The Iliad by Homer (ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

was moved to go. They passed through the
spreading host of the Achaeans and went on till they came to the place
where Menelaus had been wounded and was lying with the chieftains
gathered in a circle round him. Machaon passed into the middle of the
ring and at once drew the arrow from the belt, bending its barbs back
through the force with which he pulled it out. He undid the burnished
belt, and beneath this the cuirass and the belt of mail which the
bronze-smiths had made; then, when he had seen the wound, he wiped away
the blood and applied some soothing drugs which Chiron had given to
Aesculapius out of the good will he bore him.

While they were thus busy about Menelaus, the Trojans came forward
against them, for they had put on their armour, and now renewed the
fight.

You would not have then found Agamemnon asleep nor cowardly and
unwilling to fight, but eager rather for the fray. He left his chariot
rich with bronze and his panting steeds in charge of Eurymedon, son of
Ptolemaeus the son of Peiraeus, and bade him hold them in readiness
against the time his limbs should weary of going about and giving
orders to so many, for he went among the ranks on foot. When he saw men
hasting to the front he stood by them and cheered them on. "Argives,"
said he, "slacken not one whit in your onset; father Jove will be no
helper of liars; the Trojans have been the first to break their oaths
and to attack us; therefore they shall be devoured of vultures; we
shall take their city and carry off their wives and children in our
ships."

But he angrily rebuked those whom he saw shirking and disinclined to
fight. "Argives," he cried, "cowardly miserable creatures, have you no
shame to stand here like frightened fawns who, when they can no longer
scud over the plain, huddle together, but show no fight? You are as
dazed and spiritless as deer. Would you wait till the Trojans reach the
sterns of our ships as they lie on the shore, to see whether the son of
Saturn will hold his hand over you to protect you?"

Thus did he go about giving his orders among the ranks. Passing through
the crowd, he came presently on the Cretans, arming round Idomeneus,
who was at their head, fierce as a wild boar, while Meriones was
bringing up the battalions that were in the rear. Agamemnon was glad
when he saw him, and spoke him fairly. "Idomeneus," said he, "I treat
you with greater distinction than I do any others of the Achaeans,
whether in war or in other things, or at table. When the princes are
mixing my choicest wines in the mixing-bowls, they have each of them a
fixed allowance, but your cup is kept always full like my own, that you
may drink whenever you are minded. Go, therefore, into battle, and show
yourself the man you have been always proud to be."

Idomeneus answered, "I will be a trusty comrade, as I promised you from
the first I would be. Urge on the other Achaeans, that we may join
battle at once, for the Trojans have trampled upon their covenants.
Death and destruction shall be theirs, seeing they have been the first
to break their oaths and to attack us."

The son of Atreus went on, glad at heart, till he came upon the two
Ajaxes arming themselves amid a host of foot-soldiers. As when a
goat-herd from some high post watches a storm drive over the deep
before the west wind--black as pitch is the offing and a mighty
whirlwind draws towards him, so that he is afraid and drives his flock
into a cave--even thus did the ranks of stalwart youths move in a dark
mass to battle under the Ajaxes, horrid with shield and spear. Glad was
King Agamemnon when he saw them. "No need," he cried, "to give orders
to such leaders of the Argives as you are, for of your own selves you
spur your men on to fight with might and main. Would, by father Jove,
Minerva, and Apollo that all were so minded as you are, for the city of
Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we should sack it."

With this he left them and went onward to Nestor, the facile speaker of
the Pylians, who was marshalling his men and urging them on, in company
with Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, and Bias shepherd of his
people. He placed his knights with their chariots and horses in the
front rank, while the foot-soldiers, brave men and many, whom he could
trust, were in the rear. The cowards he drove into the middle, that
they might fight whether they would or no. He gave his orders to the
knights first, bidding them hold their horses well in hand, so as to
avoid confusion. "Let no man," he said, "relying on his strength or
horsemanship, get before the others and engage singly with the Trojans,
nor yet let him lag behind or you will weaken your attack; but let each
when he meets an enemy's chariot throw his spear from his own; this be
much the best; this is how the men of old took towns and strongholds;
in this wise were they minded."

Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in many a fight, and
King Agamemnon was glad. "I wish," he said to him, "that your limbs
were as supple and your strength as sure as your judgment is; but age,
the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would that it
had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young."

And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, "Son of Atreus, I too would
gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty Ereuthalion; but the gods
will not give us everything at one and the same time. I was then young,
and now I am old; still I can go with my knights and give them that
counsel which old men have a right to give. The wielding of the spear I
leave to those who are younger and stronger than myself."

Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found Menestheus, son
of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with him were the Athenians loud
of tongue in battle. Near him also tarried cunning Ulysses, with his
sturdy Cephallenians round him; they had not yet heard the battle-cry,
for the ranks of Trojans and Achaeans had only just begun to move, so
they were standing still, waiting for some other columns of the
Achaeans to attack the Trojans and begin the fighting. When he saw this
Agamemnon rebuked them and said, "Son of Peteos, and you other, steeped
in cunning, heart of guile, why stand you here cowering and waiting on
others? You two should be of all men foremost when there is hard
fighting to be done, for you are ever foremost to accept my invitation
when we councillors of the Achaeans are holding feast. You are glad
enough then to take your fill of roast meats and to drink wine as long
as you please, whereas now you would not care though you saw ten
columns of Achaeans engage the enemy in front of you."

Ulysses glared at him and answered, "Son of Atreus, what are you
talking about? How can you say that we are slack? When the Achaeans are
in full fight with the Trojans, you shall see, if you care to do so,
that the father of Telemachus will join battle with the foremost of
them. You are talking idly."

When Agamemnon saw that Ulysses was angry, he smiled pleasantly at him
and withdrew his words. "Ulysses," said he, "noble son of Laertes,
excellent in all good counsel, I have neither fault to find nor orders
to give you, for I know your heart is right, and that you and I are of
a mind. Enough; I will make you amends for what I have said, and if any
ill has now been spoken may the gods bring it to nothing."

He then left them and went on to others. Presently he saw the son of
Tydeus, noble Diomed, standing by his chariot and horses, with
Sthenelus the son of Capaneus beside him; whereon he began to upbraid
him. "Son of Tydeus," he said, "why stand you cowering here upon the
brink of battle? Tydeus did not shrink thus, but was ever ahead of his
men when leading them on against the foe--so, at least, say they that
saw him in battle, for I never set eyes upon him myself. They say that
there was no man like him. He came once to Mycenae, not as an enemy but
as a guest, in company with Polynices to recruit his forces, for they
were levying war against the strong city of Thebes, and prayed our
people for a body of picked men to help them. The men of Mycenae were
willing to let them have one, but Jove dissuaded them by showing them
unfavourable omens. Tydeus, therefore, and Polynices went their way.
When they had got as far the deep-meadowed and rush-grown banks of the
Aesopus, the Achaeans sent Tydeus as their envoy, and he found the
Cadmeans gathered in great numbers to a banquet in the house of
Eteocles. Stranger though he was, he knew no fear on finding himself
single-handed among so many, but challenged them to contests of all
kinds, and in each one of them was at once victorious, so mightily did
Minerva help him. The Cadmeans were incensed at his success, and set a
force of fifty youths with two captains--the godlike hero Maeon, son of
Haemon, and Polyphontes, son of Autophonus--at their head, to lie in
wait for him on his return journey; but Tydeus slew every man of them,
save only Maeon, whom he let go in obedience to heaven's omens. Such
was Tydeus of Aetolia. His son can talk more glibly, but he cannot
fight as his father did."

Diomed made no answer, for he was shamed by the rebuke of Agamemnon;
but the son of Capaneus took up his words and said, "Son of Atreus,
tell no lies, for you can speak truth if you will. We boast ourselves
as even better men than our fathers; we took seven-gated Thebes, though
the wall was stronger and our men were fewer in number, for we trusted
in the omens of the gods and in the help of Jove, whereas they perished
through their own sheer folly; hold not, then, our fathers in like
honour with us."

Diomed looked sternly at him and said, "Hold your peace, my friend, as
I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge the Achaeans
forward, for the glory will be his if we take the city, and his the
shame if we are vanquished. Therefore let us acquit ourselves with
valour."

As he spoke he sprang from his chariot, and his armour rang so fiercely
about his body that even a brave man might well have been scared to
hear it.

As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west wind
has lashed it into fury--it has reared its head afar and now comes
crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest high over the
jagged rocks and spews its salt foam in all directions--even so did the
serried phalanxes of the Danaans march steadfastly to battle. The
chiefs gave orders each to his own people, but the men said never a
word; no man would think it, for huge as the host was, it seemed as
though there was not a tongue among them, so