The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  clothing of gold about his own body, and took up the golden

  lash, carefully compacted, and climbed up into his chariot,

  45 and whipped them into a run, and they winged their way unreluctant

  through the space between the earth and the starry heaven.

  He came to Ida with all her springs, the mother of wild beasts,

  to Gargaron, where was his holy ground and his smoking altar.

  There the father of gods and of mortals halted his horses,

  50 and slipped them from their harness, and drifted close mist about them,

  and himself rejoicing in the pride of his strength sat down on the mountain

  looking out over the city of Troy and the ships of the Achaians.

  Now the flowing-haired Achaians had taken their dinner

  lightly among their shelters, and they put on their armor thereafter;

  55 and on the other side, in the city, the Trojans took up

  their armor, fewer men, yet minded to stand the encounter

  even so, caught in necessity, for their wives and their children.

  And all the gates were made open, and the fighting men swept through them,

  the foot ranks and the horsemen, and the sound grew huge of their onset.

  60 Now as these advancing came to one place and encountered,

  they dashed their shields together and their spears, and the strength of

  armored men in bronze, and the shields massive in the middle

  clashed against each other, and the sound grew huge of the fighting.

  There the screaming and the shouts of triumph rose up together

  65 of men killing and men killed, and the ground ran blood.

  So long as it was early morning and the sacred daylight increasing,

  so long the thrown weapons of both took hold and men dropped under them.

  But when the sun god stood bestriding the middle heaven,

  then the father balanced his golden scales, and in them

  70 he set two fateful portions of death, which lays men prostrate,

  for Trojans, breakers of horses, and bronze-armored Achaians,

  and balanced it by the middle. The Achaians’ death-day was heaviest.

  There the fates of the Achaians settled down toward the bountiful

  earth, while those of the Trojans were lifted into the wide sky;

  75 and he himself crashed a great stroke from Ida, and a kindling

  flash shot over the people of the Achaians; seeing it

  they were stunned, and pale terror took hold of all of them.

  Then Idomeneus dared not stand his ground, nor Agamemnon,

  nor did the two Aiantes stand, the henchmen of Ares,

  80 only Gerenian Nestor stayed, the Achaians’ watcher;

  not that he would, but his horse was failing, struck by an arrow

  from brilliant Alexandros, the lord of lovely-haired Helen;

  struck at the point of the head, where the utmost hairs of horses

  are grown along the skull, and which is a place most mortal.

  85 He reared up in agony as the shaft went into the brain, then

  threw the team into confusion writhing upon the bronze point.

  Now as the old man hewed away the horse’s trace-harness

  with a quick sword-cut, meanwhile the fast-running horses of Hektor

  came through the flux of the fighting and carried their daring driver,

  90 Hektor; and now the old man would have lost his life there, had not

  Diomedes of the great war cry sharply perceived him.

  He cried out in a terrible voice to rally Odysseus:

  “Son of Laërtes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,

  where are you running, turning your back in battle like a coward?

  95 Do not let them strike the spear in your back as you run for it,

  but stay, so that we can beat back this fierce man from the ancient.”

  He spoke, but long-suffering great Odysseus gave no attention

  as he swept by on his way to the hollow ships of the Achaians.

  The son of Tydeus, alone as he was, went among the champions

  100 and stood before the horses of the old man, the son of Neleus,

  and uttering his winged words he addressed him: “Old sir,

  in very truth these young fighters are too much for you,

  and all your strength is gone, and hard old age is upon you,

  your henchman is a man of no worth, and your horses are heavy.

  105 Come then, climb into my chariot, so that you may see

  what the Trojan horses are like, how they understand their

  plain, and how to traverse it in rapid pursuit and withdrawal;

  horses I took away from Aineias, who strikes men to terror.

  Let the henchmen look after your horses now, while we two

  110 steer these against the Trojans, breakers of horses, so Hektor

  even may know if my spear also rages in my hands’ grip.”

  He spoke, and Nestor the Gerenian horseman obeyed him.

  Thereon the two strong henchmen, Sthenelos and the courtly

  Eurymedon, looked after the horses of Nestor. The others

  115 both together mounted the chariot of Diomedes.

  Nestor in his hands took up the glittering reins, then

  lashed the horses on, and soon they were close to Hektor,

  and as he raged straight forward the son of Tydeus threw at him

  and missed his man, but struck the charioteer, his henchman,

  120 Eniopeus, the son of high-hearted Thebaios, striking him

  in the chest next to the nipple as he gripped the reins of his horses.

  He fell out of the chariot, and the fast-footed horses

  shied away. And there his life and his strength were scattered.

  And bitter sorrow closed over Hektor’s heart for his driver,

  125 yet grieving as he did for his friend he left him to lie there,

  and went on after another bold charioteer; and it was not

  long that the horses went lacking a driver, since soon he found one,

  Archeptolemos, bold son of Iphitos, and gave into his hands

  the reins, and mounted him behind the fast-running horses.

  130 And now there would have been fighting beyond control, and destruction,

  now they would have been driven and penned like sheep against Ilion,

  had not the father of gods and of men sharply perceived them.

  He thundered horribly and let loose the shimmering lightning

  and dashed it to the ground in front of the horses of Diomedes

  135 and a ghastly blaze of flaming sulfur shot up, and the horses

  terrified both cringed away against the chariot.

  And the glittering reins escaped out of the hands of Nestor,

  and he was afraid in his heart and called out to Diomedes:

  “Son of Tydeus, steer now to flight your single-foot horses.

  140 Can you not see that the power of Zeus no longer is with you?

  For the time Zeus, son of Kronos, gives glory to this man;

  for today; hereafter, if he will, he will give it

  to us also; no man can beat back the purpose of Zeus, not

  even one very strong, since Zeus is by far the greater.”

  145 Then in turn Diomedes of the great war cry answered:

  “Yes, old sir, all this you have said is fair and orderly.

  But this thought comes as a bitter sorrow to my heart and my spirit;

  for some day Hektor will say openly before the Trojans:

  ‘The son of Tydeus, running before me, fled to his vessels.’

  150 So he will vaunt; and then let the wide earth open beneath me.”

  Nestor the Gerenian horseman spoke to him in answer:

  “Ah me, son of brave Tydeus; what a thing to have spoken.

  If Hektor calls you a cowar
d and a man of no strength, then

  the Trojans and Dardanians will never believe him,

  155 nor will the wives of the high-hearted Trojan warriors,

  they whose husbands you hurled in the dust in the pride of their manhood.”

  So he spoke, and turned to flight the single-foot horses

  back again into the rout; and now the Trojans and Hektor

  with unearthly clamor showered their baneful missiles upon them,

  160 and tall Hektor of the shining helm called out in a great voice:

  “Son of Tydeus, beyond others the fast-mounted Danaäns honored you

  with pride of place, the choice meats and the filled wine-cups.

  But now they will disgrace you, who are no better than a woman.

  Down with you, you poor doll. You shall not storm our battlements

  165 with me giving way before you, you shall not carry our women

  home in your ships; before that comes I will give you your destiny.”

  He spoke, and the son of Tydeus pondered doubtfully, whether

  to turn his horses about and match his strength against Hektor.

  Three times in his heart and spirit he pondered turning,

  170 and three times from the hills of Ida Zeus of the counsels

  thundered, giving a sign to the Trojans that the battle was turning.

  But Hektor called afar in a great voice to the Trojans:

  “Trojans, Lykians and Dardanians who fight at close quarters,

  be men now, dear friends, remember your furious valor.

  175 I see that the son of Kronos has bowed his head and assented

  to my high glory and success, but granted the Danaäns

  disaster: fools, who designed with care these fortifications,

  flimsy things, not worth a thought, which will not beat my strength

  back, but lightly my horses will leap the ditch they have dug them.

  180 But after I have come beside their hollow ships, let there

  be some who will remember to bring me ravening fire,

  so that I can set their ships on fire, and cut down

  the very Argives mazed in the smoke at the side of their vessels.”

  So he spoke, and called aloud to his horses, and spoke to them:

  180 “Xanthos and you, Podargos, Aithon and Lampos the shining,

  now repay me for all that loving care in abundanceē

  Andromachē the daughter of high-hearted Eëtion

  gave you: the sweet-hearted wheat before all the others

  and mixed wine with it for you to drink, when her heart inclined to it,

  190 as for me, who am proud that I am her young husband.

  Follow close now and be rapid, so we may capture

  the shield of Nestor, whose high fame goes up to the sky now,

  how it is all of gold, the shield itself and the cross-rods;

  and strip from the shoulders of Diomedes, breaker of horses,

  195 that elaborate corselet that Hephaistos wrought with much toil.

  Could we capture these two things, I might hope the Achaians

  might embark this very night on their fast-running vessels.”

  So he spoke, boasting, and the lady Hera was angry,

  and started upon her throne, and tall Olympos was shaken,

  200 and she spoke straight out to the great god Poseidon:

  “For shame, now, far-powerful shaker of the earth. In your breast

  the heart takes no sorrow for the Danaäns who are dying,

  they who at Helikē and at Aigai bring you offerings

  numerous and delightful. Do you then plan that they conquer.

  205 For if all of us who stand by the Danaäns only were willing

  to hurl back the Trojans and hold off Zeus of the broad brows,

  he would be desperate, there where he sits by himself on Ida.”

  Deeply troubled, the powerful shaker of the earth answered her,

  “Hera, reckless of word, what sort of thing have you spoken?

  210 I would not be willing that all the rest of us fight with

  Zeus, the son of Kronos, since he is so much the greater.”

  Now as these two were talking thus to each other, meanwhile

  for those others, all that space which the ditch of the wall held

  off from the ships was filled with armored men and with horses

  215 penned there; and he who penned them was a man like the rapid war god,

  Hektor, Priam’s son, since Zeus was giving him glory.

  And now he might have kindled their balanced ships with the hot flame,

  had not the lady Hera set it in Agamemnon’s

  heart to rush in with speed himself and stir the Achaians.

  220 He went on his way beside the Achaians’ ships and their shelters

  holding up in his heavy hand the great colored mantle,

  and stood beside the black huge-hollowed ship of Odysseus,

  which lay in the midmost, so that he could call out to both sides,

  either toward the shelters of Telamonian Aias,

  225 or toward Achilleus, since these two had drawn their balanced ships up

  at the utter ends, sure of the strength of their hands and their courage.

  He lifted his voice and called in a piercing cry to the Danaäns:

  “Shame, you Argives, poor nonentities splendid to look on.

  Where are our high words gone, when we said that we were the bravest?

  230 those words you spoke before all in hollow vaunting at Lemnos

  when you were filled with abundant meat of the high-horned oxen

  and drank from the great bowls filled to the brim with wine, how each man

  could stand up against a hundred or even two hundred Trojans

  in the fighting; now we together cannot match one of them,

  235 Hektor, who must presently kindle our ships with the hot fire.

  Father Zeus, is it one of our too strong kings you have stricken

  in this disaster now, and stripped him of his high honor?

  For I say that never did I pass by your fair-wrought altar

  in my benched ships when I came here on this desperate journey;

  240 but on all altars I burned the fat and the thighs of oxen

  in my desire to sack the strong-walled city of the Trojans.

  Still, Zeus, bring to pass at least this thing that I pray for.

  Let our men at least get clear and escape, and let not

  the Achaians be thus beaten down at the hands of the Trojans.”

  245 He spoke thus, and as he wept the father took pity upon him

  and bent his head, that the people should stay alive, and not perish.

  Straightway he sent down the most lordly of birds, an eagle,

  with a fawn, the young of the running deer, caught in his talons,

  who cast down the fawn beside Zeus’ splendid altar

  250 where the Achaians wrought their devotions to Zeus of the Voices.

  They, when they saw the bird and knew it was Zeus who sent it,

  remembered once again their warcraft, and turned on the Trojans.

  Then, many as the Danaäns were, there was no man among them

  could claim he held his fast horses ahead of the son of Tydeus

  255 to drive them once more across the ditch and fight at close quarters,

  but he was far the first to kill a chief man of the Trojans,

  Phradmon’s son, Agelaos, as he turned his team to escape him.

  For in his back even as he was turning the spear fixed

  between the shoulders and was driven on through the chest beyond it.

  260 He fell from the chariot, and his armor clattered upon him.

  After him came the Atreidai, Menelaos and Agamemnon,

  and the two Aiantes gathering their fierce strength about them,

  and with them Idomeneus and Idomeneus’ companion

  Meriones, a
match for the murderous lord of battles,

  265 and after these Eurypylos, the glorious son of Euaimon;

  and ninth came Teukros, bending into position the curved bow,

  and took his place in the shelter of Telamonian Aias’

  shield, as Aias lifted the shield to take him. The hero

  would watch, whenever in the throng he had struck some man with an arrow,

  270 and as the man dropped and died where he was stricken, the archer

  would run back again, like a child to the arms of his mother,

  to Aias, who would hide him in the glittering shield’s protection.

  Then which of the Trojans first did Teukros the blameless strike down?

  Orsilochos first of all, and Ormenos, and Ophelestes,

  275 Daitor and Chromios, and Lykophontes the godlike,

  and Amopaon, Polyaimon’s son, and Melanippos.

  All these he felled to the bountiful earth in close succession.

  Agamemnon the lord of men was glad as he watched him

  laying waste from the strong bow the Trojan battalions;

  280 he went over and stood beside him and spoke a word to him:

  “Telamonian Teukros, dear heart, O lord of your people,

  strike so; thus you may be a light given to the Danaäns,

  and to Telamon your father, who cherished you when you were little,

  and, bastard as you were, looked after you in his own house.

  285 Bring him into glory, though he is far away; and for my part,

  I will tell you this, and it will be a thing accomplished:

  if ever Zeus who holds the aegis and Athene grant me

  to sack outright the strong-founded citadel of Ilion,

  first after myself I will put into your hands some great gift

  290 of honor; a tripod, or two horses and the chariot with them,

  or else a woman, who will go up into the same bed with you.”

  Then in answer to him again spoke Teukros the blameless:

  “Son of Atreus, most lordly: must you then drive me, who am eager

  myself, as it is? Never, so far as the strength is in me,

  295 have I stopped, since we began driving the Trojans back upon Ilion;

  since then I have been lurking here with my bow, to strike down

  fighters. And by this I have shot eight long-flanged arrows,

  and all of them were driven into the bodies of young men,

  fighters; yet still I am not able to hit this mad dog.”

  300 He spoke, and let fly another shaft from the bowstring,

  straight for Hektor, and all his heart was straining to hit him;