The Iliad of Homer
Page 32
commands the pickets, and with him the follower of Idomeneus,
Meriones. To these above all we entrusted the duty.”
60 Then in turn Menelaos of the great war cry answered him:
“How then do you intend this order that you have given me?
Shall I wait where I am, with them, and watch for your coming,
or run after you, when I have properly given the order?”
Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon spoke to him:
65 “Better wait here, so there will be no way we can miss one another
as we come and go. There are many paths up and down the encampment.
Call out wherever you go, and waken each man to give him
your orders, naming him by descent with the name of his father.
Give each man due respect. Let not your spirit be haughty,
70 but let it be you and I ourselves who do the work, seeing
that Zeus cast on us as we were born this burden of evil.”
So he spoke and with careful orders sent off his brother,
and he himself went in search of Nestor, shepherd of the people,
and came on him beside his own shelter and his own black ship
75 in a soft bed, and his bright gear was lying beside him,
the shield, and the two spears, and the glittering helmet, and by him
lay in all its shining the war belt, in which the old man
girt himself, when he armed for the fighting where men die, leading
his own people, since he gave no ground to sorrowful old age.
80 He straightened up and raised his head, leaning on one elbow,
and spoke to the son of Atreus, and asked him a question:
“Who are you, who walk alone through the ships and the army
and through the darkness of night when other mortals are sleeping?
Are you looking for one of your mules, or looking for some companion?
85 Speak, do not come upon me in silence. What would you of me?”
Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon answered him:
“Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaians,
you will know Atreus’ son Agamemnon, whom beyond others
Zeus has involved in hard work forever, as long as life’s wind
90 stays in my breast, as long as my knees have their spring beneath me.
I am driven thus, because the ease of sleep will not settle
on my eyes, but fighting and the cares of the Achaians perplex me.
Terribly I am in dread for the Danaäns, nor does my pulse beat
steadily, but I go distracted, and my heart is pounding
95 through my chest, and my shining limbs are shaken beneath me.
But if you are for action, since sleep comes neither upon you,
let us both go out to the pickets, so that we may see
if they might not have found weariness too much for them, and fallen
asleep, and altogether forgotten their duty, to keep watch.
100 There are men who hate us sitting nearby, nor do we know
that they might not be pondering an attack on us in the darkness.”
Thereupon the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:
“Son of Atreus, most lordly and king of men, Agamemnon,
Zeus of the counsels, I think, will not accomplish for Hektor
105 all his designs and all he hopes for now; I think rather
he will have still more hardships to wrestle, if ever Achilleus
turns again the heart within him from its wearisome anger.
Surely, I will go with you, and let us also awaken
others, the son of Tydeus the spear-famed, and Odysseus,
110 and Aias the swift-footed, and the powerful son of Phyleus.
But if one were to go also and call these others I speak of,
Aias the great, the godlike one, and the lord Idomeneus,
why, their ships lie farthest from us, and are not at all close.
But, beloved as he is and respected, I will still blame
115 Menelaos, even though you be angry, and I will not hide it,
for the way he sleeps and has given to you alone all the hard work.
For now he ought to be hard at work going to all the great men
in supplication. This need that has come is no more endurable.”
Then in turn the lord of men Agamemnon spoke to him:
120 “Aged sir, other times I also would tell you to blame him,
since often he hangs back and is not willing to work hard,
not that he shrinks from it and gives way, nor in the mind’s dullness,
but because he looks to me, and waits till I make a beginning.
But this time he woke far before me, and came to rouse me,
125 and I sent him on to call those you ask after. Therefore
let us go. We shall find those others there with the sentries
before the gates, where I told them to form and assemble.”
Thereupon the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:
“Thus no man of the Argives can disobey him nor find fault
130 with him, whenever he stirs up any of them and gives orders.”
With this speech, he slipped the tunic upon his body
and underneath his shining feet he bound the fair sandals,
and pinned about him a great vermilion mantle sweeping
in a double fold, with a thick fleece of wool upon it.
135 Then he caught up a powerful spear, edged with sharp bronze,
and went on his way down the ships of the bronze-armored Achaians.
First he came on Odysseus, the equal of Zeus in counsel,
and Nestor the Gerenian horseman wakened him from sleep,
speaking aloud, and the wave of the voice swept quick through his hearing
140 and he came forth from his shelter and called out his word to them:
“Why do you wander thus up and down the ships and the army
alone, through the immortal night? What need is upon you?”
Thereupon the Gerenian horseman Nestor answered him:
“Son of Laërtes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus,
145 do not be angry; such grief has fallen upon the Achaians.
Come then with us to waken another, for whom it is becoming
to deliberate the question of running away or of fighting.”
He spoke, and resourceful Odysseus moving back into his shelter
put the bright-patterned shield on his shoulders, and went on with them.
150 They went to the son of Tydeus, Diomedes, and found him
with his gear outside the shelter, and his companions about him
slept with their shields underneath their heads, and their spears beside them
stood upright, the heels driven deep in the ground, and the bronze afar off
glared, like the lightning of Zeus father. The hero
155 slept, with the hide of a field-ranging ox laid beneath him,
but underneath his head was laid out a lustrous blanket.
Nestor the Gerenian horseman stood by to waken him
and roused him, stirring him with his heel, and scolded him to his face:
“Son of Tydeus, wake up! Why do you doze in slumber
160 nightlong? Do you not hear how the Trojans at the break of the flat land
are sitting close to our ships, and narrow ground holds them from us?”
So he spoke, and the other rapidly stirred from his sleeping
and spoke winged words to him and addressed him thus: “Aged sir,
you are a hard man. You are never finished with working.
165 Now are there not other sons of the Achaians younger than you are
who could be going about everywhere to each of the princes
and waking them up? But you, aged sir, are too much for us.”
In turn Nestor the Gerenian horseman said to him:
170 I myself have sons without blame, I have followers,
plenty of them, of whom any could go to summon the princes.
But this difficulty is very great that has come to the Achaians,
since for all of us the decision now stands on the edge of a razor
whether the Achaians shall have life or sorry destruction.
175 But go now to Aias the swift and the son of Phyleus
and waken them—you are younger than I—if truly you have pity.”
He spoke, and the other wrapped his shoulders in the hide of a lion
glowing and huge, that swung to his feet, and took up a spear.
The hero went, and waking the others brought them back with him.
180 Now as these men mingled with the sentries assembling
they found the leaders of the pickets by no means asleep
but all of them were wide awake, and sat by their weapons.
As dogs about the sheep in a yard are restless in watching
as they hear a wild beast boldly moving, who through the timber
185 goes among the mountains, and a clamor rises about him
of men and of dogs, and all their sleep has been broken from them;
so for these the soft ness of sleep was broken from their eyes
as they held the bitter midwatch, since they were turning always
toward the plain, where they heard the Trojans coming and going.
190 The aged man was glad when he saw them, and with speech of good cheer
spoke winged words to them and addressed them thus: “Continue
to keep your watch this way, beloved children, and let not
sleep seize any, lest you become a delight to your enemies.”
So he spoke, and strode on through the ditch, and there followed with him
195 the kings of the Argives, all who had been called into conclave,
and with them went Meriones and Nestor’s glorious
son, since the kings themselves called these to take counsel with them.
After they had crossed the deep-dug ditch they settled
on clean ground, where there showed a space not cumbered with corpses
200 of the fallen, a place whence Hektor the huge had turned back
from destroying the Argives, after the night had darkened about him.
There they seated themselves, and opened words to each other,
and the Gerenian horseman Nestor began speaking among them:
“O my friends, is there no man who, trusting in the daring
205 of his own heart, would go among the high-hearted Trojans?
So he might catch some enemy, who straggled behind them,
or he might overhear some thing that the Trojans are saying,
what they deliberate among themselves, and whether they purpose
to stay where they are, close to the ships, or else to withdraw back
210 into their city, now that they have beaten the Achaians.
Could a man learn this, and then come back again to us
unhurt, why huge and heaven-high would rise up his glory
among all people, and an excellent gift would befall him;
for all those who hold by the ships high power as princes,
215 of all these each one of them will give him a black sheep,
female, with a lamb beneath; there shall be no gift like this one,
one that will be forever by at the feasts and festivals.”
So he spoke, and all of them stayed stricken to silence;
but now Diomedes of the great war cry spoke forth among them:
220 “Nestor, my own heart and my own proud spirit arouse me
to go into the host of the hateful men who lie near us,
the Trojans; but if some other man would go along with me
there would be more comfort in it, and greater confidence.
When two go together, one of them at least looks forward
225 to see what is best; a man by himself, though he be careful,
still has less mind in him than two, and his wits have less weight.”
“He spoke, and many were willing to go with Diomedes.
The two Aiantes were willing, henchman of Ares, and likewise
Meriones, and Nestor’s son altogether willing,
230 and Atreus’ son was willing, Menelaos the spear-famed,
and patient Odysseus too was willing to enter the multitude
of Trojans, since forever the heart in his breast was daring.
Now it was the lord of men, Agamemnon, who spoke to them:
Son of Tydeus, you who delight my heart, Diomedes,
235 pick your man to be your companion, whichever you wish,
the best of all who have shown, since many are eager to do it.
You must not, for the awe that you feel in your heart, pass over
the better man and take the worse, giving way to modesty
and looking to his degree—not even if he be kinglier.”
240 So he spoke, and was frightened for Menelaos of the fair hair.
But now again Diomedes of the great war cry spoke forth:
“If indeed you tell me myself to pick my companion,
how then could I forget Odysseus the godlike, he whose
heart and whose proud spirit are beyond all others forward
245 in all hard endeavors, and Pallas Athene loves him.
Were he to go with me, both of us could come back from the blazing
of fire itself, since his mind is best at devices.”
Then in turn long-suffering brilliant Odysseus answered him:
“Son of Tydeus, do not praise me so, nor yet blame me.
250 These are the Argives, who know well all these matters you speak of.
But let us go: for the night draws far along, and the dawn nears,
the stars have gone far on their course, and the full of the night has passed by,
through two portions, and the third portion is that which is left us.”
So they spoke, and armed themselves in their weapons of terror,
255 and Thrasymedes the stubborn in battle gave the son of Tydeus
a two-edged sword (his own had been left behind by his vessel)
and a shield; and he put over his head a helmet
of bull’s hide, with neither horn nor crest, which is known as
the skull cap, and guards the heads of strong men in battle;
260 while Meriones gave Odysseus a bow and a quiver
and a sword; and he too put over his head a helmet
fashioned of leather; on the inside the cap was cross-strung firmly
with thongs of leather, and on the outer side the white teeth
of a tusk-shining boar were close sewn one after another
265 with craftsmanship and skill; and a felt was set in the center.
Autolykos, breaking into the close-built house, had stolen it
from Amyntor, the son of Ormenos, out of Eleon,
and gave it to Kytherian Amphidamas, at Skandeia;
Amphidamas gave it in turn to Molos, a gift of guest-friendship,
270 and Molos gave it to his son Meriones to carry.
But at this time it was worn to cover the head of Odysseus.
When these two had armed themselves in their weapons of terror
they went on their way, and left behind there all the princes,
and on the right near the way they were taking Pallas Athene
275 sent down a heron to them; indeed, their eyes could not see it
through the darkness of night, but they could hear it crying.
And Odysseus was glad at the bird-sign, and prayed to Athene:
“Hear me, daughter of Zeus of the aegis, you who forever
stand beside me in all hard tasks, nor am I forgotten
280 as I go my ways: now give me the best of your love, Athen
e,
and grant that we come back in glory to the strong-benched vessels
when we have done a great thing that will sadden the Trojans.”
Diomedes of the great war cry spoke in prayer after him:
“Hear me also, Atrytone, daughter of great Zeus.
285 Come with me now as you went with my father, brilliant Tydeus,
into Thebes, when he went with a message before the Achaians,
and left the bronze-armored Achaians beside Asopos
while he carried a word of friendship to the Kadmeians
in that place; but on his way back he was minded to grim deeds
290 with your aid, divine goddess, since you stood in goodwill beside him.
So now again be willing to stand by me, and watch over me,
and I in turn will dedicate you a heifer, broad-browed,
one year old, unbroken, that no man ever led under
the yoke. I will drench her horns in gold and offer her to you.”
295 So they spoke in prayer, and Pallas Athene heard them.
Then, after they had made their prayers to the daughter of great Zeus
they went on their way like two lions into the black night
through the carnage and through the corpses, war gear and dark blood.
Nor did Hektor either permit the high-hearted Trojans
300 to sleep, but had called together in a group all of their great men,
those who were the leaders of Troy and their men of deliberation.
Summoning these he compacted before them his close counsel:
“Who would take upon him this work and bring it to fulfillment
for a huge price? The reward will be one that will suffice him;
305 for I will give a chariot and two strong-necked horses
who are the finest of all beside the fast ships of the Achaians
to him who has the daring, winning honor for himself also,
to go close to the swift-running ships and find out for us
whether the swift ships are guarded, as they were before this,
310 or whether now the Achaians who are beaten under our hands
are planning flight among themselves, and no longer are willing
to guard them by night, now that stark weariness has broken them.”
So he spoke, and all of them were stricken to silence.
But there was one among the Trojans, Dolon, Eumedes’
315 son, the sacred herald’s, a man of much gold and much bronze.
He was an evil man to look on, but was swift-footed;
moreover he was a single son among five sisters.
This man now spoke his word before the Trojans and Hektor: