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

that rent the air showered their weapons after him;
nor did he turn round and stay his flight till he had reached his
comrades.

The Trojans, fierce as lions, were still rushing on towards the ships
in fulfilment of the behests of Jove who kept spurring them on to new
deeds of daring, while he deadened the courage of the Argives and
defeated them by encouraging the Trojans. For he meant giving glory to
Hector son of Priam, and letting him throw fire upon the ships, till he
had fulfilled the unrighteous prayer that Thetis had made him; Jove,
therefore, bided his time till he should see the glare of a blazing
ship. From that hour he was about so to order that the Trojans should
be driven back from the ships and to vouchsafe glory to the Achaeans.
With this purpose he inspired Hector son of Priam, who was eager enough
already, to assail the ships. His fury was as that of Mars, or as when
a fire is raging in the glades of some dense forest upon the mountains;
he foamed at the mouth, his eyes glared under his terrible eye-brows,
and his helmet quivered on his temples by reason of the fury with which
he fought. Jove from heaven was with him, and though he was but one
against many, vouchsafed him victory and glory; for he was doomed to an
early death, and already Pallas Minerva was hurrying on the hour of his
destruction at the hands of the son of Peleus. Now, however, he kept
trying to break the ranks of the enemy wherever he could see them
thickest, and in the goodliest armour; but do what he might he could
not break through them, for they stood as a tower foursquare, or as
some high cliff rising from the grey sea that braves the anger of the
gale, and of the waves that thunder up against it. He fell upon them
like flames of fire from every quarter. As when a wave, raised mountain
high by wind and storm, breaks over a ship and covers it deep in foam,
the fierce winds roar against the mast, the hearts of the sailors fail
them for fear, and they are saved but by a very little from
destruction--even so were the hearts of the Achaeans fainting within
them. Or as a savage lion attacking a herd of cows while they are
feeding by thousands in the low-lying meadows by some wide-watered
shore--the herdsman is at his wit's end how to protect his herd and
keeps going about now in the van and now in the rear of his cattle,
while the lion springs into the thick of them and fastens on a cow so
that they all tremble for fear--even so were the Achaeans utterly
panic-stricken by Hector and father Jove. Nevertheless Hector only
killed Periphetes of Mycenae; he was son of Copreus who was wont to
take the orders of King Eurystheus to mighty Hercules, but the son was
a far better man than the father in every way; he was fleet of foot, a
valiant warrior, and in understanding ranked among the foremost men of
Mycenae. He it was who then afforded Hector a triumph, for as he was
turning back he stumbled against the rim of his shield which reached
his feet, and served to keep the javelins off him. He tripped against
this and fell face upward, his helmet ringing loudly about his head as
he did so. Hector saw him fall and ran up to him; he then thrust a
spear into his chest, and killed him close to his own comrades. These,
for all their sorrow, could not help him for they were themselves
terribly afraid of Hector.

They had now reached the ships and the prows of those that had been
drawn up first were on every side of them, but the Trojans came pouring
after them. The Argives were driven back from the first row of ships,
but they made a stand by their tents without being broken up and
scattered; shame and fear restrained them. They kept shouting
incessantly to one another, and Nestor of Gerene, tower of strength to
the Achaeans, was loudest in imploring every man by his parents, and
beseeching him to stand firm.

"Be men, my friends," he cried, "and respect one another's good
opinion. Think, all of you, on your children, your wives, your
property, and your parents whether these be alive or dead. On their
behalf though they are not here, I implore you to stand firm, and not
to turn in flight."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Minerva lifted
the thick veil of darkness from their eyes, and much light fell upon
them, alike on the side of the ships and on that where the fight was
raging. They could see Hector and all his men, both those in the rear
who were taking no part in the battle, and those who were fighting by
the ships.

Ajax could not bring himself to retreat along with the rest, but strode
from deck to deck with a great sea-pike in his hands twelve cubits long
and jointed with rings. As a man skilled in feats of horsemanship
couples four horses together and comes tearing full speed along the
public way from the country into some large town--many both men and
women marvel as they see him for he keeps all the time changing his
horse, springing from one to another without ever missing his feet
while the horses are at a gallop--even so did Ajax go striding from one
ship's deck to another, and his voice went up into the heavens. He kept
on shouting his orders to the Danaans and exhorting them to defend
their ships and tents; neither did Hector remain within the main body
of the Trojan warriors, but as a dun eagle swoops down upon a flock of
wild-fowl feeding near a river--geese, it may be, or cranes, or
long-necked swans--even so did Hector make straight for a dark-prowed
ship, rushing right towards it; for Jove with his mighty hand impelled
him forward, and roused his people to follow him.

And now the battle again raged furiously at the ships. You would have
thought the men were coming on fresh and unwearied, so fiercely did
they fight; and this was the mind in which they were--the Achaeans did
not believe they should escape destruction but thought themselves
doomed, while there was not a Trojan but his heart beat high with the
hope of firing the ships and putting the Achaean heroes to the sword.

Thus were the two sides minded. Then Hector seized the stern of the
good ship that had brought Protesilaus to Troy, but never bore him back
to his native land. Round this ship there raged a close hand-to-hand
fight between Danaans and Trojans. They did not fight at a distance
with bows and javelins, but with one mind hacked at one another in
close combat with their mighty swords and spears pointed at both ends;
they fought moreover with keen battle-axes and with hatchets. Many a
good stout blade hilted and scabbarded with iron, fell from hand or
shoulder as they fought, and the earth ran red with blood. Hector, when
he had seized the ship, would not loose his hold but held on to its
curved stern and shouted to the Trojans, "Bring fire, and raise the
battle-cry all of you with a single voice. Now has Jove vouchsafed us a
day that will pay us for all the rest; this day we shall take the ships
which came hither against heaven's will, and which have caused us such
infinite suffering through the cowardice of our councillors, who when I
would have done battle at the ships held me back and forbade the host
to follow me; if Jove did then indeed warp our judgements, himself now
commands me and cheers me on."

As he spoke thus the Trojans sprang yet more fiercely on the Achaeans,
and Ajax no longer held his ground, for he was overcome by the darts
that were flung at him, and made sure that he was doomed. Therefore he
left the raised deck at the stern, and stepped back on to the
seven-foot bench of the oarsmen. Here he stood on the look-out, and
with his spear held back any Trojan whom he saw bringing fire to the
ships. All the time he kept on shouting at the top of his voice and
exhorting the Danaans. "My friends," he cried, "Danaan heroes, servants
of Mars, be men my friends, and fight with might and with main. Can we
hope to find helpers hereafter, or a wall to shield us more surely than
the one we have? There is no strong city within reach, whence we may
draw fresh forces to turn the scales in our favour. We are on the plain
of the armed Trojans with the sea behind us, and far from our own
country. Our salvation, therefore, is in the might of our hands and in
hard fighting."

As he spoke he wielded his spear with still greater fury, and when any
Trojan made towards the ships with fire at Hector's bidding, he would
be on the look-out for him, and drive at him with his long spear.
Twelve men did he thus kill in hand-to-hand fight before the ships.


BOOK XVI

Fire being now thrown on the ship of Protesilaus, Patroclus
fights in the armour of Achilles--He drives the Trojans back,
but is in the end killed by Euphorbus and Hector.

THUS did they fight about the ship of Protesilaus. Then Patroclus drew
near to Achilles with tears welling from his eyes, as from some spring
whose crystal stream falls over the ledges of a high precipice. When
Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for him and said, "Why,
Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like some silly child that comes
running to her mother, and begs to be taken up and carried--she catches
hold of her mother's dress to stay her though she is in a hurry, and
looks tearfully up until her mother carries her--even such tears,
Patroclus, are you now shedding. Have you anything to say to the
Myrmidons or to myself? or have you had news from Phthia which you
alone know? They tell me Menoetius son of Actor is still alive, as also
Peleus son of Aeacus, among the Myrmidons--men whose loss we two should
bitterly deplore; or are you grieving about the Argives and the way in
which they are being killed at the ships, through their own high-handed
doings? Do not hide anything from me but tell me that both of us may
know about it."

Then, O knight Patroclus, with a deep sigh you answered, "Achilles, son
of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, do not be angry, but I
weep for the disaster that has now befallen the Argives. All those who
have been their champions so far are lying at the ships, wounded by
sword or spear. Brave Diomed son of Tydeus has been hit with a spear,
while famed Ulysses and Agamemnon have received sword-wounds; Eurypylus
again has been struck with an arrow in the thigh; skilled apothecaries
are attending to these heroes, and healing them of their wounds; are
you still, O Achilles, so inexorable? May it never be my lot to nurse
such a passion as you have done, to the baning of your own good name.
Who in future story will speak well of you unless you now save the
Argives from ruin? You know no pity; knight Peleus was not your father
nor Thetis your mother, but the grey sea bore you and the sheer cliffs
begot you, so cruel and