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The Odyssey
By Homer


Translated by Samuel Butler

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK I

Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide
after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit,
and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted;
moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life
and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save
his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating
the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from
ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter
of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.

So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely
home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return to his
wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got
him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by,
there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to
Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his
troubles were not yet over; nevertheless all the gods had now begun
to pity him except Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasing
and would not let him get home.

Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's
end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East.
He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was
enjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house
of Olympian Jove, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that
moment he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's
son Orestes; so he said to the other gods:

"See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing
but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs make love to
Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though he
knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Mercury to warn him
not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure
to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Mercury
told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he
has paid for everything in full."

Then Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, it served
Aegisthus right, and so it would any one else who does as he did;
but Aegisthus is neither here nor there; it is for Ulysses that my
heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt
island, far away, poor man, from all his friends. It is an island
covered with forest, in the very middle of the sea, and a goddess
lives there, daughter of the magician Atlas, who looks after the bottom
of the ocean, and carries the great columns that keep heaven and earth
asunder. This daughter of Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Ulysses,
and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget
his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks of nothing but how
he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys. You, sir, take
no heed of this, and yet when Ulysses was before Troy did he not propitiate
you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being
so angry with him?"

And Jove said, "My child, what are you talking about? How can I forget
Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth, nor more
liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven?
Bear in mind, however, that Neptune is still furious with Ulysses
for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus
is son to Neptune by the nymph Thoosa, daughter to the sea-king Phorcys;
therefore though he will not kill Ulysses outright, he torments him
by preventing him from getting home. Still, let us lay our heads together
and see how we can help him to return; Neptune will then be pacified,
for if we are all of a mind he can hardly stand out against us."

And Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, if, then,
the gods now mean that Ulysses should get home, we should first send
Mercury to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up
our minds and that he is to return. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca,
to put heart into Ulysses' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to
call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his
mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep
and oxen; I will also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if
he can hear anything about the return of his dear father- for this
will make people speak well of him."

So saying she bound on her glittering golden sandals, imperishable,
with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea; she grasped
the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong,
wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her,
and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith
she was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, disguised as
a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she held a bronze spear
in her hand. There she found the lordly suitors seated on hides of
the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and playing draughts in
front of the house. Men-servants and pages were bustling about to
wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in the mixing-bowls, some
cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and laying them out again,
and some cutting up great quantities of meat.

Telemachus saw her long before any one else did. He was sitting moodily
among the suitors thinking about his brave father, and how he would
send them flying out of the house, if he were to come to his own again
and be honoured as in days gone by. Thus brooding as he sat among
them, he caught sight of Minerva and went straight to the gate, for
he was vexed that a stranger should be kept waiting for admittance.
He took her right hand in his own, and bade her give him her spear.
"Welcome," said he, "to our house, and when you have partaken of food
you shall tell us what you have come for."

He led the way as he spoke, and Minerva followed him. When they were
within he took her spear and set it in the spear- stand against a
strong bearing-post along with the many other spears of his unhappy
father, and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which
he threw a cloth of damask. There was a footstool also for her feet,
and he set another seat near her for himself, away from the suitors,
that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise and insolence,
and that he might ask her more freely about his father.

A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer
and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and
she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them
bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in the
house, the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set
cups of gold by their side, and a man-servant brought them wine and
poured it out for them.

Then the suitors came in and took their places on the benches and
seats. Forthwith men servants poured water over their hands, maids
went round with the bread-baskets, pages filled the mixing-bowls with
wine and water, and they laid their hands upon the good things that
were before them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink
they wanted music and dancing, which are the crowning embellishments
of a banquet, so a servant brought a lyre to Phemius, whom they compelled
perforce to sing to them. As soon as he touched his lyre and began
to sing Telemachus spoke low to Minerva, with his head close to hers
that no man might hear.

"I hope, sir," said he, "that you will not be offended with what I
am going to say. Singing comes cheap to those who do not pay for it,
and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting in
some wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf. If these men were
to see my father come back to Ithaca they would pray for longer legs
rather than a longer purse, for money would not serve them; but he,
alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do sometimes
say that he is coming, we no longer heed them; we shall never see
him again. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and
where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner
of ship you came in, how your crew brought you to Ithaca, and of what
nation they declared themselves to be- for you cannot have come by
land. Tell me also truly, for I want to know, are you a stranger to
this house, or have you been here in my father's time? In the old
days we had many visitors for my father went about much himself."

And Minerva answered, "I will tell you truly and particularly all
about it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialus, and I am King of the Taphians.
I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign
tongue being bound for Temesa with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring
back copper. As for my ship, it lies over yonder off the open country
away from the town, in the harbour Rheithron under the wooded mountain
Neritum. Our fathers were friends before us, as old Laertes will tell
you, if you will go and ask him. They say, however, that he never
comes to town now, and lives by himself in the country, faring hardly,
with an old woman to look after him and get his dinner for him, when
he comes in tired from pottering about his vineyard. They told me
your father was at home again, and that was why I came, but it seems
the gods are still keeping him back, for he is not dead yet not on
the mainland. It is more likely he is on some sea-girt island in mid
ocean, or a prisoner among savages who are detaining him against his
will I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak
as it is borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he will
not be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that even
though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting
home again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Ulysses really have
such a fine looking fellow for a son? You are indeed wonderfully like
him about the head and eyes, for we were close friends before he set
sail for Troy where the flower of all the Argives went also. Since
that time we have never either of us seen the other."

"My mother," answered Telemachus, tells me I am son to Ulysses, but
it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would that I were son
to one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you ask
me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they
tell me is my father."

And Minerva said, "There is no fear of your race dying out yet, while
Penelope has such a fine son as you are. But tell me, and tell me
true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these
people? What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a
wedding in the family- for no one seems to be bringing any provisions
of his own? And the guests- how atrociously they are behaving; what
riot they make over the whole house; it is enough to disgust any respectable
person who comes near them."

"Sir," said Telemachus, "as regards your question, so long as my father
was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods in their
displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him away more
closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it
better even though he were dead, if he had fallen with his men before
Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his fighting
were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown; but now the
storm-winds have spirited him away we know not wither; he is gone
without leaving so much as a trace behind him, and I inherit nothing
but dismay. Nor does the matter end simply with grief for the loss
of my father; heaven has laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind;
for the chiefs from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland
island of Zacynthus, as also all the principal men of Ithaca itself,
are eating up my house under the pretext of paying their court to
my mother, who will neither point blank say that she will not marry,
nor yet bring matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate,
and before long will do so also with myself."

"Is that so?" exclaimed Minerva, "then you do indeed want Ulysses
home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a couple lances, and
if he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house, drinking
and making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally
suitors, were he to stand once more upon his own threshold. He was
then coming from Ephyra, where he had been to beg poison for his arrows
from Ilus, son of Mermerus. Ilus feared the ever-living gods and would
not give him any, but my father let him have some, for he was very
fond of him. If Ulysses is the man he then was these suitors will
have a short shrift and a sorry wedding.

"But there! It rests with heaven to determine whether he is to return,
and take his revenge in his own house or no; I would, however, urge
you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once. Take
my advice, call the Achaean heroes in assembly to-morrow -lay your
case before them, and call heaven to bear you witness. Bid the suitors
take themselves off, each to his own place, and if your mother's mind
is set on marrying again, let her go back to her father, who will
find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that
so dear a daughter may expect. As for yourself, let me prevail upon
you to take the best ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men,
and go in quest of your father who has so long been missing. Some
one may tell you something, or (and people often hear things in this
way) some heaven-sent message may direct you. First go to Pylos and
ask Nestor; thence go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus, for he got
home last of all the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive
and on his way home, you can put up with the waste these suitors will
make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand you hear
of his death, come home at once, celebrate his funeral rites with
all due pomp, build a barrow to his memory, and make your mother marry
again. Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind
how, by fair means or foul, you may kill these suitors in your own
house. You are too old to plead infancy any longer; have you not heard
how people are singing Orestes' praises for having killed his father's
murderer Aegisthus? You are a fine, smart looking fellow; show your
mettle, then, and make yourself a name in story. Now, however, I must
go back to my ship and to my crew, who will be impatient if I keep
them waiting longer; think the matter over for yourself, and remember
what I have said to you."

"Sir," answered Telemachus, "it has been very kind of you to talk
to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all
you tell me; I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but
stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself.
I will then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing;
I will give you one of great beauty and value- a keepsake such as
only dear friends give to one another."

Minerva answered, "Do not try to keep me, for I would be on my way
at once. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, keep it
till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give
me a very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return."

With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had
given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever about
his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the
stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors
were sitting.

Phemius was still singing, and his hearers sat rapt in silence as
he told the sad tale of the return from Troy, and the ills Minerva
had laid upon the Achaeans. Penelope, daughter of Icarius, heard his
song from her room upstairs, and came down by the great staircase,
not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids. When she reached
the suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the
roof of the cloisters with a staid maiden on either side of her. She
held a veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping bitterly.

"Phemius," she cried, "you know many another feat of gods and heroes,
such as poets love to celebrate. Sing the suitors some one of these,
and let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale,
for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband
whom I mourn ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all
Hellas and middle Argos."

"Mother," answered Telemachus, "let the bard sing what he has a mind
to; bards do not make the ills they sing of; it is Jove, not they,
who makes them, and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to
his own good pleasure. This fellow means no harm by singing the ill-fated
return of the Danaans, for people always applaud the latest songs
most warmly. Make up your mind to it and bear it; Ulysses is not the
only man who never came back from Troy, but many another went down
as well as he. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your
daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants;
for speech is man's matter, and mine above all others- for it is I
who am master here."

She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son's saying
in her heart. Then, going upstairs with her handmaids into her room,
she mourned her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep over her
eyes. But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters,
and prayed each one that he might be her bed fellow.

Then Telemachus spoke, "Shameless," he cried, "and insolent suitors,
let us feast at our pleasure now, and let there be no brawling, for
it is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine voice as Phemius
has; but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you
formal notice to depart, and feast at one another's houses, turn and
turn about, at your own cost. If on the other hand you choose to persist
in spunging upon one man, heaven help me, but Jove shall reckon with
you in full, and when you fall in my father's house there shall be
no man to avenge you."

The suitors bit their lips as they heard him, and marvelled at the
boldness of his speech. Then, Antinous, son of Eupeithes, said, "The
gods seem to have given you lessons in bluster and tall talking; may
Jove never grant you to be chief in Ithaca as your father was before
you."

Telemachus answered, "Antinous, do not chide with me, but, god willing,
I will be chief too if I can. Is this the worst fate you can think
of for me? It is no bad thing to be a chief, for it brings both riches
and honour. Still, now that Ulysses is dead there are many great men
in Ithaca both old and young, and some other may take the lead among
them; nevertheless I will be chief in my own house, and will rule
those whom Ulysses has won for me."

Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, answered, "It rests with heaven to
decide who shall be chief among us, but you shall be master in your
own house and over your own possessions; no one while there is a man
in Ithaca shall do you violence nor rob you. And now, my good fellow,
I want to know about this stranger. What country does he come from?
Of what family is he, and where is his estate? Has he brought you
news about the return of your father, or was he on business of his
own? He seemed a well-to-do man, but he hurried off so suddenly that
he was gone in a moment before we could get to know him."

"My father is dead and gone," answered Telemachus, "and even if some
rumour reaches me I put no more faith in it now. My mother does indeed
sometimes send for a soothsayer and question him, but I give his prophecyings
no heed. As for the stranger, he was Mentes, son of Anchialus, chief
of the Taphians, an old friend of my father's." But in his heart he
knew that it had been the goddess.

The suitors then returned to their singing and dancing until the evening;
but when night fell upon their pleasuring they went home to bed each
in his own abode. Telemachus's room was high up in a tower that looked
on to the outer court; hither, then, he hied, brooding and full of
thought. A good old woman, Euryclea, daughter of Ops, the son of Pisenor,
went before him with a couple of blazing torches. Laertes had bought
her with his own money when she was quite young; he gave the worth
of twenty oxen for her, and shewed as much respect to her in his household
as he did to his own wedded wife, but he did not take her to his bed
for he feared his wife's resentment. She it was who now lighted Telemachus
to his room, and she loved him better than any of the other women
in the house did, for she had nursed him when he was a baby. He opened
the door of his bed room and sat down upon the bed; as he took off
his shirt he gave it to the good old woman, who folded it tidily up,
and hung it for him over a peg by his bed side, after which she went
out, pulled the door to by a silver catch, and drew the bolt home
by means of the strap. But Telemachus as he lay covered with a woollen
fleece kept thinking all night through of his intended voyage of the
counsel that Minerva had given him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK II

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus
rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet,
girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like
an immortal god. He at once sent the criers round to call the people
in assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon;
then, when they were got together, he went to the place of assembly
spear in hand- not alone, for his two hounds went with him. Minerva
endowed him with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marvelled
at him as he went by, and when he took his place' in his father's
seat even the oldest councillors made way for him.

Aegyptius, a man bent double with age, and of infinite experience,
the first to speak His son Antiphus had gone with Ulysses to Ilius,
land of noble steeds, but the savage Cyclops had killed him when they
were all shut up in the cave, and had cooked his last dinner for him,
He had three sons left, of whom two still worked on their father's
land, while the third, Eurynomus, was one of the suitors; nevertheless
their father could not get over the loss of Antiphus, and was still
weeping for him when he began his speech.

"Men of Ithaca," he said, "hear my words. From the day Ulysses left
us there has been no meeting of our councillors until now; who then
can it be, whether old or young, that finds it so necessary to convene
us? Has he got wind of some host approaching, and does he wish to
warn us, or would he speak upon some other matter of public moment?
I am sure he is an excellent person, and I hope Jove will grant him
his heart's desire."

Telemachus took this speech as of good omen and rose at once, for
he was bursting with what he had to say. He stood in the middle of
the assembly and the good herald Pisenor brought him his staff. Then,
turning to Aegyptius, "Sir," said he, "it is I, as you will shortly
learn, who have convened you, for it is I who am the most aggrieved.
I have not got wind of any host approaching about which I would warn
you, nor is there any matter of public moment on which I would speak.
My grieveance is purely personal, and turns on two great misfortunes
which have fallen upon my house. The first of these is the loss of
my excellent father, who was chief among all you here present, and
was like a father to every one of you; the second is much more serious,
and ere long will be the utter ruin of my estate. The sons of all
the chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them against
her will. They are afraid to go to her father Icarius, asking him
to choose the one he likes best, and to provide marriage gifts for
his daughter, but day by day they keep hanging about my father's house,
sacrificing our oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and
never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink.
No estate can stand such recklessness; we have now no Ulysses to ward
off harm from our doors, and I cannot hold my own against them. I
shall never all my days be as good a man as he was, still I would
indeed defend myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot stand such
treatment any longer; my house is being disgraced and ruined. Have
respect, therefore, to your own consciences and to public opinion.
Fear, too, the wrath of heaven, lest the gods should be displeased
and turn upon you. I pray you by Jove and Themis, who is the beginning
and the end of councils, [do not] hold back, my friends, and leave
me singlehanded- unless it be that my brave father Ulysses did some
wrong to the Achaeans which you would now avenge on me, by aiding
and abetting these suitors. Moreover, if I am to be eaten out of house
and home at all, I had rather you did the eating yourselves, for I
could then take action against you to some purpose, and serve you
with notices from house to house till I got paid in full, whereas
now I have no remedy."

With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into
tears. Every one was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and
no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who
spoke thus:

"Telemachus, insolent braggart that you are, how dare you try to throw
the blame upon us suitors? It is your mother's fault not ours, for
she is a very artful woman. This three years past, and close on four,
she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one
of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she
says. And then there was that other trick she played us. She set up
a great tambour frame in her room, and began to work on an enormous
piece of fine needlework. 'Sweet hearts,' said she, 'Ulysses is indeed
dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait- for
I would not have skill in needlework perish unrecorded- till I have
completed a pall for the hero Laertes, to be in readiness against
the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the women
of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall.'

"This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her
working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick
the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three
years and we never found her out, but as time wore on and she was
now in her fourth year, one of her maids who knew what she was doing
told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she
had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors, therefore,
make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand-'Send
your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her
father's choice'; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on
plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score
of the accomplishments Minerva has taught her, and because she is
so clever. We never yet heard of such a woman; we know all about Tyro,
Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing
to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us
in that way, and as long as she continues in the mind with which heaven
has now endowed her, so long shall we go on eating up your estate;
and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all the honour
and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then,
that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere,
till she has made her choice and married some one or other of us."

Telemachus answered, "Antinous, how can I drive the mother who bore
me from my father's house? My father is abroad and we do not know
whether he is alive or dead. It will be hard on me if I have to pay
Icarius the large sum which I must give him if I insist on sending
his daughter back to him. Not only will he deal rigorously with me,
but heaven will also punish me; for my mother when she leaves the
house will calf on the Erinyes to avenge her; besides, it would not
be a creditable thing to do, and I will have nothing to say to it.
If you choose to take offence at this, leave the house and feast elsewhere
at one another's houses at your own cost turn and turn about. If,
on the other hand, you elect to persist in spunging upon one man,
heaven help me, but Jove shall reckon with you in full, and when you
fall in my father's house there shall be no man to avenge you."

As he spoke Jove sent two eagles from the top of the mountain, and
they flew on and on with the wind, sailing side by side in their own
lordly flight. When they were right over the middle of the assembly
they wheeled and circled about, beating the air with their wings and
glaring death into the eyes of them that were below; then, fighting
fiercely and tearing at one another, they flew off towards the right
over the town. The people wondered as they saw them, and asked each
other what an this might be; whereon Halitherses, who was the best
prophet and reader of omens among them, spoke to them plainly and
in all honesty, saying:

"Hear me, men of Ithaca, and I speak more particularly to the suitors,
for I see mischief brewing for them. Ulysses is not going to be away
much longer; indeed he is close at hand to deal out death and destruction,
not on them alone, but on many another of us who live in Ithaca. Let
us then be wise in time, and put a stop to this wickedness before
he comes. Let the suitors do so of their own accord; it will be better
for them, for I am not prophesying without due knowledge; everything
has happened to Ulysses as I foretold when the Argives set out for
Troy, and he with them. I said that after going through much hardship
and losing all his men he should come home again in the twentieth
year and that no one would know him; and now all this is coming true."

Eurymachus son of Polybus then said, "Go home, old man, and prophesy
to your own children, or it may be worse for them. I can read these
omens myself much better than you can; birds are always flying about
in the sunshine somewhere or other, but they seldom mean anything.
Ulysses has died in a far country, and it is a pity you are not dead
along with him, instead of prating here about omens and adding fuel
to the anger of Telemachus which is fierce enough as it is. I suppose
you think he will give you something for your family, but I tell you-
and it shall surely be- when an old man like you, who should know
better, talks a young one over till he becomes troublesome, in the
first place his young friend will only fare so much the worse- he
will take nothing by it, for the suitors will prevent this- and in
the next, we will lay a heavier fine, sir, upon yourself than you
will at all like paying, for it will bear hardly upon you. As for
Telemachus, I warn him in the presence of you all to send his mother
back to her father, who will find her a husband and provide her with
all the marriage gifts so dear a daughter may expect. Till we shall
go on harassing him with our suit; for we fear no man, and care neither
for him, with all his fine speeches, nor for any fortune-telling of
yours. You may preach as much as you please, but we shall only hate
you the more. We shall go back and continue to eat up Telemachus's
estate without paying him, till such time as his mother leaves off
tormenting us by keeping us day after day on the tiptoe of expectation,
each vying with the other in his suit for a prize of such rare perfection.
Besides we cannot go after the other women whom we should marry in
due course, but for the way in which she treats us."

Then Telemachus said, "Eurymachus, and you other suitors, I shall
say no more, and entreat you no further, for the gods and the people
of Ithaca now know my story. Give me, then, a ship and a crew of twenty
men to take me hither and thither, and I will go to Sparta and to
Pylos in quest of my father who has so long been missing. Some one
may tell me something, or (and people often hear things in this way)
some heaven-sent message may direct me. If I can hear of him as alive
and on his way home I will put up with the waste you suitors will
make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand I hear of
his death, I will return at once, celebrate his funeral rites with
all due pomp, build a barrow to his memory, and make my mother marry
again."

With these words he sat down, and Mentor who had been a friend of
Ulysses, and had been left in charge of everything with full authority
over the servants, rose to speak. He, then, plainly and in all honesty
addressed them thus:

"Hear me, men of Ithaca, I hope that you may never have a kind and
well-disposed ruler any more, nor one who will govern you equitably;
I hope that all your chiefs henceforward may be cruel and unjust,
for there is not one of you but has forgotten Ulysses, who ruled you
as though he were your father. I am not half so angry with the suitors,
for if they choose to do violence in the naughtiness of their hearts,
and wager their heads that Ulysses will not return, they can take
the high hand and eat up his estate, but as for you others I am shocked
at the way in which you all sit still without even trying to stop
such scandalous goings on-which you could do if you chose, for you
are many and they are few."

Leiocritus, son of Evenor, answered him saying, "Mentor, what folly
is all this, that you should set the people to stay us? It is a hard
thing for one man to fight with many about his victuals. Even though
Ulysses himself were to set upon us while we are feasting in his house,
and do his best to oust us, his wife, who wants him back so very badly,
would have small cause for rejoicing, and his blood would be upon
his own head if he fought against such great odds. There is no sense
in what you have been saying. Now, therefore, do you people go about
your business, and let his father's old friends, Mentor and Halitherses,
speed this boy on his journey, if he goes at all- which I do not think
he will, for he is more likely to stay where he is till some one comes
and tells him something."

On this he broke up the assembly, and every man went back to his own
abode, while the suitors returned to the house of Ulysses.

Then Telemachus went all alone by the sea side, washed his hands in
the grey waves, and prayed to Minerva.

"Hear me," he cried, "you god who visited me yesterday, and bade me
sail the seas in search of my father who has so long been missing.
I would obey you, but the Achaeans, and more particularly the wicked
suitors, are hindering me that I cannot do so."

As he thus prayed, Minerva came close up to him in the likeness and
with the voice of Mentor. "Telemachus," said she, "if you are made
of the same stuff as your father you will be neither fool nor coward
henceforward, for Ulysses never broke his word nor left his work half
done. If, then, you take after him, your voyage will not be fruitless,
but unless you have the blood of Ulysses and of Penelope in your veins
I see no likelihood of your succeeding. Sons are seldom as good men
as their fathers; they are generally worse, not better; still, as
you are not going to be either fool or coward henceforward, and are
not entirely without some share of your father's wise discernment,
I look with hope upon your undertaking. But mind you never make common
cause with any of those foolish suitors, for they have neither sense
nor virtue, and give no thought to death and to the doom that will
shortly fall on one and all of them, so that they shall perish on
the same day. As for your voyage, it shall not be long delayed; your
father was such an old friend of mine that I will find you a ship,
and will come with you myself. Now, however, return home, and go about
among the suitors; begin getting provisions ready for your voyage;
see everything well stowed, the wine in jars, and the barley meal,
which is the staff of life, in leathern bags, while I go round the
town and beat up volunteers at once. There are many ships in Ithaca
both old and new; I will run my eye over them for you and will choose
the best; we will get her ready and will put out to sea without delay."

Thus spoke Minerva daughter of Jove, and Telemachus lost no time in
doing as the goddess told him. He went moodily and found the suitors
flaying goats and singeing pigs in the outer court. Antinous came
up to him at once and laughed as he took his hand in his own, saying,
"Telemachus, my fine fire-eater, bear no more ill blood neither in
word nor deed, but eat and drink with us as you used to do. The Achaeans
will find you in everything- a ship and a picked crew to boot- so
that you can set sail for Pylos at once and get news of your noble
father."

"Antinous," answered Telemachus, "I cannot eat in peace, nor take
pleasure of any kind with such men as you are. Was it not enough that
you should waste so much good property of mine while I was yet a boy?
Now that I am older and know more about it, I am also stronger, and
whether here among this people, or by going to Pylos, I will do you
all the harm I can. I shall go, and my going will not be in vain though,
thanks to you suitors, I have neither ship nor crew of my own, and
must be passenger not captain."

As he spoke he snatched his hand from that of Antinous. Meanwhile
the others went on getting dinner ready about the buildings, jeering
at him tauntingly as they did so.

"Telemachus," said one youngster, "means to be the death of us; I
suppose he thinks he can bring friends to help him from Pylos, or
again from Sparta, where he seems bent on going. Or will he go to
Ephyra as well, for poison to put in our wine and kill us?"

Another said, "Perhaps if Telemachus goes on board ship, he will be
like his father and perish far from his friends. In this case we should
have plenty to do, for we could then divide up his property amongst
us: as for the house we can let his mother and the man who marries
her have that."

This was how they talked. But Telemachus went down into the lofty
and spacious store-room where his father's treasure of gold and bronze
lay heaped up upon the floor, and where the linen and spare clothes
were kept in open chests. Here, too, there was a store of fragrant
olive oil, while casks of old, well-ripened wine, unblended and fit
for a god to drink, were ranged against the wall in case Ulysses should
come home again after all. The room was closed with well-made doors
opening in the middle; moreover the faithful old house-keeper Euryclea,
daughter of Ops the son of Pisenor, was in charge of everything both
night and day. Telemachus called her to the store-room and said:

"Nurse, draw me off some of the best wine you have, after what you
are keeping for my father's own drinking, in case, poor man, he should
escape death, and find his way home again after all. Let me have twelve
jars, and see that they all have lids; also fill me some well-sewn
leathern bags with barley meal- about twenty measures in all. Get
these things put together at once, and say nothing about it. I will
take everything away this evening as soon as my mother has gone upstairs
for the night. I am going to Sparta and to Pylos to see if I can hear
anything about the return of my dear father.

When Euryclea heard this she began to cry, and spoke fondly to him,
saying, "My dear child, what ever can have put such notion as that
into your head? Where in the world do you want to go to- you, who
are the one hope of the house? Your poor father is dead and gone in
some foreign country nobody knows where, and as soon as your back
is turned these wicked ones here will be scheming to get you put out
of the way, and will share all your possessions among themselves;
stay where you are among your own people, and do not go wandering
and worrying your life out on the barren ocean."

"Fear not, nurse," answered Telemachus, "my scheme is not without
heaven's sanction; but swear that you will say nothing about all this
to my mother, till I have been away some ten or twelve days, unless
she hears of my having gone, and asks you; for I do not want her to
spoil her beauty by crying."

The old woman swore most solemnly that she would not, and when she
had completed her oath, she began drawing off the wine into jars,
and getting the barley meal into the bags, while Telemachus went back
to the suitors.

Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. She took his shape,
and went round the town to each one of the crew, telling them to meet
at the ship by sundown. She went also to Noemon son of Phronius, and
asked him to let her have a ship- which he was very ready to do. When
the sun had set and darkness was over all the land, she got the ship
into the water, put all the tackle on board her that ships generally
carry, and stationed her at the end of the harbour. Presently the
crew came up, and the goddess spoke encouragingly to each of them.

Furthermore she went to the house of Ulysses, and threw the suitors
into a deep slumber. She caused their drink to fuddle them, and made
them drop their cups from their hands, so that instead of sitting
over their wine, they went back into the town to sleep, with their
eyes heavy and full of drowsiness. Then she took the form and voice
of Mentor, and called Telemachus to come outside.

"Telemachus," said she, "the men are on board and at their oars, waiting
for you to give your orders, so make haste and let us be off."

On this she led the way, while Telemachus followed in her steps. When
they got to the ship they found the crew waiting by the water side,
and Telemachus said, "Now my men, help me to get the stores on board;
they are all put together in the cloister, and my mother does not
know anything about it, nor any of the maid servants except one."

With these words he led the way and the others followed after. When
they had brought the things as he told them, Telemachus went on board,
Minerva going before him and taking her seat in the stern of the vessel,
while Telemachus sat beside her. Then the men loosed the hawsers and
took their places on the benches. Minerva sent them a fair wind from
the West, that whistled over the deep blue waves whereon Telemachus
told them to catch hold of the ropes and hoist sail, and they did
as he told them. They set the mast in its socket in the cross plank,
raised it, and made it fast with the forestays; then they hoisted
their white sails aloft with ropes of twisted ox hide. As the sail
bellied out with the wind, the ship flew through the deep blue water,
and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward. Then they
made all fast throughout the ship, filled the mixing-bowls to the
brim, and made drink offerings to the immortal gods that are from
everlasting, but more particularly to the grey-eyed daughter of Jove.

Thus, then, the ship sped on her way through the watches of the night
from dark till dawn.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK III

But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of
heaven to shed light on mortals and immortals, they reached Pylos
the city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea
shore to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake.
There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there were
nine bulls to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats and
burning the thigh bones [on the embers] in the name of Neptune, Telemachus
and his crew arrived, furled their sails, brought their ship to anchor,
and went ashore.

Minerva led the way and Telemachus followed her. Presently she said,
"Telemachus, you must not be in the least shy or nervous; you have
taken this voyage to try and find out where your father is buried
and how he came by his end; so go straight up to Nestor that we may
see what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, and
he will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person."

"But how, Mentor," replied Telemachus, "dare I go up to Nestor, and
how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to holding long
conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioning one
who is so much older than myself."

"Some things, Telemachus," answered Minerva, "will be suggested to
you by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for
I am assured that the gods have been with you from the time of your
birth until now."

She then went quickly on, and Telemachus followed in her steps till
they reached the place where the guilds of the Pylian people were
assembled. There they found Nestor sitting with his sons, while his
company round him were busy getting dinner ready, and putting pieces
of meat on to the spits while other pieces were cooking. When they
saw the strangers they crowded round them, took them by the hand and
bade them take their places. Nestor's son Pisistratus at once offered
his hand to each of them, and seated them on some soft sheepskins
that were lying on the sands near his father and his brother Thrasymedes.
Then he gave them their portions of the inward meats and poured wine
for them into a golden cup, handing it to Minerva first, and saluting
her at the same time.

"Offer a prayer, sir," said he, "to King Neptune, for it is his feast
that you are joining; when you have duly prayed and made your drink-offering,
pass the cup to your friend that he may do so also. I doubt not that
he too lifts his hands in prayer, for man cannot live without God
in the world. Still he is younger than you are, and is much of an
age with myself, so I he handed I will give you the precedence."

As he spoke he handed her the cup. Minerva thought it very right and
proper of him to have given it to herself first; she accordingly began
praying heartily to Neptune. "O thou," she cried, "that encirclest
the earth, vouchsafe to grant the prayers of thy servants that call
upon thee. More especially we pray thee send down thy grace on Nestor
and on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people
some handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you.
Lastly, grant Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of the
matter that has brought us in our to Pylos."

When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup to Telemachus
and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer meats were roasted
and had been taken off the spits, the carvers gave every man his portion
and they all made an excellent dinner. As soon as they had had enough
to eat and drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene, began to speak.

"Now," said he, "that our guests have done their dinner, it will be
best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are you,
and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? or do you sail
the seas as rovers with your hand against every man, and every man's
hand against you?"

Telemachus answered boldly, for Minerva had given him courage to ask
about his father and get himself a good name.

"Nestor," said he, "son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, you
ask whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca under
Neritum, and the matter about which I would speak is of private not
public import. I seek news of my unhappy father Ulysses, who is said
to have sacked the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know
what fate befell each one of the other heroes who fought at Troy,
but as regards Ulysses heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even
that he is dead at all, for no one can certify us in what place he
perished, nor say whether he fell in battle on the mainland, or was
lost at sea amid the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I am suppliant
at your knees, if haply you may be pleased to tell me of his melancholy
end, whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some
other traveller, for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things
out of any pity for me, but tell me in all plainness exactly what
you saw. If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, either
by word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed among the Trojans,
bear it in mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all."

"My friend," answered Nestor, "you recall a time of much sorrow to
my mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at sea, while privateering
under Achilles, and when fighting before the great city of king Priam.
Our best men all of them fell there- Ajax, Achilles, Patroclus peer
of gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilochus, a man singularly
fleet of foot and in fight valiant. But we suffered much more than
this; what mortal tongue indeed could tell the whole story? Though
you were to stay here and question me for five years, or even six,
I could not tell you all that the Achaeans suffered, and you would
turn homeward weary of my tale before it ended. Nine long years did
we try every kind of stratagem, but the hand of heaven was against
us; during all this time there was no one who could compare with your
father in subtlety- if indeed you are his son- I can hardly believe
my eyes- and you talk just like him too- no one would say that people
of such different ages could speak so much alike. He and I never had
any kind of difference from first to last neither in camp nor council,
but in singleness of heart and purpose we advised the Argives how
all might be ordered for the best.

"When however, we had sacked the city of Priam, and were setting sail
in our ships as heaven had dispersed us, then Jove saw fit to vex
the Argives on their homeward voyage; for they had Not all been either
wise or understanding, and hence many came to a bad end through the
displeasure of Jove's daughter Minerva, who brought about a quarrel
between the two sons of Atreus.

"The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it should be,
for it was sunset and the Achaeans were heavy with wine. When they
explained why they had called- the people together, it seemed that
Menelaus was for sailing homeward at once, and this displeased Agamemnon,
who thought that we should wait till we had offered hecatombs to appease
the anger of Minerva. Fool that he was, he might have known that he
would not prevail with her, for when the gods have made up their minds
they do not change them lightly. So the two stood bandying hard words,
whereon the Achaeans sprang to their feet with a cry that rent the
air, and were of two minds as to what they should do.

"That night we rested and nursed our anger, for Jove was hatching
mischief against us. But in the morning some of us drew our ships
into the water and put our goods with our women on board, while the
rest, about half in number, stayed behind with Agamemnon. We- the
other half- embarked and sailed; and the ships went well, for heaven
had smoothed the sea. When we reached Tenedos we offered sacrifices
to the gods, for we were longing to get home; cruel Jove, however,
did not yet mean that we should do so, and raised a second quarrel
in the course of which some among us turned their ships back again,
and sailed away under Ulysses to make their peace with Agamemnon;
but I, and all the ships that were with me pressed forward, for I
saw that mischief was brewing. The son of Tydeus went on also with
me, and his crews with him. Later on Menelaus joined us at Lesbos,
and found us making up our minds about our course- for we did not
know whether to go outside Chios by the island of Psyra, keeping this
to our left, or inside Chios, over against the stormy headland of
Mimas. So we asked heaven for a sign, and were shown one to the effect
that we should be soonest out of danger if we headed our ships across
the open sea to Euboea. This we therefore did, and a fair wind sprang
up which gave us a quick passage during the night to Geraestus, where
we offered many sacrifices to Neptune for having helped us so far
on our way. Four days later Diomed and his men stationed their ships
in Argos, but I held on for Pylos, and the wind never fell light from
the day when heaven first made it fair for me.

"Therefore, my dear young friend, I returned without hearing anything
about the others. I know neither who got home safely nor who were
lost but, as in duty bound, I will give you without reserve the reports
that have reached me since I have been here in my own house. They
say the Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles' son Neoptolemus;
so also did the valiant son of Poias, Philoctetes. Idomeneus, again,
lost no men at sea, and all his followers who escaped death in the
field got safe home with him to Crete. No matter how far out of the
world you live, you will have heard of Agamemnon and the bad end he
came to at the hands of Aegisthus- and a fearful reckoning did Aegisthus
presently pay. See what a good thing it is for a man to leave a son
behind him to do as Orestes did, who killed false Aegisthus the murderer
of his noble father. You too, then- for you are a tall, smart-looking
fellow- show your mettle and make yourself a name in story."

"Nestor son of Neleus," answered Telemachus, "honour to the Achaean
name, the Achaeans applaud Orestes and his name will live through
all time for he has avenged his father nobly. Would that heaven might
grant me to do like vengeance on the insolence of the wicked suitors,
who are ill treating me and plotting my ruin; but the gods have no
such happiness in store for me and for my father, so we must bear
it as best we may."

"My friend," said Nestor, "now that you remind me, I remember to have
heard that your mother has many suitors, who are ill disposed towards
you and are making havoc of your estate. Do you submit to this tamely,
or are public feeling and the voice of heaven against you? Who knows
but what Ulysses may come back after all, and pay these scoundrels
in full, either single-handed or with a force of Achaeans behind him?
If Minerva were to take as great a liking to you as she did to Ulysses
when we were fighting before Troy (for I never yet saw the gods so
openly fond of any one as Minerva then was of your father), if she
would take as good care of you as she did of him, these wooers would
soon some of them him, forget their wooing."

Telemachus answered, "I can expect nothing of the kind; it would be
far too much to hope for. I dare not let myself think of it. Even
though the gods themselves willed it no such good fortune could befall
me."

On this Minerva said, "Telemachus, what are you talking about? Heaven
has a long arm if it is minded to save a man; and if it were me, I
should not care how much I suffered before getting home, provided
I could be safe when I was once there. I would rather this, than get
home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon was
by the treachery of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death is certain,
and when a man's hour is come, not even the gods can save him, no
matter how fond they are of him."

"Mentor," answered Telemachus, "do not let us talk about it any more.
There is no chance of my father's ever coming back; the gods have
long since counselled his destruction. There is something else, however,
about which I should like to ask Nestor, for he knows much more than
any one else does. They say he has reigned for three generations so
that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me, therefore, Nestor,
and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to die in that way? What
was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegisthus to kill so far better
a man than himself? Was Menelaus away from Achaean Argos, voyaging
elsewhither among mankind, that Aegisthus took heart and killed Agamemnon?"

"I will tell you truly," answered Nestor, "and indeed you have yourself
divined how it all happened. If Menelaus when he got back from Troy
had found Aegisthus still alive in his house, there would have been
no barrow heaped up for him, not even when he was dead, but he would
have been thrown outside the city to dogs and vultures, and not a
woman would have mourned him, for he had done a deed of great wickedness;
but we were over there, fighting hard at Troy, and Aegisthus who was
taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos, cajoled Agamemnon's
wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery.

"At first she would have nothing to do with his wicked scheme, for
she was of a good natural disposition; moreover there was a bard with
her, to whom Agamemnon had given strict orders on setting out for
Troy, that he was to keep guard over his wife; but when heaven had
counselled her destruction, Aegisthus thus this bard off to a desert
island and left him there for crows and seagulls to batten upon- after
which she went willingly enough to the house of Aegisthus. Then he
offered many burnt sacrifices to the gods, and decorated many temples
with tapestries and gilding, for he had succeeded far beyond his expectations.

"Meanwhile Menelaus and I were on our way home from Troy, on good
terms with one another. When we got to Sunium, which is the point
of Athens, Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis the steersman
of Menelaus' ship (and never man knew better how to handle a vessel
in rough weather) so that he died then and there with the helm in
his hand, and Menelaus, though very anxious to press forward, had
to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him his due funeral
rites. Presently, when he too could put to sea again, and had sailed
on as far as the Malean heads, Jove counselled evil against him and
made it it blow hard till the waves ran mountains high. Here he divided
his fleet and took the one half towards Crete where the Cydonians
dwell round about the waters of the river Iardanus. There is a high
headland hereabouts stretching out into the sea from a place called
Gortyn, and all along this part of the coast as far as Phaestus the
sea runs high when there is a south wind blowing, but arter Phaestus
the coast is more protected, for a small headland can make a great
shelter. Here this part of the fleet was driven on to the rocks and
wrecked; but the crews just managed to save themselves. As for the
other five ships, they were taken by winds and seas to Egypt, where
Menelaus gathered much gold and substance among people of an alien
speech. Meanwhile Aegisthus here at home plotted his evil deed. For
seven years after he had killed Agamemnon he ruled in Mycene, and
the people were obedient under him, but in the eighth year Orestes
came back from Athens to be his bane, and killed the murderer of his
father. Then he celebrated the funeral rites of his mother and of
false Aegisthus by a banquet to the people of Argos, and on that very
day Menelaus came home, with as much treasure as his ships could carry.

"Take my advice then, and do not go travelling about for long so far
from home, nor leave your property with such dangerous people in your
house; they will eat up everything you have among them, and you will
have been on a fool's errand. Still, I should advise you by all means
to go and visit Menelaus, who has lately come off a voyage among such
distant peoples as no man could ever hope to get back from, when the
winds had once carried him so far out of his reckoning; even birds
cannot fly the distance in a twelvemonth, so vast and terrible are
the seas that they must cross. Go to him, therefore, by sea, and take
your own men with you; or if you would rather travel by land you can
have a chariot, you can have horses, and here are my sons who can
escort you to Lacedaemon where Menelaus lives. Beg of him to speak
the truth, and he will tell you no lies, for he is an excellent person."

As he spoke the sun set and it came on dark, whereon Minerva said,
"Sir, all that you have said is well; now, however, order the tongues
of the victims to be cut, and mix wine that we may make drink-offerings
to Neptune, and the other immortals, and then go to bed, for it is
bed time. People should go away early and not keep late hours at a
religious festival."

Thus spoke the daughter of Jove, and they obeyed her saying. Men servants
poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the
mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round after giving
every man his drink-offering; then they threw the tongues of the victims
into the fire, and stood up to make their drink-offerings. When they
had made their offerings and had drunk each as much as he was minded,
Minerva and Telemachus were forgoing on board their ship, but Nestor
caught them up at once and stayed them.

"Heaven and the immortal gods," he exclaimed, "forbid that you should
leave my house to go on board of a ship. Do you think I am so poor
and short of clothes, or that I have so few cloaks and as to be unable
to find comfortable beds both for myself and for my guests? Let me
tell you I have store both of rugs and cloaks, and shall not permit
the son of my old friend Ulysses to camp down on the deck of a ship-
not while I live- nor yet will my sons after me, but they will keep
open house as have done."

Then Minerva answered, "Sir, you have spoken well, and it will be
much better that Telemachus should do as you have said; he, therefore,
shall return with you and sleep at your house, but I must go back
to give orders to my crew, and keep them in good heart. I am the only
older person among them; the rest are all young men of Telemachus'
own age, who have taken this voyage out of friendship; so I must return
to the ship and sleep there. Moreover to-morrow I must go to the Cauconians
where I have a large sum of money long owing to me. As for Telemachus,
now that he is your guest, send him to Lacedaemon in a chariot, and
let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased also to provide him with
your best and fleetest horses."

When she had thus spoken, she flew away in the form of an eagle, and
all marvelled as they beheld it. Nestor was astonished, and took Telemachus
by the hand. "My friend," said he, "I see that you are going to be
a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thus while you
are still so young. This can have been none other of those who dwell
in heaven than Jove's redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, who showed
such favour towards your brave father among the Argives." "Holy queen,"
he continued, "vouchsafe to send down thy grace upon myself, my good
wife, and my children. In return, I will offer you in sacrifice a
broad-browed heifer of a year old, unbroken, and never yet brought
by man under the yoke. I will gild her horns, and will offer her up
to you in sacrifice."

Thus did he pray, and Minerva heard his prayer. He then led the way
to his own house, followed by his sons and sons-in-law. When they
had got there and had taken their places on the benches and seats,
he mixed them a bowl of sweet wine that was eleven years old when
the housekeeper took the lid off the jar that held it. As he mixed
the wine, he prayed much and made drink-offerings to Minerva, daughter
of Aegis-bearing Jove. Then, when they had made their drink-offerings
and had drunk each as much as he was minded, the others went home
to bed each in his own abode; but Nestor put Telemachus to sleep in
the room that was over the gateway along with Pisistratus, who was
the only unmarried son now left him. As for himself, he slept in an
inner room of the house, with the queen his wife by his side.

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Nestor
left his couch and took his seat on the benches of white and polished
marble that stood in front of his house. Here aforetime sat Neleus,
peer of gods in counsel, but he was now dead, and had gone to the
house of Hades; so Nestor sat in his seat, sceptre in hand, as guardian
of the public weal. His sons as they left their rooms gathered round
him, Echephron, Stratius, Perseus, Aretus, and Thrasymedes; the sixth
son was Pisistratus, and when Telemachus joined them they made him
sit with them. Nestor then addressed them.

"My sons," said he, "make haste to do as I shall bid you. I wish first
and foremost to propitiate the great goddess Minerva, who manifested
herself visibly to me during yesterday's festivities. Go, then, one
or other of you to the plain, tell the stockman to look me out a heifer,
and come on here with it at once. Another must go to Telemachus's
ship, and invite all the crew, leaving two men only in charge of the
vessel. Some one else will run and fetch Laerceus the goldsmith to
gild the horns of the heifer. The rest, stay all of you where you
are; tell the maids in the house to prepare an excellent dinner, and
to fetch seats, and logs of wood for a burnt offering. Tell them also-
to bring me some clear spring water."

On this they hurried off on their several errands. The heifer was
brought in from the plain, and Telemachus's crew came from the ship;
the goldsmith brought the anvil, hammer, and tongs, with which he
worked his gold, and Minerva herself came to the sacrifice. Nestor
gave out the gold, and the smith gilded the horns of the heifer that
the goddess might have pleasure in their beauty. Then Stratius and
Echephron brought her in by the horns; Aretus fetched water from the
house in a ewer that had a flower pattern on it, and in his other
hand he held a basket of barley meal; sturdy Thrasymedes stood by
with a sharp axe, ready to strike the heifer, while Perseus held a
bucket. Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling the
barley meal, and he offered many a prayer to Minerva as he threw a
lock from the heifer's head upon the fire.

When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley meal Thrasymedes
dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with a stroke that cut
through the tendons at the base of her neck, whereon the daughters
and daughters-in-law of Nestor, and his venerable wife Eurydice (she
was eldest daughter to Clymenus) screamed with delight. Then they
lifted the heifer's head from off the ground, and Pisistratus cut
her throat. When she had done bleeding and was quite dead, they cut
her up. They cut out the thigh bones all in due course, wrapped them
round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on the
top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fire and poured wine
over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged spits
in their hands. When the thighs were burned and they had tasted the
inward meats, they cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces
on the spits and toasted them over the fire.

Meanwhile lovely Polycaste, Nestor's youngest daughter, washed Telemachus.
When she had washed him and anointed him with oil, she brought him
a fair mantle and shirt, and he looked like a god as he came from
the bath and took his seat by the side of Nestor. When the outer meats
were done they drew them off the spits and sat down to dinner where
they were waited upon by some worthy henchmen, who kept pouring them
out their wine in cups of gold. As soon as they had had had enough
to eat and drink Nestor said, "Sons, put Telemachus's horses to the
chariot that he may start at once."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said, and yoked the
fleet horses to the chariot. The housekeeper packed them up a provision
of bread, wine, and sweetmeats fit for the sons of princes. Then Telemachus
got into the chariot, while Pisistratus gathered up the reins and
took his seat beside him. He lashed the horses on and they flew forward
nothing loth into the open country, leaving the high citadel of Pylos
behind them. All that day did they travel, swaying the yoke upon their
necks till the sun went down and darkness was over all the land. Then
they reached Pherae where Diocles lived, who was son to Ortilochus
and grandson to Alpheus. Here they passed the night and Diocles entertained
them hospitably. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn; appeared,
they again yoked their horses and drove out through the gateway under
the echoing gatehouse. Pisistratus lashed the horses on and they flew
forward nothing loth; presently they came to the corn lands Of the
open country, and in the course of time completed their journey, so
well did their steeds take them.

Now when the sun had set and darkness was over the land,

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK IV

They reached the low lying city of Lacedaemon them where they drove
straight to the of abode Menelaus [and found him in his own house,
feasting with his many clansmen in honour of the wedding of his son,
and also of his daughter, whom he was marrying to the son of that
valiant warrior Achilles. He had given his consent and promised her
to him while he was still at Troy, and now the gods were bringing
the marriage about; so he was sending her with chariots and horses
to the city of the Myrmidons over whom Achilles' son was reigning.
For his only son he had found a bride from Sparta, daughter of Alector.
This son, Megapenthes, was born to him of a bondwoman, for heaven
vouchsafed Helen no more children after she had borne Hermione, who
was fair as golden Venus herself.

So the neighbours and kinsmen of Menelaus were feasting and making
merry in his house. There was a bard also to sing to them and play
his lyre, while two tumblers went about performing in the midst of
them when the man struck up with his tune.]

Telemachus and the son of Nestor stayed their horses at the gate,
whereon Eteoneus servant to Menelaus came out, and as soon as he saw
them ran hurrying back into the house to tell his Master. He went
close up to him and said, "Menelaus, there are some strangers come
here, two men, who look like sons of Jove. What are we to do? Shall
we take their horses out, or tell them to find friends elsewhere as
they best can?"

Menelaus was very angry and said, "Eteoneus, son of Boethous, you
never used to be a fool, but now you talk like a simpleton. Take their
horses out, of course, and show the strangers in that they may have
supper; you and I have stayed often enough at other people's houses
before we got back here, where heaven grant that we may rest in peace
henceforward."

So Eteoneus bustled back and bade other servants come with him. They
took their sweating hands from under the yoke, made them fast to the
mangers, and gave them a feed of oats and barley mixed. Then they
leaned the chariot against the end wall of the courtyard, and led
the way into the house. Telemachus and Pisistratus were astonished
when they saw it, for its splendour was as that of the sun and moon;
then, when they had admired everything to their heart's content, they
went into the bath room and washed themselves.

When the servants had washed them and anointed them with oil, they
brought them woollen cloaks and shirts, and the two took their seats
by the side of Menelaus. A maidservant brought them water in a beautiful
golden ewer, and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their
hands; and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought
them bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in
the house, while the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats
and set cups of gold by their side.

Menelaus then greeted them saying, "Fall to, and welcome; when you
have done supper I shall ask who you are, for the lineage of such
men as you cannot have been lost. You must be descended from a line
of sceptre-bearing kings, for poor people do not have such sons as
you are."

On this he handed them a piece of fat roast loin, which had been set
near him as being a prime part, and they laid their hands on the good
things that were before them; as soon as they had had enough to eat
and drink, Telemachus said to the son of Nestor, with his head so
close that no one might hear, "Look, Pisistratus, man after my own
heart, see the gleam of bronze and gold- of amber, ivory, and silver.
Everything is so splendid that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian
Jove. I am lost in admiration."

Menelaus overheard him and said, "No one, my sons, can hold his own
with Jove, for his house and everything about him is immortal; but
among mortal men- well, there may be another who has as much wealth
as I have, or there may not; but at all events I have travelled much
and have undergone much hardship, for it was nearly eight years before
I could get home with my fleet. I went to Cyprus, Phoenicia and the
Egyptians; I went also to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Erembians,
and to Libya where the lambs have horns as soon as they are born,
and the sheep lamb down three times a year. Every one in that country,
whether master or man, has plenty of cheese, meat, and good milk,
for the ewes yield all the year round. But while I was travelling
and getting great riches among these people, my brother was secretly
and shockingly murdered through the perfidy of his wicked wife, so
that I have no pleasure in being lord of all this wealth. Whoever
your parents may be they must have told you about all this, and of
my heavy loss in the ruin of a stately mansion fully and magnificently
furnished. Would that I had only a third of what I now have so that
I had stayed at home, and all those were living who perished on the
plain of Troy, far from Argos. I of grieve, as I sit here in my house,
for one and all of them. At times I cry aloud for sorrow, but presently
I leave off again, for crying is cold comfort and one soon tires of
it. Yet grieve for these as I may, I do so for one man more than for
them all. I cannot even think of him without loathing both food and
sleep, so miserable does he make me, for no one of all the Achaeans
worked so hard or risked so much as he did. He took nothing by it,
and has left a legacy of sorrow to myself, for he has been gone a
long time, and we know not whether he is alive or dead. His old father,
his long-suffering wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus, whom he
left behind him an infant in arms, are plunged in grief on his account."

Thus spoke Menelaus, and the heart of Telemachus yearned as he bethought
him of his father. Tears fell from his eyes as he heard him thus mentioned,
so that he held his cloak before his face with both hands. When Menelaus
saw this he doubted whether to let him choose his own time for speaking,
or to ask him at once and find what it was all about.

While he was thus in two minds Helen came down from her high vaulted
and perfumed room, looking as lovely as Diana herself. Adraste brought
her a seat, Alcippe a soft woollen rug while Phylo fetched her the
silver work-box which Alcandra wife of Polybus had given her. Polybus
lived in Egyptian Thebes, which is the richest city in the whole world;
he gave Menelaus two baths, both of pure silver, two tripods, and
ten talents of gold; besides all this, his wife gave Helen some beautiful
presents, to wit, a golden distaff, and a silver work-box that ran
on wheels, with a gold band round the top of it. Phylo now placed
this by her side, full of fine spun yarn, and a distaff charged with
violet coloured wool was laid upon the top of it. Then Helen took
her seat, put her feet upon the footstool, and began to question her
husband.

"Do we know, Menelaus," said she, "the names of these strangers who
have come to visit us? Shall I guess right or wrong?-but I cannot
help saying what I think. Never yet have I seen either man or woman
so like somebody else (indeed when I look at him I hardly know what
to think) as this young man is like Telemachus, whom Ulysses left
as a baby behind him, when you Achaeans went to Troy with battle in
your hearts, on account of my most shameless self."

"My dear wife," replied Menelaus, "I see the likeness just as you
do. His hands and feet are just like Ulysses'; so is his hair, with
the shape of his head and the expression of his eyes. Moreover, when
I was talking about Ulysses, and saying how much he had suffered on
my account, tears fell from his eyes, and he hid his face in his mantle."

Then Pisistratus said, "Menelaus, son of Atreus, you are right in
thinking that this young man is Telemachus, but he is very modest,
and is ashamed to come here and begin opening up discourse with one
whose conversation is so divinely interesting as your own. My father,
Nestor, sent me to escort him hither, for he wanted to know whether
you could give him any counsel or suggestion. A son has always trouble
at home when his father has gone away leaving him without supporters;
and this is how Telemachus is now placed, for his father is absent,
and there is no one among his own people to stand by him."

"Bless my heart," replied Menelaus, "then I am receiving a visit from
the son of a very dear friend, who suffered much hardship for my sake.
I had always hoped to entertain him with most marked distinction when
heaven had granted us a safe return from beyond the seas. I should
have founded a city for him in Argos, and built him a house. I should
have made him leave Ithaca with his goods, his son, and all his people,
and should have sacked for them some one of the neighbouring cities
that are subject to me. We should thus have seen one another continually,
and nothing but death could have interrupted so close and happy an
intercourse. I suppose, however, that heaven grudged us such great
good fortune, for it has prevented the poor fellow from ever getting
home at all."

Thus did he speak, and his words set them all a weeping. Helen wept,
Telemachus wept, and so did Menelaus, nor could Pisistratus keep his
eyes from filling, when he remembered his dear brother Antilochus
whom the son of bright Dawn had killed. Thereon he said to Menelaus,

"Sir, my father Nestor, when we used to talk about you at home, told
me you were a person of rare and excellent understanding. If, then,
it be possible, do as I would urge you. I am not fond of crying while
I am getting my supper. Morning will come in due course, and in the
forenoon I care not how much I cry for those that are dead and gone.
This is all we can do for the poor things. We can only shave our heads
for them and wring the tears from our cheeks. I had a brother who
died at Troy; he was by no means the worst man there; you are sure
to have known him- his name was Antilochus; I never set eyes upon
him myself, but they say that he was singularly fleet of foot and
in fight valiant."

"Your discretion, my friend," answered Menelaus, "is beyond your years.
It is plain you take after your father. One can soon see when a man
is son to one whom heaven has blessed both as regards wife and offspring-
and it has blessed Nestor from first to last all his days, giving
him a green old age in his own house, with sons about him who are
both we disposed and valiant. We will put an end therefore to all
this weeping, and attend to our supper again. Let water be poured
over our hands. Telemachus and I can talk with one another fully in
the morning."

On this Asphalion, one of the servants, poured water over their hands
and they laid their hands on the good things that were before them.

Then Jove's daughter Helen bethought her of another matter. She drugged
the wine with an herb that banishes all care, sorrow, and ill humour.
Whoever drinks wine thus drugged cannot shed a single tear all the
rest of the day, not even though his father and mother both of them
drop down dead, or he sees a brother or a son hewn in pieces before
his very eyes. This drug, of such sovereign power and virtue, had
been given to Helen by Polydamna wife of Thon, a woman of Egypt, where
there grow all sorts of herbs, some good to put into the mixing-bowl
and others poisonous. Moreover, every one in the whole country is
a skilled physician, for they are of the race of Paeeon. When Helen
had put this drug in the bowl, and had told the servants to serve
the wine round, she said:

"Menelaus, son of Atreus, and you my good friends, sons of honourable
men (which is as Jove wills, for he is the giver both of good and
evil, and can do what he chooses), feast here as you will, and listen
while I tell you a tale in season. I cannot indeed name every single
one of the exploits of Ulysses, but I can say what he did when he
was before Troy, and you Achaeans were in all sorts of difficulties.
He covered himself with wounds and bruises, dressed himself all in
rags, and entered the enemy's city looking like a menial or a beggar.
and quite different from what he did when he was among his own people.
In this disguise he entered the city of Troy, and no one said anything
to him. I alone recognized him and began to question him, but he was
too cunning for me. When, however, I had washed and anointed him and
had given him clothes, and after I had sworn a solemn oath not to
betray him to the Trojans till he had got safely back to his own camp
and to the ships, he told me all that the Achaeans meant to do. He
killed many Trojans and got much information before he reached the
Argive camp, for all which things the Trojan women made lamentation,
but for my own part I was glad, for my heart was beginning to oam
after my home, and I was unhappy about wrong that Venus had done me
in taking me over there, away from my country, my girl, and my lawful
wedded husband, who is indeed by no means deficient either in person
or understanding."

Then Menelaus said, "All that you have been saying, my dear wife,
is true. I have travelled much, and have had much to do with heroes,
but I have never seen such another man as Ulysses. What endurance
too, and what courage he displayed within the wooden horse, wherein
all the bravest of the Argives were lying in wait to bring death and
destruction upon the Trojans. At that moment you came up to us; some
god who wished well to the Trojans must have set you on to it and
you had Deiphobus with you. Three times did you go all round our hiding
place and pat it; you called our chiefs each by his own name, and
mimicked all our wives -Diomed, Ulysses, and I from our seats inside
heard what a noise you made. Diomed and I could not make up our minds
whether to spring out then and there, or to answer you from inside,
but Ulysses held us all in check, so we sat quite still, all except
Anticlus, who was beginning to answer you, when Ulysses clapped his
two brawny hands over his mouth, and kept them there. It was this
that saved us all, for he muzzled Anticlus till Minerva took you away
again."

"How sad," exclaimed Telemachus, "that all this was of no avail to
save him, nor yet his own iron courage. But now, sir, be pleased to
send us all to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed boon
of sleep."

On this Helen told the maid servants to set beds in the room that
was in the gatehouse, and to make them with good red rugs, and spread
coverlets on the top of them with woollen cloaks for the guests to
wear. So the maids went out, carrying a torch, and made the beds,
to which a man-servant presently conducted the strangers. Thus, then,
did Telemachus and Pisistratus sleep there in the forecourt, while
the son of Atreus lay in an inner room with lovely Helen by his side.

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Menelaus
rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet,
girded his sword about his shoulders, and left his room looking like
an immortal god. Then, taking a seat near Telemachus he said:

"And what, Telemachus, has led you to take this long sea voyage to
Lacedaemon? Are you on public or private business? Tell me all about
it."

"I have come, sir replied Telemachus, "to see if you can tell me anything
about my father. I am being eaten out of house and home; my fair estate
is being wasted, and my house is full of miscreants who keep killing
great numbers of my sheep and oxen, on the pretence of paying their
addresses to my mother. Therefore, I am suppliant at your knees if
haply you may tell me about my father's melancholy end, whether you
saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other traveller;
for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any
pity for myself, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw.
If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service either by word
or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed by the Trojans, bear it in
mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all."

Menelaus on hearing this was very much shocked. "So," he exclaimed,
"these cowards would usurp a brave man's bed? A hind might as well
lay her new born young in the lair of a lion, and then go off to feed
in the forest or in some grassy dell: the lion when he comes back
to his lair will make short work with the pair of them- and so will
Ulysses with these suitors. By father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, if
Ulysses is still the man that he was when he wrestled with Philomeleides
in Lesbos, and threw him so heavily that all the Achaeans cheered
him- if he is still such and were to come near these suitors, they
would have a short shrift and a sorry wedding. As regards your questions,
however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive you, but will tell you
without concealment all that the old man of the sea told me.

"I was trying to come on here, but the gods detained me in Egypt,
for my hecatombs had not given them full satisfaction, and the gods
are very strict about having their dues. Now off Egypt, about as far
as a ship can sail in a day with a good stiff breeze behind her, there
is an island called Pharos- it has a good harbour from which vessels
can get out into open sea when they have taken in water- and the gods
becalmed me twenty days without so much as a breath of fair wind to
help me forward. We should have run clean out of provisions and my
men would have starved, if a goddess had not taken pity upon me and
saved me in the person of Idothea, daughter to Proteus, the old man
of the sea, for she had taken a great fancy to me.

"She came to me one day when I was by myself, as I often was, for
the men used to go with their barbed hooks, all over the island in
the hope of catching a fish or two to save them from the pangs of
hunger. 'Stranger,' said she, 'it seems to me that you like starving
in this way- at any rate it does not greatly trouble you, for you
stick here day after day, without even trying to get away though your
men are dying by inches.'

"'Let me tell you,' said I, 'whichever of the goddesses you may happen
to be, that I am not staying here of my own accord, but must have
offended the gods that live in heaven. Tell me, therefore, for the
gods know everything. which of the immortals it is that is hindering
me in this way, and tell me also how I may sail the sea so as to reach
my home.'

"'Stranger,' replied she, 'I will make it all quite clear to you.
There is an old immortal who lives under the sea hereabouts and whose
name is Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and people say he is my father;
he is Neptune's head man and knows every inch of ground all over the
bottom of the sea. If you can snare him and hold him tight, he will
tell you about your voyage, what courses you are to take, and how
you are to sail the sea so as to reach your home. He will also tell
you, if you so will, all that has been going on at your house both
good and bad, while you have been away on your long and dangerous
journey.'

"'Can you show me,' said I, 'some stratagem by means of which I may
catch this old god without his suspecting it and finding me out? For
a god is not easily caught- not by a mortal man.'

"'Stranger,' said she, 'I will make it all quite clear to you. About
the time when the sun shall have reached mid heaven, the old man of
the sea comes up from under the waves, heralded by the West wind that
furs the water over his head. As soon as he has come up he lies down,
and goes to sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals- Halosydne's
chickens as they call them- come up also from the grey sea, and go
to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong and fish-like
smell do they bring with them. Early to-morrow morning I will take
you to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick out, therefore,
the three best men you have in your fleet, and I will tell you all
the tricks that the old man will play you.

"'First he will look over all his seals, and count them; then, when
he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers, he will go
to sleep among them, as a shepherd among his sheep. The moment you
see that he is asleep seize him; put forth all your strength and hold
him fast, for he will do his very utmost to get away from you. He
will turn himself into every kind of creature that goes upon the earth,
and will become also both fire and water; but you must hold him fast
and grip him tighter and tighter, till he begins to talk to you and
comes back to what he was when you saw him go to sleep; then you may
slacken your hold and let him go; and you can ask him which of the
gods it is that is angry with you, and what you must do to reach your
home over the seas.'

"Having so said she dived under the waves, whereon I turned back to
the place where my ships were ranged upon the shore; and my heart
was clouded with care as I went along. When I reached my ship we got
supper ready, for night was falling, and camped down upon the beach.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I took the
three men on whose prowess of all kinds I could most rely, and went
along by the sea-side, praying heartily to heaven. Meanwhile the goddess
fetched me up four seal skins from the bottom of the sea, all of them
just skinned, for she meant playing a trick upon her father. Then
she dug four pits for us to lie in, and sat down to wait till we should
come up. When we were close to her, she made us lie down in the pits
one after the other, and threw a seal skin over each of us. Our ambuscade
would have been intolerable, for the stench of the fishy seals was
most distressing- who would go to bed with a sea monster if he could
help it?-but here, too, the goddess helped us, and thought of something
that gave us great relief, for she put some ambrosia under each man's
nostrils, which was so fragrant that it killed the smell of the seals.

"We waited the whole morning and made the best of it, watching the
seals come up in hundreds to bask upon the sea shore, till at noon
the old man of the sea came up too, and when he had found his fat
seals he went over them and counted them. We were among the first
he counted, and he never suspected any guile, but laid himself down
to sleep as soon as he had done counting. Then we rushed upon him
with a shout and seized him; on which he began at once with his old
tricks, and changed himself first into a lion with a great mane; then
all of a sudden he became a dragon, a leopard, a wild boar; the next
moment he was running water, and then again directly he was a tree,
but we stuck to him and never lost hold, till at last the cunning
old creature became distressed, and said, Which of the gods was it,
Son of Atreus, that hatched this plot with you for snaring me and
seizing me against my will? What do you want?'

"'You know that yourself, old man,' I answered, 'you will gain nothing
by trying to put me off. It is because I have been kept so long in
this island, and see no sign of my being able to get away. I am losing
all heart; tell me, then, for you gods know everything, which of the
immortals it is that is hindering me, and tell me also how I may sail
the sea so as to reach my home?'

"Then,' he said, 'if you would finish your voyage and get home quickly,
you must offer sacrifices to Jove and to the rest of the gods before
embarking; for it is decreed that you shall not get back to your friends,
and to your own house, till you have returned to the heaven fed stream
of Egypt, and offered holy hecatombs to the immortal gods that reign
in heaven. When you have done this they will let you finish your voyage.'

"I was broken hearted when I heard that I must go back all that long
and terrible voyage to Egypt; nevertheless, I answered, 'I will do
all, old man, that you have laid upon me; but now tell me, and tell
me true, whether all the Achaeans whom Nestor and I left behind us
when we set sail from Troy have got home safely, or whether any one
of them came to a bad end either on board his own ship or among his
friends when the days of his fighting were done.'

"'Son of Atreus,' he answered, 'why ask me? You had better not know
what I can tell you, for your eyes will surely fill when you have
heard my story. Many of those about whom you ask are dead and gone,
but many still remain, and only two of the chief men among the Achaeans
perished during their return home. As for what happened on the field
of battle- you were there yourself. A third Achaean leader is still
at sea, alive, but hindered from returning. Ajax was wrecked, for
Neptune drove him on to the great rocks of Gyrae; nevertheless, he
let him get safe out of the water, and in spite of all Minerva's hatred
he would have escaped death, if he had not ruined himself by boasting.
He said the gods could not drown him even though they had tried to
do so, and when Neptune heard this large talk, he seized his trident
in his two brawny hands, and split the rock of Gyrae in two pieces.
The base remained where it was, but the part on which Ajax was sitting
fell headlong into the sea and carried Ajax with it; so he drank salt
water and was drowned.

"'Your brother and his ships escaped, for Juno protected him, but
when he was just about to reach the high promontory of Malea, he was
caught by a heavy gale which carried him out to sea again sorely against
his will, and drove him to the foreland where Thyestes used to dwell,
but where Aegisthus was then living. By and by, however, it seemed
as though he was to return safely after all, for the gods backed the
wind into its old quarter and they reached home; whereon Agamemnon
kissed his native soil, and shed tears of joy at finding himself in
his own country.

"'Now there was a watchman whom Aegisthus kept always on the watch,
and to whom he had promised two talents of gold. This man had been
looking out for a whole year to make sure that Agamemnon did not give
him the slip and prepare war; when, therefore, this man saw Agamemnon
go by, he went and told Aegisthus who at once began to lay a plot
for him. He picked twenty of his bravest warriors and placed them
in ambuscade on one side the cloister, while on the opposite side
he prepared a banquet. Then he sent his chariots and horsemen to Agamemnon,
and invited him to the feast, but he meant foul play. He got him there,
all unsuspicious of the doom that was awaiting him, and killed him
when the banquet was over as though he were butchering an ox in the
shambles; not one of Agamemnon's followers was left alive, nor yet
one of Aegisthus', but they were all killed there in the cloisters.'

"Thus spoke Proteus, and I was broken hearted as I heard him. I sat
down upon the sands and wept; I felt as though I could no longer bear
to live nor look upon the light of the sun. Presently, when I had
had my fill of weeping and writhing upon the ground, the old man of
the sea said, 'Son of Atreus, do not waste any more time in crying
so bitterly; it can do no manner of good; find your way home as fast
as ever you can, for Aegisthus be still alive, and even though Orestes
has beforehand with you in kilting him, you may yet come in for his
funeral.'

"On this I took comfort in spite of all my sorrow, and said, 'I know,
then, about these two; tell me, therefore, about the third man of
whom you spoke; is he still alive, but at sea, and unable to get home?
or is he dead? Tell me, no matter how much it may grieve me.'

"'The third man,' he answered, 'is Ulysses who dwells in Ithaca. I
can see him in an island sorrowing bitterly in the house of the nymph
Calypso, who is keeping him prisoner, and he cannot reach his home
for he has no ships nor sailors to take him over the sea. As for your
own end, Menelaus, you shall not die in Argos, but the gods will take
you to the Elysian plain, which is at the ends of the world. There
fair-haired Rhadamanthus reigns, and men lead an easier life than
any where else in the world, for in Elysium there falls not rain,
nor hail, nor snow, but Oceanus breathes ever with a West wind that
sings softly from the sea, and gives fresh life to all men. This will
happen to you because you have married Helen, and are Jove's son-in-law.'

"As he spoke he dived under the waves, whereon I turned back to the
ships with my companions, and my heart was clouded with care as I
went along. When we reached the ships we got supper ready, for night
was falling, and camped down upon the beach. When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, we drew our ships into the water, and
put our masts and sails within them; then we went on board ourselves,
took our seats on the benches, and smote the grey sea with our oars.
I again stationed my ships in the heaven-fed stream of Egypt, and
offered hecatombs that were full and sufficient. When I had thus appeased
heaven's anger, I raised a barrow to the memory of Agamemnon that
his name might live for ever, after which I had a quick passage home,
for the gods sent me a fair wind.

"And now for yourself- stay here some ten or twelve days longer, and
I will then speed you on your way. I will make you a noble present
of a chariot and three horses. I will also give you a beautiful chalice
that so long as you live you may think of me whenever you make a drink-offering
to the immortal gods."

"Son of Atreus," replied Telemachus, "do not press me to stay longer;
I should be contented to remain with you for another twelve months;
I find your conversation so delightful that I should never once wish
myself at home with my parents; but my crew whom I have left at Pylos
are already impatient, and you are detaining me from them. As for
any present you may be disposed to make me, I had rather that it should
he a piece of plate. I will take no horses back with me to Ithaca,
but will leave them to adorn your own stables, for you have much flat
ground in your kingdom where lotus thrives, as also meadowsweet and
wheat and barley, and oats with their white and spreading ears; whereas
in Ithaca we have neither open fields nor racecourses, and the country
is more fit for goats than horses, and I like it the better for that.
None of our islands have much level ground, suitable for horses, and
Ithaca least of all."

Menelaus smiled and took Telemachus's hand within his own. "What you
say," said he, "shows that you come of good family. I both can, and
will, make this exchange for you, by giving you the finest and most
precious piece of plate in all my house. It is a mixing-bowl by Vulcan's
own hand, of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid with gold.
Phaedimus, king of the Sidonians, gave it me in the course of a visit
which I paid him when I returned thither on my homeward journey. I
will make you a present of it."

Thus did they converse [and guests kept coming to the king's house.
They brought sheep and wine, while their wives had put up bread for
them to take with them; so they were busy cooking their dinners in
the courts].

Meanwhile the suitors were throwing discs or aiming with spears at
a mark on the levelled ground in front of Ulysses' house, and were
behaving with all their old insolence. Antinous and Eurymachus, who
were their ringleaders and much the foremost among them all, were
sitting together when Noemon son of Phronius came up and said to Antinous,

"Have we any idea, Antinous, on what day Telemachus returns from Pylos?
He has a ship of mine, and I want it, to cross over to Elis: I have
twelve brood mares there with yearling mule foals by their side not
yet broken in, and I want to bring one of them over here and break
him."

They were astounded when they heard this, for they had made sure that
Telemachus had not gone to the city of Neleus. They thought he was
only away somewhere on the farms, and was with the sheep, or with
the swineherd; so Antinous said, "When did he go? Tell me truly, and
what young men did he take with him? Were they freemen or his own
bondsmen- for he might manage that too? Tell me also, did you let
him have the ship of your own free will because he asked you, or did
he take it without yourleave?"

"I lent it him," answered Noemon, "what else could I do when a man
of his position said he was in a difficulty, and asked me to oblige
him? I could not possibly refuse. As for those who went with him they
were the best young men we have, and I saw Mentor go on board as captain-
or some god who was exactly like him. I cannot understand it, for
I saw Mentor here myself yesterday morning, and yet he was then setting
out for Pylos."

Noemon then went back to his father's house, but Antinous and Eurymachus
were very angry. They told the others to leave off playing, and to
come and sit down along with themselves. When they came, Antinous
son of Eupeithes spoke in anger. His heart was black with rage, and
his eyes flashed fire as he said:

"Good heavens, this voyage of Telemachus is a very serious matter;
we had made sure that it would come to nothing, but the young fellow
has got away in spite of us, and with a picked crew too. He will be
giving us trouble presently; may Jove take him before he is full grown.
Find me a ship, therefore, with a crew of twenty men, and I will lie
in wait for him in the straits between Ithaca and Samos; he will then
rue the day that he set out to try and get news of his father."

Thus did he speak, and the others applauded his saying; they then
all of them went inside the buildings.

It was not long ere Penelope came to know what the suitors were plotting;
for a man servant, Medon, overheard them from outside the outer court
as they were laying their schemes within, and went to tell his mistress.
As he crossed the threshold of her room Penelope said: "Medon, what
have the suitors sent you here for? Is it to tell the maids to leave
their master's business and cook dinner for them? I wish they may
neither woo nor dine henceforward, neither here nor anywhere else,
but let this be the very last time, for the waste you all make of
my son's estate. Did not your fathers tell you when you were children
how good Ulysses had been to them- never doing anything high-handed,
nor speaking harshly to anybody? Kings may say things sometimes, and
they may take a fancy to one man and dislike another, but Ulysses
never did an unjust thing by anybody- which shows what bad hearts
you have, and that there is no such thing as gratitude left in this
world."

Then Medon said, "I wish, Madam, that this were all; but they are
plotting something much more dreadful now- may heaven frustrate their
design. They are going to try and murder Telemachus as he is coming
home from Pylos and Lacedaemon, where he has been to get news of his
father."

Then Penelope's heart sank within her, and for a long time she was
speechless; her eyes filled with tears, and she could find no utterance.
At last, however, she said, "Why did my son leave me? What business
had he to go sailing off in ships that make long voyages over the
ocean like sea-horses? Does he want to die without leaving any one
behind him to keep up his name?"

"I do not know," answered Medon, "whether some god set him on to it,
or whether he went on his own impulse to see if he could find out
if his father was dead, or alive and on his way home."

Then he went downstairs again, leaving Penelope in an agony of grief.
There were plenty of seats in the house, but she. had no heart for
sitting on any one of them; she could only fling herself on the floor
of her own room and cry; whereon all the maids in the house, both
old and young, gathered round her and began to cry too, till at last
in a transport of sorrow she exclaimed,

"My dears, heaven has been pleased to try me with more affliction
than any other woman of my age and country. First I lost my brave
and lion-hearted husband, who had every good quality under heaven,
and whose name was great over all Hellas and middle Argos, and now
my darling son is at the mercy of the winds and waves, without my
having heard one word about his leaving home. You hussies, there was
not one of you would so much as think of giving me a call out of my
bed, though you all of you very well knew when he was starting. If
I had known he meant taking this voyage, he would have had to give
it up, no matter how much he was bent upon it, or leave me a corpse
behind him- one or other. Now, however, go some of you and call old
Dolius, who was given me by my father on my marriage, and who is my
gardener. Bid him go at once and tell everything to Laertes, who may
be able to hit on some plan for enlisting public sympathy on our side,
as against those who are trying to exterminate his own race and that
of Ulysses."

Then the dear old nurse Euryclea said, "You may kill me, Madam, or
let me live on in your house, whichever you please, but I will tell
you the real truth. I knew all about it, and gave him everything he
wanted in the way of bread and wine, but he made me take my solemn
oath that I would not tell you anything for some ten or twelve days,
unless you asked or happened to hear of his having gone, for he did
not want you to spoil your beauty by crying. And now, Madam, wash
your face, change your dress, and go upstairs with your maids to offer
prayers to Minerva, daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove, for she can save
him even though he be in the jaws of death. Do not trouble Laertes:
he has trouble enough already. Besides, I cannot think that the gods
hate die race of the race of the son of Arceisius so much, but there
will be a son left to come up after him, and inherit both the house
and the fair fields that lie far all round it."

With these words she made her mistress leave off crying, and dried
the tears from her eyes. Penelope washed her face, changed her dress,
and went upstairs with her maids. She then put some bruised barley
into a basket and began praying to Minerva.

"Hear me," she cried, "Daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable.
If ever Ulysses while he was here burned you fat thigh bones of sheep
or heifer, bear it in mind now as in my favour, and save my darling
son from the villainy of the suitors."

She cried aloud as she spoke, and the goddess heard her prayer; meanwhile
the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloister, and one
of them said:

"The queen is preparing for her marriage with one or other of us.
Little does she dream that her son has now been doomed to die."

This was what they said, but they did not know what was going to happen.
Then Antinous said, "Comrades, let there be no loud talking, lest
some of it get carried inside. Let us be up and do that in silence,
about which we are all of a mind."

He then chose twenty men, and they went down to their. ship and to
the sea side; they drew the vessel into the water and got her mast
and sails inside her; they bound the oars to the thole-pins with twisted
thongs of leather, all in due course, and spread the white sails aloft,
while their fine servants brought them their armour. Then they made
the ship fast a little way out, came on shore again, got their suppers,
and waited till night should fall.

But Penelope lay in her own room upstairs unable to eat or drink,
and wondering whether her brave son would escape, or be overpowered
by the wicked suitors. Like a lioness caught in the toils with huntsmen
hemming her in on every side she thought and thought till she sank
into a slumber, and lay on her bed bereft of thought and motion.

Then Minerva bethought her of another matter, and made a vision in
the likeness of Penelope's sister Iphthime daughter of Icarius who
had married Eumelus and lived in Pherae. She told the vision to go
to the house of Ulysses, and to make Penelope leave off crying, so
it came into her room by the hole through which the thong went for
pulling the door to, and hovered over her head, saying,

"You are asleep, Penelope: the gods who live at ease will not suffer
you to weep and be so sad. Your son has done them no wrong, so he
will yet come back to you."

Penelope, who was sleeping sweetly at the gates of dreamland, answered,
"Sister, why have you come here? You do not come very often, but I
suppose that is because you live such a long way off. Am I, then,
to leave off crying and refrain from all the sad thoughts that torture
me? I, who have lost my brave and lion-hearted husband, who had every
good quality under heaven, and whose name was great over all Hellas
and middle Argos; and now my darling son has gone off on board of
a ship- a foolish fellow who has never been used to roughing it, nor
to going about among gatherings of men. I am even more anxious about
him than about my husband; I am all in a tremble when I think of him,
lest something should happen to him, either from the people among
whom he has gone, or by sea, for he has many enemies who are plotting
against him, and are bent on killing him before he can return home."

Then the vision said, "Take heart, and be not so much dismayed. There
is one gone with him whom many a man would be glad enough to have
stand by his side, I mean Minerva; it is she who has compassion upon
you, and who has sent me to bear you this message."

"Then," said Penelope, "if you are a god or have been sent here by
divine commission, tell me also about that other unhappy one- is he
still alive, or is he already dead and in the house of Hades?"

And the vision said, "I shall not tell you for certain whether he
is alive or dead, and there is no use in idle conversation."

Then it vanished through the thong-hole of the door and was dissipated
into thin air; but Penelope rose from her sleep refreshed and comforted,
so vivid had been her dream.

Meantime the suitors went on board and sailed their ways over the
sea, intent on murdering Telemachus. Now there is a rocky islet called
Asteris, of no great size, in mid channel between Ithaca and Samos,
and there is a harbour on either side of it where a ship can lie.
Here then the Achaeans placed themselves in ambush.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK V

And now, as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus- harbinger of
light alike to mortals and immortals- the gods met in council and
with them, Jove the lord of thunder, who is their king. Thereon Minerva
began to tell them of the many sufferings of Ulysses, for she pitied
him away there in the house of the nymph Calypso.

"Father Jove," said she, "and all you other gods that live in everlasting
bliss, I hope there may never be such a thing as a kind and well-disposed
ruler any more, nor one who will govern equitably. I hope they will
be all henceforth cruel and unjust, for there is not one of his subjects
but has forgotten Ulysses, who ruled them as though he were their
father. There he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells
the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go; and he cannot get back
to his own country, for he can find neither ships nor sailors to take
him over the sea. Furthermore, wicked people are now trying to murder
his only son Telemachus, who is coming home from Pylos and Lacedaemon,
where he has been to see if he can get news of his father."

"What, my dear, are you talking about?" replied her father, "did you
not send him there yourself, because you thought it would help Ulysses
to get home and punish the suitors? Besides, you are perfectly able
to protect Telemachus, and to see him safely home again, while the
suitors have to come hurry-skurrying back without having killed him."

When he had thus spoken, he said to his son Mercury, "Mercury, you
are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed that
poor Ulysses is to return home. He is to be convoyed neither by gods
nor men, but after a perilous voyage of twenty days upon a raft he
is to reach fertile Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians, who are near
of kin to the gods, and will honour him as though he were one of ourselves.
They will send him in a ship to his own country, and will give him
more bronze and gold and raiment than he would have brought back from
Troy, if he had had had all his prize money and had got home without
disaster. This is how we have settled that he shall return to his
country and his friends."

Thus he spoke, and Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus, did
as he was told. Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals
with which he could fly like the wind over land and sea. He took the
wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as
he pleases, and flew holding it in his hand over Pieria; then he swooped
down through the firmament till he reached the level of the sea, whose
waves he skimmed like a cormorant that flies fishing every hole and
corner of the ocean, and drenching its thick plumage in the spray.
He flew and flew over many a weary wave, but when at last he got to
the island which was his journey's end, he left the sea and went on
by land till he came to the cave where the nymph Calypso lived.

He found her at home. There was a large fire burning on the hearth,
and one could smell from far the fragrant reek of burning cedar and
sandal wood. As for herself, she was busy at her loom, shooting her
golden shuttle through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her
cave there was a thick wood of alder, poplar, and sweet smelling cypress
trees, wherein all kinds of great birds had built their nests- owls,
hawks, and chattering sea-crows that occupy their business in the
waters. A vine loaded with grapes was trained and grew luxuriantly
about the mouth of the cave; there were also four running rills of
water in channels cut pretty close together, and turned hither and
thither so as to irrigate the beds of violets and luscious herbage
over which they flowed. Even a god could not help being charmed with
such a lovely spot, so Mercury stood still and looked at it; but when
he had admired it sufficiently he went inside the cave.

Calypso knew him at once- for the gods all know each other, no matter
how far they live from one another- but Ulysses was not within; he
was on the sea-shore as usual, looking out upon the barren ocean with
tears in his eyes, groaning and breaking his heart for sorrow. Calypso
gave Mercury a seat and said: "Why have you come to see me, Mercury-
honoured, and ever welcome- for you do not visit me often? Say what
you want; I will do it for be you at once if I can, and if it can
be done at all; but come inside, and let me set refreshment before
you.

As she spoke she drew a table loaded with ambrosia beside him and
mixed him some red nectar, so Mercury ate and drank till he had had
enough, and then said:

"We are speaking god and goddess to one another, one another, and
you ask me why I have come here, and I will tell you truly as you
would have me do. Jove sent me; it was no doing of mine; who could
possibly want to come all this way over the sea where there are no
cities full of people to offer me sacrifices or choice hecatombs?
Nevertheless I had to come, for none of us other gods can cross Jove,
nor transgress his orders. He says that you have here the most ill-starred
of alf those who fought nine years before the city of King Priam and
sailed home in the tenth year after having sacked it. On their way
home they sinned against Minerva, who raised both wind and waves against
them, so that all his brave companions perished, and he alone was
carried hither by wind and tide. Jove says that you are to let this
by man go at once, for it is decreed that he shall not perish here,
far from his own people, but shall return to his house and country
and see his friends again."

Calypso trembled with rage when she heard this, "You gods," she exclaimed,
to be ashamed of yourselves. You are always jealous and hate seeing
a goddess take a fancy to a mortal man, and live with him in open
matrimony. So when rosy-fingered Dawn made love to Orion, you precious
gods were all of you furious till Diana went and killed him in Ortygia.
So again when Ceres fell in love with Iasion, and yielded to him in
a thrice ploughed fallow field, Jove came to hear of it before so
long and killed Iasion with his thunder-bolts. And now you are angry
with me too because I have a man here. I found the poor creature sitting
all alone astride of a keel, for Jove had struck his ship with lightning
and sunk it in mid ocean, so that all his crew were drowned, while
he himself was driven by wind and waves on to my island. I got fond
of him and cherished him, and had set my heart on making him immortal,
so that he should never grow old all his days; still I cannot cross
Jove, nor bring his counsels to nothing; therefore, if he insists
upon it, let the man go beyond the seas again; but I cannot send him
anywhere myself for I have neither ships nor men who can take him.
Nevertheless I will readily give him such advice, in all good faith,
as will be likely to bring him safely to his own country."

"Then send him away," said Mercury, "or Jove will be angry with you
and punish you"'

On this he took his leave, and Calypso went out to look for Ulysses,
for she had heard Jove's message. She found him sitting upon the beach
with his eyes ever filled with tears, and dying of sheer home-sickness;
for he had got tired of Calypso, and though he was forced to sleep
with her in the cave by night, it was she, not he, that would have
it so. As for the day time, he spent it on the rocks and on the sea-shore,
weeping, crying aloud for his despair, and always looking out upon
the sea. Calypso then went close up to him said:

"My poor fellow, you shall not stay here grieving and fretting your
life out any longer. I am going to send you away of my own free will;
so go, cut some beams of wood, and make yourself a large raft with
an upper deck that it may carry you safely over the sea. I will put
bread, wine, and water on board to save you from starving. I will
also give you clothes, and will send you a fair wind to take you home,
if the gods in heaven so will it- for they know more about these things,
and can settle them better than I can."

Ulysses shuddered as he heard her. "Now goddess," he answered, "there
is something behind all this; you cannot be really meaning to help
me home when you bid me do such a dreadful thing as put to sea on
a raft. Not even a well-found ship with a fair wind could venture
on such a distant voyage: nothing that you can say or do shall mage
me go on board a raft unless you first solemnly swear that you mean
me no mischief."

Calypso smiled at this and caressed him with her hand: "You know a
great deal," said she, "but you are quite wrong here. May heaven above
and earth below be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx-
and this is the most solemn oath which a blessed god can take- that
I mean you no sort of harm, and am only advising you to do exactly
what I should do myself in your place. I am dealing with you quite
straightforwardly; my heart is not made of iron, and I am very sorry
for you."

When she had thus spoken she led the way rapidly before him, and Ulysses
followed in her steps; so the pair, goddess and man, went on and on
till they came to Calypso's cave, where Ulysses took the seat that
Mercury had just left. Calypso set meat and drink before him of the
food that mortals eat; but her maids brought ambrosia and nectar for
herself, and they laid their hands on the good things that were before
them. When they had satisfied themselves with meat and drink, Calypso
spoke, saying:

"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, so you would start home to your own
land at once? Good luck go with you, but if you could only know how
much suffering is in store for you before you get back to your own
country, you would stay where you are, keep house along with me, and
let me make you immortal, no matter how anxious you may be to see
this wife of yours, of whom you are thinking all the time day after
day; yet I flatter myself that at am no whit less tall or well-looking
than she is, for it is not to be expected that a mortal woman should
compare in beauty with an immortal."

"Goddess," replied Ulysses, "do not be angry with me about this. I
am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or so
beautiful as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you are an immortal.
Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think of nothing else. If
some god wrecks me when I am on the sea, I will bear it and make the
best of it. I have had infinite trouble both by land and sea already,
so let this go with the rest."

Presently the sun set and it became dark, whereon the pair retired
into the inner part of the cave and went to bed.

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Ulysses put
on his shirt and cloak, while the goddess wore a dress of a light
gossamer fabric, very fine and graceful, with a beautiful golden girdle
about her waist and a veil to cover her head. She at once set herself
to think how she could speed Ulysses on his way. So she gave him a
great bronze axe that suited his hands; it was sharpened on both sides,
and had a beautiful olive-wood handle fitted firmly on to it. She
also gave him a sharp adze, and then led the way to the far end of
the island where the largest trees grew- alder, poplar and pine, that
reached the sky- very dry and well seasoned, so as to sail light for
him in the water. Then, when she had shown him where the best trees
grew, Calypso went home, leaving him to cut them, which he soon finished
doing. He cut down twenty trees in all and adzed them smooth, squaring
them by rule in good workmanlike fashion. Meanwhile Calypso came back
with some augers, so he bored holes with them and fitted the timbers
together with bolts and rivets. He made the raft as broad as a skilled
shipwright makes the beam of a large vessel, and he filed a deck on
top of the ribs, and ran a gunwale all round it. He also made a mast
with a yard arm, and a rudder to steer with. He fenced the raft all
round with wicker hurdles as a protection against the waves, and then
he threw on a quantity of wood. By and by Calypso brought him some
linen to make the sails, and he made these too, excellently, making
them fast with braces and sheets. Last of all, with the help of levers,
he drew the raft down into the water.

In four days he had completed the whole work, and on the fifth Calypso
sent him from the island after washing him and giving him some clean
clothes. She gave him a goat skin full of black wine, and another
larger one of water; she also gave him a wallet full of provisions,
and found him in much good meat. Moreover, she made the wind fair
and warm for him, and gladly did Ulysses spread his sail before it,
while he sat and guided the raft skilfully by means of the rudder.
He never closed his eyes, but kept them fixed on the Pleiads, on late-setting
Bootes, and on the Bear- which men also call the wain, and which turns
round and round where it is, facing Orion, and alone never dipping
into the stream of Oceanus- for Calypso had told him to keep this
to his left. Days seven and ten did he sail over the sea, and on the
eighteenth the dim outlines of the mountains on the nearest part of
the Phaeacian coast appeared, rising like a shield on the horizon.

But King Neptune, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught sight
of Ulysses a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could
see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged
his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so the gods have
been changing their minds about Ulysses while I was away in Ethiopia,
and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed
that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still,
he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it."

Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred
it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows
till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth
out of the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon
him all at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Ulysses'
heart began to fail him. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay,
"what ever will become of me? I am afraid Calypso was right when she
said I should have trouble by sea before I got back home. It is all
coming true. How black is Jove making heaven with his clouds, and
what a sea the winds are raising from every quarter at once. I am
now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who
fell before Troy in the cause of the sons of Atreus. Would that had
been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely
about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial
and the Achaeans would have honoured my name; but now it seems that
I shall come to a most pitiable end."

As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the
raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off. He
let go the helm, and the force of the hurricane was so great that
it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into
the sea. For a long time Ulysses was under water, and it was all he
could do to rise to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso had
given him weighed him down; but at last he got his head above water
and spat out the bitter brine that was running down his face in streams.
In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft,
but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed
on board again so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and
tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round
upon a road. It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds
were all playing battledore and shuttlecock with it at once.

When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called Leucothea,
saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal, but had been since raised
to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in what great distress Ulysses
now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull
from the waves, took her seat upon the raft.

"My poor good man," said she, "why is Neptune so furiously angry with
you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster
he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, do then as
I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim
to the Phaecian coast where better luck awaits you. And here, take
my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can
come to no harm so long as you wear it. As soon as you touch land
take it off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then
go away again." With these words she took off her veil and gave it
him. Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath
the dark blue waters.

But Ulysses did not know what to think. "Alas," he said to himself
in his dismay, "this is only some one or other of the gods who is
luring me to ruin by advising me to will quit my raft. At any rate
I will not do so at present, for the land where she said I should
be quit of all troubles seemed to be still a good way off. I know
what I will do- I am sure it will be best- no matter what happens
I will stick to the raft as long as her timbers hold together, but
when the sea breaks her up I will swim for it; I do not see how I
can do any better than this."

While he was thus in two minds, Neptune sent a terrible great wave
that seemed to rear itself above his head till it broke right over
the raft, which then went to pieces as though it were a heap of dry
chaff tossed about by a whirlwind. Ulysses got astride of one plank
and rode upon it as if he were on horseback; he then took off the
clothes Calypso had given him, bound Ino's veil under his arms, and
plunged into the sea- meaning to swim on shore. King Neptune watched
him as he did so, and wagged his head, muttering to himself and saying,
"'There now, swim up and down as you best can till you fall in with
well-to-do people. I do not think you will be able to say that I have
let you off too lightly." On this he lashed his horses and drove to
Aegae where his palace is.

But Minerva resolved to help Ulysses, so she bound the ways of all
the winds except one, and made them lie quite still; but she roused
a good stiff breeze from the North that should lay the waters till
Ulysses reached the land of the Phaeacians where he would be safe.

Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days in the water,
with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; but
when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm
without so much as a breath of air stirring. As he rose on the swell
he looked eagerly ahead, and could see land quite near. Then, as children
rejoice when their dear father begins to get better after having for
a long time borne sore affliction sent him by some angry spirit, but
the gods deliver him from evil, so was Ulysses thankful when he again
saw land and trees, and swam on with all his strength that he might
once more set foot upon dry ground. When, however, he got within earshot,
he began to hear the surf thundering up against the rocks, for the
swell still broke against them with a terrific roar. Everything was
enveloped in spray; there were no harbours where a ship might ride,
nor shelter of any kind, but only headlands, low-lying rocks, and
mountain tops.

Ulysses' heart now began to fail him, and he said despairingly to
himself, "Alas, Jove has let me see land after swimming so far that
I had given up all hope, but I can find no landing place, for the
coast is rocky and surf-beaten, the rocks are smooth and rise sheer
from the sea, with deep water close under them so that I cannot climb
out for want of foothold. I am afraid some great wave will lift me
off my legs and dash me against the rocks as I leave the water- which
would give me a sorry landing. If, on the other hand, I swim further
in search of some shelving beach or harbour, a hurricane may carry
me out to sea again sorely against my will, or heaven may send some
great monster of the deep to attack me; for Amphitrite breeds many
such, and I know that Neptune is very angry with me."

While he was thus in two minds a wave caught him and took him with
such force against the rocks that he would have been smashed and torn
to pieces if Minerva had not shown him what to do. He caught hold
of the rock with both hands and clung to it groaning with pain till
the wave retired, so he was saved that time; but presently the wave
came on again and carried him back with it far into the sea-tearing
his hands as the suckers of a polypus are torn when some one plucks
it from its bed, and the stones come up along with it even so did
the rocks tear the skin from his strong hands, and then the wave drew
him deep down under the water.

Here poor Ulysses would have certainly perished even in spite of his
own destiny, if Minerva had not helped him to keep his wits about
him. He swam seaward again, beyond reach of the surf that was beating
against the land, and at the same time he kept looking towards the
shore to see if he could find some haven, or a spit that should take
the waves aslant. By and by, as he swam on, he came to the mouth of
a river, and here he thought would be the best place, for there were
no rocks, and it afforded shelter from the wind. He felt that there
was a current, so he prayed inwardly and said:

"Hear me, O King, whoever you may be, and save me from the anger of
the sea-god Neptune, for I approach you prayerfully. Any one who has
lost his way has at all times a claim even upon the gods, wherefore
in my distress I draw near to your stream, and cling to the knees
of your riverhood. Have mercy upon me, O king, for I declare myself
your suppliant."

Then the god stayed his stream and stilled the waves, making all calm
before him, and bringing him safely into the mouth of the river. Here
at last Ulysses' knees and strong hands failed him, for the sea had
completely broken him. His body was all swollen, and his mouth and
nostrils ran down like a river with sea-water, so that he could neither
breathe nor speak, and lay swooning from sheer exhaustion; presently,
when he had got his breath and came to himself again, he took off
the scarf that Ino had given him and threw it back into the salt stream
of the river, whereon Ino received it into her hands from the wave
that bore it towards her. Then he left the river, laid himself down
among the rushes, and kissed the bounteous earth.

"Alas," he cried to himself in his dismay, "what ever will become
of me, and how is it all to end? If I stay here upon the river bed
through the long watches of the night, I am so exhausted that the
bitter cold and damp may make an end of me- for towards sunrise there
will be a keen wind blowing from off the river. If, on the other hand,
I climb the hill side, find shelter in the woods, and sleep in some
thicket, I may escape the cold and have a good night's rest, but some
savage beast may take advantage of me and devour me."

In the end he deemed it best to take to the woods, and he found one
upon some high ground not far from the water. There he crept beneath
two shoots of olive that grew from a single stock- the one an ungrafted
sucker, while the other had been grafted. No wind, however squally,
could break through the cover they afforded, nor could the sun's rays
pierce them, nor the rain get through them, so closely did they grow
into one another. Ulysses crept under these and began to make himself
a bed to lie on, for there was a great litter of dead leaves lying
about- enough to make a covering for two or three men even in hard
winter weather. He was glad enough to see this, so he laid himself
down and heaped the leaves all round him. Then, as one who lives alone
in the country, far from any neighbor, hides a brand as fire-seed
in the ashes to save himself from having to get a light elsewhere,
even so did Ulysses cover himself up with leaves; and Minerva shed
a sweet sleep upon his eyes, closed his eyelids, and made him lose
all memories of his sorrows.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VI

So here Ulysses slept, overcome by sleep and toil; but Minerva went
off to the country and city of the Phaecians- a people who used to
live in the fair town of Hypereia, near the lawless Cyclopes. Now
the Cyclopes were stronger than they and plundered them, so their
king Nausithous moved them thence and settled them in Scheria, far
from all other people. He surrounded the city with a wall, built houses
and temples, and divided the lands among his people; but he was dead
and gone to the house of Hades, and King Alcinous, whose counsels
were inspired of heaven, was now reigning. To his house, then, did
Minerva hie in furtherance of the return of Ulysses.

She went straight to the beautifully decorated bedroom in which there
slept a girl who was as lovely as a goddess, Nausicaa, daughter to
King Alcinous. Two maid servants were sleeping near her, both very
pretty, one on either side of the doorway, which was closed with well-made
folding doors. Minerva took the form of the famous sea captain Dymas's
daughter, who was a bosom friend of Nausicaa and just her own age;
then, coming up to the girl's bedside like a breath of wind, she hovered
over her head and said:

"Nausicaa, what can your mother have been about, to have such a lazy
daughter? Here are your clothes all lying in disorder, yet you are
going to be married almost immediately, and should not only be well
dressed yourself, but should find good clothes for those who attend
you. This is the way to get yourself a good name, and to make your
father and mother proud of you. Suppose, then, that we make tomorrow
a washing day, and start at daybreak. I will come and help you so
that you may have everything ready as soon as possible, for all the
best young men among your own people are courting you, and you are
not going to remain a maid much longer. Ask your father, therefore,
to have a waggon and mules ready for us at daybreak, to take the rugs,
robes, and girdles; and you can ride, too, which will be much pleasanter
for you than walking, for the washing-cisterns are some way from the
town."

When she had said this Minerva went away to Olympus, which they say
is the everlasting home of the gods. Here no wind beats roughly, and
neither rain nor snow can fall; but it abides in everlasting sunshine
and in a great peacefulness of light, wherein the blessed gods are
illumined for ever and ever. This was the place to which the goddess
went when she had given instructions to the girl.

By and by morning came and woke Nausicaa, who began wondering about
her dream; she therefore went to the other end of the house to tell
her father and mother all about it, and found them in their own room.
Her mother was sitting by the fireside spinning her purple yarn with
her maids around her, and she happened to catch her father just as
he was going out to attend a meeting of the town council, which the
Phaeacian aldermen had convened. She stopped him and said:

"Papa dear, could you manage to let me have a good big waggon? I want
to take all our dirty clothes to the river and wash them. You are
the chief man here, so it is only right that you should have a clean
shirt when you attend meetings of the council. Moreover, you have
five sons at home, two of them married, while the other three are
good-looking bachelors; you know they always like to have clean linen
when they go to a dance, and I have been thinking about all this."

She did not say a word about her own wedding, for she did not like
to, but her father knew and said, "You shall have the mules, my love,
and whatever else you have a mind for. Be off with you, and the men
shall get you a good strong waggon with a body to it that will hold
all your clothes."

On this he gave his orders to the servants, who got the waggon out,
harnessed the mules, and put them to, while the girl brought the clothes
down from the linen room and placed them on the waggon. Her mother
prepared her a basket of provisions with all sorts of good things,
and a goat skin full of wine; the girl now got into the waggon, and
her mother gave her also a golden cruse of oil, that she and her women
might anoint themselves. Then she took the whip and reins and lashed
the mules on, whereon they set off, and their hoofs clattered on the
road. They pulled without flagging, and carried not only Nausicaa
and her wash of clothes, but the maids also who were with her.

When they reached the water side they went to the washing-cisterns,
through which there ran at all times enough pure water to wash any
quantity of linen, no matter how dirty. Here they unharnessed the
mules and turned them out to feed on the sweet juicy herbage that
grew by the water side. They took the clothes out of the waggon, put
them in the water, and vied with one another in treading them in the
pits to get the dirt out. After they had washed them and got them
quite clean, they laid them out by the sea side, where the waves had
raised a high beach of shingle, and set about washing themselves and
anointing themselves with olive oil. Then they got their dinner by
the side of the stream, and waited for the sun to finish drying the
clothes. When they had done dinner they threw off the veils that covered
their heads and began to play at ball, while Nausicaa sang for them.
As the huntress Diana goes forth upon the mountains of Taygetus or
Erymanthus to hunt wild boars or deer, and the wood-nymphs, daughters
of Aegis-bearing Jove, take their sport along with her (then is Leto
proud at seeing her daughter stand a full head taller than the others,
and eclipse the loveliest amid a whole bevy of beauties), even so
did the girl outshine her handmaids.

When it was time for them to start home, and they were folding the
clothes and putting them into the waggon, Minerva began to consider
how Ulysses should wake up and see the handsome girl who was to conduct
him to the city of the Phaeacians. The girl, therefore, threw a ball
at one of the maids, which missed her and fell into deep water. On
this they all shouted, and the noise they made woke Ulysses, who sat
up in his bed of leaves and began to wonder what it might all be.

"Alas," said he to himself, "what kind of people have I come amongst?
Are they cruel, savage, and uncivilized, or hospitable and humane?
I seem to hear the voices of young women, and they sound like those
of the nymphs that haunt mountain tops, or springs of rivers and meadows
of green grass. At any rate I am among a race of men and women. Let
me try if I cannot manage to get a look at them."

As he said this he crept from under his bush, and broke off a bough
covered with thick leaves to hide his nakedness. He looked like some
lion of the wilderness that stalks about exulting in his strength
and defying both wind and rain; his eyes glare as he prowls in quest
of oxen, sheep, or deer, for he is famished, and will dare break even
into a well-fenced homestead, trying to get at the sheep- even such
did Ulysses seem to the young women, as he drew near to them all naked
as he was, for he was in great want. On seeing one so unkempt and
so begrimed with salt water, the others scampered off along the spits
that jutted out into the sea, but the daughter of Alcinous stood firm,
for Minerva put courage into her heart and took away all fear from
her. She stood right in front of Ulysses, and he doubted whether he
should go up to her, throw himself at her feet, and embrace her knees
as a suppliant, or stay where he was and entreat her to give him some
clothes and show him the way to the town. In the end he deemed it
best to entreat her from a distance in case the girl should take offence
at his coming near enough to clasp her knees, so he addressed her
in honeyed and persuasive language.

"O queen," he said, "I implore your aid- but tell me, are you a goddess
or are you a mortal woman? If you are a goddess and dwell in heaven,
I can only conjecture that you are Jove's daughter Diana, for your
face and figure resemble none but hers; if on the other hand you are
a mortal and live on earth, thrice happy are your father and mother-
thrice happy, too, are your brothers and sisters; how proud and delighted
they must feel when they see so fair a scion as yourself going out
to a dance; most happy, however, of all will he be whose wedding gifts
have been the richest, and who takes you to his own home. I never
yet saw any one so beautiful, neither man nor woman, and am lost in
admiration as I behold you. I can only compare you to a young palm
tree which I saw when I was at Delos growing near the altar of Apollo-
for I was there, too, with much people after me, when I was on that
journey which has been the source of all my troubles. Never yet did
such a young plant shoot out of the ground as that was, and I admired
and wondered at it exactly as I now admire and wonder at yourself.
I dare not clasp your knees, but I am in great distress; yesterday
made the twentieth day that I had been tossing about upon the sea.
The winds and waves have taken me all the way from the Ogygian island,
and now fate has flung me upon this coast that I may endure still
further suffering; for I do not think that I have yet come to the
end of it, but rather that heaven has still much evil in store for
me.

"And now, O queen, have pity upon me, for you are the first person
I have met, and I know no one else in this country. Show me the way
to your town, and let me have anything that you may have brought hither
to wrap your clothes in. May heaven grant you in all things your heart's
desire- husband, house, and a happy, peaceful home; for there is nothing
better in this world than that man and wife should be of one mind
in a house. It discomfits their enemies, makes the hearts of their
friends glad, and they themselves know more about it than any one."

To this Nausicaa answered, "Stranger, you appear to be a sensible,
well-disposed person. There is no accounting for luck; Jove gives
prosperity to rich and poor just as he chooses, so you must take what
he has seen fit to send you, and make the best of it. Now, however,
that you have come to this our country, you shall not want for clothes
nor for anything else that a foreigner in distress may reasonably
look for. I will show you the way to the town, and will tell you the
name of our people; we are called Phaeacians, and I am daughter to
Alcinous, in whom the whole power of the state is vested."

Then she called her maids and said, "Stay where you are, you girls.
Can you not see a man without running away from him? Do you take him
for a robber or a murderer? Neither he nor any one else can come here
to do us Phaeacians any harm, for we are dear to the gods, and live
apart on a land's end that juts into the sounding sea, and have nothing
to do with any other people. This is only some poor man who has lost
his way, and we must be kind to him, for strangers and foreigners
in distress are under Jove's protection, and will take what they can
get and be thankful; so, girls, give the poor fellow something to
eat and drink, and wash him in the stream at some place that is sheltered
from the wind."

On this the maids left off running away and began calling one another
back. They made Ulysses sit down in the shelter as Nausicaa had told
them, and brought him a shirt and cloak. They also brought him the
little golden cruse of oil, and told him to go wash in the stream.
But Ulysses said, "Young women, please to stand a little on one side
that I may wash the brine from my shoulders and anoint myself with
oil, for it is long enough since my skin has had a drop of oil upon
it. I cannot wash as long as you all keep standing there. I am ashamed
to strip before a number of good-looking young women."

Then they stood on one side and went to tell the girl, while Ulysses
washed himself in the stream and scrubbed the brine from his back
and from his broad shoulders. When he had thoroughly washed himself,
and had got the brine out of his hair, he anointed himself with oil,
and put on the clothes which the girl had given him; Minerva then
made him look taller and stronger than before, she also made the hair
grow thick on the top of his head, and flow down in curls like hyacinth
blossoms; she glorified him about the head and shoulders as a skilful
workman who has studied art of all kinds under Vulcan and Minerva
enriches a piece of silver plate by gilding it- and his work is full
of beauty. Then he went and sat down a little way off upon the beach,
looking quite young and handsome, and the girl gazed on him with admiration;
then she said to her maids:

"Hush, my dears, for I want to say something. I believe the gods who
live in heaven have sent this man to the Phaeacians. When I first
saw him I thought him plain, but now his appearance is like that of
the gods who dwell in heaven. I should like my future husband to be
just such another as he is, if he would only stay here and not want
to go away. However, give him something to eat and drink."

They did as they were told, and set food before Ulysses, who ate and
drank ravenously, for it was long since he had had food of any kind.
Meanwhile, Nausicaa bethought her of another matter. She got the linen
folded and placed in the waggon, she then yoked the mules, and, as
she took her seat, she called Ulysses:

"Stranger," said she, "rise and let us be going back to the town;
I will introduce you at the house of my excellent father, where I
can tell you that you will meet all the best people among the Phaecians.
But be sure and do as I bid you, for you seem to be a sensible person.
As long as we are going past the fields- and farm lands, follow briskly
behind the waggon along with the maids and I will lead the way myself.
Presently, however, we shall come to the town, where you will find
a high wall running all round it, and a good harbour on either side
with a narrow entrance into the city, and the ships will be drawn
up by the road side, for every one has a place where his own ship
can lie. You will see the market place with a temple of Neptune in
the middle of it, and paved with large stones bedded in the earth.
Here people deal in ship's gear of all kinds, such as cables and sails,
and here, too, are the places where oars are made, for the Phaeacians
are not a nation of archers; they know nothing about bows and arrows,
but are a sea-faring folk, and pride themselves on their masts, oars,
and ships, with which they travel far over the sea.

"I am afraid of the gossip and scandal that may be set on foot against
me later on; for the people here are very ill-natured, and some low
fellow, if he met us, might say, 'Who is this fine-looking stranger
that is going about with Nausicaa? Where did she End him? I suppose
she is going to marry him. Perhaps he is a vagabond sailor whom she
has taken from some foreign vessel, for we have no neighbours; or
some god has at last come down from heaven in answer to her prayers,
and she is going to live with him all the rest of her life. It would
be a good thing if she would take herself of I for sh and find a husband
somewhere else, for she will not look at one of the many excellent
young Phaeacians who are in with her.' This is the kind of disparaging
remark that would be made about me, and I could not complain, for
I should myself be scandalized at seeing any other girl do the like,
and go about with men in spite of everybody, while her father and
mother were still alive, and without having been married in the face
of all the world.

"If, therefore, you want my father to give you an escort and to help
you home, do as I bid you; you will see a beautiful grove of poplars
by the road side dedicated to Minerva; it has a well in it and a meadow
all round it. Here my father has a field of rich garden ground, about
as far from the town as a man' voice will carry. Sit down there and
wait for a while till the rest of us can get into the town and reach
my father's house. Then, when you think we must have done this, come
into the town and ask the way to the house of my father Alcinous.
You will have no difficulty in finding it; any child will point it
out to you, for no one else in the whole town has anything like such
a fine house as he has. When you have got past the gates and through
the outer court, go right across the inner court till you come to
my mother. You will find her sitting by the fire and spinning her
purple wool by firelight. It is a fine sight to see her as she leans
back against one of the bearing-posts with her maids all ranged behind
her. Close to her seat stands that of my father, on which he sits
and topes like an immortal god. Never mind him, but go up to my mother,
and lay your hands upon her knees if you would get home quickly. If
you can gain her over, you may hope to see your own country again,
no matter how distant it may be."

So saying she lashed the mules with her whip and they left the river.
The mules drew well and their hoofs went up and down upon the road.
She was careful not to go too fast for Ulysses and the maids who were
following on foot along with the waggon, so she plied her whip with
judgement. As the sun was going down they came to the sacred grove
of Minerva, and there Ulysses sat down and prayed to the mighty daughter
of Jove.

"Hear me," he cried, "daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable,
hear me now, for you gave no heed to my prayers when Neptune was wrecking
me. Now, therefore, have pity upon me and grant that I may find friends
and be hospitably received by the Phaecians."

Thus did he pray, and Minerva heard his prayer, but she would not
show herself to him openly, for she was afraid of her uncle Neptune,
who was still furious in his endeavors to prevent Ulysses from getting
home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VII

Thus, then, did Ulysses wait and pray; but the girl drove on to the
town. When she reached her father's house she drew up at the gateway,
and her brothers- comely as the gods- gathered round her, took the
mules out of the waggon, and carried the clothes into the house, while
she went to her own room, where an old servant, Eurymedusa of Apeira,
lit the fire for her. This old woman had been brought by sea from
Apeira, and had been chosen as a prize for Alcinous because he was
king over the Phaecians, and the people obeyed him as though he were
a god. She had been nurse to Nausicaa, and had now lit the fire for
her, and brought her supper for her into her own room.

Presently Ulysses got up to go towards the town; and Minerva shed
a thick mist all round him to hide him in case any of the proud Phaecians
who met him should be rude to him, or ask him who he was. Then, as
he was just entering the town, she came towards him in the likeness
of a little girl carrying a pitcher. She stood right in front of him,
and Ulysses said:

"My dear, will you be so kind as to show me the house of king Alcinous?
I am an unfortunate foreigner in distress, and do not know one in
your town and country."

Then Minerva said, "Yes, father stranger, I will show you the house
you want, for Alcinous lives quite close to my own father. I will
go before you and show the way, but say not a word as you go, and
do not look at any man, nor ask him questions; for the people here
cannot abide strangers, and do not like men who come from some other
place. They are a sea-faring folk, and sail the seas by the grace
of Neptune in ships that glide along like thought, or as a bird in
the air."

On this she led the way, and Ulysses followed in her steps; but not
one of the Phaecians could see him as he passed through the city in
the midst of them; for the great goddess Minerva in her good will
towards him had hidden him in a thick cloud of darkness. He admired
their harbours, ships, places of assembly, and the lofty walls of
the city, which, with the palisade on top of them, were very striking,
and when they reached the king's house Minerva said:

"This is the house, father stranger, which you would have me show
you. You will find a number of great people sitting at table, but
do not be afraid; go straight in, for the bolder a man is the more
likely he is to carry his point, even though he is a stranger. First
find the queen. Her name is Arete, and she comes of the same family
as her husband Alcinous. They both descend originally from Neptune,
who was father to Nausithous by Periboea, a woman of great beauty.
Periboea was the youngest daughter of Eurymedon, who at one time reigned
over the giants, but he ruined his ill-fated people and lost his own
life to boot.

"Neptune, however, lay with his daughter, and she had a son by him,
the great Nausithous, who reigned over the Phaecians. Nausithous had
two sons Rhexenor and Alcinous; Apollo killed the first of them while
he was still a bridegroom and without male issue; but he left a daughter
Arete, whom Alcinous married, and honours as no other woman is honoured
of all those that keep house along with their husbands.

"Thus she both was, and still is, respected beyond measure by her
children, by Alcinous himself, and by the whole people, who look upon
her as a goddess, and greet her whenever she goes about the city,
for she is a thoroughly good woman both in head and heart, and when
any women are friends of hers, she will help their husbands also to
settle their disputes. If you can gain her good will, you may have
every hope of seeing your friends again, and getting safely back to
your home and country."

Then Minerva left Scheria and went away over the sea. She went to
Marathon and to the spacious streets of Athens, where she entered
the abode of Erechtheus; but Ulysses went on to the house of Alcinous,
and he pondered much as he paused a while before reaching the threshold
of bronze, for the splendour of the palace was like that of the sun
or moon. The walls on either side were of bronze from end to end,
and the cornice was of blue enamel. The doors were gold, and hung
on pillars of silver that rose from a floor of bronze, while the lintel
was silver and the hook of the door was of gold.

On either side there stood gold and silver mastiffs which Vulcan,
with his consummate skill, had fashioned expressly to keep watch over
the palace of king Alcinous; so they were immortal and could never
grow old. Seats were ranged all along the wall, here and there from
one end to the other, with coverings of fine woven work which the
women of the house had made. Here the chief persons of the Phaecians
used to sit and eat and drink, for there was abundance at all seasons;
and there were golden figures of young men with lighted torches in
their hands, raised on pedestals, to give light by night to those
who were at table. There are fifty maid servants in the house, some
of whom are always grinding rich yellow grain at the mill, while others
work at the loom, or sit and spin, and their shuttles go, backwards
and forwards like the fluttering of aspen leaves, while the linen
is so closely woven that it will turn oil. As the Phaecians are the
best sailors in the world, so their women excel all others in weaving,
for Minerva has taught them all manner of useful arts, and they are
very intelligent.

Outside the gate of the outer court there is a large garden of about
four acres with a wall all round it. It is full of beautiful trees-
pears, pomegranates, and the most delicious apples. There are luscious
figs also, and olives in full growth. The fruits never rot nor fail
all the year round, neither winter nor summer, for the air is so soft
that a new crop ripens before the old has dropped. Pear grows on pear,
apple on apple, and fig on fig, and so also with the grapes, for there
is an excellent vineyard: on the level ground of a part of this, the
grapes are being made into raisins; in another part they are being
gathered; some are being trodden in the wine tubs, others further
on have shed their blossom and are beginning to show fruit, others
again are just changing colour. In the furthest part of the ground
there are beautifully arranged beds of flowers that are in bloom all
the year round. Two streams go through it, the one turned in ducts
throughout the whole garden, while the other is carried under the
ground of the outer court to the house itself, and the town's people
draw water from it. Such, then, were the splendours with which the
gods had endowed the house of king Alcinous.

So here Ulysses stood for a while and looked about him, but when he
had looked long enough he crossed the threshold and went within the
precincts of the house. There he found all the chief people among
the Phaecians making their drink-offerings to Mercury, which they
always did the last thing before going away for the night. He went
straight through the court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness
in which Minerva had enveloped him, till he reached Arete and King
Alcinous; then he laid his hands upon the knees of the queen, and
at that moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him and he became
visible. Every one was speechless with surprise at seeing a man there,
but Ulysses began at once with his petition.

"Queen Arete," he exclaimed, "daughter of great Rhexenor, in my distress
I humbly pray you, as also your husband and these your guests (whom
may heaven prosper with long life and happiness, and may they leave
their possessions to their children, and all the honours conferred
upon them by the state) to help me home to my own country as soon
as possible; for I have been long in trouble and away from my friends."

Then he sat down on the hearth among the ashes and they all held their
peace, till presently the old hero Echeneus, who was an excellent
speaker and an elder among the Phaeacians, plainly and in all honesty
addressed them thus:

"Alcinous," said he, "it is not creditable to you that a stranger
should be seen sitting among the ashes of your hearth; every one is
waiting to hear what you are about to say; tell him, then, to rise
and take a seat on a stool inlaid with silver, and bid your servants
mix some wine and water that we may make a drink-offering to Jove
the lord of thunder, who takes all well-disposed suppliants under
his protection; and let the housekeeper give him some supper, of whatever
there may be in the house."

When Alcinous heard this he took Ulysses by the hand, raised him from
the hearth, and bade him take the seat of Laodamas, who had been sitting
beside him, and was his favourite son. A maid servant then brought
him water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver basin
for him to wash his hands, and she drew a clean table beside him;
an upper servant brought him bread and offered him many good things
of what there was in the house, and Ulysses ate and drank. Then Alcinous
said to one of the servants, "Pontonous, mix a cup of wine and hand
it round that we may make drink-offerings to Jove the lord of thunder,
who is the protector of all well-disposed suppliants."

Pontonous then mixed wine and water, and handed it round after giving
every man his drink-offering. When they had made their offerings,
and had drunk each as much as he was minded, Alcinous said:

"Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, hear my words. You
have had your supper, so now go home to bed. To-morrow morning I shall
invite a still larger number of aldermen, and will give a sacrificial
banquet in honour of our guest; we can then discuss the question of
his escort, and consider how we may at once send him back rejoicing
to his own country without trouble or inconvenience to himself, no
matter how distant it may be. We must see that he comes to no harm
while on his homeward journey, but when he is once at home he will
have to take the luck he was born with for better or worse like other
people. It is possible, however, that the stranger is one of the immortals
who has come down from heaven to visit us; but in this case the gods
are departing from their usual practice, for hitherto they have made
themselves perfectly clear to us when we have been offering them hecatombs.
They come and sit at our feasts just like one of our selves, and if
any solitary wayfarer happens to stumble upon some one or other of
them, they affect no concealment, for we are as near of kin to the
gods as the Cyclopes and the savage giants are."

Then Ulysses said: "Pray, Alcinous, do not take any such notion into
your head. I have nothing of the immortal about me, neither in body
nor mind, and most resemble those among you who are the most afflicted.
Indeed, were I to tell you all that heaven has seen fit to lay upon
me, you would say that I was still worse off than they are. Nevertheless,
let me sup in spite of sorrow, for an empty stomach is a very importunate
thing, and thrusts itself on a man's notice no matter how dire is
his distress. I am in great trouble, yet it insists that I shall eat
and drink, bids me lay aside all memory of my sorrows and dwell only
on the due replenishing of itself. As for yourselves, do as you propose,
and at break of day set about helping me to get home. I shall be content
to die if I may first once more behold my property, my bondsmen, and
all the greatness of my house."

Thus did he speak. Every one approved his saying, and agreed that
he should have his escort inasmuch as he had spoken reasonably. Then
when they had made their drink-offerings, and had drunk each as much
as he was minded they went home to bed every man in his own abode,
leaving Ulysses in the cloister with Arete and Alcinous while the
servants were taking the things away after supper. Arete was the first
to speak, for she recognized the shirt, cloak, and good clothes that
Ulysses was wearing, as the work of herself and of her maids; so she
said, "Stranger, before we go any further, there is a question I should
like to ask you. Who, and whence are you, and who gave you those clothes?
Did you not say you had come here from beyond the sea?"

And Ulysses answered, "It would be a long story Madam, were I to relate
in full the tale of my misfortunes, for the hand of heaven has been
laid heavy upon me; but as regards your question, there is an island
far away in the sea which is called 'the Ogygian.' Here dwells the
cunning and powerful goddess Calypso, daughter of Atlas. She lives
by herself far from all neighbours human or divine. Fortune, however,
me to her hearth all desolate and alone, for Jove struck my ship with
his thunderbolts, and broke it up in mid-ocean. My brave comrades
were drowned every man of them, but I stuck to the keel and was carried
hither and thither for the space of nine days, till at last during
the darkness of the tenth night the gods brought me to the Ogygian
island where the great goddess Calypso lives. She took me in and treated
me with the utmost kindness; indeed she wanted to make me immortal
that I might never grow old, but she could not persuade me to let
her do so.

"I stayed with Calypso seven years straight on end, and watered the
good clothes she gave me with my tears during the whole time; but
at last when the eighth year came round she bade me depart of her
own free will, either because Jove had told her she must, or because
she had changed her mind. She sent me from her island on a raft, which
she provisioned with abundance of bread and wine. Moreover she gave
me good stout clothing, and sent me a wind that blew both warm and
fair. Days seven and ten did I sail over the sea, and on the eighteenth
I caught sight of the first outlines of the mountains upon your coast-
and glad indeed was I to set eyes upon them. Nevertheless there was
still much trouble in store for me, for at this point Neptune would
let me go no further, and raised a great storm against me; the sea
was so terribly high that I could no longer keep to my raft, which
went to pieces under the fury of the gale, and I had to swim for it,
till wind and current brought me to your shores.

"There I tried to land, but could not, for it was a bad place and
the waves dashed me against the rocks, so I again took to the sea
and swam on till I came to a river that seemed the most likely landing
place, for there were no rocks and it was sheltered from the wind.
Here, then, I got out of the water and gathered my senses together
again. Night was coming on, so I left the river, and went into a thicket,
where I covered myself all over with leaves, and presently heaven
sent me off into a very deep sleep. Sick and sorry as I was I slept
among the leaves all night, and through the next day till afternoon,
when I woke as the sun was westering, and saw your daughter's maid
servants playing upon the beach, and your daughter among them looking
like a goddess. I besought her aid, and she proved to be of an excellent
disposition, much more so than could be expected from so young a person-
for young people are apt to be thoughtless. She gave me plenty of
bread and wine, and when she had had me washed in the river she also
gave me the clothes in which you see me. Now, therefore, though it
has pained me to do so, I have told you the whole truth."

Then Alcinous said, "Stranger, it was very wrong of my daughter not
to bring you on at once to my house along with the maids, seeing that
she was the first person whose aid you asked."

"Pray do not scold her," replied Ulysses; "she is not to blame. She
did tell me to follow along with the maids, but I was ashamed and
afraid, for I thought you might perhaps be displeased if you saw me.
Every human being is sometimes a little suspicious and irritable."

"Stranger," replied Alcinous, "I am not the kind of man to get angry
about nothing; it is always better to be reasonable; but by Father
Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, now that I see what kind of person you
are, and how much you think as I do, I wish you would stay here, marry
my daughter, and become my son-in-law. If you will stay I will give
you a house and an estate, but no one (heaven forbid) shall keep you
here against your own wish, and that you may be sure of this I will
attend to-morrow to the matter of your escort. You can sleep during
the whole voyage if you like, and the men shall sail you over smooth
waters either to your own home, or wherever you please, even though
it be a long way further off than Euboea, which those of my people
who saw it when they took yellow-haired Rhadamanthus to see Tityus
the son of Gaia, tell me is the furthest of any place- and yet they
did the whole voyage in a single day without distressing themselves,
and came back again afterwards. You will thus see how much my ships
excel all others, and what magnificent oarsmen my sailors are."

Then was Ulysses glad and prayed aloud saying, "Father Jove, grant
that Alcinous may do all as he has said, for so he will win an imperishable
name among mankind, and at the same time I shall return to my country."

Thus did they converse. Then Arete told her maids to set a bed in
the room that was in the gatehouse, and make it with good red rugs,
and to spread coverlets on the top of them with woollen cloaks for
Ulysses to wear. The maids thereon went out with torches in their
hands, and when they had made the bed they came up to Ulysses and
said, "Rise, sir stranger, and come with us for your bed is ready,"
and glad indeed was he to go to his rest.

So Ulysses slept in a bed placed in a room over the echoing gateway;
but Alcinous lay in the inner part of the house, with the queen his
wife by his side.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VIII

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Alcinous
and Ulysses both rose, and Alcinous led the way to the Phaecian place
of assembly, which was near the ships. When they got there they sat
down side by side on a seat of polished stone, while Minerva took
the form of one of Alcinous' servants, and went round the town in
order to help Ulysses to get home. She went up to the citizens, man
by man, and said, "Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians,
come to the assembly all of you and listen to the stranger who has
just come off a long voyage to the house of King Alcinous; he looks
like an immortal god."

With these words she made them all want to come, and they flocked
to the assembly till seats and standing room were alike crowded. Every
one was struck with the appearance of Ulysses, for Minerva had beautified
him about the head and shoulders, making him look taller and stouter
than he really was, that he might impress the Phaecians favourably
as being a very remarkable man, and might come off well in the many
trials of skill to which they would challenge him. Then, when they
were got together, Alcinous spoke:

"Hear me," said he, "aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians,
that I may speak even as I am minded. This stranger, whoever he may
be, has found his way to my house from somewhere or other either East
or West. He wants an escort and wishes to have the matter settled.
Let us then get one ready for him, as we have done for others before
him; indeed, no one who ever yet came to my house has been able to
complain of me for not speeding on his way soon enough. Let us draw
a ship into the sea- one that has never yet made a voyage- and man
her with two and fifty of our smartest young sailors. Then when you
have made fast your oars each by his own seat, leave the ship and
come to my house to prepare a feast. I will find you in everything.
I am giving will these instructions to the young men who will form
the crew, for as regards you aldermen and town councillors, you will
join me in entertaining our guest in the cloisters. I can take no
excuses, and we will have Demodocus to sing to us; for there is no
bard like him whatever he may choose to sing about."

Alcinous then led the way, and the others followed after, while a
servant went to fetch Demodocus. The fifty-two picked oarsmen went
to the sea shore as they had been told, and when they got there they
drew the ship into the water, got her mast and sails inside her, bound
the oars to the thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather, all in
due course, and spread the white sails aloft. They moored the vessel
a little way out from land, and then came on shore and went to the
house of King Alcinous. The outhouses, yards, and all the precincts
were filled with crowds of men in great multitudes both old and young;
and Alcinous killed them a dozen sheep, eight full grown pigs, and
two oxen. These they skinned and dressed so as to provide a magnificent
banquet.

A servant presently led in the famous bard Demodocus, whom the muse
had dearly loved, but to whom she had given both good and evil, for
though she had endowed him with a divine gift of song, she had robbed
him of his eyesight. Pontonous set a seat for him among the guests,
leaning it up against a bearing-post. He hung the lyre for him on
a peg over his head, and showed him where he was to feel for it with
his hands. He also set a fair table with a basket of victuals by his
side, and a cup of wine from which he might drink whenever he was
so disposed.

The company then laid their hands upon the good things that were before
them, but as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, the muse
inspired Demodocus to sing the feats of heroes, and more especially
a matter that was then in the mouths of all men, to wit, the quarrel
between Ulysses and Achilles, and the fierce words that they heaped
on one another as they gat together at a banquet. But Agamemnon was
glad when he heard his chieftains quarrelling with one another, for
Apollo had foretold him this at Pytho when he crossed the stone floor
to consult the oracle. Here was the beginning of the evil that by
the will of Jove fell both Danaans and Trojans.

Thus sang the bard, but Ulysses drew his purple mantle over his head
and covered his face, for he was ashamed to let the Phaeacians see
that he was weeping. When the bard left off singing he wiped the tears
from his eyes, uncovered his face, and, taking his cup, made a drink-offering
to the gods; but when the Phaeacians pressed Demodocus to sing further,
for they delighted in his lays, then Ulysses again drew his mantle
over his head and wept bitterly. No one noticed his distress except
Alcinous, who was sitting near him, and heard the heavy sighs that
he was heaving. So he at once said, "Aldermen and town councillors
of the Phaeacians, we have had enough now, both of the feast, and
of the minstrelsy that is its due accompaniment; let us proceed therefore
to the athletic sports, so that our guest on his return home may be
able to tell his friends how much we surpass all other nations as
boxers, wrestlers, jumpers, and runners."

With these words he led the way, and the others followed after. A
servant hung Demodocus's lyre on its peg for him, led him out of the
cloister, and set him on the same way as that along which all the
chief men of the Phaeacians were going to see the sports; a crowd
of several thousands of people followed them, and there were many
excellent competitors for all the prizes. Acroneos, Ocyalus, Elatreus,
Nauteus, Prymneus, Anchialus, Eretmeus, Ponteus, Proreus, Thoon, Anabesineus,
and Amphialus son of Polyneus son of Tecton. There was also Euryalus
son of Naubolus, who was like Mars himself, and was the best looking
man among the Phaecians except Laodamas. Three sons of Alcinous, Laodamas,
Halios, and Clytoneus, competed also.

The foot races came first. The course was set out for them from the
starting post, and they raised a dust upon the plain as they all flew
forward at the same moment. Clytoneus came in first by a long way;
he left every one else behind him by the length of the furrow that
a couple of mules can plough in a fallow field. They then turned to
the painful art of wrestling, and here Euryalus proved to be the best
man. Amphialus excelled all the others in jumping, while at throwing
the disc there was no one who could approach Elatreus. Alcinous's
son Laodamas was the best boxer, and he it was who presently said,
when they had all been diverted with the games, "Let us ask the stranger
whether he excels in any of these sports; he seems very powerfully
built; his thighs, claves, hands, and neck are of prodigious strength,
nor is he at all old, but he has suffered much lately, and there is
nothing like the sea for making havoc with a man, no matter how strong
he is."

"You are quite right, Laodamas," replied Euryalus, "go up to your
guest and speak to him about it yourself."

When Laodamas heard this he made his way into the middle of the crowd
and said to Ulysses, "I hope, Sir, that you will enter yourself for
some one or other of our competitions if you are skilled in any of
them- and you must have gone in for many a one before now. There is
nothing that does any one so much credit all his life long as the
showing himself a proper man with his hands and feet. Have a try therefore
at something, and banish all sorrow from your mind. Your return home
will not be long delayed, for the ship is already drawn into the water,
and the crew is found."

Ulysses answered, "Laodamas, why do you taunt me in this way? my mind
is set rather on cares than contests; I have been through infinite
trouble, and am come among you now as a suppliant, praying your king
and people to further me on my return home."

Then Euryalus reviled him outright and said, "I gather, then, that
you are unskilled in any of the many sports that men generally delight
in. I suppose you are one of those grasping traders that go about
in ships as captains or merchants, and who think of nothing but of
their outward freights and homeward cargoes. There does not seem to
be much of the athlete about you."

"For shame, Sir," answered Ulysses, fiercely, "you are an insolent
fellow- so true is it that the gods do not grace all men alike in
speech, person, and understanding. One man may be of weak presence,
but heaven has adorned this with such a good conversation that he
charms every one who sees him; his honeyed moderation carries his
hearers with him so that he is leader in all assemblies of his fellows,
and wherever he goes he is looked up to. Another may be as handsome
as a god, but his good looks are not crowned with discretion. This
is your case. No god could make a finer looking fellow than you are,
but you are a fool. Your ill-judged remarks have made me exceedingly
angry, and you are quite mistaken, for I excel in a great many athletic
exercises; indeed, so long as I had youth and strength, I was among
the first athletes of the age. Now, however, I am worn out by labour
and sorrow, for I have gone through much both on the field of battle
and by the waves of the weary sea; still, in spite of all this I will
compete, for your taunts have stung me to the quick."

So he hurried up without even taking his cloak off, and seized a disc,
larger, more massive and much heavier than those used by the Phaeacians
when disc-throwing among themselves. Then, swinging it back, he threw
it from his brawny hand, and it made a humming sound in the air as
he did so. The Phaeacians quailed beneath the rushing of its flight
as it sped gracefully from his hand, and flew beyond any mark that
had been made yet. Minerva, in the form of a man, came and marked
the place where it had fallen. "A blind man, Sir," said she, "could
easily tell your mark by groping for it- it is so far ahead of any
other. You may make your mind easy about this contest, for no Phaeacian
can come near to such a throw as yours."

Ulysses was glad when he found he had a friend among the lookers-on,
so he began to speak more pleasantly. "Young men," said he, "come
up to that throw if you can, and I will throw another disc as heavy
or even heavier. If anyone wants to have a bout with me let him come
on, for I am exceedingly angry; I will box, wrestle, or run, I do
not care what it is, with any man of you all except Laodamas, but
not with him because I am his guest, and one cannot compete with one's
own personal friend. At least I do not think it a prudent or a sensible
thing for a guest to challenge his host's family at any game, especially
when he is in a foreign country. He will cut the ground from under
his own feet if he does; but I make no exception as regards any one
else, for I want to have the matter out and know which is the best
man. I am a good hand at every kind of athletic sport known among
mankind. I am an excellent archer. In battle I am always the first
to bring a man down with my arrow, no matter how many more are taking
aim at him alongside of me. Philoctetes was the only man who could
shoot better than I could when we Achaeans were before Troy and in
practice. I far excel every one else in the whole world, of those
who still eat bread upon the face of the earth, but I should not like
to shoot against the mighty dead, such as Hercules, or Eurytus the
Cechalian-men who could shoot against the gods themselves. This in
fact was how Eurytus came prematurely by his end, for Apollo was angry
with him and killed him because he challenged him as an archer. I
can throw a dart farther than any one else can shoot an arrow. Running
is the only point in respect of which I am afraid some of the Phaecians
might beat me, for I have been brought down very low at sea; my provisions
ran short, and therefore I am still weak."

They all held their peace except King Alcinous, who began, "Sir, we
have had much pleasure in hearing all that you have told us, from
which I understand that you are willing to show your prowess, as having
been displeased with some insolent remarks that have been made to
you by one of our athletes, and which could never have been uttered
by any one who knows how to talk with propriety. I hope you will apprehend
my meaning, and will explain to any be one of your chief men who may
be dining with yourself and your family when you get home, that we
have an hereditary aptitude for accomplishments of all kinds. We are
not particularly remarkable for our boxing, nor yet as wrestlers,
but we are singularly fleet of foot and are excellent sailors. We
are extremely fond of good dinners, music, and dancing; we also like
frequent changes of linen, warm baths, and good beds, so now, please,
some of you who are the best dancers set about dancing, that our guest
on his return home may be able to tell his friends how much we surpass
all other nations as sailors, runners, dancers, minstrels. Demodocus
has left his lyre at my house, so run some one or other of you and
fetch it for him."

On this a servant hurried off to bring the lyre from the king's house,
and the nine men who had been chosen as stewards stood forward. It
was their business to manage everything connected with the sports,
so they made the ground smooth and marked a wide space for the dancers.
Presently the servant came back with Demodocus's lyre, and he took
his place in the midst of them, whereon the best young dancers in
the town began to foot and trip it so nimbly that Ulysses was delighted
with the merry twinkling of their feet.

Meanwhile the bard began to sing the loves of Mars and Venus, and
how they first began their intrigue in the house of Vulcan. Mars made
Venus many presents, and defiled King Vulcan's marriage bed, so the
sun, who saw what they were about, told Vulcan. Vulcan was very angry
when he heard such dreadful news, so he went to his smithy brooding
mischief, got his great anvil into its place, and began to forge some
chains which none could either unloose or break, so that they might
stay there in that place. When he had finished his snare he went into
his bedroom and festooned the bed-posts all over with chains like
cobwebs; he also let many hang down from the great beam of the ceiling.
Not even a god could see them, so fine and subtle were they. As soon
as he had spread the chains all over the bed, he made as though he
were setting out for the fair state of Lemnos, which of all places
in the world was the one he was most fond of. But Mars kept no blind
look out, and as soon as he saw him start, hurried off to his house,
burning with love for Venus.

Now Venus was just come in from a visit to her father Jove, and was
about sitting down when Mars came inside the house, an said as he
took her hand in his own, "Let us go to the couch of Vulcan: he is
not at home, but is gone off to Lemnos among the Sintians, whose speech
is barbarous."

She was nothing loth, so they went to the couch to take their rest,
whereon they were caught in the toils which cunning Vulcan had spread
for them, and could neither get up nor stir hand or foot, but found
too late that they were in a trap. Then Vulcan came up to them, for
he had turned back before reaching Lemnos, when his scout the sun
told him what was going on. He was in a furious passion, and stood
in the vestibule making a dreadful noise as he shouted to all the
gods.

"Father Jove," he cried, "and all you other blessed gods who live
for ever, come here and see the ridiculous and disgraceful sight that
I will show you. Jove's daughter Venus is always dishonouring me because
I am lame. She is in love with Mars, who is handsome and clean built,
whereas I am a cripple- but my parents are to blame for that, not
I; they ought never to have begotten me. Come and see the pair together
asleep on my bed. It makes me furious to look at them. They are very
fond of one another, but I do not think they will lie there longer
than they can help, nor do I think that they will sleep much; there,
however, they shall stay till her father has repaid me the sum I gave
him for his baggage of a daughter, who is fair but not honest."

On this the gods gathered to the house of Vulcan. Earth-encircling
Neptune came, and Mercury the bringer of luck, and King Apollo, but
the goddesses stayed at home all of them for shame. Then the givers
of all good things stood in the doorway, and the blessed gods roared
with inextinguishable laughter, as they saw how cunning Vulcan had
been, whereon one would turn towards his neighbour saying:

"Ill deeds do not prosper, and the weak confound the strong. See how
limping Vulcan, lame as he is, has caught Mars who is the fleetest
god in heaven; and now Mars will be cast in heavy damages."

Thus did they converse, but King Apollo said to Mercury, "Messenger
Mercury, giver of good things, you would not care how strong the chains
were, would you, if you could sleep with Venus?"

"King Apollo," answered Mercury, "I only wish I might get the chance,
though there were three times as many chains- and you might look on,
all of you, gods and goddesses, but would sleep with her if I could."

The immortal gods burst out laughing as they heard him, but Neptune
took it all seriously, and kept on imploring Vulcan to set Mars free
again. "Let him go," he cried, "and I will undertake, as you require,
that he shall pay you all the damages that are held reasonable among
the immortal gods."

"Do not," replied Vulcan, "ask me to do this; a bad man's bond is
bad security; what remedy could I enforce against you if Mars should
go away and leave his debts behind him along with his chains?"

"Vulcan," said Neptune, "if Mars goes away without paying his damages,
I will pay you myself." So Vulcan answered, "In this case I cannot
and must not refuse you."

Thereon he loosed the bonds that bound them, and as soon as they were
free they scampered off, Mars to Thrace and laughter-loving Venus
to Cyprus and to Paphos, where is her grove and her altar fragrant
with burnt offerings. Here the Graces hathed her, and anointed her
with oil of ambrosia such as the immortal gods make use of, and they
clothed her in raiment of the most enchanting beauty.

Thus sang the bard, and both Ulysses and the seafaring Phaeacians
were charmed as they heard him.

Then Alcinous told Laodamas and Halius to dance alone, for there was
no one to compete with them. So they took a red ball which Polybus
had made for them, and one of them bent himself backwards and threw
it up towards the clouds, while the other jumped from off the ground
and caught it with ease before it came down again. When they had done
throwing the ball straight up into the air they began to dance, and
at the same time kept on throwing it backwards and forwards to one
another, while all the young men in the ring applauded and made a
great stamping with their feet. Then Ulysses said:

"King Alcinous, you said your people were the nimblest dancers in
the world, and indeed they have proved themselves to be so. I was
astonished as I saw them."

The king was delighted at this, and exclaimed to the Phaecians "Aldermen
and town councillors, our guest seems to be a person of singular judgement;
let us give him such proof of our hospitality as he may reasonably
expect. There are twelve chief men among you, and counting myself
there are thirteen; contribute, each of you, a clean cloak, a shirt,
and a talent of fine gold; let us give him all this in a lump down
at once, so that when he gets his supper he may do so with a light
heart. As for Euryalus he will have to make a formal apology and a
present too, for he has been rude."

Thus did he speak. The others all of them applauded his saying, and
sent their servants to fetch the presents. Then Euryalus said, "King
Alcinous, I will give the stranger all the satisfaction you require.
He shall have sword, which is of bronze, all but the hilt, which is
of silver. I will also give him the scabbard of newly sawn ivory into
which it fits. It will be worth a great deal to him."

As he spoke he placed the sword in the hands of Ulysses and said,
"Good luck to you, father stranger; if anything has been said amiss
may the winds blow it away with them, and may heaven grant you a safe
return, for I understand you have been long away from home, and have
gone through much hardship."

To which Ulysses answered, "Good luck to you too my friend, and may
the gods grant you every happiness. I hope you will not miss the sword
you have given me along with your apology."

With these words he girded the sword about his shoulders and towards
sundown the presents began to make their appearance, as the servants
of the donors kept bringing them to the house of King Alcinous; here
his sons received them, and placed them under their mother's charge.
Then Alcinous led the way to the house and bade his guests take their
seats.

"Wife," said he, turning to Queen Arete, "Go, fetch the best chest
we have, and put a clean cloak and shirt in it. Also, set a copper
on the fire and heat some water; our guest will take a warm bath;
see also to the careful packing of the presents that the noble Phaeacians
have made him; he will thus better enjoy both his supper and the singing
that will follow. I shall myself give him this golden goblet- which
is of exquisite workmanship- that he may be reminded of me for the
rest of his life whenever he makes a drink-offering to Jove, or to
any of the gods."

Then Arete told her maids to set a large tripod upon the fire as fast
as they could, whereon they set a tripod full of bath water on to
a clear fire; they threw on sticks to make it blaze, and the water
became hot as the flame played about the belly of the tripod. Meanwhile
Arete brought a magnificent chest her own room, and inside it she
packed all the beautiful presents of gold and raiment which the Phaeacians
had brought. Lastly she added a cloak and a good shirt from Alcinous,
and said to Ulysses:

"See to the lid yourself, and have the whole bound round at once,
for fear any one should rob you by the way when you are asleep in
your ship."

When Ulysses heard this he put the lid on the chest and made it fast
with a bond that Circe had taught him. He had done so before an upper
servant told him to come to the bath and wash himself. He was very
glad of a warm bath, for he had had no one to wait upon him ever since
he left the house of Calypso, who as long as he remained with her
had taken as good care of him as though he had been a god. When the
servants had done washing and anointing him with oil, and had given
him a clean cloak and shirt, he left the bath room and joined the
guests who were sitting over their wine. Lovely Nausicaa stood by
one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof if the cloister, and
admired him as she saw him pass. "Farewell stranger," said she, "do
not forget me when you are safe at home again, for it is to me first
that you owe a ransom for having saved your life."

And Ulysses said, "Nausicaa, daughter of great Alcinous, may Jove
the mighty husband of Juno, grant that I may reach my home; so shall
I bless you as my guardian angel all my days, for it was you who saved
me."

When he had said this, he seated himself beside Alcinous. Supper was
then served, and the wine was mixed for drinking. A servant led in
the favourite bard Demodocus, and set him in the midst of the company,
near one of the bearing-posts supporting the cloister, that he might
lean against it. Then Ulysses cut off a piece of roast pork with plenty
of fat (for there was abundance left on the joint) and said to a servant,
"Take this piece of pork over to Demodocus and tell him to eat it;
for all the pain his lays may cause me I will salute him none the
less; bards are honoured and respected throughout the world, for the
muse teaches them their songs and loves them."

The servant carried the pork in his fingers over to Demodocus, who
took it and was very much pleased. They then laid their hands on the
good things that were before them, and as soon as they had had to
eat and drink, Ulysses said to Demodocus, "Demodocus, there is no
one in the world whom I admire more than I do you. You must have studied
under the Muse, Jove's daughter, and under Apollo, so accurately do
you sing the return of the Achaeans with all their sufferings and
adventures. If you were not there yourself, you must have heard it
all from some one who was. Now, however, change your song and tell
us of the wooden horse which Epeus made with the assistance of Minerva,
and which Ulysses got by stratagem into the fort of Troy after freighting
it with the men who afterwards sacked the city. If you will sing this
tale aright I will tell all the world how magnificently heaven has
endowed you."

The bard inspired of heaven took up the story at the point where some
of the Argives set fire to their tents and sailed away while others,
hidden within the horse, were waiting with Ulysses in the Trojan place
of assembly. For the Trojans themselves had drawn the horse into their
fortress, and it stood there while they sat in council round it, and
were in three minds as to what they should do. Some were for breaking
it up then and there; others would have it dragged to the top of the
rock on which the fortress stood, and then thrown down the precipice;
while yet others were for letting it remain as an offering and propitiation
for the gods. And this was how they settled it in the end, for the
city was doomed when it took in that horse, within which were all
the bravest of the Argives waiting to bring death and destruction
on the Trojans. Anon he sang how the sons of the Achaeans issued from
the horse, and sacked the town, breaking out from their ambuscade.
He sang how they over ran the city hither and thither and ravaged
it, and how Ulysses went raging like Mars along with Menelaus to the
house of Deiphobus. It was there that the fight raged most furiously,
nevertheless by Minerva's help he was victorious.

All this he told, but Ulysses was overcome as he heard him, and his
cheeks were wet with tears. He wept as a woman weeps when she throws
herself on the body of her husband who has fallen before his own city
and people, fighting bravely in defence of his home and children.
She screams aloud and flings her arms about him as he lies gasping
for breath and dying, but her enemies beat her from behind about the
back and shoulders, and carry her off into slavery, to a life of labour
and sorrow, and the beauty fades from her cheeks- even so piteously
did Ulysses weep, but none of those present perceived his tears except
Alcinous, who was sitting near him, and could hear the sobs and sighs
that he was heaving. The king, therefore, at once rose and said:

"Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, let Demodocus cease
his song, for there are those present who do not seem to like it.
From the moment that we had done supper and Demodocus began to sing,
our guest has been all the time groaning and lamenting. He is evidently
in great trouble, so let the bard leave off, that we may all enjoy
ourselves, hosts and guest alike. This will be much more as it should
be, for all these festivities, with the escort and the presents that
we are making with so much good will, are wholly in his honour, and
any one with even a moderate amount of right feeling knows that he
ought to treat a guest and a suppliant as though he were his own brother.

"Therefore, Sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment nor
reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more
polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which
your father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which
you were known among your neighbours and fellow-citizens. There is
no one, neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name
whatever, for people's fathers and mothers give them names as soon
as they are born. Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that
our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there.
For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as
those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what
it is that we are thinking about and want; they know all the cities
and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as
well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is
no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember
hearing my father say that Neptune was angry with us for being too
easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said that one
of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from
having escorted some one, and bury our city under a high mountain.
This is what my used to say, but whether the god will carry out his
threat or no is a matter which he will decide for himself.

"And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have you been wandering,
and in what countries have you travelled? Tell us of the peoples themselves,
and of their cities- who were hostile, savage and uncivilized, and
who, on the other hand, hospitable and humane. Tell us also why you
are made unhappy on hearing about the return of the Argive Danaans
from Troy. The gods arranged all this, and sent them their misfortunes
in order that future generations might have something to sing about.
Did you lose some brave kinsman of your wife's when you were before
Troy? a son-in-law or father-in-law- which are the nearest relations
a man has outside his own flesh and blood? or was it some brave and
kindly-natured comrade- for a good friend is as dear to a man as his
own brother?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK IX

And Ulysses answered, "King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear
a bard with such a divine voice as this man has. There is nothing
better or more delightful than when a whole people make merry together,
with the guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded
with bread and meats, and the cup-bearer draws wine and fills his
cup for every man. This is indeed as fair a sight as a man can see.
Now, however, since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows,
and rekindle my own sad memories in respect of them, I do not know
how to begin, nor yet how to continue and conclude my tale, for the
hand of heaven has been laid heavily upon me.

"Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you too may know it,
and one day, if I outlive this time of sorrow, may become my there
guests though I live so far away from all of you. I am Ulysses son
of Laertes, reknowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so
that my fame ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca, where there is a
high mountain called Neritum, covered with forests; and not far from
it there is a group of islands very near to one another- Dulichium,
Same, and the wooded island of Zacynthus. It lies squat on the horizon,
all highest up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie
away from it towards dawn. It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave
men, and my eyes know none that they better love to look upon. The
goddess Calypso kept me with her in her cave, and wanted me to marry
her, as did also the cunning Aeaean goddess Circe; but they could
neither of them persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man
than his own country and his parents, and however splendid a home
he may have in a foreign country, if it be far from father or mother,
he does not care about it. Now, however, I will tell you of the many
hazardous adventures which by Jove's will I met with on my return
from Troy.

"When I had set sail thence the wind took me first to Ismarus, which
is the city of the Cicons. There I sacked the town and put the people
to the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we divided
equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain.
I then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very foolishly
would not obey me, so they stayed there drinking much wine and killing
great numbers of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the Cicons
cried out for help to other Cicons who lived inland. These were more
in number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of
war, for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the
occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as
leaves and bloom in summer, and the hand of heaven was against us,
so that we were hard pressed. They set the battle in array near the
ships, and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another.
So long as the day waxed and it was still morning, we held our own
against them, though they were more in number than we; but as the
sun went down, towards the time when men loose their oxen, the Cicons
got the better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship
we had; so we got away with those that were left.

"Thence we sailed onward with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have
escaped death though we had lost our comrades, nor did we leave till
we had thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished
by the hands of the Cicons. Then Jove raised the North wind against
us till it blew a hurricane, so that land and sky were hidden in thick
clouds, and night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships
run before the gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters,
so we took them down for fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest
towards the land. There we lay two days and two nights suffering much
alike from toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third
day we again raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting
the wind and steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at
that time unharmed had not the North wind and the currents been against
me as I was doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by
the island of Cythera.

"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the
sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eater,
who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed
to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the
shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of
my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might
be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and
went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave
them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate
of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back
and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching
lotus with the Lotus-eater without thinking further of their return;
nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the
ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to
go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and
leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote
the grey sea with their oars.

"We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land
of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant
nor plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley,
and grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild
grapes yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They
have no laws nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the
tops of high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and
they take no account of their neighbours.

"Now off their harbour there lies a wooded and fertile island not
quite close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far. It is
overrun with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers and are
never disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen- who as a rule will
suffer so much hardship in forest or among mountain precipices- do
not go there, nor yet again is it ever ploughed or fed down, but it
lies a wilderness untilled and unsown from year to year, and has no
living thing upon it but only goats. For the Cyclopes have no ships,
nor yet shipwrights who could make ships for them; they cannot therefore
go from city to city, or sail over the sea to one another's country
as people who have ships can do; if they had had these they would
have colonized the island, for it is a very good one, and would yield
everything in due season. There are meadows that in some places come
right down to the sea shore, well watered and full of luscious grass;
grapes would do there excellently; there is level land for ploughing,
and it would always yield heavily at harvest time, for the soil is
deep. There is a good harbour where no cables are wanted, nor yet
anchors, nor need a ship be moored, but all one has to do is to beach
one's vessel and stay there till the wind becomes fair for putting
out to sea again. At the head of the harbour there is a spring of
clear water coming out of a cave, and there are poplars growing all
round it.

"Here we entered, but so dark was the night that some god must have
brought us in, for there was nothing whatever to be seen. A thick
mist hung all round our ships; the moon was hidden behind a mass of
clouds so that no one could have seen the island if he had looked
for it, nor were there any breakers to tell us we were close in shore
before we found ourselves upon the land itself; when, however, we
had beached the ships, we took down the sails, went ashore and camped
upon the beach till daybreak.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, we admired
the island and wandered all over it, while the nymphs Jove's daughters
roused the wild goats that we might get some meat for our dinner.
On this we fetched our spears and bows and arrows from the ships,
and dividing ourselves into three bands began to shoot the goats.
Heaven sent us excellent sport; I had twelve ships with me, and each
ship got nine goats, while my own ship had ten; thus through the livelong
day to the going down of the sun we ate and drank our fill,- and we
had plenty of wine left, for each one of us had taken many jars full
when we sacked the city of the Cicons, and this had not yet run out.
While we were feasting we kept turning our eyes towards the land of
the Cyclopes, which was hard by, and saw the smoke of their stubble
fires. We could almost fancy we heard their voices and the bleating
of their sheep and goats, but when the sun went down and it came on
dark, we camped down upon the beach, and next morning I called a council.

"'Stay here, my brave fellows,' said I, 'all the rest of you, while
I go with my ship and exploit these people myself: I want to see if
they are uncivilized savages, or a hospitable and humane race.'

"I went on board, bidding my men to do so also and loose the hawsers;
so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.
When we got to the land, which was not far, there, on the face of
a cliff near the sea, we saw a great cave overhung with laurels. It
was a station for a great many sheep and goats, and outside there
was a large yard, with a high wall round it made of stones built into
the ground and of trees both pine and oak. This was the abode of a
huge monster who was then away from home shepherding his flocks. He
would have nothing to do with other people, but led the life of an
outlaw. He was a horrid creature, not like a human being at all, but
resembling rather some crag that stands out boldly against the sky
on the top of a high mountain.

"I told my men to draw the ship ashore, and stay where they were,
all but the twelve best among them, who were to go along with myself.
I also took a goatskin of sweet black wine which had been given me
by Maron, Apollo son of Euanthes, who was priest of Apollo the patron
god of Ismarus, and lived within the wooded precincts of the temple.
When we were sacking the city we respected him, and spared his life,
as also his wife and child; so he made me some presents of great value-
seven talents of fine gold, and a bowl of silver, with twelve jars
of sweet wine, unblended, and of the most exquisite flavour. Not a
man nor maid in the house knew about it, but only himself, his wife,
and one housekeeper: when he drank it he mixed twenty parts of water
to one of wine, and yet the fragrance from the mixing-bowl was so
exquisite that it was impossible to refrain from drinking. I filled
a large skin with this wine, and took a wallet full of provisions
with me, for my mind misgave me that I might have to deal with some
savage who would be of great strength, and would respect neither right
nor law.

"We soon reached his cave, but he was out shepherding, so we went
inside and took stock of all that we could see. His cheese-racks were
loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and kids than his pens
could hold. They were kept in separate flocks; first there were the
hoggets, then the oldest of the younger lambs and lastly the very
young ones all kept apart from one another; as for his dairy, all
the vessels, bowls, and milk pails into which he milked, were swimming
with whey. When they saw all this, my men begged me to let them first
steal some cheeses, and make off with them to the ship; they would
then return, drive down the lambs and kids, put them on board and
sail away with them. It would have been indeed better if we had done
so but I would not listen to them, for I wanted to see the owner himself,
in the hope that he might give me a present. When, however, we saw
him my poor men found him ill to deal with.

"We lit a fire, offered some of the cheeses in sacrifice, ate others
of them, and then sat waiting till the Cyclops should come in with
his sheep. When he came, he brought in with him a huge load of dry
firewood to light the fire for his supper, and this he flung with
such a noise on to the floor of his cave that we hid ourselves for
fear at the far end of the cavern. Meanwhile he drove all the ewes
inside, as well as the she-goats that he was going to milk, leaving
the males, both rams and he-goats, outside in the yards. Then he rolled
a huge stone to the mouth of the cave- so huge that two and twenty
strong four-wheeled waggons would not be enough to draw it from its
place against the doorway. When he had so done he sat down and milked
his ewes and goats, all in due course, and then let each of them have
her own young. He curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker
strainers, but the other half he poured into bowls that he might drink
it for his supper. When he had got through with all his work, he lit
the fire, and then caught sight of us, whereon he said:

"'Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from? Are you traders, or
do you sail the as rovers, with your hands against every man, and
every man's hand against you?'

"We were frightened out of our senses by his loud voice and monstrous
form, but I managed to say, 'We are Achaeans on our way home from
Troy, but by the will of Jove, and stress of weather, we have been
driven far out of our course. We are the people of Agamemnon, son
of Atreus, who has won infinite renown throughout the whole world,
by sacking so great a city and killing so many people. We therefore
humbly pray you to show us some hospitality, and otherwise make us
such presents as visitors may reasonably expect. May your excellency
fear the wrath of heaven, for we are your suppliants, and Jove takes
all respectable travellers under his protection, for he is the avenger
of all suppliants and foreigners in distress.'

"To this he gave me but a pitiless answer, 'Stranger,' said he, 'you
are a fool, or else you know nothing of this country. Talk to me,
indeed, about fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes
do not care about Jove or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever
so much stronger than they. I shall not spare either yourself or your
companions out of any regard for Jove, unless I am in the humour for
doing so. And now tell me where you made your ship fast when you came
on shore. Was it round the point, or is she lying straight off the
land?'

"He said this to draw me out, but I was too cunning to be caught in
that way, so I answered with a lie; 'Neptune,' said I, 'sent my ship
on to the rocks at the far end of your country, and wrecked it. We
were driven on to them from the open sea, but I and those who are
with me escaped the jaws of death.'

"The cruel wretch vouchsafed me not one word of answer, but with a
sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them
down upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains
were shed upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood.
Then he tore them limb from limb and supped upon them. He gobbled
them up like a lion in the wilderness, flesh, bones, marrow, and entrails,
without leaving anything uneaten. As for us, we wept and lifted up
our hands to heaven on seeing such a horrid sight, for we did not
know what else to do; but when the Cyclops had filled his huge paunch,
and had washed down his meal of human flesh with a drink of neat milk,
he stretched himself full length upon the ground among his sheep,
and went to sleep. I was at first inclined to seize my sword, draw
it, and drive it into his vitals, but I reflected that if I did we
should all certainly be lost, for we should never be able to shift
the stone which the monster had put in front of the door. So we stayed
sobbing and sighing where we were till morning came.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, he again
lit his fire, milked his goats and ewes, all quite rightly, and then
let each have her own young one; as soon as he had got through with
all his work, he clutched up two more of my men, and began eating
them for his morning's meal. Presently, with the utmost ease, he rolled
the stone away from the door and drove out his sheep, but he at once
put it back again- as easily as though he were merely clapping the
lid on to a quiver full of arrows. As soon as he had done so he shouted,
and cried 'Shoo, shoo,' after his sheep to drive them on to the mountain;
so I was left to scheme some way of taking my revenge and covering
myself with glory.

"In the end I deemed it would be the best plan to do as follows. The
Cyclops had a great club which was lying near one of the sheep pens;
it was of green olive wood, and he had cut it intending to use it
for a staff as soon as it should be dry. It was so huge that we could
only compare it to the mast of a twenty-oared merchant vessel of large
burden, and able to venture out into open sea. I went up to this club
and cut off about six feet of it; I then gave this piece to the men
and told them to fine it evenly off at one end, which they proceeded
to do, and lastly I brought it to a point myself, charring the end
in the fire to make it harder. When I had done this I hid it under
dung, which was lying about all over the cave, and told the men to
cast lots which of them should venture along with myself to lift it
and bore it into the monster's eye while he was asleep. The lot fell
upon the very four whom I should have chosen, and I myself made five.
In the evening the wretch came back from shepherding, and drove his
flocks into the cave- this time driving them all inside, and not leaving
any in the yards; I suppose some fancy must have taken him, or a god
must have prompted him to do so. As soon as he had put the stone back
to its place against the door, he sat down, milked his ewes and his
goats all quite rightly, and then let each have her own young one;
when he had got through with all this work, he gripped up two more
of my men, and made his supper off them. So I went up to him with
an ivy-wood bowl of black wine in my hands:

"'Look here, Cyclops,' said I, you have been eating a great deal of
man's flesh, so take this and drink some wine, that you may see what
kind of liquor we had on board my ship. I was bringing it to you as
a drink-offering, in the hope that you would take compassion upon
me and further me on my way home, whereas all you do is to go on ramping
and raving most intolerably. You ought to be ashamed yourself; how
can you expect people to come see you any more if you treat them in
this way?'

"He then took the cup and drank. He was so delighted with the taste
of the wine that he begged me for another bowl full. 'Be so kind,'
he said, 'as to give me some more, and tell me your name at once.
I want to make you a present that you will be glad to have. We have
wine even in this country, for our soil grows grapes and the sun ripens
them, but this drinks like nectar and ambrosia all in one.'

"I then gave him some more; three times did I fill the bowl for him,
and three times did he drain it without thought or heed; then, when
I saw that the wine had got into his head, I said to him as plausibly
as I could: 'Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give
me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this
is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me.'

"But the cruel wretch said, 'Then I will eat all Noman's comrades
before Noman himself, and will keep Noman for the last. This is the
present that I will make him.'

As he spoke he reeled, and fell sprawling face upwards on the ground.
His great neck hung heavily backwards and a deep sleep took hold upon
him. Presently he turned sick, and threw up both wine and the gobbets
of human flesh on which he had been gorging, for he was very drunk.
Then I thrust the beam of wood far into the embers to heat it, and
encouraged my men lest any of them should turn faint-hearted. When
the wood, green though it was, was about to blaze, I drew it out of
the fire glowing with heat, and my men gathered round me, for heaven
had filled their hearts with courage. We drove the sharp end of the
beam into the monster's eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight
I kept turning it round and round as though I were boring a hole in
a ship's plank with an auger, which two men with a wheel and strap
can keep on turning as long as they choose. Even thus did we bore
the red hot beam into his eye, till the boiling blood bubbled all
over it as we worked it round and round, so that the steam from the
burning eyeball scalded his eyelids and eyebrows, and the roots of
the eye sputtered in the fire. As a blacksmith plunges an axe or hatchet
into cold water to temper it- for it is this that gives strength to
the iron- and it makes a great hiss as he does so, even thus did the
Cyclops' eye hiss round the beam of olive wood, and his hideous yells
made the cave ring again. We ran away in a fright, but he plucked
the beam all besmirched with gore from his eye, and hurled it from
him in a frenzy of rage and pain, shouting as he did so to the other
Cyclopes who lived on the bleak headlands near him; so they gathered
from all quarters round his cave when they heard him crying, and asked
what was the matter with him.

"'What ails you, Polyphemus,' said they, 'that you make such a noise,
breaking the stillness of the night, and preventing us from being
able to sleep? Surely no man is carrying off your sheep? Surely no
man is trying to kill you either by fraud or by force?

"But Polyphemus shouted to them from inside the cave, 'Noman is killing
me by fraud! Noman is killing me by force!'

"'Then,' said they, 'if no man is attacking you, you must be ill;
when Jove makes people ill, there is no help for it, and you had better
pray to your father Neptune.'

"Then they went away, and I laughed inwardly at the success of my
clever stratagem, but the Cyclops, groaning and in an agony of pain,
felt about with his hands till he found the stone and took it from
the door; then he sat in the doorway and stretched his hands in front
of it to catch anyone going out with the sheep, for he thought I might
be foolish enough to attempt this.

"As for myself I kept on puzzling to think how I could best save my
own life and those of my companions; I schemed and schemed, as one
who knows that his life depends upon it, for the danger was very great.
In the end I deemed that this plan would be the best. The male sheep
were well grown, and carried a heavy black fleece, so I bound them
noiselessly in threes together, with some of the withies on which
the wicked monster used to sleep. There was to be a man under the
middle sheep, and the two on either side were to cover him, so that
there were three sheep to each man. As for myself there was a ram
finer than any of the others, so I caught hold of him by the back,
esconced myself in the thick wool under his belly, and flung on patiently
to his fleece, face upwards, keeping a firm hold on it all the time.

"Thus, then, did we wait in great fear of mind till morning came,
but when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, the male
sheep hurried out to feed, while the ewes remained bleating about
the pens waiting to be milked, for their udders were full to bursting;
but their master in spite of all his pain felt the backs of all the
sheep as they stood upright, without being sharp enough to find out
that the men were underneath their bellies. As the ram was going out,
last of all, heavy with its fleece and with the weight of my crafty
self; Polyphemus laid hold of it and said:

"'My good ram, what is it that makes you the last to leave my cave
this morning? You are not wont to let the ewes go before you, but
lead the mob with a run whether to flowery mead or bubbling fountain,
and are the first to come home again at night; but now you lag last
of all. Is it because you know your master has lost his eye, and are
sorry because that wicked Noman and his horrid crew have got him down
in his drink and blinded him? But I will have his life yet. If you
could understand and talk, you would tell me where the wretch is hiding,
and I would dash his brains upon the ground till they flew all over
the cave. I should thus have some satisfaction for the harm a this
no-good Noman has done me.'

"As spoke he drove the ram outside, but when we were a little way
out from the cave and yards, I first got from under the ram's belly,
and then freed my comrades; as for the sheep, which were very fat,
by constantly heading them in the right direction we managed to drive
them down to the ship. The crew rejoiced greatly at seeing those of
us who had escaped death, but wept for the others whom the Cyclops
had killed. However, I made signs to them by nodding and frowning
that they were to hush their crying, and told them to get all the
sheep on board at once and put out to sea; so they went aboard, took
their places, and smote the grey sea with their oars. Then, when I
had got as far out as my voice would reach, I began to jeer at the
Cyclops.

"'Cyclops,' said I, 'you should have taken better measure of your
man before eating up his comrades in your cave. You wretch, eat up
your visitors in your own house? You might have known that your sin
would find you out, and now Jove and the other gods have punished
you.'

"He got more and more furious as he heard me, so he tore the top from
off a high mountain, and flung it just in front of my ship so that
it was within a little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea quaked
as the rock fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised carried
us back towards the mainland, and forced us towards the shore. But
I snatched up a long pole and kept the ship off, making signs to my
men by nodding my head, that they must row for their lives, whereon
they laid out with a will. When we had got twice as far as we were
before, I was for jeering at the Cyclops again, but the men begged
and prayed of me to hold my tongue.

"'Do not,' they exclaimed, 'be mad enough to provoke this savage creature
further; he has thrown one rock at us already which drove us back
again to the mainland, and we made sure it had been the death of us;
if he had then heard any further sound of voices he would have pounded
our heads and our ship's timbers into a jelly with the rugged rocks
he would have heaved at us, for he can throw them a long way.'

"But I would not listen to them, and shouted out to him in my rage,
'Cyclops, if any one asks you who it was that put your eye out and
spoiled your beauty, say it was the valiant warrior Ulysses, son of
Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.'

"On this he groaned, and cried out, 'Alas, alas, then the old prophecy
about me is coming true. There was a prophet here, at one time, a
man both brave and of great stature, Telemus son of Eurymus, who was
an excellent seer, and did all the prophesying for the Cyclopes till
he grew old; he told me that all this would happen to me some day,
and said I should lose my sight by the hand of Ulysses. I have been
all along expecting some one of imposing presence and superhuman strength,
whereas he turns out to be a little insignificant weakling, who has
managed to blind my eye by taking advantage of me in my drink; come
here, then, Ulysses, that I may make you presents to show my hospitality,
and urge Neptune to help you forward on your journey- for Neptune
and I are father and son. He, if he so will, shall heal me, which
no one else neither god nor man can do.'

"Then I said, 'I wish I could be as sure of killing you outright and
sending you down to the house of Hades, as I am that it will take
more than Neptune to cure that eye of yours.'

"On this he lifted up his hands to the firmament of heaven and prayed,
saying, 'Hear me, great Neptune; if I am indeed your own true-begotten
son, grant that Ulysses may never reach his home alive; or if he must
get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in sore plight
after losing all his men [let him reach his home in another man's
ship and find trouble in his house.']

"Thus did he pray, and Neptune heard his prayer. Then he picked up
a rock much larger than the first, swung it aloft and hurled it with
prodigious force. It fell just short of the ship, but was within a
little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea quaked as the rock
fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised drove us onwards
on our way towards the shore of the island.

"When at last we got to the island where we had left the rest of our
ships, we found our comrades lamenting us, and anxiously awaiting
our return. We ran our vessel upon the sands and got out of her on
to the sea shore; we also landed the Cyclops' sheep, and divided them
equitably amongst us so that none might have reason to complain. As
for the ram, my companions agreed that I should have it as an extra
share; so I sacrificed it on the sea shore, and burned its thigh bones
to Jove, who is the lord of all. But he heeded not my sacrifice, and
only thought how he might destroy my ships and my comrades.

"Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we feasted
our fill on meat and drink, but when the sun went down and it came
on dark, we camped upon the beach. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered
Dawn, appeared, I bade my men on board and loose the hawsers. Then
they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars; so
we sailed on with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have escaped death
though we had lost our comrades.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK X

Thence we went on to the Aeoli island where lives Aeolus son of Hippotas,
dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats (as it were)
upon the sea, iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now, Aeolus has
six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry the daughters,
and they all live with their dear father and mother, feasting and
enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury. All day long the atmosphere
of the house is loaded with the savour of roasting meats till it groans
again, yard and all; but by night they sleep on their well-made bedsteads,
each with his own wife between the blankets. These were the people
among whom we had now come.

"Aeolus entertained me for a whole month asking me questions all the
time about Troy, the Argive fleet, and the return of the Achaeans.
I told him exactly how everything had happened, and when I said I
must go, and asked him to further me on my way, he made no sort of
difficulty, but set about doing so at once. Moreover, he flayed me
a prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds, which he shut
up in the hide as in a sack- for Jove had made him captain over the
winds, and he could stir or still each one of them according to his
own pleasure. He put the sack in the ship and bound the mouth so tightly
with a silver thread that not even a breath of a side-wind could blow
from any quarter. The West wind which was fair for us did he alone
let blow as it chose; but it all came to nothing, for we were lost
through our own folly.

"Nine days and nine nights did we sail, and on the tenth day our native
land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we could see the
stubble fires burning, and I, being then dead beat, fell into a light
sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands, that we
might get home the faster. On this the men fell to talking among themselves,
and said I was bringing back gold and silver in the sack that Aeolus
had given me. 'Bless my heart,' would one turn to his neighbour, saying,
'how this man gets honoured and makes friends to whatever city or
country he may go. See what fine prizes he is taking home from Troy,
while we, who have travelled just as far as he has, come back with
hands as empty as we set out with- and now Aeolus has given him ever
so much more. Quick- let us see what it all is, and how much gold
and silver there is in the sack he gave him.'

"Thus they talked and evil counsels prevailed. They loosed the sack,
whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm that carried
us weeping out to sea and away from our own country. Then I awoke,
and knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on and
make the best of it; but I bore it, covered myself up, and lay down
in the ship, while the men lamented bitterly as the fierce winds bore
our fleet back to the Aeolian island.

"When we reached it we went ashore to take in water, and dined hard
by the ships. Immediately after dinner I took a herald and one of
my men and went straight to the house of Aeolus, where I found him
feasting with his wife and family; so we sat down as suppliants on
the threshold. They were astounded when they saw us and said, 'Ulysses,
what brings you here? What god has been ill-treating you? We took
great pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca, or wherever
it was that you wanted to go to.'

"Thus did they speak, but I answered sorrowfully, 'My men have undone
me; they, and cruel sleep, have ruined me. My friends, mend me this
mischief, for you can if you will.'

"I spoke as movingly as I could, but they said nothing, till their
father answered, 'Vilest of mankind, get you gone at once out of the
island; him whom heaven hates will I in no wise help. Be off, for
you come here as one abhorred of heaven. "And with these words he
sent me sorrowing from his door.

"Thence we sailed sadly on till the men were worn out with long and
fruitless rowing, for there was no longer any wind to help them. Six
days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day we reached
the rocky stronghold of Lamus- Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians,
where the shepherd who is driving in his sheep and goats [to be milked]
salutes him who is driving out his flock [to feed] and this last answers
the salute. In that country a man who could do without sleep might
earn double wages, one as a herdsman of cattle, and another as a shepherd,
for they work much the same by night as they do by day.

"When we reached the harbour we found it land-locked under steep cliffs,
with a narrow entrance between two headlands. My captains took all
their ships inside, and made them fast close to one another, for there
was never so much as a breath of wind inside, but it was always dead
calm. I kept my own ship outside, and moored it to a rock at the very
end of the point; then I climbed a high rock to reconnoitre, but could
see no sign neither of man nor cattle, only some smoke rising from
the ground. So I sent two of my company with an attendant to find
out what sort of people the inhabitants were.

"The men when they got on shore followed a level road by which the
people draw their firewood from the mountains into the town, till
presently they met a young woman who had come outside to fetch water,
and who was daughter to a Laestrygonian named Antiphates. She was
going to the fountain Artacia from which the people bring in their
water, and when my men had come close up to her, they asked her who
the king of that country might be, and over what kind of people he
ruled; so she directed them to her father's house, but when they got
there they found his wife to be a giantess as huge as a mountain,
and they were horrified at the sight of her.

"She at once called her husband Antiphates from the place of assembly,
and forthwith he set about killing my men. He snatched up one of them,
and began to make his dinner off him then and there, whereon the other
two ran back to the ships as fast as ever they could. But Antiphates
raised a hue and cry after them, and thousands of sturdy Laestrygonians
sprang up from every quarter- ogres, not men. They threw vast rocks
at us from the cliffs as though they had been mere stones, and I heard
the horrid sound of the ships crunching up against one another, and
the death cries of my men, as the Laestrygonians speared them like
fishes and took them home to eat them. While they were thus killing
my men within the harbour I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own
ship, and told my men to row with alf their might if they too would
not fare like the rest; so they laid out for their lives, and we were
thankful enough when we got into open water out of reach of the rocks
they hurled at us. As for the others there was not one of them left.

"Thence we sailed sadly on, glad to have escaped death, though we
had lost our comrades, and came to the Aeaean island, where Circe
lives a great and cunning goddess who is own sister to the magician
Aeetes- for they are both children of the sun by Perse, who is daughter
to Oceanus. We brought our ship into a safe harbour without a word,
for some god guided us thither, and having landed we there for two
days and two nights, worn out in body and mind. When the morning of
the third day came I took my spear and my sword, and went away from
the ship to reconnoitre, and see if I could discover signs of human
handiwork, or hear the sound of voices. Climbing to the top of a high
look-out I espied the smoke of Circe's house rising upwards amid a
dense forest of trees, and when I saw this I doubted whether, having
seen the smoke, I would not go on at once and find out more, but in
the end I deemed it best to go back to the ship, give the men their
dinners, and send some of them instead of going myself.

"When I had nearly got back to the ship some god took pity upon my
solitude, and sent a fine antlered stag right into the middle of my
path. He was coming down his pasture in the forest to drink of the
river, for the heat of the sun drove him, and as he passed I struck
him in the middle of the back; the bronze point of the spear went
clean through him, and he lay groaning in the dust until the life
went out of him. Then I set my foot upon him, drew my spear from the
wound, and laid it down; I also gathered rough grass and rushes and
twisted them into a fathom or so of good stout rope, with which I
bound the four feet of the noble creature together; having so done
I hung him round my neck and walked back to the ship leaning upon
my spear, for the stag was much too big for me to be able to carry
him on my shoulder, steadying him with one hand. As I threw him down
in front of the ship, I called the men and spoke cheeringly man by
man to each of them. 'Look here my friends,' said I, 'we are not going
to die so much before our time after all, and at any rate we will
not starve so long as we have got something to eat and drink on board.'
On this they uncovered their heads upon the sea shore and admired
the stag, for he was indeed a splendid fellow. Then, when they had
feasted their eyes upon him sufficiently, they washed their hands
and began to cook him for dinner.

"Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we stayed
there eating and drinking our fill, but when the sun went down and
it came on dark, we camped upon the sea shore. When the child of morning,
fingered Dawn, appeared, I called a council and said, 'My friends,
we are in very great difficulties; listen therefore to me. We have
no idea where the sun either sets or rises, so that we do not even
know East from West. I see no way out of it; nevertheless, we must
try and find one. We are certainly on an island, for I went as high
as I could this morning, and saw the sea reaching all round it to
the horizon; it lies low, but towards the middle I saw smoke rising
from out of a thick forest of trees.'

"Their hearts sank as they heard me, for they remembered how they
had been treated by the Laestrygonian Antiphates, and by the savage
ogre Polyphemus. They wept bitterly in their dismay, but there was
nothing to be got by crying, so I divided them into two companies
and set a captain over each; I gave one company to Eurylochus, while
I took command of the other myself. Then we cast lots in a helmet,
and the lot fell upon Eurylochus; so he set out with his twenty-two
men, and they wept, as also did we who were left behind.

"When they reached Circe's house they found it built of cut stones,
on a site that could be seen from far, in the middle of the forest.
There were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it- poor
bewitched creatures whom she had tamed by her enchantments and drugged
into subjection. They did not attack my men, but wagged their great
tails, fawned upon them, and rubbed their noses lovingly against them.
As hounds crowd round their master when they see him coming from dinner-
for they know he will bring them something- even so did these wolves
and lions with their great claws fawn upon my men, but the men were
terribly frightened at seeing such strange creatures. Presently they
reached the gates of the goddess's house, and as they stood there
they could hear Circe within, singing most beautifully as she worked
at her loom, making a web so fine, so soft, and of such dazzling colours
as no one but a goddess could weave. On this Polites, whom I valued
and trusted more than any other of my men, said, 'There is some one
inside working at a loom and singing most beautifully; the whole place
resounds with it, let us call her and see whether she is woman or
goddess.'

"They called her and she came down, unfastened the door, and bade
them enter. They, thinking no evil, followed her, all except Eurylochus,
who suspected mischief and stayed outside. When she had got them into
her house, she set them upon benches and seats and mixed them a mess
with cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian but she drugged it with wicked
poisons to make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she
turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in
her pigsties. They were like pigs-head, hair, and all, and they grunted
just as pigs do; but their senses were the same as before, and they
remembered everything.

"Thus then were they shut up squealing, and Circe threw them some
acorns and beech masts such as pigs eat, but Eurylochus hurried back
to tell me about the sad fate of our comrades. He was so overcome
with dismay that though he tried to speak he could find no words to
do so; his eyes filled with tears and he could only sob and sigh,
till at last we forced his story out of him, and he told us what had
happened to the others.

"'We went,' said he, as you told us, through the forest, and in the
middle of it there was a fine house built with cut stones in a place
that could be seen from far. There we found a woman, or else she was
a goddess, working at her loom and singing sweetly; so the men shouted
to her and called her, whereon she at once came down, opened the door,
and invited us in. The others did not suspect any mischief so they
followed her into the house, but I stayed where I was, for I thought
there might be some treachery. From that moment I saw them no more,
for not one of them ever came out, though I sat a long time watching
for them.'

"Then I took my sword of bronze and slung it over my shoulders; I
also took my bow, and told Eurylochus to come back with me and show
me the way. But he laid hold of me with both his hands and spoke piteously,
saying, 'Sir, do not force me to go with you, but let me stay here,
for I know you will not bring one of them back with you, nor even
return alive yourself; let us rather see if we cannot escape at any
rate with the few that are left us, for we may still save our lives.'

"'Stay where you are, then, 'answered I, 'eating and drinking at the
ship, but I must go, for I am most urgently bound to do so.'

"With this I left the ship and went up inland. When I got through
the charmed grove, and was near the great house of the enchantress
Circe, I met Mercury with his golden wand, disguised as a young man
in the hey-day of his youth and beauty with the down just coming upon
his face. He came up to me and took my hand within his own, saying,
'My poor unhappy man, whither are you going over this mountain top,
alone and without knowing the way? Your men are shut up in Circe's
pigsties, like so many wild boars in their lairs. You surely do not
fancy that you can set them free? I can tell you that you will never
get back and will have to stay there with the rest of them. But never
mind, I will protect you and get you out of your difficulty. Take
this herb, which is one of great virtue, and keep it about you when
you go to Circe's house, it will be a talisman to you against every
kind of mischief.

"'And I will tell you of all the wicked witchcraft that Circe will
try to practise upon you. She will mix a mess for you to drink, and
she will drug the meal with which she makes it, but she will not be
able to charm you, for the virtue of the herb that I shall give you
will prevent her spells from working. I will tell you all about it.
When Circe strikes you with her wand, draw your sword and spring upon
her as though you were goings to kill her. She will then be frightened
and will desire you to go to bed with her; on this you must not point
blank refuse her, for you want her to set your companions free, and
to take good care also of yourself, but you make her swear solemnly
by all the blessed that she will plot no further mischief against
you, or else when she has got you naked she will unman you and make
you fit for nothing.'

"As he spoke he pulled the herb out of the ground an showed me what
it was like. The root was black, while the flower was as white as
milk; the gods call it Moly, and mortal men cannot uproot it, but
the gods can do whatever they like.

"Then Mercury went back to high Olympus passing over the wooded island;
but I fared onward to the house of Circe, and my heart was clouded
with care as I walked along. When I got to the gates I stood there
and called the goddess, and as soon as she heard me she came down,
opened the door, and asked me to come in; so I followed her- much
troubled in my mind. She set me on a richly decorated seat inlaid
with silver, there was a footstool also under my feet, and she mixed
a mess in a golden goblet for me to drink; but she drugged it, for
she meant me mischief. When she had given it me, and I had drunk it
without its charming me, she struck she, struck me with her wand.
'There now,' she cried, 'be off to the pigsty, and make your lair
with the rest of them.'

"But I rushed at her with my sword drawn as though I would kill her,
whereon she fell with a loud scream, clasped my knees, and spoke piteously,
saying, 'Who and whence are you? from what place and people have you
come? How can it be that my drugs have no power to charm you? Never
yet was any man able to stand so much as a taste of the herb I gave
you; you must be spell-proof; surely you can be none other than the
bold hero Ulysses, who Mercury always said would come here some day
with his ship while on his way home form Troy; so be it then; sheathe
your sword and let us go to bed, that we may make friends and learn
to trust each other.'

"And I answered, 'Circe, how can you expect me to be friendly with
you when you have just been turning all my men into pigs? And now
that you have got me here myself, you mean me mischief when you ask
me to go to bed with you, and will unman me and make me fit for nothing.
I shall certainly not consent to go to bed with you unless you will
first take your solemn oath to plot no further harm against me.'

"So she swore at once as I had told her, and when she had completed
her oath then I went to bed with her.

"Meanwhile her four servants, who are her housemaids, set about their
work. They are the children of the groves and fountains, and of the
holy waters that run down into the sea. One of them spread a fair
purple cloth over a seat, and laid a carpet underneath it. Another
brought tables of silver up to the seats, and set them with baskets
of gold. A third mixed some sweet wine with water in a silver bowl
and put golden cups upon the tables, while the fourth she brought
in water and set it to boil in a large cauldron over a good fire which
she had lighted. When the water in the cauldron was boiling, she poured
cold into it till it was just as I liked it, and then she set me in
a bath and began washing me from the cauldron about the head and shoulders,
to take the tire and stiffness out of my limbs. As soon as she had
done washing me and anointing me with oil, she arrayed me in a good
cloak and shirt and led me to a richly decorated seat inlaid with
silver; there was a footstool also under my feet. A maid servant then
brought me water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a silver
basin for me to wash my hands, and she drew a clean table beside me;
an upper servant brought me bread and offered me many things of what
there was in the house, and then Circe bade me eat, but I would not,
and sat without heeding what was before me, still moody and suspicious.

"When Circe saw me sitting there without eating, and in great grief,
she came to me and said, 'Ulysses, why do you sit like that as though
you were dumb, gnawing at your own heart, and refusing both meat and
drink? Is it that you are still suspicious? You ought not to be, for
I have already sworn solemnly that I will not hurt you.'

"And I said, 'Circe, no man with any sense of what is right can think
of either eating or drinking in your house until you have set his
friends free and let him see them. If you want me to eat and drink,
you must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with
my own eyes.'

"When I had said this she went straight through the court with her
wand in her hand and opened the pigsty doors. My men came out like
so many prime hogs and stood looking at her, but she went about among
them and anointed each with a second drug, whereon the bristles that
the bad drug had given them fell off, and they became men again, younger
than they were before, and much taller and better looking. They knew
me at once, seized me each of them by the hand, and wept for joy till
the whole house was filled with the sound of their hullabalooing,
and Circe herself was so sorry for them that she came up to me and
said, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, go back at once to the sea where
you have left your ship, and first draw it on to the land. Then, hide
all your ship's gear and property in some cave, and come back here
with your men.'

"I agreed to this, so I went back to the sea shore, and found the
men at the ship weeping and wailing most piteously. When they saw
me the silly blubbering fellows began frisking round me as calves
break out and gambol round their mothers, when they see them coming
home to be milked after they have been feeding all day, and the homestead
resounds with their lowing. They seemed as glad to see me as though
they had got back to their own rugged Ithaca, where they had been
born and bred. 'Sir,' said the affectionate creatures, 'we are as
glad to see you back as though we had got safe home to Ithaca; but
tell us all about the fate of our comrades.'

"I spoke comfortingly to them and said, 'We must draw our ship on
to the land, and hide the ship's gear with all our property in some
cave; then come with me all of you as fast as you can to Circe's house,
where you will find your comrades eating and drinking in the midst
of great abundance.'

"On this the men would have come with me at once, but Eurylochus tried
to hold them back and said, 'Alas, poor wretches that we are, what
will become of us? Rush not on your ruin by going to the house of
Circe, who will turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions, and we shall
have to keep guard over her house. Remember how the Cyclops treated
us when our comrades went inside his cave, and Ulysses with them.
It was all through his sheer folly that those men lost their lives.'

"When I heard him I was in two minds whether or no to draw the keen
blade that hung by my sturdy thigh and cut his head off in spite of
his being a near relation of my own; but the men interceded for him
and said, 'Sir, if it may so be, let this fellow stay here and mind
the ship, but take the rest of us with you to Circe's house.'

"On this we all went inland, and Eurylochus was not left behind after
all, but came on too, for he was frightened by the severe reprimand
that I had given him.

"Meanwhile Circe had been seeing that the men who had been left behind
were washed and anointed with olive oil; she had also given them woollen
cloaks and shirts, and when we came we found them all comfortably
at dinner in her house. As soon as the men saw each other face to
face and knew one another, they wept for joy and cried aloud till
the whole palace rang again. Thereon Circe came up to me and said,
'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, tell your men to leave off crying;
I know how much you have all of you suffered at sea, and how ill you
have fared among cruel savages on the mainland, but that is over now,
so stay here, and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and
hearty as you were when you left Ithaca; for at present you are weakened
both in body and mind; you keep all the time thinking of the hardships-
you have suffered during your travels, so that you have no more cheerfulness
left in you.'

"Thus did she speak and we assented. We stayed with Circe for a whole
twelvemonth feasting upon an untold quantity both of meat and wine.
But when the year had passed in the waning of moons and the long days
had come round, my men called me apart and said, 'Sir, it is time
you began to think about going home, if so be you are to be spared
to see your house and native country at all.'

"Thus did they speak and I assented. Thereon through the livelong
day to the going down of the sun we feasted our fill on meat and wine,
but when the sun went down and it came on dark the men laid themselves
down to sleep in the covered cloisters. I, however, after I had got
into bed with Circe, besought her by her knees, and the goddess listened
to what I had got to say. 'Circe,' said I, 'please to keep the promise
you made me about furthering me on my homeward voyage. I want to get
back and so do my men, they are always pestering me with their complaints
as soon as ever your back is turned.'

"And the goddess answered, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, you shall
none of you stay here any longer if you do not want to, but there
is another journey which you have got to take before you can sail
homewards. You must go to the house of Hades and of dread Proserpine
to consult the ghost of the blind Theban prophet Teiresias whose reason
is still unshaken. To him alone has Proserpine left his understanding
even in death, but the other ghosts flit about aimlessly.'

"I was dismayed when I heard this. I sat up in bed and wept, and would
gladly have lived no longer to see the light of the sun, but presently
when I was tired of weeping and tossing myself about, I said, 'And
who shall guide me upon this voyage- for the house of Hades is a port
that no ship can reach.'

"'You will want no guide,' she answered; 'raise you mast, set your
white sails, sit quite still, and the North Wind will blow you there
of itself. When your ship has traversed the waters of Oceanus, you
will reach the fertile shore of Proserpine's country with its groves
of tall poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely; here beach
your ship upon the shore of Oceanus, and go straight on to the dark
abode of Hades. You will find it near the place where the rivers Pyriphlegethon
and Cocytus (which is a branch of the river Styx) flow into Acheron,
and you will see a rock near it, just where the two roaring rivers
run into one another.

"'When you have reached this spot, as I now tell you, dig a trench
a cubit or so in length, breadth, and depth, and pour into it as a
drink-offering to all the dead, first, honey mixed with milk, then
wine, and in the third place water-sprinkling white barley meal over
the whole. Moreover you must offer many prayers to the poor feeble
ghosts, and promise them that when you get back to Ithaca you will
sacrifice a barren heifer to them, the best you have, and will load
the pyre with good things. More particularly you must promise that
Teiresias shall have a black sheep all to himself, the finest in all
your flocks.

"'When you shall have thus besought the ghosts with your prayers,
offer them a ram and a black ewe, bending their heads towards Erebus;
but yourself turn away from them as though you would make towards
the river. On this, many dead men's ghosts will come to you, and you
must tell your men to skin the two sheep that you have just killed,
and offer them as a burnt sacrifice with prayers to Hades and to Proserpine.
Then draw your sword and sit there, so as to prevent any other poor
ghost from coming near the split blood before Teiresias shall have
answered your questions. The seer will presently come to you, and
will tell you about your voyage- what stages you are to make, and
how you are to sail the see so as to reach your home.'

"It was day-break by the time she had done speaking, so she dressed
me in my shirt and cloak. As for herself she threw a beautiful light
gossamer fabric over her shoulders, fastening it with a golden girdle
round her waist, and she covered her head with a mantle. Then I went
about among the men everywhere all over the house, and spoke kindly
to each of them man by man: 'You must not lie sleeping here any longer,'
said I to them, 'we must be going, for Circe has told me all about
it.' And this they did as I bade them.

"Even so, however, I did not get them away without misadventure. We
had with us a certain youth named Elpenor, not very remarkable for
sense or courage, who had got drunk and was lying on the house-top
away from the rest of the men, to sleep off his liquor in the cool.
When he heard the noise of the men bustling about, he jumped up on
a sudden and forgot all about coming down by the main staircase, so
he tumbled right off the roof and broke his neck, and his soul went
down to the house of Hades.

"When I had got the men together I said to them, 'You think you are
about to start home again, but Circe has explained to me that instead
of this, we have got to go to the house of Hades and Proserpine to
consult the ghost of the Theban prophet Teiresias.'

"The men were broken-hearted as they heard me, and threw themselves
on the ground groaning and tearing their hair, but they did not mend
matters by crying. When we reached the sea shore, weeping and lamenting
our fate, Circe brought the ram and the ewe, and we made them fast
hard by the ship. She passed through the midst of us without our knowing
it, for who can see the comings and goings of a god, if the god does
not wish to be seen?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XI

Then, when we had got down to the sea shore we drew our ship into
the water and got her mast and sails into her; we also put the sheep
on board and took our places, weeping and in great distress of mind.
Circe, that great and cunning goddess, sent us a fair wind that blew
dead aft and stayed steadily with us keeping our sails all the time
well filled; so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's gear and
let her go as the wind and helmsman headed her. All day long her sails
were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went
down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters
of the river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians
who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun
never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of
the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night.
When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her,
and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place
of which Circe had told us.

"Here Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims, while I drew my sword
and dug the trench a cubit each way. I made a drink-offering to all
the dead, first with honey and milk, then with wine, and thirdly with
water, and I sprinkled white barley meal over the whole, praying earnestly
to the poor feckless ghosts, and promising them that when I got back
to Ithaca I would sacrifice a barren heifer for them, the best I had,
and would load the pyre with good things. I also particularly promised
that Teiresias should have a black sheep to himself, the best in all
my flocks. When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats
of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the
ghosts came trooping up from Erebus- brides, young bachelors, old
men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave
men who had been killed in battle, with their armour still smirched
with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench
with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with
fear. When I saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the
carcasses of the two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them,
and at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades and to Proserpine;
but I sat where I was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor
feckless ghosts come near the blood till Teiresias should have answered
my questions.

"The first ghost 'that came was that of my comrade Elpenor, for he
had not yet been laid beneath the earth. We had left his body unwaked
and unburied in Circe's house, for we had had too much else to do.
I was very sorry for him, and cried when I saw him: 'Elpenor,' said
I, 'how did you come down here into this gloom and darkness? You have
here on foot quicker than I have with my ship.'

"'Sir,' he answered with a groan, 'it was all bad luck, and my own
unspeakable drunkenness. I was lying asleep on the top of Circe's
house, and never thought of coming down again by the great staircase
but fell right off the roof and broke my neck, so my soul down to
the house of Hades. And now I beseech you by all those whom you have
left behind you, though they are not here, by your wife, by the father
who brought you up when you were a child, and by Telemachus who is
the one hope of your house, do what I shall now ask you. I know that
when you leave this limbo you will again hold your ship for the Aeaean
island. Do not go thence leaving me unwaked and unburied behind you,
or I may bring heaven's anger upon you; but burn me with whatever
armour I have, build a barrow for me on the sea shore, that may tell
people in days to come what a poor unlucky fellow I was, and plant
over my grave the oar I used to row with when I was yet alive and
with my messmates.' And I said, 'My poor fellow, I will do all that
you have asked of me.'

"Thus, then, did we sit and hold sad talk with one another, I on the
one side of the trench with my sword held over the blood, and the
ghost of my comrade saying all this to me from the other side. Then
came the ghost of my dead mother Anticlea, daughter to Autolycus.
I had left her alive when I set out for Troy and was moved to tears
when I saw her, but even so, for all my sorrow I would not let her
come near the blood till I had asked my questions of Teiresias.

"Then came also the ghost of Theban Teiresias, with his golden sceptre
in his hand. He knew me and said, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,
why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come down to visit
the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and withdraw
your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions
truly.'

"So I drew back, and sheathed my sword, whereon when he had drank
of the blood he began with his prophecy.

"You want to know,' said he, 'about your return home, but heaven will
make this hard for you. I do not think that you will escape the eye
of Neptune, who still nurses his bitter grudge against you for having
blinded his son. Still, after much suffering you may get home if you
can restrain yourself and your companions when your ship reaches the
Thrinacian island, where you will find the sheep and cattle belonging
to the sun, who sees and gives ear to everything. If you leave these
flocks unharmed and think of nothing but of getting home, you may
yet after much hardship reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I
forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your men.
Even though you may yourself escape, you will return in bad plight
after losing all your men, [in another man's ship, and you will find
trouble in your house, which will be overrun by high-handed people,
who are devouring your substance under the pretext of paying court
and making presents to your wife.

"'When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and
after you have killed them by force or fraud in your own house, you
must take a well-made oar and carry it on and on, till you come to
a country where the people have never heard of the sea and do not
even mix salt with their food, nor do they know anything about ships,
and oars that are as the wings of a ship. I will give you this certain
token which cannot escape your notice. A wayfarer will meet you and
will say it must be a winnowing shovel that you have got upon your
shoulder; on this you must fix the oar in the ground and sacrifice
a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune. Then go home and offer hecatombs
to an the gods in heaven one after the other. As for yourself, death
shall come to you from the sea, and your life shall ebb away very
gently when you are full of years and peace of mind, and your people
shall bless you. All that I have said will come true].'

"'This,' I answered, 'must be as it may please heaven, but tell me
and tell me and tell me true, I see my poor mother's ghost close by
us; she is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though
I am her own son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me,
Sir, how I can make her know me.'

"'That,' said he, 'I can soon do Any ghost that you let taste of the
blood will talk with you like a reasonable being, but if you do not
let them have any blood they will go away again.'

"On this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for
his prophecyings had now been spoken, but I sat still where I was
until my mother came up and tasted the blood. Then she knew me at
once and spoke fondly to me, saying, 'My son, how did you come down
to this abode of darkness while you are still alive? It is a hard
thing for the living to see these places, for between us and them
there are great and terrible waters, and there is Oceanus, which no
man can cross on foot, but he must have a good ship to take him. Are
you all this time trying to find your way home from Troy, and have
you never yet got back to Ithaca nor seen your wife in your own house?'

"'Mother,' said I, 'I was forced to come here to consult the ghost
of the Theban prophet Teiresias. I have never yet been near the Achaean
land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing but
one long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set
out with Agamemnon for Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the
Trojans. But tell me, and tell me true, in what way did you die? Did
you have a long illness, or did heaven vouchsafe you a gentle easy
passage to eternity? Tell me also about my father, and the son whom
I left behind me; is my property still in their hands, or has some
one else got hold of it, who thinks that I shall not return to claim
it? Tell me again what my wife intends doing, and in what mind she
is; does she live with my son and guard my estate securely, or has
she made the best match she could and married again?'

"My mother answered, 'Your wife still remains in your house, but she
is in great distress of mind and spends her whole time in tears both
night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fine property,
and Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain
largely, as of course he must, considering his position as a magistrate,
and how every one invites him; your father remains at his old place
in the country and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable
bed nor bedding; in the winter he sleeps on the floor in front of
the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in summer, when
the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the vineyard on a
bed of vine leaves thrown anyhow upon the ground. He grieves continually
about your never having come home, and suffers more and more as he
grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise: heaven did not
take me swiftly and painlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked
by any illness such as those that generally wear people out and kill
them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force of
my affection for you- this it was that was the death of me.'

"Then I tried to find some way of embracing my mother's ghost. Thrice
I sprang towards her and tried to clasp her in my arms, but each time
she flitted from my embrace as it were a dream or phantom, and being
touched to the quick I said to her, 'Mother, why do you not stay still
when I would embrace you? If we could throw our arms around one another
we might find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows even in the
house of Hades; does Proserpine want to lay a still further load of
grief upon me by mocking me with a phantom only?'

"'My son,' she answered, 'most ill-fated of all mankind, it is not
Proserpine that is beguiling you, but all people are like this when
they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together;
these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has
left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream.
Now, however, go back to the light of day as soon as you can, and
note all these things that you may tell them to your wife hereafter.'

"Thus did we converse, and anon Proserpine sent up the ghosts of the
wives and daughters of all the most famous men. They gathered in crowds
about the blood, and I considered how I might question them severally.
In the end I deemed that it would be best to draw the keen blade that
hung by my sturdy thigh, and keep them from all drinking the blood
at once. So they came up one after the other, and each one as I questioned
her told me her race and lineage.

"The first I saw was Tyro. She was daughter of Salmoneus and wife
of Cretheus the son of Aeolus. She fell in love with the river Enipeus
who is much the most beautiful river in the whole world. Once when
she was taking a walk by his side as usual, Neptune, disguised as
her lover, lay with her at the mouth of the river, and a huge blue
wave arched itself like a mountain over them to hide both woman and
god, whereon he loosed her virgin girdle and laid her in a deep slumber.
When the god had accomplished the deed of love, he took her hand in
his own and said, 'Tyro, rejoice in all good will; the embraces of
the gods are not fruitless, and you will have fine twins about this
time twelve months. Take great care of them. I am Neptune, so now
go home, but hold your tongue and do not tell any one.'

"Then he dived under the sea, and she in due course bore Pelias and
Neleus, who both of them served Jove with all their might. Pelias
was a great breeder of sheep and lived in Iolcus, but the other lived
in Pylos. The rest of her children were by Cretheus, namely, Aeson,
Pheres, and Amythaon, who was a mighty warrior and charioteer.

"Next to her I saw Antiope, daughter to Asopus, who could boast of
having slept in the arms of even Jove himself, and who bore him two
sons Amphion and Zethus. These founded Thebes with its seven gates,
and built a wall all round it; for strong though they were they could
not hold Thebes till they had walled it.

"Then I saw Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, who also bore to Jove
indomitable Hercules; and Megara who was daughter to great King Creon,
and married the redoubtable son of Amphitryon.

"I also saw fair Epicaste mother of king OEdipodes whose awful lot
it was to marry her own son without suspecting it. He married her
after having killed his father, but the gods proclaimed the whole
story to the world; whereon he remained king of Thebes, in great grief
for the spite the gods had borne him; but Epicaste went to the house
of the mighty jailor Hades, having hanged herself for grief, and the
avenging spirits haunted him as for an outraged mother- to his ruing
bitterly thereafter.

"Then I saw Chloris, whom Neleus married for her beauty, having given
priceless presents for her. She was youngest daughter to Amphion son
of Iasus and king of Minyan Orchomenus, and was Queen in Pylos. She
bore Nestor, Chromius, and Periclymenus, and she also bore that marvellously
lovely woman Pero, who was wooed by all the country round; but Neleus
would only give her to him who should raid the cattle of Iphicles
from the grazing grounds of Phylace, and this was a hard task. The
only man who would undertake to raid them was a certain excellent
seer, but the will of heaven was against him, for the rangers of the
cattle caught him and put him in prison; nevertheless when a full
year had passed and the same season came round again, Iphicles set
him at liberty, after he had expounded all the oracles of heaven.
Thus, then, was the will of Jove accomplished.

"And I saw Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous sons,
Castor breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Both these
heroes are lying under the earth, though they are still alive, for
by a special dispensation of Jove, they die and come to life again,
each one of them every other day throughout all time, and they have
the rank of gods.

"After her I saw Iphimedeia wife of Aloeus who boasted the embrace
of Neptune. She bore two sons Otus and Ephialtes, but both were short
lived. They were the finest children that were ever born in this world,
and the best looking, Orion only excepted; for at nine years old they
were nine fathoms high, and measured nine cubits round the chest.
They threatened to make war with the gods in Olympus, and tried to
set Mount Ossa on the top of Mount Olympus, and Mount Pelion on the
top of Ossa, that they might scale heaven itself, and they would have
done it too if they had been grown up, but Apollo, son of Leto, killed
both of them, before they had got so much as a sign of hair upon their
cheeks or chin.

"Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the
magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens,
but he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Diana killed her
in the island of Dia on account of what Bacchus had said against her.

"I also saw Maera and Clymene and hateful Eriphyle, who sold her own
husband for gold. But it would take me all night if I were to name
every single one of the wives and daughters of heroes whom I saw,
and it is time for me to go to bed, either on board ship with my crew,
or here. As for my escort, heaven and yourselves will see to it."

Here he ended, and the guests sat all of them enthralled and speechless
throughout the covered cloister. Then Arete said to them:

"What do you think of this man, O Phaecians? Is he not tall and good
looking, and is he not Clever? True, he is my own guest, but all of
you share in the distinction. Do not he a hurry to send him away,
nor niggardly in the presents you make to one who is in such great
need, for heaven has blessed all of you with great abundance."

Then spoke the aged hero Echeneus who was one of the oldest men among
them, "My friends," said he, "what our august queen has just said
to us is both reasonable and to the purpose, therefore be persuaded
by it; but the decision whether in word or deed rests ultimately with
King Alcinous."

"The thing shall be done," exclaimed Alcinous, "as surely as I still
live and reign over the Phaeacians. Our guest is indeed very anxious
to get home, still we must persuade him to remain with us until to-morrow,
by which time I shall be able to get together the whole sum that I
mean to give him. As regards- his escort it will be a matter for you
all, and mine above all others as the chief person among you."

And Ulysses answered, "King Alcinous, if you were to bid me to stay
here for a whole twelve months, and then speed me on my way, loaded
with your noble gifts, I should obey you gladly and it would redound
greatly to my advantage, for I should return fuller-handed to my own
people, and should thus be more respected and beloved by all who see
me when I get back to Ithaca."

"Ulysses," replied Alcinous, "not one of us who sees you has any idea
that you are a charlatan or a swindler. I know there are many people
going about who tell such plausible stories that it is very hard to
see through them, but there is a style about your language which assures
me of your good disposition. Moreover you have told the story of your
own misfortunes, and those of the Argives, as though you were a practised
bard; but tell me, and tell me true, whether you saw any of the mighty
heroes who went to Troy at the same time with yourself, and perished
there. The evenings are still at their longest, and it is not yet
bed time- go on, therefore, with your divine story, for I could stay
here listening till to-morrow morning, so long as you will continue
to tell us of your adventures."

"Alcinous," answered Ulysses, "there is a time for making speeches,
and a time for going to bed; nevertheless, since you so desire, I
will not refrain from telling you the still sadder tale of those of
my comrades who did not fall fighting with the Trojans, but perished
on their return, through the treachery of a wicked woman.

"When Proserpine had dismissed the female ghosts in all directions,
the ghost of Agamemnon son of Atreus came sadly up tome, surrounded
by those who had perished with him in the house of Aegisthus. As soon
as he had tasted the blood he knew me, and weeping bitterly stretched
out his arms towards me to embrace me; but he had no strength nor
substance any more, and I too wept and pitied him as I beheld him.
'How did you come by your death,' said I, 'King Agamemnon? Did Neptune
raise his winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did
your enemies make an end of you on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting
or sheep-stealing, or while they were fighting in defence of their
wives and city?'

"'Ulysses,' he answered, 'noble son of Laertes, was not lost at sea
in any storm of Neptune's raising, nor did my foes despatch me upon
the mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me
between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered
me most miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house,
while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for
the wedding breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great
nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general
engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly
pitiable as the way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing-bowl
and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with
our-blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra
killed her close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword
in my body, and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but
she slipped away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my
eyes when I was dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel
and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as
hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to
be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable
crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come
after- even on the good ones.'

"And I said, 'In truth Jove has hated the house of Atreus from first
to last in the matter of their women's counsels. See how many of us
fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched
mischief against too during your absence.'

"'Be sure, therefore,' continued Agamemnon, 'and not be too friendly
even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly
well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about
the rest. Not that your wife, Ulysses, is likely to murder you, for
Penelope is a very admirable woman, and has an excellent nature. We
left her a young bride with an infant at her breast when we set out
for Troy. This child no doubt is now grown up happily to man's estate,
and he and his father will have a joyful meeting and embrace one another
as it is right they should do, whereas my wicked wife did not even
allow me the happiness of looking upon my son, but killed me ere I
could do so. Furthermore I say- and lay my saying to your heart- do
not tell people when you are bringing your ship to Ithaca, but steal
a march upon them, for after all this there is no trusting women.
But now tell me, and tell me true, can you give me any news of my
son Orestes? Is he in Orchomenus, or at Pylos, or is he at Sparta
with Menelaus- for I presume that he is still living.'

"And I said, 'Agamemnon, why do you ask me? I do not know whether
your son is alive or dead, and it is not right to talk when one does
not know.'

"As we two sat weeping and talking thus sadly with one another the
ghost of Achilles came up to us with Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax
who was the finest and goodliest man of all the Danaans after the
son of Peleus. The fleet descendant of Aeacus knew me and spoke piteously,
saying, 'Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, what deed of daring will you
undertake next, that you venture down to the house of Hades among
us silly dead, who are but the ghosts of them that can labour no more?'

"And I said, 'Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans,
I came to consult Teiresias, and see if he could advise me about my
return home to Ithaca, for I have never yet been able to get near
the Achaean land, nor to set foot in my own country, but have been
in trouble all the time. As for you, Achilles, no one was ever yet
so fortunate as you have been, nor ever will be, for you were adored
by all us Argives as long as you were alive, and now that you are
here you are a great prince among the dead. Do not, therefore, take
it so much to heart even if you are dead.'

"'Say not a word,' he answered, 'in death's favour; I would rather
be a paid servant in a poor man's house and be above ground than king
of kings among the dead. But give me news about son; is he gone to
the wars and will he be a great soldier, or is this not so? Tell me
also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus- does he still
rule among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout
Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him? Could
I but stand by his side, in the light of day, with the same strength
that I had when I killed the bravest of our foes upon the plain of
Troy- could I but be as I then was and go even for a short time to
my father's house, any one who tried to do him violence or supersede
him would soon me it.'

"'I have heard nothing,' I answered, 'of Peleus, but I can tell you
all about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from
Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was
always first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and
I were the only two who could surpass him; and when it came to fighting
on the plain of Troy, he would never remain with the body of his men,
but would dash on far in front, foremost of them all in valour. Many
a man did he kill in battle- I cannot name every single one of those
whom he slew while fighting on the side of the Argives, but will only
say how he killed that valiant hero Eurypylus son of Telephus, who
was the handsomest man I ever saw except Memnon; many others also
of the Ceteians fell around him by reason of a woman's bribes. Moreover,
when all the bravest of the Argives went inside the horse that Epeus
had made, and it was left to me to settle when we should either open
the door of our ambuscade, or close it, though all the other leaders
and chief men among the Danaans were drying their eyes and quaking
in every limb, I never once saw him turn pale nor wipe a tear from
his cheek; he was all the time urging me to break out from the horse-
grasping the handle of his sword and his bronze-shod spear, and breathing
fury against the foe. Yet when we had sacked the city of Priam he
got his handsome share of the prize money and went on board (such
is the fortune of war) without a wound upon him, neither from a thrown
spear nor in close combat, for the rage of Mars is a matter of great
chance.'

"When I had told him this, the ghost of Achilles strode off across
a meadow full of asphodel, exulting over what I had said concerning
the prowess of his son.

"The ghosts of other dead men stood near me and told me each his own
melancholy tale; but that of Ajax son of Telamon alone held aloof-
still angry with me for having won the cause in our dispute about
the armour of Achilles. Thetis had offered it as a prize, but the
Trojan prisoners and Minerva were the judges. Would that I had never
gained the day in such a contest, for it cost the life of Ajax, who
was foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus, alike in
stature and prowess.

"When I saw him I tried to pacify him and said, 'Ajax, will you not
forget and forgive even in death, but must the judgement about that
hateful armour still rankle with you? It cost us Argives dear enough
to lose such a tower of strength as you were to us. We mourned you
as much as we mourned Achilles son of Peleus himself, nor can the
blame be laid on anything but on the spite which Jove bore against
the Danaans, for it was this that made him counsel your destruction-
come hither, therefore, bring your proud spirit into subjection, and
hear what I can tell you.'

"He would not answer, but turned away to Erebus and to the other ghosts;
nevertheless, I should have made him talk to me in spite of his being
so angry, or I should have gone talking to him, only that there were
still others among the dead whom I desired to see.

"Then I saw Minos son of Jove with his golden sceptre in his hand
sitting in judgement on the dead, and the ghosts were gathered sitting
and standing round him in the spacious house of Hades, to learn his
sentences upon them.

"After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of asphodel driving the
ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and
he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever.

"And I saw Tityus son of Gaia stretched upon the plain and covering
some nine acres of ground. Two vultures on either side of him were
digging their beaks into his liver, and he kept on trying to beat
them off with his hands, but could not; for he had violated Jove's
mistress Leto as she was going through Panopeus on her way to Pytho.

"I saw also the dreadful fate of Tantalus, who stood in a lake that
reached his chin; he was dying to quench his thirst, but could never
reach the water, for whenever the poor creature stooped to drink,
it dried up and vanished, so that there was nothing but dry ground-
parched by the spite of heaven. There were tall trees, moreover, that
shed their fruit over his head- pears, pomegranates, apples, sweet
figs and juicy olives, but whenever the poor creature stretched out
his hand to take some, the wind tossed the branches back again to
the clouds.

"And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone
with both his hands. With hands and feet he' tried to roll it up to
the top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll it over
on to the other side, its weight would be too much for him, and the
pitiless stone would come thundering down again on to the plain. Then
he would begin trying to push it up hill again, and the sweat ran
off him and the steam rose after him.

"After him I saw mighty Hercules, but it was his phantom only, for
he is feasting ever with the immortal gods, and has lovely Hebe to
wife, who is daughter of Jove and Juno. The ghosts were screaming
round him like scared birds flying all whithers. He looked black as
night with his bare bow in his hands and his arrow on the string,
glaring around as though ever on the point of taking aim. About his
breast there was a wondrous golden belt adorned in the most marvellous
fashion with bears, wild boars, and lions with gleaming eyes; there
was also war, battle, and death. The man who made that belt, do what
he might, would never be able to make another like it. Hercules knew
me at once when he saw me, and spoke piteously, saying, my poor Ulysses,
noble son of Laertes, are you too leading the same sorry kind of life
that I did when I was above ground? I was son of Jove, but I went
through an infinity of suffering, for I became bondsman to one who
was far beneath me- a low fellow who set me all manner of labours.
He once sent me here to fetch the hell-hound- for he did not think
he could find anything harder for me than this, but I got the hound
out of Hades and brought him to him, for Mercury and Minerva helped
me.'

"On this Hercules went down again into the house of Hades, but I stayed
where I was in case some other of the mighty dead should come to me.
And I should have seen still other of them that are gone before, whom
I would fain have seen- Theseus and Pirithous glorious children of
the gods, but so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered
such appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Proserpine should
send up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon.
On this I hastened back to my ship and ordered my men to go on board
at once and loose the hawsers; so they embarked and took their places,
whereon the ship went down the stream of the river Oceanus. We had
to row at first, but presently a fair wind sprang up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XII

"After we were clear of the river Oceanus, and had got out into the
open sea, we went on till we reached the Aeaean island where there
is dawn and sunrise as in other places. We then drew our ship on to
the sands and got out of her on to the shore, where we went to sleep
and waited till day should break.

"Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, I
sent some men to Circe's house to fetch the body of Elpenor. We cut
firewood from a wood where the headland jutted out into the sea, and
after we had wept over him and lamented him we performed his funeral
rites. When his body and armour had been burned to ashes, we raised
a cairn, set a stone over it, and at the top of the cairn we fixed
the oar that he had been used to row with.

"While we were doing all this, Circe, who knew that we had got back
from the house of Hades, dressed herself and came to us as fast as
she could; and her maid servants came with her bringing us bread,
meat, and wine. Then she stood in the midst of us and said, 'You have
done a bold thing in going down alive to the house of Hades, and you
will have died twice, to other people's once; now, then, stay here
for the rest of the day, feast your fill, and go on with your voyage
at daybreak tomorrow morning. In the meantime I will tell Ulysses
about your course, and will explain everything to him so as to prevent
your suffering from misadventure either by land or sea.'

"We agreed to do as she had said, and feasted through the livelong
day to the going down of the sun, but when the sun had set and it
came on dark, the men laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables
of the ship. Then Circe took me by the hand and bade me be seated
away from the others, while she reclined by my side and asked me all
about our adventures.

"'So far so good,' said she, when I had ended my story, 'and now pay
attention to what I am about to tell you- heaven itself, indeed, will
recall it to your recollection. First you will come to the Sirens
who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too
close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will
never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble
him to death with the sweetness of their song. There is a great heap
of dead men's bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting
off them. Therefore pass these Sirens by, and stop your men's ears
with wax that none of them may hear; but if you like you can listen
yourself, for you may get the men to bind you as you stand upright
on a cross-piece half way up the mast, and they must lash the rope's
ends to the mast itself, that you may have the pleasure of listening.
If you beg and pray the men to unloose you, then they must bind you
faster.

"'When your crew have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you
coherent directions as to which of two courses you are to take; I
will lay the two alternatives before you, and you must consider them
for yourself. On the one hand there are some overhanging rocks against
which the deep blue waves of Amphitrite beat with terrific fury; the
blessed gods call these rocks the Wanderers. Here not even a bird
may pass, no, not even the timid doves that bring ambrosia to Father
Jove, but the sheer rock always carries off one of them, and Father
Jove has to send another to make up their number; no ship that ever
yet came to these rocks has got away again, but the waves and whirlwinds
of fire are freighted with wreckage and with the bodies of dead men.
The only vessel that ever sailed and got through, was the famous Argo
on her way from the house of Aetes, and she too would have gone against
these great rocks, only that Juno piloted her past them for the love
she bore to Jason.

"'Of these two rocks the one reaches heaven and its peak is lost in
a dark cloud. This never leaves it, so that the top is never clear
not even in summer and early autumn. No man though he had twenty hands
and twenty feet could get a foothold on it and climb it, for it runs
sheer up, as smooth as though it had been polished. In the middle
of it there is a large cavern, looking West and turned towards Erebus;
you must take your ship this way, but the cave is so high up that
not even the stoutest archer could send an arrow into it. Inside it
Scylla sits and yelps with a voice that you might take to be that
of a young hound, but in truth she is a dreadful monster and no one-
not even a god- could face her without being terror-struck. She has
twelve mis-shapen feet, and six necks of the most prodigious length;
and at the end of each neck she has a frightful head with three rows
of teeth in each, all set very close together, so that they would
crunch any one to death in a moment, and she sits deep within her
shady cell thrusting out her heads and peering all round the rock,
fishing for dolphins or dogfish or any larger monster that she can
catch, of the thousands with which Amphitrite teems. No ship ever
yet got past her without losing some men, for she shoots out all her
heads at once, and carries off a man in each mouth.

"'You will find the other rocks lie lower, but they are so close together
that there is not more than a bowshot between them. [A large fig tree
in full leaf grows upon it], and under it lies the sucking whirlpool
of Charybdis. Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters,
and three times she sucks them down again; see that you be not there
when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself could not save
you; you must hug the Scylla side and drive ship by as fast as you
can, for you had better lose six men than your whole crew.'

"'Is there no way,' said I, 'of escaping Charybdis, and at the same
time keeping Scylla off when she is trying to harm my men?'

"'You dare-devil,' replied the goddess, you are always wanting to
fight somebody or something; you will not let yourself be beaten even
by the immortals. For Scylla is not mortal; moreover she is savage,
extreme, rude, cruel and invincible. There is no help for it; your
best chance will be to get by her as fast as ever you can, for if
you dawdle about her rock while you are putting on your armour, she
may catch you with a second cast of her six heads, and snap up another
half dozen of your men; so drive your ship past her at full speed,
and roar out lustily to Crataiis who is Scylla's dam, bad luck to
her; she will then stop her from making a second raid upon you.

"'You will now come to the Thrinacian island, and here you will see
many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the sun-god-
seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty head in
each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number,
and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa and Lampetie, who are
children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she
had borne them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian
island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their
father's flocks and herds. If you leave these flocks unharmed, and
think of nothing but getting home, you may yet after much hardship
reach Ithaca; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction
both of your ship and of your comrades; and even though you may yourself
escape, you will return late, in bad plight, after losing all your
men.'

"Here she ended, and dawn enthroned in gold began to show in heaven,
whereon she returned inland. I then went on board and told my men
to loose the ship from her moorings; so they at once got into her,
took their places, and began to smite the grey sea with their oars.
Presently the great and cunning goddess Circe befriended us with a
fair wind that blew dead aft, and stayed steadily with us, keeping
our sails well filled, so we did whatever wanted doing to the ship's
gear, and let her go as wind and helmsman headed her.

"Then, being much troubled in mind, I said to my men, 'My friends,
it is not right that one or two of us alone should know the prophecies
that Circe has made me, I will therefore tell you about them, so that
whether we live or die we may do so with our eyes open. First she
said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully
in a field of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long
as no one else did. Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece
half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast
that I cannot possibly break away, and lash the rope's ends to the
mast itself. If I beg and pray you to set me free, then bind me more
tightly still.'

"I had hardly finished telling everything to the men before we reached
the island of the two Sirens, for the wind had been very favourable.
Then all of a sudden it fell dead calm; there was not a breath of
wind nor a ripple upon the water, so the men furled the sails and
stowed them; then taking to their oars they whitened the water with
the foam they raised in rowing. Meanwhile I look a large wheel of
wax and cut it up small with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my
strong hands till it became soft, which it soon did between the kneading
and the rays of the sun-god son of Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears
of all my men, and they bound me hands and feet to the mast as I stood
upright on the crosspiece; but they went on rowing themselves. When
we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a
good rate, the Sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began
with their singing.

"'Come here,' they sang, 'renowned Ulysses, honour to the Achaean
name, and listen to our two voices. No one ever sailed past us without
staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song- and he who listens
will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the
ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and Trojans before Troy,
and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole
world.'

"They sang these words most musically, and as I longed to hear them
further I made by frowning to my men that they should set me free;
but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound
me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the
Sirens' voices. Then my men took the wax from their ears and unbound
me.

"Immediately after we had got past the island I saw a great wave from
which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound. The men
were so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for the whole
sea resounded with the rushing of the waters, but the ship stayed
where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I went round, therefore,
and exhorted them man by man not to lose heart.

"'My friends,' said I, 'this is not the first time that we have been
in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as when the Cyclops
shut us up in his cave; nevertheless, my courage and wise counsel
saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this as well.
Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and row on with
might and main. As for you, coxswain, these are your orders; attend
to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her head away from these
steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you the slip and
be over yonder before you know where you are, and you will be the
death of us.'

"So they did as I told them; but I said nothing about the awful monster
Scylla, for I knew the men would not on rowing if I did, but would
huddle together in the hold. In one thing only did I disobey Circe's
strict instructions- I put on my armour. Then seizing two strong spears
I took my stand on the ship Is bows, for it was there that I expected
first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men so much
harm; but I could not make her out anywhere, though I strained my
eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and over

"Then we entered the Straits in great fear of mind, for on the one
hand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking up
the salt water. As she vomited it up, it was like the water in a cauldron
when it is boiling over upon a great fire, and the spray reached the
top of the rocks on either side. When she began to suck again, we
could see the water all inside whirling round and round, and it made
a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We could see the
bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and the men were
at their wit's ends for fear. While we were taken up with this, and
were expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down suddenly
upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking at once after
both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and feet ever
so high above me, struggling in the air as Scylla was carrying them
off, and I heard them call out my name in one last despairing cry.
As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon some jutting rock throws
bait into the water to deceive the poor little fishes, and spears
them with the ox's horn with which his spear is shod, throwing them
gasping on to the land as he catches them one by one- even so did
Scylla land these panting creatures on her rock and munch them up
at the mouth of her den, while they screamed and stretched out their
hands to me in their mortal agony. This was the most sickening sight
that I saw throughout all my voyages.

"When we had passed the [Wandering] rocks, with Scylla and terrible
Charybdis, we reached the noble island of the sun-god, where were
the goodly cattle and sheep belonging to the sun Hyperion. While still
at sea in my ship I could bear the cattle lowing as they came home
to the yards, and the sheep bleating. Then I remembered what the blind
Theban prophet Teiresias had told me, and how carefully Aeaean Circe
had warned me to shun the island of the blessed sun-god. So being
much troubled I said to the men, 'My men, I know you are hard pressed,
but listen while I tell you the prophecy that Teiresias made me, and
how carefully Aeaean Circe warned me to shun the island of the blessed
sun-god, for it was here, she said, that our worst danger would lie.
Head the ship, therefore, away from the island.'

"The men were in despair at this, and Eurylochus at once gave me an
insolent answer. 'Ulysses,' said he, 'you are cruel; you are very
strong yourself and never get worn out; you seem to be made of iron,
and now, though your men are exhausted with toil and want of sleep,
you will not let them land and cook themselves a good supper upon
this island, but bid them put out to sea and go faring fruitlessly
on through the watches of the flying night. It is by night that the
winds blow hardest and do so much damage; how can we escape should
one of those sudden squalls spring up from South West or West, which
so often wreck a vessel when our lords the gods are unpropitious?
Now, therefore, let us obey the of night and prepare our supper here
hard by the ship; to-morrow morning we will go on board again and
put out to sea.'

"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. I saw that
heaven meant us a mischief and said, 'You force me to yield, for you
are many against one, but at any rate each one of you must take his
solemn oath that if he meet with a herd of cattle or a large flock
of sheep, he will not be so mad as to kill a single head of either,
but will be satisfied with the food that Circe has given us.'

"They all swore as I bade them, and when they had completed their
oath we made the ship fast in a harbour that was near a stream of
fresh water, and the men went ashore and cooked their suppers. As
soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, they began talking about
their poor comrades whom Scylla had snatched up and eaten; this set
them weeping and they went on crying till they fell off into a sound
sleep.

"In the third watch of the night when the stars had shifted their
places, Jove raised a great gale of wind that flew a hurricane so
that land and sea were covered with thick clouds, and night sprang
forth out of the heavens. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered
Dawn, appeared, we brought the ship to land and drew her into a cave
wherein the sea-nymphs hold their courts and dances, and I called
the men together in council.

"'My friends,' said I, 'we have meat and drink in the ship, let us
mind, therefore, and not touch the cattle, or we shall suffer for
it; for these cattle and sheep belong to the mighty sun, who sees
and gives ear to everything. And again they promised that they would
obey.

"For a whole month the wind blew steadily from the South, and there
was no other wind, but only South and East. As long as corn and wine
held out the men did not touch the cattle when they were hungry; when,
however, they had eaten all there was in the ship, they were forced
to go further afield, with hook and line, catching birds, and taking
whatever they could lay their hands on; for they were starving. One
day, therefore, I went up inland that I might pray heaven to show
me some means of getting away. When I had gone far enough to be clear
of all my men, and had found a place that was well sheltered from
the wind, I washed my hands and prayed to all the gods in Olympus
till by and by they sent me off into a sweet sleep.

"Meanwhile Eurylochus had been giving evil counsel to the men, 'Listen
to me,' said he, 'my poor comrades. All deaths are bad enough but
there is none so bad as famine. Why should not we drive in the best
of these cows and offer them in sacrifice to the immortal Rods? If
we ever get back to Ithaca, we can build a fine temple to the sun-god
and enrich it with every kind of ornament; if, however, he is determined
to sink our ship out of revenge for these homed cattle, and the other
gods are of the same mind, I for one would rather drink salt water
once for all and have done with it, than be starved to death by inches
in such a desert island as this is.'

"Thus spoke Eurylochus, and the men approved his words. Now the cattle,
so fair and goodly, were feeding not far from the ship; the men, therefore
drove in the best of them, and they all stood round them saying their
prayers, and using young oak-shoots instead of barley-meal, for there
was no barley left. When they had done praying they killed the cows
and dressed their carcasses; they cut out the thigh bones, wrapped
them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on
top of them. They had no wine with which to make drink-offerings over
the sacrifice while it was cooking, so they kept pouring on a little
water from time to time while the inward meats were being grilled;
then, when the thigh bones were burned and they had tasted the inward
meats, they cut the rest up small and put the pieces upon the spits.

"By this time my deep sleep had left me, and I turned back to the
ship and to the sea shore. As I drew near I began to smell hot roast
meat, so I groaned out a prayer to the immortal gods. 'Father Jove,'
I exclaimed, 'and all you other gods who live in everlasting bliss,
you have done me a cruel mischief by the sleep into which you have
sent me; see what fine work these men of mine have been making in
my absence.'

"Meanwhile Lampetie went straight off to the sun and told him we had
been killing his cows, whereon he flew into a great rage, and said
to the immortals, 'Father Jove, and all you other gods who live in
everlasting bliss, I must have vengeance on the crew of Ulysses' ship:
they have had the insolence to kill my cows, which were the one thing
I loved to look upon, whether I was going up heaven or down again.
If they do not square accounts with me about my cows, I will go down
to Hades and shine there among the dead.'

"'Sun,' said Jove, 'go on shining upon us gods and upon mankind over
the fruitful earth. I will shiver their ship into little pieces with
a bolt of white lightning as soon as they get out to sea.'

"I was told all this by Calypso, who said she had heard it from the
mouth of Mercury.

"As soon as I got down to my ship and to the sea shore I rebuked each
one of the men separately, but we could see no way out of it, for
the cows were dead already. And indeed the gods began at once to show
signs and wonders among us, for the hides of the cattle crawled about,
and the joints upon the spits began to low like cows, and the meat,
whether cooked or raw, kept on making a noise just as cows do.

"For six days my men kept driving in the best cows and feasting upon
them, but when Jove the son of Saturn had added a seventh day, the
fury of the gale abated; we therefore went on board, raised our masts,
spread sail, and put out to sea. As soon as we were well away from
the island, and could see nothing but sky and sea, the son of Saturn
raised a black cloud over our ship, and the sea grew dark beneath
it. We not get on much further, for in another moment we were caught
by a terrific squall from the West that snapped the forestays of the
mast so that it fell aft, while all the ship's gear tumbled about
at the bottom of the vessel. The mast fell upon the head of the helmsman
in the ship's stern, so that the bones of his head were crushed to
pieces, and he fell overboard as though he were diving, with no more
life left in him.

"Then Jove let fly with his thunderbolts, and the ship went round
and round, and was filled with fire and brimstone as the lightning
struck it. The men all fell into the sea; they were carried about
in the water round the ship, looking like so many sea-gulls, but the
god presently deprived them of all chance of getting home again.

"I stuck to the ship till the sea knocked her sides from her keel
(which drifted about by itself) and struck the mast out of her in
the direction of the keel; but there was a backstay of stout ox-thong
still hanging about it, and with this I lashed the mast and keel together,
and getting astride of them was carried wherever the winds chose to
take me.

"[The gale from the West had now spent its force, and the wind got
into the South again, which frightened me lest I should be taken back
to the terrible whirlpool of Charybdis. This indeed was what actually
happened, for I was borne along by the waves all night, and by sunrise
had reacfied the rock of Scylla, and the whirlpool. She was then sucking
down the salt sea water, but I was carried aloft toward the fig tree,
which I caught hold of and clung on to like a bat. I could not plant
my feet anywhere so as to stand securely, for the roots were a long
way off and the boughs that overshadowed the whole pool were too high,
too vast, and too far apart for me to reach them; so I hung patiently
on, waiting till the pool should discharge my mast and raft again-
and a very long while it seemed. A juryman is not more glad to get
home to supper, after having been long detained in court by troublesome
cases, than I was to see my raft beginning to work its way out of
the whirlpool again. At last I let go with my hands and feet, and
fell heavily into the sea, bard by my raft on to which I then got,
and began to row with my hands. As for Scylla, the father of gods
and men would not let her get further sight of me- otherwise I should
have certainly been lost.]

"Hence I was carried along for nine days till on the tenth night the
gods stranded me on the Ogygian island, where dwells the great and
powerful goddess Calypso. She took me in and was kind to me, but I
need say no more about this, for I told you and your noble wife all
about it yesterday, and I hate saying the same thing over and over
again."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIII

Thus did he speak, and they all held their peace throughout the covered
cloister, enthralled by the charm of his story, till presently Alcinous
began to speak.

"Ulysses," said he, "now that you have reached my house I doubt not
you will get home without further misadventure no matter how much
you have suffered in the past. To you others, however, who come here
night after night to drink my choicest wine and listen to my bard,
I would insist as follows. Our guest has already packed up the clothes,
wrought gold, and other valuables which you have brought for his acceptance;
let us now, therefore, present him further, each one of us, with a
large tripod and a cauldron. We will recoup ourselves by the levy
of a general rate; for private individuals cannot be expected to bear
the burden of such a handsome present."

Every one approved of this, and then they went home to bed each in
his own abode. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
they hurried down to the ship and brought their cauldrons with them.
Alcinous went on board and saw everything so securely stowed under
the ship's benches that nothing could break adrift and injure the
rowers. Then they went to the house of Alcinous to get dinner, and
he sacrificed a bull for them in honour of Jove who is the lord of
all. They set the steaks to grill and made an excellent dinner, after
which the inspired bard, Demodocus, who was a favourite with every
one, sang to them; but Ulysses kept on turning his eyes towards the
sun, as though to hasten his setting, for he was longing to be on
his way. As one who has been all day ploughing a fallow field with
a couple of oxen keeps thinking about his supper and is glad when
night comes that he may go and get it, for it is all his legs can
do to carry him, even so did Ulysses rejoice when the sun went down,
and he at once said to the Phaecians, addressing himself more particularly
to King Alcinous:

"Sir, and all of you, farewell. Make your drink-offerings and send
me on my way rejoicing, for you have fulfilled my heart's desire by
giving me an escort, and making me presents, which heaven grant that
I may turn to good account; may I find my admirable wife living in
peace among friends, and may you whom I leave behind me give satisfaction
to your wives and children; may heaven vouchsafe you every good grace,
and may no evil thing come among your people."

Thus did he speak. His hearers all of them approved his saying and
agreed that he should have his escort inasmuch as he had spoken reasonably.
Alcinous therefore said to his servant, "Pontonous, mix some wine
and hand it round to everybody, that we may offer a prayer to father
Jove, and speed our guest upon his way."

Pontonous mixed the wine and handed it to every one in turn; the others
each from his own seat made a drink-offering to the blessed gods that
live in heaven, but Ulysses rose and placed the double cup in the
hands of queen Arete.

"Farewell, queen," said he, "henceforward and for ever, till age and
death, the common lot of mankind, lay their hands upon you. I now
take my leave; be happy in this house with your children, your people,
and with king Alcinous."

As he spoke he crossed the threshold, and Alcinous sent a man to conduct
him to his ship and to the sea shore. Arete also sent some maid servants
with him- one with a clean shirt and cloak, another to carry his strong-box,
and a third with corn and wine. When they got to the water side the
crew took these things and put them on board, with all the meat and
drink; but for Ulysses they spread a rug and a linen sheet on deck
that he might sleep soundly in the stern of the ship. Then he too
went on board and lay down without a word, but the crew took every
man his place and loosed the hawser from the pierced stone to which
it had been bound. Thereon, when they began rowing out to sea, Ulysses
fell into a deep, sweet, and almost deathlike slumber.

The ship bounded forward on her way as a four in hand chariot flies
over the course when the horses feel the whip. Her prow curveted as
it were the neck of a stallion, and a great wave of dark blue water
seethed in her wake. She held steadily on her course, and even a falcon,
swiftest of all birds, could not have kept pace with her. Thus, then,
she cut her way through the water. carrying one who was as cunning
as the gods, but who was now sleeping peacefully, forgetful of all
that he had suffered both on the field of battle and by the waves
of the weary sea.

When the bright star that heralds the approach of dawn began to show.
the ship drew near to land. Now there is in Ithaca a haven of the
old merman Phorcys, which lies between two points that break the line
of the sea and shut the harbour in. These shelter it from the storms
of wind and sea that rage outside, so that, when once within it, a
ship may lie without being even moored. At the head of this harbour
there is a large olive tree, and at no distance a fine overarching
cavern sacred to the nymphs who are called Naiads. There are mixing-bowls
within it and wine-jars of stone, and the bees hive there. Moreover,
there are great looms of stone on which the nymphs weave their robes
of sea purple- very curious to see- and at all times there is water
within it. It has two entrances, one facing North by which mortals
can go down into the cave, while the other comes from the South and
is more mysterious; mortals cannot possibly get in by it, it is the
way taken by the gods.

Into this harbour, then, they took their ship, for they knew the place,
She had so much way upon her that she ran half her own length on to
the shore; when, however, they had landed, the first thing they did
was to lift Ulysses with his rug and linen sheet out of the ship,
and lay him down upon the sand still fast asleep. Then they took out
the presents which Minerva had persuaded the Phaeacians to give him
when he was setting out on his voyage homewards. They put these all
together by the root of the olive tree, away from the road, for fear
some passer by might come and steal them before Ulysses awoke; and
then they made the best of their way home again.

But Neptune did not forget the threats with which he had already threatened
Ulysses, so he took counsel with Jove. "Father Jove," said he, "I
shall no longer be held in any sort of respect among you gods, if
mortals like the Phaeacians, who are my own flesh and blood, show
such small regard for me. I said I would Ulysses get home when he
had suffered sufficiently. I did not say that he should never get
home at all, for I knew you had already nodded your head about it,
and promised that he should do so; but now they have brought him in
a ship fast asleep and have landed him in Ithaca after loading him
with more magnificent presents of bronze, gold, and raiment than he
would ever have brought back from Troy, if he had had his share of
the spoil and got home without misadventure."

And Jove answered, "What, O Lord of the Earthquake, are you talking
about? The gods are by no means wanting in respect for you. It would
be monstrous were they to insult one so old and honoured as you are.
As regards mortals, however, if any of them is indulging in insolence
and treating you disrespectfully, it will always rest with yourself
to deal with him as you may think proper, so do just as you please."

"I should have done so at once," replied Neptune, "if I were not anxious
to avoid anything that might displease you; now, therefore, I should
like to wreck the Phaecian ship as it is returning from its escort.
This will stop them from escorting people in future; and I should
also like to bury their city under a huge mountain."

"My good friend," answered Jove, "I should recommend you at the very
moment when the people from the city are watching the ship on her
way, to turn it into a rock near the land and looking like a ship.
This will astonish everybody, and you can then bury their city under
the mountain."

When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went to Scheria where
the Phaecians live, and stayed there till the ship, which was making
rapid way, had got close-in. Then he went up to it, turned it into
stone, and drove it down with the flat of his hand so as to root it
in the ground. After this he went away.

The Phaeacians then began talking among themselves, and one would
turn towards his neighbour, saying, "Bless my heart, who is it that
can have rooted the ship in the sea just as she was getting into port?
We could see the whole of her only moment ago."

This was how they talked, but they knew nothing about it; and Alcinous
said, "I remember now the old prophecy of my father. He said that
Neptune would be angry with us for taking every one so safely over
the sea, and would one day wreck a Phaeacian ship as it was returning
from an escort, and bury our city under a high mountain. This was
what my old father used to say, and now it is all coming true. Now
therefore let us all do as I say; in the first place we must leave
off giving people escorts when they come here, and in the next let
us sacrifice twelve picked bulls to Neptune that he may have mercy
upon us, and not bury our city under the high mountain." When the
people heard this they were afraid and got ready the bulls.

Thus did the chiefs and rulers of the Phaecians to king Neptune, standing
round his altar; and at the same time Ulysses woke up once more upon
his own soil. He had been so long away that he did not know it again;
moreover, Jove's daughter Minerva had made it a foggy day, so that
people might not know of his having come, and that she might tell
him everything without either his wife or his fellow citizens and
friends recognizing him until he had taken his revenge upon the wicked
suitors. Everything, therefore, seemed quite different to him- the
long straight tracks, the harbours, the precipices, and the goodly
trees, appeared all changed as he started up and looked upon his native
land. So he smote his thighs with the flat of his hands and cried
aloud despairingly.

"Alas," he exclaimed, "among what manner of people am I fallen? Are
they savage and uncivilized or hospitable and humane? Where shall
I put all this treasure, and which way shall I go? I wish I had stayed
over there with the Phaeacians; or I could have gone to some other
great chief who would have been good to me and given me an escort.
As it is I do not know where to put my treasure, and I cannot leave
it here for fear somebody else should get hold of it. In good truth
the chiefs and rulers of the Phaeacians have not been dealing fairly
by me, and have left me in the wrong country; they said they would
take me back to Ithaca and they have not done so: may Jove the protector
of suppliants chastise them, for he watches over everybody and punishes
those who do wrong. Still, I suppose I must count my goods and see
if the crew have gone off with any of them."

He counted his goodly coppers and cauldrons, his gold and all his
clothes, but there was nothing missing; still he kept grieving about
not being in his own country, and wandered up and down by the shore
of the sounding sea bewailing his hard fate. Then Minerva came up
to him disguised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mien,
with a good cloak folded double about her shoulders; she had sandals
on her comely feet and held a javelin in her hand. Ulysses was glad
when he saw her, and went straight up to her.

"My friend," said he, "you are the first person whom I have met with
in this country; I salute you, therefore, and beg you to be will disposed
towards me. Protect these my goods, and myself too, for I embrace
your knees and pray to you as though you were a god. Tell me, then,
and tell me truly, what land and country is this? Who are its inhabitants?
Am I on an island, or is this the sea board of some continent?"

Minerva answered, "Stranger, you must be very simple, or must have
come from somewhere a long way off, not to know what country this
is. It is a very celebrated place, and everybody knows it East and
West. It is rugged and not a good driving country, but it is by no
means a bid island for what there is of it. It grows any quantity
of corn and also wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew; it
breeds cattle also and goats; all kinds of timber grow here, and there
are watering places where the water never runs dry; so, sir, the name
of Ithaca is known even as far as Troy, which I understand to be a
long way off from this Achaean country."

Ulysses was glad at finding himself, as Minerva told him, in his own
country, and he began to answer, but he did not speak the truth, and
made up a lying story in the instinctive wiliness of his heart.

"I heard of Ithaca," said he, "when I was in Crete beyond the seas,
and now it seems I have reached it with all these treasures. I have
left as much more behind me for my children, but am flying because
I killed Orsilochus son of Idomeneus, the fleetest runner in Crete.
I killed him because he wanted to rob me of the spoils I had got from
Troy with so much trouble and danger both on the field of battle and
by the waves of the weary sea; he said I had not served his father
loyally at Troy as vassal, but had set myself up as an independent
ruler, so I lay in wait for him and with one of my followers by the
road side, and speared him as he was coming into town from the country.
my It was a very dark night and nobody saw us; it was not known, therefore,
that I had killed him, but as soon as I had done so I went to a ship
and besought the owners, who were Phoenicians, to take me on board
and set me in Pylos or in Elis where the Epeans rule, giving them
as much spoil as satisfied them. They meant no guile, but the wind
drove them off their course, and we sailed on till we came hither
by night. It was all we could do to get inside the harbour, and none
of us said a word about supper though we wanted it badly, but we all
went on shore and lay down just as we were. I was very tired and fell
asleep directly, so they took my goods out of the ship, and placed
them beside me where I was lying upon the sand. Then they sailed away
to Sidonia, and I was left here in great distress of mind."

Such was his story, but Minerva smiled and caressed him with her hand.
Then she took the form of a woman, fair, stately, and wise, "He must
be indeed a shifty lying fellow," said she, "who could surpass you
in all manner of craft even though you had a god for your antagonist.
Dare-devil that you are, full of guile, unwearying in deceit, can
you not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehood, even now
that you are in your own country again? We will say no more, however,
about this, for we can both of us deceive upon occasion- you are the
most accomplished counsellor and orator among all mankind, while I
for diplomacy and subtlety have no equal among the gods. Did you not
know Jove's daughter Minerva- me, who have been ever with you, who
kept watch over you in all your troubles, and who made the Phaeacians
take so great a liking to you? And now, again, I am come here to talk
things over with you, and help you to hide the treasure I made the
Phaeacians give you; I want to tell you about the troubles that await
you in your own house; you have got to face them, but tell no one,
neither man nor woman, that you have come home again. Bear everything,
and put up with every man's insolence, without a word."

And Ulysses answered, "A man, goddess, may know a great deal, but
you are so constantly changing your appearance that when he meets
you it is a hard matter for him to know whether it is you or not.
This much, however, I know exceedingly well; you were very kind to
me as long as we Achaeans were fighting before Troy, but from the
day on which we went on board ship after having sacked the city of
Priam, and heaven dispersed us- from that day, Minerva, I saw no more
of you, and cannot ever remember your coming to my ship to help me
in a difficulty; I had to wander on sick and sorry till the gods delivered
me from evil and I reached the city of the Phaeacians, where you encouraged
me and took me into the town. And now, I beseech you in your father's
name, tell me the truth, for I do not believe I am really back in
Ithaca. I am in some other country and you are mocking me and deceiving
me in all you have been saying. Tell me then truly, have I really
got back to my own country?"

"You are always taking something of that sort into your head," replied
Minerva, "and that is why I cannot desert you in your afflictions;
you are so plausible, shrewd and shifty. Any one but yourself on returning
from so long a voyage would at once have gone home to see his wife
and children, but you do not seem to care about asking after them
or hearing any news about them till you have exploited your wife,
who remains at home vainly grieving for you, and having no peace night
or day for the tears she sheds on your behalf. As for my not coming
near you, I was never uneasy about you, for I was certain you would
get back safely though you would lose all your men, and I did not
wish to quarrel with my uncle Neptune, who never forgave you for having
blinded his son. I will now, however, point out to you the lie of
the land, and you will then perhaps believe me. This is the haven
of the old merman Phorcys, and here is the olive tree that grows at
the head of it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads;] here too
is the overarching cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable
hecatomb to the nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neritum."

As she spoke the goddess dispersed the mist and the land appeared.
Then Ulysses rejoiced at finding himself again in his own land, and
kissed the bounteous soil; he lifted up his hands and prayed to the
nymphs, saying, "Naiad nymphs, daughters of Jove, I made sure that
I was never again to see you, now therefore I greet you with all loving
salutations, and I will bring you offerings as in the old days, if
Jove's redoubtable daughter will grant me life, and bring my son to
manhood."

"Take heart, and do not trouble yourself about that," rejoined Minerva,
"let us rather set about stowing your things at once in the cave,
where they will be quite safe. Let us see how we can best manage it
all."

Therewith she went down into the cave to look for the safest hiding
places, while Ulysses brought up all the treasure of gold, bronze,
and good clothing which the Phaecians had given him. They stowed everything
carefully away, and Minerva set a stone against the door of the cave.
Then the two sat down by the root of the great olive, and consulted
how to compass the destruction of the wicked suitors.

"Ulysses," said Minerva, "noble son of Laertes, think how you can
lay hands on these disreputable people who have been lording it in
your house these three years, courting your wife and making wedding
presents to her, while she does nothing but lament your absence, giving
hope and sending your encouraging messages to every one of them, but
meaning the very opposite of all she says'

And Ulysses answered, "In good truth, goddess, it seems I should have
come to much the same bad end in my own house as Agamemnon did, if
you had not given me such timely information. Advise me how I shall
best avenge myself. Stand by my side and put your courage into my
heart as on the day when we loosed Troy's fair diadem from her brow.
Help me now as you did then, and I will fight three hundred men, if
you, goddess, will be with me."

"Trust me for that," said she, "I will not lose sight of you when
once we set about it, and I would imagine that some of those who are
devouring your substance will then bespatter the pavement with their
blood and brains. I will begin by disguising you so that no human
being shall know you; I will cover your body with wrinkles; you shall
lose all your yellow hair; I will clothe you in a garment that shall
fill all who see it with loathing; I will blear your fine eyes for
you, and make you an unseemly object in the sight of the suitors,
of your wife, and of the son whom you left behind you. Then go at
once to the swineherd who is in charge of your pigs; he has been always
well affected towards you, and is devoted to Penelope and your son;
you will find him feeding his pigs near the rock that is called Raven
by the fountain Arethusa, where they are fattening on beechmast and
spring water after their manner. Stay with him and find out how things
are going, while I proceed to Sparta and see your son, who is with
Menelaus at Lacedaemon, where he has gone to try and find out whether
you are still alive."

"But why," said Ulysses, "did you not tell him, for you knew all about
it? Did you want him too to go sailing about amid all kinds of hardship
while others are eating up his estate?"

Minerva answered, "Never mind about him, I sent him that he might
be well spoken of for having gone. He is in no sort of difficulty,
but is staying quite comfortably with Menelaus, and is surrounded
with abundance of every kind. The suitors have put out to sea and
are lying in wait for him, for they mean to kill him before he can
get home. I do not much think they will succeed, but rather that some
of those who are now eating up your estate will first find a grave
themselves."

As she spoke Minerva touched him with her wand and covered him with
wrinkles, took away all his yellow hair, and withered the flesh over
his whole body; she bleared his eyes, which were naturally very fine
ones; she changed his clothes and threw an old rag of a wrap about
him, and a tunic, tattered, filthy, and begrimed with smoke; she also
gave him an undressed deer skin as an outer garment, and furnished
him with a staff and a wallet all in holes, with a twisted thong for
him to sling it over his shoulder.

When the pair had thus laid their plans they parted, and the goddess
went straight to Lacedaemon to fetch Telemachus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIV

Ulysses now left the haven, and took the rough track up through the
wooded country and over the crest of the mountain till he reached
the place where Minerva had said that he would find the swineherd,
who was the most thrifty servant he had. He found him sitting in front
of his hut, which was by the yards that he had built on a site which
could be seen from far. He had made them spacious and fair to see,
with a free ran for the pigs all round them; he had built them during
his master's absence, of stones which he had gathered out of the ground,
without saying anything to Penelope or Laertes, and he had fenced
them on top with thorn bushes. Outside the yard he had run a strong
fence of oaken posts, split, and set pretty close together, while
inside lie had built twelve sties near one another for the sows to
lie in. There were fifty pigs wallowing in each sty, all of them breeding
sows; but the boars slept outside and were much fewer in number, for
the suitors kept on eating them, and die swineherd had to send them
the best he had continually. There were three hundred and sixty boar
pigs, and the herdsman's four hounds, which were as fierce as wolves,
slept always with them. The swineherd was at that moment cutting out
a pair of sandals from a good stout ox hide. Three of his men were
out herding the pigs in one place or another, and he had sent the
fourth to town with a boar that he had been forced to send the suitors
that they might sacrifice it and have their fill of meat.

When the hounds saw Ulysses they set up a furious barking and flew
at him, but Ulysses was cunning enough to sit down and loose his hold
of the stick that he had in his hand: still, he would have been torn
by them in his own homestead had not the swineherd dropped his ox
hide, rushed full speed through the gate of the yard and driven the
dogs off by shouting and throwing stones at them. Then he said to
Ulysses, "Old man, the dogs were likely to have made short work of
you, and then you would have got me into trouble. The gods have given
me quite enough worries without that, for I have lost the best of
masters, and am in continual grief on his account. I have to attend
swine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see the
light of day, is starving in some distant land. But come inside, and
when you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me where you come
from, and all about your misfortunes."

On this the swineherd led the way into the hut and bade him sit down.
He strewed a good thick bed of rushes upon the floor, and on the top
of this he threw the shaggy chamois skin- a great thick one- on which
he used to sleep by night. Ulysses was pleased at being made thus
welcome, and said "May Jove, sir, and the rest of the gods grant you
your heart's desire in return for the kind way in which you have received
me."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Stranger, though a still
poorer man should come here, it would not be right for me to insult
him, for all strangers and beggars are from Jove. You must take what
you can get and be thankful, for servants live in fear when they have
young lords for their masters; and this is my misfortune now, for
heaven has hindered the return of him who would have been always good
to me and given me something of my own- a house, a piece of land,
a good looking wife, and all else that a liberal master allows a servant
who has worked hard for him, and whose labour the gods have prospered
as they have mine in the situation which I hold. If my master had
grown old here he would have done great things by me, but he is gone,
and I wish that Helen's whole race were utterly destroyed, for she
has been the death of many a good man. It was this matter that took
my master to Ilius, the land of noble steeds, to fight the Trojans
in the cause of kin Agamemnon."

As he spoke he bound his girdle round him and went to the sties where
the young sucking pigs were penned. He picked out two which he brought
back with him and sacrificed. He singed them, cut them up, and spitted
on them; when the meat was cooked he brought it all in and set it
before Ulysses, hot and still on the spit, whereon Ulysses sprinkled
it over with white barley meal. The swineherd then mixed wine in a
bowl of ivy-wood, and taking a seat opposite Ulysses told him to begin.

"Fall to, stranger," said he, "on a dish of servant's pork. The fat
pigs have to go to the suitors, who eat them up without shame or scruple;
but the blessed gods love not such shameful doings, and respect those
who do what is lawful and right. Even the fierce free-booters who
go raiding on other people's land, and Jove gives them their spoil-
even they, when they have filled their ships and got home again live
conscience-stricken, and look fearfully for judgement; but some god
seems to have told these people that Ulysses is dead and gone; they
will not, therefore, go back to their own homes and make their offers
of marriage in the usual way, but waste his estate by force, without
fear or stint. Not a day or night comes out of heaven, but they sacrifice
not one victim nor two only, and they take the run of his wine, for
he was exceedingly rich. No other great man either in Ithaca or on
the mainland is as rich as he was; he had as much as twenty men put
together. I will tell you what he had. There are twelve herds of cattle
upon the mainland, and as many flocks of sheep, there are also twelve
droves of pigs, while his own men and hired strangers feed him twelve
widely spreading herds of goats. Here in Ithaca he runs even large
flocks of goats on the far end of the island, and they are in the
charge of excellent goatherds. Each one of these sends the suitors
the best goat in the flock every day. As for myself, I am in charge
of the pigs that you see here, and I have to keep picking out the
best I have and sending it to them."

This was his story, but Ulysses went on eating and drinking ravenously
without a word, brooding his revenge. When he had eaten enough and
was satisfied, the swineherd took the bowl from which he usually drank,
filled it with wine, and gave it to Ulysses, who was pleased, and
said as he took it in his hands, "My friend, who was this master of
yours that bought you and paid for you, so rich and so powerful as
you tell me? You say he perished in the cause of King Agamemnon; tell
me who he was, in case I may have met with such a person. Jove and
the other gods know, but I may be able to give you news of him, for
I have travelled much."

Eumaeus answered, "Old man, no traveller who comes here with news
will get Ulysses' wife and son to believe his story. Nevertheless,
tramps in want of a lodging keep coming with their mouths full of
lies, and not a word of truth; every one who finds his way to Ithaca
goes to my mistress and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes them
in, makes much of them, and asks them all manner of questions, crying
all the time as women will when they have lost their husbands. And
you too, old man, for a shirt and a cloak would doubtless make up
a very pretty story. But the wolves and birds of prey have long since
torn Ulysses to pieces, or the fishes of the sea have eaten him, and
his bones are lying buried deep in sand upon some foreign shore; he
is dead and gone, and a bad business it is for all his friends- for
me especially; go where I may I shall never find so good a master,
not even if I were to go home to my mother and father where I was
bred and born. I do not so much care, however, about my parents now,
though I should dearly like to see them again in my own country; it
is the loss of Ulysses that grieves me most; I cannot speak of him
without reverence though he is here no longer, for he was very fond
of me, and took such care of me that whereever he may be I shall always
honour his memory."

"My friend," replied Ulysses, "you are very positive, and very hard
of belief about your master's coming home again, nevertheless I will
not merely say, but will swear, that he is coming. Do not give me
anything for my news till he has actually come, you may then give
me a shirt and cloak of good wear if you will. I am in great want,
but I will not take anything at all till then, for I hate a man, even
as I hate hell fire, who lets his poverty tempt him into lying. I
swear by king Jove, by the rites of hospitality, and by that hearth
of Ulysses to which I have now come, that all will surely happen as
I have said it will. Ulysses will return in this self same year; with
the end of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here
to do vengeance on all those who are ill treating his wife and son."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Old man, you will neither
get paid for bringing good news, nor will Ulysses ever come home;
drink you wine in peace, and let us talk about something else. Do
not keep on reminding me of all this; it always pains me when any
one speaks about my honoured master. As for your oath we will let
it alone, but I only wish he may come, as do Penelope, his old father
Laertes, and his son Telemachus. I am terribly unhappy too about this
same boy of his; he was running up fast into manhood, and bade fare
to be no worse man, face and figure, than his father, but some one,
either god or man, has been unsettling his mind, so he has gone off
to Pylos to try and get news of his father, and the suitors are lying
in wait for him as he is coming home, in the hope of leaving the house
of Arceisius without a name in Ithaca. But let us say no more about
him, and leave him to be taken, or else to escape if the son of Saturn
holds his hand over him to protect him. And now, old man, tell me
your own story; tell me also, for I want to know, who you are and
where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner
of ship you came in, how crew brought you to Ithaca, and from what
country they professed to come- for you cannot have come by land."

And Ulysses answered, "I will tell you all about it. If there were
meat and wine enough, and we could stay here in the hut with nothing
to do but to eat and drink while the others go to their work, I could
easily talk on for a whole twelve months without ever finishing the
story of the sorrows with which it has pleased heaven to visit me.

"I am by birth a Cretan; my father was a well-to-do man, who had many
sons born in marriage, whereas I was the son of a slave whom he had
purchased for a concubine; nevertheless, my father Castor son of Hylax
(whose lineage I claim, and who was held in the highest honour among
the Cretans for his wealth, prosperity, and the valour of his sons)
put me on the same level with my brothers who had been born in wedlock.
When, however, death took him to the house of Hades, his sons divided
his estate and cast lots for their shares, but to me they gave a holding
and little else; nevertheless, my valour enabled me to marry into
a rich family, for I was not given to bragging, or shirking on the
field of battle. It is all over now; still, if you look at the straw
you can see what the ear was, for I have had trouble enough and to
spare. Mars and Minerva made me doughty in war; when I had picked
my men to surprise the enemy with an ambuscade I never gave death
so much as a thought, but was the first to leap forward and spear
all whom I could overtake. Such was I in battle, but I did not care
about farm work, nor the frugal home life of those who would bring
up children. My delight was in ships, fighting, javelins, and arrows-
things that most men shudder to think of; but one man likes one thing
and another another, and this was what I was most naturally inclined
to. Before the Achaeans went to Troy, nine times was I in command
of men and ships on foreign service, and I amassed much wealth. I
had my pick of the spoil in the first instance, and much more was
allotted to me later on.

"My house grew apace and I became a great man among the Cretans, but
when Jove counselled that terrible expedition, in which so many perished,
the people required me and Idomeneus to lead their ships to Troy,
and there was no way out of it, for they insisted on our doing so.
There we fought for nine whole years, but in the tenth we sacked the
city of Priam and sailed home again as heaven dispersed us. Then it
was that Jove devised evil against me. I spent but one month happily
with my children, wife, and property, and then I conceived the idea
of making a descent on Egypt, so I fitted out a fine fleet and manned
it. I had nine ships, and the people flocked to fill them. For six
days I and my men made feast, and I found them many victims both for
sacrifice to the gods and for themselves, but on the seventh day we
went on board and set sail from Crete with a fair North wind behind
us though we were going down a river. Nothing went ill with any of
our ships, and we had no sickness on board, but sat where we were
and let the ships go as the wind and steersmen took them. On the fifth
day we reached the river Aegyptus; there I stationed my ships in the
river, bidding my men stay by them and keep guard over them while
I sent out scouts to reconnoitre from every point of vantage.

"But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, and ravaged
the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking their wives
and children captive. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and
when they heard the war cry, the people came out at daybreak till
the plain was filled with horsemen and foot soldiers and with the
gleam of armour. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they would
no longer face the enemy, for they found themselves surrounded. The
Egyptians killed many of us, and took the rest alive to do forced
labour for them. Jove, however, put it in my mind to do thus- and
I wish I had died then and there in Egypt instead, for there was much
sorrow in store for me- I took off my helmet and shield and dropped
my spear from my hand; then I went straight up to the king's chariot,
clasped his knees and kissed them, whereon he spared my life, bade
me get into his chariot, and took me weeping to his own home. Many
made at me with their ashen spears and tried to kil me in their fury,
but the king protected me, for he feared the wrath of Jove the protector
of strangers, who punishes those who do evil.

"I stayed there for seven years and got together much money among
the Egyptians, for they all gave me something; but when it was now
going on for eight years there came a certain Phoenician, a cunning
rascal, who had already committed all sorts of villainy, and this
man talked me over into going with him to Phoenicia, where his house
and his possessions lay. I stayed there for a whole twelve months,
but at the end of that time when months and days had gone by till
the same season had come round again, he set me on board a ship bound
for Libya, on a pretence that I was to take a cargo along with him
to that place, but really that he might sell me as a slave and take
the money I fetched. I suspected his intention, but went on board
with him, for I could not help it.

"The ship ran before a fresh North wind till we had reached the sea
that lies between Crete and Libya; there, however, Jove counselled
their destruction, for as soon as we were well out from Crete and
could see nothing but sea and sky, he raised a black cloud over our
ship and the sea grew dark beneath it. Then Jove let fly with his
thunderbolts and the ship went round and round and was filled with
fire and brimstone as the lightning struck it. The men fell all into
the sea; they were carried about in the water round the ship looking
like so many sea-gulls, but the god presently deprived them of all
chance of getting home again. I was all dismayed; Jove, however, sent
the ship's mast within my reach, which saved my life, for I clung
to it, and drifted before the fury of the gale. Nine days did I drift
but in the darkness of the tenth night a great wave bore me on to
the Thesprotian coast. There Pheidon king of the Thesprotians entertained
me hospitably without charging me anything at all for his son found
me when I was nearly dead with cold and fatigue, whereon he raised
me by the hand, took me to his father's house and gave me clothes
to wear.

"There it was that I heard news of Ulysses, for the king told me he
had entertained him, and shown him much hospitality while he was on
his homeward journey. He showed me also the treasure of gold, and
wrought iron that Ulysses had got together. There was enough to keep
his family for ten generations, so much had he left in the house of
king Pheidon. But the king said Ulysses had gone to Dodona that he
might learn Jove's mind from the god's high oak tree, and know whether
after so long an absence he should return to Ithaca openly, or in
secret. Moreover the king swore in my presence, making drink-offerings
in his own house as he did so, that the ship was by the water side,
and the crew found, that should take him to his own country. He sent
me off however before Ulysses returned, for there happened to be a
Thesprotian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island of Dulichium,
and he told those in charge of her to be sure and take me safely to
King Acastus.

"These men hatched a plot against me that would have reduced me to
the very extreme of misery, for when the ship had got some way out
from land they resolved on selling me as a slave. They stripped me
of the shirt and cloak that I was wearing, and gave me instead the
tattered old clouts in which you now see me; then, towards nightfall,
they reached the tilled lands of Ithaca, and there they bound me with
a strong rope fast in the ship, while they went on shore to get supper
by the sea side. But the gods soon undid my bonds for me, and having
drawn my rags over my head I slid down the rudder into the sea, where
I struck out and swam till I was well clear of them, and came ashore
near a thick wood in which I lay concealed. They were very angry at
my having escaped and went searching about for me, till at last they
thought it was no further use and went back to their ship. The gods,
having hidden me thus easily, then took me to a good man's door- for
it seems that I am not to die yet awhile."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Poor unhappy stranger,
I have found the story of your misfortunes extremely interesting,
but that part about Ulysses is not right; and you will never get me
to believe it. Why should a man like you go about telling lies in
this way? I know all about the return of my master. The gods one and
all of them detest him, or they would have taken him before Troy,
or let him die with friends around him when the days of his fighting
were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his
ashes and his son would have been heir to his renown, but now the
storm winds have spirited him away we know not whither.

"As for me I live out of the way here with the pigs, and never go
to the town unless when Penelope sends for me on the arrival of some
news about Ulysses. Then they all sit round and ask questions, both
those who grieve over the king's absence, and those who rejoice at
it because they can eat up his property without paying for it. For
my own part I have never cared about asking anyone else since the
time when I was taken in by an Aetolian, who had killed a man and
come a long way till at last he reached my station, and I was very
kind to him. He said he had seen Ulysses with Idomeneus among the
Cretans, refitting his ships which had been damaged in a gale. He
said Ulysses would return in the following summer or autumn with his
men, and that he would bring back much wealth. And now you, you unfortunate
old man, since fate has brought you to my door, do not try to flatter
me in this way with vain hopes. It is not for any such reason that
I shall treat you kindly, but only out of respect for Jove the god
of hospitality, as fearing him and pitying you."

Ulysses answered, "I see that you are of an unbelieving mind; I have
given you my oath, and yet you will not credit me; let us then make
a bargain, and call all the gods in heaven to witness it. If your
master comes home, give me a cloak and shirt of good wear, and send
me to Dulichium where I want to go; but if he does not come as I say
he will, set your men on to me, and tell them to throw me from yonder
precepice, as a warning to tramps not to go about the country telling
lies."

"And a pretty figure I should cut then," replied Eumaeus, both now
and hereafter, if I were to kill you after receiving you into my hut
and showing you hospitality. I should have to say my prayers in good
earnest if I did; but it is just supper time and I hope my men will
come in directly, that we may cook something savoury for supper."

Thus did they converse, and presently the swineherds came up with
the pigs, which were then shut up for the night in their sties, and
a tremendous squealing they made as they were being driven into them.
But Eumaeus called to his men and said, "Bring in the best pig you
have, that I may sacrifice for this stranger, and we will take toll
of him ourselves. We have had trouble enough this long time feeding
pigs, while others reap the fruit of our labour."

On this he began chopping firewood, while the others brought in a
fine fat five year old boar pig, and set it at the altar. Eumaeus
did not forget the gods, for he was a man of good principles, so the
first thing he did was to cut bristles from the pig's face and throw
them into the fire, praying to all the gods as he did so that Ulysses
might return home again. Then he clubbed the pig with a billet of
oak which he had kept back when he was chopping the firewood, and
stunned it, while the others slaughtered and singed it. Then they
cut it up, and Eumaeus began by putting raw pieces from each joint
on to some of the fat; these he sprinkled with barley meal, and laid
upon the embers; they cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces
upon the spits and roasted them till they were done; when they had
taken them off the spits they threw them on to the dresser in a heap.
The swineherd, who was a most equitable man, then stood up to give
every one his share. He made seven portions; one of these he set apart
for Mercury the son of Maia and the nymphs, praying to them as he
did so; the others he dealt out to the men man by man. He gave Ulysses
some slices cut lengthways down the loin as a mark of especial honour,
and Ulysses was much pleased. "I hope, Eumaeus," said he, "that Jove
will be as well disposed towards you as I am, for the respect you
are showing to an outcast like myself."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "Eat, my good fellow, and
enjoy your supper, such as it is. God grants this, and withholds that,
just as he thinks right, for he can do whatever he chooses."

As he spoke he cut off the first piece and offered it as a burnt sacrifice
to the immortal gods; then he made them a drink-offering, put the
cup in the hands of Ulysses, and sat down to his own portion. Mesaulius
brought them their bread; the swineherd had bought this man on his
own account from among the Taphians during his master's absence, and
had paid for him with his own money without saying anything either
to his mistress or Laertes. They then laid their hands upon the good
things that were before them, and when they had had enough to eat
and drink, Mesaulius took away what was left of the bread, and they
all went to bed after having made a hearty supper.

Now the night came on stormy and very dark, for there was no moon.
It poured without ceasing, and the wind blew strong from the West,
which is a wet quarter, so Ulysses thought he would see whether Eumaeus,
in the excellent care he took of him, would take off his own cloak
and give it him, or make one of his men give him one. "Listen to me,"
said he, "Eumaeus and the rest of you; when I have said a prayer I
will tell you something. It is the wine that makes me talk in this
way; wine will make even a wise man fall to singing; it will make
him chuckle and dance and say many a word that he had better leave
unspoken; still, as I have begun, I will go on. Would that I were
still young and strong as when we got up an ambuscade before Troy.
Menelaus and Ulysses were the leaders, but I was in command also,
for the other two would have it so. When we had come up to the wall
of the city we crouched down beneath our armour and lay there under
cover of the reeds and thick brush-wood that grew about the swamp.
It came on to freeze with a North wind blowing; the snow fell small
and fine like hoar frost, and our shields were coated thick with rime.
The others had all got cloaks and shirts, and slept comfortably enough
with their shields about their shoulders, but I had carelessly left
my cloak behind me, not thinking that I should be too cold, and had
gone off in nothing but my shirt and shield. When the night was two-thirds
through and the stars had shifted their their places, I nudged Ulysses
who was close to me with my elbow, and he at once gave me his ear.

"'Ulysses,' said I, 'this cold will be the death of me, for I have
no cloak; some god fooled me into setting off with nothing on but
my shirt, and I do not know what to do.'

"Ulysses, who was as crafty as he was valiant, hit upon the following
plan:

"'Keep still,' said he in a low voice, 'or the others will hear you.'
Then he raised his head on his elbow.

"'My friends,' said he, 'I have had a dream from heaven in my sleep.
We are a long way from the ships; I wish some one would go down and
tell Agamemnon to send us up more men at once.'

"On this Thoas son of Andraemon threw off his cloak and set out running
to the ships, whereon I took the cloak and lay in it comfortably enough
till morning. Would that I were still young and strong as I was in
those days, for then some one of you swineherds would give me a cloak
both out of good will and for the respect due to a brave soldier;
but now people look down upon me because my clothes are shabby."

And Eumaeus answered, "Old man, you have told us an excellent story,
and have said nothing so far but what is quite satisfactory; for the
present, therefore, you shall want neither clothing nor anything else
that a stranger in distress may reasonably expect, but to-morrow morning
you have to shake your own old rags about your body again, for we
have not many spare cloaks nor shirts up here, but every man has only
one. When Ulysses' son comes home again he will give you both cloak
and shirt, and send you wherever you may want to go."

With this he got up and made a bed for Ulysses by throwing some goatskins
and sheepskins on the ground in front of the fire. Here Ulysses lay
down, and Eumaeus covered him over with a great heavy cloak that he
kept for a change in case of extraordinarily bad weather.

Thus did Ulysses sleep, and the young men slept beside him. But the
swineherd did not like sleeping away from his pigs, so he got ready
to go and Ulysses was glad to see that he looked after his property
during his master's absence. First he slung his sword over his brawny
shoulders and put on a thick cloak to keep out the wind. He also took
the skin of a large and well fed goat, and a javelin in case of attack
from men or dogs. Thus equipped he went to his rest where the pigs
were camping under an overhanging rock that gave them shelter from
the North wind.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XV

But Minerva went to the fair city of Lacedaemon to tell Ulysses'
son that he was to return at once. She found him and Pisistratus sleeping
in the forecourt of Menelaus's house; Pisistratus was fast asleep,
but Telemachus could get no rest all night for thinking of his unhappy
father, so Minerva went close up to him and said:

"Telemachus, you should not remain so far away from home any longer,
nor leave your property with such dangerous people in your house;
they will eat up everything you have among them, and you will have
been on a fool's errand. Ask Menelaus to send you home at once if
you wish to find your excellent mother still there when you get back.
Her father and brothers are already urging her to marry Eurymachus,
who has given her more than any of the others, and has been greatly
increasing his wedding presents. I hope nothing valuable may have
been taken from the house in spite of you, but you know what women
are- they always want to do the best they can for the man who marries
them, and never give another thought to the children of their first
husband, nor to their father either when he is dead and done with.
Go home, therefore, and put everything in charge of the most respectable
woman servant that you have, until it shall please heaven to send
you a wife of your own. Let me tell you also of another matter which
you had better attend to. The chief men among the suitors are lying
in wait for you in the Strait between Ithaca and Samos, and they mean
to kill you before you can reach home. I do not much think they will
succeed; it is more likely that some of those who are now eating up
your property will find a grave themselves. Sail night and day, and
keep your ship well away from the islands; the god who watches over
you and protects you will send you a fair wind. As soon as you get
to Ithaca send your ship and men on to the town, but yourself go straight
to the swineherd who has charge your pigs; he is well disposed towards
you, stay with him, therefore, for the night, and then send him to
Penelope to tell her that you have got back safe from Pylos."

Then she went back to Olympus; but Telemachus stirred Pisistratus
with his heel to rouse him, and said, "Wake up Pisistratus, and yoke
the horses to the chariot, for we must set off home."

But Pisistratus said, "No matter what hurry we are in we cannot drive
in the dark. It will be morning soon; wait till Menelaus has brought
his presents and put them in the chariot for us; and let him say good-bye
to us in the usual way. So long as he lives a guest should never forget
a host who has shown him kindness."

As he spoke day began to break, and Menelaus, who had already risen,
leaving Helen in bed, came towards them. When Telemachus saw him he
put on his shirt as fast as he could, threw a great cloak over his
shoulders, and went out to meet him. "Menelaus," said he, "let me
go back now to my own country, for I want to get home."

And Menelaus answered, "Telemachus, if you insist on going I will
not detain you. not like to see a host either too fond of his guest
or too rude to him. Moderation is best in all things, and not letting
a man go when he wants to do so is as bad as telling him to go if
he would like to stay. One should treat a guest well as long as he
is in the house and speed him when he wants to leave it. Wait, then,
till I can get your beautiful presents into your chariot, and till
you have yourself seen them. I will tell the women to prepare a sufficient
dinner for you of what there may be in the house; it will be at once
more proper and cheaper for you to get your dinner before setting
out on such a long journey. If, moreover, you have a fancy for making
a tour in Hellas or in the Peloponnese, I will yoke my horses, and
will conduct you myself through all our principal cities. No one will
send us away empty handed; every one will give us something- a bronze
tripod, a couple of mules, or a gold cup."

"Menelaus," replied Telemachus, "I want to go home at once, for when
I came away I left my property without protection, and fear that while
looking for my father I shall come to ruin myself, or find that something
valuable has been stolen during my absence."

When Menelaus heard this he immediately told his wife and servants
to prepare a sufficient dinner from what there might be in the house.
At this moment Eteoneus joined him, for he lived close by and had
just got up; so Menelaus told him to light the fire and cook some
meat, which he at once did. Then Menelaus went down into his fragrant
store room, not alone, but Helen went too, with Megapenthes. When
he reached the place where the treasures of his house were kept, he
selected a double cup, and told his son Megapenthes to bring also
a silver mixing-bowl. Meanwhile Helen went to the chest where she
kept the lovely dresses which she had made with her own hands, and
took out one that was largest and most beautifully enriched with embroidery;
it glittered like a star, and lay at the very bottom of the chest.
Then they all came back through the house again till they got to Telemachus,
and Menelaus said, "Telemachus, may Jove, the mighty husband of Juno,
bring you safely home according to your desire. I will now present
you with the finest and most precious piece of plate in all my house.
It is a mixing-bowl of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid
with gold, and it is the work of Vulcan. Phaedimus king of the Sidonians
made me a present of it in the course of a visit that I paid him while
I was on my return home. I should like to give it to you."

With these words he placed the double cup in the hands of Telemachus,
while Megapenthes brought the beautiful mixing-bowl and set it before
him. Hard by stood lovely Helen with the robe ready in her hand.

"I too, my son," said she, "have something for you as a keepsake from
the hand of Helen; it is for your bride to wear upon her wedding day.
Till then, get your dear mother to keep it for you; thus may you go
back rejoicing to your own country and to your home."

So saying she gave the robe over to him and he received it gladly.
Then Pisistratus put the presents into the chariot, and admired them
all as he did so. Presently Menelaus took Telemachus and Pisistratus
into the house, and they both of them sat down to table. A maid servant
brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer, and poured it into
a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and she drew a clean
table beside them; an upper servant brought them bread and offered
them many good things of what there was in the house. Eteoneus carved
the meat and gave them each their portions, while Megapenthes poured
out the wine. Then they laid their hands upon the good things that
were before them, but as soon as they had had had enough to eat and
drink Telemachus and Pisistratus yoked the horses, and took their
places in the chariot. They drove out through the inner gateway and
under the echoing gatehouse of the outer court, and Menelaus came
after them with a golden goblet of wine in his right hand that they
might make a drink-offering before they set out. He stood in front
of the horses and pledged them, saying, "Farewell to both of you;
see that you tell Nestor how I have treated you, for he was as kind
to me as any father could be while we Achaeans were fighting before
Troy."

"We will be sure, sir," answered Telemachus, "to tell him everything
as soon as we see him. I wish I were as certain of finding Ulysses
returned when I get back to Ithaca, that I might tell him of the very
great kindness you have shown me and of the many beautiful presents
I am taking with me."

As he was thus speaking a bird flew on his right hand- an eagle with
a great white goose in its talons which it had carried off from the
farm yard- and all the men and women were running after it and shouting.
It came quite close up to them and flew away on their right hands
in front of the horses. When they saw it they were glad, and their
hearts took comfort within them, whereon Pisistratus said, "Tell me,
Menelaus, has heaven sent this omen for us or for you?"

Menelaus was thinking what would be the most proper answer for him
to make, but Helen was too quick for him and said, "I will read this
matter as heaven has put it in my heart, and as I doubt not that it
will come to pass. The eagle came from the mountain where it was bred
and has its nest, and in like manner Ulysses, after having travelled
far and suffered much, will return to take his revenge- if indeed
he is not back already and hatching mischief for the suitors."

"May Jove so grant it," replied Telemachus; "if it should prove to
be so, I will make vows to you as though you were a god, even when
I am at home."

As he spoke he lashed his horses and they started off at full speed
through the town towards the open country. They swayed the yoke upon
their necks and travelled the whole day long till the sun set and
darkness was over all the land. Then they reached Pherae, where Diocles
lived who was son of Ortilochus, the son of Alpheus. There they passed
the night and were treated hospitably. When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, they again yoked their horses and their
places in the chariot. They drove out through the inner gateway and
under the echoing gatehouse of the outer court. Then Pisistratus lashed
his horses on and they flew forward nothing loath; ere long they came
to Pylos, and then Telemachus said:

"Pisistratus, I hope you will promise to do what I am going to ask
you. You know our fathers were old friends before us; moreover, we
are both of an age, and this journey has brought us together still
more closely; do not, therefore, take me past my ship, but leave me
there, for if I go to your father's house he will try to keep me in
the warmth of his good will towards me, and I must go home at once."

Pisistratus thought how he should do as he was asked, and in the end
he deemed it best to turn his horses towards the ship, and put Menelaus's
beautiful presents of gold and raiment in the stern of the vessel.
Then he said, "Go on board at once and tell your men to do so also
before I can reach home to tell my father. I know how obstinate he
is, and am sure he will not let you go; he will come down here to
fetch you, and he will not go back without you. But he will be very
angry."

With this he drove his goodly steeds back to the city of the Pylians
and soon reached his home, but Telemachus called the men together
and gave his orders. "Now, my men," said he, "get everything in order
on board the ship, and let us set out home."

Thus did he speak, and they went on board even as he had said. But
as Telemachus was thus busied, praying also and sacrificing to Minerva
in the ship's stern, there came to him a man from a distant country,
a seer, who was flying from Argos because he had killed a man. He
was descended from Melampus, who used to live in Pylos, the land of
sheep; he was rich and owned a great house, but he was driven into
exile by the great and powerful king Neleus. Neleus seized his goods
and held them for a whole year, during which he was a close prisoner
in the house of king Phylacus, and in much distress of mind both on
account of the daughter of Neleus and because he was haunted by a
great sorrow that dread Erinyes had laid upon him. In the end, however,
he escaped with his life, drove the cattle from Phylace to Pylos,
avenged the wrong that had been done him, and gave the daughter of
Neleus to his brother. Then he left the country and went to Argos,
where it was ordained that he should reign over much people. There
he married, established himself, and had two famous sons Antiphates
and Mantius. Antiphates became father of Oicleus, and Oicleus of Amphiaraus,
who was dearly loved both by Jove and by Apollo, but he did not live
to old age, for he was killed in Thebes by reason of a woman's gifts.
His sons were Alcmaeon and Amphilochus. Mantius, the other son of
Melampus, was father to Polypheides and Cleitus. Aurora, throned in
gold, carried off Cleitus for his beauty's sake, that he might dwell
among the immortals, but Apollo made Polypheides the greatest seer
in the whole world now that Amphiaraus was dead. He quarrelled with
his father and went to live in Hyperesia, where he remained and prophesied
for all men.

His son, Theoclymenus, it was who now came up to Telemachus as he
was making drink-offerings and praying in his ship. "Friend'" said
he, "now that I find you sacrificing in this place, I beseech you
by your sacrifices themselves, and by the god to whom you make them,
I pray you also by your own head and by those of your followers, tell
me the truth and nothing but the truth. Who and whence are you? Tell
me also of your town and parents."

Telemachus said, "I will answer you quite truly. I am from Ithaca,
and my father is 'Ulysses, as surely as that he ever lived. But he
has come to some miserable end. Therefore I have taken this ship and
got my crew together to see if I can hear any news of him, for he
has been away a long time."

"I too," answered Theoclymenus, am an exile, for I have killed a man
of my own race. He has many brothers and kinsmen in Argos, and they
have great power among the Argives. I am flying to escape death at
their hands, and am thus doomed to be a wanderer on the face of the
earth. I am your suppliant; take me, therefore, on board your ship
that they may not kill me, for I know they are in pursuit."

"I will not refuse you," replied Telemachus, "if you wish to join
us. Come, therefore, and in Ithaca we will treat you hospitably according
to what we have."

On this he received Theoclymenus' spear and laid it down on the deck
of the ship. He went on board and sat in the stern, bidding Theoclymenus
sit beside him; then the men let go the hawsers. Telemachus told them
to catch hold of the ropes, and they made all haste to do so. They
set the mast in its socket in the cross plank, raised it and made
it fast with the forestays, and they hoisted their white sails with
sheets of twisted ox hide. Minerva sent them a fair wind that blew
fresh and strong to take the ship on her course as fast as possible.
Thus then they passed by Crouni and Chalcis.

Presently the sun set and darkness was over all the land. The vessel
made a quick pass sage to Pheae and thence on to Elis, where the Epeans
rule. Telemachus then headed her for the flying islands, wondering
within himself whether he should escape death or should be taken prisoner.

Meanwhile Ulysses and the swineherd were eating their supper in the
hut, and the men supped with them. As soon as they had had to eat
and drink, Ulysses began trying to prove the swineherd and see whether
he would continue to treat him kindly, and ask him to stay on at the
station or pack him off to the city; so he said:

"Eumaeus, and all of you, to-morrow I want to go away and begin begging
about the town, so as to be no more trouble to you or to your men.
Give me your advice therefore, and let me have a good guide to go
with me and show me the way. I will go the round of the city begging
as I needs must, to see if any one will give me a drink and a piece
of bread. I should like also to go to the house of Ulysses and bring
news of her husband to queen Penelope. I could then go about among
the suitors and see if out of all their abundance they will give me
a dinner. I should soon make them an excellent servant in all sorts
of ways. Listen and believe when I tell you that by the blessing of
Mercury who gives grace and good name to the works of all men, there
is no one living who would make a more handy servant than I should-
to put fresh wood on the fire, chop fuel, carve, cook, pour out wine,
and do all those services that poor men have to do for their betters."

The swineherd was very much disturbed when he heard this. "Heaven
help me," he exclaimed, "what ever can have put such a notion as that
into your head? If you go near the suitors you will be undone to a
certainty, for their pride and insolence reach the very heavens. They
would never think of taking a man like you for a servant. Their servants
are all young men, well dressed, wearing good cloaks and shirts, with
well looking faces and their hair always tidy, the tables are kept
quite clean and are loaded with bread, meat, and wine. Stay where
you are, then; you are not in anybody's way; I do not mind your being
here, no more do any of the others, and when Telemachus comes home
he will give you a shirt and cloak and will send you wherever you
want to go."

Ulysses answered, "I hope you may be as dear to the gods as you are
to me, for having saved me from going about and getting into trouble;
there is nothing worse than being always ways on the tramp; still,
when men have once got low down in the world they will go through
a great deal on behalf of their miserable bellies. Since however you
press me to stay here and await the return of Telemachus, tell about
Ulysses' mother, and his father whom he left on the threshold of old
age when he set out for Troy. Are they still living or are they already
dead and in the house of Hades?"

"I will tell you all about them," replied Eumaeus, "Laertes is still
living and prays heaven to let him depart peacefully his own house,
for he is terribly distressed about the absence of his son, and also
about the death of his wife, which grieved him greatly and aged him
more than anything else did. She came to an unhappy end through sorrow
for her son: may no friend or neighbour who has dealt kindly by me
come to such an end as she did. As long as she was still living, though
she was always grieving, I used to like seeing her and asking her
how she did, for she brought me up along with her daughter Ctimene,
the youngest of her children; we were boy and girl together, and she
made little difference between us. When, however, we both grew up,
they sent Ctimene to Same and received a splendid dowry for her. As
for me, my mistress gave me a good shirt and cloak with a pair of
sandals for my feet, and sent me off into the country, but she was
just as fond of me as ever. This is all over now. Still it has pleased
heaven to prosper my work in the situation which I now hold. I have
enough to eat and drink, and can find something for any respectable
stranger who comes here; but there is no getting a kind word or deed
out of my mistress, for the house has fallen into the hands of wicked
people. Servants want sometimes to see their mistress and have a talk
with her; they like to have something to eat and drink at the house,
and something too to take back with them into the country. This is
what will keep servants in a good humour."

Ulysses answered, "Then you must have been a very little fellow, Eumaeus,
when you were taken so far away from your home and parents. Tell me,
and tell me true, was the city in which your father and mother lived
sacked and pillaged, or did some enemies carry you off when you were
alone tending sheep or cattle, ship you off here, and sell you for
whatever your master gave them?"

"Stranger," replied Eumaeus, "as regards your question: sit still,
make yourself comfortable, drink your wine, and listen to me. The
nights are now at their longest; there is plenty of time both for
sleeping and sitting up talking together; you ought not to go to bed
till bed time, too much sleep is as bad as too little; if any one
of the others wishes to go to bed let him leave us and do so; he can
then take my master's pigs out when he has done breakfast in the morning.
We two will sit here eating and drinking in the hut, and telling one
another stories about our misfortunes; for when a man has suffered
much, and been buffeted about in the world, he takes pleasure in recalling
the memory of sorrows that have long gone by. As regards your question,
then, my tale is as follows:

"You may have heard of an island called Syra that lies over above
Ortygia, where the land begins to turn round and look in another direction.
It is not very thickly peopled, but the soil is good, with much pasture
fit for cattle and sheep, and it abounds with wine and wheat. Dearth
never comes there, nor are the people plagued by any sickness, but
when they grow old Apollo comes with Diana and kills them with his
painless shafts. It contains two communities, and the whole country
is divided between these two. My father Ctesius son of Ormenus, a
man comparable to the gods, reigned over both.

"Now to this place there came some cunning traders from Phoenicia
(for the Phoenicians are great mariners) in a ship which they had
freighted with gewgaws of all kinds. There happened to be a Phoenician
woman in my father's house, very tall and comely, and an excellent
servant; these scoundrels got hold of her one day when she was washing
near their ship, seduced her, and cajoled her in ways that no woman
can resist, no matter how good she may be by nature. The man who had
seduced her asked her who she was and where she came from, and on
this she told him her father's name. 'I come from Sidon,' said she,
'and am daughter to Arybas, a man rolling in wealth. One day as I
was coming into the town from the country some Taphian pirates seized
me and took me here over the sea, where they sold me to the man who
owns this house, and he gave them their price for me.'

"The man who had seduced her then said, 'Would you like to come along
with us to see the house of your parents and your parents themselves?
They are both alive and are said to be well off.'

"'I will do so gladly,' answered she, 'if you men will first swear
me a solemn oath that you will do me no harm by the way.'

"They all swore as she told them, and when they had completed their
oath the woman said, 'Hush; and if any of your men meets me in the
street or at the well, do not let him speak to me, for fear some one
should go and tell my master, in which case he would suspect something.
He would put me in prison, and would have all of you murdered; keep
your own counsel therefore; buy your merchandise as fast as you can,
and send me word when you have done loading. I will bring as much
gold as I can lay my hands on, and there is something else also that
I can do towards paying my fare. I am nurse to the son of the good
man of the house, a funny little fellow just able to run about. I
will carry him off in your ship, and you will get a great deal of
money for him if you take him and sell him in foreign parts.'

"On this she went back to the house. The Phoenicians stayed a whole
year till they had loaded their ship with much precious merchandise,
and then, when they had got freight enough, they sent to tell the
woman. Their messenger, a very cunning fellow, came to my father's
house bringing a necklace of gold with amber beads strung among it;
and while my mother and the servants had it in their hands admiring
it and bargaining about it, he made a sign quietly to the woman and
then went back to the ship, whereon she took me by the hand and led
me out of the house. In the fore part of the house she saw the tables
set with the cups of guests who had been feasting with my father,
as being in attendance on him; these were now all gone to a meeting
of the public assembly, so she snatched up three cups and carried
them off in the bosom of her dress, while I followed her, for I knew
no better. The sun was now set, and darkness was over all the land,
so we hurried on as fast as we could till we reached the harbour,
where the Phoenician ship was lying. When they had got on board they
sailed their ways over the sea, taking us with them, and Jove sent
then a fair wind; six days did we sail both night and day, but on
the seventh day Diana struck the woman and she fell heavily down into
the ship's hold as though she were a sea gull alighting on the water;
so they threw her overboard to the seals and fishes, and I was left
all sorrowful and alone. Presently the winds and waves took the ship
to Ithaca, where Laertes gave sundry of his chattels for me, and thus
it was that ever I came to set eyes upon this country."

Ulysses answered, "Eumaeus, I have heard the story of your misfortunes
with the most lively interest and pity, but Jove has given you good
as well as evil, for in spite of everything you have a good master,
who sees that you always have enough to eat and drink; and you lead
a good life, whereas I am still going about begging my way from city
to city."

Thus did they converse, and they had only a very little time left
for sleep, for it was soon daybreak. In the meantime Telemachus and
his crew were nearing land, so they loosed the sails, took down the
mast, and rowed the ship into the harbour. They cast out their mooring
stones and made fast the hawsers; they then got out upon the sea shore,
mixed their wine, and got dinner ready. As soon as they had had enough
to eat and drink Telemachus said, "Take the ship on to the town, but
leave me here, for I want to look after the herdsmen on one of my
farms. In the evening, when I have seen all I want, I will come down
to the city, and to-morrow morning in return for your trouble I will
give you all a good dinner with meat and wine."

Then Theoclymenus said, 'And what, my dear young friend, is to become
of me? To whose house, among all your chief men, am I to repair? or
shall I go straight to your own house and to your mother?"

"At any other time," replied Telemachus, "I should have bidden you
go to my own house, for you would find no want of hospitality; at
the present moment, however, you would not be comfortable there, for
I shall be away, and my mother will not see you; she does not often
show herself even to the suitors, but sits at her loom weaving in
an upper chamber, out of their way; but I can tell you a man whose
house you can go to- I mean Eurymachus the son of Polybus, who is
held in the highest estimation by every one in Ithaca. He is much
the best man and the most persistent wooer, of all those who are paying
court to my mother and trying to take Ulysses' place. Jove, however,
in heaven alone knows whether or no they will come to a bad end before
the marriage takes place."

As he was speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand- a hawk, Apollo's
messenger. It held a dove in its talons, and the feathers, as it tore
them off, fell to the ground midway between Telemachus and the ship.
On this Theoclymenus called him apart and caught him by the hand.
"Telemachus," said he, "that bird did not fly on your right hand without
having been sent there by some god. As soon as I saw it I knew it
was an omen; it means that you will remain powerful and that there
will be no house in Ithaca more royal than your own."

"I wish it may prove so," answered Telemachus. "If it does, I will
show you so much good will and give you so many presents that all
who meet you will congratulate you."

Then he said to his friend Piraeus, "Piraeus, son of Clytius, you
have throughout shown yourself the most willing to serve me of all
those who have accompanied me to Pylos; I wish you would take this
stranger to your own house and entertain him hospitably till I can
come for him."

And Piraeus answered, "Telemachus, you may stay away as long as you
please, but I will look after him for you, and he shall find no lack
of hospitality."

As he spoke he went on board, and bade the others do so also and loose
the hawsers, so they took their places in the ship. But Telemachus
bound on his sandals, and took a long and doughty spear with a head
of sharpened bronze from the deck of the ship. Then they loosed the
hawsers, thrust the ship off from land, and made on towards the city
as they had been told to do, while Telemachus strode on as fast as
he could, till he reached the homestead where his countless herds
of swine were feeding, and where dwelt the excellent swineherd, who
was so devoted a servant to his master.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XVI

Meanwhile Ulysses and the swineherd had lit a fire in the hut and
were were getting breakfast ready at daybreak for they had sent the
men out with the pigs. When Telemachus came up, the dogs did not bark,
but fawned upon him, so Ulysses, hearing the sound of feet and noticing
that the dogs did not bark, said to Eumaeus:

"Eumaeus, I hear footsteps; I suppose one of your men or some one
of your acquaintance is coming here, for the dogs are fawning urn
him and not barking."

The words were hardly out of his mouth before his son stood at the
door. Eumaeus sprang to his feet, and the bowls in which he was mixing
wine fell from his hands, as he made towards his master. He kissed
his head and both his beautiful eyes, and wept for joy. A father could
not be more delighted at the return of an only son, the child of his
old age, after ten years' absence in a foreign country and after having
gone through much hardship. He embraced him, kissed him all over as
though he had come back from the dead, and spoke fondly to him saying:

"So you are come, Telemachus, light of my eyes that you are. When
I heard you had gone to Pylos I made sure I was never going to see
you any more. Come in, my dear child, and sit down, that I may have
a good look at you now you are home again; it is not very often you
come into the country to see us herdsmen; you stick pretty close to
the town generally. I suppose you think it better to keep an eye on
what the suitors are doing."

"So be it, old friend," answered Telemachus, "but I am come now because
I want to see you, and to learn whether my mother is still at her
old home or whether some one else has married her, so that the bed
of Ulysses is without bedding and covered with cobwebs."

"She is still at the house," replied Eumaeus, "grieving and breaking
her heart, and doing nothing but weep, both night and day continually."

As spoke he took Telemachus' spear, whereon he crossed the stone threshold
and came inside. Ulysses rose from his seat to give him place as he
entered, but Telemachus checked him; "Sit down, stranger." said he,
"I can easily find another seat, and there is one here who will lay
it for me."

Ulysses went back to his own place, and Eumaeus strewed some green
brushwood on the floor and threw a sheepskin on top of it for Telemachus
to sit upon. Then the swineherd brought them platters of cold meat,
the remains from what they had eaten the day before, and he filled
the bread baskets with bread as fast as he could. He mixed wine also
in bowls of ivy-wood, and took his seat facing Ulysses. Then they
laid their hands on the good things that were before them, and as
soon as they had had enough to eat and drink Telemachus said to Eumaeus,
"Old friend, where does this stranger come from? How did his crew
bring him to Ithaca, and who were they?-for assuredly he did not come
here by land"'

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "My son, I will tell you
the real truth. He says he is a Cretan, and that he has been a great
traveller. At this moment he is running away from a Thesprotian ship,
and has refuge at my station, so I will put him into your hands. Do
whatever you like with him, only remember that he is your suppliant."

"I am very much distressed," said Telemachus, "by what you have just
told me. How can I take this stranger into my house? I am as yet young,
and am not strong enough to hold my own if any man attacks me. My
mother cannot make up her mind whether to stay where she is and look
after the house out of respect for public opinion and the memory of
her husband, or whether the time is now come for her to take the best
man of those who are wooing her, and the one who will make her the
most advantageous offer; still, as the stranger has come to your station
I will find him a cloak and shirt of good wear, with a sword and sandals,
and will send him wherever he wants to go. Or if you like you can
keep him here at the station, and I will send him clothes and food
that he may be no burden on you and on your men; but I will not have
him go near the suitors, for they are very insolent, and are sure
to ill-treat him in a way that would greatly grieve me; no matter
how valiant a man may be he can do nothing against numbers, for they
will be too strong for him."

Then Ulysses said, "Sir, it is right that I should say something myself.
I am much shocked about what you have said about the insolent way
in which the suitors are behaving in despite of such a man as you
are. Tell me, do you submit to such treatment tamely, or has some
god set your people against you? May you not complain of your brothers-
for it is to these that a man may look for support, however great
his quarrel may be? I wish I were as young as you are and in my present
mind; if I were son to Ulysses, or, indeed, Ulysses himself, I would
rather some one came and cut my head off, but I would go to the house
and be the bane of every one of these men. If they were too many for
me- I being single-handed- I would rather die fighting in my own house
than see such disgraceful sights day after day, strangers grossly
maltreated, and men dragging the women servants about the house in
an unseemly way, wine drawn recklessly, and bread wasted all to no
purpose for an end that shall never be accomplished."

And Telemachus answered, "I will tell you truly everything. There
is no emnity between me and my people, nor can I complain of brothers,
to whom a man may look for support however great his quarrel may be.
Jove has made us a race of only sons. Laertes was the only son of
Arceisius, and Ulysses only son of Laertes. I am myself the only son
of Ulysses who left me behind him when he went away, so that I have
never been of any use to him. Hence it comes that my house is in the
hands of numberless marauders; for the chiefs from all the neighbouring
islands, Dulichium, Same, Zacynthus, as also all the principal men
of Ithaca itself, are eating up my house under the pretext of paying
court to my mother, who will neither say point blank that she will
not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end, so they are making havoc
of my estate, and before long will do so with myself into the bargain.
The issue, however, rests with heaven. But do you, old friend Eumaeus,
go at once and tell Penelope that I am safe and have returned from
Pylos. Tell it to herself alone, and then come back here without letting
any one else know, for there are many who are plotting mischief against
me."

"I understand and heed you," replied Eumaeus; "you need instruct me
no further, only I am going that way say whether I had not better
let poor Laertes know that you are returned. He used to superintend
the work on his farm in spite of his bitter sorrow about Ulysses,
and he would eat and drink at will along with his servants; but they
tell me that from the day on which you set out for Pylos he has neither
eaten nor drunk as he ought to do, nor does he look after his farm,
but sits weeping and wasting the flesh from off his bones."

"More's the pity," answered Telemachus, "I am sorry for him, but we
must leave him to himself just now. If people could have everything
their own way, the first thing I should choose would be the return
of my father; but go, and give your message; then make haste back
again, and do not turn out of your way to tell Laertes. Tell my mother
to send one of her women secretly with the news at once, and let him
hear it from her."

Thus did he urge the swineherd; Eumaeus, therefore, took his sandals,
bound them to his feet, and started for the town. Minerva watched
him well off the station, and then came up to it in the form of a
woman- fair, stately, and wise. She stood against the side of the
entry, and revealed herself to Ulysses, but Telemachus could not see
her, and knew not that she was there, for the gods do not let themselves
be seen by everybody. Ulysses saw her, and so did the dogs, for they
did not bark, but went scared and whining off to the other side of
the yards. She nodded her head and motioned to Ulysses with her eyebrows;
whereon he left the hut and stood before her outside the main wall
of the yards. Then she said to him:

"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, it is now time for you to tell your
son: do not keep him in the dark any longer, but lay your plans for
the destruction of the suitors, and then make for the town. I will
not be long in joining you, for I too am eager for the fray."

As she spoke she touched him with her golden wand. First she threw
a fair clean shirt and cloak about his shoulders; then she made him
younger and of more imposing presence; she gave him back his colour,
filled out his cheeks, and let his beard become dark again. Then she
went away and Ulysses came back inside the hut. His son was astounded
when he saw him, and turned his eyes away for fear he might be looking
upon a god.

"Stranger," said he, "how suddenly you have changed from what you
were a moment or two ago. You are dressed differently and your colour
is not the same. Are you some one or other of the gods that live in
heaven? If so, be propitious to me till I can make you due sacrifice
and offerings of wrought gold. Have mercy upon me."

And Ulysses said, "I am no god, why should you take me for one? I
am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at
the hands of lawless men."

As he spoke he kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek on to
the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now. but Telemachus
could not yet believe that it was his father, and said:

"You are not my father, but some god is flattering me with vain hopes
that I may grieve the more hereafter; no mortal man could of himself
contrive to do as you have been doing, and make yourself old and young
at a moment's notice, unless a god were with him. A second ago you
were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god come down
from heaven."

Ulysses answered, "Telemachus, you ought not to be so immeasurably
astonished at my being really here. There is no other Ulysses who
will come hereafter. Such as I am, it is I, who after long wandering
and much hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own country.
What you wonder at is the work of the redoubtable goddess Minerva,
who does with me whatever she will, for she can do what she pleases.
At one moment she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young
man with good clothes on my back; it is an easy matter for the gods
who live in heaven to make any man look either rich or poor."

As he spoke he sat down, and Telemachus threw his arms about his father
and wept. They were both so much moved that they cried aloud like
eagles or vultures with crooked talons that have been robbed of their
half fledged young by peasants. Thus piteously did they weep, and
the sun would have gone down upon their mourning if Telemachus had
not suddenly said, "In what ship, my dear father, did your crew bring
you to Ithaca? Of what nation did they declare themselves to be- for
you cannot have come by land?"

"I will tell you the truth, my son," replied Ulysses. "It was the
Phaeacians who brought me here. They are great sailors, and are in
the habit of giving escorts to any one who reaches their coasts. They
took me over the sea while I was fast asleep, and landed me in Ithaca,
after giving me many presents in bronze, gold, and raiment. These
things by heaven's mercy are lying concealed in a cave, and I am now
come here on the suggestion of Minerva that we may consult about killing
our enemies. First, therefore, give me a list of the suitors, with
their number, that I may learn who, and how many, they are. I can
then turn the matter over in my mind, and see whether we two can fight
the whole body of them ourselves, or whether we must find others to
help us."

To this Telemachus answered, "Father, I have always heard of your
renown both in the field and in council, but the task you talk of
is a very great one: I am awed at the mere thought of it; two men
cannot stand against many and brave ones. There are not ten suitors
only, nor twice ten, but ten many times over; you shall learn their
number at once. There are fifty-two chosen youths from Dulichium,
and they have six servants; from Same there are twenty-four; twenty
young Achaeans from Zacynthus, and twelve from Ithaca itself, all
of them well born. They have with them a servant Medon, a bard, and
two men who can carve at table. If we face such numbers as this, you
may have bitter cause to rue your coming, and your revenge. See whether
you cannot think of some one who would be willing to come and help
us."

"Listen to me," replied Ulysses, "and think whether Minerva and her
father Jove may seem sufficient, or whether I am to try and find some
one else as well."

"Those whom you have named," answered Telemachus, "are a couple of
good allies, for though they dwell high up among the clouds they have
power over both gods and men."

"These two," continued Ulysses, "will not keep long out of the fray,
when the suitors and we join fight in my house. Now, therefore, return
home early to-morrow morning, and go about among the suitors as before.
Later on the swineherd will bring me to the city disguised as a miserable
old beggar. If you see them ill-treating me, steel your heart against
my sufferings; even though they drag me feet foremost out of the house,
or throw things at me, look on and do nothing beyond gently trying
to make them behave more reasonably; but they will not listen to you,
for the day of their reckoning is at hand. Furthermore I say, and
lay my saying to your heart, when Minerva shall put it in my mind,
I will nod my head to you, and on seeing me do this you must collect
all the armour that is in the house and hide it in the strong store
room. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you why you are removing
it; say that you have taken it to be out of the way of the smoke,
inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Ulysses went away, but
has become soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to this more particularly
that you are afraid Jove may set them on to quarrel over their wine,
and that they may do each other some harm which may disgrace both
banquet and wooing, for the sight of arms sometimes tempts people
to use them. But leave a sword and a spear apiece for yourself and
me, and a couple oxhide shields so that we can snatch them up at any
moment; Jove and Minerva will then soon quiet these people. There
is also another matter; if you are indeed my son and my blood runs
in your veins, let no one know that Ulysses is within the house- neither
Laertes, nor yet the swineherd, nor any of the servants, nor even
Penelope herself. Let you and me exploit the women alone, and let
us also make trial of some other of the men servants, to see who is
on our side and whose hand is against us."

"Father," replied Telemachus, "you will come to know me by and by,
and when you do you will find that I can keep your counsel. I do not
think, however, the plan you propose will turn out well for either
of us. Think it over. It will take us a long time to go the round
of the farms and exploit the men, and all the time the suitors will
be wasting your estate with impunity and without compunction. Prove
the women by all means, to see who are disloyal and who guiltless,
but I am not in favour of going round and trying the men. We can attend
to that later on, if you really have some sign from Jove that he will
support you."

Thus did they converse, and meanwhile the ship which had brought Telemachus
and his crew from Pylos had reached the town of Ithaca. When they
had come inside the harbour they drew the ship on to the land; their
servants came and took their armour from them, and they left all the
presents at the house of Clytius. Then they sent a servant to tell
Penelope that Telemachus had gone into the country, but had sent the
ship to the town to prevent her from being alarmed and made unhappy.
This servant and Eumaeus happened to meet when they were both on the
same errand of going to tell Penelope. When they reached the House,
the servant stood up and said to the queen in the presence of the
waiting women, "Your son, Madam, is now returned from Pylos"; but
Eumaeus went close up to Penelope, and said privately that her son
had given bidden him tell her. When he had given his message he left
the house with its outbuildings and went back to his pigs again.

The suitors were surprised and angry at what had happened, so they
went outside the great wall that ran round the outer court, and held
a council near the main entrance. Eurymachus, son of Polybus, was
the first to speak.

"My friends," said he, "this voyage of Telemachus's is a very serious
matter; we had made sure that it would come to nothing. Now, however,
let us draw a ship into the water, and get a crew together to send
after the others and tell them to come back as fast as they can."

He had hardly done speaking when Amphinomus turned in his place and
saw the ship inside the harbour, with the crew lowering her sails,
and putting by their oars; so he laughed, and said to the others,
"We need not send them any message, for they are here. Some god must
have told them, or else they saw the ship go by, and could not overtake
her.

On this they rose and went to the water side. The crew then drew the
ship on shore; their servants took their armour from them, and they
went up in a body to the place of assembly, but they would not let
any one old or young sit along with them, and Antinous, son of Eupeithes,
spoke first.

"Good heavens," said he, "see how the gods have saved this man from
destruction. We kept a succession of scouts upon the headlands all
day long, and when the sun was down we never went on shore to sleep,
but waited in the ship all night till morning in the hope of capturing
and killing him; but some god has conveyed him home in spite of us.
Let us consider how we can make an end of him. He must not escape
us; our affair is never likely to come off while is alive, for he
is very shrewd, and public feeling is by no means all on our side.
We must make haste before he can call the Achaeans in assembly; he
will lose no time in doing so, for he will be furious with us, and
will tell all the world how we plotted to kill him, but failed to
take him. The people will not like this when they come to know of
it; we must see that they do us no hurt, nor drive us from our own
country into exile. Let us try and lay hold of him either on his farm
away from the town, or on the road hither. Then we can divide up his
property amongst us, and let his mother and the man who marries her
have the house. If this does not please you, and you wish Telemachus
to live on and hold his father's property, then we must not gather
here and eat up his goods in this way, but must make our offers to
Penelope each from his own house, and she can marry the man who will
give the most for her, and whose lot it is to win her."

They all held their peace until Amphinomus rose to speak. He was the
son of Nisus, who was son to king Aretias, and he was foremost among
all the suitors from the wheat-growing and well grassed island of
Dulichium; his conversation, moreover, was more agreeable to Penelope
than that of any of the other for he was a man of good natural disposition.
"My friends," said he, speaking to them plainly and in all honestly,
"I am not in favour of killing Telemachus. It is a heinous thing to
kill one who is of noble blood. Let us first take counsel of the gods,
and if the oracles of Jove advise it, I will both help to kill him
myself, and will urge everyone else to do so; but if they dissuade
us, I would have you hold your hands."

Thus did he speak, and his words pleased them well, so they rose forthwith
and went to the house of Ulysses where they took their accustomed
seats.

Then Penelope resolved that she would show herself to the suitors.
She knew of the plot against Telemachus, for the servant Medon had
overheard their counsels and had told her; she went down therefore
to the court attended by her maidens, and when she reached the suitors
she stood by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof of the cloister
holding a veil before her face, and rebuked Antinous saying:

"Antinous, insolent and wicked schemer, they say you are the best
speaker and counsellor of any man your own age in Ithaca, but you
are nothing of the kind. Madman, why should you try to compass the
death of Telemachus, and take no heed of suppliants, whose witness
is Jove himself? It is not right for you to plot thus against one
another. Do you not remember how your father fled to this house in
fear of the people, who were enraged against him for having gone with
some Taphian pirates and plundered the Thesprotians who were at peace
with us? They wanted to tear him in pieces and eat up everything he
had, but Ulysses stayed their hands although they were infuriated,
and now you devour his property without paying for it, and break my
heart by his wooing his wife and trying to kill his son. Leave off
doing so, and stop the others also."

To this Eurymachus son of Polybus answered, "Take heart, Queen Penelope
daughter of Icarius, and do not trouble yourself about these matters.
The man is not yet born, nor never will be, who shall lay hands upon
your son Telemachus, while I yet live to look upon the face of the
earth. I say- and it shall surely be- that my spear shall be reddened
with his blood; for many a time has Ulysses taken me on his knees,
held wine up to my lips to drink, and put pieces of meat into my hands.
Therefore Telemachus is much the dearest friend I have, and has nothing
to fear from the hands of us suitors. Of course, if death comes to
him from the gods, he cannot escape it." He said this to quiet her,
but in reality he was plotting against Telemachus.

Then Penelope went upstairs again and mourned her husband till Minerva
shed sleep over her eyes. In the evening Eumaeus got back to Ulysses
and his son, who had just sacrificed a young pig of a year old and
were ready; helping one another to get supper ready; Minerva therefore
came up to Ulysses, turned him into an old man with a stroke of her
wand, and clad him in his old clothes again, for fear that the swineherd
might recognize him and not keep the secret, but go and tell Penelope.

Telemachus was the first to speak. "So you have got back, Eumaeus,"
said he. "What is the news of the town? Have the suitors returned,
or are they still waiting over yonder, to take me on my way home?"

"I did not think of asking about that," replied Eumaeus, "when I was
in the town. I thought I would give my message and come back as soon
as I could. I met a man sent by those who had gone with you to Pylos,
and he was the first to tell the new your mother, but I can say what
I saw with my own eyes; I had just got on to the crest of the hill
of Mercury above the town when I saw a ship coming into harbour with
a number of men in her. They had many shields and spears, and I thought
it was the suitors, but I cannot be sure."

On hearing this Telemachus smiled to his father, but so that Eumaeus
could not see him.

Then, when they had finished their work and the meal was ready, they
ate it, and every man had his full share so that all were satisfied.
As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, they laid down to
rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XVII

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus
bound on his sandals and took a strong spear that suited his hands,
for he wanted to go into the city. "Old friend," said he to the swineherd,
"I will now go to the town and show myself to my mother, for she will
never leave off grieving till she has seen me. As for this unfortunate
stranger, take him to the town and let him beg there of any one who
will give him a drink and a piece of bread. I have trouble enough
of my own, and cannot be burdened with other people. If this makes
him angry so much the worse for him, but I like to say what I mean."

Then Ulysses said, "Sir, I do not want to stay here; a beggar can
always do better in town than country, for any one who likes can give
him something. I am too old to care about remaining here at the beck
and call of a master. Therefore let this man do as you have just told
him, and take me to the town as soon as I have had a warm by the fire,
and the day has got a little heat in it. My clothes are wretchedly
thin, and this frosty morning I shall be perished with cold, for you
say the city is some way off."

On this Telemachus strode off through the yards, brooding his revenge
upon the When he reached home he stood his spear against a bearing-post
of the cloister, crossed the stone floor of the cloister itself, and
went inside.

Nurse Euryclea saw him long before any one else did. She was putting
the fleeces on to the seats, and she burst out crying as she ran up
to him; all the other maids came up too, and covered his head and
shoulders with their kisses. Penelope came out of her room looking
like Diana or Venus, and wept as she flung her arms about her son.
She kissed his forehead and both his beautiful eyes, "Light of my
eyes," she cried as she spoke fondly to him, "so you are come home
again; I made sure I was never going to see you any more. To think
of your having gone off to Pylos without saying anything about it
or obtaining my consent. But come, tell me what you saw."

"Do not scold me, mother,' answered Telemachus, "nor vex me, seeing
what a narrow escape I have had, but wash your face, change your dress,
go upstairs with your maids, and promise full and sufficient hecatombs
to all the gods if Jove will only grant us our revenge upon the suitors.
I must now go to the place of assembly to invite a stranger who has
come back with me from Pylos. I sent him on with my crew, and told
Piraeus to take him home and look after him till I could come for
him myself."

She heeded her son's words, washed her face, changed her dress, and
vowed full and sufficient hecatombs to all the gods if they would
only vouchsafe her revenge upon the suitors.

Telemachus went through, and out of, the cloisters spear in hand-
not alone, for his two fleet dogs went with him. Minerva endowed him
with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marvelled at him
as he went by, and the suitors gathered round him with fair words
in their mouths and malice in their hearts; but he avoided them, and
went to sit with Mentor, Antiphus, and Halitherses, old friends of
his father's house, and they made him tell them all that had happened
to him. Then Piraeus came up with Theoclymenus, whom he had escorted
through the town to the place of assembly, whereon Telemachus at once
joined them. Piraeus was first to speak: "Telemachus," said he, "I
wish you would send some of your women to my house to take awa the
presents Menelaus gave you."

"We do not know, Piraeus," answered Telemachus, "what may happen.
If the suitors kill me in my own house and divide my property among
them, I would rather you had the presents than that any of those people
should get hold of them. If on the other hand I manage to kill them,
I shall be much obliged if you will kindly bring me my presents."

With these words he took Theoclymenus to his own house. When they
got there they laid their cloaks on the benches and seats, went into
the baths, and washed themselves. When the maids had washed and anointed
them, and had given them cloaks and shirts, they took their seats
at table. A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden
ewer, and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands;
and she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them
bread and offered them many good things of what there was in the house.
Opposite them sat Penelope, reclining on a couch by one of the bearing-posts
of the cloister, and spinning. Then they laid their hands on the good
things that were before them, and as soon as they had had enough to
eat and drink Penelope said:

"Telemachus, I shall go upstairs and lie down on that sad couch, which
I have not ceased to water with my tears, from the day Ulysses set
out for Troy with the sons of Atreus. You failed, however, to make
it clear to me before the suitors came back to the house, whether
or no you had been able to hear anything about the return of your
father."

"I will tell you then truth," replied her son. "We went to Pylos and
saw Nestor, who took me to his house and treated me as hospitably
as though I were a son of his own who had just returned after a long
absence; so also did his sons; but he said he had not heard a word
from any human being about Ulysses, whether he was alive or dead.
He sent me, therefore, with a chariot and horses to Menelaus. There
I saw Helen, for whose sake so many, both Argives and Trojans, were
in heaven's wisdom doomed to suffer. Menelaus asked me what it was
that had brought me to Lacedaemon, and I told him the whole truth,
whereon he said, 'So, then, these cowards would usurp a brave man's
bed? A hind might as well lay her new-born young in the lair of a
lion, and then go off to feed in the forest or in some grassy dell.
The lion, when he comes back to his lair, will make short work with
the pair of them, and so will Ulysses with these suitors. By father
Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, if Ulysses is still the man that he was
when he wrestled with Philomeleides in Lesbos, and threw him so heavily
that all the Greeks cheered him- if he is still such, and were to
come near these suitors, they would have a short shrift and a sorry
wedding. As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate
nor deceive you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much
will I tell you in full. He said he could see Ulysses on an island
sorrowing bitterly in the house of the nymph Calypso, who was keeping
him prisoner, and he could not reach his home, for he had no ships
nor sailors to take him over the sea.' This was what Menelaus told
me, and when I had heard his story I came away; the gods then gave
me a fair wind and soon brought me safe home again."

With these words he moved the heart of Penelope. Then Theoclymenus
said to her:

"Madam, wife of Ulysses, Telemachus does not understand these things;
listen therefore to me, for I can divine them surely, and will hide
nothing from you. May Jove the king of heaven be my witness, and the
rites of hospitality, with that hearth of Ulysses to which I now come,
that Ulysses himself is even now in Ithaca, and, either going about
the country or staying in one place, is enquiring into all these evil
deeds and preparing a day of reckoning for the suitors. I saw an omen
when I was on the ship which meant this, and I told Telemachus about
it."

"May it be even so," answered Penelope; "if your words come true,
you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who
see you shall congratulate you."

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the suitors were throwing discs,
or aiming with spears at a mark on the levelled ground in front of
the house, and behaving with all their old insolence. But when it
was now time for dinner, and the flock of sheep and goats had come
into the town from all the country round, with their shepherds as
usual, then Medon, who was their favourite servant, and who waited
upon them at table, said, "Now then, my young masters, you have had
enough sport, so come inside that we may get dinner ready. Dinner
is not a bad thing, at dinner time."

They left their sports as he told them, and when they were within
the house, they laid their cloaks on the benches and seats inside,
and then sacrificed some sheep, goats, pigs, and a heifer, all of
them fat and well grown. Thus they made ready for their meal. In the
meantime Ulysses and the swineherd were about starting for the town,
and the swineherd said, "Stranger, I suppose you still want to go
to town to-day, as my master said you were to do; for my own part
I should have liked you to stay here as a station hand, but I must
do as my master tells me, or he will scold me later on, and a scolding
from one's master is a very serious thing. Let us then be off, for
it is now broad day; it will be night again directly and then you
will find it colder."

"I know, and understand you," replied Ulysses; "you need say no more.
Let us be going, but if you have a stick ready cut, let me have it
to walk with, for you say the road is a very rough one."

As he spoke he threw his shabby old tattered wallet over his shoulders,
by the cord from which it hung, and Eumaeus gave him a stick to his
liking. The two then started, leaving the station in charge of the
dogs and herdsmen who remained behind; the swineherd led the way and
his master followed after, looking like some broken-down old tramp
as he leaned upon his staff, and his clothes were all in rags. When
they had got over the rough steep ground and were nearing the city,
they reached the fountain from which the citizens drew their water.
This had been made by Ithacus, Neritus, and Polyctor. There was a
grove of water-loving poplars planted in a circle all round it, and
the clear cold water came down to it from a rock high up, while above
the fountain there was an altar to the nymphs, at which all wayfarers
used to sacrifice. Here Melanthius son of Dolius overtook them as
he was driving down some goats, the best in his flock, for the suitors'
dinner, and there were two shepherds with him. When he saw Eumaeus
and Ulysses he reviled them with outrageous and unseemly language,
which made Ulysses very angry.

"There you go," cried he, "and a precious pair you are. See how heaven
brings birds of the same feather to one another. Where, pray, master
swineherd, are you taking this poor miserable object? It would make
any one sick to see such a creature at table. A fellow like this never
won a prize for anything in his life, but will go about rubbing his
shoulders against every man's door post, and begging, not for swords
and cauldrons like a man, but only for a few scraps not worth begging
for. If you would give him to me for a hand on my station, he might
do to clean out the folds, or bring a bit of sweet feed to the kids,
and he could fatten his thighs as much as he pleased on whey; but
he has taken to bad ways and will not go about any kind of work; he
will do nothing but beg victuals all the town over, to feed his insatiable
belly. I say, therefore and it shall surely be- if he goes near Ulysses'
house he will get his head broken by the stools they will fling at
him, till they turn him out."

On this, as he passed, he gave Ulysses a kick on the hip out of pure
wantonness, but Ulysses stood firm, and did not budge from the path.
For a moment he doubted whether or no to fly at Melanthius and kill
him with his staff, or fling him to the ground and beat his brains
out; he resolved, however, to endure it and keep himself in check,
but the swineherd looked straight at Melanthius and rebuked him, lifting
up his hands and praying to heaven as he did so.

"Fountain nymphs," he cried, "children of Jove, if ever Ulysses burned
you thigh bones covered with fat whether of lambs or kids, grant my
prayer that heaven may send him home. He would soon put an end to
the swaggering threats with which such men as you go about insulting
people-gadding all over the town while your flocks are going to ruin
through bad shepherding."

Then Melanthius the goatherd answered, "You ill-conditioned cur, what
are you talking about? Some day or other I will put you on board ship
and take you to a foreign country, where I can sell you and pocket
the money you will fetch. I wish I were as sure that Apollo would
strike Telemachus dead this very day, or that the suitors would kill
him, as I am that Ulysses will never come home again."

With this he left them to come on at their leisure, while he went
quickly forward and soon reached the house of his master. When he
got there he went in and took his seat among the suitors opposite
Eurymachus, who liked him better than any of the others. The servants
brought him a portion of meat, and an upper woman servant set bread
before him that he might eat. Presently Ulysses and the swineherd
came up to the house and stood by it, amid a sound of music, for Phemius
was just beginning to sing to the suitors. Then Ulysses took hold
of the swineherd's hand, and said:

"Eumaeus, this house of Ulysses is a very fine place. No matter how
far you go you will find few like it. One building keeps following
on after another. The outer court has a wall with battlements all
round it; the doors are double folding, and of good workmanship; it
would be a hard matter to take it by force of arms. I perceive, too,
that there are many people banqueting within it, for there is a smell
of roast meat, and I hear a sound of music, which the gods have made
to go along with feasting."

Then Eumaeus said, "You have perceived aright, as indeed you generally
do; but let us think what will be our best course. Will you go inside
first and join the suitors, leaving me here behind you, or will you
wait here and let me go in first? But do not wait long, or some one
may you loitering about outside, and throw something at you. Consider
this matter I pray you."

And Ulysses answered, "I understand and heed. Go in first and leave
me here where I am. I am quite used to being beaten and having things
thrown at me. I have been so much buffeted about in war and by sea
that I am case-hardened, and this too may go with the rest. But a
man cannot hide away the cravings of a hungry belly; this is an enemy
which gives much trouble to all men; it is because of this that ships
are fitted out to sail the seas, and to make war upon other people."

As they were thus talking, a dog that had been lying asleep raised
his head and pricked up his ears. This was Argos, whom Ulysses had
bred before setting out for Troy, but he had never had any work out
of him. In the old days he used to be taken out by the young men when
they went hunting wild goats, or deer, or hares, but now that his
master was gone he was lying neglected on the heaps of mule and cow
dung that lay in front of the stable doors till the men should come
and draw it away to manure the great close; and he was full of fleas.
As soon as he saw Ulysses standing there, he dropped his ears and
wagged his tail, but he could not get close up to his master. When
Ulysses saw the dog on the other side of the yard, dashed a tear from
his eyes without Eumaeus seeing it, and said:

"Eumaeus, what a noble hound that is over yonder on the manure heap:
his build is splendid; is he as fine a fellow as he looks, or is he
only one of those dogs that come begging about a table, and are kept
merely for show?"

"This hound," answered Eumaeus, "belonged to him who has died in a
far country. If he were what he was when Ulysses left for Troy, he
would soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast in
the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks.
But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone,
and the women take no care of him. Servants never do their work when
their master's hand is no longer over them, for Jove takes half the
goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him."

As he spoke he went inside the buildings to the cloister where the
suitors were, but Argos died as soon as he had recognized his master.

Telemachus saw Eumaeus long before any one else did, and beckoned
him to come and sit beside him; so he looked about and saw a seat
lying near where the carver sat serving out their portions to the
suitors; he picked it up, brought it to Telemachus's table, and sat
down opposite him. Then the servant brought him his portion, and gave
him bread from the bread-basket.

Immediately afterwards Ulysses came inside, looking like a poor miserable
old beggar, leaning on his staff and with his clothes all in rags.
He sat down upon the threshold of ash-wood just inside the doors leading
from the outer to the inner court, and against a bearing-post of cypress-wood
which the carpenter had skillfully planed, and had made to join truly
with rule and line. Telemachus took a whole loaf from the bread-basket,
with as much meat as he could hold in his two hands, and said to Eumaeus,
"Take this to the stranger, and tell him to go the round of the suitors,
and beg from them; a beggar must not be shamefaced."

So Eumaeus went up to him and said, "Stranger, Telemachus sends you
this, and says you are to go the round of the suitors begging, for
beggars must not be shamefaced."

Ulysses answered, "May King Jove grant all happiness to Telemachus,
and fulfil the desire of his heart."

Then with both hands he took what Telemachus had sent him, and laid
it on the dirty old wallet at his feet. He went on eating it while
the bard was singing, and had just finished his dinner as he left
off. The suitors applauded the bard, whereon Minerva went up to Ulysses
and prompted him to beg pieces of bread from each one of the suitors,
that he might see what kind of people they were, and tell the good
from the bad; but come what might she was not going to save a single
one of them. Ulysses, therefore, went on his round, going from left
to right, and stretched out his hands to beg as though he were a real
beggar. Some of them pitied him, and were curious about him, asking
one another who he was and where he came from; whereon the goatherd
Melanthius said, "Suitors of my noble mistress, I can tell you something
about him, for I have seen him before. The swineherd brought him here,
but I know nothing about the man himself, nor where he comes from."

On this Antinous began to abuse the swineherd. "You precious idiot,"
he cried, "what have you brought this man to town for? Have we not
tramps and beggars enough already to pester us as we sit at meat?
Do you think it a small thing that such people gather here to waste
your master's property and must you needs bring this man as well?"

And Eumaeus answered, "Antinous, your birth is good but your words
evil. It was no doing of mine that he came here. Who is likely to
invite a stranger from a foreign country, unless it be one of those
who can do public service as a seer, a healer of hurts, a carpenter,
or a bard who can charm us with his Such men are welcome all the world
over, but no one is likely to ask a beggar who will only worry him.
You are always harder on Ulysses' servants than any of the other suitors
are, and above all on me, but I do not care so long as Telemachus
and Penelope are alive and here."

But Telemachus said, "Hush, do not answer him; Antinous has the bitterest
tongue of all the suitors, and he makes the others worse."

Then turning to Antinous he said, "Antinous, you take as much care
of my interests as though I were your son. Why should you want to
see this stranger turned out of the house? Heaven forbid; take' something
and give it him yourself; I do not grudge it; I bid you take it. Never
mind my mother, nor any of the other servants in the house; but I
know you will not do what I say, for you are more fond of eating things
yourself than of giving them to other people."

"What do you mean, Telemachus," replied Antinous, "by this swaggering
talk? If all the suitors were to give him as much as I will, he would
not come here again for another three months."

As he spoke he drew the stool on which he rested his dainty feet from
under the table, and made as though he would throw it at Ulysses,
but the other suitors all gave him something, and filled his wallet
with bread and meat; he was about, therefore, to go back to the threshold
and eat what the suitors had given him, but he first went up to Antinous
and said:

"Sir, give me something; you are not, surely, the poorest man here;
you seem to be a chief, foremost among them all; therefore you should
be the better giver, and I will tell far and wide of your bounty.
I too was a rich man once, and had a fine house of my own; in those
days I gave to many a tramp such as I now am, no matter who he might
be nor what he wanted. I had any number of servants, and all the other
things which people have who live well and are accounted wealthy,
but it pleased Jove to take all away from me. He sent me with a band
of roving robbers to Egypt; it was a long voyage and I was undone
by it. I stationed my bade ships in the river Aegyptus, and bade my
men stay by them and keep guard over them, while sent out scouts to
reconnoitre from every point of vantage.

"But the men disobeyed my orders, took to their own devices, and ravaged
the land of the Egyptians, killing the men, and taking their wives
and children captives. The alarm was soon carried to the city, and
when they heard the war-cry, the people came out at daybreak till
the plain was filled with soldiers horse and foot, and with the gleam
of armour. Then Jove spread panic among my men, and they would no
longer face the enemy, for they found themselves surrounded. The Egyptians
killed many of us, and took the rest alive to do forced labour for
them; as for myself, they gave me to a friend who met them, to take
to Cyprus, Dmetor by name, son of Iasus, who was a great man in Cyprus.
Thence I am come hither in a state of great misery."

Then Antinous said, "What god can have sent such a pestilence to plague
us during our dinner? Get out, into the open part of the court, or
I will give you Egypt and Cyprus over again for your insolence and
importunity; you have begged of all the others, and they have given
you lavishly, for they have abundance round them, and it is easy to
be free with other people's property when there is plenty of it."

On this Ulysses began to move off, and said, "Your looks, my fine
sir, are better than your breeding; if you were in your own house
you would not spare a poor man so much as a pinch of salt, for though
you are in another man's, and surrounded with abundance, you cannot
find it in you to give him even a piece of bread."

This made Antinous very angry, and he scowled at him saying, "You
shall pay for this before you get clear of the court." With these
words he threw a footstool at him, and hit him on the right shoulder-blade
near the top of his back. Ulysses stood firm as a rock and the blow
did not even stagger him, but he shook his head in silence as he brooded
on his revenge. Then he went back to the threshold and sat down there,
laying his well-filled wallet at his feet.

"Listen to me," he cried, "you suitors of Queen Penelope, that I may
speak even as I am minded. A man knows neither ache nor pain if he
gets hit while fighting for his money, or for his sheep or his cattle;
and even so Antinous has hit me while in the service of my miserable
belly, which is always getting people into trouble. Still, if the
poor have gods and avenging deities at all, I pray them that Antinous
may come to a bad end before his marriage."

"Sit where you are, and eat your victuals in silence, or be off elsewhere,"
shouted Antinous. "If you say more I will have you dragged hand and
foot through the courts, and the servants shall flay you alive."

The other suitors were much displeased at this, and one of the young
men said, "Antinous, you did ill in striking that poor wretch of a
tramp: it will be worse for you if he should turn out to be some god-
and we know the gods go about disguised in all sorts of ways as people
from foreign countries, and travel about the world to see who do amiss
and who righteously."

Thus said the suitors, but Antinous paid them no heed. Meanwhile Telemachus
was furious about the blow that had been given to his father, and
though no tear fell from him, he shook his head in silence and brooded
on his revenge.

Now when Penelope heard that the beggar had been struck in the banqueting-cloister,
she said before her maids, "Would that Apollo would so strike you,
Antinous," and her waiting woman Eurynome answered, "If our prayers
were answered not one of the suitors would ever again see the sun
rise." Then Penelope said, "Nurse, I hate every single one of them,
for they mean nothing but mischief, but I hate Antinous like the darkness
of death itself. A poor unfortunate tramp has come begging about the
house for sheer want. Every one else has given him something to put
in his wallet, but Antinous has hit him on the right shoulder-blade
with a footstool."

Thus did she talk with her maids as she sat in her own room, and in
the meantime Ulysses was getting his dinner. Then she called for the
swineherd and said, "Eumaeus, go and tell the stranger to come here,
I want to see him and ask him some questions. He seems to have travelled
much, and he may have seen or heard something of my unhappy husband."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "If these Achaeans, Madam,
would only keep quiet, you would be charmed with the history of his
adventures. I had him three days and three nights with me in my hut,
which was the first place he reached after running away from his ship,
and he has not yet completed the story of his misfortunes. If he had
been the most heaven-taught minstrel in the whole world, on whose
lips all hearers hang entranced, I could not have been more charmed
as I sat in my hut and listened to him. He says there is an old friendship
between his house and that of Ulysses, and that he comes from Crete
where the descendants of Minos live, after having been driven hither
and thither by every kind of misfortune; he also declares that he
has heard of Ulysses as being alive and near at hand among the Thesprotians,
and that he is bringing great wealth home with him."

"Call him here, then," said Penelope, "that I too may hear his story.
As for the suitors, let them take their pleasure indoors or out as
they will, for they have nothing to fret about. Their corn and wine
remain unwasted in their houses with none but servants to consume
them, while they keep hanging about our house day after day sacrificing
our oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and never giving
so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink. No estate
can stand such recklessness, for we have now no Ulysses to protect
us. If he were to come again, he and his son would soon have their
revenge."

As she spoke Telemachus sneezed so loudly that the whole house resounded
with it. Penelope laughed when she heard this, and said to Eumaeus,
"Go and call the stranger; did you not hear how my son sneezed just
as I was speaking? This can only mean that all the suitors are going
to be killed, and that not one of them shall escape. Furthermore I
say, and lay my saying to your heart: if I am satisfied that the stranger
is speaking the truth I shall give him a shirt and cloak of good wear."

When Eumaeus heard this he went straight to Ulysses and said, "Father
stranger, my mistress Penelope, mother of Telemachus, has sent for
you; she is in great grief, but she wishes to hear anything you can
tell her about her husband, and if she is satisfied that you are speaking
the truth, she will give you a shirt and cloak, which are the very
things that you are most in want of. As for bread, you can get enough
of that to fill your belly, by begging about the town, and letting
those give that will."

"I will tell Penelope," answered Ulysses, "nothing but what is strictly
true. I know all about her husband, and have been partner with him
in affliction, but I am afraid of passing. through this crowd of cruel
suitors, for their pride and insolence reach heaven. Just now, moreover,
as I was going about the house without doing any harm, a man gave
me a blow that hurt me very much, but neither Telemachus nor any one
else defended me. Tell Penelope, therefore, to be patient and wait
till sundown. Let her give me a seat close up to the fire, for my
clothes are worn very thin- you know they are, for you have seen them
ever since I first asked you to help me- she can then ask me about
the return of her husband."

The swineherd went back when he heard this, and Penelope said as she
saw him cross the threshold, "Why do you not bring him here, Eumaeus?
Is he afraid that some one will ill-treat him, or is he shy of coming
inside the house at all? Beggars should not be shamefaced."

To this you answered, O swineherd Eumaeus, "The stranger is quite
reasonable. He is avoiding the suitors, and is only doing what any
one else would do. He asks you to wait till sundown, and it will be
much better, madam, that you should have him all to yourself, when
you can hear him and talk to him as you will."

"The man is no fool," answered Penelope, "it would very likely be
as he says, for there are no such abominable people in the whole world
as these men are."

When she had done speaking Eumaeus went back to the suitors, for he
had explained everything. Then he went up to Telemachus and said in
his ear so that none could overhear him, "My dear sir, I will now
go back to the pigs, to see after your property and my own business.
You will look to what is going on here, but above all be careful to
keep out of danger, for there are many who bear you ill will. May
Jove bring them to a bad end before they do us a mischief."

"Very well," replied Telemachus, "go home when you have had your dinner,
and in the morning come here with the victims we are to sacrifice
for the day. Leave the rest to heaven and me."

On this Eumaeus took his seat again, and when he had finished his
dinner he left the courts and the cloister with the men at table,
and went back to his pigs. As for the suitors, they presently began
to amuse themselves with singing and dancing, for it was now getting
on towards evening.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XVIII

Now there came a certain common tramp who used to go begging all
over the city of Ithaca, and was notorious as an incorrigible glutton
and drunkard. This man had no strength nor stay in him, but he was
a great hulking fellow to look at; his real name, the one his mother
gave him, was Arnaeus, but the young men of the place called him Irus,
because he used to run errands for any one who would send him. As
soon as he came he began to insult Ulysses, and to try and drive him
out of his own house.

"Be off, old man," he cried, "from the doorway, or you shall be dragged
out neck and heels. Do you not see that they are all giving me the
wink, and wanting me to turn you out by force, only I do not like
to do so? Get up then, and go of yourself, or we shall come to blows."

Ulysses frowned on him and said, "My friend, I do you no manner of
harm; people give you a great deal, but I am not jealous. There is
room enough in this doorway for the pair of us, and you need not grudge
me things that are not yours to give. You seem to be just such another
tramp as myself, but perhaps the gods will give us better luck by
and by. Do not, however, talk too much about fighting or you will
incense me, and old though I am, I shall cover your mouth and chest
with blood. I shall have more peace to-morrow if I do, for you will
not come to the house of Ulysses any more."

Irus was very angry and answered, "You filthy glutton, you run on
trippingly like an old fish-fag. I have a good mind to lay both hands
about you, and knock your teeth out of your head like so many boar's
tusks. Get ready, therefore, and let these people here stand by and
look on. You will never be able to fight one who is so much younger
than yourself."

Thus roundly did they rate one another on the smooth pavement in front
of the doorway, and when Antinous saw what was going on he laughed
heartily and said to the others, "This is the finest sport that you
ever saw; heaven never yet sent anything like it into this house.
The stranger and Irus have quarreled and are going to fight, let us
set them on to do so at once."

The suitors all came up laughing, and gathered round the two ragged
tramps. "Listen to me," said Antinous, "there are some goats' paunches
down at the fire, which we have filled with blood and fat, and set
aside for supper; he who is victorious and proves himself to be the
better man shall have his pick of the lot; he shall be free of our
table and we will not allow any other beggar about the house at all."

The others all agreed, but Ulysses, to throw them off the scent, said,
"Sirs, an old man like myself, worn out with suffering, cannot hold
his own against a young one; but my irrepressible belly urges me on,
though I know it can only end in my getting a drubbing. You must swear,
however that none of you will give me a foul blow to favour Irus and
secure him the victory."

They swore as he told them, and when they had completed their oath
Telemachus put in a word and said, "Stranger, if you have a mind to
settle with this fellow, you need not be afraid of any one here. Whoever
strikes you will have to fight more than one. I am host, and the other
chiefs, Antinous and Eurymachus, both of them men of understanding,
are of the same mind as I am."

Every one assented, and Ulysses girded his old rags about his loins,
thus baring his stalwart thighs, his broad chest and shoulders, and
his mighty arms; but Minerva came up to him and made his limbs even
stronger still. The suitors were beyond measure astonished, and one
would turn towards his neighbour saying, "The stranger has brought
such a thigh out of his old rags that there will soon be nothing left
of Irus."

Irus began to be very uneasy as he heard them, but the servants girded
him by force, and brought him [into the open part of the court] in
such a fright that his limbs were all of a tremble. Antinous scolded
him and said, "You swaggering bully, you ought never to have been
born at all if you are afraid of such an old broken-down creature
as this tramp is. I say, therefore- and it shall surely be- if he
beats you and proves himself the better man, I shall pack you off
on board ship to the mainland and send you to king Echetus, who kills
every one that comes near him. He will cut off your nose and ears,
and draw out your entrails for the dogs to eat."

This frightened Irus still more, but they brought him into the middle
of the court, and the two men raised their hands to fight. Then Ulysses
considered whether he should let drive so hard at him as to make an
end of him then and there, or whether he should give him a lighter
blow that should only knock him down; in the end he deemed it best
to give the lighter blow for fear the Achaeans should begin to suspect
who he was. Then they began to fight, and Irus hit Ulysses on the
right shoulder; but Ulysses gave Irus a blow on the neck under the
ear that broke in the bones of his skull, and the blood came gushing
out of his mouth; he fell groaning in the dust, gnashing his teeth
and kicking on the ground, but the suitors threw up their hands and
nearly died of laughter, as Ulysses caught hold of him by the foot
and dragged him into the outer court as far as the gate-house. There
he propped him up against the wall and put his staff in his hands.
"Sit here," said he, "and keep the dogs and pigs off; you are a pitiful
creature, and if you try to make yourself king of the beggars any
more you shall fare still worse."

Then he threw his dirty old wallet, all tattered and torn, over his
shoulder with the cord by which it hung, and went back to sit down
upon the threshold; but the suitors went within the cloisters, laughing
and saluting him, "May Jove, and all the other gods," said they, 'grant
you whatever you want for having put an end to the importunity of
this insatiable tramp. We will take him over to the mainland presently,
to king Echetus, who kills every one that comes near him."

Ulysses hailed this as of good omen, and Antinous set a great goat's
paunch before him filled with blood and fat. Amphinomus took two loaves
out of the bread-basket and brought them to him, pledging him as he
did so in a golden goblet of wine. "Good luck to you," he said, "father
stranger, you are very badly off at present, but I hope you will have
better times by and by."

To this Ulysses answered, "Amphinomus, you seem to be a man of good
understanding, as indeed you may well be, seeing whose son you are.
I have heard your father well spoken of; he is Nisus of Dulichium,
a man both brave and wealthy. They tell me you are his son, and you
appear to be a considerable person; listen, therefore, and take heed
to what I am saying. Man is the vainest of all creatures that have
their being upon earth. As long as heaven vouchsafes him health and
strength, he thinks that he shall come to no harm hereafter, and even
when the blessed gods bring sorrow upon him, he bears it as he needs
must, and makes the best of it; for God Almighty gives men their daily
minds day by day. I know all about it, for I was a rich man once,
and did much wrong in the stubbornness of my pride, and in the confidence
that my father and my brothers would support me; therefore let a man
fear God in all things always, and take the good that heaven may see
fit to send him without vainglory. Consider the infamy of what these
suitors are doing; see how they are wasting the estate, and doing
dishonour to the wife, of one who is certain to return some day, and
that, too, not long hence. Nay, he will be here soon; may heaven send
you home quietly first that you may not meet with him in the day of
his coming, for once he is here the suitors and he will not part bloodlessly."

With these words he made a drink-offering, and when he had drunk he
put the gold cup again into the hands of Amphinomus, who walked away
serious and bowing his head, for he foreboded evil. But even so he
did not escape destruction, for Minerva had doomed him fall by the
hand of Telemachus. So he took his seat again at the place from which
he had come.

Then Minerva put it into the mind of Penelope to show herself to the
suitors, that she might make them still more enamoured of her, and
win still further honour from her son and husband. So she feigned
a mocking laugh and said, "Eurynome, I have changed my and have a
fancy to show myself to the suitors although I detest them. I should
like also to give my son a hint that he had better not have anything
more to do with them. They speak fairly enough but they mean mischief."

"My dear child," answered Eurynome, "all that you have said is true,
go and tell your son about it, but first wash yourself and anoint
your face. Do not go about with your cheeks all covered with tears;
it is not right that you should grieve so incessantly; for Telemachus,
whom you always prayed that you might live to see with a beard, is
already grown up."

"I know, Eurynome," replied Penelope, "that you mean well, but do
not try and persuade me to wash and to anoint myself, for heaven robbed
me of all my beauty on the day my husband sailed; nevertheless, tell
Autonoe and Hippodamia that I want them. They must be with me when
I am in the cloister; I am not going among the men alone; it would
not be proper for me to do so."

On this the old woman went out of the room to bid the maids go to
their mistress. In the meantime Minerva bethought her of another matter,
and sent Penelope off into a sweet slumber; so she lay down on her
couch and her limbs became heavy with sleep. Then the goddess shed
grace and beauty over her that all the Achaeans might admire her.
She washed her face with the ambrosial loveliness that Venus wears
when she goes dancing with the Graces; she made her taller and of
a more commanding figure, while as for her complexion it was whiter
than sawn ivory. When Minerva had done all this she went away, whereon
the maids came in from the women's room and woke Penelope with the
sound of their talking.

"What an exquisitely delicious sleep I have been having," said she,
as she passed her hands over her face, "in spite of all my misery.
I wish Diana would let me die so sweetly now at this very moment,
that I might no longer waste in despair for the loss of my dear husband,
who possessed every kind of good quality and was the most distinguished
man among the Achaeans."

With these words she came down from her upper room, not alone but
attended by two of her maidens, and when she reached the suitors she
stood by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof of the cloister,
holding a veil before her face, and with a staid maid servant on either
side of her. As they beheld her the suitors were so overpowered and
became so desperately enamoured of her, that each one prayed he might
win her for his own bed fellow.

"Telemachus," said she, addressing her son, "I fear you are no longer
so discreet and well conducted as you used to be. When you were younger
you had a greater sense of propriety; now, however, that you are grown
up, though a stranger to look at you would take you for the son of
a well-to-do father as far as size and good looks go, your conduct
is by no means what it should be. What is all this disturbance that
has been going on, and how came you to allow a stranger to be so disgracefully
ill-treated? What would have happened if he had suffered serious injury
while a suppliant in our house? Surely this would have been very discreditable
to you."

"I am not surprised, my dear mother, at your displeasure," replied
Telemachus, "I understand all about it and know when things are not
as they should be, which I could not do when I was younger; I cannot,
however, behave with perfect propriety at all times. First one and
then another of these wicked people here keeps driving me out of my
mind, and I have no one to stand by me. After all, however, this fight
between Irus and the stranger did not turn out as the suitors meant
it to do, for the stranger got the best of it. I wish Father Jove,
Minerva, and Apollo would break the neck of every one of these wooers
of yours, some inside the house and some out; and I wish they might
all be as limp as Irus is over yonder in the gate of the outer court.
See how he nods his head like a drunken man; he has had such a thrashing
that he cannot stand on his feet nor get back to his home, wherever
that may be, for has no strength left in him."

Thus did they converse. Eurymachus then came up and said, "Queen Penelope,
daughter of Icarius, if all the Achaeans in Iasian Argos could see
you at this moment, you would have still more suitors in your house
by tomorrow morning, for you are the most admirable woman in the whole
world both as regards personal beauty and strength of understanding."

To this Penelope replied, "Eurymachus, heaven robbed me of all my
beauty whether of face or figure when the Argives set sail for Troy
and my dear husband with them. If he were to return and look after
my affairs, I should both be more respected and show a better presence
to the world. As it is, I am oppressed with care, and with the afflictions
which heaven has seen fit to heap upon me. My husband foresaw it all,
and when he was leaving home he took my right wrist in his hand- 'Wife,
'he said, 'we shall not all of us come safe home from Troy, for the
Trojans fight well both with bow and spear. They are excellent also
at fighting from chariots, and nothing decides the issue of a fight
sooner than this. I know not, therefore, whether heaven will send
me back to you, or whether I may not fall over there at Troy. In the
meantime do you look after things here. Take care of my father and
mother as at present, and even more so during my absence, but when
you see our son growing a beard, then marry whom you will, and leave
this your present home. This is what he said and now it is all coming
true. A night will come when I shall have to yield myself to a marriage
which I detest, for Jove has taken from me all hope of happiness.
This further grief, moreover, cuts me to the very heart. You suitors
are not wooing me after the custom of my country. When men are courting
a woman who they think will be a good wife to them and who is of noble
birth, and when they are each trying to win her for himself, they
usually bring oxen and sheep to feast the friends of the lady, and
they make her magnificent presents, instead of eating up other people's
property without paying for it."

This was what she said, and Ulysses was glad when he heard her trying
to get presents out of the suitors, and flattering them with fair
words which he knew she did not mean.

Then Antinous said, "Queen Penelope, daughter of Icarius, take as
many presents as you please from any one who will give them to you;
it is not well to refuse a present; but we will not go about our business
nor stir from where we are, till you have married the best man among
us whoever he may be."

The others applauded what Antinous had said, and each one sent his
servant to bring his present. Antinous's man returned with a large
and lovely dress most exquisitely embroidered. It had twelve beautifully
made brooch pins of pure gold with which to fasten it. Eurymachus
immediately brought her a magnificent chain of gold and amber beads
that gleamed like sunlight. Eurydamas's two men returned with some
earrings fashioned into three brilliant pendants which glistened most
beautifully; while king Pisander son of Polyctor gave her a necklace
of the rarest workmanship, and every one else brought her a beautiful
present of some kind.

Then the queen went back to her room upstairs, and her maids brought
the presents after her. Meanwhile the suitors took to singing and
dancing, and stayed till evening came. They danced and sang till it
grew dark; they then brought in three braziers to give light, and
piled them up with chopped firewood very and dry, and they lit torches
from them, which the maids held up turn and turn about. Then Ulysses
said:

"Maids, servants of Ulysses who has so long been absent, go to the
queen inside the house; sit with her and amuse her, or spin, and pick
wool. I will hold the light for all these people. They may stay till
morning, but shall not beat me, for I can stand a great deal."

The maids looked at one another and laughed, while pretty Melantho
began to gibe at him contemptuously. She was daughter to Dolius, but
had been brought up by Penelope, who used to give her toys to play
with, and looked after her when she was a child; but in spite of all
this she showed no consideration for the sorrows of her mistress,
and used to misconduct herself with Eurymachus, with whom she was
in love.

"Poor wretch," said she, "are you gone clean out of your mind? Go
and sleep in some smithy, or place of public gossips, instead of chattering
here. Are you not ashamed of opening your mouth before your betters-
so many of them too? Has the wine been getting into your head, or
do you always babble in this way? You seem to have lost your wits
because you beat the tramp Irus; take care that a better man than
he does not come and cudgel you about the head till he pack you bleeding
out of the house."

"Vixen," replied Ulysses, scowling at her, "I will go and tell Telemachus
what you have been saying, and he will have you torn limb from limb."

With these words he scared the women, and they went off into the body
of the house. They trembled all aver, for they thought he would do
as he said. But Ulysses took his stand near the burning braziers,
holding up torches and looking at the people- brooding the while on
things that should surely come to pass.

But Minerva would not let the suitors for one moment cease their insolence,
for she wanted Ulysses to become even more bitter against them; she
therefore set Eurymachus son of Polybus on to gibe at him, which made
the others laugh. "Listen to me," said he, "you suitors of Queen Penelope,
that I may speak even as I am minded. It is not for nothing that this
man has come to the house of Ulysses; I believe the light has not
been coming from the torches, but from his own head- for his hair
is all gone, every bit of it."

Then turning to Ulysses he said, "Stranger, will you work as a servant,
if I send you to the wolds and see that you are well paid? Can you
build a stone fence, or plant trees? I will have you fed all the year
round, and will find you in shoes and clothing. Will you go, then?
Not you; for you have got into bad ways, and do not want to work;
you had rather fill your belly by going round the country begging."

"Eurymachus," answered Ulysses, "if you and I were to work one against
the other in early summer when the days are at their longest- give
me a good scythe, and take another yourself, and let us see which
will fast the longer or mow the stronger, from dawn till dark when
the mowing grass is about. Or if you will plough against me, let us
each take a yoke of tawny oxen, well-mated and of great strength and
endurance: turn me into a four acre field, and see whether you or
I can drive the straighter furrow. If, again, war were to break out
this day, give me a shield, a couple of spears and a helmet fitting
well upon my temples- you would find me foremost in the fray, and
would cease your gibes about my belly. You are insolent and cruel,
and think yourself a great man because you live in a little world,
ind that a bad one. If Ulysses comes to his own again, the doors of
his house are wide, but you will find them narrow when you try to
fly through them."

Eurymachus was furious at all this. He scowled at him and cried, "You
wretch, I will soon pay you out for daring to say such things to me,
and in public too. Has the wine been getting into your head or do
you always babble in this way? You seem to have lost your wits because
you beat the tramp Irus. With this he caught hold of a footstool,
but Ulysses sought protection at the knees of Amphinomus of Dulichium,
for he was afraid. The stool hit the cupbearer on his right hand and
knocked him down: the man fell with a cry flat on his back, and his
wine-jug fell ringing to the ground. The suitors in the covered cloister
were now in an uproar, and one would turn towards his neighbour, saying,
"I wish the stranger had gone somewhere else, bad luck to hide, for
all the trouble he gives us. We cannot permit such disturbance about
a beggar; if such ill counsels are to prevail we shall have no more
pleasure at our banquet."

On this Telemachus came forward and said, "Sirs, are you mad? Can
you not carry your meat and your liquor decently? Some evil spirit
has possessed you. I do not wish to drive any of you away, but you
have had your suppers, and the sooner you all go home to bed the better."

The suitors bit their lips and marvelled at the boldness of his speech;
but Amphinomus the son of Nisus, who was son to Aretias, said, "Do
not let us take offence; it is reasonable, so let us make no answer.
Neither let us do violence to the stranger nor to any of Ulysses'
servants. Let the cupbearer go round with the drink-offerings, that
we may make them and go home to our rest. As for the stranger, let
us leave Telemachus to deal with him, for it is to his house that
he has come."

Thus did he speak, and his saying pleased them well, so Mulius of
Dulichium, servant to Amphinomus, mixed them a bowl of wine and water
and handed it round to each of them man by man, whereon they made
their drink-offerings to the blessed gods: Then, when they had made
their drink-offerings and had drunk each one as he was minded, they
took their several ways each of them to his own abode.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIX

Ulysses was left in the cloister, pondering on the means whereby
with Minerva's help he might be able to kill the suitors. Presently
he said to Telemachus, "Telemachus, we must get the armour together
and take it down inside. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you
why you have removed it. Say that you have taken it to be out of the
way of the smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what it was when Ulysses
went away, but has become soiled and begrimed with soot. Add to this
more particularly that you are afraid Jove may set them on to quarrel
over their wine, and that they may do each other some harm which may
disgrace both banquet and wooing, for the sight of arms sometimes
tempts people to use them."

Telemachus approved of what his father had said, so he called nurse
Euryclea and said, "Nurse, shut the women up in their room, while
I take the armour that my father left behind him down into the store
room. No one looks after it now my father is gone, and it has got
all smirched with soot during my own boyhood. I want to take it down
where the smoke cannot reach it."

"I wish, child," answered Euryclea, "that you would take the management
of the house into your own hands altogether, and look after all the
property yourself. But who is to go with you and light you to the
store room? The maids would have so, but you would not let them.

"The stranger," said Telemachus, "shall show me a light; when people
eat my bread they must earn it, no matter where they come from."

Euryclea did as she was told, and bolted the women inside their room.
Then Ulysses and his son made all haste to take the helmets, shields,
and spears inside; and Minerva went before them with a gold lamp in
her hand that shed a soft and brilliant radiance, whereon Telemachus
said, "Father, my eyes behold a great marvel: the walls, with the
rafters, crossbeams, and the supports on which they rest are all aglow
as with a flaming fire. Surely there is some god here who has come
down from heaven."

"Hush," answered Ulysses, "hold your peace and ask no questions, for
this is the manner of the gods. Get you to your bed, and leave me
here to talk with your mother and the maids. Your mother in her grief
will ask me all sorts of questions."

On this Telemachus went by torch-light to the other side of the inner
court, to the room in which he always slept. There he lay in his bed
till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister pondering on
the means whereby with Minerva's help he might be able to kill the
suitors.

Then Penelope came down from her room looking like Venus or Diana,
and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and ivory near
the fire in her accustomed place. It had been made by Icmalius and
had a footstool all in one piece with the seat itself; and it was
covered with a thick fleece: on this she now sat, and the maids came
from the women's room to join her. They set about removing the tables
at which the wicked suitors had been dining, and took away the bread
that was left, with the cups from which they had drunk. They emptied
the embers out of the braziers, and heaped much wood upon them to
give both light and heat; but Melantho began to rail at Ulysses a
second time and said, "Stranger, do you mean to plague us by hanging
about the house all night and spying upon the women? Be off, you wretch,
outside, and eat your supper there, or you shall be driven out with
a firebrand."

Ulysses scowled at her and answered, "My good woman, why should you
be so angry with me? Is it because I am not clean, and my clothes
are all in rags, and because I am obliged to go begging about after
the manner of tramps and beggars generall? I too was a rich man once,
and had a fine house of my own; in those days I gave to many a tramp
such as I now am, no matter who he might be nor what he wanted. I
had any number of servants, and all the other things which people
have who live well and are accounted wealthy, but it pleased Jove
to take all away from me; therefore, woman, beware lest you too come
to lose that pride and place in which you now wanton above your fellows;
have a care lest you get out of favour with your mistress, and lest
Ulysses should come home, for there is still a chance that he may
do so. Moreover, though he be dead as you think he is, yet by Apollo's
will he has left a son behind him, Telemachus, who will note anything
done amiss by the maids in the house, for he is now no longer in his
boyhood."

Penelope heard what he was saying and scolded the maid, "Impudent
baggage, said she, "I see how abominably you are behaving, and you
shall smart for it. You knew perfectly well, for I told you myself,
that I was going to see the stranger and ask him about my husband,
for whose sake I am in such continual sorrow."

Then she said to her head waiting woman Eurynome, "Bring a seat with
a fleece upon it, for the stranger to sit upon while he tells his
story, and listens to what I have to say. I wish to ask him some questions."

Eurynome brought the seat at once and set a fleece upon it, and as
soon as Ulysses had sat down Penelope began by saying, "Stranger,
I shall first ask you who and whence are you? Tell me of your town
and parents."

"Madam;" answered Ulysses, "who on the face of the whole earth can
dare to chide with you? Your fame reaches the firmament of heaven
itself; you are like some blameless king, who upholds righteousness,
as the monarch over a great and valiant nation: the earth yields its
wheat and barley, the trees are loaded with fruit, the ewes bring
forth lambs, and the sea abounds with fish by reason of his virtues,
and his people do good deeds under him. Nevertheless, as I sit here
in your house, ask me some other question and do not seek to know
my race and family, or you will recall memories that will yet more
increase my sorrow. I am full of heaviness, but I ought not to sit
weeping and wailing in another person's house, nor is it well to be
thus grieving continually. I shall have one of the servants or even
yourself complaining of me, and saying that my eyes swim with tears
because I am heavy with wine."

Then Penelope answered, "Stranger, heaven robbed me of all beauty,
whether of face or figure, when the Argives set sail for Troy and
my dear husband with them. If he were to return and look after my
affairs I should be both more respected and should show a better presence
to the world. As it is, I am oppressed with care, and with the afflictions
which heaven has seen fit to heap upon me. The chiefs from all our
islands- Dulichium, Same, and Zacynthus, as also from Ithaca itself,
are wooing me against my will and are wasting my estate. I can therefore
show no attention to strangers, nor suppliants, nor to people who
say that they are skilled artisans, but am all the time brokenhearted
about Ulysses. They want me to marry again at once, and I have to
invent stratagems in order to deceive them. In the first place heaven
put it in my mind to set up a great tambour-frame in my room, and
to begin working upon an enormous piece of fine needlework. Then I
said to them, 'Sweethearts, Ulysses is indeed dead, still, do not
press me to marry again immediately; wait- for I would not have my
skill in needlework perish unrecorded- till I have finished making
a pall for the hero Laertes, to be ready against the time when death
shall take him. He is very rich, and the women of the place will talk
if he is laid out without a pall.' This was what I said, and they
assented; whereon I used to keep working at my great web all day long,
but at night I would unpick the stitches again by torch light. I fooled
them in this way for three years without their finding it out, but
as time wore on and I was now in my fourth year, in the waning of
moons, and many days had been accomplished, those good-for-nothing
hussies my maids betrayed me to the suitors, who broke in upon me
and caught me; they were very angry with me, so I was forced to finish
my work whether I would or no. And now I do not see how I can find
any further shift for getting out of this marriage. My parents are
putting great pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the ravages the
suitors are making upon his estate, for he is now old enough to understand
all about it and is perfectly able to look after his own affairs,
for heaven has blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding
all this, tell me who you are and where you come from- for you must
have had father and mother of some sort; you cannot be the son of
an oak or of a rock."

Then Ulysses answered, "madam, wife of Ulysses, since you persist
in asking me about my family, I will answer, no matter what it costs
me: people must expect to be pained when they have been exiles as
long as I have, and suffered as much among as many peoples. Nevertheless,
as regards your question I will tell you all you ask. There is a fair
and fruitful island in mid-ocean called Crete; it is thickly peopled
and there are nine cities in it: the people speak many different languages
which overlap one another, for there are Achaeans, brave Eteocretans,
Dorians of three-fold race, and noble Pelasgi. There is a great town
there, Cnossus, where Minos reigned who every nine years had a conference
with Jove himself. Minos was father to Deucalion, whose son I am,
for Deucalion had two sons Idomeneus and myself. Idomeneus sailed
for Troy, and I, who am the younger, am called Aethon; my brother,
however, was at once the older and the more valiant of the two; hence
it was in Crete that I saw Ulysses and showed him hospitality, for
the winds took him there as he was on his way to Troy, carrying him
out of his course from cape Malea and leaving him in Amnisus off the
cave of Ilithuia, where the harbours are difficult to enter and he
could hardly find shelter from the winds that were then xaging. As
soon as he got there he went into the town and asked for Idomeneus,
claiming to be his old and valued friend, but Idomeneus had already
set sail for Troy some ten or twelve days earlier, so I took him to
my own house and showed him every kind of hospitality, for I had abundance
of everything. Moreover, I fed the men who were with him with barley
meal from the public store, and got subscriptions of wine and oxen
for them to sacrifice to their heart's content. They stayed with me
twelve days, for there was a gale blowing from the North so strong
that one could hardly keep one's feet on land. I suppose some unfriendly
god had raised it for them, but on the thirteenth day the wind dropped,
and they got away."

Many a plausible tale did Ulysses further tell her, and Penelope wept
as she listened, for her heart was melted. As the snow wastes upon
the mountain tops when the winds from South East and West have breathed
upon it and thawed it till the rivers run bank full with water, even
so did her cheeks overflow with tears for the husband who was all
the time sitting by her side. Ulysses felt for her and was for her,
but he kept his eyes as hard as or iron without letting them so much
as quiver, so cunningly did he restrain his tears. Then, when she
had relieved herself by weeping, she turned to him again and said:
"Now, stranger, I shall put you to the test and see whether or no
you really did entertain my husband and his men, as you say you did.
Tell me, then, how he was dressed, what kind of a man he was to look
at, and so also with his companions."

"Madam," answered Ulysses, "it is such a long time ago that I can
hardly say. Twenty years are come and gone since he left my home,
and went elsewhither; but I will tell you as well as I can recollect.
Ulysses wore a mantle of purple wool, double lined, and it was fastened
by a gold brooch with two catches for the pin. On the face of this
there was a device that showed a dog holding a spotted fawn between
his fore paws, and watching it as it lay panting upon the ground.
Every one marvelled at the way in which these things had been done
in gold, the dog looking at the fawn, and strangling it, while the
fawn was struggling convulsively to escape. As for the shirt that
he wore next his skin, it was so soft that it fitted him like the
skin of an onion, and glistened in the sunlight to the admiration
of all the women who beheld it. Furthermore I say, and lay my saying
to your heart, that I do not know whether Ulysses wore these clothes
when he left home, or whether one of his companions had given them
to him while he was on his voyage; or possibly some one at whose house
he was staying made him a present of them, for he was a man of many
friends and had few equals among the Achaeans. I myself gave him a
sword of bronze and a beautiful purple mantle, double lined, with
a shirt that went down to his feet, and I sent him on board his ship
with every mark of honour. He had a servant with him, a little older
than himself, and I can tell you what he was like; his shoulders were
hunched, he was dark, and he had thick curly hair. His name was Eurybates,
and Ulysses treated him with greater familiarity than he did any of
the others, as being the most like-minded with himself."

Penelope was moved still more deeply as she heard the indisputable
proofs that Ulysses laid before her; and when she had again found
relief in tears she said to him, "Stranger, I was already disposed
to pity you, but henceforth you shall be honoured and made welcome
in my house. It was I who gave Ulysses the clothes you speak of. I
took them out of the store room and folded them up myself, and I gave
him also the gold brooch to wear as an ornament. Alas! I shall never
welcome him home again. It was by an ill fate that he ever set out
for that detested city whose very name I cannot bring myself even
to mention."

Then Ulysses answered, "Madam, wife of Ulysses, do not disfigure yourself
further by grieving thus bitterly for your loss, though I can hardly
blame you for doing so. A woman who has loved her husband and borne
him children, would naturally be grieved at losing him, even though
he were a worse man than Ulysses, who they say was like a god. Still,
cease your tears and listen to what I can tell I will hide nothing
from you, and can say with perfect truth that I have lately heard
of Ulysses as being alive and on his way home; he is among the Thesprotians,
and is bringing back much valuable treasure that he has begged from
one and another of them; but his ship and all his crew were lost as
they were leaving the Thrinacian island, for Jove and the sun-god
were angry with him because his men had slaughtered the sun-god's
cattle, and they were all drowned to a man. But Ulysses stuck to the
keel of the ship and was drifted on to the land of the Phaecians,
who are near of kin to the immortals, and who treated him as though
he had been a god, giving him many presents, and wishing to escort
him home safe and sound. In fact Ulysses would have been here long
ago, had he not thought better to go from land to land gathering wealth;
for there is no man living who is so wily as he is; there is no one
can compare with him. Pheidon king of the Thesprotians told me all
this, and he swore to me- making drink-offerings in his house as he
did so- that the ship was by the water side and the crew found who
would take Ulysses to his own country. He sent me off first, for there
happened to be a Thesprotian ship sailing for the wheat-growing island
of Dulichium, but he showed me all treasure Ulysses had got together,
and he had enough lying in the house of king Pheidon to keep his family
for ten generations; but the king said Ulysses had gone to Dodona
that he might learn Jove's mind from the high oak tree, and know whether
after so long an absence he should return to Ithaca openly or in secret.
So you may know he is safe and will be here shortly; he is close at
hand and cannot remain away from home much longer; nevertheless I
will confirm my words with an oath, and call Jove who is the first
and mightiest of all gods to witness, as also that hearth of Ulysses
to which I have now come, that all I have spoken shall surely come
to pass. Ulysses will return in this self same year; with the end
of this moon and the beginning of the next he will be here."

"May it be even so," answered Penelope; "if your words come true you
shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see
you shall congratulate you; but I know very well how it will be. Ulysses
will not return, neither will you get your escort hence, for so surely
as that Ulysses ever was, there are now no longer any such masters
in the house as he was, to receive honourable strangers or to further
them on their way home. And now, you maids, wash his feet for him,
and make him a bed on a couch with rugs and blankets, that he may
be warm and quiet till morning. Then, at day break wash him and anoint
him again, that he may sit in the cloister and take his meals with
Telemachus. It shall be the worse for any one of these hateful people
who is uncivil to him; like it or not, he shall have no more to do
in this house. For how, sir, shall you be able to learn whether or
no I am superior to others of my sex both in goodness of heart and
understanding, if I let you dine in my cloisters squalid and ill clad?
Men live but for a little season; if they are hard, and deal hardly,
people wish them ill so long as they are alive, and speak contemptuously
of them when they are dead, but he that is righteous and deals righteously,
the people tell of his praise among all lands, and many shall call
him blessed."

Ulysses answered, "Madam, I have foresworn rugs and blankets from
the day that I left the snowy ranges of Crete to go on shipboard.
I will lie as I have lain on many a sleepless night hitherto. Night
after night have I passed in any rough sleeping place, and waited
for morning. Nor, again, do I like having my feet washed; I shall
not let any of the young hussies about your house touch my feet; but,
if you have any old and respectable woman who has gone through as
much trouble as I have, I will allow her to wash them."

To this Penelope said, "My dear sir, of all the guests who ever yet
came to my house there never was one who spoke in all things with
such admirable propriety as you do. There happens to be in the house
a most respectable old woman- the same who received my poor dear husband
in her arms the night he was born, and nursed him in infancy. She
is very feeble now, but she shall wash your feet." "Come here," said
she, "Euryclea, and wash your master's age-mate; I suppose Ulysses'
hands and feet are very much the same now as his are, for trouble
ages all of us dreadfully fast."

On these words the old woman covered her face with her hands; she
began to weep and made lamentation saying, "My dear child, I cannot
think whatever I am to do with you. I am certain no one was ever more
god-fearing than yourself, and yet Jove hates you. No one in the whole
world ever burned him more thigh bones, nor gave him finer hecatombs
when you prayed you might come to a green old age yourself and see
your son grow up to take after you; yet see how he has prevented you
alone from ever getting back to your own home. I have no doubt the
women in some foreign palace which Ulysses has got to are gibing at
him as all these sluts here have been gibing you. I do not wonder
at your not choosing to let them wash you after the manner in which
they have insulted you; I will wash your feet myself gladly enough,
as Penelope has said that I am to do so; I will wash them both for
Penelope's sake and for your own, for you have raised the most lively
feelings of compassion in my mind; and let me say this moreover, which
pray attend to; we have had all kinds of strangers in distress come
here before now, but I make bold to say that no one ever yet came
who was so like Ulysses in figure, voice, and feet as you are."

"Those who have seen us both," answered Ulysses, "have always said
we were wonderfully like each other, and now you have noticed it too.

Then the old woman took the cauldron in which she was going to wash
his feet, and poured plenty of cold water into it, adding hot till
the bath was warm enough. Ulysses sat by the fire, but ere long he
turned away from the light, for it occurred to him that when the old
woman had hold of his leg she would recognize a certain scar which
it bore, whereon the whole truth would come out. And indeed as soon
as she began washing her master, she at once knew the scar as one
that had been given him by a wild boar when he was hunting on Mount
Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Autolycus- who was the most
accomplished thief and perjurer in the whole world- and with the sons
of Autolycus. Mercury himself had endowed him with this gift, for
he used to burn the thigh bones of goats and kids to him, so he took
pleasure in his companionship. It happened once that Autolycus had
gone to Ithaca and had found the child of his daughter just born.
As soon as he had done supper Euryclea set the infant upon his knees
and said, you must find a name for your grandson; you greatly wished
that you might have one."

'Son-in-law and daughter," replied Autolycus, "call the child thus:
I am highly displeased with a large number of people in one place
and another, both men and women; so name the child 'Ulysses,' or the
child of anger. When he grows up and comes to visit his mother's family
on Mount Parnassus, where my possessions lie, I will make him a present
and will send him on his way rejoicing."

Ulysses, therefore, went to Parnassus to get the presents from Autolycus,
who with his sons shook hands with him and gave him welcome. His grandmother
Amphithea threw her arms about him, and kissed his head, and both
his beautiful eyes, while Autolycus desired his sons to get dinner
ready, and they did as he told them. They brought in a five year old
bull, flayed it, made it ready and divided it into joints; these they
then cut carefully up into smaller pieces and spitted them; they roasted
them sufficiently and served the portions round. Thus through the
livelong day to the going down of the sun they feasted, and every
man had his full share so that all were satisfied; but when the sun
set and it came on dark, they went to bed and enjoyed the boon of
sleep.

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, the sons
of Autolycus went out with their hounds hunting, and Ulysses went
too. They climbed the wooded slopes of Parnassus and soon reached
its breezy upland valleys; but as the sun was beginning to beat upon
the fields, fresh-risen from the slow still currents of Oceanus, they
came to a mountain dell. The dogs were in front searching for the
tracks of the beast they were chasing, and after them came the sons
of Autolycus, among whom was Ulysses, close behind the dogs, and he
had a long spear in his hand. Here was the lair of a huge boar among
some thick brushwood, so dense that the wind and rain could not get
through it, nor could the sun's rays pierce it, and the ground underneath
lay thick with fallen leaves. The boar heard the noise of the men's
feet, and the hounds baying on every side as the huntsmen came up
to him, so rushed from his lair, raised the bristles on his neck,
and stood at bay with fire flashing from his eyes. Ulysses was the
first to raise his spear and try to drive it into the brute, but the
boar was too quick for him, and charged him sideways, ripping him
above the knee with a gash that tore deep though it did not reach
the bone. As for the boar, Ulysses hit him on the right shoulder,
and the point of the spear went right through him, so that he fell
groaning in the dust until the life went out of him. The sons of Autolycus
busied themselves with the carcass of the boar, and bound Ulysses'
wound; then, after saying a spell to stop the bleeding, they went
home as fast as they could. But when Autolycus and his sons had thoroughly
healed Ulysses, they made him some splendid presents, and sent him
back to Ithaca with much mutual good will. When he got back, his father
and mother were rejoiced to see him, and asked him all about it, and
how he had hurt himself to get the scar; so he told them how the boar
had ripped him when he was out hunting with Autolycus and his sons
on Mount Parnassus.

As soon as Euryclea had got the scarred limb in her hands and had
well hold of it, she recognized it and dropped the foot at once. The
leg fell into the bath, which rang out and was overturned, so that
all the water was spilt on the ground; Euryclea's eyes between her
joy and her grief filled with tears, and she could not speak, but
she caught Ulysses by the beard and said, "My dear child, I am sure
you must be Ulysses himself, only I did not know you till I had actually
touched and handled you."

As she spoke she looked towards Penelope, as though wanting to tell
her that her dear husband was in the house, but Penelope was unable
to look in that direction and observe what was going on, for Minerva
had diverted her attention; so Ulysses caught Euryclea by the throat
with his right hand and with his left drew her close to him, and said,
"Nurse, do you wish to be the ruin of me, you who nursed me at your
own breast, now that after twenty years of wandering I am at last
come to my own home again? Since it has been borne in upon you by
heaven to recognize me, hold your tongue, and do not say a word about
it any one else in the house, for if you do I tell you- and it shall
surely be- that if heaven grants me to take the lives of these suitors,
I will not spare you, though you are my own nurse, when I am killing
the other women."

"My child," answered Euryclea, "what are you talking about? You know
very well that nothing can either bend or break me. I will hold my
tongue like a stone or a piece of iron; furthermore let me say, and
lay my saying to your heart, when heaven has delivered the suitors
into your hand, I will give you a list of the women in the house who
have been ill-behaved, and of those who are guiltless."

And Ulysses answered, "Nurse, you ought not to speak in that way;
I am well able to form my own opinion about one and all of them; hold
your tongue and leave everything to heaven."

As he said this Euryclea left the cloister to fetch some more water,
for the first had been all spilt; and when she had washed him and
anointed him with oil, Ulysses drew his seat nearer to the fire to
warm himself, and hid the scar under his rags. Then Penelope began
talking to him and said:

"Stranger, I should like to speak with you briefly about another matter.
It is indeed nearly bed time- for those, at least, who can sleep in
spite of sorrow. As for myself, heaven has given me a life of such
unmeasurable woe, that even by day when I am attending to my duties
and looking after the servants, I am still weeping and lamenting during
the whole time; then, when night comes, and we all of us go to bed,
I lie awake thinking, and my heart comes a prey to the most incessant
and cruel tortures. As the dun nightingale, daughter of Pandareus,
sings in the early spring from her seat in shadiest covert hid, and
with many a plaintive trill pours out the tale how by mishap she killed
her own child Itylus, son of king Zethus, even so does my mind toss
and turn in its uncertainty whether I ought to stay with my son here,
and safeguard my substance, my bondsmen, and the greatness of my house,
out of regard to public opinion and the memory of my late husband,
or whether it is not now time for me to go with the best of these
suitors who are wooing me and making me such magnificent presents.
As long as my son was still young, and unable to understand, he would
not hear of my leaving my husband's house, but now that he is full
grown he begs and prays me to do so, being incensed at the way in
which the suitors are eating up his property. Listen, then, to a dream
that I have had and interpret it for me if you can. I have twenty
geese about the house that eat mash out of a trough, and of which
I am exceedingly fond. I dreamed that a great eagle came swooping
down from a mountain, and dug his curved beak into the neck of each
of them till he had killed them all. Presently he soared off into
the sky, and left them lying dead about the yard; whereon I wept in
my room till all my maids gathered round me, so piteously was I grieving
because the eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back again, and
perching on a projecting rafter spoke to me with human voice, and
told me to leave off crying. 'Be of good courage,' he said, 'daughter
of Icarius; this is no dream, but a vision of good omen that shall
surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors, and I am no longer
an eagle, but your own husband, who am come back to you, and who will
bring these suitors to a disgraceful end.' On this I woke, and when
I looked out I saw my geese at the trough eating their mash as usual."

"This dream, Madam," replied Ulysses, "can admit but of one interpretation,
for had not Ulysses himself told you how it shall be fulfilled? The
death of the suitors is portended, and not one single one of them
will escape."

And Penelope answered, "Stranger, dreams are very curious and unaccountable
things, and they do not by any means invariably come true. There are
two gates through which these unsubstantial fancies proceed; the one
is of horn, and the other ivory. Those that come through the gate
of ivory are fatuous, but those from the gate of horn mean something
to those that see them. I do not think, however, that my own dream
came through the gate of horn, though I and my son should be most
thankful if it proves to have done so. Furthermore I say- and lay
my saying to your heart- the coming dawn will usher in the ill-omened
day that is to sever me from the house of Ulysses, for I am about
to hold a tournament of axes. My husband used to set up twelve axes
in the court, one in front of the other, like the stays upon which
a ship is built; he would then go back from them and shoot an arrow
through the whole twelve. I shall make the suitors try to do the same
thing, and whichever of them can string the bow most easily, and send
his arrow through all the twelve axes, him will I follow, and quit
this house of my lawful husband, so goodly and so abounding in wealth.
But even so, I doubt not that I shall remember it in my dreams."

Then Ulysses answered, "Madam wife of Ulysses, you need not defer
your tournament, for Ulysses will return ere ever they can string
the bow, handle it how they will, and send their arrows through the
iron."

To this Penelope said, "As long, sir, as you will sit here and talk
to me, I can have no desire to go to bed. Still, people cannot do
permanently without sleep, and heaven has appointed us dwellers on
earth a time for all things. I will therefore go upstairs and recline
upon that couch which I have never ceased to flood with my tears from
the day Ulysses set out for the city with a hateful name."

She then went upstairs to her own room, not alone, but attended by
her maidens, and when there, she lamented her dear husband till Minerva
shed sweet sleep over her eyelids.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XX

Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on
the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the suitors had
eaten, and Eurynome threw a cloak over him after he had laid himself
down. There, then, Ulysses lay wakefully brooding upon the way in
which he should kill the suitors; and by and by, the women who had
been in the habit of misconducting themselves with them, left the
house giggling and laughing with one another. This made Ulysses very
angry, and he doubted whether to get up and kill every single one
of them then and there, or to let them sleep one more and last time
with the suitors. His heart growled within him, and as a bitch with
puppies growls and shows her teeth when she sees a stranger, so did
his heart growl with anger at the evil deeds that were being done:
but he beat his breast and said, "Heart, be still, you had worse than
this to bear on the day when the terrible Cyclops ate your brave companions;
yet you bore it in silence till your cunning got you safe out of the
cave, though you made sure of being killed."

Thus he chided with his heart, and checked it into endurance, but
he tossed about as one who turns a paunch full of blood and fat in
front of a hot fire, doing it first on one side and then on the other,
that he may get it cooked as soon as possible, even so did he turn
himself about from side to side, thinking all the time how, single
handed as he was, he should contrive to kill so large a body of men
as the wicked suitors. But by and by Minerva came down from heaven
in the likeness of a woman, and hovered over his head saying, "My
poor unhappy man, why do you lie awake in this way? This is your house:
your wife is safe inside it, and so is your son who is just such a
young man as any father may be proud of."

"Goddess," answered Ulysses, "all that you have said is true, but
I am in some doubt as to how I shall be able to kill these wicked
suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them there always are.
And there is this further difficulty, which is still more considerable.
Supposing that with Jove's and your assistance I succeed in killing
them, I must ask you to consider where I am to escape to from their
avengers when it is all over."

"For shame," replied Minerva, "why, any one else would trust a worse
ally than myself, even though that ally were only a mortal and less
wise than I am. Am I not a goddess, and have I not protected you throughout
in all your troubles? I tell you plainly that even though there were
fifty bands of men surrounding us and eager to kill us, you should
take all their sheep and cattle, and drive them away with you. But
go to sleep; it is a very bad thing to lie awake all night, and you
shall be out of your troubles before long."

As she spoke she shed sleep over his eyes, and then went back to Olympus.

While Ulysses was thus yielding himself to a very deep slumber that
eased the burden of his sorrows, his admirable wife awoke, and sitting
up in her bed began to cry. When she had relieved herself by weeping
she prayed to Diana saying, "Great Goddess Diana, daughter of Jove,
drive an arrow into my heart and slay me; or let some whirlwind snatch
me up and bear me through paths of darkness till it drop me into the
mouths of overflowing Oceanus, as it did the daughters of Pandareus.
The daughters of Pandareus lost their father and mother, for the gods
killed them, so they were left orphans. But Venus took care of them,
and fed them on cheese, honey, and sweet wine. Juno taught them to
excel all women in beauty of form and understanding; Diana gave them
an imposing presence, and Minerva endowed them with every kind of
accomplishment; but one day when Venus had gone up to Olympus to see
Jove about getting them married (for well does he know both what shall
happen and what not happen to every one) the storm winds came and
spirited them away to become handmaids to the dread Erinyes. Even
so I wish that the gods who live in heaven would hide me from mortal
sight, or that fair Diana might strike me, for I would fain go even
beneath the sad earth if I might do so still looking towards Ulysses
only, and without having to yield myself to a worse man than he was.
Besides, no matter how much people may grieve by day, they can put
up with it so long as they can sleep at night, for when the eyes are
closed in slumber people forget good and ill alike; whereas my misery
haunts me even in my dreams. This very night methought there was one
lying by my side who was like Ulysses as he was when he went away
with his host, and I rejoiced, for I believed that it was no dream,
but the very truth itself."

On this the day broke, but Ulysses heard the sound of her weeping,
and it puzzled him, for it seemed as though she already knew him and
was by his side. Then he gathered up the cloak and the fleeces on
which he had lain, and set them on a seat in the cloister, but he
took the bullock's hide out into the open. He lifted up his hands
to heaven, and prayed, saying "Father Jove, since you have seen fit
to bring me over land and sea to my own home after all the afflictions
you have laid upon me, give me a sign out of the mouth of some one
or other of those who are now waking within the house, and let me
have another sign of some kind from outside."

Thus did he pray. Jove heard his prayer and forthwith thundered high
up among the from the splendour of Olympus, and Ulysses was glad when
he heard it. At the same time within the house, a miller-woman from
hard by in the mill room lifted up her voice and gave him another
sign. There were twelve miller-women whose business it was to grind
wheat and barley which are the staff of life. The others had ground
their task and had gone to take their rest, but this one had not yet
finished, for she was not so strong as they were, and when she heard
the thunder she stopped grinding and gave the sign to her master.
"Father Jove," said she, "you who rule over heaven and earth, you
have thundered from a clear sky without so much as a cloud in it,
and this means something for somebody; grant the prayer, then, of
me your poor servant who calls upon you, and let this be the very
last day that the suitors dine in the house of Ulysses. They have
worn me out with the labour of grinding meal for them, and I hope
they may never have another dinner anywhere at all."

Ulysses was glad when he heard the omens conveyed to him by the woman's
speech, and by the thunder, for he knew they meant that he should
avenge himself on the suitors.

Then the other maids in the house rose and lit the fire on the hearth;
Telemachus also rose and put on his clothes. He girded his sword about
his shoulder, bound his sandals on his comely feet, and took a doughty
spear with a point of sharpened bronze; then he went to the threshold
of the cloister and said to Euryclea, "Nurse, did you make the stranger
comfortable both as regards bed and board, or did you let him shift
for himself?- for my mother, good woman though she is, has a way of
paying great attention to second-rate people, and of neglecting others
who are in reality much better men."

"Do not find fault child," said Euryclea, "when there is no one to
find fault with. The stranger sat and drank his wine as long as he
liked: your mother did ask him if he would take any more bread and
he said he would not. When he wanted to go to bed she told the servants
to make one for him, but he said he was re such wretched outcast that
he would not sleep on a bed and under blankets; he insisted on having
an undressed bullock's hide and some sheepskins put for him in the
cloister and I threw a cloak over him myself."

Then Telemachus went out of the court to the place where the Achaeans
were meeting in assembly; he had his spear in his hand, and he was
not alone, for his two dogs went with him. But Euryclea called the
maids and said, "Come, wake up; set about sweeping the cloisters and
sprinkling them with water to lay the dust; put the covers on the
seats; wipe down the tables, some of you, with a wet sponge; clean
out the mixing-jugs and the cups, and for water from the fountain
at once; the suitors will be here directly; they will be here early,
for it is a feast day."

Thus did she speak, and they did even as she had said: twenty of them
went to the fountain for water, and the others set themselves busily
to work about the house. The men who were in attendance on the suitors
also came up and began chopping firewood. By and by the women returned
from the fountain, and the swineherd came after them with the three
best pigs he could pick out. These he let feed about the premises,
and then he said good-humouredly to Ulysses, "Stranger, are the suitors
treating you any better now, or are they as insolent as ever?"

"May heaven," answered Ulysses, "requite to them the wickedness with
which they deal high-handedly in another man's house without any sense
of shame."

Thus did they converse; meanwhile Melanthius the goatherd came up,
for he too was bringing in his best goats for the suitors' dinner;
and he had two shepherds with him. They tied the goats up under the
gatehouse, and then Melanthius began gibing at Ulysses. "Are you still
here, stranger," said he, "to pester people by begging about the house?
Why can you not go elsewhere? You and I shall not come to an understanding
before we have given each other a taste of our fists. You beg without
any sense of decency: are there not feasts elsewhere among the Achaeans,
as well as here?"

Ulysses made no answer, but bowed his head and brooded. Then a third
man, Philoetius, joined them, who was bringing in a barren heifer
and some goats. These were brought over by the boatmen who are there
to take people over when any one comes to them. So Philoetius made
his heifer and his goats secure under the gatehouse, and then went
up to the swineherd. "Who, Swineherd," said he, "is this stranger
that is lately come here? Is he one of your men? What is his family?
Where does he come from? Poor fellow, he looks as if he had been some
great man, but the gods give sorrow to whom they will- even to kings
if it so pleases them

As he spoke he went up to Ulysses and saluted him with his right hand;
"Good day to you, father stranger," said he, "you seem to be very
poorly off now, but I hope you will have better times by and by. Father
Jove, of all gods you are the most malicious. We are your own children,
yet you show us no mercy in all our misery and afflictions. A sweat
came over me when I saw this man, and my eyes filled with tears, for
he reminds me of Ulysses, who I fear is going about in just such rags
as this man's are, if indeed he is still among the living. If he is
already dead and in the house of Hades, then, alas! for my good master,
who made me his stockman when I was quite young among the Cephallenians,
and now his cattle are countless; no one could have done better with
them than I have, for they have bred like ears of corn; nevertheless
I have to keep bringing them in for others to eat, who take no heed
of his son though he is in the house, and fear not the wrath of heaven,
but are already eager to divide Ulysses' property among them because
he has been away so long. I have often thought- only it would not
be right while his son is living- of going off with the cattle to
some foreign country; bad as this would be, it is still harder to
stay here and be ill-treated about other people's herds. My position
is intolerable, and I should long since have run away and put myself
under the protection of some other chief, only that I believe my poor
master will yet return, and send all these suitors flying out of the
house."

"Stockman," answered Ulysses, "you seem to be a very well-disposed
person, and I can see that you are a man of sense. Therefore I will
tell you, and will confirm my words with an oath: by Jove, the chief
of all gods, and by that hearth of Ulysses to which I am now come,
Ulysses shall return before you leave this place, and if you are so
minded you shall see him killing the suitors who are now masters here."

"If Jove were to bring this to pass," replied the stockman, "you should
see how I would do my very utmost to help him."

And in like manner Eumaeus prayed that Ulysses might return home.

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile the suitors were hatching a plot
to murder Telemachus: but a bird flew near them on their left hand-
an eagle with a dove in its talons. On this Amphinomus said, "My friends,
this plot of ours to murder Telemachus will not succeed; let us go
to dinner instead."

The others assented, so they went inside and laid their cloaks on
the benches and seats. They sacrificed the sheep, goats, pigs, and
the heifer, and when the inward meats were cooked they served them
round. They mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls, and the swineherd
gave every man his cup, while Philoetius handed round the bread in
the breadbaskets, and Melanthius poured them out their wine. Then
they laid their hands upon the good things that were before them.

Telemachus purposely made Ulysses sit in the part of the cloister
that was paved with stone; he gave him a shabby-looking seat at a
little table to himself, and had his portion of the inward meats brought
to him, with his wine in a gold cup. "Sit there," said he, "and drink
your wine among the great people. I will put a stop to the gibes and
blows of the suitors, for this is no public house, but belongs to
Ulysses, and has passed from him to me. Therefore, suitors, keep your
hands and your tongues to yourselves, or there will be mischief."

The suitors bit their lips, and marvelled at the boldness of his speech;
then Antinous said, "We do not like such language but we will put
up with it, for Telemachus is threatening us in good earnest. If Jove
had let us we should have put a stop to his brave talk ere now."

Thus spoke Antinous, but Telemachus heeded him not. Meanwhile the
heralds were bringing the holy hecatomb through the city, and the
Achaeans gathered under the shady grove of Apollo.

Then they roasted the outer meat, drew it off the spits, gave every
man his portion, and feasted to their hearts' content; those who waited
at table gave Ulysses exactly the same portion as the others had,
for Telemachus had told them to do so.

But Minerva would not let the suitors for one moment drop their insolence,
for she wanted Ulysses to become still more bitter against them. Now
there happened to be among them a ribald fellow, whose name was Ctesippus,
and who came from Same. This man, confident in his great wealth, was
paying court to the wife of Ulysses, and said to the suitors, "Hear
what I have to say. The stranger has already had as large a portion
as any one else; this is well, for it is not right nor reasonable
to ill-treat any guest of Telemachus who comes here. I will, however,
make him a present on my own account, that he may have something to
give to the bath-woman, or to some other of Ulysses' servants."

As he spoke he picked up a heifer's foot from the meat-basket in which
it lay, and threw it at Ulysses, but Ulysses turned his head a little
aside, and avoided it, smiling grimly Sardinian fashion as he did
so, and it hit the wall, not him. On this Telemachus spoke fiercely
to Ctesippus, "It is a good thing for you," said he, "that the stranger
turned his head so that you missed him. If you had hit him I should
have run you through with my spear, and your father would have had
to see about getting you buried rather than married in this house.
So let me have no more unseemly behaviour from any of you, for I am
grown up now to the knowledge of good and evil and understand what
is going on, instead of being the child that I have been heretofore.
I have long seen you killing my sheep and making free with my corn
and wine: I have put up with this, for one man is no match for many,
but do me no further violence. Still, if you wish to kill me, kill
me; I would far rather die than see such disgraceful scenes day after
day- guests insulted, and men dragging the women servants about the
house in an unseemly way."

They all held their peace till at last Agelaus son of Damastor said,
"No one should take offence at what has just been said, nor gainsay
it, for it is quite reasonable. Leave off, therefore, ill-treating
the stranger, or any one else of the servants who are about the house;
I would say, however, a friendly word to Telemachus and his mother,
which I trust may commend itself to both. 'As long,' I would say,
'as you had ground for hoping that Ulysses would one day come home,
no one could complain of your waiting and suffering the suitors to
be in your house. It would have been better that he should have returned,
but it is now sufficiently clear that he will never do so; therefore
talk all this quietly over with your mother, and tell her to marry
the best man, and the one who makes her the most advantageous offer.
Thus you will yourself be able to manage your own inheritance, and
to eat and drink in peace, while your mother will look after some
other man's house, not yours."'

To this Telemachus answered, "By Jove, Agelaus, and by the sorrows
of my unhappy father, who has either perished far from Ithaca, or
is wandering in some distant land, I throw no obstacles in the way
of my mother's marriage; on the contrary I urge her to choose whomsoever
she will, and I will give her numberless gifts into the bargain, but
I dare not insist point blank that she shall leave the house against
her own wishes. Heaven forbid that I should do this."

Minerva now made the suitors fall to laughing immoderately, and set
their wits wandering; but they were laughing with a forced laughter.
Their meat became smeared with blood; their eyes filled with tears,
and their hearts were heavy with forebodings. Theoclymenus saw this
and said, "Unhappy men, what is it that ails you? There is a shroud
of darkness drawn over you from head to foot, your cheeks are wet
with tears; the air is alive with wailing voices; the walls and roof-beams
drip blood; the gate of the cloisters and the court beyond them are
full of ghosts trooping down into the night of hell; the sun is blotted
out of heaven, and a blighting gloom is over all the land."

Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed heartily. Eurymachus
then said, "This stranger who has lately come here has lost his senses.
Servants, turn him out into the streets, since he finds it so dark
here."

But Theoclymenus said, "Eurymachus, you need not send any one with
me. I have eyes, ears, and a pair of feet of my own, to say nothing
of an understanding mind. I will take these out of the house with
me, for I see mischief overhanging you, from which not one of you
men who are insulting people and plotting ill deeds in the house of
Ulysses will be able to escape."

He left the house as he spoke, and went back to Piraeus who gave him
welcome, but the suitors kept looking at one another and provoking
Telemachus fly laughing at the strangers. One insolent fellow said
to him, "Telemachus, you are not happy in your guests; first you have
this importunate tramp, who comes begging bread and wine and has no
skill for work or for hard fighting, but is perfectly useless, and
now here is another fellow who is setting himself up as a prophet.
Let me persuade you, for it will be much better, to put them on board
ship and send them off to the Sicels to sell for what they will bring."

Telemachus gave him no heed, but sat silently watching his father,
expecting every moment that he would begin his attack upon the suitors.

Meanwhile the daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, had had had a rich
seat placed for her facing the court and cloisters, so that she could
hear what every one was saying. The dinner indeed had been prepared
amid merriment; it had been both good and abundant, for they had sacrificed
many victims; but the supper was yet to come, and nothing can be conceived
more gruesome than the meal which a goddess and a brave man were soon
to lay before them- for they had brought their doom upon themselves.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXI

Minerva now put it in Penelope's mind to make the suitors try their
skill with the bow and with the iron axes, in contest among themselves,
as a means of bringing about their destruction. She went upstairs
and got the store room key, which was made of bronze and had a handle
of ivory; she then went with her maidens into the store room at the
end of the house, where her husband's treasures of gold, bronze, and
wrought iron were kept, and where was also his bow, and the quiver
full of deadly arrows that had been given him by a friend whom he
had met in Lacedaemon- Iphitus the son of Eurytus. The two fell in
with one another in Messene at the house of Ortilochus, where Ulysses
was staying in order to recover a debt that was owing from the whole
people; for the Messenians had carried off three hundred sheep from
Ithaca, and had sailed away with them and with their shepherds. In
quest of these Ulysses took a long journey while still quite young,
for his father and the other chieftains sent him on a mission to recover
them. Iphitus had gone there also to try and get back twelve brood
mares that he had lost, and the mule foals that were running with
them. These mares were the death of him in the end, for when he went
to the house of Jove's son, mighty Hercules, who performed such prodigies
of valour, Hercules to his shame killed him, though he was his guest,
for he feared not heaven's vengeance, nor yet respected his own table
which he had set before Iphitus, but killed him in spite of everything,
and kept the mares himself. It was when claiming these that Iphitus
met Ulysses, and gave him the bow which mighty Eurytus had been used
to carry, and which on his death had been left by him to his son.
Ulysses gave him in return a sword and a spear, and this was the beginning
of a fast friendship, although they never visited at one another's
houses, for Jove's son Hercules killed Iphitus ere they could do so.
This bow, then, given him by Iphitus, had not been taken with him
by Ulysses when he sailed for Troy; he had used it so long as he had
been at home, but had left it behind as having been a keepsake from
a valued friend.

Penelope presently reached the oak threshold of the store room; the
carpenter had planed this duly, and had drawn a line on it so as to
get it quite straight; he had then set the door posts into it and
hung the doors. She loosed the strap from the handle of the door,
put in the key, and drove it straight home to shoot back the bolts
that held the doors; these flew open with a noise like a bull bellowing
in a meadow, and Penelope stepped upon the raised platform, where
the chests stood in which the fair linen and clothes were laid by
along with fragrant herbs: reaching thence, she took down the bow
with its bow case from the peg on which it hung. She sat down with
it on her knees, weeping bitterly as she took the bow out of its case,
and when her tears had relieved her, she went to the cloister where
the suitors were, carrying the bow and the quiver, with the many deadly
arrows that were inside it. Along with her came her maidens, bearing
a chest that contained much iron and bronze which her husband had
won as prizes. When she reached the suitors, she stood by one of the
bearing-posts supporting the roof of the cloister, holding a veil
before her face, and with a maid on either side of her. Then she said:

"Listen to me you suitors, who persist in abusing the hospitality
of this house because its owner has been long absent, and without
other pretext than that you want to marry me; this, then, being the
prize that you are contending for, I will bring out the mighty bow
of Ulysses, and whomsoever of you shall string it most easily and
send his arrow through each one of twelve axes, him will I follow
and quit this house of my lawful husband, so goodly, and so abounding
in wealth. But even so I doubt not that I shall remember it in my
dreams."

As she spoke, she told Eumaeus to set the bow and the pieces of iron
before the suitors, and Eumaeus wept as he took them to do as she
had bidden him. Hard by, the stockman wept also when he saw his master's
bow, but Antinous scolded them. "You country louts," said he, "silly
simpletons; why should you add to the sorrows of your mistress by
crying in this way? She has enough to grieve her in the loss of her
husband; sit still, therefore, and eat your dinners in silence, or
go outside if you want to cry, and leave the bow behind you. We suitors
shall have to contend for it with might and main, for we shall find
it no light matter to string such a bow as this is. There is not a
man of us all who is such another as Ulysses; for I have seen him
and remember him, though I was then only a child."

This was what he said, but all the time he was expecting to be able
to string the bow and shoot through the iron, whereas in fact he was
to be the first that should taste of the arrows from the hands of
Ulysses, whom he was dishonouring in his own house- egging the others
on to do so also.

Then Telemachus spoke. "Great heavens!" he exclaimed, "Jove must have
robbed me of my senses. Here is my dear and excellent mother saying
she will quit this house and marry again, yet I am laughing and enjoying
myself as though there were nothing happening. But, suitors, as the
contest has been agreed upon, let it go forward. It is for a woman
whose peer is not to be found in Pylos, Argos, or Mycene, nor yet
in Ithaca nor on the mainland. You know this as well as I do; what
need have I to speak in praise of my mother? Come on, then, make no
excuses for delay, but let us see whether you can string the bow or
no. I too will make trial of it, for if I can string it and shoot
through the iron, I shall not suffer my mother to quit this house
with a stranger, not if I can win the prizes which my father won before
me."

As he spoke he sprang from his seat, threw his crimson cloak from
him, and took his sword from his shoulder. First he set the axes in
a row, in a long groove which he had dug for them, and had Wade straight
by line. Then he stamped the earth tight round them, and everyone
was surprised when they saw him set up so orderly, though he had never
seen anything of the kind before. This done, he went on to the pavement
to make trial of the bow; thrice did he tug at it, trying with all
his might to draw the string, and thrice he had to leave off, though
he had hoped to string the bow and shoot through the iron. He was
trying for the fourth time, and would have strung it had not Ulysses
made a sign to check him in spite of all his eagerness. So he said:

"Alas! I shall either be always feeble and of no prowess, or I am
too young, and have not yet reached my full strength so as to be able
to hold my own if any one attacks me. You others, therefore, who are
stronger than I, make trial of the bow and get this contest settled."

On this he put the bow down, letting it lean against the door [that
led into the house] with the arrow standing against the top of the
bow. Then he sat down on the seat from which he had risen, and Antinous
said:

"Come on each of you in his turn, going towards the right from the
place at which the. cupbearer begins when he is handing round the
wine."

The rest agreed, and Leiodes son of OEnops was the first to rise.
He was sacrificial priest to the suitors, and sat in the corner near
the mixing-bowl. He was the only man who hated their evil deeds and
was indignant with the others. He was now the first to take the bow
and arrow, so he went on to the pavement to make his trial, but he
could not string the bow, for his hands were weak and unused to hard
work, they therefore soon grew tired, and he said to the suitors,
"My friends, I cannot string it; let another have it; this bow shall
take the life and soul out of many a chief among us, for it is better
to die than to live after having missed the prize that we have so
long striven for, and which has brought us so long together. Some
one of us is even now hoping and praying that he may marry Penelope,
but when he has seen this bow and tried it, let him woo and make bridal
offerings to some other woman, and let Penelope marry whoever makes
her the best offer and whose lot it is to win her."

On this he put the bow down, letting it lean against the door, with
the arrow standing against the tip of the bow. Then he took his seat
again on the seat from which he had risen; and Antinous rebuked him
saying:

"Leiodes, what are you talking about? Your words are monstrous and
intolerable; it makes me angry to listen to you. Shall, then, this
bow take the life of many a chief among us, merely because you cannot
bend it yourself? True, you were not born to be an archer, but there
are others who will soon string it."

Then he said to Melanthius the goatherd, "Look sharp, light a fire
in the court, and set a seat hard by with a sheep skin on it; bring
us also a large ball of lard, from what they have in the house. Let
us warm the bow and grease it we will then make trial of it again,
and bring the contest to an end."

Melanthius lit the fire, and set a seat covered with sheep skins beside
it. He also brought a great ball of lard from what they had in the
house, and the suitors warmed the bow and again made trial of it,
but they were none of them nearly strong enough to string it. Nevertheless
there still remained Antinous and Eurymachus, who were the ringleaders
among the suitors and much the foremost among them all.

Then the swineherd and the stockman left the cloisters together, and
Ulysses followed them. When they had got outside the gates and the
outer yard, Ulysses said to them quietly:

"Stockman, and you swineherd, I have something in my mind which I
am in doubt whether to say or no; but I think I will say it. What
manner of men would you be to stand by Ulysses, if some god should
bring him back here all of a sudden? Say which you are disposed to
do- to side with the suitors, or with Ulysses?"

"Father Jove," answered the stockman, "would indeed that you might
so ordain it. If some god were but to bring Ulysses back, you should
see with what might and main I would fight for him."

In like words Eumaeus prayed to all the gods that Ulysses might return;
when, therefore, he saw for certain what mind they were of, Ulysses
said, "It is I, Ulysses, who am here. I have suffered much, but at
last, in the twentieth year, I am come back to my own country. I find
that you two alone of all my servants are glad that I should do so,
for I have not heard any of the others praying for my return. To you
two, therefore, will I unfold the truth as it shall be. If heaven
shall deliver the suitors into my hands, I will find wives for both
of you, will give you house and holding close to my own, and you shall
be to me as though you were brothers and friends of Telemachus. I
will now give you convincing proofs that you may know me and be assured.
See, here is the scar from the boar's tooth that ripped me when I
was out hunting on Mount Parnassus with the sons of Autolycus."

As he spoke he drew his rags aside from the great scar, and when they
had examined it thoroughly, they both of them wept about Ulysses,
threw their arms round him and kissed his head and shoulders, while
Ulysses kissed their hands and faces in return. The sun would have
gone down upon their mourning if Ulysses had not checked them and
said:

"Cease your weeping, lest some one should come outside and see us,
and tell those who a are within. When you go in, do so separately,
not both together; I will go first, and do you follow afterwards;
Let this moreover be the token between us; the suitors will all of
them try to prevent me from getting hold of the bow and quiver; do
you, therefore, Eumaeus, place it in my hands when you are carrying
it about, and tell the women to close the doors of their apartment.
If they hear any groaning or uproar as of men fighting about the house,
they must not come out; they must keep quiet, and stay where they
are at their work. And I charge you, Philoetius, to make fast the
doors of the outer court, and to bind them securely at once."

When he had thus spoken, he went back to the house and took the seat
that he had left. Presently, his two servants followed him inside.

At this moment the bow was in the hands of Eurymachus, who was warming
it by the fire, but even so he could not string it, and he was greatly
grieved. He heaved a deep sigh and said, "I grieve for myself and
for us all; I grieve that I shall have to forgo the marriage, but
I do not care nearly so much about this, for there are plenty of other
women in Ithaca and elsewhere; what I feel most is the fact of our
being so inferior to Ulysses in strength that we cannot string his
bow. This will disgrace us in the eyes of those who are yet unborn."

"It shall not be so, Eurymachus," said Antinous, "and you know it
yourself. To-day is the feast of Apollo throughout all the land; who
can string a bow on such a day as this? Put it on one side- as for
the axes they can stay where they are, for no one is likely to come
to the house and take them away: let the cupbearer go round with his
cups, that we may make our drink-offerings and drop this matter of
the bow; we will tell Melanthius to bring us in some goats to-morrow-
the best he has; we can then offer thigh bones to Apollo the mighty
archer, and again make trial of the bow, so as to bring the contest
to an end."

The rest approved his words, and thereon men servants poured water
over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the mixing-bowls
with wine and water and handed it round after giving every man his
drink-offering. Then, when they had made their offerings and had drunk
each as much as he desired, Ulysses craftily said:

"Suitors of the illustrious queen, listen that I may speak even as
I am minded. I appeal more especially to Eurymachus, and to Antinous
who has just spoken with so much reason. Cease shooting for the present
and leave the matter to the gods, but in the morning let heaven give
victory to whom it will. For the moment, however, give me the bow
that I may prove the power of my hands among you all, and see whether
I still have as much strength as I used to have, or whether travel
and neglect have made an end of it."

This made them all very angry, for they feared he might string the
bow; Antinous therefore rebuked him fiercely saying, "Wretched creature,
you have not so much as a grain of sense in your whole body; you ought
to think yourself lucky in being allowed to dine unharmed among your
betters, without having any smaller portion served you than we others
have had, and in being allowed to hear our conversation. No other
beggar or stranger has been allowed to hear what we say among ourselves;
the wine must have been doing you a mischief, as it does with all
those drink immoderately. It was wine that inflamed the Centaur Eurytion
when he was staying with Peirithous among the Lapithae. When the wine
had got into his head he went mad and did ill deeds about the house
of Peirithous; this angered the heroes who were there assembled, so
they rushed at him and cut off his ears and nostrils; then they dragged
him through the doorway out of the house, so he went away crazed,
and bore the burden of his crime, bereft of understanding. Henceforth,
therefore, there was war between mankind and the centaurs, but he
brought it upon himself through his own drunkenness. In like manner
I can tell you that it will go hardly with you if you string the bow:
you will find no mercy from any one here, for we shall at once ship
you off to king Echetus, who kills every one that comes near him:
you will never get away alive, so drink and keep quiet without getting
into a quarrel with men younger than yourself."

Penelope then spoke to him. "Antinous," said she, "it is not right
that you should ill-treat any guest of Telemachus who comes to this
house. If the stranger should prove strong enough to string the mighty
bow of Ulysses, can you suppose that he would take me home with him
and make me his wife? Even the man himself can have no such idea in
his mind: none of you need let that disturb his feasting; it would
be out of all reason."

"Queen Penelope," answered Eurymachus, "we do not suppose that this
man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we are afraid
lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the Achaeans, should
go gossiping about and say, 'These suitors are a feeble folk; they
are paying court to the wife of a brave man whose bow not one of them
was able to string, and yet a beggarly tramp who came to the house
strung it at once and sent an arrow through the iron.' This is what
will be said, and it will be a scandal against us."

"Eurymachus," Penelope answered, "people who persist in eating up
the estate of a great chieftain and dishonouring his house must not
expect others to think well of them. Why then should you mind if men
talk as you think they will? This stranger is strong and well-built,
he says moreover that he is of noble birth. Give him the bow, and
let us see whether he can string it or no. I say- and it shall surely
be- that if Apollo vouchsafes him the glory of stringing it, I will
give him a cloak and shirt of good wear, with a javelin to keep off
dogs and robbers, and a sharp sword. I will also give him sandals,
and will see him sent safely whereever he wants to go."

Then Telemachus said, "Mother, I am the only man either in Ithaca
or in the islands that are over against Elis who has the right to
let any one have the bow or to refuse it. No one shall force me one
way or the other, not even though I choose to make the stranger a
present of the bow outright, and let him take it away with him. Go,
then, within the house and busy yourself with your daily duties, your
loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants. This bow is
a man's matter, and mine above all others, for it is I who am master
here."

She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son's saying
in her heart. Then going upstairs with her handmaids into her room,
she mourned her dear husband till Minerva sent sweet sleep over her
eyelids.

The swineherd now took up the bow and was for taking it to Ulysses,
but the suitors clamoured at him from all parts of the cloisters,
and one of them said, "You idiot, where are you taking the bow to?
Are you out of your wits? If Apollo and the other gods will grant
our prayer, your own boarhounds shall get you into some quiet little
place, and worry you to death."

Eumaeus was frightened at the outcry they all raised, so he put the
bow down then and there, but Telemachus shouted out at him from the
other side of the cloisters, and threatened him saying, "Father Eumaeus,
bring the bow on in spite of them, or young as I am I will pelt you
with stones back to the country, for I am the better man of the two.
I wish I was as much stronger than all the other suitors in the house
as I am than you, I would soon send some of them off sick and sorry,
for they mean mischief."

Thus did he speak, and they all of them laughed heartily, which put
them in a better humour with Telemachus; so Eumaeus brought the bow
on and placed it in the hands of Ulysses. When he had done this, he
called Euryclea apart and said to her, "Euryclea, Telemachus says
you are to close the doors of the women's apartments. If they hear
any groaning or uproar as of men fighting about the house, they are
not to come out, but are to keep quiet and stay where they are at
their work."

Euryclea did as she was told and closed the doors of the women's apartments.

Meanwhile Philoetius slipped quietly out and made fast the gates of
the outer court. There was a ship's cable of byblus fibre lying in
the gatehouse, so he made the gates fast with it and then came in
again, resuming the seat that he had left, and keeping an eye on Ulysses,
who had now got the bow in his hands, and was turning it every way
about, and proving it all over to see whether the worms had been eating
into its two horns during his absence. Then would one turn towards
his neighbour saying, "This is some tricky old bow-fancier; either
he has got one like it at home, or he wants to make one, in such workmanlike
style does the old vagabond handle it."

Another said, "I hope he may be no more successful in other things
than he is likely to be in stringing this bow."

But Ulysses, when he had taken it up and examined it all over, strung
it as easily as a skilled bard strings a new peg of his lyre and makes
the twisted gut fast at both ends. Then he took it in his right hand
to prove the string, and it sang sweetly under his touch like the
twittering of a swallow. The suitors were dismayed, and turned colour
as they heard it; at that moment, moreover, Jove thundered loudly
as a sign, and the heart of Ulysses rejoiced as he heard the omen
that the son of scheming Saturn had sent him.

He took an arrow that was lying upon the table- for those which the
Achaeans were so shortly about to taste were all inside the quiver-
he laid it on the centre-piece of the bow, and drew the notch of the
arrow and the string toward him, still seated on his seat. When he
had taken aim he let fly, and his arrow pierced every one of the handle-holes
of the axes from the first onwards till it had gone right through
them, and into the outer courtyard. Then he said to Telemachus:

"Your guest has not disgraced you, Telemachus. I did not miss what
I aimed at, and I was not long in stringing my bow. I am still strong,
and not as the suitors twit me with being. Now, however, it is time
for the Achaeans to prepare supper while there is still daylight,
and then otherwise to disport themselves with song and dance which
are the crowning ornaments of a banquet."

As he spoke he made a sign with his eyebrows, and Telemachus girded
on his sword, grasped his spear, and stood armed beside his father's
seat.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXII

Then Ulysses tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad pavement
with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the arrows on
to the ground at his feet and said, "The mighty contest is at an end.
I will now see whether Apollo will vouchsafe it to me to hit another
mark which no man has yet hit."

On this he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinous, who was about to take
up a two-handled gold cup to drink his wine and already had it in
his hands. He had no thought of death- who amongst all the revellers
would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so
many and kill him? The arrow struck Antinous in the throat, and the
point went clean through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup
dropped from his hand, while a thick stream of blood gushed from his
nostrils. He kicked the table from him and upset the things on it,
so that the bread and roasted meats were all soiled as they fell over
on to the ground. The suitors were in an uproar when they saw that
a man had been hit; they sprang in dismay one and all of them from
their seats and looked everywhere towards the walls, but there was
neither shield nor spear, and they rebuked Ulysses very angrily. "Stranger,"
said they, "you shall pay for shooting people in this way: om yi you
shall see no other contest; you are a doomed man; he whom you have
slain was the foremost youth in Ithaca, and the vultures shall devour
you for having killed him."

Thus they spoke, for they thought that he had killed Antinous by mistake,
and did not perceive that death was hanging over the head of every
one of them. But Ulysses glared at them and said:

"Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from Troy? You have
wasted my substance, have forced my women servants to lie with you,
and have wooed my wife while I was still living. You have feared neither
Cod nor man, and now you shall die."

They turned pale with fear as he spoke, and every man looked round
about to see whither he might fly for safety, but Eurymachus alone
spoke.

"If you are Ulysses," said he, "then what you have said is just. We
have done much wrong on your lands and in your house. But Antinous
who was the head and front of the offending lies low already. It was
all his doing. It was not that he wanted to marry Penelope; he did
not so much care about that; what he wanted was something quite different,
and Jove has not vouchsafed it to him; he wanted to kill your son
and to be chief man in Ithaca. Now, therefore, that he has met the
death which was his due, spare the lives of your people. We will make
everything good among ourselves, and pay you in full for all that
we have eaten and drunk. Each one of us shall pay you a fine worth
twenty oxen, and we will keep on giving you gold and bronze till your
heart is softened. Until we have done this no one can complain of
your being enraged against us."

Ulysses again glared at him and said, "Though you should give me all
that you have in the world both now and all that you ever shall have,
I will not stay my hand till I have paid all of you in full. You must
fight, or fly for your lives; and fly, not a man of you shall."

Their hearts sank as they heard him, but Eurymachus again spoke saying:

"My friends, this man will give us no quarter. He will stand where
he is and shoot us down till he has killed every man among us. Let
us then show fight; draw your swords, and hold up the tables to shield
you from his arrows. Let us have at him with a rush, to drive him
from the pavement and doorway: we can then get through into the town,
and raise such an alarm as shall soon stay his shooting."

As he spoke he drew his keen blade of bronze, sharpened on both sides,
and with a loud cry sprang towards Ulysses, but Ulysses instantly
shot an arrow into his breast that caught him by the nipple and fixed
itself in his liver. He dropped his sword and fell doubled up over
his table. The cup and all the meats went over on to the ground as
he smote the earth with his forehead in the agonies of death, and
he kicked the stool with his feet until his eyes were closed in darkness.

Then Amphinomus drew his sword and made straight at Ulysses to try
and get him away from the door; but Telemachus was too quick for him,
and struck him from behind; the spear caught him between the shoulders
and went right through his chest, so that he fell heavily to the ground
and struck the earth with his forehead. Then Telemachus sprang away
from him, leaving his spear still in the body, for he feared that
if he stayed to draw it out, some one of the Achaeans might come up
and hack at him with his sword, or knock him down, so he set off at
a run, and immediately was at his father's side. Then he said:

"Father, let me bring you a shield, two spears, and a brass helmet
for your temples. I will arm myself as well, and will bring other
armour for the swineherd and the stockman, for we had better be armed."

"Run and fetch them," answered Ulysses, "while my arrows hold out,
or when I am alone they may get me away from the door."

Telemachus did as his father said, and went off to the store room
where the armour was kept. He chose four shields, eight spears, and
four brass helmets with horse-hair plumes. He brought them with all
speed to his father, and armed himself first, while the stockman and
the swineherd also put on their armour, and took their places near
Ulysses. Meanwhile Ulysses, as long as his arrows lasted, had been
shooting the suitors one by one, and they fell thick on one another:
when his arrows gave out, he set the bow to stand against the end
wall of the house by the door post, and hung a shield four hides thick
about his shoulders; on his comely head he set his helmet, well wrought
with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it, and he
grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears.

Now there was a trap door on the wall, while at one end of the pavement
there was an exit leading to a narrow passage, and this exit was closed
by a well-made door. Ulysses told Philoetius to stand by this door
and guard it, for only one person could attack it at a time. But Agelaus
shouted out, "Cannot some one go up to the trap door and tell the
people what is going on? Help would come at once, and we should soon
make an end of this man and his shooting."

"This may not be, Agelaus," answered Melanthius, "the mouth of the
narrow passage is dangerously near the entrance to the outer court.
One brave man could prevent any number from getting in. But I know
what I will do, I will bring you arms from the store room, for I am
sure it is there that Ulysses and his son have put them."

On this the goatherd Melanthius went by back passages to the store
room of Ulysses, house. There he chose twelve shields, with as many
helmets and spears, and brought them back as fast as he could to give
them to the suitors. Ulysses' heart began to fail him when he saw
the suitors putting on their armour and brandishing their spears.
He saw the greatness of the danger, and said to Telemachus, "Some
one of the women inside is helping the suitors against us, or it may
be Melanthius."

Telemachus answered, "The fault, father, is mine, and mine only; I
left the store room door open, and they have kept a sharper look out
than I have. Go, Eumaeus, put the door to, and see whether it is one
of the women who is doing this, or whether, as I suspect, it is Melanthius
the son of Dolius."

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Melanthius was again going to the
store room to fetch more armour, but the swineherd saw him and said
to Ulysses who was beside him, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, it
is that scoundrel Melanthius, just as we suspected, who is going to
the store room. Say, shall I kill him, if I can get the better of
him, or shall I bring him here that you may take your own revenge
for all the many wrongs that he has done in your house?"

Ulysses answered, "Telemachus and I will hold these suitors in check,
no matter what they do; go back both of you and bind Melanthius' hands
and feet behind him. Throw him into the store room and make the door
fast behind you; then fasten a noose about his body, and string him
close up to the rafters from a high bearing-post, that he may linger
on in an agony."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said; they went to
the store room, which they entered before Melanthius saw them, for
he was busy searching for arms in the innermost part of the room,
so the two took their stand on either side of the door and waited.
By and by Melanthius came out with a helmet in one hand, and an old
dry-rotted shield in the other, which had been borne by Laertes when
he was young, but which had been long since thrown aside, and the
straps had become unsewn; on this the two seized him, dragged him
back by the hair, and threw him struggling to the ground. They bent
his hands and feet well behind his back, and bound them tight with
a painful bond as Ulysses had told them; then they fastened a noose
about his body and strung him up from a high pillar till he was close
up to the rafters, and over him did you then vaunt, O swineherd Eumaeus,
saying, "Melanthius, you will pass the night on a soft bed as you
deserve. You will know very well when morning comes from the streams
of Oceanus, and it is time for you to be driving in your goats for
the suitors to feast on."

There, then, they left him in very cruel bondage, and having put on
their armour they closed the door behind them and went back to take
their places by the side of Ulysses; whereon the four men stood in
the cloister, fierce and full of fury; nevertheless, those who were
in the body of the court were still both brave and many. Then Jove's
daughter Minerva came up to them, having assumed the voice and form
of Mentor. Ulysses was glad when he saw her and said, "Mentor, lend
me your help, and forget not your old comrade, nor the many good turns
he has done you. Besides, you are my age-mate."

But all the time he felt sure it was Minerva, and the suitors from
the other side raised an uproar when they saw her. Agelaus was the
first to reproach her. "Mentor," he cried, "do not let Ulysses beguile
you into siding with him and fighting the suitors. This is what we
will do: when we have killed these people, father and son, we will
kill you too. You shall pay for it with your head, and when we have
killed you, we will take all you have, in doors or out, and bring
it into hotch-pot with Ulysses' property; we will not let your sons
live in your house, nor your daughters, nor shall your widow continue
to live in the city of Ithaca."

This made Minerva still more furious, so she scolded Ulysses very
angrily. "Ulysses," said she, "your strength and prowess are no longer
what they were when you fought for nine long years among the Trojans
about the noble lady Helen. You killed many a man in those days, and
it was through your stratagem that Priam's city was taken. How comes
it that you are so lamentably less valiant now that you are on your
own ground, face to face with the suitors in your own house? Come
on, my good fellow, stand by my side and see how Mentor, son of Alcinous
shall fight your foes and requite your kindnesses conferred upon him."

But she would not give him full victory as yet, for she wished still
further to prove his own prowess and that of his brave son, so she
flew up to one of the rafters in the roof of the cloister and sat
upon it in the form of a swallow.

Meanwhile Agelaus son of Damastor, Eurynomus, Amphimedon, Demoptolemus,
Pisander, and Polybus son of Polyctor bore the brunt of the fight
upon the suitors' side; of all those who were still fighting for their
lives they were by far the most valiant, for the others had already
fallen under the arrows of Ulysses. Agelaus shouted to them and said,
"My friends, he will soon have to leave off, for Mentor has gone away
after having done nothing for him but brag. They are standing at the
doors unsupported. Do not aim at him all at once, but six of you throw
your spears first, and see if you cannot cover yourselves with glory
by killing him. When he has fallen we need not be uneasy about the
others."

They threw their spears as he bade them, but Minerva made them all
of no effect. One hit the door post; another went against the door;
the pointed shaft of another struck the wall; and as soon as they
had avoided all the spears of the suitors Ulysses said to his own
men, "My friends, I should say we too had better let drive into the
middle of them, or they will crown all the harm they have done us
by us outright."

They therefore aimed straight in front of them and threw their spears.
Ulysses killed Demoptolemus, Telemachus Euryades, Eumaeus Elatus,
while the stockman killed Pisander. These all bit the dust, and as
the others drew back into a corner Ulysses and his men rushed forward
and regained their spears by drawing them from the bodies of the dead.

The suitors now aimed a second time, but again Minerva made their
weapons for the most part without effect. One hit a bearing-post of
the cloister; another went against the door; while the pointed shaft
of another struck the wall. Still, Amphimedon just took a piece of
the top skin from off Telemachus's wrist, and Ctesippus managed to
graze Eumaeus's shoulder above his shield; but the spear went on and
fell to the ground. Then Ulysses and his men let drive into the crowd
of suitors. Ulysses hit Eurydamas, Telemachus Amphimedon, and Eumaeus
Polybus. After this the stockman hit Ctesippus in the breast, and
taunted him saying, "Foul-mouthed son of Polytherses, do not be so
foolish as to talk wickedly another time, but let heaven direct your
speech, for the gods are far stronger than men. I make you a present
of this advice to repay you for the foot which you gave Ulysses when
he was begging about in his own house."

Thus spoke the stockman, and Ulysses struck the son of Damastor with
a spear in close fight, while Telemachus hit Leocritus son of Evenor
in the belly, and the dart went clean through him, so that he fell
forward full on his face upon the ground. Then Minerva from her seat
on the rafter held up her deadly aegis, and the hearts of the suitors
quailed. They fled to the other end of the court like a herd of cattle
maddened by the gadfly in early summer when the days are at their
longest. As eagle-beaked, crook-taloned vultures from the mountains
swoop down on the smaller birds that cower in flocks upon the ground,
and kill them, for they cannot either fight or fly, and lookers on
enjoy the sport- even so did Ulysses and his men fall upon the suitors
and smite them on every side. They made a horrible groaning as their
brains were being battered in, and the ground seethed with their blood.

Leiodes then caught the knees of Ulysses and said, "Ulysses I beseech
you have mercy upon me and spare me. I never wronged any of the women
in your house either in word or deed, and I tried to stop the others.
I saw them, but they would not listen, and now they are paying for
their folly. I was their sacrificing priest; if you kill me, I shall
die without having done anything to deserve it, and shall have got
no thanks for all the good that I did."

Ulysses looked sternly at him and answered, "If you were their sacrificing
priest, you must have prayed many a time that it might be long before
I got home again, and that you might marry my wife and have children
by her. Therefore you shall die."

With these words he picked up the sword that Agelaus had dropped when
he was being killed, and which was lying upon the ground. Then he
struck Leiodes on the back of his neck, so that his head fell rolling
in the dust while he was yet speaking.

The minstrel Phemius son of Terpes- he who had been forced by the
suitors to sing to them- now tried to save his life. He was standing
near towards the trap door, and held his lyre in his hand. He did
not know whether to fly out of the cloister and sit down by the altar
of Jove that was in the outer court, and on which both Laertes and
Ulysses had offered up the thigh bones of many an ox, or whether to
go straight up to Ulysses and embrace his knees, but in the end he
deemed it best to embrace Ulysses' knees. So he laid his lyre on the
ground the ground between the mixing-bowl and the silver-studded seat;
then going up to Ulysses he caught hold of his knees and said, "Ulysses,
I beseech you have mercy on me and spare me. You will be sorry for
it afterwards if you kill a bard who can sing both for gods and men
as I can. I make all my lays myself, and heaven visits me with every
kind of inspiration. I would sing to you as though you were a god,
do not therefore be in such a hurry to cut my head off. Your own son
Telemachus will tell you that I did not want to frequent your house
and sing to the suitors after their meals, but they were too many
and too strong for me, so they made me."

Telemachus heard him, and at once went up to his father. "Hold!" he
cried, "the man is guiltless, do him no hurt; and we will Medon too,
who was always good to me when I was a boy, unless Philoetius or Eumaeus
has already killed him, or he has fallen in your way when you were
raging about the court."

Medon caught these words of Telemachus, for he was crouching under
a seat beneath which he had hidden by covering himself up with a freshly
flayed heifer's hide, so he threw off the hide, went up to Telemachus,
and laid hold of his knees.

"Here I am, my dear sir," said he, "stay your hand therefore, and
tell your father, or he will kill me in his rage against the suitors
for having wasted his substance and been so foolishly disrespectful
to yourself."

Ulysses smiled at him and answered, "Fear not; Telemachus has saved
your life, that you may know in future, and tell other people, how
greatly better good deeds prosper than evil ones. Go, therefore, outside
the cloisters into the outer court, and be out of the way of the slaughter-
you and the bard- while I finish my work here inside."

The pair went into the outer court as fast as they could, and sat
down by Jove's great altar, looking fearfully round, and still expecting
that they would be killed. Then Ulysses searched the whole court carefully
over, to see if anyone had managed to hide himself and was still living,
but he found them all lying in the dust and weltering in their blood.
They were like fishes which fishermen have netted out of the sea,
and thrown upon the beach to lie gasping for water till the heat of
the sun makes an end of them. Even so were the suitors lying all huddled
up one against the other.

Then Ulysses said to Telemachus, "Call nurse Euryclea; I have something
to say to her."

Telemachus went and knocked at the door of the women's room. "Make
haste," said he, "you old woman who have been set over all the other
women in the house. Come outside; my father wishes to speak to you."

When Euryclea heard this she unfastened the door of the women's room
and came out, following Telemachus. She found Ulysses among the corpses
bespattered with blood and filth like a lion that has just been devouring
an ox, and his breast and both his cheeks are all bloody, so that
he is a fearful sight; even so was Ulysses besmirched from head to
foot with gore. When she saw all the corpses and such a quantity of
blood, she was beginning to cry out for joy, for she saw that a great
deed had been done; but Ulysses checked her, "Old woman," said he,
"rejoice in silence; restrain yourself, and do not make any noise
about it; it is an unholy thing to vaunt over dead men. Heaven's doom
and their own evil deeds have brought these men to destruction, for
they respected no man in the whole world, neither rich nor poor, who
came near them, and they have come to a bad end as a punishment for
their wickedness and folly. Now, however, tell me which of the women
in the house have misconducted themselves, and who are innocent."

"I will tell you the truth, my son," answered Euryclea. "There are
fifty women in the house whom we teach to do things, such as carding
wool, and all kinds of household work. Of these, twelve in all have
misbehaved, and have been wanting in respect to me, and also to Penelope.
They showed no disrespect to Telemachus, for he has only lately grown
and his mother never permitted him to give orders to the female servants;
but let me go upstairs and tell your wife all that has happened, for
some god has been sending her to sleep."

"Do not wake her yet," answered Ulysses, "but tell the women who have
misconducted themselves to come to me."

Euryclea left the cloister to tell the women, and make them come to
Ulysses; in the meantime he called Telemachus, the stockman, and the
swineherd. "Begin," said he, "to remove the dead, and make the women
help you. Then, get sponges and clean water to swill down the tables
and seats. When you have thoroughly cleansed the whole cloisters,
take the women into the space between the domed room and the wall
of the outer court, and run them through with your swords till they
are quite dead, and have forgotten all about love and the way in which
they used to lie in secret with the suitors."

On this the women came down in a body, weeping and wailing bitterly.
First they carried the dead bodies out, and propped them up against
one another in the gatehouse. Ulysses ordered them about and made
them do their work quickly, so they had to carry the bodies out. When
they had done this, they cleaned all the tables and seats with sponges
and water, while Telemachus and the two others shovelled up the blood
and dirt from the ground, and the women carried it all away and put
it out of doors. Then when they had made the whole place quite clean
and orderly, they took the women out and hemmed them in the narrow
space between the wall of the domed room and that of the yard, so
that they could not get away: and Telemachus said to the other two,
"I shall not let these women die a clean death, for they were insolent
to me and my mother, and used to sleep with the suitors."

So saying he made a ship's cable fast to one of the bearing-posts
that supported the roof of the domed room, and secured it all around
the building, at a good height, lest any of the women's feet should
touch the ground; and as thrushes or doves beat against a net that
has been set for them in a thicket just as they were getting to their
nest, and a terrible fate awaits them, even so did the women have
to put their heads in nooses one after the other and die most miserably.
Their feet moved convulsively for a while, but not for very long.

As for Melanthius, they took him through the cloister into the inner
court. There they cut off his nose and his ears; they drew out his
vitals and gave them to the dogs raw, and then in their fury they
cut off his hands and his feet.

When they had done this they washed their hands and feet and went
back into the house, for all was now over; and Ulysses said to the
dear old nurse Euryclea, "Bring me sulphur, which cleanses all pollution,
and fetch fire also that I may burn it, and purify the cloisters.
Go, moreover, and tell Penelope to come here with her attendants,
and also all the maid servants that are in the house."

"All that you have said is true," answered Euryclea, "but let me bring
you some clean clothes- a shirt and cloak. Do not keep these rags
on your back any longer. It is not right."

"First light me a fire," replied Ulysses.
She brought the fire and sulphur, as he had bidden her, and Ulysses
thoroughly purified the cloisters and both the inner and outer courts.
Then she went inside to call the women and tell them what had happened;
whereon they came from their apartment with torches in their hands,
and pressed round Ulysses to embrace him, kissing his head and shoulders
and taking hold of his hands. It made him feel as if he should like
to weep, for he remembered every one of them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXIII

Euryclea now went upstairs laughing to tell her mistress that her
dear husband had come home. Her aged knees became young again and
her feet were nimble for joy as she went up to her mistress and bent
over her head to speak to her. "Wake up Penelope, my dear child,"
she exclaimed, "and see with your own eyes something that you have
been wanting this long time past. Ulysses has at last indeed come
home again, and has killed the suitors who were giving so much trouble
in his house, eating up his estate and ill-treating his son."

"My good nurse," answered Penelope, "you must be mad. The gods sometimes
send some very sensible people out of their minds, and make foolish
people become sensible. This is what they must have been doing to
you; for you always used to be a reasonable person. Why should you
thus mock me when I have trouble enough already- talking such nonsense,
and waking me up out of a sweet sleep that had taken possession of
my eyes and closed them? I have never slept so soundly from the day
my poor husband went to that city with the ill-omened name. Go back
again into the women's room; if it had been any one else, who had
woke me up to bring me such absurd news I should have sent her away
with a severe scolding. As it is, your age shall protect you."

"My dear child," answered Euryclea, "I am not mocking you. It is quite
true as I tell you that Ulysses is come home again. He was the stranger
whom they all kept on treating so badly in the cloister. Telemachus
knew all the time that he was come back, but kept his father's secret
that he might have his revenge on all these wicked people.

Then Penelope sprang up from her couch, threw her arms round Euryclea,
and wept for joy. "But my dear nurse," said she, "explain this to
me; if he has really come home as you say, how did he manage to overcome
the wicked suitors single handed, seeing what a number of them there
always were?"

"I was not there," answered Euryclea, "and do not know; I only heard
them groaning while they were being killed. We sat crouching and huddled
up in a corner of the women's room with the doors closed, till your
son came to fetch me because his father sent him. Then I found Ulysses
standing over the corpses that were lying on the ground all round
him, one on top of the other. You would have enjoyed it if you could
have seen him standing there all bespattered with blood and filth,
and looking just like a lion. But the corpses are now all piled up
in the gatehouse that is in the outer court, and Ulysses has lit a
great fire to purify the house with sulphur. He has sent me to call
you, so come with me that you may both be happy together after all;
for now at last the desire of your heart has been fulfilled; your
husband is come home to find both wife and son alive and well, and
to take his revenge in his own house on the suitors who behaved so
badly to him."

"'My dear nurse," said Penelope, "do not exult too confidently over
all this. You know how delighted every one would be to see Ulysses
come home- more particularly myself, and the son who has been born
to both of us; but what you tell me cannot be really true. It is some
god who is angry with the suitors for their great wickedness, and
has made an end of them; for they respected no man in the whole world,
neither rich nor poor, who came near them, who came near them, and
they have come to a bad end in consequence of their iniquity. Ulysses
is dead far away from the Achaean land; he will never return home
again."

Then nurse Euryclea said, "My child, what are you talking about? but
you were all hard of belief and have made up your mind that your husband
is never coming, although he is in the house and by his own fire side
at this very moment. Besides I can give you another proof; when I
was washing him I perceived the scar which the wild boar gave him,
and I wanted to tell you about it, but in his wisdom he would not
let me, and clapped his hands over my mouth; so come with me and I
will make this bargain with you- if I am deceiving you, you may have
me killed by the most cruel death you can think of."

"My dear nurse," said Penelope, "however wise you may be you can hardly
fathom the counsels of the gods. Nevertheless, we will go in search
of my son, that I may see the corpses of the suitors, and the man
who has killed them."

On this she came down from her upper room, and while doing so she
considered whether she should keep at a distance from her husband
and question him, or whether she should at once go up to him and embrace
him. When, however, she had crossed the stone floor of the cloister,
she sat down opposite Ulysses by the fire, against the wall at right
angles [to that by which she had entered], while Ulysses sat near
one of the bearing-posts, looking upon the ground, and waiting to
see what his wife would say to him when she saw him. For a long time
she sat silent and as one lost in amazement. At one moment she looked
him full in the face, but then again directly, she was misled by his
shabby clothes and failed to recognize him, till Telemachus began
to reproach her and said:

"Mother- but you are so hard that I cannot call you by such a name-
why do you keep away from my father in this way? Why do you not sit
by his side and begin talking to him and asking him questions? No
other woman could bear to keep away from her husband when he had come
back to her after twenty years of absence, and after having gone through
so much; but your heart always was as hard as a stone."

Penelope answered, "My son, I am so lost in astonishment that I can
find no words in which either to ask questions or to answer them.
I cannot even look him straight in the face. Still, if he really is
Ulysses come back to his own home again, we shall get to understand
one another better by and by, for there are tokens with which we two
are alone acquainted, and which are hidden from all others."

Ulysses smiled at this, and said to Telemachus, "Let your mother put
me to any proof she likes; she will make up her mind about it presently.
She rejects me for the moment and believes me to be somebody else,
because I am covered with dirt and have such bad clothes on; let us,
however, consider what we had better do next. When one man has killed
another, even though he was not one who would leave many friends to
take up his quarrel, the man who has killed him must still say good
bye to his friends and fly the country; whereas we have been killing
the stay of a whole town, and all the picked youth of Ithaca. I would
have you consider this matter."

"Look to it yourself, father," answered Telemachus, "for they say
you are the wisest counsellor in the world, and that there is no other
mortal man who can compare with you. We will follow you with right
good will, nor shall you find us fail you in so far as our strength
holds out."

"I will say what I think will be best," answered Ulysses. "First wash
and put your shirts on; tell the maids also to go to their own room
and dress; Phemius shall then strike up a dance tune on his lyre,
so that if people outside hear, or any of the neighbours, or some
one going along the street happens to notice it, they may think there
is a wedding in the house, and no rumours about the death of the suitors
will get about in the town, before we can escape to the woods upon
my own land. Once there, we will settle which of the courses heaven
vouchsafes us shall seem wisest."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. First they washed
and put their shirts on, while the women got ready. Then Phemius took
his lyre and set them all longing for sweet song and stately dance.
The house re-echoed with the sound of men and women dancing, and the
people outside said, "I suppose the queen has been getting married
at last. She ought to be ashamed of herself for not continuing to
protect her husband's property until he comes home."

This was what they said, but they did not know what it was that had
been happening. The upper servant Eurynome washed and anointed Ulysses
in his own house and gave him a shirt and cloak, while Minerva made
him look taller and stronger than before; she also made the hair grow
thick on the top of his head, and flow down in curls like hyacinth
blossoms; she glorified him about the head and shoulders just as a
skilful workman who has studied art of all kinds under Vulcan or Minerva-
and his work is full of beauty- enriches a piece of silver plate by
gilding it. He came from the bath looking like one of the immortals,
and sat down opposite his wife on the seat he had left. "My dear,"
said he, "heaven has endowed you with a heart more unyielding than
woman ever yet had. No other woman could bear to keep away from her
husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of absence,
and after having gone through so much. But come, nurse, get a bed
ready for me; I will sleep alone, for this woman has a heart as hard
as iron."

"My dear," answered Penelope, "I have no wish to set myself up, nor
to depreciate you; but I am not struck by your appearance, for I very
well remember what kind of a man you were when you set sail from Ithaca.
Nevertheless, Euryclea, take his bed outside the bed chamber that
he himself built. Bring the bed outside this room, and put bedding
upon it with fleeces, good coverlets, and blankets."

She said this to try him, but Ulysses was very angry and said, "Wife,
I am much displeased at what you have just been saying. Who has been
taking my bed from the place in which I left it? He must have found
it a hard task, no matter how skilled a workman he was, unless some
god came and helped him to shift it. There is no man living, however
strong and in his prime, who could move it from its place, for it
is a marvellous curiosity which I made with my very own hands. There
was a young olive growing within the precincts of the house, in full
vigour, and about as thick as a bearing-post. I built my room round
this with strong walls of stone and a roof to cover them, and I made
the doors strong and well-fitting. Then I cut off the top boughs of
the olive tree and left the stump standing. This I dressed roughly
from the root upwards and then worked with carpenter's tools well
and skilfully, straightening my work by drawing a line on the wood,
and making it into a bed-prop. I then bored a hole down the middle,
and made it the centre-post of my bed, at which I worked till I had
finished it, inlaying it with gold and silver; after this I stretched
a hide of crimson leather from one side of it to the other. So you
see I know all about it, and I desire to learn whether it is still
there, or whether any one has been removing it by cutting down the
olive tree at its roots."

When she heard the sure proofs Ulysses now gave her, she fairly broke
down. She flew weeping to his side, flung her arms about his neck,
and kissed him. "Do not be angry with me Ulysses," she cried, "you,
who are the wisest of mankind. We have suffered, both of us. Heaven
has denied us the happiness of spending our youth, and of growing
old, together; do not then be aggrieved or take it amiss that I did
not embrace you thus as soon as I saw you. I have been shuddering
all the time through fear that someone might come here and deceive
me with a lying story; for there are many very wicked people going
about. Jove's daughter Helen would never have yielded herself to a
man from a foreign country, if she had known that the sons of Achaeans
would come after her and bring her back. Heaven put it in her heart
to do wrong, and she gave no thought to that sin, which has been the
source of all our sorrows. Now, however, that you have convinced me
by showing that you know all about our bed (which no human being has
ever seen but you and I and a single maid servant, the daughter of
Actor, who was given me by my father on my marriage, and who keeps
the doors of our room) hard of belief though I have been I can mistrust
no longer."

Then Ulysses in his turn melted, and wept as he clasped his dear and
faithful wife to his bosom. As the sight of land is welcome to men
who are swimming towards the shore, when Neptune has wrecked their
ship with the fury of his winds and waves- a few alone reach the land,
and these, covered with brine, are thankful when they find themselves
on firm ground and out of danger- even so was her husband welcome
to her as she looked upon him, and she could not tear her two fair
arms from about his neck. Indeed they would have gone on indulging
their sorrow till rosy-fingered morn appeared, had not Minerva determined
otherwise, and held night back in the far west, while she would not
suffer Dawn to leave Oceanus, nor to yoke the two steeds Lampus and
Phaethon that bear her onward to break the day upon mankind.

At last, however, Ulysses said, "Wife, we have not yet reached the
end of our troubles. I have an unknown amount of toil still to undergo.
It is long and difficult, but I must go through with it, for thus
the shade of Teiresias prophesied concerning me, on the day when I
went down into Hades to ask about my return and that of my companions.
But now let us go to bed, that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed
boon of sleep."

"You shall go to bed as soon as you please," replied Penelope, "now
that the gods have sent you home to your own good house and to your
country. But as heaven has put it in your mind to speak of it, tell
me about the task that lies before you. I shall have to hear about
it later, so it is better that I should be told at once."

"My dear," answered Ulysses, "why should you press me to tell you?
Still, I will not conceal it from you, though you will not like it.
I do not like it myself, for Teiresias bade me travel far and wide,
carrying an oar, till I came to a country where the people have never
heard of the sea, and do not even mix salt with their food. They know
nothing about ships, nor oars that are as the wings of a ship. He
gave me this certain token which I will not hide from you. He said
that a wayfarer should meet me and ask me whether it was a winnowing
shovel that I had on my shoulder. On this, I was to fix my oar in
the ground and sacrifice a ram, a bull, and a boar to Neptune; after
which I was to go home and offer hecatombs to all the gods in heaven,
one after the other. As for myself, he said that death should come
to me from the sea, and that my life should ebb away very gently when
I was full of years and peace of mind, and my people should bless
me. All this, he said, should surely come to pass."

And Penelope said, "If the gods are going to vouchsafe you a happier
time in your old age, you may hope then to have some respite from
misfortune."

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Eurynome and the nurse took torches
and made the bed ready with soft coverlets; as soon as they had laid
them, the nurse went back into the house to go to her rest, leaving
the bed chamber woman Eurynome to show Ulysses and Penelope to bed
by torch light. When she had conducted them to their room she went
back, and they then came joyfully to the rites of their own old bed.
Telemachus, Philoetius, and the swineherd now left off dancing, and
made the women leave off also. They then laid themselves down to sleep
in the cloisters.

When Ulysses and Penelope had had their fill of love they fell talking
with one another. She told him how much she had had to bear in seeing
the house filled with a crowd of wicked suitors who had killed so
many sheep and oxen on her account, and had drunk so many casks of
wine. Ulysses in his turn told her what he had suffered, and how much
trouble he had himself given to other people. He told her everything,
and she was so delighted to listen that she never went to sleep till
he had ended his whole story.

He began with his victory over the Cicons, and how he thence reached
the fertile land of the Lotus-eaters. He told her all about the Cyclops
and how he had punished him for having so ruthlessly eaten his brave
comrades; how he then went on to Aeolus, who received him hospitably
and furthered him on his way, but even so he was not to reach home,
for to his great grief a hurricane carried him out to sea again; how
he went on to the Laestrygonian city Telepylos, where the people destroyed
all his ships with their crews, save himself and his own ship only.
Then he told of cunning Circe and her craft, and how he sailed to
the chill house of Hades, to consult the ghost of the Theban prophet
Teiresias, and how he saw his old comrades in arms, and his mother
who bore him and brought him up when he was a child; how he then heard
the wondrous singing of the Sirens, and went on to the wandering rocks
and terrible Charybdis and to Scylla, whom no man had ever yet passed
in safety; how his men then ate the cattle of the sun-god, and how
Jove therefore struck the ship with his thunderbolts, so that all
his men perished together, himself alone being left alive; how at
last he reached the Ogygian island and the nymph Calypso, who kept
him there in a cave, and fed him, and wanted him to marry her, in
which case she intended making him immortal so that he should never
grow old, but she could not persuade him to let her do so; and how
after much suffering he had found his way to the Phaeacians, who had
treated him as though he had been a god, and sent him back in a ship
to his own country after having given him gold, bronze, and raiment
in great abundance. This was the last thing about which he told her,
for here a deep sleep took hold upon him and eased the burden of his
sorrows.

Then Minerva bethought her of another matter. When she deemed that
Ulysses had had both of his wife and of repose, she bade gold-enthroned
Dawn rise out of Oceanus that she might shed light upon mankind. On
this, Ulysses rose from his comfortable bed and said to Penelope,
"Wife, we have both of us had our full share of troubles, you, here,
in lamenting my absence, and I in being prevented from getting home
though I was longing all the time to do so. Now, however, that we
have at last come together, take care of the property that is in the
house. As for the sheep and goats which the wicked suitors have eaten,
I will take many myself by force from other people, and will compel
the Achaeans to make good the rest till they shall have filled all
my yards. I am now going to the wooded lands out in the country to
see my father who has so long been grieved on my account, and to yourself
I will give these instructions, though you have little need of them.
At sunrise it will at once get abroad that I have been killing the
suitors; go upstairs, therefore, and stay there with your women. See
nobody and ask no questions."

As he spoke he girded on his armour. Then he roused Telemachus, Philoetius,
and Eumaeus, and told them all to put on their armour also. This they
did, and armed themselves. When they had done so, they opened the
gates and sallied forth, Ulysses leading the way. It was now daylight,
but Minerva nevertheless concealed them in darkness and led them quickly
out of the town.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXIV

Then Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in
his hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals men's eyes
in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases; with this he roused the
ghosts and led them, while they followed whining and gibbering behind
him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some great cave, when
one of them has fallen out of the cluster in which they hang, even
so did the ghosts whine and squeal as Mercury the healer of sorrow
led them down into the dark abode of death. When they had passed the
waters of Oceanus and the rock Leucas, they came to the gates of the
sun and the land of dreams, whereon they reached the meadow of asphodel
where dwell the souls and shadows of them that can labour no more.

Here they found the ghost of Achilles son of Peleus, with those of
Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax, who was the finest and handsomest
man of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus himself.

They gathered round the ghost of the son of Peleus, and the ghost
of Agamemnon joined them, sorrowing bitterly. Round him were gathered
also the ghosts of those who had perished with him in the house of
Aeisthus; and the ghost of Achilles spoke first.

"Son of Atreus," it said, "we used to say that Jove had loved you
better from first to last than any other hero, for you were captain
over many and brave men, when we were all fighting together before
Troy; yet the hand of death, which no mortal can escape, was laid
upon you all too early. Better for you had you fallen at Troy in the
hey-day of your renown, for the Achaeans would have built a mound
over your ashes, and your son would have been heir to your good name,
whereas it has now been your lot to come to a most miserable end."

"Happy son of Peleus," answered the ghost of Agamemnon, "for having
died at Troy far from Argos, while the bravest of the Trojans and
the Achaeans fell round you fighting for your body. There you lay
in the whirling clouds of dust, all huge and hugely, heedless now
of your chivalry. We fought the whole of the livelong day, nor should
we ever have left off if Jove had not sent a hurricane to stay us.
Then, when we had borne you to the ships out of the fray, we laid
you on your bed and cleansed your fair skin with warm water and with
ointments. The Danaans tore their hair and wept bitterly round about
you. Your mother, when she heard, came with her immortal nymphs from
out of the sea, and the sound of a great wailing went forth over the
waters so that the Achaeans quaked for fear. They would have fled
panic-stricken to their ships had not wise old Nestor whose counsel
was ever truest checked them saying, 'Hold, Argives, fly not sons
of the Achaeans, this is his mother coming from the sea with her immortal
nymphs to view the body of her son.'

"Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans feared no more. The daughters of
the old man of the sea stood round you weeping bitterly, and clothed
you in immortal raiment. The nine muses also came and lifted up their
sweet voices in lament- calling and answering one another; there was
not an Argive but wept for pity of the dirge they chaunted. Days and
nights seven and ten we mourned you, mortals and immortals, but on
the eighteenth day we gave you to the flames, and many a fat sheep
with many an ox did we slay in sacrifice around you. You were burnt
in raiment of the gods, with rich resins and with honey, while heroes,
horse and foot, clashed their armour round the pile as you were burning,
with the tramp as of a great multitude. But when the flames of heaven
had done their work, we gathered your white bones at daybreak and
laid them in ointments and in pure wine. Your mother brought us a
golden vase to hold them- gift of Bacchus, and work of Vulcan himself;
in this we mingled your bleached bones with those of Patroclus who
had gone before you, and separate we enclosed also those of Antilochus,
who had been closer to you than any other of your comrades now that
Patroclus was no more.

"Over these the host of the Argives built a noble tomb, on a point
jutting out over the open Hellespont, that it might be seen from far
out upon the sea by those now living and by them that shall be born
hereafter. Your mother begged prizes from the gods, and offered them
to be contended for by the noblest of the Achaeans. You must have
been present at the funeral of many a hero, when the young men gird
themselves and make ready to contend for prizes on the death of some
great chieftain, but you never saw such prizes as silver-footed Thetis
offered in your honour; for the gods loved you well. Thus even in
death your fame, Achilles, has not been lost, and your name lives
evermore among all mankind. But as for me, what solace had I when
the days of my fighting were done? For Jove willed my destruction
on my return, by the hands of Aegisthus and those of my wicked wife."

Thus did they converse, and presently Mercury came up to them with
the ghosts of the suitors who had been killed by Ulysses. The ghosts
of Agamemnon and Achilles were astonished at seeing them, and went
up to them at once. The ghost of Agamemnon recognized Amphimedon son
of Melaneus, who lived in Ithaca and had been his host, so it began
to talk to him.

"Amphimedon," it said, "what has happened to all you fine young men-
all of an age too- that you are come down here under the ground? One
could pick no finer body of men from any city. Did Neptune raise his
winds and waves against you when you were at sea, or did your enemies
make an end of you on the mainland when you were cattle-lifting or
sheep-stealing, or while fighting in defence of their wives and city?
Answer my question, for I have been your guest. Do you not remember
how I came to your house with Menelaus, to persuade Ulysses to join
us with his ships against Troy? It was a whole month ere we could
resume our voyage, for we had hard work to persuade Ulysses to come
with us."

And the ghost of Amphimedon answered, "Agamemnon, son of Atreus, king
of men, I remember everything that you have said, and will tell you
fully and accurately about the way in which our end was brought about.
Ulysses had been long gone, and we were courting his wife, who did
not say point blank that she would not marry, nor yet bring matters
to an end, for she meant to compass our destruction: this, then, was
the trick she played us. She set up a great tambour frame in her room
and began to work on an enormous piece of fine needlework. 'Sweethearts,'
said she, 'Ulysses is indeed dead, still, do not press me to marry
again immediately; wait- for I would not have my skill in needlework
perish unrecorded- till I have completed a pall for the hero Laertes,
against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the
women of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall.' This
is what she said, and we assented; whereupon we could see her working
upon her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the
stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three
years without our finding it out, but as time wore on and she was
now in her fourth year, in the waning of moons and many days had been
accomplished, one of her maids who knew what she was doing told us,
and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she had to finish
it whether she would or no; and when she showed us the robe she had
made, after she had had it washed, its splendour was as that of the
sun or moon.

"Then some malicious god conveyed Ulysses to the upland farm where
his swineherd lives. Thither presently came also his son, returning
from a voyage to Pylos, and the two came to the town when they had
hatched their plot for our destruction. Telemachus came first, and
then after him, accompanied by the swineherd, came Ulysses, clad in
rags and leaning on a staff as though he were some miserable old beggar.
He came so unexpectedly that none of us knew him, not even the older
ones among us, and we reviled him and threw things at him. He endured
both being struck and insulted without a word, though he was in his
own house; but when the will of Aegis-bearing Jove inspired him, he
and Telemachus took the armour and hid it in an inner chamber, bolting
the doors behind them. Then he cunningly made his wife offer his bow
and a quantity of iron to be contended for by us ill-fated suitors;
and this was the beginning of our end, for not one of us could string
the bow- nor nearly do so. When it was about to reach the hands of
Ulysses, we all of us shouted out that it should not be given him,
no matter what he might say, but Telemachus insisted on his having
it. When he had got it in his hands he strung it with ease and sent
his arrow through the iron. Then he stood on the floor of the cloister
and poured his arrows on the ground, glaring fiercely about him. First
he killed Antinous, and then, aiming straight before him, he let fly
his deadly darts and they fell thick on one another. It was plain
that some one of the gods was helping them, for they fell upon us
with might and main throughout the cloisters, and there was a hideous
sound of groaning as our brains were being battered in, and the ground
seethed with our blood. This, Agamemnon, is how we came by our end,
and our bodies are lying still un-cared for in the house of Ulysses,
for our friends at home do not yet know what has happened, so that
they cannot lay us out and wash the black blood from our wounds, making
moan over us according to the offices due to the departed."

"Happy Ulysses, son of Laertes," replied the ghost of Agamemnon, "you
are indeed blessed in the possession of a wife endowed with such rare
excellence of understanding, and so faithful to her wedded lord as
Penelope the daughter of Icarius. The fame, therefore, of her virtue
shall never die, and the immortals shall compose a song that shall
be welcome to all mankind in honour of the constancy of Penelope.
How far otherwise was the wickedness of the daughter of Tyndareus
who killed her lawful husband; her song shall be hateful among men,
for she has brought disgrace on all womankind even on the good ones."

Thus did they converse in the house of Hades deep down within the
bowels of the earth. Meanwhile Ulysses and the others passed out of
the town and soon reached the fair and well-tilled farm of Laertes,
which he had reclaimed with infinite labour. Here was his house, with
a lean-to running all round it, where the slaves who worked for him
slept and sat and ate, while inside the house there was an old Sicel
woman, who looked after him in this his country-farm. When Ulysses
got there, he said to his son and to the other two:

"Go to the house, and kill the best pig that you can find for dinner.
Meanwhile I want to see whether my father will know me, or fail to
recognize me after so long an absence."

He then took off his armour and gave it to Eumaeus and Philoetius,
who went straight on to the house, while he turned off into the vineyard
to make trial of his father. As he went down into the great orchard,
he did not see Dolius, nor any of his sons nor of the other bondsmen,
for they were all gathering thorns to make a fence for the vineyard,
at the place where the old man had told them; he therefore found his
father alone, hoeing a vine. He had on a dirty old shirt, patched
and very shabby; his legs were bound round with thongs of oxhide to
save him from the brambles, and he also wore sleeves of leather; he
had a goat skin cap on his head, and was looking very woe-begone.
When Ulysses saw him so worn, so old and full of sorrow, he stood
still under a tall pear tree and began to weep. He doubted whether
to embrace him, kiss him, and tell him all about his having come home,
or whether he should first question him and see what he would say.
In the end he deemed it best to be crafty with him, so in this mind
he went up to his father, who was bending down and digging about a
plant.

"I see, sir," said Ulysses, "that you are an excellent gardener- what
pains you take with it, to be sure. There is not a single plant, not
a fig tree, vine, olive, pear, nor flower bed, but bears the trace
of your attention. I trust, however, that you will not be offended
if I say that you take better care of your garden than of yourself.
You are old, unsavoury, and very meanly clad. It cannot be because
you are idle that your master takes such poor care of you, indeed
your face and figure have nothing of the slave about them, and proclaim
you of noble birth. I should have said that you were one of those
who should wash well, eat well, and lie soft at night as old men have
a right to do; but tell me, and tell me true, whose bondman are you,
and in whose garden are you working? Tell me also about another matter.
Is this place that I have come to really Ithaca? I met a man just
now who said so, but he was a dull fellow, and had not the patience
to hear my story out when I was asking him about an old friend of
mine, whether he was still living, or was already dead and in the
house of Hades. Believe me when I tell you that this man came to my
house once when I was in my own country and never yet did any stranger
come to me whom I liked better. He said that his family came from
Ithaca and that his father was Laertes, son of Arceisius. I received
him hospitably, making him welcome to all the abundance of my house,
and when he went away I gave him all customary presents. I gave him
seven talents of fine gold, and a cup of solid silver with flowers
chased upon it. I gave him twelve light cloaks, and as many pieces
of tapestry; I also gave him twelve cloaks of single fold, twelve
rugs, twelve fair mantles, and an equal number of shirts. To all this
I added four good looking women skilled in all useful arts, and I
let him take his choice."

His father shed tears and answered, "Sir, you have indeed come to
the country that you have named, but it is fallen into the hands of
wicked people. All this wealth of presents has been given to no purpose.
If you could have found your friend here alive in Ithaca, he would
have entertained you hospitably and would have required your presents
amply when you left him- as would have been only right considering
what you have already given him. But tell me, and tell me true, how
many years is it since you entertained this guest- my unhappy son,
as ever was? Alas! He has perished far from his own country; the fishes
of the sea have eaten him, or he has fallen a prey to the birds and
wild beasts of some continent. Neither his mother, nor I his father,
who were his parents, could throw our arms about him and wrap him
in his shroud, nor could his excellent and richly dowered wife Penelope
bewail her husband as was natural upon his death bed, and close his
eyes according to the offices due to the departed. But now, tell me
truly for I want to know. Who and whence are you- tell me of your
town and parents? Where is the ship lying that has brought you and
your men to Ithaca? Or were you a passenger on some other man's ship,
and those who brought you here have gone on their way and left you?"

"I will tell you everything," answered Ulysses, "quite truly. I come
from Alybas, where I have a fine house. I am son of king Apheidas,
who is the son of Polypemon. My own name is Eperitus; heaven drove
me off my course as I was leaving Sicania, and I have been carried
here against my will. As for my ship it is lying over yonder, off
the open country outside the town, and this is the fifth year since
Ulysses left my country. Poor fellow, yet the omens were good for
him when he left me. The birds all flew on our right hands, and both
he and I rejoiced to see them as we parted, for we had every hope
that we should have another friendly meeting and exchange presents."

A dark cloud of sorrow fell upon Laertes as he listened. He filled
both hands with the dust from off the ground and poured it over his
grey head, groaning heavily as he did so. The heart of Ulysses was
touched, and his nostrils quivered as he looked upon his father; then
he sprang towards him, flung his arms about him and kissed him, saying,
"I am he, father, about whom you are asking- I have returned after
having been away for twenty years. But cease your sighing and lamentation-
we have no time to lose, for I should tell you that I have been killing
the suitors in my house, to punish them for their insolence and crimes."

"If you really are my son Ulysses," replied Laertes, "and have come
back again, you must give me such manifest proof of your identity
as shall convince me."

"First observe this scar," answered Ulysses, "which I got from a boar's
tusk when I was hunting on Mount Parnassus. You and my mother had
sent me to Autolycus, my mother's father, to receive the presents
which when he was over here he had promised to give me. Furthermore
I will point out to you the trees in the vineyard which you gave me,
and I asked you all about them as I followed you round the garden.
We went over them all, and you told me their names and what they all
were. You gave me thirteen pear trees, ten apple trees, and forty
fig trees; you also said you would give me fifty rows of vines; there
was corn planted between each row, and they yield grapes of every
kind when the heat of heaven has been laid heavy upon them."

Laertes' strength failed him when he heard the convincing proofs which
his son had given him. He threw his arms about him, and Ulysses had
to support him, or he would have gone off into a swoon; but as soon
as he came to, and was beginning to recover his senses, he said, "O
father Jove, then you gods are still in Olympus after all, if the
suitors have really been punished for their insolence and folly. Nevertheless,
I am much afraid that I shall have all the townspeople of Ithaca up
here directly, and they will be sending messengers everywhere throughout
the cities of the Cephallenians."

Ulysses answered, "Take heart and do not trouble yourself about that,
but let us go into the house hard by your garden. I have already told
Telemachus, Philoetius, and Eumaeus to go on there and get dinner
ready as soon as possible."

Thus conversing the two made their way towards the house. When they
got there they found Telemachus with the stockman and the swineherd
cutting up meat and mixing wine with water. Then the old Sicel woman
took Laertes inside and washed him and anointed him with oil. She
put him on a good cloak, and Minerva came up to him and gave him a
more imposing presence, making him taller and stouter than before.
When he came back his son was surprised to see him looking so like
an immortal, and said to him, "My dear father, some one of the gods
has been making you much taller and better-looking."

Laertes answered, "Would, by Father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, that
I were the man I was when I ruled among the Cephallenians, and took
Nericum, that strong fortress on the foreland. If I were still what
I then was and had been in our house yesterday with my armour on,
I should have been able to stand by you and help you against the suitors.
I should have killed a great many of them, and you would have rejoiced
to see it."

Thus did they converse; but the others, when they had finished their
work and the feast was ready, left off working, and took each his
proper place on the benches and seats. Then they began eating; by
and by old Dolius and his sons left their work and came up, for their
mother, the Sicel woman who looked after Laertes now that he was growing
old, had been to fetch them. When they saw Ulysses and were certain
it was he, they stood there lost in astonishment; but Ulysses scolded
them good-naturedly and said, "Sit down to your dinner, old man, and
never mind about your surprise; we have been wanting to begin for
some time and have been waiting for you."

Then Dolius put out both his hands and went up to Ulysses. "Sir,"
said he, seizing his master's hand and kissing it at the wrist, "we
have long been wishing you home: and now heaven has restored you to
us after we had given up hoping. All hail, therefore, and may the
gods prosper you. But tell me, does Penelope already know of your
return, or shall we send some one to tell her?"

"Old man," answered Ulysses, "she knows already, so you need not trouble
about that." On this he took his seat, and the sons of Dolius gathered
round Ulysses to give him greeting and embrace him one after the other;
then they took their seats in due order near Dolius their father.

While they were thus busy getting their dinner ready, Rumour went
round the town, and noised abroad the terrible fate that had befallen
the suitors; as soon, therefore, as the people heard of it they gathered
from every quarter, groaning and hooting before the house of Ulysses.
They took the dead away, buried every man his own, and put the bodies
of those who came from elsewhere on board the fishing vessels, for
the fishermen to take each of them to his own place. They then met
angrily in the place of assembly, and when they were got together
Eupeithes rose to speak. He was overwhelmed with grief for the death
of his son Antinous, who had been the first man killed by Ulysses,
so he said, weeping bitterly, "My friend, this man has done the Achaeans
great wrong. He took many of our best men away with him in his fleet,
and he has lost both ships and men; now, moreover, on his return he
has been killing all the foremost men among the Cephallenians. Let
us be up and doing before he can get away to Pylos or to Elis where
the Epeans rule, or we shall be ashamed of ourselves for ever afterwards.
It will be an everlasting disgrace to us if we do not avenge the murder
of our sons and brothers. For my own part I should have no mote pleasure
in life, but had rather die at once. Let us be up, then, and after
them, before they can cross over to the mainland."

He wept as he spoke and every one pitied him. But Medon and the bard
Phemius had now woke up, and came to them from the house of Ulysses.
Every one was astonished at seeing them, but they stood in the middle
of the assembly, and Medon said, "Hear me, men of Ithaca. Ulysses
did not do these things against the will of heaven. I myself saw an
immortal god take the form of Mentor and stand beside him. This god
appeared, now in front of him encouraging him, and now going furiously
about the court and attacking the suitors whereon they fell thick
on one another."

On this pale fear laid hold of them, and old Halitherses, son of Mastor,
rose to speak, for he was the only man among them who knew both past
and future; so he spoke to them plainly and in all honesty, saying,

"Men of Ithaca, it is all your own fault that things have turned out
as they have; you would not listen to me, nor yet to Mentor, when
we bade you check the folly of your sons who were doing much wrong
in the wantonness of their hearts- wasting the substance and dishonouring
the wife of a chieftain who they thought would not return. Now, however,
let it be as I say, and do as I tell you. Do not go out against Ulysses,
or you may find that you have been drawing down evil on your own heads."

This was what he said, and more than half raised a loud shout, and
at once left the assembly. But the rest stayed where they were, for
the speech of Halitherses displeased them, and they sided with Eupeithes;
they therefore hurried off for their armour, and when they had armed
themselves, they met together in front of the city, and Eupeithes
led them on in their folly. He thought he was going to avenge the
murder of his son, whereas in truth he was never to return, but was
himself to perish in his attempt.

Then Minerva said to Jove, "Father, son of Saturn, king of kings,
answer me this question- What do you propose to do? Will you set them
fighting still further, or will you make peace between them?"

And Jove answered, "My child, why should you ask me? Was it not by
your own arrangement that Ulysses came home and took his revenge upon
the suitors? Do whatever you like, but I will tell you what I think
will be most reasonable arrangement. Now that Ulysses is revenged,
let them swear to a solemn covenant, in virtue of which he shall continue
to rule, while we cause the others to forgive and forget the massacre
of their sons and brothers. Let them then all become friends as heretofore,
and let peace and plenty reign."

This was what Minerva was already eager to bring about, so down she
darted from off the topmost summits of Olympus.

Now when Laertes and the others had done dinner, Ulysses began by
saying, "Some of you go out and see if they are not getting close
up to us." So one of Dolius's sons went as he was bid. Standing on
the threshold he could see them all quite near, and said to Ulysses,
"Here they are, let us put on our armour at once."

They put on their armour as fast as they could- that is to say Ulysses,
his three men, and the six sons of Dolius. Laertes also and Dolius
did the same- warriors by necessity in spite of their grey hair. When
they had all put on their armour, they opened the gate and sallied
forth, Ulysses leading the way.

Then Jove's daughter Minerva came up to them, having assumed the form
and voice of Mentor. Ulysses was glad when he saw her, and said to
his son Telemachus, "Telemachus, now that are about to fight in an
engagement, which will show every man's mettle, be sure not to disgrace
your ancestors, who were eminent for their strength and courage all
the world over."

"You say truly, my dear father," answered Telemachus, "and you shall
see, if you will, that I am in no mind to disgrace your family."

Laertes was delighted when he heard this. "Good heavens, he exclaimed,
"what a day I am enjoying: I do indeed rejoice at it. My son and grandson
are vying with one another in the matter of valour."

On this Minerva came close up to him and said, "Son of Arceisius-
best friend I have in the world- pray to the blue-eyed damsel, and
to Jove her father; then poise your spear and hurl it."

As she spoke she infused fresh vigour into him, and when he had prayed
to her he poised his spear and hurled it. He hit Eupeithes' helmet,
and the spear went right through it, for the helmet stayed it not,
and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Meantime Ulysses and his son fell the front line of the foe and smote
them with their swords and spears; indeed, they would have killed
every one of them, and prevented them from ever getting home again,
only Minerva raised her voice aloud, and made every one pause. "Men
of Ithaca," she cried, cease this dreadful war, and settle the matter
at once without further bloodshed."

On this pale fear seized every one; they were so frightened that their
arms dropped from their hands and fell upon the ground at the sound
of the goddess's voice, and they fled back to the city for their lives.
But Ulysses gave a great cry, and gathering himself together swooped
down like a soaring eagle. Then the son of Saturn sent a thunderbolt
of fire that fell just in front of Minerva, so she said to Ulysses,
"Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, stop this warful strife, or Jove will
be angry with you."

Thus spoke Minerva, and Ulysses obeyed her gladly. Then Minerva assumed
the form and voice of Mentor, and presently made a covenant of peace
between the two contending parties.

THE END

_________________
The Flesh of Fallen Angels! Come to me all! Asteroth,

Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Bapholada, Lucifer, Loki, Satan,

Cthulhu, Lilith, Della! Blood, to you all!

I'm the wolf, yeah!
I am the wolf! It's close, it's coming. You have come.
The witness to the end, of time. It's now! I will rise to
her side! I don't need the words!
I'm beyond the words!
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Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:15 pm
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fuck it

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You fuck old books? Hardcore.

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Wish I could fuck an old book ._.

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Newpurple wrote:
Wish I could fuck an old book ._.


... do I dare draw this?

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You should it is all fun
smells funny afterword though

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The Flesh of Fallen Angels! Come to me all! Asteroth,

Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Bapholada, Lucifer, Loki, Satan,

Cthulhu, Lilith, Della! Blood, to you all!

I'm the wolf, yeah!
I am the wolf! It's close, it's coming. You have come.
The witness to the end, of time. It's now! I will rise to
her side! I don't need the words!
I'm beyond the words!
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I've actually read this....
Orange Juice Jones wrote:
Provided by The Internet Classics Archive.
See bottom for copyright. Available online at
http://classics.mit.edu//Homer/iliad.html

The Iliad
By Homer


Translated by Samuel Butler

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK I

Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying
down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures,
for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the
son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with
one another.

And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the
son of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent a pestilence
upon the host to plague the people, because the son of Atreus had
dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had come to the ships
of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had brought with him a great
ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo wreathed
with a suppliant's wreath and he besought the Achaeans, but most of
all the two sons of Atreus, who were their chiefs.

"Sons of Atreus," he cried, "and all other Achaeans, may the gods
who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to reach
your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a ransom for
her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Jove."

On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting
the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so Agamemnon,
who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away. "Old man," said
he, "let me not find you tarrying about our ships, nor yet coming
hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your wreath shall profit you
nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow old in my house at Argos
far from her own home, busying herself with her loom and visiting
my couch; so go, and do not provoke me or it shall be the worse for
you."

The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went by
the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo whom
lovely Leto had borne. "Hear me," he cried, "O god of the silver bow,
that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest Tenedos with thy
might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have ever decked your temple
with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones in fat of bulls or goats,
grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon the
Danaans."

Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down furious
from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver upon his
shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage that trembled
within him. He sat himself down away from the ships with a face as
dark as night, and his silver bow rang death as he shot his arrow
in the midst of them. First he smote their mules and their hounds,
but presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves, and all
day long the pyres of the dead were burning.

For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but upon
the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly- moved thereto by Juno,
who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had compassion upon
them. Then, when they were got together, he rose and spoke among them.

"Son of Atreus," said he, "I deem that we should now turn roving home
if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by war and
pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or some reader
of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell us why Phoebus
Apollo is so angry, and say whether it is for some vow that we have
broken, or hecatomb that we have not offered, and whether he will
accept the savour of lambs and goats without blemish, so as to take
away the plague from us."

With these words he sat down, and Calchas son of Thestor, wisest of
augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose to speak. He
it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to Ilius, through
the prophesyings with which Phoebus Apollo had inspired him. With
all sincerity and goodwill he addressed them thus:-

"Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger of
King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and swear
that you will stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I know that
I shall offend one who rules the Argives with might, to whom all the
Achaeans are in subjection. A plain man cannot stand against the anger
of a king, who if he swallow his displeasure now, will yet nurse revenge
till he has wreaked it. Consider, therefore, whether or no you will
protect me."

And Achilles answered, "Fear not, but speak as it is borne in upon
you from heaven, for by Apollo, Calchas, to whom you pray, and whose
oracles you reveal to us, not a Danaan at our ships shall lay his
hand upon you, while I yet live to look upon the face of the earth-
no, not though you name Agamemnon himself, who is by far the foremost
of the Achaeans."

Thereon the seer spoke boldly. "The god," he said, "is angry neither
about vow nor hecatomb, but for his priest's sake, whom Agamemnon
has dishonoured, in that he would not free his daughter nor take a
ransom for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon us, and will
yet send others. He will not deliver the Danaans from this pestilence
till Agamemnon has restored the girl without fee or ransom to her
father, and has sent a holy hecatomb to Chryse. Thus we may perhaps
appease him."

With these words he sat down, and Agamemnon rose in anger. His heart
was black with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he scowled on Calchas
and said, "Seer of evil, you never yet prophesied smooth things concerning
me, but have ever loved to foretell that which was evil. You have
brought me neither comfort nor performance; and now you come seeing
among Danaans, and saying that Apollo has plagued us because I would
not take a ransom for this girl, the daughter of Chryses. I have set
my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even
than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and
feature, in understanding and accomplishments. Still I will give her
up if I must, for I would have the people live, not die; but you must
find me a prize instead, or I alone among the Argives shall be without
one. This is not well; for you behold, all of you, that my prize is
to go elsewhither."

And Achilles answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, covetous beyond
all mankind, how shall the Achaeans find you another prize? We have
no common store from which to take one. Those we took from the cities
have been awarded; we cannot disallow the awards that have been made
already. Give this girl, therefore, to the god, and if ever Jove grants
us to sack the city of Troy we will requite you three and fourfold."

Then Agamemnon said, "Achilles, valiant though you be, you shall not
thus outwit me. You shall not overreach and you shall not persuade
me. Are you to keep your own prize, while I sit tamely under my loss
and give up the girl at your bidding? Let the Achaeans find me a prize
in fair exchange to my liking, or I will come and take your own, or
that of Ajax or of Ulysses; and he to whomsoever I may come shall
rue my coming. But of this we will take thought hereafter; for the
present, let us draw a ship into the sea, and find a crew for her
expressly; let us put a hecatomb on board, and let us send Chryseis
also; further, let some chief man among us be in command, either Ajax,
or Idomeneus, or yourself, son of Peleus, mighty warrior that you
are, that we may offer sacrifice and appease the the anger of the
god."

Achilles scowled at him and answered, "You are steeped in insolence
and lust of gain. With what heart can any of the Achaeans do your
bidding, either on foray or in open fighting? I came not warring here
for any ill the Trojans had done me. I have no quarrel with them.
They have not raided my cattle nor my horses, nor cut down my harvests
on the rich plains of Phthia; for between me and them there is a great
space, both mountain and sounding sea. We have followed you, Sir Insolence!
for your pleasure, not ours- to gain satisfaction from the Trojans
for your shameless self and for Menelaus. You forget this, and threaten
to rob me of the prize for which I have toiled, and which the sons
of the Achaeans have given me. Never when the Achaeans sack any rich
city of the Trojans do I receive so good a prize as you do, though
it is my hands that do the better part of the fighting. When the sharing
comes, your share is far the largest, and I, forsooth, must go back
to my ships, take what I can get and be thankful, when my labour of
fighting is done. Now, therefore, I shall go back to Phthia; it will
be much better for me to return home with my ships, for I will not
stay here dishonoured to gather gold and substance for you."

And Agamemnon answered, "Fly if you will, I shall make you no prayers
to stay you. I have others here who will do me honour, and above all
Jove, the lord of counsel. There is no king here so hateful to me
as you are, for you are ever quarrelsome and ill affected. What though
you be brave? Was it not heaven that made you so? Go home, then, with
your ships and comrades to lord it over the Myrmidons. I care neither
for you nor for your anger; and thus will I do: since Phoebus Apollo
is taking Chryseis from me, I shall send her with my ship and my followers,
but I shall come to your tent and take your own prize Briseis, that
you may learn how much stronger I am than you are, and that another
may fear to set himself up as equal or comparable with me."

The son of Peleus was furious, and his heart within his shaggy breast
was divided whether to draw his sword, push the others aside, and
kill the son of Atreus, or to restrain himself and check his anger.
While he was thus in two minds, and was drawing his mighty sword from
its scabbard, Minerva came down from heaven (for Juno had sent her
in the love she bore to them both), and seized the son of Peleus by
his yellow hair, visible to him alone, for of the others no man could
see her. Achilles turned in amaze, and by the fire that flashed from
her eyes at once knew that she was Minerva. "Why are you here," said
he, "daughter of aegis-bearing Jove? To see the pride of Agamemnon,
son of Atreus? Let me tell you- and it shall surely be- he shall pay
for this insolence with his life."

And Minerva said, "I come from heaven, if you will hear me, to bid
you stay your anger. Juno has sent me, who cares for both of you alike.
Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your sword; rail at him
if you will, and your railing will not be vain, for I tell you- and
it shall surely be- that you shall hereafter receive gifts three times
as splendid by reason of this present insult. Hold, therefore, and
obey."

"Goddess," answered Achilles, "however angry a man may be, he must
do as you two command him. This will be best, for the gods ever hear
the prayers of him who has obeyed them."

He stayed his hand on the silver hilt of his sword, and thrust it
back into the scabbard as Minerva bade him. Then she went back to
Olympus among the other gods, and to the house of aegis-bearing Jove.

But the son of Peleus again began railing at the son of Atreus, for
he was still in a rage. "Wine-bibber," he cried, "with the face of
a dog and the heart of a hind, you never dare to go out with the host
in fight, nor yet with our chosen men in ambuscade. You shun this
as you do death itself. You had rather go round and rob his prizes
from any man who contradicts you. You devour your people, for you
are king over a feeble folk; otherwise, son of Atreus, henceforward
you would insult no man. Therefore I say, and swear it with a great
oath- nay, by this my sceptre which shalt sprout neither leaf nor
shoot, nor bud anew from the day on which it left its parent stem
upon the mountains- for the axe stripped it of leaf and bark, and
now the sons of the Achaeans bear it as judges and guardians of the
decrees of heaven- so surely and solemnly do I swear that hereafter
they shall look fondly for Achilles and shall not find him. In the
day of your distress, when your men fall dying by the murderous hand
of Hector, you shall not know how to help them, and shall rend your
heart with rage for the hour when you offered insult to the bravest
of the Achaeans."

With this the son of Peleus dashed his gold-bestudded sceptre on the
ground and took his seat, while the son of Atreus was beginning fiercely
from his place upon the other side. Then uprose smooth-tongued Nestor,
the facile speaker of the Pylians, and the words fell from his lips
sweeter than honey. Two generations of men born and bred in Pylos
had passed away under his rule, and he was now reigning over the third.
With all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:-

"Of a truth," he said, "a great sorrow has befallen the Achaean land.
Surely Priam with his sons would rejoice, and the Trojans be glad
at heart if they could hear this quarrel between you two, who are
so excellent in fight and counsel. I am older than either of you;
therefore be guided by me. Moreover I have been the familiar friend
of men even greater than you are, and they did not disregard my counsels.
Never again can I behold such men as Pirithous and Dryas shepherd
of his people, or as Caeneus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus
son of Aegeus, peer of the immortals. These were the mightiest men
ever born upon this earth: mightiest were they, and when they fought
the fiercest tribes of mountain savages they utterly overthrew them.
I came from distant Pylos, and went about among them, for they would
have me come, and I fought as it was in me to do. Not a man now living
could withstand them, but they heard my words, and were persuaded
by them. So be it also with yourselves, for this is the more excellent
way. Therefore, Agamemnon, though you be strong, take not this girl
away, for the sons of the Achaeans have already given her to Achilles;
and you, Achilles, strive not further with the king, for no man who
by the grace of Jove wields a sceptre has like honour with Agamemnon.
You are strong, and have a goddess for your mother; but Agamemnon
is stronger than you, for he has more people under him. Son of Atreus,
check your anger, I implore you; end this quarrel with Achilles, who
in the day of battle is a tower of strength to the Achaeans."

And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, all that you have said is true, but
this fellow must needs become our lord and master: he must be lord
of all, king of all, and captain of all, and this shall hardly be.
Granted that the gods have made him a great warrior, have they also
given him the right to speak with railing?"

Achilles interrupted him. "I should be a mean coward," he cried, "were
I to give in to you in all things. Order other people about, not me,
for I shall obey no longer. Furthermore I say- and lay my saying to
your heart- I shall fight neither you nor any man about this girl,
for those that take were those also that gave. But of all else that
is at my ship you shall carry away nothing by force. Try, that others
may see; if you do, my spear shall be reddened with your blood."

When they had quarrelled thus angrily, they rose, and broke up the
assembly at the ships of the Achaeans. The son of Peleus went back
to his tents and ships with the son of Menoetius and his company,
while Agamemnon drew a vessel into the water and chose a crew of twenty
oarsmen. He escorted Chryseis on board and sent moreover a hecatomb
for the god. And Ulysses went as captain.

These, then, went on board and sailed their ways over the sea. But
the son of Atreus bade the people purify themselves; so they purified
themselves and cast their filth into the sea. Then they offered hecatombs
of bulls and goats without blemish on the sea-shore, and the smoke
with the savour of their sacrifice rose curling up towards heaven.

Thus did they busy themselves throughout the host. But Agamemnon did
not forget the threat that he had made Achilles, and called his trusty
messengers and squires Talthybius and Eurybates. "Go," said he, "to
the tent of Achilles, son of Peleus; take Briseis by the hand and
bring her hither; if he will not give her I shall come with others
and take her- which will press him harder."

He charged them straightly further and dismissed them, whereon they
went their way sorrowfully by the seaside, till they came to the tents
and ships of the Myrmidons. They found Achilles sitting by his tent
and his ships, and ill-pleased he was when he beheld them. They stood
fearfully and reverently before him, and never a word did they speak,
but he knew them and said, "Welcome, heralds, messengers of gods and
men; draw near; my quarrel is not with you but with Agamemnon who
has sent you for the girl Briseis. Therefore, Patroclus, bring her
and give her to them, but let them be witnesses by the blessed gods,
by mortal men, and by the fierceness of Agamemnon's anger, that if
ever again there be need of me to save the people from ruin, they
shall seek and they shall not find. Agamemnon is mad with rage and
knows not how to look before and after that the Achaeans may fight
by their ships in safety."

Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him. He brought Briseis
from the tent and gave her over to the heralds, who took her with
them to the ships of the Achaeans- and the woman was loth to go. Then
Achilles went all alone by the side of the hoar sea, weeping and looking
out upon the boundless waste of waters. He raised his hands in prayer
to his immortal mother, "Mother," he cried, "you bore me doomed to
live but for a little season; surely Jove, who thunders from Olympus,
might have made that little glorious. It is not so. Agamemnon, son
of Atreus, has done me dishonour, and has robbed me of my prize by
force."

As he spoke he wept aloud, and his mother heard him where she was
sitting in the depths of the sea hard by the old man her father. Forthwith
she rose as it were a grey mist out of the waves, sat down before
him as he stood weeping, caressed him with her hand, and said, "My
son, why are you weeping? What is it that grieves you? Keep it not
from me, but tell me, that we may know it together."

Achilles drew a deep sigh and said, "You know it; why tell you what
you know well already? We went to Thebe the strong city of Eetion,
sacked it, and brought hither the spoil. The sons of the Achaeans
shared it duly among themselves, and chose lovely Chryseis as the
meed of Agamemnon; but Chryses, priest of Apollo, came to the ships
of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and brought with him a great
ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo, wreathed
with a suppliant's wreath, and he besought the Achaeans, but most
of all the two sons of Atreus who were their chiefs.

"On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting
the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so Agamemnon,
who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away. So he went back
in anger, and Apollo, who loved him dearly, heard his prayer. Then
the god sent a deadly dart upon the Argives, and the people died thick
on one another, for the arrows went everywhither among the wide host
of the Achaeans. At last a seer in the fulness of his knowledge declared
to us the oracles of Apollo, and I was myself first to say that we
should appease him. Whereon the son of Atreus rose in anger, and threatened
that which he has since done. The Achaeans are now taking the girl
in a ship to Chryse, and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god; but
the heralds have just taken from my tent the daughter of Briseus,
whom the Achaeans had awarded to myself.

"Help your brave son, therefore, if you are able. Go to Olympus, and
if you have ever done him service in word or deed, implore the aid
of Jove. Ofttimes in my father's house have I heard you glory in that
you alone of the immortals saved the son of Saturn from ruin, when
the others, with Juno, Neptune, and Pallas Minerva would have put
him in bonds. It was you, goddess, who delivered him by calling to
Olympus the hundred-handed monster whom gods call Briareus, but men
Aegaeon, for he is stronger even than his father; when therefore he
took his seat all-glorious beside the son of Saturn, the other gods
were afraid, and did not bind him. Go, then, to him, remind him of
all this, clasp his knees, and bid him give succour to the Trojans.
Let the Achaeans be hemmed in at the sterns of their ships, and perish
on the sea-shore, that they may reap what joy they may of their king,
and that Agamemnon may rue his blindness in offering insult to the
foremost of the Achaeans."

Thetis wept and answered, "My son, woe is me that I should have borne
or suckled you. Would indeed that you had lived your span free from
all sorrow at your ships, for it is all too brief; alas, that you
should be at once short of life and long of sorrow above your peers:
woe, therefore, was the hour in which I bore you; nevertheless I will
go to the snowy heights of Olympus, and tell this tale to Jove, if
he will hear our prayer: meanwhile stay where you are with your ships,
nurse your anger against the Achaeans, and hold aloof from fight.
For Jove went yesterday to Oceanus, to a feast among the Ethiopians,
and the other gods went with him. He will return to Olympus twelve
days hence; I will then go to his mansion paved with bronze and will
beseech him; nor do I doubt that I shall be able to persuade him."

On this she left him, still furious at the loss of her that had been
taken from him. Meanwhile Ulysses reached Chryse with the hecatomb.
When they had come inside the harbour they furled the sails and laid
them in the ship's hold; they slackened the forestays, lowered the
mast into its place, and rowed the ship to the place where they would
have her lie; there they cast out their mooring-stones and made fast
the hawsers. They then got out upon the sea-shore and landed the hecatomb
for Apollo; Chryseis also left the ship, and Ulysses led her to the
altar to deliver her into the hands of her father. "Chryses," said
he, "King Agamemnon has sent me to bring you back your child, and
to offer sacrifice to Apollo on behalf of the Danaans, that we may
propitiate the god, who has now brought sorrow upon the Argives."

So saying he gave the girl over to her father, who received her gladly,
and they ranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the altar of the
god. They washed their hands and took up the barley-meal to sprinkle
over the victims, while Chryses lifted up his hands and prayed aloud
on their behalf. "Hear me," he cried, "O god of the silver bow, that
protectest Chryse and holy Cilla, and rulest Tenedos with thy might.
Even as thou didst hear me aforetime when I prayed, and didst press
hardly upon the Achaeans, so hear me yet again, and stay this fearful
pestilence from the Danaans."

Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. When they had done
praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of
the victims and killed and flayed them. They cut out the thigh-bones,
wrapped them round in two layers of fat, set some pieces of raw meat
on the top of them, and then Chryses laid them on the wood fire and
poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged
spits in their hands. When the thigh-bones were burned and they had
tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small, put the pieces
upon the spits, roasted them till they were done, and drew them off:
then, when they had finished their work and the feast was ready, they
ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied.
As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, pages filled the
mixing-bowl with wine and water and handed it round, after giving
every man his drink-offering.

Thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning
him and chaunting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their
voices; but when the sun went down, and it came on dark, they laid
themselves down to sleep by the stern cables of the ship, and when
the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared they again set
sail for the host of the Achaeans. Apollo sent them a fair wind, so
they raised their mast and hoisted their white sails aloft. As the
sail bellied with the wind the ship flew through the deep blue water,
and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward. When they
reached the wide-stretching host of the Achaeans, they drew the vessel
ashore, high and dry upon the sands, set her strong props beneath
her, and went their ways to their own tents and ships.

But Achilles abode at his ships and nursed his anger. He went not
to the honourable assembly, and sallied not forth to fight, but gnawed
at his own heart, pining for battle and the war-cry.

Now after twelve days the immortal gods came back in a body to Olympus,
and Jove led the way. Thetis was not unmindful of the charge her son
had laid upon her, so she rose from under the sea and went through
great heaven with early morning to Olympus, where she found the mighty
son of Saturn sitting all alone upon its topmost ridges. She sat herself
down before him, and with her left hand seized his knees, while with
her right she caught him under the chin, and besought him, saying-

"Father Jove, if I ever did you service in word or deed among the
immortals, hear my prayer, and do honour to my son, whose life is
to be cut short so early. King Agamemnon has dishonoured him by taking
his prize and keeping her. Honour him then yourself, Olympian lord
of counsel, and grant victory to the Trojans, till the Achaeans give
my son his due and load him with riches in requital."

Jove sat for a while silent, and without a word, but Thetis still
kept firm hold of his knees, and besought him a second time. "Incline
your head," said she, "and promise me surely, or else deny me- for
you have nothing to fear- that I may learn how greatly you disdain
me."

At this Jove was much troubled and answered, "I shall have trouble
if you set me quarrelling with Juno, for she will provoke me with
her taunting speeches; even now she is always railing at me before
the other gods and accusing me of giving aid to the Trojans. Go back
now, lest she should find out. I will consider the matter, and will
bring it about as wish. See, I incline my head that you believe me.
This is the most solemn that I can give to any god. I never recall
my word, or deceive, or fail to do what I say, when I have nodded
my head."

As he spoke the son of Saturn bowed his dark brows, and the ambrosial
locks swayed on his immortal head, till vast Olympus reeled.

When the pair had thus laid their plans, they parted- Jove to his
house, while the goddess quitted the splendour of Olympus, and plunged
into the depths of the sea. The gods rose from their seats, before
the coming of their sire. Not one of them dared to remain sitting,
but all stood up as he came among them. There, then, he took his seat.
But Juno, when she saw him, knew that he and the old merman's daughter,
silver-footed Thetis, had been hatching mischief, so she at once began
to upbraid him. "Trickster," she cried, "which of the gods have you
been taking into your counsels now? You are always settling matters
in secret behind my back, and have never yet told me, if you could
help it, one word of your intentions."

"Juno," replied the sire of gods and men, "you must not expect to
be informed of all my counsels. You are my wife, but you would find
it hard to understand them. When it is proper for you to hear, there
is no one, god or man, who will be told sooner, but when I mean to
keep a matter to myself, you must not pry nor ask questions."

"Dread son of Saturn," answered Juno, "what are you talking about?
I? Pry and ask questions? Never. I let you have your own way in everything.
Still, I have a strong misgiving that the old merman's daughter Thetis
has been talking you over, for she was with you and had hold of your
knees this self-same morning. I believe, therefore, that you have
been promising her to give glory to Achilles, and to kill much people
at the ships of the Achaeans."

"Wife," said Jove, "I can do nothing but you suspect me and find it
out. You will take nothing by it, for I shall only dislike you the
more, and it will go harder with you. Granted that it is as you say;
I mean to have it so; sit down and hold your tongue as I bid you for
if I once begin to lay my hands about you, though all heaven were
on your side it would profit you nothing."

On this Juno was frightened, so she curbed her stubborn will and sat
down in silence. But the heavenly beings were disquieted throughout
the house of Jove, till the cunning workman Vulcan began to try and
pacify his mother Juno. "It will be intolerable," said he, "if you
two fall to wrangling and setting heaven in an uproar about a pack
of mortals. If such ill counsels are to prevail, we shall have no
pleasure at our banquet. Let me then advise my mother- and she must
herself know that it will be better- to make friends with my dear
father Jove, lest he again scold her and disturb our feast. If the
Olympian Thunderer wants to hurl us all from our seats, he can do
so, for he is far the strongest, so give him fair words, and he will
then soon be in a good humour with us."

As he spoke, he took a double cup of nectar, and placed it in his
mother's hand. "Cheer up, my dear mother," said he, "and make the
best of it. I love you dearly, and should be very sorry to see you
get a thrashing; however grieved I might be, I could not help for
there is no standing against Jove. Once before when I was trying to
help you, he caught me by the foot and flung me from the heavenly
threshold. All day long from morn till eve, was I falling, till at
sunset I came to ground in the island of Lemnos, and there I lay,
with very little life left in me, till the Sintians came and tended
me."

Juno smiled at this, and as she smiled she took the cup from her son's
hands. Then Vulcan drew sweet nectar from the mixing-bowl, and served
it round among the gods, going from left to right; and the blessed
gods laughed out a loud applause as they saw him ing bustling about
the heavenly mansion.

Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun they feasted,
and every one had his full share, so that all were satisfied. Apollo
struck his lyre, and the Muses lifted up their sweet voices, calling
and answering one another. But when the sun's glorious light had faded,
they went home to bed, each in his own abode, which lame Vulcan with
his consummate skill had fashioned for them. So Jove, the Olympian
Lord of Thunder, hied him to the bed in which he always slept; and
when he had got on to it he went to sleep, with Juno of the golden
throne by his side.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK II

Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept soundly,
but Jove was wakeful, for he was thinking how to do honour to Achilles,
and destroyed much people at the ships of the Achaeans. In the end
he deemed it would be best to send a lying dream to King Agamemnon;
so he called one to him and said to it, "Lying Dream, go to the ships
of the Achaeans, into the tent of Agamemnon, and say to him word to
word as I now bid you. Tell him to get the Achaeans instantly under
arms, for he shall take Troy. There are no longer divided counsels
among the gods; Juno has brought them to her own mind, and woe betides
the Trojans."

The dream went when it had heard its message, and soon reached the
ships of the Achaeans. It sought Agamemnon son of Atreus and found
him in his tent, wrapped in a profound slumber. It hovered over his
head in the likeness of Nestor, son of Neleus, whom Agamemnon honoured
above all his councillors, and said:-

"You are sleeping, son of Atreus; one who has the welfare of his host
and so much other care upon his shoulders should dock his sleep. Hear
me at once, for I come as a messenger from Jove, who, though he be
not near, yet takes thought for you and pities you. He bids you get
the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall take Troy. There
are no longer divided counsels among the gods; Juno has brought them
over to her own mind, and woe betides the Trojans at the hands of
Jove. Remember this, and when you wake see that it does not escape
you."

The dream then left him, and he thought of things that were, surely
not to be accomplished. He thought that on that same day he was to
take the city of Priam, but he little knew what was in the mind of
Jove, who had many another hard-fought fight in store alike for Danaans
and Trojans. Then presently he woke, with the divine message still
ringing in his ears; so he sat upright, and put on his soft shirt
so fair and new, and over this his heavy cloak. He bound his sandals
on to his comely feet, and slung his silver-studded sword about his
shoulders; then he took the imperishable staff of his father, and
sallied forth to the ships of the Achaeans.

The goddess Dawn now wended her way to vast Olympus that she might
herald day to Jove and to the other immortals, and Agamemnon sent
the criers round to call the people in assembly; so they called them
and the people gathered thereon. But first he summoned a meeting of
the elders at the ship of Nestor king of Pylos, and when they were
assembled he laid a cunning counsel before them.

"My friends," said he, "I have had a dream from heaven in the dead
of night, and its face and figure resembled none but Nestor's. It
hovered over my head and said, 'You are sleeping, son of Atreus; one
who has the welfare of his host and so much other care upon his shoulders
should dock his sleep. Hear me at once, for I am a messenger from
Jove, who, though he be not near, yet takes thought for you and pities
you. He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms, for you shall
take Troy. There are no longer divided counsels among the gods; Juno
has brought them over to her own mind, and woe betides the Trojans
at the hands of Jove. Remember this.' The dream then vanished and
I awoke. Let us now, therefore, arm the sons of the Achaeans. But
it will be well that I should first sound them, and to this end I
will tell them to fly with their ships; but do you others go about
among the host and prevent their doing so."

He then sat down, and Nestor the prince of Pylos with all sincerity
and goodwill addressed them thus: "My friends," said he, "princes
and councillors of the Argives, if any other man of the Achaeans had
told us of this dream we should have declared it false, and would
have had nothing to do with it. But he who has seen it is the foremost
man among us; we must therefore set about getting the people under
arms."

With this he led the way from the assembly, and the other sceptred
kings rose with him in obedience to the word of Agamemnon; but the
people pressed forward to hear. They swarmed like bees that sally
from some hollow cave and flit in countless throng among the spring
flowers, bunched in knots and clusters; even so did the mighty multitude
pour from ships and tents to the assembly, and range themselves upon
the wide-watered shore, while among them ran Wildfire Rumour, messenger
of Jove, urging them ever to the fore. Thus they gathered in a pell-mell
of mad confusion, and the earth groaned under the tramp of men as
the people sought their places. Nine heralds went crying about among
them to stay their tumult and bid them listen to the kings, till at
last they were got into their several places and ceased their clamour.
Then King Agamemnon rose, holding his sceptre. This was the work of
Vulcan, who gave it to Jove the son of Saturn. Jove gave it to Mercury,
slayer of Argus, guide and guardian. King Mercury gave it to Pelops,
the mighty charioteer, and Pelops to Atreus, shepherd of his people.
Atreus, when he died, left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes
in his turn left it to be borne by Agamemnon, that he might be lord
of all Argos and of the isles. Leaning, then, on his sceptre, he addressed
the Argives.

"My friends," he said, "heroes, servants of Mars, the hand of heaven
has been laid heavily upon me. Cruel Jove gave me his solemn promise
that I should sack the city of Priam before returning, but he has
played me false, and is now bidding me go ingloriously back to Argos
with the loss of much people. Such is the will of Jove, who has laid
many a proud city in the dust, as he will yet lay others, for his
power is above all. It will be a sorry tale hereafter that an Achaean
host, at once so great and valiant, battled in vain against men fewer
in number than themselves; but as yet the end is not in sight. Think
that the Achaeans and Trojans have sworn to a solemn covenant, and
that they have each been numbered- the Trojans by the roll of their
householders, and we by companies of ten; think further that each
of our companies desired to have a Trojan householder to pour out
their wine; we are so greatly more in number that full many a company
would have to go without its cup-bearer. But they have in the town
allies from other places, and it is these that hinder me from being
able to sack the rich city of Ilius. Nine of Jove years are gone;
the timbers of our ships have rotted; their tackling is sound no longer.
Our wives and little ones at home look anxiously for our coming, but
the work that we came hither to do has not been done. Now, therefore,
let us all do as I say: let us sail back to our own land, for we shall
not take Troy."

With these words he moved the hearts of the multitude, so many of
them as knew not the cunning counsel of Agamemnon. They surged to
and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea, when the east and south
winds break from heaven's clouds to lash them; or as when the west
wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears bow beneath the blast,
even so were they swayed as they flew with loud cries towards the
ships, and the dust from under their feet rose heavenward. They cheered
each other on to draw the ships into the sea; they cleared the channels
in front of them; they began taking away the stays from underneath
them, and the welkin rang with their glad cries, so eager were they
to return.

Then surely the Argives would have returned after a fashion that was
not fated. But Juno said to Minerva, "Alas, daughter of aegis-bearing
Jove, unweariable, shall the Argives fly home to their own land over
the broad sea, and leave Priam and the Trojans the glory of still
keeping Helen, for whose sake so many of the Achaeans have died at
Troy, far from their homes? Go about at once among the host, and speak
fairly to them, man by man, that they draw not their ships into the
sea."

Minerva was not slack to do her bidding. Down she darted from the
topmost summits of Olympus, and in a moment she was at the ships of
the Achaeans. There she found Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel, standing
alone. He had not as yet laid a hand upon his ship, for he was grieved
and sorry; so she went close up to him and said, "Ulysses, noble son
of Laertes, are you going to fling yourselves into your ships and
be off home to your own land in this way? Will you leave Priam and
the Trojans the glory of still keeping Helen, for whose sake so many
of the Achaeans have died at Troy, far from their homes? Go about
at once among the host, and speak fairly to them, man by man, that
they draw not their ships into the sea."

Ulysses knew the voice as that of the goddess: he flung his cloak
from him and set off to run. His servant Eurybates, a man of Ithaca,
who waited on him, took charge of the cloak, whereon Ulysses went
straight up to Agamemnon and received from him his ancestral, imperishable
staff. With this he went about among the ships of the Achaeans.

Whenever he met a king or chieftain, he stood by him and spoke him
fairly. "Sir," said he, "this flight is cowardly and unworthy. Stand
to your post, and bid your people also keep their places. You do not
yet know the full mind of Agamemnon; he was sounding us, and ere long
will visit the Achaeans with his displeasure. We were not all of us
at the council to hear what he then said; see to it lest he be angry
and do us a mischief; for the pride of kings is great, and the hand
of Jove is with them."

But when he came across any common man who was making a noise, he
struck him with his staff and rebuked him, saying, "Sirrah, hold your
peace, and listen to better men than yourself. You are a coward and
no soldier; you are nobody either in fight or council; we cannot all
be kings; it is not well that there should be many masters; one man
must be supreme- one king to whom the son of scheming Saturn has given
the sceptre of sovereignty over you all."

Thus masterfully did he go about among the host, and the people hurried
back to the council from their tents and ships with a sound as the
thunder of surf when it comes crashing down upon the shore, and all
the sea is in an uproar.

The rest now took their seats and kept to their own several places,
but Thersites still went on wagging his unbridled tongue- a man of
many words, and those unseemly; a monger of sedition, a railer against
all who were in authority, who cared not what he said, so that he
might set the Achaeans in a laugh. He was the ugliest man of all those
that came before Troy- bandy-legged, lame of one foot, with his two
shoulders rounded and hunched over his chest. His head ran up to a
point, but there was little hair on the top of it. Achilles and Ulysses
hated him worst of all, for it was with them that he was most wont
to wrangle; now, however, with a shrill squeaky voice he began heaping
his abuse on Agamemnon. The Achaeans were angry and disgusted, yet
none the less he kept on brawling and bawling at the son of Atreus.

"Agamemnon," he cried, "what ails you now, and what more do you want?
Your tents are filled with bronze and with fair women, for whenever
we take a town we give you the pick of them. Would you have yet more
gold, which some Trojan is to give you as a ransom for his son, when
I or another Achaean has taken him prisoner? or is it some young girl
to hide and lie with? It is not well that you, the ruler of the Achaeans,
should bring them into such misery. Weakling cowards, women rather
than men, let us sail home, and leave this fellow here at Troy to
stew in his own meeds of honour, and discover whether we were of any
service to him or no. Achilles is a much better man than he is, and
see how he has treated him- robbing him of his prize and keeping it
himself. Achilles takes it meekly and shows no fight; if he did, son
of Atreus, you would never again insult him."

Thus railed Thersites, but Ulysses at once went up to him and rebuked
him sternly. "Check your glib tongue, Thersites," said be, "and babble
not a word further. Chide not with princes when you have none to back
you. There is no viler creature come before Troy with the sons of
Atreus. Drop this chatter about kings, and neither revile them nor
keep harping about going home. We do not yet know how things are going
to be, nor whether the Achaeans are to return with good success or
evil. How dare you gibe at Agamemnon because the Danaans have awarded
him so many prizes? I tell you, therefore- and it shall surely be-
that if I again catch you talking such nonsense, I will either forfeit
my own head and be no more called father of Telemachus, or I will
take you, strip you stark naked, and whip you out of the assembly
till you go blubbering back to the ships."

On this he beat him with his staff about the back and shoulders till
he dropped and fell a-weeping. The golden sceptre raised a bloody
weal on his back, so he sat down frightened and in pain, looking foolish
as he wiped the tears from his eyes. The people were sorry for him,
yet they laughed heartily, and one would turn to his neighbour saying,
"Ulysses has done many a good thing ere now in fight and council,
but he never did the Argives a better turn than when he stopped this
fellow's mouth from prating further. He will give the kings no more
of his insolence."

Thus said the people. Then Ulysses rose, sceptre in hand, and Minerva
in the likeness of a herald bade the people be still, that those who
were far off might hear him and consider his council. He therefore
with all sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus:-

"King Agamemnon, the Achaeans are for making you a by-word among all
mankind. They forget the promise they made you when they set out from
Argos, that you should not return till you had sacked the town of
Troy, and, like children or widowed women, they murmur and would set
off homeward. True it is that they have had toil enough to be disheartened.
A man chafes at having to stay away from his wife even for a single
month, when he is on shipboard, at the mercy of wind and sea, but
it is now nine long years that we have been kept here; I cannot, therefore,
blame the Achaeans if they turn restive; still we shall be shamed
if we go home empty after so long a stay- therefore, my friends, be
patient yet a little longer that we may learn whether the prophesyings
of Calchas were false or true.

"All who have not since perished must remember as though it were yesterday
or the day before, how the ships of the Achaeans were detained in
Aulis when we were on our way hither to make war on Priam and the
Trojans. We were ranged round about a fountain offering hecatombs
to the gods upon their holy altars, and there was a fine plane-tree
from beneath which there welled a stream of pure water. Then we saw
a prodigy; for Jove sent a fearful serpent out of the ground, with
blood-red stains upon its back, and it darted from under the altar
on to the plane-tree. Now there was a brood of young sparrows, quite
small, upon the topmost bough, peeping out from under the leaves,
eight in all, and their mother that hatched them made nine. The serpent
ate the poor cheeping things, while the old bird flew about lamenting
her little ones; but the serpent threw his coils about her and caught
her by the wing as she was screaming. Then, when he had eaten both
the sparrow and her young, the god who had sent him made him become
a sign; for the son of scheming Saturn turned him into stone, and
we stood there wondering at that which had come to pass. Seeing, then,
that such a fearful portent had broken in upon our hecatombs, Calchas
forthwith declared to us the oracles of heaven. 'Why, Achaeans,' said
he, 'are you thus speechless? Jove has sent us this sign, long in
coming, and long ere it be fulfilled, though its fame shall last for
ever. As the serpent ate the eight fledglings and the sparrow that
hatched them, which makes nine, so shall we fight nine years at Troy,
but in the tenth shall take the town.' This was what he said, and
now it is all coming true. Stay here, therefore, all of you, till
we take the city of Priam."

On this the Argives raised a shout, till the ships rang again with
the uproar. Nestor, knight of Gerene, then addressed them. "Shame
on you," he cried, "to stay talking here like children, when you should
fight like men. Where are our covenants now, and where the oaths that
we have taken? Shall our counsels be flung into the fire, with our
drink-offerings and the right hands of fellowship wherein we have
put our trust? We waste our time in words, and for all our talking
here shall be no further forward. Stand, therefore, son of Atreus,
by your own steadfast purpose; lead the Argives on to battle, and
leave this handful of men to rot, who scheme, and scheme in vain,
to get back to Argos ere they have learned whether Jove be true or
a liar. For the mighty son of Saturn surely promised that we should
succeed, when we Argives set sail to bring death and destruction upon
the Trojans. He showed us favourable signs by flashing his lightning
on our right hands; therefore let none make haste to go till he has
first lain with the wife of some Trojan, and avenged the toil and
sorrow that he has suffered for the sake of Helen. Nevertheless, if
any man is in such haste to be at home again, let him lay his hand
to his ship that he may meet his doom in the sight of all. But, O
king, consider and give ear to my counsel, for the word that I say
may not be neglected lightly. Divide your men, Agamemnon, into their
several tribes and clans, that clans and tribes may stand by and help
one another. If you do this, and if the Achaeans obey you, you will
find out who, both chiefs and peoples, are brave, and who are cowards;
for they will vie against the other. Thus you shall also learn whether
it is through the counsel of heaven or the cowardice of man that you
shall fail to take the town."

And Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, you have again outdone the sons of
the Achaeans in counsel. Would, by Father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo,
that I had among them ten more such councillors, for the city of King
Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we should sack it.
But the son of Saturn afflicts me with bootless wranglings and strife.
Achilles and I are quarrelling about this girl, in which matter I
was the first to offend; if we can be of one mind again, the Trojans
will not stave off destruction for a day. Now, therefore, get your
morning meal, that our hosts join in fight. Whet well your spears;
see well to the ordering of your shields; give good feeds to your
horses, and look your chariots carefully over, that we may do battle
the livelong day; for we shall have no rest, not for a moment, till
night falls to part us. The bands that bear your shields shall be
wet with the sweat upon your shoulders, your hands shall weary upon
your spears, your horses shall steam in front of your chariots, and
if I see any man shirking the fight, or trying to keep out of it at
the ships, there shall be no help for him, but he shall be a prey
to dogs and vultures."

Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans roared applause. As when the waves
run high before the blast of the south wind and break on some lofty
headland, dashing against it and buffeting it without ceasing, as
the storms from every quarter drive them, even so did the Achaeans
rise and hurry in all directions to their ships. There they lighted
their fires at their tents and got dinner, offering sacrifice every
man to one or other of the gods, and praying each one of them that
he might live to come out of the fight. Agamemnon, king of men, sacrificed
a fat five-year-old bull to the mighty son of Saturn, and invited
the princes and elders of his host. First he asked Nestor and King
Idomeneus, then the two Ajaxes and the son of Tydeus, and sixthly
Ulysses, peer of gods in counsel; but Menelaus came of his own accord,
for he knew how busy his brother then was. They stood round the bull
with the barley-meal in their hands, and Agamemnon prayed, saying,
"Jove, most glorious, supreme, that dwellest in heaven, and ridest
upon the storm-cloud, grant that the sun may not go down, nor the
night fall, till the palace of Priam is laid low, and its gates are
consumed with fire. Grant that my sword may pierce the shirt of Hector
about his heart, and that full many of his comrades may bite the dust
as they fall dying round him."

Thus he prayed, but the son of Saturn would not fulfil his prayer.
He accepted the sacrifice, yet none the less increased their toil
continually. When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal
upon the victim, they drew back its head, killed it, and then flayed
it. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped them round in two layers
of fat, and set pieces of raw meat on the top of them. These they
burned upon the split logs of firewood, but they spitted the inward
meats, and held them in the flames to cook. When the thigh-bones were
burned, and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up
small, put the pieces upon spits, roasted them till they were done,
and drew them off; then, when they had finished their work and the
feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so
that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and
drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene, began to speak. "King Agamemnon,"
said he, "let us not stay talking here, nor be slack in the work that
heaven has put into our hands. Let the heralds summon the people to
gather at their several ships; we will then go about among the host,
that we may begin fighting at once."

Thus did he speak, and Agamemnon heeded his words. He at once sent
the criers round to call the people in assembly. So they called them,
and the people gathered thereon. The chiefs about the son of Atreus
chose their men and marshalled them, while Minerva went among them
holding her priceless aegis that knows neither age nor death. From
it there waved a hundred tassels of pure gold, all deftly woven, and
each one of them worth a hundred oxen. With this she darted furiously
everywhere among the hosts of the Achaeans, urging them forward, and
putting courage into the heart of each, so that he might fight and
do battle without ceasing. Thus war became sweeter in their eyes even
than returning home in their ships. As when some great forest fire
is raging upon a mountain top and its light is seen afar, even so
as they marched the gleam of their armour flashed up into the firmament
of heaven.

They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the plain
about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither and thither,
glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they settle till the
fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did their tribes pour
from ships and tents on to the plain of the Scamander, and the ground
rang as brass under the feet of men and horses. They stood as thick
upon the flower-bespangled field as leaves that bloom in summer.

As countless swarms of flies buzz around a herdsman's homestead in
the time of spring when the pails are drenched with milk, even so
did the Achaeans swarm on to the plain to charge the Trojans and destroy
them.

The chiefs disposed their men this way and that before the fight began,
drafting them out as easily as goatherds draft their flocks when they
have got mixed while feeding; and among them went King Agamemnon,
with a head and face like Jove the lord of thunder, a waist like Mars,
and a chest like that of Neptune. As some great bull that lords it
over the herds upon the plain, even so did Jove make the son of Atreus
stand peerless among the multitude of heroes.

And now, O Muses, dwellers in the mansions of Olympus, tell me- for
you are goddesses and are in all places so that you see all things,
while we know nothing but by report- who were the chiefs and princes
of the Danaans? As for the common soldiers, they were so that I could
not name every single one of them though I had ten tongues, and though
my voice failed not and my heart were of bronze within me, unless
you, O Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, were to recount
them to me. Nevertheless, I will tell the captains of the ships and
all the fleet together.

Peneleos, Leitus, Arcesilaus, Prothoenor, and Clonius were captains
of the Boeotians. These were they that dwelt in Hyria and rocky Aulis,
and who held Schoenus, Scolus, and the highlands of Eteonus, with
Thespeia, Graia, and the fair city of Mycalessus. They also held Harma,
Eilesium, and Erythrae; and they had Eleon, Hyle, and Peteon; Ocalea
and the strong fortress of Medeon; Copae, Eutresis, and Thisbe the
haunt of doves; Coronea, and the pastures of Haliartus; Plataea and
Glisas; the fortress of Thebes the less; holy Onchestus with its famous
grove of Neptune; Arne rich in vineyards; Midea, sacred Nisa, and
Anthedon upon the sea. From these there came fifty ships, and in each
there were a hundred and twenty young men of the Boeotians.

Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Mars, led the people that dwelt in
Aspledon and Orchomenus the realm of Minyas. Astyoche a noble maiden
bore them in the house of Actor son of Azeus; for she had gone with
Mars secretly into an upper chamber, and he had lain with her. With
these there came thirty ships.

The Phoceans were led by Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of mighty
Iphitus the son of Naubolus. These were they that held Cyparissus,
rocky Pytho, holy Crisa, Daulis, and Panopeus; they also that dwelt
in Anemorea and Hyampolis, and about the waters of the river Cephissus,
and Lilaea by the springs of the Cephissus; with their chieftains
came forty ships, and they marshalled the forces of the Phoceans,
which were stationed next to the Boeotians, on their left.

Ajax, the fleet son of Oileus, commanded the Locrians. He was not
so great, nor nearly so great, as Ajax the son of Telamon. He was
a little man, and his breastplate was made of linen, but in use of
the spear he excelled all the Hellenes and the Achaeans. These dwelt
in Cynus, Opous, Calliarus, Bessa, Scarphe, fair Augeae, Tarphe, and
Thronium about the river Boagrius. With him there came forty ships
of the Locrians who dwell beyond Euboea.

The fierce Abantes held Euboea with its cities, Chalcis, Eretria,
Histiaea rich in vines, Cerinthus upon the sea, and the rock-perched
town of Dium; with them were also the men of Carystus and Styra; Elephenor
of the race of Mars was in command of these; he was son of Chalcodon,
and chief over all the Abantes. With him they came, fleet of foot
and wearing their hair long behind, brave warriors, who would ever
strive to tear open the corslets of their foes with their long ashen
spears. Of these there came fifty ships.

And they that held the strong city of Athens, the people of great
Erechtheus, who was born of the soil itself, but Jove's daughter,
Minerva, fostered him, and established him at Athens in her own rich
sanctuary. There, year by year, the Athenian youths worship him with
sacrifices of bulls and rams. These were commanded by Menestheus,
son of Peteos. No man living could equal him in the marshalling of
chariots and foot soldiers. Nestor could alone rival him, for he was
older. With him there came fifty ships.

Ajax brought twelve ships from Salamis, and stationed them alongside
those of the Athenians.

The men of Argos, again, and those who held the walls of Tiryns, with
Hermione, and Asine upon the gulf; Troezene, Eionae, and the vineyard
lands of Epidaurus; the Achaean youths, moreover, who came from Aegina
and Mases; these were led by Diomed of the loud battle-cry, and Sthenelus
son of famed Capaneus. With them in command was Euryalus, son of king
Mecisteus, son of Talaus; but Diomed was chief over them all. With
these there came eighty ships.

Those who held the strong city of Mycenae, rich Corinth and Cleonae;
Orneae, Araethyrea, and Licyon, where Adrastus reigned of old; Hyperesia,
high Gonoessa, and Pellene; Aegium and all the coast-land round about
Helice; these sent a hundred ships under the command of King Agamemnon,
son of Atreus. His force was far both finest and most numerous, and
in their midst was the king himself, all glorious in his armour of
gleaming bronze- foremost among the heroes, for he was the greatest
king, and had most men under him.

And those that dwelt in Lacedaemon, lying low among the hills, Pharis,
Sparta, with Messe the haunt of doves; Bryseae, Augeae, Amyclae, and
Helos upon the sea; Laas, moreover, and Oetylus; these were led by
Menelaus of the loud battle-cry, brother to Agamemnon, and of them
there were sixty ships, drawn up apart from the others. Among them
went Menelaus himself, strong in zeal, urging his men to fight; for
he longed to avenge the toil and sorrow that he had suffered for the
sake of Helen.

The men of Pylos and Arene, and Thryum where is the ford of the river
Alpheus; strong Aipy, Cyparisseis, and Amphigenea; Pteleum, Helos,
and Dorium, where the Muses met Thamyris, and stilled his minstrelsy
for ever. He was returning from Oechalia, where Eurytus lived and
reigned, and boasted that he would surpass even the Muses, daughters
of aegis-bearing Jove, if they should sing against him; whereon they
were angry, and maimed him. They robbed him of his divine power of
song, and thenceforth he could strike the lyre no more. These were
commanded by Nestor, knight of Gerene, and with him there came ninety
ships.

And those that held Arcadia, under the high mountain of Cyllene, near
the tomb of Aepytus, where the people fight hand to hand; the men
of Pheneus also, and Orchomenus rich in flocks; of Rhipae, Stratie,
and bleak Enispe; of Tegea and fair Mantinea; of Stymphelus and Parrhasia;
of these King Agapenor son of Ancaeus was commander, and they had
sixty ships. Many Arcadians, good soldiers, came in each one of them,
but Agamemnon found them the ships in which to cross the sea, for
they were not a people that occupied their business upon the waters.

The men, moreover, of Buprasium and of Elis, so much of it as is enclosed
between Hyrmine, Myrsinus upon the sea-shore, the rock Olene and Alesium.
These had four leaders, and each of them had ten ships, with many
Epeans on board. Their captains were Amphimachus and Thalpius- the
one, son of Cteatus, and the other, of Eurytus- both of the race of
Actor. The two others were Diores, son of Amarynces, and Polyxenus,
son of King Agasthenes, son of Augeas.

And those of Dulichium with the sacred Echinean islands, who dwelt
beyond the sea off Elis; these were led by Meges, peer of Mars, and
the son of valiant Phyleus, dear to Jove, who quarrelled with his
father, and went to settle in Dulichium. With him there came forty
ships.

Ulysses led the brave Cephallenians, who held Ithaca, Neritum with
its forests, Crocylea, rugged Aegilips, Samos and Zacynthus, with
the mainland also that was over against the islands. These were led
by Ulysses, peer of Jove in counsel, and with him there came twelve
ships.

Thoas, son of Andraemon, commanded the Aetolians, who dwelt in Pleuron,
Olenus, Pylene, Chalcis by the sea, and rocky Calydon, for the great
king Oeneus had now no sons living, and was himself dead, as was also
golden-haired Meleager, who had been set over the Aetolians to be
their king. And with Thoas there came forty ships.

The famous spearsman Idomeneus led the Cretans, who held Cnossus,
and the well-walled city of Gortys; Lyctus also, Miletus and Lycastus
that lies upon the chalk; the populous towns of Phaestus and Rhytium,
with the other peoples that dwelt in the hundred cities of Crete.
All these were led by Idomeneus, and by Meriones, peer of murderous
Mars. And with these there came eighty ships.

Tlepolemus, son of Hercules, a man both brave and large of stature,
brought nine ships of lordly warriors from Rhodes. These dwelt in
Rhodes which is divided among the three cities of Lindus, Ielysus,
and Cameirus, that lies upon the chalk. These were commanded by Tlepolemus,
son of Hercules by Astyochea, whom he had carried off from Ephyra,
on the river Selleis, after sacking many cities of valiant warriors.
When Tlepolemus grew up, he killed his father's uncle Licymnius, who
had been a famous warrior in his time, but was then grown old. On
this he built himself a fleet, gathered a great following, and fled
beyond the sea, for he was menaced by the other sons and grandsons
of Hercules. After a voyage. during which he suffered great hardship,
he came to Rhodes, where the people divided into three communities,
according to their tribes, and were dearly loved by Jove, the lord,
of gods and men; wherefore the son of Saturn showered down great riches
upon them.

And Nireus brought three ships from Syme- Nireus, who was the handsomest
man that came up under Ilius of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus-
but he was a man of no substance, and had but a small following.

And those that held Nisyrus, Crapathus, and Casus, with Cos, the city
of Eurypylus, and the Calydnian islands, these were commanded by Pheidippus
and Antiphus, two sons of King Thessalus the son of Hercules. And
with them there came thirty ships.

Those again who held Pelasgic Argos, Alos, Alope, and Trachis; and
those of Phthia and Hellas the land of fair women, who were called
Myrmidons, Hellenes, and Achaeans; these had fifty ships, over which
Achilles was in command. But they now took no part in the war, inasmuch
as there was no one to marshal them; for Achilles stayed by his ships,
furious about the loss of the girl Briseis, whom he had taken from
Lyrnessus at his own great peril, when he had sacked Lyrnessus and
Thebe, and had overthrown Mynes and Epistrophus, sons of king Evenor,
son of Selepus. For her sake Achilles was still grieving, but ere
long he was again to join them.

And those that held Phylace and the flowery meadows of Pyrasus, sanctuary
of Ceres; Iton, the mother of sheep; Antrum upon the sea, and Pteleum
that lies upon the grass lands. Of these brave Protesilaus had been
captain while he was yet alive, but he was now lying under the earth.
He had left a wife behind him in Phylace to tear her cheeks in sorrow,
and his house was only half finished, for he was slain by a Dardanian
warrior while leaping foremost of the Achaeans upon the soil of Troy.
Still, though his people mourned their chieftain, they were not without
a leader, for Podarces, of the race of Mars, marshalled them; he was
son of Iphiclus, rich in sheep, who was the son of Phylacus, and he
was own brother to Protesilaus, only younger, Protesilaus being at
once the elder and the more valiant. So the people were not without
a leader, though they mourned him whom they had lost. With him there
came forty ships.

And those that held Pherae by the Boebean lake, with Boebe, Glaphyrae,
and the populous city of Iolcus, these with their eleven ships were
led by Eumelus, son of Admetus, whom Alcestis bore to him, loveliest
of the daughters of Pelias.

And those that held Methone and Thaumacia, with Meliboea and rugged
Olizon, these were led by the skilful archer Philoctetes, and they
had seven ships, each with fifty oarsmen all of them good archers;
but Philoctetes was lying in great pain in the Island of Lemnos, where
the sons of the Achaeans left him, for he had been bitten by a poisonous
water snake. There he lay sick and sorry, and full soon did the Argives
come to miss him. But his people, though they felt his loss were not
leaderless, for Medon, the bastard son of Oileus by Rhene, set them
in array.

Those, again, of Tricca and the stony region of Ithome, and they that
held Oechalia, the city of Oechalian Eurytus, these were commanded
by the two sons of Aesculapius, skilled in the art of healing, Podalirius
and Machaon. And with them there came thirty ships.

The men, moreover, of Ormenius, and by the fountain of Hypereia, with
those that held Asterius, and the white crests of Titanus, these were
led by Eurypylus, the son of Euaemon, and with them there came forty
ships.

Those that held Argissa and Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and the white city
of Oloosson, of these brave Polypoetes was leader. He was son of Pirithous,
who was son of Jove himself, for Hippodameia bore him to Pirithous
on the day when he took his revenge on the shaggy mountain savages
and drove them from Mt. Pelion to the Aithices. But Polypoetes was
not sole in command, for with him was Leonteus, of the race of Mars,
who was son of Coronus, the son of Caeneus. And with these there came
forty ships.

Guneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus, and he was followed
by the Enienes and the valiant Peraebi, who dwelt about wintry Dodona,
and held the lands round the lovely river Titaresius, which sends
its waters into the Peneus. They do not mingle with the silver eddies
of the Peneus, but flow on the top of them like oil; for the Titaresius
is a branch of dread Orcus and of the river Styx.

Of the Magnetes, Prothous son of Tenthredon was commander. They were
they that dwelt about the river Peneus and Mt. Pelion. Prothous, fleet
of foot, was their leader, and with him there came forty ships.

Such were the chiefs and princes of the Danaans. Who, then, O Muse,
was the foremost, whether man or horse, among those that followed
after the sons of Atreus?

Of the horses, those of the son of Pheres were by far the finest.
They were driven by Eumelus, and were as fleet as birds. They were
of the same age and colour, and perfectly matched in height. Apollo,
of the silver bow, had bred them in Perea- both of them mares, and
terrible as Mars in battle. Of the men, Ajax, son of Telamon, was
much the foremost so long as Achilles' anger lasted, for Achilles
excelled him greatly and he had also better horses; but Achilles was
now holding aloof at his ships by reason of his quarrel with Agamemnon,
and his people passed their time upon the sea shore, throwing discs
or aiming with spears at a mark, and in archery. Their horses stood
each by his own chariot, champing lotus and wild celery. The chariots
were housed under cover, but their owners, for lack of leadership,
wandered hither and thither about the host and went not forth to fight.

Thus marched the host like a consuming fire, and the earth groaned
beneath them when the lord of thunder is angry and lashes the land
about Typhoeus among the Arimi, where they say Typhoeus lies. Even
so did the earth groan beneath them as they sped over the plain.

And now Iris, fleet as the wind, was sent by Jove to tell the bad
news among the Trojans. They were gathered in assembly, old and young,
at Priam's gates, and Iris came close up to Priam, speaking with the
voice of Priam's son Polites, who, being fleet of foot, was stationed
as watchman for the Trojans on the tomb of old Aesyetes, to look out
for any sally of the Achaeans. In his likeness Iris spoke, saying,
"Old man, you talk idly, as in time of peace, while war is at hand.
I have been in many a battle, but never yet saw such a host as is
now advancing. They are crossing the plain to attack the city as thick
as leaves or as the sands of the sea. Hector, I charge you above all
others, do as I say. There are many allies dispersed about the city
of Priam from distant places and speaking divers tongues. Therefore,
let each chief give orders to his own people, setting them severally
in array and leading them forth to battle."

Thus she spoke, but Hector knew that it was the goddess, and at once
broke up the assembly. The men flew to arms; all the gates were opened,
and the people thronged through them, horse and foot, with the tramp
as of a great multitude.

Now there is a high mound before the city, rising by itself upon the
plain. Men call it Batieia, but the gods know that it is the tomb
of lithe Myrine. Here the Trojans and their allies divided their forces.

Priam's son, great Hector of the gleaming helmet, commanded the Trojans,
and with him were arrayed by far the greater number and most valiant
of those who were longing for the fray.

The Dardanians were led by brave Aeneas, whom Venus bore to Anchises,
when she, goddess though she was, had lain with him upon the mountain
slopes of Ida. He was not alone, for with him were the two sons of
Antenor, Archilochus and Acamas, both skilled in all the arts of war.

They that dwelt in Telea under the lowest spurs of Mt. Ida, men of
substance, who drink the limpid waters of the Aesepus, and are of
Trojan blood- these were led by Pandarus son of Lycaon, whom Apollo
had taught to use the bow.

They that held Adresteia and the land of Apaesus, with Pityeia, and
the high mountain of Tereia- these were led by Adrestus and Amphius,
whose breastplate was of linen. These were the sons of Merops of Percote,
who excelled in all kinds of divination. He told them not to take
part in the war, but they gave him no heed, for fate lured them to
destruction.

They that dwelt about Percote and Practius, with Sestos, Abydos, and
Arisbe- these were led by Asius, son of Hyrtacus, a brave commander-
Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, whom his powerful dark bay steeds, of
the breed that comes from the river Selleis, had brought from Arisbe.

Hippothous led the tribes of Pelasgian spearsmen, who dwelt in fertile
Larissa- Hippothous, and Pylaeus of the race of Mars, two sons of
the Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus.

Acamas and the warrior Peirous commanded the Thracians and those that
came from beyond the mighty stream of the Hellespont.

Euphemus, son of Troezenus, the son of Ceos, was captain of the Ciconian
spearsmen.

Pyraechmes led the Paeonian archers from distant Amydon, by the broad
waters of the river Axius, the fairest that flow upon the earth.

The Paphlagonians were commanded by stout-hearted Pylaemanes from
Enetae, where the mules run wild in herds. These were they that held
Cytorus and the country round Sesamus, with the cities by the river
Parthenius, Cromna, Aegialus, and lofty Erithini.

Odius and Epistrophus were captains over the Halizoni from distant
Alybe, where there are mines of silver.

Chromis, and Ennomus the augur, led the Mysians, but his skill in
augury availed not to save him from destruction, for he fell by the
hand of the fleet descendant of Aeacus in the river, where he slew
others also of the Trojans.

Phorcys, again, and noble Ascanius led the Phrygians from the far
country of Ascania, and both were eager for the fray.

Mesthles and Antiphus commanded the Meonians, sons of Talaemenes,
born to him of the Gygaean lake. These led the Meonians, who dwelt
under Mt. Tmolus.

Nastes led the Carians, men of a strange speech. These held Miletus
and the wooded mountain of Phthires, with the water of the river Maeander
and the lofty crests of Mt. Mycale. These were commanded by Nastes
and Amphimachus, the brave sons of Nomion. He came into the fight
with gold about him, like a girl; fool that he was, his gold was of
no avail to save him, for he fell in the river by the hand of the
fleet descendant of Aeacus, and Achilles bore away his gold.

Sarpedon and Glaucus led the Lycians from their distant land, by the
eddying waters of the Xanthus.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK III

When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,
the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream
overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of
Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and they wrangle
in the air as they fly; but the Achaeans marched silently, in high
heart, and minded to stand by one another.

As when the south wind spreads a curtain of mist upon the mountain
tops, bad for shepherds but better than night for thieves, and a man
can see no further than he can throw a stone, even so rose the dust
from under their feet as they made all speed over the plain.

When they were close up with one another, Alexandrus came forward
as champion on the Trojan side. On his shoulders he bore the skin
of a panther, his bow, and his sword, and he brandished two spears
shod with bronze as a challenge to the bravest of the Achaeans to
meet him in single fight. Menelaus saw him thus stride out before
the ranks, and was glad as a hungry lion that lights on the carcase
of some goat or horned stag, and devours it there and then, though
dogs and youths set upon him. Even thus was Menelaus glad when his
eyes caught sight of Alexandrus, for he deemed that now he should
be revenged. He sprang, therefore, from his chariot, clad in his suit
of armour.

Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank in
fear of his life under cover of his men. As one who starts back affrighted,
trembling and pale, when he comes suddenly upon a serpent in some
mountain glade, even so did Alexandrus plunge into the throng of Trojan
warriors, terror-stricken at the sight of the son Atreus.

Then Hector upbraided him. "Paris," said he, "evil-hearted Paris,
fair to see, but woman-mad, and false of tongue, would that you had
never been born, or that you had died unwed. Better so, than live
to be disgraced and looked askance at. Will not the Achaeans mock
at us and say that we have sent one to champion us who is fair to
see but who has neither wit nor courage? Did you not, such as you
are, get your following together and sail beyond the seas? Did you
not from your a far country carry off a lovely woman wedded among
a people of warriors- to bring sorrow upon your father, your city,
and your whole country, but joy to your enemies, and hang-dog shamefacedness
to yourself? And now can you not dare face Menelaus and learn what
manner of man he is whose wife you have stolen? Where indeed would
be your lyre and your love-tricks, your comely locks and your fair
favour, when you were lying in the dust before him? The Trojans are
a weak-kneed people, or ere this you would have had a shirt of stones
for the wrongs you have done them."

And Alexandrus answered, "Hector, your rebuke is just. You are hard
as the axe which a shipwright wields at his work, and cleaves the
timber to his liking. As the axe in his hand, so keen is the edge
of your scorn. Still, taunt me not with the gifts that golden Venus
has given me; they are precious; let not a man disdain them, for the
gods give them where they are minded, and none can have them for the
asking. If you would have me do battle with Menelaus, bid the Trojans
and Achaeans take their seats, while he and I fight in their midst
for Helen and all her wealth. Let him who shall be victorious and
prove to be the better man take the woman and all she has, to bear
them to his home, but let the rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace
whereby you Trojans shall stay here in Troy, while the others go home
to Argos and the land of the Achaeans."

When Hector heard this he was glad, and went about among the Trojan
ranks holding his spear by the middle to keep them back, and they
all sat down at his bidding: but the Achaeans still aimed at him with
stones and arrows, till Agamemnon shouted to them saying, "Hold, Argives,
shoot not, sons of the Achaeans; Hector desires to speak."

They ceased taking aim and were still, whereon Hector spoke. "Hear
from my mouth," said he, "Trojans and Achaeans, the saying of Alexandrus,
through whom this quarrel has come about. He bids the Trojans and
Achaeans lay their armour upon the ground, while he and Menelaus fight
in the midst of you for Helen and all her wealth. Let him who shall
be victorious and prove to be the better man take the woman and all
she has, to bear them to his own home, but let the rest swear to a
solemn covenant of peace."

Thus he spoke, and they all held their peace, till Menelaus of the
loud battle-cry addressed them. "And now," he said, "hear me too,
for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I deem that the parting of
Achaeans and Trojans is at hand, as well it may be, seeing how much
have suffered for my quarrel with Alexandrus and the wrong he did
me. Let him who shall die, die, and let the others fight no more.
Bring, then, two lambs, a white ram and a black ewe, for Earth and
Sun, and we will bring a third for Jove. Moreover, you shall bid Priam
come, that he may swear to the covenant himself; for his sons are
high-handed and ill to trust, and the oaths of Jove must not be transgressed
or taken in vain. Young men's minds are light as air, but when an
old man comes he looks before and after, deeming that which shall
be fairest upon both sides."

The Trojans and Achaeans were glad when they heard this, for they
thought that they should now have rest. They backed their chariots
toward the ranks, got out of them, and put off their armour, laying
it down upon the ground; and the hosts were near to one another with
a little space between them. Hector sent two messengers to the city
to bring the lambs and to bid Priam come, while Agamemnon told Talthybius
to fetch the other lamb from the ships, and he did as Agamemnon had
said.

Meanwhile Iris went to Helen in the form of her sister-in-law, wife
of the son of Antenor, for Helicaon, son of Antenor, had married Laodice,
the fairest of Priam's daughters. She found her in her own room, working
at a great web of purple linen, on which she was embroidering the
battles between Trojans and Achaeans, that Mars had made them fight
for her sake. Iris then came close up to her and said, "Come hither,
child, and see the strange doings of the Trojans and Achaeans till
now they have been warring upon the plain, mad with lust of battle,
but now they have left off fighting, and are leaning upon their shields,
sitting still with their spears planted beside them. Alexandrus and
Menelaus are going to fight about yourself, and you are to the the
wife of him who is the victor."

Thus spoke the goddess, and Helen's heart yearned after her former
husband, her city, and her parents. She threw a white mantle over
her head, and hurried from her room, weeping as she went, not alone,
but attended by two of her handmaids, Aethrae, daughter of Pittheus,
and Clymene. And straightway they were at the Scaean gates.

The two sages, Ucalegon and Antenor, elders of the people, were seated
by the Scaean gates, with Priam, Panthous, Thymoetes, Lampus, Clytius,
and Hiketaon of the race of Mars. These were too old to fight, but
they were fluent orators, and sat on the tower like cicales that chirrup
delicately from the boughs of some high tree in a wood. When they
saw Helen coming towards the tower, they said softly to one another,
"Small wonder that Trojans and Achaeans should endure so much and
so long, for the sake of a woman so marvellously and divinely lovely.
Still, fair though she be, let them take her and go, or she will breed
sorrow for us and for our children after us."

But Priam bade her draw nigh. "My child," said he, "take your seat
in front of me that you may see your former husband, your kinsmen
and your friends. I lay no blame upon you, it is the gods, not you
who are to blame. It is they that have brought about this terrible
war with the Achaeans. Tell me, then, who is yonder huge hero so great
and goodly? I have seen men taller by a head, but none so comely and
so royal. Surely he must be a king."

"Sir," answered Helen, "father of my husband, dear and reverend in
my eyes, would that I had chosen death rather than to have come here
with your son, far from my bridal chamber, my friends, my darling
daughter, and all the companions of my girlhood. But it was not to
be, and my lot is one of tears and sorrow. As for your question, the
hero of whom you ask is Agamemnon, son of Atreus, a good king and
a brave soldier, brother-in-law as surely as that he lives, to my
abhorred and miserable self."

The old man marvelled at him and said, "Happy son of Atreus, child
of good fortune. I see that the Achaeans are subject to you in great
multitudes. When I was in Phrygia I saw much horsemen, the people
of Otreus and of Mygdon, who were camping upon the banks of the river
Sangarius; I was their ally, and with them when the Amazons, peers
of men, came up against them, but even they were not so many as the
Achaeans."

The old man next looked upon Ulysses; "Tell me," he said, "who is
that other, shorter by a head than Agamemnon, but broader across the
chest and shoulders? His armour is laid upon the ground, and he stalks
in front of the ranks as it were some great woolly ram ordering his
ewes."

And Helen answered, "He is Ulysses, a man of great craft, son of Laertes.
He was born in rugged Ithaca, and excels in all manner of stratagems
and subtle cunning."

On this Antenor said, "Madam, you have spoken truly. Ulysses once
came here as envoy about yourself, and Menelaus with him. I received
them in my own house, and therefore know both of them by sight and
conversation. When they stood up in presence of the assembled Trojans,
Menelaus was the broader shouldered, but when both were seated Ulysses
had the more royal presence. After a time they delivered their message,
and the speech of Menelaus ran trippingly on the tongue; he did not
say much, for he was a man of few words, but he spoke very clearly
and to the point, though he was the younger man of the two; Ulysses,
on the other hand, when he rose to speak, was at first silent and
kept his eyes fixed upon the ground. There was no play nor graceful
movement of his sceptre; he kept it straight and stiff like a man
unpractised in oratory- one might have taken him for a mere churl
or simpleton; but when he raised his voice, and the words came driving
from his deep chest like winter snow before the wind, then there was
none to touch him, and no man thought further of what he looked like."

Priam then caught sight of Ajax and asked, "Who is that great and
goodly warrior whose head and broad shoulders tower above the rest
of the Argives?"

"That," answered Helen, "is huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans, and
on the other side of him, among the Cretans, stands Idomeneus looking
like a god, and with the captains of the Cretans round him. Often
did Menelaus receive him as a guest in our house when he came visiting
us from Crete. I see, moreover, many other Achaeans whose names I
could tell you, but there are two whom I can nowhere find, Castor,
breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer; they are children
of my mother, and own brothers to myself. Either they have not left
Lacedaemon, or else, though they have brought their ships, they will
not show themselves in battle for the shame and disgrace that I have
brought upon them."

She knew not that both these heroes were already lying under the earth
in their own land of Lacedaemon.

Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy oath-offerings through
the city- two lambs and a goatskin of wine, the gift of earth; and
Idaeus brought the mixing bowl and the cups of gold. He went up to
Priam and said, "Son of Laomedon, the princes of the Trojans and Achaeans
bid you come down on to the plain and swear to a solemn covenant.
Alexandrus and Menelaus are to fight for Helen in single combat, that
she and all her wealth may go with him who is the victor. We are to
swear to a solemn covenant of peace whereby we others shall dwell
here in Troy, while the Achaeans return to Argos and the land of the
Achaeans."

The old man trembled as he heard, but bade his followers yoke the
horses, and they made all haste to do so. He mounted the chariot,
gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor took his seat beside him;
they then drove through the Scaean gates on to the plain. When they
reached the ranks of the Trojans and Achaeans they left the chariot,
and with measured pace advanced into the space between the hosts.

Agamemnon and Ulysses both rose to meet them. The attendants brought
on the oath-offerings and mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls; they
poured water over the hands of the chieftains, and the son of Atreus
drew the dagger that hung by his sword, and cut wool from the lambs'
heads; this the men-servants gave about among the Trojan and Achaean
princes, and the son of Atreus lifted up his hands in prayer. "Father
Jove," he cried, "that rulest in Ida, most glorious in power, and
thou oh Sun, that seest and givest ear to all things, Earth and Rivers,
and ye who in the realms below chastise the soul of him that has broken
his oath, witness these rites and guard them, that they be not vain.
If Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and all her wealth,
while we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus kills Alexandrus,
let the Trojans give back Helen and all that she has; let them moreover
pay such fine to the Achaeans as shall be agreed upon, in testimony
among those that shall be born hereafter. Aid if Priam and his sons
refuse such fine when Alexandrus has fallen, then will I stay here
and fight on till I have got satisfaction."

As he spoke he drew his knife across the throats of the victims, and
laid them down gasping and dying upon the ground, for the knife had
reft them of their strength. Then they poured wine from the mixing-bowl
into the cups, and prayed to the everlasting gods, saying, Trojans
and Achaeans among one another, "Jove, most great and glorious, and
ye other everlasting gods, grant that the brains of them who shall
first sin against their oaths- of them and their children- may be
shed upon the ground even as this wine, and let their wives become
the slaves of strangers."

Thus they prayed, but not as yet would Jove grant them their prayer.
Then Priam, descendant of Dardanus, spoke, saying, "Hear me, Trojans
and Achaeans, I will now go back to the wind-beaten city of Ilius:
I dare not with my own eyes witness this fight between my son and
Menelaus, for Jove and the other immortals alone know which shall
fall."

On this he laid the two lambs on his chariot and took his seat. He
gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor sat beside him; the two
then went back to Ilius. Hector and Ulysses measured the ground, and
cast lots from a helmet of bronze to see which should take aim first.
Meanwhile the two hosts lifted up their hands and prayed saying, "Father
Jove, that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power, grant that he
who first brought about this war between us may die, and enter the
house of Hades, while we others remain at peace and abide by our oaths."

Great Hector now turned his head aside while he shook the helmet,
and the lot of Paris flew out first. The others took their several
stations, each by his horses and the place where his arms were lying,
while Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, put on his goodly armour.
First he greaved his legs with greaves of good make and fitted with
ancle-clasps of silver; after this he donned the cuirass of his brother
Lycaon, and fitted it to his own body; he hung his silver-studded
sword of bronze about his shoulders, and then his mighty shield. On
his comely head he set his helmet, well-wrought, with a crest of horse-hair
that nodded menacingly above it, and he grasped a redoubtable spear
that suited his hands. In like fashion Menelaus also put on his armour.

When they had thus armed, each amid his own people, they strode fierce
of aspect into the open space, and both Trojans and Achaeans were
struck with awe as they beheld them. They stood near one another on
the measured ground, brandishing their spears, and each furious against
the other. Alexandrus aimed first, and struck the round shield of
the son of Atreus, but the spear did not pierce it, for the shield
turned its point. Menelaus next took aim, praying to Father Jove as
he did so. "King Jove," he said, "grant me revenge on Alexandrus who
has wronged me; subdue him under my hand that in ages yet to come
a man may shrink from doing ill deeds in the house of his host."

He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it at the shield of Alexandrus.
Through shield and cuirass it went, and tore the shirt by his flank,
but Alexandrus swerved aside, and thus saved his life. Then the son
of Atreus drew his sword, and drove at the projecting part of his
helmet, but the sword fell shivered in three or four pieces from his
hand, and he cried, looking towards Heaven, "Father Jove, of all gods
thou art the most despiteful; I made sure of my revenge, but the sword
has broken in my hand, my spear has been hurled in vain, and I have
not killed him."

With this he flew at Alexandrus, caught him by the horsehair plume
of his helmet, and began dragging him towards the Achaeans. The strap
of the helmet that went under his chin was choking him, and Menelaus
would have dragged him off to his own great glory had not Jove's daughter
Venus been quick to mark and to break the strap of oxhide, so that
the empty helmet came away in his hand. This he flung to his comrades
among the Achaeans, and was again springing upon Alexandrus to run
him through with a spear, but Venus snatched him up in a moment (as
a god can do), hid him under a cloud of darkness, and conveyed him
to his own bedchamber.

Then she went to call Helen, and found her on a high tower with the
Trojan women crowding round her. She took the form of an old woman
who used to dress wool for her when she was still in Lacedaemon, and
of whom she was very fond. Thus disguised she plucked her by perfumed
robe and said, "Come hither; Alexandrus says you are to go to the
house; he is on his bed in his own room, radiant with beauty and dressed
in gorgeous apparel. No one would think he had just come from fighting,
but rather that he was going to a dance, or had done dancing and was
sitting down."

With these words she moved the heart of Helen to anger. When she marked
the beautiful neck of the goddess, her lovely bosom, and sparkling
eyes, she marvelled at her and said, "Goddess, why do you thus beguile
me? Are you going to send me afield still further to some man whom
you have taken up in Phrygia or fair Meonia? Menelaus has just vanquished
Alexandrus, and is to take my hateful self back with him. You are
come here to betray me. Go sit with Alexandrus yourself; henceforth
be goddess no longer; never let your feet carry you back to Olympus;
worry about him and look after him till he make you his wife, or,
for the matter of that, his slave- but me? I shall not go; I can garnish
his bed no longer; I should be a by-word among all the women of Troy.
Besides, I have trouble on my mind."

Venus was very angry, and said, "Bold hussy, do not provoke me; if
you do, I shall leave you to your fate and hate you as much as I have
loved you. I will stir up fierce hatred between Trojans and Achaeans,
and you shall come to a bad end."

At this Helen was frightened. She wrapped her mantle about her and
went in silence, following the goddess and unnoticed by the Trojan
women.

When they came to the house of Alexandrus the maid-servants set about
their work, but Helen went into her own room, and the laughter-loving
goddess took a seat and set it for her facing Alexandrus. On this
Helen, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, sat down, and with eyes askance
began to upbraid her husband.

"So you are come from the fight," said she; "would that you had fallen
rather by the hand of that brave man who was my husband. You used
to brag that you were a better man with hands and spear than Menelaus.
go, but I then, an challenge him again- but I should advise you not
to do so, for if you are foolish enough to meet him in single combat,
you will soon all by his spear."

And Paris answered, "Wife, do not vex me with your reproaches. This
time, with the help of Minerva, Menelaus has vanquished me; another
time I may myself be victor, for I too have gods that will stand by
me. Come, let us lie down together and make friends. Never yet was
I so passionately enamoured of you as at this moment- not even when
I first carried you off from Lacedaemon and sailed away with you-
not even when I had converse with you upon the couch of love in the
island of Cranae was I so enthralled by desire of you as now." On
this he led her towards the bed, and his wife went with him.

Thus they laid themselves on the bed together; but the son of Atreus
strode among the throng, looking everywhere for Alexandrus, and no
man, neither of the Trojans nor of the allies, could find him. If
they had seen him they were in no mind to hide him, for they all of
them hated him as they did death itself. Then Agamemnon, king of men,
spoke, saying, "Hear me, Trojans, Dardanians, and allies. The victory
has been with Menelaus; therefore give back Helen with all her wealth,
and pay such fine as shall be agreed upon, in testimony among them
that shall be born hereafter."

Thus spoke the son of Atreus, and the Achaeans shouted in applause.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK IV

Now the gods were sitting with Jove in council upon the golden floor
while Hebe went round pouring out nectar for them to drink, and as
they pledged one another in their cups of gold they looked down upon
the town of Troy. The son of Saturn then began to tease Juno, talking
at her so as to provoke her. "Menelaus," said he, "has two good friends
among the goddesses, Juno of Argos, and Minerva of Alalcomene, but
they only sit still and look on, while Venus keeps ever by Alexandrus'
side to defend him in any danger; indeed she has just rescued him
when he made sure that it was all over with him- for the victory really
did lie with Menelaus. We must consider what we shall do about all
this; shall we set them fighting anew or make peace between them?
If you will agree to this last Menelaus can take back Helen and the
city of Priam may remain still inhabited."

Minerva and Juno muttered their discontent as they sat side by side
hatching mischief for the Trojans. Minerva scowled at her father,
for she was in a furious passion with him, and said nothing, but Juno
could not contain herself. "Dread son of Saturn," said she, "what,
pray, is the meaning of all this? Is my trouble, then, to go for nothing,
and the sweat that I have sweated, to say nothing of my horses, while
getting the people together against Priam and his children? Do as
you will, but we other gods shall not all of us approve your counsel."

Jove was angry and answered, "My dear, what harm have Priam and his
sons done you that you are so hotly bent on sacking the city of Ilius?
Will nothing do for you but you must within their walls and eat Priam
raw, with his sons and all the other Trojans to boot? Have it your
own way then; for I would not have this matter become a bone of contention
between us. I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, if ever
I want to sack a city belonging to friends of yours, you must not
try to stop me; you will have to let me do it, for I am giving in
to you sorely against my will. Of all inhabited cities under the sun
and stars of heaven, there was none that I so much respected as Ilius
with Priam and his whole people. Equitable feasts were never wanting
about my altar, nor the savour of burning fat, which is honour due
to ourselves."

"My own three favourite cities," answered Juno, "are Argos, Sparta,
and Mycenae. Sack them whenever you may be displeased with them. I
shall not defend them and I shall not care. Even if I did, and tried
to stay you, I should take nothing by it, for you are much stronger
than I am, but I will not have my own work wasted. I too am a god
and of the same race with yourself. I am Saturn's eldest daughter,
and am honourable not on this ground only, but also because I am your
wife, and you are king over the gods. Let it be a case, then, of give-and-take
between us, and the rest of the gods will follow our lead. Tell Minerva
to go and take part in the fight at once, and let her contrive that
the Trojans shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon the
Achaeans."

The sire of gods and men heeded her words, and said to Minerva, "Go
at once into the Trojan and Achaean hosts, and contrive that the Trojans
shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon the Achaeans."

This was what Minerva was already eager to do, so down she darted
from the topmost summits of Olympus. She shot through the sky as some
brilliant meteor which the son of scheming Saturn has sent as a sign
to mariners or to some great army, and a fiery train of light follows
in its wake. The Trojans and Achaeans were struck with awe as they
beheld, and one would turn to his neighbour, saying, "Either we shall
again have war and din of combat, or Jove the lord of battle will
now make peace between us."

Thus did they converse. Then Minerva took the form of Laodocus, son
of Antenor, and went through the ranks of the Trojans to find Pandarus,
the redoubtable son of Lycaon. She found him standing among the stalwart
heroes who had followed him from the banks of the Aesopus, so she
went close up to him and said, "Brave son of Lycaon, will you do as
I tell you? If you dare send an arrow at Menelaus you will win honour
and thanks from all the Trojans, and especially from prince Alexandrus-
he would be the first to requite you very handsomely if he could see
Menelaus mount his funeral pyre, slain by an arrow from your hand.
Take your home aim then, and pray to Lycian Apollo, the famous archer;
vow that when you get home to your strong city of Zelea you will offer
a hecatomb of firstling lambs in his honour."

His fool's heart was persuaded, and he took his bow from its case.
This bow was made from the horns of a wild ibex which he had killed
as it was bounding from a rock; he had stalked it, and it had fallen
as the arrow struck it to the heart. Its horns were sixteen palms
long, and a worker in horn had made them into a bow, smoothing them
well down, and giving them tips of gold. When Pandarus had strung
his bow he laid it carefully on the ground, and his brave followers
held their shields before him lest the Achaeans should set upon him
before he had shot Menelaus. Then he opened the lid of his quiver
and took out a winged arrow that had yet been shot, fraught with the
pangs of death. He laid the arrow on the string and prayed to Lycian
Apollo, the famous archer, vowing that when he got home to his strong
city of Zelea he would offer a hecatomb of firstling lambs in his
honour. He laid the notch of the arrow on the oxhide bowstring, and
drew both notch and string to his breast till the arrow-head was near
the bow; then when the bow was arched into a half-circle he let fly,
and the bow twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew gladly
on over the heads of the throng.

But the blessed gods did not forget thee, O Menelaus, and Jove's daughter,
driver of the spoil, was the first to stand before thee and ward off
the piercing arrow. She turned it from his skin as a mother whisks
a fly from off her child when it is sleeping sweetly; she guided it
to the part where the golden buckles of the belt that passed over
his double cuirass were fastened, so the arrow struck the belt that
went tightly round him. It went right through this and through the
cuirass of cunning workmanship; it also pierced the belt beneath it,
which he wore next his skin to keep out darts or arrows; it was this
that served him in the best stead, nevertheless the arrow went through
it and grazed the top of the skin, so that blood began flowing from
the wound.

As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to a piece
of ivory that is to be the cheek-piece of a horse, and is to be laid
up in a treasure house- many a knight is fain to bear it, but the
king keeps it as an ornament of which both horse and driver may be
proud- even so, O Menelaus, were your shapely thighs and your legs
down to your fair ancles stained with blood.

When King Agamemnon saw the blood flowing from the wound he was afraid,
and so was brave Menelaus himself till he saw that the barbs of the
arrow and the thread that bound the arrow-head to the shaft were still
outside the wound. Then he took heart, but Agamemnon heaved a deep
sigh as he held Menelaus's hand in his own, and his comrades made
moan in concert. "Dear brother, "he cried, "I have been the death
of you in pledging this covenant and letting you come forward as our
champion. The Trojans have trampled on their oaths and have wounded
you; nevertheless the oath, the blood of lambs, the drink-offerings
and the right hands of fellowship in which have put our trust shall
not be vain. If he that rules Olympus fulfil it not here and now,
he. will yet fulfil it hereafter, and they shall pay dearly with their
lives and with their wives and children. The day will surely come
when mighty Ilius shall be laid low, with Priam and Priam's people,
when the son of Saturn from his high throne shall overshadow them
with his awful aegis in punishment of their present treachery. This
shall surely be; but how, Menelaus, shall I mourn you, if it be your
lot now to die? I should return to Argos as a by-word, for the Achaeans
will at once go home. We shall leave Priam and the Trojans the glory
of still keeping Helen, and the earth will rot your bones as you lie
here at Troy with your purpose not fulfilled. Then shall some braggart
Trojan leap upon your tomb and say, 'Ever thus may Agamemnon wreak
his vengeance; he brought his army in vain; he is gone home to his
own land with empty ships, and has left Menelaus behind him.' Thus
will one of them say, and may the earth then swallow me."

But Menelaus reassured him and said, "Take heart, and do not alarm
the people; the arrow has not struck me in a mortal part, for my outer
belt of burnished metal first stayed it, and under this my cuirass
and the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths made me."

And Agamemnon answered, "I trust, dear Menelaus, that it may be even
so, but the surgeon shall examine your wound and lay herbs upon it
to relieve your pain."

He then said to Talthybius, "Talthybius, tell Machaon, son to the
great physician, Aesculapius, to come and see Menelaus immediately.
Some Trojan or Lycian archer has wounded him with an arrow to our
dismay, and to his own great glory."

Talthybius did as he was told, and went about the host trying to find
Machaon. Presently he found standing amid the brave warriors who had
followed him from Tricca; thereon he went up to him and said, "Son
of Aesculapius, King Agamemnon says you are to come and see Menelaus
immediately. Some Trojan or Lycian archer has wounded him with an
arrow to our dismay and to his own great glory."

Thus did he speak, and Machaon was moved to go. They passed through
the spreading host of the Achaeans and went on till they came to the
place where Menelaus had been wounded and was lying with the chieftains
gathered in a circle round him. Machaon passed into the middle of
the ring and at once drew the arrow from the belt, bending its barbs
back through the force with which he pulled it out. He undid the burnished
belt, and beneath this the cuirass and the belt of mail which the
bronze-smiths had made; then, when he had seen the wound, he wiped
away the blood and applied some soothing drugs which Chiron had given
to Aesculapius out of the good will he bore him.

While they were thus busy about Menelaus, the Trojans came forward
against them, for they had put on their armour, and now renewed the
fight.

You would not have then found Agamemnon asleep nor cowardly and unwilling
to fight, but eager rather for the fray. He left his chariot rich
with bronze and his panting steeds in charge of Eurymedon, son of
Ptolemaeus the son of Peiraeus, and bade him hold them in readiness
against the time his limbs should weary of going about and giving
orders to so many, for he went among the ranks on foot. When he saw
men hasting to the front he stood by them and cheered them on. "Argives,"
said he, "slacken not one whit in your onset; father Jove will be
no helper of liars; the Trojans have been the first to break their
oaths and to attack us; therefore they shall be devoured of vultures;
we shall take their city and carry off their wives and children in
our ships."

But he angrily rebuked those whom he saw shirking and disinclined
to fight. "Argives," he cried, "cowardly miserable creatures, have
you no shame to stand here like frightened fawns who, when they can
no longer scud over the plain, huddle together, but show no fight?
You are as dazed and spiritless as deer. Would you wait till the Trojans
reach the sterns of our ships as they lie on the shore, to see, whether
the son of Saturn will hold his hand over you to protect you?"

Thus did he go about giving his orders among the ranks. Passing through
the crowd, he came presently on the Cretans, arming round Idomeneus,
who was at their head, fierce as a wild boar, while Meriones was bringing
up the battalions that were in the rear. Agamemnon was glad when he
saw him, and spoke him fairly. "Idomeneus," said he, "I treat you
with greater distinction than I do any others of the Achaeans, whether
in war or in other things, or at table. When the princes are mixing
my choicest wines in the mixing-bowls, they have each of them a fixed
allowance, but your cup is kept always full like my own, that you
may drink whenever you are minded. Go, therefore, into battle, and
show yourself the man you have been always proud to be."

Idomeneus answered, "I will be a trusty comrade, as I promised you
from the first I would be. Urge on the other Achaeans, that we may
join battle at once, for the Trojans have trampled upon their covenants.
Death and destruction shall be theirs, seeing they have been the first
to break their oaths and to attack us."

The son of Atreus went on, glad at heart, till he came upon the two
Ajaxes arming themselves amid a host of foot-soldiers. As when a goat-herd
from some high post watches a storm drive over the deep before the
west wind- black as pitch is the offing and a mighty whirlwind draws
towards him, so that he is afraid and drives his flock into a cave-
even thus did the ranks of stalwart youths move in a dark mass to
battle under the Ajaxes, horrid with shield and spear. Glad was King
Agamemnon when he saw them. "No need," he cried, "to give orders to
such leaders of the Argives as you are, for of your own selves you
spur your men on to fight with might and main. Would, by father Jove,
Minerva, and Apollo that all were so minded as you are, for the city
of Priam would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we should sack
it."

With this he left them and went onward to Nestor, the facile speaker
of the Pylians, who was marshalling his men and urging them on, in
company with Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, and Bias shepherd
of his people. He placed his knights with their chariots and horses
in the front rank, while the foot-soldiers, brave men and many, whom
he could trust, were in the rear. The cowards he drove into the middle,
that they might fight whether they would or no. He gave his orders
to the knights first, bidding them hold their horses well in hand,
so as to avoid confusion. "Let no man," he said, "relying on his strength
or horsemanship, get before the others and engage singly with the
Trojans, nor yet let him lag behind or you will weaken your attack;
but let each when he meets an enemy's chariot throw his spear from
his own; this be much the best; this is how the men of old took towns
and strongholds; in this wise were they minded."

Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in many a fight,
and King Agamemnon was glad. "I wish," he said to him, that your limbs
were as supple and your strength as sure as your judgment is; but
age, the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would
that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young."

And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, "Son of Atreus, I too would
gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty Ereuthalion; but the gods
will not give us everything at one and the same time. I was then young,
and now I am old; still I can go with my knights and give them that
counsel which old men have a right to give. The wielding of the spear
I leave to those who are younger and stronger than myself."

Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found Menestheus,
son of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with him were the Athenians
loud of tongue in battle. Near him also tarried cunning Ulysses, with
his sturdy Cephallenians round him; they had not yet heard the battle-cry,
for the ranks of Trojans and Achaeans had only just begun to move,
so they were standing still, waiting for some other columns of the
Achaeans to attack the Trojans and begin the fighting. When he saw
this Agamemnon rebuked them and said, "Son of Peteos, and you other,
steeped in cunning, heart of guile, why stand you here cowering and
waiting on others? You two should be of all men foremost when there
is hard fighting to be done, for you are ever foremost to accept my
invitation when we councillors of the Achaeans are holding feast.
You are glad enough then to take your fill of roast meats and to drink
wine as long as you please, whereas now you would not care though
you saw ten columns of Achaeans engage the enemy in front of you."

Ulysses glared at him and answered, "Son of Atreus, what are you talking
about? How can you say that we are slack? When the Achaeans are in
full fight with the Trojans, you shall see, if you care to do so,
that the father of Telemachus will join battle with the foremost of
them. You are talking idly."

When Agamemnon saw that Ulysses was angry, he smiled pleasantly at
him and withdrew his words. "Ulysses," said he, "noble son of Laertes,
excellent in all good counsel, I have neither fault to find nor orders
to give you, for I know your heart is right, and that you and I are
of a mind. Enough; I will make you amends for what I have said, and
if any ill has now been spoken may the gods bring it to nothing."

He then left them and went on to others. Presently he saw the son
of Tydeus, noble Diomed, standing by his chariot and horses, with
Sthenelus the son of Capaneus beside him; whereon he began to upbraid
him. "Son of Tydeus," he said, "why stand you cowering here upon the
brink of battle? Tydeus did not shrink thus, but was ever ahead of
his men when leading them on against the foe- so, at least, say they
that saw him in battle, for I never set eyes upon him myself. They
say that there was no man like him. He came once to Mycenae, not as
an enemy but as a guest, in company with Polynices to recruit his
forces, for they were levying war against the strong city of Thebes,
and prayed our people for a body of picked men to help them. The men
of Mycenae were willing to let them have one, but Jove dissuaded them
by showing them unfavourable omens. Tydeus, therefore, and Polynices
went their way. When they had got as far the deep-meadowed and rush-grown
banks of the Aesopus, the Achaeans sent Tydeus as their envoy, and
he found the Cadmeans gathered in great numbers to a banquet in the
house of Eteocles. Stranger though he was, he knew no fear on finding
himself single-handed among so many, but challenged them to contests
of all kinds, and in each one of them was at once victorious, so mightily
did Minerva help him. The Cadmeans were incensed at his success, and
set a force of fifty youths with two captains- the godlike hero Maeon,
son of Haemon, and Polyphontes, son of Autophonus- at their head,
to lie in wait for him on his return journey; but Tydeus slew every
man of them, save only Maeon, whom he let go in obedience to heaven's
omens. Such was Tydeus of Aetolia. His son can talk more glibly, but
he cannot fight as his father did."

Diomed made no answer, for he was shamed by the rebuke of Agamemnon;
but the son of Capaneus took up his words and said, "Son of Atreus,
tell no lies, for you can speak truth if you will. We boast ourselves
as even better men than our fathers; we took seven-gated Thebes, though
the wall was stronger and our men were fewer in number, for we trusted
in the omens of the gods and in the help of Jove, whereas they perished
through their own sheer folly; hold not, then, our fathers in like
honour with us."

Diomed looked sternly at him and said, "Hold your peace, my friend,
as I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge the Achaeans
forward, for the glory will be his if we take the city, and his the
shame if we are vanquished. Therefore let us acquit ourselves with
valour."

As he spoke he sprang from his chariot, and his armour rang so fiercely
about his body that even a brave man might well have been scared to
hear it.

As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west
wind has lashed it into fury- it has reared its head afar and now
comes crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest high over
the jagged rocks and spews its salt foam in all directions- even so
did the serried phalanxes of the Danaans march steadfastly to battle.
The chiefs gave orders each to his own people, but the men said never
a word; no man would think it, for huge as the host was, it seemed
as though there was not a tongue among them, so silent were they in
their obedience; and as they marched the armour about their bodies
glistened in the sun. But the clamour of the Trojan ranks was as that
of many thousand ewes that stand waiting to be milked in the yards
of some rich flockmaster, and bleat incessantly in answer to the bleating
of their lambs; for they had not one speech nor language, but their
tongues were diverse, and they came from many different places. These
were inspired of Mars, but the others by Minerva- and with them came
Panic, Rout, and Strife whose fury never tires, sister and friend
of murderous Mars, who, from being at first but low in stature, grows
till she uprears her head to heaven, though her feet are still on
earth. She it was that went about among them and flung down discord
to the waxing of sorrow with even hand between them.

When they were got together in one place shield clashed with shield
and spear with spear in the rage of battle. The bossed shields beat
one upon another, and there was a tramp as of a great multitude- death-cry
and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red with
blood. As torrents swollen with rain course madly down their deep
channels till the angry floods meet in some gorge, and the shepherd
the hillside hears their roaring from afar- even such was the toil
and uproar of the hosts as they joined in battle.

First Antilochus slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Echepolus,
son of Thalysius, fighting in the foremost ranks. He struck at the
projecting part of his helmet and drove the spear into his brow; the
point of bronze pierced the bone, and darkness veiled his eyes; headlong
as a tower he fell amid the press of the fight, and as he dropped
King Elephenor, son of Chalcodon and captain of the proud Abantes
began dragging him out of reach of the darts that were falling around
him, in haste to strip him of his armour. But his purpose was not
for long; Agenor saw him haling the body away, and smote him in the
side with his bronze-shod spear- for as he stooped his side was left
unprotected by his shield- and thus he perished. Then the fight between
Trojans and Achaeans grew furious over his body, and they flew upon
each other like wolves, man and man crushing one upon the other.

Forthwith Ajax, son of Telamon, slew the fair youth Simoeisius, son
of Anthemion, whom his mother bore by the banks of the Simois, as
she was coming down from Mt. Ida, where she had been with her parents
to see their flocks. Therefore he was named Simoeisius, but he did
not live to pay his parents for his rearing, for he was cut off untimely
by the spear of mighty Ajax, who struck him in the breast by the right
nipple as he was coming on among the foremost fighters; the spear
went right through his shoulder, and he fell as a poplar that has
grown straight and tall in a meadow by some mere, and its top is thick
with branches. Then the wheelwright lays his axe to its roots that
he may fashion a felloe for the wheel of some goodly chariot, and
it lies seasoning by the waterside. In such wise did Ajax fell to
earth Simoeisius, son of Anthemion. Thereon Antiphus of the gleaming
corslet, son of Priam, hurled a spear at Ajax from amid the crowd
and missed him, but he hit Leucus, the brave comrade of Ulysses, in
the groin, as he was dragging the body of Simoeisius over to the other
side; so he fell upon the body and loosed his hold upon it. Ulysses
was furious when he saw Leucus slain, and strode in full armour through
the front ranks till he was quite close; then he glared round about
him and took aim, and the Trojans fell back as he did so. His dart
was not sped in vain, for it struck Democoon, the bastard son of Priam,
who had come to him from Abydos, where he had charge of his father's
mares. Ulysses, infuriated by the death of his comrade, hit him with
his spear on one temple, and the bronze point came through on the
other side of his forehead. Thereon darkness veiled his eyes, and
his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Hector, and they that were in front, then gave round while the Argives
raised a shout and drew off the dead, pressing further forward as
they did so. But Apollo looked down from Pergamus and called aloud
to the Trojans, for he was displeased. "Trojans," he cried, "rush
on the foe, and do not let yourselves be thus beaten by the Argives.
Their skins are not stone nor iron that when hit them you do them
no harm. Moreover, Achilles, the son of lovely Thetis, is not fighting,
but is nursing his anger at the ships."

Thus spoke the mighty god, crying to them from the city, while Jove's
redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, went about among the host of
the Achaeans, and urged them forward whenever she beheld them slackening.

Then fate fell upon Diores, son of Amarynceus, for he was struck by
a jagged stone near the ancle of his right leg. He that hurled it
was Peirous, son of Imbrasus, captain of the Thracians, who had come
from Aenus; the bones and both the tendons were crushed by the pitiless
stone. He fell to the ground on his back, and in his death throes
stretched out his hands towards his comrades. But Peirous, who had
wounded him, sprang on him and thrust a spear into his belly, so that
his bowels came gushing out upon the ground, and darkness veiled his
eyes. As he was leaving the body, Thoas of Aetolia struck him in the
chest near the nipple, and the point fixed itself in his lungs. Thoas
came close up to him, pulled the spear out of his chest, and then
drawing his sword, smote him in the middle of the belly so that he
died; but he did not strip him of his armour, for his Thracian comrades,
men who wear their hair in a tuft at the top of their heads, stood
round the body and kept him off with their long spears for all his
great stature and valour; so he was driven back. Thus the two corpses
lay stretched on earth near to one another, the one captain of the
Thracians and the other of the Epeans; and many another fell round
them.

And now no man would have made light of the fighting if he could have
gone about among it scatheless and unwounded, with Minerva leading
him by the hand, and protecting him from the storm of spears and arrows.
For many Trojans and Achaeans on that day lay stretched side by side
face downwards upon the earth.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK V

Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of Tydeus,
that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover himself with
glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his shield and helmet
like the star that shines most brilliantly in summer after its bath
in the waters of Oceanus- even such a fire did she kindle upon his
head and shoulders as she bade him speed into the thickest hurly-burly
of the fight.

Now there was a certain rich and honourable man among the Trojans,
priest of Vulcan, and his name was Dares. He had two sons, Phegeus
and Idaeus, both of them skilled in all the arts of war. These two
came forward from the main body of Trojans, and set upon Diomed, he
being on foot, while they fought from their chariot. When they were
close up to one another, Phegeus took aim first, but his spear went
over Diomed's left shoulder without hitting him. Diomed then threw,
and his spear sped not in vain, for it hit Phegeus on the breast near
the nipple, and he fell from his chariot. Idaeus did not dare to bestride
his brother's body, but sprang from the chariot and took to flight,
or he would have shared his brother's fate; whereon Vulcan saved him
by wrapping him in a cloud of darkness, that his old father might
not be utterly overwhelmed with grief; but the son of Tydeus drove
off with the horses, and bade his followers take them to the ships.
The Trojans were scared when they saw the two sons of Dares, one of
them in fright and the other lying dead by his chariot. Minerva, therefore,
took Mars by the hand and said, "Mars, Mars, bane of men, bloodstained
stormer of cities, may we not now leave the Trojans and Achaeans to
fight it out, and see to which of the two Jove will vouchsafe the
victory? Let us go away, and thus avoid his anger."

So saying, she drew Mars out of the battle, and set him down upon
the steep banks of the Scamander. Upon this the Danaans drove the
Trojans back, and each one of their chieftains killed his man. First
King Agamemnon flung mighty Odius, captain of the Halizoni, from his
chariot. The spear of Agamemnon caught him on the broad of his back,
just as he was turning in flight; it struck him between the shoulders
and went right through his chest, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell heavily to the ground.

Then Idomeneus killed Phaesus, son of Borus the Meonian, who had come
from Varne. Mighty Idomeneus speared him on the right shoulder as
he was mounting his chariot, and the darkness of death enshrouded
him as he fell heavily from the car.

The squires of Idomeneus spoiled him of his armour, while Menelaus,
son of Atreus, killed Scamandrius the son of Strophius, a mighty huntsman
and keen lover of the chase. Diana herself had taught him how to kill
every kind of wild creature that is bred in mountain forests, but
neither she nor his famed skill in archery could now save him, for
the spear of Menelaus struck him in the back as he was flying; it
struck him between the shoulders and went right through his chest,
so that he fell headlong and his armour rang rattling round him.

Meriones then killed Phereclus the son of Tecton, who was the son
of Hermon, a man whose hand was skilled in all manner of cunning workmanship,
for Pallas Minerva had dearly loved him. He it was that made the ships
for Alexandrus, which were the beginning of all mischief, and brought
evil alike both on the Trojans and on Alexandrus himself; for he heeded
not the decrees of heaven. Meriones overtook him as he was flying,
and struck him on the right buttock. The point of the spear went through
the bone into the bladder, and death came upon him as he cried aloud
and fell forward on his knees.

Meges, moreover, slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor, who, though he was
a bastard, had been brought up by Theano as one of her own children,
for the love she bore her husband. The son of Phyleus got close up
to him and drove a spear into the nape of his neck: it went under
his tongue all among his teeth, so he bit the cold bronze, and fell
dead in the dust.

And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, killed Hypsenor, the son of noble Dolopion,
who had been made priest of the river Scamander, and was honoured
among the people as though he were a god. Eurypylus gave him chase
as he was flying before him, smote him with his sword upon the arm,
and lopped his strong hand from off it. The bloody hand fell to the
ground, and the shades of death, with fate that no man can withstand,
came over his eyes.

Thus furiously did the battle rage between them. As for the son of
Tydeus, you could not say whether he was more among the Achaeans or
the Trojans. He rushed across the plain like a winter torrent that
has burst its barrier in full flood; no dykes, no walls of fruitful
vineyards can embank it when it is swollen with rain from heaven,
but in a moment it comes tearing onward, and lays many a field waste
that many a strong man hand has reclaimed- even so were the dense
phalanxes of the Trojans driven in rout by the son of Tydeus, and
many though they were, they dared not abide his onslaught.

Now when the son of Lycaon saw him scouring the plain and driving
the Trojans pell-mell before him, he aimed an arrow and hit the front
part of his cuirass near the shoulder: the arrow went right through
the metal and pierced the flesh, so that the cuirass was covered with
blood. On this the son of Lycaon shouted in triumph, "Knights Trojans,
come on; the bravest of the Achaeans is wounded, and he will not hold
out much longer if King Apollo was indeed with me when I sped from
Lycia hither."

Thus did he vaunt; but his arrow had not killed Diomed, who withdrew
and made for the chariot and horses of Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus.
"Dear son of Capaneus," said he, "come down from your chariot, and
draw the arrow out of my shoulder."

Sthenelus sprang from his chariot, and drew the arrow from the wound,
whereon the blood came spouting out through the hole that had been
made in his shirt. Then Diomed prayed, saying, "Hear me, daughter
of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, if ever you loved my father well
and stood by him in the thick of a fight, do the like now by me; grant
me to come within a spear's throw of that man and kill him. He has
been too quick for me and has wounded me; and now he is boasting that
I shall not see the light of the sun much longer."

Thus he prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard him; she made his limbs supple
and quickened his hands and his feet. Then she went up close to him
and said, "Fear not, Diomed, to do battle with the Trojans, for I
have set in your heart the spirit of your knightly father Tydeus.
Moreover, I have withdrawn the veil from your eyes, that you know
gods and men apart. If, then, any other god comes here and offers
you battle, do not fight him; but should Jove's daughter Venus come,
strike her with your spear and wound her."

When she had said this Minerva went away, and the son of Tydeus again
took his place among the foremost fighters, three times more fierce
even than he had been before. He was like a lion that some mountain
shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is springing over the
wall of a sheep-yard to attack the sheep. The shepherd has roused
the brute to fury but cannot defend his flock, so he takes shelter
under cover of the buildings, while the sheep, panic-stricken on being
deserted, are smothered in heaps one on top of the other, and the
angry lion leaps out over the sheep-yard wall. Even thus did Diomed
go furiously about among the Trojans.

He killed Astynous, and shepherd of his people, the one with a thrust
of his spear, which struck him above the nipple, the other with a
sword- cut on the collar-bone, that severed his shoulder from his
neck and back. He let both of them lie, and went in pursuit of Abas
and Polyidus, sons of the old reader of dreams Eurydamas: they never
came back for him to read them any more dreams, for mighty Diomed
made an end of them. He then gave chase to Xanthus and Thoon, the
two sons of Phaenops, both of them very dear to him, for he was now
worn out with age, and begat no more sons to inherit his possessions.
But Diomed took both their lives and left their father sorrowing bitterly,
for he nevermore saw them come home from battle alive, and his kinsmen
divided his wealth among themselves.

Then he came upon two sons of Priam, Echemmon and Chromius, as they
were both in one chariot. He sprang upon them as a lion fastens on
the neck of some cow or heifer when the herd is feeding in a coppice.
For all their vain struggles he flung them both from their chariot
and stripped the armour from their bodies. Then he gave their horses
to his comrades to take them back to the ships.

When Aeneas saw him thus making havoc among the ranks, he went through
the fight amid the rain of spears to see if he could find Pandarus.
When he had found the brave son of Lycaon he said, "Pandarus, where
is now your bow, your winged arrows, and your renown as an archer,
in respect of which no man here can rival you nor is there any in
Lycia that can beat you? Lift then your hands to Jove and send an
arrow at this fellow who is going so masterfully about, and has done
such deadly work among the Trojans. He has killed many a brave man-
unless indeed he is some god who is angry with the Trojans about their
sacrifices, and and has set his hand against them in his displeasure."

And the son of Lycaon answered, "Aeneas, I take him for none other
than the son of Tydeus. I know him by his shield, the visor of his
helmet, and by his horses. It is possible that he may be a god, but
if he is the man I say he is, he is not making all this havoc without
heaven's help, but has some god by his side who is shrouded in a cloud
of darkness, and who turned my arrow aside when it had hit him. I
have taken aim at him already and hit him on the right shoulder; my
arrow went through the breastpiece of his cuirass; and I made sure
I should send him hurrying to the world below, but it seems that I
have not killed him. There must be a god who is angry with me. Moreover
I have neither horse nor chariot. In my father's stables there are
eleven excellent chariots, fresh from the builder, quite new, with
cloths spread over them; and by each of them there stand a pair of
horses, champing barley and rye; my old father Lycaon urged me again
and again when I was at home and on the point of starting, to take
chariots and horses with me that I might lead the Trojans in battle,
but I would not listen to him; it would have been much better if I
had done so, but I was thinking about the horses, which had been used
to eat their fill, and I was afraid that in such a great gathering
of men they might be ill-fed, so I left them at home and came on foot
to Ilius armed only with my bow and arrows. These it seems, are of
no use, for I have already hit two chieftains, the sons of Atreus
and of Tydeus, and though I drew blood surely enough, I have only
made them still more furious. I did ill to take my bow down from its
peg on the day I led my band of Trojans to Ilius in Hector's service,
and if ever I get home again to set eyes on my native place, my wife,
and the greatness of my house, may some one cut my head off then and
there if I do not break the bow and set it on a hot fire- such pranks
as it plays me."

Aeneas answered, "Say no more. Things will not mend till we two go
against this man with chariot and horses and bring him to a trial
of arms. Mount my chariot, and note how cleverly the horses of Tros
can speed hither and thither over the plain in pursuit or flight.
If Jove again vouchsafes glory to the son of Tydeus they will carry
us safely back to the city. Take hold, then, of the whip and reins
while I stand upon the car to fight, or else do you wait this man's
onset while I look after the horses."

"Aeneas." replied the son of Lycaon, "take the reins and drive; if
we have to fly before the son of Tydeus the horses will go better
for their own driver. If they miss the sound of your voice when they
expect it they may be frightened, and refuse to take us out of the
fight. The son of Tydeus will then kill both of us and take the horses.
Therefore drive them yourself and I will be ready for him with my
spear."

They then mounted the chariot and drove full-speed towards the son
of Tydeus. Sthenelus, son of Capaneus, saw them coming and said to
Diomed, "Diomed, son of Tydeus, man after my own heart, I see two
heroes speeding towards you, both of them men of might the one a skilful
archer, Pandarus son of Lycaon, the other, Aeneas, whose sire is Anchises,
while his mother is Venus. Mount the chariot and let us retreat. Do
not, I pray you, press so furiously forward, or you may get killed."

Diomed looked angrily at him and answered: "Talk not of flight, for
I shall not listen to you: I am of a race that knows neither flight
nor fear, and my limbs are as yet unwearied. I am in no mind to mount,
but will go against them even as I am; Pallas Minerva bids me be afraid
of no man, and even though one of them escape, their steeds shall
not take both back again. I say further, and lay my saying to your
heart- if Minerva sees fit to vouchsafe me the glory of killing both,
stay your horses here and make the reins fast to the rim of the chariot;
then be sure you spring Aeneas' horses and drive them from the Trojan
to the Achaean ranks. They are of the stock that great Jove gave to
Tros in payment for his son Ganymede, and are the finest that live
and move under the sun. King Anchises stole the blood by putting his
mares to them without Laomedon's knowledge, and they bore him six
foals. Four are still in his stables, but he gave the other two to
Aeneas. We shall win great glory if we can take them."

Thus did they converse, but the other two had now driven close up
to them, and the son of Lycaon spoke first. "Great and mighty son,"
said he, "of noble Tydeus, my arrow failed to lay you low, so I will
now try with my spear."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it from him. It struck
the shield of the son of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and passed
on till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of Lycaon shouted
out and said, "You are hit clean through the belly; you will not stand
out for long, and the glory of the fight is mine."

But Diomed all undismayed made answer, "You have missed, not hit,
and before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you
shall glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood."

With this he hurled his spear, and Minerva guided it on to Pandarus's
nose near the eye. It went crashing in among his white teeth; the
bronze point cut through the root of his to tongue, coming out under
his chin, and his glistening armour rang rattling round him as he
fell heavily to the ground. The horses started aside for fear, and
he was reft of life and strength.

Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear, fearing
lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode it as a lion
in the pride of strength, with shield and on spear before him and
a cry of battle on his lips resolute to kill the first that should
dare face him. But the son of Tydeus caught up a mighty stone, so
huge and great that as men now are it would take two to lift it; nevertheless
he bore it aloft with ease unaided, and with this he struck Aeneas
on the groin where the hip turns in the joint that is called the "cup-bone."
The stone crushed this joint, and broke both the sinews, while its
jagged edges tore away all the flesh. The hero fell on his knees,
and propped himself with his hand resting on the ground till the darkness
of night fell upon his eyes. And now Aeneas, king of men, would have
perished then and there, had not his mother, Jove's daughter Venus,
who had conceived him by Anchises when he was herding cattle, been
quick to mark, and thrown her two white arms about the body of her
dear son. She protected him by covering him with a fold of her own
fair garment, lest some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast
and kill him.

Thus, then, did she bear her dear son out of the fight. But the son
of Capaneus was not unmindful of the orders that Diomed had given
him. He made his own horses fast, away from the hurly-burly, by binding
the reins to the rim of the chariot. Then he sprang upon Aeneas's
horses and drove them from the Trojan to the Achaean ranks. When he
had so done he gave them over to his chosen comrade Deipylus, whom
he valued above all others as the one who was most like-minded with
himself, to take them on to the ships. He then remounted his own chariot,
seized the reins, and drove with all speed in search of the son of
Tydeus.

Now the son of Tydeus was in pursuit of the Cyprian goddess, spear
in hand, for he knew her to be feeble and not one of those goddesses
that can lord it among men in battle like Minerva or Enyo the waster
of cities, and when at last after a long chase he caught her up, he
flew at her and thrust his spear into the flesh of her delicate hand.
The point tore through the ambrosial robe which the Graces had woven
for her, and pierced the skin between her wrist and the palm of her
hand, so that the immortal blood, or ichor, that flows in the veins
of the blessed gods, came pouring from the wound; for the gods do
not eat bread nor drink wine, hence they have no blood such as ours,
and are immortal. Venus screamed aloud, and let her son fall, but
Phoebus Apollo caught him in his arms, and hid him in a cloud of darkness,
lest some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him;
and Diomed shouted out as he left her, "Daughter of Jove, leave war
and battle alone, can you not be contented with beguiling silly women?
If you meddle with fighting you will get what will make you shudder
at the very name of war."

The goddess went dazed and discomfited away, and Iris, fleet as the
wind, drew her from the throng, in pain and with her fair skin all
besmirched. She found fierce Mars waiting on the left of the battle,
with his spear and his two fleet steeds resting on a cloud; whereon
she fell on her knees before her brother and implored him to let her
have his horses. "Dear brother," she cried, "save me, and give me
your horses to take me to Olympus where the gods dwell. I am badly
wounded by a mortal, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight even with
father Jove."

Thus she spoke, and Mars gave her his gold-bedizened steeds. She mounted
the chariot sick and sorry at heart, while Iris sat beside her and
took the reins in her hand. She lashed her horses on and they flew
forward nothing loth, till in a trice they were at high Olympus, where
the gods have their dwelling. There she stayed them, unloosed them
from the chariot, and gave them their ambrosial forage; but Venus
flung herself on to the lap of her mother Dione, who threw her arms
about her and caressed her, saying, "Which of the heavenly beings
has been treating you in this way, as though you had been doing something
wrong in the face of day?"

And laughter-loving Venus answered, "Proud Diomed, the son of Tydeus,
wounded me because I was bearing my dear son Aeneas, whom I love best
of all mankind, out of the fight. The war is no longer one between
Trojans and Achaeans, for the Danaans have now taken to fighting with
the immortals."

"Bear it, my child," replied Dione, "and make the best of it. We dwellers
in Olympus have to put up with much at the hands of men, and we lay
much suffering on one another. Mars had to suffer when Otus and Ephialtes,
children of Aloeus, bound him in cruel bonds, so that he lay thirteen
months imprisoned in a vessel of bronze. Mars would have then perished
had not fair Eeriboea, stepmother to the sons of Aloeus, told Mercury,
who stole him away when he was already well-nigh worn out by the severity
of his bondage. Juno, again, suffered when the mighty son of Amphitryon
wounded her on the right breast with a three-barbed arrow, and nothing
could assuage her pain. So, also, did huge Hades, when this same man,
the son of aegis-bearing Jove, hit him with an arrow even at the gates
of hell, and hurt him badly. Thereon Hades went to the house of Jove
on great Olympus, angry and full of pain; and the arrow in his brawny
shoulder caused him great anguish till Paeeon healed him by spreading
soothing herbs on the wound, for Hades was not of mortal mould. Daring,
head-strong, evildoer who recked not of his sin in shooting the gods
that dwell in Olympus. And now Minerva has egged this son of Tydeus
on against yourself, fool that he is for not reflecting that no man
who fights with gods will live long or hear his children prattling
about his knees when he returns from battle. Let, then, the son of
Tydeus see that he does not have to fight with one who is stronger
than you are. Then shall his brave wife Aegialeia, daughter of Adrestus,
rouse her whole house from sleep, wailing for the loss of her wedded
lord, Diomed the bravest of the Achaeans."

So saying, she wiped the ichor from the wrist of her daughter with
both hands, whereon the pain left her, and her hand was healed. But
Minerva and Juno, who were looking on, began to taunt Jove with their
mocking talk, and Minerva was first to speak. "Father Jove," said
she, "do not be angry with me, but I think the Cyprian must have been
persuading some one of the Achaean women to go with the Trojans of
whom she is so very fond, and while caressing one or other of them
she must have torn her delicate hand with the gold pin of the woman's
brooch."

The sire of gods and men smiled, and called golden Venus to his side.
"My child," said he, "it has not been given you to be a warrior. Attend,
henceforth, to your own delightful matrimonial duties, and leave all
this fighting to Mars and to Minerva."

Thus did they converse. But Diomed sprang upon Aeneas, though he knew
him to be in the very arms of Apollo. Not one whit did he fear the
mighty god, so set was he on killing Aeneas and stripping him of his
armour. Thrice did he spring forward with might and main to slay him,
and thrice did Apollo beat back his gleaming shield. When he was coming
on for the fourth time, as though he were a god, Apollo shouted to
him with an awful voice and said, "Take heed, son of Tydeus, and draw
off; think not to match yourself against gods, for men that walk the
earth cannot hold their own with the immortals."

The son of Tydeus then gave way for a little space, to avoid the anger
of the god, while Apollo took Aeneas out of the crowd and set him
in sacred Pergamus, where his temple stood. There, within the mighty
sanctuary, Latona and Diana healed him and made him glorious to behold,
while Apollo of the silver bow fashioned a wraith in the likeness
of Aeneas, and armed as he was. Round this the Trojans and Achaeans
hacked at the bucklers about one another's breasts, hewing each other's
round shields and light hide-covered targets. Then Phoebus Apollo
said to Mars, "Mars, Mars, bane of men, blood-stained stormer of cities,
can you not go to this man, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight
even with father Jove, and draw him out of the battle? He first went
up to the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and
afterwards sprang upon me too, as though he were a god."

He then took his seat on the top of Pergamus, while murderous Mars
went about among the ranks of the Trojans, cheering them on, in the
likeness of fleet Acamas chief of the Thracians. "Sons of Priam,"
said he, "how long will you let your people be thus slaughtered by
the Achaeans? Would you wait till they are at the walls of Troy? Aeneas
the son of Anchises has fallen, he whom we held in as high honour
as Hector himself. Help me, then, to rescue our brave comrade from
the stress of the fight."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Then Sarpedon
rebuked Hector very sternly. "Hector," said he, "where is your prowess
now? You used to say that though you had neither people nor allies
you could hold the town alone with your brothers and brothers-in-law.
I see not one of them here; they cower as hounds before a lion; it
is we, your allies, who bear the brunt of the battle. I have come
from afar, even from Lycia and the banks of the river Xanthus, where
I have left my wife, my infant son, and much wealth to tempt whoever
is needy; nevertheless, I head my Lycian soldiers and stand my ground
against any who would fight me though I have nothing here for the
Achaeans to plunder, while you look on, without even bidding your
men stand firm in defence of their wives. See that you fall not into
the hands of your foes as men caught in the meshes of a net, and they
sack your fair city forthwith. Keep this before your mind night and
day, and beseech the captains of your allies to hold on without flinching,
and thus put away their reproaches from you."

So spoke Sarpedon, and Hector smarted under his words. He sprang from
his chariot clad in his suit of armour, and went about among the host
brandishing his two spears, exhorting the men to fight and raising
the terrible cry of battle. Then they rallied and again faced the
Achaeans, but the Argives stood compact and firm, and were not driven
back. As the breezes sport with the chaff upon some goodly threshing-floor,
when men are winnowing- while yellow Ceres blows with the wind to
sift the chaff from the grain, and the chaff- heaps grow whiter and
whiter- even so did the Achaeans whiten in the dust which the horses'
hoofs raised to the firmament of heaven, as their drivers turned them
back to battle, and they bore down with might upon the foe. Fierce
Mars, to help the Trojans, covered them in a veil of darkness, and
went about everywhere among them, inasmuch as Phoebus Apollo had told
him that when he saw Pallas, Minerva leave the fray he was to put
courage into the hearts of the Trojans- for it was she who was helping
the Danaans. Then Apollo sent Aeneas forth from his rich sanctuary,
and filled his heart with valour, whereon he took his place among
his comrades, who were overjoyed at seeing him alive, sound, and of
a good courage; but they could not ask him how it had all happened,
for they were too busy with the turmoil raised by Mars and by Strife,
who raged insatiably in their midst.

The two Ajaxes, Ulysses and Diomed, cheered the Danaans on, fearless
of the fury and onset of the Trojans. They stood as still as clouds
which the son of Saturn has spread upon the mountain tops when there
is no air and fierce Boreas sleeps with the other boisterous winds
whose shrill blasts scatter the clouds in all directions- even so
did the Danaans stand firm and unflinching against the Trojans. The
son of Atreus went about among them and exhorted them. "My friends,"
said he, "quit yourselves like brave men, and shun dishonour in one
another's eyes amid the stress of battle. They that shun dishonour
more often live than get killed, but they that fly save neither life
nor name."

As he spoke he hurled his spear and hit one of those who were in the
front rank, the comrade of Aeneas, Deicoon son of Pergasus, whom the
Trojans held in no less honour than the sons of Priam, for he was
ever quick to place himself among the foremost. The spear of King
Agamemnon struck his shield and went right through it, for the shield
stayed it not. It drove through his belt into the lower part of his
belly, and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to
the ground.

Then Aeneas killed two champions of the Danaans, Crethon and Orsilochus.
Their father was a rich man who lived in the strong city of Phere
and was descended from the river Alpheus, whose broad stream flows
through the land of the Pylians. The river begat Orsilochus, who ruled
over much people and was father to Diocles, who in his turn begat
twin sons, Crethon and Orsilochus, well skilled in all the arts of
war. These, when they grew up, went to Ilius with the Argive fleet
in the cause of Menelaus and Agamemnon sons of Atreus, and there they
both of them fell. As two lions whom their dam has reared in the depths
of some mountain forest to plunder homesteads and carry off sheep
and cattle till they get killed by the hand of man, so were these
two vanquished by Aeneas, and fell like high pine-trees to the ground.

Brave Menelaus pitied them in their fall, and made his way to the
front, clad in gleaming bronze and brandishing his spear, for Mars
egged him on to do so with intent that he should be killed by Aeneas;
but Antilochus the son of Nestor saw him and sprang forward, fearing
that the king might come to harm and thus bring all their labour to
nothing; when, therefore Aeneas and Menelaus were setting their hands
and spears against one another eager to do battle, Antilochus placed
himself by the side of Menelaus. Aeneas, bold though he was, drew
back on seeing the two heroes side by side in front of him, so they
drew the bodies of Crethon and Orsilochus to the ranks of the Achaeans
and committed the two poor fellows into the hands of their comrades.
They then turned back and fought in the front ranks.

They killed Pylaemenes peer of Mars, leader of the Paphlagonian warriors.
Menelaus struck him on the collar-bone as he was standing on his chariot,
while Antilochus hit his charioteer and squire Mydon, the son of Atymnius,
who was turning his horses in flight. He hit him with a stone upon
the elbow, and the reins, enriched with white ivory, fell from his
hands into the dust. Antilochus rushed towards him and struck him
on the temples with his sword, whereon he fell head first from the
chariot to the ground. There he stood for a while with his head and
shoulders buried deep in the dust- for he had fallen on sandy soil
till his horses kicked him and laid him flat on the ground, as Antilochus
lashed them and drove them off to the host of the Achaeans.

But Hector marked them from across the ranks, and with a loud cry
rushed towards them, followed by the strong battalions of the Trojans.
Mars and dread Enyo led them on, she fraught with ruthless turmoil
of battle, while Mars wielded a monstrous spear, and went about, now
in front of Hector and now behind him.

Diomed shook with passion as he saw them. As a man crossing a wide
plain is dismayed to find himself on the brink of some great river
rolling swiftly to the sea- he sees its boiling waters and starts
back in fear- even so did the son of Tydeus give ground. Then he said
to his men, "My friends, how can we wonder that Hector wields the
spear so well? Some god is ever by his side to protect him, and now
Mars is with him in the likeness of mortal man. Keep your faces therefore
towards the Trojans, but give ground backwards, for we dare not fight
with gods."

As he spoke the Trojans drew close up, and Hector killed two men,
both in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus, heroes well versed in
war. Ajax son of Telamon pitied them in their fall; he came close
up and hurled his spear, hitting Amphius the son of Selagus, a man
of great wealth who lived in Paesus and owned much corn-growing land,
but his lot had led him to come to the aid of Priam and his sons.
Ajax struck him in the belt; the spear pierced the lower part of his
belly, and he fell heavily to the ground. Then Ajax ran towards him
to strip him of his armour, but the Trojans rained spears upon him,
many of which fell upon his shield. He planted his heel upon the body
and drew out his spear, but the darts pressed so heavily upon him
that he could not strip the goodly armour from his shoulders. The
Trojan chieftains, moreover, many and valiant, came about him with
their spears, so that he dared not stay; great, brave and valiant
though he was, they drove him from them and he was beaten back.

Thus, then, did the battle rage between them. Presently the strong
hand of fate impelled Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, a man both
brave and of great stature, to fight Sarpedon; so the two, son and
grandson of great Jove, drew near to one another, and Tlepolemus spoke
first. "Sarpedon," said he, "councillor of the Lycians, why should
you come skulking here you who are a man of peace? They lie who call
you son of aegis-bearing Jove, for you are little like those who were
of old his children. Far other was Hercules, my own brave and lion-hearted
father, who came here for the horses of Laomedon, and though he had
six ships only, and few men to follow him, sacked the city of Ilius
and made a wilderness of her highways. You are a coward, and your
people are falling from you. For all your strength, and all your coming
from Lycia, you will be no help to the Trojans but will pass the gates
of Hades vanquished by my hand."

And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, "Tlepolemus, your
father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon's folly in refusing payment
to one who had served him well. He would not give your father the
horses which he had come so far to fetch. As for yourself, you shall
meet death by my spear. You shall yield glory to myself, and your
soul to Hades of the noble steeds."

Thus spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus upraised his spear. They threw
at the same moment, and Sarpedon struck his foe in the middle of his
throat; the spear went right through, and the darkness of death fell
upon his eyes. Tlepolemus's spear struck Sarpedon on the left thigh
with such force that it tore through the flesh and grazed the bone,
but his father as yet warded off destruction from him.

His comrades bore Sarpedon out of the fight, in great pain by the
weight of the spear that was dragging from his wound. They were in
such haste and stress as they bore him that no one thought of drawing
the spear from his thigh so as to let him walk uprightly. Meanwhile
the Achaeans carried off the body of Tlepolemus, whereon Ulysses was
moved to pity, and panted for the fray as he beheld them. He doubted
whether to pursue the son of Jove, or to make slaughter of the Lycian
rank and file; it was not decreed, however, that he should slay the
son of Jove; Minerva, therefore, turned him against the main body
of the Lycians. He killed Coeranus, Alastor, Chromius, Alcandrus,
Halius, Noemon, and Prytanis, and would have slain yet more, had not
great Hector marked him, and sped to the front of the fight clad in
his suit of mail, filling the Danaans with terror. Sarpedon was glad
when he saw him coming, and besought him, saying, "Son of Priam, let
me not he here to fall into the hands of the Danaans. Help me, and
since I may not return home to gladden the hearts of my wife and of
my infant son, let me die within the walls of your city."

Hector made him no answer, but rushed onward to fall at once upon
the Achaeans and. kill many among them. His comrades then bore Sarpedon
away and laid him beneath Jove's spreading oak tree. Pelagon, his
friend and comrade drew the spear out of his thigh, but Sarpedon fainted
and a mist came over his eyes. Presently he came to himself again,
for the breath of the north wind as it played upon him gave him new
life, and brought him out of the deep swoon into which he had fallen.

Meanwhile the Argives were neither driven towards their ships by Mars
and Hector, nor yet did they attack them; when they knew that Mars
was with the Trojans they retreated, but kept their faces still turned
towards the foe. Who, then, was first and who last to be slain by
Mars and Hector? They were valiant Teuthras, and Orestes the renowned
charioteer, Trechus the Aetolian warrior, Oenomaus, Helenus the son
of Oenops, and Oresbius of the gleaming girdle, who was possessed
of great wealth, and dwelt by the Cephisian lake with the other Boeotians
who lived near him, owners of a fertile country.

Now when the goddess Juno saw the Argives thus falling, she said to
Minerva, "Alas, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, the promise
we made Menelaus that he should not return till he had sacked the
city of Ilius will be of none effect if we let Mars rage thus furiously.
Let us go into the fray at once."

Minerva did not gainsay her. Thereon the august goddess, daughter
of great Saturn, began to harness her gold-bedizened steeds. Hebe
with all speed fitted on the eight-spoked wheels of bronze that were
on either side of the iron axle-tree. The felloes of the wheels were
of gold, imperishable, and over these there was a tire of bronze,
wondrous to behold. The naves of the wheels were silver, turning round
the axle upon either side. The car itself was made with plaited bands
of gold and silver, and it had a double top-rail running all round
it. From the body of the car there went a pole of silver, on to the
end of which she bound the golden yoke, with the bands of gold that
were to go under the necks of the horses Then Juno put her steeds
under the yoke, eager for battle and the war-cry.

Meanwhile Minerva flung her richly embroidered vesture, made with
her own hands, on to her father's threshold, and donned the shirt
of Jove, arming herself for battle. She threw her tasselled aegis
about. her shoulders, wreathed round with Rout as with a fringe, and
on it were Strife, and Strength, and Panic whose blood runs cold;
moreover there was the head of the dread monster Gorgon,, grim and
awful to behold, portent of aegis-bearing Jove. On her head she set
her helmet of gold, with four plumes, and coming to a peak both in
front and behind- decked with the emblems of a hundred cities; then
she stepped into her flaming chariot and grasped the spear, so stout
and sturdy and strong, with which she quells the ranks of heroes who
have displeased her. Juno lashed the horses on, and the gates of heaven
bellowed as they flew open of their own accord -gates over which the
flours preside, in whose hands are Heaven and Olympus, either to open
the dense cloud that hides them, or to close it. Through these the
goddesses drove their obedient steeds, and found the son of Saturn
sitting all alone on the topmost ridges of Olympus. There Juno stayed
her horses, and spoke to Jove the son of Saturn, lord of all. "Father
Jove," said she, "are you not angry with Mars for these high doings?
how great and goodly a host of the Achaeans he has destroyed to my
great grief, and without either right or reason, while the Cyprian
and Apollo are enjoying it all at their ease and setting this unrighteous
madman on to do further mischief. I hope, Father Jove, that you will
not be angry if I hit Mars hard, and chase him out of the battle."

And Jove answered, "Set Minerva on to him, for she punishes him more
often than any one else does."

Juno did as he had said. She lashed her horses, and they flew forward
nothing loth midway betwixt earth and sky. As far as a man can see
when he looks out upon the sea from some high beacon, so far can the
loud-neighing horses of the gods spring at a single bound. When they
reached Troy and the place where its two flowing streams Simois and
Scamander meet, there Juno stayed them and took them from the chariot.
She hid them in a thick cloud, and Simois made ambrosia spring up
for them to eat; the two goddesses then went on, flying like turtledoves
in their eagerness to help the Argives. When they came to the part
where the bravest and most in number were gathered about mighty Diomed,
fighting like lions or wild boars of great strength and endurance,
there Juno stood still and raised a shout like that of brazen-voiced
Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men together. "Argives,"
she cried; "shame on cowardly creatures, brave in semblance only;
as long as Achilles was fighting, fi his spear was so deadly that
the Trojans dared not show themselves outside the Dardanian gates,
but now they sally far from the city and fight even at your ships."

With these words she put heart and soul into them all, while Minerva
sprang to the side of the son of Tydeus, whom she found near his chariot
and horses, cooling the wound that Pandarus had given him. For the
sweat caused by the hand that bore the weight of his shield irritated
the hurt: his arm was weary with pain, and he was lifting up the strap
to wipe away the blood. The goddess laid her hand on the yoke of his
horses and said, "The son of Tydeus is not such another as his father.
Tydeus was a little man, but he could fight, and rushed madly into
the fray even when I told him not to do so. When he went all unattended
as envoy to the city of Thebes among the Cadmeans, I bade him feast
in their houses and be at peace; but with that high spirit which was
ever present with him, he challenged the youth of the Cadmeans, and
at once beat them in all that he attempted, so mightily did I help
him. I stand by you too to protect you, and I bid you be instant in
fighting the Trojans; but either you are tired out, or you are afraid
and out of heart, and in that case I say that you are no true son
of Tydeus the son of Oeneus."

Diomed answered, "I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove,
and will hide nothing from you. I am not afraid nor out of heart,
nor is there any slackness in me. I am only following your own instructions;
you told me not to fight any of the blessed gods; but if Jove's daughter
Venus came into battle I was to wound her with my spear. Therefore
I am retreating, and bidding the other Argives gather in this place,
for I know that Mars is now lording it in the field."

"Diomed, son of Tydeus," replied Minerva, "man after my own heart,
fear neither Mars nor any other of the immortals, for I will befriend
you. Nay, drive straight at Mars, and smite him in close combat; fear
not this raging madman, villain incarnate, first on one side and then
on the other. But now he was holding talk with Juno and myself, saying
he would help the Argives and attack the Trojans; nevertheless he
is with the Trojans, and has forgotten the Argives."

With this she caught hold of Sthenelus and lifted him off the chariot
on to the ground. In a second he was on the ground, whereupon the
goddess mounted the car and placed herself by the side of Diomed.
The oaken axle groaned aloud under the burden of the awful goddess
and the hero; Pallas Minerva took the whip and reins, and drove straight
at Mars. He was in the act of stripping huge Periphas, son of Ochesius
and bravest of the Aetolians. Bloody Mars was stripping him of his
armour, and Minerva donned the helmet of Hades, that he might not
see her; when, therefore, he saw Diomed, he made straight for him
and let Periphas lie where he had fallen. As soon as they were at
close quarters he let fly with his bronze spear over the reins and
yoke, thinking to take Diomed's life, but Minerva caught the spear
in her hand and made it fly harmlessly over the chariot. Diomed then
threw, and Pallas Minerva drove the spear into the pit of Mars's stomach
where his under-girdle went round him. There Diomed wounded him, tearing
his fair flesh and then drawing his spear out again. Mars roared as
loudly as nine or ten thousand men in the thick of a fight, and the
Achaeans and Trojans were struck with panic, so terrible was the cry
he raised.

As a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat, even
so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad heavens.
With all speed he reached high Olympus, home of the gods, and in great
pain sat down beside Jove the son of Saturn. He showed Jove the immortal
blood that was flowing from his wound, and spoke piteously, saying,
"Father Jove, are you not angered by such doings? We gods are continually
suffering in the most cruel manner at one another's hands while helping
mortals; and we all owe you a grudge for having begotten that mad
termagant of a daughter, who is always committing outrage of some
kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us, but her you neither
scold nor punish; you encourage her because the pestilent creature
is your daughter. See how she has been inciting proud Diomed to vent
his rage on the immortal gods. First he went up to the Cyprian and
wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and then he sprang upon me
too as though he were a god. Had I not run for it I must either have
lain there for long enough in torments among the ghastly corpes, or
have been eaten alive with spears till I had no more strength left
in me."

Jove looked angrily at him and said, "Do not come whining here, Sir
Facing-bothways. I hate you worst of all the gods in Olympus, for
you are ever fighting and making mischief. You have the intolerable
and stubborn spirit of your mother Juno: it is all I can do to manage
her, and it is her doing that you are now in this plight: still, I
cannot let you remain longer in such great pain; you are my own off-spring,
and it was by me that your mother conceived you; if, however, you
had been the son of any other god, you are so destructive that by
this time you should have been lying lower than the Titans."

He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing herbs
upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal mould. As the
juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it in a moment though
it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon cure fierce Mars. Then
Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly raiment, and he took his
seat by his father Jove all glorious to behold.

But Juno of Argos and Minerva of Alalcomene, now that they had put
a stop to the murderous doings of Mars, went back again to the house
of Jove.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VI

The fight between Trojans and Achaeans was now left to rage as it
would, and the tide of war surged hither and thither over the plain
as they aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another between the
streams of Simois and Xanthus.

First, Ajax son of Telamon, tower of strength to the Achaeans, broke
a phalanx of the Trojans, and came to the assistance of his comrades
by killing Acamas son of Eussorus, the best man among the Thracians,
being both brave and of great stature. The spear struck the projecting
peak of his helmet: its bronze point then went through his forehead
into the brain, and darkness veiled his eyes.

Then Diomed killed Axylus son of Teuthranus, a rich man who lived
in the strong city of Arisbe, and was beloved by all men; for he had
a house by the roadside, and entertained every one who passed; howbeit
not one of his guests stood before him to save his life, and Diomed
killed both him and his squire Calesius, who was then his charioteer-
so the pair passed beneath the earth.

Euryalus killed Dresus and Opheltius, and then went in pursuit of
Aesepus and Pedasus, whom the naiad nymph Abarbarea had borne to noble
Bucolion. Bucolion was eldest son to Laomedon, but he was a bastard.
While tending his sheep he had converse with the nymph, and she conceived
twin sons; these the son of Mecisteus now slew, and he stripped the
armour from their shoulders. Polypoetes then killed Astyalus, Ulysses
Pidytes of Percote, and Teucer Aretaon. Ablerus fell by the spear
of Nestor's son Antilochus, and Agamemnon, king of men, killed Elatus
who dwelt in Pedasus by the banks of the river Satnioeis. Leitus killed
Phylacus as he was flying, and Eurypylus slew Melanthus.

Then Menelaus of the loud war-cry took Adrestus alive, for his horses
ran into a tamarisk bush, as they were flying wildly over the plain,
and broke the pole from the car; they went on towards the city along
with the others in full flight, but Adrestus rolled out, and fell
in the dust flat on his face by the wheel of his chariot; Menelaus
came up to him spear in hand, but Adrestus caught him by the knees
begging for his life. "Take me alive," he cried, "son of Atreus, and
you shall have a full ransom for me: my father is rich and has much
treasure of gold, bronze, and wrought iron laid by in his house. From
this store he will give you a large ransom should he hear of my being
alive and at the ships of the Achaeans."

Thus did he plead, and Menelaus was for yielding and giving him to
a squire to take to the ships of the Achaeans, but Agamemnon came
running up to him and rebuked him. "My good Menelaus," said he, "this
is no time for giving quarter. Has, then, your house fared so well
at the hands of the Trojans? Let us not spare a single one of them-
not even the child unborn and in its mother's womb; let not a man
of them be left alive, but let all in Ilius perish, unheeded and forgotten."

Thus did he speak, and his brother was persuaded by him, for his words
were just. Menelaus, therefore, thrust Adrestus from him, whereon
King Agamemnon struck him in the flank, and he fell: then the son
of Atreus planted his foot upon his breast to draw his spear from
the body.

Meanwhile Nestor shouted to the Argives, saying, "My friends, Danaan
warriors, servants of Mars, let no man lag that he may spoil the dead,
and bring back much booty to the ships. Let us kill as many as we
can; the bodies will lie upon the plain, and you can despoil them
later at your leisure."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. And now the
Trojans would have been routed and driven back into Ilius, had not
Priam's son Helenus, wisest of augurs, said to Hector and Aeneas,
"Hector and Aeneas, you two are the mainstays of the Trojans and Lycians,
for you are foremost at all times, alike in fight and counsel; hold
your ground here, and go about among the host to rally them in front
of the gates, or they will fling themselves into the arms of their
wives, to the great joy of our foes. Then, when you have put heart
into all our companies, we will stand firm here and fight the Danaans
however hard they press us, for there is nothing else to be done.
Meanwhile do you, Hector, go to the city and tell our mother what
is happening. Tell her to bid the matrons gather at the temple of
Minerva in the acropolis; let her then take her key and open the doors
of the sacred building; there, upon the knees of Minerva, let her
lay the largest, fairest robe she has in her house- the one she sets
most store by; let her, moreover, promise to sacrifice twelve yearling
heifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the temple of the goddess,
if she will take pity on the town, with the wives and little ones
of the Trojans, and keep the son of Tydeus from falling on the goodly
city of Ilius; for he fights with fury and fills men's souls with
panic. I hold him mightiest of them all; we did not fear even their
great champion Achilles, son of a goddess though he be, as we do this
man: his rage is beyond all bounds, and there is none can vie with
him in prowess"

Hector did as his brother bade him. He sprang from his chariot, and
went about everywhere among the host, brandishing his spears, urging
the men on to fight, and raising the dread cry of battle. Thereon
they rallied and again faced the Achaeans, who gave ground and ceased
their murderous onset, for they deemed that some one of the immortals
had come down from starry heaven to help the Trojans, so strangely
had they rallied. And Hector shouted to the Trojans, "Trojans and
allies, be men, my friends, and fight with might and main, while I
go to Ilius and tell the old men of our council and our wives to pray
to the gods and vow hecatombs in their honour."

With this he went his way, and the black rim of hide that went round
his shield beat against his neck and his ancles.

Then Glaucus son of Hippolochus, and the son of Tydeus went into the
open space between the hosts to fight in single combat. When they
were close up to one another Diomed of the loud war-cry was the first
to speak. "Who, my good sir," said he, "who are you among men? I have
never seen you in battle until now, but you are daring beyond all
others if you abide my onset. Woe to those fathers whose sons face
my might. If, however, you are one of the immortals and have come
down from heaven, I will not fight you; for even valiant Lycurgus,
son of Dryas, did not live long when he took to fighting with the
gods. He it was that drove the nursing women who were in charge of
frenzied Bacchus through the land of Nysa, and they flung their thyrsi
on the ground as murderous Lycurgus beat them with his oxgoad. Bacchus
himself plunged terror-stricken into the sea, and Thetis took him
to her bosom to comfort him, for he was scared by the fury with which
the man reviled him. Thereon the gods who live at ease were angry
with Lycurgus and the son of Saturn struck him blind, nor did he live
much longer after he had become hateful to the immortals. Therefore
I will not fight with the blessed gods; but if you are of them that
eat the fruit of the ground, draw near and meet your doom."

And the son of Hippolochus answered, son of Tydeus, why ask me of
my lineage? Men come and go as leaves year by year upon the trees.
Those of autumn the wind sheds upon the ground, but when spring returns
the forest buds forth with fresh vines. Even so is it with the generations
of mankind, the new spring up as the old are passing away. If, then,
you would learn my descent, it is one that is well known to many.
There is a city in the heart of Argos, pasture land of horses, called
Ephyra, where Sisyphus lived, who was the craftiest of all mankind.
He was the son of Aeolus, and had a son named Glaucus, who was father
to Bellerophon, whom heaven endowed with the most surpassing comeliness
and beauty. But Proetus devised his ruin, and being stronger than
he, drove him from the land of the Argives, over which Jove had made
him ruler. For Antea, wife of Proetus, lusted after him, and would
have had him lie with her in secret; but Bellerophon was an honourable
man and would not, so she told lies about him to Proteus. 'Proetus,'
said she, 'kill Bellerophon or die, for he would have had converse
with me against my will.' The king was angered, but shrank from killing
Bellerophon, so he sent him to Lycia with lying letters of introduction,
written on a folded tablet, and containing much ill against the bearer.
He bade Bellerophon show these letters to his father-in-law, to the
end that he might thus perish; Bellerophon therefore went to Lycia,
and the gods convoyed him safely.

"When he reached the river Xanthus, which is in Lycia, the king received
him with all goodwill, feasted him nine days, and killed nine heifers
in his honour, but when rosy-fingered morning appeared upon the tenth
day, he questioned him and desired to see the letter from his son-in-law
Proetus. When he had received the wicked letter he first commanded
Bellerophon to kill that savage monster, the Chimaera, who was not
a human being, but a goddess, for she had the head of a lion and the
tail of a serpent, while her body was that of a goat, and she breathed
forth flames of fire; but Bellerophon slew her, for he was guided
by signs from heaven. He next fought the far-famed Solymi, and this,
he said, was the hardest of all his battles. Thirdly, he killed the
Amazons, women who were the peers of men, and as he was returning
thence the king devised yet another plan for his destruction; he picked
the bravest warriors in all Lycia, and placed them in ambuscade, but
not a man ever came back, for Bellerophon killed every one of them.
Then the king knew that he must be the valiant offspring of a god,
so he kept him in Lycia, gave him his daughter in marriage, and made
him of equal honour in the kingdom with himself; and the Lycians gave
him a piece of land, the best in all the country, fair with vineyards
and tilled fields, to have and to hold.

"The king's daughter bore Bellerophon three children, Isander, Hippolochus,
and Laodameia. Jove, the lord of counsel, lay with Laodameia, and
she bore him noble Sarpedon; but when Bellerophon came to be hated
by all the gods, he wandered all desolate and dismayed upon the Alean
plain, gnawing at his own heart, and shunning the path of man. Mars,
insatiate of battle, killed his son Isander while he was fighting
the Solymi; his daughter was killed by Diana of the golden reins,
for she was angered with her; but Hippolochus was father to myself,
and when he sent me to Troy he urged me again and again to fight ever
among the foremost and outvie my peers, so as not to shame the blood
of my fathers who were the noblest in Ephyra and in all Lycia. This,
then, is the descent I claim."

Thus did he speak, and the heart of Diomed was glad. He planted his
spear in the ground, and spoke to him with friendly words. "Then,"
he said, you are an old friend of my father's house. Great Oeneus
once entertained Bellerophon for twenty days, and the two exchanged
presents. Oeneus gave a belt rich with purple, and Bellerophon a double
cup, which I left at home when I set out for Troy. I do not remember
Tydeus, for he was taken from us while I was yet a child, when the
army of the Achaeans was cut to pieces before Thebes. Henceforth,
however, I must be your host in middle Argos, and you mine in Lycia,
if I should ever go there; let us avoid one another's spears even
during a general engagement; there are many noble Trojans and allies
whom I can kill, if I overtake them and heaven delivers them into
my hand; so again with yourself, there are many Achaeans whose lives
you may take if you can; we two, then, will exchange armour, that
all present may know of the old ties that subsist between us."

With these words they sprang from their chariots, grasped one another's
hands, and plighted friendship. But the son of Saturn made Glaucus
take leave of his wits, for he exchanged golden armour for bronze,
the worth of a hundred head of cattle for the worth of nine.

Now when Hector reached the Scaean gates and the oak tree, the wives
and daughters of the Trojans came running towards him to ask after
their sons, brothers, kinsmen, and husbands: he told them to set about
praying to the gods, and many were made sorrowful as they heard him.

Presently he reached the splendid palace of King Priam, adorned with
colonnades of hewn stone. In it there were fifty bedchambers- all
of hewn stone- built near one another, where the sons of Priam slept,
each with his wedded wife. Opposite these, on the other side the courtyard,
there were twelve upper rooms also of hewn stone for Priam's daughters,
built near one another, where his sons-in-law slept with their wives.
When Hector got there, his fond mother came up to him with Laodice
the fairest of her daughters. She took his hand within her own and
said, "My son, why have you left the battle to come hither? Are the
Achaeans, woe betide them, pressing you hard about the city that you
have thought fit to come and uplift your hands to Jove from the citadel?
Wait till I can bring you wine that you may make offering to Jove
and to the other immortals, and may then drink and be refreshed. Wine
gives a man fresh strength when he is wearied, as you now are with
fighting on behalf of your kinsmen."

And Hector answered, "Honoured mother, bring no wine, lest you unman
me and I forget my strength. I dare not make a drink-offering to Jove
with unwashed hands; one who is bespattered with blood and filth may
not pray to the son of Saturn. Get the matrons together, and go with
offerings to the temple of Minerva driver of the spoil; there, upon
the knees of Minerva, lay the largest and fairest robe you have in
your house- the one you set most store by; promise, moreover, to sacrifice
twelve yearling heifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the
temple of the goddess if she will take pity on the town, with the
wives and little ones of the Trojans, and keep the son of Tydeus from
off the goodly city of Ilius, for he fights with fury, and fills men's
souls with panic. Go, then, to the temple of Minerva, while I seek
Paris and exhort him, if he will hear my words. Would that the earth
might open her jaws and swallow him, for Jove bred him to be the bane
of the Trojans, and of Priam and Priam's sons. Could I but see him
go down into the house of Hades, my heart would forget its heaviness."

His mother went into the house and called her waiting-women who gathered
the matrons throughout the city. She then went down into her fragrant
store-room, where her embroidered robes were kept, the work of Sidonian
women, whom Alexandrus had brought over from Sidon when he sailed
the seas upon that voyage during which he carried off Helen. Hecuba
took out the largest robe, and the one that was most beautifully enriched
with embroidery, as an offering to Minerva: it glittered like a star,
and lay at the very bottom of the chest. With this she went on her
way and many matrons with her.

When they reached the temple of Minerva, lovely Theano, daughter of
Cisseus and wife of Antenor, opened the doors, for the Trojans had
made her priestess of Minerva. The women lifted up their hands to
the goddess with a loud cry, and Theano took the robe to lay it upon
the knees of Minerva, praying the while to the daughter of great Jove.
"Holy Minerva," she cried, "protectress of our city, mighty goddess,
break the spear of Diomed and lay him low before the Scaean gates.
Do this, and we will sacrifice twelve heifers that have never yet
known the goad, in your temple, if you will have pity upon the town,
with the wives and little ones If the Trojans." Thus she prayed, but
Pallas Minerva granted not her prayer.

While they were thus praying to the daughter of great Jove, Hector
went to the fair house of Alexandrus, which he had built for him by
the foremost builders in the land. They had built him his house, storehouse,
and courtyard near those of Priam and Hector on the acropolis. Here
Hector entered, with a spear eleven cubits long in his hand; the bronze
point gleamed in front of him, and was fastened to the shaft of the
spear by a ring of gold. He found Alexandrus within the house, busied
about his armour, his shield and cuirass, and handling his curved
bow; there, too, sat Argive Helen with her women, setting them their
several tasks; and as Hector saw him he rebuked him with words of
scorn. "Sir," said he, "you do ill to nurse this rancour; the people
perish fighting round this our town; you would yourself chide one
whom you saw shirking his part in the combat. Up then, or ere long
the city will be in a blaze."

And Alexandrus answered, "Hector, your rebuke is just; listen therefore,
and believe me when I tell you that I am not here so much through
rancour or ill-will towards the Trojans, as from a desire to indulge
my grief. My wife was even now gently urging me to battle, and I hold
it better that I should go, for victory is ever fickle. Wait, then,
while I put on my armour, or go first and I will follow. I shall be
sure to overtake you."

Hector made no answer, but Helen tried to soothe him. "Brother," said
she, "to my abhorred and sinful self, would that a whirlwind had caught
me up on the day my mother brought me forth, and had borne me to some
mountain or to the waves of the roaring sea that should have swept
me away ere this mischief had come about. But, since the gods have
devised these evils, would, at any rate, that I had been wife to a
better man- to one who could smart under dishonour and men's evil
speeches. This fellow was never yet to be depended upon, nor never
will be, and he will surely reap what he has sown. Still, brother,
come in and rest upon this seat, for it is you who bear the brunt
of that toil that has been caused by my hateful self and by the sin
of Alexandrus- both of whom Jove has doomed to be a theme of song
among those that shall be born hereafter."

And Hector answered, "Bid me not be seated, Helen, for all the goodwill
you bear me. I cannot stay. I am in haste to help the Trojans, who
miss me greatly when I am not among them; but urge your husband, and
of his own self also let him make haste to overtake me before I am
out of the city. I must go home to see my household, my wife and my
little son, for I know not whether I shall ever again return to them,
or whether the gods will cause me to fill by the hands of the Achaeans."

Then Hector left her, and forthwith was at his own house. He did not
find Andromache, for she was on the wall with her child and one of
her maids, weeping bitterly. Seeing, then, that she was not within,
he stood on the threshold of the women's rooms and said, "Women, tell
me, and tell me true, where did Andromache go when she left the house?
Was it to my sisters, or to my brothers' wives? or is she at the temple
of Minerva where the other women are propitiating the awful goddess?"

His good housekeeper answered, "Hector, since you bid me tell you
truly, she did not go to your sisters nor to your brothers' wives,
nor yet to the temple of Minerva, where the other women are propitiating
the awful goddess, but she is on the high wall of Ilius, for she had
heard the Trojans were being hard pressed, and that the Achaeans were
in great force: she went to the wall in frenzied haste, and the nurse
went with her carrying the child."

Hector hurried from the house when she had done speaking, and went
down the streets by the same way that he had come. When he had gone
through the city and had reached the Scaean gates through which he
would go out on to the plain, his wife came running towards him, Andromache,
daughter of great Eetion who ruled in Thebe under the wooded slopes
of Mt. Placus, and was king of the Cilicians. His daughter had married
Hector, and now came to meet him with a nurse who carried his little
child in her bosom- a mere babe. Hector's darling son, and lovely
as a star. Hector had named him Scamandrius, but the people called
him Astyanax, for his father stood alone as chief guardian of Ilius.
Hector smiled as he looked upon the boy, but he did not speak, and
Andromache stood by him weeping and taking his hand in her own. "Dear
husband," said she, "your valour will bring you to destruction; think
on your infant son, and on my hapless self who ere long shall be your
widow- for the Achaeans will set upon you in a body and kill you.
It would be better for me, should I lose you, to lie dead and buried,
for I shall have nothing left to comfort me when you are gone, save
only sorrow. I have neither father nor mother now. Achilles slew my
father when he sacked Thebe the goodly city of the Cilicians. He slew
him, but did not for very shame despoil him; when he had burned him
in his wondrous armour, he raised a barrow over his ashes and the
mountain nymphs, daughters of aegis-bearing Jove, planted a grove
of elms about his tomb. I had seven brothers in my father's house,
but on the same day they all went within the house of Hades. Achilles
killed them as they were with their sheep and cattle. My mother- her
who had been queen of all the land under Mt. Placus- he brought hither
with the spoil, and freed her for a great sum, but the archer- queen
Diana took her in the house of your father. Nay- Hector- you who to
me are father, mother, brother, and dear husband- have mercy upon
me; stay here upon this wall; make not your child fatherless, and
your wife a widow; as for the host, place them near the fig-tree,
where the city can be best scaled, and the wall is weakest. Thrice
have the bravest of them come thither and assailed it, under the two
Ajaxes, Idomeneus, the sons of Atreus, and the brave son of Tydeus,
either of their own bidding, or because some soothsayer had told them."

And Hector answered, "Wife, I too have thought upon all this, but
with what face should I look upon the Trojans, men or women, if I
shirked battle like a coward? I cannot do so: I know nothing save
to fight bravely in the forefront of the Trojan host and win renown
alike for my father and myself. Well do I know that the day will surely
come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed with Priam and Priam's people,
but I grieve for none of these- not even for Hecuba, nor King Priam,
nor for my brothers many and brave who may fall in the dust before
their foes- for none of these do I grieve as for yourself when the
day shall come on which some one of the Achaeans shall rob you for
ever of your freedom, and bear you weeping away. It may be that you
will have to ply the loom in Argos at the bidding of a mistress, or
to fetch water from the springs Messeis or Hypereia, treated brutally
by some cruel task-master; then will one say who sees you weeping,
'She was wife to Hector, the bravest warrior among the Trojans during
the war before Ilius.' On this your tears will break forth anew for
him who would have put away the day of captivity from you. May I lie
dead under the barrow that is heaped over my body ere I hear your
cry as they carry you into bondage."

He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and nestled
in his nurse's bosom, scared at the sight of his father's armour,
and at the horse-hair plume that nodded fiercely from his helmet.
His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took the helmet
from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the ground. Then he took
his darling child, kissed him, and dandled him in his arms, praying
over him the while to Jove and to all the gods. "Jove," he cried,
"grant that this my child may be even as myself, chief among the Trojans;
let him be not less excellent in strength, and let him rule Ilius
with his might. Then may one say of him as he comes from battle, 'The
son is far better than the father.' May he bring back the blood-stained
spoils of him whom he has laid low, and let his mother's heart be
glad.'"

With this he laid the child again in the arms of his wife, who took
him to her own soft bosom, smiling through her tears. As her husband
watched her his heart yearned towards her and he caressed her fondly,
saying, "My own wife, do not take these things too bitterly to heart.
No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour
is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when
he has once been born. Go, then, within the house, and busy yourself
with your daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering
of your servants; for war is man's matter, and mine above all others
of them that have been born in Ilius."

He took his plumed helmet from the ground, and his wife went back
again to her house, weeping bitterly and often looking back towards
him. When she reached her home she found her maidens within, and bade
them all join in her lament; so they mourned Hector in his own house
though he was yet alive, for they deemed that they should never see
him return safe from battle, and from the furious hands of the Achaeans.

Paris did not remain long in his house. He donned his goodly armour
overlaid with bronze, and hasted through the city as fast as his feet
could take him. As a horse, stabled and fed, breaks loose and gallops
gloriously over the plain to the place where he is wont to bathe in
the fair-flowing river- he holds his head high, and his mane streams
upon his shoulders as he exults in his strength and flies like the
wind to the haunts and feeding ground of the mares- even so went forth
Paris from high Pergamus, gleaming like sunlight in his armour, and
he laughed aloud as he sped swiftly on his way. Forthwith he came
upon his brother Hector, who was then turning away from the place
where he had held converse with his wife, and he was himself the first
to speak. "Sir," said he, "I fear that I have kept you waiting when
you are in haste, and have not come as quickly as you bade me."

"My good brother," answered Hector, you fight bravely, and no man
with any justice can make light of your doings in battle. But you
are careless and wilfully remiss. It grieves me to the heart to hear
the ill that the Trojans speak about you, for they have suffered much
on your account. Let us be going, and we will make things right hereafter,
should Jove vouchsafe us to set the cup of our deliverance before
ever-living gods of heaven in our own homes, when we have chased the
Achaeans from Troy."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VII

With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother
Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven sends
a breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain, and have
laboured at their oars till they are faint with toil, even so welcome
was the sight of these two heroes to the Trojans.

Thereon Alexandrus killed Menesthius the son of Areithous; he lived
in Ame, and was son of Areithous the Mace-man, and of Phylomedusa.
Hector threw a spear at Eioneus and struck him dead with a wound in
the neck under the bronze rim of his helmet. Glaucus, moreover, son
of Hippolochus, captain of the Lycians, in hard hand-to-hand fight
smote Iphinous son of Dexius on the shoulder, as he was springing
on to his chariot behind his fleet mares; so he fell to earth from
the car, and there was no life left in him.

When, therefore, Minerva saw these men making havoc of the Argives,
she darted down to Ilius from the summits of Olympus, and Apollo,
who was looking on from Pergamus, went out to meet her; for he wanted
the Trojans to be victorious. The pair met by the oak tree, and King
Apollo son of Jove was first to speak. "What would you have said he,
"daughter of great Jove, that your proud spirit has sent you hither
from Olympus? Have you no pity upon the Trojans, and would you incline
the scales of victory in favour of the Danaans? Let me persuade you-
for it will be better thus- stay the combat for to-day, but let them
renew the fight hereafter till they compass the doom of Ilius, since
you goddesses have made up your minds to destroy the city."

And Minerva answered, "So be it, Far-Darter; it was in this mind that
I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans. Tell me, then,
how do you propose to end this present fighting?"

Apollo, son of Jove, replied, "Let us incite great Hector to challenge
some one of the Danaans in single combat; on this the Achaeans will
be shamed into finding a man who will fight him."

Minerva assented, and Helenus son of Priam divined the counsel of
the gods; he therefore went up to Hector and said, "Hector son of
Priam, peer of gods in counsel, I am your brother, let me then persuade
you. Bid the other Trojans and Achaeans all of them take their seats,
and challenge the best man among the Achaeans to meet you in single
combat. I have heard the voice of the ever-living gods, and the hour
of your doom is not yet come."

Hector was glad when he heard this saying, and went in among the Trojans,
grasping his spear by the middle to hold them back, and they all sat
down. Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated. But Minerva and
Apollo, in the likeness of vultures, perched on father Jove's high
oak tree, proud of their men; and the ranks sat close ranged together,
bristling with shield and helmet and spear. As when the rising west
wind furs the face of the sea and the waters grow dark beneath it,
so sat the companies of Trojans and Achaeans upon the plain. And Hector
spoke thus:-

"Hear me, Trojans and Achaeans, that I may speak even as I am minded;
Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and covenants to nothing,
and foreshadows ill for both of us, till you either take the towers
of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your ships. The princes of
the Achaeans are here present in the midst of you; let him, then,
that will fight me stand forward as your champion against Hector.
Thus I say, and may Jove be witness between us. If your champion slay
me, let him strip me of my armour and take it to your ships, but let
him send my body home that the Trojans and their wives may give me
my dues of fire when I am dead. In like manner, if Apollo vouchsafe
me glory and I slay your champion, I will strip him of his armour
and take it to the city of Ilius, where I will hang it in the temple
of Apollo, but I will give up his body, that the Achaeans may bury
him at their ships, and the build him a mound by the wide waters of
the Hellespont. Then will one say hereafter as he sails his ship over
the sea, 'This is the monument of one who died long since a champion
who was slain by mighty Hector.' Thus will one say, and my fame shall
not be lost."

Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to decline
the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last Menelaus rose
and rebuked them, for he was angry. "Alas," he cried, "vain braggarts,
women forsooth not men, double-dyed indeed will be the stain upon
us if no man of the Danaans will now face Hector. May you be turned
every man of you into earth and water as you sit spiritless and inglorious
in your places. I will myself go out against this man, but the upshot
of the fight will be from on high in the hands of the immortal gods."

With these words he put on his armour; and then, O Menelaus, your
life would have come to an end at the hands of hands of Hector, for
he was far better the man, had not the princes of the Achaeans sprung
upon you and checked you. King Agamemnon caught him by the right hand
and said, "Menelaus, you are mad; a truce to this folly. Be patient
in spite of passion, do not think of fighting a man so much stronger
than yourself as Hector son of Priam, who is feared by many another
as well as you. Even Achilles, who is far more doughty than you are,
shrank from meeting him in battle. Sit down your own people, and the
Achaeans will send some other champion to fight Hector; fearless and
fond of battle though he be, I ween his knees will bend gladly under
him if he comes out alive from the hurly-burly of this fight."

With these words of reasonable counsel he persuaded his brother, whereon
his squires gladly stripped the armour from off his shoulders. Then
Nestor rose and spoke, "Of a truth," said he, "the Achaean land is
fallen upon evil times. The old knight Peleus, counsellor and orator
among the Myrmidons, loved when I was in his house to question me
concerning the race and lineage of all the Argives. How would it not
grieve him could he hear of them as now quailing before Hector? Many
a time would he lift his hands in prayer that his soul might leave
his body and go down within the house of Hades. Would, by father Jove,
Minerva, and Apollo, that I were still young and strong as when the
Pylians and Arcadians were gathered in fight by the rapid river Celadon
under the walls of Pheia, and round about the waters of the river
Iardanus. The godlike hero Ereuthalion stood forward as their champion,
with the armour of King Areithous upon his shoulders- Areithous whom
men and women had surnamed 'the Mace-man,' because he fought neither
with bow nor spear, but broke the battalions of the foe with his iron
mace. Lycurgus killed him, not in fair fight, but by entrapping him
in a narrow way where his mace served him in no stead; for Lycurgus
was too quick for him and speared him through the middle, so he fell
to earth on his back. Lycurgus then spoiled him of the armour which
Mars had given him, and bore it in battle thenceforward; but when
he grew old and stayed at home, he gave it to his faithful squire
Ereuthalion, who in this same armour challenged the foremost men among
us. The others quaked and quailed, but my high spirit bade me fight
him though none other would venture; I was the youngest man of them
all; but when I fought him Minerva vouchsafed me victory. He was the
biggest and strongest man that ever I killed, and covered much ground
as he lay sprawling upon the earth. Would that I were still young
and strong as I then was, for the son of Priam would then soon find
one who would face him. But you, foremost among the whole host though
you be, have none of you any stomach for fighting Hector."

Thus did the old man rebuke them, and forthwith nine men started to
their feet. Foremost of all uprose King Agamemnon, and after him brave
Diomed the son of Tydeus. Next were the two Ajaxes, men clothed in
valour as with a garment, and then Idomeneus, and Meriones his brother
in arms. After these Eurypylus son of Euaemon, Thoas the son of Andraemon,
and Ulysses also rose. Then Nestor knight of Gerene again spoke, saying:
"Cast lots among you to see who shall be chosen. If he come alive
out of this fight he will have done good service alike to his own
soul and to the Achaeans."

Thus he spoke, and when each of them had marked his lot, and had thrown
it into the helmet of Agamemnon son of Atreus, the people lifted their
hands in prayer, and thus would one of them say as he looked into
the vault of heaven, "Father Jove, grant that the lot fall on Ajax,
or on the son of Tydeus, or upon the king of rich Mycene himself."

As they were speaking, Nestor knight of Gerene shook the helmet, and
from it there fell the very lot which they wanted- the lot of Ajax.
The herald bore it about and showed it to all the chieftains of the
Achaeans, going from left to right; but they none of of them owned
it. When, however, in due course he reached the man who had written
upon it and had put it into the helmet, brave Ajax held out his hand,
and the herald gave him the lot. When Ajax saw him mark he knew it
and was glad; he threw it to the ground and said, "My friends, the
lot is mine, and I rejoice, for I shall vanquish Hector. I will put
on my armour; meanwhile, pray to King Jove in silence among yourselves
that the Trojans may not hear you- or aloud if you will, for we fear
no man. None shall overcome me, neither by force nor cunning, for
I was born and bred in Salamis, and can hold my own in all things."

With this they fell praying to King Jove the son of Saturn, and thus
would one of them say as he looked into the vault of heaven, "Father
Jove that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power, vouchsafe victory
to Ajax, and let him win great glory: but if you wish well to Hector
also and would protect him, grant to each of them equal fame and prowess.

Thus they prayed, and Ajax armed himself in his suit of gleaming bronze.
When he was in full array he sprang forward as monstrous Mars when
he takes part among men whom Jove has set fighting with one another-
even so did huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans, spring forward with
a grim smile on his face as he brandished his long spear and strode
onward. The Argives were elated as they beheld him, but the Trojans
trembled in every limb, and the heart even of Hector beat quickly,
but he could not now retreat and withdraw into the ranks behind him,
for he had been the challenger. Ajax came up bearing his shield in
front of him like a wall- a shield of bronze with seven folds of oxhide-
the work of Tychius, who lived in Hyle and was by far the best worker
in leather. He had made it with the hides of seven full-fed bulls,
and over these he had set an eighth layer of bronze. Holding this
shield before him, Ajax son of Telamon came close up to Hector, and
menaced him saying, "Hector, you shall now learn, man to man, what
kind of champions the Danaans have among them even besides lion-hearted
Achilles cleaver of the ranks of men. He now abides at the ships in
anger with Agamemnon shepherd of his people, but there are many of
us who are well able to face you; therefore begin the fight."

And Hector answered, "Noble Ajax, son of Telamon, captain of the host,
treat me not as though I were some puny boy or woman that cannot fight.
I have been long used to the blood and butcheries of battle. I am
quick to turn my leathern shield either to right or left, for this
I deem the main thing in battle. I can charge among the chariots and
horsemen, and in hand to hand fighting can delight the heart of Mars;
howbeit I would not take such a man as you are off his guard- but
I will smite you openly if I can."

He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it from him. It struck
the sevenfold shield in its outermost layer- the eighth, which was
of bronze- and went through six of the layers but in the seventh hide
it stayed. Then Ajax threw in his turn, and struck the round shield
of the son of Priam. The terrible spear went through his gleaming
shield, and pressed onward through his cuirass of cunning workmanship;
it pierced the shirt against his side, but he swerved and thus saved
his life. They then each of them drew out the spear from his shield,
and fell on one another like savage lions or wild boars of great strength
and endurance: the son of Priam struck the middle of Ajax's shield,
but the bronze did not break, and the point of his dart was turned.
Ajax then sprang forward and pierced the shield of Hector; the spear
went through it and staggered him as he was springing forward to attack;
it gashed his neck and the blood came pouring from the wound, but
even so Hector did not cease fighting; he gave ground, and with his
brawny hand seized a stone, rugged and huge, that was lying upon the
plain; with this he struck the shield of Ajax on the boss that was
in its middle, so that the bronze rang again. But Ajax in turn caught
up a far larger stone, swung it aloft, and hurled it with prodigious
force. This millstone of a rock broke Hector's shield inwards and
threw him down on his back with the shield crushing him under it,
but Apollo raised him at once. Thereon they would have hacked at one
another in close combat with their swords, had not heralds, messengers
of gods and men, come forward, one from the Trojans and the other
from the Achaeans- Talthybius and Idaeus both of them honourable men;
these parted them with their staves, and the good herald Idaeus said,
"My sons, fight no longer, you are both of you valiant, and both are
dear to Jove; we know this; but night is now falling, and the behests
of night may not be well gainsaid."

Ajax son of Telamon answered, "Idaeus, bid Hector say so, for it was
he that challenged our princes. Let him speak first and I will accept
his saying."

Then Hector said, "Ajax, heaven has vouchsafed you stature and strength,
and judgement; and in wielding the spear you excel all others of the
Achaeans. Let us for this day cease fighting; hereafter we will fight
anew till heaven decide between us, and give victory to one or to
the other; night is now falling, and the behests of night may not
be well gainsaid. Gladden, then, the hearts of the Achaeans at your
ships, and more especially those of your own followers and clansmen,
while I, in the great city of King Priam, bring comfort to the Trojans
and their women, who vie with one another in their prayers on my behalf.
Let us, moreover, exchange presents that it may be said among the
Achaeans and Trojans, 'They fought with might and main, but were reconciled
and parted in friendship.'

On this he gave Ajax a silver-studded sword with its sheath and leathern
baldric, and in return Ajax gave him a girdle dyed with purple. Thus
they parted, the one going to the host of the Achaeans, and the other
to that of the Trojans, who rejoiced when they saw their hero come
to them safe and unharmed from the strong hands of mighty Ajax. They
led him, therefore, to the city as one that had been saved beyond
their hopes. On the other side the Achaeans brought Ajax elated with
victory to Agamemnon.

When they reached the quarters of the son of Atreus, Agamemnon sacrificed
for them a five-year-old bull in honour of Jove the son of Saturn.
They flayed the carcass, made it ready, and divided it into joints;
these they cut carefully up into smaller pieces, putting them on the
spits, roasting them sufficiently, and then drawing them off. When
they had done all this and had prepared the feast, they ate it, and
every man had his full and equal share, so that all were satisfied,
and King Agamemnon gave Ajax some slices cut lengthways down the loin,
as a mark of special honour. As soon as they had had enough to cat
and drink, old Nestor whose counsel was ever truest began to speak;
with all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:-

"Son of Atreus, and other chieftains, inasmuch as many of the Achaeans
are now dead, whose blood Mars has shed by the banks of the Scamander,
and their souls have gone down to the house of Hades, it will be well
when morning comes that we should cease fighting; we will then wheel
our dead together with oxen and mules and burn them not far from the
ships, that when we sail hence we may take the bones of our comrades
home to their children. Hard by the funeral pyre we will build a barrow
that shall be raised from the plain for all in common; near this let
us set about building a high wall, to shelter ourselves and our ships,
and let it have well-made gates that there may be a way through them
for our chariots. Close outside we will dig a deep trench all round
it to keep off both horse and foot, that the Trojan chieftains may
not bear hard upon us."

Thus he spoke, and the princess shouted in applause. Meanwhile the
Trojans held a council, angry and full of discord, on the acropolis
by the gates of King Priam's palace; and wise Antenor spoke. "Hear
me he said, "Trojans, Dardanians, and allies, that I may speak even
as I am minded. Let us give up Argive Helen and her wealth to the
sons of Atreus, for we are now fighting in violation of our solemn
covenants, and shall not prosper till we have done as I say."

He then sat down and Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen rose to speak.
"Antenor," said he, "your words are not to my liking; you can find
a better saying than this if you will; if, however, you have spoken
in good earnest, then indeed has heaven robbed you of your reason.
I will speak plainly, and hereby notify to the Trojans that I will
not give up the woman; but the wealth that I brought home with her
from Argos I will restore, and will add yet further of my own."

On this, when Paris had spoken and taken his seat, Priam of the race
of Dardanus, peer of gods in council, rose and with all sincerity
and goodwill addressed them thus: "Hear me, Trojans, Dardanians, and
allies, that I may speak even as I am minded. Get your suppers now
as hitherto throughout the city, but keep your watches and be wakeful.
At daybreak let Idaeus go to the ships, and tell Agamemnon and Menelaus
sons of Atreus the saying of Alexandrus through whom this quarrel
has come about; and let him also be instant with them that they now
cease fighting till we burn our dead; hereafter we will fight anew,
till heaven decide between us and give victory to one or to the other."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They took supper
in their companies and at daybreak Idaeus went his wa to the ships.
He found the Danaans, servants of Mars, in council at the stern of
Agamemnon's ship, and took his place in the midst of them. "Son of
Atreus," he said, "and princes of the Achaean host, Priam and the
other noble Trojans have sent me to tell you the saying of Alexandrus
through whom this quarrel has come about, if so be that you may find
it acceptable. All the treasure he took with him in his ships to Troy-
would that he had sooner perished- he will restore, and will add yet
further of his own, but he will not give up the wedded wife of Menelaus,
though the Trojans would have him do so. Priam bade me inquire further
if you will cease fighting till we burn our dead; hereafter we will
fight anew, till heaven decide between us and give victory to one
or to the other."

They all held their peace, but presently Diomed of the loud war-cry
spoke, saying, "Let there be no taking, neither treasure, nor yet
Helen, for even a child may see that the doom of the Trojans is at
hand."

The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words that Diomed
had spoken, and thereon King Agamemnon said to Idaeus, "Idaeus, you
have heard the answer the Achaeans make you-and I with them. But as
concerning the dead, I give you leave to burn them, for when men are
once dead there should be no grudging them the rites of fire. Let
Jove the mighty husband of Juno be witness to this covenant."

As he spoke he upheld his sceptre in the sight of all the gods, and
Idaeus went back to the strong city of Ilius. The Trojans and Dardanians
were gathered in council waiting his return; when he came, he stood
in their midst and delivered his message. As soon as they heard it
they set about their twofold labour, some to gather the corpses, and
others to bring in wood. The Argives on their part also hastened from
their ships, some to gather the corpses, and others to bring in wood.

The sun was beginning to beat upon the fields, fresh risen into the
vault of heaven from the slow still currents of deep Oceanus, when
the two armies met. They could hardly recognise their dead, but they
washed the clotted gore from off them, shed tears over them, and lifted
them upon their waggons. Priam had forbidden the Trojans to wail aloud,
so they heaped their dead sadly and silently upon the pyre, and having
burned them went back to the city of Ilius. The Achaeans in like manner
heaped their dead sadly and silently on the pyre, and having burned
them went back to their ships.

Now in the twilight when it was not yet dawn, chosen bands of the
Achaeans were gathered round the pyre and built one barrow that was
raised in common for all, and hard by this they built a high wall
to shelter themselves and their ships; they gave it strong gates that
there might be a way through them for their chariots, and close outside
it they dug a trench deep and wide, and they planted it within with
stakes.

Thus did the Achaeans toil, and the gods, seated by the side of Jove
the lord of lightning, marvelled at their great work; but Neptune,
lord of the earthquake, spoke, saying, "Father Jove, what mortal in
the whole world will again take the gods into his counsel? See you
not how the Achaeans have built a wall about their ships and driven
a trench all round it, without offering hecatombs to the gods? The
The fame of this wall will reach as far as dawn itself, and men will
no longer think anything of the one which Phoebus Apollo and myself
built with so much labour for Laomedon."

Jove was displeased and answered, "What, O shaker of the earth, are
you talking about? A god less powerful than yourself might be alarmed
at what they are doing, but your fame reaches as far as dawn itself.
Surely when the Achaeans have gone home with their ships, you can
shatter their wall and Ring it into the sea; you can cover the beach
with sand again, and the great wall of the Achaeans will then be utterly
effaced."

Thus did they converse, and by sunset the work of the Achaeans was
completed; they then slaughtered oxen at their tents and got their
supper. Many ships had come with wine from Lemnos, sent by Euneus
the son of Jason, born to him by Hypsipyle. The son of Jason freighted
them with ten thousand measures of wine, which he sent specially to
the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus. From this supply the Achaeans
bought their wine, some with bronze, some with iron, some with hides,
some with whole heifers, and some again with captives. They spread
a goodly banquet and feasted the whole night through, as also did
the Trojans and their allies in the city. But all the time Jove boded
them ill and roared with his portentous thunder. Pale fear got hold
upon them, and they spilled the wine from their cups on to the ground,
nor did any dare drink till he had made offerings to the most mighty
son of Saturn. Then they laid themselves down to rest and enjoyed
the boon of sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK VIII

Now when Morning, clad in her robe of saffron, had begun to suffuse
light over the earth, Jove called the gods in council on the topmost
crest of serrated Olympus. Then he spoke and all the other gods gave
ear. "Hear me," said he, "gods and goddesses, that I may speak even
as I am minded. Let none of you neither goddess nor god try to cross
me, but obey me every one of you that I may bring this matter to an
end. If I see anyone acting apart and helping either Trojans or Danaans,
he shall be beaten inordinately ere he come back again to Olympus;
or I will hurl him down into dark Tartarus far into the deepest pit
under the earth, where the gates are iron and the floor bronze, as
far beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth, that you may
learn how much the mightiest I am among you. Try me and find out for
yourselves. Hangs me a golden chain from heaven, and lay hold of it
all of you, gods and goddesses together- tug as you will, you will
not drag Jove the supreme counsellor from heaven to earth; but were
I to pull at it myself I should draw you up with earth and sea into
the bargain, then would I bind the chain about some pinnacle of Olympus
and leave you all dangling in the mid firmament. So far am I above
all others either of gods or men."

They were frightened and all of them of held their peace, for he had
spoken masterfully; but at last Minerva answered, "Father, son of
Saturn, king of kings, we all know that your might is not to be gainsaid,
but we are also sorry for the Danaan warriors, who are perishing and
coming to a bad end. We will, however, since you so bid us, refrain
from actual fighting, but we will make serviceable suggestions to
the Argives that they may not all of them perish in your displeasure."

Jove smiled at her and answered, "Take heart, my child, Trito-born;
I am not really in earnest, and I wish to be kind to you."

With this he yoked his fleet horses, with hoofs of bronze and manes
of glittering gold. He girded himself also with gold about the body,
seized his gold whip and took his seat in his chariot. Thereon he
lashed his horses and they flew forward nothing loth midway twixt
earth and starry heaven. After a while he reached many-fountained
Ida, mother of wild beasts, and Gargarus, where are his grove and
fragrant altar. There the father of gods and men stayed his horses,
took them from the chariot, and hid them in a thick cloud; then he
took his seat all glorious upon the topmost crests, looking down upon
the city of Troy and the ships of the Achaeans.

The Achaeans took their morning meal hastily at the ships, and afterwards
put on their armour. The Trojans on the other hand likewise armed
themselves throughout the city, fewer in numbers but nevertheless
eager perforce to do battle for their wives and children. All the
gates were flung wide open, and horse and foot sallied forth with
the tramp as of a great multitude.

When they were got together in one place, shield clashed with shield,
and spear with spear, in the conflict of mail-clad men. Mighty was
the din as the bossed shields pressed hard on one another- death-
cry and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red
with blood.

Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning their weapons
beat against one another, and the people fell, but when the sun had
reached mid-heaven, the sire of all balanced his golden scales, and
put two fates of death within them, one for the Trojans and the other
for the Achaeans. He took the balance by the middle, and when he lifted
it up the day of the Achaeans sank; the death-fraught scale of the
Achaeans settled down upon the ground, while that of the Trojans rose
heavenwards. Then he thundered aloud from Ida, and sent the glare
of his lightning upon the Achaeans; when they saw this, pale fear
fell upon them and they were sore afraid.

Idomeneus dared not stay nor yet Agamemnon, nor did the two Ajaxes,
servants of Mars, hold their ground. Nestor knight of Gerene alone
stood firm, bulwark of the Achaeans, not of his own will, but one
of his horses was disabled. Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen had
hit it with an arrow just on the top of its head where the mane begins
to grow away from the skull, a very deadly place. The horse bounded
in his anguish as the arrow pierced his brain, and his struggles threw
others into confusion. The old man instantly began cutting the traces
with his sword, but Hector's fleet horses bore down upon him through
the rout with their bold charioteer, even Hector himself, and the
old man would have perished there and then had not Diomed been quick
to mark, and with a loud cry called Ulysses to help him.

"Ulysses," he cried, "noble son of Laertes where are you flying to,
with your back turned like a coward? See that you are not struck with
a spear between the shoulders. Stay here and help me to defend Nestor
from this man's furious onset."

Ulysses would not give ear, but sped onward to the ships of the Achaeans,
and the son of Tydeus flinging himself alone into the thick of the
fight took his stand before the horses of the son of Neleus. "Sir,"
said he, "these young warriors are pressing you hard, your force is
spent, and age is heavy upon you, your squire is naught, and your
horses are slow to move. Mount my chariot and see what the horses
of Tros can do- how cleverly they can scud hither and thither over
the plain either in flight or in pursuit. I took them from the hero
Aeneas. Let our squires attend to your own steeds, but let us drive
mine straight at the Trojans, that Hector may learn how furiously
I too can wield my spear."

Nestor knight of Gerene hearkened to his words. Thereon the doughty
squires, Sthenelus and kind-hearted Eurymedon, saw to Nestor's horses,
while the two both mounted Diomed's chariot. Nestor took the reins
in his hands and lashed the horses on; they were soon close up with
Hector, and the son of Tydeus aimed a spear at him as he was charging
full speed towards them. He missed him, but struck his charioteer
and squire Eniopeus son of noble Thebaeus in the breast by the nipple
while the reins were in his hands, so that he died there and then,
and the horses swerved as he fell headlong from the chariot. Hector
was greatly grieved at the loss of his charioteer, but let him lie
for all his sorrow, while he went in quest of another driver; nor
did his steeds have to go long without one, for he presently found
brave Archeptolemus the son of Iphitus, and made him get up behind
the horses, giving the reins into his hand.

All had then been lost and no help for it, for they would have been
penned up in Ilius like sheep, had not the sire of gods and men been
quick to mark, and hurled a fiery flaming thunderbolt which fell just
in front of Diomed's horses with a flare of burning brimstone. The
horses were frightened and tried to back beneath the car, while the
reins dropped from Nestor's hands. Then he was afraid and said to
Diomed, "Son of Tydeus, turn your horses in flight; see you not that
the hand of Jove is against you? To-day he vouchsafes victory to Hector;
to-morrow, if it so please him, he will again grant it to ourselves;
no man, however brave, may thwart the purpose of Jove, for he is far
stronger than any."

Diomed answered, "All that you have said is true; there is a grief
however which pierces me to the very heart, for Hector will talk among
the Trojans and say, 'The son of Tydeus fled before me to the ships.'
This is the vaunt he will make, and may earth then swallow me."

"Son of Tydeus," replied Nestor, "what mean you? Though Hector say
that you are a coward the Trojans and Dardanians will not believe
him, nor yet the wives of the mighty warriors whom you have laid low."

So saying he turned the horses back through the thick of the battle,
and with a cry that rent the air the Trojans and Hector rained their
darts after them. Hector shouted to him and said, "Son of Tydeus,
the Danaans have done you honour hitherto as regards your place at
table, the meals they give you, and the filling of your cup with wine.
Henceforth they will despise you, for you are become no better than
a woman. Be off, girl and coward that you are, you shall not scale
our walls through any Hinching upon my part; neither shall you carry
off our wives in your ships, for I shall kill you with my own hand."

The son of Tydeus was in two minds whether or no to turn his horses
round again and fight him. Thrice did he doubt, and thrice did Jove
thunder from the heights of. Ida in token to the Trojans that he would
turn the battle in their favour. Hector then shouted to them and said,
"Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians, lovers of close fighting, be men,
my friends, and fight with might and with main; I see that Jove is
minded to vouchsafe victory and great glory to myself, while he will
deal destruction upon the Danaans. Fools, for having thought of building
this weak and worthless wall. It shall not stay my fury; my horses
will spring lightly over their trench, and when I am at their ships
forget not to bring me fire that I may burn them, while I slaughter
the Argives who will be all dazed and bewildered by the smoke."

Then he cried to his horses, "Xanthus and Podargus, and you Aethon
and goodly Lampus, pay me for your keep now and for all the honey-sweet
corn with which Andromache daughter of great Eetion has fed you, and
for she has mixed wine and water for you to drink whenever you would,
before doing so even for me who am her own husband. Haste in pursuit,
that we may take the shield of Nestor, the fame of which ascends to
heaven, for it is of solid gold, arm-rods and all, and that we may
strip from the shoulders of Diomed. the cuirass which Vulcan made
him. Could we take these two things, the Achaeans would set sail in
their ships this self-same night."

Thus did he vaunt, but Queen Juno made high Olympus quake as she shook
with rage upon her throne. Then said she to the mighty god of Neptune,
"What now, wide ruling lord of the earthquake? Can you find no compassion
in your heart for the dying Danaans, who bring you many a welcome
offering to Helice and to Aegae? Wish them well then. If all of us
who are with the Danaans were to drive the Trojans back and keep Jove
from helping them, he would have to sit there sulking alone on Ida."

King Neptune was greatly troubled and answered, "Juno, rash of tongue,
what are you talking about? We other gods must not set ourselves against
Jove, for he is far stronger than we are."

Thus did they converse; but the whole space enclosed by the ditch,
from the ships even to the wall, was filled with horses and warriors,
who were pent up there by Hector son of Priam, now that the hand of
Jove was with him. He would even have set fire to the ships and burned
them, had not Queen Juno put it into the mind of Agamemnon, to bestir
himself and to encourage the Achaeans. To this end he went round the
ships and tents carrying a great purple cloak, and took his stand
by the huge black hull of Ulysses' ship, which was middlemost of all;
it was from this place that his voice would carry farthest, on the
one hand towards the tents of Ajax son of Telamon, and on the other
towards those of Achilles- for these two heroes, well assured of their
own strength, had valorously drawn up their ships at the two ends
of the line. From this spot then, with a voice that could be heard
afar, he shouted to the Danaans, saying, "Argives, shame on you cowardly
creatures, brave in semblance only; where are now our vaunts that
we should prove victorious- the vaunts we made so vaingloriously in
Lemnos, when we ate the flesh of horned cattle and filled our mixing-bowls
to the brim? You vowed that you would each of you stand against a
hundred or two hundred men, and now you prove no match even for one-
for Hector, who will be ere long setting our ships in a blaze. Father
Jove, did you ever so ruin a great king and rob him so utterly of
his greatness? yet, when to my sorrow I was coming hither, I never
let my ship pass your altars without offering the fat and thigh-bones
of heifers upon every one of them, so eager was I to sack the city
of Troy. Vouchsafe me then this prayer- suffer us to escape at any
rate with our lives, and let not the Achaeans be so utterly vanquished
by the Trojans."

Thus did he pray, and father Jove pitying his tears vouchsafed him
that his people should live, not die; forthwith he sent them an eagle,
most unfailingly portentous of all birds, with a young fawn in its
talons; the eagle dropped the fawn by the altar on which the Achaeans
sacrificed to Jove the lord of omens; When, therefore, the people
saw that the bird had come from Jove, they sprang more fiercely upon
the Trojans and fought more boldly.

There was no man of all the many Danaans who could then boast that
he had driven his horses over the trench and gone forth to fight sooner
than the son of Tydeus; long before any one else could do so he slew
an armed warrior of the Trojans, Agelaus the son of Phradmon. He had
turned his horses in flight, but the spear struck him in the back
midway between his shoulders and went right through his chest, and
his armour rang rattling round him as he fell forward from his chariot.

After him came Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus, the two Ajaxes
clothed in valour as with a garment, Idomeneus and his companion in
arms Meriones, peer of murderous Mars, and Eurypylus the brave son
of Euaemon. Ninth came Teucer with his bow, and took his place under
cover of the shield of Ajax son of Telamon. When Ajax lifted his shield
Teucer would peer round, and when he had hit any one in the throng,
the man would fall dead; then Teucer would hie back to Ajax as a child
to its mother, and again duck down under his shield.

Which of the Trojans did brave Teucer first kill? Orsilochus, and
then Ormenus and Ophelestes, Daetor, Chromius, and godlike Lycophontes,
Amopaon son of Polyaemon, and Melanippus. these in turn did he lay
low upon the earth, and King Agamemnon was glad when he saw him making
havoc of the Trojans with his mighty bow. He went up to him and said,
"Teucer, man after my own heart, son of Telamon, captain among the
host, shoot on, and be at once the saving of the Danaans and the glory
of your father Telamon, who brought you up and took care of you in
his own house when you were a child, bastard though you were. Cover
him with glory though he is far off; I will promise and I will assuredly
perform; if aegis-bearing Jove and Minerva grant me to sack the city
of Ilius, you shall have the next best meed of honour after my own-
a tripod, or two horses with their chariot, or a woman who shall go
up into your bed."

And Teucer answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, you need not urge
me; from the moment we began to drive them back to Ilius, I have never
ceased so far as in me lies to look out for men whom I can shoot and
kill; I have shot eight barbed shafts, and all of them have been buried
in the flesh of warlike youths, but this mad dog I cannot hit."

As he spoke he aimed another arrow straight at Hector, for he was
bent on hitting him; nevertheless he missed him, and the arrow hit
Priam's brave son Gorgythion in the breast. His mother, fair Castianeira,
lovely as a goddess, had been married from Aesyme, and now he bowed
his head as a garden poppy in full bloom when it is weighed down by
showers in spring- even thus heavy bowed his head beneath the weight
of his helmet.

Again he aimed at Hector, for he was longing to hit him, and again
his arrow missed, for Apollo turned it aside; but he hit Hector's
brave charioteer Archeptolemus in the breast, by the nipple, as he
was driving furiously into the fight. The horses swerved aside as
he fell headlong from the chariot, and there was no life left in him.
Hector was greatly grieved at the loss of his charioteer, but for
all his sorrow he let him lie where he fell, and bade his brother
Cebriones, who was hard by, take the reins. Cebriones did as he had
said. Hector thereon with a loud cry sprang from his chariot to the
ground, and seizing a great stone made straight for Teucer with intent
kill him. Teucer had just taken an arrow from his quiver and had laid
it upon the bow-string, but Hector struck him with the jagged stone
as he was taking aim and drawing the string to his shoulder; he hit
him just where the collar-bone divides the neck from the chest, a
very deadly place, and broke the sinew of his arm so that his wrist
was less, and the bow dropped from his hand as he fell forward on
his knees. Ajax saw that his brother had fallen, and running towards
him bestrode him and sheltered him with his shield. Meanwhile his
two trusty squires, Mecisteus son of Echius, and Alastor, came up
and bore him to the ships groaning in his great pain.

Jove now again put heart into the Trojans, and they drove the Achaeans
to their deep trench with Hector in all his glory at their head. As
a hound grips a wild boar or lion in flank or buttock when he gives
him chase, and watches warily for his wheeling, even so did Hector
follow close upon the Achaeans, ever killing the hindmost as they
rushed panic-stricken onwards. When they had fled through the set
stakes and trench and many Achaeans had been laid low at the hands
of the Trojans, they halted at their ships, calling upon one another
and praying every man instantly as they lifted up their hands to the
gods; but Hector wheeled his horses this way and that, his eyes glaring
like those of Gorgo or murderous Mars.

Juno when she saw them had pity upon them, and at once said to Minerva,
"Alas, child of aegis-bearing Jove, shall you and I take no more thought
for the dying Danaans, though it be the last time we ever do so? See
how they perish and come to a bad end before the onset of but a single
man. Hector the son of Priam rages with intolerable fury, and has
already done great mischief."

Minerva answered, "Would, indeed, this fellow might die in his own
land, and fall by the hands of the Achaeans; but my father Jove is
mad with spleen, ever foiling me, ever headstrong and unjust. He forgets
how often I saved his son when he was worn out by the labours Eurystheus
had laid on him. He would weep till his cry came up to heaven, and
then Jove would send me down to help him; if I had had the sense to
foresee all this, when Eurystheus sent him to the house of Hades,
to fetch the hell-hound from Erebus, he would never have come back
alive out of the deep waters of the river Styx. And now Jove hates
me, while he lets Thetis have her way because she kissed his knees
and took hold of his beard, when she was begging him to do honour
to Achilles. I shall know what to do next time he begins calling me
his grey-eyed darling. Get our horses ready, while I go within the
house of aegis-bearing Jove and put on my armour; we shall then find
out whether Priam's son Hector will be glad to meet us in the highways
of battle, or whether the Trojans will glut hounds and vultures with
the fat of their flesh as they he dead by the ships of the Achaeans."

Thus did she speak and white-armed Juno, daughter of great Saturn,
obeyed her words; she set about harnessing her gold-bedizened steeds,
while Minerva daughter of aegis-bearing Jove flung her richly vesture,
made with her own hands, on to the threshold of her father, and donned
the shirt of Jove, arming herself for battle. Then she stepped into
her flaming chariot, and grasped the spear so stout and sturdy and
strong with which she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased
her. Juno lashed her horses, and the gates of heaven bellowed as they
flew open of their own accord- gates over which the Hours preside,
in whose hands are heaven and Olympus, either to open the dense cloud
that hides them or to close it. Through these the goddesses drove
their obedient steeds.

But father Jove when he saw them from Ida was very angry, and sent
winged Iris with a message to them. "Go," said he, "fleet Iris, turn
them back, and see that they do not come near me, for if we come to
fighting there will be mischief. This is what I say, and this is what
I mean to do. I will lame their horses for them; I will hurl them
from their chariot, and will break it in pieces. It will take them
all ten years to heal the wounds my lightning shall inflict upon them;
my grey-eyed daughter will then learn what quarrelling with her father
means. I am less surprised and angry with Juno, for whatever I say
she always contradicts me."

With this Iris went her way, fleet as the wind, from the heights of
Ida to the lofty summits of Olympus. She met the goddesses at the
outer gates of its many valleys and gave them her message. "What,"
said she, "are you about? Are you mad? The son of Saturn forbids going.
This is what he says, and this is he means to do, he will lame your
horses for you, he will hurl you from your chariot, and will break
it in pieces. It will take you all ten years to heal the wounds his
lightning will inflict upon you, that you may learn, grey-eyed goddess,
what quarrelling with your father means. He is less hurt and angry
with Juno, for whatever he says she always contradicts him but you,
bold bold hussy, will you really dare to raise your huge spear in
defiance of Jove?"

With this she left them, and Juno said to Minerva, "Of a truth, child
of aegis-bearing Jove, I am not for fighting men's battles further
in defiance of Jove. Let them live or die as luck will have it, and
let Jove mete out his judgements upon the Trojans and Danaans according
to his own pleasure."

She turned her steeds; the Hours presently unyoked them, made them
fast to their ambrosial mangers, and leaned the chariot against the
end wall of the courtyard. The two goddesses then sat down upon their
golden thrones, amid the company of the other gods; but they were
very angry.

Presently father Jove drove his chariot to Olympus, and entered the
assembly of gods. The mighty lord of the earthquake unyoked his horses
for him, set the car upon its stand, and threw a cloth over it. Jove
then sat down upon his golden throne and Olympus reeled beneath him.
Minerva and Juno sat alone, apart from Jove, and neither spoke nor
asked him questions, but Jove knew what they meant, and said, "Minerva
and Juno, why are you so angry? Are you fatigued with killing so many
of your dear friends the Trojans? Be this as it may, such is the might
of my hands that all the gods in Olympus cannot turn me; you were
both of you trembling all over ere ever you saw the fight and its
terrible doings. I tell you therefore-and it would have surely been-
I should have struck you with lighting, and your chariots would never
have brought you back again to Olympus."

Minerva and Juno groaned in spirit as they sat side by side and brooded
mischief for the Trojans. Minerva sat silent without a word, for she
was in a furious passion and bitterly incensed against her father;
but Juno could not contain herself and said, "What, dread son of Saturn,
are you talking about? We know how great your power is, nevertheless
we have compassion upon the Danaan warriors who are perishing and
coming to a bad end. We will, however, since you so bid us, refrain
from actual fighting, but we will make serviceable suggestions to
the Argives, that they may not all of them perish in your displeasure."

And Jove answered, "To-morrow morning, Juno, if you choose to do so,
you will see the son of Saturn destroying large numbers of the Argives,
for fierce Hector shall not cease fighting till he has roused the
son of Peleus when they are fighting in dire straits at their ships'
sterns about the body of Patroclus. Like it or no, this is how it
is decreed; for aught I care, you may go to the lowest depths beneath
earth and sea, where Iapetus and Saturn dwell in lone Tartarus with
neither ray of light nor breath of wind to cheer them. You may go
on and on till you get there, and I shall not care one whit for your
displeasure; you are the greatest vixen living."

Juno made him no answer. The sun's glorious orb now sank into Oceanus
and drew down night over the land. Sorry indeed were the Trojans when
light failed them, but welcome and thrice prayed for did darkness
fall upon the Achaeans.

Then Hector led the Trojans back from the ships, and held a council
on the open space near the river, where there was a spot ear corpses.
They left their chariots and sat down on the ground to hear the speech
he made them. He grasped a spear eleven cubits long, the bronze point
of which gleamed in front of it, while the ring round the spear-head
was of gold Spear in hand he spoke. "Hear me," said he, "Trojans,
Dardanians, and allies. I deemed but now that I should destroy the
ships and all the Achaeans with them ere I went back to Ilius, but
darkness came on too soon. It was this alone that saved them and their
ships upon the seashore. Now, therefore, let us obey the behests of
night, and prepare our suppers. Take your horses out of their chariots
and give them their feeds of corn; then make speed to bring sheep
and cattle from the city; bring wine also and corn for your horses
and gather much wood, that from dark till dawn we may burn watchfires
whose flare may reach to heaven. For the Achaeans may try to fly beyond
the sea by night, and they must not embark scatheless and unmolested;
many a man among them must take a dart with him to nurse at home,
hit with spear or arrow as he is leaping on board his ship, that others
may fear to bring war and weeping upon the Trojans. Moreover let the
heralds tell it about the city that the growing youths and grey-bearded
men are to camp upon its heaven-built walls. Let the women each of
them light a great fire in her house, and let watch be safely kept
lest the town be entered by surprise while the host is outside. See
to it, brave Trojans, as I have said, and let this suffice for the
moment; at daybreak I will instruct you further. I pray in hope to
Jove and to the gods that we may then drive those fate-sped hounds
from our land, for 'tis the fates that have borne them and their ships
hither. This night, therefore, let us keep watch, but with early morning
let us put on our armour and rouse fierce war at the ships of the
Achaeans; I shall then know whether brave Diomed the son of Tydeus
will drive me back from the ships to the wall, or whether I shall
myself slay him and carry off his bloodstained spoils. To-morrow let
him show his mettle, abide my spear if he dare. I ween that at break
of day, he shall be among the first to fall and many another of his
comrades round him. Would that I were as sure of being immortal and
never growing old, and of being worshipped like Minerva and Apollo,
as I am that this day will bring evil to the Argives."

Thus spoke Hector and the Trojans shouted applause. They took their
sweating steeds from under the yoke, and made them fast each by his
own chariot. They made haste to bring sheep and cattle from the city,
they brought wine also and corn from their houses and gathered much
wood. They then offered unblemished hecatombs to the immortals, and
the wind carried the sweet savour of sacrifice to heaven- but the
blessed gods partook not thereof, for they bitterly hated Ilius with
Priam and Priam's people. Thus high in hope they sat through the livelong
night by the highways of war, and many a watchfire did they kindle.
As when the stars shine clear, and the moon is bright- there is not
a breath of air, not a peak nor glade nor jutting headland but it
stands out in the ineffable radiance that breaks from the serene of
heaven; the stars can all of them be told and the heart of the shepherd
is glad- even thus shone the watchfires of the Trojans before Ilius
midway between the ships and the river Xanthus. A thousand camp-fires
gleamed upon the plain, and in the glow of each there sat fifty men,
while the horses, champing oats and corn beside their chariots, waited
till dawn should come.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK IX

Thus did the Trojans watch. But Panic, comrade of blood-stained Rout,
had taken fast hold of the Achaeans and their princes were all of
them in despair. As when the two winds that blow from Thrace- the
north and the northwest- spring up of a sudden and rouse the fury
of the main- in a moment the dark waves uprear their heads and scatter
their sea-wrack in all directions- even thus troubled were the hearts
of the Achaeans.

The son of Atreus in dismay bade the heralds call the people to a
council man by man, but not to cry the matter aloud; he made haste
also himself to call them, and they sat sorry at heart in their assembly.
Agamemnon shed tears as it were a running stream or cataract on the
side of some sheer cliff; and thus, with many a heavy sigh he spoke
to the Achaeans. "My friends," said he, "princes and councillors of
the Argives, the hand of heaven has been laid heavily upon me. Cruel
Jove gave me his solemn promise that I should sack the city of Troy
before returning, but he has played me false, and is now bidding me
go ingloriously back to Argos with the loss of much people. Such is
the will of Jove, who has laid many a proud city in the dust as he
will yet lay others, for his power is above all. Now, therefore, let
us all do as I say and sail back to our own country, for we shall
not take Troy."

Thus he spoke, and the sons of the Achaeans for a long while sat sorrowful
there, but they all held their peace, till at last Diomed of the loud
battle-cry made answer saying, "Son of Atreus, I will chide your folly,
as is my right in council. Be not then aggrieved that I should do
so. In the first place you attacked me before all the Danaans and
said that I was a coward and no soldier. The Argives young and old
know that you did so. But the son of scheming Saturn endowed you by
halves only. He gave you honour as the chief ruler over us, but valour,
which is the highest both right and might he did not give you. Sir,
think you that the sons of the Achaeans are indeed as unwarlike and
cowardly as you say they are? If your own mind is set upon going home-
go- the way is open to you; the many ships that followed you from
Mycene stand ranged upon the seashore; but the rest of us stay here
till we have sacked Troy. Nay though these too should turn homeward
with their ships, Sthenelus and myself will still fight on till we
reach the goal of Ilius, for for heaven was with us when we came."

The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words of Diomed,
and presently Nestor rose to speak. "Son of Tydeus," said he, "in
war your prowess is beyond question, and in council you excel all
who are of your own years; no one of the Achaeans can make light of
what you say nor gainsay it, but you have not yet come to the end
of the whole matter. You are still young- you might be the youngest
of my own children- still you have spoken wisely and have counselled
the chief of the Achaeans not without discretion; nevertheless I am
older than you and I will tell you every" thing; therefore let no
man, not even King Agamemnon, disregard my saying, for he that foments
civil discord is a clanless, hearthless outlaw.

"Now, however, let us obey the behests of night and get our suppers,
but let the sentinels every man of them camp by the trench that is
without the wall. I am giving these instructions to the young men;
when they have been attended to, do you, son of Atreus, give your
orders, for you are the most royal among us all. Prepare a feast for
your councillors; it is right and reasonable that you should do so;
there is abundance of wine in your tents, which the ships of the Achaeans
bring from Thrace daily. You have everything at your disposal wherewith
to entertain guests, and you have many subjects. When many are got
together, you can be guided by him whose counsel is wisest- and sorely
do we need shrewd and prudent counsel, for the foe has lit his watchfires
hard by our ships. Who can be other than dismayed? This night will
either be the ruin of our host, or save it."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The sentinels
went out in their armour under command of Nestor's son Thrasymedes,
a captain of the host, and of the bold warriors Ascalaphus and Ialmenus:
there were also Meriones, Aphareus and Deipyrus, and the son of Creion,
noble Lycomedes. There were seven captains of the sentinels, and with
each there went a hundred youths armed with long spears: they took
their places midway between the trench and the wall, and when they
had done so they lit their fires and got every man his supper.

The son of Atreus then bade many councillors of the Achaeans to his
quarters prepared a great feast in their honour. They laid their hands
on the good things that were before them, and as soon as they had
enough to eat and drink, old Nestor, whose counsel was ever truest,
was the first to lay his mind before them. He, therefore, with all
sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus.

"With yourself, most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
will I both begin my speech and end it, for you are king over much
people. Jove, moreover, has vouchsafed you to wield the sceptre and
to uphold righteousness, that you may take thought for your people
under you; therefore it behooves you above all others both to speak
and to give ear, and to out the counsel of another who shall have
been minded to speak wisely. All turns on you and on your commands,
therefore I will say what I think will be best. No man will be of
a truer mind than that which has been mine from the hour when you,
sir, angered Achilles by taking the girl Briseis from his tent against
my judgment. I urged you not to do so, but you yielded to your own
pride, and dishonoured a hero whom heaven itself had honoured- for
you still hold the prize that had been awarded to him. Now, however,
let us think how we may appease him, both with presents and fair speeches
that may conciliate him."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Sir, you have reproved my folly justly.
I was wrong. I own it. One whom heaven befriends is in himself a host,
and Jove has shown that he befriends this man by destroying much people
of the Achaeans. I was blinded with passion and yielded to my worser
mind; therefore I will make amends, and will give him great gifts
by way of atonement. I will tell them in the presence of you all.
I will give him seven tripods that have never yet been on the fire,
and ten talents of gold. I will give him twenty iron cauldrons and
twelve strong horses that have won races and carried off prizes. Rich,
indeed, both in land and gold is he that has as many prizes as my
horses have won me. I will give him seven excellent workwomen, Lesbians,
whom I chose for myself when he took Lesbos- all of surpassing beauty.
I will give him these, and with them her whom I erewhile took from
him, the daughter of Briseus; and I swear a great oath that I never
went up into her couch, nor have been with her after the manner of
men and women.

"All these things will I give him now down, and if hereafter the gods
vouchsafe me to sack the city of Priam, let him come when we Achaeans
are dividing the spoil, and load his ship with gold and bronze to
his liking; furthermore let him take twenty Trojan women, the loveliest
after Helen herself. Then, when we reach Achaean Argos, wealthiest
of all lands, he shall be my son-in-law and I will show him like honour
with my own dear son Orestes, who is being nurtured in all abundance.
I have three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodice, and lphianassa, let
him take the one of his choice, freely and without gifts of wooing,
to the house of Peleus; I will add such dower to boot as no man ever
yet gave his daughter, and will give him seven well established cities,
Cardamyle, Enope, and Hire, where there is grass; holy Pherae and
the rich meadows of Anthea; Aepea also, and the vine-clad slopes of
Pedasus, all near the sea, and on the borders of sandy Pylos. The
men that dwell there are rich in cattle and sheep; they will honour
him with gifts as though he were a god, and be obedient to his comfortable
ordinances. All this will I do if he will now forgo his anger. Let
him then yieldit is only Hades who is utterly ruthless and unyielding-
and hence he is of all gods the one most hateful to mankind. Moreover
I am older and more royal than himself. Therefore, let him now obey
me."

Then Nestor answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon.
The gifts you offer are no small ones, let us then send chosen messengers,
who may go to the tent of Achilles son of Peleus without delay. Let
those go whom I shall name. Let Phoenix, dear to Jove, lead the way;
let Ajax and Ulysses follow, and let the heralds Odius and Eurybates
go with them. Now bring water for our hands, and bid all keep silence
while we pray to Jove the son of Saturn, if so be that he may have
mercy upon us."

Thus did he speak, and his saying pleased them well. Men-servants
poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filled the
mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round after giving
every man his drink-offering; then, when they had made their offerings,
and had drunk each as much as he was minded, the envoys set out from
the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus; and Nestor, looking first to
one and then to another, but most especially at Ulysses, was instant
with them that they should prevail with the noble son of Peleus.

They went their way by the shore of the sounding sea, and prayed earnestly
to earth-encircling Neptune that the high spirit of the son of Aeacus
might incline favourably towards them. When they reached the ships
and tents of the Myrmidons, they found Achilles playing on a lyre,
fair, of cunning workmanship, and its cross-bar was of silver. It
was part of the spoils which he had taken when he sacked the city
of Eetion, and he was now diverting himself with it and singing the
feats of heroes. He was alone with Patroclus, who sat opposite to
him and said nothing, waiting till he should cease singing. Ulysses
and Ajax now came in- Ulysses leading the way -and stood before him.
Achilles sprang from his seat with the lyre still in his hand, and
Patroclus, when he saw the strangers, rose also. Achilles then greeted
them saying, "All hail and welcome- you must come upon some great
matter, you, who for all my anger are still dearest to me of the Achaeans."

With this he led them forward, and bade them sit on seats covered
with purple rugs; then he said to Patroclus who was close by him,
"Son of Menoetius, set a larger bowl upon the table, mix less water
with the wine, and give every man his cup, for these are very dear
friends, who are now under my roof."

Patroclus did as his comrade bade him; he set the chopping-block in
front of the fire, and on it he laid the loin of a sheep, the loin
also of a goat, and the chine of a fat hog. Automedon held the meat
while Achilles chopped it; he then sliced the pieces and put them
on spits while the son of Menoetius made the fire burn high. When
the flame had died down, he spread the embers, laid the spits on top
of them, lifting them up and setting them upon the spit-racks; and
he sprinkled them with salt. When the meat was roasted, he set it
on platters, and handed bread round the table in fair baskets, while
Achilles dealt them their portions. Then Achilles took his seat facing
Ulysses against the opposite wall, and bade his comrade Patroclus
offer sacrifice to the gods; so he cast the offerings into the fire,
and they laid their hands upon the good things that were before them.
As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, Ajax made a sign
to Phoenix, and when he saw this, Ulysses filled his cup with wine
and pledged Achilles.

"Hail," said he, "Achilles, we have had no scant of good cheer, neither
in the tent of Agamemnon, nor yet here; there has been plenty to eat
and drink, but our thought turns upon no such matter. Sir, we are
in the face of great disaster, and without your help know not whether
we shall save our fleet or lose it. The Trojans and their allies have
camped hard by our ships and by the wall; they have lit watchfires
throughout their host and deem that nothing can now prevent them from
falling on our fleet. Jove, moreover, has sent his lightnings on their
right; Hector, in all his glory, rages like a maniac; confident that
Jove is with him he fears neither god nor man, but is gone raving
mad, and prays for the approach of day. He vows that he will hew the
high sterns of our ships in pieces, set fire to their hulls, and make
havoc of the Achaeans while they are dazed and smothered in smoke;
I much fear that heaven will make good his boasting, and it will prove
our lot to perish at Troy far from our home in Argos. Up, then, and
late though it be, save the sons of the Achaeans who faint before
the fury of the Trojans. You will repent bitterly hereafter if you
do not, for when the harm is done there will be no curing it; consider
ere it be too late, and save the Danaans from destruction.

"My good friend, when your father Peleus sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon,
did he not charge you saying, 'Son, Minerva and Juno will make you
strong if they choose, but check your high temper, for the better
part is in goodwill. Eschew vain quarrelling, and the Achaeans old
and young will respect you more for doing so.' These were his words,
but you have forgotten them. Even now, however, be appeased, and put
away your anger from you. Agamemnon will make you great amends if
you will forgive him; listen, and I will tell you what he has said
in his tent that he will give you. He will give you seven tripods
that have never yet been on the fire, and ten talents of gold; twenty
iron cauldrons, and twelve strong horses that have won races and carried
off prizes. Rich indeed both in land and gold is he who has as many
prizes as these horses have won for Agamemnon. Moreover he will give
you seven excellent workwomen, Lesbians, whom he chose for himself,
when you took Lesbos- all of surpassing beauty. He will give you these,
and with them her whom he erewhile took from you, the daughter of
Briseus, and he will swear a great oath, he has never gone up into
her couch nor been with her after the manner of men and women. All
these things will he give you now down, and if hereafter the gods
vouchsafe him to sack the city of Priam, you can come when we Achaeans
are dividing the spoil, and load your ship with gold and bronze to
your liking. You can take twenty Trojan women, the loveliest after
Helen herself. Then, when we reach Achaean Argos, wealthiest of all
lands, you shall be his son-in-law, and he will show you like honour
with his own dear son Orestes, who is being nurtured in all abundance.
Agamemnon has three daughters, Chrysothemis, Laodice, and Iphianassa;
you may take the one of your choice, freely and without gifts of wooing,
to the house of Peleus; he will add such dower to boot as no man ever
yet gave his daughter, and will give you seven well-established cities,
Cardamyle, Enope, and Hire where there is grass; holy Pheras and the
rich meadows of Anthea; Aepea also, and the vine-clad slopes of Pedasus,
all near the sea, and on the borders of sandy Pylos. The men that
dwell there are rich in cattle and sheep; they will honour you with
gifts as though were a god, and be obedient to your comfortable ordinances.
All this will he do if you will now forgo your anger. Moreover, though
you hate both him and his gifts with all your heart, yet pity the
rest of the Achaeans who are being harassed in all their host; they
will honour you as a god, and you will earn great glory at their hands.
You might even kill Hector; he will come within your reach, for he
is infatuated, and declares that not a Danaan whom the ships have
brought can hold his own against him."

Achilles answered, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, I should give you
formal notice plainly and in all fixity of purpose that there be no
more of this cajoling, from whatsoever quarter it may come. Him do
I hate even as the gates of hell who says one thing while he hides
another in his heart; therefore I will say what I mean. I will be
appeased neither by Agamemnon son of Atreus nor by any other of the
Danaans, for I see that I have no thanks for all my fighting. He that
fights fares no better than he that does not; coward and hero are
held in equal honour, and death deals like measure to him who works
and him who is idle. I have taken nothing by all my hardships- with
my life ever in my hand; as a bird when she has found a morsel takes
it to her nestlings, and herself fares hardly, even so man a long
night have I been wakeful, and many a bloody battle have I waged by
day against those who were fighting for their women. With my ships
I have taken twelve cities, and eleven round about Troy have I stormed
with my men by land; I took great store of wealth from every one of
them, but I gave all up to Agamemnon son of Atreus. He stayed where
he was by his ships, yet of what came to him he gave little, and kept
much himself.

"Nevertheless he did distribute some meeds of honour among the chieftains
and kings, and these have them still; from me alone of the Achaeans
did he take the woman in whom I delighted- let him keep her and sleep
with her. Why, pray, must the Argives needs fight the Trojans? What
made the son of Atreus gather the host and bring them? Was it not
for the sake of Helen? Are the sons of Atreus the only men in the
world who love their wives? Any man of common right feeling will love
and cherish her who is his own, as I this woman, with my whole heart,
though she was but a fruitling of my spear. Agamemnon has taken her
from me; he has played me false; I know him; let him tempt me no further,
for he shall not move me. Let him look to you, Ulysses, and to the
other princes to save his ships from burning. He has done much without
me already. He has built a wall; he has dug a trench deep and wide
all round it, and he has planted it within with stakes; but even so
he stays not the murderous might of Hector. So long as I fought the
Achaeans Hector suffered not the battle range far from the city walls;
he would come to the Scaean gates and to the oak tree, but no further.
Once he stayed to meet me and hardly did he escape my onset: now,
however, since I am in no mood to fight him, I will to-morrow offer
sacrifice to Jove and to all the gods; I will draw my ships into the
water and then victual them duly; to-morrow morning, if you care to
look, you will see my ships on the Hellespont, and my men rowing out
to sea with might and main. If great Neptune vouchsafes me a fair
passage, in three days I shall be in Phthia. I have much there that
I left behind me when I came here to my sorrow, and I shall bring
back still further store of gold, of red copper, of fair women, and
of iron, my share of the spoils that we have taken; but one prize,
he who gave has insolently taken away. Tell him all as I now bid you,
and tell him in public that the Achaeans may hate him and beware of
him should he think that he can yet dupe others for his effrontery
never fails him.

"As for me, hound that he is, he dares not look me in the face. I
will take no counsel with him, and will undertake nothing in common
with him. He has wronged me and deceived me enough, he shall not cozen
me further; let him go his own way, for Jove has robbed him of his
reason. I loathe his presents, and for himself care not one straw.
He may offer me ten or even twenty times what he has now done, nay-
not though it be all that he has in the world, both now or ever shall
have; he may promise me the wealth of Orchomenus or of Egyptian Thebes,
which is the richest city in the whole world, for it has a hundred
gates through each of which two hundred men may drive at once with
their chariots and horses; he may offer me gifts as the sands of the
sea or the dust of the plain in multitude, but even so he shall not
move me till I have been revenged in full for the bitter wrong he
has done me. I will not marry his daughter; she may be fair as Venus,
and skilful as Minerva, but I will have none of her: let another take
her, who may be a good match for her and who rules a larger kingdom.
If the gods spare me to return home, Peleus will find me a wife; there
are Achaean women in Hellas and Phthia, daughters of kings that have
cities under them; of these I can take whom I will and marry her.
Many a time was I minded when at home in Phthia to woo and wed a woman
who would make me a suitable wife, and to enjoy the riches of my old
father Peleus. My life is more to me than all the wealth of Ilius
while it was yet at peace before the Achaeans went there, or than
all the treasure that lies on the stone floor of Apollo's temple beneath
the cliffs of Pytho. Cattle and sheep are to be had for harrying,
and a man buy both tripods and horses if he wants them, but when his
life has once left him it can neither be bought nor harried back again.

"My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may
meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive but
my name will live for ever: whereas if I go home my name will die,
but it will be long ere death shall take me. To the rest of you, then,
I say, 'Go home, for you will not take Ilius.' Jove has held his hand
over her to protect her, and her people have taken heart. Go, therefore,
as in duty bound, and tell the princes of the Achaeans the message
that I have sent them; tell them to find some other plan for the saving
of their ships and people, for so long as my displeasure lasts the
one that they have now hit upon may not be. As for Phoenix, let him
sleep here that he may sail with me in the morning if he so will.
But I will not take him by force."

They all held their peace, dismayed at the sternness with which he
had denied them, till presently the old knight Phoenix in his great
fear for the ships of the Achaeans, burst into tears and said, "Noble
Achilles, if you are now minded to return, and in the fierceness of
your anger will do nothing to save the ships from burning, how, my
son, can I remain here without you? Your father Peleus bade me go
with you when he sent you as a mere lad from Phthia to Agamemnon.
You knew nothing neither of war nor of the arts whereby men make their
mark in council, and he sent me with you to train you in all excellence
of speech and action. Therefore, my son, I will not stay here without
you- no, not though heaven itself vouchsafe to strip my years from
off me, and make me young as I was when I first left Hellas the land
of fair women. I was then flying the anger of father Amyntor, son
of Ormenus, who was furious with me in the matter of his concubine,
of whom he was enamoured to the wronging of his wife my mother. My
mother, therefore, prayed me without ceasing to lie with the woman
myself, that so she hate my father, and in the course of time I yielded.
But my father soon came to know, and cursed me bitterly, calling the
dread Erinyes to witness. He prayed that no son of mine might ever
sit upon knees- and the gods, Jove of the world below and awful Proserpine,
fulfilled his curse. I took counsel to kill him, but some god stayed
my rashness and bade me think on men's evil tongues and how I should
be branded as the murderer of my father: nevertheless I could not
bear to stay in my father's house with him so bitter a against me.
My cousins and clansmen came about me, and pressed me sorely to remain;
many a sheep and many an ox did they slaughter, and many a fat hog
did they set down to roast before the fire; many a jar, too, did they
broach of my father's wine. Nine whole nights did they set a guard
over me taking it in turns to watch, and they kept a fire always burning,
both in the cloister of the outer court and in the inner court at
the doors of the room wherein I lay; but when the darkness of the
tenth night came, I broke through the closed doors of my room, and
climbed the wall of the outer court after passing quickly and unperceived
through the men on guard and the women servants. I then fled through
Hellas till I came to fertile Phthia, mother of sheep, and to King
Peleus, who made me welcome and treated me as a father treats an only
son who will be heir to all his wealth. He made me rich and set me
over much people, establishing me on the borders of Phthia where I
was chief ruler over the Dolopians.

"It was I, Achilles, who had the making of you; I loved you with all
my heart: for you would eat neither at home nor when you had gone
out elsewhere, till I had first set you upon my knees, cut up the
dainty morsel that you were to eat, and held the wine-cup to your
lips. Many a time have you slobbered your wine in baby helplessness
over my shirt; I had infinite trouble with you, but I knew that heaven
had vouchsafed me no offspring of my own, and I made a son of you,
Achilles, that in my hour of need you might protect me. Now, therefore,
I say battle with your pride and beat it; cherish not your anger for
ever; the might and majesty of heaven are more than ours, but even
heaven may be appeased; and if a man has sinned he prays the gods,
and reconciles them to himself by his piteous cries and by frankincense,
with drink-offerings and the savour of burnt sacrifice. For prayers
are as daughters to great Jove; halt, wrinkled, with eyes askance,
they follow in the footsteps of sin, who, being fierce and fleet of
foot, leaves them far behind him, and ever baneful to mankind outstrips
them even to the ends of the world; but nevertheless the prayers come
hobbling and healing after. If a man has pity upon these daughters
of Jove when they draw near him, they will bless him and hear him
too when he is praying; but if he deny them and will not listen to
them, they go to Jove the son of Saturn and pray that he may presently
fall into sin- to his ruing bitterly hereafter. Therefore, Achilles,
give these daughters of Jove due reverence, and bow before them as
all good men will bow. Were not the son of Atreus offering you gifts
and promising others later- if he were still furious and implacable-
I am not he that would bid you throw off your anger and help the Achaeans,
no matter how great their need; but he is giving much now, and more
hereafter; he has sent his captains to urge his suit, and has chosen
those who of all the Argives are most acceptable to you; make not
then their words and their coming to be of none effect. Your anger
has been righteous so far. We have heard in song how heroes of old
time quarrelled when they were roused to fury, but still they could
be won by gifts, and fair words could soothe them.

"I have an old story in my mind- a very old one- but you are all friends
and I will tell it. The Curetes and the Aetolians were fighting and
killing one another round Calydon- the Aetolians defending the city
and the Curetes trying to destroy it. For Diana of the golden throne
was angry and did them hurt because Oeneus had not offered her his
harvest first-fruits. The other gods had all been feasted with hecatombs,
but to the daughter of great Jove alone he had made no sacrifice.
He had forgotten her, or somehow or other it had escaped him, and
this was a grievous sin. Thereon the archer goddess in her displeasure
sent a prodigious creature against him- a savage wild boar with great
white tusks that did much harm to his orchard lands, uprooting apple-trees
in full bloom and throwing them to the ground. But Meleager son of
Oeneus got huntsmen and hounds from many cities and killed it- for
it was so monstrous that not a few were needed, and many a man did
it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the goddess set the Curetes
and the Aetolians fighting furiously about the head and skin of the
boar.

"So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the Curetes,
and for all their numbers they could not hold their ground under the
city walls; but in the course of time Meleager was angered as even
a wise man will sometimes be. He was incensed with his mother Althaea,
and therefore stayed at home with his wedded wife fair Cleopatra,
who was daughter of Marpessa daughter of Euenus, and of Ides the man
then living. He it was who took his bow and faced King Apollo himself
for fair Marpessa's sake; her father and mother then named her Alcyone,
because her mother had mourned with the plaintive strains of the halcyon-bird
when Phoebus Apollo had carried her off. Meleager, then, stayed at
home with Cleopatra, nursing the anger which he felt by reason of
his mother's curses. His mother, grieving for the death of her brother,
prayed the gods, and beat the earth with her hands, calling upon Hades
and on awful Proserpine; she went down upon her knees and her bosom
was wet with tears as she prayed that they would kill her son- and
Erinys that walks in darkness and knows no ruth heard her from Erebus.

"Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and
the dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the elders
of the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest of their
priests, and begged him to come out and help them, promising him a
great reward. They bade him choose fifty plough-gates, the most fertile
in the plain of Calydon, the one-half vineyard and the other open
plough-land. The old warrior Oeneus implored him, standing at the
threshold of his room and beating the doors in supplication. His sisters
and his mother herself besought him sore, but he the more refused
them; those of his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him also
prayed him, but they could not move him till the foe was battering
at the very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls
and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing wife
detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she reminded
him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the flames,
while the women and children are carried into captivity; when he heard
all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to go forth.
Thus of his own inward motion he saved the city of the Aetolians;
but they now gave him nothing of those rich rewards that they had
offered earlier, and though he saved the city he took nothing by it.
Be not then, my son, thus minded; let not heaven lure you into any
such course. When the ships are burning it will be a harder matter
to save them. Take the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour
you as a god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat
the battle back, but you will not be held in like honour."

And Achilles answered, "Phoenix, old friend and father, I have no
need of such honour. I have honour from Jove himself, which will abide
with me at my ships while I have breath in my body, and my limbs are
strong. I say further- and lay my saying to your heart- vex me no
more with this weeping and lamentation, all in the cause of the son
of Atreus. Love him so well, and you may lose the love I bear you.
You ought to help me rather in troubling those that trouble me; be
king as much as I am, and share like honour with myself; the others
shall take my answer; stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in
your bed; at daybreak we will consider whether to remain or go."

On this she nodded quietly to Patroclus as a sign that he was to prepare
a bed for Phoenix, and that the others should take their leave. Ajax
son of Telamon then said, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, let us be
gone, for I see that our journey is vain. We must now take our answer,
unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans who are waiting to receive
it. Achilles is savage and remorseless; he is cruel, and cares nothing
for the love his comrades lavished upon him more than on all the others.
He is implacable- and yet if a man's brother or son has been slain
he will accept a fine by way of amends from him that killed him, and
the wrong-doer having paid in full remains in peace among his own
people; but as for you, Achilles, the gods have put a wicked unforgiving
spirit in your heart, and this, all about one single girl, whereas
we now offer you the seven best we have, and much else into the bargain.
Be then of a more gracious mind, respect the hospitality of your own
roof. We are with you as messengers from the host of the Danaans,
and would fain he held nearest and dearest to yourself of all the
Achaeans."

"Ajax," replied Achilles, "noble son of Telamon, you have spoken much
to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it all over, and remember
how the son of Atreus treated me with contumely as though I were some
vile tramp, and that too in the presence of the Argives. Go, then,
and deliver your message; say that I will have no concern with fighting
till Hector, son of noble Priam, reaches the tents of the Myrmidons
in his murderous course, and flings fire upon their ships. For all
his lust of battle, I take it he will be held in check when he is
at my own tent and ship."

On this they took every man his double cup, made their drink-offerings,
and went back to the ships, Ulysses leading the way. But Patroclus
told his men and the maid-servants to make ready a comfortable bed
for Phoenix; they therefore did so with sheepskins, a rug, and a sheet
of fine linen. The old man then laid himself down and waited till
morning came. But Achilles slept in an inner room, and beside him
the daughter of Phorbas lovely Diomede, whom he had carried off from
Lesbos. Patroclus lay on the other side of the room, and with him
fair Iphis whom Achilles had given him when he took Scyros the city
of Enyeus.

When the envoys reached the tents of the son of Atreus, the Achaeans
rose, pledged them in cups of gold, and began to question them. King
Agamemnon was the first to do so. Tell me, Ulysses," said he, "will
he save the ships from burning, or did be refuse, and is he still
furious?"

Ulysses answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
Achilles will not be calmed, but is more fiercely angry than ever,
and spurns both you and your gifts. He bids you take counsel with
the Achaeans to save the ships and host as you best may; as for himself,
he said that at daybreak he should draw his ships into the water.
He said further that he should advise every one to sail home likewise,
for that you will not reach the goal of Ilius. 'Jove,' he said, 'has
laid his hand over the city to protect it, and the people have taken
heart.' This is what he said, and the others who were with me can
tell you the same story- Ajax and the two heralds, men, both of them,
who may be trusted. The old man Phoenix stayed where he was to sleep,
for so Achilles would have it, that he might go home with him in the
morning if he so would; but he will not take him by force."

They all held their peace, sitting for a long time silent and dejected,
by reason of the sternness with which Achilles had refused them, till
presently Diomed said, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
you ought not to have sued the son of Peleus nor offered him gifts.
He is proud enough as it is, and you have encouraged him in his pride
am further. Let him stay or go as he will. He will fight later when
he is in the humour, and heaven puts it in his mind to do so. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say; we have eaten and drunk our fill,
let us then take our rest, for in rest there is both strength and
stay. But when fair rosy-fingered morn appears, forthwith bring out
your host and your horsemen in front of the ships, urging them on,
and yourself fighting among the foremost."

Thus he spoke, and the other chieftains approved his words. They then
made their drink-offerings and went every man to his own tent, where
they laid down to rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK X

Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole night
through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he could
get no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning in token
of great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten the ground,
or again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws of hungry war,
even so did Agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh, for his soul trembled
within him. When he looked upon the plain of Troy he marvelled at
the many watchfires burning in front of Ilius, and at the sound of
pipes and flutes and of the hum of men, but when presently he turned
towards the ships and hosts of the Achaeans, he tore his hair by handfuls
before Jove on high, and groaned aloud for the very disquietness of
his soul. In the end he deemed it best to go at once to Nestor son
of Neleus, and see if between them they could find any way of the
Achaeans from destruction. He therefore rose, put on his shirt, bound
his sandals about his comely feet, flung the skin of a huge tawny
lion over his shoulders- a skin that reached his feet- and took his
spear in his hand.

Neither could Menelaus sleep, for he, too, boded ill for the Argives
who for his sake had sailed from far over the seas to fight the Trojans.
He covered his broad back with the skin of a spotted panther, put
a casque of bronze upon his head, and took his spear in his brawny
hand. Then he went to rouse his brother, who was by far the most powerful
of the Achaeans, and was honoured by the people as though he were
a god. He found him by the stern of his ship already putting his goodly
array about his shoulders, and right glad was he that his brother
had come.

Menelaus spoke first. "Why," said he, "my dear brother, are you thus
arming? Are you going to send any of our comrades to exploit the Trojans?
I greatly fear that no one will do you this service, and spy upon
the enemy alone in the dead of night. It will be a deed of great daring."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Menelaus, we both of us need shrewd
counsel to save the Argives and our ships, for Jove has changed his
mind, and inclines towards Hector's sacrifices rather than ours. I
never saw nor heard tell of any man as having wrought such ruin in
one day as Hector has now wrought against the sons of the Achaeans-
and that too of his own unaided self, for he is son neither to god
nor goddess. The Argives will rue it long and deeply. Run, therefore,
with all speed by the line of the ships, and call Ajax and Idomeneus.
Meanwhile I will go to Nestor, and bid him rise and go about among
the companies of our sentinels to give them their instructions; they
will listen to him sooner than to any man, for his own son, and Meriones
brother in arms to Idomeneus, are captains over them. It was to them
more particularly that we gave this charge."

Menelaus replied, "How do I take your meaning? Am I to stay with them
and wait your coming, or shall I return here as soon as I have given
your orders?" "Wait," answered King Agamemnon, "for there are so many
paths about the camp that we might miss one another. Call every man
on your way, and bid him be stirring; name him by his lineage and
by his father's name, give each all titular observance, and stand
not too much upon your own dignity; we must take our full share of
toil, for at our birth Jove laid this heavy burden upon us."

With these instructions he sent his brother on his way, and went on
to Nestor shepherd of his people. He found him sleeping in his tent
hard by his own ship; his goodly armour lay beside him- his shield,
his two spears and his helmet; beside him also lay the gleaming girdle
with which the old man girded himself when he armed to lead his people
into battle- for his age stayed him not. He raised himself on his
elbow and looked up at Agamemnon. "Who is it," said he, "that goes
thus about the host and the ships alone and in the dead of night,
when men are sleeping? Are you looking for one of your mules or for
some comrade? Do not stand there and say nothing, but speak. What
is your business?"

And Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean
name, it is I, Agamemnon son of Atreus, on whom Jove has laid labour
and sorrow so long as there is breath in my body and my limbs carry
me. I am thus abroad because sleep sits not upon my eyelids, but my
heart is big with war and with the jeopardy of the Achaeans. I am
in great fear for the Danaans. I am at sea, and without sure counsel;
my heart beats as though it would leap out of my body, and my limbs
fail me. If then you can do anything- for you too cannot sleep- let
us go the round of the watch, and see whether they are drowsy with
toil and sleeping to the neglect of their duty. The enemy is encamped
hard and we know not but he may attack us by night."

Nestor replied, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,
Jove will not do all for Hector that Hector thinks he will; he will
have troubles yet in plenty if Achilles will lay aside his anger.
I will go with you, and we will rouse others, either the son of Tydeus,
or Ulysses, or fleet Ajax and the valiant son of Phyleus. Some one
had also better go and call Ajax and King Idomeneus, for their ships
are not near at hand but the farthest of all. I cannot however refrain
from blaming Menelaus, much as I love him and respect him- and I will
say so plainly, even at the risk of offending you- for sleeping and
leaving all this trouble to yourself. He ought to be going about imploring
aid from all the princes of the Achaeans, for we are in extreme danger."

And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, you may sometimes blame him justly,
for he is often remiss and unwilling to exert himself- not indeed
from sloth, nor yet heedlessness, but because he looks to me and expects
me to take the lead. On this occasion, however, he was awake before
I was, and came to me of his own accord. I have already sent him to
call the very men whom you have named. And now let us be going. We
shall find them with the watch outside the gates, for it was there
I said that we would meet them."

"In that case," answered Nestor, "the Argives will not blame him nor
disobey his orders when he urges them to fight or gives them instructions."

With this he put on his shirt, and bound his sandals about his comely
feet. He buckled on his purple coat, of two thicknesses, large, and
of a rough shaggy texture, grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear,
and wended his way along the line of the Achaean ships. First he called
loudly to Ulysses peer of gods in counsel and woke him, for he was
soon roused by the sound of the battle-cry. He came outside his tent
and said, "Why do you go thus alone about the host, and along the
line of the ships in the stillness of the night? What is it that you
find so urgent?" And Nestor knight of Gerene answered, "Ulysses, noble
son of Laertes, take it not amiss, for the Achaeans are in great straits.
Come with me and let us wake some other, who may advise well with
us whether we shall fight or fly."

On this Ulysses went at once into his tent, put his shield about his
shoulders and came out with them. First they went to Diomed son of
Tydeus, and found him outside his tent clad in his armour with his
comrades sleeping round him and using their shields as pillows; as
for their spears, they stood upright on the spikes of their butts
that were driven into the ground, and the burnished bronze flashed
afar like the lightning of father Jove. The hero was sleeping upon
the skin of an ox, with a piece of fine carpet under his head; Nestor
went up to him and stirred him with his heel to rouse him, upbraiding
him and urging him to bestir himself. "Wake up," he exclaimed, "son
of Tydeus. How can you sleep on in this way? Can you not see that
the Trojans are encamped on the brow of the plain hard by our ships,
with but a little space between us and them?"

On these words Diomed leaped up instantly and said, "Old man, your
heart is of iron; you rest not one moment from your labours. Are there
no younger men among the Achaeans who could go about to rouse the
princes? There is no tiring you."

And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, "My son, all that you have
said is true. I have good sons, and also much people who might call
the chieftains, but the Achaeans are in the gravest danger; life and
death are balanced as it were on the edge of a razor. Go then, for
you are younger than I, and of your courtesy rouse Ajax and the fleet
son of Phyleus."

Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his shoulders- a
skin that reached his feet- and grasped his spear. When he had roused
the heroes, he brought them back with him; they then went the round
of those who were on guard, and found the captains not sleeping at
their posts but wakeful and sitting with their arms about them. As
sheep dogs that watch their flocks when they are yarded, and hear
a wild beast coming through the mountain forest towards them- forthwith
there is a hue and cry of dogs and men, and slumber is broken- even
so was sleep chased from the eyes of the Achaeans as they kept the
watches of the wicked night, for they turned constantly towards the
plain whenever they heard any stir among the Trojans. The old man
was glad bade them be of good cheer. "Watch on, my children," said
he, "and let not sleep get hold upon you, lest our enemies triumph
over us."

With this he passed the trench, and with him the other chiefs of the
Achaeans who had been called to the council. Meriones and the brave
son of Nestor went also, for the princes bade them. When they were
beyond the trench that was dug round the wall they held their meeting
on the open ground where there was a space clear of corpses, for it
was here that when night fell Hector had turned back from his onslaught
on the Argives. They sat down, therefore, and held debate with one
another.

Nestor spoke first. "My friends," said he, "is there any man bold
enough to venture the Trojans, and cut off some straggler, or us news
of what the enemy mean to do whether they will stay here by the ships
away from the city, or whether, now that they have worsted the Achaeans,
they will retire within their walls. If he could learn all this and
come back safely here, his fame would be high as heaven in the mouths
of all men, and he would be rewarded richly; for the chiefs from all
our ships would each of them give him a black ewe with her lamb- which
is a present of surpassing value- and he would be asked as a guest
to all feasts and clan-gatherings."

They all held their peace, but Diomed of the loud war-cry spoke saying,
"Nestor, gladly will I visit the host of the Trojans over against
us, but if another will go with me I shall do so in greater confidence
and comfort. When two men are together, one of them may see some opportunity
which the other has not caught sight of; if a man is alone he is less
full of resource, and his wit is weaker."

On this several offered to go with Diomed. The two Ajaxes, servants
of Mars, Meriones, and the son of Nestor all wanted to go, so did
Menelaus son of Atreus; Ulysses also wished to go among the host of
the Trojans, for he was ever full of daring, and thereon Agamemnon
king of men spoke thus: "Diomed," said he, "son of Tydeus, man after
my own heart, choose your comrade for yourself- take the best man
of those that have offered, for many would now go with you. Do not
through delicacy reject the better man, and take the worst out of
respect for his lineage, because he is of more royal blood."

He said this because he feared for Menelaus. Diomed answered, "If
you bid me take the man of my own choice, how in that case can I fail
to think of Ulysses, than whom there is no man more eager to face
all kinds of danger- and Pallas Minerva loves him well? If he were
to go with me we should pass safely through fire itself, for he is
quick to see and understand."

"Son of Tydeus," replied Ulysses, "say neither good nor ill about
me, for you are among Argives who know me well. Let us be going, for
the night wanes and dawn is at hand. The stars have gone forward,
two-thirds of the night are already spent, and the third is alone
left us."

They then put on their armour. Brave Thrasymedes provided the son
of Tydeus with a sword and a shield (for he had left his own at his
ship) and on his head he set a helmet of bull's hide without either
peak or crest; it is called a skull-cap and is a common headgear.
Meriones found a bow and quiver for Ulysses, and on his head he set
a leathern helmet that was lined with a strong plaiting of leathern
thongs, while on the outside it was thickly studded with boar's teeth,
well and skilfully set into it; next the head there was an inner lining
of felt. This helmet had been stolen by Autolycus out of Eleon when
he broke into the house of Amyntor son of Ormenus. He gave it to Amphidamas
of Cythera to take to Scandea, and Amphidamas gave it as a guest-gift
to Molus, who gave it to his son Meriones; and now it was set upon
the head of Ulysses.

When the pair had armed, they set out, and left the other chieftains
behind them. Pallas Minerva sent them a heron by the wayside upon
their right hands; they could not see it for the darkness, but they
heard its cry. Ulysses was glad when he heard it and prayed to Minerva:
"Hear me," he cried, "daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, you who spy
out all my ways and who are with me in all my hardships; befriend
me in this mine hour, and grant that we may return to the ships covered
with glory after having achieved some mighty exploit that shall bring
sorrow to the Trojans."

Then Diomed of the loud war-cry also prayed: "Hear me too," said he,
"daughter of Jove, unweariable; be with me even as you were with my
noble father Tydeus when he went to Thebes as envoy sent by the Achaeans.
He left the Achaeans by the banks of the river Aesopus, and went to
the city bearing a message of peace to the Cadmeians; on his return
thence, with your help, goddess, he did great deeds of daring, for
you were his ready helper. Even so guide me and guard me now, and
in return I will offer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer of a
year old, unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the yoke. I
will gild her horns and will offer her up to you in sacrifice."

Thus they prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard their prayer. When they
had done praying to the daughter of great Jove, they went their way
like two lions prowling by night amid the armour and blood-stained
bodies of them that had fallen.

Neither again did Hector let the Trojans sleep; for he too called
the princes and councillors of the Trojans that he might set his counsel
before them. "Is there one," said he, "who for a great reward will
do me the service of which I will tell you? He shall be well paid
if he will. I will give him a chariot and a couple of horses, the
fleetest that can be found at the ships of the Achaeans, if he will
dare this thing; and he will win infinite honour to boot; he must
go to the ships and find out whether they are still guarded as heretofore,
or whether now that we have beaten them the Achaeans design to fly,
and through sheer exhaustion are neglecting to keep their watches."

They all held their peace; but there was among the Trojans a certain
man named Dolon, son of Eumedes, the famous herald- a man rich in
gold and bronze. He was ill-favoured, but a good runner, and was an
only son among five sisters. He it was that now addressed the Trojans.
"I, Hector," said he, "Will to the ships and will exploit them. But
first hold up your sceptre and swear that you will give me the chariot,
bedight with bronze, and the horses that now carry the noble son of
Peleus. I will make you a good scout, and will not fail you. I will
go through the host from one end to the other till I come to the ship
of Agamemnon, where I take it the princes of the Achaeans are now
consulting whether they shall fight or fly."

When he had done speaking Hector held up his sceptre, and swore him
his oath saying, "May Jove the thundering husband of Juno bear witness
that no other Trojan but yourself shall mount those steeds, and that
you shall have your will with them for ever."

The oath he swore was bootless, but it made Dolon more keen on going.
He hung his bow over his shoulder, and as an overall he wore the skin
of a grey wolf, while on his head he set a cap of ferret skin. Then
he took a pointed javelin, and left the camp for the ships, but he
was not to return with any news for Hector. When he had left the horses
and the troops behind him, he made all speed on his way, but Ulysses
perceived his coming and said to Diomed, "Diomed, here is some one
from the camp; I am not sure whether he is a spy, or whether it is
some thief who would plunder the bodies of the dead; let him get a
little past us, we can then spring upon him and take him. If, however,
he is too quick for us, go after him with your spear and hem him in
towards the ships away from the Trojan camp, to prevent his getting
back to the town."

With this they turned out of their way and lay down among the corpses.
Dolon suspected nothing and soon passed them, but when he had got
about as far as the distance by which a mule-plowed furrow exceeds
one that has been ploughed by oxen (for mules can plow fallow land
quicker than oxen) they ran after him, and when he heard their footsteps
he stood still, for he made sure they were friends from the Trojan
camp come by Hector's orders to bid him return; when, however, they
were only a spear's cast, or less away form him, he saw that they
were enemies as fast as his legs could take him. The others gave chase
at once, and as a couple of well-trained hounds press forward after
a doe or hare that runs screaming in front of them, even so did the
son of Tydeus and Ulysses pursue Dolon and cut him off from his own
people. But when he had fled so far towards the ships that he would
soon have fallen in with the outposts, Minerva infused fresh strength
into the son of Tydeus for fear some other of the Achaeans might have
the glory of being first to hit him, and he might himself be only
second; he therefore sprang forward with his spear and said, "Stand,
or I shall throw my spear, and in that case I shall soon make an end
of you."

He threw as he spoke, but missed his aim on purpose. The dart flew
over the man's right shoulder, and then stuck in the ground. He stood
stock still, trembling and in great fear; his teeth chattered, and
he turned pale with fear. The two came breathless up to him and seized
his hands, whereon he began to weep and said, "Take me alive; I will
ransom myself; we have great store of gold, bronze, and wrought iron,
and from this my father will satisfy you with a very large ransom,
should he hear of my being alive at the ships of the Achaeans."

"Fear not," replied Ulysses, "let no thought of death be in your mind;
but tell me, and tell me true, why are you thus going about alone
in the dead of night away from your camp and towards the ships, while
other men are sleeping? Is it to plunder the bodies of the slain,
or did Hector send you to spy out what was going on at the ships?
Or did you come here of your own mere notion?"

Dolon answered, his limbs trembling beneath him: "Hector, with his
vain flattering promises, lured me from my better judgement. He said
he would give me the horses of the noble son of Peleus and his bronze-bedizened
chariot; he bade me go through the darkness of the flying night, get
close to the enemy, and find out whether the ships are still guarded
as heretofore, or whether, now that we have beaten them, the Achaeans
design to fly, and through sheer exhaustion are neglecting to keep
their watches."

Ulysses smiled at him and answered, "You had indeed set your heart
upon a great reward, but the horses of the descendant of Aeacus are
hardly to be kept in hand or driven by any other mortal man than Achilles
himself, whose mother was an immortal. But tell me, and tell me true,
where did you leave Hector when you started? Where lies his armour
and his horses? How, too, are the watches and sleeping-ground of the
Trojans ordered? What are their plans? Will they stay here by the
ships and away from the city, or now that they have worsted the Achaeans,
will they retire within their walls?"

And Dolon answered, "I will tell you truly all. Hector and the other
councillors are now holding conference by the monument of great Ilus,
away from the general tumult; as for the guards about which you ask
me, there is no chosen watch to keep guard over the host. The Trojans
have their watchfires, for they are bound to have them; they, therefore,
are awake and keep each other to their duty as sentinels; but the
allies who have come from other places are asleep and leave it to
the Trojans to keep guard, for their wives and children are not here."

Ulysses then said, "Now tell me; are they sleeping among the Trojan
troops, or do they lie apart? Explain this that I may understand it."

"I will tell you truly all," replied Dolon. "To the seaward lie the
Carians, the Paeonian bowmen, the Leleges, the Cauconians, and the
noble Pelasgi. The Lysians and proud Mysians, with the Phrygians and
Meonians, have their place on the side towards Thymbra; but why ask
about an this? If you want to find your way into the host of the Trojans,
there are the Thracians, who have lately come here and lie apart from
the others at the far end of the camp; and they have Rhesus son of
Eioneus for their king. His horses are the finest and strongest that
I have ever seen, they are whiter than snow and fleeter than any wind
that blows. His chariot is bedight with silver and gold, and he has
brought his marvellous golden armour, of the rarest workmanship- too
splendid for any mortal man to carry, and meet only for the gods.
Now, therefore, take me to the ships or bind me securely here, until
you come back and have proved my words whether they be false or true."

Diomed looked sternly at him and answered, "Think not, Dolon, for
all the good information you have given us, that you shall escape
now you are in our hands, for if we ransom you or let you go, you
will come some second time to the ships of the Achaeans either as
a spy or as an open enemy, but if I kill you and an end of you, you
will give no more trouble."

On this Dolon would have caught him by the beard to beseech him further,
but Diomed struck him in the middle of his neck with his sword and
cut through both sinews so that his head fell rolling in the dust
while he was yet speaking. They took the ferret-skin cap from his
head, and also the wolf-skin, the bow, and his long spear. Ulysses
hung them up aloft in honour of Minerva the goddess of plunder, and
prayed saying, "Accept these, goddess, for we give them to you in
preference to all the gods in Olympus: therefore speed us still further
towards the horses and sleeping-ground of the Thracians."

With these words he took the spoils and set them upon a tamarisk tree,
and they marked the place by pulling up reeds and gathering boughs
of tamarisk that they might not miss it as they came back through
the' flying hours of darkness. The two then went onwards amid the
fallen armour and the blood, and came presently to the company of
Thracian soldiers, who were sleeping, tired out with their day's toil;
their goodly armour was lying on the ground beside them all orderly
in three rows, and each man had his yoke of horses beside him. Rhesus
was sleeping in the middle, and hard by him his horses were made fast
to the topmost rim of his chariot. Ulysses from some way off saw him
and said, "This, Diomed, is the man, and these are the horses about
which Dolon whom we killed told us. Do your very utmost; dally not
about your armour, but loose the horses at once- or else kill the
men yourself, while I see to the horses."

Thereon Minerva put courage into the heart of Diomed, and he smote
them right and left. They made a hideous groaning as they were being
hacked about, and the earth was red with their blood. As a lion springs
furiously upon a flock of sheep or goats when he finds without their
shepherd, so did the son of Tydeus set upon the Thracian soldiers
till he had killed twelve. As he killed them Ulysses came and drew
them aside by their feet one by one, that the horses might go forward
freely without being frightened as they passed over the dead bodies,
for they were not yet used to them. When the son of Tydeus came to
the king, he killed him too (which made thirteen), as he was breathing
hard, for by the counsel of Minerva an evil dream, the seed of Oeneus,
hovered that night over his head. Meanwhile Ulysses untied the horses,
made them fast one to another and drove them off, striking them with
his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip from the chariot. Then
he whistled as a sign to Diomed.

But Diomed stayed where he was, thinking what other daring deed he
might accomplish. He was doubting whether to take the chariot in which
the king's armour was lying, and draw it out by the pole, or to lift
the armour out and carry it off; or whether again, he should not kill
some more Thracians. While he was thus hesitating Minerva came up
to him and said, "Get back, Diomed, to the ships or you may be driven
thither, should some other god rouse the Trojans."

Diomed knew that it was the goddess, and at once sprang upon the horses.
Ulysses beat them with his bow and they flew onward to the ships of
the Achaeans.

But Apollo kept no blind look-out when he saw Minerva with the son
of Tydeus. He was angry with her, and coming to the host of the Trojans
he roused Hippocoon, a counsellor of the Thracians and a noble kinsman
of Rhesus. He started up out of his sleep and saw that the horses
were no longer in their place, and that the men were gasping in their
death-agony; on this he groaned aloud, and called upon his friend
by name. Then the whole Trojan camp was in an uproar as the people
kept hurrying together, and they marvelled at the deeds of the heroes
who had now got away towards the ships.

When they reached the place where they had killed Hector's scout,
Ulysses stayed his horses, and the son of Tydeus, leaping to the ground,
placed the blood-stained spoils in the hands of Ulysses and remounted:
then he lashed the horses onwards, and they flew forward nothing loth
towards the ships as though of their own free will. Nestor was first
to hear the tramp of their feet. "My friends," said he, "princes and
counsellors of the Argives, shall I guess right or wrong?- but I must
say what I think: there is a sound in my ears as of the tramp of horses.
I hope it may Diomed and Ulysses driving in horses from the Trojans,
but I much fear that the bravest of the Argives may have come to some
harm at their hands."

He had hardly done speaking when the two men came in and dismounted,
whereon the others shook hands right gladly with them and congratulated
them. Nestor knight of Gerene was first to question them. "Tell me,"
said he, "renowned Ulysses, how did you two come by these horses?
Did you steal in among the Trojan forces, or did some god meet you
and give them to you? They are like sunbeams. I am well conversant
with the Trojans, for old warrior though I am I never hold back by
the ships, but I never yet saw or heard of such horses as these are.
Surely some god must have met you and given them to you, for you are
both of dear to Jove, and to Jove's daughter Minerva."

And Ulysses answered, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean
name, heaven, if it so will, can give us even better horses than these,
for the gods are far mightier than we are. These horses, however,
about which you ask me, are freshly come from Thrace. Diomed killed
their king with the twelve bravest of his companions. Hard by the
ships we took a thirteenth man- a scout whom Hector and the other
Trojans had sent as a spy upon our ships."

He laughed as he spoke and drove the horses over the ditch, while
the other Achaeans followed him gladly. When they reached the strongly
built quarters of the son of Tydeus, they tied the horses with thongs
of leather to the manger, where the steeds of Diomed stood eating
their sweet corn, but Ulysses hung the blood-stained spoils of Dolon
at the stern of his ship, that they might prepare a sacred offering
to Minerva. As for themselves, they went into the sea and washed the
sweat from their bodies, and from their necks and thighs. When the
sea-water had taken all the sweat from off them, and had refreshed
them, they went into the baths and washed themselves. After they had
so done and had anointed themselves with oil, they sat down to table,
and drawing from a full mixing-bowl, made a drink-offering of wine
to Minerva.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XI

And now as Dawn rose from her couch beside Tithonus, harbinger of
light alike to mortals and immortals, Jove sent fierce Discord with
the ensign of war in her hands to the ships of the Achaeans. She took
her stand by the huge black hull of Ulysses' ship which was middlemost
of all, so that her voice might carry farthest on either side, on
the one hand towards the tents of Ajax son of Telamon, and on the
other towards those of Achilles- for these two heroes, well-assured
of their own strength, had valorously drawn up their ships at the
two ends of the line. There she took her stand, and raised a cry both
loud and shrill that filled the Achaeans with courage, giving them
heart to fight resolutely and with all their might, so that they had
rather stay there and do battle than go home in their ships.

The son of Atreus shouted aloud and bade the Argives gird themselves
for battle while he put on his armour. First he girded his goodly
greaves about his legs, making them fast with ankle clasps of silver;
and about his chest he set the breastplate which Cinyras had once
given him as a guest-gift. It had been noised abroad as far as Cyprus
that the Achaeans were about to sail for Troy, and therefore he gave
it to the king. It had ten courses of dark cyanus, twelve of gold,
and ten of tin. There were serpents of cyanus that reared themselves
up towards the neck, three upon either side, like the rainbows which
the son of Saturn has set in heaven as a sign to mortal men. About
his shoulders he threw his sword, studded with bosses of gold; and
the scabbard was of silver with a chain of gold wherewith to hang
it. He took moreover the richly-dight shield that covered his body
when he was in battle- fair to see, with ten circles of bronze running
all round see, wit it. On the body of the shield there were twenty
bosses of white tin, with another of dark cyanus in the middle: this
last was made to show a Gorgon's head, fierce and grim, with Rout
and Panic on either side. The band for the arm to go through was of
silver, on which there was a writhing snake of cyanus with three heads
that sprang from a single neck, and went in and out among one another.
On his head Agamemnon set a helmet, with a peak before and behind,
and four plumes of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it; then
he grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears, and the gleam of his
armour shot from him as a flame into the firmament, while Juno and
Minerva thundered in honour of the king of rich Mycene.

Every man now left his horses in charge of his charioteer to hold
them in readiness by the trench, while he went into battle on foot
clad in full armour, and a mighty uproar rose on high into the dawning.
The chiefs were armed and at the trench before the horses got there,
but these came up presently. The son of Saturn sent a portent of evil
sound about their host, and the dew fell red with blood, for he was
about to send many a brave man hurrying down to Hades.

The Trojans, on the other side upon the rising slope of the plain,
were gathered round great Hector, noble Polydamas, Aeneas who was
honoured by the Trojans like an immortal, and the three sons of Antenor,
Polybus, Agenor, and young Acamas beauteous as a god. Hector's round
shield showed in the front rank, and as some baneful star that shines
for a moment through a rent in the clouds and is again hidden beneath
them; even so was Hector now seen in the front ranks and now again
in the hindermost, and his bronze armour gleamed like the lightning
of aegis-bearing Jove.

And now as a band of reapers mow swathes of wheat or barley upon a
rich man's land, and the sheaves fall thick before them, even so did
the Trojans and Achaeans fall upon one another; they were in no mood
for yielding but fought like wolves, and neither side got the better
of the other. Discord was glad as she beheld them, for she was the
only god that went among them; the others were not there, but stayed
quietly each in his own home among the dells and valleys of Olympus.
All of them blamed the son of Saturn for wanting to Live victory to
the Trojans, but father Jove heeded them not: he held aloof from all,
and sat apart in his all-glorious majesty, looking down upon the city
of the Trojans, the ships of the Achaeans, the gleam of bronze, and
alike upon the slayers and on the slain.

Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their darts
rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as the hour
drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest will get
his midday meal- for he has felled till his hands are weary; he is
tired out, and must now have food- then the Danaans with a cry that
rang through all their ranks, broke the battalions of the enemy. Agamemnon
led them on, and slew first Bienor, a leader of his people, and afterwards
his comrade and charioteer Oileus, who sprang from his chariot and
was coming full towards him; but Agamemnon struck him on the forehead
with his spear; his bronze visor was of no avail against the weapon,
which pierced both bronze and bone, so that his brains were battered
in and he was killed in full fight.

Agamemnon stripped their shirts from off them and left them with their
breasts all bare to lie where they had fallen. He then went on to
kill Isus and Antiphus two sons of Priam, the one a bastard, the other
born in wedlock; they were in the same chariot- the bastard driving,
while noble Antiphus fought beside him. Achilles had once taken both
of them prisoners in the glades of Ida, and had bound them with fresh
withes as they were shepherding, but he had taken a ransom for them;
now, however, Agamemnon son of Atreus smote Isus in the chest above
the nipple with his spear, while he struck Antiphus hard by the ear
and threw him from his chariot. Forthwith he stripped their goodly
armour from off them and recognized them, for he had already seen
them at ships when Achilles brought them in from Ida. As a lion fastens
on the fawns of a hind and crushes them in his great jaws, robbing
them of their tender life while he on his way back to his lair- the
hind can do nothing for them even though she be close by, for she
is in an agony of fear, and flies through the thick forest, sweating,
and at her utmost speed before the mighty monster- so, no man of the
Trojans could help Isus and Antiphus, for they were themselves flying
panic before the Argives.

Then King Agamemnon took the two sons of Antimachus, Pisander and
brave Hippolochus. It was Antimachus who had been foremost in preventing
Helen's being restored to Menelaus, for he was largely bribed by Alexandrus;
and now Agamemnon took his two sons, both in the same chariot, trying
to bring their horses to a stand- for they had lost hold of the reins
and the horses were mad with fear. The son of Atreus sprang upon them
like a lion, and the pair besought him from their chariot. "Take us
alive," they cried, "son of Atreus, and you shall receive a great
ransom for us. Our father Antimachus has great store of gold, bronze,
and wrought iron, and from this he will satisfy you with a very large
ransom should he hear of our being alive at the ships of the Achaeans."

With such piteous words and tears did they beseech the king, but they
heard no pitiful answer in return. "If," said Agamemnon, "you are
sons of Antimachus, who once at a council of Trojans proposed that
Menelaus and Ulysses, who had come to you as envoys, should be killed
and not suffered to return, you shall now pay for the foul iniquity
of your father."

As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth, smiting
him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face uppermost upon
the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did Agamemnon smite; he
cut off his hands and his head- which he sent rolling in among the
crowd as though it were a ball. There he let them both lie, and wherever
the ranks were thickest thither he flew, while the other Achaeans
followed. Foot soldiers drove the foot soldiers of the foe in rout
before them, and slew them; horsemen did the like by horsemen, and
the thundering tramp of the horses raised a cloud of dust frim off
the plain. King Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and cheering
on the Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze- the eddying
gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets shrivel and are
consumed before the blast of the flame- even so fell the heads of
the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus, and many a noble
pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the highways of war, for
lack of drivers who were lying on the plain, more useful now to vultures
than to their wives.

Jove drew Hector away from the darts and dust, with the carnage and
din of battle; but the son of Atreus sped onwards, calling out lustily
to the Danaans. They flew on by the tomb of old Ilus, son of Dardanus,
in the middle of the plain, and past the place of the wild fig-tree
making always for the city- the son of Atreus still shouting, and
with hands all bedrabbled in gore; but when they had reached the Scaean
gates and the oak tree, there they halted and waited for the others
to come up. Meanwhile the Trojans kept on flying over the middle of
the plain like a herd cows maddened with fright when a lion has attacked
them in the dead of night- he springs on one of them, seizes her neck
in the grip of his strong teeth and then laps up her blood and gorges
himself upon her entrails- even so did King Agamemnon son of Atreus
pursue the foe, ever slaughtering the hindmost as they fled pell-mell
before him. Many a man was flung headlong from his chariot by the
hand of the son of Atreus, for he wielded his spear with fury.

But when he was just about to reach the high wall and the city, the
father of gods and men came down from heaven and took his seat, thunderbolt
in hand, upon the crest of many-fountained Ida. He then told Iris
of the golden wings to carry a message for him. "Go," said he, "fleet
Iris, and speak thus to Hector- say that so long as he sees Agamemnon
heading his men and making havoc of the Trojan ranks, he is to keep
aloof and bid the others bear the brunt of the battle, but when Agamemnon
is wounded either by spear or arrow, and takes to his chariot, then
will I vouchsafe him strength to slay till he reach the ships and
night falls at the going down of the sun."

Iris hearkened and obeyed. Down she went to strong Ilius from the
crests of Ida, and found Hector son of Priam standing by his chariot
and horses. Then she said, "Hector son of Priam, peer of gods in counsel,
father Jove has sent me to bear you this message- so long as you see
Agamemnon heading his men and making havoc of the Trojan ranks, you
are to keep aloof and bid the others bear the brunt of the battle,
but when Agamemnon is wounded either by spear or arrow, and takes
to his chariot, then will Jove vouchsafe you strength to slay till
you reach the ships, and till night falls at the going down of the
sun."

When she had thus spoken Iris left him, and Hector sprang full armed
from his chariot to the ground, brandishing his spear as he went about
everywhere among the host, cheering his men on to fight, and stirring
the dread strife of battle. The Trojans then wheeled round, and again
met the Achaeans, while the Argives on their part strengthened their
battalions. The battle was now in array and they stood face to face
with one another, Agamemnon ever pressing forward in his eagerness
to be ahead of all others.

Tell me now ye Muses that dwell in the mansions of Olympus, who, whether
of the Trojans or of their allies, was first to face Agamemnon? It
was Iphidamas son of Antenor, a man both brave and of great stature,
who was brought up in fertile Thrace the mother of sheep. Cisses,
his mother's father, brought him up in his own house when he was a
child- Cisses, father to fair Theano. When he reached manhood, Cisses
would have kept him there, and was for giving him his daughter in
marriage, but as soon as he had married he set out to fight the Achaeans
with twelve ships that followed him: these he had left at Percote
and had come on by land to Ilius. He it was that naw met Agamemnon
son of Atreus. When they were close up with one another, the son of
Atreus missed his aim, and Iphidamas hit him on the girdle below the
cuirass and then flung himself upon him, trusting to his strength
of arm; the girdle, however, was not pierced, nor nearly so, for the
point of the spear struck against the silver and was turned aside
as though it had been lead: King Agamemnon caught it from his hand,
and drew it towards him with the fury of a lion; he then drew his
sword, and killed Iphidamas by striking him on the neck. So there
the poor fellow lay, sleeping a sleep as it were of bronze, killed
in the defence of his fellow-citizens, far from his wedded wife, of
whom he had had no joy though he had given much for her: he had given
a hundred-head of cattle down, and had promised later on to give a
thousand sheep and goats mixed, from the countless flocks of which
he was possessed. Agamemnon son of Atreus then despoiled him, and
carried off his armour into the host of the Achaeans.

When noble Coon, Antenor's eldest son, saw this, sore indeed were
his eyes at the sight of his fallen brother. Unseen by Agamemnon he
got beside him, spear in hand, and wounded him in the middle of his
arm below the elbow, the point of the spear going right through the
arm. Agamemnon was convulsed with pain, but still not even for this
did he leave off struggling and fighting, but grasped his spear that
flew as fleet as the wind, and sprang upon Coon who was trying to
drag off the body of his brother- his father's son- by the foot, and
was crying for help to all the bravest of his comrades; but Agamemnon
struck him with a bronze-shod spear and killed him as he was dragging
the dead body through the press of men under cover of his shield:
he then cut off his head, standing over the body of Iphidamas. Thus
did the sons of Antenor meet their fate at the hands of the son of
Atreus, and go down into the house of Hades.

As long as the blood still welled warm from his wound Agamemnon went
about attacking the ranks of the enemy with spear and sword and with
great handfuls of stone, but when the blood had ceased to flow and
the wound grew dry, the pain became great. As the sharp pangs which
the Eilithuiae, goddesses of childbirth, daughters of Juno and dispensers
of cruel pain, send upon a woman when she is in labour- even so sharp
were the pangs of the son of Atreus. He sprang on to his chariot,
and bade his charioteer drive to the ships, for he was in great agony.
With a loud clear voice he shouted to the Danaans, "My friends, princes
and counsellors of the Argives, defend the ships yourselves, for Jove
has not suffered me to fight the whole day through against the Trojans."

With this the charioteer turned his horses towards the ships, and
they flew forward nothing loth. Their chests were white with foam
and their bellies with dust, as they drew the wounded king out of
the battle.

When Hector saw Agamemnon quit the field, he shouted to the Trojans
and Lycians saying, "Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanian warriors, be
men, my friends, and acquit yourselves in battle bravely; their best
man has left them, and Jove has vouchsafed me a great triumph; charge
the foe with your chariots that. you may win still greater glory."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and as a huntsman
hounds his dogs on against a lion or wild boar, even so did Hector,
peer of Mars, hound the proud Trojans on against the Achaeans. Full
of hope he plunged in among the foremost, and fell on the fight like
some fierce tempest that swoops down upon the sea, and lashes its
deep blue waters into fury.

What, then is the full tale of those whom Hector son of Priam killed
in the hour of triumph which Jove then vouchsafed him? First Asaeus,
Autonous, and Opites; Dolops son of Clytius, Opheltius and Agelaus;
Aesymnus, Orus and Hipponous steadfast in battle; these chieftains
of the Achaeans did Hector slay, and then he fell upon the rank and
file. As when the west wind hustles the clouds of the white south
and beats them down with the fierceness of its fury- the waves of
the sea roll high, and the spray is flung aloft in the rage of the
wandering wind- even so thick were the heads of them that fell by
the hand of Hector.

All had then been lost and no help for it, and the Achaeans would
have fled pell-mell to their ships, had not Ulysses cried out to Diomed,
"Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we thus forget our prowess?
Come, my good fellow, stand by my side and help me, we shall be shamed
for ever if Hector takes the ships."

And Diomed answered, "Come what may, I will stand firm; but we shall
have scant joy of it, for Jove is minded to give victory to the Trojans
rather than to us."

With these words he struck Thymbraeus from his chariot to the ground,
smiting him in the left breast with his spear, while Ulysses killed
Molion who was his squire. These they let lie, now that they had stopped
their fighting; the two heroes then went on playing havoc with the
foe, like two wild boars that turn in fury and rend the hounds that
hunt them. Thus did they turn upon the Trojans and slay them, and
the Achaeans were thankful to have breathing time in their flight
from Hector.

They then took two princes with their chariot, the two sons of Merops
of Percote, who excelled all others in the arts of divination. He
had forbidden his sons to go to the war, but they would not obey him,
for fate lured them to their fall. Diomed son of Tydeus slew them
both and stripped them of their armour, while Ulysses killed Hippodamus
and Hypeirochus.

And now the son of Saturn as he looked down from Ida ordained that
neither side should have the advantage, and they kept on killing one
another. The son of Tydeus speared Agastrophus son of Paeon in the
hip-joint with his spear. His chariot was not at hand for him to fly
with, so blindly confident had he been. His squire was in charge of
it at some distance and he was fighting on foot among the foremost
until he lost his life. Hector soon marked the havoc Diomed and Ulysses
were making, and bore down upon them with a loud cry, followed by
the Trojan ranks; brave Diomed was dismayed when he saw them, and
said to Ulysses who was beside him, "Great Hector is bearing down
upon us and we shall be undone; let us stand firm and wait his onset."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it, nor did he miss his
mark. He had aimed at Hector's head near the top of his helmet, but
bronze was turned by bronze, and Hector was untouched, for the spear
was stayed by the visored helm made with three plates of metal, which
Phoebus Apollo had given him. Hector sprang back with a great bound
under cover of the ranks; he fell on his knees and propped himself
with his brawny hand leaning on the ground, for darkness had fallen
on his eyes. The son of Tydeus having thrown his spear dashed in among
the foremost fighters, to the place where he had seen it strike the
ground; meanwhile Hector recovered himself and springing back into
his chariot mingled with the crowd, by which means he saved his life.
But Diomed made at him with his spear and said, "Dog, you have again
got away though death was close on your heels. Phoebus Apollo, to
whom I ween you pray ere you go into battle, has again saved you,
nevertheless I will meet you and make and end of you hereafter, if
there is any god who will stand by me too and be my helper. For the
present I must pursue those I can lay hands on."

As he spoke he began stripping the spoils from the son of Paeon, but
Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen aimed an arrow at him, leaning
against a pillar of the monument which men had raised to Ilus son
of Dardanus, a ruler in days of old. Diomed had taken the cuirass
from off the breast of Agastrophus, his heavy helmet also, and the
shield from off his shoulders, when Paris drew his bow and let fly
an arrow that sped not from his hand in vain, but pierced the flat
of Diomed's right foot, going right through it and fixing itself in
the ground. Thereon Paris with a hearty laugh sprang forward from
his hiding-place, and taunted him saying, "You are wounded- my arrow
has not been shot in vain; would that it had hit you in the belly
and killed you, for thus the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a
lion, would have had a truce from evil."

Diomed all undaunted answered, "Archer, you who without your bow are
nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in single
combat fighting in full armour, your bow and your arrows would serve
you in little stead. Vain is your boast in that you have scratched
the sole of my foot. I care no more than if a girl or some silly boy
had hit me. A worthless coward can inflict but a light wound; when
I wound a man though I but graze his skin it is another matter, for
my weapon will lay him low. His wife will tear her cheeks for grief
and his children will be fatherless: there will he rot, reddening
the earth with his blood, and vultures, not women, will gather round
him."

Thus he spoke, but Ulysses came up and stood over him. Under this
cover he sat down to draw the arrow from his foot, and sharp was the
pain he suffered as he did so. Then he sprang on to his chariot and
bade the charioteer drive him to the ships, for he was sick at heart.

Ulysses was now alone; not one of the Argives stood by him, for they
were all panic-stricken. "Alas," said he to himself in his dismay,
"what will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly before these
odds, but it will be worse if I am left alone and taken prisoner,
for the son of Saturn has struck the rest of the Danaans with panic.
But why talk to myself in this way? Well do I know that though cowards
quit the field, a hero, whether he wound or be wounded, must stand
firm and hold his own."

While he was thus in two minds, the ranks of the Trojans advanced
and hemmed him in, and bitterly did they come to me it. As hounds
and lusty youths set upon a wild boar that sallies from his lair whetting
his white tusks- they attack him from every side and can hear the
gnashing of his jaws, but for all his fierceness they still hold their
ground- even so furiously did the Trojans attack Ulysses. First he
sprang spear in hand upon Deiopites and wounded him on the shoulder
with a downward blow; then he killed Thoon and Ennomus. After these
he struck Chersidamas in the loins under his shield as he had just
sprung down from his chariot; so he fell in the dust and clutched
the earth in the hollow of his hand. These he let lie, and went on
to wound Charops son of Hippasus own brother to noble Socus. Socus,
hero that he was, made all speed to help him, and when he was close
to Ulysses he said, "Far-famed Ulysses, insatiable of craft and toil,
this day you shall either boast of having killed both the sons of
Hippasus and stripped them of their armour, or you shall fall before
my spear."

With these words he struck the shield of Ulysses. The spear went through
the shield and passed on through his richly wrought cuirass, tearing
the flesh from his side, but Pallas Minerva did not suffer it to pierce
the entrails of the hero. Ulysses knew that his hour was not yet come,
but he gave ground and said to Socus, "Wretch, you shall now surely
die. You have stayed me from fighting further with the Trojans, but
you shall now fall by my spear, yielding glory to myself, and your
soul to Hades of the noble steeds."

Socus had turned in flight, but as he did so, the spear struck him
in the back midway between the shoulders, and went right through his
chest. He fell heavily to the ground and Ulysses vaunted over him
saying, "O Socus, son of Hippasus tamer of horses, death has been
too quick for you and you have not escaped him: poor wretch, not even
in death shall your father and mother close your eyes, but the ravening
vultures shall enshroud you with the flapping of their dark wings
and devour you. Whereas even though I fall the Achaeans will give
me my due rites of burial."

So saying he drew Socus's heavy spear out of his flesh and from his
shield, and the blood welled forth when the spear was withdrawn so
that he was much dismayed. When the Trojans saw that Ulysses was bleeding
they raised a great shout and came on in a body towards him; he therefore
gave ground, and called his comrades to come and help him. Thrice
did he cry as loudly as man can cry, and thrice did brave Menelaus
hear him; he turned, therefore, to Ajax who was close beside him and
said, "Ajax, noble son of Telamon, captain of your people, the cry
of Ulysses rings in my ears, as though the Trojans had cut him off
and were worsting him while he is single-handed. Let us make our way
through the throng; it will be well that we defend him; I fear he
may come to harm for all his valour if he be left without support,
and the Danaans would miss him sorely."

He led the way and mighty Ajax went with him. The Trojans had gathered
round Ulysses like ravenous mountain jackals round the carcase of
some homed stag that has been hit with an arrow- the stag has fled
at full speed so long as his blood was warm and his strength has lasted,
but when the arrow has overcome him, the savage jackals devour him
in the shady glades of the forest. Then heaven sends a fierce lion
thither, whereon the jackals fly in terror and the lion robs them
of their prey- even so did Trojans many and brave gather round crafty
Ulysses, but the hero stood at bay and kept them off with his spear.
Ajax then came up with his shield before him like a wall, and stood
hard by, whereon the Trojans fled in all directions. Menelaus took
Ulysses by the hand, and led him out of the press while his squire
brought up his chariot, but Ajax rushed furiously on the Trojans and
killed Doryclus, a bastard son of Priam; then he wounded Pandocus,
Lysandrus, Pyrasus, and Pylartes; as some swollen torrent comes rushing
in full flood from the mountains on to the plain, big with the rain
of heaven- many a dry oak and many a pine does it engulf, and much
mud does it bring down and cast into the sea- even so did brave Ajax
chase the foe furiously over the plain, slaying both men and horses.

Hector did not yet know what Ajax was doing, for he was fighting on
the extreme left of the battle by the banks of the river Scamander,
where the carnage was thickest and the war-cry loudest round Nestor
and brave Idomeneus. Among these Hector was making great slaughter
with his spear and furious driving, and was destroying the ranks that
were opposed to him; still the Achaeans would have given no ground,
had not Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen stayed the prowess of Machaon
shepherd of his people, by wounding him in the right shoulder with
a triple-barbed arrow. The Achaeans were in great fear that as the
fight had turned against them the Trojans might take him prisoner,
and Idomeneus said to Nestor, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the
Achaean name, mount your chariot at once; take Machaon with you and
drive your horses to the ships as fast as you can. A physician is
worth more than several other men put together, for he can cut out
arrows and spread healing herbs."

Nestor knight of Gerene did as Idomeneus had counselled; he at once
mounted his chariot, and Machaon son of the famed physician Aesculapius
went with him. He lashed his horses and they flew onward nothing loth
towards the ships, as though of their own free will.

Then Cebriones seeing the Trojans in confusion said to Hector from
his place beside him, "Hector, here are we two fighting on the extreme
wing of the battle, while the other Trojans are in pell-mell rout,
they and their horses. Ajax son of Telamon is driving them before
him; I know him by the breadth of his shield: let us turn our chariot
and horses thither, where horse and foot are fighting most desperately,
and where the cry of battle is loudest."

With this he lashed his goodly steeds, and when they felt the whip
they drew the chariot full speed among the Achaeans and Trojans, over
the bodies and shields of those that had fallen: the axle was bespattered
with blood, and the rail round the car was covered with splashes both
from the horses' hoofs and from the tyres of the wheels. Hector tore
his way through and flung himself into the thick of the fight, and
his presence threw the Danaans into confusion, for his spear was not
long idle; nevertheless though he went among the ranks with sword
and spear, and throwing great stones, he avoided Ajax son of Telamon,
for Jove would have been angry with him if he had fought a better
man than himself.

Then father Jove from his high throne struck fear into the heart of
Ajax, so that he stood there dazed and threw his shield behind him-
looking fearfully at the throng of his foes as though he were some
wild beast, and turning hither and thither but crouching slowly backwards.
As peasants with their hounds chase a lion from their stockyard, and
watch by night to prevent his carrying off the pick of their herd-
he makes his greedy spring, but in vain, for the darts from many a
strong hand fall thick around him, with burning brands that scare
him for all his fury, and when morning comes he slinks foiled and
angry away- even so did Ajax, sorely against his will, retreat angrily
before the Trojans, fearing for the ships of the Achaeans. Or as some
lazy ass that has had many a cudgel broken about his back, when he
into a field begins eating the corn- boys beat him but he is too many
for them, and though they lay about with their sticks they cannot
hurt him; still when he has had his fill they at last drive him from
the field- even so did the Trojans and their allies pursue great Ajax,
ever smiting the middle of his shield with their darts. Now and again
he would turn and show fight, keeping back the battalions of the Trojans,
and then he would again retreat; but he prevented any of them from
making his way to the ships. Single-handed he stood midway between
the Trojans and Achaeans: the spears that sped from their hands stuck
some of them in his mighty shield, while many, though thirsting for
his blood, fell to the ground ere they could reach him to the wounding
of his fair flesh.

Now when Eurypylus the brave son of Euaemon saw that Ajax was being
overpowered by the rain of arrows, he went up to him and hurled his
spear. He struck Apisaon son of Phausius in the liver below the midriff,
and laid him low. Eurypylus sprang upon him, and stripped the armour
from his shoulders; but when Alexandrus saw him, he aimed an arrow
at him which struck him in the right thigh; the arrow broke, but the
point that was left in the wound dragged on the thigh; he drew back,
therefore, under cover of his comrades to save his life, shouting
as he did so to the Danaans, "My friends, princes and counsellors
of the Argives, rally to the defence of Ajax who is being overpowered,
and I doubt whether he will come out of the fight alive. Hither, then,
to the rescue of great Ajax son of Telamon."

Even so did he cry when he was wounded; thereon the others came near,
and gathered round him, holding their shields upwards from their shoulders
so as to give him cover. Ajax then made towards them, and turned round
to stand at bay as soon as he had reached his men.

Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
mares of Neleus, all in a lather with sweat, were bearing Nestor out
of the fight, and with him Machaon shepherd of his people. Achilles
saw and took note, for he was standing on the stern of his ship watching
the hard stress and struggle of the fight. He called from the ship
to his comrade Patroclus, who heard him in the tent and came out looking
like Mars himself- here indeed was the beginning of the ill that presently
befell him. "Why," said he, "Achilles do you call me? what do you
what do you want with me?" And Achilles answered, "Noble son of Menoetius,
man after my own heart, I take it that I shall now have the Achaeans
praying at my knees, for they are in great straits; go, Patroclus,
and ask Nestor who is that he is bearing away wounded from the field;
from his back I should say it was Machaon son of Aesculapius, but
I could not see his face for the horses went by me at full speed."

Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him, and set off running
by the ships and tents of the Achaeans.

When Nestor and Machaon had reached the tents of the son of Neleus,
they dismounted, and an esquire, Eurymedon, took the horses from the
chariot. The pair then stood in the breeze by the seaside to dry the
sweat from their shirts, and when they had so done they came inside
and took their seats. Fair Hecamede, whom Nestor had had awarded to
him from Tenedos when Achilles took it, mixed them a mess; she was
daughter of wise Arsinous, and the Achaeans had given her to Nestor
because he excelled all of them in counsel. First she set for them
a fair and well-made table that had feet of cyanus; on it there was
a vessel of bronze and an onion to give relish to the drink, with
honey and cakes of barley-meal. There was also a cup of rare workmanship
which the old man had brought with him from home, studded with bosses
of gold; it had four handles, on each of which there were two golden
doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand on. Any one else would
hardly have been able to lift it from the table when it was full,
but Nestor could do so quite easily. In this the woman, as fair as
a goddess, mixed them a mess with Pramnian wine; she grated goat's
milk cheese into it with a bronze grater, threw in a handful of white
barley-meal, and having thus prepared the mess she bade them drink
it. When they had done so and had thus quenched their thirst, they
fell talking with one another, and at this moment Patroclus appeared
at the door.

When the old man saw him he sprang from his seat, seized his hand,
led him into the tent, and bade him take his place among them; but
Patroclus stood where he was and said, "Noble sir, I may not stay,
you cannot persuade me to come in; he that sent me is not one to be
trifled with, and he bade me ask who the wounded man was whom you
were bearing away from the field. I can now see for myself that he
is Machaon shepherd of his people. I must go back and tell Achilles.
You, sir, know what a terrible man he is, and how ready to blame even
where no blame should lie."

And Nestor answered, "Why should Achilles care to know how many of
the Achaeans may be wounded? He recks not of the dismay that reigns
in our host; our most valiant chieftains lie disabled, brave Diomed
son of Tydeus is wounded; so are Ulysses and Agamemnon; Eurypylus
has been hit with an arrow in the thigh, and I have just been bringing
this man from the field- he too wounded- with an arrow; nevertheless
Achilles, so valiant though he be, cares not and knows no ruth. Will
he wait till the ships, do what we may, are in a blaze, and we perish
one upon the other? As for me, I have no strength nor stay in me any
longer; would that I Were still young and strong as in the days when
there was a fight between us and the men of Elis about some cattle-raiding.
I then killed Itymoneus the valiant son of Hypeirochus a dweller in
Elis, as I was driving in the spoil; he was hit by a dart thrown my
hand while fighting in the front rank in defence of his cows, so he
fell and the country people around him were in great fear. We drove
off a vast quantity of booty from the plain, fifty herds of cattle
and as many flocks of sheep; fifty droves also of pigs, and as many
wide-spreading flocks of goats. Of horses moreover we seized a hundred
and fifty, all of them mares, and many had foals running with them.
All these did we drive by night to Pylus the city of Neleus, taking
them within the city; and the heart of Neleus was glad in that I had
taken so much, though it was the first time I had ever been in the
field. At daybreak the heralds went round crying that all in Elis
to whom there was a debt owing should come; and the leading Pylians
assembled to divide the spoils. There were many to whom the Epeans
owed chattels, for we men of Pylus were few and had been oppressed
with wrong; in former years Hercules had come, and had laid his hand
heavy upon us, so that all our best men had perished. Neleus had had
twelve sons, but I alone was left; the others had all been killed.
The Epeans presuming upon all this had looked down upon us and had
done us much evil. My father chose a herd of cattle and a great flock
of sheep- three hundred in all- and he took their shepherds with him,
for there was a great debt due to him in Elis, to wit four horses,
winners of prizes. They and their chariots with them had gone to the
games and were to run for a tripod, but King Augeas took them, and
sent back their driver grieving for the loss of his horses. Neleus
was angered by what he had both said and done, and took great value
in return, but he divided the rest, that no man might have less than
his full share.

"Thus did we order all things, and offer sacrifices to the gods throughout
the city; but three days afterwards the Epeans came in a body, many
in number, they and their chariots, in full array, and with them the
two Moliones in their armour, though they were still lads and unused
to fighting. Now there is a certain town, Thryoessa, perched upon
a rock on the river Alpheus, the border city Pylus; this they would
destroy, and pitched their camp about it, but when they had crossed
their whole plain, Minerva darted down by night from Olympus and bade
us set ourselves in array; and she found willing soldiers in Pylos,
for the men meant fighting. Neleus would not let me arm, and hid my
horses, for he said that as yet I could know nothing about war; nevertheless
Minerva so ordered the fight that, all on foot as I was, I fought
among our mounted forces and vied with the foremost of them. There
is a river Minyeius that falls into the sea near Arene, and there
they that were mounted (and I with them) waited till morning, when
the companies of foot soldiers came up with us in force. Thence in
full panoply and equipment we came towards noon to the sacred waters
of the Alpheus, and there we offered victims to almighty Jove, with
a bull to Alpheus, another to Neptune, and a herd-heifer to Minerva.
After this we took supper in our companies, and laid us down to rest
each in his armour by the river.

"The Epeans were beleaguering the city and were determined to take
it, but ere this might be there was a desperate fight in store for
them. When the sun's rays began to fall upon the earth we joined battle,
praying to Jove and to Minerva, and when the fight had begun, I was
the first to kill my man and take his horses- to wit the warrior Mulius.
He was son-in-law to Augeas, having married his eldest daughter, golden-haired
Agamede, who knew the virtues of every herb which grows upon the face
of the earth. I speared him as he was coming towards me, and when
he fell headlong in the dust, I sprang upon his chariot and took my
place in the front ranks. The Epeans fled in all directions when they
saw the captain of their horsemen (the best man they had) laid low,
and I swept down on them like a whirlwind, taking fifty chariots-
and in each of them two men bit the dust, slain by my spear. I should
have even killed the two Moliones sons of Actor, unless their real
father, Neptune lord of the earthquake, had hidden them in a thick
mist and borne them out of the fight. Thereon Jove vouchsafed the
Pylians a great victory, for we chased them far over the plain, killing
the men and bringing in their armour, till we had brought our horses
to Buprasium rich in wheat and to the Olenian rock, with the hill
that is called Alision, at which point Minerva turned the people back.
There I slew the last man and left him; then the Achaeans drove their
horses back from Buprasium to Pylos and gave thanks to Jove among
the gods, and among mortal men to Nestor.

"Such was I among my peers, as surely as ever was, but Achilles is
for keeping all his valour for himself; bitterly will he rue it hereafter
when the host is being cut to pieces. My good friend, did not Menoetius
charge you thus, on the day when he sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon?
Ulysses and I were in the house, inside, and heard all that he said
to you; for we came to the fair house of Peleus while beating up recruits
throughout all Achaea, and when we got there we found Menoetius and
yourself, and Achilles with you. The old knight Peleus was in the
outer court, roasting the fat thigh-bones of a heifer to Jove the
lord of thunder; and he held a gold chalice in his hand from which
he poured drink-offerings of wine over the burning sacrifice. You
two were busy cutting up the heifer, and at that moment we stood at
the gates, whereon Achilles sprang to his feet, led us by the hand
into the house, placed us at table, and set before us such hospitable
entertainment as guests expect. When we had satisfied ourselves with
meat and drink, I said my say and urged both of you to join us. You
were ready enough to do so, and the two old men charged you much and
straitly. Old Peleus bade his son Achilles fight ever among the foremost
and outvie his peers, while Menoetius the son of Actor spoke thus
to you: 'My son,' said he, 'Achilles is of nobler birth than you are,
but you are older than he, though he is far the better man of the
two. Counsel him wisely, guide him in the right way, and he will follow
you to his own profit.' Thus did your father charge you, but you have
forgotten; nevertheless, even now, say all this to Achilles if he
will listen to you. Who knows but with heaven's help you may talk
him over, for it is good to take a friend's advice. If, however, he
is fearful about some oracle, or if his mother has told him something
from Jove, then let him send you, and let the rest of the Myrmidons
follow with you, if perchance you may bring light and saving to the
Danaans. And let him send you into battle clad in his own armour,
that the Trojans may mistake you for him and leave off fighting; the
sons of the Achaeans may thus have time to get their breath, for they
are hard pressed and there is little breathing time in battle. You,
who are fresh, might easily drive a tired enemy back to his walls
and away from the tents and ships."

With these words he moved the heart of Patroclus, who set off running
by the line of the ships to Achilles, descendant of Aeacus. When he
had got as far as the ships of Ulysses, where was their place of assembly
and court of justice, with their altars dedicated to the gods, Eurypylus
son of Euaemon met him, wounded in the thigh with an arrow, and limping
out of the fight. Sweat rained from his head and shoulders, and black
blood welled from his cruel wound, but his mind did not wander. The
son of Menoetius when he saw him had compassion upon him and spoke
piteously saying, "O unhappy princes and counsellors of the Danaans,
are you then doomed to feed the hounds of Troy with your fat, far
from your friends and your native land? say, noble Eurypylus, will
the Achaeans be able to hold great Hector in check, or will they fall
now before his spear?"

Wounded Eurypylus made answer, "Noble Patroclus, there is no hope
left for the Achaeans but they will perish at their ships. All they
that were princes among us are lying struck down and wounded at the
hands of the Trojans, who are waxing stronger and stronger. But save
me and take me to your ship; cut out the arrow from my thigh; wash
the black blood from off it with warm water, and lay upon it those
gracious herbs which, so they say, have been shown you by Achilles,
who was himself shown them by Chiron, most righteous of all the centaurs.
For of the physicians Podalirius and Machaon, I hear that the one
is lying wounded in his tent and is himself in need of healing, while
the other is fighting the Trojans upon the plain."

"Hero Eurypylus," replied the brave son of Menoetius, "how may these
things be? What can I do? I am on my way to bear a message to noble
Achilles from Nestor of Gerene, bulwark of the Achaeans, but even
so I will not be unmindful your distress."

With this he clasped him round the middle and led him into the tent,
and a servant, when he saw him, spread bullock-skins on the ground
for him to lie on. He laid him at full length and cut out the sharp
arrow from his thigh; he washed the black blood from the wound with
warm water; he then crushed a bitter herb, rubbing it between his
hands, and spread it upon the wound; this was a virtuous herb which
killed all pain; so the wound presently dried and the blood left off
flowing.

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BOOK XII

So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus within
the tent, but the Argives and Trojans still fought desperately, nor
were the trench and the high wall above it, to keep the Trojans in
check longer. They had built it to protect their ships, and had dug
the trench all round it that it might safeguard both the ships and
the rich spoils which they had taken, but they had not offered hecatombs
to the gods. It had been built without the consent of the immortals,
and therefore it did not last. So long as Hector lived and Achilles
nursed his anger, and so long as the city of Priam remained untaken,
the great wall of the Achaeans stood firm; but when the bravest of
the Trojans were no more, and many also of the Argives, though some
were yet left alive when, moreover, the city was sacked in the tenth
year, and the Argives had gone back with their ships to their own
country- then Neptune and Apollo took counsel to destroy the wall,
and they turned on to it the streams of all the rivers from Mount
Ida into the sea, Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, Rhodius, Grenicus,
Aesopus, and goodly Scamander, with Simois, where many a shield and
helm had fallen, and many a hero of the race of demigods had bitten
the dust. Phoebus Apollo turned the mouths of all these rivers together
and made them flow for nine days against the wall, while Jove rained
the whole time that he might wash it sooner into the sea. Neptune
himself, trident in hand, surveyed the work and threw into the sea
all the foundations of beams and stones which the Achaeans had laid
with so much toil; he made all level by the mighty stream of the Hellespont,
and then when he had swept the wall away he spread a great beach of
sand over the place where it had been. This done he turned the rivers
back into their old courses.

This was what Neptune and Apollo were to do in after time; but as
yet battle and turmoil were still raging round the wall till its timbers
rang under the blows that rained upon them. The Argives, cowed by
the scourge of Jove, were hemmed in at their ships in fear of Hector
the mighty minister of Rout, who as heretofore fought with the force
and fury of a whirlwind. As a lion or wild boar turns fiercely on
the dogs and men that attack him, while these form solid wall and
shower their javelins as they face him- his courage is all undaunted,
but his high spirit will be the death of him; many a time does he
charge at his pursuers to scatter them, and they fall back as often
as he does so- even so did Hector go about among the host exhorting
his men, and cheering them on to cross the trench.

But the horses dared not do so, and stood neighing upon its brink,
for the width frightened them. They could neither jump it nor cross
it, for it had overhanging banks all round upon either side, above
which there were the sharp stakes that the sons of the Achaeans had
planted so close and strong as a defence against all who would assail
it; a horse, therefore, could not get into it and draw his chariot
after him, but those who were on foot kept trying their very utmost.
Then Polydamas went up to Hector and said, "Hector, and you other
captains of the Trojans and allies, it is madness for us to try and
drive our horses across the trench; it will be very hard to cross,
for it is full of sharp stakes, and beyond these there is the wall.
Our horses therefore cannot get down into it, and would be of no use
if they did; moreover it is a narrow place and we should come to harm.
If, indeed, great Jove is minded to help the Trojans, and in his anger
will utterly destroy the Achaeans, I would myself gladly see them
perish now and here far from Argos; but if they should rally and we
are driven back from the ships pell-mell into the trench there will
be not so much as a man get back to the city to tell the tale. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say; let our squires hold our horses
by the trench, but let us follow Hector in a body on foot, clad in
full armour, and if the day of their doom is at hand the Achaeans
will not be able to withstand us."

Thus spoke Polydamas and his saying pleased Hector, who sprang in
full armour to the ground, and all the other Trojans, when they saw
him do so, also left their chariots. Each man then gave his horses
over to his charioteer in charge to hold them ready for him at the
trench. Then they formed themselves into companies, made themselves
ready, and in five bodies followed their leaders. Those that went
with Hector and Polydamas were the bravest and most in number, and
the most determined to break through the wall and fight at the ships.
Cebriones was also joined with them as third in command, for Hector
had left his chariot in charge of a less valiant soldier. The next
company was led by Paris, Alcathous, and Agenor; the third by Helenus
and Deiphobus, two sons of Priam, and with them was the hero Asius-
Asius the son of Hyrtacus, whose great black horses of the breed that
comes from the river Selleis had brought him from Arisbe. Aeneas the
valiant son of Anchises led the fourth; he and the two sons of Antenor,
Archelochus and Acamas, men well versed in all the arts of war. Sarpedon
was captain over the allies, and took with him Glaucus and Asteropaeus
whom he deemed most valiant after himself- for he was far the best
man of them all. These helped to array one another in their ox-hide
shields, and then charged straight at the Danaans, for they felt sure
that they would not hold out longer and that they should themselves
now fall upon the ships.

The rest of the Trojans and their allies now followed the counsel
of Polydamas but Asius son of Hyrtacus would not leave his horses
and his esquire behind him; in his foolhardiness he took them on with
him towards the ships, nor did he fail to come by his end in consequence.
Nevermore was he to return to wind-beaten Ilius, exulting in his chariot
and his horses; ere he could do so, death of ill-omened name had overshadowed
him and he had fallen by the spear of Idomeneus the noble son of Deucalion.
He had driven towards the left wing of the ships, by which way the
Achaeans used to return with their chariots and horses from the plain.
Hither he drove and found the gates with their doors opened wide,
and the great bar down- for the gatemen kept them open so as to let
those of their comrades enter who might be flying towards the ships.
Hither of set purpose did he direct his horses, and his men followed
him with a loud cry, for they felt sure that the Achaeans would not
hold out longer, and that they should now fall upon the ships. Little
did they know that at the gates they should find two of the bravest
chieftains, proud sons of the fighting Lapithae- the one, Polypoetes,
mighty son of Pirithous, and the other Leonteus, peer of murderous
Mars. These stood before the gates like two high oak trees upon the
mountains, that tower from their wide-spreading roots, and year after
year battle with wind and rain- even so did these two men await the
onset of great Asius confidently and without flinching. The Trojans
led by him and by Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son of Asius, Thoon
and Oenomaus, raised a loud cry of battle and made straight for the
wall, holding their shields of dry ox-hide above their heads; for
a while the two defenders remained inside and cheered the Achaeans
on to stand firm in the defence of their ships; when, however, they
saw that the Trojans were attacking the wall, while the Danaans were
crying out for help and being routed, they rushed outside and fought
in front of the gates like two wild boars upon the mountains that
abide the attack of men and dogs, and charging on either side break
down the wood all round them tearing it up by the roots, and one can
hear the clattering of their tusks, till some one hits them and makes
an end of them- even so did the gleaming bronze rattle about their
breasts, as the weapons fell upon them; for they fought with great
fury, trusting to their own prowess and to those who were on the wall
above them. These threw great stones at their assailants in defence
of themselves their tents and their ships. The stones fell thick as
the flakes of snow which some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds
and showers down in sheets upon the earth- even so fell the weapons
from the hands alike of Trojans and Achaeans. Helmet and shield rang
out as the great stones rained upon them, and Asius the son of Hyrtacus
in his dismay cried aloud and smote his two thighs. "Father Jove,"
he cried, "of a truth you too are altogether given to lying. I made
sure the Argive heroes could not withstand us, whereas like slim-waisted
wasps, or bees that have their nests in the rocks by the wayside-
they leave not the holes wherein they have built undefended, but fight
for their little ones against all who would take them- even so these
men, though they be but two, will not be driven from the gates, but
stand firm either to slay or be slain."

He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then was
to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were fighting
about the other gates; I, however, am no god to be able to tell about
all these things, for the battle raged everywhere about the stone
wall as it were a fiery furnace. The Argives, discomfited though they
were, were forced to defend their ships, and all the gods who were
defending the Achaeans were vexed in spirit; but the Lapithae kept
on fighting with might and main.

Thereon Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, hit Damasus with a spear
upon his cheek-pierced helmet. The helmet did not protect him, for
the point of the spear went through it, and broke the bone, so that
the brain inside was scattered about, and he died fighting. He then
slew Pylon and Ormenus. Leonteus, of the race of Mars, killed Hippomachus
the son of Antimachus by striking him with his spear upon the girdle.
He then drew his sword and sprang first upon Antiphates whom he killed
in combat, and who fell face upwards on the earth. After him he killed
Menon, Iamenus, and Orestes, and laid them low one after the other.

While they were busy stripping the armour from these heroes, the youths
who were led on by Polydamas and Hector (and these were the greater
part and the most valiant of those that were trying to break through
the wall and fire the ships) were still standing by the trench, uncertain
what they should do; for they had seen a sign from heaven when they
had essayed to cross it- a soaring eagle that flew skirting the left
wing of their host, with a monstrous blood-red snake in its talons
still alive and struggling to escape. The snake was still bent on
revenge, wriggling and twisting itself backwards till it struck the
bird that held it, on the neck and breast; whereon the bird being
in pain, let it fall, dropping it into the middle of the host, and
then flew down the wind with a sharp cry. The Trojans were struck
with terror when they saw the snake, portent of aegis-bearing Jove,
writhing in the midst of them, and Polydamas went up to Hector and
said, "Hector, at our councils of war you are ever given to rebuke
me, even when I speak wisely, as though it were not well, forsooth,
that one of the people should cross your will either in the field
or at the council board; you would have them support you always: nevertheless
I will say what I think will be best; let us not now go on to fight
the Danaans at their ships, for I know what will happen if this soaring
eagle which skirted the left wing of our with a monstrous blood-red
snake in its talons (the snake being still alive) was really sent
as an omen to the Trojans on their essaying to cross the trench. The
eagle let go her hold; she did not succeed in taking it home to her
little ones, and so will it be- with ourselves; even though by a mighty
effort we break through the gates and wall of the Achaeans, and they
give way before us, still we shall not return in good order by the
way we came, but shall leave many a man behind us whom the Achaeans
will do to death in defence of their ships. Thus would any seer who
was expert in these matters, and was trusted by the people, read the
portent."

Hector looked fiercely at him and said, "Polydamas, I like not of
your reading. You can find a better saying than this if you will.
If, however, you have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven
robbed you of your reason. You would have me pay no heed to the counsels
of Jove, nor to the promises he made me- and he bowed his head in
confirmation; you bid me be ruled rather by the flight of wild-fowl.
What care I whether they fly towards dawn or dark, and whether they
be on my right hand or on my left? Let us put our trust rather in
the counsel of great Jove, king of mortals and immortals. There is
one omen, and one only- that a man should fight for his country. Why
are you so fearful? Though we be all of us slain at the ships of the
Argives you are not likely to be killed yourself, for you are not
steadfast nor courageous. If you will. not fight, or would talk others
over from doing so, you shall fall forthwith before my spear."

With these words he led the way, and the others followed after with
a cry that rent the air. Then Jove the lord of thunder sent the blast
of a mighty wind from the mountains of Ida, that bore the dust down
towards the ships; he thus lulled the Achaeans into security, and
gave victory to Hector and to the Trojans, who, trusting to their
own might and to the signs he had shown them, essayed to break through
the great wall of the Achaeans. They tore down the breastworks from
the walls, and overthrew the battlements; they upheaved the buttresses,
which the Achaeans had set in front of the wall in order to support
it; when they had pulled these down they made sure of breaking through
the wall, but the Danaans still showed no sign of giving ground; they
still fenced the battlements with their shields of ox-hide, and hurled
their missiles down upon the foe as soon as any came below the wall.

The two Ajaxes went about everywhere on the walls cheering on the
Achaeans, giving fair words to some while they spoke sharply to any
one whom they saw to be remiss. "My friends," they cried, "Argives
one and all- good bad and indifferent, for there was never fight yet,
in which all were of equal prowess- there is now work enough, as you
very well know, for all of you. See that you none of you turn in flight
towards the ships, daunted by the shouting of the foe, but press forward
and keep one another in heart, if it may so be that Olympian Jove
the lord of lightning will vouchsafe us to repel our foes, and drive
them back towards the city."

Thus did the two go about shouting and cheering the Achaeans on. As
the flakes that fall thick upon a winter's day, when Jove is minded
to snow and to display these his arrows to mankind- he lulls the wind
to rest, and snows hour after hour till he has buried the tops of
the high mountains, the headlands that jut into the sea, the grassy
plains, and the tilled fields of men; the snow lies deep upon the
forelands, and havens of the grey sea, but the waves as they come
rolling in stay it that it can come no further, though all else is
wrapped as with a mantle so heavy are the heavens with snow- even
thus thickly did the stones fall on one side and on the other, some
thrown at the Trojans, and some by the Trojans at the Achaeans; and
the whole wall was in an uproar.

Still the Trojans and brave Hector would not yet have broken down
the gates and the great bar, had not Jove turned his son Sarpedon
against the Argives as a lion against a herd of horned cattle. Before
him he held his shield of hammered bronze, that the smith had beaten
so fair and round, and had lined with ox hides which he had made fast
with rivets of gold all round the shield; this he held in front of
him, and brandishing his two spears came on like some lion of the
wilderness, who has been long famished for want of meat and will dare
break even into a well-fenced homestead to try and get at the sheep.
He may find the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks with dogs
and spears, but he is in no mind to be driven from the fold till he
has had a try for it; he will either spring on a sheep and carry it
off, or be hit by a spear from strong hand- even so was Sarpedon fain
to attack the wall and break down its battlements. Then he said to
Glaucus son of Hippolochus, "Glaucus, why in Lycia do we receive especial
honour as regards our place at table? Why are the choicest portions
served us and our cups kept brimming, and why do men look up to us
as though we were gods? Moreover we hold a large estate by the banks
of the river Xanthus, fair with orchard lawns and wheat-growing land;
it becomes us, therefore, to take our stand at the head of all the
Lycians and bear the brunt of the fight, that one may say to another,
Our princes in Lycia eat the fat of the land and drink best of wine,
but they are fine fellows; they fight well and are ever at the front
in battle.' My good friend, if, when we were once out of this fight,
we could escape old age and death thenceforward and for ever, I should
neither press forward myself nor bid you do so, but death in ten thousand
shapes hangs ever over our heads, and no man can elude him; therefore
let us go forward and either win glory for ourselves, or yield it
to another."

Glaucus heeded his saying, and the pair forthwith led on the host
of Lycians. Menestheus son of Peteos was dismayed when he saw them,
for it was against his part of the wall that they came- bringing destruction
with them; he looked along the wall for some chieftain to support
his comrades and saw the two Ajaxes, men ever eager for the fray,
and Teucer, who had just come from his tent, standing near them; but
he could not make his voice heard by shouting to them, so great an
uproar was there from crashing shields and helmets and the battering
of gates with a din which reached the skies. For all the gates had
been closed, and the Trojans were hammering at them to try and break
their way through them. Menestheus, therefore, sent Thootes with a
message to Ajax. "Run, good Thootes," said and call Ajax, or better
still bid both come, for it will be all over with us here directly;
the leaders of the Lycians are upon us, men who have ever fought desperately
heretofore. But if the have too much on their hands to let them come,
at any rate let Ajax son of Telamon do so, and let Teucer the famous
bowman come with him."

The messenger did as he was told, and set off running along the wall
of the Achaeans. When he reached the Ajaxes he said to them, "Sirs,
princes of the Argives, the son of noble Peteos bids you come to him
for a while and help him. You had better both come if you can, or
it will be all over with him directly; the leaders of the Lycians
are upon him, men who have ever fought desperately heretofore; if
you have too much on your hands to let both come, at any rate let
Ajax son of Telamon do so, and let Teucer the famous bowman come with
him."

Great Ajax, son of Telamon, heeded the message, and at once spoke
to the son of Oileus. "Ajax," said he, "do you two, yourself and brave
Lycomedes, stay here and keep the Danaans in heart to fight their
hardest. I will go over yonder, and bear my part in the fray, but
I will come back here at once as soon as I have given them the help
they need."

With this, Ajax son of Telamon set off, and Teucer his brother by
the same father went also, with Pandion to carry Teucer's bow. They
went along inside the wall, and when they came to the tower where
Menestheus was (and hard pressed indeed did they find him) the brave
captains and leaders of the Lycians were storming the battlements
as it were a thick dark cloud, fighting in close quarters, and raising
the battle-cry aloud.

First, Ajax son of Telamon killed brave Epicles, a comrade of Sarpedon,
hitting him with a jagged stone that lay by the battlements at the
very top of the wall. As men now are, even one who is in the bloom
of youth could hardly lift it with his two hands, but Ajax raised
it high aloft and flung it down, smashing Epicles' four-crested helmet
so that the bones of his head were crushed to pieces, and he fell
from the high wall as though he were diving, with no more life left
in him. Then Teucer wounded Glaucus the brave son of Hippolochus as
he was coming on to attack the wall. He saw his shoulder bare and
aimed an arrow at it, which made Glaucus leave off fighting. Thereon
he sprang covertly down for fear some of the Achaeans might see that
he was wounded and taunt him. Sarpedon was stung with grief when he
saw Glaucus leave him, still he did not leave off fighting, but aimed
his spear at Alcmaon the son of Thestor and hit him. He drew his spear
back again Alcmaon came down headlong after it with his bronzed armour
rattling round him. Then Sarpedon seized the battlement in his strong
hands, and tugged at it till it an gave way together, and a breach
was made through which many might pass.

Ajax and Teucer then both of them attacked him. Teucer hit him with
an arrow on the band that bore the shield which covered his body,
but Jove saved his son from destruction that he might not fall by
the ships' sterns. Meanwhile Ajax sprang on him and pierced his shield,
but the spear did not go clean through, though it hustled him back
that he could come on no further. He therefore retired a little space
from the battlement, yet without losing all his ground, for he still
thought to cover himself with glory. Then he turned round and shouted
to the brave Lycians saying, "Lycians, why do you thus fail me? For
all my prowess I cannot break through the wall and open a way to the
ships single-handed. Come close on behind me, for the more there are
of us the better."

The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who was
their counsellor their king. The Argives on their part got their men
in fighting order within the wall, and there was a deadly struggle
between them. The Lycians could not break through the wall and force
their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans drive the Lycians from
the wall now that they had once reached it. As two men, measuring-rods
in hand, quarrel about their boundaries in a field that they own in
common, and stickle for their rights though they be but in a mere
strip, even so did the battlements now serve as a bone of contention,
and they beat one another's round shields for their possession. Many
a man's body was wounded with the pitiless bronze, as he turned round
and bared his back to the foe, and many were struck clean through
their shields; the wall and battlements were everywhere deluged with
the blood alike of Trojans and of Achaeans. But even so the Trojans
could not rout the Achaeans, who still held on; and as some honest
hard-working woman weighs wool in her balance and sees that the scales
be true, for she would gain some pitiful earnings for her little ones,
even so was the fight balanced evenly between them till the time came
when Jove gave the greater glory to Hector son of Priam, who was first
to spring towards the wall of the Achaeans. As he did so, he cried
aloud to the Trojans, "Up, Trojans, break the wall of the Argives,
and fling fire upon their ships."

Thus did he hound them on, and in one body they rushed straight at
the wall as he had bidden them, and scaled the battlements with sharp
spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone that lay just outside
the gates and was thick at one end but pointed at the other; two of
the best men in a town, as men now are, could hardly raise it from
the ground and put it on to a waggon, but Hector lifted it quite easily
by himself, for the son of scheming Saturn made it light for him.
As a shepherd picks up a ram's fleece with one hand and finds it no
burden, so easily did Hector lift the great stone and drive it right
at the doors that closed the gates so strong and so firmly set. These
doors were double and high, and were kept closed by two cross-bars
to which there was but one key. When he had got close up to them,
Hector strode towards them that his blow might gain in force and struck
them in the middle, leaning his whole weight against them. He broke
both hinges, and the stone fell inside by reason of its great weight.
The portals re-echoed with the sound, the bars held no longer, and
the doors flew open, one one way, and the other the other, through
the force of the blow. Then brave Hector leaped inside with a face
as dark as that of flying night. The gleaming bronze flashed fiercely
about his body and he had tow spears in his hand. None but a god could
have withstood him as he flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes
glared like fire. Then he turned round towards the Trojans and called
on them to scale the wall, and they did as he bade them- some of them
at once climbing over the wall, while others passed through the gates.
The Danaans then fled panic-stricken towards their ships, and all
was uproar and confusion.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIII

Now when Jove had thus brought Hector and the Trojans to the ships,
he left them to their never-ending toil, and turned his keen eyes
away, looking elsewhither towards the horse-breeders of Thrace, the
Mysians, fighters at close quarters, the noble Hippemolgi, who live
on milk, and the Abians, justest of mankind. He no longer turned so
much as a glance towards Troy, for he did not think that any of the
immortals would go and help either Trojans or Danaans.

But King Neptune had kept no blind look-out; he had been looking admiringly
on the battle from his seat on the topmost crests of wooded Samothrace,
whence he could see all Ida, with the city of Priam and the ships
of the Achaeans. He had come from under the sea and taken his place
here, for he pitied the Achaeans who were being overcome by the Trojans;
and he was furiously angry with Jove.

Presently he came down from his post on the mountain top, and as he
strode swiftly onwards the high hills and the forest quaked beneath
the tread of his immortal feet. Three strides he took, and with the
fourth he reached his goal- Aegae, where is his glittering golden
palace, imperishable, in the depths of the sea. When he got there,
he yoked his fleet brazen-footed steeds with their manes of gold all
flying in the wind; he clothed himself in raiment of gold, grasped
his gold whip, and took his stand upon his chariot. As he went his
way over the waves the sea-monsters left their lairs, for they knew
their lord, and came gambolling round him from every quarter of the
deep, while the sea in her gladness opened a path before his chariot.
So lightly did the horses fly that the bronze axle of the car was
not even wet beneath it; and thus his bounding steeds took him to
the ships of the Achaeans.

Now there is a certain huge cavern in the depths of the sea midway
between Tenedos and rocky Imbrus; here Neptune lord of the earthquake
stayed his horses, unyoked them, and set before them their ambrosial
forage. He hobbled their feet with hobbles of gold which none could
either unloose or break, so that they might stay there in that place
until their lord should return. This done he went his way to the host
of the Achaeans.

Now the Trojans followed Hector son of Priam in close array like a
storm-cloud or flame of fire, fighting with might and main and raising
the cry battle; for they deemed that they should take the ships of
the Achaeans and kill all their chiefest heroes then and there. Meanwhile
earth-encircling Neptune lord of the earthquake cheered on the Argives,
for he had come up out of the sea and had assumed the form and voice
of Calchas.

First he spoke to the two Ajaxes, who were doing their best already,
and said, "Ajaxes, you two can be the saving of the Achaeans if you
will put out all your strength and not let yourselves be daunted.
I am not afraid that the Trojans, who have got over the wall in force,
will be victorious in any other part, for the Achaeans can hold all
of them in check, but I much fear that some evil will befall us here
where furious Hector, who boasts himself the son of great Jove himself,
is leading them on like a pillar of flame. May some god, then, put
it into your hearts to make a firm stand here, and to incite others
to do the like. In this case you will drive him from the ships even
though he be inspired by Jove himself."

As he spoke the earth-encircling lord of the earthquake struck both
of them with his sceptre and filled their hearts with daring. He made
their legs light and active, as also their hands and their feet. Then,
as the soaring falcon poises on the wing high above some sheer rock,
and presently swoops down to chase some bird over the plain, even
so did Neptune lord of the earthquake wing his flight into the air
and leave them. Of the two, swift Ajax son of Oileus was the first
to know who it was that had been speaking with them, and said to Ajax
son of Telamon, "Ajax, this is one of the gods that dwell on Olympus,
who in the likeness of the prophet is bidding us fight hard by our
ships. It was not Calchas the seer and diviner of omens; I knew him
at once by his feet and knees as he turned away, for the gods are
soon recognised. Moreover I feel the lust of battle burn more fiercely
within me, while my hands and my feet under me are more eager for
the fray."

And Ajax son of Telamon answered, "I too feel my hands grasp my spear
more firmly; my strength is greater, and my feet more nimble; I long,
moreover, to meet furious Hector son of Priam, even in single combat."

Thus did they converse, exulting in the hunger after battle with which
the god had filled them. Meanwhile the earth-encircler roused the
Achaeans, who were resting in the rear by the ships overcome at once
by hard fighting and by grief at seeing that the Trojans had got over
the wall in force. Tears began falling from their eyes as they beheld
them, for they made sure that they should not escape destruction;
but the lord of the earthquake passed lightly about among them and
urged their battalions to the front.

First he went up to Teucer and Leitus, the hero Peneleos, and Thoas
and Deipyrus; Meriones also and Antilochus, valiant warriors; all
did he exhort. "Shame on you young Argives," he cried, "it was on
your prowess I relied for the saving of our ships; if you fight not
with might and main, this very day will see us overcome by the Trojans.
Of a truth my eyes behold a great and terrible portent which I had
never thought to see- the Trojans at our ships- they, who were heretofore
like panic-stricken hinds, the prey of jackals and wolves in a forest,
with no strength but in flight for they cannot defend themselves.
Hitherto the Trojans dared not for one moment face the attack of the
Achaeans, but now they have sallied far from their city and are fighting
at our very ships through the cowardice of our leader and the disaffection
of the people themselves, who in their discontent care not to fight
in defence of the ships but are being slaughtered near them. True,
King Agamemnon son of Atreus is the cause of our disaster by having
insulted the son of Peleus, still this is no reason why we should
leave off fighting. Let us be quick to heal, for the hearts of the
brave heal quickly. You do ill to be thus remiss, you, who are the
finest soldiers in our whole army. I blame no man for keeping out
of battle if he is a weakling, but I am indignant with such men as
you are. My good friends, matters will soon become even worse through
this slackness; think, each one of you, of his own honour and credit,
for the hazard of the fight is extreme. Great Hector is now fighting
at our ships; he has broken through the gates and the strong bolt
that held them."

Thus did the earth-encircler address the Achaeans and urge them on.
Thereon round the two Ajaxes there gathered strong bands of men, of
whom not even Mars nor Minerva, marshaller of hosts could make light
if they went among them, for they were the picked men of all those
who were now awaiting the onset of Hector and the Trojans. They made
a living fence, spear to spear, shield to shield, buckler to buckler,
helmet to helmet, and man to man. The horse-hair crests on their gleaming
helmets touched one another as they nodded forward, so closely seffied
were they; the spears they brandished in their strong hands were interlaced,
and their hearts were set on battle.

The Trojans advanced in a dense body, with Hector at their head pressing
right on as a rock that comes thundering down the side of some mountain
from whose brow the winter torrents have torn it; the foundations
of the dull thing have been loosened by floods of rain, and as it
bounds headlong on its way it sets the whole forest in an uproar;
it swerves neither to right nor left till it reaches level ground,
but then for all its fury it can go no further- even so easily did
Hector for a while seem as though he would career through the tents
and ships of the Achaeans till he had reached the sea in his murderous
course; but the closely serried battalions stayed him when he reached
them, for the sons of the Achaeans thrust at him with swords and spears
pointed at both ends, and drove him from them so that he staggered
and gave ground; thereon he shouted to the Trojans, "Trojans, Lycians,
and Dardanians, fighters in close combat, stand firm: the Achaeans
have set themselves as a wall against me, but they will not check
me for long; they will give ground before me if the mightiest of the
gods, the thundering spouse of Juno, has indeed inspired my onset."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Deiphobus son
of Priam went about among them intent on deeds of daring with his
round shield before him, under cover of which he strode quickly forward.
Meriones took aim at him with a spear, nor did he fail to hit the
broad orb of ox-hide; but he was far from piercing it for the spear
broke in two pieces long ere he could do so; moreover Deiphobus had
seen it coming and had held his shield well away from him. Meriones
drew back under cover of his comrades, angry alike at having failed
to vanquish Deiphobus, and having broken his spear. He turned therefore
towards the ships and tents to fetch a spear which he had left behind
in his tent.

The others continued fighting, and the cry of battle rose up into
the heavens. Teucer son of Telamon was the first to kill his man,
to wit, the warrior Imbrius son of Mentor rich in horses. Until the
Achaeans came he had lived in Pedaeum, and had married Medesicaste
a bastard daughter of Priam; but on the arrival of the Danaan fleet
he had gone back to Ilius, and was a great man among the Trojans,
dwelling near Priam himself, who gave him like honour with his own
sons. The son of Telamon now struck him under the ear with a spear
which he then drew back again, and Imbrius fell headlong as an ash-tree
when it is felled on the crest of some high mountain beacon, and its
delicate green foliage comes toppling down to the ground. Thus did
he fall with his bronze-dight armour ringing harshly round him, and
Teucer sprang forward with intent to strip him of his armour; but
as he was doing so, Hector took aim at him with a spear. Teucer saw
the spear coming and swerved aside, whereon it hit Amphimachus, son
of Cteatus son of Actor, in the chest as he was coming into battle,
and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Hector sprang forward to take Amphimachus's helmet from off his temples,
and in a moment Ajax threw a spear at him, but did not wound him,
for he was encased all over in his terrible armour; nevertheless the
spear struck the boss of his shield with such force as to drive him
back from the two corpses, which the Achaeans then drew off. Stichius
and Menestheus, captains of the Athenians, bore away Amphimachus to
the host of the Achaeans, while the two brave and impetuous Ajaxes
did the like by Imbrius. As two lions snatch a goat from the hounds
that have it in their fangs, and bear it through thick brushwood high
above the ground in their jaws, thus did the Ajaxes bear aloft the
body of Imbrius, and strip it of its armour. Then the son of Oileus
severed the head from the neck in revenge for the death of Amphimachus,
and sent it whirling over the crowd as though it had been a ball,
till fell in the dust at Hector's feet.

Neptune was exceedingly angry that his grandson Amphimachus should
have fallen; he therefore went to the tents and ships of the Achaeans
to urge the Danaans still further, and to devise evil for the Trojans.
Idomeneus met him, as he was taking leave of a comrade, who had just
come to him from the fight, wounded in the knee. His fellow-soldiers
bore him off the field, and Idomeneus having given orders to the physicians
went on to his tent, for he was still thirsting for battle. Neptune
spoke in the likeness and with the voice of Thoas son of Andraemon
who ruled the Aetolians of all Pleuron and high Calydon, and was honoured
among his people as though he were a god. "Idomeneus," said he, "lawgiver
to the Cretans, what has now become of the threats with which the
sons of the Achaeans used to threaten the Trojans?"

And Idomeneus chief among the Cretans answered, "Thoas, no one, so
far as I know, is in fault, for we can all fight. None are held back
neither by fear nor slackness, but it seems to be the of almighty
Jove that the Achaeans should perish ingloriously here far from Argos:
you, Thoas, have been always staunch, and you keep others in heart
if you see any fail in duty; be not then remiss now, but exhort all
to do their utmost."

To this Neptune lord of the earthquake made answer, "Idomeneus, may
he never return from Troy, but remain here for dogs to batten upon,
who is this day wilfully slack in fighting. Get your armour and go,
we must make all haste together if we may be of any use, though we
are only two. Even cowards gain courage from companionship, and we
two can hold our own with the bravest."

Therewith the god went back into the thick of the fight, and Idomeneus
when he had reached his tent donned his armour, grasped his two spears,
and sallied forth. As the lightning which the son of Saturn brandishes
from bright Olympus when he would show a sign to mortals, and its
gleam flashes far and wide- even so did his armour gleam about him
as he ran. Meriones his sturdy squire met him while he was still near
his tent (for he was going to fetch his spear) and Idomeneus said

"Meriones, fleet son of Molus, best of comrades, why have you left
the field? Are you wounded, and is the point of the weapon hurting
you? or have you been sent to fetch me? I want no fetching; I had
far rather fight than stay in my tent."

"Idomeneus," answered Meriones, "I come for a spear, if I can find
one in my tent; I have broken the one I had, in throwing it at the
shield of Deiphobus."

And Idomeneus captain of the Cretans answered, "You will find one
spear, or twenty if you so please, standing up against the end wall
of my tent. I have taken them from Trojans whom I have killed, for
I am not one to keep my enemy at arm's length; therefore I have spears,
bossed shields, helmets, and burnished corslets."

Then Meriones said, "I too in my tent and at my ship have spoils taken
from the Trojans, but they are not at hand. I have been at all times
valorous, and wherever there has been hard fighting have held my own
among the foremost. There may be those among the Achaeans who do not
know how I fight, but you know it well enough yourself."

Idomeneus answered, "I know you for a brave man: you need not tell
me. If the best men at the ships were being chosen to go on an ambush-
and there is nothing like this for showing what a man is made of;
it comes out then who is cowardly and who brave; the coward will change
colour at every touch and turn; he is full of fears, and keeps shifting
his weight first on one knee and then on the other; his heart beats
fast as he thinks of death, and one can hear the chattering of his
teeth; whereas the brave man will not change colour nor be on finding
himself in ambush, but is all the time longing to go into action-
if the best men were being chosen for such a service, no one could
make light of your courage nor feats of arms. If you were struck by
a dart or smitten in close combat, it would not be from behind, in
your neck nor back, but the weapon would hit you in the chest or belly
as you were pressing forward to a place in the front ranks. But let
us no longer stay here talking like children, lest we be ill spoken
of; go, fetch your spear from the tent at once."

On this Meriones, peer of Mars, went to the tent and got himself a
spear of bronze. He then followed after Idomeneus, big with great
deeds of valour. As when baneful Mars sallies forth to battle, and
his son Panic so strong and dauntless goes with him, to strike terror
even into the heart of a hero- the pair have gone from Thrace to arm
themselves among the Ephyri or the brave Phlegyans, but they will
not listen to both the contending hosts, and will give victory to
one side or to the other- even so did Meriones and Idomeneus, captains
of men, go out to battle clad in their bronze armour. Meriones was
first to speak. "Son of Deucalion," said he, "where would you have
us begin fighting? On the right wing of the host, in the centre, or
on the left wing, where I take it the Achaeans will be weakest?"

Idomeneus answered, "There are others to defend the centre- the two
Ajaxes and Teucer, who is the finest archer of all the Achaeans, and
is good also in a hand-to-hand fight. These will give Hector son of
Priam enough to do; fight as he may, he will find it hard to vanquish
their indomitable fury, and fire the ships, unless the son of Saturn
fling a firebrand upon them with his own hand. Great Ajax son of Telamon
will yield to no man who is in mortal mould and eats the grain of
Ceres, if bronze and great stones can overthrow him. He would not
yield even to Achilles in hand-to-hand fight, and in fleetness of
foot there is none to beat him; let us turn therefore towards the
left wing, that we may know forthwith whether we are to give glory
to some other, or he to us."

Meriones, peer of fleet Mars, then led the way till they came to the
part of the host which Idomeneus had named.

Now when the Trojans saw Idomeneus coming on like a flame of fire,
him and his squire clad in their richly wrought armour, they shouted
and made towards him all in a body, and a furious hand-to-hand fight
raged under the ships' sterns. Fierce as the shrill winds that whistle
upon a day when dust lies deep on the roads, and the gusts raise it
into a thick cloud- even such was the fury of the combat, and might
and main did they hack at each other with spear and sword throughout
the host. The field bristled with the long and deadly spears which
they bore. Dazzling was the sheen of their gleaming helmets, their
fresh-burnished breastplates, and glittering shields as they joined
battle with one another. Iron indeed must be his courage who could
take pleasure in the sight of such a turmoil, and look on it without
being dismayed.

Thus did the two mighty sons of Saturn devise evil for mortal heroes.
Jove was minded to give victory to the Trojans and to Hector, so as
to do honour to fleet Achilles, nevertheless he did not mean to utterly
overthrow the Achaean host before Ilius, and only wanted to glorify
Thetis and her valiant son. Neptune on the other hand went about among
the Argives to incite them, having come up from the grey sea in secret,
for he was grieved at seeing them vanquished by the Trojans, and was
furiously angry with Jove. Both were of the same race and country,
but Jove was elder born and knew more, therefore Neptune feared to
defend the Argives openly, but in the likeness of man, he kept on
encouraging them throughout their host. Thus, then, did these two
devise a knot of war and battle, that none could unloose or break,
and set both sides tugging at it, to the failing of men's knees beneath
them.

And now Idomeneus, though his hair was already flecked with grey,
called loud on the Danaans and spread panic among the Trojans as he
leaped in among them. He slew Othryoneus from Cabesus, a sojourner,
who had but lately come to take part in the war. He sought Cassandra
the fairest of Priam's daughters in marriage, but offered no gifts
of wooing, for he promised a great thing, to wit, that he would drive
the sons of the Achaeans willy nilly from Troy; old King Priam had
given his consent and promised her to him, whereon he fought on the
strength of the promises thus made to him. Idomeneus aimed a spear,
and hit him as he came striding on. His cuirass of bronze did not
protect him, and the spear stuck in his belly, so that he fell heavily
to the ground. Then Idomeneus vaunted over him saying, "Othryoneus,
there is no one in the world whom I shall admire more than I do you,
if you indeed perform what you have promised Priam son of Dardanus
in return for his daughter. We too will make you an offer; we will
give you the loveliest daughter of the son of Atreus, and will bring
her from Argos for you to marry, if you will sack the goodly city
of Ilius in company with ourselves; so come along with me, that we
may make a covenant at the ships about the marriage, and we will not
be hard upon you about gifts of wooing."

With this Idomeneus began dragging him by the foot through the thick
of the fight, but Asius came up to protect the body, on foot, in front
of his horses which his esquire drove so close behind him that he
could feel their 'breath upon his shoulder. He was longing to strike
down Idomeneus, but ere he could do so Idomeneus smote him with his
spear in the throat under the chin, and the bronze point went clean
through it. He fell as an oak, or poplar, or pine which shipwrights
have felled for ship's timber upon the mountains with whetted axes-
even thus did he lie full length in front of his chariot and horses,
grinding his teeth and clutching at the bloodstained just. His charioteer
was struck with panic and did not dare turn his horses round and escape:
thereupon Antilochus hit him in the middle of his body with a spear;
his cuirass of bronze did not protect him, and the spear stuck in
his belly. He fell gasping from his chariot and Antilochus great Nestor's
son, drove his horses from the Trojans to the Achaeans.

Deiphobus then came close up to Idomeneus to avenge Asius, and took
aim at him with a spear, but Idomeneus was on the look-out and avoided
it, for he was covered by the round shield he always bore- a shield
of oxhide and bronze with two arm-rods on the inside. He crouched
under cover of this, and the spear flew over him, but the shield rang
out as the spear grazed it, and the weapon sped not in vain from the
strong hand of Deiphobus, for it struck Hypsenor son of Hippasus,
shepherd of his people, in the liver under the midriff, and his limbs
failed beneath him. Deiphobus vaunted over him and cried with a loud
voice saying, "Of a truth Asius has not fallen unavenied; he will
be glad even while passing into the house of Hades, strong warden
of the gate, that I have sent some one to escort him."

Thus did he vaunt, and the Argives were stung by his saying. Noble
Antilochus was more angry than any one, but grief did not make him
forget his friend and comrade. He ran up to him, bestrode him, and
covered him with his shield; then two of his staunch comrades, Mecisteus
son of Echius, and Alastor stooped down, and bore him away groaning
heavily to the ships. But Idomeneus ceased not his fury. He kept on
striving continually either to enshroud some Trojan in the darkness
of death, or himself to fall while warding off the evil day from the
Achaeans. Then fell Alcathous son of noble Aesyetes: he was son-in-law
to Anchises, having married his eldest daughter Hippodameia who was
the darling of her father and mother, and excelled all her generation
in beauty, accomplishments, and understanding, wherefore the bravest
man in all Troy had taken her to wife- him did Neptune lay low by
the hand of Idomeneus, blinding his bright eyes and binding his strong
limbs in fetters so that he could neither go back nor to one side,
but stood stock still like pillar or lofty tree when Idomeneus struck
him with a spear in the middle of his chest. The coat of mail that
had hitherto protected his body was now broken, and rang harshly as
the spear tore through it. He fell heavily to the ground, and the
spear stuck in his heart, which still beat, and made the butt-end
of the spear quiver till dread Mars put an end to his life. Idomeneus
vaunted over him and cried with a loud voice saying, "Deiphobus, since
you are in a mood to vaunt, shall we cry quits now that we have killed
three men to your one? Nay, sir, stand in fight with me yourself,
that you may learn what manner of Jove-begotten man am I that have
come hither. Jove first begot Minos chief ruler in Crete, and Minos
in his turn begot a son, noble Deucalion; Deucalion begot me to be
a ruler over many men in Crete, and my ships have now brought me hither,
to be the bane of yourself, your father, and the Trojans."

Thus did he speak, and Deiphobus was in two minds, whether to go back
and fetch some other Trojan to help him, or to take up the challenge
single-handed. In the end, he deemed it best to go and fetch Aeneas,
whom he found standing in the rear, for he had long been aggrieved
with Priam because in spite his brave deeds he did not give him his
due share of honour. Deiphobus went up to him and said, "Aeneas, prince
among the Trojans, if you know any ties of kinship, help me now to
defend the body of your sister's husband; come with me to the rescue
of Alcathous, who being husband to your sister brought you up when
you were a child in his house, and now Idomeneus has slain him."

With these words he moved the heart of Aeneas, and he went in pursuit
of Idomeneus, big with great deeds of valour; but Idomeneus was not
to be thus daunted as though he were a mere child; he held his ground
as a wild boar at bay upon the mountains, who abides the coming of
a great crowd of men in some lonely place- the bristles stand upright
on his back, his eyes flash fire, and he whets his tusks in his eagerness
to defend himself against hounds and men- even so did famed Idomeneus
hold his ground and budge not at the coming of Aeneas. He cried aloud
to his comrades looking towards Ascalaphus, Aphareus, Deipyrus, Meriones,
and Antilochus, all of them brave soldiers- "Hither my friends," he
cried, "and leave me not single-handed- I go in great fear by fleet
Aeneas, who is coming against me, and is a redoubtable dispenser of
death battle. Moreover he is in the flower of youth when a man's strength
is greatest; if I was of the same age as he is and in my present mind,
either he or I should soon bear away the prize of victory

On this, all of them as one man stood near him, shield on shoulder.
Aeneas on the other side called to his comrades, looking towards Deiphobus,
Paris, and Agenor, who were leaders of the Trojans along with himself,
and the people followed them as sheep follow the ram when they go
down to drink after they have been feeding, and the heart of the shepherd
is glad- even so was the heart of Aeneas gladdened when he saw his
people follow him.

Then they fought furiously in close combat about the body of Alcathous,
wielding their long spears; and the bronze armour about their bodies
rang fearfully as they took aim at one another in the press of the
fight, while the two heroes Aeneas and Idomeneus, peers of Mars, outxied
every one in their desire to hack at each other with sword and spear.
Aeneas took aim first, but Idomeneus was on the lookout and avoided
the spear, so that it sped from Aeneas' strong hand in vain, and fell
quivering in the ground. Idomeneus meanwhile smote Oenomaus in the
middle of his belly, and broke the plate of his corslet, whereon his
bowels came gushing out and he clutched the earth in the palms of
his hands as he fell sprawling in the dust. Idomeneus drew his spear
out of the body, but could not strip him of the rest of his armour
for the rain of darts that were showered upon him: moreover his strength
was now beginning to fail him so that he could no longer charge, and
could neither spring forward to recover his own weapon nor swerve
aside to avoid one that was aimed at him; therefore, though he still
defended himself in hand-to-hand fight, his heavy feet could not bear
him swiftly out of the battle. Deiphobus aimed a spear at him as he
was retreating slowly from the field, for his bitterness against him
was as fierce as ever, but again he missed him, and hit Ascalaphus,
the son of Mars; the spear went through his shoulder, and he clutched
the earth in the palms of his hands as he fell sprawling in the dust.

Grim Mars of awful voice did not yet know that his son had fallen,
for he was sitting on the summits of Olympus under the golden clouds,
by command of Jove, where the other gods were also sitting, forbidden
to take part in the battle. Meanwhile men fought furiously about the
body. Deiphobus tore the helmet from off his head, but Meriones sprang
upon him, and struck him on the arm with a spear so that the visored
helmet fell from his hand and came ringing down upon the ground. Thereon
Meriones sprang upon him like a vulture, drew the spear from his shoulder,
and fell back under cover of his men. Then Polites, own brother of
Deiphobus passed his arms around his waist, and bore him away from
the battle till he got to his horses that were standing in the rear
of the fight with the chariot and their driver. These took him towards
the city groaning and in great pain, with the blood flowing from his
arm.

The others still fought on, and the battle-cry rose to heaven without
ceasing. Aeneas sprang on Aphareus son of Caletor, and struck him
with a spear in his throat which was turned towards him; his head
fell on one side, his helmet and shield came down along with him,
and death, life's foe, was shed around him. Antilochus spied his chance,
flew forward towards Thoon, and wounded him as he was turning round.
He laid open the vein that runs all the way up the back to the neck;
he cut this vein clean away throughout its whole course, and Thoon
fell in the dust face upwards, stretching out his hands imploringly
towards his comrades. Antilochus sprang upon him and stripped the
armour from his shoulders, glaring round him fearfully as he did so.
The Trojans came about him on every side and struck his broad and
gleaming shield, but could not wound his body, for Neptune stood guard
over the son of Nestor, though the darts fell thickly round him. He
was never clear of the foe, but was always in the thick of the fight;
his spear was never idle; he poised and aimed it in every direction,
so eager was he to hit some one from a distance or to fight him hand
to hand.

As he was thus aiming among the crowd, he was seen by Adamas son of
Asius, who rushed towards him and struck him with a spear in the middle
of his shield, but Neptune made its point without effect, for he grudged
him the life of Antilochus. One half, therefore, of the spear stuck
fast like a charred stake in Antilochus's shield, while the other
lay on the ground. Adamas then sought shelter under cover of his men,
but Meriones followed after and hit him with a spear midway between
the private parts and the navel, where a wound is particualrly painful
to wretched mortals. There did Meriones transfix him, and he writhed
convulsively about the spear as some bull whom mountain herdsmen have
bound with ropes of withes and are taking away perforce. Even so did
he move convulsively for a while, but not for very long, till Meriones
came up and drew the spear out of his body, and his eyes were veiled
in darkness.

Helenus then struck Deipyrus with a great Thracian sword, hitting
him on the temple in close combat and tearing the helmet from his
head; the helmet fell to the ground, and one of those who were fighting
on the Achaean side took charge of it as it rolled at his feet, but
the eyes of Deipyrus were closed in the darkness of death.

On this Menelaus was grieved, and made menacingly towards Helenus,
brandishing his spear; but Helenus drew his bow, and the two attacked
one another at one and the same moment, the one with his spear, and
the other with his bow and arrow. The son of Priam hit the breastplate
of Menelaus's corslet, but the arrow glanced from off it. As black
beans or pulse come pattering down on to a threshing-floor from the
broad winnowing-shovel, blown by shrill winds and shaken by the shovel-
even so did the arrow glance off and recoil from the shield of Menelaus,
who in his turn wounded the hand with which Helenus carried his bow;
the spear went right through his hand and stuck in the bow itself,
so that to his life he retreated under cover of his men, with his
hand dragging by his side- for the spear weighed it down till Agenor
drew it out and bound the hand carefully up in a woollen sling which
his esquire had with him.

Pisander then made straight at Menelaus- his evil destiny luring him
on to his doom, for he was to fall in fight with you, O Menelaus.
When the two were hard by one another the spear of the son of Atreus
turned aside and he missed his aim; Pisander then struck the shield
of brave Menelaus but could not pierce it, for the shield stayed the
spear and broke the shaft; nevertheless he was glad and made sure
of victory; forthwith, however, the son of Atreus drew his sword and
sprang upon him. Pisander then seized the bronze battle-axe, with
its long and polished handle of olive wood that hung by his side under
his shield, and the two made at one another. Pisander struck the peak
of Menelaus's crested helmet just under the crest itself, and Menelaus
hit Pisander as he was coming towards him, on the forehead, just at
the rise of his nose; the bones cracked and his two gore-bedrabbled
eyes fell by his feet in the dust. He fell backwards to the ground,
and Menelaus set his heel upon him, stripped him of his armour, and
vaunted over him saying, "Even thus shall you Trojans leave the ships
of the Achaeans, proud and insatiate of battle though you be: nor
shall you lack any of the disgrace and shame which you have heaped
upon myself. Cowardly she-wolves that you are, you feared not the
anger of dread Jove, avenger of violated hospitality, who will one
day destroy your city; you stole my wedded wife and wickedly carried
off much treasure when you were her guest, and now you would fling
fire upon our ships, and kill our heroes. A day will come when, rage
as you may, you shall be stayed. O father Jove, you, who they say
art above all both gods and men in wisdom, and from whom all things
that befall us do proceed, how can you thus favour the Trojans- men
so proud and overweening, that they are never tired of fighting? All
things pall after a while- sleep, love, sweet song, and stately dance-
still these are things of which a man would surely have his fill rather
than of battle, whereas it is of battle that the Trojans are insatiate."

So saying Menelaus stripped the blood-stained armour from the body
of Pisander, and handed it over to his men; then he again ranged himself
among those who were in the front of the fight.

Harpalion son of King Pylaemenes then sprang upon him; he had come
to fight at Troy along with his father, but he did not go home again.
He struck the middle of Menelaus's shield with his spear but could
not pierce it, and to save his life drew back under cover of his men,
looking round him on every side lest he should be wounded. But Meriones
aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at him as he was leaving the field, and
hit him on the right buttock; the arrow pierced the bone through and
through, and penetrated the bladder, so he sat down where he was and
breathed his last in the arms of his comrades, stretched like a worm
upon the ground and watering the earth with the blood that flowed
from his wound. The brave Paphlagonians tended him with all due care;
they raised him into his chariot, and bore him sadly off to the city
of Troy; his father went also with him weeping bitterly, but there
was no ransom that could bring his dead son to life again.

Paris was deeply grieved by the death of Harpalion, who was his host
when he went among the Paphlagonians; he aimed an arrow, therefore,
in order to avenge him. Now there was a certain man named Euchenor,
son of Polyidus the prophet, a brave man and wealthy, whose home was
in Corinth. This Euchenor had set sail for Troy well knowing that
it would be the death of him, for his good old father Polyidus had
often told him that he must either stay at home and die of a terrible
disease, or go with the Achaeans and perish at the hands of the Trojans;
he chose, therefore, to avoid incurring the heavy fine the Achaeans
would have laid upon him, and at the same time to escape the pain
and suffering of disease. Paris now smote him on the jaw under his
ear, whereon the life went out of him and he was enshrouded in the
darkness of death.

Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. But Hector had
not yet heard, and did not know that the Argives were making havoc
of his men on the left wing of the battle, where the Achaeans ere
long would have triumphed over them, so vigorously did Neptune cheer
them on and help them. He therefore held on at the point where he
had first forced his way through the gates and the wall, after breaking
through the serried ranks of Danaan warriors. It was here that the
ships of Ajax and Protesilaus were drawn up by the sea-shore; here
the wall was at its lowest, and the fight both of man and horse raged
most fiercely. The Boeotians and the Ionians with their long tunics,
the Locrians, the men of Phthia, and the famous force of the Epeans
could hardly stay Hector as he rushed on towards the ships, nor could
they drive him from them, for he was as a wall of fire. The chosen
men of the Athenians were in the van, led by Menestheus son of Peteos,
with whom were also Pheidas, Stichius, and stalwart Bias: Meges son
of Phyleus, Amphion, and Dracius commanded the Epeans, while Medon
and staunch Podarces led the men of Phthia. Of these, Medon was bastard
son to Oileus and brother of Ajax, but he lived in Phylace away from
his own country, for he had killed the brother of his stepmother Eriopis,
the wife of Oileus; the other, Podarces, was the son of Iphiclus son
of Phylacus. These two stood in the van of the Phthians, and defended
the ships along with the Boeotians.

Ajax son of Oileus never for a moment left the side of Ajax son of
Telamon, but as two swart oxen both strain their utmost at the plough
which they are drawing in a fallow field, and the sweat steams upwards
from about the roots of their horns- nothing but the yoke divides
them as they break up the ground till they reach the end of the field-
even so did the two Ajaxes stand shoulder to shoulder by one another.
Many and brave comrades followed the son of Telamon, to relieve him
of his shield when he was overcome with sweat and toil, but the Locrians
did not follow so close after the son of Oileus, for they could not
hold their own in a hand-to-hand fight. They had no bronze helmets
with plumes of horse-hair, neither had they shields nor ashen spears,
but they had come to Troy armed with bows, and with slings of twisted
wool from which they showered their missiles to break the ranks of
the Trojans. The others, therefore, with their heavy armour bore the
brunt of the fight with the Trojans and with Hector, while the Locrians
shot from behind, under their cover; and thus the Trojans began to
lose heart, for the arrows threw them into confusion.

The Trojans would now have been driven in sorry plight from the ships
and tents back to windy Ilius, had not Polydamas presently said to
Hector, "Hector, there is no persuading you to take advice. Because
heaven has so richly endowed you with the arts of war, you think that
you must therefore excel others in counsel; but you cannot thus claim
preeminence in all things. Heaven has made one man an excellent soldier;
of another it has made a dancer or a singer and player on the lyre;
while yet in another Jove has implanted a wise understanding of which
men reap fruit to the saving of many, and he himself knows more about
it than any one; therefore I will say what I think will be best. The
fight has hemmed you in as with a circle of fire, and even now that
the Trojans are within the wall some of them stand aloof in full armour,
while others are fighting scattered and outnumbered near the ships.
Draw back, therefore, and call your chieftains round you, that we
may advise together whether to fall now upon the ships in the hope
that heaven may vouchsafe us victory, or to beat a retreat while we
can yet safely do so. I greatly fear that the Achaeans will pay us
their debt of yesterday in full, for there is one abiding at their
ships who is never weary of battle, and who will not hold aloof much
longer."

Thus spoke Polydamas, and his words pleased Hector well. He sprang
in full armour from his chariot and said, "Polydamas, gather the chieftains
here; I will go yonder into the fight, but will return at once when
I have given them their orders."

He then sped onward, towering like a snowy mountain, and with a loud
cry flew through the ranks of the Trojans and their allies. When they
heard his voice they all hastened to gather round Polydamas the excellent
son of Panthous, but Hector kept on among the foremost, looking everywhere
to find Deiphobus and prince Helenus, Adamas son of Asius, and Asius
son of Hyrtacus; living, indeed, and scatheless he could no longer
find them, for the two last were lying by the sterns of the Achaean
ships, slain by the Argives, while the others had been also stricken
and wounded by them; but upon the left wing of the dread battle he
found Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, cheering his men and urging
them on to fight. He went up to him and upbraided him. "Paris," said
he, "evil-hearted Paris, fair to see but woman-mad and false of tongue,
where are Deiphobus and King Helenus? Where are Adamas son of Asius,
and Asius son of Hyrtacus? Where too is Othryoneus? Ilius is undone
and will now surely fall!"

Alexandrus answered, "Hector, why find fault when there is no one
to find fault with? I should hold aloof from battle on any day rather
than this, for my mother bore me with nothing of the coward about
me. From the moment when you set our men fighting about the ships
we have been staying here and doing battle with the Danaans. Our comrades
about whom you ask me are dead; Deiphobus and King Helenus alone have
left the field, wounded both of them in the hand, but the son of Saturn
saved them alive. Now, therefore, lead on where you would have us
go, and we will follow with right goodwill; you shall not find us
fail you in so far as our strength holds out, but no man can do more
than in him lies, no matter how willing he may be."

With these words he satisfied his brother, and the two went towards
the part of the battle where the fight was thickest, about Cebriones,
brave Polydamas, Phalces, Orthaeus, godlike Polyphetes, Palmys, Ascanius,
and Morys son of Hippotion, who had come from fertile Ascania on the
preceding day to relieve other troops. Then Jove urged them on to
fight. They flew forth like the blasts of some fierce wind that strike
earth in the van of a thunderstorm- they buffet the salt sea into
an uproar; many and mighty are the great waves that come crashing
in one after the other upon the shore with their arching heads all
crested with foam- even so did rank behind rank of Trojans arrayed
in gleaming armour follow their leaders onward. The way was led by
Hector son of Priam, peer of murderous Mars, with his round shield
before him- his shield of ox-hides covered with plates of bronze-
and his gleaming helmet upon his temples. He kept stepping forward
under cover of his shield in every direction, making trial of the
ranks to see if they would give way be him, but he could not daunt
the courage of the Achaeans. Ajax was the first to stride out and
challenge him. "Sir," he cried, "draw near; why do you think thus
vainly to dismay the Argives? We Achaeans are excellent soldiers,
but the scourge of Jove has fallen heavily upon us. Your heart, forsooth,
is set on destroying our ships, but we too have bands that can keep
you at bay, and your own fair town shall be sooner taken and sacked
by ourselves. The time is near when you shall pray Jove and all the
gods in your flight, that your steeds may be swifter than hawks as
they raise the dust on the plain and bear you back to your city."

As he was thus speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand, and the
host of the Achaeans shouted, for they took heart at the omen. But
Hector answered, "Ajax, braggart and false of tongue, would that I
were as sure of being son for evermore to aegis-bearing Jove, with
Queen Juno for my mother, and of being held in like honour with Minerva
and Apollo, as I am that this day is big with the destruction of the
Achaeans; and you shall fall among them if you dare abide my spear;
it shall rend your fair body and bid you glut our hounds and birds
of prey with your fat and your flesh, as you fall by the ships of
the Achaeans."

With these words he led the way and the others followed after with
a cry that rent the air, while the host shouted behind them. The Argives
on their part raised a shout likewise, nor did they forget their prowess,
but stood firm against the onslaught of the Trojan chieftains, and
the cry from both the hosts rose up to heaven and to the brightness
of Jove's presence.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIV

Nestor was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not escape
him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, "What, noble Machaon,
is the meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting by our ships
grow stronger and stronger; stay here, therefore, and sit over your
wine, while fair Hecamede heats you a bath and washes the clotted
blood from off you. I will go at once to the look-out station and
see what it is all about."

As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was
lying in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had taken
his father's shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear,
and as soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of the Achaeans
who, now that their wall was overthrown, were flying pell-mell before
the Trojans. As when there is a heavy swell upon the sea, but the
waves are dumb- they keep their eyes on the watch for the quarter
whence the fierce winds may spring upon them, but they stay where
they are and set neither this way nor that, till some particular wind
sweeps down from heaven to determine them- even so did the old man
ponder whether to make for the crowd of Danaans, or go in search of
Agamemnon. In the end he deemed it best to go to the son of Atreus;
but meanwhile the hosts were fighting and killing one another, and
the hard bronze rattled on their bodies, as they thrust at one another
with their swords and spears.

The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son of
Atreus, fell in Nestor as they were coming up from their ships- for
theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting was going on,
being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been beached first,
while the wall had been built behind the hindermost. The stretch of
the shore, wide though it was, did not afford room for all the ships,
and the host was cramped for space, therefore they had placed the
ships in rows one behind the other, and had filled the whole opening
of the bay between the two points that formed it. The kings, leaning
on their spears, were coming out to survey the fight, being in great
anxiety, and when old Nestor met them they were filled with dismay.
Then King Agamemnon said to him, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour to
the Achaean name, why have you left the battle to come hither? I fear
that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among
the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had fired
our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it is all coming
true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with
me that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our ships."

Then Nestor knight of Gerene answered, "It is indeed as you say; it
is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders from
on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we relied as
an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The Trojans are
fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships; look where you
may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is coming;
they are being killed in a confused mass and the battle-cry ascends
to heaven; let us think, if counsel can be of any use, what we had
better do; but I do not advise our going into battle ourselves, for
a man cannot fight when he is wounded."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed fighting
at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the trench has
served us- over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and which they deemed
would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet- I see it
must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans should perish ingloriously
here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove was willing to defend us, and
I know now that he is raising the Trojans to like honour with the
gods, while us, on the other hand, he bas bound hand and foot. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say; let us bring down the ships that
are on the beach and draw them into the water; let us make them fast
to their mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of night-
if even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may then
draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying
ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and
be saved than be caught and killed."

Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, "Son of Atreus, what are
you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other and
baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has allotted a
life of hard fighting from youth to old age, till we every one of
us perish. Is it thus that you would quit the city of Troy, to win
which we have suffered so much hardship? Hold your peace, lest some
other of the Achaeans hear you say what no man who knows how to give
good counsel, no king over so great a host as that of the Argives
should ever have let fall from his lips. I despise your judgement
utterly for what you have been saying. Would you, then, have us draw
down our ships into the water while the battle is raging, and thus
play further into the hands of the conquering Trojans? It would be
ruin; the Achaeans will not go on fighting when they see the ships
being drawn into the water, but will cease attacking and keep turning
their eyes towards them; your counsel, therefore, Sir captain, would
be our destruction."

Agamemnon answered, "Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the heart.
I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their ships into
the sea whether they will or no. Some one, it may be, old or young,
can offer us better counsel which I shall rejoice to hear."

Then said Diomed, "Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek,
if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am younger
than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire, Tydeus, who
lies buried at Thebes. For Portheus had three noble sons, two of whom,
Agrius and Melas, abode in Pleuron and rocky Calydon. The third was
the knight Oeneus, my father's father, and he was the most valiant
of them all. Oeeneus remained in his own country, but my father (as
Jove and the other gods ordained it) migrated to Argos. He married
into the family of Adrastus, and his house was one of great abundance,
for he had large estates of rich corn-growing land, with much orchard
ground as well, and he had many sheep; moreover he excelled all the
Argives in the use of the spear. You must yourselves have heard whether
these things are true or no; therefore when I say well despise not
my words as though I were a coward or of ignoble birth. I say, then,
let us go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though we be. When
there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of the spears
lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have already, but
we can spur on others, who have been indulging their spleen and holding
aloof from battle hitherto."

Thus did he speak; whereon they did even as he had said and set out,
King Agamemnon leading the way.

Meanwhile Neptune had kept no blind look-out, and came up to them
in the semblance of an old man. He took Agamemnon's right hand in
his own and said, "Son of Atreus, I take it Achilles is glad now that
he sees the Achaeans routed and slain, for he is utterly without remorse-
may he come to a bad end and heaven confound him. As for yourself,
the blessed gods are not yet so bitterly angry with you but that the
princes and counsellors of the Trojans shall again raise the dust
upon the plain, and you shall see them flying from the ships and tents
towards their city."

With this he raised a mighty cry of battle, and sped forward to the
plain. The voice that came from his deep chest was as that of nine
or ten thousand men when they are shouting in the thick of a fight,
and it put fresh courage into the hearts of the Achaeans to wage war
and do battle without ceasing.

Juno of the golden throne looked down as she stood upon a peak of
Olympus and her heart was gladdened at the sight of him who was at
once her brother and her brother-in-law, hurrying hither and thither
amid the fighting. Then she turned her eyes to Jove as he sat on the
topmost crests of many-fountained Ida, and loathed him. She set herself
to think how she might hoodwink him, and in the end she deemed that
it would be best for her to go to Ida and array herself in rich attire,
in the hope that Jove might become enamoured of her, and wish to embrace
her. While he was thus engaged a sweet and careless sleep might be
made to steal over his eyes and senses.

She went, therefore, to the room which her son Vulcan had made her,
and the doors of which he had cunningly fastened by means of a secret
key so that no other god could open them. Here she entered and closed
the doors behind her. She cleansed all the dirt from her fair body
with ambrosia, then she anointed herself with olive oil, ambrosial,
very soft, and scented specially for herself- if it were so much as
shaken in the bronze-floored house of Jove, the scent pervaded the
universe of heaven and earth. With this she anointed her delicate
skin, and then she plaited the fair ambrosial locks that flowed in
a stream of golden tresses from her immortal head. She put on the
wondrous robe which Minerva had worked for her with consummate art,
and had embroidered with manifold devices; she fastened it about her
bosom with golden clasps, and she girded herself with a girdle that
had a hundred tassels: then she fastened her earrings, three brilliant
pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the pierced lobes
of her ears, and threw a lovely new veil over her head. She bound
her sandals on to her feet, and when she had arrayed herself perfectly
to her satisfaction, she left her room and called Venus to come aside
and speak to her. "My dear child," said she, "will you do what I am
going to ask of you, or will refuse me because you are angry at my
being on the Danaan side, while you are on the Trojan?"

Jove's daughter Venus answered, "Juno, august queen of goddesses,
daughter of mighty Saturn, say what you want, and I will do it for
at once, if I can, and if it can be done at all."

Then Juno told her a lying tale and said, "I want you to endow me
with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring all
things mortal and immortal to your feet. I am going to the world's
end to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and mother Tethys:
they received me in their house, took care of me, and brought me up,
having taken me over from Rhaea when Jove imprisoned great Saturn
in the depths that are under earth and sea. I must go and see them
that I may make peace between them; they have been quarrelling, and
are so angry that they have not slept with one another this long while;
if I can bring them round and restore them to one another's embraces,
they will be grateful to me and love me for ever afterwards."

Thereon laughter-loving Venus said, "I cannot and must not refuse
you, for you sleep in the arms of Jove who is our king."

As she spoke she loosed from her bosom the curiously embroidered girdle
into which all her charms had been wrought- love, desire, and that
sweet flattery which steals the judgement even of the most prudent.
She gave the girdle to Juno and said, "Take this girdle wherein all
my charms reside and lay it in your bosom. If you will wear it I promise
you that your errand, be it what it may, will not be bootless."

When she heard this Juno smiled, and still smiling she laid the girdle
in her bosom.

Venus now went back into the house of Jove, while Juno darted down
from the summits of Olympus. She passed over Pieria and fair Emathia,
and went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of the Thracian
horsemen, over whose topmost crests she sped without ever setting
foot to ground. When she came to Athos she went on over the, waves
of the sea till she reached Lemnos, the city of noble Thoas. There
she met Sleep, own brother to Death, and caught him by the hand, saying,
"Sleep, you who lord it alike over mortals and immortals, if you ever
did me a service in times past, do one for me now, and I shall be
grateful to you ever after. Close Jove's keen eyes for me in slumber
while I hold him clasped in my embrace, and I will give you a beautiful
golden seat, that can never fall to pieces; my clubfooted son Vulcan
shall make it for you, and he shall give it a footstool for you to
rest your fair feet upon when you are at table."

Then Sleep answered, "Juno, great queen of goddesses, daughter of
mighty Saturn, I would lull any other of the gods to sleep without
compunction, not even excepting the waters of Oceanus from whom all
of them proceed, but I dare not go near Jove, nor send him to sleep
unless he bids me. I have had one lesson already through doing what
you asked me, on the day when Jove's mighty son Hercules set sail
from Ilius after having sacked the city of the Trojans. At your bidding
I suffused my sweet self over the mind of aegis-bearing Jove, and
laid him to rest; meanwhile you hatched a plot against Hercules, and
set the blasts of the angry winds beating upon the sea, till you took
him to the goodly city of Cos away from all his friends. Jove was
furious when he awoke, and began hurling the gods about all over the
house; he was looking more particularly for myself, and would have
flung me down through space into the sea where I should never have
been heard of any more, had not Night who cows both men and gods protected
me. I fled to her and Jove left off looking for me in spite of his
being so angry, for he did not dare do anything to displease Night.
And now you are again asking me to do something on which I cannot
venture."

And Juno said, "Sleep, why do you take such notions as those into
your head? Do you think Jove will be as anxious to help the Trojans,
as he was about his own son? Come, I will marry you to one of the
youngest of the Graces, and she shall be your own- Pasithea, whom
you have always wanted to marry."

Sleep was pleased when he heard this, and answered, "Then swear it
to me by the dread waters of the river Styx; lay one hand on the bounteous
earth, and the other on the sheen of the sea, so that all the gods
who dwell down below with Saturn may be our witnesses, and see that
you really do give me one of the youngest of the Graces- Pasithea,
whom I have always wanted to marry."

Juno did as he had said. She swore, and invoked all the gods of the
nether world, who are called Titans, to witness. When she had completed
her oath, the two enshrouded themselves in a thick mist and sped lightly
forward, leaving Lemnos and Imbrus behind them. Presently they reached
many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, and Lectum where they
left the sea to go on by land, and the tops of the trees of the forest
soughed under the going of their feet. Here Sleep halted, and ere
Jove caught sight of him he climbed a lofty pine-tree- the tallest
that reared its head towards heaven on all Ida. He hid himself behind
the branches and sat there in the semblance of the sweet-singing bird
that haunts the mountains and is called Chalcis by the gods, but men
call it Cymindis. Juno then went to Gargarus, the topmost peak of
Ida, and Jove, driver of the clouds, set eyes upon her. As soon as
he did so he became inflamed with the same passionate desire for her
that he had felt when they had first enjoyed each other's embraces,
and slept with one another without their dear parents knowing anything
about it. He went up to her and said, "What do you want that you have
come hither from Olympus- and that too with neither chariot nor horses
to convey you?"

Then Juno told him a lying tale and said, "I am going to the world's
end, to visit Oceanus, from whom all we gods proceed, and mother Tethys;
they received me into their house, took care of me, and brought me
up. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them: they
have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not slept with
one another this long time. The horses that will take me over land
and sea are stationed on the lowermost spurs of many-fountained Ida,
and I have come here from Olympus on purpose to consult you. I was
afraid you might be angry with me later on, if I went to the house
of Oceanus without letting you know."

And Jove said, "Juno, you can choose some other time for paying your
visit to Oceanus- for the present let us devote ourselves to love
and to the enjoyment of one another. Never yet have I been so overpowered
by passion neither for goddess nor mortal woman as I am at this moment
for yourself- not even when I was in love with the wife of Ixion who
bore me Pirithous, peer of gods in counsel, nor yet with Danae the
daintily-ancled daughter of Acrisius, who bore me the famed hero Perseus.
Then there was the daughter of Phoenix, who bore me Minos and Rhadamanthus:
there was Semele, and Alcmena in Thebes by whom I begot my lion-hearted
son Hercules, while Semele became mother to Bacchus the comforter
of mankind. There was queen Ceres again, and lovely Leto, and yourself-
but with none of these was I ever so much enamoured as I now am with
you."

Juno again answered him with a lying tale. "Most dread son of Saturn,"
she exclaimed, "what are you talking about? Would you have us enjoy
one another here on the top of Mount Ida, where everything can be
seen? What if one of the ever-living gods should see us sleeping together,
and tell the others? It would be such a scandal that when I had risen
from your embraces I could never show myself inside your house again;
but if you are so minded, there is a room which your son Vulcan has
made me, and he has given it good strong doors; if you would so have
it, let us go thither and lie down."

And Jove answered, "Juno, you need not be afraid that either god or
man will see you, for I will enshroud both of us in such a dense golden
cloud, that the very sun for all his bright piercing beams shall not
see through it."

With this the son of Saturn caught his wife in his embrace; whereon
the earth sprouted them a cushion of young grass, with dew-bespangled
lotus, crocus, and hyacinth, so soft and thick that it raised them
well above the ground. Here they laid themselves down and overhead
they were covered by a fair cloud of gold, from which there fell glittering
dew-drops.

Thus, then, did the sire of all things repose peacefully on the crest
of Ida, overcome at once by sleep and love, and he held his spouse
in his arms. Meanwhile Sleep made off to the ships of the Achaeans,
to tell earth-encircling Neptune, lord of the earthquake. When he
had found him he said, "Now, Neptune, you can help the Danaans with
a will, and give them victory though it be only for a short time while
Jove is still sleeping. I have sent him into a sweet slumber, and
Juno has beguiled him into going to bed with her."

Sleep now departed and went his ways to and fro among mankind, leaving
Neptune more eager than ever to help the Danaans. He darted forward
among the first ranks and shouted saying, "Argives, shall we let Hector
son of Priam have the triumph of taking our ships and covering himself
with glory? This is what he says that he shall now do, seeing that
Achilles is still in dudgeon at his ship; We shall get on very well
without him if we keep each other in heart and stand by one another.
Now, therefore, let us all do as I say. Let us each take the best
and largest shield we can lay hold of, put on our helmets, and sally
forth with our longest spears in our hands; will lead you on, and
Hector son of Priam, rage as he may, will not dare to hold out against
us. If any good staunch soldier has only a small shield, let him hand
it over to a worse man, and take a larger one for himself."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The son of Tydeus,
Ulysses, and Agamemnon, wounded though they were, set the others in
array, and went about everywhere effecting the exchanges of armour;
the most valiant took the best armour, and gave the worse to the worse
man. When they had donned their bronze armour they marched on with
Neptune at their head. In his strong hand he grasped his terrible
sword, keen of edge and flashing like lightning; woe to him who comes
across it in the day of battle; all men quake for fear and keep away
from it.

Hector on the other side set the Trojans in array. Thereon Neptune
and Hector waged fierce war on one another- Hector on the Trojan and
Neptune on the Argive side. Mighty was the uproar as the two forces
met; the sea came rolling in towards the ships and tents of the Achaeans,
but waves do not thunder on the shore more loudly when driven before
the blast of Boreas, nor do the flames of a forest fire roar more
fiercely when it is well alight upon the mountains, nor does the wind
bellow with ruder music as it tears on through the tops of when it
is blowing its hardest, than the terrible shout which the Trojans
and Achaeans raised as they sprang upon one another.

Hector first aimed his spear at Ajax, who was turned full towards
him, nor did he miss his aim. The spear struck him where two bands
passed over his chest- the band of his shield and that of his silver-studded
sword- and these protected his body. Hector was angry that his spear
should have been hurled in vain, and withdrew under cover of his men.
As he was thus retreating, Ajax son of Telamon struck him with a stone,
of which there were many lying about under the men's feet as they
fought- brought there to give support to the ships' sides as they
lay on the shore. Ajax caught up one of them and struck Hector above
the rim of his shield close to his neck; the blow made him spin round
like a top and reel in all directions. As an oak falls headlong when
uprooted by the lightning flash of father Jove, and there is a terrible
smell of brimstone- no man can help being dismayed if he is standing
near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing- even so did Hector
fall to earth and bite the dust. His spear fell from his hand, but
his shield and helmet were made fast about his body, and his bronze
armour rang about him.

The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards him,
hoping to drag him away, and they showered their darts on the Trojans,
but none of them could wound him before he was surrounded and covered
by the princes Polydamas, Aeneas, Agenor, Sarpedon captain of the
Lycians, and noble Glaucus: of the others, too, there was not one
who was unmindful of him, and they held their round shields over him
to cover him. His comrades then lifted him off the ground and bore
him away from the battle to the place where his horses stood waiting
for him at the rear of the fight with their driver and the chariot;
these then took him towards the city groaning and in great pain. When
they reached the ford of the air stream of Xanthus, begotten of Immortal
Jove, they took him from off his chariot and laid him down on the
ground; they poured water over him, and as they did so he breathed
again and opened his eyes. Then kneeling on his knees he vomited blood,
but soon fell back on to the ground, and his eyes were again closed
in darkness for he was still sturined by the blow.

When the Argives saw Hector leaving the field, they took heart and
set upon the Trojans yet more furiously. Ajax fleet son of Oileus
began by springing on Satnius son of Enops and wounding him with his
spear: a fair naiad nymph had borne him to Enops as he was herding
cattle by the banks of the river Satnioeis. The son of Oileus came
up to him and struck him in the flank so that he fell, and a fierce
fight between Trojans and Danaans raged round his body. Polydamas
son of Panthous drew near to avenge him, and wounded Prothoenor son
of Areilycus on the right shoulder; the terrible spear went right
through his shoulder, and he clutched the earth as he fell in the
dust. Polydamas vaunted loudly over him saying, "Again I take it that
the spear has not sped in vain from the strong hand of the son of
Panthous; an Argive has caught it in his body, and it will serve him
for a staff as he goes down into the house of Hades."

The Argives were maddened by this boasting. Ajax son of Telamon was
more angry than any, for the man had fallen close be, him; so he aimed
at Polydamas as he was retreating, but Polydamas saved himself by
swerving aside and the spear struck Archelochus son of Antenor, for
heaven counselled his destruction; it struck him where the head springs
from the neck at the top joint of the spine, and severed both the
tendons at the back of the head. His head, mouth, and nostrils reached
the ground long before his legs and knees could do so, and Ajax shouted
to Polydamas saying, "Think, Polydamas, and tell me truly whether
this man is not as well worth killing as Prothoenor was: he seems
rich, and of rich family, a brother, it may be, or son of the knight
Antenor, for he is very like him."

But he knew well who it was, and the Trojans were greatly angered.
Acamas then bestrode his brother's body and wounded Promachus the
Boeotian with his spear, for he was trying to drag his brother's body
away. Acamas vaunted loudly over him saying, "Argive archers, braggarts
that you are, toil and suffering shall not be for us only, but some
of you too shall fall here as well as ourselves. See how Promachus
now sleeps, vanquished by my spear; payment for my brother's blood
has not long delayed; a man, therefore, may well be thankful if he
leaves a kinsman in his house behind him to avenge his fall."

His taunts infuriated the Argives, and Peneleos was more enraged than
any of them. He sprang towards Acamas, but Acamas did not stand his
ground, and he killed Ilioneus son of the rich flock-master Phorbas,
whom Mercury had favoured and endowed with greater wealth than any
other of the Trojans. Ilioneus was his only son, and Peneleos now
wounded him in the eye under his eyebrows, tearing the eye-ball from
its socket: the spear went right through the eye into the nape of
the neck, and he fell, stretching out both hands before him. Peneleos
then drew his sword and smote him on the neck, so that both head and
helmet came tumbling down to the ground with the spear still sticking
in the eye; he then held up the head, as though it had been a poppy-head,
and showed it to the Trojans, vaunting over them as he did so. "Trojans,"
he cried, "bid the father and mother of noble Ilioneus make moan for
him in their house, for the wife also of Promachus son of Alegenor
will never be gladdened by the coming of her dear husband- when we
Argives return with our ships from Troy."

As he spoke fear fell upon them, and every man looked round about
to see whither he might fly for safety.

Tell me now, O Muses that dwell on Olympus, who was the first of the
Argives to bear away blood-stained spoils after Neptune lord of the
earthquake had turned the fortune of war. Ajax son of Telamon was
first to wound Hyrtius son of Gyrtius, captain of the staunch Mysians.
Antilochus killed Phalces and Mermerus, while Meriones slew Morys
and Hippotion, Teucer also killed Prothoon and Periphetes. The son
of Atreus then wounded Hyperenor shepherd of his people, in the flank,
and the bronze point made his entrails gush out as it tore in among
them; on this his life came hurrying out of him at the place where
he had been wounded, and his eyes were closed in darkness. Ajax son
of Oileus killed more than any other, for there was no man so fleet
as he to pursue flying foes when Jove had spread panic among them.

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BOOK XV

But when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set
stakes, and many had fallen by the hands of the Danaans, the Trojans
made a halt on reaching their chariots, routed and pale with fear.
Jove now woke on the crests of Ida, where he was lying with golden-throned
Juno by his side, and starting to his feet he saw the Trojans and
Achaeans, the one thrown into confusion, and the others driving them
pell-mell before them with King Neptune in their midst. He saw Hector
lying on the ground with his comrades gathered round him, gasping
for breath, wandering in mind and vomiting blood, for it was not the
feeblest of the Achaeans who struck him.

The sire of gods and men had pity on him, and looked fiercely on Juno.
"I see, Juno," said he, "you mischief- making trickster, that your
cunning has stayed Hector from fighting and has caused the rout of
his host. I am in half a mind to thrash you, in which case you will
be the first to reap the fruits of your scurvy knavery. Do you not
remember how once upon a time I had you hanged? I fastened two anvils
on to your feet, and bound your hands in a chain of gold which none
might break, and you hung in mid-air among the clouds. All the gods
in Olympus were in a fury, but they could not reach you to set you
free; when I caught any one of them I gripped him and hurled him from
the heavenly threshold till he came fainting down to earth; yet even
this did not relieve my mind from the incessant anxiety which I felt
about noble Hercules whom you and Boreas had spitefully conveyed beyond
the seas to Cos, after suborning the tempests; but I rescued him,
and notwithstanding all his mighty labours I brought him back again
to Argos. I would remind you of this that you may learn to leave off
being so deceitful, and discover how much you are likely to gain by
the embraces out of which you have come here to trick me."

Juno trembled as he spoke, and said, "May heaven above and earth below
be my witnesses, with the waters of the river Styx- and this is the
most solemn oath that a blessed god can take- nay, I swear also by
your own almighty head and by our bridal bed- things over which I
could never possibly perjure myself- that Neptune is not punishing
Hector and the Trojans and helping the Achaeans through any doing
of mine; it is all of his own mere motion because he was sorry to
see the Achaeans hard pressed at their ships: if I were advising him,
I should tell him to do as you bid him."

The sire of gods and men smiled and answered, "If you, Juno, were
always to support me when we sit in council of the gods, Neptune,
like it or no, would soon come round to your and my way of thinking.
If, then, you are speaking the truth and mean what you say, go among
the rank and file of the gods, and tell Iris and Apollo lord of the
bow, that I want them- Iris, that she may go to the Achaean host and
tell Neptune to leave off fighting and go home, and Apollo, that he
may send Hector again into battle and give him fresh strength; he
will thus forget his present sufferings, and drive the Achaeans back
in confusion till they fall among the ships of Achilles son of Peleus.
Achilles will then send his comrade Patroclus into battle, and Hector
will kill him in front of Ilius after he has slain many warriors,
and among them my own noble son Sarpedon. Achilles will kill Hector
to avenge Patroclus, and from that time I will bring it about that
the Achaeans shall persistently drive the Trojans back till they fulfil
the counsels of Minerva and take Ilius. But I will not stay my anger,
nor permit any god to help the Danaans till I have accomplished the
desire of the son of Peleus, according to the promise I made by bowing
my head on the day when Thetis touched my knees and besought me to
give him honour."

Juno heeded his words and went from the heights of Ida to great Olympus.
Swift as the thought of one whose fancy carries him over vast continents,
and he says to himself, "Now I will be here, or there," and he would
have all manner of things- even so swiftly did Juno wing her way till
she came to high Olympus and went in among the gods who were gathered
in the house of Jove. When they saw her they all of them came up to
her, and held out their cups to her by way of greeting. She let the
others be, but took the cup offered her by lovely Themis, who was
first to come running up to her. "Juno," said she, "why are you here?
And you seem troubled- has your husband the son of Saturn been frightening
you?"

And Juno answered, "Themis, do not ask me about it. You know what
a proud and cruel disposition my husband has. Lead the gods to table,
where you and all the immortals can hear the wicked designs which
he has avowed. Many a one, mortal and immortal, will be angered by
them, however peaceably he may be feasting now."

On this Juno sat down, and the gods were troubled throughout the house
of Jove. Laughter sat on her lips but her brow was furrowed with care,
and she spoke up in a rage. "Fools that we are," she cried, "to be
thus madly angry with Jove; we keep on wanting to go up to him and
stay him by force or by persuasion, but he sits aloof and cares for
nobody, for he knows that he is much stronger than any other of the
immortals. Make the best, therefore, of whatever ills he may choose
to send each one of you; Mars, I take it, has had a taste of them
already, for his son Ascalaphus has fallen in battle- the man whom
of all others he loved most dearly and whose father he owns himself
to be."

When he heard this Mars smote his two sturdy thighs with the flat
of his hands, and said in anger, "Do not blame me, you gods that dwell
in heaven, if I go to the ships of the Achaeans and avenge the death
of my son, even though it end in my being struck by Jove's lightning
and lying in blood and dust among the corpses."

As he spoke he gave orders to yoke his horses Panic and Rout, while
he put on his armour. On this, Jove would have been roused to still
more fierce and implacable enmity against the other immortals, had
not Minerva, ararmed for the safety of the gods, sprung from her seat
and hurried outside. She tore the helmet from his head and the shield
from his shoulders, and she took the bronze spear from his strong
hand and set it on one side; then she said to Mars, "Madman, you are
undone; you have ears that hear not, or you have lost all judgement
and understanding; have you not heard what Juno has said on coming
straight from the presence of Olympian Jove? Do you wish to go through
all kinds of suffering before you are brought back sick and sorry
to Olympus, after having caused infinite mischief to all us others?
Jove would instantly leave the Trojans and Achaeans to themselves;
he would come to Olympus to punish us, and would grip us up one after
another, guilty or not guilty. Therefore lay aside your anger for
the death of your son; better men than he have either been killed
already or will fall hereafter, and one cannot protect every one's
whole family."

With these words she took Mars back to his seat. Meanwhile Juno called
Apollo outside, with Iris the messenger of the gods. "Jove," she said
to them, "desires you to go to him at once on Mt. Ida; when you have
seen him you are to do as he may then bid you."

Thereon Juno left them and resumed her seat inside, while Iris and
Apollo made all haste on their way. When they reached many-fountained
Ida, mother of wild beasts, they found Jove seated on topmost Gargarus
with a fragrant cloud encircling his head as with a diadem. They stood
before his presence, and he was pleased with them for having been
so quick in obeying the orders his wife had given them.

He spoke to Iris first. "Go," said he, "fleet Iris, tell King Neptune
what I now bid you- and tell him true. Bid him leave off fighting,
and either join the company of the gods, or go down into the sea.
If he takes no heed and disobeys me, let him consider well whether
he is strong enough to hold his own against me if I attack him. I
am older and much stronger than he is; yet he is not afraid to set
himself up as on a level with myself, of whom all the other gods stand
in awe."

Iris, fleet as the wind, obeyed him, and as the cold hail or snowflakes
that fly from out the clouds before the blast of Boreas, even so did
she wing her way till she came close up to the great shaker of the
earth. Then she said, "I have come, O dark-haired king that holds
the world in his embrace, to bring you a message from Jove. He bids
you leave off fighting, and either join the company of the gods or
go down into the sea; if, however, you take no heed and disobey him,
he says he will come down here and fight you. He would have you keep
out of his reach, for he is older and much stronger than you are,
and yet you are not afraid to set yourself up as on a level with himself,
of whom all the other gods stand in awe."

Neptune was very angry and said, "Great heavens! strong as Jove may
be, he has said more than he can do if he has threatened violence
against me, who am of like honour with himself. We were three brothers
whom Rhea bore to Saturn- Jove, myself, and Hades who rules the world
below. Heaven and earth were divided into three parts, and each of
us was to have an equal share. When we cast lots, it fell to me to
have my dwelling in the sea for evermore; Hades took the darkness
of the realms under the earth, while air and sky and clouds were the
portion that fell to Jove; but earth and great Olympus are the common
property of all. Therefore I will not walk as Jove would have me.
For all his strength, let him keep to his own third share and be contented
without threatening to lay hands upon me as though I were nobody.
Let him keep his bragging talk for his own sons and daughters, who
must perforce obey him.

Iris fleet as the wind then answered, "Am I really, Neptune, to take
this daring and unyielding message to Jove, or will you reconsider
your answer? Sensible people are open to argument, and you know that
the Erinyes always range themselves on the side of the older person."

Neptune answered, "Goddess Iris, your words have been spoken in season.
It is well when a messenger shows so much discretion. Nevertheless
it cuts me to the very heart that any one should rebuke so angrily
another who is his own peer, and of like empire with himself. Now,
however, I will give way in spite of my displeasure; furthermore let
me tell you, and I mean what I say- if contrary to the desire of myself,
Minerva driver of the spoil, Juno, Mercury, and King Vulcan, Jove
spares steep Ilius, and will not let the Achaeans have the great triumph
of sacking it, let him understand that he will incur our implacable
resentment."

Neptune now left the field to go down under the sea, and sorely did
the Achaeans miss him. Then Jove said to Apollo, "Go, dear Phoebus,
to Hector, for Neptune who holds the earth in his embrace has now
gone down under the sea to avoid the severity of my displeasure. Had
he not done so those gods who are below with Saturn would have come
to hear of the fight between us. It is better for both of us that
he should have curbed his anger and kept out of my reach, for I should
have had much trouble with him. Take, then, your tasselled aegis,
and shake it furiously, so as to set the Achaean heroes in a panic;
take, moreover, brave Hector, O Far-Darter, into your own care, and
rouse him to deeds of daring, till the Achaeans are sent flying back
to their ships and to the Hellespont. From that point I will think
it well over, how the Achaeans may have a respite from their troubles."

Apollo obeyed his father's saying, and left the crests of Ida, flying
like a falcon, bane of doves and swiftest of all birds. He found Hector
no longer lying upon the ground, but sitting up, for he had just come
to himself again. He knew those who were about him, and the sweat
and hard breathing had left him from the moment when the will of aegis-bearing
Jove had revived him. Apollo stood beside him and said, "Hector, son
of Priam, why are you so faint, and why are you here away from the
others? Has any mishap befallen you?"

Hector in a weak voice answered, "And which, kind sir, of the gods
are you, who now ask me thus? Do you not know that Ajax struck me
on the chest with a stone as I was killing his comrades at the ships
of the Achaeans, and compelled me to leave off fighting? I made sure
that this very day I should breathe my last and go down into the house
of Hades."

Then King Apollo said to him, "Take heart; the son of Saturn has sent
you a mighty helper from Ida to stand by you and defend you, even
me, Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, who have been guardian hitherto
not only of yourself but of your city. Now, therefore, order your
horsemen to drive their chariots to the ships in great multitudes.
I will go before your horses to smooth the way for them, and will
turn the Achaeans in flight."

As he spoke he infused great strength into the shepherd of his people.
And as a horse, stabled and full-fed, breaks loose and gallops gloriously
over the plain to the place where he is wont to take his bath in the
river- he tosses his head, and his mane streams over his shoulders
as in all the pride of his strength he flies full speed to the pastures
where the mares are feeding- even so Hector, when he heard what the
god said, urged his horsemen on, and sped forward as fast as his limbs
could take him. As country peasants set their hounds on to a homed
stag or wild goat- he has taken shelter under rock or thicket, and
they cannot find him, but, lo, a bearded lion whom their shouts have
roused stands in their path, and they are in no further humour for
the chase- even so the Achaeans were still charging on in a body,
using their swords and spears pointed at both ends, but when they
saw Hector going about among his men they were afraid, and their hearts
fell down into their feet.

Then spoke Thoas son of Andraemon, leader of the Aetolians, a man
who could throw a good throw, and who was staunch also in close fight,
while few could surpass him in debate when opinions were divided.
He then with all sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus: "What,
in heaven's name, do I now see? Is it not Hector come to life again?
Every one made sure he had been killed by Ajax son of Telamon, but
it seems that one of the gods has again rescued him. He has killed
many of us Danaans already, and I take it will yet do so, for the
hand of Jove must be with him or he would never dare show himself
so masterful in the forefront of the battle. Now, therefore, let us
all do as I say; let us order the main body of our forces to fall
back upon the ships, but let those of us who profess to be the flower
of the army stand firm, and see whether we cannot hold Hector back
at the point of our spears as soon as he comes near us; I conceive
that he will then think better of it before he tries to charge into
the press of the Danaans."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. Those who were
about Ajax and King Idomeneus, the followers moreover of Teucer, Meriones,
and Meges peer of Mars called all their best men about them and sustained
the fight against Hector and the Trojans, but the main body fell back
upon the ships of the Achaeans.

The Trojans pressed forward in a dense body, with Hector striding
on at their head. Before him went Phoebus Apollo shrouded in cloud
about his shoulders. He bore aloft the terrible aegis with its shaggy
fringe, which Vulcan the smith had given Jove to strike terror into
the hearts of men. With this in his hand he led on the Trojans.

The Argives held together and stood their ground. The cry of battle
rose high from either side, and the arrows flew from the bowstrings.
Many a spear sped from strong hands and fastened in the bodies of
many a valiant warrior, while others fell to earth midway, before
they could taste of man's fair flesh and glut themselves with blood.
So long as Phoebus Apollo held his aegis quietly and without shaking
it, the weapons on either side took effect and the people fell, but
when he shook it straight in the face of the Danaans and raised his
mighty battle-cry their hearts fainted within them and they forgot
their former prowess. As when two wild beasts spring in the dead of
night on a herd of cattle or a large flock of sheep when the herdsman
is not there- even so were the Danaans struck helpless, for Apollo
filled them with panic and gave victory to Hector and the Trojans.

The fight then became more scattered and they killed one another where
they best could. Hector killed Stichius and Arcesilaus, the one, leader
of the Boeotians, and the other, friend and comrade of Menestheus.
Aeneas killed Medon and Iasus. The first was bastard son to Oileus,
and brother to Ajax, but he lived in Phylace away from his own country,
for he had killed a man, a kinsman of his stepmother Eriopis whom
Oileus had married. Iasus had become a leader of the Athenians, and
was son of Sphelus the son of Boucolos. Polydamas killed Mecisteus,
and Polites Echius, in the front of the battle, while Agenor slew
Clonius. Paris struck Deiochus from behind in the lower part of the
shoulder, as he was flying among the foremost, and the point of the
spear went clean through him.

While they were spoiling these heroes of their armour, the Achaeans
were flying pellmell to the trench and the set stakes, and were forced
back within their wall. Hector then cried out to the Trojans, "Forward
to the ships, and let the spoils be. If I see any man keeping back
on the other side the wall away from the ships I will have him killed:
his kinsmen and kinswomen shall not give him his dues of fire, but
dogs shall tear him in pieces in front of our city."

As he spoke he laid his whip about his horses' shoulders and called
to the Trojans throughout their ranks; the Trojans shouted with a
cry that rent the air, and kept their horses neck and neck with his
own. Phoebus Apollo went before, and kicked down the banks of the
deep trench into its middle so as to make a great broad bridge, as
broad as the throw of a spear when a man is trying his strength. The
Trojan battalions poured over the bridge, and Apollo with his redoubtable
aegis led the way. He kicked down the wall of the Achaeans as easily
as a child who playing on the sea-shore has built a house of sand
and then kicks it down again and destroys it- even so did you, O Apollo,
shed toil and trouble upon the Argives, filling them with panic and
confusion.

Thus then were the Achaeans hemmed in at their ships, calling out
to one another and raising their hands with loud cries every man to
heaven. Nestor of Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans, lifted
up his hands to the starry firmament of heaven, and prayed more fervently
than any of them. "Father Jove," said he, "if ever any one in wheat-growing
Argos burned you fat thigh-bones of sheep or heifer and prayed that
he might return safely home, whereon you bowed your head to him in
assent, bear it in mind now, and suffer not the Trojans to triumph
thus over the Achaeans."

All counselling Jove thundered loudly in answer to die prayer of the
aged son of Neleus. When the heard Jove thunder they flung themselves
yet more fiercely on the Achaeans. As a wave breaking over the bulwarks
of a ship when the sea runs high before a gale- for it is the force
of the wind that makes the waves so great- even so did the Trojans
spring over the wall with a shout, and drive their chariots onwards.
The two sides fought with their double-pointed spears in hand-to-hand
encounter-the Trojans from their chariots, and the Achaeans climbing
up into their ships and wielding the long pikes that were lying on
the decks ready for use in a sea-fight, jointed and shod with bronze.

Now Patroclus, so long as the Achaeans and Trojans were fighting about
the wall, but were not yet within it and at the ships, remained sitting
in the tent of good Eurypylus, entertaining him with his conversation
and spreading herbs over his wound to ease his pain. When, however,
he saw the Trojans swarming through the breach in the wall, while
the Achaeans were clamouring and struck with panic, he cried aloud,
and smote his two thighs with the flat of his hands. "Eurypylus,"
said he in his dismay, "I know you want me badly, but I cannot stay
with you any longer, for there is hard fighting going on; a servant
shall take care of you now, for I must make all speed to Achilles,
and induce him to fight if I can; who knows but with heaven's help
I may persuade him. A man does well to listen to the advice of a friend."

When he had thus spoken he went his way. The Achaeans stood firm and
resisted the attack of the Trojans, yet though these were fewer in
number, they could not drive them back from the ships, neither could
the Trojans break the Achaean ranks and make their way in among the
tents and ships. As a carpenter's line gives a true edge to a piece
of ship's timber, in the hand of some skilled workman whom Minerva
has instructed in all kinds of useful arts- even so level was the
issue of the fight between the two sides, as they fought some round
one and some round another.

Hector made straight for Ajax, and the two fought fiercely about the
same ship. Hector could not force Ajax back and fire the ship, nor
yet could Ajax drive Hector from the spot to which heaven had brought
him.

Then Ajax struck Caletor son of Clytius in the chest with a spear
as he was bringing fire towards the ship. He fell heavily to the ground
and the torch dropped from his hand. When Hector saw his cousin fallen
in front of the ship he shouted to the Trojans and Lycians saying,
"Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians good in close fight, bate not a
jot, but rescue the son of Clytius lest the Achaeans strip him of
his armour now that he has fallen."

He then aimed a spear at Ajax, and missed him, but he hit Lycophron
a follower of Ajax, who came from Cythera, but was living with Ajax
inasmuch as he had killed a man among the Cythereans. Hector's spear
struck him on the head below the ear, and he fell headlong from the
ship's prow on to the ground with no life left in him. Ajax shook
with rage and said to his brother, "Teucer, my good fellow, our trusty
comrade the son of Mastor has fallen, he came to live with us from
Cythera and whom we honoured as much as our own parents. Hector has
just killed him; fetch your deadly arrows at once and the bow which
Phoebus Apollo gave you."

Teucer heard him and hastened towards him with his bow and quiver
in his hands. Forthwith he showered his arrows on the Trojans, and
hit Cleitus the son of Pisenor, comrade of Polydamas the noble son
of Panthous, with the reins in his hands as he was attending to his
horses; he was in the middle of the very thickest part of the fight,
doing good service to Hector and the Trojans, but evil had now come
upon him, and not one of those who were fain to do so could avert
it, for the arrow struck him on the back of the neck. He fell from
his chariot and his horses shook the empty car as they swerved aside.
King Polydamas saw what had happened, and was the first to come up
to the horses; he gave them in charge to Astynous son of Protiaon,
and ordered him to look on, and to keep the horses near at hand. He
then went back and took his place in the front ranks.

Teucer then aimed another arrow at Hector, and there would have been
no more fighting at the ships if he had hit him and killed him then
and there: Jove, however, who kept watch over Hector, had his eyes
on Teucer, and deprived him of his triumph, by breaking his bowstring
for him just as he was drawing it and about to take his aim; on this
the arrow went astray and the bow fell from his hands. Teucer shook
with anger and said to his brother, "Alas, see how heaven thwarts
us in all we do; it has broken my bowstring and snatched the bow from
my hand, though I strung it this selfsame morning that it might serve
me for many an arrow."

Ajax son of Telamon answered, "My good fellow, let your bow and your
arrows be, for Jove has made them useless in order to spite the Danaans.
Take your spear, lay your shield upon your shoulder, and both fight
the Trojans yourself and urge others to do so. They may be successful
for the moment but if we fight as we ought they will find it a hard
matter to take the ships."

Teucer then took his bow and put it by in his tent. He hung a shield
four hides thick about his shoulders, and on his comely head he set
his helmet well wrought with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly
above it; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear, and forthwith
he was by the side of Ajax.

When Hector saw that Teucer's bow was of no more use to him, he shouted
out to the Trojans and Lycians, "Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians
good in close fight, be men, my friends, and show your mettle here
at the ships, for I see the weapon of one of their chieftains made
useless by the hand of Jove. It is easy to see when Jove is helping
people and means to help them still further, or again when he is bringing
them down and will do nothing for them; he is now on our side, and
is going against the Argives. Therefore swarm round the ships and
fight. If any of you is struck by spear or sword and loses his life,
let him die; he dies with honour who dies fighting for his country;
and he will leave his wife and children safe behind him, with his
house and allotment unplundered if only the Achaeans can be driven
back to their own land, they and their ships."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Ajax on the
other side exhorted his comrades saying, "Shame on you Argives, we
are now utterly undone, unless we can save ourselves by driving the
enemy from our ships. Do you think, if Hector takes them, that you
will be able to get home by land? Can you not hear him cheering on
his whole host to fire our fleet, and bidding them remember that they
are not at a dance but in battle? Our only course is to fight them
with might and main; we had better chance it, life or death, once
for all, than fight long and without issue hemmed in at our ships
by worse men than ourselves."

With these words he put life and soul into them all. Hector then killed
Schedius son of Perimedes, leader of the Phoceans, and Ajax killed
Laodamas captain of foot soldiers and son to Antenor. Polydamas killed
Otus of Cyllene a comrade of the son of Phyleus and chief of the proud
Epeans. When Meges saw this he sprang upon him, but Polydamas crouched
down, and he missed him, for Apollo would not suffer the son of Panthous
to fall in battle; but the spear hit Croesmus in the middle of his
chest, whereon he fell heavily to the ground, and Meges stripped him
of his armour. At that moment the valiant soldier Dolops son of Lampus
sprang upon Lampus was son of Laomedon and for his valour, while his
son Dolops was versed in all the ways of war. He then struck the middle
of the son of Phyleus' shield with his spear, setting on him at close
quarters, but his good corslet made with plates of metal saved him;
Phyleus had brought it from Ephyra and the river Selleis, where his
host, King Euphetes, had given it him to wear in battle and protect
him. It now served to save the life of his son. Then Meges struck
the topmost crest of Dolops's bronze helmet with his spear and tore
away its plume of horse-hair, so that all newly dyed with scarlet
as it was it tumbled down into the dust. While he was still fighting
and confident of victory, Menelaus came up to help Meges, and got
by the side of Dolops unperceived; he then speared him in the shoulder,
from behind, and the point, driven so furiously, went through into
his chest, whereon he fell headlong. The two then made towards him
to strip him of his armour, but Hector called on all his brothers
for help, and he especially upbraided brave Melanippus son of Hiketaon,
who erewhile used to pasture his herds of cattle in Percote before
the war broke out; but when the ships of the Danaans came, he went
back to Ilius, where he was eminent among the Trojans, and lived near
Priam who treated him as one of his own sons. Hector now rebuked him
and said, "Why, Melanippus, are we thus remiss? do you take no note
of the death of your kinsman, and do you not see how they are trying
to take Dolops's armour? Follow me; there must be no fighting the
Argives from a distance now, but we must do so in close combat till
either we kill them or they take the high wall of Ilius and slay her
people."

He led on as he spoke, and the hero Melanippus followed after. Meanwhile
Ajax son of Telamon was cheering on the Argives. "My friends," he
cried, "be men, and fear dishonour; quit yourselves in battle so as
to win respect from one another. Men who respect each other's good
opinion are less likely to be killed than those who do not, but in
flight there is neither gain nor glory."

Thus did he exhort men who were already bent upon driving back the
Trojans. They laid his words to heart and hedged the ships as with
a wall of bronze, while Jove urged on the Trojans. Menelaus of the
loud battle-cry urged Antilochus on. "Antilochus," said he, "you are
young and there is none of the Achaeans more fleet of foot or more
valiant than you are. See if you cannot spring upon some Trojan and
kill him."

He hurried away when he had thus spurred Antilochus, who at once darted
out from the front ranks and aimed a spear, after looking carefully
round him. The Trojans fell back as he threw, and the dart did not
speed from his hand without effect, for it struck Melanippus the proud
son of Hiketaon in the breast by the nipple as he was coming forward,
and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Antilochus sprang upon him as a dog springs on a fawn which a hunter
has hit as it was breaking away from its covert, and killed it. Even
so, O Melanippus, did stalwart Antilochus spring upon you to strip
you of your armour; but noble Hector marked him, and came running
up to him through the thick of the battle. Antilochus, brave soldier
though he was, would not stay to face him, but fled like some savage
creature which knows it has done wrong, and flies, when it has killed
a dog or a man who is herding his cattle, before a body of men can
be gathered to attack it. Even so did the son of Nestor fly, and the
Trojans and Hector with a cry that rent the air showered their weapons
after him; nor did he turn round and stay his flight till he had reached
his comrades.

The Trojans, fierce as lions, were still rushing on towards the ships
in fulfilment of the behests of Jove who kept spurring them on to
new deeds of daring, while he deadened the courage of the Argives
and defeated them by encouraging the Trojans. For he meant giving
glory to Hector son of Priam, and letting him throw fire upon the
ships, till he had fulfilled the unrighteous prayer that Thetis had
made him; Jove, therefore, bided his time till he should see the glare
of a blazing ship. From that hour he was about so to order that the
Trojans should be driven back from the ships and to vouchsafe glory
to the Achaeans. With this purpose he inspired Hector son of Priam,
who was cager enough already, to assail the ships. His fury was as
that of Mars, or as when a fire is raging in the glades of some dense
forest upon the mountains; he foamed at the mouth, his eyes glared
under his terrible eye-brows, and his helmet quivered on his temples
by reason of the fury with which he fought. Jove from heaven was with
him, and though he was but one against many, vouchsafed him victory
and glory; for he was doomed to an early death, and already Pallas
Minerva was hurrying on the hour of his destruction at the hands of
the son of Peleus. Now, however, he kept trying to break the ranks
of the enemy wherever he could see them thickest, and in the goodliest
armour; but do what he might he could not break through them, for
they stood as a tower foursquare, or as some high cliff rising from
the grey sea that braves the anger of the gale, and of the waves that
thunder up against it. He fell upon them like flames of fire from
every quarter. As when a wave, raised mountain high by wind and storm,
breaks over a ship and covers it deep in foam, the fierce winds roar
against the mast, the hearts of the sailors fail them for fear, and
they are saved but by a very little from destruction- even so were
the hearts of the Achaeans fainting within them. Or as a savage lion
attacking a herd of cows while they are feeding by thousands in the
low-lying meadows by some wide-watered shore- the herdsman is at his
wit's end how to protect his herd and keeps going about now in the
van and now in the rear of his cattle, while the lion springs into
the thick of them and fastens on a cow so that they all tremble for
fear- even so were the Achaeans utterly panic-stricken by Hector and
father Jove. Nevertheless Hector only killed Periphetes of Mycenae;
he was son of Copreus who was wont to take the orders of King Eurystheus
to mighty Hercules, but the son was a far better man than the father
in every way; he was fleet of foot, a valiant warrior, and in understanding
ranked among the foremost men of Mycenae. He it was who then afforded
Hector a triumph, for as he was turning back he stumbled against the
rim of his shield which reached his feet, and served to keep the javelins
off him. He tripped against this and fell face upward, his helmet
ringing loudly about his head as he did so. Hector saw him fall and
ran up to him; he then thrust a spear into his chest, and killed him
close to his own comrades. These, for all their sorrow, could not
help him for they were themselves terribly afraid of Hector.

They had now reached the ships and the prows of those that had been
drawn up first were on every side of them, but the Trojans came pouring
after them. The Argives were driven back from the first row of ships,
but they made a stand by their tents without being broken up and scattered;
shame and fear restrained them. They kept shouting incessantly to
one another, and Nestor of Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans,
was loudest in imploring every man by his parents, and beseeching
him to stand firm.

"Be men, my friends," he cried, "and respect one another's good opinion.
Think, all of you, on your children, your wives, your property, and
your parents whether these be alive or dead. On their behalf though
they are not here, I implore you to stand firm, and not to turn in
flight."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Minerva lifted
the thick veil of darkness from their eyes, and much light fell upon
them, alike on the side of the ships and on that where the fight was
raging. They could see Hector and all his men, both those in the rear
who were taking no part in the battle, and those who were fighting
by the ships.

Ajax could not bring himself to retreat along with the rest, but strode
from deck to deck with a great sea-pike in his hands twelve cubits
long and jointed with rings. As a man skilled in feats of horsemanship
couples four horses together and comes tearing full speed along the
public way from the country into some large town- many both men and
women marvel as they see him for he keeps all the time changing his
horse, springing from one to another without ever missing his feet
while the horses are at a gallop- even so did Ajax go striding from
one ship's deck to another, and his voice went up into the heavens.
He kept on shouting his orders to the Danaans and exhorting them to
defend their ships and tents; neither did Hector remain within the
main body of the Trojan warriors, but as a dun eagle swoops down upon
a flock of wild-fowl feeding near a river-geese, it may be, or cranes,
or long-necked swans- even so did Hector make straight for a dark-prowed
ship, rushing right towards it; for Jove with his mighty hand impelled
him forward, and roused his people to follow him.

And now the battle again raged furiously at the ships. You would have
thought the men were coming on fresh and unwearied, so fiercely did
they fight; and this was the mind in which they were- the Achaeans
did not believe they should escape destruction but thought themselves
doomed, while there was not a Trojan but his heart beat high with
the hope of firing the ships and putting the Achaean heroes to the
sword.

Thus were the two sides minded. Then Hector seized the stern of the
good ship that had brought Protesilaus to Troy, but never bore him
back to his native land. Round this ship there raged a close hand-to-hand
fight between Danaans and Trojans. They did not fight at a distance
with bows and javelins, but with one mind hacked at one another in
close combat with their mighty swords and spears pointed at both ends;
they fought moreover with keen battle-axes and with hatchets. Many
a good stout blade hilted and scabbarded with iron, fell from hand
or shoulder as they fought, and the earth ran red with blood. Hector,
when he had seized the ship, would not loose his hold but held on
to its curved stern and shouted to the Trojans, "Bring fire, and raise
the battle-cry all of you with a single voice. Now has Jove vouchsafed
us a day that will pay us for all the rest; this day we shall take
the ships which came hither against heaven's will, and which have
caused us such infinite suffering through the cowardice of our councillors,
who when I would have done battle at the ships held me back and forbade
the host to follow me; if Jove did then indeed warp our judgements,
himself now commands me and cheers me on."

As he spoke thus the Trojans sprang yet more fiercely on the Achaeans,
and Ajax no longer held his ground, for he was overcome by the darts
that were flung at him, and made sure that he was doomed. Therefore
he left the raised deck at the stern, and stepped back on to the seven-foot
bench of the oarsmen. Here he stood on the look-out, and with his
spear held back Trojan whom he saw bringing fire to the ships. All
the time he kept on shouting at the top of his voice and exhorting
the Danaans. "My friends," he cried, "Danaan heroes, servants of Mars,
be men my friends, and fight with might and with main. Can we hope
to find helpers hereafter, or a wall to shield us more surely than
the one we have? There is no strong city within reach, whence we may
draw fresh forces to turn the scales in our favour. We are on the
plain of the armed Trojans with the sea behind us, and far from our
own country. Our salvation, therefore, is in the might of our hands
and in hard fighting."

As he spoke he wielded his spear with still greater fury, and when
any Trojan made towards the ships with fire at Hector's bidding, he
would be on the look-out for him, and drive at him with his long spear.
Twelve men did he thus kill in hand-to-hand fight before the ships.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XVI

Thus did they fight about the ship of Protesilaus. Then Patroclus
drew near to Achilles with tears welling from his eyes, as from some
spring whose crystal stream falls over the ledges of a high precipice.
When Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for him and said,
"Why, Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like some silly child
that comes running to her mother, and begs to be taken up and carried-
she catches hold of her mother's dress to stay her though she is in
a hurry, and looks tearfully up until her mother carries her- even
such tears, Patroclus, are you now shedding. Have you anything to
say to the Myrmidons or to myself? or have you had news from Phthia
which you alone know? They tell me Menoetius son of Actor is still
alive, as also Peleus son of Aeacus, among the Myrmidons- men whose
loss we two should bitterly deplore; or are you grieving about the
Argives and the way in which they are being killed at the ships, throu
their own high-handed doings? Do not hide anything from me but tell
me that both of us may know about it."

Then, O knight Patroclus, with a deep sigh you answered, "Achilles,
son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, do not be angry,
but I weep for the disaster that has now befallen the Argives. All
those who have been their champions so far are lying at the ships,
wounded by sword or spear. Brave Diomed son of Tydeus has been hit
with a spear, while famed Ulysses and Agamemnon have received sword-wounds;
Eurypylus again has been struck with an arrow in the thigh; skilled
apothecaries are attending to these heroes, and healing them of their
wounds; are you still, O Achilles, so inexorable? May it never be
my lot to nurse such a passion as you have done, to the baning of
your own good name. Who in future story will speak well of you unless
you now save the Argives from ruin? You know no pity; knight Peleus
was not your father nor Thetis your mother, but the grey sea bore
you and the sheer cliffs begot you, so cruel and remorseless are you.
If however you are kept back through knowledge of some oracle, or
if your mother Thetis has told you something from the mouth of Jove,
at least send me and the Myrmidons with me, if I may bring deliverance
to the Danaans. Let me moreover wear your armour; the Trojans may
thus mistake me for you and quit the field, so that the hard-pressed
sons of the Achaeans may have breathing time- which while they are
fighting may hardly be. We who are fresh might soon drive tired men
back from our ships and tents to their own city."

He knew not what he was asking, nor that he was suing for his own
destruction. Achilles was deeply moved and answered, "What, noble
Patroclus, are you saying? I know no prophesyings which I am heeding,
nor has my mother told me anything from the mouth of Jove, but I am
cut to the very heart that one of my own rank should dare to rob me
because he is more powerful than I am. This, after all that I have
gone through, is more than I can endure. The girl whom the sons of
the Achaeans chose for me, whom I won as the fruit of my spear on
having sacked a city- her has King Agamemnon taken from me as though
I were some common vagrant. Still, let bygones be bygones: no man
may keep his anger for ever; I said I would not relent till battle
and the cry of war had reached my own ships; nevertheless, now gird
my armour about your shoulders, and lead the Myrmidons to battle,
for the dark cloud of Trojans has burst furiously over our fleet;
the Argives are driven back on to the beach, cooped within a narrow
space, and the whole people of Troy has taken heart to sally out against
them, because they see not the visor of my helmet gleaming near them.
Had they seen this, there would not have been a creek nor grip that
had not been filled with their dead as they fled back again. And so
it would have been, if only King Agamemnon had dealt fairly by me.
As it is the Trojans have beset our host. Diomed son of Tydeus no
longer wields his spear to defend the Danaans, neither have I heard
the voice of the son of Atreus coming from his hated head, whereas
that of murderous Hector rings in my cars as he gives orders to the
Trojans, who triumph over the Achaeans and fill the whole plain with
their cry of battle. But even so, Patroclus, fall upon them and save
the fleet, lest the Trojans fire it and prevent us from being able
to return. Do, however, as I now bid you, that you may win me great
honour from all the Danaans, and that they may restore the girl to
me again and give me rich gifts into the bargain. When you have driven
the Trojans from the ships, come back again. Though Juno's thundering
husband should put triumph within your reach, do not fight the Trojans
further in my absence, or you will rob me of glory that should be
mine. And do not for lust of battle go on killing the Trojans nor
lead the Achaeans on to Ilius, lest one of the ever-living gods from
Olympus attack you- for Phoebus Apollo loves them well: return when
you have freed the ships from peril, and let others wage war upon
the plain. Would, by father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, that not a
single man of all the Trojans might be left alive, nor yet of the
Argives, but that we two might be alone left to tear aside the mantle
that veils the brow of Troy."

Thus did they converse. But Ajax could no longer hold his ground for
the shower of darts that rained upon him; the will of Jove and the
javelins of the Trojans were too much for him; the helmet that gleamed
about his temples rang with the continuous clatter of the missiles
that kept pouring on to it and on to the cheek-pieces that protected
his face. Moreover his left shoulder was tired with having held his
shield so long, yet for all this, let fly at him as they would, they
could not make him give ground. He could hardly draw his breath, the
sweat rained from every pore of his body, he had not a moment's respite,
and on all sides he was beset by danger upon danger.

And now, tell me, O Muses that hold your mansions on Olympus, how
fire was thrown upon the ships of the Achaeans. Hector came close
up and let drive with his great sword at the ashen spear of Ajax.
He cut it clean in two just behind where the point was fastened on
to the shaft of the spear. Ajax, therefore, had now nothing but a
headless spear, while the bronze point flew some way off and came
ringing down on to the ground. Ajax knew the hand of heaven in this,
and was dismayed at seeing that Jove had now left him utterly defenceless
and was willing victory for the Trojans. Therefore he drew back, and
the Trojans flung fire upon the ship which was at once wrapped in
flame.

The fire was now flaring about the ship's stern, whereon Achilles
smote his two thighs and said to Patroclus, "Up, noble knight, for
I see the glare of hostile fire at our fleet; up, lest they destroy
our ships, and there be no way by which we may retreat. Gird on your
armour at once while I call our people together."

As he spoke Patroclus put on his armour. First he greaved his legs
with greaves of good make, and fitted with ancle-clasps of silver;
after this he donned the cuirass of the son of Aeacus, richly inlaid
and studded. He hung his silver-studded sword of bronze about his
shoulders, and then his mighty shield. On his comely head he set his
helmet, well wrought, with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly
above it. He grasped two redoubtable spears that suited his hands,
but he did not take the spear of noble Achilles, so stout and strong,
for none other of the Achaeans could wield it, though Achilles could
do so easily. This was the ashen spear from Mount Pelion, which Chiron
had cut upon a mountain top and had given to Peleus, wherewith to
deal out death among heroes. He bade Automedon yoke his horses with
all speed, for he was the man whom he held in honour next after Achilles,
and on whose support in battle he could rely most firmly. Automedon
therefore yoked the fleet horses Xanthus and Balius, steeds that could
fly like the wind: these were they whom the harpy Podarge bore to
the west wind, as she was grazing in a meadow by the waters of the
river Oceanus. In the side traces he set the noble horse Pedasus,
whom Achilles had brought away with him when he sacked the city of
Eetion, and who, mortal steed though he was, could take his place
along with those that were immortal.

Meanwhile Achilles went about everywhere among the tents, and bade
his Myrmidons put on their armour. Even as fierce ravening wolves
that are feasting upon a homed stag which they have killed upon the
mountains, and their jaws are red with blood- they go in a pack to
lap water from the clear spring with their long thin tongues; and
they reek of blood and slaughter; they know not what fear is, for
it is hunger drives them- even so did the leaders and counsellors
of the Myrmidons gather round the good squire of the fleet descendant
of Aeacus, and among them stood Achilles himself cheering on both
men and horses.

Fifty ships had noble Achilles brought to Troy, and in each there
was a crew of fifty oarsmen. Over these he set five captains whom
he could trust, while he was himself commander over them all. Menesthius
of the gleaming corslet, son to the river Spercheius that streams
from heaven, was captain of the first company. Fair Polydora daughter
of Peleus bore him to ever-flowing Spercheius- a woman mated with
a god- but he was called son of Borus son of Perieres, with whom his
mother was living as his wedded wife, and who gave great wealth to
gain her. The second company was led by noble Eudorus, son to an unwedded
woman. Polymele, daughter of Phylas the graceful dancer, bore him;
the mighty slayer of Argos was enamoured of her as he saw her among
the singing women at a dance held in honour of Diana the rushing huntress
of the golden arrows; he therefore- Mercury, giver of all good- went
with her into an upper chamber, and lay with her in secret, whereon
she bore him a noble son Eudorus, singularly fleet of foot and in
fight valiant. When Ilithuia goddess of the pains of child-birth brought
him to the light of day, and he saw the face of the sun, mighty Echecles
son of Actor took the mother to wife, and gave great wealth to gain
her, but her father Phylas brought the child up, and took care of
him, doting as fondly upon him as though he were his own son. The
third company was led by Pisander son of Maemalus, the finest spearman
among all the Myrmidons next to Achilles' own comrade Patroclus. The
old knight Phoenix was captain of the fourth company, and Alcimedon,
noble son of Laerceus of the fifth.

When Achilles had chosen his men and had stationed them all with their
captains, he charged them straitly saying, "Myrmidons, remember your
threats against the Trojans while you were at the ships in the time
of my anger, and you were all complaining of me. 'Cruel son of Peleus,'
you would say, 'your mother must have suckled you on gall, so ruthless
are you. You keep us here at the ships against our will; if you are
so relentless it were better we went home over the sea.' Often have
you gathered and thus chided with me. The hour is now come for those
high feats of arms that you have so long been pining for, therefore
keep high hearts each one of you to do battle with the Trojans."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they serried
their companies yet more closely when they heard the of their king.
As the stones which a builder sets in the wall of some high house
which is to give shelter from the winds- even so closely were the
helmets and bossed shields set against one another. Shield pressed
on shield, helm on helm, and man on man; so close were they that the
horse-hair plumes on the gleaming ridges of their helmets touched
each other as they bent their heads.

In front of them all two men put on their armour- Patroclus and Automedon-
two men, with but one mind to lead the Myrmidons. Then Achilles went
inside his tent and opened the lid of the strong chest which silver-footed
Thetis had given him to take on board ship, and which she had filled
with shirts, cloaks to keep out the cold, and good thick rugs. In
this chest he had a cup of rare workmanship, from which no man but
himself might drink, nor would he make offering from it to any other
god save only to father Jove. He took the cup from the chest and cleansed
it with sulphur; this done he rinsed it clean water, and after he
had washed his hands he drew wine. Then he stood in the middle of
the court and prayed, looking towards heaven, and making his drink-offering
of wine; nor was he unseen of Jove whose joy is in thunder. "King
Jove," he cried, "lord of Dodona, god of the Pelasgi, who dwellest
afar, you who hold wintry Dodona in your sway, where your prophets
the Selli dwell around you with their feet unwashed and their couches
made upon the ground- if you heard me when I prayed to you aforetime,
and did me honour while you sent disaster on the Achaeans, vouchsafe
me now the fulfilment of yet this further prayer. I shall stay here
where my ships are lying, but I shall send my comrade into battle
at the head of many Myrmidons. Grant, O all-seeing Jove, that victory
may go with him; put your courage into his heart that Hector may learn
whether my squire is man enough to fight alone, or whether his might
is only then so indomitable when I myself enter the turmoil of war.
Afterwards when he has chased the fight and the cry of battle from
the ships, grant that he may return unharmed, with his armour and
his comrades, fighters in close combat."

Thus did he pray, and all-counselling Jove heard his prayer. Part
of it he did indeed vouchsafe him- but not the whole. He granted that
Patroclus should thrust back war and battle from the ships, but refused
to let him come safely out of the fight.

When he had made his drink-offering and had thus prayed, Achilles
went inside his tent and put back the cup into his chest.

Then he again came out, for he still loved to look upon the fierce
fight that raged between the Trojans and Achaeans.

Meanwhile the armed band that was about Patroclus marched on till
they sprang high in hope upon the Trojans. They came swarming out
like wasps whose nests are by the roadside, and whom silly children
love to tease, whereon any one who happens to be passing may get stung-
or again, if a wayfarer going along the road vexes them by accident,
every wasp will come flying out in a fury to defend his little ones-
even with such rage and courage did the Myrmidons swarm from their
ships, and their cry of battle rose heavenwards. Patroclus called
out to his men at the top of his voice, "Myrmidons, followers of Achilles
son of Peleus, be men my friends, fight with might and with main,
that we may win glory for the son of Peleus, who is far the foremost
man at the ships of the Argives- he, and his close fighting followers.
The son of Atreus King Agamemnon will thus learn his folly in showing
no respect to the bravest of the Achaeans."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they fell
in a body upon the Trojans. The ships rang again with the cry which
the Achaeans raised, and when the Trojans saw the brave son of Menoetius
and his squire all gleaming in their armour, they were daunted and
their battalions were thrown into confusion, for they thought the
fleet son of Peleus must now have put aside his anger, and have been
reconciled to Agamemnon; every one, therefore, looked round about
to see whither he might fly for safety.

Patroclus first aimed a spear into the middle of the press where men
were packed most closely, by the stern of the ship of Protesilaus.
He hit Pyraechmes who had led his Paeonian horsemen from the Amydon
and the broad waters of the river Axius; the spear struck him on the
right shoulder, and with a groan he fell backwards in the dust; on
this his men were thrown into confusion, for by killing their leader,
who was the finest soldier among them, Patroclus struck panic into
them all. He thus drove them from the ship and quenched the fire that
was then blazing- leaving the half-burnt ship to lie where it was.
The Trojans were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies,
while the Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting also
without ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the thunder-cloud, spreads
a dense canopy on the top of some lofty mountain, and all the peaks,
the jutting headlands, and forest glades show out in the great light
that flashes from the bursting heavens, even so when the Danaans had
now driven back the fire from their ships, they took breath for a
little while; but the fury of the fight was not yet over, for the
Trojans were not driven back in utter rout, but still gave battle,
and were ousted from their ground only by sheer fighting.

The fight then became more scattered, and the chieftains killed one
another when and how they could. The valiant son of Menoetius first
drove his spear into the thigh of Areilycus just as he was turning
round; the point went clean through, and broke the bone so that he
fell forward. Meanwhile Menelaus struck Thoas in the chest, where
it was exposed near the rim of his shield, and he fell dead. The son
of Phyleus saw Amphiclus about to attack him, and ere he could do
so took aim at the upper part of his thigh, where the muscles are
thicker than in any other part; the spear tore through all the sinews
of the leg, and his eyes were closed in darkness. Of the sons of Nestor
one, Antilochus, speared Atymnius, driving the point of the spear
through his throat, and down he fell. Maris then sprang on Antilochus
in hand-to-hand fight to avenge his brother, and bestrode the body
spear in hand; but valiant Thrasymedes was too quick for him, and
in a moment had struck him in the shoulder ere he could deal his blow;
his aim was true, and the spear severed all the muscles at the root
of his arm, and tore them right down to the bone, so he fell heavily
to the ground and his eyes were closed in darkness. Thus did these
two noble comrades of Sarpedon go down to Erebus slain by the two
sons of Nestor; they were the warrior sons of Amisodorus, who had
reared the invincible Chimaera, to the bane of many. Ajax son of Oileus
sprang on Cleobulus and took him alive as he was entangled in the
crush; but he killed him then and there by a sword-blow on the neck.
The sword reeked with his blood, while dark death and the strong hand
of fate gripped him and closed his eyes.

Peneleos and Lycon now met in close fight, for they had missed each
other with their spears. They had both thrown without effect, so now
they drew their swords. Lycon struck the plumed crest of Peneleos'
helmet but his sword broke at the hilt, while Peneleos smote Lycon
on the neck under the ear. The blade sank so deep that the head was
held on by nothing but the skin, and there was no more life left in
him. Meriones gave chase to Acamas on foot and caught him up just
as he was about to mount his chariot; he drove a spear through his
right shoulder so that he fell headlong from the car, and his eyes
were closed in darkness. Idomeneus speared Erymas in the mouth; the
bronze point of the spear went clean through it beneath the brain,
crashing in among the white bones and smashing them up. His teeth
were all of them knocked out and the blood came gushing in a stream
from both his eyes; it also came gurgling up from his mouth and nostrils,
and the darkness of death enfolded him round about.

Thus did these chieftains of the Danaans each of them kill his man.
As ravening wolves seize on kids or lambs, fastening on them when
they are alone on the hillsides and have strayed from the main flock
through the carelessness of the shepherd- and when the wolves see
this they pounce upon them at once because they cannot defend themselves-
even so did the Danaans now fall on the Trojans, who fled with ill-omened
cries in their panic and had no more fight left in them.

Meanwhile great Ajax kept on trying to drive a spear into Hector,
but Hector was so skilful that he held his broad shoulders well under
cover of his ox-hide shield, ever on the look-out for the whizzing
of the arrows and the heavy thud of the spears. He well knew that
the fortunes of the day had changed, but still stood his ground and
tried to protect his comrades.

As when a cloud goes up into heaven from Olympus, rising out of a
clear sky when Jove is brewing a gale- even with such panic stricken
rout did the Trojans now fly, and there was no order in their going.
Hector's fleet horses bore him and his armour out of the fight, and
he left the Trojan host penned in by the deep trench against their
will. Many a yoke of horses snapped the pole of their chariots in
the trench and left their master's car behind them. Patroclus gave
chase, calling impetuously on the Danaans and full of fury against
the Trojans, who, being now no longer in a body, filled all the ways
with their cries of panic and rout; the air was darkened with the
clouds of dust they raised, and the horses strained every nerve in
their flight from the tents and ships towards the city.

Patroclus kept on heading his horses wherever he saw most men flying
in confusion, cheering on his men the while. Chariots were being smashed
in all directions, and many a man came tumbling down from his own
car to fall beneath the wheels of that of Patroclus, whose immortal
steeds, given by the gods to Peleus, sprang over the trench at a bound
as they sped onward. He was intent on trying to get near Hector, for
he had set his heart on spearing him, but Hector's horses were now
hurrying him away. As the whole dark earth bows before some tempest
on an autumn day when Jove rains his hardest to punish men for giving
crooked judgement in their courts, and arriving justice therefrom
without heed to the decrees of heaven- all the rivers run full and
the torrents tear many a new channel as they roar headlong from the
mountains to the dark sea, and it fares ill with the works of men-
even such was the stress and strain of the Trojan horses in their
flight.

Patroclus now cut off the battalions that were nearest to him and
drove them back to the ships. They were doing their best to reach
the city, but he would not Yet them, and bore down on them between
the river and the ships and wall. Many a fallen comrade did he then
avenge. First he hit Pronous with a spear on the chest where it was
exposed near the rim of his shield, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Next he sprang on Thestor son of Enops, who was sitting all huddled
up in his chariot, for he had lost his head and the reins had been
torn out of his hands. Patroclus went up to him and drove a spear
into his right jaw; he thus hooked him by the teeth and the spear
pulled him over the rim of his car, as one who sits at the end of
some jutting rock and draws a strong fish out of the sea with a hook
and a line- even so with his spear did he pull Thestor all gaping
from his chariot; he then threw him down on his face and he died while
falling. On this, as Erylaus was on to attack him, he struck him full
on the head with a stone, and his brains were all battered inside
his helmet, whereon he fell headlong to the ground and the pangs of
death took hold upon him. Then he laid low, one after the other, Erymas,
Amphoterus, Epaltes, Tlepolemus, Echius son of Damastor, Pyris, lpheus,
Euippus and Polymelus son of Argeas.

Now when Sarpedon saw his comrades, men who wore ungirdled tunics,
being overcome by Patroclus son of Menoetius, he rebuked the Lycians
saying. "Shame on you, where are you flying to? Show your mettle;
I will myself meet this man in fight and learn who it is that is so
masterful; he has done us much hurt, and has stretched many a brave
man upon the ground."

He sprang from his chariot as he spoke, and Patroclus, when he saw
this, leaped on to the ground also. The two then rushed at one another
with loud cries like eagle-beaked crook-taloned vultures that scream
and tear at one another in some high mountain fastness.

The son of scheming Saturn looked down upon them in pity and said
to Juno who was his wife and sister, "Alas, that it should be the
lot of Sarpedon whom I love so dearly to perish by the hand of Patroclus.
I am in two minds whether to catch him up out of the fight and set
him down safe and sound in the fertile land of Lycia, or to let him
now fall by the hand of the son of Menoetius."

And Juno answered, "Most dread son of Saturn, what is this that you
are saying? Would you snatch a mortal man, whose doom has long been
fated, out of the jaws of death? Do as you will, but we shall not
all of us be of your mind. I say further, and lay my saying to your
heart, that if you send Sarpedon safely to his own home, some other
of the gods will be also wanting to escort his son out of battle,
for there are many sons of gods fighting round the city of Troy, and
you will make every one jealous. If, however, you are fond of him
and pity him, let him indeed fall by the hand of Patroclus, but as
soon as the life is gone out of him, send Death and sweet Sleep to
bear him off the field and take him to the broad lands of Lycia, where
his brothers and his kinsmen will bury him with mound and pillar,
in due honour to the dead."

The sire of gods and men assented, but he shed a rain of blood upon
the earth in honour of his son whom Patroclus was about to kill on
the rich plain of Troy far from his home.

When they were now come close to one another Patroclus struck Thrasydemus,
the brave squire of Sarpedon, in the lower part of the belly, and
killed him. Sarpedon then aimed a spear at Patroclus and missed him,
but he struck the horse Pedasus in the right shoulder, and it screamed
aloud as it lay, groaning in the dust until the life went out of it.
The other two horses began to plunge; the pole of the chariot cracked
and they got entangled in the reins through the fall of the horse
that was yoked along with them; but Automedon knew what to do; without
the loss of a moment he drew the keen blade that hung by his sturdy
thigh and cut the third horse adrift; whereon the other two righted
themselves, and pulling hard at the reins again went together into
battle.

Sarpedon now took a second aim at Patroclus, and again missed him,
the point of the spear passed over his left shoulder without hitting
him. Patroclus then aimed in his turn, and the spear sped not from
his hand in vain, for he hit Sarpedon just where the midriff surrounds
the ever-beating heart. He fell like some oak or silver poplar or
tall pine to which woodmen have laid their axes upon the mountains
to make timber for ship-building- even so did he lie stretched at
full length in front of his chariot and horses, moaning and clutching
at the blood-stained dust. As when a lion springs with a bound upon
a herd of cattle and fastens on a great black bull which dies bellowing
in its clutches- even so did the leader of the Lycian warriors struggle
in death as he fell by the hand of Patroclus. He called on his trusty
comrade and said, "Glaucus, my brother, hero among heroes, put forth
all your strength, fight with might and main, now if ever quit yourself
like a valiant soldier. First go about among the Lycian captains and
bid them fight for Sarpedon; then yourself also do battle to save
my armour from being taken. My name will haunt you henceforth and
for ever if the Achaeans rob me of my armour now that I have fallen
at their ships. Do your very utmost and call all my people together."

Death closed his eyes as he spoke. Patroclus planted his heel on his
breast and drew the spear from his body, whereon his senses came out
along with it, and he drew out both spear-point and Sarpedon's soul
at the same time. Hard by the Myrmidons held his snorting steeds,
who were wild with panic at finding themselves deserted by their lords.

Glaucus was overcome with grief when he heard what Sarpedon said,
for he could not help him. He had to support his arm with his other
hand, being in great pain through the wound which Teucer's arrow had
given him when Teucer was defending the wall as he, Glaucus, was assailing
it. Therefore he prayed to far-darting Apollo saying, "Hear me O king
from your seat, may be in the rich land of Lycia, or may be in Troy,
for in all places you can hear the prayer of one who is in distress,
as I now am. I have a grievous wound; my hand is aching with pain,
there is no staunching the blood, and my whole arm drags by reason
of my hurt, so that I cannot grasp my sword nor go among my foes and
fight them, thou our prince, Jove's son Sarpedon, is slain. Jove defended
not his son, do you, therefore, O king, heal me of my wound, ease
my pain and grant me strength both to cheer on the Lycians and to
fight along with them round the body of him who has fallen."

Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He eased his pain,
staunched the black blood from the wound, and gave him new strength.
Glaucus perceived this, and was thankful that the mighty god had answered
his prayer; forthwith, therefore, he went among the Lycian captains,
and bade them come to fight about the body of Sarpedon. From these
he strode on among the Trojans to Polydamas son of Panthous and Agenor;
he then went in search of Aeneas and Hector, and when he had found
them he said, "Hector, you have utterly forgotten your allies, who
languish here for your sake far from friends and home while you do
nothing to support them. Sarpedon leader of the Lycian warriors has
fallen- he who was at once the right and might of Lycia; Mars has
laid him low by the spear of Patroclus. Stand by him, my friends,
and suffer not the Myrmidons to strip him of his armour, nor to treat
his body with contumely in revenge for all the Danaans whom we have
speared at the ships."

As he spoke the Trojans were plunged in extreme and ungovernable grief;
for Sarpedon, alien though he was, had been one of the main stays
of their city, both as having much people with him, and himself the
foremost among them all. Led by Hector, who was infuriated by the
fall of Sarpedon, they made instantly for the Danaans with all their
might, while the undaunted spirit of Patroclus son of Menoetius cheered
on the Achaeans. First he spoke to the two Ajaxes, men who needed
no bidding. "Ajaxes," said he, "may it now please you to show youselves
the men you have always been, or even better- Sarpedon is fallen-
he who was first to overleap the wall of the Achaeans; let us take
the body and outrage it; let us strip the armour from his shoulders,
and kill his comrades if they try to rescue his body."

He spoke to men who of themselves were full eager; both sides, therefore,
the Trojans and Lycians on the one hand, and the Myrmidons and Achaeans
on the other, strengthened their battalions, and fought desperately
about the body of Sarpedon, shouting fiercely the while. Mighty was
the din of their armour as they came together, and Jove shed a thick
darkness over the fight, to increase the of the battle over the body
of his son.

At first the Trojans made some headway against the Achaeans, for one
of the best men among the Myrmidons was killed, Epeigeus, son of noble
Agacles who had erewhile been king in the good city of Budeum; but
presently, having killed a valiant kinsman of his own, he took refuge
with Peleus and Thetis, who sent him to Ilius the land of noble steeds
to fight the Trojans under Achilles. Hector now struck him on the
head with a stone just as he had caught hold of the body, and his
brains inside his helmet were all battered in, so that he fell face
foremost upon the body of Sarpedon, and there died. Patroclus was
enraged by the death of his comrade, and sped through the front ranks
as swiftly as a hawk that swoops down on a flock of daws or starlings.
Even so swiftly, O noble knight Patroclus, did you make straight for
the Lycians and Trojans to avenge your comrade. Forthwith he struck
Sthenelaus the son of Ithaemenes on the neck with a stone, and broke
the tendons that join it to the head and spine. On this Hector and
the front rank of his men gave ground. As far as a man can throw a
javelin when competing for some prize, or even in battle- so far did
the Trojans now retreat before the Achaeans. Glaucus, captain of the
Lycians, was the first to rally them, by killing Bathycles son of
Chalcon who lived in Hellas and was the richest man among the Myrmidons.
Glaucus turned round suddenly, just as Bathycles who was pursuing
him was about to lay hold of him, and drove his spear right into the
middle of his chest, whereon he fell heavily to the ground, and the
fall of so good a man filled the Achaeans with dismay, while the Trojans
were exultant, and came up in a body round the corpse. Nevertheless
the Achaeans, mindful of their prowess, bore straight down upon them.

Meriones then killed a helmed warrior of the Trojans, Laogonus son
of Onetor, who was priest of Jove of Mt. Ida, and was honoured by
the people as though he were a god. Meriones struck him under the
jaw and ear, so that life went out of him and the darkness of death
laid hold upon him. Aeneas then aimed a spear at Meriones, hoping
to hit him under the shield as he was advancing, but Meriones saw
it coming and stooped forward to avoid it, whereon the spear flew
past him and the point stuck in the ground, while the butt-end went
on quivering till Mars robbed it of its force. The spear, therefore,
sped from Aeneas's hand in vain and fell quivering to the ground.
Aeneas was angry and said, "Meriones, you are a good dancer, but if
I had hit you my spear would soon have made an end of you."

And Meriones answered, "Aeneas, for all your bravery, you will not
be able to make an end of every one who comes against you. You are
only a mortal like myself, and if I were to hit you in the middle
of your shield with my spear, however strong and self-confident you
may be, I should soon vanquish you, and you would yield your life
to Hades of the noble steeds."

On this the son of Menoetius rebuked him and said, "Meriones, hero
though you be, you should not speak thus; taunting speeches, my good
friend, will not make the Trojans draw away from the dead body; some
of them must go under ground first; blows for battle, and words for
council; fight, therefore, and say nothing."

He led the way as he spoke and the hero went forward with him. As
the sound of woodcutters in some forest glade upon the mountains-
and the thud of their axes is heard afar- even such a din now rose
from earth-clash of bronze armour and of good ox-hide shields, as
men smote each other with their swords and spears pointed at both
ends. A man had need of good eyesight now to know Sarpedon, so covered
was he from head to foot with spears and blood and dust. Men swarmed
about the body, as flies that buzz round the full milk-pails in spring
when they are brimming with milk- even so did they gather round Sarpedon;
nor did Jove turn his keen eyes away for one moment from the fight,
but kept looking at it all the time, for he was settling how best
to kill Patroclus, and considering whether Hector should be allowed
to end him now in the fight round the body of Sarpedon, and strip
him of his armour, or whether he should let him give yet further trouble
to the Trojans. In the end, he deemed it best that the brave squire
of Achilles son of Peleus should drive Hector and the Trojans back
towards the city and take the lives of many. First, therefore, he
made Hector turn fainthearted, whereon he mounted his chariot and
fled, bidding the other Trojans fly also, for he saw that the scales
of Jove had turned against him. Neither would the brave Lycians stand
firm; they were dismayed when they saw their king lying struck to
the heart amid a heap of corpses- for when the son of Saturn made
the fight wax hot many had fallen above him. The Achaeans, therefore
stripped the gleaming armour from his shoulders and the brave son
of Menoetius gave it to his men to take to the ships. Then Jove lord
of the storm-cloud said to Apollo, "Dear Phoebus, go, I pray you,
and take Sarpedon out of range of the weapons; cleanse the black blood
from off him, and then bear him a long way off where you may wash
him in the river, anoint him with ambrosia, and clothe him in immortal
raiment; this done, commit him to the arms of the two fleet messengers,
Death, and Sleep, who will carry him straightway to the rich land
of Lycia, where his brothers and kinsmen will inter him, and will
raise both mound and pillar to his memory, in due honour to the dead."

Thus he spoke. Apollo obeyed his father's saying, and came down from
the heights of Ida into the thick of the fight; forthwith he took
Sarpedon out of range of the weapons, and then bore him a long way
off, where he washed him in the river, anointed him with ambrosia
and clothed him in immortal raiment; this done, he committed him to
the arms of the two fleet messengers, Death, and Sleep, who presently
set him down in the rich land of Lycia.

Meanwhile Patroclus, with many a shout to his horses and to Automedon,
pursued the Trojans and Lycians in the pride and foolishness of his
heart. Had he but obeyed the bidding of the son of Peleus, he would
have, escaped death and have been scatheless; but the counsels of
Jove pass man's understanding; he will put even a brave man to flight
and snatch victory from his grasp, or again he will set him on to
fight, as he now did when he put a high spirit into the heart of Patroclus.

Who then first, and who last, was slain by you, O Patroclus, when
the gods had now called you to meet your doom? First Adrestus, Autonous,
Echeclus, Perimus the son of Megas, Epistor and Melanippus; after
these he killed Elasus, Mulius, and Pylartes. These he slew, but the
rest saved themselves by flight.

The sons of the Achaeans would now have taken Troy by the hands of
Patroclus, for his spear flew in all directions, had not Phoebus Apollo
taken his stand upon the wall to defeat his purpose and to aid the
Trojans. Thrice did Patroclus charge at an angle of the high wall,
and thrice did Apollo beat him back, striking his shield with his
own immortal hands. When Patroclus was coming on like a god for yet
a fourth time, Apollo shouted to him with an awful voice and said,
"Draw back, noble Patroclus, it is not your lot to sack the city of
the Trojan chieftains, nor yet will it be that of Achilles who is
a far better man than you are." On hearing this, Patroclus withdrew
to some distance and avoided the anger of Apollo.

Meanwhile Hector was waiting with his horses inside the Scaean gates,
in doubt whether to drive out again and go on fighting, or to call
the army inside the gates. As he was thus doubting Phoebus Apollo
drew near him in the likeness of a young and lusty warrior Asius,
who was Hector's uncle, being own brother to Hecuba, and son of Dymas
who lived in Phrygia by the waters of the river Sangarius; in his
likeness Jove's son Apollo now spoke to Hector saying, "Hector, why
have you left off fighting? It is ill done of you. If I were as much
better a man than you, as I am worse, you should soon rue your slackness.
Drive straight towards Patroclus, if so be that Apollo may grant you
a triumph over him, and you may rull him."

With this the god went back into the hurly-burly, and Hector bade
Cebriones drive again into the fight. Apollo passed in among them,
and struck panic into the Argives, while he gave triumph to Hector
and the Trojans. Hector let the other Danaans alone and killed no
man, but drove straight at Patroclus. Patroclus then sprang from his
chariot to the ground, with a spear in his left hand, and in his right
a jagged stone as large as his hand could hold. He stood still and
threw it, nor did it go far without hitting some one; the cast was
not in vain, for the stone struck Cebriones, Hector's charioteer,
a bastard son of Priam, as he held the reins in his hands. The stone
hit him on the forehead and drove his brows into his head for the
bone was smashed, and his eyes fell to the ground at his feet. He
dropped dead from his chariot as though he were diving, and there
was no more life left in him. Over him did you then vaunt, O knight
Patroclus, saying, "Bless my heart, how active he is, and how well
he dives. If we had been at sea this fellow would have dived from
the ship's side and brought up as many oysters as the whole crew could
stomach, even in rough water, for he has dived beautifully off his
chariot on to the ground. It seems, then, that there are divers also
among the Trojans."

As he spoke he flung himself on Cebriones with the spring, as it were,
of a lion that while attacking a stockyard is himself struck in the
chest, and his courage is his own bane- even so furiously, O Patroclus,
did you then spring upon Cebriones. Hector sprang also from his chariot
to the ground. The pair then fought over the body of Cebriones. As
two lions fight fiercely on some high mountain over the body of a
stag that they have killed, even so did these two mighty warriors,
Patroclus son of Menoetius and brave Hector, hack and hew at one another
over the corpse of Cebriones. Hector would not let him go when he
had once got him by the head, while Patroclus kept fast hold of his
feet, and a fierce fight raged between the other Danaans and Trojans.
As the east and south wind buffet one another when they beat upon
some dense forest on the mountains- there is beech and ash and spreading
cornel; the to of the trees roar as they beat on one another, and
one can hear the boughs cracking and breaking- even so did the Trojans
and Achaeans spring upon one another and lay about each other, and
neither side would give way. Many a pointed spear fell to ground and
many a winged arrow sped from its bow-string about the body of Cebriones;
many a great stone, moreover, beat on many a shield as they fought
around his body, but there he lay in the whirling clouds of dust,
all huge and hugely, heedless of his driving now.

So long as the sun was still high in mid-heaven the weapons of either
side were alike deadly, and the people fell; but when he went down
towards the time when men loose their oxen, the Achaeans proved to
be beyond all forecast stronger, so that they drew Cebriones out of
range of the darts and tumult of the Trojans, and stripped the armour
from his shoulders. Then Patroclus sprang like Mars with fierce intent
and a terrific shout upon the Trojans, and thrice did he kill nine
men; but as he was coming on like a god for a time, then, O Patroclus,
was the hour of your end approaching, for Phoebus fought you in fell
earnest. Patroclus did not see him as he moved about in the crush,
for he was enshrouded in thick darkness, and the god struck him from
behind on his back and his broad shoulders with the flat of his hand,
so that his eyes turned dizzy. Phoebus Apollo beat the helmet from
off his head, and it rolled rattling off under the horses' feet, where
its horse-hair plumes were all begrimed with dust and blood. Never
indeed had that helmet fared so before, for it had served to protect
the head and comely forehead of the godlike hero Achilles. Now, however,
Zeus delivered it over to be worn by Hector. Nevertheless the end
of Hector also was near. The bronze-shod spear, so great and so strong,
was broken in the hand of Patroclus, while his shield that covered
him from head to foot fell to the ground as did also the band that
held it, and Apollo undid the fastenings of his corslet.

On this his mind became clouded; his limbs failed him, and he stood
as one dazed; whereon Euphorbus son of Panthous a Dardanian, the best
spearman of his time, as also the finest horseman and fleetest runner,
came behind him and struck him in the back with a spear, midway between
the shoulders. This man as soon as ever he had come up with his chariot
had dismounted twenty men, so proficient was he in all the arts of
war- he it was, O knight Patroclus, that first drove a weapon into
you, but he did not quite overpower you. Euphorbus then ran back into
the crowd, after drawing his ashen spear out of the wound; he would
not stand firm and wait for Patroclus, unarmed though he now was,
to attack him; but Patroclus unnerved, alike by the blow the god had
given him and by the spear-wound, drew back under cover of his men
in fear for his life. Hector on this, seeing him to be wounded and
giving ground, forced his way through the ranks, and when close up
with him struck him in the lower part of the belly with a spear, driving
the bronze point right through it, so that he fell heavily to the
ground to the great of the Achaeans. As when a lion has fought some
fierce wild-boar and worsted him- the two fight furiously upon the
mountains over some little fountain at which they would both drink,
and the lion has beaten the boar till he can hardly breathe- even
so did Hector son of Priam take the life of the brave son of Menoetius
who had killed so many, striking him from close at hand, and vaunting
over him the while. "Patroclus," said he, "you deemed that you should
sack our city, rob our Trojan women of their freedom, and carry them
off in your ships to your own country. Fool; Hector and his fleet
horses were ever straining their utmost to defend them. I am foremost
of all the Trojan warriors to stave the day of bondage from off them;
as for you, vultures shall devour you here. Poor wretch, Achilles
with all his bravery availed you nothing; and yet I ween when you
left him he charged you straitly saying, 'Come not back to the ships,
knight Patroclus, till you have rent the bloodstained shirt of murderous
Hector about his body. Thus I ween did he charge you, and your fool's
heart answered him 'yea' within you."

Then, as the life ebbed out of you, you answered, O knight Patroclus:
"Hector, vaunt as you will, for Jove the son of Saturn and Apollo
have vouchsafed you victory; it is they who have vanquished me so
easily, and they who have stripped the armour from my shoulders; had
twenty such men as you attacked me, all of them would have fallen
before my spear. Fate and the son of Leto have overpowered me, and
among mortal men Euphorbus; you are yourself third only in the killing
of me. I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall
live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close
upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of
Aeacus."

When he had thus spoken his eyes were closed in death, his soul left
his body and flitted down to the house of Hades, mourning its sad
fate and bidding farewell to the youth and vigor of its manhood. Dead
though he was, Hector still spoke to him saying, "Patroclus, why should
you thus foretell my doom? Who knows but Achilles, son of lovely Thetis,
may be smitten by my spear and die before me?"

As he spoke he drew the bronze spear from the wound, planting his
foot upon the body, which he thrust off and let lie on its back. He
then went spear in hand after Automedon, squire of the fleet descendant
of Aeacus, for he longed to lay him low, but the immortal steeds which
the gods had given as a rich gift to Peleus bore him swiftly from
the field.

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BOOK XVII

Brave Menelaus son of Atreus now came to know that Patroclus had
fallen, and made his way through the front ranks clad in full armour
to bestride him. As a cow stands lowing over her first calf, even
so did yellow-haired Menelaus bestride Patroclus. He held his round
shield and his spear in front of him, resolute to kill any who should
dare face him. But the son of Panthous had also noted the body, and
came up to Menelaus saying, "Menelaus, son of Atreus, draw back, leave
the body, and let the bloodstained spoils be. I was first of the Trojans
and their brave allies to drive my spear into Patroclus, let me, therefore,
have my full glory among the Trojans, or I will take aim and kill
you."

To this Menelaus answered in great anger "By father Jove, boasting
is an ill thing. The pard is not more bold, nor the lion nor savage
wild-boar, which is fiercest and most dauntless of all creatures,
than are the proud sons of Panthous. Yet Hyperenor did not see out
the days of his youth when he made light of me and withstood me, deeming
me the meanest soldier among the Danaans. His own feet never bore
him back to gladden his wife and parents. Even so shall I make an
end of you too, if you withstand me; get you back into the crowd and
do not face me, or it shall be worse for you. Even a fool may be wise
after the event."

Euphorbus would not listen, and said, "Now indeed, Menelaus, shall
you pay for the death of my brother over whom you vaunted, and whose
wife you widowed in her bridal chamber, while you brought grief unspeakable
on his parents. I shall comfort these poor people if I bring your
head and armour and place them in the hands of Panthous and noble
Phrontis. The time is come when this matter shall be fought out and
settled, for me or against me."

As he spoke he struck Menelaus full on the shield, but the spear did
not go through, for the shield turned its point. Menelaus then took
aim, praying to father Jove as he did so; Euphorbus was drawing back,
and Menelaus struck him about the roots of his throat, leaning his
whole weight on the spear, so as to drive it home. The point went
clean through his neck, and his armour rang rattling round him as
he fell heavily to the ground. His hair which was like that of the
Graces, and his locks so deftly bound in bands of silver and gold,
were all bedrabbled with blood. As one who has grown a fine young
olive tree in a clear space where there is abundance of water- the
plant is full of promise, and though the winds beat upon it from every
quarter it puts forth its white blossoms till the blasts of some fierce
hurricane sweep down upon it and level it with the ground- even so
did Menelaus strip the fair youth Euphorbus of his armour after he
had slain him. Or as some fierce lion upon the mountains in the pride
of his strength fastens on the finest heifer in a herd as it is feeding-
first he breaks her neck with his strong jaws, and then gorges on
her blood and entrails; dogs and shepherds raise a hue and cry against
him, but they stand aloof and will not come close to him, for they
are pale with fear- even so no one had the courage to face valiant
Menelaus. The son of Atreus would have then carried off the armour
of the son of Panthous with ease, had not Phoebus Apollo been angry,
and in the guise of Mentes chief of the Cicons incited Hector to attack
him. "Hector," said he, "you are now going after the horses of the
noble son of Aeacus, but you will not take them; they cannot be kept
in hand and driven by mortal man, save only by Achilles, who is son
to an immortal mother. Meanwhile Menelaus son of Atreus has bestridden
the body of Patroclus and killed the noblest of the Trojans, Euphorbus
son of Panthous, so that he can fight no more."

The god then went back into the toil and turmoil, but the soul of
Hector was darkened with a cloud of grief; he looked along the ranks
and saw Euphorbus lying on the ground with the blood still flowing
from his wound, and Menelaus stripping him of his armour. On this
he made his way to the front like a flame of fire, clad in his gleaming
armour, and crying with a loud voice. When the son of Atreus heard
him, he said to himself in his dismay, "Alas! what shall I do? I may
not let the Trojans take the armour of Patroclus who has fallen fighting
on my behalf, lest some Danaan who sees me should cry shame upon me.
Still if for my honour's sake I fight Hector and the Trojans single-handed,
they will prove too many for me, for Hector is bringing them up in
force. Why, however, should I thus hesitate? When a man fights in
despite of heaven with one whom a god befriends, he will soon rue
it. Let no Danaan think ill of me if I give place to Hector, for the
hand of heaven is with him. Yet, if I could find Ajax, the two of
us would fight Hector and heaven too, if we might only save the body
of Patroclus for Achilles son of Peleus. This, of many evils would
be the least."

While he was thus in two minds, the Trojans came up to him with Hector
at their head; he therefore drew back and left the body, turning about
like some bearded lion who is being chased by dogs and men from a
stockyard with spears and hue and cry, whereon he is daunted and slinks
sulkily off- even so did Menelaus son of Atreus turn and leave the
body of Patroclus. When among the body of his men, he looked around
for mighty Ajax son of Telamon, and presently saw him on the extreme
left of the fight, cheering on his men and exhorting them to keep
on fighting, for Phoebus Apollo had spread a great panic among them.
He ran up to him and said, "Ajax, my good friend, come with me at
once to dead Patroclus, if so be that we may take the body to Achilles-
as for his armour, Hector already has it."

These words stirred the heart of Ajax, and he made his way among the
front ranks, Menelaus going with him. Hector had stripped Patroclus
of his armour, and was dragging him away to cut off his head and take
the body to fling before the dogs of Troy. But Ajax came up with his
shield like wall before him, on which Hector withdrew under shelter
of his men, and sprang on to his chariot, giving the armour over to
the Trojans to take to the city, as a great trophy for himself; Ajax,
therefore, covered the body of Patroclus with his broad shield and
bestrode him; as a lion stands over his whelps if hunters have come
upon him in a forest when he is with his little ones- in the pride
and fierceness of his strength he draws his knit brows down till they
cover his eyes- even so did Ajax bestride the body of Patroclus, and
by his side stood Menelaus son of Atreus, nursing great sorrow in
his heart.

Then Glaucus son of Hippolochus looked fiercely at Hector and rebuked
him sternly. "Hector," said he, "you make a brave show, but in fight
you are sadly wanting. A runaway like yourself has no claim to so
great a reputation. Think how you may now save your town and citadel
by the hands of your own people born in Ilius; for you will get no
Lycians to fight for you, seeing what thanks they have had for their
incessant hardships. Are you likely, sir, to do anything to help a
man of less note, after leaving Sarpedon, who was at once your guest
and comrade in arms, to be the spoil and prey of the Danaans? So long
as he lived he did good service both to your city and yourself; yet
you had no stomach to save his body from the dogs. If the Lycians
will listen to me, they will go home and leave Troy to its fate. If
the Trojans had any of that daring fearless spirit which lays hold
of men who are fighting for their country and harassing those who
would attack it, we should soon bear off Patroclus into Ilius. Could
we get this dead man away and bring him into the city of Priam, the
Argives would readily give up the armour of Sarpedon, and we should
get his body to boot. For he whose squire has been now killed is the
foremost man at the ships of the Achaeans- he and his close-fighting
followers. Nevertheless you dared not make a stand against Ajax, nor
face him, eye to eye, with battle all round you, for he is a braver
man than you are."

Hector scowled at him and answered, "Glaucus, you should know better.
I have held you so far as a man of more understanding than any in
all Lycia, but now I despise you for saying that I am afraid of Ajax.
I fear neither battle nor the din of chariots, but Jove's will is
stronger than ours; Jove at one time makes even a strong man draw
back and snatches victory from his grasp, while at another he will
set him on to fight. Come hither then, my friend, stand by me and
see indeed whether I shall play the coward the whole day through as
you say, or whether I shall not stay some even of the boldest Danaans
from fighting round the body of Patroclus."

As he spoke he called loudly on the Trojans saying, "Trojans, Lycians,
and Dardanians, fighters in close combat, be men, my friends, and
fight might and main, while I put on the goodly armour of Achilles,
which I took when I killed Patroclus."

With this Hector left the fight, and ran full speed after his men
who were taking the armour of Achilles to Troy, but had not yet got
far. Standing for a while apart from the woeful fight, he changed
his armour. His own he sent to the strong city of Ilius and to the
Trojans, while he put on the immortal armour of the son of Peleus,
which the gods had given to Peleus, who in his age gave it to his
son; but the son did not grow old in his father's armour.

When Jove, lord of the storm-cloud, saw Hector standing aloof and
arming himself in the armour of the son of Peleus, he wagged his head
and muttered to himself saying, "A! poor wretch, you arm in the armour
of a hero, before whom many another trembles, and you reck nothing
of the doom that is already close upon you. You have killed his comrade
so brave and strong, but it was not well that you should strip the
armour from his head and shoulders. I do indeed endow you with great
might now, but as against this you shall not return from battle to
lay the armour of the son of Peleus before Andromache."

The son of Saturn bowed his portentous brows, and Hector fitted the
armour to his body, while terrible Mars entered into him, and filled
his whole body with might and valour. With a shout he strode in among
the allies, and his armour flashed about him so that he seemed to
all of them like the great son of Peleus himself. He went about among
them and cheered them on- Mesthles, Glaucus, Medon, Thersilochus,
Asteropaeus, Deisenor and Hippothous, Phorcys, Chromius and Ennomus
the augur. All these did he exhort saying, "Hear me, allies from other
cities who are here in your thousands, it was not in order to have
a crowd about me that I called you hither each from his several city,
but that with heart and soul you might defend the wives and little
ones of the Trojans from the fierce Achaeans. For this do I oppress
my people with your food and the presents that make you rich. Therefore
turn, and charge at the foe, to stand or fall as is the game of war;
whoever shall bring Patroclus, dead though he be, into the hands of
the Trojans, and shall make Ajax give way before him, I will give
him one half of the spoils while I keep the other. He will thus share
like honour with myself."

When he had thus spoken they charged full weight upon the Danaans
with their spears held out before them, and the hopes of each ran
high that he should force Ajax son of Telamon to yield up the body-
fools that they were, for he was about to take the lives of many.
Then Ajax said to Menelaus, "My good friend Menelaus, you and I shall
hardly come out of this fight alive. I am less concerned for the body
of Patroclus, who will shortly become meat for the dogs and vultures
of Troy, than for the safety of my own head and yours. Hector has
wrapped us round in a storm of battle from every quarter, and our
destruction seems now certain. Call then upon the princes of the Danaans
if there is any who can hear us."

Menelaus did as he said, and shouted to the Danaans for help at the
top of his voice. "My friends," he cried, "princes and counsellors
of the Argives, all you who with Agamemnon and Menelaus drink at the
public cost, and give orders each to his own people as Jove vouchsafes
him power and glory, the fight is so thick about me that I cannot
distinguish you severally; come on, therefore, every man unbidden,
and think it shame that Patroclus should become meat and morsel for
Trojan hounds."

Fleet Ajax son of Oileus heard him and was first to force his way
through the fight and run to help him. Next came Idomeneus and Meriones
his esquire, peer of murderous Mars. As for the others that came into
the fight after these, who of his own self could name them?

The Trojans with Hector at their head charged in a body. As a great
wave that comes thundering in at the mouth of some heaven-born river,
and the rocks that jut into the sea ring with the roar of the breakers
that beat and buffet them- even with such a roar did the Trojans come
on; but the Achaeans in singleness of heart stood firm about the son
of Menoetius, and fenced him with their bronze shields. Jove, moreover,
hid the brightness of their helmets in a thick cloud, for he had borne
no grudge against the son of Menoetius while he was still alive and
squire to the descendant of Aeacus; therefore he was loth to let him
fall a prey to the dogs of his foes the Trojans, and urged his comrades
on to defend him.

At first the Trojans drove the Achaeans back, and they withdrew from
the dead man daunted. The Trojans did not succeed in killing any one,
nevertheless they drew the body away. But the Achaeans did not lose
it long, for Ajax, foremost of all the Danaans after the son of Peleus
alike in stature and prowess, quickly rallied them and made towards
the front like a wild boar upon the mountains when he stands at bay
in the forest glades and routs the hounds and lusty youths that have
attacked him- even so did Ajax son of Telamon passing easily in among
the phalanxes of the Trojans, disperse those who had bestridden Patroclus
and were most bent on winning glory by dragging him off to their city.
At this moment Hippothous brave son of the Pelasgian Lethus, in his
zeal for Hector and the Trojans, was dragging the body off by the
foot through the press of the fight, having bound a strap round the
sinews near the ancle; but a mischief soon befell him from which none
of those could save him who would have gladly done so, for the son
of Telamon sprang forward and smote him on his bronze-cheeked helmet.
The plumed headpiece broke about the point of the weapon, struck at
once by the spear and by the strong hand of Ajax, so that the bloody
brain came oozing out through the crest-socket. His strength then
failed him and he let Patroclus' foot drop from his hand, as he fell
full length dead upon the body; thus he died far from the fertile
land of Larissa, and never repaid his parents the cost of bringing
him up, for his life was cut short early by the spear of mighty Ajax.
Hector then took aim at Ajax with a spear, but he saw it coming and
just managed to avoid it; the spear passed on and struck Schedius
son of noble Iphitus, captain of the Phoceans, who dwelt in famed
Panopeus and reigned over much people; it struck him under the middle
of the collar-bone the bronze point went right through him, coming
out at the bottom of his shoulder-blade, and his armour rang rattling
round him as he fell heavily to the ground. Ajax in his turn struck
noble Phorcys son of Phaenops in the middle of the belly as he was
bestriding Hippothous, and broke the plate of his cuirass; whereon
the spear tore out his entrails and he clutched the ground in his
palm as he fell to earth. Hector and those who were in the front rank
then gave ground, while the Argives raised a loud cry of triumph,
and drew off the bodies of Phorcys and Hippothous which they stripped
presently of their armour.

The Trojans would now have been worsted by the brave Achaeans and
driven back to Ilius through their own cowardice, while the Argives,
so great was their courage and endurance, would have achieved a triumph
even against the will of Jove, if Apollo had not roused Aeneas, in
the likeness of Periphas son of Epytus, an attendant who had grown
old in the service of Aeneas' aged father, and was at all times devoted
to him. In his likeness, then, Apollo said, "Aeneas, can you not manage,
even though heaven be against us, to save high Ilius? I have known
men, whose numbers, courage, and self-reliance have saved their people
in spite of Jove, whereas in this case he would much rather give victory
to us than to the Danaans, if you would only fight instead of being
so terribly afraid."

Aeneas knew Apollo when he looked straight at him, and shouted to
Hector saying, "Hector and all other Trojans and allies, shame on
us if we are beaten by the Achaeans and driven back to Ilius through
our own cowardice. A god has just come up to me and told me that Jove
the supreme disposer will be with us. Therefore let us make for the
Danaans, that it may go hard with them ere they bear away dead Patroclus
to the ships."

As he spoke he sprang out far in front of the others, who then rallied
and again faced the Achaeans. Aeneas speared Leiocritus son of Arisbas,
a valiant follower of Lycomedes, and Lycomedes was moved with pity
as he saw him fall; he therefore went close up, and speared Apisaon
son of Hippasus shepherd of his people in the liver under the midriff,
so that he died; he had come from fertile Paeonia and was the best
man of them all after Asteropaeus. Asteropaeus flew forward to avenge
him and attack the Danaans, but this might no longer be, inasmuch
as those about Patroclus were well covered by their shields, and held
their spears in front of them, for Ajax had given them strict orders
that no man was either to give ground, or to stand out before the
others, but all were to hold well together about the body and fight
hand to hand. Thus did huge Ajax bid them, and the earth ran red with
blood as the corpses fell thick on one another alike on the side of
the Trojans and allies, and on that of the Danaans; for these last,
too, fought no bloodless fight though many fewer of them perished,
through the care they took to defend and stand by one another.

Thus did they fight as it were a flaming fire; it seemed as though
it had gone hard even with the sun and moon, for they were hidden
over all that part where the bravest heroes were fighting about the
dead son of Menoetius, whereas the other Danaans and Achaeans fought
at their ease in full daylight with brilliant sunshine all round them,
and there was not a cloud to be seen neither on plain nor mountain.
These last moreover would rest for a while and leave off fighting,
for they were some distance apart and beyond the range of one another's
weapons, whereas those who were in the thick of the fray suffered
both from battle and darkness. All the best of them were being worn
out by the great weight of their armour, but the two valiant heroes,
Thrasymedes and Antilochus, had not yet heard of the death of Patroclus,
and believed him to be still alive and leading the van against the
Trojans; they were keeping themselves in reserve against the death
or rout of their own comrades, for so Nestor had ordered when he sent
them from the ships into battle.

Thus through the livelong day did they wage fierce war, and the sweat
of their toil rained ever on their legs under them, and on their hands
and eyes, as they fought over the squire of the fleet son of Peleus.
It was as when a man gives a great ox-hide all drenched in fat to
his men, and bids them stretch it; whereon they stand round it in
a ring and tug till the moisture leaves it, and the fat soaks in for
the many that pull at it, and it is well stretched- even so did the
two sides tug the dead body hither and thither within the compass
of but a little space- the Trojans steadfastly set on drag ing it
into Ilius, while the Achaeans were no less so on taking it to their
ships; and fierce was the fight between them. Not Mars himself the
lord of hosts, nor yet Minerva, even in their fullest fury could make
light of such a battle.

Such fearful turmoil of men and horses did Jove on that day ordain
round the body of Patroclus. Meanwhile Achilles did not know that
he had fallen, for the fight was under the wall of Troy a long way
off the ships. He had no idea, therefore, that Patroclus was dead,
and deemed that he would return alive as soon as he had gone close
up to the gates. He knew that he was not to sack the city neither
with nor without himself, for his mother had often told him this when
he had sat alone with her, and she had informed him of the counsels
of great Jove. Now, however, she had not told him how great a disaster
had befallen him in the death of the one who was far dearest to him
of all his comrades.

The others still kept on charging one another round the body with
their pointed spears and killing each other. Then would one say, "My
friends, we can never again show our faces at the ships- better, and
greatly better, that earth should open and swallow us here in this
place, than that we should let the Trojans have the triumph of bearing
off Patroclus to their city."

The Trojans also on their part spoke to one another saying, "Friends,
though we fall to a man beside this body, let none shrink from fighting."
With such words did they exhort each other. They fought and fought,
and an iron clank rose through the void air to the brazen vault of
heaven. The horses of the descendant of Aeacus stood out of the fight
and wept when they heard that their driver had been laid low by the
hand of murderous Hector. Automedon, valiant son of Diores, lashed
them again and again; many a time did he speak kindly to them, and
many a time did he upbraid them, but they would neither go back to
the ships by the waters of the broad Hellespont, nor yet into battle
among the Achaeans; they stood with their chariot stock still, as
a pillar set over the tomb of some dead man or woman, and bowed their
heads to the ground. Hot tears fell from their eyes as they mourned
the loss of their charioteer, and their noble manes drooped all wet
from under the yokestraps on either side the yoke.

The son of Saturn saw them and took pity upon their sorrow. He wagged
his head, and muttered to himself, saying, "Poor things, why did we
give you to King Peleus who is a mortal, while you are yourselves
ageless and immortal? Was it that you might share the sorrows that
befall mankind? for of all creatures that live and move upon the earth
there is none so pitiable as he is- still, Hector son of Priam shall
drive neither you nor your chariot. I will not have it. It is enough
that he should have the armour over which he vaunts so vainly. Furthermore
I will give you strength of heart and limb to bear Automedon safely
to the ships from battle, for I shall let the Trojans triumph still
further, and go on killing till they reach the ships; whereon night
shall fall and darkness overshadow the land."

As he spoke he breathed heart and strength into the horses so that
they shook the dust from out of their manes, and bore their chariot
swiftly into the fight that raged between Trojans and Achaeans. Behind
them fought Automedon full of sorrow for his comrade, as a vulture
amid a flock of geese. In and out, and here and there, full speed
he dashed amid the throng of the Trojans, but for all the fury of
his pursuit he killed no man, for he could not wield his spear and
keep his horses in hand when alone in the chariot; at last, however,
a comrade, Alcimedon, son of Laerces son of Haemon caught sight of
him and came up behind his chariot. "Automedon," said he, "what god
has put this folly into your heart and robbed you of your right mind,
that you fight the Trojans in the front rank single-handed? He who
was your comrade is slain, and Hector plumes himself on being armed
in the armour of the descendant of Aeacus."

Automedon son of Diores answered, "Alcimedon, there is no one else
who can control and guide the immortal steeds so well as you can,
save only Patroclus- while he was alive- peer of gods in counsel.
Take then the whip and reins, while I go down from the car and fight.

Alcimedon sprang on to the chariot, and caught up the whip and reins,
while Automedon leaped from off the car. When Hector saw him he said
to Aeneas who was near him, "Aeneas, counsellor of the mail-clad Trojans,
I see the steeds of the fleet son of Aeacus come into battle with
weak hands to drive them. I am sure, if you think well, that we might
take them; they will not dare face us if we both attack them."

The valiant son of Anchises was of the same mind, and the pair went
right on, with their shoulders covered under shields of tough dry
ox-hide, overlaid with much bronze. Chromius and Aretus went also
with them, and their hearts beat high with hope that they might kill
the men and capture the horses- fools that they were, for they were
not to return scatheless from their meeting with Automedon, who prayed
to father Jove and was forthwith filled with courage and strength
abounding. He turned to his trusty comrade Alcimedon and said, "Alcimedon,
keep your horses so close up that I may feel their breath upon my
back; I doubt that we shall not stay Hector son of Priam till he has
killed us and mounted behind the horses; he will then either spread
panic among the ranks of the Achaeans, or himself be killed among
the foremost."

On this he cried out to the two Ajaxes and Menelaus, "Ajaxes captains
of the Argives, and Menelaus, give the dead body over to them that
are best able to defend it, and come to the rescue of us living; for
Hector and Aeneas who are the two best men among the Trojans, are
pressing us hard in the full tide of war. Nevertheless the issue lies
on the lap of heaven, I will therefore hurl my spear and leave the
rest to Jove."

He poised and hurled as he spoke, whereon the spear struck the round
shield of Aretus, and went right through it for the shield stayed
it not, so that it was driven through his belt into the lower part
of his belly. As when some sturdy youth, axe in hand, deals his blow
behind the horns of an ox and severs the tendons at the back of its
neck so that it springs forward and then drops, even so did Aretus
give one bound and then fall on his back the spear quivering in his
body till it made an end of him. Hector then aimed a spear at Automedon
but he saw it coming and stooped forward to avoid it, so that it flew
past him and the point stuck in the ground, while the butt-end went
on quivering till Mars robbed it of its force. They would then have
fought hand to hand with swords had not the two Ajaxes forced their
way through the crowd when they heard their comrade calling, and parted
them for all their fury- for Hector, Aeneas, and Chromius were afraid
and drew back, leaving Aretus to lie there struck to the heart. Automedon,
peer of fleet Mars, then stripped him of his armour and vaunted over
him saying, "I have done little to assuage my sorrow for the son of
Menoetius, for the man I have killed is not so good as he was."

As he spoke he took the blood-stained spoils and laid them upon his
chariot; then he mounted the car with his hands and feet all steeped
in gore as a lion that has been gorging upon a bull.

And now the fierce groanful fight again raged about Patroclus, for
Minerva came down from heaven and roused its fury by the command of
far-seeing Jove, who had changed his mind and sent her to encourage
the Danaans. As when Jove bends his bright bow in heaven in token
to mankind either of war or of the chill storms that stay men from
their labour and plague the flocks- even so, wrapped in such radiant
raiment, did Minerva go in among the host and speak man by man to
each. First she took the form and voice of Phoenix and spoke to Menelaus
son of Atreus, who was standing near her. "Menelaus," said she, "it
will be shame and dishonour to you, if dogs tear the noble comrade
of Achilles under the walls of Troy. Therefore be staunch, and urge
your men to be so also."

Menelaus answered, "Phoenix, my good old friend, may Minerva vouchsafe
me strength and keep the darts from off me, for so shall I stand by
Patroclus and defend him; his death has gone to my heart, but Hector
is as a raging fire and deals his blows without ceasing, for Jove
is now granting him a time of triumph."

Minerva was pleased at his having named herself before any of the
other gods. Therefore she put strength into his knees and shoulders,
and made him as bold as a fly, which, though driven off will yet come
again and bite if it can, so dearly does it love man's blood- even
so bold as this did she make him as he stood over Patroclus and threw
his spear. Now there was among the Trojans a man named Podes, son
of Eetion, who was both rich and valiant. Hector held him in the highest
honour for he was his comrade and boon companion; the spear of Menelaus
struck this man in the girdle just as he had turned in flight, and
went right through him. Whereon he fell heavily forward, and Menelaus
son of Atreus drew off his body from the Trojans into the ranks of
his own people.

Apollo then went up to Hector and spurred him on to fight, in the
likeness of Phaenops son of Asius who lived in Abydos and was the
most favoured of all Hector's guests. In his likeness Apollo said,
"Hector, who of the Achaeans will fear you henceforward now that you
have quailed before Menelaus who has ever been rated poorly as a soldier?
Yet he has now got a corpse away from the Trojans single-handed, and
has slain your own true comrade, a man brave among the foremost, Podes
son of Eetion.

A dark cloud of grief fell upon Hector as he heard, and he made his
way to the front clad in full armour. Thereon the son of Saturn seized
his bright tasselled aegis, and veiled Ida in cloud: he sent forth
his lightnings and his thunders, and as he shook his aegis he gave
victory to the Trojans and routed the Achaeans.

The panic was begun by Peneleos the Boeotian, for while keeping his
face turned ever towards the foe he had been hit with a spear on the
upper part of the shoulder; a spear thrown by Polydamas had grazed
the top of the bone, for Polydamas had come up to him and struck him
from close at hand. Then Hector in close combat struck Leitus son
of noble Alectryon in the hand by the wrist, and disabled him from
fighting further. He looked about him in dismay, knowing that never
again should he wield spear in battle with the Trojans. While Hector
was in pursuit of Leitus, Idomeneus struck him on the breastplate
over his chest near the nipple; but the spear broke in the shaft,
and the Trojans cheered aloud. Hector then aimed at Idomeneus son
of Deucalion as he was standing on his chariot, and very narrowly
missed him, but the spear hit Coiranus, a follower and charioteer
of Meriones who had come with him from Lyctus. Idomeneus had left
the ships on foot and would have afforded a great triumph to the Trojans
if Coiranus had not driven quickly up to him, he therefore brought
life and rescue to Idomeneus, but himself fell by the hand of murderous
Hector. For Hector hit him on the jaw under the ear; the end of the
spear drove out his teeth and cut his tongue in two pieces, so that
he fell from his chariot and let the reins fall to the ground. Meriones
gathered them up from the ground and took them into his own hands,
then he said to Idomeneus, "Lay on, till you get back to the ships,
for you must see that the day is no longer ours."

On this Idomeneus lashed the horses to the ships, for fear had taken
hold upon him.

Ajax and Menelaus noted how Jove had turned the scale in favour of
the Trojans, and Ajax was first to speak. "Alas," said he, "even a
fool may see that father Jove is helping the Trojans. All their weapons
strike home; no matter whether it be a brave man or a coward that
hurls them, Jove speeds all alike, whereas ours fall each one of them
without effect. What, then, will be best both as regards rescuing
the body, and our return to the joy of our friends who will be grieving
as they look hitherwards; for they will make sure that nothing can
now check the terrible hands of Hector, and that he will fling himself
upon our ships. I wish that some one would go and tell the son of
Peleus at once, for I do not think he can have yet heard the sad news
that the dearest of his friends has fallen. But I can see not a man
among the Achaeans to send, for they and their chariots are alike
hidden in darkness. O father Jove, lift this cloud from over the sons
of the Achaeans; make heaven serene, and let us see; if you will that
we perish, let us fall at any rate by daylight."

Father Jove heard him and had compassion upon his tears. Forthwith
he chased away the cloud of darkness, so that the sun shone out and
all the fighting was revealed. Ajax then said to Menelaus, "Look,
Menelaus, and if Antilochus son of Nestor be still living, send him
at once to tell Achilles that by far the dearest to him of all his
comrades has fallen."

Menelaus heeded his words and went his way as a lion from a stockyard-
the lion is tired of attacking the men and hounds, who keep watch
the whole night through and will not let him feast on the fat of their
herd. In his lust of meat he makes straight at them but in vain, for
darts from strong hands assail him, and burning brands which daunt
him for all his hunger, so in the morning he slinks sulkily away-
even so did Menelaus sorely against his will leave Patroclus, in great
fear lest the Achaeans should be driven back in rout and let him fall
into the hands of the foe. He charged Meriones and the two Ajaxes
straitly saying, "Ajaxes and Meriones, leaders of the Argives, now
indeed remember how good Patroclus was; he was ever courteous while
alive, bear it in mind now that he is dead."

With this Menelaus left them, looking round him as keenly as an eagle,
whose sight they say is keener than that of any other bird- however
high he may be in the heavens, not a hare that runs can escape him
by crouching under bush or thicket, for he will swoop down upon it
and make an end of it- even so, O Menelaus, did your keen eyes range
round the mighty host of your followers to see if you could find the
son of Nestor still alive. Presently Menelaus saw him on the extreme
left of the battle cheering on his men and exhorting them to fight
boldly. Menelaus went up to him and said, "Antilochus, come here and
listen to sad news, which I would indeed were untrue. You must see
with your own eyes that heaven is heaping calamity upon the Danaans,
and giving victory to the Trojans. Patroclus has fallen, who was the
bravest of the Achaeans, and sorely will the Danaans miss him. Run
instantly to the ships and tell Achilles, that he may come to rescue
the body and bear it to the ships. As for the armour, Hector already
has it."

Antilochus was struck with horror. For a long time he was speechless;
his eyes filled with tears and he could find no utterance, but he
did as Menelaus had said, and set off running as soon as he had given
his armour to a comrade, Laodocus, who was wheeling his horses round,
close beside him.

Thus, then, did he run weeping from the field, to carry the bad news
to Achilles son of Peleus. Nor were you, O Menelaus, minded to succour
his harassed comrades, when Antilochus had left the Pylians- and greatly
did they miss him- but he sent them noble Thrasymedes, and himself
went back to Patroclus. He came running up to the two Ajaxes and said,
"I have sent Antilochus to the ships to tell Achilles, but rage against
Hector as he may, he cannot come, for he cannot fight without armour.
What then will be our best plan both as regards rescuing the dead,
and our own escape from death amid the battle-cries of the Trojans?"

Ajax answered, "Menelaus, you have said well: do you, then, and Meriones
stoop down, raise the body, and bear it out of the fray, while we
two behind you keep off Hector and the Trojans, one in heart as in
name, and long used to fighting side by side with one another."

On this Menelaus and Meriones took the dead man in their arms and
lifted him high aloft with a great effort. The Trojan host raised
a hue and cry behind them when they saw the Achaeans bearing the body
away, and flew after them like hounds attacking a wounded boar at
the loo of a band of young huntsmen. For a while the hounds fly at
him as though they would tear him in pieces, but now and again he
turns on them in a fury, scaring and scattering them in all directions-
even so did the Trojans for a while charge in a body, striking with
sword and with spears pointed ai both the ends, but when the two Ajaxes
faced them and stood at bay, they would turn pale and no man dared
press on to fight further about the dead.

In this wise did the two heroes strain every nerve to bear the body
to the ships out of the fight. The battle raged round them like fierce
flames that when once kindled spread like wildfire over a city, and
the houses fall in the glare of its burning- even such was the roar
and tramp of men and horses that pursued them as they bore Patroclus
from the field. Or as mules that put forth all their strength to draw
some beam or great piece of ship's timber down a rough mountain-track,
and they pant and sweat as they, go even so did Menelaus and pant
and sweat as they bore the body of Patroclus. Behind them the two
Ajaxes held stoutly out. As some wooded mountain-spur that stretches
across a plain will turn water and check the flow even of a great
river, nor is there any stream strong enough to break through it-
even so did the two Ajaxes face the Trojans and stern the tide of
their fighting though they kept pouring on towards them and foremost
among them all was Aeneas son of Anchises with valiant Hector. As
a flock of daws or starlings fall to screaming and chattering when
they see a falcon, foe to i'll small birds, come soaring near them,
even so did the Achaean youth raise a babel of cries as they fled
before Aeneas and Hector, unmindful of their former prowess. In the
rout of the Danaans much goodly armour fell round about the trench,
and of fighting there was no end.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XVIII

Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
fleet runner Antilochus, who had been sent as messenger, reached Achilles,
and found him sitting by his tall ships and boding that which was
indeed too surely true. "Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness
of his heart, "why are the Achaeans again scouring the plain and flocking
towards the ships? Heaven grant the gods be not now bringing that
sorrow upon me of which my mother Thetis spoke, saying that while
I was yet alive the bravest of the Myrmidons should fall before the
Trojans, and see the light of the sun no longer. I fear the brave
son of Menoetius has fallen through his own daring and yet I bade
him return to the ships as soon as he had driven back those that were
bringing fire against them, and not join battle with Hector."

As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and told
his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. "Alas," he cried, "son of
noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that they were
untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging about his naked
body- for Hector holds his armour."

A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled
both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head,
disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his
shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at
full length, and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom
Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief,
beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow.
Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands
as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into
his own throat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard
him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her
father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus
that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. There
were Glauce, Thalia and Cymodoce, Nesaia, Speo, thoe and dark-eyed
Halie, Cymothoe, Actaea and Limnorea, Melite, Iaera, Amphithoe and
Agave, Doto and Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene, Dexamene, Amphinome and
Callianeira, Doris, Panope, and the famous sea-nymph Galatea, Nemertes,
Apseudes and Callianassa. There were also Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa,
Maera, Oreithuia and Amatheia of the lovely locks, with other Nereids
who dwell in the depths of the sea. The crystal cave was filled with
their multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them
in their lament.

"Listen," she cried, "sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may hear
the burden of my sorrows. Alas, woe is me, woe in that I have borne
the most glorious of offspring. I bore him fair and strong, hero among
heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended him as a plant in a
goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans,
but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus. So long
as he lives to look upon the light of the sun he is in heaviness,
and though I go to him I cannot help him. Nevertheless I will go,
that I may see my dear son and learn what sorrow has befallen him
though he is still holding aloof from battle."

She left the cave as she spoke, while the others followed weeping
after, and the waves opened a path before them. When they reached
the rich plain of Troy, they came up out of the sea in a long line
on to the sands, at the place where the ships of the Myrmidons were
drawn up in close order round the tents of Achilles. His mother went
up to him as he lay groaning; she laid her hand upon his head and
spoke piteously, saying, "My son, why are you thus weeping? What sorrow
has now befallen you? Tell me; hide it not from me. Surely Jove has
granted you the prayer you made him, when you lifted up your hands
and besought him that the Achaeans might all of them be pent up at
their ships, and rue it bitterly in that you were no longer with them."

Achilles groaned and answered, "Mother, Olympian Jove has indeed vouchsafed
me the fulfilment of my prayer, but what boots it to me, seeing that
my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen- he whom I valued more than all
others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him; aye,
and Hector when he had killed him stripped the wondrous armour, so
glorious to behold, which the gods gave to Peleus when they laid you
in the couch of a mortal man. Would that you were still dwelling among
the immortal sea-nymphs, and that Peleus had taken to himself some
mortal bride. For now you shall have grief infinite by reason of the
death of that son whom you can never welcome home- nay, I will not
live nor go about among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and
thus pay me for having slain Patroclus son of Menoetius."

Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand-
for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector."

Then said Achilles in his great grief, "I would die here and now,
in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home,
and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is
there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have brought
no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades of whom so
many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by my ships a bootless
burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have no peer among the Achaeans,
though in council there are better than I. Therefore, perish strife
both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous
man will harden his heart- which rises up in the soul of a man like
smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey. Even
so has Agamemnon angered me. And yet- so be it, for it is over; I
will force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will
pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will then
abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to send it.
Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove- even he could not escape
the hand of death, but fate and Juno's fierce anger laid him low,
as I too shall lie when I am dead if a like doom awaits me. Till then
I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and Dardanian women wring tears
from their tender cheeks with both their hands in the grievousness
of their great sorrow; thus shall they know that he who has held aloof
so long will hold aloof no longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in
the love you bear me, for you shall not move me."

Then silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, what you have said is
true. It is well to save your comrades from destruction, but your
armour is in the hands of the Trojans; Hector bears it in triumph
upon his own shoulders. Full well I know that his vaunt shall not
be lasting, for his end is close at hand; go not, however, into the
press of battle till you see me return hither; to-morrow at break
of day I shall be here, and will bring you goodly armour from King
Vulcan."

On this she left her brave son, and as she turned away she said to
the sea-nymphs her sisters, "Dive into the bosom of the sea and go
to the house of the old sea-god my father. Tell him everything; as
for me, I will go to the cunning workman Vulcan on high Olympus, and
ask him to provide my son with a suit of splendid armour."

When she had so said, they dived forthwith beneath the waves, while
silver-footed Thetis went her way that she might bring the armour
for her son.

Thus, then, did her feet bear the goddess to Olympus, and meanwhile
the Achaeans were flying with loud cries before murderous Hector till
they reached the ships and the Hellespont, and they could not draw
the body of Mars's servant Patroclus out of reach of the weapons that
were showered upon him, for Hector son of Priam with his host and
horsemen had again caught up to him like the flame of a fiery furnace;
thrice did brave Hector seize him by the feet, striving with might
and main to draw him away and calling loudly on the Trojans, and thrice
did the two Ajaxes, clothed in valour as with a garment, beat him
from off the body; but all undaunted he would now charge into the
thick of the fight, and now again he would stand still and cry aloud,
but he would give no ground. As upland shepherds that cannot chase
some famished lion from a carcase, even so could not the two Ajaxes
scare Hector son of Priam from the body of Patroclus.

And now he would even have dragged it off and have won imperishable
glory, had not Iris fleet as the wind, winged her way as messenger
from Olympus to the son of Peleus and bidden him arm. She came secretly
without the knowledge of Jove and of the other gods, for Juno sent
her, and when she had got close to him she said, "Up, son of Peleus,
mightiest of all mankind; rescue Patroclus about whom this fearful
fight is now raging by the ships. Men are killing one another, the
Danaans in defence of the dead body, while the Trojans are trying
to hale it away, and take it to wind Ilius: Hector is the most furious
of them all; he is for cutting the head from the body and fixing it
on the stakes of the wall. Up, then, and bide here no longer; shrink
from the thought that Patroclus may become meat for the dogs of Troy.
Shame on you, should his body suffer any kind of outrage."

And Achilles said, "Iris, which of the gods was it that sent you to
me?"

Iris answered, "It was Juno the royal spouse of Jove, but the son
of Saturn does not know of my coming, nor yet does any other of the
immortals who dwell on the snowy summits of Olympus."

Then fleet Achilles answered her saying, "How can I go up into the
battle? They have my armour. My mother forbade me to arm till I should
see her come, for she promised to bring me goodly armour from Vulcan;
I know no man whose arms I can put on, save only the shield of Ajax
son of Telamon, and he surely must be fighting in the front rank and
wielding his spear about the body of dead Patroclus."

Iris said, 'We know that your armour has been taken, but go as you
are; go to the deep trench and show yourelf before the Trojans, that
they may fear you and cease fighting. Thus will the fainting sons
of the Achaeans gain some brief breathing-time, which in battle may
hardly be."

Iris left him when she had so spoken. But Achilles dear to Jove arose,
and Minerva flung her tasselled aegis round his strong shoulders;
she crowned his head with a halo of golden cloud from which she kindled
a glow of gleaming fire. As the smoke that goes up into heaven from
some city that is being beleaguered on an island far out at sea- all
day long do men sally from the city and fight their hardest, and at
the going down of the sun the line of beacon-fires blazes forth, flaring
high for those that dwell near them to behold, if so be that they
may come with their ships and succour them- even so did the light
flare from the head of Achilles, as he stood by the trench, going
beyond the wall- but he aid not join the Achaeans for he heeded the
charge which his mother laid upon him.

There did he stand and shout aloud. Minerva also raised her voice
from afar, and spread terror unspeakable among the Trojans. Ringing
as the note of a trumpet that sounds alarm then the foe is at the
gates of a city, even so brazen was the voice of the son of Aeacus,
and when the Trojans heard its clarion tones they were dismayed; the
horses turned back with their chariots for they boded mischief, and
their drivers were awe-struck by the steady flame which the grey-eyed
goddess had kindled above the head of the great son of Peleus.

Thrice did Achilles raise his loud cry as he stood by the trench,
and thrice were the Trojans and their brave allies thrown into confusion;
whereon twelve of their noblest champions fell beneath the wheels
of their chariots and perished by their own spears. The Achaeans to
their great joy then drew Patroclus out of reach of the weapons, and
laid him on a litter: his comrades stood mourning round him, and among
them fleet Achilles who wept bitterly as he saw his true comrade lying
dead upon his bier. He had sent him out with horses and chariots into
battle, but his return he was not to welcome.

Then Juno sent the busy sun, loth though he was, into the waters of
Oceanus; so he set, and the Achaeans had rest from the tug and turmoil
of war.

Now the Trojans when they had come out of the fight, unyoked their
horses and gathered in assembly before preparing their supper. They
kept their feet, nor would any dare to sit down, for fear had fallen
upon them all because Achilles had shown himself after having held
aloof so long from battle. Polydamas son of Panthous was first to
speak, a man of judgement, who alone among them could look both before
and after. He was comrade to Hector, and they had been born upon the
same night; with all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed
them thus:-

"Look to it well, my friends; I would urge you to go back now to your
city and not wait here by the ships till morning, for we are far from
our walls. So long as this man was at enmity with Agamemnon the Achaeans
were easier to deal with, and I would have gladly camped by the ships
in the hope of taking them; but now I go in great fear of the fleet
son of Peleus; he is so daring that he will never bide here on the
plain whereon the Trojans and Achaeans fight with equal valour, but
he will try to storm our city and carry off our women. Do then as
I say, and let us retreat. For this is what will happen. The darkness
of night will for a time stay the son of Peleus, but if he find us
here in the morning when he sallies forth in full armour, we shall
have knowledge of him in good earnest. Glad indeed will he be who
can escape and get back to Ilius, and many a Trojan will become meat
for dogs and vultures may I never live to hear it. If we do as I say,
little though we may like it, we shall have strength in counsel during
the night, and the great gates with the doors that close them will
protect the city. At dawn we can arm and take our stand on the walls;
he will then rue it if he sallies from the ships to fight us. He will
go back when he has given his horses their fill of being driven all
whithers under our walls, and will be in no mind to try and force
his way into the city. Neither will he ever sack it, dogs shall devour
him ere he do so."

Hector looked fiercely at him and answered, "Polydamas, your words
are not to my liking in that you bid us go back and be pent within
the city. Have you not had enough of being cooped up behind walls?
In the old-days the city of Priam was famous the whole world over
for its wealth of gold and bronze, but our treasures are wasted out
of our houses, and much goods have been sold away to Phrygia and fair
Meonia, for the hand of Jove has been laid heavily upon us. Now, therefore,
that the son of scheming Saturn has vouchsafed me to win glory here
and to hem the Achaeans in at their ships, prate no more in this fool's
wise among the people. You will have no man with you; it shall not
be; do all of you as I now say;- take your suppers in your companies
throughout the host, and keep your watches and be wakeful every man
of you. If any Trojan is uneasy about his possessions, let him gather
them and give them out among the people. Better let these, rather
than the Achaeans, have them. At daybreak we will arm and fight about
the ships; granted that Achilles has again come forward to defend
them, let it be as he will, but it shall go hard with him. I shall
not shun him, but will fight him, to fall or conquer. The god of war
deals out like measure to all, and the slayer may yet be slain."

Thus spoke Hector; and the Trojans, fools that they were, shouted
in applause, for Pallas Minerva had robbed them of their understanding.
They gave ear to Hector with his evil counsel, but the wise words
of Polydamas no man would heed. They took their supper throughout
the host, and meanwhile through the whole night the Achaeans mourned
Patroclus, and the son of Peleus led them in their lament. He laid
his murderous hands upon the breast of his comrade, groaning again
and again as a bearded lion when a man who was chasing deer has robbed
him of his young in some dense forest; when the lion comes back he
is furious, and searches dingle and dell to track the hunter if he
can find him, for he is mad with rage- even so with many a sigh did
Achilles speak among the Myrmidons saying, "Alas! vain were the words
with which I cheered the hero Menoetius in his own house; I said that
I would bring his brave son back again to Opoeis after he had sacked
Ilius and taken his share of the spoils- but Jove does not give all
men their heart's desire. The same soil shall be reddened here at
Troy by the blood of us both, for I too shall never be welcomed home
by the old knight Peleus, nor by my mother Thetis, but even in this
place shall the earth cover me. Nevertheless, O Patroclus, now that
I am left behind you, I will not bury you, till I have brought hither
the head and armour of mighty Hector who has slain you. Twelve noble
sons of Trojans will I behead before your bier to avenge you; till
I have done so you shall lie as you are by the ships, and fair women
of Troy and Dardanus, whom we have taken with spear and strength of
arm when we sacked men's goodly cities, shall weep over you both night
and day."

Then Achilles told his men to set a large tripod upon the fire that
they might wash the clotted gore from off Patroclus. Thereon they
set a tripod full of bath water on to a clear fire: they threw sticks
on to it to make it blaze, and the water became hot as the flame played
about the belly of the tripod. When the water in the cauldron was
boiling they washed the body, anointed it with oil, and closed its
wounds with ointment that had been kept nine years. Then they laid
it on a bier and covered it with a linen cloth from head to foot,
and over this they laid a fair white robe. Thus all night long did
the Myrmidons gather round Achilles to mourn Patroclus.

Then Jove said to Juno his sister-wife, "So, Queen Juno, you have
gained your end, and have roused fleet Achilles. One would think that
the Achaeans were of your own flesh and blood."

And Juno answered, "Dread son of Saturn, why should you say this thing?
May not a man though he be only mortal and knows less than we do,
do what he can for another person? And shall not I- foremost of all
goddesses both by descent and as wife to you who reign in heaven-
devise evil for the Trojans if I am angry with them?"

Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Thetis came to the house of Vulcan,
imperishable, star-bespangled, fairest of the abodes in heaven, a
house of bronze wrought by the lame god's own hands. She found him
busy with his bellows, sweating and hard at work, for he was making
twenty tripods that were to stand by the wall of his house, and he
set wheels of gold under them all that they might go of their own
selves to the assemblies of the gods, and come back again- marvels
indeed to see. They were finished all but the ears of cunning workmanship
which yet remained to be fixed to them: these he was now fixing, and
he was hammering at the rivets. While he was thus at work silver-footed
Thetis came to the house. Charis, of graceful head-dress, wife to
the far-famed lame god, came towards her as soon as she saw her, and
took her hand in her own, saying, "Why have you come to our house,
Thetis, honoured and ever welcome- for you do not visit us often?
Come inside and let me set refreshment before you."

The goddess led the way as she spoke, and bade Thetis sit on a richly
decorated seat inlaid with silver; there was a footstool also under
her feet. Then she called Vulcan and said, "Vulcan, come here, Thetis
wants you"; and the far-famed lame god answered, "Then it is indeed
an august and honoured goddess who has come here; she it was that
took care of me when I was suffering from the heavy fall which I had
through my cruel mother's anger- for she would have got rid of me
because I was lame. It would have gone hardly with me had not Eurynome,
daughter of the ever-encircling waters of Oceanus, and Thetis, taken
me to their bosom. Nine years did I stay with them, and many beautiful
works in bronze, brooches, spiral armlets, cups, and chains, did I
make for them in their cave, with the roaring waters of Oceanus foaming
as they rushed ever past it; and no one knew, neither of gods nor
men, save only Thetis and Eurynome who took care of me. If, then,
Thetis has come to my house I must make her due requital for having
saved me; entertain her, therefore, with all hospitality, while I
put by my bellows and all my tools."

On this the mighty monster hobbled off from his anvil, his thin legs
plying lustily under him. He set the bellows away from the fire, and
gathered his tools into a silver chest. Then he took a sponge and
washed his face and hands, his shaggy chest and brawny neck; he donned
his shirt, grasped his strong staff, and limped towards the door.
There were golden handmaids also who worked for him, and were like
real young women, with sense and reason, voice also and strength,
and all the learning of the immortals; these busied themselves as
the king bade them, while he drew near to Thetis, seated her upon
a goodly seat, and took her hand in his own, saying, "Why have you
come to our house, Thetis honoured and ever welcome- for you do not
visit us often? Say what you want, and I will do it for you at once
if I can, and if it can be done at all."

Thetis wept and answered, "Vulcan, is there another goddess in Olympus
whom the son of Saturn has been pleased to try with so much affliction
as he has me? Me alone of the marine goddesses did he make subject
to a mortal husband, Peleus son of Aeacus, and sorely against my will
did I submit to the embraces of one who was but mortal, and who now
stays at home worn out with age. Neither is this all. Heaven vouchsafed
me a son, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling. I tended
him as a plant in a goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilius
to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house
of Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun,
he is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him; King
Agamemnon has made him give up the maiden whom the sons of the Achaeans
had awarded him, and he wastes with sorrow for her sake. Then the
Trojans hemmed the Achaeans in at their ships' sterns and would not
let them come forth; the elders, therefore, of the Argives besought
Achilles and offered him great treasure, whereon he refused to bring
deliverance to them himself, but put his own armour on Patroclus and
sent him into the fight with much people after him. All day long they
fought by the Scaean gates and would have taken the city there and
then, had not Apollo vouchsafed glory to Hector and slain the valiant
son of Menoetius after he had done the Trojans much evil. Therefore
I am suppliant at your knees if haply you may be pleased to provide
my son, whose end is near at hand, with helmet and shield, with goodly
greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and with a breastplate, for he lost
his own when his true comrade fell at the hands of the Trojans, and
he now lies stretched on earth in the bitterness of his soul."

And Vulcan answered, "Take heart, and be no more disquieted about
this matter; would that I could hide him from death's sight when his
hour is come, so surely as I can find him armour that shall amaze
the eyes of all who behold it."

When he had so said he left her and went to his bellows, turning them
towards the fire and bidding them do their office. Twenty bellows
blew upon the melting-pots, and they blew blasts of every kind, some
fierce to help him when he had need of them, and others less strong
as Vulcan willed it in the course of his work. He threw tough copper
into the fire, and tin, with silver and gold; he set his great anvil
on its block, and with one hand grasped his mighty hammer while he
took the tongs in the other.

First he shaped the shield so great and strong, adorning it all over
and binding it round with a gleaming circuit in three layers; and
the baldric was made of silver. He made the shield in five thicknesses,
and with many a wonder did his cunning hand enrich it.

He wrought the earth, the heavens, and the sea; the moon also at her
full and the untiring sun, with all the signs that glorify the face
of heaven- the Pleiads, the Hyads, huge Orion, and the Bear, which
men also call the Wain and which turns round ever in one place, facing.
Orion, and alone never dips into the stream of Oceanus.

He wrought also two cities, fair to see and busy with the hum of men.
In the one were weddings and wedding-feasts, and they were going about
the city with brides whom they were escorting by torchlight from their
chambers. Loud rose the cry of Hymen, and the youths danced to the
music of flute and lyre, while the women stood each at her house door
to see them.

Meanwhile the people were gathered in assembly, for there was a quarrel,
and two men were wrangling about the blood-money for a man who had
been killed, the one saying before the people that he had paid damages
in full, and the other that he had not been paid. Each was trying
to make his own case good, and the people took sides, each man backing
the side that he had taken; but the heralds kept them back, and the
elders sate on their seats of stone in a solemn circle, holding the
staves which the heralds had put into their hands. Then they rose
and each in his turn gave judgement, and there were two talents laid
down, to be given to him whose judgement should be deemed the fairest.

About the other city there lay encamped two hosts in gleaming armour,
and they were divided whether to sack it, or to spare it and accept
the half of what it contained. But the men of the city would not yet
consent, and armed themselves for a surprise; their wives and little
children kept guard upon the walls, and with them were the men who
were past fighting through age; but the others sallied forth with
Mars and Pallas Minerva at their head- both of them wrought in gold
and clad in golden raiment, great and fair with their armour as befitting
gods, while they that followed were smaller. When they reached the
place where they would lay their ambush, it was on a riverbed to which
live stock of all kinds would come from far and near to water; here,
then, they lay concealed, clad in full armour. Some way off them there
were two scouts who were on the look-out for the coming of sheep or
cattle, which presently came, followed by two shepherds who were playing
on their pipes, and had not so much as a thought of danger. When those
who were in ambush saw this, they cut off the flocks and herds and
killed the shepherds. Meanwhile the besiegers, when they heard much
noise among the cattle as they sat in council, sprang to their horses,
and made with all speed towards them; when they reached them they
set battle in array by the banks of the river, and the hosts aimed
their bronze-shod spears at one another. With them were Strife and
Riot, and fell Fate who was dragging three men after her, one with
a fresh wound, and the other unwounded, while the third was dead,
and she was dragging him along by his heel: and her robe was bedrabbled
in men's blood. They went in and out with one another and fought as
though they were living people haling away one another's dead.

He wrought also a fair fallow field, large and thrice ploughed already.
Many men were working at the plough within it, turning their oxen
to and fro, furrow after furrow. Each time that they turned on reaching
the headland a man would come up to them and give them a cup of wine,
and they would go back to their furrows looking forward to the time
when they should again reach the headland. The part that they had
ploughed was dark behind them, so that the field, though it was of
gold, still looked as if it were being ploughed- very curious to behold.

He wrought also a field of harvest corn, and the reapers were reaping
with sharp sickles in their hands. Swathe after swathe fell to the
ground in a straight line behind them, and the binders bound them
in bands of twisted straw. There were three binders, and behind them
there were boys who gathered the cut corn in armfuls and kept on bringing
them to be bound: among them all the owner of the land stood by in
silence and was glad. The servants were getting a meal ready under
an oak, for they had sacrificed a great ox, and were busy cutting
him up, while the women were making a porridge of much white barley
for the labourers' dinner.

He wrought also a vineyard, golden and fair to see, and the vines
were loaded with grapes. The bunches overhead were black, but the
vines were trained on poles of silver. He ran a ditch of dark metal
all round it, and fenced it with a fence of tin; there was only one
path to it, and by this the vintagers went when they would gather
the vintage. Youths and maidens all blithe and full of glee, carried
the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with them there went a
boy who made sweet music with his lyre, and sang the Linus-song with
his clear boyish voice.

He wrought also a herd of homed cattle. He made the cows of gold and
tin, and they lowed as they came full speed out of the yards to go
and feed among the waving reeds that grow by the banks of the river.
Along with the cattle there went four shepherds, all of them in gold,
and their nine fleet dogs went with them. Two terrible lions had fastened
on a bellowing bull that was with the foremost cows, and bellow as
he might they haled him, while the dogs and men gave chase: the lions
tore through the bull's thick hide and were gorging on his blood and
bowels, but the herdsmen were afraid to do anything, and only hounded
on their dogs; the dogs dared not fasten on the lions but stood by
barking and keeping out of harm's way.

The god wrought also a pasture in a fair mountain dell, and large
flock of sheep, with a homestead and huts, and sheltered sheepfolds.

Furthermore he wrought a green, like that which Daedalus once made
in Cnossus for lovely Ariadne. Hereon there danced youths and maidens
whom all would woo, with their hands on one another's wrists. The
maidens wore robes of light linen, and the youths well woven shirts
that were slightly oiled. The girls were crowned with garlands, while
the young men had daggers of gold that hung by silver baldrics; sometimes
they would dance deftly in a ring with merry twinkling feet, as it
were a potter sitting at his work and making trial of his wheel to
see whether it will run, and sometimes they would go all in line with
one another, and much people was gathered joyously about the green.
There was a bard also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two
tumblers went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck
up with his tune.

All round the outermost rim of the shield he set the mighty stream
of the river Oceanus.

Then when he had fashioned the shield so great and strong, he made
a breastplate also that shone brighter than fire. He made helmet,
close fitting to the brow, and richly worked, with a golden plume
overhanging it; and he made greaves also of beaten tin.

Lastly, when the famed lame god had made all the armour, he took it
and set it before the mother of Achilles; whereon she darted like
a falcon from the snowy summits of Olympus and bore away the gleaming
armour from the house of Vulcan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XIX

Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hasting from the streams of
Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the
ships with the armour that the god had given her. She found her son
fallen about the body of Patroclus and weeping bitterly. Many also
of his followers were weeping round him, but when the goddess came
among them she clasped his hand in her own, saying, "My son, grieve
as we may we must let this man lie, for it is by heaven's will that
he has fallen; now, therefore, accept from Vulcan this rich and goodly
armour, which no man has ever yet borne upon his shoulders."

As she spoke she set the armour before Achilles, and it rang out bravely
as she did so. The Myrmidons were struck with awe, and none dared
look full at it, for they were afraid; but Achilles was roused to
still greater fury, and his eyes gleamed with a fierce light, for
he was glad when he handled the splendid present which the god had
made him. Then, as soon as he had satisfied himself with looking at
it, he said to his mother, "Mother, the god has given me armour, meet
handiwork for an immortal and such as no living could have fashioned;
I will now arm, but I much fear that flies will settle upon the son
of Menoetius and breed worms about his wounds, so that his body, now
he is dead, will be disfigured and the flesh will rot."

Silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, be not disquieted about this
matter. I will find means to protect him from the swarms of noisome
flies that prey on the bodies of men who have been killed in battle.
He may lie for a whole year, and his flesh shall still be as sound
as ever, or even sounder. Call, therefore, the Achaean heroes in assembly;
unsay your anger against Agamemnon; arm at once, and fight with might
and main."

As she spoke she put strength and courage into his heart, and she
then dropped ambrosia and red nectar into the wounds of Patroclus,
that his body might suffer no change.

Then Achilles went out upon the seashore, and with a loud cry called
on the Achaean heroes. On this even those who as yet had stayed always
at the ships, the pilots and helmsmen, and even the stewards who were
about the ships and served out rations, all came to the place of assembly
because Achilles had shown himself after having held aloof so long
from fighting. Two sons of Mars, Ulysses and the son of Tydeus, came
limping, for their wounds still pained them; nevertheless they came,
and took their seats in the front row of the assembly. Last of all
came Agamemnon, king of men, he too wounded, for Coon son of Antenor
had struck him with a spear in battle.

When the Achaeans were got together Achilles rose and said, "Son of
Atreus, surely it would have been better alike for both you and me,
when we two were in such high anger about Briseis, surely it would
have been better, had Diana's arrow slain her at the ships on the
day when I took her after having sacked Lyrnessus. For so, many an
Achaean the less would have bitten dust before the foe in the days
of my anger. It has been well for Hector and the Trojans, but the
Achaeans will long indeed remember our quarrel. Now, however, let
it be, for it is over. If we have been angry, necessity has schooled
our anger. I put it from me: I dare not nurse it for ever; therefore,
bid the Achaeans arm forthwith that I may go out against the Trojans,
and learn whether they will be in a mind to sleep by the ships or
no. Glad, I ween, will he be to rest his knees who may fly my spear
when I wield it."

Thus did he speak, and the Achaeans rejoiced in that he had put away
his anger.

Then Agamemnon spoke, rising in his place, and not going into the
middle of the assembly. "Danaan heroes," said he, "servants of Mars,
it is well to listen when a man stands up to speak, and it is not
seemly to interrupt him, or it will go hard even with a practised
speaker. Who can either hear or speak in an uproar? Even the finest
orator will be disconcerted by it. I will expound to the son of Peleus,
and do you other Achaeans heed me and mark me well. Often have the
Achaeans spoken to me of this matter and upbraided me, but it was
not I that did it: Jove, and Fate, and Erinys that walks in darkness
struck me mad when we were assembled on the day that I took from Achilles
the meed that had been awarded to him. What could I do? All things
are in the hand of heaven, and Folly, eldest of Jove's daughters,
shuts men's eyes to their destruction. She walks delicately, not on
the solid earth, but hovers over the heads of men to make them stumble
or to ensnare them.

"Time was when she fooled Jove himself, who they say is greatest whether
of gods or men; for Juno, woman though she was, beguiled him on the
day when Alcmena was to bring forth mighty Hercules in the fair city
of Thebes. He told it out among the gods saying, 'Hear me all gods
and goddesses, that I may speak even as I am minded; this day shall
an Ilithuia, helper of women who are in labour, bring a man child
into the world who shall be lord over all that dwell about him who
are of my blood and lineage.' Then said Juno all crafty and full of
guile, 'You will play false, and will not hold to your word. Swear
me, O Olympian, swear me a great oath, that he who shall this day
fall between the feet of a woman, shall be lord over all that dwell
about him who are of your blood and lineage.'

"Thus she spoke, and Jove suspected her not, but swore the great oath,
to his much ruing thereafter. For Juno darted down from the high summit
of Olympus, and went in haste to Achaean Argos where she knew that
the noble wife of Sthenelus son of Perseus then was. She being with
child and in her seventh month, Juno brought the child to birth though
there was a month still wanting, but she stayed the offspring of Alcmena,
and kept back the Ilithuiae. Then she went to tell Jove the son of
Saturn, and said, 'Father Jove, lord of the lightning- I have a word
for your ear. There is a fine child born this day, Eurystheus, son
to Sthenelus the son of Perseus; he is of your lineage; it is well,
therefore, that he should reign over the Argives.'

"On this Jove was stung to the very quick, and in his rage he caught
Folly by the hair, and swore a great oath that never should she again
invade starry heaven and Olympus, for she was the bane of all. Then
he whirled her round with a twist of his hand, and flung her down
from heaven so that she fell on to the fields of mortal men; and he
was ever angry with her when he saw his son groaning under the cruel
labours that Eurystheus laid upon him. Even so did I grieve when mighty
Hector was killing the Argives at their ships, and all the time I
kept thinking of Folly who had so baned me. I was blind, and Jove
robbed me of my reason; I will now make atonement, and will add much
treasure by way of amends. Go, therefore, into battle, you and your
people with you. I will give you all that Ulysses offered you yesterday
in your tents: or if it so please you, wait, though you would fain
fight at once, and my squires shall bring the gifts from my ship,
that you may see whether what I give you is enough."

And Achilles answered, "Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, you
can give such gifts as you think proper, or you can withhold them:
it is in your own hands. Let us now set battle in array; it is not
well to tarry talking about trifles, for there is a deed which is
as yet to do. Achilles shall again be seen fighting among the foremost,
and laying low the ranks of the Trojans: bear this in mind each one
of you when he is fighting."

Then Ulysses said, "Achilles, godlike and brave, send not the Achaeans
thus against Ilius to fight the Trojans fasting, for the battle will
be no brief one, when it is once begun, and heaven has filled both
sides with fury; bid them first take food both bread and wine by the
ships, for in this there is strength and stay. No man can do battle
the livelong day to the going down of the sun if he is without food;
however much he may want to fight his strength will fail him before
he knows it; hunger and thirst will find him out, and his limbs will
grow weary under him. But a man can fight all day if he is full fed
with meat and wine; his heart beats high, and his strength will stay
till he has routed all his foes; therefore, send the people away and
bid them prepare their meal; King Agamemnon will bring out the gifts
in presence of the assembly, that all may see them and you may be
satisfied. Moreover let him swear an oath before the Argives that
he has never gone up into the couch of Briseis, nor been with her
after the manner of men and women; and do you, too, show yourself
of a gracious mind; let Agamemnon entertain you in his tents with
a feast of reconciliation, that so you may have had your dues in full.
As for you, son of Atreus, treat people more righteously in future;
it is no disgrace even to a king that he should make amends if he
was wrong in the first instance."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Son of Laertes, your words please me
well, for throughout you have spoken wisely. I will swear as you would
have me do; I do so of my own free will, neither shall I take the
name of heaven in vain. Let, then, Achilles wait, though he would
fain fight at once, and do you others wait also, till the gifts come
from my tent and we ratify the oath with sacrifice. Thus, then, do
I charge you: take some noble young Achaeans with you, and bring from
my tents the gifts that I promised yesterday to Achilles, and bring
the women also; furthermore let Talthybius find me a boar from those
that are with the host, and make it ready for sacrifice to Jove and
to the sun."

Then said Achilles, "Son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, see to
these matters at some other season, when there is breathing time and
when I am calmer. Would you have men eat while the bodies of those
whom Hector son of Priam slew are still lying mangled upon the plain?
Let the sons of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without food,
till we have avenged them; afterwards at the going down of the sun
let them eat their fill. As for me, Patroclus is lying dead in my
tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet to the door, and his comrades
are mourning round him. Therefore I can take thought of nothing save
only slaughter and blood and the rattle in the throat of the dying."

Ulysses answered, "Achilles, son of Peleus, mightiest of all the Achaeans,
in battle you are better than I, and that more than a little, but
in counsel I am much before you, for I am older and of greater knowledge.
Therefore be patient under my words. Fighting is a thing of which
men soon surfeit, and when Jove, who is wars steward, weighs the upshot,
it may well prove that the straw which our sickles have reaped is
far heavier than the grain. It may not be that the Achaeans should
mourn the dead with their bellies; day by day men fall thick and threefold
continually; when should we have respite from our sorrow? Let us mourn
our dead for a day and bury them out of sight and mind, but let those
of us who are left eat and drink that we may arm and fight our foes
more fiercely. In that hour let no man hold back, waiting for a second
summons; such summons shall bode ill for him who is found lagging
behind at our ships; let us rather sally as one man and loose the
fury of war upon the Trojans."

When he had thus spoken he took with him the sons of Nestor, with
Meges son of Phyleus, Thoas, Meriones, Lycomedes son of Creontes,
and Melanippus, and went to the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus. The
word was not sooner said than the deed was done: they brought out
the seven tripods which Agamemnon had promised, with the twenty metal
cauldrons and the twelve horses; they also brought the women skilled
in useful arts, seven in number, with Briseis, which made eight. Ulysses
weighed out the ten talents of gold and then led the way back, while
the young Achaeans brought the rest of the gifts, and laid them in
the middle of the assembly.

Agamemnon then rose, and Talthybius whose voice was like that of a
god came to him with the boar. The son of Atreus drew the knife which
he wore by the scabbard of his mighty sword, and began by cutting
off some bristles from the boar, lifting up his hands in prayer as
he did so. The other Achaeans sat where they were all silent and orderly
to hear the king, and Agamemnon looked into the vault of heaven and
prayed saying, "I call Jove the first and mightiest of all gods to
witness, I call also Earth and Sun and the Erinyes who dwell below
and take vengeance on him who shall swear falsely, that I have laid
no hand upon the girl Briseis, neither to take her to my bed nor otherwise,
but that she has remained in my tents inviolate. If I swear falsely
may heaven visit me with all the penalties which it metes out to those
who perjure themselves."

He cut the boar's throat as he spoke, whereon Talthybius whirled it
round his head, and flung it into the wide sea to feed the fishes.
Then Achilles also rose and said to the Argives, "Father Jove, of
a truth you blind men's eyes and bane them. The son of Atreus had
not else stirred me to so fierce an anger, nor so stubbornly taken
Briseis from me against my will. Surely Jove must have counselled
the destruction of many an Argive. Go, now, and take your food that
we may begin fighting."

On this he broke up the assembly, and every man went back to his own
ship. The Myrmidons attended to the presents and took them away to
the ship of Achilles. They placed them in his tents, while the stable-men
drove the horses in among the others.

Briseis, fair as Venus, when she saw the mangled body of Patroclus,
flung herself upon it and cried aloud, tearing her breast, her neck,
and her lovely face with both her hands. Beautiful as a goddess she
wept and said, "Patroclus, dearest friend, when I went hence I left
you living; I return, O prince, to find you dead; thus do fresh sorrows
multiply upon me one after the other. I saw him to whom my father
and mother married me, cut down before our city, and my three own
dear brothers perished with him on the self-same day; but you, Patroclus,
even when Achilles slew my husband and sacked the city of noble Mynes,
told me that I was not to weep, for you said you would make Achilles
marry me, and take me back with him to Phthia, we should have a wedding
feast among the Myrmidons. You were always kind to me and I shall
never cease to grieve for you."

She wept as she spoke, and the women joined in her lament-making as
though their tears were for Patroclus, but in truth each was weeping
for her own sorrows. The elders of the Achaeans gathered round Achilles
and prayed him to take food, but he groaned and would not do so. "I
pray you," said he, "if any comrade will hear me, bid me neither eat
nor drink, for I am in great heaviness, and will stay fasting even
to the going down of the sun."

On this he sent the other princes away, save only the two sons of
Atreus and Ulysses, Nestor, Idomeneus, and the knight Phoenix, who
stayed behind and tried to comfort him in the bitterness of his sorrow:
but he would not be comforted till he should have flung himself into
the jaws of battle, and he fetched sigh on sigh, thinking ever of
Patroclus. Then he said-

"Hapless and dearest comrade, you it was who would get a good dinner
ready for me at once and without delay when the Achaeans were hasting
to fight the Trojans; now, therefore, though I have meat and drink
in my tents, yet will I fast for sorrow. Grief greater than this I
could not know, not even though I were to hear of the death of my
father, who is now in Phthia weeping for the loss of me his son, who
am here fighting the Trojans in a strange land for the accursed sake
of Helen, nor yet though I should hear that my son is no more- he
who is being brought up in Scyros- if indeed Neoptolemus is still
living. Till now I made sure that I alone was to fall here at Troy
away from Argos, while you were to return to Phthia, bring back my
son with you in your own ship, and show him all my property, my bondsmen,
and the greatness of my house- for Peleus must surely be either dead,
or what little life remains to him is oppressed alike with the infirmities
of age and ever present fear lest he should hear the sad tidings of
my death."

He wept as he spoke, and the elders sighed in concert as each thought
on what he had left at home behind him. The son of Saturn looked down
with pity upon them, and said presently to Minerva, "My child, you
have quite deserted your hero; is he then gone so clean out of your
recollection? There he sits by the ships all desolate for the loss
of his dear comrade, and though the others are gone to their dinner
he will neither eat nor drink. Go then and drop nectar and ambrosia
into his breast, that he may know no hunger."

With these words he urged Minerva, who was already of the same mind.
She darted down from heaven into the air like some falcon sailing
on his broad wings and screaming. Meanwhile the Achaeans were arming
throughout the host, and when Minerva had dropped nectar and ambrosia
into Achilles so that no cruel hunger should cause his limbs to fail
him, she went back to the house of her mighty father. Thick as the
chill snow-flakes shed from the hand of Jove and borne on the keen
blasts of the north wind, even so thick did the gleaming helmets,
the bossed shields, the strongly plated breastplates, and the ashen
spears stream from the ships. The sheen pierced the sky, the whole
land was radiant with their flashing armour, and the sound of the
tramp of their treading rose from under their feet. In the midst of
them all Achilles put on his armour; he gnashed his teeth, his eyes
gleamed like fire, for his grief was greater than he could bear. Thus,
then, full of fury against the Trojans, did he don the gift of the
god, the armour that Vulcan had made him.

First he put on the goodly greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and next
he did on the breastplate about his chest. He slung the silver-studded
sword of bronze about his shoulders, and then took up the shield so
great and strong that shone afar with a splendour as of the moon.
As the light seen by sailors from out at sea, when men have lit a
fire in their homestead high up among the mountains, but the sailors
are carried out to sea by wind and storm far from the haven where
they would be- even so did the gleam of Achilles' wondrous shield
strike up into the heavens. He lifted the redoubtable helmet, and
set it upon his head, from whence it shone like a star, and the golden
plumes which Vulcan had set thick about the ridge of the helmet, waved
all around it. Then Achilles made trial of himself in his armour to
see whether it fitted him, so that his limbs could play freely under
it, and it seemed to buoy him up as though it had been wings.

He also drew his father's spear out of the spear-stand, a spear so
great and heavy and strong that none of the Achaeans save only Achilles
had strength to wield it; this was the spear of Pelian ash from the
topmost ridges of Mt. Pelion, which Chiron had once given to Peleus,
fraught with the death of heroes. Automedon and Alcimus busied themselves
with the harnessing of his horses; they made the bands fast about
them, and put the bit in their mouths, drawing the reins back towards
the chariot. Automedon, whip in hand, sprang up behind the horses,
and after him Achilles mounted in full armour, resplendent as the
sun-god Hyperion. Then with a loud voice he chided with his father's
horses saying, "Xanthus and Balius, famed offspring of Podarge- this
time when we have done fighting be sure and bring your driver safely
back to the host of the Achaeans, and do not leave him dead on the
plain as you did Patroclus."

Then fleet Xanthus answered under the yoke- for white-armed Juno had
endowed him with human speech- and he bowed his head till his mane
touched the ground as it hung down from under the yoke-band. "Dread
Achilles," said he, "we will indeed save you now, but the day of your
death is near, and the blame will not be ours, for it will be heaven
and stern fate that will destroy you. Neither was it through any sloth
or slackness on our part that the Trojans stripped Patroclus of his
armour; it was the mighty god whom lovely Leto bore that slew him
as he fought among the foremost, and vouchsafed a triumph to Hector.
We two can fly as swiftly as Zephyrus who they say is fleetest of
all winds; nevertheless it is your doom to fall by the hand of a man
and of a god."

When he had thus said the Erinyes stayed his speech, and Achilles
answered him in great sadness, saying, "Why, O Xanthus, do you thus
foretell my death? You need not do so, for I well know that I am to
fall here, far from my dear father and mother; none the more, however,
shall I stay my hand till I have given the Trojans their fill of fighting."

So saying, with a loud cry he drove his horses to the front.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XX

Thus, then, did the Achaeans arm by their ships round you, O son
of Peleus, who were hungering for battle; while the Trojans over against
them armed upon the rise of the plain.

Meanwhile Jove from the top of many-delled Olympus, bade Themis gather
the gods in council, whereon she went about and called them to the
house of Jove. There was not a river absent except Oceanus, nor a
single one of the nymphs that haunt fair groves, or springs of rivers
and meadows of green grass. When they reached the house of cloud-compelling
Jove, they took their seats in the arcades of polished marble which
Vulcan with his consummate skill had made for father Jove.

In such wise, therefore, did they gather in the house of Jove. Neptune
also, lord of the earthquake, obeyed the call of the goddess, and
came up out of the sea to join them. There, sitting in the midst of
them, he asked what Jove's purpose might be. "Why," said he, "wielder
of the lightning, have you called the gods in council? Are you considering
some matter that concerns the Trojans and Achaeans- for the blaze
of battle is on the point of being kindled between them?"

And Jove answered, "You know my purpose, shaker of earth, and wherefore
I have called you hither. I take thought for them even in their destruction.
For my own part I shall stay here seated on Mt. Olympus and look on
in peace, but do you others go about among Trojans and Achaeans, and
help either side as you may be severally disposed. If Achilles fights
the Trojans without hindrance they will make no stand against him;
they have ever trembled at the sight of him, and now that he is roused
to such fury about his comrade, he will override fate itself and storm
their city."

Thus spoke Jove and gave the word for war, whereon the gods took their
several sides and went into battle. Juno, Pallas Minerva, earth-encircling
Neptune, Mercury bringer of good luck and excellent in all cunning-
all these joined the host that came from the ships; with them also
came Vulcan in all his glory, limping, but yet with his thin legs
plying lustily under him. Mars of gleaming helmet joined the Trojans,
and with him Apollo of locks unshorn, and the archer goddess Diana,
Leto, Xanthus, and laughter-loving Venus.

So long as the gods held themselves aloof from mortal warriors the
Achaeans were triumphant, for Achilles who had long refused to fight
was now with them. There was not a Trojan but his limbs failed him
for fear as he beheld the fleet son of Peleus all glorious in his
armour, and looking like Mars himself. When, however, the Olympians
came to take their part among men, forthwith uprose strong Strife,
rouser of hosts, and Minerva raised her loud voice, now standing by
the deep trench that ran outside the wall, and now shouting with all
her might upon the shore of the sounding sea. Mars also bellowed out
upon the other side, dark as some black thunder-cloud, and called
on the Trojans at the top of his voice, now from the acropolis, and
now speeding up the side of the river Simois till he came to the hill
Callicolone.

Thus did the gods spur on both hosts to fight, and rouse fierce contention
also among themselves. The sire of gods and men thundered from heaven
above, while from beneath Neptune shook the vast earth, and bade the
high hills tremble. The spurs and crests of many-fountained Ida quaked,
as also the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeans. Hades,
king of the realms below, was struck with fear; he sprang panic-stricken
from his throne and cried aloud in terror lest Neptune, lord of the
earthquake, should crack the ground over his head, and lay bare his
mouldy mansions to the sight of mortals and immortals- mansions so
ghastly grim that even the gods shudder to think of them. Such was
the uproar as the gods came together in battle. Apollo with his arrows
took his stand to face King Neptune, while Minerva took hers against
the god of war; the archer-goddess Diana with her golden arrows, sister
of far-darting Apollo, stood to face Juno; Mercury the lusty bringer
of good luck faced Leto, while the mighty eddying river whom men can
Scamander, but gods Xanthus, matched himself against Vulcan.

The gods, then, were thus ranged against one another. But the heart
of Achilles was set on meeting Hector son of Priam, for it was with
his blood that he longed above all things else to glut the stubborn
lord of battle. Meanwhile Apollo set Aeneas on to attack the son of
Peleus, and put courage into his heart, speaking with the voice of
Lycaon son of Priam. In his likeness therefore, he said to Aeneas,
"Aeneas, counsellor of the Trojans, where are now the brave words
with which you vaunted over your wine before the Trojan princes, saying
that you would fight Achilles son of Peleus in single combat?"

And Aeneas answered, "Why do you thus bid me fight the proud son of
Peleus, when I am in no mind to do so? Were I to face him now, it
would not be for the first time. His spear has already put me to Right
from Ida, when he attacked our cattle and sacked Lyrnessus and Pedasus;
Jove indeed saved me in that he vouchsafed me strength to fly, else
had the fallen by the hands of Achilles and Minerva, who went before
him to protect him and urged him to fall upon the Lelegae and Trojans.
No man may fight Achilles, for one of the gods is always with him
as his guardian angel, and even were it not so, his weapon flies ever
straight, and fails not to pierce the flesh of him who is against
him; if heaven would let me fight him on even terms he should not
soon overcome me, though he boasts that he is made of bronze."

Then said King Apollo, son to Jove, "Nay, hero, pray to the ever-living
gods, for men say that you were born of Jove's daughter Venus, whereas
Achilles is son to a goddess of inferior rank. Venus is child to Jove,
while Thetis is but daughter to the old man of the sea. Bring, therefore,
your spear to bear upon him, and let him not scare you with his taunts
and menaces."

As he spoke he put courage into the heart of the shepherd of his people,
and he strode in full armour among the ranks of the foremost fighters.
Nor did the son of Anchises escape the notice of white-armed Juno,
as he went forth into the throng to meet Achilles. She called the
gods about her, and said, "Look to it, you two, Neptune and Minerva,
and consider how this shall be; Phoebus Apollo has been sending Aeneas
clad in full armour to fight Achilles. Shall we turn him back at once,
or shall one of us stand by Achilles and endow him with strength so
that his heart fail not, and he may learn that the chiefs of the immortals
are on his side, while the others who have all along been defending
the Trojans are but vain helpers? Let us all come down from Olympus
and join in the fight, that this day he may take no hurt at the hands
of the Trojans. Hereafter let him suffer whatever fate may have spun
out for him when he was begotten and his mother bore him. If Achilles
be not thus assured by the voice of a god, he may come to fear presently
when one of us meets him in battle, for the gods are terrible if they
are seen face to face."

Neptune lord of the earthquake answered her saying, "Juno, restrain
your fury; it is not well; I am not in favour of forcing the other
gods to fight us, for the advantage is too greatly on our own side;
let us take our places on some hill out of the beaten track, and let
mortals fight it out among themselves. If Mars or Phoebus Apollo begin
fighting, or keep Achilles in check so that he cannot fight, we too,
will at once raise the cry of battle, and in that case they will soon
leave the field and go back vanquished to Olympus among the other
gods."

With these words the dark-haired god led the way to the high earth-barrow
of Hercules, built round solid masonry, and made by the Trojans and
Pallas Minerva for him fly to when the sea-monster was chasing him
from the shore on to the plain. Here Neptune and those that were with
him took their seats, wrapped in a thick cloud of darkness; but the
other gods seated themselves on the brow of Callicolone round you,
O Phoebus, and Mars the waster of cities.

Thus did the gods sit apart and form their plans, but neither side
was willing to begin battle with the other, and Jove from his seat
on high was in command over them all. Meanwhile the whole plain was
alive with men and horses, and blazing with the gleam of armour. The
earth rang again under the tramp of their feet as they rushed towards
each other, and two champions, by far the foremost of them all, met
between the hosts to fight- to wit, Aeneas son of Anchises, and noble
Achilles.

Aeneas was first to stride forward in attack, his doughty helmet tossing
defiance as he came on. He held his strong shield before his breast,
and brandished his bronze spear. The son of Peleus from the other
side sprang forth to meet him, fike some fierce lion that the whole
country-side has met to hunt and kill- at first he bodes no ill, but
when some daring youth has struck him with a spear, he crouches openmouthed,
his jaws foam, he roars with fury, he lashes his tail from side to
side about his ribs and loins, and glares as he springs straight before
him, to find out whether he is to slay, or be slain among the foremost
of his foes- even with such fury did Achilles burn to spring upon
Aeneas.

When they were now close up with one another Achilles was first to
speak. "Aeneas," said he, "why do you stand thus out before the host
to fight me? Is it that you hope to reign over the Trojans in the
seat of Priam? Nay, though you kill me Priam will not hand his kingdom
over to you. He is a man of sound judgement, and he has sons of his
own. Or have the Trojans been allotting you a demesne of passing richness,
fair with orchard lawns and corn lands, if you should slay me? This
you shall hardly do. I have discomfited you once already. Have you
forgotten how when you were alone I chased you from your herds helter-skelter
down the slopes of Ida? You did not turn round to look behind you;
you took refuge in Lyrnessus, but I attacked the city, and with the
help of Minerva and father Jove I sacked it and carried its women
into captivity, though Jove and the other gods rescued you. You think
they will protect you now, but they will not do so; therefore I say
go back into the host, and do not face me, or you will rue it. Even
a fool may be wise after the event."

Then Aeneas answered, "Son of Peleus, think not that your words can
scare me as though I were a child. I too, if I will, can brag and
talk unseemly. We know one another's race and parentage as matters
of common fame, though neither have you ever seen my parents nor I
yours. Men say that you are son to noble Peleus, and that your mother
is Thetis, fair-haired daughter of the sea. I have noble Anchises
for my father, and Venus for my mother; the parents of one or other
of us shall this day mourn a son, for it will be more than silly talk
that shall part us when the fight is over. Learn, then, my lineage
if you will- and it is known to many.

"In the beginning Dardanus was the son of Jove, and founded Dardania,
for Ilius was not yet stablished on the plain for men to dwell in,
and her people still abode on the spurs of many-fountained Ida. Dardanus
had a son, king Erichthonius, who was wealthiest of all men living;
he had three thousand mares that fed by the water-meadows, they and
their foals with them. Boreas was enamoured of them as they were feeding,
and covered them in the semblance of a dark-maned stallion. Twelve
filly foals did they conceive and bear him, and these, as they sped
over the rich plain, would go bounding on over the ripe ears of corn
and not break them; or again when they would disport themselves on
the broad back of Ocean they could gallop on the crest of a breaker.
Erichthonius begat Tros, king of the Trojans, and Tros had three noble
sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymede who was comeliest of mortal men;
wherefore the gods carried him off to be Jove's cupbearer, for his
beauty's sake, that he might dwell among the immortals. Ilus begat
Laomedon, and Laomedon begat Tithonus, Priam, Lampus, Clytius, and
Hiketaon of the stock of Mars. But Assaracus was father to Capys,
and Capys to Anchises, who was my father, while Hector is son to Priam.

"Such do I declare my blood and lineage, but as for valour, Jove gives
it or takes it as he will, for he is lord of all. And now let there
be no more of this prating in mid-battle as though we were children.
We could fling taunts without end at one another; a hundred-oared
galley would not hold them. The tongue can run all whithers and talk
all wise; it can go here and there, and as a man says, so shall he
be gainsaid. What is the use of our bandying hard like women who when
they fall foul of one another go out and wrangle in the streets, one
half true and the other lies, as rage inspires them? No words of yours
shall turn me now that I am fain to fight- therefore let us make trial
of one another with our spears."

As he spoke he drove his spear at the great and terrible shield of
Achilles, which rang out as the point struck it. The son of Peleus
held the shield before him with his strong hand, and he was afraid,
for he deemed that Aeneas's spear would go through it quite easily,
not reflecting that the god's glorious gifts were little likely to
yield before the blows of mortal men; and indeed Aeneas's spear did
not pierce the shield, for the layer of gold, gift of the god, stayed
the point. It went through two layers, but the god had made the shield
in five, two of bronze, the two innermost ones of tin, and one of
gold; it was in this that the spear was stayed.

Achilles in his turn threw, and struck the round shield of Aeneas
at the very edge, where the bronze was thinnest; the spear of Pelian
ash went clean through, and the shield rang under the blow; Aeneas
was afraid, and crouched backwards, holding the shield away from him;
the spear, however, flew over his back, and stuck quivering in the
ground, after having gone through both circles of the sheltering shield.
Aeneas though he had avoided the spear, stood still, blinded with
fear and grief because the weapon had gone so near him; then Achilles
sprang furiously upon him, with a cry as of death and with his keen
blade drawn, and Aeneas seized a great stone, so huge that two men,
as men now are, would be unable to lift it, but Aeneas wielded it
quite easily.

Aeneas would then have struck Achilles as he was springing towards
him, either on the helmet, or on the shield that covered him, and
Achilles would have closed with him and despatched him with his sword,
had not Neptune lord of the earthquake been quick to mark, and said
forthwith to the immortals, "Alas, I am sorry for great Aeneas, who
will now go down to the house of Hades, vanquished by the son of Peleus.
Fool that he was to give ear to the counsel of Apollo. Apollo will
never save him from destruction. Why should this man suffer when he
is guiltless, to no purpose, and in another's quarrel? Has he not
at all times offered acceptable sacrifice to the gods that dwell in
heaven? Let us then snatch him from death's jaws, lest the son of
Saturn be angry should Achilles slay him. It is fated, moreover, that
he should escape, and that the race of Dardanus, whom Jove loved above
all the sons born to him of mortal women, shall not perish utterly
without seed or sign. For now indeed has Jove hated the blood of Priam,
while Aeneas shall reign over the Trojans, he and his children's children
that shall be born hereafter."

Then answered Juno, "Earth-shaker, look to this matter yourself, and
consider concerning Aeneas, whether you will save him, or suffer him,
brave though he be, to fall by the hand of Achilles son of Peleus.
For of a truth we two, I and Pallas Minerva, have sworn full many
a time before all the immortals, that never would we shield Trojans
from destruction, not even when all Troy is burning in the flames
that the Achaeans shall kindle."

When earth-encircling Neptune heard this he went into the battle amid
the clash of spears, and came to the place where Achilles and Aeneas
were. Forthwith he shed a darkness before the eyes of the son of Peleus,
drew the bronze-headed ashen spear from the shield of Aeneas, and
laid it at the feet of Achilles. Then he lifted Aeneas on high from
off the earth and hurried him away. Over the heads of many a band
of warriors both horse and foot did he soar as the god's hand sped
him, till he came to the very fringe of the battle where the Cauconians
were arming themselves for fight. Neptune, shaker of the earth, then
came near to him and said, Aeneas, what god has egged you on to this
folly in fighting the son of Peleus, who is both a mightier man of
valour and more beloved of heaven than you are? Give way before him
whensoever you meet him, lest you go down to the house of Hades even
though fate would have it otherwise. When Achilles is dead you may
then fight among the foremost undaunted, for none other of the Achaeans
shall slay you."

The god left him when he had given him these instructions, and at
once removed the darkness from before the eyes of Achilles, who opened
them wide indeed and said in great anger, "Alas! what marvel am I
now beholding? Here is my spear upon the ground, but I see not him
whom I meant to kill when I hurled it. Of a truth Aeneas also must
be under heaven's protection, although I had thought his boasting
was idle. Let him go hang; he will be in no mood to fight me further,
seeing how narrowly he has missed being killed. I will now give my
orders to the Danaans and attack some other of the Trojans."

He sprang forward along the line and cheered his men on as he did
so. "Let not the Trojans," he cried, "keep you at arm's length, Achaeans,
but go for them and fight them man for man. However valiant I may
be, I cannot give chase to so many and fight all of them. Even Mars,
who is an immortal, or Minerva, would shrink from flinging himself
into the jaws of such a fight and laying about him; nevertheless,
so far as in me lies I will show no slackness of hand or foot nor
want of endurance, not even for a moment; I will utterly break their
ranks, and woe to the Trojan who shall venture within reach of my
spear."

Thus did he exhort them. Meanwhile Hector called upon the Trojans
and declared that he would fight Achilles. "Be not afraid, proud Trojans,"
said he, "to face the son of Peleus; I could fight gods myself if
the battle were one of words only, but they would be more than a match
for me, if we had to use our spears. Even so the deed of Achilles
will fall somewhat short of his word; he will do in part, and the
other part he will clip short. I will go up against him though his
hands be as fire- though his hands be fire and his strength iron."

Thus urged the Trojans lifted up their spears against the Achaeans,
and raised the cry of battle as they flung themselves into the midst
of their ranks. But Phoebus Apollo came up to Hector and said, "Hector,
on no account must you challenge Achilles to single combat; keep a
lookout for him while you are under cover of the others and away from
the thick of the fight, otherwise he will either hit you with a spear
or cut you down at close quarters."

Thus he spoke, and Hector drew back within the crowd, for he was afraid
when he heard what the god had said to him. Achilles then sprang upon
the Trojans with a terrible cry, clothed in valour as with a garment.
First he killed Iphition son of Otrynteus, a leader of much people
whom a naiad nymph had borne to Otrynteus waster of cities, in the
land of Hyde under the snowy heights of Mt. Tmolus. Achilles struck
him full on the head as he was coming on towards him, and split it
clean in two; whereon he fell heavily to the ground and Achilles vaunted
over him saying, "You he low, son of Otrynteus, mighty hero; your
death is here, but your lineage is on the Gygaean lake where your
father's estate lies, by Hyllus, rich in fish, and the eddying waters
of Hermus."

Thus did he vaunt, but darkness closed the eyes of the other. The
chariots of the Achaeans cut him up as their wheels passed over him
in the front of the battle, and after him Achilles killed Demoleon,
a valiant man of war and son to Antenor. He struck him on the temple
through his bronze-cheeked helmet. The helmet did not stay the spear,
but it went right on, crushing the bone so that the brain inside was
shed in all directions, and his lust of fighting was ended. Then he
struck Hippodamas in the midriff as he was springing down from his
chariot in front of him, and trying to escape. He breathed his last,
bellowing like a bull bellows when young men are dragging him to offer
him in sacrifice to the King of Helice, and the heart of the earth-shaker
is glad; even so did he bellow as he lay dying. Achilles then went
in pursuit of Polydorus son of Priam, whom his father had always forbidden
to fight because he was the youngest of his sons, the one he loved
best, and the fastest runner. He, in his folly and showing off the
fleetness of his feet, was rushing about among front ranks until he
lost his life, for Achilles struck him in the middle of the back as
he was darting past him: he struck him just at the golden fastenings
of his belt and where the two pieces of the double breastplate overlapped.
The point of the spear pierced him through and came out by the navel,
whereon he fell groaning on to his knees and a cloud of darkness overshadowed
him as he sank holding his entrails in his hands.

When Hector saw his brother Polydorus with his entrails in his hands
and sinking down upon the ground, a mist came over his eyes, and he
could not bear to keep longer at a distance; he therefore poised his
spear and darted towards Achilles like a flame of fire. When Achilles
saw him he bounded forward and vaunted saying, "This is he that has
wounded my heart most deeply and has slain my beloved comrade. Not
for long shall we two quail before one another on the highways of
war."

He looked fiercely on Hector and said, "Draw near, that you may meet
your doom the sooner." Hector feared him not and answered, "Son of
Peleus, think not that your words can scare me as though I were a
child; I too if I will can brag and talk unseemly; I know that you
are a mighty warrior, mightier by far than I, nevertheless the issue
lies in the the lap of heaven whether I, worse man though I be, may
not slay you with my spear, for this too has been found keen ere now."

He hurled his spear as he spoke, but Minerva breathed upon it, and
though she breathed but very lightly she turned it back from going
towards Achilles, so that it returned to Hector and lay at his feet
in front of him. Achilles then sprang furiously on him with a loud
cry, bent on killing him, but Apollo caught him up easily as a god
can, and hid him in a thick darkness. Thrice did Achilles spring towards
him spear in hand, and thrice did he waste his blow upon the air.
When he rushed forward for the fourth time as though he were a god,
he shouted aloud saying, "Hound, this time too you have escaped death-
but of a truth it came exceedingly near you. Phoebus Apollo, to whom
it seems you pray before you go into battle, has again saved you;
but if I too have any friend among the gods I will surely make an
end of you when I come across you at some other time. Now, however,
I will pursue and overtake other Trojans."

On this he struck Dryops with his spear, about the middle of his neck,
and he fell headlong at his feet. There he let him lie and stayed
Demouchus son of Philetor, a man both brave and of great stature,
by hitting him on the knee with a spear; then he smote him with his
sword and killed him. After this he sprang on Laogonus and Dardanus,
sons of Bias, and threw them from their chariot, the one with a blow
from a thrown spear, while the other he cut down in hand-to-hand fight.
There was also Tros the son of Alastor- he came up to Achilles and
clasped his knees in the hope that he would spare him and not kill
him but let him go, because they were both of the same age. Fool,
he might have known that he should not prevail with him, for the man
was in no mood for pity or forbearance but was in grim earnest. Therefore
when Tros laid hold of his knees and sought a hearing for his prayers,
Achilles drove his sword into his liver, and the liver came rolling
out, while his bosom was all covered with the black blood that welled
from the wound. Thus did death close his eyes as he lay lifeless.

Achilles then went up to Mulius and struck him on the ear with a spear,
and the bronze spear-head came right out at the other ear. He also
struck Echeclus son of Agenor on the head with his sword, which became
warm with the blood, while death and stern fate closed the eyes of
Echeclus. Next in order the bronze point of his spear wounded Deucalion
in the fore-arm where the sinews of the elbow are united, whereon
he waited Achilles' onset with his arm hanging down and death staring
him in the face. Achilles cut his head off with a blow from his sword
and flung it helmet and all away from him, and the marrow came oozing
out of his backbone as he lay. He then went in pursuit of Rhigmus,
noble son of Peires, who had come from fertile Thrace, and struck
him through the middle with a spear which fixed itself in his belly,
so that he fell headlong from his chariot. He also speared Areithous
squire to Rhigmus in the back as he was turning his horses in flight,
and thrust him from his chariot, while the horses were struck with
panic.

As a fire raging in some mountain glen after long drought- and the
dense forest is in a blaze, while the wind carries great tongues of
fire in every direction- even so furiously did Achilles rage, wielding
his spear as though he were a god, and giving chase to those whom
he would slay, till the dark earth ran with blood. Or as one who yokes
broad-browed oxen that they may tread barley in a threshing-floor-
and it is soon bruised small under the feet of the lowing cattle-
even so did the horses of Achilles trample on the shields and bodies
of the slain. The axle underneath and the railing that ran round the
car were bespattered with clots of blood thrown up by the horses'
hoofs, and from the tyres of the wheels; but the son of Peleus pressed
on to win still further glory, and his hands were bedrabbled with
gore.

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BOOK XXI

Now when they came to the ford of the full-flowing river Xanthus,
begotten of immortal Jove, Achilles cut their forces in two: one half
he chased over the plain towards the city by the same way that the
Achaeans had taken when flying panic-stricken on the preceding day
with Hector in full triumph; this way did they fly pell-mell, and
Juno sent down a thick mist in front of them to stay them. The other
half were hemmed in by the deep silver-eddying stream, and fell into
it with a great uproar. The waters resounded, and the banks rang again,
as they swam hither and thither with loud cries amid the whirling
eddies. As locusts flying to a river before the blast of a grass fire-
the flame comes on and on till at last it overtakes them and they
huddle into the water- even so was the eddying stream of Xanthus filled
with the uproar of men and horses, all struggling in confusion before
Achilles.

Forthwith the hero left his spear upon the bank, leaning it against
a tamarisk bush, and plunged into the river like a god, armed with
his sword only. Fell was his purpose as he hewed the Trojans down
on every side. Their dying groans rose hideous as the sword smote
them, and the river ran red with blood. As when fish fly scared before
a huge dolphin, and fill every nook and corner of some fair haven-
for he is sure to eat all he can catch- even so did the Trojans cower
under the banks of the mighty river, and when Achilles' arms grew
weary with killing them, he drew twelve youths alive out of the water,
to sacrifice in revenge for Patroclus son of Menoetius. He drew them
out like dazed fawns, bound their hands behind them with the girdles
of their own shirts, and gave them over to his men to take back to
the ships. Then he sprang into the river, thirsting for still further
blood.

There he found Lycaon, son of Priam seed of Dardanus, as he was escaping
out of the water; he it was whom he had once taken prisoner when he
was in his father's vineyard, having set upon him by night, as he
was cutting young shoots from a wild fig-tree to make the wicker sides
of a chariot. Achilles then caught him to his sorrow unawares, and
sent him by sea to Lemnos, where the son of Jason bought him. But
a guest-friend, Eetion of Imbros, freed him with a great sum, and
sent him to Arisbe, whence he had escaped and returned to his father's
house. He had spent eleven days happily with his friends after he
had come from Lemnos, but on the twelfth heaven again delivered him
into the hands of Achilles, who was to send him to the house of Hades
sorely against his will. He was unarmed when Achilles caught sight
of him, and had neither helmet nor shield; nor yet had he any spear,
for he had thrown all his armour from him on to the bank, and was
sweating with his struggles to get out of the river, so that his strength
was now failing him.

Then Achilles said to himself in his surprise, "What marvel do I see
here? If this man can come back alive after having been sold over
into Lemnos, I shall have the Trojans also whom I have slain rising
from the world below. Could not even the waters of the grey sea imprison
him, as they do many another whether he will or no? This time let
him taste my spear, that I may know for certain whether mother earth
who can keep even a strong man down, will be able to hold him, or
whether thence too he will return."

Thus did he pause and ponder. But Lycaon came up to him dazed and
trying hard to embrace his knees, for he would fain live, not die.
Achilles thrust at him with his spear, meaning to kill him, but Lycaon
ran crouching up to him and caught his knees, whereby the spear passed
over his back, and stuck in the ground, hungering though it was for
blood. With one hand he caught Achilles' knees as he besought him,
and with the other he clutched the spear and would not let it go.
Then he said, "Achilles, have mercy upon me and spare me, for I am
your suppliant. It was in your tents that I first broke bread on the
day when you took me prisoner in the vineyard; after which you sold
away to Lemnos far from my father and my friends, and I brought you
the price of a hundred oxen. I have paid three times as much to gain
my freedom; it is but twelve days that I have come to Ilius after
much suffering, and now cruel fate has again thrown me into your hands.
Surely father Jove must hate me, that he has given me over to you
a second time. Short of life indeed did my mother Laothoe bear me,
daughter of aged Altes- of Altes who reigns over the warlike Lelegae
and holds steep Pedasus on the river Satnioeis. Priam married his
daughter along with many other women and two sons were born of her,
both of whom you will have slain. Your spear slew noble Polydorus
as he was fighting in the front ranks, and now evil will here befall
me, for I fear that I shall not escape you since heaven has delivered
me over to you. Furthermore I say, and lay my saying to your heart,
spare me, for I am not of the same womb as Hector who slew your brave
and noble comrade."

With such words did the princely son of Priam beseech Achilles; but
Achilles answered him sternly. "Idiot," said he, "talk not to me of
ransom. Until Patroclus fell I preferred to give the Trojans quarter,
and sold beyond the sea many of those whom I had taken alive; but
now not a man shall live of those whom heaven delivers into my hands
before the city of Ilius- and of all Trojans it shall fare hardest
with the sons of Priam. Therefore, my friend, you too shall die. Why
should you whine in this way? Patroclus fell, and he was a better
man than you are. I too- see you not how I am great and goodly? I
am son to a noble father, and have a goddess for my mother, but the
hands of doom and death overshadow me all as surely. The day will
come, either at dawn or dark, or at the noontide, when one shall take
my life also in battle, either with his spear, or with an arrow sped
from his bow."

Thus did he speak, and Lycaon's heart sank within him. He loosed his
hold of the spear, and held out both hands before him; but Achilles
drew his keen blade, and struck him by the collar-bone on his neck;
he plunged his two-edged sword into him to the very hilt, whereon
he lay at full length on the ground, with the dark blood welling from
him till the earth was soaked. Then Achilles caught him by the foot
and flung him into the river to go down stream, vaunting over him
the while, and saying, "Lie there among the fishes, who will lick
the blood from your wound and gloat over it; your mother shall not
lay you on any bier to mourn you, but the eddies of Scamander shall
bear you into the broad bosom of the sea. There shall the fishes feed
on the fat of Lycaon as they dart under the dark ripple of the waters-
so perish all of you till we reach the citadel of strong Ilius- you
in flight, and I following after to destroy you. The river with its
broad silver stream shall serve you in no stead, for all the bulls
you offered him and all the horses that you flung living into his
waters. None the less miserably shall you perish till there is not
a man of you but has paid in full for the death of Patroclus and the
havoc you wrought among the Achaeans whom you have slain while I held
aloof from battle."

So spoke Achilles, but the river grew more and more angry, and pondered
within himself how he should stay the hand of Achilles and save the
Trojans from disaster. Meanwhile the son of Peleus, spear in hand,
sprang upon Asteropaeus son of Pelegon to kill him. He was son to
the broad river Axius and Periboea eldest daughter of Acessamenus;
for the river had lain with her. Asteropaeus stood up out of the water
to face him with a spear in either hand, and Xanthus filled him with
courage, being angry for the death of the youths whom Achilles was
slaying ruthlessly within his waters. When they were close up with
one another Achilles was first to speak. "Who and whence are you,"
said he, "who dare to face me? Woe to the parents whose son stands
up against me." And the son of Pelegon answered, "Great son of Peleus,
why should you ask my lineage. I am from the fertile land of far Paeonia,
captain of the Paeonians, and it is now eleven days that I am at Ilius.
I am of the blood of the river Axius- of Axius that is the fairest
of all rivers that run. He begot the famed warrior Pelegon, whose
son men call me. Let us now fight, Achilles."

Thus did he defy him, and Achilles raised his spear of Pelian ash.
Asteropaeus failed with both his spears, for he could use both hands
alike; with the one spear he struck Achilles' shield, but did not
pierce it, for the layer of gold, gift of the god, stayed the point;
with the other spear he grazed the elbow of Achilles! right arm drawing
dark blood, but the spear itself went by him and fixed itself in the
ground, foiled of its bloody banquet. Then Achilles, fain to kill
him, hurled his spear at Asteropaeus, but failed to hit him and struck
the steep bank of the river, driving the spear half its length into
the earth. The son of Peleus then drew his sword and sprang furiously
upon him. Asteropaeus vainly tried to draw Achilles' spear out of
the bank by main force; thrice did he tug at it, trying with all his
might to draw it out, and thrice he had to leave off trying; the fourth
time he tried to bend and break it, but ere he could do so Achilles
smote him with his sword and killed him. He struck him in the belly
near the navel, so that all his bowels came gushing out on to the
ground, and the darkness of death came over him as he lay gasping.
Then Achilles set his foot on his chest and spoiled him of his armour,
vaunting over him and saying, "Lie there- begotten of a river though
you be, it is hard for you to strive with the offspring of Saturn's
son. You declare yourself sprung from the blood of a broad river,
but I am of the seed of mighty Jove. My father is Peleus, son of Aeacus
ruler over the many Myrmidons, and Aeacus was the son of Jove. Therefore
as Jove is mightier than any river that flows into the sea, so are
his children stronger than those of any river whatsoever. Moreover
you have a great river hard by if he can be of any use to you, but
there is no fighting against Jove the son of Saturn, with whom not
even King Achelous can compare, nor the mighty stream of deep-flowing
Oceanus, from whom all rivers and seas with all springs and deep wells
proceed; even Oceanus fears the lightnings of great Jove, and his
thunder that comes crashing out of heaven."

With this he drew his bronze spear out of the bank, and now that he
had killed Asteropaeus, he let him lie where he was on the sand, with
the dark water flowing over him and the eels and fishes busy nibbling
and gnawing the fat that was about his kidneys. Then he went in chase
of the Paeonians, who were flying along the bank of the river in panic
when they saw their leader slain by the hands of the son of Peleus.
Therein he slew Thersilochus, Mydon, Astypylus, Mnesus, Thrasius,
Oeneus, and Ophelestes, and he would have slain yet others, had not
the river in anger taken human form, and spoken to him from out the
deep waters saying, "Achilles, if you excel all in strength, so do
you also in wickedness, for the gods are ever with you to protect
you: if, then, the son of Saturn has vouchsafed it to you to destroy
all the Trojans, at any rate drive them out of my stream, and do your
grim work on land. My fair waters are now filled with corpses, nor
can I find any channel by which I may pour myself into the sea for
I am choked with dead, and yet you go on mercilessly slaying. I am
in despair, therefore, O captain of your host, trouble me no further."

Achilles answered, "So be it, Scamander, Jove-descended; but I will
never cease dealing out death among the Trojans, till I have pent
them up in their city, and made trial of Hector face to face, that
I may learn whether he is to vanquish me, or I him."

As he spoke he set upon the Trojans with a fury like that of the gods.
But the river said to Apollo, "Surely, son of Jove, lord of the silver
bow, you are not obeying the commands of Jove who charged you straitly
that you should stand by the Trojans and defend them, till twilight
fades, and darkness is over an the earth."

Meanwhile Achilles sprang from the bank into mid-stream, whereon the
river raised a high wave and attacked him. He swelled his stream into
a torrent, and swept away the many dead whom Achilles had slain and
left within his waters. These he cast out on to the land, bellowing
like a bull the while, but the living he saved alive, hiding them
in his mighty eddies. The great and terrible wave gathered about Achilles,
falling upon him and beating on his shield, so that he could not keep
his feet; he caught hold of a great elm-tree, but it came up by the
roots, and tore away the bank, damming the stream with its thick branches
and bridging it all across; whereby Achilles struggled out of the
stream, and fled full speed over the plain, for he was afraid.

But the mighty god ceased not in his pursuit, and sprang upon him
with a dark-crested wave, to stay his hands and save the Trojans from
destruction. The son of Peleus darted away a spear's throw from him;
swift as the swoop of a black hunter-eagle which is the strongest
and fleetest of all birds, even so did he spring forward, and the
armour rang loudly about his breast. He fled on in front, but the
river with a loud roar came tearing after. As one who would water
his garden leads a stream from some fountain over his plants, and
all his ground-spade in hand he clears away the dams to free the channels,
and the little stones run rolling round and round with the water as
it goes merrily down the bank faster than the man can follow- even
so did the river keep catching up with Achilles albeit he was a fleet
runner, for the gods are stronger than men. As often as he would strive
to stand his ground, and see whether or no all the gods in heaven
were in league against him, so often would the mighty wave come beating
down upon his shoulders, and be would have to keep flying on and on
in great dismay; for the angry flood was tiring him out as it flowed
past him and ate the ground from under his feet.

Then the son of Peleus lifted up his voice to heaven saying, "Father
Jove, is there none of the gods who will take pity upon me, and save
me from the river? I do not care what may happen to me afterwards.
I blame none of the other dwellers on Olympus so severely as I do
my dear mother, who has beguiled and tricked me. She told me I was
to fall under the walls of Troy by the flying arrows of Apollo; would
that Hector, the best man among the Trojans, might there slay me;
then should I fall a hero by the hand of a hero; whereas now it seems
that I shall come to a most pitiable end, trapped in this river as
though I were some swineherd's boy, who gets carried down a torrent
while trying to cross it during a storm."

As soon as he had spoken thus, Neptune and Minerva came up to him
in the likeness of two men, and took him by the hand to reassure him.
Neptune spoke first. "Son of Peleus," said he, "be not so exceeding
fearful; we are two gods, come with Jove's sanction to assist you,
I, and Pallas Minerva. It is not your fate to perish in this river;
he will abate presently as you will see; moreover we strongly advise
you, if you will be guided by us, not to stay your hand from fighting
till you have pent the Trojan host within the famed walls of Ilius-
as many of them as may escape. Then kill Hector and go back to the
ships, for we will vouchsafe you a triumph over him."

When they had so said they went back to the other immortals, but Achilles
strove onward over the plain, encouraged by the charge the gods had
laid upon him. All was now covered with the flood of waters, and much
goodly armour of the youths that had been slain was rifting about,
as also many corpses, but he forced his way against the stream, speeding
right onwards, nor could the broad waters stay him, for Minerva had
endowed him with great strength. Nevertheless Scamander did not slacken
in his pursuit, but was still more furious with the son of Peleus.
He lifted his waters into a high crest and cried aloud to Simois saying,
"Dear brother, let the two of us unite to save this man, or he will
sack the mighty city of King Priam, and the Trojans will not hold
out against him. Help me at once; fill your streams with water from
their sources, rouse all your torrents to a fury; raise your wave
on high, and let snags and stones come thundering down you that we
may make an end of this savage creature who is now lording it as though
he were a god. Nothing shall serve him longer, not strength nor comeliness,
nor his fine armour, which forsooth shall soon be lying low in the
deep waters covered over with mud. I will wrap him in sand, and pour
tons of shingle round him, so that the Achaeans shall not know how
to gather his bones for the silt in which I shall have hidden him,
and when they celebrate his funeral they need build no barrow."

On this he upraised his tumultuous flood high against Achilles, seething
as it was with foam and blood and the bo&ies of the dead. The dark
waters of the river stood upright and would have overwhelmed the son
of Peleus, but Juno, trembling lest Achilles should be swept away
in the mighty torrent, lifted her voice on high and called out to
Vulcan her son. "Crook-foot," she cried, "my child, be up and doing,
for I deem it is with you that Xanthus is fain to fight; help us at
once, kindle a fierce fire; I will then bring up the west and the
white south wind in a mighty hurricane from the sea, that shall bear
the flames against the heads and armour of the Trojans and consume
them, while you go along the banks of Xanthus burning his trees and
wrapping him round with fire. Let him not turn you back neither by
fair words nor foul, and slacken not till I shout and tell you. Then
you may stay your flames."

On this Vulcan kindled a fierce fire, which broke out first upon the
plain and burned the many dead whom Achilles had killed and whose
bodies were lying about in great numbers; by this means the plain
was dried and the flood stayed. As the north wind, blowing on an orchard
that has been sodden with autumn rain, soon dries it, and the heart
of the owner is glad- even so the whole plan was dried and the dead
bodies were consumed. Then he turned tongues of fire on to the river.
He burned the elms the willows and the tamarisks, the lotus also,
with the rushes and marshy herbage that grew abundantly by the banks
of the river. The eels and fishes that go darting about everywhere
in the water, these, too, were sorely harassed by the flames that
cunning Vulcan had kindled, and the river himself was scalded, so
that he spoke saying, "Vulcan, there is no god can hold his own against
you. I cannot fight you when you flare out your flames in this way;
strive with me no longer. Let Achilles drive the Trojans out of city
immediately. What have I to do with quarrelling and helping people?"

He was boiling as he spoke, and all his waters were seething. As a
cauldron upon 'a large fire boils when it is melting the lard of some
fatted hog, and the lard keeps bubbling up all over when the dry faggots
blaze under it- even so were the goodly waters of Xanthus heated with
the fire till they were boiling. He could flow no longer but stayed
his stream, so afflicted was he by the blasts of fire which cunning
Vulcan had raised. Then he prayed to Juno and besought her saying,
"Juno, why should your son vex my stream with such especial fury?
I am not so much to blame as all the others are who have been helping
the Trojans. I will leave off, since you so desire it, and let son
leave off also. Furthermore I swear never again will I do anything
to save the Trojans from destruction, not even when all Troy is burning
in the flames which the Achaeans will kindle."

As soon as Juno heard this she said to her son Vulcan, "Son Vulcan,
hold now your flames; we ought not to use such violence against a
god for the sake of mortals."

When she had thus spoken Vulcan quenched his flames, and the river
went back once more into his own fair bed.

Xanthus was now beaten, so these two left off fighting, for Juno stayed
them though she was still angry; but a furious quarrel broke out among
the other gods, for they were of divided counsels. They fell on one
another with a mighty uproar- earth groaned, and the spacious firmament
rang out as with a blare of trumpets. Jove heard as he was sitting
on Olympus, and laughed for joy when he saw the gods coming to blows
among themselves. They were not long about beginning, and Mars piercer
of shields opened the battle. Sword in hand he sprang at once upon
Minerva and reviled her. "Why, vixen," said he, "have you again set
the gods by the ears in the pride and haughtiness of your heart? Have
you forgotten how you set Diomed son of Tydeus on to wound me, and
yourself took visible spear and drove it into me to the hurt of my
fair body? You shall now suffer for what you then did to me."

As he spoke he struck her on the terrible tasselled aegis- so terrible
that not even can Jove's lightning pierce it. Here did murderous Mars
strike her with his great spear. She drew back and with her strong
hand seized a stone that was lying on the plain- great and rugged
and black- which men of old had set for the boundary of a field. With
this she struck Mars on the neck, and brought him down. Nine roods
did he cover in his fall, and his hair was all soiled in the dust,
while his armour rang rattling round him. But Minerva laughed and
vaunted over him saying, "Idiot, have you not learned how far stronger
I am than you, but you must still match yourself against me? Thus
do your mother's curses now roost upon you, for she is angry and would
do you mischief because you have deserted the Achaeans and are helping
the Trojans."

She then turned her two piercing eyes elsewhere, whereon Jove's daughter
Venus took Mars by the hand and led him away groaning all the time,
for it was only with great difficulty that he had come to himself
again. When Queen Juno saw her, she said to Minerva, "Look, daughter
of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, that vixen Venus is again taking
Mars through the crowd out of the battle; go after her at once."

Thus she spoke. Minerva sped after Venus with a will, and made at
her, striking her on the bosom with her strong hand so that she fell
fainting to the ground, and there they both lay stretched at full
length. Then Minerva vaunted over her saying, "May all who help the
Trojans against the Argives prove just as redoubtable and stalwart
as Venus did when she came across me while she was helping Mars. Had
this been so, we should long since have ended the war by sacking the
strong city of Ilius."

Juno smiled as she listened. Meanwhile King Neptune turned to Apollo
saying, "Phoebus, why should we keep each other at arm's length? it
is not well, now that the others have begun fighting; it will be disgraceful
to us if we return to Jove's bronze-floored mansion on Olympus without
having fought each other; therefore come on, you are the younger of
the two, and I ought not to attack you, for I am older and have had
more experience. Idiot, you have no sense, and forget how we two alone
of all the gods fared hardly round about Ilius when we came from Jove's
house and worked for Laomedon a whole year at a stated wage and he
gave us his orders. I built the Trojans the wall about their city,
so wide and fair that it might be impregnable, while you, Phoebus,
herded cattle for him in the dales of many valleyed Ida. When, however,
the glad hours brought round the time of payment, mighty Laomedon
robbed us of all our hire and sent us off with nothing but abuse.
He threatened to bind us hand and foot and sell us over into some
distant island. He tried, moreover, to cut off the ears of both of
us, so we went away in a rage, furious about the payment he had promised
us, and yet withheld; in spite of all this, you are now showing favour
to his people, and will not join us in compassing the utter ruin of
the proud Trojans with their wives and children."

And King Apollo answered, "Lord of the earthquake, you would have
no respect for me if I were to fight you about a pack of miserable
mortals, who come out like leaves in summer and eat the fruit of the
field, and presently fall lifeless to the ground. Let us stay this
fighting at once and let them settle it among themselves."

He turned away as he spoke, for he would lay no hand on the brother
of his own father. But his sister the huntress Diana, patroness of
wild beasts, was very angry with him and said, "So you would fly,
Far-Darter, and hand victory over to Neptune with a cheap vaunt to
boot. Baby, why keep your bow thus idle? Never let me again hear you
bragging in my father's house, as you have often done in the presence
of the immortals, that you would stand up and fight with Neptune."

Apollo made her no answer, but Jove's august queen was angry and upbraided
her bitterly. "Bold vixen," she cried, "how dare you cross me thus?
For all your bow you will find it hard to hold your own against me.
Jove made you as a lion among women, and lets you kill them whenever
you choose. You will And it better to chase wild beasts and deer upon
the mountains than to fight those who are stronger than you are. If
you would try war, do so, and find out by pitting yourself against
me, how far stronger I am than you are."

She caught both Diana's wrists with her left hand as she spoke, and
with her right she took the bow from her shoulders, and laughed as
she beat her with it about the ears while Diana wriggled and writhed
under her blows. Her swift arrows were shed upon the ground, and she
fled weeping from under Juno's hand as a dove that flies before a
falcon to the cleft of some hollow rock, when it is her good fortune
to escape. Even so did she fly weeping away, leaving her bow and arrows
behind her.

Then the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, said to Leto, "Leto,
I shall not fight you; it is ill to come to blows with any of Jove's
wives. Therefore boast as you will among the immortals that you worsted
me in fair fight."

Leto then gathered up Diana's bow and arrows that had fallen about
amid the whirling dust, and when she had got them she made all haste
after her daughter. Diana had now reached Jove's bronze-floored mansion
on Olympus, and sat herself down with many tears on the knees of her
father, while her ambrosial raiment was quivering all about her. The
son of Saturn drew her towards him, and laughing pleasantly the while
began to question her saying, "Which of the heavenly beings, my dear
child, has been treating you in this cruel manner, as though you had
been misconducting yourself in the face of everybody?" and the fair-crowned
goddess of the chase answered, "It was your wife Juno, father, who
has been beating me; it is always her doing when there is any quarrelling
among the immortals."

Thus did they converse, and meanwhile Phoebus Apollo entered the strong
city of Ilius, for he was uneasy lest the wall should not hold out
and the Danaans should take the city then and there, before its hour
had come; but the rest of the ever-living gods went back, some angry
and some triumphant to Olympus, where they took their seats beside
Jove lord of the storm cloud, while Achilles still kept on dealing
out death alike on the Trojans and on their As when the smoke from
some burning city ascends to heaven when the anger of the gods has
kindled it- there is then toil for all, and sorrow for not a few-
even so did Achilles bring toil and sorrow on the Trojans.

Old King Priam stood on a high tower of the wall looking down on huge
Achilles as the Trojans fled panic-stricken before him, and there
was none to help them. Presently he came down from off the tower and
with many a groan went along the wall to give orders to the brave
warders of the gate. "Keep the gates," said he, "wide open till the
people come flying into the city, for Achilles is hard by and is driving
them in rout before him. I see we are in great peril. As soon as our
people are inside and in safety, close the strong gates for I fear
lest that terrible man should come bounding inside along with the
others."

As he spoke they drew back the bolts and opened the gates, and when
these were opened there was a haven of refuge for the Trojans. Apollo
then came full speed out of the city to meet them and protect them.
Right for the city and the high wall, parched with thirst and grimy
with dust, still they fied on, with Achilles wielding his spear furiously
behind them. For he was as one possessed, and was thirsting after
glory.

Then had the sons of the Achaeans taken the lofty gates of Troy if
Apollo had not spurred on Agenor, valiant and noble son to Antenor.
He put courage into his heart, and stood by his side to guard him,
leaning against a beech tree and shrouded in thick darkness. When
Agenor saw Achilles he stood still and his heart was clouded with
care. "Alas," said he to himself in his dismay, "if I fly before mighty
Achilles, and go where all the others are being driven in rout, he
will none the less catch me and kill me for a coward. How would it
be were I to let Achilles drive the others before him, and then fly
from the wall to the plain that is behind Ilius till I reach the spurs
of Ida and can hide in the underwood that is thereon? I could then
wash the sweat from off me in the river and in the evening return
to Ilius. But why commune with myself in this way? Like enough he
would see me as I am hurrying from the city over the plain, and would
speed after me till he had caught me- I should stand no chance against
him, for he is mightiest of all mankind. What, then, if I go out and
meet him in front of the city? His flesh too, I take it, can be pierced
by pointed bronze. Life is the same in one and all, and men say that
he is but mortal despite the triumph that Jove son of Saturn vouchsafes
him."

So saying he stood on his guard and awaited Achilles, for he was now
fain to fight him. As a leopardess that bounds from out a thick covert
to attack a hunter- she knows no fear and is not dismayed by the baying
of the hounds; even though the man be too quick for her and wound
her either with thrust or spear, still, though the spear has pierced
her she will not give in till she has either caught him in her grip
or been killed outright- even so did noble Agenor son of Antenor refuse
to fly till he had made trial of Achilles, and took aim at him with
his spear, holding his round shield before him and crying with a loud
voice. "Of a truth," said he, "noble Achilles, you deem that you shall
this day sack the city of the proud Trojans. Fool, there will be trouble
enough yet before it, for there is many a brave man of us still inside
who will stand in front of our dear parents with our wives and children,
to defend Ilius. Here therefore, huge and mighty warrior though you
be, here shall you cue.

As he spoke his strong hand hurled his javelin from him, and the spear
struck Achilles on the leg beneath the knee; the greave of newly wrought
tin rang loudly, but the spear recoiled from the body of him whom
it had struck, and did not pierce it, for the gods gift stayed it.
Achilles in his turn attacked noble Agenor, but Apollo would not vouchsafe
him glory, for he snatched Agenor away and hid him in a thick mist,
sending him out of the battle unmolested Then he craftily drew the
son of Peleus away from going after the host, for he put on the semblance
of Agenor and stood in front of Achilles, who ran towards him to give
him chase and pursued him over the corn lands of the plain, turning
him towards the deep waters of the river Scamander. Apollo ran but
a little way before him and beguiled Achilles by making him think
all the time that he was on the point of overtaking him. Meanwhile
the rabble of routed Trojans was thankful to crowd within the city
till their numbers thronged it; no longer did they dare wait for one
another outside the city walls, to learn who had escaped and who were
fallen in fight, but all whose feet and knees could still carry them
poured pell-mell into the town.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXII

Thus the Trojans in the city, scared like fawns, wiped the sweat
from off them and drank to quench their thirst, leaning against the
goodly battlements, while the Achaeans with their shields laid upon
their shoulders drew close up to the walls. But stern fate bade Hector
stay where he was before Ilius and the Scaean gates. Then Phoebus
Apollo spoke to the son of Peleus saying, "Why, son of Peleus, do
you, who are but man, give chase to me who am immortal? Have you not
yet found out that it is a god whom you pursue so furiously? You did
not harass the Trojans whom you had routed, and now they are within
their walls, while you have been decoyed hither away from them. Me
you cannot kill, for death can take no hold upon me."

Achilles was greatly angered and said, "You have baulked me, Far-Darter,
most malicious of all gods, and have drawn me away from the wall,
where many another man would have bitten the dust ere he got within
Ilius; you have robbed me of great glory and have saved the Trojans
at no risk to yourself, for you have nothing to fear, but I would
indeed have my revenge if it were in my power to do so."

On this, with fell intent he made towards the city, and as the winning
horse in a chariot race strains every nerve when he is flying over
the plain, even so fast and furiously did the limbs of Achilles bear
him onwards. King Priam was first to note him as he scoured the plain,
all radiant as the star which men call Orion's Hound, and whose beams
blaze forth in time of harvest more brilliantly than those of any
other that shines by night; brightest of them all though he be, he
yet bodes ill for mortals, for he brings fire and fever in his train-
even so did Achilles' armour gleam on his breast as he sped onwards.
Priam raised a cry and beat his head with his hands as he lifted them
up and shouted out to his dear son, imploring him to return; but Hector
still stayed before the gates, for his heart was set upon doing battle
with Achilles. The old man reached out his arms towards him and bade
him for pity's sake come within the walls. "Hector," he cried, "my
son, stay not to face this man alone and unsupported, or you will
meet death at the hands of the son of Peleus, for he is mightier than
you. Monster that he is; would indeed that the gods loved him no better
than I do, for so, dogs and vultures would soon devour him as he lay
stretched on earth, and a load of grief would be lifted from my heart,
for many a brave son has he reft from me, either by killing them or
selling them away in the islands that are beyond the sea: even now
I miss two sons from among the Trojans who have thronged within the
city, Lycaon and Polydorus, whom Laothoe peeress among women bore
me. Should they be still alive and in the hands of the Achaeans, we
will ransom them with gold and bronze, of which we have store, for
the old man Altes endowed his daughter richly; but if they are already
dead and in the house of Hades, sorrow will it be to us two who were
their parents; albeit the grief of others will be more short-lived
unless you too perish at the hands of Achilles. Come, then, my son,
within the city, to be the guardian of Trojan men and Trojan women,
or you will both lose your own life and afford a mighty triumph to
the son of Peleus. Have pity also on your unhappy father while life
yet remains to him- on me, whom the son of Saturn will destroy by
a terrible doom on the threshold of old age, after I have seen my
sons slain and my daughters haled away as captives, my bridal chambers
pillaged, little children dashed to earth amid the rage of battle,
and my sons' wives dragged away by the cruel hands of the Achaeans;
in the end fierce hounds will tear me in pieces at my own gates after
some one has beaten the life out of my body with sword or spear-hounds
that I myself reared and fed at my own table to guard my gates, but
who will yet lap my blood and then lie all distraught at my doors.
When a young man falls by the sword in battle, he may lie where he
is and there is nothing unseemly; let what will be seen, all is honourable
in death, but when an old man is slain there is nothing in this world
more pitiable than that dogs should defile his grey hair and beard
and all that men hide for shame."

The old man tore his grey hair as he spoke, but he moved not the heart
of Hector. His mother hard by wept and moaned aloud as she bared her
bosom and pointed to the breast which had suckled him. "Hector," she
cried, weeping bitterly the while, "Hector, my son, spurn not this
breast, but have pity upon me too: if I have ever given you comfort
from my own bosom, think on it now, dear son, and come within the
wall to protect us from this man; stand not without to meet him. Should
the wretch kill you, neither I nor your richly dowered wife shall
ever weep, dear offshoot of myself, over the bed on which you lie,
for dogs will devour you at the ships of the Achaeans."

Thus did the two with many tears implore their son, but they moved
not the heart of Hector, and he stood his ground awaiting huge Achilles
as he drew nearer towards him. As serpent in its den upon the mountains,
full fed with deadly poisons, waits for the approach of man- he is
filled with fury and his eyes glare terribly as he goes writhing round
his den- even so Hector leaned his shield against a tower that jutted
out from the wall and stood where he was, undaunted.

"Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness of his heart, "if I go
within the gates, Polydamas will be the first to heap reproach upon
me, for it was he that urged me to lead the Trojans back to the city
on that awful night when Achilles again came forth against us. I would
not listen, but it would have been indeed better if I had done so.
Now that my folly has destroyed the host, I dare not look Trojan men
and Trojan women in the face, lest a worse man should say, 'Hector
has ruined us by his self-confidence.' Surely it would be better for
me to return after having fought Achilles and slain him, or to die
gloriously here before the city. What, again, if were to lay down
my shield and helmet, lean my spear against the wall and go straight
up to noble Achilles? What if I were to promise to give up Helen,
who was the fountainhead of all this war, and all the treasure that
Alexandrus brought with him in his ships to Troy, aye, and to let
the Achaeans divide the half of everything that the city contains
among themselves? I might make the Trojans, by the mouths of their
princes, take a solemn oath that they would hide nothing, but would
divide into two shares all that is within the city- but why argue
with myself in this way? Were I to go up to him he would show me no
kind of mercy; he would kill me then and there as easily as though
I were a woman, when I had off my armour. There is no parleying with
him from some rock or oak tree as young men and maidens prattle with
one another. Better fight him at once, and learn to which of us Jove
will vouchsafe victory."

Thus did he stand and ponder, but Achilles came up to him as it were
Mars himself, plumed lord of battle. From his right shoulder he brandished
his terrible spear of Pelian ash, and the bronze gleamed around him
like flashing fire or the rays of the rising sun. Fear fell upon Hector
as he beheld him, and he dared not stay longer where he was but fled
in dismay from before the gates, while Achilles darted after him at
his utmost speed. As a mountain falcon, swiftest of all birds, swoops
down upon some cowering dove- the dove flies before him but the falcon
with a shrill scream follows close after, resolved to have her- even
so did Achilles make straight for Hector with all his might, while
Hector fled under the Trojan wall as fast as his limbs could take
him.

On they flew along the waggon-road that ran hard by under the wall,
past the lookout station, and past the weather-beaten wild fig-tree,
till they came to two fair springs which feed the river Scamander.
One of these two springs is warm, and steam rises from it as smoke
from a burning fire, but the other even in summer is as cold as hail
or snow, or the ice that forms on water. Here, hard by the springs,
are the goodly washing-troughs of stone, where in the time of peace
before the coming of the Achaeans the wives and fair daughters of
the Trojans used to wash their clothes. Past these did they fly, the
one in front and the other giving ha. behind him: good was the man
that fled, but better far was he that followed after, and swiftly
indeed did they run, for the prize was no mere beast for sacrifice
or bullock's hide, as it might be for a common foot-race, but they
ran for the life of Hector. As horses in a chariot race speed round
the turning-posts when they are running for some great prize- a tripod
or woman- at the games in honour of some dead hero, so did these two
run full speed three times round the city of Priam. All the gods watched
them, and the sire of gods and men was the first to speak.

"Alas," said he, "my eyes behold a man who is dear to me being pursued
round the walls of Troy; my heart is full of pity for Hector, who
has burned the thigh-bones of many a heifer in my honour, at one while
on the of many-valleyed Ida, and again on the citadel of Troy; and
now I see noble Achilles in full pursuit of him round the city of
Priam. What say you? Consider among yourselves and decide whether
we shall now save him or let him fall, valiant though he be, before
Achilles, son of Peleus."

Then Minerva said, "Father, wielder of the lightning, lord of cloud
and storm, what mean you? Would you pluck this mortal whose doom has
long been decreed out of the jaws of death? Do as you will, but we
others shall not be of a mind with you."

And Jove answered, "My child, Trito-born, take heart. I did not speak
in full earnest, and I will let you have your way. Do without let
or hindrance as you are minded."

Thus did he urge Minerva who was already eager, and down she darted
from the topmost summits of Olympus.

Achilles was still in full pursuit of Hector, as a hound chasing a
fawn which he has started from its covert on the mountains, and hunts
through glade and thicket. The fawn may try to elude him by crouching
under cover of a bush, but he will scent her out and follow her up
until he gets her- even so there was no escape for Hector from the
fleet son of Peleus. Whenever he made a set to get near the Dardanian
gates and under the walls, that his people might help him by showering
down weapons from above, Achilles would gain on him and head him back
towards the plain, keeping himself always on the city side. As a man
in a dream who fails to lay hands upon another whom he is pursuing-
the one cannot escape nor the other overtake- even so neither could
Achilles come up with Hector, nor Hector break away from Achilles;
nevertheless he might even yet have escaped death had not the time
come when Apollo, who thus far had sustained his strength and nerved
his running, was now no longer to stay by him. Achilles made signs
to the Achaean host, and shook his head to show that no man was to
aim a dart at Hector, lest another might win the glory of having hit
him and he might himself come in second. Then, at last, as they were
nearing the fountains for the fourth time, the father of all balanced
his golden scales and placed a doom in each of them, one for Achilles
and the other for Hector. As he held the scales by the middle, the
doom of Hector fell down deep into the house of Hades- and then Phoebus
Apollo left him. Thereon Minerva went close up to the son of Peleus
and said, "Noble Achilles, favoured of heaven, we two shall surely
take back to the ships a triumph for the Achaeans by slaying Hector,
for all his lust of battle. Do what Apollo may as he lies grovelling
before his father, aegis-bearing Jove, Hector cannot escape us longer.
Stay here and take breath, while I go up to him and persuade him to
make a stand and fight you."

Thus spoke Minerva. Achilles obeyed her gladly, and stood still, leaning
on his bronze-pointed ashen spear, while Minerva left him and went
after Hector in the form and with the voice of Deiphobus. She came
close up to him and said, "Dear brother, I see you are hard pressed
by Achilles who is chasing you at full speed round the city of Priam,
let us await his onset and stand on our defence."

And Hector answered, "Deiphobus, you have always been dearest to me
of all my brothers, children of Hecuba and Priam, but henceforth I
shall rate you yet more highly, inasmuch as you have ventured outside
the wall for my sake when all the others remain inside."

Then Minerva said, "Dear brother, my father and mother went down on
their knees and implored me, as did all my comrades, to remain inside,
so great a fear has fallen upon them all; but I was in an agony of
grief when I beheld you; now, therefore, let us two make a stand and
fight, and let there be no keeping our spears in reserve, that we
may learn whether Achilles shall kill us and bear off our spoils to
the ships, or whether he shall fall before you."

Thus did Minerva inveigle him by her cunning, and when the two were
now close to one another great Hector was first to speak. "I will-no
longer fly you, son of Peleus," said he, "as I have been doing hitherto.
Three times have I fled round the mighty city of Priam, without daring
to withstand you, but now, let me either slay or be slain, for I am
in the mind to face you. Let us, then, give pledges to one another
by our gods, who are the fittest witnesses and guardians of all covenants;
let it be agreed between us that if Jove vouchsafes me the longer
stay and I take your life, I am not to treat your dead body in any
unseemly fashion, but when I have stripped you of your armour, I am
to give up your body to the Achaeans. And do you likewise."

Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about
covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves
and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out
an through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and
me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall
fall and glut grim Mars with his life's blood. Put forth all your
strength; you have need now to prove yourself indeed a bold soldier
and man of war. You have no more chance, and Pallas Minerva will forthwith
vanquish you by my spear: you shall now pay me in full for the grief
you have caused me on account of my comrades whom you have killed
in battle."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it. Hector saw it coming
and avoided it; he watched it and crouched down so that it flew over
his head and stuck in the ground beyond; Minerva then snatched it
up and gave it back to Achilles without Hector's seeing her; Hector
thereon said to the son of Peleus, "You have missed your aim, Achilles,
peer of the gods, and Jove has not yet revealed to you the hour of
my doom, though you made sure that he had done so. You were a false-tongued
liar when you deemed that I should forget my valour and quail before
you. You shall not drive spear into the back of a runaway- drive it,
should heaven so grant you power, drive it into me as I make straight
towards you; and now for your own part avoid my spear if you can-
would that you might receive the whole of it into your body; if you
were once dead the Trojans would find the war an easier matter, for
it is you who have harmed them most."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it. His aim was true for
he hit the middle of Achilles' shield, but the spear rebounded from
it, and did not pierce it. Hector was angry when he saw that the weapon
had sped from his hand in vain, and stood there in dismay for he had
no second spear. With a loud cry he called Diphobus and asked him
for one, but there was no man; then he saw the truth and said to himself,
"Alas! the gods have lured me on to my destruction. I deemed that
the hero Deiphobus was by my side, but he is within the wall, and
Minerva has inveigled me; death is now indeed exceedingly near at
hand and there is no way out of it- for so Jove and his son Apollo
the far-darter have willed it, though heretofore they have been ever
ready to protect me. My doom has come upon me; let me not then die
ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great
thing that shall be told among men hereafter."

As he spoke he drew the keen blade that hung so great and strong by
his side, and gathering himself together be sprang on Achilles like
a soaring eagle which swoops down from the clouds on to some lamb
or timid hare- even so did Hector brandish his sword and spring upon
Achilles. Achilles mad with rage darted towards him, with his wondrous
shield before his breast, and his gleaming helmet, made with four
layers of metal, nodding fiercely forward. The thick tresses of gold
wi which Vulcan had crested the helmet floated round it, and as the
evening star that shines brighter than all others through the stillness
of night, even such was the gleam of the spear which Achilles poised
in his right hand, fraught with the death of noble Hector. He eyed
his fair flesh over and over to see where he could best wound it,
but all was protected by the goodly armour of which Hector had spoiled
Patroclus after he had slain him, save only the throat where the collar-bones
divide the neck from the shoulders, and this is a most deadly place:
here then did Achilles strike him as he was coming on towards him,
and the point of his spear went right through the fleshy part of the
neck, but it did not sever his windpipe so that he could still speak.
Hector fell headlong, and Achilles vaunted over him saying, "Hector,
you deemed that you should come off scatheless when you were spoiling
Patroclus, and recked not of myself who was not with him. Fool that
you were: for I, his comrade, mightier far than he, was still left
behind him at the ships, and now I have laid you low. The Achaeans
shall give him all due funeral rites, while dogs and vultures shall
work their will upon yourself."

Then Hector said, as the life ebbed out of him, "I pray you by your
life and knees, and by your parents, let not dogs devour me at the
ships of the Achaeans, but accept the rich treasure of gold and bronze
which my father and mother will offer you, and send my body home,
that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire when
I am dead."

Achilles glared at him and answered, "Dog, talk not to me neither
of knees nor parents; would that I could be as sure of being able
to cut your flesh into pieces and eat it raw, for the ill have done
me, as I am that nothing shall save you from the dogs- it shall not
be, though they bring ten or twenty-fold ransom and weigh it out for
me on the spot, with promise of yet more hereafter. Though Priam son
of Dardanus should bid them offer me your weight in gold, even so
your mother shall never lay you out and make lament over the son she
bore, but dogs and vultures shall eat you utterly up."

Hector with his dying breath then said, "I know you what you are,
and was sure that I should not move you, for your heart is hard as
iron; look to it that I bring not heaven's anger upon you on the day
when Paris and Phoebus Apollo, valiant though you be, shall slay you
at the Scaean gates."

When he had thus said the shrouds of death enfolded him, whereon his
soul went out of him and flew down to the house of Hades, lamenting
its sad fate that it should en' youth and strength no longer. But
Achilles said, speaking to the dead body, "Die; for my part I will
accept my fate whensoever Jove and the other gods see fit to send
it."

As he spoke he drew his spear from the body and set it on one side;
then he stripped the blood-stained armour from Hector's shoulders
while the other Achaeans came running up to view his wondrous strength
and beauty; and no one came near him without giving him a fresh wound.
Then would one turn to his neighbour and say, "It is easier to handle
Hector now than when he was flinging fire on to our ships" and as
he spoke he would thrust his spear into him anew.

When Achilles had done spoiling Hector of his armour, he stood among
the Argives and said, "My friends, princes and counsellors of the
Argives, now that heaven has vouchsafed us to overcome this man, who
has done us more hurt than all the others together, consider whether
we should not attack the city in force, and discover in what mind
the Trojans may be. We should thus learn whether they will desert
their city now that Hector has fallen, or will still hold out even
though he is no longer living. But why argue with myself in this way,
while Patroclus is still lying at the ships unburied, and unmourned-
he Whom I can never forget so long as I am alive and my strength fails
not? Though men forget their dead when once they are within the house
of Hades, yet not even there will I forget the comrade whom I have
lost. Now, therefore, Achaean youths, let us raise the song of victory
and go back to the ships taking this man along with us; for we have
achieved a mighty triumph and have slain noble Hector to whom the
Trojans prayed throughout their city as though he were a god."

On this he treated the body of Hector with contumely: he pierced the
sinews at the back of both his feet from heel to ancle and passed
thongs of ox-hide through the slits he had made: thus he made the
body fast to his chariot, letting the head trail upon the ground.
Then when he had put the goodly armour on the chariot and had himself
mounted, he lashed his horses on and they flew forward nothing loth.
The dust rose from Hector as he was being dragged along, his dark
hair flew all abroad, and his head once so comely was laid low on
earth, for Jove had now delivered him into the hands of his foes to
do him outrage in his own land.

Thus was the head of Hector being dishonoured in the dust. His mother
tore her hair, and flung her veil from her with a loud cry as she
looked upon her son. His father made piteous moan, and throughout
the city the people fell to weeping and wailing. It was as though
the whole of frowning Ilius was being smirched with fire. Hardly could
the people hold Priam back in his hot haste to rush without the gates
of the city. He grovelled in the mire and besought them, calling each
one of them by his name. "Let be, my friends," he cried, "and for
all your sorrow, suffer me to go single-handed to the ships of the
Achaeans. Let me beseech this cruel and terrible man, if maybe he
will respect the feeling of his fellow-men, and have compassion on
my old age. His own father is even such another as myself- Peleus,
who bred him and reared him to- be the bane of us Trojans, and of
myself more than of all others. Many a son of mine has he slain in
the flower of his youth, and yet, grieve for these as I may, I do
so for one- Hector- more than for them all, and the bitterness of
my sorrow will bring me down to the house of Hades. Would that he
had died in my arms, for so both his ill-starred mother who bore him,
and myself, should have had the comfort of weeping and mourning over
him."

Thus did he speak with many tears, and all the people of the city
joined in his lament. Hecuba then raised the cry of wailing among
the Trojans. "Alas, my son," she cried, "what have I left to live
for now that you are no more? Night and day did I glory in. you throughout
the city, for you were a tower of strength to all in Troy, and both
men and women alike hailed you as a god. So long as you lived you
were their pride, but now death and destruction have fallen upon you."

Hector's wife had as yet heard nothing, for no one had come to tell
her that her husband had remained without the gates. She was at her
loom in an inner part of the house, weaving a double purple web, and
embroidering it with many flowers. She told her maids to set a large
tripod on the fire, so as to have a warm bath ready for Hector when
he came out of battle; poor woman, she knew not that he was now beyond
the reach of baths, and that Minerva had laid him low by the hands
of Achilles. She heard the cry coming as from the wall, and trembled
in every limb; the shuttle fell from her hands, and again she spoke
to her waiting-women. "Two of you," she said, "come with me that I
may learn what it is that has befallen; I heard the voice of my husband's
honoured mother; my own heart beats as though it would come into my
mouth and my limbs refuse to carry me; some great misfortune for Priam's
children must be at hand. May I never live to hear it, but I greatly
fear that Achilles has cut off the retreat of brave Hector and has
chased him on to the plain where he was singlehanded; I fear he may
have put an end to the reckless daring which possessed my husband,
who would never remain with the body of his men, but would dash on
far in front, foremost of them all in valour."

Her heart beat fast, and as she spoke she flew from the house like
a maniac, with her waiting-women following after. When she reached
the battlements and the crowd of people, she stood looking out upon
the wall, and saw Hector being borne away in front of the city- the
horses dragging him without heed or care over the ground towards the
ships of the Achaeans. Her eyes were then shrouded as with the darkness
of night and she fell fainting backwards. She tore the tiring from
her head and flung it from her, the frontlet and net with its plaited
band, and the veil which golden Venus had given her on the day when
Hector took her with him from the house of Eetion, after having given
countless gifts of wooing for her sake. Her husband's sisters and
the wives of his brothers crowded round her and supported her, for
she was fain to die in her distraction; when she again presently breathed
and came to herself, she sobbed and made lament among the Trojans
saying, 'Woe is me, O Hector; woe, indeed, that to share a common
lot we were born, you at Troy in the house of Priam, and I at Thebes
under the wooded mountain of Placus in the house of Eetion who brought
me up when I was a child- ill-starred sire of an ill-starred daughter-
would that he had never begotten me. You are now going into the house
of Hades under the secret places of the earth, and you leave me a
sorrowing widow in your house. The child, of whom you and I are the
unhappy parents, is as yet a mere infant. Now that you are gone, O
Hector, you can do nothing for him nor he for you. Even though he
escape the horrors of this woful war with the Achaeans, yet shall
his life henceforth be one of labour and sorrow, for others will seize
his lands. The day that robs a child of his parents severs him from
his own kind; his head is bowed, his cheeks are wet with tears, and
he will go about destitute among the friends of his father, plucking
one by the cloak and another by the shirt. Some one or other of these
may so far pity him as to hold the cup for a moment towards him and
let him moisten his lips, but he must not drink enough to wet the
roof of his mouth; then one whose parents are alive will drive him
from the table with blows and angry words. 'Out with you,' he will
say, 'you have no father here,' and the child will go crying back
to his widowed mother- he, Astyanax, who erewhile would sit upon his
father's knees, and have none but the daintiest and choicest morsels
set before him. When he had played till he was tired and went to sleep,
he would lie in a bed, in the arms of his nurse, on a soft couch,
knowing neither want nor care, whereas now that he has lost his father
his lot will be full of hardship- he, whom the Trojans name Astyanax,
because you, O Hector, were the only defence of their gates and battlements.
The wriggling writhing worms will now eat you at the ships, far from
your parents, when the dogs have glutted themselves upon you. You
will lie naked, although in your house you have fine and goodly raiment
made by hands of women. This will I now burn; it is of no use to you,
for you can never again wear it, and thus you will have respect shown
you by the Trojans both men and women."

In such wise did she cry aloud amid her tears, and the women joined
in her lament.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXIII

Thus did they make their moan throughout the city, while the Achaeans
when they reached the Hellespont went back every man to his own ship.
But Achilles would not let the Myrmidons go, and spoke to his brave
comrades saying, "Myrmidons, famed horsemen and my own trusted friends,
not yet, forsooth, let us unyoke, but with horse and chariot draw
near to the body and mourn Patroclus, in due honour to the dead. When
we have had full comfort of lamentation we will unyoke our horses
and take supper all of us here."

On this they all joined in a cry of wailing and Achilles led them
in their lament. Thrice did they drive their chariots all sorrowing
round the body, and Thetis stirred within them a still deeper yearning.
The sands of the seashore and the men's armour were wet with their
weeping, so great a minister of fear was he whom they had lost. Chief
in all their mourning was the son of Peleus: he laid his bloodstained
hand on the breast of his friend. "Fare well," he cried, "Patroclus,
even in the house of Hades. I will now do all that I erewhile promised
you; I will drag Hector hither and let dogs devour him raw; twelve
noble sons of Trojans will I also slay before your pyre to avenge
you."

As he spoke he treated the body of noble Hector with contumely, laying
it at full length in the dust beside the bier of Patroclus. The others
then put off every man his armour, took the horses from their chariots,
and seated themselves in great multitude by the ship of the fleet
descendant of Aeacus, who thereon feasted them with an abundant funeral
banquet. Many a goodly ox, with many a sheep and bleating goat did
they butcher and cut up; many a tusked boar moreover, fat and well-fed,
did they singe and set to roast in the flames of Vulcan; and rivulets
of blood flowed all round the place where the body was lying.

Then the princes of the Achaeans took the son of Peleus to Agamemnon,
but hardly could they persuade him to come with them, so wroth was
he for the death of his comrade. As soon as they reached Agamemnon's
tent they told the serving-men to set a large tripod over the fire
in case they might persuade the son of Peleus 'to wash the clotted
gore from this body, but he denied them sternly, and swore it with
a solemn oath, saying, "Nay, by King Jove, first and mightiest of
all gods, it is not meet that water should touch my body, till I have
laid Patroclus on the flames, have built him a barrow, and shaved
my head- for so long as I live no such second sorrow shall ever draw
nigh me. Now, therefore, let us do all that this sad festival demands,
but at break of day, King Agamemnon, bid your men bring wood, and
provide all else that the dead may duly take into the realm of darkness;
the fire shall thus burn him out of our sight the sooner, and the
people shall turn again to their own labours."

Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They made haste
to prepare the meal, they ate, and every man had his full share so
that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had had enough to eat
and drink, the others went to their rest each in his own tent, but
the son of Peleus lay grieving among his Myrmidons by the shore of
the sounding sea, in an open place where the waves came surging in
one after another. Here a very deep slumber took hold upon him and
eased the burden of his sorrows, for his limbs were weary with chasing
Hector round windy Ilius. Presently the sad spirit of Patroclus drew
near him, like what he had been in stature, voice, and the light of
his beaming eyes, clad, too, as he had been clad in life. The spirit
hovered over his head and said-

"You sleep, Achilles, and have forgotten me; you loved me living,
but now that I am dead you think for me no further. Bury me with all
speed that I may pass the gates of Hades; the ghosts, vain shadows
of men that can labour no more, drive me away from them; they will
not yet suffer me to join those that are beyond the river, and I wander
all desolate by the wide gates of the house of Hades. Give me now
your hand I pray you, for when you have once given me my dues of fire,
never shall I again come forth out of the house of Hades. Nevermore
shall we sit apart and take sweet counsel among the living; the cruel
fate which was my birth-right has yawned its wide jaws around me-
nay, you too Achilles, peer of gods, are doomed to die beneath the
wall of the noble Trojans.

"One prayer more will I make you, if you will grant it; let not my
bones be laid apart from yours, Achilles, but with them; even as we
were brought up together in your own home, what time Menoetius brought
me to you as a child from Opoeis because by a sad spite I had killed
the son of Amphidamas- not of set purpose, but in childish quarrel
over the dice. The knight Peleus took me into his house, entreated
me kindly, and named me to be your squire; therefore let our bones
lie in but a single urn, the two-handled golden vase given to you
by your mother."

And Achilles answered, "Why, true heart, are you come hither to lay
these charges upon me? will of my own self do all as you have bidden
me. Draw closer to me, let us once more throw our arms around one
another, and find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows."

He opened his arms towards him as he spoke and would have clasped
him in them, but there was nothing, and the spirit vanished as a vapour,
gibbering and whining into the earth. Achilles sprang to his feet,
smote his two hands, and made lamentation saying, "Of a truth even
in the house of Hades there are ghosts and phantoms that have no life
in them; all night long the sad spirit of Patroclus has hovered over
head making piteous moan, telling me what I am to do for him, and
looking wondrously like himself."

Thus did he speak and his words set them all weeping and mourning
about the poor dumb dead, till rosy-fingered morn appeared. Then King
Agamemnon sent men and mules from all parts of the camp, to bring
wood, and Meriones, squire to Idomeneus, was in charge over them.
They went out with woodmen's axes and strong ropes in their hands,
and before them went the mules. Up hill and down dale did they go,
by straight ways and crooked, and when they reached the heights of
many-fountained Ida, they laid their axes to the roots of many a tall
branching oak that came thundering down as they felled it. They split
the trees and bound them behind the mules, which then wended their
way as they best could through the thick brushwood on to the plain.
All who had been cutting wood bore logs, for so Meriones squire to
Idomeneus had bidden them, and they threw them down in a line upon
the seashore at the place where Achilles would make a mighty monument
for Patroclus and for himself.

When they had thrown down their great logs of wood over the whole
ground, they stayed all of them where they were, but Achilles ordered
his brave Myrmidons to gird on their armour, and to yoke each man
his horses; they therefore rose, girded on their armour and mounted
each his chariot- they and their charioteers with them. The chariots
went before, and they that were on foot followed as a cloud in their
tens of thousands after. In the midst of them his comrades bore Patroclus
and covered him with the locks of their hair which they cut off and
threw upon his body. Last came Achilles with his head bowed for sorrow,
so noble a comrade was he taking to the house of Hades.

When they came to the place of which Achilles had told them they laid
the body down and built up the wood. Achilles then bethought him of
another matter. He went a space away from the pyre, and cut off the
yellow lock which he had let grow for the river Spercheius. He looked
all sorrowfully out upon the dark sea, and said, "Spercheius, in vain
did my father Peleus vow to you that when I returned home to my loved
native land I should cut off this lock and offer you a holy hecatomb;
fifty she-goats was I to sacrifice to you there at your springs, where
is your grove and your altar fragrant with burnt-offerings. Thus did
my father vow, but you have not fulfilled his prayer; now, therefore,
that I shall see my home no more, I give this lock as a keepsake to
the hero Patroclus."

As he spoke he placed the lock in the hands of his dear comrade, and
all who stood by were filled with yearning and lamentation. The sun
would have gone down upon their mourning had not Achilles presently
said to Agamemnon, "Son of Atreus, for it is to you that the people
will give ear, there is a time to mourn and a time to cease from mourning;
bid the people now leave the pyre and set about getting their dinners:
we, to whom the dead is dearest, will see to what is wanted here,
and let the other princes also stay by me."

When King Agamemnon heard this he dismissed the people to their ships,
but those who were about the dead heaped up wood and built a pyre
a hundred feet this way and that; then they laid the dead all sorrowfully
upon the top of it. They flayed and dressed many fat sheep and oxen
before the pyre, and Achilles took fat from all of them and wrapped
the body therein from head to foot, heaping the flayed carcases all
round it. Against the bier he leaned two-handled jars of honey and
unguents; four proud horses did he then cast upon the pyre, groaning
the while he did so. The dead hero had had house-dogs; two of them
did Achilles slay and threw upon the pyre; he also put twelve brave
sons of noble Trojans to the sword and laid them with the rest, for
he was full of bitterness and fury. Then he committed all to the resistless
and devouring might of the fire; he groaned aloud and callid on his
dead comrade by name. "Fare well," he cried, "Patroclus, even in the
house of Hades; I am now doing all that I have promised you. Twelve
brave sons of noble Trojans shall the flames consume along with yourself,
but dogs, not fire, shall devour the flesh of Hector son of Priam."

Thus did he vaunt, but the dogs came not about the body of Hector,
for Jove's daughter Venus kept them off him night and day, and anointed
him with ambrosial oil of roses that his flesh might not be torn when
Achilles was dragging him about. Phoebus Apollo moreover sent a dark
cloud from heaven to earth, which gave shade to the whole place where
Hector lay, that the heat of the sun might not parch his body.

Now the pyre about dead Patroclus would not kindle. Achilles therefore
bethought him of another matter; he went apart and prayed to the two
winds Boreas and Zephyrus vowing them goodly offerings. He made them
many drink-offerings from the golden cup and besought them to come
and help him that the wood might make haste to kindle and the dead
bodies be consumed. Fleet Iris heard him praying and started off to
fetch the winds. They were holding high feast in the house of boisterous
Zephyrus when Iris came running up to the stone threshold of the house
and stood there, but as soon as they set eyes on her they all came
towards her and each of them called her to him, but Iris would not
sit down. "I cannot stay," she said, "I must go back to the streams
of Oceanus and the land of the Ethiopians who are offering hecatombs
to the immortals, and I would have my share; but Achilles prays that
Boreas and shrill Zephyrus will come to him, and he vows them goodly
offerings; he would have you blow upon the pyre of Patroclus for whom
all the Achaeans are lamenting."

With this she left them, and the two winds rose with a cry that rent
the air and swept the clouds before them. They blew on and on until
they came to the sea, and the waves rose high beneath them, but when
they reached Troy they fell upon the pyre till the mighty flames roared
under the blast that they blew. All night long did they blow hard
and beat upon the fire, and all night long did Achilles grasp his
double cup, drawing wine from a mixing-bowl of gold, and calling upon
the spirit of dead Patroclus as he poured it upon the ground until
the earth was drenched. As a father mourns when he is burning the
bones of his bridegroom son whose death has wrung the hearts of his
parents, even so did Achilles mourn while burning the body of his
comrade, pacing round the bier with piteous groaning and lamentation.

At length as the Morning Star was beginning to herald the light which
saffron-mantled Dawn was soon to suffuse over the sea, the flames
fell and the fire began to die. The winds then went home beyond the
Thracian sea, which roared and boiled as they swept over it. The son
of Peleus now turned away from the pyre and lay down, overcome with
toil, till he fell into a sweet slumber. Presently they who were about
the son of Atreus drew near in a body, and roused him with the noise
and tramp of their coming. He sat upright and said, "Son of Atreus,
and all other princes of the Achaeans, first pour red wine everywhere
upon the fire and quench it; let us then gather the bones of Patroclus
son of Menoetius, singling them out with care; they are easily found,
for they lie in the middle of the pyre, while all else, both men and
horses, has been thrown in a heap and burned at the outer edge. We
will lay the bones in a golden urn, in two layers of fat, against
the time when I shall myself go down into the house of Hades. As for
the barrow, labour not to raise a great one now, but such as is reasonable.
Afterwards, let those Achaeans who may be left at the ships when I
am gone, build it both broad and high."

Thus he spoke and they obeyed the word of the son of Peleus. First
they poured red wine upon the thick layer of ashes and quenched the
fire. With many tears they singled out the whitened bones of their
loved comrade and laid them within a golden urn in two layers of fat:
they then covered the urn with a linen cloth and took it inside the
tent. They marked off the circle where the barrow should be, made
a foundation for it about the pyre, and forthwith heaped up the earth.
When they had thus raised a mound they were going away, but Achilles
stayed the people and made them sit in assembly. He brought prizes
from the ships-cauldrons, tripods, horses and mules, noble oxen, women
with fair girdles, and swart iron.

The first prize he offered was for the chariot races- a woman skilled
in all useful arts, and a three-legged cauldron that had ears for
handles, and would hold twenty-two measures. This was for the man
who came in first. For the second there was a six-year old mare, unbroken,
and in foal to a he-ass; the third was to have a goodly cauldron that
had never yet been on the fire; it was still bright as when it left
the maker, and would hold four measures. The fourth prize was two
talents of gold, and the fifth a two-handled urn as yet unsoiled by
smoke. Then he stood up and spoke among the Argives saying-

"Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, these are the prizes that
lie waiting the winners of the chariot races. At any other time I
should carry off the first prize and take it to my own tent; you know
how far my steeds excel all others- for they are immortal; Neptune
gave them to my father Peleus, who in his turn gave them to myself;
but I shall hold aloof, I and my steeds that have lost their brave
and kind driver, who many a time has washed them in clear water and
anointed their manes with oil. See how they stand weeping here, with
their manes trailing on the ground in the extremity of their sorrow.
But do you others set yourselves in order throughout the host, whosoever
has confidence in his horses and in the strength of his chariot."

Thus spoke the son of Peleus and the drivers of chariots bestirred
themselves. First among them all uprose Eumelus, king of men, son
of Admetus, a man excellent in horsemanship. Next to him rose mighty
Diomed son of Tydeus; he yoked the Trojan horses which he had taken
from Aeneas, when Apollo bore him out of the fight. Next to him, yellow-haired
Menelaus son of Atreus rose and yoked his fleet horses, Agamemnon's
mare Aethe, and his own horse Podargus. The mare had been given to
Agamemnon by echepolus son of Anchises, that he might not have to
follow him to Ilius, but might stay at home and take his ease; for
Jove had endowed him with great wealth and he lived in spacious Sicyon.
This mare, all eager for the race, did Menelaus put under the yoke.

Fourth in order Antilochus, son to noble Nestor son of Neleus, made
ready his horses. These were bred in Pylos, and his father came up
to him to give him good advice of which, however, he stood in but
little need. "Antilochus," said Nestor, "you are young, but Jove and
Neptune have loved you well, and have made you an excellent horseman.
I need not therefore say much by way of instruction. You are skilful
at wheeling your horses round the post, but the horses themselves
are very slow, and it is this that will, I fear, mar your chances.
The other drivers know less than you do, but their horses are fleeter;
therefore, my dear son, see if you cannot hit upon some artifice whereby
you may insure that the prize shall not slip through your fingers.
The woodman does more by skill than by brute force; by skill the pilot
guides his storm-tossed barque over the sea, and so by skill one driver
can beat another. If a man go wide in rounding this way and that,
whereas a man who knows what he is doing may have worse horses, but
he will keep them well in hand when he sees the doubling-post; he
knows the precise moment at which to pull the rein, and keeps his
eye well on the man in front of him. I will give you this certain
token which cannot escape your notice. There is a stump of a dead
tree-oak or pine as it may be- some six feet above the ground, and
not yet rotted away by rain; it stands at the fork of the road; it
has two white stones set one on each side, and there is a clear course
all round it. It may have been a monument to some one long since dead,
or it may have been used as a doubling-post in days gone by; now,
however, it has been fixed on by Achilles as the mark round which
the chariots shall turn; hug it as close as you can, but as you stand
in your chariot lean over a little to the left; urge on your right-hand
horse with voice and lash, and give him a loose rein, but let the
left-hand horse keep so close in, that the nave of your wheel shall
almost graze the post; but mind the stone, or you will wound your
horses and break your chariot in pieces, which would be sport for
others but confusion for yourself. Therefore, my dear son, mind well
what you are about, for if you can be first to round the post there
is no chance of any one giving you the goby later, not even though
you had Adrestus's horse Arion behind you horse which is of divine
race- or those of Laomedon, which are the noblest in this country."

When Nestor had made an end of counselling his son he sat down in
his place, and fifth in order Meriones got ready his horses. They
then all mounted their chariots and cast lots.- Achilles shook the
helmet, and the lot of Antilochus son of Nestor fell out first; next
came that of King Eumelus, and after his, those of Menelaus son of
Atreus and of Meriones. The last place fell to the lot of Diomed son
of Tydeus, who was the best man of them all. They took their places
in line; Achilles showed them the doubling-post round which they were
to turn, some way off upon the plain; here he stationed his father's
follower Phoenix as umpire, to note the running, and report truly.

At the same instant they all of them lashed their horses, struck them
with the reins, and shouted at them with all their might. They flew
full speed over the plain away from the ships, the dust rose from
under them as it were a cloud or whirlwind, and their manes were all
flying in the wind. At one moment the chariots seemed to touch the
ground, and then again they bounded into the air; the drivers stood
erect, and their hearts beat fast and furious in their lust of victory.
Each kept calling on his horses, and the horses scoured the plain
amid the clouds of dust that they raised.

It was when they were doing the last part of the course on their way
back towards the sea that their pace was strained to the utmost and
it was seen what each could do. The horses of the descendant of Pheres
now took the lead, and close behind them came the Trojan stallions
of Diomed. They seemed as if about to mount Eumelus's chariot, and
he could feel their warm breath on his back and on his broad shoulders,
for their heads were close to him as they flew over the course. Diomed
would have now passed him, or there would have been a dead heat, but
Phoebus Apollo to spite him made him drop his whip. Tears of anger
fell from his eyes as he saw the mares going on faster than ever,
while his own horses lost ground through his having no whip. Minerva
saw the trick which Apollo had played the son of Tydeus, so she brought
him his whip and put spirit into his horses; moreover she went after
the son of Admetus in a rage and broke his yoke for him; the mares
went one to one side the course, and the other to the other, and the
pole was broken against the ground. Eumelus was thrown from his chariot
close to the wheel; his elbows, mouth, and nostrils were all torn,
and his forehead was bruised above his eyebrows; his eyes filled with
tears and he could find no utterance. But the son of Tydeus turned
his horses aside and shot far ahead, for Minerva put fresh strength
into them and covered Diomed himself with glory.

Menelaus son of Atreus came next behind him, but Antilochus called
to his father's horses. "On with you both," he cried, "and do your
very utmost. I do not bid you try to beat the steeds of the son of
Tydeus, for Minerva has put running into them, and has covered Diomed
with glory; but you must overtake the horses of the son of Atreus
and not be left behind, or Aethe who is so fleet will taunt you. Why,
my good fellows, are you lagging? I tell you, and it shall surely
be- Nestor will keep neither of you, but will put both of you to the
sword, if we win any the worse a prize through your carelessness,
fly after them at your utmost speed; I will hit on a plan for passing
them in a narrow part of the way, and it shall not fail me."

They feared the rebuke of their master, and for a short space went
quicker. Presently Antilochus saw a narrow place where the road had
sunk. The ground was broken, for the winter's rain had gathered and
had worn the road so that the whole place was deepened. Menelaus was
making towards it so as to get there first, for fear of a foul, but
Antilochus turned his horses out of the way, and followed him a little
on one side. The son of Atreus was afraid and shouted out, "Antilochus,
you are driving recklessly; rein in your horses; the road is too narrow
here, it will be wider soon, and you can pass me then; if you foul
my chariot you may bring both of us to a mischief."

But Antilochus plied his whip, and drove faster, as though he had
not heard him. They went side by side for about as far as a young
man can hurl a disc from his shoulder when he is trying his strength,
and then Menelaus's mares drew behind, for he left off driving for
fear the horses should foul one another and upset the chariots; thus,
while pressing on in quest of victory, they might both come headlong
to the ground. Menelaus then upbraided Antilochus and said, "There
is no greater trickster living than you are; go, and bad luck go with
you; the Achaeans say not well that you have understanding, and come
what may you shall not bear away the prize without sworn protest on
my part."

Then he called on his horses and said to them, "Keep your pace, and
slacken not; the limbs of the other horses will weary sooner than
yours, for they are neither of them young."

The horses feared the rebuke of their master, and went faster, so
that they were soon nearly up with the others.

Meanwhile the Achaeans from their seats were watching how the horses
went, as they scoured the plain amid clouds of their own dust. Idomeneus
captain of the Cretans was first to make out the running, for he was
not in the thick of the crowd, but stood on the most commanding part
of the ground. The driver was a long way off, but Idomeneus could
hear him shouting, and could see the foremost horse quite plainly-
a chestnut with a round white star, like the moon, on its forehead.
He stood up and said among the Argives, "My friends, princes and counsellors
of the Argives, can you see the running as well as I can? There seems
to be another pair in front now, and another driver; those that led
off at the start must have been disabled out on the plain. I saw them
at first making their way round the doubling-post, but now, though
I search the plain of Troy, I cannot find them. Perhaps the reins
fell from the driver's hand so that he lost command of his horses
at the doubling-post, and could not turn it. I suppose he must have
been thrown out there, and broken his chariot, while his mares have
left the course and gone off wildly in a panic. Come up and see for
yourselves, I cannot make out for certain, but the driver seems an
Aetolian by descent, ruler over the Argives, brave Diomed the son
of Tydeus."

Ajax the son of Oileus took him up rudely and said, "Idomeneus, why
should you be in such a hurry to tell us all about it, when the mares
are still so far out upon the plain? You are none of the youngest,
nor your eyes none of the sharpest, but you are always laying down
the law. You have no right to do so, for there are better men here
than you are. Eumelus's horses are in front now, as they always have
been, and he is on the chariot holding the reins."

The captain of the Cretans was angry, and answered, "Ajax you are
an excellent railer, but you have no judgement, and are wanting in
much else as well, for you have a vile temper. I will wager you a
tripod or cauldron, and Agamemnon son of Atreus shall decide whose
horses are first. You will then know to your cost."

Ajax son of Oileus was for making him an angry answer, and there would
have been yet further brawling between them, had not Achilles risen
in his place and said, "Cease your railing Ajax and Idomeneus; it
is not you would be scandalised if you saw any one else do the like:
sit down and keep your eyes on the horses; they are speeding towards
the winning-post and will be bere directly. You will then both of
you know whose horses are first, and whose come after."

As he was speaking, the son of Tydeus came driving in, plying his
whip lustily from his shoulder, and his horses stepping high as they
flew over the course. The sand and grit rained thick on the driver,
and the chariot inlaid with gold and tin ran close behind his fleet
horses. There was little trace of wheel-marks in the fine dust, and
the horses came flying in at their utmost speed. Diomed stayed them
in the middle of the crowd, and the sweat from their manes and chests
fell in streams on to the ground. Forthwith he sprang from his goodly
chariot, and leaned his whip against his horses' yoke; brave Sthenelus
now lost no time, but at once brought on the prize, and gave the woman
and the ear-handled cauldron to his comrades to take away. Then he
unyoked the horses.

Next after him came in Antilochus of the race of Neleus, who had passed
Menelaus by a trick and not by the fleetness of his horses; but even
so Menelaus came in as close behind him as the wheel is to the horse
that draws both the chariot and its master. The end hairs of a horse's
tail touch the tyre of the wheel, and there is never much space between
wheel and horse when the chariot is going; Menelaus was no further
than this behind Antilochus, though at first he had been a full disc's
throw behind him. He had soon caught him up again, for Agamemnon's
mare Aethe kept pulling stronger and stronger, so that if the course
had been longer he would have passed him, and there would not even
have been a dead heat. Idomeneus's brave squire Meriones was about
a spear's cast behind Menelaus. His horses were slowest of all, and
he was the worst driver. Last of them all came the son of Admetus,
dragging his chariot and driving his horses on in front. When Achilles
saw him he was sorry, and stood up among the Argives saying, "The
best man is coming in last. Let us give him a prize for it is reasonable.
He shall have the second, but the first must go to the son of Tydeus."

Thus did he speak and the others all of them applauded his saying,
and were for doing as he had said, but Nestor's son Antilochus stood
up and claimed his rights from the son of Peleus. "Achilles," said
he, "I shall take it much amiss if you do this thing; you would rob
me of my prize, because you think Eumelus's chariot and horses were
thrown out, and himself too, good man that he is. He should have prayed
duly to the immortals; he would not have come in fast if he had done
so. If you are sorry for him and so choose, you have much gold in
your tents, with bronze, sheep, cattle and horses. Take something
from this store if you would have the Achaeans speak well of you,
and give him a better prize even than that which you have now offered;
but I will not give up the mare, and he that will fight me for her,
let him come on."

Achilles smiled as he heard this, and was pleased with Antilochus,
who was one of his dearest comrades. So he said-

"Antilochus, if you would have me find Eumelus another prize, I will
give him the bronze breastplate with a rim of tin running all round
it which I took from Asteropaeus. It will be worth much money to him."

He bade his comrade Automedon bring the breastplate from his tent,
and he did so. Achilles then gave it over to Eumelus, who received
it gladly.

But Menelaus got up in a rage, furiously angry with Antilochus. An
attendant placed his staff in his hands and bade the Argives keep
silence: the hero then addressed them. "Antilochus," said he, "what
is this from you who have been so far blameless? You have made me
cut a poor figure and baulked my horses by flinging your own in front
of them, though yours are much worse than mine are; therefore, O princes
and counsellors of the Argives, judge between us and show no favour,
lest one of the Achaeans say, 'Menelaus has got the mare through lying
and corruption; his horses were far inferior to Antilochus's, but
he has greater weight and influence.' Nay, I will determine the matter
myself, and no man will blame me, for I shall do what is just. Come
here, Antilochus, and stand, as our custom is, whip in hand before
your chariot and horses; lay your hand on your steeds, and swear by
earth-encircling Neptune that you did not purposely and guilefully
get in the way of my horses."

And Antilochus answered, "Forgive me; I am much younger, King Menelaus,
than you are; you stand higher than I do and are the better man of
the two; you know how easily young men are betrayed into indiscretion;
their tempers are more hasty and they have less judgement; make due
allowances therefore, and bear with me; I will of my own accord give
up the mare that I have won, and if you claim any further chattel
from my own possessions, I would rather yield it to you, at once,
than fall from your good graces henceforth, and do wrong in the sight
of heaven."

The son of Nestor then took the mare and gave her over to Menelaus,
whose anger was thus appeased; as when dew falls upon a field of ripening
corn, and the lands are bristling with the harvest- even so, O Menelaus,
was your heart made glad within you. He turned to Antilochus and said,
"Now, Antilochus, angry though I have been, I can give way to you
of my own free will; you have never been headstrong nor ill-disposed
hitherto, but this time your youth has got the better of your judgement;
be careful how you outwit your betters in future; no one else could
have brought me round so easily, but your good father, your brother,
and yourself have all of you had infinite trouble on my behalf; I
therefore yield to your entreaty, and will give up the mare to you,
mine though it indeed be; the people will thus see that I am neither
harsh nor vindictive."

With this he gave the mare over to Antilochus's comrade Noemon, and
then took the cauldron. Meriones, who had come in fourth, carried
off the two talents of gold, and the fifth prize, the two-handled
urn, being unawarded, Achilles gave it to Nestor, going up to him
among the assembled Argives and saying, "Take this, my good old friend,
as an heirloom and memorial of the funeral of Patroclus- for you shall
see him no more among the Argives. I give you this prize though you
cannot win one; you can now neither wrestle nor fight, and cannot
enter for the javelin-match nor foot-races, for the hand of age has
been laid heavily upon you."

So saying he gave the urn over to Nestor, who received it gladly and
answered, "My son, all that you have said is true; there is no strength
now in my legs and feet, nor can I hit out with my hands from either
shoulder. Would that I were still young and strong as when the Epeans
were burying King Amarynceus in Buprasium, and his sons offered prizes
in his honour. There was then none that could vie with me neither
of the Epeans nor the Pylians themselves nor the Aetolians. In boxing
I overcame Clytomedes son of Enops, and in wrestling, Ancaeus of Pleuron
who had come forward against me. Iphiclus was a good runner, but I
beat him, and threw farther with my spear than either Phyleus or Polydorus.
In chariot-racing alone did the two sons of Actor surpass me by crowding
their horses in front of me, for they were angry at the way victory
had gone, and at the greater part of the prizes remaining in the place
in which they had been offered. They were twins, and the one kept
on holding the reins, and holding the reins, while the other plied
the whip. Such was I then, but now I must leave these matters to younger
men; I must bow before the weight of years, but in those days I was
eminent among heroes. And now, sir, go on with the funeral contests
in honour of your comrade: gladly do I accept this urn, and my heart
rejoices that you do not forget me but are ever mindful of my goodwill
towards you, and of the respect due to me from the Achaeans. For all
which may the grace of heaven be vouchsafed you in great abundance."

Thereon the son of Peleus, when he had listened to all the thanks
of Nestor, went about among the concourse of the Achaeans, and presently
offered prizes for skill in the painful art of boxing. He brought
out a strong mule, and made it fast in the middle of the crowd- a
she-mule never yet broken, but six years old- when it is hardest of
all to break them: this was for the victor, and for the vanquished
he offered a double cup. Then he stood up and said among the Argives,
"Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, I invite our two champion
boxers to lay about them lustily and compete for these prizes. He
to whom Apollo vouchsafes the greater endurance, and whom the Achaeans
acknowledge as victor, shall take the mule back with him to his own
tent, while he that is vanquished shall have the double cup."

As he spoke there stood up a champion both brave and great stature,
a skilful boxer, Epeus, son of Panopeus. He laid his hand on the mule
and said, "Let the man who is to have the cup come hither, for none
but myself will take the mule. I am the best boxer of all here present,
and none can beat me. Is it not enough that I should fall short of
you in actual fighting? Still, no man can be good at everything. I
tell you plainly, and it shall come true; if any man will box with
me I will bruise his body and break his bones; therefore let his friends
stay here in a body and be at hand to take him away when I have done
with him."

They all held their peace, and no man rose save Euryalus son of Mecisteus,
who was son of Talaus. Mecisteus went once to Thebes after the fall
of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all the people of Cadmus.
The son of Tydeus was Euryalus's second, cheering him on and hoping
heartily that he would win. First he put a waistband round him and
then he gave him some well-cut thongs of ox-hide; the two men being
now girt went into the middle of the ring, and immediately fell to;
heavily indeed did they punish one another and lay about them with
their brawny fists. One could hear the horrid crashing of their jaws,
and they sweated from every pore of their skin. Presently Epeus came
on and gave Euryalus a blow on the jaw as he was looking round; Euryalus
could not keep his legs; they gave way under him in a moment and he
sprang up with a bound, as a fish leaps into the air near some shore
that is all bestrewn with sea-wrack, when Boreas furs the top of the
waves, and then falls back into deep water. But noble Epeus caught
hold of him and raised him up; his comrades also came round him and
led him from the ring, unsteady in his gait, his head hanging on one
side, and spitting great clots of gore. They set him down in a swoon
and then went to fetch the double cup.

The son of Peleus now brought out the prizes for the third contest
and showed them to the Argives. These were for the painful art of
wrestling. For the winner there was a great tripod ready for setting
upon the fire, and the Achaeans valued it among themselves at twelve
oxen. For the loser he brought out a woman skilled in all manner of
arts, and they valued her at four oxen. He rose and said among the
Argives, "Stand forward, you who will essay this contest."

Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, and crafty Ulysses,
full of wiles rose also. The two girded themselves and went into the
middle of the ring. They gripped each other in their strong hands
like the rafters which some master-builder frames for the roof of
a high house to keep the wind out. Their backbones cracked as they
tugged at one another with their mighty arms- and sweat rained from
them in torrents. Many a bloody weal sprang up on their sides and
shoulders, but they kept on striving with might and main for victory
and to win the tripod. Ulysses could not throw Ajax, nor Ajax him;
Ulysses was too strong for him; but when the Achaeans began to tire
of watching them, Ajax said to ulysses, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,
you shall either lift me, or I you, and let Jove settle it between
us."

He lifted him from the ground as he spoke, but Ulysses did not forget
his cunning. He hit Ajax in the hollow at back of his knee, so that
he could not keep his feet, but fell on his back with Ulysses lying
upon his chest, and all who saw it marvelled. Then Ulysses in turn
lifted Ajax and stirred him a little from the ground but could not
lift him right off it, his knee sank under him, and the two fell side
by side on the ground and were all begrimed with dust. They now sprang
towards one another and were for wrestling yet a third time, but Achilles
rose and stayed them. "Put not each other further," said he, "to such
cruel suffering; the victory is with both alike, take each of you
an equal prize, and let the other Achaeans now compete."

Thus did he speak and they did even as he had said, and put on their
shirts again after wiping the dust from off their bodies.

The son of Peleus then offered prizes for speed in running- a mixing-bowl
beautifully wrought, of pure silver. It would hold six measures, and
far exceeded all others in the whole world for beauty; it was the
work of cunning artificers in Sidon, and had been brought into port
by Phoenicians from beyond the sea, who had made a present of it to
Thoas. Eueneus son of jason had given it to Patroclus in ransom of
Priam's son Lycaon, and Achilles now offered it as a prize in honour
of his comrade to him who should be the swiftest runner. For the second
prize he offered a large ox, well fattened, while for the last there
was to be half a talent of gold. He then rose and said among the Argives,
"Stand forward, you who will essay this contest."

Forthwith uprose fleet Ajax son of Oileus, with cunning Ulysses, and
Nestor's son Antilochus, the fastest runner among all the youth of
his time. They stood side by side and Achilles showed them the goal.
The course was set out for them from the starting-post, and the son
of Oileus took the lead at once, with Ulysses as close behind him
as the shuttle is to a woman's bosom when she throws the woof across
the warp and holds it close up to her; even so close behind him was
Ulysses- treading in his footprints before the dust could settle there,
and Ajax could feel his breath on the back of his head as he ran swiftly
on. The Achaeans all shouted applause as they saw him straining his
utmost, and cheered him as he shot past them; but when they were now
nearing the end of the course Ulysses prayed inwardly to Minerva.
"Hear me," he cried, "and help my feet, O goddess." Thus did he pray,
and Pallas Minerva heard his prayer; she made his hands and his feet
feel light, and when the runners were at the point of pouncing upon
the prize, Ajax, through Minerva's spite slipped upon some offal that
was lying there from the cattle which Achilles had slaughtered in
honour of Patroclus, and his mouth and nostrils were all filled with
cow dung. Ulysses therefore carried off the mixing-bowl, for he got
before Ajax and came in first. But Ajax took the ox and stood with
his hand on one of its horns, spitting the dung out of his mouth.
Then he said to the Argives, "Alas, the goddess has spoiled my running;
she watches over Ulysses and stands by him as though she were his
own mother." Thus did he speak and they all of them laughed heartily.

Antilochus carried off the last prize and smiled as he said to the
bystanders, "You all see, my friends, that now too the gods have shown
their respect for seniority. Ajax is somewhat older than I am, and
as for Ulysses, he belongs to an earlier generation, but he is hale
in spite of his years, and no man of the Achaeans can run against
him save only Achilles."

He said this to pay a compliment to the son of Peleus, and Achilles
answered, "Antilochus, you shall not have praised me to no purpose;
I shall give you an additional half talent of gold." He then gave
the half talent to Antilochus, who received it gladly.

Then the son of Peleus brought out the spear, helmet and shield that
had been borne by Sarpedon, and were taken from him by Patroclus.
He stood up and said among the Argives, "We bid two champions put
on their armour, take their keen blades, and make trial of one another
in the presence of the multitude; whichever of them can first wound
the flesh of the other, cut through his armour, and draw blood, to
him will I give this goodly Thracian sword inlaid with silver, which
I took from Asteropaeus, but the armour let both hold in partnership,
and I will give each of them a hearty meal in my own tent."

Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, as also mighty Diomed
son of Tydeus. When they had put on their armour each on his own side
of the ring, they both went into the middle eager to engage, and with
fire flashing from their eyes. The Achaeans marvelled as they beheld
them, and when the two were now close up with one another, thrice
did they spring forward and thrice try to strike each other in close
combat. Ajax pierced Diomed's round shield, but did not draw blood,
for the cuirass beneath the shield protected him; thereon the son
of Tydeus from over his huge shield kept aiming continually at Ajax's
neck with the point of his spear, and the Achaeans alarmed for his
safety bade them leave off fighting and divide the prize between them.
Achilles then gave the great sword to the son of Tydeus, with its
scabbard, and the leathern belt with which to hang it.

Achilles next offered the massive iron quoit which mighty Eetion had
erewhile been used to hurl, until Achilles had slain him and carried
it off in his ships along with other spoils. He stood up and said
among the Argives, "Stand forward, you who would essay this contest.
He who wins it will have a store of iron that will last him five years
as they go rolling round, and if his fair fields lie far from a town
his shepherd or ploughman will not have to make a journey to buy iron,
for he will have a stock of it on his own premises."

Then uprose the two mighty men Polypoetes and Leonteus, with Ajax
son of Telamon and noble Epeus. They stood up one after the other
and Epeus took the quoit, whirled it, and flung it from him, which
set all the Achaeans laughing. After him threw Leonteus of the race
of Mars. Ajax son of Telamon threw third, and sent the quoit beyond
any mark that had been made yet, but when mighty Polypoetes took the
quoit he hurled it as though it had been a stockman's stick which
he sends flying about among his cattle when he is driving them, so
far did his throw out-distance those of the others. All who saw it
roared applause, and his comrades carried the prize for him and set
it on board his ship.

Achilles next offered a prize of iron for archery- ten double-edged
axes and ten with single eddies: he set up a ship's mast, some way
off upon the sands, and with a fine string tied a pigeon to it by
the foot; this was what they were to aim at. "Whoever," he said, "can
hit the pigeon shall have all the axes and take them away with him;
he who hits the string without hitting the bird will have taken a
worse aim and shall have the single-edged axes."

Then uprose King Teucer, and Meriones the stalwart squire of Idomeneus
rose also, They cast lots in a bronze helmet and the lot of Teucer
fell first. He let fly with his arrow forthwith, but he did not promise
hecatombs of firstling lambs to King Apollo, and missed his bird,
for Apollo foiled his aim; but he hit the string with which the bird
was tied, near its foot; the arrow cut the string clean through so
that it hung down towards the ground, while the bird flew up into
the sky, and the Achaeans shouted applause. Meriones, who had his
arrow ready while Teucer was aiming, snatched the bow out of his hand,
and at once promised that he would sacrifice a hecatomb of firstling
lambs to Apollo lord of the bow; then espying the pigeon high up under
the clouds, he hit her in the middle of the wing as she was circling
upwards; the arrow went clean through the wing and fixed itself in
the ground at Meriones' feet, but the bird perched on the ship's mast
hanging her head and with all her feathers drooping; the life went
out of her, and she fell heavily from the mast. Meriones, therefore,
took all ten double-edged axes, while Teucer bore off the single-edged
ones to his ships.

Then the son of Peleus brought in a spear and a cauldron that had
never been on the fire; it was worth an ox, and was chased with a
pattern of flowers; and those that throw the javelin stood up- to
wit the son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, and Meriones, stalwart
squire of Idomeneus. But Achilles spoke saying, "Son of Atreus, we
know how far you excel all others both in power and in throwing the
javelin; take the cauldron back with you to your ships, but if it
so please you, let us give the spear to Meriones; this at least is
what I should myself wish."

King Agamemnon assented. So he gave the bronze spear to Meriones,
and handed the goodly cauldron to Talthybius his esquire.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK XXIV

The assembly now broke up and the people went their ways each to
his own ship. There they made ready their supper, and then bethought
them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for thinking
of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow, could
take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he yearned
after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all they
had done together, and all they had gone through both on the field
of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on these
things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his back,
and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one distraught
to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over
beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body
of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag
it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius, and then went back into
his tent, leaving the body on the ground full length and with its
face downwards. But Apollo would not suffer it to be disfigured, for
he pitied the man, dead though he now was; therefore he shielded him
with his golden aegis continually, that he might take no hurt while
Achilles was dragging him.

Thus shamefully did Achilles in his fury dishonour Hector; but the
blessed gods looked down in pity from heaven, and urged Mercury, slayer
of Argus, to steal the body. All were of this mind save only Juno,
Neptune, and Jove's grey-eyed daughter, who persisted in the hate
which they had ever borne towards Ilius with Priam and his people;
for they forgave not the wrong done them by Alexandrus in disdaining
the goddesses who came to him when he was in his sheepyards, and preferring
her who had offered him a wanton to his ruin.

When, therefore, the morning of the twelfth day had now come, Phoebus
Apollo spoke among the immortals saying, "You gods ought to be ashamed
of yourselves; you are cruel and hard-hearted. Did not Hector burn
you thigh-bones of heifers and of unblemished goats? And now dare
you not rescue even his dead body, for his wife to look upon, with
his mother and child, his father Priam, and his people, who would
forthwith commit him to the flames, and give him his due funeral rites?
So, then, you would all be on the side of mad Achilles, who knows
neither right nor ruth? He is like some savage lion that in the pride
of his great strength and daring springs upon men's flocks and gorges
on them. Even so has Achilles flung aside all pity, and all that conscience
which at once so greatly banes yet greatly boons him that will heed
it. man may lose one far dearer than Achilles has lost- a son, it
may be, or a brother born from his own mother's womb; yet when he
has mourned him and wept over him he will let him bide, for it takes
much sorrow to kill a man; whereas Achilles, now that he has slain
noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb of his comrade.
It were better of him, and for him, that he should not do so, for
brave though he be we gods may take it ill that he should vent his
fury upon dead clay."

Juno spoke up in a rage. "This were well," she cried, "O lord of the
silver bow, if you would give like honour to Hector and to Achilles;
but Hector was mortal and suckled at a woman's breast, whereas Achilles
is the offspring of a goddess whom I myself reared and brought up.
I married her to Peleus, who is above measure dear to the immortals;
you gods came all of you to her wedding; you feasted along with them
yourself and brought your lyre- false, and fond of low company, that
you have ever been."

Then said Jove, "Juno, be not so bitter. Their honour shall not be
equal, but of all that dwell in Ilius, Hector was dearest to the gods,
as also to myself, for his offerings never failed me. Never was my
altar stinted of its dues, nor of the drink-offerings and savour of
sacrifice which we claim of right. I shall therefore permit the body
of mighty Hector to be stolen; and yet this may hardly be without
Achilles coming to know it, for his mother keeps night and day beside
him. Let some one of you, therefore, send Thetis to me, and I will
impart my counsel to her, namely that Achilles is to accept a ransom
from Priam, and give up the body."

On this Iris fleet as the wind went forth to carry his message. Down
she plunged into the dark sea midway between Samos and rocky Imbrus;
the waters hissed as they closed over her, and she sank into the bottom
as the lead at the end of an ox-horn, that is sped to carry death
to fishes. She found Thetis sitting in a great cave with the other
sea-goddesses gathered round her; there she sat in the midst of them
weeping for her noble son who was to fall far from his own land, on
the rich plains of Troy. Iris went up to her and said, "Rise Thetis;
Jove, whose counsels fail not, bids you come to him." And Thetis answered,
"Why does the mighty god so bid me? I am in great grief, and shrink
from going in and out among the immortals. Still, I will go, and the
word that he may speak shall not be spoken in vain."

The goddess took her dark veil, than which there can be no robe more
sombre, and went forth with fleet Iris leading the way before her.
The waves of the sea opened them a path, and when they reached the
shore they flew up into the heavens, where they found the all-seeing
son of Saturn with the blessed gods that live for ever assembled near
him. Minerva gave up her seat to her, and she sat down by the side
of father Jove. Juno then placed a fair golden cup in her hand, and
spoke to her in words of comfort, whereon Thetis drank and gave her
back the cup; and the sire of gods and men was the first to speak.

"So, goddess," said he, "for all your sorrow, and the grief that I
well know reigns ever in your heart, you have come hither to Olympus,
and I will tell you why I have sent for you. This nine days past the
immortals have been quarrelling about Achilles waster of cities and
the body of Hector. The gods would have Mercury slayer of Argus steal
the body, but in furtherance of our peace and amity henceforward,
I will concede such honour to your son as I will now tell you. Go,
then, to the host and lay these commands upon him; say that the gods
are angry with him, and that I am myself more angry than them all,
in that he keeps Hector at the ships and will not give him up. He
may thus fear me and let the body go. At the same time I will send
Iris to great Priam to bid him go to the ships of the Achaeans, and
ransom his son, taking with him such gifts for Achilles as may give
him satisfaction.

Silver-footed Thetis did as the god had told her, and forthwith down
she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus. She went to her son's
tents where she found him grieving bitterly, while his trusty comrades
round him were busy preparing their morning meal, for which they had
killed a great woolly sheep. His mother sat down beside him and caressed
him with her hand saying, "My son, how long will you keep on thus
grieving and making moan? You are gnawing at your own heart, and think
neither of food nor of woman's embraces; and yet these too were well,
for you have no long time to live, and death with the strong hand
of fate are already close beside you. Now, therefore, heed what I
say, for I come as a messenger from Jove; he says that the gods are
angry with you, and himself more angry than them all, in that you
keep Hector at the ships and will not give him up. Therefore let him
go, and accept a ransom for his body."

And Achilles answered, "So be it. If Olympian Jove of his own motion
thus commands me, let him that brings the ransom bear the body away."

Thus did mother and son talk together at the ships in long discourse
with one another. Meanwhile the son of Saturn sent Iris to the strong
city of Ilius. "Go," said he, "fleet Iris, from the mansions of Olympus,
and tell King Priam in Ilius, that he is to go to the ships of the
Achaeans and free the body of his dear son. He is to take such gifts
with him as shall give satisfaction to Achilles, and he is to go alone,
with no other Trojan, save only some honoured servant who may drive
his mules and waggon, and bring back the body of him whom noble Achilles
has slain. Let him have no thought nor fear of death in his heart,
for we will send the slayer of Argus to escort him, and bring him
within the tent of Achilles. Achilles will not kill him nor let another
do so, for he will take heed to his ways and sin not, and he will
entreat a suppliant with all honourable courtesy."

On this Iris, fleet as the wind, sped forth to deliver her message.
She went to Priam's house, and found weeping and lamentation therein.
His sons were seated round their father in the outer courtyard, and
their raiment was wet with tears: the old man sat in the midst of
them with his mantle wrapped close about his body, and his head and
neck all covered with the filth which he had clutched as he lay grovelling
in the mire. His daughters and his sons' wives went wailing about
the house, as they thought of the many and brave men who lay dead,
slain by the Argives. The messenger of Jove stood by Priam and spoke
softly to him, but fear fell upon him as she did so. "Take heart,"
she said, "Priam offspring of Dardanus, take heart and fear not. I
bring no evil tidings, but am minded well towards you. I come as a
messenger from Jove, who though he be not near, takes thought for
you and pities you. The lord of Olympus bids you go and ransom noble
Hector, and take with you such gifts as shall give satisfaction to
Achilles. You are to go alone, with no Trojan, save only some honoured
servant who may drive your mules and waggon, and bring back to the
city the body of him whom noble Achilles has slain. You are to have
no thought, nor fear of death, for Jove will send the slayer of Argus
to escort you. When he has brought you within Achilles' tent, Achilles
will not kill you nor let another do so, for he will take heed to
his ways and sin not, and he will entreat a suppliant with all honourable
courtesy."

Iris went her way when she had thus spoken, and Priam told his sons
to get a mule-waggon ready, and to make the body of the waggon fast
upon the top of its bed. Then he went down into his fragrant store-room,
high-vaulted, and made of cedar-wood, where his many treasures were
kept, and he called Hecuba his wife. "Wife," said he, "a messenger
has come to me from Olympus, and has told me to go to the ships of
the Achaeans to ransom my dear son, taking with me such gifts as shall
give satisfaction to Achilles. What think you of this matter? for
my own part I am greatly moved to pass through the of the Achaeans
and go to their ships."

His wife cried aloud as she heard him, and said, "Alas, what has become
of that judgement for which you have been ever famous both among strangers
and your own people? How can you venture alone to the ships of the
Achaeans, and look into the face of him who has slain so many of your
brave sons? You must have iron courage, for if the cruel savage sees
you and lays hold on you, he will know neither respect nor pity. Let
us then weep Hector from afar here in our own house, for when I gave
him birth the threads of overruling fate were spun for him that dogs
should eat his flesh far from his parents, in the house of that terrible
man on whose liver I would fain fasten and devour it. Thus would I
avenge my son, who showed no cowardice when Achilles slew him, and
thought neither of Right nor of avoiding battle as he stood in defence
of Trojan men and Trojan women."

Then Priam said, "I would go, do not therefore stay me nor be as a
bird of ill omen in my house, for you will not move me. Had it been
some mortal man who had sent me some prophet or priest who divines
from sacrifice- I should have deemed him false and have given him
no heed; but now I have heard the goddess and seen her face to face,
therefore I will go and her saying shall not be in vain. If it be
my fate to die at the ships of the Achaeans even so would I have it;
let Achilles slay me, if I may but first have taken my son in my arms
and mourned him to my heart's comforting."

So saying he lifted the lids of his chests, and took out twelve goodly
vestments. He took also twelve cloaks of single fold, twelve rugs,
twelve fair mantles, and an equal number of shirts. He weighed out
ten talents of gold, and brought moreover two burnished tripods, four
cauldrons, and a very beautiful cup which the Thracians had given
him when he had gone to them on an embassy; it was very precious,
but he grudged not even this, so eager was he to ransom the body of
his son. Then he chased all the Trojans from the court and rebuked
them with words of anger. "Out," he cried, "shame and disgrace to
me that you are. Have you no grief in your own homes that you are
come to plague me here? Is it a small thing, think you, that the son
of Saturn has sent this sorrow upon me, to lose the bravest of my
sons? Nay, you shall prove it in person, for now he is gone the Achaeans
will have easier work in killing you. As for me, let me go down within
the house of Hades, ere mine eyes behold the sacking and wasting of
the city."

He drove the men away with his staff, and they went forth as the old
man sped them. Then he called to his sons, upbraiding Helenus, Paris,
noble Agathon, Pammon, Antiphonus, Polites of the loud battle-cry,
Deiphobus, Hippothous, and Dius. These nine did the old man call near
him. "Come to me at once," he cried, "worthless sons who do me shame;
would that you had all been killed at the ships rather than Hector.
Miserable man that I am, I have had the bravest sons in all Troy-
noble Nestor, Troilus the dauntless charioteer, and Hector who was
a god among men, so that one would have thought he was son to an immortal-
yet there is not one of them left. Mars has slain them and those of
whom I am ashamed are alone left me. Liars, and light of foot, heroes
of the dance, robbers of lambs and kids from your own people, why
do you not get a waggon ready for me at once, and put all these things
upon it that I may set out on my way?"

Thus did he speak, and they feared the rebuke of their father. They
brought out a strong mule-waggon, newly made, and set the body of
the waggon fast on its bed. They took the mule-yoke from the peg on
which it hung, a yoke of boxwood with a knob on the top of it and
rings for the reins to go through. Then they brought a yoke-band eleven
cubits long, to bind the yoke to the pole; they bound it on at the
far end of the pole, and put the ring over the upright pin making
it fast with three turns of the band on either side the knob, and
bending the thong of the yoke beneath it. This done, they brought
from the store-chamber the rich ransom that was to purchase the body
of Hector, and they set it all orderly on the waggon; then they yoked
the strong harness-mules which the Mysians had on a time given as
a goodly present to Priam; but for Priam himself they yoked horses
which the old king had bred, and kept for own use.

Thus heedfully did Priam and his servant see to the yolking of their
cars at the palace. Then Hecuba came to them all sorrowful, with a
golden goblet of wine in her right hand, that they might make a drink-offering
before they set out. She stood in front of the horses and said, "Take
this, make a drink-offering to father Jove, and since you are minded
to go to the ships in spite of me, pray that you may come safely back
from the hands of your enemies. Pray to the son of Saturn lord of
the whirlwind, who sits on Ida and looks down over all Troy, pray
him to send his swift messenger on your right hand, the bird of omen
which is strongest and most dear to him of all birds, that you may
see it with your own eyes and trust it as you go forth to the ships
of the Danaans. If all-seeing Jove will not send you this messenger,
however set upon it you may be, I would not have you go to the ships
of the Argives."

And Priam answered, "Wife, I will do as you desire me; it is well
to lift hands in prayer to Jove, if so be he may have mercy upon me."

With this the old man bade the serving-woman pour pure water over
his hands, and the woman came, bearing the water in a bowl. He washed
his hands and took the cup from his wife; then he made the drink-offering
and prayed, standing in the middle of the courtyard and turning his
eyes to heaven. "Father Jove," he said, "that rulest from Ida, most
glorious and most great, grant that I may be received kindly and compassionately
in the tents of Achilles; and send your swift messenger upon my right
hand, the bird of omen which is strongest and most dear to you of
all birds, that I may see it with my own eyes and trust it as I go
forth to the ships of the Danaans."

So did he pray, and Jove the lord of counsel heard his prayer. Forthwith
he sent an eagle, the most unerring portent of all birds that fly,
the dusky hunter that men also call the Black Eagle. His wings were
spread abroad on either side as wide as the well-made and well-bolted
door of a rich man's chamber. He came to them flying over the city
upon their right hands, and when they saw him they were glad and their
hearts took comfort within them. The old man made haste to mount his
chariot, and drove out through the inner gateway and under the echoing
gatehouse of the outer court. Before him went the mules drawing the
four-wheeled waggon, and driven by wise Idaeus; behind these were
the horses, which the old man lashed with his whip and drove swiftly
through the city, while his friends followed after, wailing and lamenting
for him as though he were on his road to death. As soon as they had
come down from the city and had reached the plain, his sons and sons-in-law
who had followed him went back to Ilius.

But Priam and Idaeus as they showed out upon the plain did not escape
the ken of all-seeing Jove, who looked down upon the old man and pitied
him; then he spoke to his son Mercury and said, "Mercury, for it is
you who are the most disposed to escort men on their way, and to hear
those whom you will hear, go, and so conduct Priam to the ships of
the Achaeans that no other of the Danaans shall see him nor take note
of him until he reach the son of Peleus."

Thus he spoke and Mercury, guide and guardian, slayer of Argus, did
as he was told. Forthwith he bound on his glittering golden sandals
with which he could fly like the wind over land and sea; he took the
wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep, or wakes them just as
he pleases, and flew holding it in his hand till he came to Troy and
to the Hellespont. To look at, he was like a young man of noble birth
in the hey-day of his youth and beauty with the down just coming upon
his face.

Now when Priam and Idaeus had driven past the great tomb of Ilius,
they stayed their mules and horses that they might drink in the river,
for the shades of night were falling, when, therefore, Idaeus saw
Mercury standing near them he said to Priam, "Take heed, descendant
of Dardanus; here is matter which demands consideration. I see a man
who I think will presently fall upon us; let us fly with our horses,
or at least embrace his knees and implore him to take compassion upon
us?

When he heard this the old man's heart failed him, and he was in great
fear; he stayed where he was as one dazed, and the hair stood on end
over his whole body; but the bringer of good luck came up to him and
took him by the hand, saying, "Whither, father, are you thus driving
your mules and horses in the dead of night when other men are asleep?
Are you not afraid of the fierce Achaeans who are hard by you, so
cruel and relentless? Should some one of them see you bearing so much
treasure through the darkness of the flying night, what would not
your state then be? You are no longer young, and he who is with you
is too old to protect you from those who would attack you. For myself,
I will do you no harm, and I will defend you from any one else, for
you remind me of my own father."

And Priam answered, "It is indeed as you say, my dear son; nevertheless
some god has held his hand over me, in that he has sent such a wayfarer
as yourself to meet me so Opportunely; you are so comely in mien and
figure, and your judgement is so excellent that you must come of blessed
parents."

Then said the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, "Sir, all that
you have said is right; but tell me and tell me true, are you taking
this rich treasure to send it to a foreign people where it may be
safe, or are you all leaving strong Ilius in dismay now that your
son has fallen who was the bravest man among you and was never lacking
in battle with the Achaeans?"

And Priam said, "Wo are you, my friend, and who are your parents,
that you speak so truly about the fate of my unhappy son?"

The slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, answered him, "Sir, you would
prove me, that you question me about noble Hector. Many a time have
I set eyes upon him in battle when he was driving the Argives to their
ships and putting them to the sword. We stood still and marvelled,
for Achilles in his anger with the son of Atreus suffered us not to
fight. I am his squire, and came with him in the same ship. I am a
Myrmidon, and my father's name is Polyctor: he is a rich man and about
as old as you are; he has six sons besides myself, and I am the seventh.
We cast lots, and it fell upon me to sail hither with Achilles. I
am now come from the ships on to the plain, for with daybreak the
Achaeans will set battle in array about the city. They chafe at doing
nothing, and are so eager that their princes cannot hold them back."

Then answered Priam, "If you are indeed the squire of Achilles son
of Peleus, tell me now the Whole truth. Is my son still at the ships,
or has Achilles hewn him limb from limb, and given him to his hounds?"

"Sir," replied the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, "neither hounds
nor vultures have yet devoured him; he is still just lying at the
tents by the ship of Achilles, and though it is now twelve days that
he has lain there, his flesh is not wasted nor have the worms eaten
him although they feed on warriors. At daybreak Achilles drags him
cruelly round the sepulchre of his dear comrade, but it does him no
hurt. You should come yourself and see how he lies fresh as dew, with
the blood all washed away, and his wounds every one of them closed
though many pierced him with their spears. Such care have the blessed
gods taken of your brave son, for he was dear to them beyond all measure."

The old man was comforted as he heard him and said, "My son, see what
a good thing it is to have made due offerings to the immortals; for
as sure as that he was born my son never forgot the gods that hold
Olympus, and now they requite it to him even in death. Accept therefore
at my hands this goodly chalice; guard me and with heaven's help guide
me till I come to the tent of the son of Peleus."

Then answered the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, "Sir, you are
tempting me and playing upon my youth, but you shall not move me,
for you are offering me presents without the knowledge of Achilles
whom I fear and hold it great guiltless to defraud, lest some evil
presently befall me; but as your guide I would go with you even to
Argos itself, and would guard you so carefully whether by sea or land,
that no one should attack you through making light of him who was
with you."

The bringer of good luck then sprang on to the chariot, and seizing
the whip and reins he breathed fresh spirit into the mules and horses.
When they reached the trench and the wall that was before the ships,
those who were on guard had just been getting their suppers, and the
slayer of Argus threw them all into a deep sleep. Then he drew back
the bolts to open the gates, and took Priam inside with the treasure
he had upon his waggon. Ere long they came to the lofty dwelling of
the son of Peleus for which the Myrmidons had cut pine and which they
had built for their king; when they had built it they thatched it
with coarse tussock-grass which they had mown out on the plain, and
all round it they made a large courtyard, which was fenced with stakes
set close together. The gate was barred with a single bolt of pine
which it took three men to force into its place, and three to draw
back so as to open the gate, but Achilles could draw it by himself.
Mercury opened the gate for the old man, and brought in the treasure
that he was taking with him for the son of Peleus. Then he sprang
from the chariot on to the ground and said, "Sir, it is I, immortal
Mercury, that am come with you, for my father sent me to escort you.
I will now leave you, and will not enter into the presence of Achilles,
for it might anger him that a god should befriend mortal men thus
openly. Go you within, and embrace the knees of the son of Peleus:
beseech him by his father, his lovely mother, and his son; thus you
may move him."

With these words Mercury went back to high Olympus. Priam sprang from
his chariot to the ground, leaving Idaeus where he was, in charge
of the mules and horses. The old man went straight into the house
where Achilles, loved of the gods, was sitting. There he found him
with his men seated at a distance from him: only two, the hero Automedon,
and Alcimus of the race of Mars, were busy in attendance about his
person, for he had but just done eating and drinking, and the table
was still there. King Priam entered without their seeing him, and
going right up to Achilles he clasped his knees and kissed the dread
murderous hands that had slain so many of his sons.

As when some cruel spite has befallen a man that he should have killed
some one in his own country, and must fly to a great man's protection
in a land of strangers, and all marvel who see him, even so did Achilles
marvel as he beheld Priam. The others looked one to another and marvelled
also, but Priam besought Achilles saying, "Think of your father, O
Achilles like unto the gods, who is such even as I am, on the sad
threshold of old age. It may be that those who dwell near him harass
him, and there is none to keep war and ruin from him. Yet when he
hears of you being still alive, he is glad, and his days are full
of hope that he shall see his dear son come home to him from Troy;
but I, wretched man that I am, had the bravest in all Troy for my
sons, and there is not one of them left. I had fifty sons when the
Achaeans came here; nineteen of them were from a single womb, and
the others were borne to me by the women of my household. The greater
part of them has fierce Mars laid low, and Hector, him who was alone
left, him who was the guardian of the city and ourselves, him have
you lately slain; therefore I am now come to the ships of the Achaeans
to ransom his body from you with a great ransom. Fear, O Achilles,
the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion
upon me, who am the more pitiable, for I have steeled myself as no
man yet has ever steeled himself before me, and have raised to my
lips the hand of him who slew my son."

Thus spoke Priam, and the heart of Achilles yearned as he bethought
him of his father. He took the old man's hand and moved him gently
away. The two wept bitterly- Priam, as he lay at Achilles' feet, weeping
for Hector, and Achilles now for his father and now for Patroclous,
till the house was filled with their lamentation. But when Achilles
was now sated with grief and had unburthened the bitterness of his
sorrow, he left his seat and raised the old man by the hand, in pity
for his white hair and beard; then he said, "Unhappy man, you have
indeed been greatly daring; how could you venture to come alone to
the ships of the Achaeans, and enter the presence of him who has slain
so many of your brave sons? You must have iron courage: sit now upon
this seat, and for all our grief we will hide our sorrows in our hearts,
for weeping will not avail us. The immortals know no care, yet the
lot they spin for man is full of sorrow; on the floor of Jove's palace
there stand two urns, the one filled with evil gifts, and the other
with good ones. He for whom Jove the lord of thunder mixes the gifts
he sends, will meet now with good and now with evil fortune; but he
to whom Jove sends none but evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger
of scorn, the hand of famine will pursue him to the ends of the world,
and he will go up and down the face of the earth, respected neither
by gods nor men. Even so did it befall Peleus; the gods endowed him
with all good things from his birth upwards, for he reigned over the
Myrmidons excelling all men in prosperity and wealth, and mortal though
he was they gave him a goddess for his bride. But even on him too
did heaven send misfortune, for there is no race of royal children
born to him in his house, save one son who is doomed to die all untimely;
nor may I take care of him now that he is growing old, for I must
stay here at Troy to be the bane of you and your children. And you
too, O Priam, I have heard that you were aforetime happy. They say
that in wealth and plenitude of offspring you surpassed all that is
in Lesbos, the realm of Makar to the northward, Phrygia that is more
inland, and those that dwell upon the great Hellespont; but from the
day when the dwellers in heaven sent this evil upon you, war and slaughter
have been about your city continually. Bear up against it, and let
there be some intervals in your sorrow. Mourn as you may for your
brave son, you will take nothing by it. You cannot raise him from
the dead, ere you do so yet another sorrow shall befall you."

And Priam answered, "O king, bid me not be seated, while Hector is
still lying uncared for in your tents, but accept the great ransom
which I have brought you, and give him to me at once that I may look
upon him. May you prosper with the ransom and reach your own land
in safety, seeing that you have suffered me to live and to look upon
the light of the sun."

Achilles looked at him sternly and said, "Vex me, sir, no longer;
I am of myself minded to give up the body of Hector. My mother, daughter
of the old man of the sea, came to me from Jove to bid me deliver
it to you. Moreover I know well, O Priam, and you cannot hide it,
that some god has brought you to the ships of the Achaeans, for else,
no man however strong and in his prime would dare to come to our host;
he could neither pass our guard unseen, nor draw the bolt of my gates
thus easily; therefore, provoke me no further, lest I sin against
the word of Jove, and suffer you not, suppliant though you are, within
my tents."

The old man feared him and obeyed. Then the son of Peleus sprang like
a lion through the door of his house, not alone, but with him went
his two squires Automedon and Alcimus who were closer to him than
any others of his comrades now that Patroclus was no more. These unyoked
the horses and mules, and bade Priam's herald and attendant be seated
within the house. They lifted the ransom for Hector's body from the
waggon. but they left two mantles and a goodly shirt, that Achilles
might wrap the body in them when he gave it to be taken home. Then
he called to his servants and ordered them to wash the body and anoint
it, but he first took it to a place where Priam should not see it,
lest if he did so, he should break out in the bitterness of his grief,
and enrage Achilles, who might then kill him and sin against the word
of Jove. When the servants had washed the body and anointed it, and
had wrapped it in a fair shirt and mantle, Achilles himself lifted
it on to a bier, and he and his men then laid it on the waggon. He
cried aloud as he did so and called on the name of his dear comrade,
"Be not angry with me, Patroclus," he said, "if you hear even in the
house of Hades that I have given Hector to his father for a ransom.
It has been no unworthy one, and I will share it equitably with you."

Achilles then went back into the tent and took his place on the richly
inlaid seat from which he had risen, by the wall that was at right
angles to the one against which Priam was sitting. "Sir," he said,
"your son is now laid upon his bier and is ransomed according to desire;
you shall look upon him when you him away at daybreak; for the present
let us prepare our supper. Even lovely Niobe had to think about eating,
though her twelve children- six daughters and six lusty sons- had
been all slain in her house. Apollo killed the sons with arrows from
his silver bow, to punish Niobe, and Diana slew the daughters, because
Niobe had vaunted herself against Leto; she said Leto had borne two
children only, whereas she had herself borne many- whereon the two
killed the many. Nine days did they lie weltering, and there was none
to bury them, for the son of Saturn turned the people into stone;
but on the tenth day the gods in heaven themselves buried them, and
Niobe then took food, being worn out with weeping. They say that somewhere
among the rocks on the mountain pastures of Sipylus, where the nymphs
live that haunt the river Achelous, there, they say, she lives in
stone and still nurses the sorrows sent upon her by the hand of heaven.
Therefore, noble sir, let us two now take food; you can weep for your
dear son hereafter as you are bearing him back to Ilius- and many
a tear will he cost you."

With this Achilles sprang from his seat and killed a sheep of silvery
whiteness, which his followers skinned and made ready all in due order.
They cut the meat carefully up into smaller pieces, spitted them,
and drew them off again when they were well roasted. Automedon brought
bread in fair baskets and served it round the table, while Achilles
dealt out the meat, and they laid their hands on the good things that
were before them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink,
Priam, descendant of Dardanus, marvelled at the strength and beauty
of Achilles for he was as a god to see, and Achilles marvelled at
Priam as he listened to him and looked upon his noble presence. When
they had gazed their fill Priam spoke first. "And now, O king," he
said, "take me to my couch that we may lie down and enjoy the blessed
boon of sleep. Never once have my eyes been closed from the day your
hands took the life of my son; I have grovelled without ceasing in
the mire of my stable-yard, making moan and brooding over my countless
sorrows. Now, moreover, I have eaten bread and drunk wine; hitherto
I have tasted nothing."

As he spoke Achilles told his men and the women-servants to set beds
in the room that was in the gatehouse, and make them with good red
rugs, and spread coverlets on the top of them with woollen cloaks
for Priam and Idaeus to wear. So the maids went out carrying a torch
and got the two beds ready in all haste. Then Achilles said laughingly
to Priam, "Dear sir, you shall lie outside, lest some counsellor of
those who in due course keep coming to advise with me should see you
here in the darkness of the flying night, and tell it to Agamemnon.
This might cause delay in the delivery of the body. And now tell me
and tell me true, for how many days would you celebrate the funeral
rites of noble Hector? Tell me, that I may hold aloof from war and
restrain the host."

And Priam answered, "Since, then, you suffer me to bury my noble son
with all due rites, do thus, Achilles, and I shall be grateful. You
know how we are pent up within our city; it is far for us to fetch
wood from the mountain, and the people live in fear. Nine days, therefore,
will we mourn Hector in my house; on the tenth day we will bury him
and there shall be a public feast in his honour; on the eleventh we
will build a mound over his ashes, and on the twelfth, if there be
need, we will fight."

And Achilles answered, "All, King Priam, shall be as you have said.
I will stay our fighting for as long a time as you have named."

As he spoke he laid his hand on the old man's right wrist, in token
that he should have no fear; thus then did Priam and his attendant
sleep there in the forecourt, full of thought, while Achilles lay
in an inner room of the house, with fair Briseis by his side.

And now both gods and mortals were fast asleep through the livelong
night, but upon Mercury alone, the bringer of good luck, sleep could
take no hold for he was thinking all the time how to get King Priam
away from the ships without his being seen by the strong force of
sentinels. He hovered therefore over Priam's head and said, "Sir,
now that Achilles has spared your life, you seem to have no fear about
sleeping in the thick of your foes. You have paid a great ransom,
and have received the body of your son; were you still alive and a
prisoner the sons whom you have left at home would have to give three
times as much to free you; and so it would be if Agamemnon and the
other Achaeans were to know of your being here."

When he heard this the old man was afraid and roused his servant.
Mercury then yoked their horses and mules, and drove them quickly
through the host so that no man perceived them. When they came to
the ford of eddying Xanthus, begotten of immortal Jove, Mercury went
back to high Olympus, and dawn in robe of saffron began to break over
all the land. Priam and Idaeus then drove on toward the city lamenting
and making moan, and the mules drew the body of Hector. No one neither
man nor woman saw them, till Cassandra, fair as golden Venus standing
on Pergamus, caught sight of her dear father in his chariot, and his
servant that was the city's herald with him. Then she saw him that
was lying upon the bier, drawn by the mules, and with a loud cry she
went about the city saying, "Come hither Trojans, men and women, and
look on Hector; if ever you rejoiced to see him coming from battle
when he was alive, look now on him that was the glory of our city
and all our people."

At this there was not man nor woman left in the city, so great a sorrow
had possessed them. Hard by the gates they met Priam as he was bringing
in the body. Hector's wife and his mother were the first to mourn
him: they flew towards the waggon and laid their hands upon his head,
while the crowd stood weeping round them. They would have stayed before
the gates, weeping and lamenting the livelong day to the going down
of the sun, had not Priam spoken to them from the chariot and said,
"Make way for the mules to pass you. Afterwards when I have taken
the body home you shall have your fill of weeping."

On this the people stood asunder, and made a way for the waggon. When
they had borne the body within the house they laid it upon a bed and
seated minstrels round it to lead the dirge, whereon the women joined
in the sad music of their lament. Foremost among them all Andromache
led their wailing as she clasped the head of mighty Hector in her
embrace. "Husband," she cried, "you have died young, and leave me
in your house a widow; he of whom we are the ill-starred parents is
still a mere child, and I fear he may not reach manhood. Ere he can
do so our city will be razed and overthrown, for you who watched over
it are no more- you who were its saviour, the guardian of our wives
and children. Our women will be carried away captives to the ships,
and I among them; while you, my child, who will be with me will be
put to some unseemly tasks, working for a cruel master. Or, may be,
some Achaean will hurl you (O miserable death) from our walls, to
avenge some brother, son, or father whom Hector slew; many of them
have indeed bitten the dust at his hands, for your father's hand in
battle was no light one. Therefore do the people mourn him. You have
left, O Hector, sorrow unutterable to your parents, and my own grief
is greatest of all, for you did not stretch forth your arms and embrace
me as you lay dying, nor say to me any words that might have lived
with me in my tears night and day for evermore."

Bitterly did she weep the while, and the women joined in her lament.
Hecuba in her turn took up the strains of woe. "Hector," she cried,
"dearest to me of all my children. So long as you were alive the gods
loved you well, and even in death they have not been utterly unmindful
of you; for when Achilles took any other of my sons, he would sell
him beyond the seas, to Samos Imbrus or rugged Lemnos; and when he
had slain you too with his sword, many a time did he drag you round
the sepulchre of his comrade- though this could not give him life-
yet here you lie all fresh as dew, and comely as one whom Apollo has
slain with his painless shafts."

Thus did she too speak through her tears with bitter moan, and then
Helen for a third time took up the strain of lamentation. "Hector,"
said she, "dearest of all my brothers-in-law-for I am wife to Alexandrus
who brought me hither to Troy- would that I had died ere he did so-
twenty years are come and gone since I left my home and came from
over the sea, but I have never heard one word of insult or unkindness
from you. When another would chide with me, as it might be one of
your brothers or sisters or of your brothers' wives, or my mother-in-law-
for Priam was as kind to me as though he were my own father- you would
rebuke and check them with words of gentleness and goodwill. Therefore
my tears flow both for you and for my unhappy self, for there is no
one else in Troy who is kind to me, but all shrink and shudder as
they go by me."

She wept as she spoke and the vast crowd that was gathered round her
joined in her lament. Then King Priam spoke to them saying, "Bring
wood, O Trojans, to the city, and fear no cunning ambush of the Argives,
for Achilles when he dismissed me from the ships gave me his word
that they should not attack us until the morning of the twelfth day."

Forthwith they yoked their oxen and mules and gathered together before
the city. Nine days long did they bring in great heaps wood, and on
the morning of the tenth day with many tears they took trave Hector
forth, laid his dead body upon the summit of the pile, and set the
fire thereto. Then when the child of morning rosy-fingered dawn appeared
on the eleventh day, the people again assembled, round the pyre of
mighty Hector. When they were got together, they first quenched the
fire with wine wherever it was burning, and then his brothers and
comrades with many a bitter tear gathered his white bones, wrapped
them in soft robes of purple, and laid them in a golden urn, which
they placed in a grave and covered over with large stones set close
together. Then they built a barrow hurriedly over it keeping guard
on every side lest the Achaeans should attack them before they had
finished. When they had heaped up the barrow they went back again
into the city, and being well assembled they held high feast in the
house of Priam their king.

Thus, then, did they celebrate the funeral of Hector tamer of horses.

THE END

----------------------------------------------------------------------

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I've actually read this.... icmar
Orange Juice Jones wrote:
Provided by The Internet Classics Archive.
See bottom for copyright. Available online at
http://classics.mit.edu//Homer/iliad.html

The Iliad
By Homer


Translated by Samuel Butler

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOK I - PENIS.

Once upon a time, there was a Penis.

The end.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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That was an interesting novel.

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lolwut

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Spoiler: show
:(

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?

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The Flesh of Fallen Angels! Come to me all! Asteroth,

Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Bapholada, Lucifer, Loki, Satan,

Cthulhu, Lilith, Della! Blood, to you all!

I'm the wolf, yeah!
I am the wolf! It's close, it's coming. You have come.
The witness to the end, of time. It's now! I will rise to
her side! I don't need the words!
I'm beyond the words!
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Post Re: New Spam topic must reach 10000 views.
Spoiler: show
[spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler]
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who149 wrote:
I'm trying i'm trying~ i'm making I'll try too slowly up my posting. At least once a day for a bit. Then I'll up that too twice, then four, then 8 and so on.
Until eventually I wake up one morning and find out that I am actually an Idiot hero.
On some quest too cheat on his gf or raise affection of 5 women who conveniently live in my the same dorm as me.
In which I only have 100 days to seduce them all.

Remon wrote:
Now we can dominate the porn industry, camera industry, AND the world!
YomToxic wrote:
YOU BETTER STAY ALIVE OR ELSE I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND RAPE YOU DEAD.

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*AnimeFuckHead* wrote:
Spoiler: show
[spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler][spoiler]
[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

would have looked cool

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OLD VERSION, BITCHES!
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