The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  and the head of the glittering spear cut its way clean through.

  Agamemnon the lord of men shuddered with fear then

  255 but even so did not give up the attack or his fighting

  but sprang at Koön, gripping a spear that struck with the wind’s speed.

  Now Koön was dragging his father’s son, his brother Iphidamas,

  by the foot back eagerly, and cried out on all the bravest,

  but as he dragged him into the crowd, Agamemnon thrust at him

  260 with the smoothed bronze spear underneath the knobbed shield, and unstrung him,

  then came up and hewed off his head over Iphidamas.

  There under the king, Atreus’ son, the sons of Antenor

  filled out their destiny and went down to the house of the death god.

  But Agamemnon ranged the ranks of the other fighters

  265 with spear and sword and with huge stones that he flung, for such time

  as the blood was still running warm from the spear-wound.

  But after the sore place was dry, and the flow of blood stopped,

  the sharp pains began to break in on the strength of Atreides.

  As the sharp sorrow of pain descends on a woman in labor,

  270 the bitterness that the hard spirits of childbirth bring on,

  Hera’s daughters, who hold the power of the bitter birthpangs,

  so the sharp pains began to break in on the strength of Atreides.

  He sprang back into the car, and called to his charioteer

  to drive him back to the hollow ships, since his heart was heavy.

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

  “Friends, O leaders and men of counsel among the Argives,

  you must still continue to defend our seafaring vessels

  from the wearying attack, since Zeus of the counsels would not

  allow me to do battle daylong against the Trojans.”

  280 He spoke, and the charioteer lashed on the bright-maned horses

  back toward the hollow ships, and they winged their way unreluctant.

  The foam ran down their chests, they were powdered with dust from beneath them

  as they carried the stricken king away from the fighting.

  When Hektor was aware of Agamemnon withdrawing

  285 he called out in a great voice to Trojans and Lykians:

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

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

  Their best man is gone, and Zeus, Kronos’ son, has consented

  to my great glory; but steer your single-foot horses straight on

  290 at the powerful Danaäns, so win you the higher glory.”

  So he spoke, and stirred the spirit and strength in each man.

  As when some huntsman drives to action his hounds with shining

  teeth against some savage beast, wild boar or lion,

  so against the Achaians Hektor the son of Priam,

  295 a man like the murderous war god, lashed on the high-hearted Trojans.

  And he himself with high thoughts strode out in the foremost

  and hurled himself on the struggle of men like a high-blown storm-cloud

  which swoops down from above to trouble the blue sea-water.

  Who then was the first, and who the last that he slaughtered,

  300 Hektor, Priam’s son, now that Zeus granted him glory?

  Asaios first, and then Autonoös and Opites,

  and Dolops, Klytios’ son, Opheltios and Agelaos,

  and Aisymnos, and Oros, and Hipponoös stubborn in battle.

  He killed these, who were lords of the Danaäns, and thereafter

  305 the multitude, as when the west wind strikes in the deepening

  whirlstorm to batter the clouds of the shining south wind,

  so that the bulging big waves roll hard and the blown spume

  scatters high before the force of the veering wind’s blast.

  So the massed high heads of the people were struck down by Hektor.

  310 And now there might have been havoc and hopeless things done, now

  the running Achaians might have tumbled back into their own ships

  had not Odysseus cried out to Tydeus’ son, Diomedes:

  “Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we have forgotten

  our fighting strength? Come here and stand with me, brother. There must be

  315 shame on us, if Hektor of the glancing helm captures our vessels.”

  Then in answer powerful Diomedes spoke to him:

  “Yes, I will stand with you and take what I must, yet

  we shall not have our way for long, since Zeus the cloud-gatherer

  would wish to give the power to the Trojans rather than to us.”

  320 He spoke, and hurled down Thymbraios to the ground from his horses

  with a stroke of the spear by the left nipple. Meanwhile Odysseus

  killed this lord of battle’s henchman, godlike Molion.

  They left these to lie there, since they had ended their fighting,

  then went into the ranks and wrought havoc, as when two wild boars

  325 hurl themselves in their pride upon the hounds who pursue them.

  So they whirled on the Trojans again and destroyed them. Meanwhile

  the Achaians gladly drew breath again after their flight from great Hektor.

  There they took a chariot and two men, lords in their countryside,

  sons both of Merops of Perkote, who beyond all men

  330 knew the art of prophecy, and tried to prevent his two sons

  from going into the battle where men die. Yet these would not

  listen, for the spirits of dark death were driving them onward.

  Tydeus’ son, Diomedes of the renowned spear, stripped them

  of life and spirit, and took away their glorious armor

  335 while Odysseus killed Hypeirochos and Hippodamos.

  There the son of Kronos strained the battle even between them

  as he looked down from Ida. They went on killing each other.

  Now Tydeus’ son stabbed with the spear Agastrophos, a chief

  and son of Paion, striking at the hip joint. His horses

  340 were not by for his escape, but he, strongly infatuate,

  had a henchman holding them aside, while he, dismounted,

  raged on among the champions until so he lost his dear life.

  Hektor saw it sharply across the ranks and rose up against them

  with a great cry, and behind him came on the Trojan battalions.

  345 Diomedes of the great war cry shivered as he saw him

  and suddenly he spoke to Odysseus as he came near:

  “Here is this curse, Hektor the huge, wheeling down upon us.

  Let us stand, and hold our ground against him, and beat him off from us.”

  So he spoke, and balanced the spear far-shadowed, and threw it

  350 aiming at the head, and struck against his mark, nor missed it,

  at the high peak of the helm, but the bronze from the bronze was driven

  back, nor reached his shining skin, the helmet guarded it,

  three-ply and hollow-eyed, which Phoibos Apollo gave him.

  But Hektor sprang far away back and merged among his own people,

  355 and dropping to one knee stayed leaning on the ground with his heavy

  hand, and a covering of black night came over both eyes.

  But while the son of Tydeus was following his spear’s cast

  far through the front fighters where it fixed in the earth, meanwhile

  Hektor got his wind again, and springing back into his chariot

  360 drove back into the multitude and avoided the dark death.

  Then shaking his spear powerful Diomedes called to him:

  “Once again now you escaped death, dog. And yet the evil

  came near you, but now
once more Phoibos Apollo has saved you,

  he to whom you must pray when you go into the thunder of spears thrown.

  365 Yet I may win you, if I encounter you ever hereafter,

  if beside me also there is some god who will help me.

  Now I must chase whoever I can overtake of the others.”

  He spoke, and set about stripping the spear-famed son of Paion.

  But now Alexandros, the lord of lovely-haired Helen,

  370 pulled his bow against Tydeus’ son, the shepherd of the people,

  leaning against the column, work of men’s hand, on the gravemound

  of Ilos, Dardanos’ son, an elder of the folk in the old days.

  Now Diomedes was stripping the corselet of strong Agastrophos

  from about his chest, and the shining shield from his shoulders

  375 and the heavy helm, as the other pulled his bow at the handgrip

  and shot, and the arrow escaping his hand flew not vain

  but struck the flat of the right foot, and the shaft driven clean through

  stuck in the ground. Then Alexandros, laughing merrily,

  sprang from his hiding-place and cried out his speech of triumph:

  380 “You are hit, and my arrow flew not in vain. How I wish

  I had struck you in the depth of the belly and torn the life from you.

  So the Trojans, who shudder before you as bleating goats do

  before a lion, would have got their wind again after disaster.”

  Then not at all frightened strong Diomedes answered him:

  385 “You archer, foul fighter, lovely in your locks, eyer of young girls.

  If you were to make trial of me in strong combat with weapons

  your bow would do you no good at all, nor your close-showered arrows.

  Now you have scratched the flat of my foot, and even boast of this.

  I care no more than if a witless child or a woman

  390 had struck me; this is the blank weapon of a useless man, no fighter.

  But if one is struck by me only a little, that is far different,

  the stroke is a sharp thing and suddenly lays him lifeless,

  and that man’s wife goes with cheeks torn in lamentation,

  and his children are fatherless, while he staining the soil with his red blood

  395 rots away, and there are more birds than women swarming about him.”

  He spoke, and Odysseus the spear-famed coming up from nearby

  stood in front; so he sat down behind him and pulled out

  the sharp arrow from his foot, and the hard pain came over his flesh.

  He sprang back into the car and called to his charioteer

  400 to drive him back to the hollow ships, since his heart was heavy.

  Now Odysseus the spear-famed was left alone, nor did any

  of the Argives stay beside him, since fear had taken all of them.

  And troubled, he spoke then to his own great-hearted spirit:

  “Ah me, what will become of me? It will be a great evil

  405 if I run, fearing their multitude, yet deadlier if I am caught

  alone; and Kronos’ son drove to flight the rest of the Danaäns.

  Yet still, why does the heart within me debate on these things

  Since I know that it is the cowards who walk out of the fighting,

  but if one is to win honor in battle, he must by all means

  410 stand his ground strongly, whether he be struck or strike down another.”

  While he was pondering these things in his heart and his spirit

  the ranks of the armored Trojans came on against him, and penned him

  in their midst, but made thereby a wound in their ranks, as when

  closing about a wild boar the hounds and the lusty young men

  415 rush him, and he comes out of his lair in the deep of a thicket

  grinding to an edge the white fangs in the crook of the jawbones,

  and these sweep in all about him, and the vaunt of his teeth uprises

  as they await him, terrible though he is, without wavering;

  so closing on Odysseus beloved of Zeus the Trojans

  420 rushed him. First he stabbed lordly Deïopites

  in the shoulder, lunging from above with a stroke of the sharp spear,

  and after him he killed Thoön and Ennomos, and next

  stabbed Chersidamas as he sprang down from behind his horses

  in the navel with a spear’s stroke underneath the massive

  425 shield, and he dropping in the dust clawed the ground with his hand. These

  he leftlying, and stabbed with the spear the son of Hippasos,

  Charops, full brother of Sokos, a man rich in substance. And Sokos

  moved in, a man like a god, to stand over his fallen brother

  and came and stood close by Odysseus and spoke a word to him:

  430 “Honored Odysseus, insatiable of guile and endeavor,

  today you will have two sons of Hippasos to vaunt over

  for having killed two such men as we and stripping our armor,

  or else, stricken underneath my spear, you might lose your own life.”

  He spoke, and stabbed Odysseus’ shield in its perfect circle.

  435 All the way through the glittering shield went the heavy spearhead

  and crashed its way through the intricately wrought corselet,

  and all the skin was torn away from his ribs, yet Pallas

  Athene would not let the point penetrate the man’s vitals.

  Odysseus saw that the fatal end had not yet come to him,

  440 and drew back and spoke a word to Sokos: “Ah, wretch,

  surely now steep destruction is advancing upon you.

  It is true, you have stopped my fighting against the Trojans,

  but I declare that here and now dark death and slaughter

  will come upon you this day, and that beaten down under my spear

  445 you will give glory to me and your life to Hades of the horses.”

  He spoke, and Sokos turning from him was striding in flight

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

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

  He fell, thunderously, and great Odysseus boasted over him:

  450 “Sokos, son of wise Hippasos the breaker of horses,

  death was too quick for you and ran you down; you could not

  avoid it. Wretch, since now your father and your honored mother

  will not be able to close your eyes in death, but the tearing

  birds will get you, with their wings close-beating about you.

  455 If I die, the brilliant Achaians will bury me in honor.”

  So he spoke, and dragged the heavy spear of wise Sokos

  out of his flesh and out of the shield massive in the middle,

  and as it was torn out the blood sprang and his heart was sickened.

  But the great-hearted Trojans, when they saw the blood of Odysseus,

  460 cried aloud through the close battle and all made a charge against him.

  He gave back a little way and called out for his companions.

  Three times he called, as much voice as a man’s head could hold,

  and three times Menelaos the warlike heard him shouting

  and immediately spoke to Aias, who was nearby him:

  465 “Son of Telamon, seed of Zeus, Aias, lord of the people,

  the war cry of patient Odysseus is ringing about me

  with a sound as if he had been cut off by himself, and the Trojans

  were handling him violently in the strong encounter. Therefore

  let us go to him through the battle. It is better to defend him against them.

  470 I fear that, caught alone, he may be hurt by the Trojans

  brave as he is, and so a great loss may befall the Danaäns.”

  He spoke, and led the way, and the other followed, a mortal


  like a god. They found Odysseus beloved of Zeus, and around him

  the Trojans crowded, as bloody scavengers in the mountains

  475 crowd on a horned stag who is stricken, one whom a hunter

  shot with an arrow from the string, and the stag has escaped him, running

  with his feet, while the blood stayed warm, and his knees were springing beneath him.

  But when the pain of the flying arrow has beaten him, then

  the rending scavengers begin to feast on him in the mountains

  480 and the shaded glen. But some spirit leads that way a dangerous

  lion, and the scavengers run in terror, and the lion eats it;

  so about wise much-devising Odysseus the Trojans

  crowded now, valiant and numerous, but the hero

  with rapid play of his spear beat off the pitiless death-day.

  485 Now Aias came near him, carrying like a wall his shield,

  and stood forth beside him, and the Trojans fled one way and another.

  Then taking Odysseus by the hand warlike Menelaos

  led him from the battle, while his henchman drove the horses close up.

  But Aias leaping upon the Trojans struck down Doryklos,

  490 Priam’s son, but a bastard, and thereafter stabbed Pandokos,

  and so also Lysandros and Pyrasos and Pylartes.

  As when a swollen river hurls its water, big with rain,

  down the mountains to the flat land following rain from the sky god,

  and sweeps down with it numbers of dry oaks and of pine trees

  495 numbers, until it hurls its huge drift wood into the salt sea;

  so now glittering Aias cumbered the plain as he chased them,

  slaughtering men and horses alike, nor yet had Hektor

  heard, since he was fighting at the left of the entire battle

  by the banks of Skamandros river, where more than elsewhere

  500 the high heads of men were dropping, and the tireless clamor

  rising about tall Nestor and Idomeneus the warlike.

  Now Hektor was encountering these and doing grim work

  with spear and horsemanship, ruining the battalions of young men.

  Yet even so the Achaians would not have given from his path

  505 had not Alexandros, the lord of lovely-haired Helen,

  stayed from his bravery the shepherd of the people, Machaon,

  hitting him with a three-barbed arrow in the right shoulder.

  And the Achaians whose wind was fury were frightened for him,

  that the enemy might catch him in the backturn of the fighting.