Book 8

Now Dawn the saffron-robed was spreading over all the earth,and Zeus who delights in thunder made an assembly of the godson the topmost peak of many-ridged Olympus.He himself spoke among them, and all the gods listened beneath him.Hear me, all you gods and all you goddesses,that I may speak what my heart in my breast commands me.So let no goddess, nor any god,try to thwart my word, but let all of you togetherapprove it, that I may swiftly finish these deeds.And whomsoever I perceive apart from the gods, wishingto go help either the Trojans or the Danaans,struck in unseemly fashion he shall come back to Olympus;or I will seize him and hurl him into misty Tartarus,very far off, where the deepest pit beneath the earth is,where there are gates of iron and a threshold of bronze,as far beneath Hades as the sky is above the earth.Then he shall learn how much I am the strongest of all the gods.Come then, gods, make trial, that you may all see:let a golden chain down from the sky,and all you gods and all you goddesses hang upon it;but you could not drag Zeus the highest, the counsellor, down from the sky to the plain,not even if you toiled very greatly.But whenever I too in earnest wish to drag,I would drag it up with the earth itself and the sea itself;and then I would fasten the chain about a peak of Olympus,and all things would hang in mid-air.So far am I beyond the gods, and beyond mortals.Thus he spoke, and all of them became silent in stillness,amazed at his word; for he had spoken very powerfully.Then at last the goddess grey-eyed Athena spoke among them:O father of ours, son of Cronus, highest of the lords,well we too know that your strength cannot be forced;but nevertheless we pity the spear-fighting Danaans,who may fill up an evil doom and perish.Yet we will hold back from war, as you command;but we will put counsel into the Argives' minds, whatever will profit them,so that they not all perish because of your wrath.Then Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered her smiling:Take heart, Tritogeneia, dear child; I do not speakwith a willing heart, and I wish to be gentle to you.So saying, he harnessed beneath his chariot his bronze-hoofed horsesswift-flying, maned with golden manes,and he himself put on gold about his skin, and took a whipof gold, well-made, and stepped up onto his chariot,and lashed them to drive; and they not unwilling flewbetween the earth and the starry sky.He came to Ida with its many springs, mother of beasts,to Gargarus, where there is a sacred precinct for him and a smoking altar.There the father of men and gods halted his horses,having loosed them from the chariot, and poured down a thick mist.And he himself sat upon the peaks, exulting in his glory,looking upon the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeans.Meanwhile the long-haired Achaeans snatched their mealswiftly throughout the huts, and then armed themselves.And the Trojans on the other side armed themselves through the city,fewer in number; but even so they were eager to fight in the battleby hard necessity, for their children and for their wives.All the gates were opened wide, and the host rushed out,footmen and horsemen alike; and a great din arose.But when they came together into one place,they clashed their shields together, and their spears, and the fury of menin bronze corselets; and the bossed shieldsstruck against one another, and a great din arose.Then together there was wailing and boasting of men,of slayers and of the slain, and the earth ran with blood.As long as it was morning and the sacred day grew,so long the missiles of both sides struck home, and the host fell.But when the Sun had come to the middle of the sky,then indeed the father stretched out his golden scales;and in them he placed two fates of death that brings long pain,of the horse-taming Trojans and the bronze-clad Achaeans,and taking them he pulled them by the middle; and the destined day of the Achaeans sank.Those fates of the Achaeans settled upon the life-giving earth,and the Trojans' rose toward the wide sky;and he himself thundered loudly from Ida, and a blazingflame he hurled into the host of the Achaeans; and they, seeing it,were amazed, and pale fear seized them all.Then neither Idomeneus endured to stand, nor Agamemnon,nor did the two Ajaxes, squires of Ares, remain;only Nestor, the Gerenian guardian of the Achaeans, stayed,not at all of his own will, but his horse was distressed, which struck with an arrowgodlike Alexander, the husband of fair-haired Helen,on the topmost crown, where the first hairs of horsesgrow on the skull, and it is the most deadly spot.And in pain it reared up, and the missile went into the brain,and writhing about the bronze point it threw the horses into confusion.While the old man was cutting away the horse's trace-strapsrushing on with his sword, meanwhile the swift horses of Hectorcame through the rout, bearing their bold charioteer,Hector; and now would the old man have lost his life therehad not Diomedes, good at the war-cry, quickly noticed;and he shouted terribly, urging on Odysseus:Zeus-born son of Laertes, wily Odysseus,where are you fleeing, turning your back like a coward in the crowd?lest someone fix a spear in your back as you flee;but stand, so that we may drive the fierce man from the old man.So he spoke, but the much-enduring godlike Odysseus did not hear,but rushed past toward the hollow ships of the Achaeans.But the son of Tydeus, though alone, went in among the foremost fighters,and stood before the horses of the old man of Neleus' line,and spoke to him, addressing him with winged words:Old man, truly the young fighters are wearing you out,and your strength is loosed, and hard old age attends you,and your squire is feeble, and your horses are slow.But come, step up on my chariot, so that you may seewhat sort of Trojan horses they are, knowing well over the plainto pursue very swiftly this way and that, and to flee,which I once took from Aeneas, crafters of panic.Let the two squires tend these, and let us twodrive straight at the horse-taming Trojans, so that even Hectormay know whether my spear too rages in my hands.So he spoke, and the Gerenian horseman Nestor did not disobey.So then the two squires tended the horses of Nestor,the mighty Sthenelus and Eurymedon, glad of spirit.And the two stepped up into the chariot of Diomedes;and Nestor took into his hands the shining reins,and lashed the horses; and quickly they came near Hector.And as he rushed straight on, the son of Tydeus hurled at him;and he missed him, but his charioteer and squire,the son of the high-spirited Theban, Eniopeus,who was holding the reins of the horses, he struck by the breast beside the nipple.He fell from the chariot, and his horses swerved aside,swift-footed; and there his soul and his strength were loosed.And a dreadful grief covered the heart of Hector for his charioteer;he left him there, though grieving for his comrade,to lie, and he went after a bold charioteer; and not for longwere the two horses lacking a driver; for quickly he foundthe son of Iphitus, bold Archeptolemus, whom then he setupon the swift-footed horses, and gave the reins into his hands.Then there would have been ruin and past-help deeds,and they would have been penned in Troy like lambs,had not the father of men and gods quickly noticed;and thundering terribly he hurled a shining thunderbolt,and cast it to the ground before the horses of Diomedes;and a terrible flame arose from burning sulphur,and the two horses, afraid, cowered beneath the chariot;and from Nestor's hands fled the shining reins,and he feared in his heart, and spoke to Diomedes:Son of Tydeus, come now, turn back and hold your single-hoofed horses.Do you not know that no strength from Zeus follows you?For now to this man Zeus the son of Cronus grants glorytoday; and afterward again to us, if he wishes,he will give it; but no man could draw back the mind of Zeus,not even a very mighty one, since he is far stronger.Then Diomedes, good at the war-cry, answered him:Yes indeed, old man, you have spoken all this rightly;but this dreadful grief comes upon my heart and spirit:for Hector will one day say, speaking among the Trojans:The son of Tydeus, fleeing before me, came to the ships.So he will one day boast; then may the wide earth open for me.Then the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:Ah me, son of warlike Tydeus, what a thing you have said.For even if Hector calls you weak and cowardly,the Trojans and Dardanians will not believe him,nor the wives of the great-hearted Trojan spearmen,in whose dust you laid their lusty husbands.So having spoken he turned his single-hoofed horses to flightback through the rout; and upon them the Trojans and Hectorwith a wondrous cry poured their mournful missiles.And great Hector of the shining helmet shouted aloud after him:Son of Tydeus, the Danaans of swift horses honoured youwith a seat and with meats and with fuller cups;but now they will dishonour you; you have turned out to be a woman.Begone, wretched puppet, since, though I do not yield,you shall not mount our towers, nor shall youlead our women in your ships; before that I will give you your fate.So he spoke, and the son of Tydeus pondered in two mindswhether to turn his horses and fight face to face.Three times he pondered in his mind and heart,and three times from the Idaean mountains thundered Zeus the counsellor,giving a sign to the Trojans of victory that turns the battle.And Hector called out to the Trojans, shouting far:Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians who fight close at hand,be men, my friends, and remember your furious courage.And I know that the son of Cronus has willingly nodded to mevictory and great glory, and to the Danaans a woe;fools, who devised these walls,feeble and worth nothing; these will not hold back my fury;and my horses will lightly leap over the dug trench.But when I come to the hollow ships,let there be then some memory of destructive fire,that with fire I may burn the ships, and slay the men themselves,the Argives beside the ships, dismayed by the smoke.So saying, he called to his horses and spoke:Xanthus, and you Podargus, and Aethon and shining Lampus,now repay me the care, which very abundantAndromache, daughter of great-hearted Eetion,set before you first, honey-sweet grain,and mixing wine for you to drink, whenever your heart bid,before me, who boast to be her lusty husband.But follow on and hasten, so that we may takethe shield of Nestor, whose fame now reaches the sky,that it is all golden, both its rims and itself,and from the shoulders of Diomedes, tamer of horses,his cunningly-wrought corselet, which Hephaestus wrought with his craft.If we could take these two, I would hope that the Achaeansthis very night would board their swift ships.So he spoke boasting, and queenly Hera was indignant,and she shook on her throne, and made great Olympus tremble,and she spoke to Poseidon, the great god, face to face:Alas, Earth-shaker of wide strength, not even in your heartdoes your spirit pity the perishing Danaans.Yet they bring you gifts to Helice and to Aegae,many and gracious; but you wish victory for them.For if we wished, all who are helpers of the Danaans,to drive back the Trojans and hold back Zeus the far-seeing,there he would sit grieving alone on Ida.Then greatly angered the lord Earth-shaker answered her:Hera, rash of speech, what a word you have spoken.I would not wish us other gods to fight with Zeusson of Cronus, since he is far stronger.Thus they spoke such things to one another;and the space from the ships to the wall which the trench enclosedwas filled alike with horses and with shielded menpenned in; and Hector, like swift Ares, penned them in,Hector son of Priam, when Zeus gave him glory.And now he would have burned the balanced ships with blazing fire,had not queenly Hera put it in the mind of Agamemnonhimself to bestir himself and quickly urge on the Achaeans.He went along by the huts and the ships of the Achaeans,holding a great purple cloak in his thick hand,and he stood upon the great-bellied black ship of Odysseus,which lay in the middle, so as to be heard on both sides,both toward the huts of Ajax son of Telamonand toward those of Achilles, who had drawn their balanced shipsat the farthest, trusting in their manhood and the strength of their hands;and he shouted shrilly, crying out to the Danaans:Shame, Argives, base disgraces, admirable only in looks;where have gone the boasts, when we said we were the best,which once in Lemnos you vaunted idly in assembly,eating many meats of straight-horned oxenand drinking bowls brimming with wine,that each of you would stand against a hundred or two hundred of the Trojansin war; but now we are worth not even one,not even of Hector, who will soon burn our ships with blazing fire.Father Zeus, did you ever before ruin some one of the over-proud kingswith such blindness, and take away his great glory?I say that never have I passed by your beautiful altarin my many-benched ship as I came here,but on all of them I burned the fat and thighs of oxen,longing to sack well-walled Troy.But Zeus, fulfil for me this wish at least:let them themselves escape and get away,and do not thus let the Achaeans be subdued by the Trojans.So he spoke, and the father pitied him as he shed tears,and he nodded to him that the host should be safe and not perish.And at once he sent an eagle, the most perfect of birds,holding in its talons a fawn, the young of a swift deer;and beside the beautiful altar of Zeus it dropped the fawn,where the Achaeans used to sacrifice to Zeus who speaks in all omens.So when they saw that the bird had come from Zeus,they sprang more upon the Trojans, and remembered their joy of battle.Then no one of the Danaans, though many, was beforeDiomedes in praying, before he stayed his swift horsesand drove them out of the trench and fought face to face,but far the first he slew a helmeted man of the Trojans,Ageleos son of Phradmon; he had turned his horses to flight;and as he turned, he fixed his spear in his backbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his breast;and he fell from the chariot, and his armour clattered upon him.After him the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus,and after them the Ajaxes, clad in furious courage,and after them Idomeneus and the comrade of Idomeneus,Meriones, equal to Enyalius, slayer of men,and after them Eurypylus, the glorious son of Euaemon;and Teucer came ninth, stretching his back-bent bow,and he stood beneath the shield of Ajax son of Telamon.There Ajax would hold out his shield, and the herowould peer about, and when he had shot at someone in the crowdand hit him, he fell there and lost his life,and then he would go back and dart like a child under its mother,into Ajax; and he would hide him with his shining shield.Then whom first of the Trojans did blameless Teucer slay?Orsilochus first, and Ormenus and Ophelestesand Daetor and Chromius and godlike Lycophontesand Amopaon son of Polyaemon and Melanippus,all of them one after another he brought down to the life-giving earth.And seeing him, the lord of men Agamemnon rejoicedas from his strong bow he destroyed the ranks of the Trojans;and he came and stood beside him and spoke a word to him:Teucer, dear head, son of Telamon, leader of the people,shoot on in this way, if you may become some light to the Danaansand to your father Telamon, who reared you when you were small,though you were born a bastard, he cared for you in his own house;raise him, even though he is far off, to good repute.And I will tell you how this too shall be accomplished:if Zeus the aegis-bearer and Athena grant meto sack the well-built citadel of Ilium,I will put a prize of honour in your hand, first after me,either a tripod or two horses with their own chariot,or a woman, who may climb into your shared bed.Then blameless Teucer answered him and said:Most glorious son of Atreus, why do you urge me on when I myself am eager?As far as the strength that is in me goes,I do not stop, but from the time we drove them back toward Ilium,from then I have been waiting with my bow and killing men.Eight long-pointed arrows I have already shot,and all of them have been fixed in the flesh of the swift young warriors;but this dog, this mad one, I cannot hit.He spoke, and shot another arrow from the bowstringstraight at Hector, and his heart longed to hit him;but he missed him, and blameless Gorgythion,the good son of Priam, he struck in the chest with the arrow,whom his mother bore, wedded from Aesyme,fair Castianeira, in form like the goddesses.And as a poppy bows its head to one side, in a garden,weighed down by its fruit and by the spring rains,so his head drooped to one side, weighed down by his helmet.Teucer shot another arrow from the bowstringstraight at Hector, and his heart longed to hit him.But he missed again then, for Apollo made him err;but bold Archeptolemus, Hector's charioteer,as he rushed into the battle, he struck by the breast beside the nipple;and he fell from the chariot, and his horses swerved aside,swift-footed; and there his soul and his strength were loosed.And a dreadful grief covered the heart of Hector for his charioteer;he left him there, though grieving for his comrade,and he called to Cebriones, his brother, who was nearby,to take the reins of the horses; and he did not disobey when he heard.Then he himself leapt from the gleaming chariot to the groundshouting terribly; and he took a stone in his hand,and went straight at Teucer, and his heart urged him to hit him.Now Teucer had taken a bitter arrow from his quiverand laid it on the string; but Hector of the shining helmet,as he drew it back by the shoulder, where the collar-boneseparates the neck and the chest, and it is the most deadly spot,there, as he aimed eagerly at him, he struck him with a jagged stone,and it broke his bowstring, and his hand went numb at the wrist,and he fell to his knees and dropped his bow from his hand.But Ajax did not neglect his fallen brother,but ran and stood over him and covered him with his shield.Then two dear comrades came under him,Mecisteus son of Echius and godlike Alastor,and carried him to the hollow ships, groaning heavily.But again the Olympian roused the fury of the Trojans;and they drove the Achaeans straight at the deep trench;and Hector went among the foremost, exulting in his strength.As when a dog seizes a wild boar or a lionfrom behind, chasing it with swift feet,and fixes on its hips and haunches, and watches it as it turns,so Hector kept after the long-haired Achaeans,always killing the last man; and they fled.But when they had crossed the stakes and the trenchin their flight, and many of the Trojans had died by their hands,they were checked and stood beside the ships,calling to one another and to all the gods,holding up their hands, each of them praying loudly;and Hector kept wheeling about his fair-maned horseswith the eyes of a Gorgon and of man-destroying Ares.But the goddess white-armed Hera saw them and pitied them,and quickly spoke winged words to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, will we two no longercare for the perishing Danaans, even for the last time?They may now fill up their evil doom and perishat the rush of one man, and he rages now past bearing,Hector son of Priam, and he has already done many evils.Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena answered her:Yes, this man might even lose his fury and his spiritat the hands of the Argives, dying in his own fatherland;but my father rages with no good mind,stubborn, always wicked, a thwart of my own purposes;he does not remember at all that I very oftensaved his son when he was worn down by the labours of Eurystheus.He used to weep toward the sky, and Zeus sent mefrom the sky to defend him.If I had known this in my shrewd mindwhen he sent him into the house of Hades, the gate-keeper,to bring from Erebus the dog of hateful Hades,he would not have escaped the steep streams of the water of Styx.But now he hates me, and he has fulfilled the counsels of Thetis,who kissed his knees and took his chin in her hand,begging him to honour Achilles, the sacker of cities.But there will come a day when he calls me again his dear grey-eyed one.But now harness the single-hoofed horses for the two of us,while I go down into the house of aegis-bearing Zeusand arm myself with weapons for war, so that I may seewhether the son of Priam, Hector of the shining helmet,will rejoice when the two of us appear on the bridges of war,or whether some Trojan will glut the dogs and the birdswith his fat and flesh, when he falls by the Achaean ships.So she spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera did not disobey.She went about and harnessed the gold-frontleted horses,Hera, eldest of goddesses, daughter of great Cronus;and Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus,let fall on her father's floor her soft robe,embroidered, which she had made and worked with her own hands,and she put on the tunic of Zeus the cloud-gathererand armed herself for tearful war with weapons.She stepped into the flaming chariot with her feet, and took up her spear,heavy, great and stout, with which she subdues the ranks of men,of heroes, whenever the mighty father's daughter is angry with them.Hera quickly touched the horses with the whip;and of their own will the gates of heaven groaned open, which the Hours keep,to whom the great sky and Olympus are entrusted,both to open the thick cloud and to shut it.Through these they drove their horses with the goad.But father Zeus, when he saw from Ida, was terribly angry,and he urged golden-winged Iris to carry the message:Go, swift Iris, turn back, and do not let themcome before me; for it is not good for us to join in war.For I will say this, and it will be accomplished:I will maim their swift horses under their chariot,and I will throw them from the chariot and break the car;and not in ten revolving yearswill the wounds they receive heal, the ones that my thunderbolt strikes;so that the grey-eyed one may see what it is to fight with her father.But with Hera I am not so indignant, nor do I rage;for it has always been her custom to thwart whatever I say.So he spoke, and swift-footed Iris rose to carry the message,and went from the Idaean mountains to great Olympus.And at the first gates of many-folded Olympusshe met them and held them back, and told them the word of Zeus:Where are you rushing? What madness is in your hearts?The son of Cronus does not allow you to defend the Argives.For thus the son of Cronus threatened, and he will fulfil it:he will maim your swift horses under your chariot,and he will throw you from the chariot and break the car;and not in ten revolving yearswill the wounds heal, the ones that the thunderbolt strikes;so that you, grey-eyed one, may see what it is to fight with your father.With Hera he is not so indignant, nor does he rage;for it has always been her custom to thwart whatever he says;but you, most dreadful dog, without shame, if trulyyou will dare to raise your monstrous spear against Zeus.So speaking, swift-footed Iris went away,and Hera spoke a word to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, no longer will Ilet the two of us fight against Zeus for the sake of mortals;let one of them die and another live,whichever it falls to; and let him, thinking his own thoughts in his heart,judge between the Trojans and the Danaans, as is proper.So speaking, she turned back her single-hoofed horses;and the Hours loosed the fair-maned horses,and tied them at the immortal mangers,and leaned the chariot against the gleaming walls;and the two themselves sat down on golden chairsamong the other gods, with their dear hearts grieving.But father Zeus drove his well-wheeled chariot and horsesfrom Ida to Olympus, and reached the seats of the gods.Then the famous Earth-shaker loosed his horses,and set the chariot on the altars, spreading a cover over it;and Zeus the far-seeing himself sat down on a golden throne,and beneath his feet great Olympus trembled.But Athena and Hera sat apart from Zeus alone,and they did not speak to him at all, nor ask him anything;but he knew in his heart and spoke to them:Why are you two so grieved, Athena and Hera?You surely did not wear yourselves out in the battle that brings glory to men,destroying Trojans, against whom you set your terrible hate.In any case, with my fury and my invincible hands as they are,not all the gods in Olympus could turn me.But before that, trembling seized your shining limbsbefore you even saw the war and the dreadful deeds of war.For I will say this, and it would have been accomplished:struck by a thunderbolt, you would not have come backto Olympus on your chariots, where the seat of the immortals is.So he spoke, and Athena and Hera muttered against him;they sat close together, and plotted evil for the Trojans.Now Athena was silent and said nothing,angry at father Zeus, and wild anger held her;but Hera could not hold her anger in her breast, and spoke:Most dread son of Cronus, what a word you have spoken.Well we too know that your strength is not weak;but nevertheless we pity the spear-fighting Danaans,who may fill up their evil doom and perish.But we will keep away from war, if you command it;but we will put counsel into the Argives' minds, whatever will profit them,so that they not all perish because of your wrath.Then Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered her:Then at dawn, if you wish, ox-eyed queenly Hera,you will see the over-mighty son of Cronusdestroying the great host of the spear-fighting Argives;for mighty Hector will not stop from waruntil the swift-footed son of Peleus is roused beside the ships,on the day when they fight at the sternmost shipsin the most terrible strait over the dead Patroclus;for so it is fated; and I do not care about your anger,not even if you come to the lowest limitsof the earth and the sea, where Iapetus and Cronus sitand take no joy in the rays of Hyperion the Sun,nor in the winds, and deep Tartarus is around them;not even if you go there in your wandering, would Icare about your anger, since nothing is more shameless than you.So he spoke, and white-armed Hera said nothing to him.And the bright light of the sun fell into the Ocean,drawing black night over the grain-giving fields.So for the Trojans the light set unwillingly, but for the Achaeanswelcome and long-prayed-for came dark night.Then glorious Hector held an assembly of the Trojans,leading them apart from the ships beside the eddying river,in a clear place where the ground showed no corpses.They stepped down from their horses and heard the speechthat Hector, dear to Zeus, made; and in his handhe held a spear of eleven cubits; and before it shonethe bronze point of the spear, and a golden ring ran around it,and leaning on it he spoke words to the Trojans:Hear me, Trojans and Dardanians and allies;just now I thought that after destroying the ships and all the AchaeansI would return again to windy Ilium;but darkness came first, and that is what most savedthe Argives and their ships on the shore of the sea.But now let us obey black nightand prepare our meals; and the fair-maned horsesloose from under the chariots, and set food beside them;and bring oxen and sturdy sheep from the cityquickly, and get honey-sweet wineand grain from the halls, and gather plenty of firewood,so that all night long until the early-born dawnwe may burn many fires, and their light may reach the sky,lest somehow in the night the long-haired Achaeansset out to flee over the wide back of the sea.Let them not board the ships at least without a struggle and at ease,but let each of them have a wound to nurse at home too,struck either by an arrow or by a sharp spearas he leaps onto a ship, so that anyone else too may shrinkfrom bringing tearful war against the horse-taming Trojans.And let the heralds, dear to Zeus, announce through the townthat the young men and the grey-templed eldersshould gather on the god-built towers around the city;and let each of the women in their hallsburn a great fire; and let a firm watch be kept,lest a raiding party enter the city while the men are away.Let it be so, great-hearted Trojans, as I say;and let this word that I have spoken now be sound,and tomorrow I will speak further among the horse-taming Trojans.I hope, praying to Zeus and the other gods,to drive out from here these dogs, doom-laden,whom the fates carry to the black ships.So then, let us guard ourselves through the night,and at dawn, armed with our weapons at first light,let us wake sharp war at the hollow ships.I will know whether strong Diomedes, son of Tydeus,will drive me back from the ships to the wall, or whether Islaying him with bronze may carry off his bloody armour.Tomorrow he will learn his valour, if my spearstands his coming on; but I think that among the foremosthe will lie, struck down, and many of his comrades around him,when the sun rises tomorrow; and I wish I wereimmortal and ageless for all days,and honoured as Athena and Apollo are honoured,as surely as this very day brings evil to the Argives.So Hector spoke, and the Trojans shouted in response.They loosed their horses from under the yoke, sweating,and tied them with straps beside each man's chariot;and they brought oxen and sturdy sheep from the cityquickly, and got honey-sweet wine,and grain from the halls, and gathered plenty of firewood.They made perfect hecatombs for the immortals,and the winds carried the savour from the plain up to the sky,sweet; but the blessed gods did not share in it,nor did they wish to; for holy Ilium was utterly hateful to them,and Priam and the people of Priam of the good ash-spear.But they, exulting greatly on the bridges of war,sat all night, and many fires burned for them.As when in the sky around the shining moonthe stars shine out, when the air is windless,and all the watch-posts and the topmost headlands appear,and the glens; and from the sky the boundless air breaks open,and all the stars are seen, and the shepherd rejoices in his heart:so many fires appeared between the ships and the streams of Xanthus,burned by the Trojans before Ilium.A thousand fires burned on the plain, and beside eachthere sat fifty men in the light of the blazing fire.And the horses, feeding on white barley and oats,stood beside the chariots and waited for the fair-throned Dawn.

Dawn in her saffron robe was spreading over the whole earth,and Zeus who delights in thunder held an assembly of the godson the highest peak of many-ridged Olympus.He himself spoke to them, and all the gods listened below.Hear me, all you gods and all you goddesses,so that I can say what my heart in my chest tells me to say.So let no goddess, and no god,try to overrule what I say, but all of you togetheragree with it, so that I can finish this business as fast as possible.Any one of the gods I notice going off on his own tohelp either the Trojans or the Danaanswill come back to Olympus struck in a disgraceful way;or I will grab him and throw him into misty Tartarus,very far away, where the deepest pit under the earth is,where there are iron gates and a bronze threshold,as far below Hades as the sky is above the earth.Then he will learn how much I am the strongest of all the gods.Come on, gods, try it, so that you all may see:hang a golden chain down from the sky,and all of you gods and all you goddesses grab hold of it;but you could not drag Zeus the highest, the planner, down from the sky to the plain,not even if you worked very hard.But whenever I really want to pull,I could drag it up along with the earth itself and the sea itself;and then I would tie the chain around a peak of Olympus,and everything would hang in mid-air.That is how far above the gods and above humans I am.So he spoke, and they all became quiet in silence,amazed at his words, for he had spoken very forcefully.Then at last the goddess grey-eyed Athena spoke up:Our father, son of Cronus, highest of the rulers,we too know well that your strength cannot be resisted;but even so we feel pity for the spear-fighting Danaans,who may meet their evil fate and be destroyed.All the same, we will keep away from war, as you command;but we will give the Argives some advice that will help them,so that they do not all die because of your anger.Then Zeus who gathers the clouds answered her with a smile:Take heart, Tritogeneia, dear child; I am not speakingin earnest, and I want to be kind to you.With that he harnessed his bronze-hoofed horses under the chariot,swift-flying, with golden manes,and he himself put gold on his body, and took a whipof gold, well made, and stepped up onto his chariot,and whipped them to drive; and they flew off, not unwilling,between the earth and the starry sky.He came to Ida with its many springs, mother of wild beasts,to Gargarus, where he has a sacred precinct and a smoking altar.There the father of men and gods stopped his horses,loosed them from the chariot, and poured down a thick mist.He himself sat down on the peaks, glorying in his power,looking at the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeans.Meanwhile the long-haired Achaeans quickly grabbed their mealin their huts, and then armed themselves.The Trojans, on the other side, armed themselves throughout the city,fewer in number; but even so they were eager to fight in battleout of hard necessity, for their children and their wives.All the gates were opened, and the people rushed out,foot soldiers and horsemen; and a great uproar arose.When they came together into one place,they clashed their shields together, and their spears, and the fury of menin bronze breastplates; and the bossed shieldsstruck against each other, and a great uproar arose.Then together there was wailing and boasting from men,from those killing and those being killed, and the earth ran with blood.As long as it was morning and the sacred day grew,so long the missiles of both sides hit home, and the people fell.But when the Sun had reached the middle of the sky,then the father stretched out his golden scales;and he put in them two fates of death that brings long agony,for the horse-taming Trojans and the bronze-clad Achaeans,and he took them and pulled them by the middle; and the fated day of the Achaeans sank.The fates of the Achaeans settled down on the life-giving earth,and those of the Trojans rose up toward the wide sky;and he himself thundered loudly from Ida, and sent a blazingflash of fire into the Achaean army; and when they saw itthey were stunned, and pale fear seized them all.Then neither Idomeneus could bear to stand, nor Agamemnon,nor did the two Ajaxes, servants of Ares, stay;only Nestor, the Gerenian guardian of the Achaeans, stayed,not at all of his own will, but his horse was in pain, which had been hit by an arrowfrom godlike Alexander, the husband of fair-haired Helen,on the very top of the head, where the first hairs of horsesgrow on the skull, and it is the deadliest spot.In pain it reared up, and the arrow went into its brain,and as it writhed around the bronze point it threw the horses into confusion.While the old man was cutting away the horse's trace-strapswith a rush of his sword, meanwhile Hector's swift horsescame through the rout, carrying their bold charioteer,Hector; and now the old man would have lost his life thereif Diomedes, good at the war-cry, had not noticed quickly;and he shouted terribly, urging on Odysseus:Zeus-born son of Laertes, clever Odysseus,where are you running, turning your back like a coward in the crowd?Don't let someone stick a spear in your back as you run;but stay, so that we can drive this wild man away from the old man.So he spoke, but the much-enduring godlike Odysseus did not hear him,but rushed past toward the hollow ships of the Achaeans.But the son of Tydeus, though he was alone, went in among the front fighters,and stood in front of the horses of the old man of Neleus' line,and spoke to him, addressing him with winged words:Old man, truly the young fighters are wearing you down,and your strength is gone, and hard old age is on you,and your servant is weak, and your horses are slow.But come, get up on my chariot, so that you can seewhat kind of horses the Trojan ones are, and how they know over the plainto chase very fast this way and that, and to run away,the ones I once took from Aeneas, makers of panic.Let these two servants take care of these, and let the two of usdrive straight at the horse-taming Trojans, so that even Hectormay learn whether my spear too rages in my hands.So he spoke, and the Gerenian horseman Nestor did not disobey.So then the two servants took care of Nestor's horses,the mighty Sthenelus and noble-hearted Eurymedon.And the two of them stepped up into Diomedes' chariot;and Nestor took the shining reins in his hands,and whipped the horses; and quickly they came near Hector.And as Hector rushed straight at them, the son of Tydeus threw his spear;and he missed him, but his charioteer and servant,the son of the proud Theban, Eniopeus,who was holding the horses' reins, he struck in the chest beside the nipple.He fell from the chariot, and his swift-footed horsesswerved aside; and there his soul and his strength were released.And terrible grief covered Hector's heart for his charioteer;he left him there, though he grieved for his companion,to lie, and he went after a bold charioteer; and not for longwere the two horses without a driver; for quickly he foundthe son of Iphitus, bold Archeptolemus, whom he then seton the swift-footed horses, and put the reins in his hands.Then there would have been ruin and hopeless deeds,and they would have been penned up in Troy like lambs,if the father of men and gods had not noticed quickly;and he thundered terribly and hurled a bright thunderbolt,and drove it to the ground in front of Diomedes' horses;and a terrible flame rose from burning sulphur,and the two horses, terrified, crouched under the chariot;and the shining reins fled from Nestor's hands,and he was afraid in his heart, and he spoke to Diomedes:Son of Tydeus, come now, turn back and hold your single-hoofed horses.Don't you know that no strength from Zeus follows you?For now Zeus the son of Cronus grants glory to this man,today; later again to us too, if he wishes,he will give it; but no man can hold back the mind of Zeus,not even a very mighty one, since he is far stronger.Then Diomedes, good at the war-cry, answered him:Yes indeed, old man, you have said all this just as it should be;but this terrible grief comes on my heart and spirit:for Hector will one day say, speaking among the Trojans:The son of Tydeus ran away before me to the ships.So he will boast one day; then may the wide earth open up for me.Then the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:Alas, son of warlike Tydeus, what a thing you have said.For even if Hector calls you weak and cowardly,the Trojans and Dardanians will not believe it,nor the wives of the great-hearted Trojan spearmen,in whose dust you laid their lusty husbands.So saying, he turned his single-hoofed horses to fleeback through the rout; and on them the Trojans and Hectorwith a strange cry poured their painful missiles.And great Hector of the shining helmet shouted loudly after him:Son of Tydeus, the swift-horsed Danaans honoured youwith a seat and with meat and with fuller cups;but now they will dishonour you; you have turned out to be a woman.Begone, worthless puppet, since, though I do not give way,you will not climb our towers, nor will youlead our women onto the ships; before that I will give you your doom.So he spoke, and the son of Tydeus weighed two options in his mind,whether to turn his horses around and fight face to face.Three times he pondered in his mind and heart,and three times from the Idaean mountains Zeus the planner thundered,giving the Trojans a sign of victory that turns the battle.And Hector shouted out to the Trojans, calling far:Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians who fight at close quarters,be men, my friends, and remember your fierce courage.And I know that the son of Cronus has willingly nodded to mevictory and great glory, and to the Danaans a disaster;fools, who built these walls,feeble and worthless; these will not hold back my fury;and my horses will easily leap over the dug trench.But when I reach the hollow ships,let there be some thought then of destructive fire,so that I burn the ships with fire, and kill the men themselves,the Argives beside the ships, panicked by the smoke.So saying, he called to his horses and spoke:Xanthus, and you Podargus, and Aethon and shining Lampus,now pay me back the care, which very plentifulAndromache, the daughter of great-hearted Eetion,used to set before you first, honey-sweet grain,and mixing wine for you to drink, whenever your heart told you,before me, who claim to be her lusty husband.But follow along and hurry, so that we may takethe shield of Nestor, whose fame now reaches the sky,that it is all golden, both its rims and the shield itself,and from the shoulders of Diomedes, tamer of horses,his finely worked breastplate, which Hephaestus made with his craft.If we could take these two, I would hope that the Achaeansthis very night would board their swift ships.So he spoke, boasting, and queenly Hera was angry,and she shook on her throne, and made great Olympus tremble,and she spoke to Poseidon, the great god, face to face:Alas, Earth-shaker of wide strength, not even in your heartdoes your spirit pity the Danaans as they die.Yet they bring you gifts at Helice and Aegae,many and pleasing; but you wish victory for them.For if we wished, all of us who are helpers of the Danaans,to drive back the Trojans and hold off far-seeing Zeus,he would sit there grieving alone on Ida.Then the lord Earth-shaker, greatly angered, answered her:Hera, rash in speech, what a word you have spoken.I would certainly not wish the rest of us to fightwith Zeus the son of Cronus, since he is far stronger.So they spoke such things to each other;and the space from the ships to the wall that the trench enclosedwas filled alike with horses and with shielded menpacked in; and Hector, like swift Ares, penned them in,Hector son of Priam, since Zeus had given him glory.And now he would have burned the balanced ships with blazing fire,if queenly Hera had not put it in Agamemnon's mindto bestir himself and quickly urge on the Achaeans.He went along by the huts and the ships of the Achaeans,holding a big purple cloak in his thick hand,and he stood on the great-bellied black ship of Odysseus,which lay in the middle, so that he could be heard on both sides,both toward the huts of Ajax son of Telamonand toward those of Achilles, who had drawn their balanced shipsat the very end, trusting in their bravery and the strength of their hands;and he shouted shrilly, calling out to the Danaans:Shame, Argives, base disgraces, wonderful only to look at;where have the boasts gone, when we said we were the best,the ones you used to make in assembly at Lemnos, empty boasts,eating lots of meat of straight-horned oxenand drinking bowls brimming with wine,that each of you would stand up against a hundred or two hundredTrojans in war; but now we are not worth even one,not even Hector, who will soon burn our ships with blazing fire.Father Zeus, did you ever before ruin some one of the over-proud kingswith such blindness, and take away his great glory?I certainly say that I never passed by your beautiful altarin my many-benched ship as I came here,but on all of them I burned the fat and thighs of oxen,longing to sack well-walled Troy.But Zeus, fulfil this wish at least for me:let them at least escape and get away,and do not let the Achaeans be beaten by the Trojans like this.So he spoke, and the father pitied him as he shed tears,and he nodded to him that the army would be safe and not perish.And at once he sent an eagle, the most perfect of birds,holding a fawn in its claws, the young of a swift deer;and beside the beautiful altar of Zeus it dropped the fawn,where the Achaeans used to sacrifice to Zeus who speaks in all omens.So when they saw that the bird had come from Zeus,they sprang more at the Trojans, and remembered their joy in battle.Then no one of the many Danaans was ahead ofDiomedes in praying, before he held back his swift horsesand drove them out of the trench and fought face to face,but far the first he killed a helmeted Trojan man,Ageleos son of Phradmon; he had turned his horses to flee;and as he turned, he fixed his spear in his backbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his chest;and he fell from the chariot, and his armour rattled on him.After him came the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus,and after them the Ajaxes, clothed in fierce courage,and after them Idomeneus and Idomeneus' companionMeriones, like Enyalius, the killer of men,and after them Eurypylus, the glorious son of Euaemon;and Teucer came ninth, stretching his back-bent bow,and he stood under the shield of Ajax son of Telamon.There Ajax would hold out his shield, and the herowould peer around, and when he had shot an arrow at someone in the crowdand hit him, the man fell right there and lost his life,and then he would go back again and duck like a child under its mother,into Ajax; and Ajax would hide him with his shining shield.Then whom did blameless Teucer kill first of the Trojans?Orsilochus first, and Ormenus and Ophelestes,and Daetor and Chromius and godlike Lycophontes,and Amopaon son of Polyaemon and Melanippus,all of them one after another he brought down to the life-giving earth.And when the lord of men Agamemnon saw him, he rejoicedas from his strong bow he destroyed the ranks of the Trojans;and he came and stood beside him and spoke to him:Teucer, dear head, son of Telamon, leader of the people,keep shooting like that, if you may become some light for the Danaansand for your father Telamon, who raised you when you were small,though you were a bastard, he raised you in his own house;give him glory too, even though he is far away.And I will tell you how this too will be done:if Zeus who holds the aegis and Athena grant meto sack the well-built city of Ilium,I will put a prize of honour in your hand, first after me,either a tripod or two horses with their chariot,or a woman, who may climb into your shared bed.Then blameless Teucer answered him and said:Most glorious son of Atreus, why do you urge me on when I myself am eager?As far as the strength I have goes,I do not stop, but from the time we drove them back toward Ilium,from then I have been waiting with my bow and killing men.Eight long-pointed arrows I have already shot,and all of them have stuck in the flesh of the swift young warriors;but this dog, this mad one, I cannot hit.He spoke, and shot another arrow from the bowstringstraight at Hector, and his heart longed to hit him;but he missed him, and blameless Gorgythion,the good son of Priam, he struck in the chest with the arrow,whom his mother bore, married from Aesyme,fair Castianeira, in form like the goddesses.And as a poppy bows its head to one side, in a garden,weighed down by its fruit and by the spring rains,so his head drooped to one side, weighed down by his helmet.Teucer shot another arrow from the bowstringstraight at Hector, and his heart longed to hit him.But he missed again then, for Apollo made him miss;but bold Archeptolemus, Hector's charioteer,as he rushed into the battle, he struck by the breast beside the nipple;and he fell from the chariot, and his horses swerved aside,swift-footed; and there his soul and his strength were released.And terrible grief covered Hector's heart for his charioteer;he left him there, though he grieved for his companion,and he called to Cebriones, his brother, who was nearby,to take the reins of the horses; and he did not disobey when he heard.Then he himself leapt from the gleaming chariot to the groundshouting terribly; and he took a stone in his hand,and went straight at Teucer, and his heart urged him to hit him.Now Teucer had taken a bitter arrow from his quiverand laid it on the string; but Hector of the shining helmet,as he drew it back by the shoulder, where the collar-boneseparates the neck and the chest, and it is the deadliest spot,there, as he aimed eagerly at him, he struck him with a jagged stone,and it broke his bowstring, and his hand went numb at the wrist,and he fell to his knees and dropped his bow from his hand.But Ajax did not neglect his fallen brother,but ran and stood over him and covered him with his shield.Then two dear comrades came in under him,Mecisteus son of Echius and godlike Alastor,and carried him to the hollow ships, groaning heavily.But again the Olympian roused the fury of the Trojans;and they drove the Achaeans straight at the deep trench;and Hector went among the foremost, exulting in his strength.As when a dog seizes a wild boar or a lionfrom behind, chasing it with swift feet,and fixes on its hips and haunches, and watches it as it turns,so Hector kept after the long-haired Achaeans,always killing the last man; and they fled.But when they had crossed the stakes and the trenchin their flight, and many of the Trojans had died by their hands,they were checked and stood beside the ships,calling to one another and to all the gods,holding up their hands, each of them praying loudly;and Hector kept wheeling about his fair-maned horseswith the eyes of a Gorgon and of man-destroying Ares.But the goddess white-armed Hera saw them and pitied them,and quickly spoke winged words to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, will we two no longercare for the perishing Danaans, even for the last time?They may now fill up their evil doom and perishat the rush of one man, and he rages now past bearing,Hector son of Priam, and he has already done many evils.Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena answered her:Yes, this man might even lose his fury and his spiritat the hands of the Argives, dying in his own fatherland;but my father rages with no good mind,stubborn, always wicked, a thwart of my own purposes;he does not remember at all that I very oftensaved his son when he was worn down by the labours of Eurystheus.He used to weep toward the sky, and Zeus sent mefrom the sky to defend him.If I had known this in my shrewd mindwhen he sent him into the house of Hades, the gate-keeper,to bring from Erebus the dog of hateful Hades,he would not have escaped the steep streams of the water of Styx.But now he hates me, and he has fulfilled the counsels of Thetis,who kissed his knees and took his chin in her hand,begging him to honour Achilles, the sacker of cities.But there will come a day when he calls me again his dear grey-eyed one.But now harness the single-hoofed horses for the two of us,while I go down into the house of aegis-bearing Zeusand arm myself with weapons for war, so that I may seewhether the son of Priam, Hector of the shining helmet,will rejoice when the two of us appear on the bridges of war,or whether some Trojan will glut the dogs and the birdswith his fat and flesh, when he falls by the Achaean ships.So she spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera did not disobey.She went about and harnessed the gold-frontleted horses,Hera, eldest of goddesses, daughter of great Cronus;and Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus,let fall on her father's floor her soft robe,embroidered, which she had made and worked with her own hands,and she put on the tunic of Zeus the cloud-gathererand armed herself for tearful war with weapons.She stepped into the flaming chariot with her feet, and took up her spear,heavy, great and stout, with which she subdues the ranks of men,of heroes, whenever the mighty father's daughter is angry with them.Hera quickly touched the horses with the whip;and of their own will the gates of heaven groaned open, which the Hours keep,to whom the great sky and Olympus are entrusted,both to open the thick cloud and to shut it.Through these they drove their horses with the goad.But father Zeus, when he saw from Ida, was terribly angry,and he urged golden-winged Iris to carry the message:Go, swift Iris, turn back, and do not let themcome before me; for it is not good for us to join in war.For I will say this, and it will be accomplished:I will maim their swift horses under their chariot,and I will throw them from the chariot and break the car;and not in ten revolving yearswill the wounds they receive heal, the ones my thunderbolt strikes;so that the grey-eyed one may see what it is to fight with her father.But with Hera I am not so indignant, nor do I rage;for it has always been her habit to thwart whatever I say.So he spoke, and swift-footed Iris rose to carry the message,and went from the Idaean mountains to great Olympus.And at the first gates of many-folded Olympusshe met them and held them back, and told them the word of Zeus:Where are you rushing? What madness is in your hearts?The son of Cronus does not allow you to defend the Argives.For thus the son of Cronus threatened, and he will fulfil it:he will maim your swift horses under your chariot,and he will throw you from the chariot and break the car;and not in ten revolving yearswill the wounds heal, the ones the thunderbolt strikes;so that you, grey-eyed one, may see what it is to fight with your father.With Hera he is not so indignant, nor does he rage;for it has always been her habit to thwart whatever he says;but you, most dreadful dog, without shame, if trulyyou will dare to raise your monstrous spear against Zeus.So speaking, swift-footed Iris went away,and Hera spoke a word to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, no longer will Ilet the two of us fight against Zeus for the sake of mortals;let one of them die and another live,whichever it falls to; and let him, thinking his own thoughts in his heart,judge between the Trojans and the Danaans, as is proper.So speaking, she turned back her single-hoofed horses;and the Hours loosed the fair-maned horses,and tied them at the immortal mangers,and leaned the chariot against the gleaming walls;and the two themselves sat down on golden chairsamong the other gods, with their dear hearts grieving.But father Zeus drove his well-wheeled chariot and horsesfrom Ida to Olympus, and reached the seats of the gods.Then the famous Earth-shaker loosed his horses,and set the chariot on the altars, spreading a cover over it;and Zeus the far-seeing himself sat down on a golden throne,and beneath his feet great Olympus trembled.But Athena and Hera sat apart from Zeus alone,and they did not speak to him at all, nor ask him anything;but he knew in his heart and spoke to them:Why are you two so grieved, Athena and Hera?You surely did not wear yourselves out in the battle that brings glory to men,destroying Trojans, against whom you set your terrible hate.In any case, with my fury and my invincible hands as they are,not all the gods in Olympus could turn me.But before that, trembling seized your shining limbsbefore you even saw the war and the dreadful deeds of war.For I will say this, and it would have been accomplished:struck by a thunderbolt, you would not have come backto Olympus on your chariots, where the seat of the immortals is.So he spoke, and Athena and Hera muttered against him;they sat close together, and plotted evil for the Trojans.Now Athena was silent and said nothing,angry at father Zeus, and wild anger held her;but Hera could not hold her anger in her breast, and spoke:Most dread son of Cronus, what a word you have spoken.Well we too know that your strength is not weak;but nevertheless we pity the spear-fighting Danaans,who may fill up their evil doom and perish.But we will keep away from war, if you command it;but we will put counsel into the Argives' minds, whatever will profit them,so that they not all perish because of your wrath.Then Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered her:Then at dawn, if you wish, ox-eyed queenly Hera,you will see the over-mighty son of Cronusdestroying the great host of the spear-fighting Argives;for mighty Hector will not stop from waruntil the swift-footed son of Peleus is roused beside the ships,on the day when they fight at the sternmost shipsin the most terrible strait over the dead Patroclus;for so it is fated; and I do not care about your anger,not even if you come to the lowest limitsof the earth and the sea, where Iapetus and Cronus sitand take no joy in the rays of Hyperion the Sun,nor in the winds, and deep Tartarus is around them;not even if you go there in your wandering, would Icare about your anger, since nothing is more shameless than you.So he spoke, and white-armed Hera said nothing to him.And the bright light of the sun fell into the Ocean,drawing black night over the grain-giving fields.So for the Trojans the light set unwillingly, but for the Achaeanswelcome and long-prayed-for came dark night.Then glorious Hector held an assembly of the Trojans,leading them apart from the ships beside the eddying river,in a clear place where the ground showed no corpses.They stepped down from their horses and heard the speechthat Hector, dear to Zeus, made; and in his handhe held a spear of eleven cubits; and before it shonethe bronze point of the spear, and a golden ring ran around it,and leaning on it he spoke words to the Trojans:Hear me, Trojans and Dardanians and allies;just now I thought that after destroying the ships and all the AchaeansI would return again to windy Ilium;but darkness came first, and that is what most savedthe Argives and their ships on the shore of the sea.But now let us obey black nightand prepare our meals; and the fair-maned horsesloose from under the chariots, and set food beside them;and bring oxen and sturdy sheep from the cityquickly, and get honey-sweet wineand grain from the halls, and gather plenty of firewood,so that all night long until the early-born dawnwe may burn many fires, and their light may reach the sky,in case somehow in the night the long-haired Achaeansset out to flee over the wide back of the sea.Let them not board the ships at least without a struggle and at ease,but let each of them have a wound to nurse at home too,struck either by an arrow or by a sharp spearas he leaps onto a ship, so that anyone else too may shrinkfrom bringing tearful war against the horse-taming Trojans.And let the heralds, dear to Zeus, announce through the townthat the young men and the grey-templed eldersshould gather on the god-built towers around the city;and let each of the women in their hallsburn a great fire; and let a firm watch be kept,in case a raiding party enters the city while the men are away.Let it be so, great-hearted Trojans, as I say;and let this word that I have spoken now be sound,and tomorrow I will speak further among the horse-taming Trojans.I hope, praying to Zeus and the other gods,to drive out from here these dogs, doom-laden,whom the fates carry to the black ships.So then, let us guard ourselves through the night,and at dawn, armed with our weapons at first light,let us wake sharp war at the hollow ships.I will know whether strong Diomedes, son of Tydeus,will drive me back from the ships to the wall, or whether Ikilling him with bronze may carry off his bloody armour.Tomorrow he will learn his valour, if my spearstands his coming on; but I think that among the foremosthe will lie, struck down, and many of his comrades around him,when the sun rises tomorrow; and I wish I wereimmortal and ageless for all days,and honoured as Athena and Apollo are honoured,as surely as this very day brings evil to the Argives.So Hector spoke, and the Trojans shouted in response.They loosed their horses from under the yoke, sweating,and tied them with straps beside each man's chariot;and they brought oxen and sturdy sheep from the cityquickly, and got honey-sweet wine,and grain from the halls, and gathered plenty of firewood.They made perfect hecatombs for the immortals,and the winds carried the savour from the plain up to the sky,sweet; but the blessed gods did not share in it,nor did they wish to; for holy Ilium was utterly hateful to them,and Priam and the people of Priam of the good ash-spear.But they, exulting greatly on the bridges of war,sat all night, and many fires burned for them.As when in the sky around the shining moonthe stars shine out, when the air is windless,and all the watch-posts and the topmost headlands appear,and the glens; and from the sky the boundless air breaks open,and all the stars are seen, and the shepherd rejoices in his heart:so many fires appeared between the ships and the streams of Xanthus,burned by the Trojans before Ilium.A thousand fires burned on the plain, and beside eachthere sat fifty men in the light of the blazing fire.And the horses, feeding on white barley and oats,stood beside the chariots and waited for the fair-throned Dawn.