Augustus Taber Murray

“ Then great Telamonian Aias answered him: "Aye, friend, but leave thou thy bow and thy many arrows to lie where they are, seeing that a god has confounded them, in malice toward the Danaans; but take thou in thy hand a long spear and a shield upon thy shoulder, and do battle with the Trojans, and urge on the rest of the folk. Verily not without a struggle, for all they have overpowered us, shall they take our well-benched ships; nay, let us bethink us of battle." ”

“ Hear ye not Hector urging on all his host in his fury to burn the ships? Verily it is not to the dance that he biddeth them come, but to battle. And for us there is no counsel or device better than this, that in close combat we bring our hands and our might against theirs. Better is it once for all either to die or live, than long to be straitened in dread conflict thus bootlessly beside the ships at the hands of men that be meaner. ”

“ So spake he and bade Terror and Rout yoke his horses, and himself did on his gleaming armour. Then would yet greater and more grievous wrath and anger have been stirred between Zeus and the immortals, had not Athene, seized with fear for all the gods, sped forth through the doorway, and left the throne whereon she sat, and taken the helm from the head of Ares and the shield from his shoulders; and she took from his strong hand the spear of bronze, and set it down, and with words rebuked furious Ares: "Thou madman, distraught of wit, thou art beside thyself! ”

“ O father Zeus, if ever any man of us in wheat-bearing Argos burned to thee fat thigh-pieces of bull or of ram with the prayer that he might return, and thou didst promise and nod thy head thereto, be thou now mindful of these things, and ward from us, O Olympian god, the pitiless day of doom, nor suffer the Achaeans thus to be vanquished by the Trojans. ”

“ And Hector he saw lying on the plain, while about him sat his comrades, and he was gasping with painful breath, distraught in mind, and vomiting blood; for not the weakest of the Achaeans was it that had smitten him. At sight of him the father of men and gods had pity, and with a dread glance from beneath his brows he spake to Hera, saying: "Hera, that art hard to deal with, it is the craft of thine evil wiles that hath stayed goodly Hector from the fight, and hath driven the host in rout. ”

“ And as a man well-skilled in horsemanship harnesseth together four horses chosen out of many, and driveth them in swift course from the plain toward a great city along a highway, while many marvel at him, both men-folk and women, and ever with sure step he leapeth, and passeth from horse to horse, while they speed on; even so Aias kept ranging with long strides over the many decks of the swift ships, and his voice went up to heaven, as ever with terrible cries he called to the Danaans to defend their ships and huts. ”

“ Nay come, even as I shall bid, let us all obey. The multitude let us bid return to the ships, but ourselves, all we that declare us to be the the best in the host, let us take our stand, if so be we first may face him, and thrust him back with our outstretched spears; methinks, for all his eagerness he will fear at heart to enter into the throng of the Danaans. ”

“ But when Hector saw that Teucer's shafts had been brought to naught, to Trojans and Lycians he called with a loud shout: "Ye Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians that fight in close combat, be men, my friends, and bethink you of furious valour amid the hollow ships; for verily mine eyes have seen how Zeus hath brought to naught the shafts of a man that is a chieftain. ”

“ The Achaeans verily deemed that they should never escape from out the peril, but should perish, while for the Trojans, the heart in each man's breast hoped that they should fire the ships and slay the Achaean warriors. ”

“ Verily I know not but thou shalt yet be the first to reap the fruits of thy wretched ill-contriving, and I shall scourge thee with stripes. Dost thou not remember when thou wast hung from on high, and from thy feet I suspended two anvils, and about thy wrists cast a band of gold that might not be broken? And in the air amid the clouds thou didst hang, and the gods had indignation throughout high Olympus; howbeit they availed not to draw nigh and loose thee. Nay, whomsoever I caught, I would seize and hurl from the threshold until he reached the earth, his strength all spent. ”

“ Full easy to discern is the aid Zeus giveth to men, both to whomso he vouchsafeth the glory of victory, and whomso again he minisheth, and hath no mind to aid, even as now he minisheth the might of the Argives, and beareth aid to us. Nay, fight ye at the ships in close throngs, and if so be any of you, smitten by dart or thrust, shall meet death and fate, let him lie in death. No unseemly thing is it for him to die while fighting for his country. ”

“ They that were in the company of Aias and prince Idomeneus, and Teucer, and Meriones, and Meges, the peer of Ares, called to the chieftains, and marshalled the fight, fronting Hector and the Trojans, but behind them the multitude fared back to the ships of the Achaeans. Then the Trojans drave forward in close throng, and Hector led them, advancing with long strides, while before him went Phoebus Apollo, his shoulders wrapped in cloud, bearing the fell aegis, girt with shaggy fringe, awful, gleaming bright, that the smith Hephaestus gave to Zeus to bear for the putting to rout of warriors ”

“ Of men that have shame more are saved than are slain; but from them that flee springeth neither glory nor any avail."
[565] So spake he, and they even of themselves were eager to ward off the foe, but they laid up his word in their hearts, and fenced in the ships with a hedge of bronze; and against them Zeus urged on the Trojans. Then Menelaus, good at the war-cry, exhorted Antilochus: "Antilochus, none other of the Achaeans is younger than thou, nor swifter of foot, nor valiant as thou art in fight; I would thou mightest leap forth, and smite some man of the Trojans." ”

“ Nay, as for thee, let thy squire bring thee comfort, but I will hasten to Achilles, that I may urge him on to do battle. Who knows but that, heaven helping, I may rouse his spirit with my persuading? A good thing is the persuasion of a comrade."
[405] When he had thus spoken his feet bare him on; but the Achaeans firmly abode the oncoming of the Trojans, yet availed not to thrust them back from the ships, albeit they were fewer, nor ever could the Trojans break the battalions of the Danaans and make way into the midst of the huts and the ships. ”

“ So saying, he aroused the strength and spirit of every man, and from their eyes Athene thrust away the wondrous cloud of mist, and mightily did light come to them from either hand, both from the side of the ships and from that of evil war. ”

“ Wherefore content ye yourselves with whatsoever evil thing he sendeth upon each. Even now I deem that sorrow hath been wrought for Ares, seeing that his son, dearest of men to him, hath perished in battle, even Ascalaphus, whom mighty Ares declareth to be his own. ”

“ Wherefore now I bid thee put away thy wrath for thine own son. For ere now many a one more excellent than he in might and strength of hand hath been slain, or will yet be slain; and a hard thing it is to preserve the lineage and offspring of men."
[142] She spake she, and made furious Ares to sit down upon his throne. But Hera called Apollo forth from out the hall, and Iris, that is the messenger of the immortal gods; and she spake and addressed them with winged words: "Zeus biddeth you twain go to Ida with all the speed ye may ”

“ Therefore in the might of our hands is the light of deliverance, and not in slackness in fight."
[742] He spake, and kept driving furiously at the foe with his sharp spear. And whoso of the Trojans would rush upon the hollow ships with blazing fire, doing pleasure to Hector at his bidding, for him would Aias wait, and wound him with a thrust of his long spear; and twelve men did he wound in close fight in front of the ships. ”

“ But come now, bid thy many charioteers drive against the hollow ships their swift horses, and I will go before and make smooth all the way for the chariots, and will turn in flight the Achaean warriors."
[262] So saying, he breathed great might into the shepherd of the host. And even as when a stalled horse that has fed his fill at the manger, breaketh his halter, and runneth stamping over the plain—being wont to bathe him in the fair-flowing river--and exulteth ”