The Iliad of Homer
Page 26
but gave back and in his heavy hand caught up a stone that
265 lay in the plain, black and rugged and huge. With this
he struck the sevenfold-ox-hide terrible shield of Aias
in the knob of the center so that the bronze clashed loud about it.
After him Aias in turn lifting a stone far greater
whirled it and threw, leaning into the cast his strength beyond measure,
270 and the shield broke inward under the stroke of the rock like a millstone,
and Hektor’s very knees gave, so that he sprawled backward,
shield beaten upon him, but at once Apollo lifted him upright.
And now they would have been stabbing with their swords at close quarters,
had not the heralds, messengers of Zeus and of mortals,
275 come up, one for the bronze-armored Achaians, one for the Trojans,
Idaios and Talthybios, both men of good counsel.
They held their staves between the two men, and the herald Idaios
out of his knowledge of prudent advices spoke a word to them:
“Stop the fight, dear children, nor go on with this battle.
280 To Zeus who gathers the clouds both of you are beloved,
and both of you are fighters; this thing all of us know surely.
Night darkens now. It is a good thing to give way to the night-time.”
Aias the son of Telamon spoke to him in answer:
“Bid Hektor answer this, Idaios, since it was he who
285 in his pride called forth all our bravest to fight him.
Let him speak first; and I for my part shall do as he urges.”
Tall Hektor of the glancing helm answered him: “Aias,
seeing that God has given you strength, stature and wisdom
also, and with the spear you surpass the other Achaians,
290 let us now give over this fighting and hostility
for today; we shall fight again, until the divinity
chooses between us, and gives victory to one or the other.
Night darkens now. It is a good thing to give way to the night-time.
Thus you may bring joy to all the Achaians beside their
295 ships, and above all to those who are your own kindred and company;
and I in the great city of lord Priam will gladden
the Trojans, and the women of Troy with their trailing robes, who
will go before the divine assembly in thanksgiving for my sake.
Come then, let us give each other glorious presents,
300 so that any of the Achaians or Trojans may say of us:
‘These two fought each other in heart-consuming hate, then
joined with each other in close friendship, before they were parted.’”
So he spoke, and bringing a sword with nails of silver
gave it to him, together with the sheath and the well-cut sword belt,
305 and Aias gave a war belt colored shining with purple.
So separating, Aias went among the Achaian people,
and Hektor went back to the thronging Trojans, who were made happy
when they saw him coming alive and unwounded out of the combat,
escaping the strength and the unconquerable hands of Aias,
310 and they, who had not hoped to see him alive, escorted him
back to the town. On the other side the strong-greaved Achaians
led Aias, happy in his victory, to great Agamemnon.
When these had come to the shelters of the son of Atreus,
Agamemnon the lord of men dedicated an ox among them,
315 a five-year-old male, to Zeus, all-powerful son of Kronos.
They skinned the victim and put it in order, and butchered the carcass,
and cut up the meat expertly into small pieces, and spitted them,
and roasted all carefully, and took off the pieces.
Then after they had finished the work and got the feast ready,
320 they feasted, nor was any man’s hunger denied a fair portion;
and Atreus’ son, the hero wide-ruling Agamemnon,
gave to Aias in honor the long cuts of the chine’s portion.
But when they had put away their desire for eating and drinking,
the aged man began to weave his counsel before them
325 first, Nestor, whose advice had shown best before this.
He in kind intention toward all stood forth and addressed them:
“Son of Atreus, and you other great men of all the Achaians:
seeing that many flowing-haired Achaians have died here,
whose dark blood has been scattered beside the fair waters of Skamandros
330 by the fierce war god, while their souls went down into the house of Hades;
therefore with the dawn we should set a pause to the fighting
of Achaians, and assembling them wheel back the bodies
with mules and oxen; then must we burn them a little apart from
the ships, so that each whose duty it is may carry the bones back
335 to a man’s children, when we go home to the land of our fathers.
And let us gather and pile one single mound on the corpse-pyre
indiscriminately from the plain, and build fast upon it
towered ramparts, to be a defense of ourselves and our vessels.
And let us build into these walls gates strongly fitted
340 that there may be a way through them for the driving of horses;
and on the outer side, and close, we must dig a deep ditch
circling it, so as to keep off their people and horses,
that we may not be crushed under the attack of these proud Trojans.”
So he spoke, and all the kings gave him their approval.
345 Now there was an assembly of Trojans high on the city of Ilion
fiercely shaken to tumult before the doors of Priam,
and among these Antenor the thoughtful began to address them:
“Trojans and Dardanians and companions in arms: hear me
while I speak forth what the heart within my breast urges.
350 Come then: let us give back Helen of Argos and all her possessions
to the sons of Atreus to take away, seeing now we fight with
our true pledges made into lies; and I see no good thing’s
accomplishment for us in the end, unless we do this.”
He spoke thus and sat down again, and among them rose up
355 brilliant Alexandros, the lord of lovely-haired Helen,
who spoke to him in answer and addressed them in winged words:
“Antenor, these things that you argue please me no longer.
Your mind knows how to contrive a saying better than this one.
But if in all seriousness this is your true argument; then
360 it is the very gods who ruined the brain within you.
I will speak out before the Trojans, breakers of horses.
I refuse, straight out. I will not give back the woman.
But of the possessions I carried away to our house from Argos
I am willing to give all back, and to add to these from my own goods.”
365 He spoke thus and sat down again, and among them rose up
Priam, son of Dardanos, equal of the gods in counsel,
who in kind intention toward all stood forth and addressed them:
“Trojans and Dardanians and companions in arms: hear me
while I speak forth what the heart within my breast urges.
370 Take now your supper about the city, as you did before this,
and remember your duty of the watch, and be each man wakeful;
and at dawn let Idaios go to the hollow ships, and speak with
the sons of Atreus, Menelaos and Agamemnon, giving
the word of Alexandros, for whose sake this strife has arisen,
375 and to add this solid message, and ask them if they are willing<
br />
to stop the sorrowful fighting until we can burn the bodies
of our dead. We shall fight again until the divinity
chooses between us, and gives victory to one or the other.”
So he spoke, and they listened to him with care, and obeyed him;
380 and so took their supper, watch succeeding watch, through the army.
Then at dawn Idaios went down to the hollow ships, where
he found the Danaäns, henchmen of the war god, in assembly
beside the stern of Agamemnon’s ship; the herald
with the great voice took his stand in their midst, and spoke to them:
385 “Son of Atreus, and you other great men of all the Achaians,
Priam and the rest of the haughty Trojans have bidden me
give you, if this message be found to your pleasure and liking,
the word of Alexandros, for whose sake this strife has arisen.
All those possessions that Alexandros carried in his hollow
390 ships to Troy, and I wish that he had perished before then,
he is willing to give all back, and to add to these from his own goods.
But the very wedded wife of glorious Menelaos
he says that he will not give, though the Trojans would have him do it.
They told me to give you this message also, if you are willing;
395 to stop the sorrowful fighting until we can burn the bodies
of our dead. We shall fight again afterward, until the divinity
chooses between us, and gives victory to one or the other.”
So he spoke, and all of them stayed quiet in silence;
but now at long last Diomedes of the great war cry addressed them:
400 “Now let none accept the possessions of Alexandros,
nor take back Helen; one who is very simple can see it,
that by this time the terms of death hang over the Trojans.”
So he spoke, and all sons of the Achaians shouted
acclaim for the word of Diomedes, breaker of horses;
405 and now powerful Agamemnon spoke to Idaios:
“Idaios, you hear for yourself the word of the Achaians,
how they are answering you; and such is my pleasure also.
But about the burning of the dead bodies I do not begrudge you;
no, for there is no sparing time for the bodies of the perished,
410 once they have died, to give them swiftly the pity of burning.
Let Zeus, high-thundering lord of Hera, witness our pledges.”
He spoke, and held up the scepter in the sight of all the gods. Then
Idaios made his way back once more to sacred Ilion.
The Trojans and Dardanians were in session of assembly,
415 all gathered in one place, awaiting Idaios when he might come
back; and he returned to them and delivered his message
standing there in their midst, and they made their swift preparations,
for two things, some to gather the bodies, and the others firewood;
while the Argives on the other side from their strong-benched vessels
420 went forward, some to gather the bodies, and others firewood.
Now the sun of a new day struck on the ploughlands, rising
out of the quiet water and the deep stream of the ocean
to climb the sky. The Trojans assembled together. They found
it hard to recognize each individual dead man;
425 but with water they washed away the blood that was on them
and as they wept warm tears they lifted them onto the wagons.
But great Priam would not let them cry out; and in silence
they piled the bodies upon the pyre, with their hearts in sorrow,
and burned them upon the fire, and went back to sacred Ilion.
430 In the same way on the other side the strong-greaved Achaians
piled their own slain upon the pyre, with their hearts in sorrow,
and burned them upon the fire, and went back to their hollow vessels.
But when the dawn was not yet, but still the pallor of night’s edge,
a chosen body of the Achaians formed by the pyre;
435 and they gathered together and piled one single mound all above it
indiscriminately from the plain, and built a fort on it
with towered ramparts, to be a defense for themselves and their vessels;
and they built within these walls gates strongly fitted
that there might be a way through them for the driving of horses;
440 and on the outer side and against it they dug a deep ditch,
making it great and wide, and fixed the sharp stakes inside it.
So the flowing-haired Achaians labored, and meanwhile
the gods in session at the side of Zeus who handles the lightning
watched the huge endeavor of the bronze-armored Achaians;
445 and the god Poseidon who shakes the earth began speaking among them:
“Father Zeus, is there any mortal left on the wide earth
who will still declare to the immortals his mind and his purpose?
Do you not see how now these flowing-haired Achaians
have built a wall landward of their ships, and driven about it
450 a ditch, and not given to the gods any grand sacrifice?
Now the fame of this will last as long as dawnlight is scattered,
and men will forget that wall which I and Phoibos Apollo
built with our hard work for the hero Laomedon’s city.”
Deeply troubled, Zeus who gathers the clouds answered him:
455 “What a thing to have said, earth-shaker of the wide strength.
Some other one of the gods might fear such a thought, one who
is a god far weaker of his hands and in anger than you are;
but the fame of you shall last as long as dawnlight is scattered.
Come then! After once more the flowing-haired Achaians
460 are gone back with their ships to the beloved land of their fathers,
break their wall to pieces and scatter it into the salt sea
and pile again the beach deep under the sands and cover it;
so let the great wall of the Achaians go down to destruction.”
As these two were talking thus together, the sun went
465 down, and the work of the Achaians was finished. They slaughtered
oxen then beside their shelters, and took their supper.
The ships came over to them from Lemnos bringing them wine, ships
sent over to them in numbers by the son of Jason, Euneos,
whom Hypsipyle had borne to the shepherd of the people, Jason.
470 Apart to the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaos,
Jason’s son had given wine as a gift, a thousand
measures; and thence the rest of the flowing-haired Achaians
bought wine, some for bronze and others for shining iron,
some for skins and some for the whole oxen, while others
475 paid slaves taken in war; and they made their feasting abundant.
All night long thereafter the flowing-haired Achaians
feasted, and the Trojans and their companions in arms in the city;
but all night long Zeus of the counsels was threatening evil
upon them in the terrible thunderstroke. Green fear took hold of them.
480 They spilled the wine on the ground from their cups, and none was so hardy
as to drink, till he had poured to the all-powerful son of Kronos.
They lay down thereafter and took the blessing of slumber.
BOOK EIGHT
Now Dawn the yellow-robed scattered over all the earth. Zeus
who joys in the thunder made an assembly of all the immortals
upon the highest peak of rugged Olympos. There he
spoke to them himself, and the other divinities listened:
> 5 “Hear me, all you gods and all you goddesses: hear me
while I speak forth what the heart within my breast urges.
Now let no female divinity, nor male god either,
presume to cut across the way of my word, but consent to it
all of you, so that I can make an end in speed of these matters.
10 And anyone I perceive against the gods’ will attempting
to go among the Trojans and help them, or among the Danaäns,
he shall go whipped against his dignity back to Olympos;
or I shall take him and dash him down to the murk of Tartaros,
far below, where the uttermost depth of the pit lies under
15 earth, where there are gates of iron and a brazen doorstone,
as far beneath the house of Hades as from earth the sky lies.
Then he will see how far I am strongest of all the immortals.
Come, you gods, make this endeavor, that you all may learn this.
Let down out of the sky a cord of gold; lay hold of it
20 all you who are gods and all who are goddesses, yet not
even so can you drag down Zeus from the sky to the ground, not
Zeus the high lord of counsel, though you try until you grow weary.
Yet whenever I might strongly be minded to pull you,
I could drag you up, earth and all and sea and all with you,
25 then fetch the golden rope about the horn of Olympos
and make it fast, so that all once more should dangle in mid air.
So much stronger am I than the gods, and stronger than mortals.”
So he spoke, and all of them stayed stricken to silence,
stunned at his word, for indeed he had spoken to them very strongly.
30 But now at long last the goddess gray-eyed Athene answered him:
“Son of Kronos, our father, O lordliest of the mighty,
we know already your strength and how none can stand up against it.
Yet even so we are sorrowful for the Danaän spearmen
who must fill out an unhappy destiny, and perish.
35 Still we shall keep out of the fighting, as you command us;
yet we will put good counsel in the Argives; if it may help them,
so that not all of them will die because of your anger.”
Then Zeus the gatherer of the clouds smiled at her and answered:
“Tritogeneia, dear daughter, do not lose heart; for I say this
40 not in outright anger, and my meaning toward you is kindly.”
He spoke, and under the chariot harnessed his bronze-shod horses,
flying-footed, with long manes streaming of gold; and he put on