Book 11

Dawn rose up from the bed of lordly Tithonus,to bring light to the immortals and to mortal men;and Zeus sent forth Strife to the swift ships of the Achaeans,painful, holding in her hands a sign of war.She stood upon the great-hulled black ship of Odysseus,which lay in the middle, to call aloud to both sides,both toward the tents of Ajax, son of Telamon,and toward Achilles, who had drawn their equal shipsto the farthest rows, trusting in their valor and the strength of their hands.There standing, the goddess shouted loud and terrible,upright, and cast great strength into each Achaean,into his heart, unceasing, to wage war and to fight.Then war became sweeter to them than to returnin the hollow ships to their own dear fatherland.The son of Atreus shouted and bade the Argivesgird themselves; and he himself put on the gleaming bronze.First he set the greaves about his shins,beautiful, fitted with silver ankle-clasps;second, he put the corselet about his chest,which once Cinyras had given him to be a guest-gift.For he had heard in Cyprus the great fame that the Achaeanswere about to sail to Troy with their ships;therefore he gave it to him, pleasing the king.Now of it there were ten bands of dark blue enamel,and twelve of gold, and twenty of tin;and blue serpents were reared up toward the neck,three on either side, like the rainbows that the son of Cronussets in the cloud, a sign to mortal men.About his shoulders he cast his sword; and upon it the studsshone golden, while about it the scabbard wasof silver, fitted with golden hangers.Up he took his broad shield covering a man, much-burnished,beautiful, around which there were ten circles of bronze,and upon it there were twenty bosses of tin,white, and in the midst was one of dark blue enamel.And upon it the Gorgon, grim-eyed, was set as a crown,glaring terribly, and about her Terror and Fear.Its strap was of silver; and upon ita blue serpent was coiled, and the heads of it werethree, twisting every way, sprung from a single neck.On his head he set a helmet with two ridges and four plates,horse-haired; and terribly the crest nodded above.And he seized two strong spears, tipped with bronze,sharp; and afar from them the bronze shoneup into the sky; and Athena and Hera thundered at it,honoring the king of golden-rich Mycenae.Then each man gave orders to his own charioteerto hold the horses well in order back at the trench,while they themselves, footmen armed in their gear,rushed on; and an unquenchable cry arose before the dawn.They were arrayed at the trench far before the horsemen,and the horsemen followed a little after; but the son of Cronusroused an evil tumult, and from on high sent down dewsdrenched with blood out of the upper air, because he was aboutto send many valiant heads down to Hades.And the Trojans on the other side, upon the rise of the plain,about great Hector and blameless Polydamasand Aeneas, who was honored by the Trojan people like a god,and the three sons of Antenor, Polybus and noble Agenor,and young Acamas, like the immortals.And Hector in the foremost ranks bore his shield that covers all sides,and as a baleful star appears out of the clouds,shining, and then again sinks into the shadowy clouds,so Hector at one moment showed among the foremost,and at another among the hindmost, urging them on; and allblazed with bronze like the lightning of father Zeus who bears the aegis.And they, as reapers over against one anotherdrive a swath through the field of a rich man,of wheat or barley, and the handfuls fall thick:so the Trojans and the Achaeans, leaping upon one another,kept slaying, and neither side thought of ruinous flight.The battle held their heads level, and they, like wolves,rushed on; and Strife, much-groaning, rejoiced to behold it.For she alone of the gods came near them as they fought,but the other gods were not present with them, but sat at easein their own halls, where for each of themfair dwellings had been built along the folds of Olympus.And all blamed the dark-clouded son of Cronus,because he willed to grant glory to the Trojans.But the father cared nothing for them; and he, withdrawn apartfrom the others, sat far away, exulting in his glory,gazing upon the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeansand the flash of bronze, and the slayers and the slain.So long as it was morning and the sacred day grew,so long the weapons of both sides hit home, and the people fell;but when a woodcutter had made ready his mealin the glades of a mountain, when he had wearied his handscutting tall trees, and a sweet weariness came over his spirit,and desire for sweet food seizes his heart,at that hour the Danaans by their own valor broke the battalions,calling to their comrades along the ranks; and Agamemnonsprang up first, and slew a man, Bienor, shepherd of the people,himself, and then his companion Oileus, the driver of horses.Truly he, leaping down from his chariot, stood to face him;and him, eager as he was, he smote straight on the forehead with his sharp spearand pierced him, nor did the bronze-weighted helmet-rim hold the spear from him,but it went through it and through the bone, and his brainwas all spattered within; and he subdued him in his fury.And them the lord of men Agamemnon left there,shining in their chests, for he had stripped off their tunics.Then he went on to spoil Isus and Antiphus,the two sons of Priam, both the bastard and the true-born,riding upon a single chariot; the bastard drove the horses,and renowned Antiphus rode beside him; whom once Achillesin the foothills of Ida had bound with fresh willow shoots,taking them as they tended sheep, and had set free for ransom.Then indeed the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,smote the one above the nipple through the chest with his spear,and struck Antiphus beside the ear with his sword, and cast them from the horses.Hastening, he stripped the fair armor from the two,knowing them; for he had seen them before beside the swift ships,when swift-footed Achilles brought them from Ida.As a lion easily crushes the tender young of a swift deer,seizing them in his mighty teeth,coming upon their lair, and takes away their soft heart;and she, even if she happens to be very near, cannothelp them; for a dread trembling seizes her;and swiftly she darts through the thick copses and the wood,hastening, sweating, beneath the onset of the mighty beast:so then could no man ward off destruction from thoseTrojans, but even they fled before the Argives.Then Peisander and war-loving Hippolochus he took,the sons of wise Antimachus, who beyond all othershad accepted the gold and the splendid gifts of Alexandrus,and would not suffer Helen to be given to fair-haired Menelaus.His two sons indeed mighty Agamemnon took,riding upon a single chariot, and together they held swift horses;for the shining reins had fled from their hands,and the two were in confusion; and he sprang at them like a lion,the son of Atreus; and the two from the chariot clasped his knees:Take us alive, son of Atreus, and receive worthy ransom;many treasures lie in the house of Antimachus,bronze and gold and much-wrought iron,of which our father would gladly give you countless ransom,if he should learn that we two are alive beside the ships of the Achaeans.So the two, weeping, addressed the kingwith gentle words; but they heard a pitiless voice:If indeed you two are the sons of wise Antimachus,who once in the assembly of the Trojans badeMenelaus, when he had come as a messenger with godlike Odysseus,be killed there on the spot, and not sent back again to the Achaeans,now indeed you shall pay for your father's shameful outrage.He spoke, and thrust Peisander from the horses to the ground,striking him with his spear in the chest; and he was stretched on his back upon the soil.Hippolochus sprang off, and him he spoiled upon the ground,cutting off his hands with the sword and shearing away his neck,and sent him rolling through the throng like a mortar-stone.Them he left; and where the battalions were thrown thickest into confusion,there he sprang in, and with him the other well-greaved Achaeans.Footmen slew footmen as they fled under necessity,and horsemen slew horsemen; and beneath them dust arosefrom the plain, which the loud-thundering hooves of horses raisedas they cut men down with bronze; and mighty Agamemnonever followed, slaying, and urging on the Argives.As when consuming fire falls upon a thick-wooded forest,and the wind, whirling it, bears it every way, and the bushesfall uprooted, driven by the onset of the fire:so before Agamemnon, son of Atreus, fell the headsof the fleeing Trojans, and many strong-necked horsesrattled the empty chariots along the causeways of war,longing for their blameless drivers; and those upon the groundlay, far dearer to vultures than to their wives.But Hector Zeus drew away from the missiles and out of the dustand out of the man-slaying and out of the blood and out of the tumult;and the son of Atreus followed, urging on the Danaans furiously.And they past the tomb of ancient Ilus, son of Dardanus,sped across the middle of the plain past the wild fig tree,eager for the city; and he followed ever with a shout,the son of Atreus, and his invincible hands were defiled with gore.But when they came to the Scaean gates and the oak,then indeed they stood still and waited for one another.And they still fled across the middle of the plain like cattlewhich a lion has terrified, coming in the dead of nightupon them all; and upon one sheer destruction shows itself;he seizes her neck in his mighty teethfirst, then laps up the blood and all the entrails;so them did the son of Atreus, mighty Agamemnon, drive,ever slaying the hindmost; and they fled before him.And many, face downward and face upward, fell from their chariotsbeneath the hands of the son of Atreus; for with his spear he raged before them.But when he was soon about to come beneath the city and the steep wall,then indeed the father of men and of godsseated himself upon the peaks of many-fountained Ida,coming down from the sky; and he held the lightning in his hands.And he urged golden-winged Iris to bear the message:Go now, swift Iris, and tell this word to Hector:so long as he sees Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,raging among the foremost and destroying the ranks of men,so long let him give ground, but order the rest of the hostto fight the enemy in the strong encounter.But when, struck by spear or smitten by arrow,he leaps up onto his horses, then I shall give him the strengthto slay, until he reaches the well-benched shipsand the sun sets and sacred darkness comes.So he spoke, and swift-footed wind-swift Iris did not disobey,but went down from the Idaean mountains to holy Ilios.She found the son of wise Priam, noble Hector,standing among his horses and his well-joined chariots;and standing near, swift-footed Iris addressed him:Hector, son of Priam, equal to Zeus in counsel,father Zeus has sent me to tell you this:so long as you see Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,raging among the foremost, destroying the ranks of men,so long give way in the battle, but order the rest of the hostto fight the enemy in the strong encounter.But when, struck by spear or smitten by arrow,he leaps up onto his horses, then he will give you the strengthto slay, until you reach the well-benched shipsand the sun sets and sacred darkness comes.So she spoke and departed, swift-footed Iris,and Hector leapt from his chariot with his armor to the ground,and shaking his sharp spears he went through the host on every side,urging them to fight, and he roused the dread din of battle.And they were turned about and stood facing the Achaeans,and the Argives on the other side made firm their battalions.The battle was arrayed, and they stood face to face; and Agamemnonsprang up first, and was eager to fight far before all others.Tell me now, O Muses who hold the Olympian halls,who it was that first came against Agamemnon,whether of the Trojans themselves or of the famed allies.Iphidamas, son of Antenor, noble and tall,who was reared in Thrace, the rich-soiled mother of sheep;Cisses raised him in his house when he was small,his mother's father, who begot fair-cheeked Theano;but when he came to the measure of glorious manhood,he kept him there, and gave him his own daughter;and having wedded her, he came from the bridal chamber after the fame of the Achaeanswith twelve curved ships that followed him.These equal ships he then left at Percote,and he himself had come on foot to Ilios;he it was who then came against Agamemnon, son of Atreus.Now when they were close, coming at one another,the son of Atreus missed, and his spear turned aside from him,but Iphidamas struck him below the corselet at the belt,and pressed upon it himself, trusting in his heavy hand;yet he did not pierce the all-shining belt, but long beforethe point, meeting the silver, was turned aside like lead.And seizing it in his hand, wide-ruling Agamemnondragged it toward himself eagerly like a lion, and out of his handwrenched it away; and he struck his neck with his sword, and loosed his limbs.So he fell there and slept a brazen sleep,pitiable, far from his wedded wife, aiding his townsmen,his lawful wife, from whom he saw no joy, though he gave much;first he gave a hundred cattle, and then he promised a thousandgoats together with sheep, which pastured for him past telling.Then indeed Agamemnon, son of Atreus, spoiled him,and went bearing the fair armor through the throng of the Achaeans.But when Coon, renowned among men, marked him,the elder-born son of Antenor, strong griefcovered his eyes for his fallen brother.He stood slantwise with his spear, unseen by noble Agamemnon,and stabbed him in the middle of the arm below the elbow,and the point of the shining spear passed clean through.Then the lord of men Agamemnon shuddered;yet not even so did he cease from the battle and the war,but he sprang at Coon, holding his wind-nourished spear.Truly he was dragging Iphidamas, his brother by the same father,by the foot, eager to have him, and he called aloud to all the best;and him, as he dragged him through the throng beneath his bossed shield,he stabbed with his bronze-pointed spear, and loosed his limbs;and standing over him he cut off his head above Iphidamas.There the sons of Antenor, beneath the king, the son of Atreus,filled out their doom and went down into the house of Hades.Then he ranged through the ranks of the other menwith spear and sword and great stones,as long as the blood was still warm and welling from his wound.But when the wound dried and the blood ceased,and sharp pains sank into the strength of the son of Atreus.As when a sharp pang holds a woman in the pangs of birth,keen, which the Eileithyiai who bring the birth-pangs send forth,the daughters of Hera, who hold the bitter pangs,so sharp pains sank into the strength of the son of Atreus.He sprang up onto his chariot, and ordered his charioteerto drive to the hollow ships; for his heart was grieved.And he shouted shrilly, calling aloud to the Danaans:O friends, leaders and lords of the Argives,do you now ward off from the sea-going shipsthe painful din of battle, since Zeus the counselor did notsuffer me to fight the Trojans all the day long.So he spoke, and his charioteer lashed the fair-maned horsestoward the hollow ships; and they flew not unwilling,and their chests were frothing, and below they were dappled with dust,bearing the wearied king away from the battle.But Hector, when he marked Agamemnon gone apart,called to the Trojans and the Lycians, shouting aloud:Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians who fight close at hand,be men, my friends, and remember your fierce valor.The best man has gone, and Zeus the son of Cronus has given megreat glory; but drive straight on your single-hoofed horsesagainst the valiant Danaans, that you may win the higher glory.So speaking, he roused the strength and spirit of each man.As when somewhere a hunter sets his white-toothed houndsupon a wild boar or a lion,so against the Achaeans he set the great-hearted Trojans,Hector son of Priam, like Ares, the bane of mortals.And he himself went on among the foremost, greatly exulting,and fell upon the battle like a blasting gale,which leaping down stirs the violet-dark sea.Then whom did he first, and whom last, strip of his armor,Hector son of Priam, when Zeus gave him glory?Asaeus first, and Autonous, and Opites,and Dolops son of Clytius, and Opheltius, and Agelaus,and Aesymnus and Orus and war-loving Hipponous.These he slew, the leaders of the Danaans, and thenthe multitude, as when the West Wind beats the cloudswith a deep squall, striking them from the bright South;and the swollen wave rolls greatly, and the foam is scatteredon high by the blast of the much-wandering wind;so the heads of the host were thickly subdued beneath Hector.Then there would have been ruin and unmanageable deeds,and the Achaeans would have fallen in flight among the ships,had not Odysseus called to Diomedes, son of Tydeus:Son of Tydeus, what has come over us that we forget our fierce valor?Come now, good friend, stand beside me; for truly it will be a reproachif Hector of the shining helmet takes the ships.And answering him, strong Diomedes said:Truly I will stay and endure; but briefwill be the gain for us, since cloud-gathering Zeuswishes to give victory to the Trojans rather than to us.He spoke, and thrust Thymbraeus from his horses to the ground,striking him with his spear in the left breast; and Odysseusslew godlike Molion, the attendant of that lord.These they then left, since they had stopped them from war;and the two went through the throng and made havoc, as when two boarsfall upon the hunting hounds, greatly exulting;so they destroyed the Trojans, turning back upon them; and the Achaeansgladly breathed again as they fled from noble Hector.There they took a chariot and two men, the best of the people,the two sons of Merops of Percote, who beyond all othersknew the arts of divination, and would not suffer his sonsto go to man-destroying war; but the two in no wayobeyed him; for the fates of black death led them on.Them Diomedes, famed for the spear, the son of Tydeus,robbed of their spirit and life, and took their glorious armor;and Hippodamas and Hyperochus Odysseus spoiled.Then the son of Cronus stretched the battle even for them,looking down from Ida; and they kept slaying one another.Truly the son of Tydeus wounded Agastrophus with his spear,the hero son of Paeon, in the hip; and his horseswere not near for him to flee, and he greatly erred in his spirit.For his attendant held them far off, while he on footraged through the foremost, until he lost his own life.But Hector marked it sharply along the ranks, and sprang at themwith a shout; and with him followed the battalions of the Trojans.And seeing him, Diomedes good at the war-cry shuddered,and at once spoke to Odysseus, who was near:Against us two this ruin rolls, mighty Hector;come now, let us stand and beat him off, waiting for him.He spoke, and swinging it he hurled his long-shadowing spear,and struck him, nor did he miss, aiming at his head,on the very top of the helmet; but bronze glanced away from bronze,and it did not reach his fair skin; for the three-platedhollow helmet stopped it, which Phoebus Apollo had given him.But Hector quickly sprang back a great way and mingled with the throng,and falling on his knee he propped himself with his stout handupon the ground; and black night covered his eyes.But while the son of Tydeus went after the cast of the spearfar through the foremost, where it had sunk into the ground,meanwhile Hector revived, and leaping back into his chariotdrove out into the throng, and escaped black death.And hurling his spear, strong Diomedes spoke:Again now you have escaped death, dog; surely evilcame near you; again Phoebus Apollo has saved you,to whom you will pray as you go into the din of spears.Truly I shall finish you later, when I meet you again,if some god is a helper to me also.Now again I shall go after the others, whoever I catch.He spoke, and spoiled the renowned son of Paeon with his spear.But Alexandrus, husband of fair-haired Helen,drew his bow at the son of Tydeus, shepherd of the people,leaning against a pillar upon the man-built tombof Ilus son of Dardanus, ancient elder of the people.Truly he was taking the corselet of valiant Agastrophusfrom his chest, all-shining, and his shield from his shouldersand his heavy helmet; and the other drew back the arm of the bowand struck him, nor did the arrow fly vain from his hand,but struck the flat of his right foot; and the arrow went cleanthrough and was fixed in the ground; and he laughed very sweetlyand sprang from his ambush, and boasting he spoke:You are hit, and the arrow did not fly in vain; how I wishthat striking you in the lowest flank I had taken your life away.So would the Trojans too have breathed from their trouble,who shudder at you as bleating goats at a lion.And not fearing him, strong Diomedes said:Archer, slanderer, glorious in your bow, girl-mad,if you came against me in arms to try me,your bow and your thick arrows would not help you;but now, since you have grazed the flat of my foot, you boast for nothing.I care no more than if a woman or a foolish child struck me;for the arrow of a worthless, feeble man is blunt.Truly otherwise from me, even if it grazes you but a little,the dart is sharp, and quickly makes a man lifeless.Then his wife's cheeks are torn with both her hands,and his children are orphaned; and he, reddening the earth with blood,rots, and the birds about him are more than the women.So he spoke, and Odysseus famed for the spear came near himand stood before him; and he, sitting behind, drew the swift arrowout of his foot, and a grievous pain went through his flesh.He sprang up onto his chariot, and ordered his charioteerto drive to the hollow ships; for his heart was grieved.And Odysseus, famed for the spear, was left alone, and none of the Argivesstayed beside him, since fear had seized them all;and troubled, he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:Ah me, what shall I suffer? Great is the evil if I fleethe throng in terror; but it is worse if I am takenalone; for the son of Cronus has put the other Danaans to flight.But why does my dear heart debate these things with me?For I know that cowards keep away from war,and whoever excels in battle, for him there is great needto stand firm, whether he is struck or strikes another.While he pondered these things in his heart and spirit,meanwhile the ranks of the shield-bearing Trojans came on,and hemmed him in the midst, setting ruin among him and themselves.As when hounds and lusty young hunters rushupon a wild boar, and he comes out of the deep thicketwhetting his white tusk in his curved jaws,and they dart about him, and beneath them the clash of his teetharises, yet they stand their ground, terrible though he is:so then about Odysseus, dear to Zeus, rushedthe Trojans; and he first wounded blameless Deiopiteson the shoulder above, springing at him with his sharp spear,and then he spoiled Thoon and Ennomus.And Chersidamas, as he sprang down from his horses,with his spear below the navel, beneath his bossed shield,he stabbed him; and he, fallen in the dust, clutched the earth with his palm.Them he left, and he wounded Charops, son of Hippasus, with his spear,the own brother of noble Socos.And to defend him came Socos, a man like the gods,and coming very near he stood and spoke a word to him:O Odysseus, greatly praised for your guile and your toil,today you will boast over both the sons of Hippasus,having killed two such men and taken their armor away,or you will be struck by my spear and lose your life.So speaking, he stabbed him upon his shield that covers all sides.Through the shining shield went the mighty spear,and it was driven through the much-wrought corselet,and it sheared all the skin away from his ribs, nor did it yetsuffer Pallas Athena to mingle with the man's entrails.And Odysseus knew that his end had not come at the right moment,and drawing back he spoke a word to Socos:Ah wretch, surely sheer destruction is overtaking you.Truly you have stopped me from fighting the Trojans;but I tell you that slaughter and black doomshall be yours on this day, and subdued beneath my spearyou shall give glory to me, and your soul to Hades famed for his horses.He spoke, and the other had turned back and was going in flight,and as he turned, he fixed his spear in his back,midway between the shoulders, and drove it through his chest,and he fell with a thud; and noble Odysseus boasted:O Socos, son of wise Hippasus, the tamer of horses,the end of death came upon you first, and you did not escape it.Ah wretch, not for you will your father and your lady motherclose your eyes, though you are dead, but the birdsthat eat raw flesh shall drag you, casting their thick wings about you.But me, if I die, the noble Achaeans will give burial.So speaking, he drew the mighty spear of wise Socosout of his flesh and out of his bossed shield;and when it was drawn out the blood sprang up, and it grieved his heart.And the great-hearted Trojans, when they saw the blood of Odysseus,calling through the throng, all came on against him.But he gave ground backward, and shouted to his comrades.Three times then he shouted as loud as a man's head could hold,and three times war-loving Menelaus heard him crying.At once he spoke to Ajax, who was near:Ajax, sprung from Zeus, son of Telamon, leader of the people,about me has come the shout of steadfast-hearted Odysseus,like to that as if the Trojans had cut him off, being alone,and were overpowering him in the strong encounter.Come, let us go through the throng; for it is better to defend him.I fear lest something befall him, alone among the Trojans,good man that he is, and great longing come upon the Danaans.So speaking, he led the way, and the godlike man followed with him.Then they found Odysseus, dear to Zeus; and about himthe Trojans were following, as ravening jackals on the mountainsabout a horned stag that has been struck, whom a man has hitwith an arrow from the bowstring; and he escapes on his feetby fleeing, so long as the warm blood and his knees hold out;but when the swift arrow subdues him,the raw-flesh-eating jackals devour him in the mountainsin a shady glen; and a god leads a ravening lion against them,and the jackals flee away, and he devours him:so then about Odysseus, wise and many-counselled,the Trojans followed, many and valiant; and the herodarting with his spear warded off the pitiless day.And Ajax came near, bearing his shield like a tower,and stood beside him; and the Trojans fled each a different way.Truly warlike Menelaus led him out of the throng,holding him by the hand, until his attendant drove the horses near.And Ajax, springing at the Trojans, took Doryclus,a bastard son of Priam, then he wounded Pandocus,and wounded Lysander and Pyrasus and Pylartes.As when a full river comes down upon the plain,a winter torrent from the mountains, driven on by the rain of Zeus,and it carries down many withered oaks, and many pines,and casts much silt into the sea:so then glorious Ajax drove on, throwing the plain into confusion,cutting down horses and men; and Hector did not yetknow of it, since he was fighting on the left wing of the whole battlebeside the banks of the river Scamander, where mostthe heads of men were falling, and an unquenchable cry had arisenabout great Nestor and warlike Idomeneus.Hector was dealing among them, doing dreadful deedswith spear and horsemanship, and he was wasting the battalions of the young;and the noble Achaeans would not yet have given way from the pathif Alexandrus, husband of fair-haired Helen,had not stopped Machaon, shepherd of the people, as he excelled,striking him with a three-barbed arrow in the right shoulder.Then the Achaeans breathing fury feared for him,lest, if the battle turned, they should take him.At once Idomeneus spoke to noble Nestor:O Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaeans,come, mount your chariot, and let Machaonclimb up beside you, and drive your single-hoofed horses to the ships as fast as may be;for a physician is a man worth many othersboth to cut out arrows and to spread soothing herbs.So he spoke, and the Gerenian horseman Nestor did not disobey.At once he mounted his own chariot, and Machaonclimbed up beside him, the son of the blameless physician Asclepius;and he lashed the horses, and they flew not unwillingtoward the hollow ships; for that was dear to their heart.But Cebriones noticed the Trojans being thrown into confusionas he rode beside Hector, and he spoke a word to him:Hector, we two are dealing with the Danaans hereat the edge of the ill-sounding battle; but the otherTrojans are being thrown into confusion, both horses and men together.And Ajax, son of Telamon, throws them into confusion; and I knew him well;for he holds his broad shield about his shoulders; but let us alsodrive our horses and chariot there, where mosthorsemen and footmen, throwing up evil strife,are slaying one another, and an unquenchable cry has arisen.So speaking, he lashed the fair-maned horseswith his shrill whip; and they, hearing the stroke,swiftly bore the swift chariot after the Trojans and the Achaeans,trampling on corpses and shields; and the axle belowwas all bespattered with blood, and the rims about the chariot seat,which the drops from the horses' hooves and from the wheelskept striking. And he was eager to plunge into the throngof men and to break through, leaping in; and he cast eviltumult among the Danaans, and gave way but little from the spear.Then he ranged through the ranks of the other menwith spear and sword and great stones,but he shunned the battle of Ajax, son of Telamon.And father Zeus, who sits on high, roused Ajax into fear;and he stood amazed, and cast behind him his seven-hide shield,and he shrank back, glancing at the throng like a beast,turning this way and that, shifting knee after knee but slowly.As when from a cattle-fold the hounds and the country mendrive off a blazing lion,who will not let them take the fat of the cattle,keeping watch all night long; and he, lusting for flesh,charges straight on, but accomplishes nothing; for thick spearsdart against him from bold hands,and burning brands, which he dreads though he is eager;and at dawn he goes away apart with a grieving heart:so then Ajax from the Trojans, grieved at heart,went away much against his will; for he greatly feared for the ships of the Achaeans.As when a donkey passing by a field overpowers the boys,sluggish, on whom many cudgels have been broken about him,and he crops the deep cornfield as he goes in; and the boysbeat him with cudgels, but their strength is childish;with difficulty they drive him out, when he is glutted with fodder:so then upon great Ajax, the son of Telamon,the over-proud Trojans and the many-gathered allies,stabbing with their spears the middle of his shield, followed him always.And Ajax at one moment remembered his fierce valor,turning back again, and checked the battalionsof horse-taming Trojans; and at another he turned to flee.And he kept them all back from going to the swift ships,and he himself raged between the Trojans and the Achaeans,standing his ground; and the spears from bold hands,some, as they sped forward, were fixed in his great shield,and many also were stuck midway, before they could reach his white skin,standing in the ground, longing to glut themselves on flesh.But when the glorious son of Euaemon,Eurypylus, saw him being hard pressed by the thick missiles,he came and stood beside him, and hurled his shining spear,and struck Apisaon, son of Phausias, shepherd of the people,in the liver beneath the midriff, and straightway loosed his knees;and Eurypylus sprang on and took the armor from his shoulders.But when godlike Alexandrus noticed himstripping the armor of Apisaon, at once he drew his bowat Eurypylus, and struck him in the right thigh with an arrow;and the reed shattered, and it weighed heavy on his thigh.And he gave ground back into the company of his comrades, shunning death,and he shouted shrilly, calling aloud to the Danaans:O friends, leaders and lords of the Argives,stand, turning about, and ward off the pitiless dayfrom Ajax, who is hard pressed by missiles, and I do not thinkhe will escape from the ill-sounding war; but standface to face about great Ajax, son of Telamon.So spoke Eurypylus, struck as he was; and they cameand stood close beside him, leaning their shields on their shouldersand holding up their spears; and Ajax came to meet them.And he stood turned about, when he had reached the company of his comrades.So they fought like blazing fire;and the Neleian horses bore Nestor out of the war,sweating, and they brought Machaon, shepherd of the people.And swift-footed noble Achilles saw him and marked him;for he stood upon the stern of his great-hulled ship,gazing at the steep toil and the tearful rout.At once he spoke to his own comrade Patroclus,calling aloud from beside the ship; and he, hearing from the hut,came out like Ares, and that was the beginning of his evil.And the valiant son of Menoetius spoke first to him:Why do you call me, Achilles? What need have you of me?And answering him, swift-footed Achilles said:Noble son of Menoetius, dear to my heart,now I think the Achaeans will stand about my kneesbeseeching me; for need has come that is no longer bearable.But go now, Patroclus dear to Zeus, ask Nestorwho this is whom he brings wounded out of the war;truly in his back he looks in all things like Machaon,the son of Asclepius, but I did not see the man's eyes;for the horses passed me by, eager and going forward.So he spoke, and Patroclus obeyed his dear comrade,and set out running past the huts and the ships of the Achaeans.And when they came to the hut of the son of Neleus,they themselves stepped down upon the much-nourishing earth,and the attendant Eurymedon loosed the horses of the old manfrom the chariot; and the two cooled the sweat from their tunics,standing facing the breeze beside the shore of the sea; and thenthey went into the hut and sat down on the chairs.And fair-haired Hecamede prepared a potion for them,whom the old man had taken from Tenedos, when Achilles sacked it,the daughter of great-hearted Arsinoos, whom the Achaeanshad chosen for him because he excelled all in counsel.She first of all set before them a tablefair, with dark-blue feet, well-polished, and upon ita bronze basket, and on it an onion as a relish for the drink,and pale honey, and beside it a portion of sacred barley meal,and beside it a very beautiful cup, which the old man had brought from home,studded with golden nails; and its handleswere four, and about each two golden dovesfed, and beneath there were two bottoms.Another man, straining, could scarcely shift it from the tablewhen it was full, but old Nestor lifted it without toil.In it the woman like the goddesses mixed them a drinkwith Pramnian wine, and grated goat's cheese over itwith a bronze grater, and sprinkled white barley over it,and bade them drink, when she had made ready the potion.And the two, when they had drunk and put away their parching thirst,amused themselves with words, telling tales to one another;and Patroclus, a man like the gods, stood at the door.And the old man, seeing him, sprang from his shining seat,and led him in, taking him by the hand, and bade him sit down.But Patroclus from the other side refused, and spoke a word:There is no sitting for me, old man cherished by Zeus, nor will you persuade me.Revered and to be respected is he who sent me to learnwho this is whom you bring wounded; but I myselfknow him, and I see Machaon, shepherd of the people.But now, speaking a word, I will go back as a messenger to Achilles.And you know well, old man cherished by Zeus, how dreada man that one is; he might quickly blame even the blameless.And the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:Why then does Achilles lament for the sons of the Achaeans,all those who have been struck by missiles? And he does not knowthe grief, how great it has arisen through the host; for the best menlie among the ships, struck down and wounded.Struck is the son of Tydeus, strong Diomedes,and Odysseus famed for the spear is wounded, and Agamemnon;and Eurypylus has been struck in the thigh by an arrow;and this other man I have just brought from the war,struck by an arrow from the bowstring. But Achilles,good man as he is, does not care for the Danaans nor pity them.Does he wait until the swift ships beside the seaare burning with hostile fire, against the will of the Argives,and we ourselves are slain in turn? For my strengthis not such as it once was in my supple limbs.If only I were young as I was and my strength stood firm,as when a quarrel arose between the Eleans and usover cattle-driving, when I killed Itymoneus,the good son of Hyperochus, who dwelt in Elis,as he was driving off the herds; and he, defending his cattle,was struck among the foremost by a spear from my hand,and fell down, and the country people fled about him.And we drove together a vast plunder from the plain,fifty herds of cattle, as many flocks of sheep,as many droves of swine, as many broad herds of goats,and a hundred and fifty chestnut horses,all mares, and many foals were beneath them.And these we drove into Neleian Pylos,by night, to the city; and Neleus rejoiced in his heart,because much had fallen to me, though I was young, when I went to war.And at dawn appearing the heralds proclaimedfor those to come to whom a debt was owed in sacred Elis;and the leaders of the Pylians, gathered together,divided it; for many of the Epeians owed a debt,since we were few and had been oppressed in Pylos;for the might of Heracles had come and oppressed usin the former years, and all the best men had been killed;for we were twelve sons of blameless Neleus;of whom I alone was left, and all the others perished.Proud of these things the bronze-clad Epeians,insulting us, devised reckless deeds.And the old man took out a herd of cattle and a great flock of sheep,choosing three hundred and their herdsmen.For a great debt was owed to him in sacred Elis,four prizewinning horses with their own chariot,that had come for the contests; for they were about to racefor a tripod; and them the lord of men Augeaskept back, and sent the charioteer away grieving for his horses.Angered at their words and their deeds, the old mantook out countless many; and the rest he gave to the peopleto divide, lest anyone go away cheated of his due share.We dealt with each matter, and about the citywe performed sacrifices to the gods; and on the third day allcame together, both the many themselves and the single-hoofed horses,in full force; and among them the Moliones armed themselves,the two sons still boys, not yet knowing fierce valor.And there is a city Thryoessa, a steep hill,far off on the Alpheus, the last town of sandy Pylos;and they encamped about it, eager to tear it down.But when they had gone over the whole plain, and to us Athenacame as a messenger running from Olympus, to arm ourselvesby night, and she gathered the host through Pylos not unwillingbut greatly eager to fight. And Neleusdid not let me arm myself, but hid my horses;for he said I did not yet know the works of war.But even so I stood out among our horsemen,though I was on foot, since so Athena led the quarrel.And there is a river Minyeios that empties into the seanear Arene, where we waited for the divine Dawn,the horsemen of the Pylians, while the tribes of footmen poured in.From there, in full force, armed in our armor,at midday we came to the sacred stream of the Alpheus.There we made fair sacrifices to mighty Zeus,and a bull to the Alpheus, and a bull to Poseidon,and to flashing-eyed Athena a heifer of the herd,and then we took our supper through the host by companies,and each man lay down to sleep in his own armorabout the streams of the river. And the great-hearted Epeianshad already set themselves about the city, eager to tear it down;but before that a great work of Ares appeared to them;for when the shining sun rose above the earth,we closed with them in battle, praying to Zeus and to Athena.But when the quarrel of the Pylians and the Epeians had begun,I first slew a man, and brought in his single-hoofed horses,Mulius the spearman; and he was a son-in-law of Augeas,and he had as wife his eldest daughter, fair-haired Agamede,who knew as many drugs as the broad earth nourishes.Him, as he came at me, I struck with my bronze spear,and he fell in the dust; and I leapt into his chariotand stood among the foremost; but the great-hearted Epeiansfled each a different way, when they saw the man fallen,the leader of the horsemen, who excelled in fighting.Then I sprang on like a dark squall,and took fifty chariots, and about each two menclung with their teeth to the ground, subdued beneath my spear.And now I would have destroyed the two sons of Actor, the Moliones,if their father, wide-ruling Poseidon the earth-shaker,had not saved them from the war, hiding them in thick mist.Then Zeus granted great strength to the Pylians;for so long we followed across the spacious plain,killing them and gathering up their fair armor,until we made our horses come to Buprasium, rich in wheat,and the rock of Olenos and the hill of Alesium,as it is called; from there again Athena turned back the host.There I killed the last man and left him; and the Achaeansturned back the swift horses from Buprasium to Pylos,and all gave thanks among the gods to Zeus and among men to Nestor.Such was I, if ever I was, among men. But Achillesalone will enjoy his own valor; yet I thinkhe will mourn much later, when the host is destroyed.O good friend, truly Menoetius gave you these orderson the day when he sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon,and we two, I and noble Odysseus, being insideheard everything in the halls, just as he commanded.And we came to the well-built house of Peleus,gathering the host through Achaean land, rich in pasture.And there we found the hero Menoetius inside,and you, and beside him Achilles; and the old horseman Peleuswas burning the fat thigh-bones of an ox to Zeus who delights in thunderin the courtyard enclosure; and he held a golden cuppouring gleaming wine over the burning offerings.You two were busy with the ox's flesh, and we two thenstood in the doorway; and Achilles sprang up amazed,and led us in, taking us by the hand, and bade us sit down,and set out good hospitality, as is the custom for guests.But when we had taken our pleasure in food and drink,I began the talk, urging you two to follow with me;and you two were very willing, and both gave many commands.Old Peleus charged his son Achillesalways to be best and to be superior to others;and Menoetius, son of Actor, gave you these orders:My child, by birth Achilles is greater than you,but you are the elder; and in strength he is far better.But speak to him a wise word and advise himand point the way; and he will obey you for his own good.So the old man charged you, and you forget it; but even nowyou might say these things to wise Achilles, if he would obey.But who knows if with a god's help you might rouse his spiritby persuading him? For the persuasion of a comrade is a good thing.And if he avoids some prophecy in his own mind,and his lady mother has told him something from Zeus,then let him send you forth, and let the rest of the host follow with you,the Myrmidons, that you may become a light to the Danaans;and let him give you his fair armor to carry into the war,in case the Trojans, taking you for him, hold back from the battleand the warlike sons of the Achaeans breathe againthough worn out; and brief is the breathing-space of war.And you, fresh, might easily push back the weary men with your war-crytoward the city, away from the ships and the huts.So he spoke, and he roused the spirit in his breast,and he set out running along the ships toward Achilles, son of Aeacus.But when Patroclus came running to the ships of godlike Odysseus,where their assembly and the place of judgment was,and where the altars of the gods had been built for them,there the wounded Eurypylus met him,the god-sprung son of Euaemon, struck in the thigh by an arrow,limping out of the war; and down his back ran sweatfrom his shoulders and his head, and from the grievous wounddark blood gurgled; but his mind was still steadfast.And seeing him, the valiant son of Menoetius pitied him,and lamenting he addressed him with winged words:Ah, wretched leaders and lords of the Danaans,so then you were destined, far from friends and your native land,to glut the swift dogs in Troy with your shining fat.But come, tell me this, god-cherished Eurypylus, hero,will the Achaeans still hold off the monstrous Hector somewhere,or will they now perish, subdued beneath his spear?And the wounded Eurypylus answered him face to face:No longer, god-sprung Patroclus, will there be any defense for the Achaeans,but they will fall among the black ships.For all those who were formerly the bestlie among the ships, struck down and woundedbeneath the hands of the Trojans; and their strength is ever rising.But save me, leading me to the black ship,and cut the arrow from my thigh, and wash the dark bloodfrom it with warm water, and spread soothing, goodherbs on it, which they say you have been taught by Achilles,whom Cheiron taught, the most righteous of the Centaurs.For the physicians, Podaleirius and Machaon,the one, I think, lies in the huts with a wound,himself needing a blameless physician,while the other awaits sharp Ares in the plain of the Trojans.And the valiant son of Menoetius answered him:How then shall these things be? What shall we do, Eurypylus, hero?I am going to tell wise Achilles the wordthat the Gerenian Nestor, guardian of the Achaeans, commanded;but not even so will I neglect you in your distress.He spoke, and taking the shepherd of the people beneath the chest he led himinto the hut; and the attendant, seeing it, spread oxhides underneath.There he laid him out and with a knife cut from his thighthe sharp, piercing arrow, and washed the dark bloodfrom it with warm water, and laid on it a bitter rootthat he rubbed in his hands, a pain-killing one, which stoppedall his pains; and the wound dried and the blood ceased.

Dawn got up from the bed of lordly Tithonusto bring light to the immortals and to mortal people.Zeus sent Strife to the fast ships of the Achaeans,a painful thing, holding a sign of war in her hands.She stood on the big black ship of Odysseus,which was in the middle, so she could shout to both sides,both toward the tents of Ajax, son of Telamon,and toward Achilles, who had dragged their equal shipsto the farthest row, trusting in their courage and the strength of their hands.Standing there, the goddess shouted loud and terrible,standing upright, and put great strength into each Achaean,into his heart, never stopping, to make war and to fight.Right away war became sweeter to them than going homein the hollow ships to their own dear homeland.The son of Atreus shouted and told the Argivesto put on their armor, and he himself put on the shining bronze.First he put the greaves around his shins,beautiful ones, fitted with silver ankle clasps.Second he put the breastplate around his chest,the one Cinyras once gave him as a guest gift.For he had heard in Cyprus about the great fame that the Achaeanswere going to sail to Troy with their ships.That is why he gave it to him, to please the king.It had ten bands of dark blue enamel,twelve of gold, and twenty of tin.Blue snakes were reared up toward the neck,three on each side, like the rainbows that the son of Cronusfixes in the cloud, a sign to mortal people.He threw his sword over his shoulders, and on it the studsshone gold, and around it the sheath wassilver, fitted with golden hangers.He took up his big shield that covers a man, richly worked,beautiful, and around it there were ten circles of bronze,and on it there were twenty bosses of tin,white ones, and in the middle was one of dark blue enamel.On it the Gorgon with the grim stare was set like a crown,glaring terribly, and around her were Terror and Fear.Its strap was silver, and on ita blue snake was coiled, and it had heads,three of them, twisting every way, growing from one neck.On his head he put a helmet with two ridges and four plates,horsetail-crested, and the crest nodded terribly above.He took up two strong spears tipped with bronze,sharp ones, and from far off the bronze on them shoneall the way to the sky, and Athena and Hera thundered over it,honoring the king of Mycenae, rich in gold.Then each man gave orders to his own chariot driverto hold the horses well in order back at the ditch,while they themselves, foot soldiers dressed in armor,rushed forward, and a cry rose up before dawn that could not be put out.They were in order at the ditch well ahead of the chariots,and the chariots followed a little after, but the son of Cronusstirred up an evil uproar, and from high above he sent down dewsoaked with blood out of the upper air, because he was aboutto send many strong heads down to Hades.The Trojans on the other side, on the rise of the plain,around great Hector and blameless Polydamasand Aeneas, who was honored by the Trojan people like a god,and the three sons of Antenor, Polybus and noble Agenor,and young Acamas, who looked like the immortals.Hector in the front ranks carried his shield that covers every side,and like a baleful star that shows through the cloudsshining, and then sinks again into the shadowy clouds,so Hector showed himself sometimes among the front ranksand sometimes among the back ones, urging them on, and everyoneblazed with bronze like the lightning of father Zeus who holds the aegis.They were like reapers facing one anotherdriving a swath through the field of a rich man,wheat or barley, and the handfuls fall thick.So the Trojans and Achaeans, leaping at one another,kept killing, and neither side thought about shameful flight.The battle kept their heads level, and like wolvesthey rushed, and Strife, who groans a lot, was glad to watch.For she alone of the gods was there with them as they fought,but the other gods were not with them, but sat at easein their own halls, where for each onebeautiful houses had been built along the folds of Olympus.They all blamed the dark-clouded son of Cronus,because he wanted to give glory to the Trojans.But the father paid no attention to them, and he, drawn asidefar away from the others, sat exulting in his glory,watching the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeansand the flash of bronze, and the killers and the killed.As long as it was morning and the sacred day was growing,that long the weapons of both sides hit home, and the people fell.But when a woodcutter has made his meal readyin the mountain glens, when he has worn out his handscutting tall trees, and a sweet tiredness comes over him,and the desire for sweet food takes hold of his heart,at that hour the Danaans by their own courage broke the battalions,calling to their comrades along the ranks, and Agamemnonsprang up first and killed a man, Bienor, shepherd of the people,himself, and then his companion Oileus, the driver of horses.He jumped down from his chariot and stood to face him,and struck him straight on the forehead with his sharp spear as he came eagerly,and pierced him, and the bronze-bound helmet rim did not hold the spear off him,but it went through it and through the bone, and his brainwas all splattered inside, and he subdued him as he raged.And lord Agamemnon left those two there,shining on their chests, after he stripped off their tunics.Then he went on to strip Isus and Antiphus,the two sons of Priam, one a bastard and one trueborn, bothriding on one chariot, the bastard driving the horsesand famous Antiphus riding beside him, whom Achilles oncein the foothills of Ida had tied with fresh willow shootswhen he caught them tending sheep, and set free for ransom.Then indeed the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,hit the one above the nipple through the chest with his spear,and struck Antiphus beside the ear with his sword and threw them off the horses.Hurrying, he stripped the fine armor off the two of them,knowing who they were, for he had seen them before by the fast shipswhen swift-footed Achilles brought them from Ida.Just as a lion easily crushes the helpless young of a swift deer,grabbing them in his strong teethas he comes to their bed, and takes away their soft heart,and the mother, even if she happens to be very close, cannothelp them, for a terrible trembling takes hold of her,and she darts quickly through the thick brush and the woods,hurrying and sweating from the charge of the mighty beast:so then no one could keep destruction away from thoseTrojans, but they themselves fled from the Argives.Then he took Peisander and war-loving Hippolochus,the sons of wise Antimachus, who more than anyonehad taken the gold and the splendid gifts of Alexandrusand would not let Helen be given to fair-haired Menelaus.Mighty Agamemnon took those two sons of his,riding on one chariot, and they held their fast horses together,for the shining reins had slipped from their hands,and the two of them were confused, and he sprang at them like a lion,the son of Atreus, and the two from the chariot begged his knees:Take us alive, son of Atreus, and take a worthy ransom.There are many treasures lying in the house of Antimachus,bronze and gold and much-worked iron,and our father would gladly give you endless ransom from themif he learned that we two are alive by the ships of the Achaeans.So the two of them, crying, spoke to the kingwith gentle words, but they heard a pitiless voice:If you two really are the sons of wise Antimachus,who once in the assembly of the Trojans told themto kill Menelaus on the spot when he came as a messenger with godlike Odysseus,and not send him back to the Achaeans,now you will pay for your father's shameful outrage.He spoke, and shoved Peisander off the horses to the ground,hitting him with his spear in the chest, and he fell on his back on the dirt.Hippolochus jumped down, and him he stripped on the ground,cutting off his hands with his sword and chopping off his neck,and sent him rolling through the crowd like a mortar stone.He left them, and where the battalions were thrown into the most confusion,there he sprang in, and with him the other well-greaved Achaeans.Foot soldiers killed foot soldiers as they fled under pressure,and horsemen killed horsemen, and under them dust rosefrom the plain, which the loud-thundering hooves of the horses raisedas they cut men down with bronze, and mighty Agamemnonalways followed, killing, and urging on the Argives.Just as when consuming fire falls on a thick-wooded forest,and the wind whirls it and carries it everywhere, and the bushesfall uprooted, driven by the rush of the fire,so before Agamemnon, son of Atreus, the heads fellof the fleeing Trojans, and many strong-necked horsesrattled the empty chariots along the causeways of war,missing their blameless drivers, and those drivers on the groundlay there, much dearer to vultures than to their wives.But Zeus drew Hector away from the missiles and out of the dustand out of the man-killing and out of the blood and out of the uproar,and the son of Atreus followed, urging on the Danaans fiercely.They past the tomb of ancient Ilus, son of Dardanus,rushed across the middle of the plain past the wild fig tree,eager for the city, and he followed with a shout all the time,the son of Atreus, and his unstoppable hands were spattered with gore.But when they came to the Scaean gates and the oak tree,there they stopped and waited for one another.Others still fled across the middle of the plain like cattlethat a lion has frightened, when he comes in the dead of nighton all of them, and for one of them sheer destruction shows up,and he grabs her neck in his strong teethfirst, then laps up the blood and all the guts.So mighty Agamemnon, son of Atreus, drove them,always killing the last one, and they fled.Many fell face down and face up from their chariotsunder the hands of the son of Atreus, for he raged in front of them with his spear.But when he was about to come under the city and the steep wall,then the father of men and godssat down on the peaks of many-fountained Ida,coming down from the sky, and he held the lightning in his hands.He urged golden-winged Iris to carry a message:Go now, swift Iris, and tell this word to Hector.As long as he sees Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,raging among the front ranks and destroying the ranks of men,let him fall back, and tell the rest of the armyto fight the enemy in the strong encounter.But when Agamemnon, hit by a spear or struck by an arrow,leaps up onto his horses, then I will give him the strengthto kill, until he reaches the well-benched shipsand the sun goes down and sacred darkness comes.So he spoke, and swift wind-footed Iris did not disobey,but went down from the Idaean mountains to holy Ilios.She found the son of wise Priam, noble Hector,standing among his horses and his well-joined chariots,and standing near, swift-footed Iris spoke to him:Hector, son of Priam, equal to Zeus in counsel,father Zeus has sent me to tell you this.As long as you see Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,raging among the front ranks, destroying the ranks of men,fall back from the battle that long, and tell the rest of the armyto fight the enemy in the strong encounter.But when he, hit by a spear or struck by an arrow,leaps up onto his horses, then he will give you the strengthto kill, until you reach the well-benched shipsand the sun goes down and sacred darkness comes.So she spoke and left, swift-footed Iris,and Hector jumped from his chariot to the ground with his armor,shaking his sharp spears he went through the whole army in every direction,urging them to fight, and he stirred up the dread din of battle.They turned around and stood facing the Achaeans,and the Argives on the other side made their battalions firm.The battle was set in order, and they stood face to face, and Agamemnonsprang up first and wanted to fight far ahead of everyone.Tell me now, Muses who hold the Olympian halls,who it was that first came against Agamemnon,whether one of the Trojans themselves or of the famous allies.Iphidamas, son of Antenor, noble and tall,who was raised in Thrace, the rich-soiled mother of sheep.Cisses raised him in his house when he was small,his mother's father, who fathered fair-cheeked Theano.But when he came to the measure of glorious manhood,he kept him there and gave him his own daughter,and after marrying he came from the bridal room following the fame of the Achaeanswith twelve curved ships that followed him.Those equal ships he left at Percote,and he himself had come on foot to Ilios.He it was who then came against Agamemnon, son of Atreus.Now when they were close, coming at one another,the son of Atreus missed, and his spear turned aside from him,but Iphidamas hit him below the breastplate at the belt,and pressed on it himself, trusting in his heavy hand.Yet he did not pierce the all-shining belt, but long beforethe point, meeting the silver, was turned aside like lead.Grabbing it with his hand, wide-ruling Agamemnondragged it toward himself eagerly like a lion, and out of his handwrenched it away, and he struck his neck with his sword and loosed his limbs.So he fell there and slept a bronze sleep,pitiable, far from his wedded wife, helping his townspeople,his lawful wife, from whom he saw no joy, though he gave much.First he gave a hundred cattle, then he promised a thousandgoats together with sheep, which pastured for him beyond counting.Then Agamemnon, son of Atreus, stripped him,and went carrying the fine armor through the crowd of the Achaeans.But when Coon, famous among men, noticed him,the elder-born son of Antenor, strong griefcovered his eyes for his fallen brother.He stood sideways with his spear, unseen by noble Agamemnon,and stabbed him in the middle of the arm below the elbow,and the point of the shining spear went right through.Then lord Agamemnon shuddered,but even so he did not stop from the battle and the war,but he sprang at Coon holding his wind-nourished spear.He was eagerly dragging Iphidamas, his brother by the same father,by the foot, and he called out to all the best men,and as he dragged him through the crowd under his bossed shield,he stabbed him with his bronze-pointed spear and loosed his limbs,and standing over him he cut off his head above Iphidamas.There the sons of Antenor, under king Agamemnon, son of Atreus,filled out their fate and went down into the house of Hades.Then he went ranging through the ranks of the other menwith spear and sword and big stones,as long as the blood was still warm and welling from his wound.But when the wound dried and the blood stopped,sharp pains sank into the strength of the son of Atreus.Just as when a sharp pang holds a woman in childbirth,a piercing one, which the Eileithyiai who bring birth pangs send,the daughters of Hera, who hold the bitter pains,so sharp pains sank into the strength of the son of Atreus.He jumped up onto his chariot and ordered his chariot driverto drive to the hollow ships, for his heart was grieved.He shouted shrilly, calling out to the Danaans:O friends, leaders and lords of the Argives,you must now keep the painful din of battle awayfrom the sea-going ships, since Zeus the counselor did notlet me fight the Trojans all day long.So he spoke, and his chariot driver lashed the fair-maned horsestoward the hollow ships, and they flew not unwilling,and their chests were covered with foam and their bellies dappled with dust,carrying the weary king away from the battle.But when Hector noticed Agamemnon gone off apart,he called to the Trojans and Lycians, shouting loud:Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians who fight close up,be men, my friends, and remember your fierce courage.The best man has gone, and Zeus the son of Cronus has given megreat glory, but drive your single-hoofed horses straight onagainst the strong Danaans, so you may win the higher glory.So he spoke and stirred up the strength and spirit of every man.Just as when a hunter sets his white-toothed houndson a wild boar or a lion,so against the Achaeans he set the great-hearted Trojans,Hector son of Priam, like Ares, the bane of men.He himself went among the front ranks, greatly exulting,and fell on the battle like a blasting galethat leaps down and stirs the violet-dark sea.Then whom did he first and whom last strip of his armor,Hector son of Priam, when Zeus gave him glory?Asaeus first, and Autonous and Opites,and Dolops son of Clytius, and Opheltius and Agelaus,and Aesymnus and Orus and war-loving Hipponous.These he killed, the leaders of the Danaans, and thenthe crowd, like when the West Wind strikes the cloudswith a deep squall, beating them from the bright South wind,and the swollen wave rolls greatly, and the foam is scatteredhigh up by the blast of the much-wandering wind.So the heads of the people were thickly cut down under Hector.Then there would have been ruin and impossible deeds,and the Achaeans would have fallen fleeing among the ships,if Odysseus had not called to Diomedes, son of Tydeus:Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we forget our fierce courage?Come here, good friend, stand beside me, for it really will be a reproachif Hector of the shining helmet takes the ships.Answering him, strong Diomedes said:I will stay and endure, but briefwill be the gain for us, since cloud-gathering Zeuswants to give the victory to the Trojans rather than to us.He spoke, and shoved Thymbraeus off his horses to the ground,hitting him with his spear in the left breast, and Odysseuskilled godlike Molion, the attendant of that lord.Those two they left, since they had stopped them from war,and the two went through the crowd and made havoc, like two boarsthat fall on the hunting hounds, greatly exulting.So they destroyed the Trojans, turning back on them, and the Achaeansgladly breathed again as they fled from noble Hector.There they took a chariot and two men, the best of the people,the two sons of Merops of Percote, who more than anyoneknew the arts of divination, and he would not let his sonsgo to man-destroying war, but the two in no wayobeyed him, for the fates of black death led them on.Them Diomedes, famous for the spear, the son of Tydeus,robbed of their spirit and life and took their famous armor,and Hippodamas and Hyperochus Odysseus stripped.Then the son of Cronus stretched the battle even for them,looking down from Ida, and they kept killing one another.The son of Tydeus wounded Agastrophus with his spear,the hero son of Paeon, in the hip, and his horseswere not near for him to flee, and he greatly failed in his spirit.For his attendant held them far away, while he on footraged through the front ranks, until he lost his own life.But Hector noticed it sharply along the ranks and sprang at themshouting, and with him followed the battalions of the Trojans.Seeing him, Diomedes good at the war cry shuddered,and at once he spoke to Odysseus, who was near:Against the two of us this ruin rolls, mighty Hector.Come on, let us stand and fight him off, waiting for him.He spoke, and swinging it he threw his long-shadowing spearand hit him, and did not miss, aiming at his head,on the very top of the helmet, but bronze glanced off bronze,and it did not reach his fine skin, for the three-platedhollow helmet stopped it, which Phoebus Apollo had given him.But Hector quickly sprang far back and mixed into the crowd,and falling on his knee he propped himself with his stout handon the ground, and black night covered his eyes.But while the son of Tydeus went after the throw of the spearfar through the front ranks, where it had sunk into the ground,meanwhile Hector came back to life, and jumping back into his chariotdrove out into the crowd and escaped black death.Throwing his spear, strong Diomedes spoke:Again now you have escaped death, dog. Truly evilcame near you, and again Phoebus Apollo saved you,to whom you will pray as you go into the din of spears.Truly I will finish you later when I meet you again,if some god is a helper to me too.Now again I will go after the others, whoever I catch.He spoke, and stripped the famous son of Paeon with his spear.But Alexandrus, the husband of fair-haired Helen,drew his bow at the son of Tydeus, shepherd of the people,leaning against a pillar on the man-built tombof Ilus son of Dardanus, the ancient elder of the people.He was taking the breastplate of strong Agastrophusoff his chest, all-shining, and his shield off his shouldersand his heavy helmet, and the other drew back the arm of the bowand hit him, and the arrow did not fly useless from his hand,but hit the flat of his right foot, and the arrow went cleanthrough and was fixed in the ground, and he laughed very sweetlyand jumped out of his ambush and spoke a boasting word:You are hit, and the arrow did not fly useless. How I wishthat hitting you in the lowest flank I had taken your life.So the Trojans too would have breathed again from their trouble,who shudder at you the way bleating goats shudder at a lion.Not afraid of him, strong Diomedes said:Archer, slanderer, glorious with your bow, girl-mad,if you came against me in arms to test me,your bow and your thick arrows would not help you.But now, since you have grazed the flat of my foot, you boast for nothing.I do not care, any more than if a woman or a foolish child hit me,for the arrow of a worthless, feeble man is blunt.But from me it is different, even if it only grazes you a little,the dart is sharp and quickly makes a man lifeless.Then his wife's cheeks are torn with both her hands,and his children are orphaned, and he, reddening the earth with blood,rots, and the birds around him are more than the women.So he spoke, and Odysseus, famous for the spear, came near himand stood in front of him, and he, sitting behind, pulled the swift arrowout of his foot, and a painful ache went through his flesh.He jumped up onto his chariot and ordered his chariot driverto drive to the hollow ships, for his heart was grieved.Odysseus, famous for the spear, was left alone, and none of the Argivesstayed beside him, since fear had taken hold of them all,and troubled, he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:Oh no, what will happen to me? It is a great evil if I fleethe crowd in fear, but it is worse if I am caughtalone, for the son of Cronus has put the other Danaans to flight.But why does my dear heart argue these things with me?For I know that cowards keep away from war,and whoever is the best in battle, for him there is great needto stand firm, whether he is hit or hits another.While he was turning these things over in his heart and spirit,meanwhile the ranks of the shield-bearing Trojans came onand penned him in the middle, putting ruin among him and themselves.Just as when hounds and strong young hunters rushon a wild boar, and he comes out of the deep thicketsharpening his white tusk in his curved jaws,and they dart around him, and under them the clash of his teethrises, but they stand their ground, terrible though he is,so then around Odysseus, dear to Zeus, rushedthe Trojans, and he first wounded blameless Deiopiteson the shoulder above, springing at him with his sharp spear,and then he stripped Thoon and Ennomus.And Chersidamas, as he sprang down from his horses,with his spear below the navel, under his bossed shield,he stabbed him, and he fell in the dust and clutched the earth with his palm.He left them, and he wounded Charops, son of Hippasus, with his spear,the own brother of noble Socos.To defend him came Socos, a man like the gods,and coming very near he stood and spoke a word to him:Odysseus, greatly praised for your tricks and your hard work,today you will boast over both the sons of Hippasus,after killing two men like this and taking their armor,or you will be hit by my spear and lose your life.So he spoke and stabbed at his shield that covers every side.The mighty spear went through the shining shield,and it was driven through the much-worked breastplate,and it scraped all the skin off his ribs, and it did not yetlet Pallas Athena mix with the man's entrails.Odysseus knew that his end had not come at the right moment,and drawing back he spoke a word to Socos:You wretch, surely sheer destruction is catching up with you.Truly you have stopped me from fighting the Trojans,but I say to you that slaughter and black doomwill be yours on this day, and beaten down under my spearyou will give glory to me and your soul to Hades, famous for his horses.He spoke, and the other had turned back and was going away in flight,and as he turned, he fixed his spear in his back,between the shoulders, and drove it through his chest,and he fell with a thud, and noble Odysseus boasted:Socos, son of wise Hippasus, tamer of horses,the end of death came on you first, and you did not escape it.You wretch, your father and your lady mother will notclose your eyes, though you are dead, but the birdsthat eat raw flesh will drag you, flapping their thick wings around you.But me, if I die, the noble Achaeans will bury.So he spoke, and he pulled the mighty spear of wise Socosout of his flesh and out of his bossed shield,and when it was pulled out the blood sprang up, and it grieved his heart.When the great-hearted Trojans saw the blood of Odysseus,shouting through the crowd, they all came on against him.But he gave ground backward and shouted to his comrades.Three times he shouted as loud as a man's head could hold,and three times war-loving Menelaus heard him crying out.At once he spoke to Ajax, who was near:Ajax, born of Zeus, son of Telamon, leader of the people,the shout of steadfast Odysseus has come to me,just as if the Trojans had cut him off, being alone,and were overpowering him in the strong encounter.Come on, let us go through the crowd, for it is better to defend him.I am afraid something may happen to him, alone among the Trojans,good man that he is, and great longing come on the Danaans.So he spoke, and he led the way, and the godlike man followed with him.Then they found Odysseus, dear to Zeus, and around himthe Trojans were following, like ravening jackals in the mountainsaround a horned stag that has been hit, which a man has struckwith an arrow from the string, and it escapes on its feetby fleeing, as long as the warm blood and its knees hold out,but when the swift arrow beats it down,the raw-flesh-eating jackals tear it apart in the mountainsin a shady glen, and a god leads a ravening lion against them,and the jackals run off, and he eats it.So then around Odysseus, wise and full of tricks,the Trojans followed, many and strong, and the herodarting with his spear kept off the pitiless day.Ajax came near, carrying his shield like a tower,and stood beside him, and the Trojans ran off each a different way.Warlike Menelaus led him out of the crowd,holding him by the hand, until his attendant drove the horses near.Ajax, springing at the Trojans, took Doryclus,a bastard son of Priam, then he wounded Pandocus,and wounded Lysander and Pyrasus and Pylartes.Just as when a full river comes down on the plain,a winter torrent from the mountains, driven on by the rain of Zeus,and it carries down many withered oaks and many pines,and throws much silt into the sea,so glorious Ajax drove on then, throwing the plain into confusion,cutting down horses and men, and Hector did not yetknow about it, since he was fighting on the left of the whole battlebeside the banks of the river Scamander, where mostheads of men were falling, and an unquenchable cry had risenaround great Nestor and warlike Idomeneus.Hector was dealing among them, doing dreadful thingswith spear and horsemanship, and he was wasting the battalions of the young,and the noble Achaeans would not yet have given ground from the pathif Alexandrus, the husband of fair-haired Helen,had not stopped Machaon, shepherd of the people, as he was doing best,hitting him with a three-barbed arrow in the right shoulder.Then the Achaeans breathing fury were afraid for him,in case, with the battle turning, they should take him.At once Idomeneus spoke to noble Nestor:Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaeans,come, climb onto your chariot, and let Machaonclimb up beside you, and drive your single-hoofed horses to the ships as fast as you can,for a doctor is a man worth many othersboth for cutting out arrows and for spreading soothing herbs.So he spoke, and the Gerenian horseman Nestor did not disobey.At once he climbed onto his own chariot, and Machaonclimbed up beside him, the son of the blameless doctor Asclepius,and he lashed the horses, and they flew not unwillingtoward the hollow ships, for that was dear to their heart.But Cebriones noticed the Trojans being thrown into confusionas he rode beside Hector, and he spoke a word to him:Hector, we two are dealing with the Danaans hereat the edge of the ill-sounding battle, but the otherTrojans are being thrown into confusion, both horses and men together.Ajax, son of Telamon, is throwing them into confusion, and I knew him well,for he holds his broad shield around his shoulders, but let us toodrive our horses and chariot over there, where mosthorsemen and footmen, throwing up evil strife,are killing one another, and an unquenchable cry has risen.So he spoke and lashed the fair-maned horseswith his shrill whip, and they, hearing the blow,swiftly carried the swift chariot after the Trojans and Achaeans,trampling corpses and shields, and the axle underneathwas all spattered with blood, and the rims around the chariot seat,which the drops from the horses' hooves and from the wheelskept hitting. He was eager to plunge into the crowdof men and to break through, leaping in, and he threw eviluproar among the Danaans, and gave ground only a little from the spear.Then he went ranging through the ranks of the other menwith spear and sword and big stones,but he avoided the battle of Ajax, son of Telamon.Father Zeus who sits on high stirred Ajax into fear,and he stood amazed and threw his seven-hide shield behind him,and he shrank back, glancing at the crowd like a wild beast,turning this way and that, shifting one knee after the other but slowly.Just as from a cattle pen the hounds and the country mendrive off a blazing lion,who will not let them take the fat of the cattle,keeping watch all night long, and he, lusting for meat,charges straight in but accomplishes nothing, for thick spearsdart against him from bold handsand burning brands, which he dreads even though he is eager,and at dawn he goes away apart with a grieving heart,so then Ajax went away from the Trojans, grieved at heart,much against his will, for he greatly feared for the ships of the Achaeans.Just as when a donkey passing by a field gets the better of the boys,a sluggish one, on whom many cudgels have been broken around him,and he crops the deep grain field as he goes in, and the boysbeat him with cudgels, but their strength is childish,and with effort they drive him out, when he is glutted with fodder,so then on great Ajax, the son of Telamon,the over-proud Trojans and the many-gathered alliesstabbing with their spears at the middle of his shield followed him always.Ajax at one moment remembered his fierce courage,turning back again, and checked the battalionsof horse-taming Trojans, and at another he turned to flee.He kept them all back from going to the swift ships,and he himself raged between the Trojans and the Achaeans,standing his ground, and the spears from bold hands,some, as they sped forward, were fixed in his great shield,and many were stuck midway, before they could reach his white skin,standing in the ground, longing to fill themselves with flesh.But when the glorious son of Euaemon,Eurypylus, saw him being hard pressed by the thick missiles,he came and stood beside him and threw his shining spear,and hit Apisaon, son of Phausias, shepherd of the people,in the liver under the midriff, and right away loosed his knees,and Eurypylus sprang on and took the armor off his shoulders.But when godlike Alexandrus noticed himstripping the armor of Apisaon, at once he drew his bowat Eurypylus and hit him in the right thigh with an arrow,and the reed broke, and it weighed heavy on his thigh.He gave ground back into the company of his comrades, avoiding death,and he shouted shrilly, calling out to the Danaans:O friends, leaders and lords of the Argives,stand, turning around, and keep the pitiless dayaway from Ajax, who is hard pressed by missiles, and I do not thinkhe will escape from the ill-sounding war, but standface to face around great Ajax, son of Telamon.So spoke Eurypylus, hit as he was, and they cameand stood close beside him, leaning their shields on their shouldersand holding up their spears, and Ajax came to meet them.He stood turned around, when he had reached the company of his comrades.So they fought like blazing fire,and the Neleian horses carried Nestor out of the war,sweating, and they brought Machaon, shepherd of the people.Swift-footed noble Achilles saw him and noticed him,for he stood on the stern of his great-hulled ship,watching the steep toil and the tearful rout.At once he spoke to his own comrade Patroclus,calling out from beside the ship, and he, hearing from the hut,came out like Ares, and that was the beginning of his evil.The strong son of Menoetius spoke first to him:Why do you call me, Achilles? What need have you of me?Answering him, swift-footed Achilles said:Noble son of Menoetius, dear to my heart,now I think the Achaeans will stand around my kneesbegging me, for need has come that can no longer be borne.But go now, Patroclus dear to Zeus, ask Nestorwho this is whom he is bringing wounded out of the war.Truly in his back he looks in every way like Machaon,the son of Asclepius, but I did not see the man's eyes,for the horses passed me by, eager and going forward.So he spoke, and Patroclus obeyed his dear comrade,and set out running past the huts and the ships of the Achaeans.When they came to the hut of the son of Neleus,they themselves stepped down onto the much-nourishing earth,and the attendant Eurymedon loosed the horses of the old manfrom the chariot, and the two cooled the sweat from their tunics,standing facing the breeze beside the shore of the sea, and thenthey went into the hut and sat down on the chairs.Fair-haired Hecamede prepared a drink for them,whom the old man had taken from Tenedos, when Achilles sacked it,the daughter of great-hearted Arsinoos, whom the Achaeanshad picked out for him because he was the best of all in counsel.She first of all set a table in front of them,a beautiful one with dark blue feet, well polished, and on ita bronze basket, and on it an onion as a relish for the drink,and pale honey, and beside it a portion of sacred barley meal,and beside it a very beautiful cup, which the old man had brought from home,studded with golden nails, and its handleswere four, and around each two golden doveswere feeding, and underneath there were two bottoms.Another man, straining, could barely move it from the tablewhen it was full, but old Nestor lifted it without effort.In it the woman like the goddesses mixed them a drinkwith Pramnian wine, and grated goat cheese over itwith a bronze grater, and sprinkled white barley over it,and told them to drink, when she had made the drink ready.When the two had drunk and put away their parching thirst,they enjoyed themselves with words, telling stories to one another,and Patroclus, a man like the gods, stood at the door.The old man, seeing him, sprang from his shining seat,and led him in, taking him by the hand, and told him to sit down.But Patroclus from the other side refused and spoke a word:There is no sitting for me, old man cherished by Zeus, and you will not persuade me.Revered and respected is the one who sent me to find outwho this is whom you are bringing wounded, but I myselfknow him, and I see Machaon, shepherd of the people.But now, saying a word, I will go back as a messenger to Achilles.And you know well, old man cherished by Zeus, how dreada man that one is, and he might quickly blame even the blameless.The Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:Why then does Achilles grieve for the sons of the Achaeans,all those who have been hit by missiles? And he does not knowthe grief, how great it has risen through the army, for the best menlie among the ships, hit and wounded.The son of Tydeus, strong Diomedes, is hit,and Odysseus famous for the spear is wounded, and Agamemnon,and Eurypylus has been hit in the thigh by an arrow,and this other man I have just brought from the war,hit by an arrow from the string. But Achilles,good man that he is, does not care for the Danaans or pity them.Is he waiting until the swift ships beside the seaare burning with enemy fire, against the will of the Argives,and we ourselves are killed one after another? For my strengthis not what it once was in my supple limbs.If only I were young as I was then and my strength stood firm,like when a quarrel arose between the Eleans and usover cattle driving, when I killed Itymoneus,the good son of Hyperochus, who lived in Elis,as he was driving off the herds, and he, defending his cattle,was hit among the front ranks by a spear from my hand,and fell down, and the country people fled around him.We drove together a vast plunder from the plain,fifty herds of cattle, as many flocks of sheep,as many droves of pigs, as many broad herds of goats,and a hundred and fifty chestnut horses,all mares, and many foals were under them.We drove these into Neleian Pylos,by night, to the city, and Neleus rejoiced in his heart,because much had fallen to me, though I was young, when I went to war.And at dawn the heralds called outfor those to come to whom a debt was owed in sacred Elis,and the leaders of the Pylians, gathered together,divided it up, for many of the Epeians owed a debt,since we were few and had been oppressed in Pylos,for the might of Heracles had come and oppressed usin the earlier years, and all the best men had been killed.For we were twelve sons of blameless Neleus,and of them I alone was left, and all the others perished.Proud of these things, the bronze-clad Epeians,insulting us, planned reckless deeds.The old man took out a herd of cattle and a great flock of sheep,choosing three hundred and the herdsmen with them.For a great debt was owed to him in sacred Elis,four prize-winning horses with their own chariot,that had come for the contests, for they were going to racefor a tripod, and them the lord of men Augeaskept back, and sent their driver away grieving for his horses.Angered at their words and their deeds, the old mantook out countless many, and the rest he gave to the peopleto divide, so that no one would go away cheated of his fair share.We dealt with each matter, and around the citywe performed sacrifices to the gods, and on the third day allcame together, both the many men themselves and the single-hoofed horses,in full force, and among them the Moliones armed themselves,the two sons still boys, not yet knowing fierce courage.There is a city, Thryoessa, a steep hill,far off on the Alpheus, the last town of sandy Pylos,and they camped around it, eager to tear it down.But when they had gone over the whole plain, and to us Athenacame as a messenger running from Olympus, to arm ourselvesby night, and she gathered the army through Pylos, not unwillingbut very eager to fight. And Neleusdid not let me arm myself, but hid my horses,for he said I did not yet know the works of war.But even so I stood out among our horsemen,though I was on foot, since Athena led the quarrel that way.There is a river Minyeios that empties into the seanear Arene, where we waited for the divine Dawn,the horsemen of the Pylians, while the tribes of foot soldiers poured in.From there, in full force, armed in our armor,at midday we came to the sacred stream of the Alpheus.There we made fine sacrifices to mighty Zeus,and a bull to the Alpheus, and a bull to Poseidon,and to flashing-eyed Athena a heifer from the herd,and then we took our supper through the army by companies,and each man lay down to sleep in his own armoraround the streams of the river. And the great-hearted Epeianshad already set themselves around the city, eager to tear it down,but before that a great work of Ares appeared to them,for when the shining sun rose above the earth,we closed with them in battle, praying to Zeus and to Athena.But when the quarrel of the Pylians and the Epeians had begun,I first killed a man and brought in his single-hoofed horses,Mulius the spearman, and he was a son-in-law of Augeas,and he had as his wife his eldest daughter, fair-haired Agamede,who knew as many drugs as the broad earth nourishes.Him, as he came at me, I struck with my bronze spear,and he fell in the dust, and I jumped into his chariotand stood among the front ranks, but the great-hearted Epeiansfled each a different way, when they saw the man fallen,the leader of the horsemen, who was the best in fighting.Then I sprang on like a dark squall,and took fifty chariots, and around each two menbit the ground, beaten down under my spear.And now I would have destroyed the two sons of Actor, the Moliones,if their father, wide-ruling Poseidon the earth-shaker,had not saved them from the war, hiding them in thick mist.Then Zeus granted great strength to the Pylians,for that long we followed across the spacious plain,killing them and gathering up their fine armor,until we made our horses come to Buprasium, rich in wheat,and the rock of Olenos and the hill of Alesium,as it is called, and from there Athena turned the army back again.There I killed the last man and left him, and the Achaeansturned the swift horses back from Buprasium to Pylos,and all gave thanks among the gods to Zeus and among men to Nestor.Such was I, if ever I was, among men. But Achillesalone will enjoy his own courage, yet I thinkhe will mourn much later, when the army is destroyed.Good friend, truly Menoetius gave you these orderson the day when he sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon,and we two, I and noble Odysseus, being inside,heard everything in the halls, just as he commanded.We came to the well-built house of Peleus,gathering the army through Achaean land, rich in pasture,and there we found the hero Menoetius inside,and you, and beside him Achilles, and the old horseman Peleuswas burning the fat thigh bones of an ox for Zeus who delights in thunderin the courtyard yard, and he held a golden cup,pouring gleaming wine over the burning offerings.You two were busy with the ox's flesh, and we two thenstood in the doorway, and Achilles sprang up amazed,and led us in, taking us by the hand, and told us to sit down,and set out good hospitality, as is the custom for guests.But when we had taken our pleasure in food and drink,I began the talk, urging you two to follow with me,and you two were very willing, and both gave many commands.Old Peleus charged his son Achillesalways to be the best and to be above others,and Menoetius, son of Actor, gave you these orders:My child, by birth Achilles is greater than you,but you are older, and in strength he is far better.But speak a wise word to him and advise himand show him the way, and he will obey you for his own good.So the old man charged you, and you forget it, but even nowyou could say these things to wise Achilles, if he would obey.And who knows if with a god's help you might stir up his spiritby persuading him? For the persuasion of a comrade is a good thing.And if he is avoiding some prophecy in his own mind,and his lady mother has told him something from Zeus,then let him send you out, and let the rest of the army follow with you,the Myrmidons, so that you may become a light to the Danaans,and let him give you his fine armor to carry into the war,in case the Trojans, taking you for him, hold back from the battleand the warlike sons of the Achaeans breathe againthough they are worn out, and the breathing space of war is brief.And you, fresh, might easily push back the tired men with your war crytoward the city, away from the ships and the huts.So he spoke, and he stirred the spirit in his breast,and he set out running along the ships toward Achilles, son of Aeacus.But when Patroclus came running to the ships of godlike Odysseus,where their assembly and their place of judgment was,and where the altars of the gods had been built for them,there the wounded Eurypylus met him,the god-born son of Euaemon, hit in the thigh by an arrow,limping out of the war, and down his back ran sweatfrom his shoulders and his head, and from the painful wounddark blood gurgled, but his mind was still steady.Seeing him, the strong son of Menoetius pitied him,and grieving he spoke to him with winged words:Ah, you wretched leaders and lords of the Danaans,so then you were going, far from friends and your own land,to glut the swift dogs in Troy with your shining fat.But come, tell me this, god-cherished Eurypylus, hero,will the Achaeans still hold off the monstrous Hector somewhere,or will they now be destroyed, beaten down under his spear?The wounded Eurypylus answered him face to face:No longer, god-born Patroclus, will there be any defense for the Achaeans,but they will fall among the black ships.For all those who were the best beforelie among the ships, hit and woundedunder the hands of the Trojans, and their strength is always rising.But save me, leading me to the black ship,and cut the arrow out of my thigh, and wash the dark bloodoff it with warm water, and spread soothing, goodherbs on it, which they say you were taught by Achilles,whom Cheiron taught, the most righteous of the Centaurs.For the doctors, Podaleirius and Machaon,the one, I think, lies in the huts with a wound,himself needing a blameless doctor,while the other waits for sharp Ares in the plain of the Trojans.The strong son of Menoetius answered him:How then can these things be? What will we do, Eurypylus, hero?I am going to tell wise Achilles the wordthat the Gerenian Nestor, guardian of the Achaeans, commanded,but not even so will I neglect you in your distress.He spoke, and taking the shepherd of the people under the chest he led himinto the hut, and the attendant, seeing it, spread oxhides underneath.There he laid him out and with a knife cut from his thighthe sharp, piercing arrow, and washed the dark bloodoff it with warm water, and laid on it a bitter rootthat he rubbed in his hands, a pain-killing one, which stoppedall his pains, and the wound dried and the blood stopped.