by Homer
So the feast went on, all day till sundown. No one went short of the pleasures of food or music: Apollo played his magnificent lyre and the Muses sang, voice answering glorious voice. But when the bright lamp of the sun had set, they all went home to bed in the separate houses that the famous lame god Hephaestus with his supreme skill had built for them. Olympian Zeus, lord (610) of the lightning flash, retired to the bed where he usually rested when sweet sleep overcame him. There he went up and slept, with Hera of the golden throne beside him.
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A DREAM, A TESTING AND THE CATALOGUE OF SHIPS
1–207: [Night of 21st day] ZEUS sends a dream that makes Agamemnon think the Greeks are about to win. [22nd day: first day of combat] When Agamemnon tests the morale of the men, they charge for the ships to return home. ATHENE alerts Odysseus, who restrains the senior men and hits out at the ranks.
207–393: The assembly reconvenes and a common soldier Thersites abuses Agamemnon. Odysseus thrashes Thersites, to applause. Odysseus and Nestor give morale-boosting speeches. The Greeks prepare for battle.
394–483: The army feeds, Agamemnon offers a sacrifice and a prayer. Nestor suggests the troops now assemble. The troops are marshalled with ATHENE’s help.
484–779: The catalogue of Greek ships.
780–815: The goddess IRIS alerts the Trojans and their leader Hector to the Greek threat.
816–77: The catalogue of Trojan contingents.
The other gods and all the fighting men slept through the night, but there was no such soothing sleep for Zeus. He was wondering how to honour Achilles and have the Greeks slaughtered in multitudes by their ships. He decided that the best way would be to send Agamemnon son of Atreus a destructive dream. So he spoke to one with winged words:
[Night 21] ZEUS sends Agamemnon a dream
‘Off you go, destructive dream, to the Greek ships. Go to (10) Agamemnon in his hut and repeat to him exactly what I say. Tell him to prepare his long-haired Greeks for battle at once. His chance of capturing the Trojans’ town with its broad streets
has come; the immortals that live on Olympus are no longer divided on that issue. Hera’s entreaties have brought us all round, and the Trojans’ fate is sealed.’
So he spoke, and the dream heard his instructions and left. It was soon at the Greek ships, where it sought out Agamemnon (20) and found him lying fast asleep in his hut. Assuming the appearance of Nestor, son of Neleus, Agamemnon’s most valued adviser, it stood over his head and said:
‘You sleep, son of the wise horse-tamer Atreus. It is not right for one in authority who has an army in his charge, a man with much on his mind, to sleep all night. Listen to me now and understand that I come from Zeus who, far off as he is, is much concerned on your behalf and pities you. He tells you to prepare your long-haired Greeks for battle at once. Your chance of (30) capturing the Trojans’ town with its broad streets has come; the immortals that live on Olympus are no longer divided on that issue. Hera’s entreaties have brought them all round, and the Trojans’ fate is sealed by Zeus. Remember what I have said and do not forget it, when you emerge from sweet sleep.’
With these words the dream went off, leaving Agamemnon with a false picture of the future in his mind. He imagined he would capture Priam’s town that very day, the fool. He little (40) knew what Zeus intended, nor all the sufferings and sorrows he had in store for both sides in the heat of battle.
When he woke from his sleep, the divine voice was all about him. He sat up, got to his feet and put on a fine, soft, new-made tunic and over that a great cloak. He bound a fine pair of sandals on his gleaming feet, slung a silver-riveted sword round his shoulders, picked up his ancestral, indestructible sceptre and with this in his hand walked down to the ships of the bronze-armoured Greeks.
[Day 22, combat begins] Agamemnon reports the dream
When the goddess Dawn reached high Olympus, announcing the new day to Zeus and the other gods, Agamemnon ordered his clear-voiced heralds to summon the long-haired Greeks to assembly. The heralds cried their summons, (50) and the warriors quickly gathered.
But first Agamemnon arranged a council of his senior advisers beside the ship of Nestor, lord of Pylos, and when he had called them together, he outlined his carefully considered plan:
‘Friends, I was visited in my sleep by a dream from the gods which came to me through the immortal night, and in its appearance, size and physique, it looked very similar to godlike Nestor. It stood above my head and instructed me as follows: (60) ”You sleep, son of the wise horse-tamer Atreus. It is not right for one in authority who has an army in his charge, a man with much on his mind, to sleep all night. Listen to me now and understand that I come from Zeus who, far off as he is, is much concerned on your behalf and pities you. He tells you to prepare your long-haired Greeks for battle at once. Your chance of capturing the Trojans’ town with its broad streets has come; the immortals that live on Olympus are no longer divided on that issue. Hera’s entreaties have brought them all round, and the (70) Trojans’ fate is sealed by Zeus. Remember what I have said.’’ With that it flew away, and I woke up.
‘To work, then: we must get the troops under arms. But first, as is my right, I am going to test them by a speech in which I shall tell them to take to their many-benched ships and sail for home. You must dissuade them from all sides.’
With these words Agamemnon sat down, and Nestor, who was lord of sandy Pylos, got up. He had their interests at heart as he rose and addressed them:
(80) ’Friends, rulers and leaders of the Greeks, if any other Greek had told us of a dream like this, we should have thought it false and distanced ourselves from it. But as it is, the man who claims to be best of the Greeks saw it. To work, then: we must get the troops under arms.’
With these words he moved off, signalling the end of the meeting. The other sceptred lords stood up after Nestor and followed the example of this shepherd of the people, and the army hurried forward as troops of swarming bees do, streaming out in relays from a hollow rock. The bees fly in clusters towards (90) the spring flowers and settle in swarms, some here, some there. So the many troops of men marched in squads from their ships and huts in front of the wide sea-shore to the assembly. Rumour, the messenger of Zeus, spread through them like fire, speeding their steps.
And now the assembly became the scene of turmoil. As they sat down, the ground groaned beneath their weight, and above the pandemonium the shouting of nine heralds could be heard, calling them to come to order, stop the din and pay attention to their Olympian-bred leaders. When after some difficulty the troops were brought to order in their seats and had settled down (100) and stopped their chatter, Lord Agamemnon rose holding his sceptre, which Hephaestus himself had made. Hephaestus gave it to lord Zeus son of Cronus, and Zeus to Hermes, the guide and slayer of Argus. Lord Hermes presented it to Pelops the great charioteer, and Pelops passed it on to Atreus, shepherd of the people. When Atreus died, he left it to Thyestes rich in flocks; and he in turn left it to Agamemnon to carry, to be a token of his lordship over many islands and all Argos. Leaning on this sceptre, he spoke to the Greeks:
Agamemnon tests the troops, who run
‘Friends, Greek warriors, servants of the War-god Ares, Zeus son of Cronus has seriously deluded me, a crushing blow. That perverse god once solemnly assured me that we would sack Ilium with its fine walls and return home; but now his advice turns out to be an evil deception, and he is telling me to return home to Argos in disgrace, with half my army lost. It appears that this is what almighty Zeus, who has brought down the high towers of many a town and will destroy others yet, has decided, such is his absolute power.
‘But what a scandal, what a tale for our descendants’ ears, (120) that such a large and excellent force as ours should be engaged so ineffectually, with no final end in sight, in an unsuccessful struggle with a weaker enemy. If we and the Trojans swore a solemn truce and each side held a count, the enemy reckoning only native Trojans and we Greeks numbering off
in tens, with the idea that each of our groups should have a Trojan to pour out its wine – many a group would go without a wine-steward. Such I believe to be the odds we enjoy against the Trojans in the town itself.
(130) ’But they have numerous spear-wielding allies from many
towns, who thwart me at every turn and defeat all my efforts to sack prosperous Ilium. Nine of great Zeus’ years have now passed. The timbers of our ships have rotted, and their rigging has perished. Our wives and little children sit at home and wait for us. Meanwhile the task we set ourselves when we came here remains undone. So I suggest we all do what I now propose – (140) board ship and home to the land of our fathers! The Trojans’ town with its broad streets will never fall to us.’
So he spoke, and his words went straight to the heart of every man in that crowd, except those who had attended the advisory council, and the whole assembly was swayed like the great rollers of the Icarian sea when they are swollen by a south-easter rushing down from Father Zeus’ clouds. As the west wind rushes tumultuously down to sway a deep harvest of corn, and the ears of the crop bend under it, so the whole (150) assembly was swayed. They charged, shouting, for the ships. The dust they kicked up with their feet hung high overhead. They shouted to each other to get hold of the ships and drag them down into the bright sea. They began clearing out the ships’ runways. They even started shifting the props from under the hulls and, in their desire to be off, made a din that reached the sky.
Then the Greeks would have returned home in defiance of destiny, if Hera had not spoken her mind to Athene:
‘Athene Atrytone, daughter of Zeus who drives the storm-cloud, this is a disaster! The Greeks will run away and sail home over the broad back of the sea to the land of their fathers (160) and leave Helen here for Priam and the Trojans to boast about – Helen, for whom so many of her countrymen have died on Trojan soil, far from their own fatherland. But go down among these bronze-armoured Greeks at once and use your eloquence to stop them. Deal with them man by man. Don’t let them drag the curved ships down into the sea.’
ATHENE gets Odysseus to stop the rout
So she spoke, and the goddess grey-eyed Athene complied. She came swooping down from the heights of Olympus and, soon reaching the Greek’s swift ships, found Odysseus, equal in invention to Zeus, rooted to the spot. He had not even touched his good (170) black ship: he was in complete despair. Grey-eyed Athene went up to him and said:
‘Olympian-born son of Laertes, resourceful Odysseus, are you all going to run off like this, falling aboard your many-benched ships to get home to the land of your fathers, and leaving Helen here for Priam and the Trojans to boast about -Helen, for whom so many of her countrymen have died on Trojan soil, far from their own fatherland? Don’t stay here any (180) longer, but go down among the Greek army. Use your eloquence to stop them. Deal with them man by man. Don’t let them drag the curved ships down into the sea.’
So she spoke, and he recognized the voice of the goddess and set out at a run, throwing off his cloak to be picked up by Eurybates, his Ithacan attendant. He went straight to Agamemnon, borrowed from him his indestructible ancestral sceptre and with this in his hand went down among the ships of the bronze-armoured Greeks. When he came upon a lord and a man of rank, he would stand beside him and persuade him gently to stop:
(190) ’You there, it is not right to threaten you: you are no coward. But go back to your seat yourself and make your men do the same. You do not really know what Agamemnon has in mind. This is only an experiment with the men. He will soon take it out on them. Did we not all hear what he said at the council? He will be angry with the troops and may well punish them for this. Olympian-bred rulers have their pride, upheld in authority and championed as they are by Zeus wise in counsel.’
When he saw any ordinary warrior shouting his companions on, he struck him with the sceptre and yelled orders at him:
(200) ’You there, get back to your seat and wait for orders from your superiors! Coward and weakling, you count for nothing in battle or council. We cannot all be leaders here; and mob rule is a bad thing. Let there be one commander only, one ruler, who is given the sceptre of power and the right to rule by Zeus, son of sickle-wielding Cronus.’
So Odysseus acted, asserting his authority over the army; and now they all flocked back to the assembly from their ships and huts with a noise like the waves of the sounding sea which (210) thunder along the length of a beach when the deep lifts up its voice.
Thersites abuses Agamemnon
They all sat down and were brought to order in their places, but for one man who refused to hold his tongue. This was Thersites, who loved the sound of his own voice and had a large store of insulting language at his disposal. He used this gratuitously and offensively to needle his masters whenever he thought it would raise a laugh among the troops. He was the ugliest man that had come to Ilium. He was bandy-legged and limped. His hunched shoulders almost met across his chest; and his head rose to a (220) point where a few short hairs sprouted. Nobody loathed the man more than Achilles and Odysseus, since he was always abusing them, but now it was against godlike Agamemnon that he aimed a shrill torrent of insults. The Greeks felt nothing but anger and resentment at him. Shouting at the top of his voice he directed an abusive lecture at Agamemnon:
‘Son of Atreus, what are you blaming us for now? What more do you want? Your huts are full of bronze, and since we Greeks always give you first choice when we plunder a town, you have the pick of any number of women too. Maybe you are short of (230) gold, a ransom which some horse-taming Trojan will come along with from the town to free a son of his who has been tied up and brought in by myself or another of the men? Or a new girl for you to sleep with and keep all to yourself, though it is not right for you as our leader to create trouble for the army like this.
‘As for you, my feeble friends, disgraces that you are – Greek women, I cannot call you men! – let’s sail for home anyway and leave this man here in Troy to brood over his prizes all by himself. He’ll soon find out how much he depends on us. Why, only a little while ago he dishonoured Achilles, a far better man (240) than he is. He took his prize, removed her in person and now has her for himself. But Achilles hasn’t lost his temper. He is relaxed about it. Otherwise, Agamemnon, that outrage would have been your last.’
So spoke Thersites, abusing Agamemnon shepherd of the people. But godlike Odysseus was quickly at his side and, looking blackly at him, attacked him and taught him a sharp lesson:
Odysseus silences Thersites
Thersites, what a brilliant speaker you are – of pure drivel. Hold your tongue and stop arguing with your leaders. No one else does. In my view, you are the worst of all the Greeks that followed the sons of (250) Atreus to Ilium. So you had better stop criticizing and hurling insults at them with an eye to getting home. Nobody here knows exactly how this business will end. We may return in triumph; we may not. But all you do is sit there and insult Agamemnon son of Atreus, shepherd of the people, for the generosity the Greek warriors show him. Your speech was one long sneer.
‘But I tell you bluntly and I mean it. If I catch you once again acting as mindlessly as this, let my head be parted from my (260) shoulders and Telemachus be called no son of mine, if I don’t get my hands on you, strip you of your clothes – the cloak and tunic that cover your genitals – thrash you, throw you out of the assembly under an ignominious hail of blows and send you blubbering back to the ships.’
So he spoke, and struck him on the back and shoulders with the sceptre. Thersites cowered and burst into tears. A bloody bruise raised by the gold-studded sceptre swelled up on the man’s back. He sat down, terrified and in pain, looked helplessly (270) around and brushed away a tear. The others, disgruntled though they were, had a good laugh at him. They looked at each other and said as one man:
‘Well done! There’s many a fine thing to Odysseus’ credit, what with his brilliant ideas and leadership in battle. But shutting up that ranting windbag in ass
embly is by far the best thing he has done for us. I don’t think the great Thersites will be in a hurry to come here again and sling abuse and insults at our leaders.’
So the gathering spoke. And now Odysseus, sacker of towns, rose to speak with the sceptre in his hand. Grey-eyed Athene, (280) disguising herself as a herald, stood beside him and called the assembly to order, so that Greeks at the back as well as the front could hear his speech and consider his advice. Odysseus had their interests at heart as he rose and addressed them:
Odysseus reminds troops of Calchas’ prophecy
‘Lord Agamemnon, it seems the Greeks are determined to turn you into an object of contempt before all mankind and to break the promise they made you on the voyage here from horse-grazing Greece, that you would never sail home till you had sacked Ilium (290) with its fine walls. The way they whimper to each other about getting back, they might be little children or widowed wives! Not that I deny that our efforts here are enough to send any man away frustrated. A sailor on board his ship will start to get restless when winter gales and rising seas have cooped him up in harbour and kept him from his wife for even a month; but we have hung on here for nine long years. Small blame, then, if the troops are getting restless by the ships.
‘Yet it would be humiliating, after staying here for so long, to return home empty-handed! Be patient, my friends. Hold out a (300) little longer, till we find out whether our priest Calchas prophesies the truth or not. We all know what I mean: in fact you all saw the thing for yourselves – those whom the demons of death have not since come to carry away.
