The Iliad of Homer

by Richmond Lattimore

  from his lungs, and in the heart of every Achaian implanted

  great strength, to carry the battle on, and fight without flinching.

  Now Hera, she of the golden throne, standing on Olympos’

  horn, looked out with her eyes, and saw at once how Poseidon,

  155 who was her very brother and her lord’s brother, was bustling

  about the battle where men win glory, and her heart was happy.

  Then she saw Zeus, sitting along the loftiest summit

  on Ida of the springs, and in her eyes he was hateful.

  And now the lady ox-eyed Hera was divided in purpose

  160 as to how she could beguile the brain in Zeus of the aegis.

  And to her mind this thing appeared to be the best counsel,

  to array herself in loveliness, and go down to Ida,

  and perhaps he might be taken with desire to lie in love with her

  next her skin, and she might be able to drift an innocent

  165 warm sleep across his eyelids, and seal his crafty perceptions.

  She went into her chamber, which her beloved son Hephaistos

  had built for her, and closed the leaves in the door-posts snugly

  with a secret door-bar, and no other of the gods could open it.

  There entering she drew shut the leaves of the shining door, then

  170 first from her adorable body washed away all stains

  with ambrosia, and next anointed herself with ambrosial

  sweet olive oil, which stood there in its fragrance beside her,

  and from which, stirred in the house of Zeus by the golden pavement,

  a fragrance was shaken forever forth, on earth and in heaven.

  175 When with this she had anointed her delicate body

  and combed her hair, next with her hands she arranged the shining

  and lovely and ambrosial curls along her immortal

  head, and dressed in an ambrosial robe that Athene

  had made her carefully, smooth, and with many figures upon it,

  180 and pinned it across her breast with a golden brooch, and circled

  her waist about with a zone that floated a hundred tassels,

  and in the lobes of her carefully pierced ears she put rings

  with triple drops in mulberry clusters, radiant with beauty,

  and, lovely among goddesses, she veiled her head downward

  185 with a sweet fresh veil that glimmered pale like the sunlight.

  Underneath her shining feet she bound on the fair sandals.

  Now, when she had clothed her body in all this loveliness,

  she went out from the chamber, and called aside Aphrodite

  to come away from the rest of the gods, and spoke a word to her:

  190 “Would you do something for me, dear child, if I were to ask you?

  Or would you refuse it? Are you forever angered against me

  because I defend the Danaäns, while you help the Trojans?”

  Then the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, answered her: “Hera,

  honored goddess, daughter to mighty Kronos, speak forth

  195 whatever is in your mind. My heart is urgent to do it

  if I can, and if it is a thing that can be accomplished.”

  Then, with false lying purpose the lady Hera answered her:

  “Give me loveliness and desirability, graces

  with which you overwhelm mortal men, and all the immortals.

  200 Since I go now to the ends of the generous earth, on a visit

  to Okeanos, whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother

  who brought me up kindly in their own house, and cared for me

  and took me from Rheia, at that time when Zeus of the wide brows

  drove Kronos underneath the earth and the barren water.

  205 I shall go to visit these, and resolve their division of discord,

  since now for a long time they have stayed apart from each other

  and from the bed of love, since rancor has entered their feelings.

  Could I win over with persuasion the dear heart within them

  and bring them back to their bed to be merged in love with each other

  210 I shall be forever called honored by them, and beloved.”

  Then in turn Aphrodite the laughing answered her:

  “I cannot, and I must not deny this thing that you ask for,

  you, who lie in the arms of Zeus, since he is our greatest.”

  She spoke, and from her breasts unbound the elaborate, pattern-pierced

  215 zone, and on it are figured all beguilements, and loveliness

  is figured upon it, and passion of sex is there, and the whispered

  endearment that steals the heart away even from the thoughtful.

  She put this in Hera’s hands, and called her by name and spoke to her:

  “Take this zone, and hide it away in the fold of your bosom.

  220 It is elaborate, all things are figured therein. And I think

  whatever is your heart’s desire shall not go unaccomplished.”

  So she spoke, and the ox-eyed lady Hera smiled on her

  and smiling hid the zone away in the fold of her bosom.

  So Aphrodite went back into the house, Zeus’ daughter,

  225 while Hera in a flash of speed left the horn of Olympos

  and crossed over Piēria and Emathia the lovely

  and overswept the snowy hills of the Thracian riders

  and their uttermost pinnacles, nor touched the ground with her feet. Then

  from Athos she crossed over the heaving main sea

  230 and came to Lemnos, and to the city of godlike Thoas.

  There she encountered Sleep, the brother of Death. She clung

  fast to his hand and spoke a word and called him by name: “Sleep,

  lord over all mortal men and all gods, if ever

  before now you listened to word of mine, so now also

  235 do as I ask; and all my days I shall know gratitude.

  Put to sleep the shining eyes of Zeus under his brows

  as soon as I have lain beside him in love. I will give you

  gifts; a lovely throne, imperishable forever,

  of gold. My own son, he of the strong arms, Hephaistos,

  240 shall make it with careful skill and make for your feet a footstool

  on which you can rest your shining feet when you take your pleasure.”

  Then Sleep the still and soft spoke to her in answer:

  “Hera, honored goddess and daughter of mighty Kronos,

  any other one of the gods, whose race is immortal,

  245 I would lightly put to sleep, even the stream of that River

  Okeanos, whence is risen the seed of all the immortals.

  But I would not come too close to Zeus, the son of Kronos,

  nor put him to sleep, unless when he himself were to tell me.

  Before now, it was a favor to you that taught me wisdom,

  250 on the day Herakles, the high-hearted son of Zeus, was sailing

  from Ilion, when he had utterly sacked the city of the Trojans.

  That time I laid to sleep the brain in Zeus of the aegis

  and drifted upon him still and soft, but your mind was devising

  evil, and you raised along the sea the blasts of the racking

  255 winds, and on these swept him away to Kos, the strong-founded,

  with all his friends lost, but Zeus awakened in anger

  and beat the gods up and down his house, looking beyond all others

  for me, and would have sunk me out of sight in the sea from the bright sky

  had not Night who has power over gods and men rescued me.

  260 I reached her in my flight, and Zeus let be, though he was angry

  in awe of doing anything to swift Night’s displeasure.

  Now you ask me to do this other impossible thing for you.”

  Then in turn the lady ox-eyed Hera
answered him:

  “Sleep, why do you ponder this in your heart, and hesitate?

  265 Or do you think that Zeus of the wide brows, aiding the Trojans,

  will be angry as he was angry for his son, Herakles?

  Come now, do it, and I will give you one of the younger

  Graces for you to marry, and she shall be called your lady;

  Pasithea, since all your days you have loved her forever.”

  270 So she spoke, and Sleep was pleased and spoke to her in answer:

  “Come then! Swear it to me on Styx’ ineluctable water.

  With one hand take hold of the prospering earth, with the other

  take hold of the shining salt sea, so that all the undergods

  who gather about Kronos may be witnesses to us.

  275 Swear that you will give me one of the younger Graces,

  Pasithea, the one whom all my days I have longed for.”

  He spoke, nor failed to persuade the goddess Hera of the white arms,

  and she swore as he commanded, and called by their names on all those

  gods who live beneath the Pit, and who are called Titans.

  280 Then when she had sworn this, and made her oath a complete thing,

  the two went away from Lemnos, and the city of Imbros,

  and mantled themselves in mist, and made their way very lightly

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

  to Lekton, where first they left the water, and went on

  285 over dry land, and with their feet the top of the forest was shaken.

  There Sleep stayed, before the eyes of Zeus could light on him,

  and went up aloft a towering pine tree, the one that grew tallest

  at that time on Ida, and broke through the close air to the ether.

  In this he sat, covered over and hidden by the pine branches,

  290 in the likeness of a singing bird whom in the mountains

  the immortal gods call chalkis, but men call him kymindis.

  But Hera light-footed made her way to the peak of Gargaros

  on towering Ida. And Zeus who gathers the clouds saw her,

  and when he saw her desire was a mist about his close heart

  295 as much as on that time they first went to bed together

  and lay in love, and their dear parents knew nothing of it.

  He stood before her and called her by name and spoke to her: “Hera,

  what is your desire that you come down here from Olympos?

  And your horses are not here, nor your chariot, which you would ride in.”

  300 Then with false lying purpose the lady Hera answered him:

  “I am going to the ends of the generous earth, on a visit

  to Okeanos, whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother,

  who brought me up kindly in their own house, and cared for me.

  I shall go to visit these, and resolve their division of discord,

  305 since now for a long time they have stayed apart from each other

  and from the bed of love, since rancor has entered their feelings.

  In the foothills by Ida of the waters are standing

  my horses, who will carry me over hard land and water.

  Only now I have come down here from Olympos for your sake

  310 so you will not be angry with me afterward, if I

  have gone silently to the house of deep-running Okeanos.”

  Then in turn Zeus who gathers the clouds answered her:

  “Hera, there will be a time afterward when you can go there

  as well. But now let us go to bed and turn to lovemaking.

  315 For never before has love for any goddess or woman

  so melted about the heart inside me, broken it to submission,

  as now: not that time when I loved the wife of Ixion

  who bore me Peirithoös, equal of the gods in counsel,

  nor when I loved Akrisios’ daughter, sweet-stepping Danaë,

  320 who bore Perseus to me, pre-eminent among all men,

  nor when I loved the daughter of far-renowned Phoinix, Europa

  who bore Minos to me, and Rhadamanthys the godlike;

  not when I loved Semele, or Alkmene in Thebe,

  when Alkmene bore me a son, Herakles the strong-hearted,

  325 while Semele’s son was Dionysos, the pleasure of mortals;

  not when I loved the queen Demeter of the lovely tresses,

  not when it was glorious Leto, nor yourself, so much

  as now I love you, and the sweet passion has taken hold of me.”

  Then with false lying purpose the lady Hera answered him:

  330 “Most honored son of Kronos, what sort of thing have you spoken?

  If now your great desire is to lie in love together

  here on the peaks of Ida, everything can be seen. Then

  what would happen if some one of the gods everlasting

  saw us sleeping, and went and told all the other immortals

  335 of it? I would not simply rise out of bed and go back

  again, into your house, and such a thing would be shameful.

  No, if this is your heart’s desire, if this is your wish, then

  there is my chamber, which my beloved son Hephaistos

  has built for me, and closed the leaves in the door-posts snugly.

  340 We can go back there and lie down, since bed is your pleasure.”

  Then in turn Zeus who gathers the clouds answered her:

  “Hera, do not fear that any mortal or any god

  will see, so close shall be the golden cloud that I gather

  about us. Not even Helios can look at us through it,

  345 although beyond all others his light has the sharpest vision.”

  So speaking, the son of Kronos caught his wife in his arms. There

  underneath them the divine earth broke into young, fresh

  grass, and into dewy clover, crocus and hyacinth

  so thick and soft it held the hard ground deep away from them.

  350 There they lay down together and drew about them a golden

  wonderful cloud, and from it the glimmering dew descended.

  So the father slept unshaken on the peak of Gargaron

  with his wife in his arms, when sleep and passion had stilled him;

  but gently Sleep went on the run to the ships of the Achaians

  355 with a message to tell him who circles the earth and shakes it,

  Poseidon, and stood close to him and addressed him in winged words:

  “Poseidon, now with all your heart defend the Danaäns

  and give them glory, though only for a little, while Zeus still

  sleeps; since I have mantled a soft slumber about him

  360 and Hera beguiled him into sleeping in love beside her.”

  He spoke so, and went away among the famed races

  of men, and stirred Poseidon even more to defend the Danaäns.

  He sprang among their foremost and urged them on in a great voice:

  “Argives, now once more must we give the best of it to Hektor,

  365 Priam’s son, so he may take our ships and win glory from them?

  Such is his thought and such is his prayer, because now Achilleus

  in the anger of his heart stays still among the hollow ships.

  But there will not be too much longing for him, if the others

  of us can stir ourselves up to stand by each other.

  370 Come; then, do as I say, let us all be won over; let us

  take those shields which are best in all the army and biggest

  and put them on, and cover our heads in the complete shining

  of helmets, and take in our hands our spears that are longest

  and go. I myself will lead the way, and I think that no longer

  375 Hektor, Priam’s son, can stand up to us, for all his fury.

  Let the man stubborn in battle who wears a small s
hield on his shoulder

  give it to a worse man, and put on the shield that is bigger.”

  So he spoke, and they listened hard to him, and obeyed him.

  The kings in person marshaled these men, although they were wounded,

  380 Tydeus’ son, and Odysseus, and Atreus’ son Agamemnon.

  They went among all, and made them exchange their armor of battle,

  and the good fighter put on the good armor, and each gave the worse gear

  to the worse. Then when in the shining bronze they had shrouded their bodies

  they went forward, and Poseidon the shaker of the earth led them

  385 holding in his heavy hand the stark sword with the thin edge

  glittering, as glitters the thunderflash none may close with

  by right in sorrowful division, but fear holds all men back.

  On the other side glorious Hektor ordered the Trojans,

  and now Poseidon of the dark hair and glorious Hektor

  390 strained to its deadliest the division of battle, the one

  bringing power to the Trojans, and the god to the Argives.

  The breaking of the sea washed up to the ships and the shelters

  of the Argives. The two sides closed together with a great war cry.

  Not such is the roaring against dry land of the sea’s surf

  395 as it rolls in from the open under the hard blast of the north wind;

  not such is the bellowing of fire in its blazing

  in the deep places of the hills when it rises inflaming the forest,

  nor such again the crying voice of the wind in the deep-haired

  oaks, when it roars highest in its fury against them,

  400 not so loud as now the noise of Achaians and Trojans

  in voice of terror rose as they drove against one another.

  First glorious Hektor made a cast with his spear at Aias

  since he had turned straight against him, nor missed with his throw

  but struck, there where over his chest were crossed the two straps,

  405 one for the sword with the silver nails, and one for the great shield.

  These guarded the tenderness of his skin. And Hektor, in anger

  because his weapon had been loosed from his hand in a vain cast,

  to avoid death shrank into the host of his own companions.

  But as he drew away huge Telamonian Aias

  410 caught up a rock; there were many, holding-stones for the fast ships,

  rolled among the feet of the fighters; he caught up one of these

  and hit him in the chest next the throat over his shield rim,

  and spun him around like a top with the stroke, so that he staggered