Homer

“ Thy tents are full of brass; and dames, the choice of all, are thine,
With whom we must present thee first, when any towns resign
To our invasion. Want’st thou then, besides all this, more gold
From Troy’s knights to redeem their sons, whom to be dearly sold
I or some other Greek must take? Or would’st thou yet again
Force from some other lord his prise, to soothe the lusts that reign
In thy encroaching appetite? It fits no prince to be
A prince of ill, and govern us, or lead our progeny
By rape to ruin. O base Greeks, deserving infamy,
And ills eternal! ”

“ From those false Trojans I have slain. And this is not the guise
Of one that loves his tent, or fights afar off with his foe,
But since I love fight, therefore doth my martial star bestow,
Besides those darts, helms, targets boss’d, and corslets bright as day.”
“So I,” said Merion, “at my tent, and sable bark, may say,
I many Trojan spoils retain, but now not near they be,
To serve me for my present use; and therefore ask I thee.
Not that I lack a fortitude to store me with my own,
For ever in the foremost fights, that render men renown,
I fight, when any fight doth stir. ”

“ With strength, exciting all to arms, and fight incessant. None
Now lik’d their lov’d homes like the wars. And as a fire upon
A huge wood, on the heights of hills, that far off hurls his light;
So the divine brass shin’d on these thus thrusting on for fight,
Their splendour through the air reach’d heav’n. And as about the flood
Caïster, in an Asian mead, flocks of the airy brood,
Cranes, geese, or long-neck’d swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly,
And in their falls layout such throats, that with their spiritful cry
The meadow shrieks again ”

“ Jove’s, that both earth and heav’n,
Both men and Gods, sustains and rules. One augury is giv’n
To order all men, best of all; Fight for thy country’s right.
But why fear’st thou our further charge? For though the dang’rous fight
Strew all men here about the fleet, yet thou need’st never fear
To bear their fates; thy wary heart will never trust thee where
An enemy’s look is; and yet fight, for, if thou dar’st abstain,
Or whisper into any ear an abstinence so vain
As thou advisest, never fear that any foe shall take
Thy life from thee, for ’tis this lance. ”

“ Thus thirst and hunger stay’d,
Nestor, whose counsels late were best, vows new, and first he said:
“Atrides, and my other lords, a sort of Greeks are dead,
Whose black blood, near Scamander’s stream, inhuman Mars hath shed;
Their souls to hell descended are. It fits thee then, our king,
To make our soldiers cease from war; and, by the day’s first spring,
Let us ourselves, assembled all, the bodies bear to fire,
With mules and oxen near our fleet, that, when we home retire,
Each man may carry to the sons, of fathers slaughter’d here,
Their honour’d bones. ”

“ I’ll make the fight, and with a dart receive his utmost pride.”
With this the gorgeous chariot both, thus prepar’d, ascend
And make full way at Diomed; which noted by his friend,
“Mine own most-lovéd mind,” said he, “two mighty men of war
I see come with a purpos’d charge; one’s he that hits so far
With bow and shaft, Lycaon’s son; the other fames the brood
Of great Anchises and the Queen that rules in amorous blood,
Æneas, excellent in arms. Come up, and use your steeds,
And look not war so in the face, lest that desire that feeds
Thy great mind be the bane of it.” ”

“ Who, like a God, with worthy gifts will gladly honour thee,
And tribute of especial rate to thy high sceptre pay.
All this he freely will perform, thy anger to allay.
But if thy hate to him be more than his gifts may repress,
Yet pity all the other Greeks, in such extreme distress,
Who with religion honour thee; and to their desp’rate ill
Thou shalt triumphant glory bring; and Hector thou may’st kill,
When pride makes him encounter thee, fill’d with a baneful sprite,
Who vaunts our whole fleet brought not one, equal to him in fight. ”

“ He mules and chariot calls, his sons bids see them join’d, and bind
A trunk behind it; he himself down to his wardrobe goes,
Built all of cedar, highly roof’d, and odoriferous,
That much stuff, worth the sight, contain’d. To him he call’d his queen,
Thus greeting her: “Come, hapless dame, an angel I have seen,
Sent down from Jove, that bade me free our dear son from the fleet
With ransom pleasing to our foe. What holds thy judgment meet?
My strength and spirit lays high charge on all my being to bear
The Greeks’ worst, vent’ring through their host.” ”

“ Must not the whole night spend in sleep, to whom the people are
For guard committed, and whose life stands bound to so much care.
Now hear me then, Jove’s messenger, who, though far off from thee,
Is near thee yet in love and care, and gives command by me
To arm thy whole host. Thy strong hand the broad-way’d town of Troy
Shall now take in; no more the Gods dissentiously employ
Their high-hous’d pow’rs; Saturnia’s suit hath won them all to her;
And ill fates over-hang these tow’rs, address’d by Jupiter. ”

“ His fi’ry onset, the dove hastes, the hawk comes whizzing on,
This way and that he turns and winds, and cuffs the pigeón,
And, till he truss it, his great spirit lays hot charge on his wing;
So urg’d Achilles Hector’s flight; so still fear’s point did sting
His troubled spirit, his knees wrought hard, along the wall he flew,
In that fair chariot-way that runs, beneath the tow’r of view,
And Troy’s wild fig-tree, till they reach’d where those two mother-springs
Of deep Scamander pour’d abroad their silver murmurings;
One warm and casts out fumes as fire ”

“ Rule of so many Greeks as thou. This counsel loathes mine ears,
Let others toil in fight and cries, and we so light of heels
Upon their very noise, and groans, to hoise away our keels.
Thus we should fit the wish of Troy, that, being something near
The victory, we give it clear; and we were sure to bear
A slaughter to the utmost man, for no man will sustain
A stroke, the fleet gone, but at that, look still, and wish him slain.
And therefore, prince of men, be sure, thy censure is unfit.”
“O Ithacus,” replied the king, “thy bitter terms have smit
My heart in sunder. ”

“ Up to his chariot, hands and feet of bloody stains so full
That lion-like he look’d, new turn’d from tearing up a bull.
And now another bitter fight about Patroclus grew,
Tear-thirsty, and of toil enough; which Pallas did renew,
Descending from the cope of stars, dismiss’d by sharp-ey’d Jove
To animate the Greeks; for now, inconstant change did move
His mind from what he held of late. And as the purple bow
Jove bends at mortals, when of war he will the signal show,
Or make it a presage of cold, in such tempestuous sort
That men are of their labours eas’d, but labouring cattle hurt ”

“ That Ajax bore to Hector still, by all means, would have been
Within his bosom with a dart; but he that knew the war,
Well-cover’d in a well-lin’d shield, did well perceive how far
The arrows and the jav’lins reach’d, by being within their sounds
And ominous singings; and observ’d the there-in-clining bounds
Of Conquest in her aid of him, and so obey’d her change,
Took safest course for him and his, and stood to her as strange.
And as, when Jove intends a storm, he lets out of the stars,
From steep Olympus, a black cloud, that all heav’n’s splendour bars
From men on earth ”

“ But till the man’s close strength she tries, or strows earth with his dart,
She puts her strength out; so it far’d with brave Agenor’s heart,
And till Achilles he had prov’d, no thoughts, no deeds, once stirr’d
His fixéd foot. To his broad breast his round shield he preferr’d,
And up his arm went with his aim, his voice out with this cry:
“Thy hope is too great, Peleus’ son, this day to show thine eye
Troy’s Ilion at thy foot. O fool! the Greeks with much more woes,
More than are suffer’d yet, must buy great Ilion’s overthrows. ”

“ Through ev’ry order; and, with him, all whipp’d their chariots on,
All threat’ningly, out-thund’ring shouts as earth were overthrown.
Before them march’d Apollo still, and, as he march’d, digg’d down,
Without all labour, with his feet the dike, till, with his own,
He fill’d it to the top, and made way both for man and horse
As broad and long as with a lance, cast out to try one’s force,
A man could measure. Into this they pour’d whole troops as fast
As num’rous; Phœbus still, before, for all their haste,
Still shaking Jove’s unvalu’d shield, and held it up to all. ”

“ As all will, were our faces turn’d. Did such a spirit breathe
In all you Trojans, as becomes all men that fight beneath
Their country’s standard, you would see, that such a prop your cause
With like exposure of their lives, have all the honour’d laws
Of such a dear confederacy kept to them to a thread,
As now ye might reprise the arms Sarpedon forfeited
By forfeit of your rights to him, would you but lend your hands,
And force Patroclus to your Troy. Ye know how dear he stands
In his love, that of all the Greeks is, for himself, far best,
And leads the best near-fighting men ”

“ And great Achilles’ stern reply.
So held the Trojans sleepless guard; the Greeks to flight were giv’n,
The feeble consort of cold fear, strangely infus’d from heav’n;
Grief, not to be endur’d, did wound all Greeks of greatest worth.
And as two lateral-sited winds, the west wind and the north,
Meet at the Thracian sea’s black breast, join in a sudden blore,
Tumble together the dark waves, and pour upon the shore
A mighty deal of froth and weed, with which men manure ground;
So Jove, and Troy did drive the Greeks, and all their minds confound. ”

“ Our stricken right hands, sacred wine, nor all our off’rings slain;
For though Olympius be not quick in making good our ill,
He will be sure as he is slow, and sharplier prove his will.
Their own hands shall be ministers of those plagues they despise,
Which shall their wives and children reach, and all their progenies.
For both in mind and soul I know, that there shall come a day
When Ilion, Priam, all his pow’r, shall quite be worn away,
When heav’n-inhabiting Jove shall shake his fiery shield at all,
For this one mischief. This, I know, the world cannot recall. ”

“ When Hector and his men, with shouts, did greedy púrsuit make,
And pour’d on darts that made air sigh. Then Hector did exclaim:
“O Tydeus’ son, the kings of Greece do most renown thy name
With highest place, feasts, and full cups; who now will do thee shame;
Thou shalt be like a woman us’d, and they will say: ‘Depart,
Immartial minion, since to stand Hector thou hadst no heart.’
Nor canst thou scale our turrets’ tops, nor lead the wives to fleet
Of valiant men; that wife-like fear’st my adverse charge to meet.”
This two ways mov’d him,—still to fly, or turn his horse and fight. ”

“ Where many foreheads trod the ground, and where the skirmish burn’d
Near Nestor and king Idomen, where Hector over turn’d
The Grecian squadrons, authoring high service with his lance,
And skilful manage of his horse. Nor yet the discrepance
He made in death betwixt the hosts had made the Greeks retire,
If fair-hair’d Helen’s second spouse had not repress’d the fire
Of bold Machaon’s fortitude, who with a three-fork’d head
In his right shoulder wounded him. Then had the Grecians dread.
Lest, in his strength declin’d, the foe should slaughter their hurt friend. ”

“ King Peleüs was son to Æacus,
Infernal Æacus to Jove, and I to Peleüs.
Thunder-voic’d Jove far passeth floods, that only murmurs raise
With earth and water as they run with tribute to the seas;
And his seed theirs exceeds as far. A Flood, a mighty Flood,
Rag’d near thee now, but with no aid; Jove must not be withstood.
King Achelous yields to him, and great Oceanus,
Whence all floods, all the sea, all founts, wells, all deeps humorous,
Fetch their beginnings; yet ev’n he fears Jove’s flash, and the crack
His thunder gives, when out of heav’n it tears atwo his rack. ”

“ The fair-man’d horses, that they flew back, and their chariots turn’d,
Presaging in their augurous hearts the labours that they mourn’d
A little after; and their guides a repercussive dread
Took from the horrid radiance of his refulgent head,
Which Pallas set on fire with grace. Thrice great Achilles spake,
And thrice (in heat of all the charge) the Trojans started back.
Twelve men, of greatest strength in Troy, left with their lives exhal’d
Their chariots and their darts, to death with his three summons call’d. ”

“ The cause of all; and from his lips Apollo’s prophecies flew,
Telling his anger. First myself exhorted to appease
The anger’d God; which Atreus’ son did at the heart displease,
And up he stood, us’d threats, perform’d. The black-eyed Greeks sent home
Chryseis to her sire, and gave his God a hecatomb.
Then, for Briseis, to my tents Atrides’ heralds came,
And took her that the Greeks gave all. If then thy pow’rs can frame
Wreak for thy son, afford it. Scale Olympus, and implore
Jove (if by either word, or fact, thou ever didst restore
Joy to his griev’d heart) now to help. ”

“ As thus far they had put at ease, and at our tents contend.
And may; for the repulsive hand of Diomed doth not spend
His raging darts there, that their death could fright out of our fleet;
Nor from that head of enmity, can my poor hearers meet
The voice of great Atrides now. Now Hector’s only voice
Breaks all the air about both hosts, and, with the very noise
Bred by his loud encouragements, his forces fill the field,
And fight the poor Achaians down. But on, put thou my shield
Betwixt the fire-plague and our fleet. Rush bravely on, and turn
War’s tide as headlong on their throats. ”

“ Nor anyone of all the Greeks, how infinite a sum
Soever all together make, might live unovercome;
But only we two, ’scaping death, might have the thund’ring down
Of ev’ry stone stuck in the walls of this so sacred town!”
Thus spake they only ’twixt themselves. And now the foe no more
Could Ajax stand, being so oppress’d with all the iron store
The Trojans pour’d on; with whose darts, and with Jove’s will beside,
His pow’rs were cloy’d, and his bright helm did deaf’ning blows abide,
His plume, and all bead-ornaments, could never hang in rest. ”

“ The Gods sat silent, and admir’d, his dreadful speech was such.
At last his blue-ey’d daughter spake: “O great Saturnides!
O father, O heav’n’s highest king, well know we the excess
Of thy great pow’r, compar’d with all; yet the bold Greeks’ estate
We needs must mourn, since they must fall beneath so hard a fate;
For, if thy grave command enjoin, we will abstain from fight.
But to afford them such advice, as may relieve their plight,
We will, with thy consent, be bold; that all may not sustain
The fearful burthen of thy wrath, and with their shames be slain.” ”

“ His prise upon Anchises’ son, though well he did perceive
The Sun himself protected him; but his desires (inflam’d
With that great Trojan prince’s blood, and arms so highly fam’d)
Not that great God did reverence. Thrice rush’d he rudely on,
And thrice, betwixt his darts and death, the Sun’s bright target shone;
But when upon the fourth assault, much like a spirit, he flew,
The far-off-working Deity exceeding wrathful grew,
And ask’d him: “What! Not yield to gods? Thy equals learn to know.
The race of Gods is far above men creeping here below.” ”

“ Of gleby Lycia; but now impute apparent wants
To that discretion thy words show, to say I lost my ground
For Ajax’ greatness. Nor fear I the field in combats drown’d,
Nor force of chariots, but I fear a Pow’r much better seen
In right of all war than all we. That God, that holds between
Our victory and us his shield, lets conquest come and go
At his free pleasure, and with fear converts her changes so
Upon the strongest. Men must fight when his just spirit impels,
Not their vain glories. ”

“ To all my vows. Alone thy life sustain’d not violence,
Twelve Trojan princes wait on thee, and labour to incense
Thy glorious heap of funeral. Great Hector I’ll excuse,
The dogs shall eat him.” These high threats perform’d not their abuse;
Jove’s daughter, Venus, took the guard of noble Hector’s corse,
And kept the dogs off, night and day applying sov’reign force
Of rosy balms, that to the dogs were horrible in taste,
And with which she the body fill’d. Renown’d Apollo cast
A cloud from heav’n, lest with the sun the nerves and lineaments
Might dry and putrefy. ”