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

like."

Priam then caught sight of Ajax and asked, "Who is that great and
goodly warrior whose head and broad shoulders tower above the rest of
the Argives?"

"That," answered Helen, "is huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans, and on
the other side of him, among the Cretans, stands Idomeneus looking like
a god, and with the captains of the Cretans round him. Often did
Menelaus receive him as a guest in our house when he came visiting us
from Crete. I see, moreover, many other Achaeans whose names I could
tell you, but there are two whom I can nowhere find, Castor, breaker of
horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer; they are children of my mother,
and own brothers to myself. Either they have not left Lacedaemon, or
else, though they have brought their ships, they will not show
themselves in battle for the shame and disgrace that I have brought
upon them."

She knew not that both these heroes were already lying under the earth
in their own land of Lacedaemon.

Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy oath-offerings through the
city--two lambs and a goatskin of wine, the gift of earth; and Idaeus
brought the mixing bowl and the cups of gold. He went up to Priam and
said, "Son of Laomedon, the princes of the Trojans and Achaeans bid you
come down on to the plain and swear to a solemn covenant. Alexandrus
and Menelaus are to fight for Helen in single combat, that she and all
her wealth may go with him who is the victor. We are to swear to a
solemn covenant of peace whereby we others shall dwell here in Troy,
while the Achaeans return to Argos and the land of the Achaeans."

The old man trembled as he heard, but bade his followers yoke the
horses, and they made all haste to do so. He mounted the chariot,
gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor took his seat beside him;
they then drove through the Scaean gates on to the plain. When they
reached the ranks of the Trojans and Achaeans they left the chariot,
and with measured pace advanced into the space between the hosts.

Agamemnon and Ulysses both rose to meet them. The attendants brought on
the oath-offerings and mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls; they poured
water over the hands of the chieftains, and the son of Atreus drew the
dagger that hung by his sword, and cut wool from the lambs' heads; this
the men-servants gave about among the Trojan and Achaean princes, and
the son of Atreus lifted up his hands in prayer. "Father Jove," he
cried, "that rulest in Ida, most glorious in power, and thou oh Sun,
that seest and givest ear to all things, Earth and Rivers, and ye who
in the realms below chastise the soul of him that has broken his oath,
witness these rites and guard them, that they be not vain. If
Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and all her wealth, while
we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus kills Alexandrus, let the
Trojans give back Helen and all that she has; let them moreover pay
such fine to the Achaeans as shall be agreed upon, in testimony among
those that shall be born hereafter. And if Priam and his sons refuse
such fine when Alexandrus has fallen, then will I stay here and fight
on till I have got satisfaction."

As he spoke he drew his knife across the throats of the victims, and
laid them down gasping and dying upon the ground, for the knife had
reft them of their strength. Then they poured wine from the mixing-bowl
into the cups, and prayed to the everlasting gods, saying, Trojans and
Achaeans among one another, "Jove, most great and glorious, and ye
other everlasting gods, grant that the brains of them who shall first
sin against their oaths--of them and their children--may be shed upon
the ground even as this wine, and let their wives become the slaves of
strangers."

Thus they prayed, but not as yet would Jove grant them their prayer.
Then Priam, descendant of Dardanus, spoke, saying, "Hear me, Trojans
and Achaeans, I will now go back to the wind-beaten city of Ilius: I
dare not with my own eyes witness this fight between my son and
Menelaus, for Jove and the other immortals alone know which shall fall."

On this he laid the two lambs on his chariot and took his seat. He
gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor sat beside him; the two
then went back to Ilius. Hector and Ulysses measured the ground, and
cast lots from a helmet of bronze to see which should take aim first.
Meanwhile the two hosts lifted up their hands and prayed saying,
"Father Jove, that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power, grant that
he who first brought about this war between us may die, and enter the
house of Hades, while we others remain at peace and abide by our oaths."

Great Hector now turned his head aside while he shook the helmet, and
the lot of Paris flew out first. The others took their several
stations, each by his horses and the place where his arms were lying,
while Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, put on his goodly armour.
First he greaved his legs with greaves of good make and fitted with
ancle-clasps of silver; after this he donned the cuirass of his brother
Lycaon, and fitted it to his own body; he hung his silver-studded sword
of bronze about his shoulders, and then his mighty shield. On his
comely head he set his helmet, well-wrought, with a crest of horse-hair
that nodded menacingly above it, and he grasped a redoubtable spear
that suited his hands. In like fashion Menelaus also put on his armour.

When they had thus armed, each amid his own people, they strode fierce
of aspect into the open space, and both Trojans and Achaeans were
struck with awe as they beheld them. They stood near one another on the
measured ground, brandishing their spears, and each furious against the
other. Alexandrus aimed first, and struck the round shield of the son
of Atreus, but the spear did not pierce it, for the shield turned its
point. Menelaus next took aim, praying to Father Jove as he did so.
"King Jove," he said, "grant me revenge on Alexandrus who has wronged
me; subdue him under my hand that in ages yet to come a man may shrink
from doing ill deeds in the house of his host."

He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it at the shield of
Alexandrus. Through shield and cuirass it went, and tore the shirt by
his flank, but Alexandrus swerved aside, and thus saved his life. Then
the son of Atreus drew his sword, and drove at the projecting part of
his helmet, but the sword fell shivered in three or four pieces from
his hand, and he cried, looking towards Heaven, "Father Jove, of all
gods thou art the most despiteful; I made sure of my revenge, but the
sword has broken in my hand, my spear has been hurled in vain, and I
have not killed him."

With this he flew at Alexandrus, caught him by the horsehair plume of
his helmet, and began dragging him towards the Achaeans. The strap of
the helmet that went under his chin was choking him, and Menelaus would
have dragged him off to his own great glory had not Jove's daughter
Venus been quick to mark and to break the strap of oxhide, so that the
empty helmet came away in his hand. This he flung to his comrades among
the Achaeans, and was again springing upon Alexandrus to run him
through with a spear, but Venus snatched him up in a moment (as a god
can do), hid him under a cloud of darkness, and conveyed him to his own
bedchamber.

Then she went to call Helen, and found her on a high tower with the
Trojan women crowding round her. She took the form of an old woman who
used to dress wool for her when she was still in Lacedaemon, and of
whom she was very fond. Thus disguised she plucked her by perfumed robe
and said, "Come hither; Alexandrus says you are to go to the house; he
is on his bed in his own room, radiant with beauty and dressed in
gorgeous apparel. No one would think he had just come from fighting,
but rather that he was going to a dance, or had done dancing and was
sitting down."

With these words she moved the heart of Helen to anger. When she marked
the beautiful neck of the goddess, her lovely bosom, and sparkling
eyes, she marvelled at her and said, "Goddess, why do you thus beguile
me? Are you going to send me afield still further to some man whom you
have taken up in Phrygia or fair Meonia? Menelaus has just vanquished
Alexandrus, and is to take my hateful self back with him. You are come
here to betray me. Go sit with Alexandrus yourself; henceforth be
goddess no longer; never let your feet carry you back to Olympus; worry
about him and look after him till he make you his wife, or, for the
matter of that, his slave--but me? I shall not go; I can garnish his
bed no longer; I should be a by-word among all the women of Troy.
Besides, I have trouble on my mind."

Venus was very angry, and said, "Bold hussy, do not provoke me; if you
do, I shall leave you to your fate and hate you as much as I have loved
you. I will stir up fierce hatred between Trojans and Achaeans, and you
shall come to a bad end."

At this Helen was frightened. She wrapped her mantle about her and went
in silence, following the goddess and unnoticed by the Trojan women.

When they came to the house of Alexandrus the maid-servants set about
their work, but Helen went into her own room, and the laughter-loving
goddess took a seat and set it for her facing Alexandrus. On this
Helen, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, sat down, and with eyes askance
began to upbraid her husband.

"So you are come from the fight," said she; "would that you had fallen
rather by the hand of that brave man who was my husband. You used to
brag that you were a better man with hands and spear than Menelaus. Go,
then, and challenge him again--but I should advise you not to do so,
for if you are foolish enough to meet him in single combat, you will
soon fall by his spear."

And Paris answered, "Wife, do not vex me with your reproaches. This
time, with the help of Minerva, Menelaus has vanquished me; another
time I may myself be victor, for I too have gods that will stand by me.
Come, let us lie down together and make friends. Never yet was I so
passionately enamoured of you as at this moment--not even when I first
carried you off from Lacedaemon and sailed away with you--not even when
I had converse with you upon the couch of love in the island of Cranae
was I so enthralled by desire of you as now." On this he led her
towards the bed, and his wife went with him.

Thus they laid themselves on the bed together; but the son of Atreus
strode among the throng, looking everywhere for Alexandrus, and no man,
neither of the Trojans nor of the allies, could find him. If they had
seen him they were in no mind to hide him, for they all of them hated
him as they did