The Iliad of Homer
Page 21
heavy at heart, stabbed through and through with pain, for the arrow
400 was driven into his heavy shoulder, and his spirit was suffering.
But Paiëon, scattering medicines that still pain,
healed him, since he was not made to be one of the mortals.
Brute, heavy-handed, who thought nothing of the bad he was doing,
who with his archery hurt the gods that dwell on Olympos!
405 It was the goddess gray-eyed Athene who drove on this man
against you; poor fool, the heart of Tydeus’ son knows nothing
of how that man who fights the immortals lives for no long time,
his children do not gather to his knees to welcome their father
when he returns home after the fighting and the bitter warfare.
410 Then, though he be very strong indeed, let the son of Tydeus
take care lest someone even better than he might fight with him,
lest for a long time Aigialeia, wise child of Adrastos,
mourning wake out of sleep her household’s beloved companions,
longing for the best of the Achaians, her lord by marriage,
415 she, the strong wife of Diomedes, breaker of horses.”
She spoke, and with both hands stroked away from her arm the ichor,
so that the arm was made whole again and the strong pains rested.
But Hera and Athene glancing aside at her began
to tease the son of Kronos, Zeus, in words of mockery:
420 and the goddess gray-eyed Athene began the talk among them:
“Father Zeus, would you be angry with me if I said
something? It must be the lady of Kypros, moving some woman
of Achaia to follow after those Trojans she loves so hopelessly,
laying hold on the fair dresses of the Achaian women,
425 tore the tenderness of her hand on a golden pin’s point.”
So she spoke, and the father of gods and men smiled on her
and spoke to Aphrodite the golden, calling her to him:
“No, my child, not for you are the works of warfare. Rather
concern yourself only with the lovely secrets of marriage,
430 while all this shall be left to Athene and sudden Ares.”
Now as these were talking in this way with each other
Diomedes of the great war cry made for Aineias.
Though he saw how Apollo himself held his hands over him
he did not shrink even from the great god, but forever forward
435 drove, to kill Aineias and strip his glorious armor.
Three times, furious to cut him down, he drove forward,
and three times Apollo battered aside the bright shield,
but as a fourth time, like more than man, he charged, Apollo
who strikes from afar cried out to him in the voice of terror:
440 “Take care, give back, son of Tydeus, and strive no longer
to make yourself like the gods in mind, since never the same is
the breed of gods, who are immortal, and men who walk groundling.”
He spoke, and Tydeus’ son gave backward, only a little,
avoiding the anger of him who strikes from afar, Apollo,
445 who caught Aineias now away from the onslaught, and set him
in the sacred keep of Pergamos where was built his own temple.
There Artemis of the showering arrows and Leto within
the great and secret chamber healed his wound and cared for him.
But he of the silver bow, Apollo, fashioned an image
450 in the likeness of Aineias himself and in armor like him,
and all about this image brilliant Achaians and Trojans
hewed at each other, and at the ox-hide shields strong circled
guarding men’s chests, and at the fluttering straps of the guard-skins.
But Phoibos Apollo spoke now to violent Ares:
455 “Ares, Ares, manslaughtering, blood-stained, stormer of strong walls,
is there no way you can go and hold back this man from the fighting,
Tydeus’ son, who would now do battle against Zeus father?
Even now he stabbed in her hand by the wrist the lady
of Kypros, and again, like more than a man, charged even against me.”
460 So he spoke, and himself alighted on the peak of Pergamos
while stark Ares went down to stir the ranks of the Trojans,
in the likeness of the lord of the Thracians, swift-footed Akamas,
and urged onward the god-supported children of Priam:
“O you children of Priam, the king whom the gods love, how long
465 will you allow the Achaians to go on killing your people?
Until they fight beside the strong-builded gates? A man lies
fallen whom we honored as we honor Hektor the brilliant,
Aineias, who is son of great-hearted Anchises.
Come then, let us rescue our good companion from the carnage.”
470 So he spoke, and stirred the spirit and the strength in each man.
Then Sarpedon spoke in abuse to brilliant Hektor:
“Where now, Hektor, has gone that strength that was yours? You said once
that without companions and without people you could hold this city
alone, with only your brothers and the lords of your sisters.
475 I can see not one of these men now, I know not where they are;
no, but they slink away like hounds who circle the lion,
while we, who are here as your companions, carry the fighting.
I have come, a companion to help you, from a very far place;
Lykia lies far away, by the whirling waters of Xanthos;
480 there I left behind my own wife and my baby son, there
I left my many possessions which the needy man eyes longingly.
Yet even so I drive on my Lykians, and myself have courage
to fight my man in battle, though there is nothing of mine here
that the Achaians can carry away as spoil or drive off.
485 But you: you stand here, not even giving the word to the rest
of your people to stand fast and fight in defense of their own wives.
Let not yourselves, caught as in the sweeping toils of the spun net,
be taken as war-spoil and plunder by the men who hate you,
men who presently will storm your strong-founded citadel.
490 All these things should lie night and day on your mind, forever,
supplication to the lords of your far-renowned companions,
to fight unwearying and hold off the strength of an insult.”
Sarpedon spoke, and his word bit into the heart of Hektor.
Straightway in all his armor he sprang to the ground from his chariot
495 and shaking two sharp spears ranged everywhere through the army
stirring men up to fight and waking the hateful warfare;
and these pulled themselves about and stood to face the Achaians,
while the Argives held in their close order and would not be broken.
As when along the hallowed threshing floors the wind scatters
500 chaff, among men winnowing, and fair-haired Demeter
in the leaning wind discriminates the chaff and the true grain
and the piling chaff whitens beneath it, so now the Achaians
turned white underneath the dust the feet of the horses
drove far into the brazen sky across their faces
505 as they rapidly closed and the charioteers wheeled back again.
They drove the strength of their hands straight on, as violent Ares
defending the Trojans mantled in dark night the battle
and passed everywhere, since he was carrying out the commandments
of Phoibos Apollo, him of the golden sword, who had bidden him
510 wake the heart in the Trojans as he saw that
Pallas Athene
was gone away now, she who stood to defend the Danaäns.
And out of the rich secret chamber Apollo sent forth
Aineias, and dropped strength in the heart of the people’s shepherd.
So Aineias stood among his friends, who were happy
515 as they saw him coming back, still alive, and unwounded
and full of brave spirit; yet they asked him no question,
for the rest of their fighting work would not let them, that the silver-bow god
woke, and manslaughtering Ares, and Hate, whose wrath is relentless.
Now the two Aiantes and Odysseus and Diomedes
520 stirred the Danaäns to fight these; since themselves they did not
fear the force of the men of Troy nor their charges onward,
but stayed where they were, like clouds, which the son of Kronos
stops in the windless weather on the heights of the towering mountains,
motionless, when the strength of the north wind sleeps, and the other
525 tearing winds, those winds that when they blow into tempests
high screaming descend upon the darkening clouds and scatter them.
So the Danaäns stood steady against the Trojans, nor gave way.
And Atreus’ son ranged through the masses with his many orders:
“Be men now, dear friends, and take up the heart of courage,
530 and have consideration for each other in the strong encounters,
since more come through alive when men consider each other,
and there is no glory when they give way, nor warcraft either.”
He spoke, and made a swift cast with his spear, and struck down a great man
Deïkoön, companion of high-hearted Aineias,
535 Pergasos’ son, whom the Trojans honored as they honored Priam’s
children, since he was a swift man to fight in the foremost.
Powerful Agamemnon struck his shield with spear, nor
could the shield hold off the spear, but the bronze smashed clean through
and was driven on through the belt to the deep of the belly.
He fell, thunderously, and his armor clattered upon him.
540 Now Aineias killed two great men of the Danaäns,
the sons of Diokles, Orsilochos and Krethon,
men whose father dwelt in Phere the strong-founded,
rich in substance, and his generation was of the river
Alpheios, who flows wide through the country of the Pylians,
545 and who got a son, Ortilochos, to be lord over many
men, but the son of Ortilochos was high-hearted Diokles;
and to Diokles in his turn were two twin sons born,
Orsilochos and Krethon, both well skilled in all fighting.
These two as they were grown to young manhood followed along with
550 the Argives in their black ships to Ilion, land of good horses,
winning honor for the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon
and Menelaos; now fulfillment of death was a darkness upon them.
These, as two young lions in the high places of the mountains,
had been raised by their mother in the dark of the deep forest,
555 lions which as they prey upon the cattle and the fat sheep
lay waste the steadings where there are men, until they also
fall and are killed under the cutting bronze in the men’s hands;
such were these two who beaten under the hands of Aineias
crashed now to the ground as if they were two tall pine trees.
560 As these fell warlike Menelaos took pity on them
and he strode out among the champions, helmed in bright bronze,
shaking his spear, and the fury of Ares drove him onward,
minded that he might go down under the hands of Aineias.
But Antilochos, son of high-hearted Nestor, watched him,
565 and he strode among the champions in fear for the shepherd of the people,
lest he be hurt, and all their labor slip away into nothing.
So as Aineias and Menelaos raised hand and sharp spear
standing to face each other and furious to do battle,
Antilochos took his stand close beside the shepherd of the people.
570 Nor did Aineias hold his ground, though yet a swift fighter,
as he saw two men staying with each other against him.
These, when they had dragged back the bodies among the Achaian
people, dropped the poor youths into the hands of their company,
and themselves wheeled about once more to fight among the foremost.
575 There these killed Pylaimenes the equal of Ares,
lord of the Paphlagonian men in armor, high-hearted.
Menelaos the spear-famed, son of Atreus, stabbed him
with the spear as he stood his ground, and struck the collar-bone,
580 while Antilochos struck down Mydon, his charioteer and
henchman, Atymnios’ brave son, as he wheeled the single-foot
horses about, with a stone striking mid-elbow, and from his
hands the reins pale with ivory dropped in the dust groundling.
Antilochos charging drove the sword into his temple,
585 so that gasping he dropped from the carefully wrought chariot
headlong, driven deep in the dust his neck and shoulders;
and there, since he chanced to light in a depth of sand, he stuck fast
while his horses trampled him into the dust with their feet. These
Antilochos lashed and drove back into the host of the Achaians.
590 Hektor saw them across the ranks, and drove on against them
crying aloud, and with him followed the Trojan battalions
in their strength; and Ares led them with the goddess Enyo,
she carrying with her the turmoil of shameless hatred
while Ares made play in his hands with the spear gigantic
595 and ranged now in front of Hektor and now behind him.
Diomedes of the great war cry shivered as he saw him,
and like a man in his helplessness who, crossing a great plain,
stands at the edge of a fast-running river that dashes seaward,
and watches it thundering into white water, and leaps a pace backward,
600 so now Tydeus’ son gave back, and spoke to his people:
“Friends, although we know the wonder of glorious Hektor
to be a fighter with the spear and a bold man of battle,
yet there goes ever some god beside him, who beats off destruction,
and now, in the likeness of a man mortal, Ares goes with him.
605 Come then, keeping your faces turned to the Trojans, give ground
backward, nor be we eager to fight in strength with divinities.”
He spoke, and now the Trojans had come very close upon them.
There Hektor cut down two men, well skilled in warcraft,
Anchialos and Menesthes both in a single chariot.
610 As these fell great Telamonian Aias pitied them
and stood close in and made a cast with the shining javelin,
and struck Amphios, Selagos’ son, who rich in possessions
and rich in cornland had lived in Paisos, but his own destiny
brought him companion in arms to Priam and the children of Priam.
615 Now Telamonian Aias struck him beneath the war belt
and the far-shadowing spear was fixed in the lower belly,
and he fell, thunderously, and shining Aias ran forward
to strip his armor, but the Trojans showered spears upon him,
sharp spears and glittering, and the great shield caught many.
620 Setting his heel on the chest of the corpse he pulled out the brazen
spear, yet could no longer strip the rest of the glorious
armor from his shoulders, since he was battered with spears throw
n,
and he dreaded the strong circle made by the haughty Trojans,
who many and valiant stood over him, gripping their great spears,
625 and though he was a mighty man and a strong and a proud one
thrust him away from them so that he gave ground backward staggering.
So they went at their work all about the strong encounter.
But Herakles’ son Tlepolemos the huge and mighty
was driven by his strong destiny against godlike Sarpedon.
630 Now as these in their advance had come close together,
the own son, and the son’s son of Zeus cloud-gathering,
it was Tlepolemos of the two who spoke the first word:
“Man of counsel of the Lykians, Sarpedon, why must you
be skulking here, you who are a man unskilled in the fighting?
635 They are liars who call you issue of Zeus, the holder
of the aegis, since you fall far short in truth of the others
who were begotten of Zeus in the generations before us:
such men as, they say, was the great strength of Herakles,
my own father, of the daring spirit, the heart of a lion:
640 he came here on a time for the sake of Laomedon’s horses,
with six vessels only and the few men needed to man them,
and widowed the streets of Ilion and sacked the city;
but yours is the heart of a coward and your people are dying.
And I think that now, though you are come from Lykia, you will
645 bring no help to the Trojans even though you be a strong man,
but beaten down by my hands will pass through the gates of Hades.”
In turn the lord of the Lykians, Sarpedon, answered him:
“In truth, Tlepolemos, he did destroy Ilion the sacred
through the senselessness of one man, the haughty Laomedon,
650 who gave Herakles an evil word in return for good treatment
and would not give up the horses for whose sake he had come from far off.
But I tell you, what you will win from me here will be death
and black destruction; and broken under my spear you will give me
glory, and give your soul to Hades of the famed horses.”
655 So spoke Sarpedon, while the other lifted his ash spear,
Tlepolemos; and in a single moment the long shafts
shot from their hands, Sarpedon striking him in the middle
of the throat, and the agonizing spear drove clean through
and over his eyes was mantled the covering mist of darkness.
660 But Tlepolemos in turn had struck Sarpedon with the long spear
in the left thigh, and the spear smashed on through in fury