Book 2

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

Others, both the gods and the chariot-fighting men,slept all night, but sweet sleep did not hold Zeus;instead he was pondering in his heart how he might honor Achillesand destroy many men beside the ships of the Achaeans.This plan seemed best to him in his heart:to send an evil dream to Agamemnon son of Atreus.He spoke to it and addressed it with winged words:"Go, evil dream, to the swift ships of the Achaeans.Go into the hut of Agamemnon son of Atreusand tell him everything exactly as I command.Tell him to arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now he could take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for the immortals who hold the Olympian hallsno longer think separately; Hera has bent them allby her begging, and troubles hang over the Trojans."So he spoke, and the dream went when it heard that word.Quickly it reached the swift ships of the Achaeans,and went to Agamemnon son of Atreus; it found himsleeping in his hut, and immortal sleep was poured around him.It stood above his head, looking like the son of Neleus,Nestor, whom Agamemnon honored most of the old men.Looking like him, the divine dream spoke to him:"You are asleep, son of Atreus, tamer of horses, skilled in war.A man who gives counsel should not sleep all night,one who has peoples entrusted to him and so much to care for.Now listen to me quickly; I am a messenger from Zeus,who, though far from you, cares greatly for you and pities you.He tells you to arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now you could take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for the immortals who hold the Olympian hallsno longer think separately; Hera has bent them allby her begging, and troubles hang over the Trojansfrom Zeus. But keep this in your mind, and do not let forgetfulnesstake hold of you when honey-sweet sleep lets you go."With these words it went away and left him therethinking in his heart of things that were never to happen.For he thought he would take the city of Priam that very day,fool, and he did not know what deeds Zeus was planning;for he was still to bring pains and groanson Trojans and Danaans through hard battles.He woke from sleep, and the divine voice was poured around him.He sat up straight and put on a soft tunic,a fine new one, and threw a big cloak around him;under his shining feet he tied fine sandals,and over his shoulders he hung a silver-studded sword.He took up the scepter of his fathers, forever undying,and with it he went along the ships of the bronze-clad Achaeans.Dawn the goddess went up to tall Olympusto bring light to Zeus and the other immortals.But he ordered the clear-voiced heraldsto call the long-haired Achaeans to assembly.They called them, and the men gathered very quickly.First he sat down a council of great-hearted old menbeside the ship of Nestor, the king born in Pylos.He called them together and made ready a careful council:"Listen, friends. A divine dream came to methrough the immortal night; and most of all it looked likegodlike Nestor in shape, size, and build.It stood above my head and said to me:'You are asleep, son of Atreus, tamer of horses, skilled in war.A man who gives counsel should not sleep all night,one who has peoples entrusted to him and so much to care for.Now listen to me quickly; I am a messenger from Zeus,who, though far from you, cares greatly for you and pities you.He tells you to arm the long-haired Achaeanswith all speed; for now you could take the wide-wayed cityof the Trojans; for the immortals who hold the Olympian hallsno longer think separately; Hera has bent them allby her begging, and troubles hang over the Trojansfrom Zeus. But keep this in your mind.' So it spokeand went off flying away, and sweet sleep let me go.But come, let us somehow arm the sons of the Achaeans.First I myself will test them with words, as is right,and I will tell them to flee with the many-benched ships;and you, from one side and another, hold them back with words."So he spoke and sat down, and among them stood upNestor, who was lord of sandy Pylos,and with good will he spoke to them and said:"Friends, leaders and rulers of the Argives,if some other one of the Achaeans had told this dream,we would call it a lie and turn away from it all the more;but now the man who claims to be far the best of the Achaeans has seen it.But come, let us somehow arm the sons of the Achaeans."With these words he led the way out of the council,and they stood up and obeyed the shepherd of the people,the scepter-bearing kings; and the people hurried along.As the swarming tribes of bees go outfrom a hollow rock, always coming on fresh,and fly in clusters over the spring flowers,some swarming here in crowds, some there,so the many tribes of them marched from the ships and hutsin front of the deep shore,in troops to the assembly; and among them Rumour burned,the messenger of Zeus, urging them to go; and they gathered.The assembly was in an uproar, and the ground groaned beneath themas the people sat down, and there was a din; and nineheralds shouting held them back, to see if they mightstop their shouting and hear the kings brought up by Zeus.With an effort the people sat down and were held in their seats,stopping their clamor; and lord Agamemnon stood upholding the scepter that Hephaestus had worked to make.Hephaestus gave it to Zeus the lord, son of Cronos,and then Zeus gave it to the guide, the killer of Argus;and lord Hermes gave it to Pelops, the driver of horses,and then Pelops in turn gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the people,and Atreus, dying, left it to Thyestes rich in sheep,and then Thyestes in turn left it to Agamemnon to carry,to rule over many islands and all of Argos.Leaning on it he spoke his words to the Argives:"Friends, heroes, Danaans, servants of Ares,Zeus the son of Cronos has tied me up in heavy ruin,cruel god, who before promised me and nodded his headthat I would sack well-walled Ilion and come home;but now he has planned a wicked trick, and he tells meto come back to Argos in disgrace, since I have destroyed so many men.This is probably how it pleases Zeus the all-powerful,who has already pulled down the tops of many citiesand will pull down more; for his power is the greatest.For this is a shameful thing even for people in the future to hear,that so great and so many a host of the Achaeansshould wage a war that comes to nothing and fightagainst fewer men, and no end has yet appeared.For if we Achaeans and the Trojans were willingto cut faithful oaths and be counted, both sides,and count the Trojans, all who have homes there,and if we Achaeans were arranged in groups of ten,and each ten picked one Trojan man to pour their wine,many groups of ten would go without a wine-pourer.That is how many more, I say, the sons of the Achaeans arethan the Trojans who live in the city; but there are alliesfrom many cities, men who shake the spear,and they trouble me greatly and do not let me, though I want to,sack the well-settled citadel of Ilion.Nine years of great Zeus have already gone by,and already the timbers of the ships have rotted and the ropes have come loose;and our wives and our little childrensit in our halls waiting for us; and the work we came here foris still unfinished.But come, let us all be persuaded by what I say:let us flee with the ships to our dear native land;for we will not take wide-wayed Troy any more."So he spoke, and he stirred the heart in the breastsof all in the crowd who had not heard the council;and the assembly was moved like the long waves of the sea,the Icarian sea, which the East Wind and the South Windrouse when they rush down from the clouds of father Zeus.And as when the West Wind comes and moves the deep grain field,blowing hard, and the ears of grain bow down,so their whole assembly was moved; and with a shoutthey rushed toward the ships, and under their feet the duststood rising up; and they called out to one anotherto take hold of the ships and drag them to the bright sea,and they cleared the slipways; and the cry reached heavenas they hurried home; and they took out the props from under the ships.Then a homecoming beyond what was fated would have come to the Argivesif Hera had not spoken a word to Athena:"Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, tireless one,will the Argives really flee home to their dear native landover the broad back of the sea,and would they leave a boast for Priam and the Trojans,Helen of Argos, for whose sake many of the Achaeanshave died in Troy, far from their dear native land?But come now, go through the host of the bronze-clad Achaeans,hold back each man with your gentle words,and do not let them drag the curved ships to the sea."So she spoke, and the goddess bright-eyed Athena did not disobey,and she rushed down from the peaks of Olympus.Quickly she reached the swift ships of the Achaeans.Then she found Odysseus, equal to Zeus in counsel,standing there; he was not touching the black well-benched ship,since grief had reached his heart and spirit.Standing near him, bright-eyed Athena spoke:"Son of Laertes, born of Zeus, Odysseus of many devices,will you really flee home to your dear native land,falling into the many-benched ships,and would you leave a boast for Priam and the Trojans,Helen of Argos, for whose sake many of the Achaeanshave died in Troy, far from their dear native land?But come now, go through the host of the Achaeans, do not hold back any longer,and hold back each man with your gentle words,and do not let them drag the curved ships to the sea."So she spoke, and he understood the voice of the goddess speaking,and he ran; he threw off his cloak, and it was picked upby the herald Eurybates of Ithaca, who served him.He himself went to meet Agamemnon son of Atreusand took from him the scepter of his fathers, forever undying.With it he went along the ships of the bronze-clad Achaeans.Whatever king or notable man he came up to,he would stand beside him and hold him back with gentle words:"You strange man, it is not right for you to be frightened like a coward;but sit down yourself and make the other people sit;for you do not yet clearly know what the mind of the son of Atreus is.Right now he is testing us, and soon he will press the sons of the Achaeans.And we did not all hear what he said in the council.Do not let him, in his anger, do some harm to the sons of the Achaeans.The temper of kings brought up by Zeus is great,and their honor comes from Zeus, and Zeus the counselor loves them."But when he saw a man of the people and found him shouting,he would drive him with the scepter and scold him with a word:"You strange man, sit still and hear the words of others,who are better than you, while you are unwarlike and weak,counted as nothing either in war or in council.We Achaeans certainly will not all be kings here.Many rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler,one king, to whom the son of crooked-counseling Cronos gavethe scepter and the laws, so that he may give counsel for them."So he, taking command, ordered the army; and they rushed backto the assembly again from the ships and hutswith a shout, like when the wave of the loud-roaring searoars on a great shore, and the sea resounds.The others sat down and were held in their seats;but Thersites alone, endless in speech, kept shouting,who knew in his mind many disorderly words,at random, and not in order, to quarrel with the kings,but whatever seemed to him laughablefor the Argives; and he was the ugliest man who came to Ilion.He was bandy-legged, lame in one foot; and his two shoulderswere hunched, drawn together over his chest; and abovehis head was pointed, and thin woolly hair grew on it.He was the most hateful to Achilles and to Odysseus.For he used to quarrel with those two; and then he spokesharp insults against godlike Agamemnon, shouting out; and the Achaeanswere terribly angry with him and resented it in their hearts.But he, shouting loudly, insulted Agamemnon with words:"Son of Atreus, what are you complaining about now, or what do you want?Your huts are full of bronze, and there are many womenpicked out in your huts, whom we Achaeansgive to you first whenever we take a city.Or do you still want gold, which one of thehorse-taming Trojans will bring from Ilion as ransomfor his son, whom I may tie up and bring, or another of the Achaeans may,or a young woman, to sleep with in love,whom you keep apart for yourself? It is not rightfor a leader to bring troubles on the sons of the Achaeans.You cowards, base reproaches, women of Achaea, no longer men,let us go home with the ships, and leave this manhere in Troy to chew over his prizes, so that he may seewhether we help him in any way too or not.He has now dishonored Achilles, a man far better than himself;for he took away his prize and holds it, having seized it himself.But there is no anger at all in Achilles' heart; he just lets things go.For otherwise, son of Atreus, you would have done shameful things for the last time."So Thersites spoke, insulting Agamemnon, shepherd of the people.And godlike Odysseus quickly stood beside him,and looking at him from under his brows he rebuked him with a harsh word:"Thersites, loose in speech, though you are a clear-voiced speaker,hold back, and do not want to quarrel alone with kings.For I say that there is no other mortalmore worthless than you among all who came to Ilion with the sons of Atreus.So you should not talk about the kings with your mouth,nor bring insults against them, nor watch for the homecoming.For we do not yet know clearly how these things will be,whether we sons of the Achaeans will get home well or badly.So now you sit and insult Agamemnon son of Atreus, shepherd of the people,because the heroes, the Danaans, give him many things;and you speak mockingly.But I will tell you, and this will also come true:if I catch you still raving like this now,then let not the head of Odysseus stay on his shoulders,and let me not be called the father of Telemachus any more,if I do not take you and strip off your dear clothing,the cloak and the tunic, which cover your shame,and send you crying to the swift ships,beaten out of the assembly with shameful blows."So he spoke, and he struck his back and shoulders with the scepter.And he doubled over, and a big tear fell from him;a bloody welt rose up on his backfrom the golden scepter; and he sat down and was afraid,and in pain he wiped away the tear, looking helpless.And they, though grieved, laughed sweetly at him;and one of them spoke like this, looking at the man near him:"Well now, truly Odysseus has done countless good things,leading good counsels and arming war;but now he has done this, by far the best thing among the Argives,who has stopped this foul-mouthed slanderer from the assemblies.Surely his proud spirit will not send him back againto insult the kings with insulting words."So the crowd said; and city-sacking Odysseus stood upholding the scepter; and beside him bright-eyed Athena,looking like a herald, ordered the people to be silent,so that at the same time both the first and the last of the sons of the Achaeansmight hear the word and think about the plan.He, with good will toward them, spoke and said:"Son of Atreus, now the Achaeans, my lord, want to make youthe most shameful of all mortal men,and they will not carry out the promise that they madewhen they came here from horse-pasturing Argos,that they would sack well-walled Ilion and come home.For like young children or widowed womenthey wail to one another to go home.And truly it is a weariness to go home after being vexed;for a man who stays one month away from his wifegrows fretful with his many-benched ship, when winter stormsand the stirred-up sea hold him back.But for us this is the ninth turning yearthat we have been waiting here; so I do not blame the Achaeansfor being fretful beside the curved ships; but even soit is a shame to wait a long time and go home empty.Endure, friends, and wait a while, so that we may knowwhether Calchas prophesies truly or not.For we know this well in our minds, and you are allwitnesses, those whom the fates of death have not come to carry off.It was yesterday and the day before, when the ships of the Achaeanswere gathered at Aulis, bringing evils to Priam and the Trojans,and we around a spring on the sacred altarswere making full hecatombs to the immortalsunder a fair plane tree, from which bright water flowed.Then a great sign appeared: a snake with a blood-red back,terrible, which the Olympian himself sent into the light,darting out from under the altar and rushing toward the plane tree.There were the young of a sparrow, infant children,crouching under the leaves on the highest branch,eight of them, and the mother was the ninth, the one who bore the chicks.Then he ate them piteously as they twittered;and the mother flew around, mourning her dear children;and he coiled and seized her by the wing as she screamed.But when he had eaten the children of the sparrow and her too,the god who had shown him made him very visible;for the son of crooked-counseling Cronos turned him to stone;and we stood and marveled at how it had happened.So when these terrible portents came into the hecatombs of the gods,Calchas at once spoke, prophesying:'Why have you become speechless, long-haired Achaeans?Zeus the counselor has shown us this great sign,late in coming, late in fulfillment, whose fame will never perish.As this one ate the children of the sparrow and her too,eight of them, and the mother was the ninth, the one who bore the chicks,so we shall fight for that many years here,and in the tenth we shall take the wide-wayed city.'That is how he spoke; and now all these things are being fulfilled.But come, all you well-greaved Achaeans, waithere until we take the great city of Priam."So he spoke, and the Argives shouted aloud, and around them the shipsrang terribly as the Achaeans shouted,praising the word of godlike Odysseus.And among them Gerenian horseman Nestor also spoke:"Well now, in the assembly you behave like young children,infants who do not care at all about warlike deeds.Where will our agreements and oaths go?Let the counsels and the plans of men go into the fire,and the unmixed drink-offerings and the right hands we trusted in;for in this way we quarrel with words, and we cannotfind any remedy, though we have been here a long time.Son of Atreus, you, still keeping your firm counsel as before,lead the Argives through the mighty battles,and let those one or two men be destroyed, who make plansapart from the Achaeans; there will be no accomplishment from them.But before going back to Argos, and before we knowfrom aegis-bearing Zeus whether the promise is a lie or not,for I say that the all-powerful son of Cronos nodded his headon that day when we stepped into the swift-sailing ships,we Argives bringing slaughter and death to the Trojans,flashing lightning on the right hand and showing favorable signs.So let no one hurry to go homebefore he has slept with a Trojan's wife,and has taken vengeance for the struggles and groans of Helen.But if anyone very much wants to go home,let him take hold of his own black well-benched ship,so that before the others he may meet death and fate.But you, my lord, plan well yourself and obey another;the word I speak will not be one to be thrown away:sort the men by tribes and by clans, Agamemnon,so that clan may help clan, and tribe may help tribe.And if you do this and the Achaeans obey you,then you will know which of the leaders is bad and which of the men,and which may be good; for they will fight by themselves.You will also know whether you fail to sack the city by divine power,or because of the cowardice of the men and their ignorance of war."And in reply lord Agamemnon spoke to him:"Truly, old man, in the assembly you surpass the sons of the Achaeans.I wish, father Zeus, and Athena, and Apollo,that I had ten such counselors among the Achaeans.Then the city of lord Priam would soon bow its head,taken and sacked by our hands.But aegis-bearing Zeus the son of Cronos has given me grief,who throws me into fruitless strifes and quarrels.For I and Achilles fought with each other over a girlwith hostile words, and I was the first to grow angry.But if ever we plan as one, then there will no longer beany delay of the evil for the Trojans, not even a little.But now go to dinner, so that we may join battle.Let each man sharpen his spear well, and set his shield well,and let each give dinner to his swift-footed horses,and let each look well to his chariot and care for war,so that all day long we may stand in hateful battle.For there will be no rest at all, not even a little,unless night comes and separates the fury of men.The strap of the man-covering shield will sweat around someone's chest,and his hand will grow weary around the spear;and someone's horse will sweat as it pulls the well-polished chariot.But whoever I notice away from the battle, wantingto linger beside the curved ships, it will not beenough for him to escape the dogs and the birds."So he spoke, and the Argives shouted aloud, like when a waveon a high shore, when the South Wind comes and stirs itagainst a jutting rock; the waves never leave it,from all sorts of winds, whenever they come from here or there.They stood up and rushed, scattering to the ships,and they made fires in the huts, and took dinner.And each man sacrificed to a different one of the eternal gods,praying to escape death and the turmoil of Ares.But Agamemnon, lord of men, sacrificed a bull,a fat five-year-old, to the all-powerful son of Cronos,and he called the elders, the best of all the Panachaeans:Nestor first of all and lord Idomeneus,and then the two Ajaxes and the son of Tydeus,and sixth Odysseus, equal to Zeus in counsel.And Menelaus good at the war-cry came to him of his own accord;for he knew in his heart how his brother was laboring.They stood the bull around, and took up the barley grains,and in prayer lord Agamemnon spoke among them:"Zeus, most glorious, greatest, black-clouded, dwelling in the sky,let the sun not go down and darkness not comebefore I throw down the smoking hall of Priamin ruins, and burn its doors with hostile fire,and cut the tunic of Hector on his chestin pieces with bronze; and many companions around himmay fall face down in the dust and bite the earth."So he spoke, but the son of Cronos did not yet fulfill it for him,but he received the sacrifices, and added undreamed-of labor.But when they had prayed and thrown the barley grains,they first drew back the head and slaughtered it and skinned it,and cut out the thighs and covered them with fat,making a double fold, and placed raw pieces on top.And they burned these on leafless sticks,and spitted the innards and held them over the fire of Hephaestus.But when the thighs were burned and they had tasted the innards,they cut up the rest and pierced it on spits,and roasted it carefully and drew it all off.But when they had stopped working and prepared the feast,they feasted, and their hearts lacked nothing of the equal feast.But when they had put away their desire for drink and food,Gerenian horseman Nestor began to speak among them:"Most glorious son of Atreus, lord of men, Agamemnon,let us no longer talk here now, nor put offthe work any longer, which the god is putting into our hands.But come, let the heralds of the bronze-clad Achaeansgather the host, calling them along the ships,but let us, gathered here, go through the wide host of the Achaeansso that we may rouse sharp Ares the sooner."So he spoke, and Agamemnon, lord of men, did not disobey him.At once he ordered the clear-voiced heraldsto call the long-haired Achaeans to war.They called them, and the men gathered very quickly.And around the son of Atreus the kings brought up by Zeusrushed about, sorting them, and with them bright-eyed Athenacarrying her honored aegis, ageless and immortal,from which a hundred golden tassels hang,all well-woven, and each worth a hundred oxen.With it she darted flashing through the host of the Achaeans,urging them on, and she roused strength in the heart of each manwithout pause, to wage war and to fight.And at once war became sweeter to them than to go homein the hollow ships to their dear native land.As a raging fire burns over the endless foreston the mountain tops, and its glare is seen from far away,so from the bronze, as they marched, the wonderfulall-shining gleam went through the clear air to the sky.And as the many tribes of birds that fly,of geese or cranes or long-necked swans,in the Asian meadow by the streams of the Cayster,fly this way and that, glorying in their wings,settling down with cries, and the meadow echoes,so their many tribes poured out from the ships and the hutsinto the plain of Scamander; and under them the earthrang terribly under the feet of the men and the horses.They stood in the flowery meadow of Scamander,countless, as many as the leaves and flowers that grow in season.As the many tribes of swarming fliesthat hover around a shepherd's foldin the spring season, when the milk soaks the pails,so many long-haired Achaeans on the plaintook their stand against the Trojans, eager to break them.And as goatherds easily separate wide flocks of goatsonce they have mixed in the pasture,so their leaders put them in order here and thereto go into battle; and among them lord Agamemnon,like Zeus who delights in thunder in eyes and head,in waist like Ares, in chest like Poseidon.As a bull stands far the foremost of all the herd,for he stands out among the gathered cattle,such did Zeus make the son of Atreus on that day,striking among many and outstanding among the heroes.Tell me now, Muses who hold the Olympian halls,for you are goddesses and are present and know everything,while we hear only report and know nothing,who they were, the leaders and lords of the Danaans.The crowd I could not tell or name,not even if I had ten tongues and ten mouths,and a voice that never broke, and a heart of bronze in me,unless the Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus,reminded me of all who came to Ilion.But I will tell the leaders of the ships and all the ships together.Of the Boeotians Peneleos and Leitus led,and Arcesilaus and Prothoenor and Clonius,and those who lived in Hyrie and rocky Aulis,Schoenus and Scolus and many-ridged Eteonus,Thespia and Graia and wide Mycalessus,and those who lived around Harma and Eilesium and Erythrae,and those who held Eleon and Hyle and Peteon,Ocalea and well-built Medeon,Copae and Eutresis and Thisbe full of doves,and those of Coroneia and grassy Haliartus,and those who held Plataea and those who lived in Glisas,and those who held Hypothebae, the well-built town,and sacred Onchestus, the shining grove of Poseidon,and those who held Arne rich in grapes, and those of Mideaand holy Nisa and Anthedon at the far edge.Of these fifty ships went out, and in eacha hundred and twenty young Boeotians stepped aboard.And those who lived in Aspledon and Minyan Orchomenus,of these Ascalaphus and Ialmenus led, the sons of Ares,whom Astyoche bore in the house of Actor son of Azeus,a modest girl who had gone up to the upper roomto mighty Ares; and he lay with her in secret.With them thirty hollow ships were drawn up.And of the Phocians Schedius and Epistrophus led,the sons of great-hearted Iphitus son of Naubolus,those who held Cyparissus and rocky Pytho,and holy Crisa and Daulis and Panopeus,and those who lived around Anemoreia and Hyampolis,and those who lived beside the divine river Cephisus,and those who held Lilaea at the springs of the Cephisus;with them forty black ships followed.These set up the ranks of the Phocians, looking after them,and close beside the Boeotians on the left they armed themselves.And of the Locrians swift Ajax son of Oileus led,the lesser one, not as tall as Telamonian Ajax,but far smaller; he was a little man in a linen corselet,yet with the spear he outdid all the Hellenes and Achaeans,those who lived in Cynus and Opoeis and Calliarus,and Bessa and Scarphe and lovely Augeae,and Tarphe and Thronium around the streams of Boagrius;with him forty black ships followedof the Locrians, who live across from sacred Euboea.And those who held Euboea, the Abantes breathing might,and Chalcis and Eretria and vine-rich Histiaea,and Cerinthus by the sea and the steep town of Dion,and those who held Carystus and those who lived in Styra,of these Elephenor led, the offspring of Ares,son of Chalcodon, leader of the great-hearted Abantes.With him the swift Abantes followed, their hair long behind,spearmen eager with outstretched ash spearsto break the breastplates on the chests of the enemy;with him forty black ships followed.And those who held Athens, the well-built town,the people of great-hearted Erechtheus, whom once Athena,the daughter of Zeus, raised, and the grain-giving earth bore him,and she set him down in Athens in her own rich temple,where the young men of the Athenians win him over with bulls and ramsas the years come around;of these Menestheus, the son of Peteos, led.No man on earth was ever like himat setting horses and shield-bearing men in order;only Nestor could compete with him, for he was the older born;with him fifty black ships followed.And Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis,and he brought them and set them where the ranks of the Athenians stood.And those who held Argos and walled Tiryns,Hermione and Asine, which lie on the deep gulf,Troezen and Eiones and vine-clad Epidaurus,and those who held Aegina and Mases, the young men of the Achaeans,of these Diomedes good at the war-cry led,and Sthenelus, the dear son of famous Capaneus;and with them a third came, Euryalus, a man like the gods,the son of Mecisteus, son of lord Talaus;and over them all Diomedes good at the war-cry was leader;with them eighty black ships followed.And those who held Mycenae, the well-built town,and rich Corinth and well-built Cleonae,and lived in Orneae and lovely Araethyrea,and Sicyon, where Adrastus was king first,and those of Hyperesia and steep Gonoessa,and those who held Pellene and lived around Aegium,and all along the coast and around wide Helice,of these a hundred ships lord Agamemnon led,the son of Atreus; with him by far the most and the bestof the men followed; and he himself put on the gleaming bronze,glorying, and he stood out among all the heroes,because he was the best and led by far the most men.And those who held hollow Lacedaemon full of gullies,and Pharis and Sparta and Messa full of doves,and lived in Bryseae and lovely Augeae,and those who held Amyclae and Helos, the town by the sea,and those who held Laas and lived around Oetylus,of these his brother led, Menelaus good at the war-cry,with sixty ships; and they armed apart from the others.And he himself went among them, trusting in his own eagerness,urging them on to war; and most of all he longed in his heartto take revenge for the struggles and the groans of Helen.And those who lived in Pylos and lovely Arene,and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well-built Aepy,and lived in Cyparisseis and Amphigeneia,and Pteleos and Helos and Dorion, where the Musesmet Thamyris the Thracian and stopped him from singingas he came from Oechalia, from Eurytus of Oechalia;for he boasted that he would win, even if the Musesthemselves sang, the daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus.And they in anger made him crippled, and his wonderful songthey took away, and made him forget how to play the lyre;of these Gerenian horseman Nestor led,and with him ninety hollow ships were drawn up.And those who held Arcadia under the steep mountain of Cyllene,beside the tomb of Aepytus, where men fight hand to hand,and those who lived in Pheneus and Orchomenus rich in sheep,and Rhipe and Stratie and windy Enispe,and held Tegea and lovely Mantinea,and held Stymphalus and lived in Parrhasia,of these lord Agapenor, the son of Ancaeus, led,with sixty ships; and many in each shipwere Arcadian men who stepped aboard, skilled in war;for Agamemnon, lord of men, himself gave themwell-benched ships to cross the wine-dark sea,the son of Atreus, since the works of the sea were not their concern.And those who lived in Buprasium and divine Elis,as far as Hyrmine and Myrsinus at the edgeand the rock of Olenus and Alesium shut in within,of these there were four leaders, and with each man tenswift ships followed, and many Epeians stepped aboard.Of these Amphimachus and Thalpius were the leaders,sons, one of Cteatus and the other of Eurytus, the two Actoriones;and over the third led Diores, mighty son of Amarynceus;and over the fourth led godlike Polyxenus,the son of Agasthenes, son of lord Augeas.And those from Dulichium and the sacred Echinaeislands, which lie across the sea facing Elis,of these Meges led, a match for Ares,the son of Phyleus, whom horseman Phyleus, dear to Zeus, fathered,who once moved away to Dulichium in anger at his father;with him forty black ships followed.And Odysseus led the great-hearted Cephallenians,who held Ithaca and Neritum shaking with leaves,and lived in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips,and those who held Zacynthus and those who lived around Samos,and those who held the mainland and lived in the land facing it;of these Odysseus led, equal to Zeus in counsel;with him twelve ships followed, red-cheeked.And of the Aetolians Thoas led, the son of Andraemon,those who lived in Pleuron and Olenus and Pylene,and seaside Chalcis and rocky Calydon;for the sons of great-hearted Oeneus were no longer there,nor was he himself still alive, and fair-haired Meleager had died;so everything had been handed over to him, to rule over the Aetolians;with him forty black ships followed.And of the Cretans Idomeneus, famous for the spear, led,those who held Cnossus and walled Gortyn,Lyctus and Miletus and gleaming Lycastus,and Phaestus and Rhytium, well-settled cities,and the others who lived around Crete of a hundred cities;of these Idomeneus, famous for the spear, was the leader,and Meriones, a match for Enyalius, the killer of men;with them eighty black ships followed.And Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, both noble and tall,brought nine ships from Rhodes, of the proud Rhodians,who lived around Rhodes, drawn up in three groups,Lindus and Ialysus and gleaming Cameirus;of these Tlepolemus, famous for the spear, led,whom Astyocheia bore to the might of Heracles,whom he brought from Ephyra, from the river Selleeis,after he had sacked many cities of men brought up by Zeus.And when Tlepolemus had been raised in the well-built hall,he straightway killed his own father's dear uncle,Licymnius, already growing old, the offspring of Ares;and at once he built ships, and gathering a great hosthe went in flight over the sea; for the others threatened him,the sons and the sons' sons of the might of Heracles.And he came to Rhodes, wandering and suffering hardships;and they settled in three groups by tribes, and they were lovedby Zeus, who rules over gods and men,and the son of Cronos poured wonderful wealth over them.Nireus again brought three well-balanced ships from Syme,Nireus, the son of Aglaea and of lord Charops,Nireus, who came to Ilion the most beautiful man of allthe other Danaans, after the blameless son of Peleus;but he was weak, and few men followed him.And those who held Nisyros and Crapathos and Casos,and Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands,of these Pheidippus and Antiphus were the leaders,the two sons of Thessalus, the son of lord Heracles;with them thirty hollow ships were drawn up.Now again, all those who lived in Pelasgian Argos,and those who lived in Alos and Alope and Trachis,and those who held Phthia and Hellas, the land of fair women,and were called Myrmidons and Hellenes and Achaeans,of these Achilles was the leader of fifty ships.But they gave no thought to hateful-sounding war,for there was no one to lead them into the ranks;for swift-footed godlike Achilles lay among the ships,angry over the fair-haired girl Briseis,whom he had taken from Lyrnessus after much hard work,when he had sacked Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebe,and laid low Mynes and Epistrophus, spearmen,the sons of Evenus, son of lord Selepius;over her he lay grieving, and soon he was going to rise up again.And those who held Phylace and flowery Pyrasus,the sacred precinct of Demeter, and Iton, mother of sheep,and seaside Antron and grassy Pteleos,of these warlike Protesilaus ledwhile he was alive; but by then the black earth already held him.And his wife was left in Phylace, her cheeks torn with grief on both sides,and his house half-finished; him a Dardanian man killedas he leapt from his ship, by far the first of the Achaeans.Nor were they without a leader, though they longed for their leader;but Podarces put them in order, the offspring of Ares,the son of Iphiclus, son of Phylacus of many flocks,own brother of great-hearted Protesilaus,younger in birth; and the other was both older and better,the hero Protesilaus, warlike; and the people lacked nothingof a leader, though they longed for him, good man that he was;with him forty black ships followed.And those who lived in Pherae beside the Boebean lake,Boebe and Glaphyrae and well-built Iolcus,of these the dear son of Admetus led eleven ships,Eumelus, whom the most divine of women bore to Admetus,Alcestis, the fairest in form of the daughters of Pelias.And those who lived in Methone and Thaumacia,and held Meliboea and rugged Olizon,of these Philoctetes led, well skilled in the bow,with seven ships; and in each fifty oarsmenstepped aboard, well skilled with the bow to fight mightily.But he lay on an island suffering terrible pains,in sacred Lemnos, where the sons of the Achaeans left himwasting with the evil wound of the deadly water-snake;there he lay grieving; and soon the Argives were going to rememberlord Philoctetes beside the ships.Nor were they without a leader, though they longed for their leader;but Medon put them in order, the bastard son of Oileus,whom Rhene bore to Oileus, the sacker of cities.And those who held Tricca and rocky Ithome,and those who held Oechalia, the city of Eurytus of Oechalia,of these the two sons of Asclepius were the leaders,good healers, Podaleirius and Machaon;with them thirty hollow ships were drawn up.And those who held Ormenium, and those of the spring Hypereia,and those who held Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus,of these Eurypylus led, the shining son of Euaemon;with him forty black ships followed.And those who held Argissa and lived in Gyrtone,Orthe and Elone and the white city of Oloosson,of these Polypoetes, firm in battle, led,the son of Peirithous, whom immortal Zeus fathered;him famous Hippodameia bore to Peirithouson the day when he took revenge on the shaggy Centaursand drove them from Pelion and pushed them back to the Aethices.Not alone, for with him came Leonteus, the offspring of Ares,the son of high-hearted Coronus, son of Caeneus;with them forty black ships followed.And Gouneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus;with him the Enienes followed and the firm Perrhaebians,who had set their homes around wintry Dodona,and those who worked their fields around lovely Titaresius,which sends its fair-flowing water into the Peneus;yet it does not mix with the silver-eddied Peneus,but flows over it like olive oil;for it is a branch of the dread water of Styx, the water of oaths.And of the Magnetes Prothous led, the son of Tenthredon,who lived around the Peneus and Pelion shaking with leaves;of these swift Prothous was the leader,and with him forty black ships followed.These then were the leaders and the lords of the Danaans.Who then was by far the best of them? Tell me, Muse,of the men themselves and of the horses that followed with the sons of Atreus.The horses of the son of Pheres were by far the best,which Eumelus drove, swift-footed as birds,alike in coat, both mares, equal in age, level along the back;the silver-bowed Apollo raised them in Pereia,both female, carriers of the terror of Ares.And of the men by far the best was Telamonian Ajax,so long as Achilles kept his anger; for he was far the greatest,and the horses that carried the blameless son of Peleus.But he lay among the curved sea-crossing ships,raging in anger at Agamemnon, shepherd of the people,the son of Atreus; and his men beside the breaking of the seatook their pleasure in discus and in javelin throwingand with bows; and the horses, each beside his own chariot,cropping the lotus and the marsh-grown parsley,stood still; and the well-covered chariots of the lords layin the huts; and they, longing for their warlike leader,wandered here and there through the camp and did not fight.And they marched as though the whole earth were being eaten by fire;and the ground groaned beneath them, as beneath Zeus who delights in thunderin his anger, when he lashes the earth around Typhoeus,in the land of the Arimoi, where they say the couches of Typhoeus are;so the earth groaned mightily beneath their feetas they came; and very quickly they passed across the plain.To the Trojans came a messenger, swift-footed wind-swift Iris,from aegis-bearing Zeus with a message of grief.They were holding an assembly at the doors of Priam,all gathered together, both young and old;and standing near, swift-footed Iris spoke to them,and she made her voice like that of Polites, the son of Priam,who sat as a lookout for the Trojans, trusting in his swiftness,on the topmost tomb of old Aesyetes,watching for the moment when the Achaeans would set out from the ships;making herself like him, swift-footed Iris spoke:"Old man, your words are always dear to you and endless,as once in time of peace; but war has risen that cannot be avoided.Truly I have gone into many battles of men,but never yet have I seen such a host as this.For very like leaves or grains of sandthey come across the plain to fight against the city.Hector, to you above all I give this charge, to do as follows:for many allies are throughout the great city of Priam,and the language of men scattered far is different for different peoples;let each man give the signal to those over whom he rules,and let him lead them out, having put his townsmen in order."So she spoke, and Hector did not fail to notice the word of the goddess,and at once he broke up the assembly; and they rushed to arms.All the gates were opened, and the host rushed out,both foot and horse; and a great noise arose.There is a certain steep mound before the city,in the plain, apart, running around on either side,which men indeed call Batieia,but the immortals call it the tomb of much-leaping Myrine;there then the Trojans and the allies were sorted apart.Of the Trojans great Hector of the shining helmet led,the son of Priam; with him by far the most and the bestof the men armed themselves, eager with their spears.And of the Dardanians the noble son of Anchises led,Aeneas, whom divine Aphrodite bore to Anchises,a goddess who lay with a mortal in the foothills of Ida;not alone, for with him came two sons of Antenor,Archelochus and Acamas, well skilled in all battle.And those who lived in Zeleia beneath the lowest foot of Ida,wealthy, drinking the dark water of Aesepus,Trojans, of these the shining son of Lycaon led,Pandarus, to whom Apollo himself gave the bow.And those who held Adresteia and the country of Apaisus,and held Pityeia and the steep mountain of Tereia,of these Adrestus led and Amphius of the linen corselet,the two sons of Merops of Percote, who beyond all menknew the arts of prophecy, and would not let his sonsgo to man-destroying war; but the two did not at allobey him, for the fates of black death led them on.And those who lived around Percote and Practius,and held Sestos and Abydos and divine Arisbe,of these Asius led, the son of Hyrtacus, leader of men,Asius son of Hyrtacus, whom from Arisbe his horses carried,tawny, huge, from the river Selleeis.And Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgians, spearmen,those who lived in Larisa of the rich soil;of these Hippothous led and Pylaeus, the offspring of Ares,the two sons of Lethus the Pelasgian, son of Teutamus.And Acamas and the hero Peiroos led the Thracians,as many as the strong-flowing Hellespont shuts in.And Euphemus was the leader of the Ciconians, spearmen,the son of Troezenus, Zeus-nurtured son of Ceas.And Pyraechmes led the Paeonians of the curved bows,from far away, from Amydon, from the wide-flowing Axius,the Axius whose water is the fairest that spreads over the earth.And of the Paphlagonians led Pylaemenes of the shaggy heart,from the land of the Eneti, where the breed of wild mules comes from;they held Cytorus and lived around Sesamus,and around the river Parthenius they had their famous homes,and Cromna and Aegialus and the high Erythini.And of the Halizones Odius and Epistrophus led,from far away, from Alybe, where silver is born.And of the Mysians Chromis led and Ennomus the bird-diviner;but he did not ward off black death by his birds of omen,but was overcome by the hands of the swift-footed descendant of Aeacusin the river, where he was cutting down the Trojans and others.And Phorcys led the Phrygians and godlike Ascaniusfrom far Ascania; and they were eager to fight in battle.And of the Maeonians Mesthles and Antiphus were the leaders,the two sons of Talaemenes, whom the Gygaean lake bore,and they led the Maeonians who were born beneath Tmolus.And Nastes led the Carians of barbarian speech,who held Miletus and the mountain of Phthires with its countless leaves,and the streams of the Maeander and the steep peaks of Mycale;of these Amphimachus and Nastes were the leaders,Nastes and Amphimachus, the shining children of Nomion;and he went to war carrying gold like a girl,fool, and it did not save him from wretched destruction,but he was overcome by the hands of the swift-footed descendant of Aeacusin the river, and warlike Achilles carried off the gold.And Sarpedon led the Lycians and blameless Glaucus,from far Lycia, from the eddying Xanthus.