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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="/comments.php?id=410292" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 11</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=410292" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus, harbinger of<br>light alike to mortals and immortals, Jove sent fierce Discord with<br>the ensign of war in her hands to the ships of the Achaeans. She<br>took her stand by the huge black hull of Ulysses' ship which was<br>middlemost of all, so that her voice might carry farthest on either<br>side, on the one hand towards the tents of Ajax son of Telamon, and on<br>the other towards those of Achilles- for these two heroes,<br>well-assured of their own strength, had valorously drawn up their<br>ships at the two ends of the line. There she took her stand, and<br>raised a cry both loud and shrill that filled the Achaeans with<br>courage, giving them heart to fight resolutely and with all their<br>might, so that they had rather stay there and do battle than go home<br>in their ships.<br>The son of Atreus shouted aloud and bade the Argives gird themselves<br>for battle while he put on his armour. First he girded his goodly<br>greaves about his legs, making them fast with ankle clasps of<br>silver; and about his chest he set the breastplate which Cinyras had<br>once given him as a guest-gift. It had been noised abroad as far as<br>Cyprus that the Achaeans were about to sail for Troy, and therefore he<br>gave it to the king. It had ten courses of dark cyanus, twelve of<br>gold, and ten of tin. There were serpents of cyanus that reared<br>themselves up towards the neck, three upon either side, like the<br>rainbows which the son of Saturn has set in heaven as a sign to mortal<br>men. About his shoulders he threw his sword, studded with bosses of<br>gold; and the scabbard was of silver with a chain of gold wherewith to<br>hang it. He took moreover the richly-dight shield that covered his<br>body when he was in battle- fair to see, with ten circles of bronze<br>running all round see, wit it. On the body of the shield there were<br>twenty bosses of white tin, with another of dark cyanus in the middle:<br>this last was made to show a Gorgon's head, fierce and grim, with Rout<br>and Panic on either side. The band for the arm to go through was of<br>silver, on which there was a writhing snake of cyanus with three heads<br>that sprang from a single neck, and went in and out among one another.<br>On his head Agamemnon set a helmet, with a peak before and behind, and<br>four plumes of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it; then he<br>grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears, and the gleam of his<br>armour shot from him as a flame into the firmament, while Juno and<br>Minerva thundered in honour of the king of rich Mycene.<br>Every man now left his horses in charge of his charioteer to hold<br>them in readiness by the trench, while he went into battle on foot<br>clad in full armour, and a mighty uproar rose on high into the<br>dawning. The chiefs were armed and at the trench before the horses got<br>there, but these came up presently. The son of Saturn sent a portent<br>of evil sound about their host, and the dew fell red with blood, for<br>he was about to send many a brave man hurrying down to Hades.<br>The Trojans, on the other side upon the rising slope of the plain,<br>were gathered round great Hector, noble Polydamas, Aeneas who was<br>honoured by the Trojans like an immortal, and the three sons of<br>Antenor, Polybus, Agenor, and young Acamas beauteous as a god.<br>Hector's round shield showed in the front rank, and as some baneful<br>star that shines for a moment through a rent in the clouds and is<br>again hidden beneath them; even so was Hector now seen in the front<br>ranks and now again in the hindermost, and his bronze armour gleamed<br>like the lightning of aegis-bearing Jove.<br>And now as a band of reapers mow swathes of wheat or barley upon a<br>rich man's land, and the sheaves fall thick before them, even so did<br>the Trojans and Achaeans fall upon one another; they were in no mood<br>for yielding but fought like wolves, and neither side got the better<br>of the other. Discord was glad as she beheld them, for she was the<br>only god that went among them; the others were not there, but stayed<br>quietly each in his own home among the dells and valleys of Olympus.<br>All of them blamed the son of Saturn for wanting to Live victory to<br>the Trojans, but father Jove heeded them not: he held aloof from<br>all, and sat apart in his all-glorious majesty, looking down upon<br>the city of the Trojans, the ships of the Achaeans, the gleam of<br>bronze, and alike upon the slayers and on the slain.<br>Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their darts<br>rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as the hour<br>drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest will get<br>his midday meal- for he has felled till his hands are weary; he is<br>tired out, and must now have food- then the Danaans with a cry that<br>rang through all their ranks, broke the battalions of the enemy.<br>Agamemnon led them on, and slew first Bienor, a leader of his<br>people, and afterwards his comrade and charioteer Oileus, who sprang<br>from his chariot and was coming full towards him; but Agamemnon struck<br>him on the forehead with his spear; his bronze visor was of no avail<br>against the weapon, which pierced both bronze and bone, so that his<br>brains were battered in and he was killed in full fight.<br>Agamemnon stripped their shirts from off them and left them with<br>their breasts all bare to lie where they had fallen. He then went on<br>to kill Isus and Antiphus two sons of Priam, the one a bastard, the<br>other born in wedlock; they were in the same chariot- the bastard<br>driving, while noble Antiphus fought beside him. Achilles had once<br>taken both of them prisoners in the glades of Ida, and had bound<br>them with fresh withes as they were shepherding, but he had taken a<br>ransom for them; now, however, Agamemnon son of Atreus smote Isus in<br>the chest above the nipple with his spear, while he struck Antiphus<br>hard by the ear and threw him from his chariot. Forthwith he<br>stripped their goodly armour from off them and recognized them, for he<br>had already seen them at ships when Achilles brought them in from Ida.<br>As a lion fastens on the fawns of a hind and crushes them in his great<br>jaws, robbing them of their tender life while he on his way back to<br>his lair- the hind can do nothing for them even though she be close<br>by, for she is in an agony of fear, and flies through the thick<br>forest, sweating, and at her utmost speed before the mighty monster-<br>so, no man of the Trojans could help Isus and Antiphus, for they<br>were themselves flying panic before the Argives.<br>Then King Agamemnon took the two sons of Antimachus, Pisander and<br>brave Hippolochus. It was Antimachus who had been foremost in<br>preventing Helen's being restored to Menelaus, for he was largely<br>bribed by Alexandrus; and now Agamemnon took his two sons, both in the<br>same chariot, trying to bring their horses to a stand- for they had<br>lost hold of the reins and the horses were mad with fear. The son of<br>Atreus sprang upon them like a lion, and the pair besought him from<br>their chariot. "Take us alive," they cried, "son of Atreus, and you<br>shall receive a great ransom for us. Our father Antimachus has great<br>store of gold, bronze, and wrought iron, and from this he will satisfy<br>you with a very large ransom should he hear of our being alive at<br>the ships of the Achaeans."<br>With such piteous words and tears did they beseech the king, but<br>they heard no pitiful answer in return. "If," said Agamemnon, "you are<br>sons of Antimachus, who once at a council of Trojans proposed that<br>Menelaus and Ulysses, who had come to you as envoys, should be<br>killed and not suffered to return, you shall now pay for the foul<br>iniquity of your father."<br>As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth,<br>smiting him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face uppermost<br>upon the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did Agamemnon smite; he<br>cut off his hands and his head- which he sent rolling in among the<br>crowd as though it were a ball. There he let them both lie, and<br>wherever the ranks were thickest thither he flew, while the other<br>Achaeans followed. Foot soldiers drove the foot soldiers of the foe in<br>rout before them, and slew them; horsemen did the like by horsemen,<br>and the thundering tramp of the horses raised a cloud of dust frim off<br>the plain. King Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and<br>cheering on the Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze-<br>the eddying gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets<br>shrivel and are consumed before the blast of the flame- even so fell<br>the heads of the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus, and<br>many a noble pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the highways<br>of war, for lack of drivers who were lying on the plain, more useful<br>now to vultures than to their wives.<br>Jove drew Hector away from the darts and dust, with the carnage<br>and din of battle; but the son of Atreus sped onwards, calling out<br>lustily to the Danaans. They flew on by the tomb of old Ilus, son of<br>Dardanus, in the middle of the plain, and past the place of the wild<br>fig-tree making always for the city- the son of Atreus still shouting,<br>and with hands all bedrabbled in gore; but when they had reached the<br>Scaean gates and the oak tree, there they halted and waited for the<br>others to come up. Meanwhile the Trojans kept on flying over the<br>middle of the plain like a herd cows maddened with fright when a<br>lion has attacked them in the dead of night- he springs on one of<br>them, seizes her neck in the grip of his strong teeth and then laps up<br>her blood and gorges himself upon her entrails- even so did King<br>Agamemnon son of Atreus pursue the foe, ever slaughtering the hindmost<br>as they fled pell-mell before him. Many a man was flung headlong<br>from his chariot by the hand of the son of Atreus, for he wielded<br>his spear with fury.<br>But when he was just about to reach the high wall and the city,<br>the father of gods and men came down from heaven and took his seat,<br>thunderbolt in hand, upon the crest of many-fountained Ida. He then<br>told Iris of the golden wings to carry a message for him. "Go," said<br>he, "fleet Iris, and speak thus to Hector- say that so long as he<br>sees Agamemnon heading his men and making havoc of the Trojan ranks,<br>he is to keep aloof and bid the others bear the brunt of the battle,<br>but when Agamemnon is wounded either by spear or arrow, and takes to<br>his chariot, then will I vouchsafe him strength to slay till he<br>reach the ships and night falls at the going down of the sun."<br>Iris hearkened and obeyed. Down she went to strong Ilius from the<br>crests of Ida, and found Hector son of Priam standing by his chariot<br>and horses. Then she said, "Hector son of Priam, peer of gods in<br>counsel, father Jove has sent me to bear you this message- so long<br>as you see Agamemnon heading his men and making havoc of the Trojan<br>ranks, you are to keep aloof and bid the others bear the brunt of<br>the battle, but when Agamemnon is wounded either by spear or arrow,<br>and takes to his chariot, then will Jove vouchsafe you strength to<br>slay till you reach the ships, and till night falls at the going<br>down of the sun."<br>When she had thus spoken Iris left him, and Hector sprang full armed<br>from his chariot to the ground, brandishing his spear as he went about<br>everywhere among the host, cheering his men on to fight, and<br>stirring the dread strife of battle. The Trojans then wheeled round,<br>and again met the Achaeans, while the Argives on their part<br>strengthened their battalions. The battle was now in array and they<br>stood face to face with one another, Agamemnon ever pressing forward<br>in his eagerness to be ahead of all others.<br>Tell me now ye Muses that dwell in the mansions of Olympus, who,<br>whether of the Trojans or of their allies, was first to face<br>Agamemnon? It was Iphidamas son of Antenor, a man both brave and of<br>great stature, who was brought up in fertile Thrace the mother of<br>sheep. Cisses, his mother's father, brought him up in his own house<br>when he was a child- Cisses, father to fair Theano. When he reached<br>manhood, Cisses would have kept him there, and was for giving him<br>his daughter in marriage, but as soon as he had married he set out<br>to fight the Achaeans with twelve ships that followed him: these he<br>had left at Percote and had come on by land to Ilius. He it was that<br>naw met Agamemnon son of Atreus. When they were close up with one<br>another, the son of Atreus missed his aim, and Iphidamas hit him on<br>the girdle below the cuirass and then flung himself upon him, trusting<br>to his strength of arm; the girdle, however, was not pierced, nor<br>nearly so, for the point of the spear struck against the silver and<br>was turned aside as though it had been lead: King Agamemnon caught<br>it from his hand, and drew it towards him with the fury of a lion;<br>he then drew his sword, and killed Iphidamas by striking him on the<br>neck. So there the poor fellow lay, sleeping a sleep as it were of<br>bronze, killed in the defence of his fellow-citizens, far from his<br>wedded wife, of whom he had had no joy though he had given much for<br>her: he had given a hundred-head of cattle down, and had promised<br>later on to give a thousand sheep and goats mixed, from the<br>countless flocks of which he was possessed. Agamemnon son of Atreus<br>then despoiled him, and carried off his armour into the host of the<br>Achaeans.<br>When noble Coon, Antenor's eldest son, saw this, sore indeed were<br>his eyes at the sight of his fallen brother. Unseen by Agamemnon he<br>got beside him, spear in hand, and wounded him in the middle of his<br>arm below the elbow, the point of the spear going right through the<br>arm. Agamemnon was convulsed with pain, but still not even for this<br>did he leave off struggling and fighting, but grasped his spear that<br>flew as fleet as the wind, and sprang upon Coon who was trying to drag<br>off the body of his brother- his father's son- by the foot, and was<br>crying for help to all the bravest of his comrades; but Agamemnon<br>struck him with a bronze-shod spear and killed him as he was<br>dragging the dead body through the press of men under cover of his<br>shield: he then cut off his head, standing over the body of Iphidamas.<br>Thus did the sons of Antenor meet their fate at the hands of the son<br>of Atreus, and go down into the house of Hades.<br>As long as the blood still welled warm from his wound Agamemnon went<br>about attacking the ranks of the enemy with spear and sword and with<br>great handfuls of stone, but when the blood had ceased to flow and the<br>wound grew dry, the pain became great. As the sharp pangs which the<br>Eilithuiae, goddesses of childbirth, daughters of Juno and<br>dispensers of cruel pain, send upon a woman when she is in labour-<br>even so sharp were the pangs of the son of Atreus. He sprang on to his<br>chariot, and bade his charioteer drive to the ships, for he was in<br>great agony. With a loud clear voice he shouted to the Danaans, "My<br>friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, defend the ships<br>yourselves, for Jove has not suffered me to fight the whole day<br>through against the Trojans."<br>With this the charioteer turned his horses towards the ships, and<br>they flew forward nothing loth. Their chests were white with foam<br>and their bellies with dust, as they drew the wounded king out of<br>the battle.<br>When Hector saw Agamemnon quit the field, he shouted to the<br>Trojans and Lycians saying, "Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanian warriors,<br>be men, my friends, and acquit yourselves in battle bravely; their<br>best man has left them, and Jove has vouchsafed me a great triumph;<br>charge the foe with your chariots that. you may win still greater<br>glory."<br>With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and as a<br>huntsman hounds his dogs on against a lion or wild boar, even so did<br>Hector, peer of Mars, hound the proud Trojans on against the Achaeans.<br>Full of hope he plunged in among the foremost, and fell on the fight<br>like some fierce tempest that swoops down upon the sea, and lashes its<br>deep blue waters into fury.<br>What, then is the full tale of those whom Hector son of Priam killed<br>in the hour of triumph which Jove then vouchsafed him? First Asaeus,<br>Autonous, and Opites; Dolops son of Clytius, Opheltius and Agelaus;<br>Aesymnus, Orus and Hipponous steadfast in battle; these chieftains<br>of the Achaeans did Hector slay, and then he fell upon the rank and<br>file. As when the west wind hustles the clouds of the white south<br>and beats them down with the fierceness of its fury- the waves of<br>the sea roll high, and the spray is flung aloft in the rage of the<br>wandering wind- even so thick were the heads of them that fell by<br>the hand of Hector.<br>All had then been lost and no help for it, and the Achaeans would<br>have fled pell-mell to their ships, had not Ulysses cried out to<br>Diomed, "Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we thus forget<br>our prowess? Come, my good fellow, stand by my side and help me, we<br>shall be shamed for ever if Hector takes the ships."<br>And Diomed answered, "Come what may, I will stand firm; but we shall<br>have scant joy of it, for Jove is minded to give victory to the<br>Trojans rather than to us."<br>With these words he struck Thymbraeus from his chariot to the<br>ground, smiting him in the left breast with his spear, while Ulysses<br>killed Molion who was his squire. These they let lie, now that they<br>had stopped their fighting; the two heroes then went on playing<br>havoc with the foe, like two wild boars that turn in fury and rend the<br>hounds that hunt them. Thus did they turn upon the Trojans and slay<br>them, and the Achaeans were thankful to have breathing time in their<br>flight from Hector.<br>They then took two princes with their chariot, the two sons of<br>Merops of Percote, who excelled all others in the arts of<br>divination. He had forbidden his sons to go to the war, but they would<br>not obey him, for fate lured them to their fall. Diomed son of<br>Tydeus slew them both and stripped them of their armour, while Ulysses<br>killed Hippodamus and Hypeirochus.<br>And now the son of Saturn as he looked down from Ida ordained that<br>neither side should have the advantage, and they kept on killing one<br>another. The son of Tydeus speared Agastrophus son of Paeon in the<br>hip-joint with his spear. His chariot was not at hand for him to fly<br>with, so blindly confident had he been. His squire was in charge of it<br>at some distance and he was fighting on foot among the foremost<br>until he lost his life. Hector soon marked the havoc Diomed and<br>Ulysses were making, and bore down upon them with a loud cry, followed<br>by the Trojan ranks; brave Diomed was dismayed when he saw them, and<br>said to Ulysses who was beside him, "Great Hector is bearing down upon<br>us and we shall be undone; let us stand firm and wait his onset."<br>He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it, nor did he miss his<br>mark. He had aimed at Hector's head near the top of his helmet, but<br>bronze was turned by bronze, and Hector was untouched, for the spear<br>was stayed by the visored helm made with three plates of metal,<br>which Phoebus Apollo had given him. Hector sprang back with a great<br>bound under cover of the ranks; he fell on his knees and propped<br>himself with his brawny hand leaning on the ground, for darkness had<br>fallen on his eyes. The son of Tydeus having thrown his spear dashed<br>in among the foremost fighters, to the place where he had seen it<br>strike the ground; meanwhile Hector recovered himself and springing<br>back into his chariot mingled with the crowd, by which means he<br>saved his life. But Diomed made at him with his spear and said,<br>"Dog, you have again got away though death was close on your heels.<br>Phoebus Apollo, to whom I ween you pray ere you go into battle, has<br>again saved you, nevertheless I will meet you and make and end of<br>you hereafter, if there is any god who will stand by me too and be<br>my helper. For the present I must pursue those I can lay hands on."<br>As he spoke he began stripping the spoils from the son of Paeon, but<br>Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen aimed an arrow at him, leaning<br>against a pillar of the monument which men had raised to Ilus son of<br>Dardanus, a ruler in days of old. Diomed had taken the cuirass from<br>off the breast of Agastrophus, his heavy helmet also, and the shield<br>from off his shoulders, when Paris drew his bow and let fly an arrow<br>that sped not from his hand in vain, but pierced the flat of<br>Diomed's right foot, going right through it and fixing itself in the<br>ground. Thereon Paris with a hearty laugh sprang forward from his<br>hiding-place, and taunted him saying, "You are wounded- my arrow has<br>not been shot in vain; would that it had hit you in the belly and<br>killed you, for thus the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a lion,<br>would have had a truce from evil."<br>Diomed all undaunted answered, "Archer, you who without your bow are<br>nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in single<br>combat fighting in full armour, your bow and your arrows would serve<br>you in little stead. Vain is your boast in that you have scratched the<br>sole of my foot. I care no more than if a girl or some silly boy had<br>hit me. A worthless coward can inflict but a light wound; when I wound<br>a man though I but graze his skin it is another matter, for my<br>weapon will lay him low. His wife will tear her cheeks for grief and<br>his children will be fatherless: there will he rot, reddening the<br>earth with his blood, and vultures, not women, will gather round him."<br>Thus he spoke, but Ulysses came up and stood over him. Under this<br>cover he sat down to draw the arrow from his foot, and sharp was the<br>pain he suffered as he did so. Then he sprang on to his chariot and<br>bade the charioteer drive him to the ships, for he was sick at heart.<br>Ulysses was now alone; not one of the Argives stood by him, for they<br>were all panic-stricken. "Alas," said he to himself in his dismay,<br>"what will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly before these<br>odds, but it will be worse if I am left alone and taken prisoner,<br>for the son of Saturn has struck the rest of the Danaans with panic.<br>But why talk to myself in this way? Well do I know that though cowards<br>quit the field, a hero, whether he wound or be wounded, must stand<br>firm and hold his own."<br>While he was thus in two minds, the ranks of the Trojans advanced<br>and hemmed him in, and bitterly did they come to me it. As hounds<br>and lusty youths set upon a wild boar that sallies from his lair<br>whetting his white tusks- they attack him from every side and can hear<br>the gnashing of his jaws, but for all his fierceness they still hold<br>their ground- even so furiously did the Trojans attack Ulysses.<br>First he sprang spear in hand upon Deiopites and wounded him on the<br>shoulder with a downward blow; then he killed Thoon and Ennomus. After<br>these he struck Chersidamas in the loins under his shield as he had<br>just sprung down from his chariot; so he fell in the dust and clutched<br>the earth in the hollow of his hand. These he let lie, and went on<br>to wound Charops son of Hippasus own brother to noble Socus. Socus,<br>hero that he was, made all speed to help him, and when he was close to<br>Ulysses he said, "Far-famed Ulysses, insatiable of craft and toil,<br>this day you shall either boast of having killed both the sons of<br>Hippasus and stripped them of their armour, or you shall fall before<br>my spear."<br>With these words he struck the shield of Ulysses. The spear went<br>through the shield and passed on through his richly wrought cuirass,<br>tearing the flesh from his side, but Pallas Minerva did not suffer<br>it to pierce the entrails of the hero. Ulysses knew that his hour<br>was not yet come, but he gave ground and said to Socus, "Wretch, you<br>shall now surely die. You have stayed me from fighting further with<br>the Trojans, but you shall now fall by my spear, yielding glory to<br>myself, and your soul to Hades of the noble steeds."<br>Socus had turned in flight, but as he did so, the spear struck him<br>in the back midway between the shoulders, and went right through his<br>chest. He fell heavily to the ground and Ulysses vaunted over him<br>saying, "O Socus, son of Hippasus tamer of horses, death has been<br>too quick for you and you have not escaped him: poor wretch, not<br>even in death shall your father and mother close your eyes, but the<br>ravening vultures shall enshroud you with the flapping of their dark<br>wings and devour you. Whereas even though I fall the Achaeans will<br>give me my due rites of burial."<br>So saying he drew Socus's heavy spear out of his flesh and from<br>his shield, and the blood welled forth when the spear was withdrawn so<br>that he was much dismayed. When the Trojans saw that Ulysses was<br>bleeding they raised a great shout and came on in a body towards<br>him; he therefore gave ground, and called his comrades to come and<br>help him. Thrice did he cry as loudly as man can cry, and thrice did<br>brave Menelaus hear him; he turned, therefore, to Ajax who was close<br>beside him and said, "Ajax, noble son of Telamon, captain of your<br>people, the cry of Ulysses rings in my ears, as though the Trojans had<br>cut him off and were worsting him while he is single-handed. Let us<br>make our way through the throng; it will be well that we defend him; I<br>fear he may come to harm for all his valour if he be left without<br>support, and the Danaans would miss him sorely."<br>He led the way and mighty Ajax went with him. The Trojans had<br>gathered round Ulysses like ravenous mountain jackals round the<br>carcase of some homed stag that has been hit with an arrow- the stag<br>has fled at full speed so long as his blood was warm and his<br>strength has lasted, but when the arrow has overcome him, the savage<br>jackals devour him in the shady glades of the forest. Then heaven<br>sends a fierce lion thither, whereon the jackals fly in terror and the<br>lion robs them of their prey- even so did Trojans many and brave<br>gather round crafty Ulysses, but the hero stood at bay and kept them<br>off with his spear. Ajax then came up with his shield before him<br>like a wall, and stood hard by, whereon the Trojans fled in all<br>directions. Menelaus took Ulysses by the hand, and led him out of<br>the press while his squire brought up his chariot, but Ajax rushed<br>furiously on the Trojans and killed Doryclus, a bastard son of<br>Priam; then he wounded Pandocus, Lysandrus, Pyrasus, and Pylartes;<br>as some swollen torrent comes rushing in full flood from the mountains<br>on to the plain, big with the rain of heaven- many a dry oak and<br>many a pine does it engulf, and much mud does it bring down and cast<br>into the sea- even so did brave Ajax chase the foe furiously over<br>the plain, slaying both men and horses.<br>Hector did not yet know what Ajax was doing, for he was fighting<br>on the extreme left of the battle by the banks of the river Scamander,<br>where the carnage was thickest and the war-cry loudest round Nestor<br>and brave Idomeneus. Among these Hector was making great slaughter<br>with his spear and furious driving, and was destroying the ranks<br>that were opposed to him; still the Achaeans would have given no<br>ground, had not Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen stayed the<br>prowess of Machaon shepherd of his people, by wounding him in the<br>right shoulder with a triple-barbed arrow. The Achaeans were in<br>great fear that as the fight had turned against them the Trojans might<br>take him prisoner, and Idomeneus said to Nestor, "Nestor son of<br>Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, mount your chariot at once; take<br>Machaon with you and drive your horses to the ships as fast as you<br>can. A physician is worth more than several other men put together,<br>for he can cut out arrows and spread healing herbs."<br>Nestor knight of Gerene did as Idomeneus had counselled; he at<br>once mounted his chariot, and Machaon son of the famed physician<br>Aesculapius went with him. He lashed his horses and they flew onward<br>nothing loth towards the ships, as though of their own free will.<br>Then Cebriones seeing the Trojans in confusion said to Hector from<br>his place beside him, "Hector, here are we two fighting on the extreme<br>wing of the battle, while the other Trojans are in pell-mell rout,<br>they and their horses. Ajax son of Telamon is driving them before him;<br>I know him by the breadth of his shield: let us turn our chariot and<br>horses thither, where horse and foot are fighting most desperately,<br>and where the cry of battle is loudest."<br>With this he lashed his goodly steeds, and when they felt the whip<br>they drew the chariot full speed among the Achaeans and Trojans,<br>over the bodies and shields of those that had fallen: the axle was<br>bespattered with blood, and the rail round the car was covered with<br>splashes both from the horses' hoofs and from the tyres of the wheels.<br>Hector tore his way through and flung himself into the thick of the<br>fight, and his presence threw the Danaans into confusion, for his<br>spear was not long idle; nevertheless though he went among the ranks<br>with sword and spear, and throwing great stones, he avoided Ajax son<br>of Telamon, for Jove would have been angry with him if he had fought a<br>better man than himself.<br>Then father Jove from his high throne struck fear into the heart<br>of Ajax, so that he stood there dazed and threw his shield behind him-<br>looking fearfully at the throng of his foes as though he were some<br>wild beast, and turning hither and thither but crouching slowly<br>backwards. As peasants with their hounds chase a lion from their<br>stockyard, and watch by night to prevent his carrying off the pick<br>of their herd- he makes his greedy spring, but in vain, for the<br>darts from many a strong hand fall thick around him, with burning<br>brands that scare him for all his fury, and when morning comes he<br>slinks foiled and angry away- even so did Ajax, sorely against his<br>will, retreat angrily before the Trojans, fearing for the ships of the<br>Achaeans. Or as some lazy ass that has had many a cudgel broken<br>about his back, when he into a field begins eating the corn- boys beat<br>him but he is too many for them, and though they lay about with<br>their sticks they cannot hurt him; still when he has had his fill they<br>at last drive him from the field- even so did the Trojans and their<br>allies pursue great Ajax, ever smiting the middle of his shield with<br>their darts. Now and again he would turn and show fight, keeping<br>back the battalions of the Trojans, and then he would again retreat;<br>but he prevented any of them from making his way to the ships.<br>Single-handed he stood midway between the Trojans and Achaeans: the<br>spears that sped from their hands stuck some of them in his mighty<br>shield, while many, though thirsting for his blood, fell to the ground<br>ere they could reach him to the wounding of his fair flesh.<br>Now when Eurypylus the brave son of Euaemon saw that Ajax was<br>being overpowered by the rain of arrows, he went up to him and<br>hurled his spear. He struck Apisaon son of Phausius in the liver below<br>the midriff, and laid him low. Eurypylus sprang upon him, and stripped<br>the armour from his shoulders; but when Alexandrus saw him, he aimed<br>an arrow at him which struck him in the right thigh; the arrow<br>broke, but the point that was left in the wound dragged on the<br>thigh; he drew back, therefore, under cover of his comrades to save<br>his life, shouting as he did so to the Danaans, "My friends, princes<br>and counsellors of the Argives, rally to the defence of Ajax who is<br>being overpowered, and I doubt whether he will come out of the fight<br>alive. Hither, then, to the rescue of great Ajax son of Telamon."<br>Even so did he cry when he was wounded; thereon the others came<br>near, and gathered round him, holding their shields upwards from their<br>shoulders so as to give him cover. Ajax then made towards them, and<br>turned round to stand at bay as soon as he had reached his men.<br>Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the<br>mares of Neleus, all in a lather with sweat, were bearing Nestor out<br>of the fight, and with him Machaon shepherd of his people. Achilles<br>saw and took note, for he was standing on the stern of his ship<br>watching the hard stress and struggle of the fight. He called from the<br>ship to his comrade Patroclus, who heard him in the tent and came<br>out looking like Mars himself- here indeed was the beginning of the<br>ill that presently befell him. "Why," said he, "Achilles do you call<br>me? what do you what do you want with me?" And Achilles answered,<br>"Noble son of Menoetius, man after my own heart, I take it that I<br>shall now have the Achaeans praying at my knees, for they are in great<br>straits; go, Patroclus, and ask Nestor who is that he is bearing<br>away wounded from the field; from his back I should say it was Machaon<br>son of Aesculapius, but I could not see his face for the horses went<br>by me at full speed."<br>Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him, and set off<br>running by the ships and tents of the Achaeans.<br>When Nestor and Machaon had reached the tents of the son of<br>Neleus, they dismounted, and an esquire, Eurymedon, took the horses<br>from the chariot. The pair then stood in the breeze by the seaside<br>to dry the sweat from their shirts, and when they had so done they<br>came inside and took their seats. Fair Hecamede, whom Nestor had had<br>awarded to him from Tenedos when Achilles took it, mixed them a<br>mess; she was daughter of wise Arsinous, and the Achaeans had given<br>her to Nestor because he excelled all of them in counsel. First she<br>set for them a fair and well-made table that had feet of cyanus; on it<br>there was a vessel of bronze and an onion to give relish to the drink,<br>with honey and cakes of barley-meal. There was also a cup of rare<br>workmanship which the old man had brought with him from home,<br>studded with bosses of gold; it had four handles, on each of which<br>there were two golden doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand<br>on. Any one else would hardly have been able to lift it from the table<br>when it was full, but Nestor could do so quite easily. In this the<br>woman, as fair as a goddess, mixed them a mess with Pramnian wine; she<br>grated goat's milk cheese into it with a bronze grater, threw in a<br>handful of white barley-meal, and having thus prepared the mess she<br>bade them drink it. When they had done so and had thus quenched<br>their thirst, they fell talking with one another, and at this moment<br>Patroclus appeared at the door.<br>When the old man saw him he sprang from his seat, seized his hand,<br>led him into the tent, and bade him take his place among them; but<br>Patroclus stood where he was and said, "Noble sir, I may not stay, you<br>cannot persuade me to come in; he that sent me is not one to be<br>trifled with, and he bade me ask who the wounded man was whom you were<br>bearing away from the field. I can now see for myself that he is<br>Machaon shepherd of his people. I must go back and tell Achilles. You,<br>sir, know what a terrible man he is, and how ready to blame even where<br>no blame should lie."<br>And Nestor answered, "Why should Achilles care to know how many of<br>the Achaeans may be wounded? He recks not of the dismay that reigns in<br>our host; our most valiant chieftains lie disabled, brave Diomed son<br>of Tydeus is wounded; so are Ulysses and Agamemnon; Eurypylus has been<br>hit with an arrow in the thigh, and I have just been bringing this man<br>from the field- he too wounded- with an arrow; nevertheless<br>Achilles, so valiant though he be, cares not and knows no ruth. Will<br>he wait till the ships, do what we may, are in a blaze, and we<br>perish one upon the other? As for me, I have no strength nor stay in<br>me any longer; would that I Were still young and strong as in the days<br>when there was a fight between us and the men of Elis about some<br>cattle-raiding. I then killed Itymoneus the valiant son of Hypeirochus<br>a dweller in Elis, as I was driving in the spoil; he was hit by a dart<br>thrown my hand while fighting in the front rank in defence of his<br>cows, so he fell and the country people around him were in great fear.<br>We drove off a vast quantity of booty from the plain, fifty herds of<br>cattle and as many flocks of sheep; fifty droves also of pigs, and<br>as many wide-spreading flocks of goats. Of horses moreover we seized a<br>hundred and fifty, all of them mares, and many had foals running<br>with them. All these did we drive by night to Pylus the city of<br>Neleus, taking them within the city; and the heart of Neleus was<br>glad in that I had taken so much, though it was the first time I had<br>ever been in the field. At daybreak the heralds went round crying that<br>all in Elis to whom there was a debt owing should come; and the<br>leading Pylians assembled to divide the spoils. There were many to<br>whom the Epeans owed chattels, for we men of Pylus were few and had<br>been oppressed with wrong; in former years Hercules had come, and<br>had laid his hand heavy upon us, so that all our best men had<br>perished. Neleus had had twelve sons, but I alone was left; the others<br>had all been killed. The Epeans presuming upon all this had looked<br>down upon us and had done us much evil. My father chose a herd of<br>cattle and a great flock of sheep- three hundred in all- and he took<br>their shepherds with him, for there was a great debt due to him in<br>Elis, to wit four horses, winners of prizes. They and their chariots<br>with them had gone to the games and were to run for a tripod, but King<br>Augeas took them, and sent back their driver grieving for the loss<br>of his horses. Neleus was angered by what he had both said and done,<br>and took great value in return, but he divided the rest, that no man<br>might have less than his full share.<br>"Thus did we order all things, and offer sacrifices to the gods<br>throughout the city; but three days afterwards the Epeans came in a<br>body, many in number, they and their chariots, in full array, and with<br>them the two Moliones in their armour, though they were still lads and<br>unused to fighting. Now there is a certain town, Thryoessa, perched<br>upon a rock on the river Alpheus, the border city Pylus; this they<br>would destroy, and pitched their camp about it, but when they had<br>crossed their whole plain, Minerva darted down by night from Olympus<br>and bade us set ourselves in array; and she found willing soldiers<br>in Pylos, for the men meant fighting. Neleus would not let me arm, and<br>hid my horses, for he said that as yet I could know nothing about war;<br>nevertheless Minerva so ordered the fight that, all on foot as I<br>was, I fought among our mounted forces and vied with the foremost of<br>them. There is a river Minyeius that falls into the sea near Arene,<br>and there they that were mounted (and I with them) waited till<br>morning, when the companies of foot soldiers came up with us in force.<br>Thence in full panoply and equipment we came towards noon to the<br>sacred waters of the Alpheus, and there we offered victims to almighty<br>Jove, with a bull to Alpheus, another to Neptune, and a herd-heifer to<br>Minerva. After this we took supper in our companies, and laid us<br>down to rest each in his armour by the river.<br>"The Epeans were beleaguering the city and were determined to take<br>it, but ere this might be there was a desperate fight in store for<br>them. When the sun's rays began to fall upon the earth we joined<br>battle, praying to Jove and to Minerva, and when the fight had<br>begun, I was the first to kill my man and take his horses- to wit<br>the warrior Mulius. He was son-in-law to Augeas, having married his<br>eldest daughter, golden-haired Agamede, who knew the virtues of<br>every herb which grows upon the face of the earth. I speared him as he<br>was coming towards me, and when he fell headlong in the dust, I sprang<br>upon his chariot and took my place in the front ranks. The Epeans fled<br>in all directions when they saw the captain of their horsemen (the<br>best man they had) laid low, and I swept down on them like a<br>whirlwind, taking fifty chariots- and in each of them two men bit<br>the dust, slain by my spear. I should have even killed the two<br>Moliones sons of Actor, unless their real father, Neptune lord of<br>the earthquake, had hidden them in a thick mist and borne them out<br>of the fight. Thereon Jove vouchsafed the Pylians a great victory, for<br>we chased them far over the plain, killing the men and bringing in<br>their armour, till we had brought our horses to Buprasium rich in<br>wheat and to the Olenian rock, with the hill that is called Alision,<br>at which point Minerva turned the people back. There I slew the last<br>man and left him; then the Achaeans drove their horses back from<br>Buprasium to Pylos and gave thanks to Jove among the gods, and among<br>mortal men to Nestor.<br>"Such was I among my peers, as surely as ever was, but Achilles is<br>for keeping all his valour for himself; bitterly will he rue it<br>hereafter when the host is being cut to pieces. My good friend, did<br>not Menoetius charge you thus, on the day when he sent you from Phthia<br>to Agamemnon? Ulysses and I were in the house, inside, and heard all<br>that he said to you; for we came to the fair house of Peleus while<br>beating up recruits throughout all Achaea, and when we got there we<br>found Menoetius and yourself, and Achilles with you. The old knight<br>Peleus was in the outer court, roasting the fat thigh-bones of a<br>heifer to Jove the lord of thunder; and he held a gold chalice in<br>his hand from which he poured drink-offerings of wine over the burning<br>sacrifice. You two were busy cutting up the heifer, and at that moment<br>we stood at the gates, whereon Achilles sprang to his feet, led us<br>by the hand into the house, placed us at table, and set before us such<br>hospitable entertainment as guests expect. When we had satisfied<br>ourselves with meat and drink, I said my say and urged both of you<br>to join us. You were ready enough to do so, and the two old men<br>charged you much and straitly. Old Peleus bade his son Achilles<br>fight ever among the foremost and outvie his peers, while Menoetius<br>the son of Actor spoke thus to you: 'My son,' said he, 'Achilles is of<br>nobler birth than you are, but you are older than he, though he is far<br>the better man of the two. Counsel him wisely, guide him in the<br>right way, and he will follow you to his own profit.' Thus did your<br>father charge you, but you have forgotten; nevertheless, even now, say<br>all this to Achilles if he will listen to you. Who knows but with<br>heaven's help you may talk him over, for it is good to take a friend's<br>advice. If, however, he is fearful about some oracle, or if his mother<br>has told him something from Jove, then let him send you, and let the<br>rest of the Myrmidons follow with you, if perchance you may bring<br>light and saving to the Danaans. And let him send you into battle clad<br>in his own armour, that the Trojans may mistake you for him and<br>leave off fighting; the sons of the Achaeans may thus have time to get<br>their breath, for they are hard pressed and there is little<br>breathing time in battle. You, who are fresh, might easily drive a<br>tired enemy back to his walls and away from the tents and ships."<br>With these words he moved the heart of Patroclus, who set off<br>running by the line of the ships to Achilles, descendant of Aeacus.<br>When he had got as far as the ships of Ulysses, where was their<br>place of assembly and court of justice, with their altars dedicated to<br>the gods, Eurypylus son of Euaemon met him, wounded in the thigh<br>with an arrow, and limping out of the fight. Sweat rained from his<br>head and shoulders, and black blood welled from his cruel wound, but<br>his mind did not wander. The son of Menoetius when he saw him had<br>compassion upon him and spoke piteously saying, "O unhappy princes and<br>counsellors of the Danaans, are you then doomed to feed the hounds<br>of Troy with your fat, far from your friends and your native land?<br>say, noble Eurypylus, will the Achaeans be able to hold great Hector<br>in check, or will they fall now before his spear?"<br>Wounded Eurypylus made answer, "Noble Patroclus, there is no hope<br>left for the Achaeans but they will perish at their ships. All they<br>that were princes among us are lying struck down and wounded at the<br>hands of the Trojans, who are waxing stronger and stronger. But save<br>me and take me to your ship; cut out the arrow from my thigh; wash the<br>black blood from off it with warm water, and lay upon it those<br>gracious herbs which, so they say, have been shown you by Achilles,<br>who was himself shown them by Chiron, most righteous of all the<br>centaurs. For of the physicians Podalirius and Machaon, I hear that<br>the one is lying wounded in his tent and is himself in need of<br>healing, while the other is fighting the Trojans upon the plain."<br>"Hero Eurypylus," replied the brave son of Menoetius, "how may these<br>things be? What can I do? I am on my way to bear a message to noble<br>Achilles from Nestor of Gerene, bulwark of the Achaeans, but even so I<br>will not be unmindful your distress."<br>With this he clasped him round the middle and led him into the tent,<br>and a servant, when he saw him, spread bullock-skins on the ground for<br>him to lie on. He laid him at full length and cut out the sharp<br>arrow from his thigh; he washed the black blood from the wound with<br>warm water; he then crushed a bitter herb, rubbing it between his<br>hands, and spread it upon the wound; this was a virtuous herb which<br>killed all pain; so the wound presently dried and the blood left off<br>flowing.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br/></a><a href="https://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="https://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a></strong>, translated by Samuel Butler</div>

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