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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="/comments.php?id=410301" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 2</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=410301" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept<br>soundly, but Jove was wakeful, for he was thinking how to do honour to<br>Achilles, and destroyed much people at the ships of the Achaeans. In<br>the end he deemed it would be best to send a lying dream to King<br>Agamemnon; so he called one to him and said to it, "Lying Dream, go to<br>the ships of the Achaeans, into the tent of Agamemnon, and say to<br>him word to word as I now bid you. Tell him to get the Achaeans<br>instantly under arms, for he shall take Troy. There are no longer<br>divided counsels among the gods; Juno has brought them to her own<br>mind, and woe betides the Trojans."<br>The dream went when it had heard its message, and soon reached the<br>ships of the Achaeans. It sought Agamemnon son of Atreus and found him<br>in his tent, wrapped in a profound slumber. It hovered over his head<br>in the likeness of Nestor, son of Neleus, whom Agamemnon honoured<br>above all his councillors, and said:-<br>"You are sleeping, son of Atreus; one who has the welfare of his<br>host and so much other care upon his shoulders should dock his<br>sleep. Hear me at once, for I come as a messenger from Jove, who,<br>though he be not near, yet takes thought for you and pities you. He<br>bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall take<br>Troy. There are no longer divided counsels among the gods; Juno has<br>brought them over to her own mind, and woe betides the Trojans at<br>the hands of Jove. Remember this, and when you wake see that it does<br>not escape you."<br>The dream then left him, and he thought of things that were,<br>surely not to be accomplished. He thought that on that same day he was<br>to take the city of Priam, but he little knew what was in the mind<br>of Jove, who had many another hard-fought fight in store alike for<br>Danaans and Trojans. Then presently he woke, with the divine message<br>still ringing in his ears; so he sat upright, and put on his soft<br>shirt so fair and new, and over this his heavy cloak. He bound his<br>sandals on to his comely feet, and slung his silver-studded sword<br>about his shoulders; then he took the imperishable staff of his<br>father, and sallied forth to the ships of the Achaeans.<br>The goddess Dawn now wended her way to vast Olympus that she might<br>herald day to Jove and to the other immortals, and Agamemnon sent<br>the criers round to call the people in assembly; so they called them<br>and the people gathered thereon. But first he summoned a meeting of<br>the elders at the ship of Nestor king of Pylos, and when they were<br>assembled he laid a cunning counsel before them.<br>"My friends," said he, "I have had a dream from heaven in the dead<br>of night, and its face and figure resembled none but Nestor's. It<br>hovered over my head and said, 'You are sleeping, son of Atreus; one<br>who has the welfare of his host and so much other care upon his<br>shoulders should dock his sleep. Hear me at once, for I am a messenger<br>from Jove, who, though he be not near, yet takes thought for you and<br>pities you. He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you<br>shall take Troy. There are no longer divided counsels among the<br>gods; Juno has brought them over to her own mind, and woe betides<br>the Trojans at the hands of Jove. Remember this.' The dream then<br>vanished and I awoke. Let us now, therefore, arm the sons of the<br>Achaeans. But it will be well that I should first sound them, and to<br>this end I will tell them to fly with their ships; but do you others<br>go about among the host and prevent their doing so."<br>He then sat down, and Nestor the prince of Pylos with all<br>sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus: "My friends," said he,<br>"princes and councillors of the Argives, if any other man of the<br>Achaeans had told us of this dream we should have declared it false,<br>and would have had nothing to do with it. But he who has seen it is<br>the foremost man among us; we must therefore set about getting the<br>people under arms."<br>With this he led the way from the assembly, and the other sceptred<br>kings rose with him in obedience to the word of Agamemnon; but the<br>people pressed forward to hear. They swarmed like bees that sally from<br>some hollow cave and flit in countless throng among the spring<br>flowers, bunched in knots and clusters; even so did the mighty<br>multitude pour from ships and tents to the assembly, and range<br>themselves upon the wide-watered shore, while among them ran<br>Wildfire Rumour, messenger of Jove, urging them ever to the fore. Thus<br>they gathered in a pell-mell of mad confusion, and the earth groaned<br>under the tramp of men as the people sought their places. Nine heralds<br>went crying about among them to stay their tumult and bid them<br>listen to the kings, till at last they were got into their several<br>places and ceased their clamour. Then King Agamemnon rose, holding his<br>sceptre. This was the work of Vulcan, who gave it to Jove the son of<br>Saturn. Jove gave it to Mercury, slayer of Argus, guide and<br>guardian. King Mercury gave it to Pelops, the mighty charioteer, and<br>Pelops to Atreus, shepherd of his people. Atreus, when he died, left<br>it to Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes in his turn left it to be<br>borne by Agamemnon, that he might be lord of all Argos and of the<br>isles. Leaning, then, on his sceptre, he addressed the Argives.<br>"My friends," he said, "heroes, servants of Mars, the hand of heaven<br>has been laid heavily upon me. Cruel Jove gave me his solemn promise<br>that I should sack the city of Priam before returning, but he has<br>played me false, and is now bidding me go ingloriously back to Argos<br>with the loss of much people. Such is the will of Jove, who has laid<br>many a proud city in the dust, as he will yet lay others, for his<br>power is above all. It will be a sorry tale hereafter that an<br>Achaean host, at once so great and valiant, battled in vain against<br>men fewer in number than themselves; but as yet the end is not in<br>sight. Think that the Achaeans and Trojans have sworn to a solemn<br>covenant, and that they have each been numbered- the Trojans by the<br>roll of their householders, and we by companies of ten; think<br>further that each of our companies desired to have a Trojan<br>householder to pour out their wine; we are so greatly more in number<br>that full many a company would have to go without its cup-bearer.<br>But they have in the town allies from other places, and it is these<br>that hinder me from being able to sack the rich city of Ilius. Nine of<br>Jove years are gone; the timbers of our ships have rotted; their<br>tackling is sound no longer. Our wives and little ones at home look<br>anxiously for our coming, but the work that we came hither to do has<br>not been done. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say: let us sail<br>back to our own land, for we shall not take Troy."<br>With these words he moved the hearts of the multitude, so many of<br>them as knew not the cunning counsel of Agamemnon. They surged to<br>and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea, when the east and south<br>winds break from heaven's clouds to lash them; or as when the west<br>wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears bow beneath the blast,<br>even so were they swayed as they flew with loud cries towards the<br>ships, and the dust from under their feet rose heavenward. They<br>cheered each other on to draw the ships into the sea; they cleared the<br>channels in front of them; they began taking away the stays from<br>underneath them, and the welkin rang with their glad cries, so eager<br>were they to return.<br>Then surely the Argives would have returned after a fashion that was<br>not fated. But Juno said to Minerva, "Alas, daughter of<br>aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, shall the Argives fly home to their<br>own land over the broad sea, and leave Priam and the Trojans the glory<br>of still keeping Helen, for whose sake so many of the Achaeans have<br>died at Troy, far from their homes? Go about at once among the host,<br>and speak fairly to them, man by man, that they draw not their ships<br>into the sea."<br>Minerva was not slack to do her bidding. Down she darted from the<br>topmost summits of Olympus, and in a moment she was at the ships of<br>the Achaeans. There she found Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel,<br>standing alone. He had not as yet laid a hand upon his ship, for he<br>was grieved and sorry; so she went close up to him and said, "Ulysses,<br>noble son of Laertes, are you going to fling yourselves into your<br>ships and be off home to your own land in this way? Will you leave<br>Priam and the Trojans the glory of still keeping Helen, for whose sake<br>so many of the Achaeans have died at Troy, far from their homes? Go<br>about at once among the host, and speak fairly to them, man by man,<br>that they draw not their ships into the sea."<br>Ulysses knew the voice as that of the goddess: he flung his cloak<br>from him and set off to run. His servant Eurybates, a man of Ithaca,<br>who waited on him, took charge of the cloak, whereon Ulysses went<br>straight up to Agamemnon and received from him his ancestral,<br>imperishable staff. With this he went about among the ships of the<br>Achaeans.<br>Whenever he met a king or chieftain, he stood by him and spoke him<br>fairly. "Sir," said he, "this flight is cowardly and unworthy. Stand<br>to your post, and bid your people also keep their places. You do not<br>yet know the full mind of Agamemnon; he was sounding us, and ere<br>long will visit the Achaeans with his displeasure. We were not all<br>of us at the council to hear what he then said; see to it lest he be<br>angry and do us a mischief; for the pride of kings is great, and the<br>hand of Jove is with them."<br>But when he came across any common man who was making a noise, he<br>struck him with his staff and rebuked him, saying, "Sirrah, hold<br>your peace, and listen to better men than yourself. You are a coward<br>and no soldier; you are nobody either in fight or council; we cannot<br>all be kings; it is not well that there should be many masters; one<br>man must be supreme- one king to whom the son of scheming Saturn has<br>given the sceptre of sovereignty over you all."<br>Thus masterfully did he go about among the host, and the people<br>hurried back to the council from their tents and ships with a sound as<br>the thunder of surf when it comes crashing down upon the shore, and<br>all the sea is in an uproar.<br>The rest now took their seats and kept to their own several<br>places, but Thersites still went on wagging his unbridled tongue- a<br>man of many words, and those unseemly; a monger of sedition, a<br>railer against all who were in authority, who cared not what he<br>said, so that he might set the Achaeans in a laugh. He was the ugliest<br>man of all those that came before Troy- bandy-legged, lame of one<br>foot, with his two shoulders rounded and hunched over his chest. His<br>head ran up to a point, but there was little hair on the top of it.<br>Achilles and Ulysses hated him worst of all, for it was with them that<br>he was most wont to wrangle; now, however, with a shrill squeaky voice<br>he began heaping his abuse on Agamemnon. The Achaeans were angry and<br>disgusted, yet none the less he kept on brawling and bawling at the<br>son of Atreus.<br>"Agamemnon," he cried, "what ails you now, and what more do you<br>want? Your tents are filled with bronze and with fair women, for<br>whenever we take a town we give you the pick of them. Would you have<br>yet more gold, which some Trojan is to give you as a ransom for his<br>son, when I or another Achaean has taken him prisoner? or is it some<br>young girl to hide and lie with? It is not well that you, the ruler of<br>the Achaeans, should bring them into such misery. Weakling cowards,<br>women rather than men, let us sail home, and leave this fellow here at<br>Troy to stew in his own meeds of honour, and discover whether we<br>were of any service to him or no. Achilles is a much better man than<br>he is, and see how he has treated him- robbing him of his prize and<br>keeping it himself. Achilles takes it meekly and shows no fight; if he<br>did, son of Atreus, you would never again insult him."<br>Thus railed Thersites, but Ulysses at once went up to him and<br>rebuked him sternly. "Check your glib tongue, Thersites," said be,<br>"and babble not a word further. Chide not with princes when you have<br>none to back you. There is no viler creature come before Troy with the<br>sons of Atreus. Drop this chatter about kings, and neither revile them<br>nor keep harping about going home. We do not yet know how things are<br>going to be, nor whether the Achaeans are to return with good<br>success or evil. How dare you gibe at Agamemnon because the Danaans<br>have awarded him so many prizes? I tell you, therefore- and it shall<br>surely be- that if I again catch you talking such nonsense, I will<br>either forfeit my own head and be no more called father of Telemachus,<br>or I will take you, strip you stark naked, and whip you out of the<br>assembly till you go blubbering back to the ships."<br>On this he beat him with his staff about the back and shoulders till<br>he dropped and fell a-weeping. The golden sceptre raised a bloody weal<br>on his back, so he sat down frightened and in pain, looking foolish as<br>he wiped the tears from his eyes. The people were sorry for him, yet<br>they laughed heartily, and one would turn to his neighbour saying,<br>"Ulysses has done many a good thing ere now in fight and council,<br>but he never did the Argives a better turn than when he stopped this<br>fellow's mouth from prating further. He will give the kings no more of<br>his insolence."<br>Thus said the people. Then Ulysses rose, sceptre in hand, and<br>Minerva in the likeness of a herald bade the people be still, that<br>those who were far off might hear him and consider his council. He<br>therefore with all sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus:-<br>"King Agamemnon, the Achaeans are for making you a by-word among all<br>mankind. They forget the promise they made you when they set out<br>from Argos, that you should not return till you had sacked the town of<br>Troy, and, like children or widowed women, they murmur and would set<br>off homeward. True it is that they have had toil enough to be<br>disheartened. A man chafes at having to stay away from his wife even<br>for a single month, when he is on shipboard, at the mercy of wind<br>and sea, but it is now nine long years that we have been kept here;<br>I cannot, therefore, blame the Achaeans if they turn restive; still we<br>shall be shamed if we go home empty after so long a stay- therefore,<br>my friends, be patient yet a little longer that we may learn whether<br>the prophesyings of Calchas were false or true.<br>"All who have not since perished must remember as though it were<br>yesterday or the day before, how the ships of the Achaeans were<br>detained in Aulis when we were on our way hither to make war on<br>Priam and the Trojans. We were ranged round about a fountain<br>offering hecatombs to the gods upon their holy altars, and there was a<br>fine plane-tree from beneath which there welled a stream of pure<br>water. Then we saw a prodigy; for Jove sent a fearful serpent out of<br>the ground, with blood-red stains upon its back, and it darted from<br>under the altar on to the plane-tree. Now there was a brood of young<br>sparrows, quite small, upon the topmost bough, peeping out from<br>under the leaves, eight in all, and their mother that hatched them<br>made nine. The serpent ate the poor cheeping things, while the old<br>bird flew about lamenting her little ones; but the serpent threw his<br>coils about her and caught her by the wing as she was screaming. Then,<br>when he had eaten both the sparrow and her young, the god who had sent<br>him made him become a sign; for the son of scheming Saturn turned<br>him into stone, and we stood there wondering at that which had come to<br>pass. Seeing, then, that such a fearful portent had broken in upon our<br>hecatombs, Calchas forthwith declared to us the oracles of heaven.<br>'Why, Achaeans,' said he, 'are you thus speechless? Jove has sent us<br>this sign, long in coming, and long ere it be fulfilled, though its<br>fame shall last for ever. As the serpent ate the eight fledglings<br>and the sparrow that hatched them, which makes nine, so shall we fight<br>nine years at Troy, but in the tenth shall take the town.' This was<br>what he said, and now it is all coming true. Stay here, therefore, all<br>of you, till we take the city of Priam."<br>On this the Argives raised a shout, till the ships rang again with<br>the uproar. Nestor, knight of Gerene, then addressed them. "Shame on<br>you," he cried, "to stay talking here like children, when you should<br>fight like men. Where are our covenants now, and where the oaths<br>that we have taken? Shall our counsels be flung into the fire, with<br>our drink-offerings and the right hands of fellowship wherein we<br>have put our trust? We waste our time in words, and for all our<br>talking here shall be no further forward. Stand, therefore, son of<br>Atreus, by your own steadfast purpose; lead the Argives on to<br>battle, and leave this handful of men to rot, who scheme, and scheme<br>in vain, to get back to Argos ere they have learned whether Jove be<br>true or a liar. For the mighty son of Saturn surely promised that we<br>should succeed, when we Argives set sail to bring death and<br>destruction upon the Trojans. He showed us favourable signs by<br>flashing his lightning on our right hands; therefore let none make<br>haste to go till he has first lain with the wife of some Trojan, and<br>avenged the toil and sorrow that he has suffered for the sake of<br>Helen. Nevertheless, if any man is in such haste to be at home<br>again, let him lay his hand to his ship that he may meet his doom in<br>the sight of all. But, O king, consider and give ear to my counsel,<br>for the word that I say may not be neglected lightly. Divide your men,<br>Agamemnon, into their several tribes and clans, that clans and<br>tribes may stand by and help one another. If you do this, and if the<br>Achaeans obey you, you will find out who, both chiefs and peoples, are<br>brave, and who are cowards; for they will vie against the other.<br>Thus you shall also learn whether it is through the counsel of<br>heaven or the cowardice of man that you shall fail to take the town."<br>And Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, you have again outdone the sons<br>of the Achaeans in counsel. Would, by Father Jove, Minerva, and<br>Apollo, that I had among them ten more such councillors, for the<br>city of King Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we<br>should sack it. But the son of Saturn afflicts me with bootless<br>wranglings and strife. Achilles and I are quarrelling about this girl,<br>in which matter I was the first to offend; if we can be of one mind<br>again, the Trojans will not stave off destruction for a day. Now,<br>therefore, get your morning meal, that our hosts join in fight. Whet<br>well your spears; see well to the ordering of your shields; give<br>good feeds to your horses, and look your chariots carefully over, that<br>we may do battle the livelong day; for we shall have no rest, not<br>for a moment, till night falls to part us. The bands that bear your<br>shields shall be wet with the sweat upon your shoulders, your hands<br>shall weary upon your spears, your horses shall steam in front of your<br>chariots, and if I see any man shirking the fight, or trying to keep<br>out of it at the ships, there shall be no help for him, but he shall<br>be a prey to dogs and vultures."<br>Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans roared applause. As when the waves<br>run high before the blast of the south wind and break on some lofty<br>headland, dashing against it and buffeting it without ceasing, as<br>the storms from every quarter drive them, even so did the Achaeans<br>rise and hurry in all directions to their ships. There they lighted<br>their fires at their tents and got dinner, offering sacrifice every<br>man to one or other of the gods, and praying each one of them that<br>he might live to come out of the fight. Agamemnon, king of men,<br>sacrificed a fat five-year-old bull to the mighty son of Saturn, and<br>invited the princes and elders of his host. First he asked Nestor<br>and King Idomeneus, then the two Ajaxes and the son of Tydeus, and<br>sixthly Ulysses, peer of gods in counsel; but Menelaus came of his own<br>accord, for he knew how busy his brother then was. They stood round<br>the bull with the barley-meal in their hands, and Agamemnon prayed,<br>saying, "Jove, most glorious, supreme, that dwellest in heaven, and<br>ridest upon the storm-cloud, grant that the sun may not go down, nor<br>the night fall, till the palace of Priam is laid low, and its gates<br>are consumed with fire. Grant that my sword may pierce the shirt of<br>Hector about his heart, and that full many of his comrades may bite<br>the dust as they fall dying round him."<br>Thus he prayed, but the son of Saturn would not fulfil his prayer.<br>He accepted the sacrifice, yet none the less increased their toil<br>continually. When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal<br>upon the victim, they drew back its head, killed it, and then flayed<br>it. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped them round in two layers<br>of fat, and set pieces of raw meat on the top of them. These they<br>burned upon the split logs of firewood, but they spitted the inward<br>meats, and held them in the flames to cook. When the thigh-bones<br>were burned, and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest<br>up small, put the pieces upon spits, roasted them till they were done,<br>and drew them off; then, when they had finished their work and the<br>feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so<br>that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and<br>drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene, began to speak. "King Agamemnon,"<br>said he, "let us not stay talking here, nor be slack in the work<br>that heaven has put into our hands. Let the heralds summon the<br>people to gather at their several ships; we will then go about among<br>the host, that we may begin fighting at once."<br>Thus did he speak, and Agamemnon heeded his words. He at once sent<br>the criers round to call the people in assembly. So they called<br>them, and the people gathered thereon. The chiefs about the son of<br>Atreus chose their men and marshalled them, while Minerva went among<br>them holding her priceless aegis that knows neither age nor death.<br>From it there waved a hundred tassels of pure gold, all deftly<br>woven, and each one of them worth a hundred oxen. With this she darted<br>furiously everywhere among the hosts of the Achaeans, urging them<br>forward, and putting courage into the heart of each, so that he<br>might fight and do battle without ceasing. Thus war became sweeter<br>in their eyes even than returning home in their ships. As when some<br>great forest fire is raging upon a mountain top and its light is<br>seen afar, even so as they marched the gleam of their armour flashed<br>up into the firmament of heaven.<br>They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the<br>plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and<br>thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they settle<br>till the fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did their tribes<br>pour from ships and tents on to the plain of the Scamander, and the<br>ground rang as brass under the feet of men and horses. They stood as<br>thick upon the flower-bespangled field as leaves that bloom in summer.<br>As countless swarms of flies buzz around a herdsman's homestead in<br>the time of spring when the pails are drenched with milk, even so<br>did the Achaeans swarm on to the plain to charge the Trojans and<br>destroy them.<br>The chiefs disposed their men this way and that before the fight<br>began, drafting them out as easily as goatherds draft their flocks<br>when they have got mixed while feeding; and among them went King<br>Agamemnon, with a head and face like Jove the lord of thunder, a waist<br>like Mars, and a chest like that of Neptune. As some great bull that<br>lords it over the herds upon the plain, even so did Jove make the<br>son of Atreus stand peerless among the multitude of heroes.<br>And now, O Muses, dwellers in the mansions of Olympus, tell me-<br>for you are goddesses and are in all places so that you see all<br>things, while we know nothing but by report- who were the chiefs and<br>princes of the Danaans? As for the common soldiers, they were so<br>that I could not name every single one of them though I had ten<br>tongues, and though my voice failed not and my heart were of bronze<br>within me, unless you, O Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing<br>Jove, were to recount them to me. Nevertheless, I will tell the<br>captains of the ships and all the fleet together.<br>Peneleos, Leitus, Arcesilaus, Prothoenor, and Clonius were<br>captains of the Boeotians. These were they that dwelt in Hyria and<br>rocky Aulis, and who held Schoenus, Scolus, and the highlands of<br>Eteonus, with Thespeia, Graia, and the fair city of Mycalessus. They<br>also held Harma, Eilesium, and Erythrae; and they had Eleon, Hyle, and<br>Peteon; Ocalea and the strong fortress of Medeon; Copae, Eutresis, and<br>Thisbe the haunt of doves; Coronea, and the pastures of Haliartus;<br>Plataea and Glisas; the fortress of Thebes the less; holy Onchestus<br>with its famous grove of Neptune; Arne rich in vineyards; Midea,<br>sacred Nisa, and Anthedon upon the sea. From these there came fifty<br>ships, and in each there were a hundred and twenty young men of the<br>Boeotians.<br>Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Mars, led the people that dwelt<br>in Aspledon and Orchomenus the realm of Minyas. Astyoche a noble<br>maiden bore them in the house of Actor son of Azeus; for she had<br>gone with Mars secretly into an upper chamber, and he had lain with<br>her. With these there came thirty ships.<br>The Phoceans were led by Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of mighty<br>Iphitus the son of Naubolus. These were they that held Cyparissus,<br>rocky Pytho, holy Crisa, Daulis, and Panopeus; they also that dwelt in<br>Anemorea and Hyampolis, and about the waters of the river Cephissus,<br>and Lilaea by the springs of the Cephissus; with their chieftains came<br>forty ships, and they marshalled the forces of the Phoceans, which<br>were stationed next to the Boeotians, on their left.<br>Ajax, the fleet son of Oileus, commanded the Locrians. He was not so<br>great, nor nearly so great, as Ajax the son of Telamon. He was a<br>little man, and his breastplate was made of linen, but in use of the<br>spear he excelled all the Hellenes and the Achaeans. These dwelt in<br>Cynus, Opous, Calliarus, Bessa, Scarphe, fair Augeae, Tarphe, and<br>Thronium about the river Boagrius. With him there came forty ships<br>of the Locrians who dwell beyond Euboea.<br>The fierce Abantes held Euboea with its cities, Chalcis, Eretria,<br>Histiaea rich in vines, Cerinthus upon the sea, and the rock-perched<br>town of Dium; with them were also the men of Carystus and Styra;<br>Elephenor of the race of Mars was in command of these; he was son of<br>Chalcodon, and chief over all the Abantes. With him they came, fleet<br>of foot and wearing their hair long behind, brave warriors, who<br>would ever strive to tear open the corslets of their foes with their<br>long ashen spears. Of these there came fifty ships.<br>And they that held the strong city of Athens, the people of great<br>Erechtheus, who was born of the soil itself, but Jove's daughter,<br>Minerva, fostered him, and established him at Athens in her own rich<br>sanctuary. There, year by year, the Athenian youths worship him with<br>sacrifices of bulls and rams. These were commanded by Menestheus,<br>son of Peteos. No man living could equal him in the marshalling of<br>chariots and foot soldiers. Nestor could alone rival him, for he was<br>older. With him there came fifty ships.<br>Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis, and stationed them alongside<br>those of the Athenians.<br>The men of Argos, again, and those who held the walls of Tiryns,<br>with Hermione, and Asine upon the gulf; Troezene, Eionae, and the<br>vineyard lands of Epidaurus; the Achaean youths, moreover, who came<br>from Aegina and Mases; these were led by Diomed of the loud<br>battle-cry, and Sthenelus son of famed Capaneus. With them in<br>command was Euryalus, son of king Mecisteus, son of Talaus; but Diomed<br>was chief over them all. With these there came eighty ships.<br>Those who held the strong city of Mycenae, rich Corinth and Cleonae;<br>Orneae, Araethyrea, and Licyon, where Adrastus reigned of old;<br>Hyperesia, high Gonoessa, and Pellene; Aegium and all the coast-land<br>round about Helice; these sent a hundred ships under the command of<br>King Agamemnon, son of Atreus. His force was far both finest and<br>most numerous, and in their midst was the king himself, all glorious<br>in his armour of gleaming bronze- foremost among the heroes, for he<br>was the greatest king, and had most men under him.<br>And those that dwelt in Lacedaemon, lying low among the hills,<br>Pharis, Sparta, with Messe the haunt of doves; Bryseae, Augeae,<br>Amyclae, and Helos upon the sea; Laas, moreover, and Oetylus; these<br>were led by Menelaus of the loud battle-cry, brother to Agamemnon, and<br>of them there were sixty ships, drawn up apart from the others.<br>Among them went Menelaus himself, strong in zeal, urging his men to<br>fight; for he longed to avenge the toil and sorrow that he had<br>suffered for the sake of Helen.<br>The men of Pylos and Arene, and Thryum where is the ford of the<br>river Alpheus; strong Aipy, Cyparisseis, and Amphigenea; Pteleum,<br>Helos, and Dorium, where the Muses met Thamyris, and stilled his<br>minstrelsy for ever. He was returning from Oechalia, where Eurytus<br>lived and reigned, and boasted that he would surpass even the Muses,<br>daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, if they should sing against him;<br>whereon they were angry, and maimed him. They robbed him of his divine<br>power of song, and thenceforth he could strike the lyre no more. These<br>were commanded by Nestor, knight of Gerene, and with him there came<br>ninety ships.<br>And those that held Arcadia, under the high mountain of Cyllene,<br>near the tomb of Aepytus, where the people fight hand to hand; the men<br>of Pheneus also, and Orchomenus rich in flocks; of Rhipae, Stratie,<br>and bleak Enispe; of Tegea and fair Mantinea; of Stymphelus and<br>Parrhasia; of these King Agapenor son of Ancaeus was commander, and<br>they had sixty ships. Many Arcadians, good soldiers, came in each<br>one of them, but Agamemnon found them the ships in which to cross<br>the sea, for they were not a people that occupied their business<br>upon the waters.<br>The men, moreover, of Buprasium and of Elis, so much of it as is<br>enclosed between Hyrmine, Myrsinus upon the sea-shore, the rock<br>Olene and Alesium. These had four leaders, and each of them had ten<br>ships, with many Epeans on board. Their captains were Amphimachus<br>and Thalpius- the one, son of Cteatus, and the other, of Eurytus- both<br>of the race of Actor. The two others were Diores, son of Amarynces,<br>and Polyxenus, son of King Agasthenes, son of Augeas.<br>And those of Dulichium with the sacred Echinean islands, who dwelt<br>beyond the sea off Elis; these were led by Meges, peer of Mars, and<br>the son of valiant Phyleus, dear to Jove, who quarrelled with his<br>father, and went to settle in Dulichium. With him there came forty<br>ships.<br>Ulysses led the brave Cephallenians, who held Ithaca, Neritum with<br>its forests, Crocylea, rugged Aegilips, Samos and Zacynthus, with<br>the mainland also that was over against the islands. These were led by<br>Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel, and with him there came twelve<br>ships.<br>Thoas, son of Andraemon, commanded the Aetolians, who dwelt in<br>Pleuron, Olenus, Pylene, Chalcis by the sea, and rocky Calydon, for<br>the great king Oeneus had now no sons living, and was himself dead, as<br>was also golden-haired Meleager, who had been set over the Aetolians<br>to be their king. And with Thoas there came forty ships.<br>The famous spearsman Idomeneus led the Cretans, who held Cnossus,<br>and the well-walled city of Gortys; Lyctus also, Miletus and<br>Lycastus that lies upon the chalk; the populous towns of Phaestus<br>and Rhytium, with the other peoples that dwelt in the hundred cities<br>of Crete. All these were led by Idomeneus, and by Meriones, peer of<br>murderous Mars. And with these there came eighty ships.<br>Tlepolemus, son of Hercules, a man both brave and large of<br>stature, brought nine ships of lordly warriors from Rhodes. These<br>dwelt in Rhodes which is divided among the three cities of Lindus,<br>Ielysus, and Cameirus, that lies upon the chalk. These were<br>commanded by Tlepolemus, son of Hercules by Astyochea, whom he had<br>carried off from Ephyra, on the river Selleis, after sacking many<br>cities of valiant warriors. When Tlepolemus grew up, he killed his<br>father's uncle Licymnius, who had been a famous warrior in his time,<br>but was then grown old. On this he built himself a fleet, gathered a<br>great following, and fled beyond the sea, for he was menaced by the<br>other sons and grandsons of Hercules. After a voyage. during which<br>he suffered great hardship, he came to Rhodes, where the people<br>divided into three communities, according to their tribes, and were<br>dearly loved by Jove, the lord, of gods and men; wherefore the son<br>of Saturn showered down great riches upon them.<br>And Nireus brought three ships from Syme- Nireus, who was the<br>handsomest man that came up under Ilius of all the Danaans after the<br>son of Peleus- but he was a man of no substance, and had but a small<br>following.<br>And those that held Nisyrus, Crapathus, and Casus, with Cos, the<br>city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands, these were commanded<br>by Pheidippus and Antiphus, two sons of King Thessalus the son of<br>Hercules. And with them there came thirty ships.<br>Those again who held Pelasgic Argos, Alos, Alope, and Trachis; and<br>those of Phthia and Hellas the land of fair women, who were called<br>Myrmidons, Hellenes, and Achaeans; these had fifty ships, over which<br>Achilles was in command. But they now took no part in the war,<br>inasmuch as there was no one to marshal them; for Achilles stayed by<br>his ships, furious about the loss of the girl Briseis, whom he had<br>taken from Lyrnessus at his own great peril, when he had sacked<br>Lyrnessus and Thebe, and had overthrown Mynes and Epistrophus, sons of<br>king Evenor, son of Selepus. For her sake Achilles was still grieving,<br>but ere long he was again to join them.<br>And those that held Phylace and the flowery meadows of Pyrasus,<br>sanctuary of Ceres; Iton, the mother of sheep; Antrum upon the sea,<br>and Pteleum that lies upon the grass lands. Of these brave Protesilaus<br>had been captain while he was yet alive, but he was now lying under<br>the earth. He had left a wife behind him in Phylace to tear her cheeks<br>in sorrow, and his house was only half finished, for he was slain by a<br>Dardanian warrior while leaping foremost of the Achaeans upon the soil<br>of Troy. Still, though his people mourned their chieftain, they were<br>not without a leader, for Podarces, of the race of Mars, marshalled<br>them; he was son of Iphiclus, rich in sheep, who was the son of<br>Phylacus, and he was own brother to Protesilaus, only younger,<br>Protesilaus being at once the elder and the more valiant. So the<br>people were not without a leader, though they mourned him whom they<br>had lost. With him there came forty ships.<br>And those that held Pherae by the Boebean lake, with Boebe,<br>Glaphyrae, and the populous city of Iolcus, these with their eleven<br>ships were led by Eumelus, son of Admetus, whom Alcestis bore to<br>him, loveliest of the daughters of Pelias.<br>And those that held Methone and Thaumacia, with Meliboea and<br>rugged Olizon, these were led by the skilful archer Philoctetes, and<br>they had seven ships, each with fifty oarsmen all of them good<br>archers; but Philoctetes was lying in great pain in the Island of<br>Lemnos, where the sons of the Achaeans left him, for he had been<br>bitten by a poisonous water snake. There he lay sick and sorry, and<br>full soon did the Argives come to miss him. But his people, though<br>they felt his loss were not leaderless, for Medon, the bastard son<br>of Oileus by Rhene, set them in array.<br>Those, again, of Tricca and the stony region of Ithome, and they<br>that held Oechalia, the city of Oechalian Eurytus, these were<br>commanded by the two sons of Aesculapius, skilled in the art of<br>healing, Podalirius and Machaon. And with them there came thirty<br>ships.<br>The men, moreover, of Ormenius, and by the fountain of Hypereia,<br>with those that held Asterius, and the white crests of Titanus,<br>these were led by Eurypylus, the son of Euaemon, and with them there<br>came forty ships.<br>Those that held Argissa and Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and the white<br>city of Oloosson, of these brave Polypoetes was leader. He was son<br>of Pirithous, who was son of Jove himself, for Hippodameia bore him to<br>Pirithous on the day when he took his revenge on the shaggy mountain<br>savages and drove them from Mt. Pelion to the Aithices. But Polypoetes<br>was not sole in command, for with him was Leonteus, of the race of<br>Mars, who was son of Coronus, the son of Caeneus. And with these there<br>came forty ships.<br>Guneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus, and he was followed<br>by the Enienes and the valiant Peraebi, who dwelt about wintry Dodona,<br>and held the lands round the lovely river Titaresius, which sends<br>its waters into the Peneus. They do not mingle with the silver<br>eddies of the Peneus, but flow on the top of them like oil; for the<br>Titaresius is a branch of dread Orcus and of the river Styx.<br>Of the Magnetes, Prothous son of Tenthredon was commander. They were<br>they that dwelt about the river Peneus and Mt. Pelion. Prothous, fleet<br>of foot, was their leader, and with him there came forty ships.<br>Such were the chiefs and princes of the Danaans. Who, then, O<br>Muse, was the foremost, whether man or horse, among those that<br>followed after the sons of Atreus?<br>Of the horses, those of the son of Pheres were by far the finest.<br>They were driven by Eumelus, and were as fleet as birds. They were<br>of the same age and colour, and perfectly matched in height. Apollo,<br>of the silver bow, had bred them in Perea- both of them mares, and<br>terrible as Mars in battle. Of the men, Ajax, son of Telamon, was much<br>the foremost so long as Achilles' anger lasted, for Achilles<br>excelled him greatly and he had also better horses; but Achilles was<br>now holding aloof at his ships by reason of his quarrel with<br>Agamemnon, and his people passed their time upon the sea shore,<br>throwing discs or aiming with spears at a mark, and in archery.<br>Their horses stood each by his own chariot, champing lotus and wild<br>celery. The chariots were housed under cover, but their owners, for<br>lack of leadership, wandered hither and thither about the host and<br>went not forth to fight.<br>Thus marched the host like a consuming fire, and the earth groaned<br>beneath them when the lord of thunder is angry and lashes the land<br>about Typhoeus among the Arimi, where they say Typhoeus lies. Even<br>so did the earth groan beneath them as they sped over the plain.<br>And now Iris, fleet as the wind, was sent by Jove to tell the bad<br>news among the Trojans. They were gathered in assembly, old and young,<br>at Priam's gates, and Iris came close up to Priam, speaking with the<br>voice of Priam's son Polites, who, being fleet of foot, was<br>stationed as watchman for the Trojans on the tomb of old Aesyetes,<br>to look out for any sally of the Achaeans. In his likeness Iris spoke,<br>saying, "Old man, you talk idly, as in time of peace, while war is<br>at hand. I have been in many a battle, but never yet saw such a host<br>as is now advancing. They are crossing the plain to attack the city as<br>thick as leaves or as the sands of the sea. Hector, I charge you above<br>all others, do as I say. There are many allies dispersed about the<br>city of Priam from distant places and speaking divers tongues.<br>Therefore, let each chief give orders to his own people, setting<br>them severally in array and leading them forth to battle."<br>Thus she spoke, but Hector knew that it was the goddess, and at once<br>broke up the assembly. The men flew to arms; all the gates were<br>opened, and the people thronged through them, horse and foot, with the<br>tramp as of a great multitude.<br>Now there is a high mound before the city, rising by itself upon the<br>plain. Men call it Batieia, but the gods know that it is the tomb of<br>lithe Myrine. Here the Trojans and their allies divided their forces.<br>Priam's son, great Hector of the gleaming helmet, commanded the<br>Trojans, and with him were arrayed by far the greater number and<br>most valiant of those who were longing for the fray.<br>The Dardanians were led by brave Aeneas, whom Venus bore to<br>Anchises, when she, goddess though she was, had lain with him upon the<br>mountain slopes of Ida. He was not alone, for with him were the two<br>sons of Antenor, Archilochus and Acamas, both skilled in all the<br>arts of war.<br>They that dwelt in Telea under the lowest spurs of Mt. Ida, men of<br>substance, who drink the limpid waters of the Aesepus, and are of<br>Trojan blood- these were led by Pandarus son of Lycaon, whom Apollo<br>had taught to use the bow.<br>They that held Adresteia and the land of Apaesus, with Pityeia,<br>and the high mountain of Tereia- these were led by Adrestus and<br>Amphius, whose breastplate was of linen. These were the sons of Merops<br>of Percote, who excelled in all kinds of divination. He told them<br>not to take part in the war, but they gave him no heed, for fate lured<br>them to destruction.<br>They that dwelt about Percote and Practius, with Sestos, Abydos, and<br>Arisbe- these were led by Asius, son of Hyrtacus, a brave commander-<br>Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, whom his powerful dark bay steeds, of<br>the breed that comes from the river Selleis, had brought from Arisbe.<br>Hippothous led the tribes of Pelasgian spearsmen, who dwelt in<br>fertile Larissa- Hippothous, and Pylaeus of the race of Mars, two sons<br>of the Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus.<br>Acamas and the warrior Peirous commanded the Thracians and those<br>that came from beyond the mighty stream of the Hellespont.<br>Euphemus, son of Troezenus, the son of Ceos, was captain of the<br>Ciconian spearsmen.<br>Pyraechmes led the Paeonian archers from distant Amydon, by the<br>broad waters of the river Axius, the fairest that flow upon the earth.<br>The Paphlagonians were commanded by stout-hearted Pylaemanes from<br>Enetae, where the mules run wild in herds. These were they that held<br>Cytorus and the country round Sesamus, with the cities by the river<br>Parthenius, Cromna, Aegialus, and lofty Erithini.<br>Odius and Epistrophus were captains over the Halizoni from distant<br>Alybe, where there are mines of silver.<br>Chromis, and Ennomus the augur, led the Mysians, but his skill in<br>augury availed not to save him from destruction, for he fell by the<br>hand of the fleet descendant of Aeacus in the river, where he slew<br>others also of the Trojans.<br>Phorcys, again, and noble Ascanius led the Phrygians from the far<br>country of Ascania, and both were eager for the fray.<br>Mesthles and Antiphus commanded the Meonians, sons of Talaemenes,<br>born to him of the Gygaean lake. These led the Meonians, who dwelt<br>under Mt. Tmolus.<br>Nastes led the Carians, men of a strange speech. These held<br>Miletus and the wooded mountain of Phthires, with the water of the<br>river Maeander and the lofty crests of Mt. Mycale. These were<br>commanded by Nastes and Amphimachus, the brave sons of Nomion. He came<br>into the fight with gold about him, like a girl; fool that he was, his<br>gold was of no avail to save him, for he fell in the river by the hand<br>of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, and Achilles bore away his gold.<br>Sarpedon and Glaucus led the Lycians from their distant land, by the<br>eddying waters of the Xanthus.</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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