on though ten towers of Achaeansshould fight before you with pitiless bronze.Then looking at him from under his brows, Odysseus of many devices said:Son of Atreus, what word has escaped the fence of your teeth?How can you say that we hold back from war, when we Achaeansare rousing sharp Ares against the horse-taming Trojans?You will see, if you wish and if these things are your concern,the dear father of Telemachus mingled with the foremost fightersof the horse-taming Trojans; but you speak these words idly.Then lord Agamemnon spoke with a smile,when he knew he was angry; and he took back his word:Zeus-born son of Laertes, Odysseus of many wiles,I neither rebuke you beyond measure nor command you;for I know that in your dear breast your heartknows gentle counsels; for you think the very things I think.But come, we will make these things right afterward, if any evil nowhas been spoken, and may the gods make it all as if it had never been.So speaking he left them there, and went on to others.He found the son of Tydeus, high-spirited Diomedes,standing among his horses and well-jointed chariots;and beside him stood Sthenelus, son of Capaneus.And seeing him, lord Agamemnon rebuked him,and speaking he addressed him with winged words:Alas, son of wise horse-taming Tydeus,why do you cower, why do you peer at the bridges of war?It was not dear to Tydeus to cower thus,but to fight the foe far before his dear comrades;so said those who saw him toiling; for I myselfnever met him nor saw him; but they say he surpassed the others.For indeed he came to Mycenae apart from waras a guest with godlike Polynices, gathering a host;for they were then marching against the sacred walls of Thebes,and they were begging greatly to be given famous allies;and they were willing to give and approved as they urged;but Zeus turned them aside, showing baleful signs.And when they had gone and were on their way,and came to the Asopus, deep with rushes and grassy with beds,there again the Achaeans sent Tydeus as a messenger.And he went, and found many Cadmeiansfeasting through the hall of the might of Eteocles.There, though a guest, the horseman Tydeusdid not fear, being alone among many Cadmeians,but he challenged them to contests, and won them alleasily; such a helper was Athena to him.Then the Cadmeians, angered, goaders of horses,as he went back set a close ambush, leadingfifty young men; and there were two leaders,Maeon, son of Haemon, like the immortals,and the son of Autophonos, steadfast-in-war Polyphontes.Tydeus dealt them an unseemly doom:he killed them all, and sent only one to go home —he sent Maeon forth, obeying the signs of the gods.Such was Tydeus of Aetolia; but his sonhe begot worse than himself in battle, but better in the assembly.So he spoke, and strong Diomedes said nothing to him,ashamed at the reproof of the revered king;but the son of glorious Capaneus answered him:Son of Atreus, do not lie when you know how to speak clearly;we claim to be far better than our fathers;we even took the seat of seven-gated Thebes,having led a smaller host beneath a stronger wall,trusting in the signs of the gods and the help of Zeus;but those men perished through their own recklessness;so never put our fathers in the same honor as us.Then looking at him from under his brows, strong Diomedes said:Friend, sit in silence and obey my word;for I do not blame Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,for urging the well-greaved Achaeans to fight;for glory will follow him if the Achaeanscut down the Trojans and take sacred Ilion,and great grief for him if the Achaeans are cut down.But come, let us two also take thought for furious valor.He spoke, and with his armor leapt from the chariot to the ground;and the bronze rang terribly upon the chest of the lordas he rose; fear would have seized even a steadfast-hearted man.As when on the loud-resounding shore a wave of the searises one after another when the West Wind has stirred it;on the deep it first crests, but thenbreaking on the land it roars loudly, and around the headlandsbeing curved it towers up, and spits out the brine of the sea —so then the phalanxes of the Danaans moved one after anotherceaselessly to war; and each of the leaders called to his own;and the others went in silence, nor would you thinkthat so great a host followed with a voice in their breasts,in silence fearing their commanders; and on all sidestheir varied armor shone, in which clad they marched.But the Trojans, as sheep in the yard of a man of great possessionsstand countless, being milked for white milk,bleating incessantly as they hear the voice of the lambs —so rose the war-cry of the Trojans through the broad host;for not all had the same voice nor one speech,but their tongue was mixed, being men called from many lands.Ares roused some, and owl-eyed Athena others,and Terror and Fear and Strife insatiably eager,sister and companion of man-slaying Ares,who at first rears her head small, but thenplants her head in the sky and walks upon the earth;she even then cast hateful strife into their midst,going through the throng, increasing the groaning of men.But when they came together into one place,they dashed together their shields, and their spears, and the fury of menin bronze corselets; and the bossed shieldsclashed against one another, and a great din arose.Then there was at once lamentation and boasting of men,of slayers and of the slain, and the earth ran with blood.As when winter torrents flowing down the mountainspour their violent water together into a merging gorgefrom great springs inside a hollow ravine,and a shepherd hears their roar far off in the mountains —so of them mingling there arose a cry and a toil.First Antilochus slew a helmeted man of the Trojans,noble among the foremost, Echepolus son of Thalysius;he struck him first on the ridge of his horse-haired helmet,and fixed it in his forehead, and the bronze spear pointpierced through the bone within; and darkness covered his eyes,and he fell as a tower falls in the strong clash of battle.As he fell, lord Elephenor seized him by the feet,son of Chalcodon, leader of the great-hearted Abantes,and dragged him out from under the missiles, eager to striphis armor as quickly as possible; but his onset was short-lived.For seeing him dragging the corpse, great-hearted Agenor,struck him in the side, which showed beside the shield as he stooped,with a bronze-pointed spear, and loosed his limbs.So his life left him, and over him the work of battlegrew grievous for Trojans and Achaeans; and like wolvesthey rushed at one another, and man clashed with man.Then Telamonian Ajax struck the son of Anthemion,the blooming youth Simoeisius, whom once his motherbore as she came down from Ida beside the banks of the Simoeis,when she followed with her parents to look at the flocks;therefore they called him Simoeisius; and he did not repayhis dear parents for their rearing, and his life was shortas he was subdued by the spear of great-hearted Ajax.For as he came first he struck him on the chest by the right breast,and clean through his shoulder the bronze spearwent; and he fell to the ground in the dust like a black poplarthat has grown in the meadow of a great marsh,smooth, but whose branches grow at the very top;which a chariot-making man cuts with shining iron,to bend a rim for a very beautiful chariot;and it lies drying beside the banks of the river.Such then was Anthemion's son Simoeisius, whom Zeus-bornAjax stripped; and at him Antiphus of the gleaming corselet,son of Priam, cast with his sharp spear through the throng.He missed him, but struck Leucus, the noble comrade of Odysseus,in the groin, as he was dragging a corpse aside;and he fell over him, and the corpse dropped from his hand.At him, slain, Odysseus was greatly angered in his heart,and he went through the foremost fighters, armed in blazing bronze,and came very near and stood, and cast with his shining spearafter glancing around him; and the Trojans shrank backfrom the man who had cast; and he did not hurl the shaft in vain,but struck the bastard son of Priam, Democoon,who had come to him from Abydos, from his swift mares.Him Odysseus, angered for his comrade, struck with his spearon the temple; and the bronze point passed through the other templeand darkness covered his eyes,and he fell with a thud, and his armor clattered upon him.Then the foremost fighters gave way, and glorious Hector too;and the Argives shouted aloud and dragged away the dead,and pressed far forward; but Apollo was angered,looking down from Pergamus, and he called to the Trojans, crying:Rouse yourselves, horse-taming Trojans, and do not yield the battleto the Argives, since their flesh is not stone nor ironto withstand the bronze that cuts the flesh when they are struck;and indeed Achilles, son of lovely-haired Thetis,is not fighting, but by the ships he digests his heart-grieving wrath.So spoke the dread god from the city; but the Achaeansthe daughter of Zeus, most glorious Tritogeneia, roused,going through the throng wherever she saw them slackening.Then fate bound Dioreus, son of Amarynceus:for he was struck with a jagged stone beside the ankle,on the right shin; and the leader of the Thracian men struck it,Peiroos son of Imbrasus, who had come from Aenus.Both the tendons and the bones the shameless stonecrushed utterly; and he fell on his back in the dust,stretching out both hands to his dear comrades,breathing out his life; and he who had struck him ran up,Peiroos, and stabbed him with his spear beside the navel; and allhis guts poured to the ground, and darkness covered his eyes.Then Thoas the Aetolian struck him as he rushed away with his spearin the chest above the nipple, and the bronze stuck in his lung;and Thoas came close to him, and drew out the mighty spearfrom his chest, and drew his sharp sword,and with it he smote him in the middle of the belly, and took away his life.But he did not strip his armor; for his comrades stood around,Thracians with hair on top, holding long spears in their hands,who, though he was big and mighty and proud,drove him from them; and he gave ground and staggered back.So the two lay stretched in the dust beside each other,one the leader of the Thracians, the other of the bronze-clad Epeians;and many others were slain around them.There no man who came to it could any longer find fault with the work,whoever was still unwounded and unstruck by the sharp bronze,if he turned about in the midst, and Pallas Athena led himtaking him by the hand, and warded off the rush of missiles;for many of the Trojans and Achaeans on that daylay face down in the dust beside one another.

Then again to Tydeus' son Diomedes Pallas Athenagave might and courage, that he might stand out among allthe Argives and win noble glory.She kindled from his helmet and his shield a tireless fire,like the star of late summer, which most of allshines bright, bathed in the Ocean stream;such fire she kindled from his head and his shoulders,and urged him into the midst, where most men were in turmoil.There was among the Trojans one Dares, wealthy and blameless,a priest of Hephaestus; and he had two sons,Phegeus and Idaeus, well skilled in every kind of battle.These two, parted from him, rushed out to face the foe;they from their chariot, but he rose from the ground on foot.And when they were near, coming at one another,Phegeus first hurled his long-shadowing spear;but the point of the spear passed over Tydeus' son's left shoulder,and did not strike him; and Tydeides rose up next with the bronze.From his hand the weapon did not fly in vain,but struck his chest between the breasts, and hurled him from his horses.Idaeus sprang out, leaving the beautiful chariot,nor dared he stand over his slain brother;for not even he himself would have escaped black death,but Hephaestus rescued him, and saved him, wrapping him in night,so that the old man might not be wholly grieved.And the son of great-hearted Tydeus, driving out the horses,gave them to his companions to lead down to the hollow ships.But the great-hearted Trojans, when they saw the two sons of Dares,the one escaping, the other slain beside the car,the spirit of all was shaken; but bright-eyed Athenatook furious Ares by the hand and spoke to him in words:Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls,shall we not now let the Trojans and the Achaeansfight, to whichever side father Zeus may grant glory,while we two draw back, and avoid the wrath of Zeus?So speaking she led furious Ares out of the battle;then she seated him on the flowery bank of Scamander,and the Danaans bent the Trojans back; and each of the leaderstook a man; and first the lord of men Agamemnoncast great Odius, leader of the Halizones, from his chariot.For as he first turned, he fixed the spear in his backbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his chest;and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged upon him.And Idomeneus slew Phaestus, son of Maeon,of Borus, who had come from deep-soiled Tarne.Him Idomeneus, famed for the spear, with his long spearstruck as he was mounting his horses, on the right shoulder;and he fell from the car, and hateful darkness seized him.Then the attendants of Idomeneus stripped him of his armor;and the son of Strophius, Scamandrius, a keen hunter,Menelaus, son of Atreus, slew with his sharp spear,a good hunter; for Artemis herself had taught himto strike all wild beasts, which the forest rears in the mountains;but not even Artemis, the shooter of arrows, helped him then,nor his far-shooting, in which he had before excelled;but him Menelaus, famed for the spear, son of Atreus,as he fled before him, wounded in the back with his spearbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his chest,and he fell face down, and his armor clanged upon him.Meriones slew Phereclus, son of the craftsmanHarmonides, who knew in his hands to make all mannerof cunning works; for Pallas Athena loved him exceedingly.He it was who built for Alexander the balanced ships,the beginning of evils, which became a woe to all the Trojansand to himself, since he knew nothing of the decrees of the gods.Him Meriones, when he had caught him in the pursuit,struck on the right buttock; and straight throughthe point went, right through beneath the bone to the bladder;and he fell on his knees groaning, and death covered him about.And Meges slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor,who was indeed a bastard, yet noble Theano reared him,gratifying her husband, as much as her own dear children.Him the son of Phyleus, famed for the spear, coming near,struck with his sharp spear at the base of his head;and the bronze cut right through his teeth beneath the tongue;and he fell in the dust, and took the cold bronze in his teeth.And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, slew noble Hypsenor,son of high-hearted Dolopion, who had been madea priest of Scamander, and was honored by the people as a god.Him Eurypylus, the shining son of Euaemon,as he fled before him, running after, struck on the shoulderwith a sword, springing at him, and sheared off his heavy arm;and the bloody arm fell to the plain; and over his eyespurple death and strong fate seized him.Thus they labored throughout the strong battle;but Tydeides you could not tell with which side he was,whether he mingled with the Trojans or with the Achaeans.For he raged over the plain like a river swollenwith a winter torrent, which rushing swiftly scatters the bridges;and neither do the compacted bridges hold it back,nor do the fences of the blooming orchards contain itwhen it comes suddenly, when the rain of Zeus bears down;and many noble works of stalwart men fall beneath it.So beneath Tydeides the close phalanxes of the Trojanswere thrown into turmoil, nor did they await him, many though they were.And when the shining son of Lycaon saw himraging over the plain and throwing the phalanxes into rout before him,at once he bent his curved bow against Tydeides,and struck him as he rushed on, hitting the right shoulder,the plate of his breastplate; and the bitter arrow flew through,and pierced right through, and the breastplate was spattered with blood.Then over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted aloud:Rouse up, great-hearted Trojans, drivers of horses;for the best of the Achaeans is hit, and I do not thinkhe will long withstand the strong shaft, if trulythe lord, the son of Zeus, urged me as I set out from Lycia.So he spoke boasting; but the swift weapon did not subdue him,but he drew back before his horses and his chariotand stood, and spoke to Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus:Rouse up, dear son of Capaneus, come down from the chariot,so that you may draw the bitter arrow from my shoulder.So he spoke, and Sthenelus leaped down from the horses to the ground,and standing beside him drew the swift arrow clean through his shoulder;and the blood spurted up through his woven tunic.Then indeed Diomedes, good at the war cry, prayed:Hear me, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,if ever you stood beside my father and me with kindly intentin the hostile war, now again befriend me, Athena;and grant that I may slay the man and come within reach of my spear,who struck me first and boasts over me, and sayshe will not much longer see the bright light of the sun.So he spoke praying; and Pallas Athena heard him,and made his limbs light, his feet and his hands above all;and standing near she spoke winged words:Take courage now, Diomedes, to fight against the Trojans;for in your breast I have put the might of your father,undaunted, such as shield-brandishing horseman Tydeus had;and I have taken from your eyes the mist that was there before,so that you may well know both god and man.So now if a god comes here to test you,do not you fight face to face with any otherof the immortal gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,comes into the war, wound her with the sharp bronze.So speaking, bright-eyed Athena departed,and Tydeides, going back again, mingled with the foremost fighters,though even before he had yearned in his heart to fight the Trojans.Then indeed three times as much might seized him, as a lionwhich a shepherd in the field, over his woolly sheep,has grazed as it leapt over the fold, but has not subdued;he rouses its strength, and then he does not defend the sheep,but cowers in the pens, and the sheep, frightened, flee;and they lie heaped upon one another,while he, eager, leaps out of the deep fold.So eager did strong Diomedes mingle with the Trojans.Then he slew Astynous and Hypeiron, shepherd of the people,the one he struck above the nipple with his bronze spear,and the other with his great sword beside the collarbone at the shoulderhe smote, and shore the shoulder from the neck and from the back.These he left, and he pursued Abas and Polyidus,the sons of Eurydamas, the old man, a reader of dreams;for them the old man did not read dreams as they came,but strong Diomedes despoiled them.Then he went after Xanthus and Thoon, the two sons of Phaenops,both late-born; and he was worn with grievous old age,and had begotten no other son to leave among his possessions.There he despoiled them, and took away the dear lifeof both, and left to their father lamentation and grievous grief,since they did not come home alive from the warand receive him; and strangers divided his substance.Then he took two sons of Priam, the Dardanid,who were in one chariot, Echemmon and Chromius.As a lion bounding on cattle breaks the neckof a calf or a cow grazing in the thicket,so the son of Tydeus brought both of them from their horsesdown, sorely against their will, and then stripped their armor;and he gave the horses to his companions to drive to the ships.And Aeneas saw him destroying the ranks of men,and he went through the battle and through the turmoil of spears,seeking godlike Pandarus, if he might find him anywhere;he found the blameless and strong son of Lycaon,and stood before him and spoke a word to him face to face:Pandarus, where is your bow and your winged arrowsand your glory? In which no man here contends with you,nor does any man in Lycia boast to be better than you.But come, send an arrow at this man, with your hands raised to Zeus,whoever this is who masters us and has already done many evilsto the Trojans, since he has loosed the knees of many good men;unless perhaps it is some god angered against the Trojans,enraged over sacrifices; and hard is the wrath of a god.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, counselor of the bronze-clad Trojans,to Tydeides I liken him in all things, a man of war,knowing him by his shield and his ridged helmet,and looking at his horses; but I do not know clearly if he is a god.But if he is the man I say, the war-minded son of Tydeus,not without a god does he rage thus, but some onestands near, of the immortals, wrapped in a cloud about his shoulders,who has turned aside elsewhere the swift arrow that reached him.For already I sent an arrow at him, and struck his rightshoulder clean through the plate of his breastplate;and I for my part thought to send him to Aidoneus,yet I did not subdue him; so some god is angry.And horses and chariot are not at hand for me to mount;but somewhere in the halls of Lycaon eleven chariotsstand, fair, newly built, freshly wrought; and about them robesare spread; and beside each of them are paired horsesstanding, eating white barley and oats.Indeed the old spearman Lycaon gave me very many commandsas I was setting out, in his well-built house;he ordered me, mounted on horses and chariot,to lead the Trojans in the strong battles;but I did not obey; and truly it would have been far better;sparing the horses, lest they want for fodder,accustomed as they are to eat their fill when men are penned in.So I left them, and I have come on foot to Ilios,trusting in my bow; but it was not going to help me.For already I have shot at two of the best men,Tydeides and the son of Atreus, and from bothI drew sure blood when I struck, but only roused them more.So with evil fate I took the curved bow from its pegon that day when I led the Trojans to lovely Ilios,bringing pleasure to noble Hector.But if I return and see with my eyesmy own country and my wife and my high-roofed great house,then let a stranger cut off my head at onceif I do not put these bows in the blazing fire,breaking them with my hands; for they follow me to no purpose.Then Aeneas, leader of the Trojans, answered him:Do not speak so; there will be no other way before then,until the two of us have faced this man with horses and chariotand tried him in arms face to face.But come, mount my chariot, so that you may seewhat kind the Trojan horses are, knowing how over the plainto chase swiftly here and there and to flee;they will save the two of us to the city, even if once moreZeus grants glory to Tydeides Diomedes.But come now, take the whip and the shining reins,and I will step down from the horses so that I may fight;or you receive these, and I will care for the horses.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, you yourself hold the reins and your own two horses;better beneath a charioteer accustomed to it will the curved chariotcarry us, if once more we flee from the son of Tydeus;lest the two, frightened, hold back and refuseto carry you out of the war, longing for your voice,and the son of great-hearted Tydeus rush upon usand kill us both and drive off the single-hoofed horses.But do you yourself drive your chariot and your two horses,and I will receive him as he comes on with my sharp spear.So speaking, they mounted the dappled chariotand eagerly drove their swift horses at Tydeides.And Sthenelus, the shining son of Capaneus, saw them,and at once spoke winged words to Tydeides:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,I see two mighty men eager to fight against you,possessing boundless strength; one is well skilled with the bow,Pandarus, and he boasts to be the son of Lycaon;and Aeneas boasts to be born of blameless Anchises,and his mother is Aphrodite.But come, let us give way on the horses, and do notrage thus through the foremost fighters, lest you destroy your dear heart.Then looking darkly at him strong Diomedes said:Do not speak of fear, since I do not think you will persuade me.It is not noble for me to shun battle and skulk away,nor to cower; my might is still steadfast;I am reluctant to mount the horses, but even soI go against them face to face; Pallas Athena does not allow me to tremble.These two their swift horses will not carry back againboth away from us, if indeed one of them escapes.And another thing I will tell you, and do you lay it in your mind:if wise Athena grants me gloryto kill them both, then do you hold back these swift horseshere, stretching the reins from the rail,and rush upon Aeneas' horses, mindful of them,and drive them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.For of that breed of which wide-thundering Zeusgave to Tros as a price for his son Ganymede, because they were the bestof horses, as many as are beneath the dawn and the sun,of that breed the lord of men Anchises stole,secretly from Laomedon, bringing mares to breed;and of them six were born to him in his halls.Four he kept himself and reared at the manger,and two he gave to Aeneas, a bringer of rout.If we could take these two, we would win noble glory.So these two spoke such words to one another,and the other two quickly came near, driving their swift horses.First the shining son of Lycaon spoke to him:Strong-hearted, war-minded son of proud Tydeus,surely the swift bitter arrow did not subdue you;now again I will try with the spear, if I may hit you.So he spoke, and swinging it hurled his long-shadowing spear,and struck the shield of Tydeides; and through itthe bronze point flew and came near the breastplate;and over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted aloud:You are hit clean through the flank, and I do not thinkyou will long withstand it; and you have given me great glory.Then unafraid strong Diomedes answered him:You missed and did not hit; but I do not think the two of youwill stop before one of you at least has fallenand glutted Ares, the stubborn warrior, with blood.So speaking he hurled; and Athena guided the weaponby his nose beside his eye, and it passed through his white teeth.The unyielding bronze cut off the root of his tongue,and the point came out by his lower jaw;and he fell from the car, and his armor clanged upon him,dappled and flashing, and his swift-footed horsesshied away; and there his life and his strength were loosed.And Aeneas sprang down with his shield and his long spear,fearing lest the Achaeans drag off the corpse.And about him he strode like a lion trusting in its strength,and before him he held his spear and his shield equal on every side,eager to kill whoever came against him,crying terribly; and Tydeides took in his hand a stone,a great work which not even two men would lift,such as mortals are now; but he wielded it easily, alone.With it he struck Aeneas on the hip, where the thighturns in the hip, and men call it the socket;and he crushed his socket, and broke both tendons,and the rough stone tore away the skin; but the herofell to his knee and stayed, propped on his stout handupon the ground; and black night covered his eyes.And then the lord of men Aeneas would have perished,if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, had not quickly noticed,his mother, who bore him to Anchises the herdsman;and she poured her white arms about her dear son,and before him spread a fold of her shining robeto be a bulwark against weapons, lest any of the swift-horsed Danaansstrike bronze into his chest and take his life.So she carried her dear son out of the war;but the son of Capaneus did not forget the commandswhich good at the war cry Diomedes had laid on him,but he held back his own single-hoofed horsesapart from the din, stretching the reins from the rail,and rushing upon Aeneas' fair-maned horseshe drove them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.And he gave them to his dear companion Deipylus, whom beyond allof his own age he honored, because he knew in his mind things apt,to drive to the hollow ships; but the heromounted his own horses and took the shining reins,and swiftly pursued with his strong-hoofed horses,eagerly; and he went after Cypris with pitiless bronze,knowing that she was a coward god, and not one of thosegoddesses who rule over the war of men,neither Athena nor city-sacking Enyo.But when he caught up with her, pursuing her through the great throng,there the son of great-hearted Tydeus, reaching out,wounded the top of her hand, springing at her with his sharp spear,grazing it; and straightway the spear pierced her skinthrough the immortal robe which the Graces themselves had made her,at the base of the palm; and there flowed the immortal blood of the god,ichor, such as flows in the blessed gods;for they do not eat bread, nor drink gleaming wine,and therefore they are bloodless and are called immortal.And she, crying aloud, cast down her son from her;and Phoebus Apollo drew him up in his handsin a dark cloud, lest any of the swift-horsed Danaansstrike bronze into his chest and take his life.And over her good at the war cry Diomedes shouted aloud:Give way, daughter of Zeus, from war and battle;is it not enough that you deceive cowardly women?But if you enter the war, I think you will surelyshudder at war, even if you hear of it elsewhere.So he spoke, and she went away in anguish, and was terribly distressed;and Iris of the swift feet took her and led her out of the throngburdened with pains, and her fair skin was darkened.Then she found furious Ares on the left of the battle,seated; and his spear and his swift horses leaned in the mist;and she fell on her knees before her dear brother,and beseeching him much she asked for the gold-frontleted horses:Dear brother, save me and give me the horses,so that I may reach Olympus, where the seat of the immortals is.I am greatly burdened by the wound which a mortal man struck me,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus.So she spoke, and Ares gave her the gold-frontleted horses;and she mounted the chariot, grieved in her dear heart,and Iris mounted beside her and took the reins in her hands,and whipped them to go, and the two flew not unwilling.And quickly they came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus;there swift Iris of the swift feet stopped the horses,loosed them from the chariot, and set before them immortal fodder;and the goddess Aphrodite fell on the knees of Dione,her mother; and she took her daughter in her arms,and stroked her with her hand and spoke a word and called her by name:Who now, dear child, of the heavenly ones has done such things to youwantonly, as though you had done some evil in their sight?Then smiling Aphrodite answered her:The son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes, wounded me,because I was carrying my dear son out of the war,Aeneas, who is far dearest to me of all.For no longer is the grim battle of Trojans and Achaeans,but now the Danaans fight even with the immortals.Then Dione, shining among goddesses, answered her:Endure, my child, and bear up, though you are grieved;for many of us who hold Olympian homes have enduredharsh pains from men, bringing them on one another.Ares endured when Otus and strong Ephialtes,the sons of Aloeus, bound him in a strong bond;in a bronze jar he was bound thirteen months;and then Ares, insatiate of war, would have perished,if their stepmother, the beautiful Eeriboea,had not told Hermes; and he stole Ares awayalready worn, and the harsh bond was subduing him.And Hera endured, when the strong son of Amphitryonstruck her right breast with a three-barbed arrow;and then incurable pain took her.And huge Hades endured among them a swift arrow,when the same man, the son of aegis-bearing Zeus,in Pylos among the dead struck him and gave him over to pains;and he went to the house of Zeus and tall Olympusgrieving at heart, pierced with pains; and the arrowwas driven into his stout shoulder, and grieved his heart.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.Wretched, violent-doing, who did not care that he did reckless things,who with his bow grieved the gods who hold Olympus.But against you the goddess bright-eyed Athena sent this one;fool, and the son of Tydeus does not know in his mindthat he who fights with the immortals is not long for life,and his children do not call him grandfatherat his knees when he comes from the war and the dread battle.So now let Tydeides, even if he is very strong,take thought lest one better than you fight with him,lest wise Aegialea, the daughter of Adrastus,weeping from sleep wake her dear household,longing for her wedded husband, the best of the Achaeans,the mighty wife of horse-taming Diomedes.So she spoke, and with both hands wiped away the ichor from her hand;the hand was healed, and the heavy pains were assuaged.And Athena and Hera, looking on,provoked Zeus the son of Cronus with mocking words.And among them the goddess bright-eyed Athena began the speech:Father Zeus, will you be angry with me for what I say?Surely Cypris, stirring up some Achaean womanto follow the Trojans, whom she now loves exceedingly,while stroking one of the well-robed Achaean women,scratched her slender hand on a golden brooch.So she spoke, and the father of men and gods smiled,and calling golden Aphrodite to him he said:To you, my child, are not given the works of war,but do you pursue the lovely works of marriage,and all these things will be the care of swift Ares and Athena.So these spoke such words to one another,and good at the war cry Diomedes rushed at Aeneas,knowing that Apollo himself held his hands over him;but he did not revere even the great god, and ever pressed onto kill Aeneas and strip his famous armor.Three times then he rushed on, eager to slay him,and three times Apollo beat back his shining shield;but when he rushed on the fourth time, like a god,loudly threatening, far-shooting Apollo spoke to him:Take thought, Tydeides, and give way, and do notwish to think equal to the gods, since never is the race alikeof the immortal gods and of men who walk the earth.So he spoke, and Tydeides gave back a littleavoiding the wrath of far-shooting Apollo.And Aeneas Apollo set apart from the throngin holy Pergamon, where his temple was built.And him Leto and Artemis the shooter of arrowshealed and glorified in the great shrine;but silver-bowed Apollo made a phantomlike Aeneas himself and like him in armor,and about the phantom Trojans and shining Achaeanskept slaying one another's ox-hide shieldswell-rounded and winged bucklers.Then Phoebus Apollo spoke to furious Ares:Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls,Would you not then draw back this man from battle, coming after him,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus?First he wounded Cypris close by on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god.So speaking, he himself sat down on the height of Pergamon,and baleful Ares, coming after, roused the Trojan ranks,likened to Acamas, the swift leader of the Thracians;and he called to the sons of Priam, reared by Zeus:O sons of Priam, of the king reared by Zeus,how long will you let your people be slain by the Achaeans?Or until they fight about your well-built gates?There lies a man whom we honored as equal to noble Hector,Aeneas, son of great-hearted Anchises;but come, let us save our good companion from the din.So speaking he roused the might and the spirit of each.Then Sarpedon rebuked noble Hector greatly:Hector, where has your might gone, that you had before?You say, I suppose, that you will hold the city without the people and without allies,alone with your brothers-in-law and your own brothers.But of these I now can see and observe not one,but they cower like dogs around a lion;while we fight, who are here as allies.For I too, being an ally, have come from very far;for Lycia is far away, on the whirling Xanthus,where I left my dear wife and my infant son,and many possessions, which a needy man longs for.But even so I urge the Lycians and am eager myselfto fight the man; yet here I have nothing of the kindas the Achaeans might carry off or lead away.But you stand still, and do not order the otherpeople to stand firm and defend against the foe.Lest like fish caught in a net of all-catching meshyou become a spoil and a prey to hostile men;and they will soon sack your well-peopled city.And you must care for all this both by night and by day,beseeching the leaders of the far-famed alliesto hold firm unceasingly, and to put away harsh reproach.So spoke Sarpedon, and his word bit the heart of Hector;at once he leaped from his chariot with his armor to the ground,brandishing sharp spears he went throughout the army everywhere,rousing them to fight, and he woke the dread din of battle.And they wheeled about and stood facing the Achaeans;and the Argives stood firm in a mass and did not flee.As the wind carries chaff through the sacred threshing floorsof men who winnow, when fair-haired Demeterseparates grain and chaff with rushing winds,and the heaps of chaff grow white beneath; so then the Achaeansgrew white above with dust, which through themthe feet of the horses beat up to the bronze-wrought sky,as they closed again; and the charioteers wheeled them about.And they bore the strength of their hands straight on; and about themfurious Ares covered the battle in night, aiding the Trojans,ranging everywhere; and he fulfilled the commandsof Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, who urged himto rouse the spirit in the Trojans, since he saw PallasAthena gone away; for she was the helper of the Danaans.And he himself brought Aeneas out of the rich shrine,and put might in the breast of the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas took his place among his companions; and they rejoiced,when they saw him alive and unharmed, coming forwardand possessing good might; yet they did not question him at all.For no other toil allowed it, which the silver-bowed god roused,and butcher Ares and Strife, insatiably eager.But the two Ajaxes and Odysseus and Diomedesurged the Danaans to fight; and they themselvesneither shrank from the violence of the Trojans nor their onsets,but stood like clouds which the son of Cronussets in windless weather on the towering mountainsunmoved, while the might of the North Wind sleeps and of the othershrill winds, which with clear-blowing blastsscatter the shadowy clouds as they blow;so the Danaans stood firm against the Trojans and did not flee.And the son of Atreus went through the throng, commanding much:Dear friends, be men and take a valiant heart,and have shame before one another in the strong battles;of men who have shame, more are saved than are slain;but from fleeing men neither glory arises nor any defense.So he spoke, and quickly cast his spear, and struck a foremost man,the companion of great-hearted Aeneas, Deicoonthe son of Pergasus, whom the Trojans equally with the sons of Priamhonored, since he was swift to fight among the foremost.Him lord Agamemnon struck with his spear upon the shield;it did not keep out the spear, but the bronze passed right through,and drove through his belt into his lower belly;and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged upon him.Then Aeneas slew the best men of the Danaans,the two sons of Diocles, Crethon and Orsilochus,whose father dwelt in well-built Pherae,rich in substance, and was of the race of the riverAlpheus, which flows wide through the land of the Pylians,who begot Ortilochus, lord over many men;and Ortilochus begot great-hearted Diocles,and from Diocles twin sons were born,Crethon and Orsilochus, well skilled in all battle.These two, when they came to manhood, on the black shipsfollowed to horse-rich Ilios with the Argives,seeking honor for Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus;and there the end of death covered them.Like two lions on the peaks of a mountainthey were reared by their mother in the thickets of a deep wood;the two, seizing cattle and sturdy sheep,ravaged the folds of men, until they toowere slain in the hands of men by the sharp bronze;so the two, subdued at the hands of Aeneas,fell, like tall fir trees.And fallen, they moved the pity of war-loving Menelaus,and he went through the foremost fighters, helmeted in blazing bronze,brandishing his spear; and Ares roused his might,intending that he be subdued at the hands of Aeneas.And Antilochus, son of great-hearted Nestor, saw him,and went through the foremost fighters; for he feared for the shepherd of the peoplelest he suffer something, and greatly bereave them of their toil.So the two held their hands and their sharp spearsfacing one another, eager to fight;and Antilochus stood very near the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas did not stay, swift warrior though he was,when he saw two men standing by one another.And when they had dragged the corpses to the Achaean host,they tossed the two pitiful men into the hands of companions,and the two turned and fought among the foremost.Then they slew Pylaemenes, the peer of Ares,leader of the great-hearted, shield-bearing Paphlagonians.Him Menelaus, famed for the spear, son of Atreus,as he stood, struck with his spear, hitting the collarbone;and Antilochus struck Mydon, his charioteer and attendant,the good son of Atymnius; and he was turning his single-hoofed horses;Antilochus hit him with a stone in the middle of the elbow; and from his handsthe white reins, ivory-studded, fell to the ground in the dust.And Antilochus rushed on and struck his temple with his sword;and he, gasping, fell from the well-built chariotheadlong into the dust on his head and his shoulders.He stood there a long while; for he hit deep mud;until his two horses struck him and laid him in the dust;them Antilochus whipped, and drove to the Achaean host.And Hector noticed them along the ranks, and rose against themshouting; and with him followed the strong phalanxes of the Trojans;and Ares led them and queenly Enyo,she holding Rout, the shameless, of the battle,while Ares wielded in his hands a monstrous spear,and went sometimes before Hector, sometimes behind.And good at the war cry Diomedes, seeing him, shuddered;as when a man without skill, going over a great plain,stands at a swift-flowing river running to the sea,gazing at it roaring with foam, and runs back again,so then Tydeides gave back, and spoke to the host:Friends, how we wonder that noble Hectoris a spearman and a daring warrior;but always one of the gods is beside him, who wards off ruin;and now that Ares is beside him, like a mortal man.But turn always backward toward the Trojans,give way, and do not yearn to fight the gods with might.So he spoke, and the Trojans came very near to them.Then Hector killed two men skilled in the fight,being in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus.And great Telamonian Ajax pitied the two fallen;he stood coming very near, and cast with his shining spear,and struck Amphius, son of Selagus, who in Paesusdwelt, rich in possessions, rich in fields; but fateled him to aid Priam and his sons.Him Telamonian Ajax struck upon the belt,and the long-shadowing spear was fixed in his lower belly,and he fell with a thud; and shining Ajax ran upto strip his armor; and the Trojans poured spears upon him,sharp and flashing; and his shield received many.And he, stepping with his heel on the corpse, pulled out the bronze spear;but he could no longer take the rest of the fair armorfrom his shoulders; for he was pressed by missiles.And he feared the strong encirclement of the proud Trojans,who stood about him, many and good, holding spears,who, though he was great and mighty and proud,thrust him away from them; and he gave way and was shaken.So they labored throughout the strong battle;and Tlepolemus, son of Heracles, good and great,strong fate roused against godlike Sarpedon.And when they were near, coming at one another,the son and the grandson of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,then Tlepolemus first spoke a word to him:Sarpedon, counselor of the Lycians, what need have youto cower here, being a man ignorant of battle?They lie who say that you are the offspring of aegis-bearingZeus, since you fall far short of those menwho were born of Zeus among earlier men;but such a one they say the might of Heracles was,my father, bold-hearted, lion-hearted;who once came here for the horses of Laomedonwith six ships only and with fewer men,and sacked the city of Ilios, and widowed its streets;but your heart is cowardly, and your people perish.Nor do I think you will be any defense to the Trojans,having come from Lycia, not even if you are very strong,but subdued by me you will pass the gates of Hades.Then Sarpedon, leader of the Lycians, answered him:Tlepolemus, indeed that man destroyed holy Iliosthrough the follies of the proud Laomedon,who reproached him with an evil word though he had served him well,and did not give the horses for which he had come from afar.But for you I say that here slaughter and black deathwill be made by me, and subdued by my spearyou will give me glory, and your soul to Hades, famed for horses.So spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus raised his ashen spear;and their long spears flew togetherfrom their hands; Sarpedon struck the middle of his neck,and the grievous point went clean through;and dark night covered his eyes.And Tlepolemus had struck his left thigh with his long spear,and the point rushed through, eager,grazing the bone, but his father still warded off ruin.And his shining companions carried godlike Sarpedonout of the war; and the long spear weighed him downas it was dragged; and no one thought or noticedto draw the ashen spear from his thigh so that he might step,in their haste; for such labor they had in tending him.And on the other side the well-greaved Achaeanscarried Tlepolemus out of the war; and shining Odysseus noticed,having an enduring spirit, and his dear heart was eager;and he pondered then in his mind and his spiritwhether he should pursue further the son of loud-thundering Zeus,or take the life from more of the Lycians.But it was not destined for great-hearted Odysseusto kill the mighty son of Zeus with the sharp bronze;so Athena turned his heart toward the throng of the Lycians.Then he slew Coeranus and Alastor and Chromiusand Alcander and Halius and Noemon and Prytanis.And shining Odysseus would have killed still more of the Lycians,if great Hector of the shining helmet had not quickly noticed;he went through the foremost fighters, helmeted in blazing bronze,bringing dread to the Danaans; and Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, rejoicedat his coming, and spoke a piteous word:Son of Priam, do not leave me to lie as a spoil for the Danaans,but defend me; and then let my life leave mein your city, since I was not going toreturn home to my dear fatherlandand gladden my dear wife and my infant son.So he spoke, and Hector of the shining helmet did not answer him at all,but passed by, eager that as quickly as possiblehe might thrust back the Argives, and take the life from many.And his shining companions set godlike Sarpedonbeneath a beautiful oak of aegis-bearing Zeus;and from his thigh mighty Pelagon, who was his dear companion,pushed out the ashen spear;and his soul left him, and a mist poured over his eyes;but he breathed again, and the blast of the North Windrevived him as it blew on him, breathing life into his sorely gasping spirit.And the Argives under Ares and Hector of the bronze helmetwere never driven back to the black shipsnor ever held their ground in fight, but always backwardthey gave way, when they learned that Ares was with the Trojans.Then whom first and whom last did they despoil,Hector the son of Priam and the bronze Ares?Godlike Teuthras, and after him horse-rousing Orestes,and Trechus the spearman, the Aetolian, and Oenomaus,and Oenopides Helenus and Oresbius of the flashing belt,who dwelt in Hyle, caring greatly for his wealth,lying by the Cephisian lake; and beside him othersdwelt, Boeotians, holding a very rich land.And when the goddess, white-armed Hera, saw themdestroying the Argives in the strong battle,at once she spoke winged words to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,surely we promised Menelaus an idle wordthat he would return after sacking well-walled Ilios,if we let baleful Ares rage so.But come now, let us two also take thought of furious valor.So she spoke, and the goddess bright-eyed Athena did not disobey.And Hera, the revered goddess, daughter of great Cronus,going about, harnessed the gold-frontleted horses;and Hebe quickly set on the chariot the curved wheels,bronze, eight-spoked, on either side of the iron axle.Of these the felloe is golden, imperishable, and aboveare bronze tires fitted on, a wonder to behold;and the naves are of silver, running round on both sides;and the chariot is stretched with golden and silverstraps, and there are two rails running round.And its pole was of silver; and at the tipshe bound a fair golden yoke, and put on itfair golden collars; and beneath the yoke Hera ledthe swift-footed horses, eager for strife and the war cry.And Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus,let fall on her father's floor her soft robe,dappled, which she herself had made and worked with her hands;and she, putting on the tunic of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,armed herself in armor for the tearful war.And about her shoulders she cast the tasselled aegis,terrible, which is crowned all about with Fear,and in it is Strife, and in it Strength, and in it cold Rout,and in it the Gorgon head of the dread monster,terrible and awful, the portent of aegis-bearing Zeus.And on her head she set a two-peaked helmet, four-crested,golden, fitted for the foot-soldiers of a hundred cities;and she stepped with her feet onto the blazing chariot, and took the spear,heavy, great, sturdy, with which she subdues the ranks of men,of heroes with whom she, the mighty father's daughter, is angry.And Hera quickly touched the horses with the whip;and the gates of heaven groaned of themselves, which the Seasons keep,to whom the great heaven and Olympus are entrusted,both to open the thick cloud and to close it.Through these they drove the goaded horses;and they found the son of Cronus sitting apart from the other godson the highest peak of many-ridged Olympus.There the goddess, white-armed Hera, stopping the horses,questioned and spoke to Zeus the highest, son of Cronus:Father Zeus, are you not indignant at these strong deeds of Ares,how many and how great a host of the Achaeans he has destroyedrecklessly and not in order? And it grieves me, while those others at easetake their pleasure, Cypris and the silver-bowed Apollo,letting this foolish one loose, who knows no laws at all.Father Zeus, will you be angry with me, if Istrike Ares wretchedly and drive him out of the battle?And answering her, Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Come then, rouse Athena the driver of the spoil against him,who is most accustomed to bring grievous pains upon him.So he spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera did not disobey,but whipped the horses; and the two flew not unwillingmidway between the earth and the starry heaven.And as far as a man sees in the misty air with his eyes,sitting on a lookout, gazing over the wine-dark sea,so far do the loud-neighing horses of the gods leap at a bound.But when they came to Troy, where the two rivers flow,where Simoeis and Scamander join their streams,there the goddess white-armed Hera stopped the horses,loosing them from the chariot, and poured a thick mist about them;and for them Simoeis made immortal fodder spring up to graze.And the two went with the gait of trembling doves,eager to ward off harm from the Argive men.But when they came where the most and the beststood about the might of horse-taming Diomedes,gathered like flesh-eating lionsor like boars, whose strength is not feeble,there the goddess white-armed Hera stood and shouted,likened to great-hearted Stentor of the bronze voice,who could shout as loud as fifty other men:Shame, Argives, base reproaches, admirable in form;while noble Achilles used to go to war,never did the Trojans venture outside the Dardanian gates;for they dreaded his mighty spear;but now they fight far from the city beside the hollow ships.So speaking she roused the might and the spirit of each.And the goddess bright-eyed Athena rushed at Tydeides;and she found the lord beside his horses and chariotcooling the wound which Pandarus had struck him with an arrow.For sweat was vexing him beneath the broad strapof his round shield; with this he was worn, and his hand was weary,and lifting up the strap he wiped away the black blood.And the goddess touched the yoke of the horses and spoke:Truly Tydeus begot a son little like himself.Tydeus truly was small in body, but a fighter;and even when I would not let him fightor rage in battle, when he came apart from the Achaeansas an envoy to Thebes among the many Cadmeians,I told him to feast at ease in the halls;but he, keeping the fierce heart he had as before,challenged the young men of the Cadmeians, and conquered them alleasily; such a helper was I to him.But for you, I indeed stand beside you and guard you,and I eagerly urge you to fight the Trojans;but either weariness from much shouting has entered your limbs,or surely some spiritless fear holds you; then you areno offspring of Tydeus, the war-minded son of Oeneus.And answering her strong Diomedes said:I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus;so I will speak to you readily, and I will not conceal it.Neither does any spiritless fear hold me, nor any hesitation,but I still remember your commands, which you laid on me:you did not let me fight face to face with the otherblessed gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,should come into the war, wound her with the sharp bronze.Therefore now I myself draw back, and I have ordered the otherArgives all to gather here;for I know that Ares is ruling over the battle.Then the goddess bright-eyed Athena answered him:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,do not you fear Ares at all, nor any otherof the immortals, for such a helper am I to you;but come, drive your single-hoofed horses at Ares first,and strike him at close range, and do not revere furious Ares,this mad one, a wrought evil, a turncoat,who just now promised to me and to Hera, speaking,that he would fight the Trojans, and would help the Argives,but now he consorts with the Trojans, and has forgotten them.So speaking, she thrust Sthenelus from the horses to the ground,pulling him back with her hand, and he sprang up hastily;and she mounted the chariot beside shining Diomedes,the eager goddess; and the beechen axle groaned loudlyunder the weight; for it carried a dread goddess and the best of men.And Pallas Athena took the whip and the reins;at once she drove the single-hoofed horses at Ares first.And he was just then despoiling huge Periphas,by far the best of the Aetolians, the shining son of Ochesius;him murderous Ares was despoiling; but Athenaput on the helm of Hades, so that mighty Ares might not see her.And when Ares, the bane of mortals, saw shining Diomedes,he indeed left huge Periphas thereto lie where he first killed him and took his life,and he went straight at horse-taming Diomedes.And when the two were near, coming at one another,first Ares reached over the yoke and the reins of the horseswith his bronze spear, eager to take his life;and the goddess bright-eyed Athena caught it with her handand thrust it aside from the chariot to fly in vain.Second then good at the war cry Diomedes rushed onwith his bronze spear; and Pallas Athena drove it homeinto his lower flank, where he was girt with his war belt;there he struck him, and tore through his fair skin,and pulled the spear out again; and bronze Ares bellowedas loud as nine thousand or ten thousandmen cry out in war, joining the strife of Ares.And trembling seized both Achaeans and Trojansin their fear; so loud did Ares, insatiate of war, bellow.And as from the clouds a dark mist appearsfrom the heat, when a foul wind rises,so to Tydeides Diomedes did bronze Aresappear, going with the clouds into the wide heaven.And swiftly he came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus,and sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, grieving at heart,and showed the immortal blood flowing down from his wound,and lamenting he spoke winged words:Father Zeus, are you not indignant as you look on these strong deeds?Always we gods endure the most dreadful thingsby one another's will, bringing favor to men.We all fight with you; for you begot a foolish daughter,a ruinous one, whose mind is ever set on reckless deeds.For all the other gods, as many as are in Olympus,obey you, and each of us is subdued to you;but her you neither rebuke in word nor in any deed,but you let her go, since you yourself begot a child of ruin;who now has let the son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes,rage against the immortal gods.First he wounded Cypris close by on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god;but my swift feet bore me away; truly I would have longsuffered pains there among the dread heaps of the dead,or lived on strengthless from the blows of bronze.Then looking darkly at him Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Do not sit beside me, turncoat, and whimper.You are the most hateful to me of the gods who hold Olympus;for always strife is dear to you, and wars and battles.Your mother's spirit is ungovernable and not to be borne,Hera's; her I subdue with words, with effort;so I think you suffer this by her counsels.But I will no longer endure that you have pains;for you are of my race, and your mother bore you to me;but if you had been born of any other god so ruinous,you would long ago have been lower than the sons of Uranus.So he spoke, and he ordered Paieon to heal him.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.And as when fig juice swiftly curdles white milk,though it is liquid, and it is stirred round quickly as one stirs it,so quickly did he heal furious Ares.And Hebe bathed him, and put lovely garments on him;and he sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, glorying in his splendor.And the two went back to the house of great Zeus,Hera of Argos and Athena of Alalcomenae,having stopped butcher Ares from the slaughter of men.

The dread battle of Trojans and Achaeans was left alone,and the fight surged this way and that across the plainas they aimed their bronze-headed spears at one anotherbetween the streams of Simoeis and Xanthos.Ajax son of Telamon, bulwark of the Achaeans, firstbroke the Trojan phalanx and gave light to his companions,striking a man who was the best among the Thracians,the son of Eussorus, Acamas, tall and noble.Him he struck first on the crest of his horse-haired helmet,and drove the point through his forehead, and the bone passed inwardwith the bronze spear - and darkness covered his eyes.And Axylus Diomedes of the good war-cry slew,son of Teuthras, who lived in well-built Arisbe,rich in livelihood, and dear to men;for he loved them all, dwelling in his house by the roadside.But not one of them then warded off woeful destruction,standing before him - but he took the life from both,from him and his servant Calesius, who thenwas driver of his horses; and both went down under the earth.And Dresus and Opheltius Euryalus stripped of their arms;then he went after Aesepus and Pedasus, whom once a nymph,Abarbarea of the waters, bore to blameless Bucolion.Bucolion was the son of lordly Laomedon,eldest in birth, and his mother bore him in secret;and while shepherding among his flocks he mingled with her in love and bed,and she conceived and bore twin sons.And the strength and shining limbs of these Mekisteus' sonloosed, and stripped the armor from their shoulders.And Astyalus Polypoites, staunch in war, slew;and Pidytes of Perkote Odysseus stripped of his armswith the bronze spear, and Teucer struck down noble Aretaon.Antilochus son of Nestor killed Ableruswith his shining spear, and lord of men Agamemnon slew Elatus;he lived by the banks of fair-flowing Satnioeis,in steep Pedasus. And the hero Leitus took Phylacusas he fled; and Eurypylus stripped Melanthius.And then Adrestus Menelaus of the good war-crytook alive; for his two horses, panicked across the plain,caught in a tamarisk branch and broke the curved chariotat the front pole, and the two of them went offtoward the city, where the others fled in terror;but he himself rolled out of the chariot beside the wheel,headlong in the dust, face down; and beside him stoodMenelaus, son of Atreus, holding his long-shadowing spear.And then Adrestus, taking his knees, begged him:Take me alive, son of Atreus, and accept a worthy ransom:many treasures lie in my rich father's house,bronze and gold and hard-wrought iron;my father would gladly give you countless ransom for meif he heard I was alive by the Achaean ships.So he spoke, and persuaded the heart in his breast;and already Menelaus was about to give himto his servant to lead to the swift ships; but Agamemnoncame running to meet him, and rebuking him spoke a word:Dear brother, Menelaus, why do you care for these men so?Have the Trojans done you good service in your house?Let not one of them escape sheer destructionand our hands - not even the boy a mother carriesin her womb; let not even he escape, but let them allperish from Ilium together, unmourned and unmarked.So speaking, the hero turned his brother's mind,advising what was right; and he pushed the hero Adrestusaway from him with his hand; and lord Agamemnonstabbed him in the flank; and he was thrown backward, and the son of Atreusset his heel on his chest and pulled out the ash-wooded spear.And Nestor shouted aloud to the Argives:Friends, heroes, Danaans, servants of Ares,let no one now linger behind, eager for spoils,to reach the ships carrying the most he can -but let us kill the men; afterward, at your leisure,you shall strip the dead bodies across the plain.So speaking, he stirred the strength and spirit of each man.Then the Trojans would have gone up into Ilium again,beaten down by their own cowardice at the hands of the war-loving Achaeans,if Helenus, son of Priam, best of bird-readers,had not stood beside Aeneas and Hector and said:Aeneas and Hector, since on you two most of allthe burden lies, of Trojans and Lycians, because you are the bestat fighting and at counseling in every way,stand where you are and hold the people back before the gates,going everywhere, before they fall fleeing into the arms of the womenand become a joy to their enemies.But when you have urged on all the phalanxes,we shall stand here and fight the Danaans,hard pressed as we are - for necessity drives us.Hector, but you go into the city, and then speakto your mother and mine; and let her, gathering the old women,open with a key the doors of the holy house of Athena of the flashing eyeson the city's height,and set the robe she thinks the loveliest and the largestin her hall, and by far the dearest to her own heart,on the knees of fair-haired Athena,and promise to sacrifice twelve heifers in her temple,yearlings unyoked, if she will have pityon the city and the wives of the Trojans and their infant children,and keep the son of Tydeus away from holy Ilium,that savage spearman, the strong deviser of terror,whom I say has become the mightiest of the Achaeans.We never feared Achilles so much, the leader of men,though men say he is the son of a goddess; but this manrages too much, and no one can match his strength.So he spoke, and Hector did not disobey his brother.At once he sprang from his chariot to the ground in his armor,and brandishing sharp spears he went everywhere through the armyurging them to fight, and he roused the dread battle-cry.And they turned themselves and stood facing the Achaeans;and the Argives gave ground and ceased from killing,and they thought some one of the deathless gods from the starry skyhad come down to help the Trojans, so did they turn about.And Hector shouted aloud to the Trojans:High-hearted Trojans and far-famed allies,be men, my friends, and remember your rushing valor,while I go to Ilium, and tell the councilors,the elders, and our wives, to make prayers to the gods,and to promise hecatombs.So speaking, Hector of the shining helmet departed;and around him the black rim of his bossed shieldstruck against his ankles and his neck as it swung at his back.And Glaucus, son of Hippolochus, and the son of Tydeuscame together into the middle between both armies, eager to fight.And when they had come near, advancing on one another,Diomedes of the good war-cry spoke to him first:Who are you, most noble of mortal men?For never yet have I seen you in the battle where men win glorybefore now; but now you have gone far beyond all othersin your daring, since you have awaited my long-shadowing spear.The sons of the wretched are those who face my strength.But if you have come down from heaven, one of the immortals,then I would not fight with the gods of the sky.For not even the son of Dryas, strong Lycurgus,lived long, who quarreled with the gods of the sky;who once chased the nurses of mad Dionysusdown over holy Nysa; and they all togetherthrew their sacred wands to the ground under man-slaying Lycurgus,struck with his ox-goad; and Dionysus in terrorplunged into the wave of the sea, and Thetis received him in her bosom,terrified; for a strong trembling held him at the man's rebuke.And then the gods who live at ease were angry with Lycurgus,and the son of Cronus made him blind; and he did not live long,since he was hated by all the deathless gods.So I would not wish to fight with the blessed gods.But if you are one of the mortals who eat the fruit of the earth,come closer, so that you may reach the limit of destruction sooner.And the shining son of Hippolochus answered him:Great-hearted son of Tydeus, why do you ask my lineage?As the generation of leaves, so is that of men.The wind scatters the leaves to the ground, but the forest,flourishing, puts out others, and the season of spring comes on;so the generation of men grows and another passes away.But if you wish to learn this too, so that you may know wellmy lineage - many men know it -there is a city, Ephyre, in a corner of horse-pasturing Argos,and there lived Sisyphus, the craftiest of men,Sisyphus son of Aeolus; he fathered a son, Glaucus,and Glaucus fathered blameless Bellerophon;to him the gods gave beauty and lovely manhood.But Proetus plotted evil in his heart against him,who drove him from the land, since he was far strongerthan the Argives; for Zeus subdued him under his scepter.And the wife of Proetus, noble Anteia, burned with love for him,to mingle in secret love; but she did not at allpersuade him, since blameless Bellerophon was well-minded.And she lied and spoke to King Proetus:May you die, Proetus, or kill Bellerophon,who wished to mingle in love with me against my will.So she spoke, and anger seized the king when he heard it;he avoided killing him, for he shrank from that in his heart,but he sent him to Lycia, and gave him baneful signs,writing many life-destroying things on a folded tablet,and told him to show them to his father-in-law, so that he might perish.And he went to Lycia under the blameless escort of the gods.But when he came to Lycia and the flowing Xanthos,the king of wide Lycia honored him with favor;nine days he entertained him and sacrificed nine oxen.But when the tenth rosy-fingered Dawn appeared,then he questioned him and asked to see the signthat he had brought from his son-in-law Proetus.And after he had received the evil sign from his son-in-law,first he ordered him to kill the unconquerable Chimera,which was of divine race, not of men,in front a lion, behind a serpent, in the middle a goat,breathing out the terrible strength of blazing fire.And he killed it, trusting the gods' portents.Second, he fought with the glorious Solymi,and he said that was the mightiest battle he had entered with men.Third, he killed the Amazons who fight like men.And as he came back, the king wove another close-laid snare:choosing the best men out of wide Lyciahe set an ambush; and none of them ever returned home,for blameless Bellerophon killed them all.But when he knew that he was noble offspring of a god,he kept him there and gave him his daughter,and gave him half of all his royal honor;and the Lycians marked off for him a precinct beyond all others,fine with orchard and plowland, for him to hold.And she bore three children to thoughtful Bellerophon:Isander and Hippolochus and Laodameia.And with Laodameia lay Zeus the counselor,and she bore godlike Sarpedon of the bronze helm.But when that one too was hated by all the gods,he wandered alone across the Aleian plain,eating out his own heart, avoiding the paths of men.And Ares, insatiate of war, killed his son Isanderas he fought with the glorious Solymi;and gold-reined Artemis, in her anger, killed Laodameia.Hippolochus fathered me, and from him I say I am born;and he sent me to Troy, and charged me many things:always to be best and to stand above others,and not to shame the race of my fathers, who were by far the bestboth in Ephyre and in wide Lycia.From this lineage and blood I claim to be.So he spoke, and Diomedes of the good war-cry rejoiced;and he fixed his spear in the life-giving earth,and spoke to the shepherd of the people with gentle words:Truly then you are my friend from my father's time, long ago;for noble Oeneus once entertained blameless Bellerophonin his halls, keeping him twenty days;and they gave each other fine gifts of friendship;Oeneus gave a belt shining with crimson,and Bellerophon a golden two-handled cup,and I left it behind in my house when I came here.And of Tydeus I have no memory, for he left mestill a little child, when the Achaean host perished at Thebes.So now I am your friend in the middle of Argos,and you will be mine in Lycia when I come to that land.And let us avoid each other's spears even in the throng;for many Trojans and famous allies are mineto kill, whichever god gives me and my feet overtake;and many Achaeans are yours to slay, whoever you can.And let us exchange our armor with one another, so that even thesemay know that we claim to be friends from our fathers.So speaking, the two leapt down from their horses,and took each other's hands and pledged their faith.Then Zeus son of Cronus took away Glaucus' wits,who exchanged armor with Diomedes son of Tydeus,golden for bronze, a hundred oxen's worth for nine.And Hector, when he came to the Scaean gates and the oak,the wives and daughters of the Trojans ran around him,asking about their sons, their brothers, their kin,and their husbands; and he told them all in turnto pray to the gods; and sorrow hung over many of them.But when he came to Priam's splendid house,built with polished porticoes - and inside itwere fifty chambers of polished stone,built close to one another, where the sons of Priamslept beside their wedded wives;and on the other side, facing them within the courtyard,were twelve roofed chambers of polished stone,built close to one another, where the sons-in-lawof Priam slept beside their honored wives;there his mother, kind with gifts, met him,bringing Laodice, the loveliest in form of her daughters;and she clung to his hand, and spoke a word and called him by name:My child, why have you left the fierce battle and come here?Surely the hated sons of the Achaeans are wearing us downfighting around the city; and your heart has urged youto come up from the city's height and lift your hands to Zeus.But wait, while I bring you honey-sweet wine,so you may pour a libation to father Zeus and the other immortalsfirst, and then you yourself will benefit if you drink.For wine greatly increases a weary man's strength,as you are weary, defending your own people.And great Hector of the shining helmet answered her:Do not bring me honey-hearted wine, honored mother,lest you unman me and I forget my strength and valor;for I would shrink from pouring bright wine to Zeus with unwashed hands;nor is it possible in any way to pray to the son of Cronus who gathers the black cloudswhen one is bespattered with blood and gore.But you go to the temple of Athena who drives the spoil,with incense, and gather the old women;and the robe that is the loveliest and largest in your halland by far the dearest to your own heart,set it on the knees of fair-haired Athena,and promise to sacrifice twelve heifers in the temple,yearlings unyoked, if she will have pityon the city and the wives of the Trojans and their infant children,and keep the son of Tydeus away from holy Ilium,the savage spearman, the strong deviser of terror.But you go to the temple of Athena who drives the spoil,and I will go after Paris, to call him,if he will listen to my words; and then may the earthopen for him on the spot; for the Olympian raised him as a great griefto the Trojans and to great-hearted Priam and to his sons.If I saw that man go down into the house of Hades,I would say my heart had forgotten its joyless sorrow.So he spoke, and she went to the hall and calledto her handmaids; and they gathered the old women through the city.She herself went down into the fragrant chamber,where her robes lay, the richly embroidered work of womenof Sidon, which godlike Alexander himselfhad brought from Sidon, sailing the wide sea,on the voyage that brought back Helen of the noble father.Taking one of these, Hecuba brought it as a gift to Athena,the one that was fairest in its embroidery and the largest,and it shone like a star; and it lay at the bottom of the rest.She went on her way, and many old women hurried with her.And when they came to the temple of Athena on the city's height,fair-cheeked Theano opened the doors for them,Cisseus' daughter, wife of Antenor the horse-tamer;for the Trojans had made her priestess of Athena.And with a cry of prayer they all lifted their hands to Athena;and fair-cheeked Theano, taking up the robe,laid it on the knees of fair-haired Athena,and praying she prayed to the daughter of great Zeus:Lady Athena, guardian of the city, shining among goddesses,break the spear of Diomedes, and give that man himselfto fall headlong before the Scaean gates,so that right now we may sacrifice to you twelve heifersin your temple, yearlings unyoked, if you have pityon the city and the wives of the Trojans and their infant children.So she spoke in prayer, but Pallas Athena shook her head no.So they prayed to the daughter of great Zeus,and Hector had gone to the house of Alexander,the fine one, which he himself had built with the men who thenwere the best craftsmen in fertile Troy,who made him a chamber and a hall and a courtyardnear Priam's house, on the city's height.There Hector, dear to Zeus, went in, and in his handhe held an eleven-cubit spear; and in front of him the spear'sbronze point shone, and a golden ring ran round the shaft.And he found him in his chamber busy with his splendid armor,his shield and corselet, and fitting the curved bow;and Argive Helen sat with her slave women,and she was directing the famous work of her handmaids.And Hector, seeing him, rebuked him with shameful words:Strange man, you do not do well to nurse this anger in your heart.The people are dying around the city and the steep wall,fighting; and because of you, the war cry and the warburn around this city; and you yourself would fight another manwhom you saw somewhere hanging back from hateful war.But up, before the city is burned by hostile fire.And godlike Alexander answered him:Hector, since you have rebuked me rightly and not beyond what is right,I will speak to you; and do you listen and hear me.Not so much in anger or resentment at the Trojanshave I sat in my chamber, but I wished to turn aside to grief.But now my wife has spoken softly to me and stirred meto go to war; and it seems to me myself that thiswill be better; victory shifts from man to man.So come, wait now, while I put on my armor of Ares;or go, and I will follow; and I think I will overtake you.So he spoke, and Hector of the shining helmet said nothing to him;and Helen spoke to him with gentle words:Brother-in-law of me, a dog, a cruel plotter of evil,if only, on the day my mother first bore me,a wicked storm of wind had carried me awayto a mountain or into the wave of the loud-roaring sea,where the wave would have swept me away before these deeds were done.But since the gods have marked out these evils so,I should have been the wife of a better man,one who knew men's resentment and their many shames.But this man's mind is not now steady, nor everwill be; so I think he will reap the fruit of it.But come now, go in and sit on this chair,brother-in-law, since trouble above all has wrapped your heartbecause of me, a dog, and because of Alexander's ruin,on whom Zeus has placed an evil fate, so that even hereafterwe may be a song for men who are yet to be.And great Hector of the shining helmet answered her:Do not ask me to sit, Helen, dear as you are; you will not persuade me;for my heart already rushes on to defendthe Trojans, who have great longing for me while I am away.But you, stir this man, and let him hurry himself,so that he may catch me inside the city.For I will go home, to seemy household, my dear wife, and my little son.For I do not know whether I will come back to them again,or whether the gods will subdue me already under the Achaeans' hands.So speaking, Hector of the shining helmet departed;and at once he came to his well-built house,and he did not find white-armed Andromache in the hall,but she with her child and a well-dressed handmaidstood on the tower, weeping and wailing.And when Hector did not find the blameless wife indoors,he stood on the threshold and spoke among the handmaids:Come now, handmaids, tell me the truth:where has white-armed Andromache gone from the hall?Is she gone somewhere to my sisters-in-law or the wives of my brothers,or to the temple of Athena, where the otherfair-haired Trojan women propitiate the dread goddess?And the bustling housekeeper answered him with a word:Hector, since you bid me tell the truth,she has not gone to my sisters-in-law or the wives of my brothers,nor to the temple of Athena, where the otherfair-haired Trojan women propitiate the dread goddess,but she went up on the great tower of Ilium, because she heardthat the Trojans were hard pressed and the Achaeans had great power.She has indeed reached the wall in her haste,like a woman gone mad; and the nurse carries the child with her.So spoke the woman housekeeper, and Hector rushed from the houseback along the same road through the well-built streets.When he came to the gates as he passed through the great city,the Scaean gates, through which he was about to go out to the plain,there his richly dowered wife came running to meet him,Andromache, daughter of great-hearted Eetion,Eetion, who lived beneath wooded Plakos,in Thebe under Plakos, ruling the Cilician men;and his daughter was wife to bronze-helmed Hector.She met him then, and with her came her handmaidholding on her bosom the tender, innocent child,Hector's beloved son, like a beautiful star,whom Hector called Scamandrius, but othersAstyanax; for Hector alone guarded Ilium.He smiled in silence, looking at his child;and Andromache stood near him, shedding tears,and she clung to his hand, and spoke a word and called him by name:Strange man, your own strength will destroy you, and you do not pityyour infant child and me, unhappy, who will soon be a widowof you; for soon the Achaeans will kill you,all rushing on together; and it would be better for meto sink into the earth, bereft of you; for there will beno other comfort for me after you meet your doom,but only griefs; and I have no father and no honored mother.For shining Achilles killed my father,and sacked the well-built city of the Cilicians,high-gated Thebe, and killed Eetion,and did not strip him, for he shrank from that in his heart,but burned him with his cunning armor,and heaped a mound over him; and around it the mountain nymphs,daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, planted elms.And my seven brothers were in the hall,and they all went down into the house of Hades on one day;for swift-footed shining Achilles killed them allamong their rolling cattle and their white sheep.And my mother, who was queen beneath wooded Plakos,her he brought here with the rest of the spoil,but then he set her free, taking countless ransom,and Artemis the arrow-pourer struck her in my father's house.Hector, you are my father and my honored mother,and my brother, and my flourishing husband.But come now, have pity, and stay here on the tower,and do not make your child an orphan and your wife a widow.And station the people by the fig tree, where the cityis most open to attack and the wall most easy to scale.For three times the best men came there and tried it,around the two Ajaxes and famous Idomeneus,and around the sons of Atreus and the brave son of Tydeus;surely someone told them, one who knew prophecies well,or their own hearts urge and command them.And great Hector of the shining helmet answered her:All this is my care too, wife; but I would be terriblyashamed before the Trojans and the long-robed Trojan womenif I drew back from the war like a coward;nor does my heart bid me, since I learned to be bravealways, and to fight among the foremost Trojans,winning great glory for my father and for myself.For I know this well in my mind and heart:the day will come when holy Ilium will perish,and Priam and the people of Priam of the good ash spear.But the grief of the Trojans in time to come does not weigh on me so much,nor of Hecuba herself, nor of King Priam,nor of my brothers, who, many and brave,will fall in the dust at the hands of hostile men -as much as your grief, when some bronze-clad Achaeanleads you away weeping, robbing you of the day of freedom;and in Argos, in another woman's house, you will work at the loom,and you will carry water from Messes or Hypereia,much against your will, and hard necessity will lie upon you;and some day someone will say, seeing you shed tears:This is the wife of Hector, who was the best in battleof the horse-taming Trojans when they fought around Ilium.So someone will say; and for you there will be fresh griefin your need of such a man to ward off the day of slavery.But may the heaped earth cover me in deathbefore I hear of your cry and your dragging away.So speaking, shining Hector reached out for his child;but the child turned back to the bosom of his well-girded nurse,crying, frightened at the sight of his dear father,terrified of the bronze and the horse-haired crest,seeing it nod terribly from the top of the helmet.And his dear father laughed, and his honored mother too;at once shining Hector took the helmet from his head,and set it on the ground, all shining;and he kissed his dear son and tossed him in his hands,and spoke, praying to Zeus and the other gods:Zeus and you other gods, grant that this child of minemay be, as I am, outstanding among the Trojans,so strong and brave, and may he rule Ilium with might;and some day may someone say, He is far better than his father,as he comes back from war; and may he carry bloody spoils,having killed a hostile man, and may his mother rejoice in her heart.So speaking, he put the child in the hands of his dear wife;and she received him on her fragrant bosom,laughing through her tears; and her husband pitied her as he saw it,and he stroked her with his hand, and spoke a word and called her by name:Strange wife, do not be too much grieved in your heart;for no man will send me to Hades beyond my fate.And I say that no man has escaped his fate,neither the coward nor the brave, once he is born.But go into the house and attend to your own work,the loom and the distaff, and tell your handmaidsto go about their work; war will be the care of men,all of them, and most of all of me, who are born in Ilium.So speaking, shining Hector took up his helmet,horse-haired; and his dear wife went home,turning back again and again, shedding a thick tear.And at once she came to the well-built houseof man-slaying Hector, and she found many handmaidsinside, and she stirred up lamentation in them all.And they wailed for Hector still alive in his own house;for they did not think he would come back again from the waralive, having escaped the strength and hands of the Achaeans.Nor did Paris linger in his high house,but he, when he had put on his famous armor, richly worked with bronze,hurried through the city, trusting in his swift feet.And as when a stalled horse, fed at the manger,breaks its halter and gallops exulting across the plain,accustomed to bathe in a fair-flowing river,glorying; and he holds his head high, and his manetosses about his shoulders; and trusting in his beauty,his knees carry him swiftly to the haunts and pasture of horses;so the son of Priam, Paris, from the height of Pergamus,shining in his armor, came on like the blazing sun,exulting, and his swift feet carried him; and at oncehe found shining Hector his brother, when he was aboutto turn back from the place where he had talked with his wife.Godlike Alexander spoke to him first:Dear brother, surely I am holding you back as you hurry,lingering, and I did not come as I should, as you told me?And Hector of the shining helmet answered him:Strange man, no man who is fair-mindedcould slight your work in battle, since you are brave;but you hold back willingly and do not wish to fight; and my heartgrieves in my breast, when I hear shameful talk about youfrom the Trojans, who have great trouble because of you.But let us go; we will settle this later, if ever Zeusgrants that we may set up a free mixing bowlfor the heavenly, ever-living gods in our halls,having driven the well-greaved Achaeans out of Troy.