The Iliad of Homer by Homer (some good books to read txt) 📕

So them he roused, and they, their leader's voice
Hearing elate, to closest order drew.255
As when an architect some palace wall
With shapely stones upbuilds, cementing close
A barrier against all the winds of heaven,
So wedged, the helmets and boss'd bucklers stood;
Shield, helmet, man, press'd helmet, man, and shield,260
And every bright-arm'd warrior's bushy crest
Its fellow swept, so dense was their array.
In front of all, two Chiefs their station took,
Patroclus and Automedon; one mind
In both prevail'd, to combat in the van265
Of all the Myrmidons. Achilles, then,
Retiring to his tent, displaced the lid
Of a capacious chest magnificent
By silver-footed Thetis stow'd on board
His bark, and fill'd with tunics, mantles warm,270
397 And gorgeous arras; there he also kept
Secure a goblet exquisitely wrought,
Which never lip touched save his own, and whence
He offer'd only to the Sire of all.
That cup producing from the chest, he first275
With sulphur fumed it, then with water rinsed
Pellucid of the running stream, and, last
(His hands clean laved) he charged it high with wine.
And now, advancing to his middle court,
He pour'd libation, and with eyes to heaven280
Uplifted pray'd,[8] of Jove not unobserved.

Pelasgian, Dodonæan Jove supreme,
Dwelling remote, who on Dodona's heights
Snow-clad reign'st Sovereign, by thy seers around
Compass'd the Selli, prophets vow-constrain'd285
To unwash'd feet and slumbers on the ground!
Plain I behold my former prayer perform'd,
Myself exalted, and the Greeks abased.
Now also grant me, Jove, this my desire!
Here, in my fleet, I shall myself abide,290
But lo! with all these Myrmidons I send
My friend to battle. Thunder-rolling Jove,
Send glory with him, make his courage firm!
That even Hector may himself be taught,
If my companion have a valiant heart295
When he goes forth alone, or only then
The noble frenzy feels that Mars inspires
When I rush also to the glorious field.
But when he shall have driven the battle-shout
Once from the fleet, grant him with all his arms,300
None lost, himself unhurt, and my whole band
Of dauntless warriors with him, safe return!

Such prayer Achilles offer'd, and his suit
Jove hearing, part confirm'd, and part refused;
398 To chase the dreadful battle from the fleet305
He gave him, but vouchsafed him no return.
Prayer and libation thus perform'd to Jove
The Sire of all, Achilles to his tent
Return'd, replaced the goblet in his chest,
And anxious still that conflict to behold310
Between the hosts, stood forth before his tent.

Then rush'd the bands by brave Patroclus led,
Full on the Trojan host. As wasps forsake
Their home by the way-side, provoked by boys
Disturbing inconsiderate their abode,315
Not without nuisance sore to all who pass,
For if, thenceforth, some traveller unaware
Annoy them, issuing one and all they swarm
Around him, fearless in their broods' defence,
So issued from their fleet the Myrmidons320
Undaunted; clamor infinite arose,
And thus Patroclus loud his host address'd.

Oh Myrmidons, attendants in the field
On Peleus' son, now be ye men, my friends!
Call now to mind the fury of your might;325
That we, close-fighting servants of the Chief
Most excellent in all the camp of Greece,
May glory gain for him, and that the wide-
Commanding Agamemnon, Atreus' son,
May learn his fault, that he dishonor'd foul330
The prince in whom Achaia glories most.

So saying he fired their hearts, and on the van
Of Troy at once they fell; loud shouted all
The joyful Grecians, and the navy rang.
Then, soon as Ilium's host the valiant son335
Saw of Menœtius and his charioteer
In dazzling armor clad, all courage lost,
Their closest ranks gave way, believing sure
That, wrath renounced, and terms of friendship chosen,
Achilles' self was there; thus thinking, each340
Look'd every way for refuge from his fate.

Patroclus first, where thickest throng he saw
399 Gather'd tumultuous around the bark
Of brave Protesilaüs, hurl'd direct
At the whole multitude his glittering spear.345
He smote Pyræchmes; he his horsemen band
Pœonian led from Amydon, and from
Broad-flowing Axius. In his shoulder stood
The spear, and with loud groans supine he fell.
At once fled all his followers, on all sides350
With consternation fill'd, seeing their Chief
And their best warrior, by Patroclus slain.
Forth from the fleet he drove them, quench'd the flames,
And rescued half the ship. Then scatter'd fled
With infinite uproar the host of Troy,355
While from between their ships the Danaï
Pour'd after them, and hideous rout ensued.
As when the king of lightnings, Jove, dispels
From some huge eminence a gloomy cloud,
The groves, the mountain-tops, the headland heights360
Shine all, illumined from the boundless heaven,
So when the Danaï those hostile fires
Had from their fleet expell'd, awhile they breathed,
Yet found short respite, for the battle yet
Ceased not, nor fled the Trojans in all parts365
Alike, but still resisted, from the ships
Retiring through necessity alone.
Then, in that scatter'd warfare, every Chief
Slew one. While Areïlochus his back
Turn'd on Patroclus, sudden with a lance370
His thigh he pierced, and urged the weapon through,
Shivering the bone; he headlong smote the ground.
The hero Menelaus, where he saw
The breast of Thoas by his slanting shield
Unguarded, struck and stretch'd him at his feet.375
Phylides,[9] meeting with preventive spear
The furious onset of Amphiclus, gash'd
His leg below the knee, where brawny most
The muscles swell in man; disparted wide
400 The tendons shrank, and darkness veil'd his eyes.380
The two Nestoridæ slew each a Chief.
Of these, Antilochus Atymnius pierced
Right through his flank, and at his feet he fell.
With fierce resentment fired Maris beheld
His brother's fall, and guarding, spear in hand,385
The slain, impetuous on the conqueror flew;
But godlike Thrasymedes[10] wounded first
Maris, ere he Antilochus; he pierced
His upper arm, and with the lance's point
Rent off and stript the muscles to the bone.390
Sounding he fell, and darkness veil'd his eyes.
They thus, two brothers by two brothers slain,
Went down to Erebus, associates both
Of brave Sarpedon, and spear-practised sons
Of Amisodarus; of him who fed395
Chimæra,[11] monster, by whom many died.
Ajax the swift on Cleobulus sprang,
Whom while he toil'd entangled in the crowd,
He seized alive, but smote him where he stood
With his huge-hafted sword full on the neck;400
The blood warm'd all his blade, and ruthless fate
Benighted dark the dying warrior's eyes.
Peneleus into close contention rush'd
And Lycon. Each had hurl'd his glittering spear,
But each in vain, and now with swords they met.405
He smote Peneleus on the crested casque,
But snapp'd his falchion; him Peneleus smote
Beneath his ear; the whole blade entering sank
Into his neck, and Lycon with his head
Depending by the skin alone, expired.410
401 Meriones o'ertaking Acamas
Ere yet he could ascend his chariot, thrust
A lance into his shoulder; down he fell
In dreary death's eternal darkness whelm'd.
Idomeneus his ruthless spear enforced415
Into the mouth of Erymas. The point
Stay'd not, but gliding close beneath the brain,
Transpierced his spine,[12] and started forth beyond.
It wrench'd his teeth, and fill'd his eyes with blood;
Blood also blowing through his open mouth420
And nostrils, to the realms of death he pass'd.
Thus slew these Grecian leaders, each, a foe.

Sudden as hungry wolves the kids purloin
Or lambs, which haply some unheeding swain
Hath left to roam at large the mountains wild;425
They, seeing, snatch them from beside the dams,
And rend incontinent the feeble prey,
So swift the Danaï the host assail'd
Of Ilium; they, into tumultuous flight
Together driven, all hope, all courage lost.430

Huge Ajax ceaseless sought his spear to cast
At Hector brazen-mail'd, who, not untaught
The warrior's art, with bull-hide buckler stood
Sheltering his ample shoulders, while he mark'd
The hiss of flying shafts and crash of spears.435
Full sure he saw the shifting course of war
Now turn'd, but scorning flight, bent all his thoughts
To rescue yet the remnant of his friends.

As when the Thunderer spreads a sable storm
O'er ether, late serene, the cloud that wrapp'd440
Olympus' head escapes into the skies,
So fled the Trojans from the fleet of Greece
Clamoring in their flight, nor pass'd the trench
In fair array; the coursers fleet indeed
Of Hector, him bore safe with all his arms445
Right through, but in the foss entangled foul
402 He left his host, and struggling to escape.
Then many a chariot-whirling steed, the pole
Broken at its extremity, forsook
His driver, while Patroclus with the shout450
Of battle calling his Achaians on,
Destruction purposed to the powers of Troy.
They, once dispersed, with clamor and with flight
Fill'd all the ways, the dust beneath the clouds
Hung like a tempest, and the steeds firm-hoof'd455
Whirl'd off at stretch the chariots to the town.
He, wheresoe'er most troubled he perceived
The routed host, loud-threatening thither drove,
While under his own axle many a Chief
Fell prone, and the o'ertumbled chariots rang.460
Right o'er the hollow foss the coursers leap'd
Immortal, by the Gods to Peleus given,
Impatient for the plain, nor less desire
Felt he who drove to smite the Trojan Chief,
But him his fiery steeds caught swift away.465

As when a tempest from autumnal skies
Floats all the fields, what time Jove heaviest pours
Impetuous rain, token of wrath divine
Against perverters of the laws by force,
Who drive forth justice, reckless of the Gods;470
The rivers and the torrents, where they dwell,
Sweep many a green declivity away,
And plunge at length, groaning, into the Deep
From the hills headlong, leaving where they pass'd
No traces of the pleasant works of man,475
So, in their flight, loud groan'd the steeds of Troy.
And now, their foremost intercepted all,
Patroclus back again toward the fleet
Drove them precipitate, nor the ascent
Permitted them to Troy for which they strove,480
But in the midway space between the ships
The river and the lofty Trojan wall
Pursued them ardent, slaughtering whom he reached,
And vengeance took for many a Grecian slain.
403 First then, with glittering spear the breast he pierced485
Of Pronöus, undefended by his shield,
And stretch'd him dead; loud rang his batter'd arms.
The son of Enops, Thestor next he smote.
He on his chariot-seat magnificent
Low-cowering sat, a fear-distracted form,490
And from his palsied grasp the reins had fallen.
Then came Patroclus nigh, and through his cheek
His teeth transpiercing, drew him by his lance
Sheer o'er the chariot front. As when a man
On some projecting rock seated, with line495
And splendid hook draws forth a sea-fish huge,
So him wide-gaping from his seat he drew
At his spear-point, then shook him to the ground
Prone on his face, where gasping he expired.
At Eryalus, next, advancing swift500
He hurl'd a rock; full on the middle front
He smote him, and within the ponderous casque
His whole head open'd into equal halves.
With deadliest night surrounded, prone he fell.
Epaltes, Erymas, Amphoterus,505
Echius, Tlepolemus Damastor's son,
Evippus, Ipheus, Pyres, Polymelus,
All these he on the champain, corse on corse
Promiscuous flung. Sarpedon, when he saw
Such havoc made of his uncinctured[13] friends510
By Menœtiades, with sharp rebuke
His band of godlike Lycians loud address'd.

Shame on you, Lycians! whither would ye fly?
Now are ye swift indeed! I will oppose
Myself this conqueror, that I may learn515
Who thus afflicts the Trojan host, of life
Bereaving numerous of their warriors bold.

He said, and with his arms leap'd to the ground.
404 On the other side, Patroclus at that sight
Sprang from his chariot. As two vultures clash520
Bow-beak'd, crook-talon'd, on some lofty rock
Clamoring both, so they together rush'd
With clamors loud; whom when the son observed
Of wily Saturn, with compassion moved
His sister and his spouse he thus bespake.525

Alas, he falls! my most beloved of men
Sarpedon, vanquished by Patroclus, falls!
So will the Fates. Yet, doubtful, much I muse
Whether to place him, snatch'd from furious fight
In Lycia's wealthy realm, or to permit530
His death by valiant Menœtiades.

To whom his awful spouse, displeased, replied.
How speaks the terrible Saturnian Jove!
Wouldst thou again from pangs of death exempt
A mortal man, destined long since to die?535
Do it. But small thy praise shall be in heaven,
Mark thou my words, and in thy inmost breast
Treasure them. If thou send Sarpedon safe
To his own home, how many Gods their sons
May also send from battle? Weigh it well.540
For under yon great city fight no few
Sprung from Immortals whom thou shalt provoke.
But if thou love him, and thine heart his lot
Commiserate, leave him by the hands to fall
Of Menœtiades in conflict dire;545
But give command to Death and gentle Sleep
That him of life bereft at once they bear
To