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

Oeneus got huntsmen and hounds from many cities and
killed it--for it was so monstrous that not a few were needed, and many
a man did it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the goddess set the
Curetes and the Aetolians fighting furiously about the head and skin of
the boar.

"So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the
Curetes, and for all their numbers they could not hold their ground
under the city walls; but in the course of time Meleager was angered as
even a wise man will sometimes be. He was incensed with his mother
Althaea, and therefore stayed at home with his wedded wife fair
Cleopatra, who was daughter of Marpessa daughter of Euenus, and of Ides
the man then living. He it was who took his bow and faced King Apollo
himself for fair Marpessa's sake; her father and mother then named her
Alcyone, because her mother had mourned with the plaintive strains of
the halcyon-bird when Phoebus Apollo had carried her off. Meleager,
then, stayed at home with Cleopatra, nursing the anger which he felt by
reason of his mother's curses. His mother, grieving for the death of
her brother, prayed the gods, and beat the earth with her hands,
calling upon Hades and on awful Proserpine; she went down upon her
knees and her bosom was wet with tears as she prayed that they would
kill her son--and Erinys that walks in darkness and knows no ruth heard
her from Erebus.

"Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and the
dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the elders of
the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest of their
priests, and begged him to come out and help them, promising him a
great reward. They bade him choose fifty plough-gates, the most fertile
in the plain of Calydon, the one-half vineyard and the other open
plough-land. The old warrior Oeneus implored him, standing at the
threshold of his room and beating the doors in supplication. His
sisters and his mother herself besought him sore, but he the more
refused them; those of his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him
also prayed him, but they could not move him till the foe was battering
at the very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls
and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing wife
detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she
reminded him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the
flames, while the women and children are carried into captivity; when
he heard all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to
go forth. Thus of his own inward motion he saved the city of the
Aetolians; but they now gave him nothing of those rich rewards that
they had offered earlier, and though he saved the city he took nothing
by it. Be not then, my son, thus minded; let not heaven lure you into
any such course. When the ships are burning it will be a harder matter
to save them. Take the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour
you as a god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat
the battle back, but you will not be held in like honour."

And Achilles answered, "Phoenix, old friend and father, I have no need
of such honour. I have honour from Jove himself, which will abide with
me at my ships while I have breath in my body, and my limbs are strong.
I say further--and lay my saying to your heart--vex me no more with
this weeping and lamentation, all in the cause of the son of Atreus.
Love him so well, and you may lose the love I bear you. You ought to
help me rather in troubling those that trouble me; be king as much as I
am, and share like honour with myself; the others shall take my answer;
stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in your bed; at daybreak we
will consider whether to remain or go."

On this he nodded quietly to Patroclus as a sign that he was to prepare
a bed for Phoenix, and that the others should take their leave. Ajax
son of Telamon then said, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, let us be
gone, for I see that our journey is vain. We must now take our answer,
unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans who are waiting to receive it.
Achilles is savage and remorseless; he is cruel, and cares nothing for
the love his comrades lavished upon him more than on all the others. He
is implacable--and yet if a man's brother or son has been slain he will
accept a fine by way of amends from him that killed him, and the
wrong-doer having paid in full remains in peace among his own people;
but as for you, Achilles, the gods have put a wicked unforgiving spirit
in your heart, and this, all about one single girl, whereas we now
offer you the seven best we have, and much else into the bargain. Be
then of a more gracious mind, respect the hospitality of your own roof.
We are with you as messengers from the host of the Danaans, and would
fain he held nearest and dearest to yourself of all the Achaeans."

"Ajax," replied Achilles, "noble son of Telamon, you have spoken much
to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it all over, and remember
how the son of Atreus treated me with contumely as though I were some
vile tramp, and that too in the presence of the Argives. Go, then, and
deliver your message; say that I will have no concern with fighting
till Hector, son of noble Priam, reaches the tents of the Myrmidons in
his murderous course, and flings fire upon their ships. For all his
lust of battle, I take it he will be held in check when he is at my own
tent and ship."

On this they took every man his double cup, made their drink-offerings,
and went back to the ships, Ulysses leading the way. But Patroclus told
his men and the maid-servants to make ready a comfortable bed for
Phoenix; they therefore did so with sheepskins, a rug, and a sheet of
fine linen. The old man then laid himself down and waited till morning
came. But Achilles slept in an inner room, and beside him the daughter
of Phorbas lovely Diomede, whom he had carried off from Lesbos.
Patroclus lay on the other side of the room, and with him fair Iphis
whom Achilles had given him when he took Scyros the city of Enyeus.

When the envoys reached the tents of the son of Atreus, the Achaeans
rose, pledged them in cups of gold, and began to question them. King
Agamemnon was the first to do so. "Tell me, Ulysses," said he, "will he
save the ships from burning, or did he refuse, and is he still furious?"

Ulysses answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
Achilles will not be calmed, but is more fiercely angry than ever, and
spurns both you and your gifts. He bids you take counsel with the
Achaeans to save the ships and host as you best may; as for himself, he
said that at daybreak he should draw his ships into the water. He said
further that he should advise every one to sail home likewise, for that
you will not reach the goal of Ilius. 'Jove,' he said, 'has laid his
hand over the city to protect it, and the people have taken heart.'
This is what he said, and the others who were with me can tell you the
same story--Ajax and the two heralds, men, both of them, who may be
trusted. The old man Phoenix stayed where he was to sleep, for so
Achilles would have it, that he might go home with him in the morning
if he so would; but he will not take him by force."

They all held their peace, sitting for a long time silent and dejected,
by reason of the sternness with which Achilles had refused them, till
presently Diomed said, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men,
Agamemnon, you ought not to have sued the son of Peleus nor offered him
gifts. He is proud enough as it is, and you have encouraged him in his
pride still further. Let him stay or go as he will. He will fight later
when he is in the humour, and heaven puts it in his mind to do so. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say; we have eaten and drunk our fill,
let us then take our rest, for in rest there is both strength and stay.
But when fair rosy-fingered morn appears, forthwith bring out your host
and your horsemen in front of the ships, urging them on, and yourself
fighting among the foremost."

Thus he spoke, and the other chieftains approved his words. They then
made their drink-offerings and went every man to his own tent, where
they laid down to rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.


BOOK X

Ulysses and Diomed go out as spies, and meet Dolon, who gives
them information: they then kill him, and profiting by what
he had told them, kill Rhesus king of the Thracians and take
his horses.

NOW the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole night
through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he could get
no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning in token of
great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten the ground, or
again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws of hungry war, even so
did Agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh, for his soul trembled within
him. When he looked upon the plain of Troy he marvelled at the many
watchfires burning in front of Ilius, and at the sound of pipes and
flutes and of the hum of men, but when presently he turned towards the
ships and hosts of the Achaeans, he tore his hair by handfuls before
Jove on high, and groaned aloud for the very disquietness of his soul.
In the end he deemed it best to go at once to Nestor son of Neleus, and
see if between them they could find any way of the Achaeans from
destruction. He therefore rose, put on his shirt, bound his sandals
about his comely feet, flung the skin of a huge tawny lion over his
shoulders--a skin that reached his feet--and took his spear in his hand.

Neither could Menelaus sleep, for he, too, boded ill for the Argives
who for his sake had sailed from far over the seas to fight the
Trojans. He covered his broad back with the skin of a spotted panther,
put a casque of bronze upon his head, and took his spear in his brawny
hand. Then he went to rouse his brother, who was by far the most
powerful of the Achaeans, and was honoured by the people as though he
were a god. He found him by the stern of his ship already putting his
goodly array about his shoulders, and right glad was he that his
brother had come.

Menelaus spoke first. "Why," said he, "my dear brother, are you thus
arming? Are you going to send any of our comrades to exploit the
Trojans? I greatly fear that no one will do you this service, and spy
upon the enemy alone in the dead of night. It will be a deed of