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

with the pitiless bronze, as he turned round and
bared his back to the foe, and many were struck clean through their
shields; the wall and battlements were everywhere deluged with the
blood alike of Trojans and of Achaeans. But even so the Trojans could
not rout the Achaeans, who still held on; and as some honest
hard-working woman weighs wool in her balance and sees that the scales
be true, for she would gain some pitiful earnings for her little ones,
even so was the fight balanced evenly between them till the time came
when Jove gave the greater glory to Hector son of Priam, who was first
to spring towards the wall of the Achaeans. When he had done so, he
cried aloud to the Trojans, "Up, Trojans, break the wall of the
Argives, and fling fire upon their ships."

Thus did he hound them on, and in one body they rushed straight at the
wall as he had bidden them, and scaled the battlements with sharp
spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone that lay just
outside the gates and was thick at one end but pointed at the other;
two of the best men in a town, as men now are, could hardly raise it
from the ground and put it on to a waggon, but Hector lifted it quite
easily by himself, for the son of scheming Saturn made it light for
him. As a shepherd picks up a ram's fleece with one hand and finds it
no burden, so easily did Hector lift the great stone and drive it right
at the doors that closed the gates so strong and so firmly set. These
doors were double and high, and were kept closed by two cross-bars to
which there was but one key. When he had got close up to them, Hector
strode towards them that his blow might gain in force and struck them
in the middle, leaning his whole weight against them. He broke both
hinges, and the stone fell inside by reason of its great weight. The
portals re-echoed with the sound, the bars held no longer, and the
doors flew open, one one way, and the other the other, through the
force of the blow. Then brave Hector leaped inside with a face as dark
as that of flying night. The gleaming bronze flashed fiercely about his
body and he had two spears in his hand. None but a god could have
withstood him as he flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes glared
like fire. Then he turned round towards the Trojans and called on them
to scale the wall, and they did as he bade them--some of them at once
climbing over the wall, while others passed through the gates. The
Danaans then fled panic-stricken towards their ships, and all was
uproar and confusion.


BOOK XIII

Neptune helps the Achaeans--The feats of Idomeneus--Hector at
the ships.

NOW when Jove had thus brought Hector and the Trojans to the ships, he
left them to their never-ending toil, and turned his keen eyes away,
looking elsewhither towards the horse-breeders of Thrace, the Mysians,
fighters at close quarters, the noble Hippemolgi, who live on milk, and
the Abians, justest of mankind. He no longer turned so much as a glance
towards Troy, for he did not think that any of the immortals would go
and help either Trojans or Danaans.

But King Neptune had kept no blind look-out; he had been looking
admiringly on the battle from his seat on the topmost crests of wooded
Samothrace, whence he could see all Ida, with the city of Priam and the
ships of the Achaeans. He had come from under the sea and taken his
place here, for he pitied the Achaeans who were being overcome by the
Trojans; and he was furiously angry with Jove.

Presently he came down from his post on the mountain top, and as he
strode swiftly onwards the high hills and the forest quaked beneath the
tread of his immortal feet. Three strides he took, and with the fourth
he reached his goal--Aegae, where is his glittering golden palace,
imperishable, in the depths of the sea. When he got there, he yoked his
fleet brazen-footed steeds with their manes of gold all flying in the
wind; he clothed himself in raiment of gold, grasped his gold whip, and
took his stand upon his chariot. As he went his way over the waves the
sea-monsters left their lairs, for they knew their lord, and came
gambolling round him from every quarter of the deep, while the sea in
her gladness opened a path before his chariot. So lightly did the
horses fly that the bronze axle of the car was not even wet beneath it;
and thus his bounding steeds took him to the ships of the Achaeans.

Now there is a certain huge cavern in the depths of the sea midway
between Tenedos and rocky Imbrus; here Neptune lord of the earthquake
stayed his horses, unyoked them, and set before them their ambrosial
forage. He hobbled their feet with hobbles of gold which none could
either unloose or break, so that they might stay there in that place
until their lord should return. This done he went his way to the host
of the Achaeans.

Now the Trojans followed Hector son of Priam in close array like a
storm-cloud or flame of fire, fighting with might and main and raising
the cry battle; for they deemed that they should take the ships of the
Achaeans and kill all their chiefest heroes then and there. Meanwhile
earth-encircling Neptune lord of the earthquake cheered on the Argives,
for he had come up out of the sea and had assumed the form and voice of
Calchas.

First he spoke to the two Ajaxes, who were doing their best already,
and said, "Ajaxes, you two can be the saving of the Achaeans if you
will put out all your strength and not let yourselves be daunted. I am
not afraid that the Trojans, who have got over the wall in force, will
be victorious in any other part, for the Achaeans can hold all of them
in check, but I much fear that some evil will befall us here where
furious Hector, who boasts himself the son of great Jove himself, is
leading them on like a pillar of flame. May some god, then, put it into
your hearts to make a firm stand here, and to incite others to do the
like. In this case you will drive him from the ships even though he be
inspired by Jove himself."

As he spoke the earth-encircling lord of the earthquake struck both of
them with his sceptre and filled their hearts with daring. He made
their legs light and active, as also their hands and their feet. Then,
as the soaring falcon poises on the wing high above some sheer rock,
and presently swoops down to chase some bird over the plain, even so
did Neptune lord of the earthquake wing his flight into the air and
leave them. Of the two, swift Ajax son of Oileus was the first to know
who it was that had been speaking with them, and said to Ajax son of
Telamon, "Ajax, this is one of the gods that dwell on Olympus, who in
the likeness of the prophet is bidding us fight hard by our ships. It
was not Calchas the seer and diviner of omens; I knew him at once by
his feet and knees as he turned away, for the gods are soon recognised.
Moreover I feel the lust of battle burn more fiercely within me, while
my hands and my feet under me are more eager for the fray."

And Ajax son of Telamon answered, "I too feel my hands grasp my spear
more firmly; my strength is greater, and my feet more nimble; I long,
moreover, to meet furious Hector son of Priam, even in single combat."

Thus did they converse, exulting in the hunger after battle with which
the god had filled them. Meanwhile the earth-encircler roused the
Achaeans, who were resting in the rear by the ships overcome at once by
hard fighting and by grief at seeing that the Trojans had got over the
wall in force. Tears began falling from their eyes as they beheld them,
for they made sure that they should not escape destruction; but the
lord of the earthquake passed lightly about among them and urged their
battalions to the front.

First he went up to Teucer and Leitus, the hero Peneleos, and Thoas and
Deipyrus; Meriones also and Antilochus, valiant warriors; all did he
exhort. "Shame on you young Argives," he cried, "it was on your prowess
I relied for the saving of our ships; if you fight not with might and
main, this very day will see us overcome by the Trojans. Of a truth my
eyes behold a great and terrible portent which I had never thought to
see--the Trojans at our ships--they, who were heretofore like
panic-stricken hinds, the prey of jackals and wolves in a forest, with
no strength but in flight for they cannot defend themselves. Hitherto
the Trojans dared not for one moment face the attack of the Achaeans,
but now they have sallied far from their city and are fighting at our
very ships through the cowardice of our leader and the disaffection of
the people themselves, who in their discontent care not to fight in
defence of the ships but are being slaughtered near them. True, King
Agamemnon son of Atreus is the cause of our disaster by having insulted
the son of Peleus, still this is no reason why we should leave off
fighting. Let us be quick to heal, for the hearts of the brave heal
quickly. You do ill to be thus remiss, you, who are the finest soldiers
in our whole army. I blame no man for keeping out of battle if he is a
weakling, but I am indignant with such men as you are. My good friends,
matters will soon become even worse through this slackness; think, each
one of you, of his own honour and credit, for the hazard of the fight
is extreme. Great Hector is now fighting at our ships; he has broken
through the gates and the strong bolt that held them."

Thus did the earth-encircler address the Achaeans and urge them on.
Thereon round the two Ajaxes there gathered strong bands of men, of
whom not even Mars nor Minerva, marshaller of hosts could make light if
they went among them, for they were the picked men of all those who
were now awaiting the onset of Hector and the Trojans. They made a
living fence, spear to spear, shield to shield, buckler to buckler,
helmet to helmet, and man to man. The horse-hair crests on their
gleaming helmets touched one another as they nodded forward, so closely
serried were they; the spears they brandished in their strong hands
were interlaced, and their hearts were set on battle.

The Trojans advanced in a dense body, with Hector at their head
pressing right on as a rock that comes thundering down the side of some
mountain from whose brow the winter torrents have torn it; the
foundations of the dull thing have been loosened by floods of rain, and
as it bounds headlong on its way it sets the whole forest in an uproar;
it swerves neither to right nor left till it reaches level ground, but
then for all its fury it can go no further--even so easily did Hector
for a while seem as though he would career through the tents and ships
of the Achaeans till he had reached the sea in his murderous course;
but