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+Project Gutenberg Etext; The Fall of Troy, by Quintus Smyrnaeus
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+The Fall of Troy
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+by Quintus Smyrnaeus
+
+September, 1996  [Etext #658]
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+
+
+The Fall of Troy
+
+by
+
+ Quintus Smyrnaeus
+ ("Quintus of Smyrna")
+ Fl. 4th Century A.D.
+
+Originally written in Greek, sometime about the middle of the 4th
+Century A.D.  Translation by A.S. Way, 1913.
+
+
+
+
+
+*****************************************************************
+
+SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
+
+ORIGINAL TEXT --
+
+Way, A.S. (Ed. & Trans.): "Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy"
+(Loeb Classics #19; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA,
+1913).  Greek text with side-by-side English translation.
+
+OTHER TRANSLATIONS --
+
+Combellack, Frederick M. (Trans.): "The War at Troy: What Homer
+Didn't Tell" (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1968).
+
+RECOMMENDED READING --
+
+Fitzgerald, Robert (Trans.): "Homer: The Iliad" (Viking Press,
+New York, 1968).
+
+*****************************************************************
+
+
+INTRODUCTION 
+
+Homer's "Iliad" begins towards the close of the last of the ten
+years of the Trojan War: its incidents extend over some fifty
+days only, and it ends with the burial of Hector.  The things
+which came before and after were told by other bards, who between
+them narrated the whole "cycle" of the events of the war, and so
+were called the Cyclic Poets.  Of their works none have survived;
+but the story of what befell between Hector's funeral and the
+taking of Troy is told in detail, and well told, in a poem about
+half as long as the "Iliad".  Some four hundred years after
+Christ there lived at Smyrna a poet of whom we know scarce
+anything, save that his first name was Quintus.  He had saturated
+himself with the spirit of Homer, he had caught the ring of his
+music, and he perhaps had before him the works of those Cyclic
+Poets whose stars had paled before the sun.
+
+We have practically no external evidence as to the date or place
+of birth of Quintus of Smyrna, or for the sources whence he drew
+his materials.  His date is approximately settled by two passages
+in the poem, viz. vi. 531 sqq., in which occurs an illustration
+drawn from the man-and-beast fights of the amphitheatre, which
+were suppressed by Theodosius I. (379-395 A.D.); and xiii. 335
+sqq., which contains a prophecy, the special particularity of
+which, it is maintained by Koechly, limits its applicability to
+the middle of the fourth century A.D.
+
+His place of birth, and the precise locality, is given by himself
+in xii. 308-313, and confirmatory evidence is afforded by his
+familiarity, of which he gives numerous instances, with many
+natural features of the western part of Asia Minor.
+
+With respect to his authorities, and the use he made of their
+writings, there has been more difference of opinion.  Since his
+narrative covers the same ground as the "Aethiopis" ("Coming of
+Memnon") and the "Iliupersis" ("Destruction of Troy") of Arctinus
+(circ. 776 B.C.), and the "Little Iliad" of Lesches (circ. 700
+B.C.), it has been assumed that the work of Quintus "is little
+more than an amplification or remodelling of the works of these
+two Cyclic Poets."  This, however, must needs be pure conjecture,
+as the only remains of these poets consist of fragments amounting
+to no more than a very few lines from each, and of the "summaries
+of contents" made by the grammarian Proclus (circ. 140 A.D.),
+which, again, we but get at second-hand through the "Bibliotheca"
+of Photius (ninth century).  Now, not merely do the only
+descriptions of incident that are found in the fragments differ
+essentially from the corresponding incidents as described by
+Quintus, but even in the summaries, meagre as they are, we find,
+as German critics have shown by exhaustive investigation, serious
+discrepancies enough to justify us in the conclusion that, even
+if Quintus had the works of the Cyclic poets before him, which is
+far from certain, his poem was no mere remodelling of theirs, but
+an independent and practically original work.  Not that this
+conclusion disposes by any means of all difficulties.  If Quintus
+did not follow the Cyclic poets, from what source did he draw his
+materials?  The German critic unhesitatingly answers, "from
+Homer."  As regards language, versification, and general spirit,
+the matter is beyond controversy; but when we come to consider
+the incidents of the story, we find deviations from Homer even
+more serious than any of those from the Cyclic poets.  And the
+strange thing is, that each of these deviations is a manifest
+detriment to the perfection of his poem; in each of them the
+writer has missed, or has rejected, a magnificent opportunity.
+With regard to the slaying of Achilles by the hand of Apollo
+only, and not by those of Apollo and Paris, he might have pleaded
+that Homer himself here speaks with an uncertain voice (cf.
+"Iliad" xv. 416-17, xxii. 355-60, and xxi. 277-78).  But, in
+describing the fight for the body of Achilles ("Odyssey" xxiv. 36
+sqq.), Homer makes Agamemnon say:
+
+     "So we grappled the livelong day, and we had not refrained
+          us then,
+     But Zeus sent a hurricane, stilling the storm of the battle
+          of men."
+
+Now, it is just in describing such natural phenomena, and in
+blending them with the turmoil of battle, that Quintus is in his
+element; yet for such a scene he substitutes what is, by
+comparison, a lame and impotent conclusion.  Of that awful cry
+that rang over the sea heralding the coming of Thetis and the
+Nymphs to the death-rites of her son, and the panic with which it
+filled the host, Quintus is silent.  Again, Homer ("Odyssey" iv.
+274-89) describes how Helen came in the night with Deiphobus, and
+stood by the Wooden Horse, and called to each of the hidden
+warriors with the voice of his own wife.  This thrilling scene
+Quintus omits, and substitutes nothing of his own.  Later on, he
+makes Menelaus slay Deiphobus unresisting, "heavy with wine,"
+whereas Homer ("Odyssey" viii. 517-20) makes him offer such a
+magnificent resistance, that Odysseus and Menelaus together could
+not kill him without the help of Athena.  In fact, we may say
+that, though there are echoes of the "Iliad" all through the
+poem, yet, wherever Homer has, in the "Odyssey", given the
+outline-sketch of an effective scene, Quintus has uniformly
+neglected to develop it, has sometimes substituted something much
+weaker -- as though he had not the "Odyssey" before him!
+
+For this we have no satisfactory explanation to offer.  He may
+have set his own judgment above Homer -- a most unlikely
+hypothesis: he may have been consistently following, in the
+framework of his story, some original now lost to us: there may
+be more, and longer, lacunae in the text than any editors have
+ventured to indicate: but, whatever theory we adopt, it must be
+based on mere conjecture.
+
+The Greek text here given is that of Koechly (1850) with many of
+Zimmermann's emendations, which are acknowledged in the notes.
+Passages enclosed in square brackets are suggestions of Koechly
+for supplying the general sense of lacunae.  Where he has made no
+such suggestion, or none that seemed to the editors to be
+adequate, the lacuna has been indicated by asterisks, though here
+too a few words have been added in the translation, sufficient to
+connect the sense.
+
+-- A.S. Way
+
+
+
+BOOK I:
+
+How died for Troy the Queen of the Amazons, Penthesileia.
+
+
+When godlike Hector by Peleides slain
+Passed, and the pyre had ravined up his flesh,
+And earth had veiled his bones, the Trojans then
+Tarried in Priam's city, sore afraid
+Before the might of stout-heart Aeacus' son:
+As kine they were, that midst the copses shrink
+From faring forth to meet a lion grim,
+But in dense thickets terror-huddled cower;
+So in their fortress shivered these to see
+That mighty man.  Of those already dead
+They thought of all whose lives he reft away
+As by Scamander's outfall on he rushed,
+And all that in mid-flight to that high wall
+He slew, how he quelled Hector, how he haled
+His corse round Troy; -- yea, and of all beside
+Laid low by him since that first day whereon
+O'er restless seas he brought the Trojans doom.
+Ay, all these they remembered, while they stayed
+Thus in their town, and o'er them anguished grief
+Hovered dark-winged, as though that very day
+All Troy with shrieks were crumbling down in fire.
+
+Then from Thermodon, from broad-sweeping streams,
+Came, clothed upon with beauty of Goddesses,
+Penthesileia -- came athirst indeed
+For groan-resounding battle, but yet more
+Fleeing abhorred reproach and evil fame,
+Lest they of her own folk should rail on her
+Because of her own sister's death, for whom
+Ever her sorrows waxed, Hippolyte,
+Whom she had struck dead with her mighty spear,
+Not of her will -- 'twas at a stag she hurled.
+So came she to the far-famed land of Troy.
+Yea, and her warrior spirit pricked her on,
+Of murder's dread pollution thus to cleanse
+Her soul, and with such sacrifice to appease
+The Awful Ones, the Erinnyes, who in wrath
+For her slain sister straightway haunted her
+Unseen: for ever round the sinner's steps
+They hover; none may 'scape those Goddesses.
+And with her followed twelve beside, each one
+A princess, hot for war and battle grim,
+Far-famous each, yet handmaids unto her:
+Penthesileia far outshone them all.
+As when in the broad sky amidst the stars
+The moon rides over all pre-eminent,
+When through the thunderclouds the cleaving heavens
+Open, when sleep the fury-breathing winds;
+So peerless was she mid that charging host.
+Clonie was there, Polemusa, Derinoe,
+Evandre, and Antandre, and Bremusa,
+Hippothoe, dark-eyed Harmothoe,
+Alcibie, Derimacheia, Antibrote,
+And Thermodosa glorying with the spear.
+All these to battle fared with warrior-souled
+Penthesileia: even as when descends
+Dawn from Olympus' crest of adamant,
+Dawn, heart-exultant in her radiant steeds
+Amidst the bright-haired Hours; and o'er them all,
+How flawless-fair soever these may be,
+Her splendour of beauty glows pre-eminent;
+So peerless amid all the Amazons Unto
+Troy-town Penthesileia came.
+To right, to left, from all sides hurrying thronged
+The Trojans, greatly marvelling, when they saw
+The tireless War-god's child, the mailed maid,
+Like to the Blessed Gods; for in her face
+Glowed beauty glorious and terrible.
+Her smile was ravishing: beneath her brows
+Her love-enkindling eyes shone like to stars,
+And with the crimson rose of shamefastness
+Bright were her cheeks, and mantled over them
+Unearthly grace with battle-prowess clad.
+
+Then joyed Troy's folk, despite past agonies,
+As when, far-gazing from a height, the hinds
+Behold a rainbow spanning the wide sea,
+When they be yearning for the heaven-sent shower,
+When the parched fields be craving for the rain;
+Then the great sky at last is overgloomed,
+And men see that fair sign of coming wind
+And imminent rain, and seeing, they are glad,
+Who for their corn-fields' plight sore sighed before;
+Even so the sons of Troy when they beheld
+There in their land Penthesileia dread
+Afire for battle, were exceeding glad;
+For when the heart is thrilled with hope of good,
+All smart of evils past is wiped away:
+So, after all his sighing and his pain,
+Gladdened a little while was Priam's soul.
+As when a man who hath suffered many a pang
+From blinded eyes, sore longing to behold
+The light, and, if he may not, fain would die,
+Then at the last, by a cunning leech's skill,
+Or by a God's grace, sees the dawn-rose flush,
+Sees the mist rolled back from before his eyes, --
+Yea, though clear vision come not as of old,
+Yet, after all his anguish, joys to have
+Some small relief, albeit the stings of pain
+Prick sharply yet beneath his eyelids; -- so
+Joyed the old king to see that terrible queen --
+The shadowy joy of one in anguish whelmed
+For slain sons.  Into his halls he led the Maid,
+And with glad welcome honoured her, as one
+Who greets a daughter to her home returned
+From a far country in the twentieth year;
+And set a feast before her, sumptuous
+As battle-glorious kings, who have brought low
+Nations of foes, array in splendour of pomp,
+With hearts in pride of victory triumphing.
+And gifts he gave her costly and fair to see,
+And pledged him to give many more, so she
+Would save the Trojans from the imminent doom.
+And she such deeds she promised as no man
+Had hoped for, even to lay Achilles low,
+To smite the wide host of the Argive men,
+And cast the brands red-flaming on the ships.
+Ah fool! -- but little knew she him, the lord
+Of ashen spears, how far Achilles' might
+In warrior-wasting strife o'erpassed her own!
+
+But when Andromache, the stately child
+Of king Eetion, heard the wild queen's vaunt,
+Low to her own soul bitterly murmured she:
+"Ah hapless!  why with arrogant heart dost thou
+Speak such great swelling words?  No strength is thine
+To grapple in fight with Peleus' aweless son.
+Nay, doom and swift death shall he deal to thee.
+Alas for thee!  What madness thrills thy soul?
+Fate and the end of death stand hard by thee!
+Hector was mightier far to wield the spear
+Than thou, yet was for all his prowess slain,
+Slain for the bitter grief of Troy, whose folk
+The city through looked on him as a God.
+My glory and his noble parents' glory
+Was he while yet he lived -- O that the earth
+Over my dead face had been mounded high,
+Or ever through his throat the breath of life
+Followed the cleaving spear!  But now have I
+Looked -- woe is me! -- on grief unutterable,
+When round the city those fleet-footed steeds
+Haled him, steeds of Achilles, who had made
+Me widowed of mine hero-husband, made
+My portion bitterness through all my days."
+
+So spake Eetion's lovely-ankled child
+Low to her own soul, thinking on her lord.
+So evermore the faithful-hearted wife
+Nurseth for her lost love undying grief.
+
+Then in swift revolution sweeping round
+Into the Ocean's deep stream sank the sun,
+And daylight died.  So when the banqueters
+Ceased from the wine-cup and the goodly feast,
+Then did the handmaids spread in Priam's halls
+For Penthesileia dauntless-souled the couch
+Heart-cheering, and she laid her down to rest;
+And slumber mist-like overveiled her eyes [depths
+Like sweet dew dropping round.  From heavens' blue
+Slid down the might of a deceitful dream
+At Pallas' hest, that so the warrior-maid
+Might see it, and become a curse to Troy
+And to herself, when strained her soul to meet;
+The whirlwind of the battle.  In this wise
+The Trito-born, the subtle-souled, contrived:
+Stood o'er the maiden's head that baleful dream
+In likeness of her father, kindling her
+Fearlessly front to front to meet in fight
+Fleetfoot Achilles.  And she heard the voice,
+And all her heart exulted, for she weened
+That she should on that dawning day achieve
+A mighty deed in battle's deadly toil
+Ah, fool, who trusted for her sorrow a dream
+Out of the sunless land, such as beguiles
+Full oft the travail-burdened tribes of men,
+Whispering mocking lies in sleeping ears,
+And to the battle's travail lured her then!
+
+But when the Dawn, the rosy-ankled, leapt
+Up from her bed, then, clad in mighty strength
+Of spirit, suddenly from her couch uprose
+Penthesileia.  Then did she array
+Her shoulders in those wondrous-fashioned arms
+Given her of the War-god.  First she laid
+Beneath her silver-gleaming knees the greaves
+Fashioned of gold, close-clipping the strong limbs.
+Her rainbow-radiant corslet clasped she then
+About her, and around her shoulders slung,
+With glory in her heart, the massy brand
+Whose shining length was in a scabbard sheathed
+Of ivory and silver.  Next, her shield
+Unearthly splendid, caught she up, whose rim
+Swelled like the young moon's arching chariot-rail
+When high o'er Ocean's fathomless-flowing stream
+She rises, with the space half filled with light
+Betwixt her bowing horns.  So did it shine
+Unutterably fair.  Then on her head
+She settled the bright helmet overstreamed
+With a wild mane of golden-glistering hairs.
+So stood she, lapped about with flaming mail,
+In semblance like the lightning, which the might,
+The never-wearied might of Zeus, to earth
+Hurleth, what time he showeth forth to men
+Fury of thunderous-roaring rain, or swoop
+Resistless of his shouting host of winds.
+Then in hot haste forth of her bower to pass
+Caught she two javelins in the hand that grasped
+Her shield-band; but her strong right hand laid hold
+On a huge halberd, sharp of either blade,
+Which terrible Eris gave to Ares' child
+To be her Titan weapon in the strife
+That raveneth souls of men.  Laughing for glee
+Thereover, swiftly flashed she forth the ring
+Of towers.  Her coming kindled all the sons
+Of Troy to rush into the battle forth
+Which crowneth men with glory.  Swiftly all
+Hearkened her gathering-ery, and thronging came,
+Champions, yea, even such as theretofore
+Shrank back from standing in the ranks of war
+Against Achilles the all-ravager.
+But she in pride of triumph on she rode
+Throned on a goodly steed and fleet, the gift
+Of Oreithyia, the wild North-wind's bride,
+Given to her guest the warrior-maid, what time
+She came to Thrace, a steed whose flying feet
+Could match the Harpies' wings.  Riding thereon
+Penthesileia in her goodlihead
+Left the tall palaces of Troy behind.
+And ever were the ghastly-visaged Fates
+Thrusting her on into the battle, doomed
+To be her first against the Greeks -- and last!
+To right, to left, with unreturning feet
+The Trojan thousands followed to the fray,
+The pitiless fray, that death-doomed warrior-maid,
+Followed in throngs, as follow sheep the ram
+That by the shepherd's art strides before all.
+So followed they, with battle-fury filled,
+Strong Trojans and wild-hearted Amazons.
+And like Tritonis seemed she, as she went
+To meet the Giants, or as flasheth far
+Through war-hosts Eris, waker of onset-shouts.
+So mighty in the Trojans' midst she seemed,
+Penthesileia of the flying feet.
+
+Then unto Cronos' Son Laomedon's child
+Upraised his hands, his sorrow-burdened hands,
+Turning him toward the sky-encountering fane
+Of Zeus of Ida, who with sleepless eyes
+Looks ever down on Ilium; and he prayed:
+"Father, give ear!  Vouchsafe that on this day
+Achaea's host may fall before the hands
+Of this our warrior-queen, the War-god's child;
+And do thou bring her back unscathed again
+Unto mine halls: we pray thee by the love
+Thou bear'st to Ares of the fiery heart
+Thy son, yea, to her also!  is she not
+Most wondrous like the heavenly Goddesses?
+And is she not the child of thine own seed?
+Pity my stricken heart withal!  Thou know'st
+All agonies I have suffered in the deaths
+Of dear sons whom the Fates have torn from me
+By Argive hands in the devouring fight.
+Compassionate us, while a remnant yet
+Remains of noble Dardanus' blood, while yet
+This city stands unwasted!  Let us know
+From ghastly slaughter and strife one breathing-space!"
+
+In passionate prayer he spake: -- lo, with shrill scream
+Swiftly to left an eagle darted by
+And in his talons bare a gasping dove.
+Then round the heart of Priam all the blood
+Was chilled with fear.  Low to his soul he said:
+"Ne'er shall I see return alive from war
+Penthesileia!"  On that selfsame day
+The Fates prepared his boding to fulfil;
+And his heart brake with anguish of despair.
+
+Marvelled the Argives, far across the plain
+Seeing the hosts of Troy charge down on them,
+And midst them Penthesileia, Ares' child.
+These seemed like ravening beasts that mid the hills
+Bring grimly slaughter to the fleecy flocks;
+And she, as a rushing blast of flame she seemed
+That maddeneth through the copses summer-scorched,
+When the wind drives it on; and in this wise
+Spake one to other in their mustering host:
+"Who shall this be who thus can rouse to war
+The Trojans, now that Hector hath been slain --
+These who, we said, would never more find heart
+To stand against us?  Lo now, suddenly
+Forth are they rushing, madly afire for fight!
+Sure, in their midst some great one kindleth them
+To battle's toil!  Thou verily wouldst say
+This were a God, of such great deeds he dreams!
+Go to, with aweless courage let us arm
+Our own breasts: let us summon up our might
+In battle-fury.  We shall lack not help
+Of Gods this day to close in fight with Troy."
+
+So cried they; and their flashing battle-gear
+Cast they about them: forth the ships they poured
+Clad in the rage of fight as with a cloak.
+Then front to front their battles closed, like beasts
+Of ravin, locked in tangle of gory strife.
+Clanged their bright mail together, clashed the spears,
+The corslets, and the stubborn-welded shields
+And adamant helms.  Each stabbed at other's flesh
+With the fierce brass: was neither ruth nor rest,
+And all the Trojan soil was crimson-red.
+
+Then first Penthesileia smote and slew
+Molion; now Persinous falls, and now
+Eilissus; reeled Antitheus 'neath her spear
+The pride of Lernus quelled she: down she bore
+Hippalmus 'neath her horse-hoofs; Haemon's son
+Died; withered stalwart Elasippus' strength.
+And Derinoe laid low Laogonus,
+And Clonie Menippus, him who sailed
+Long since from Phylace, led by his lord
+Protesilaus to the war with Troy.
+Then was Podarces, son of Iphiclus,
+Heart-wrung with ruth and wrath to see him lie
+Dead, of all battle-comrades best-beloved.
+Swiftly at Clonie he hurled, the maid
+Fair as a Goddess: plunged the unswerving lance
+'Twixt hip and hip, and rushed the dark blood forth
+After the spear, and all her bowels gushed out.
+Then wroth was Penthesileia; through the brawn
+Of his right arm she drave the long spear's point,
+She shore atwain the great blood-brimming veins,
+And through the wide gash of the wound the gore
+Spirted, a crimson fountain.  With a groan
+Backward he sprang, his courage wholly quelled
+By bitter pain; and sorrow and dismay
+Thrilled, as he fled, his men of Phylace.
+A short way from the fight he reeled aside,
+And in his friends' arms died in little space.
+Then with his lance Idomeneus thrust out,
+And by the right breast stabbed Bremusa.  Stilled
+For ever was the beating of her heart.
+She fell, as falls a graceful-shafted pine
+Hewn mid the hills by woodmen: heavily,
+Sighing through all its boughs, it crashes down.
+So with a wailing shriek she fell, and death
+Unstrung her every limb: her breathing soul
+Mingled with multitudinous-sighing winds.
+Then, as Evandre through the murderous fray
+With Thermodosa rushed, stood Meriones,
+A lion in the path, and slew: his spear
+Right to the heart of one he drave, and one
+Stabbed with a lightning sword-thrust 'twixt the hips:
+Leapt through the wounds the life, and fled away.
+Oileus' fiery son smote Derinoe
+'Twixt throat and shoulder with his ruthless spear;
+And on Alcibie Tydeus' terrible son
+Swooped, and on Derimacheia: head with neck
+Clean from the shoulders of these twain he shore
+With ruin-wreaking brand.  Together down
+Fell they, as young calves by the massy axe
+Of brawny flesher felled, that, shearing through
+The sinews of the neck, lops life away.
+So, by the hands of Tydeus' son laid low
+Upon the Trojan plain, far, far away
+From their own highland-home, they fell.  Nor these
+Alone died; for the might of Sthenelus
+Down on them hurled Cabeirus' corse, who came
+From Sestos, keen to fight the Argive foe,
+But never saw his fatherland again.
+Then was the heart of Paris filled with wrath
+For a friend slain.  Full upon Sthenelus
+Aimed he a shaft death-winged, yet touched him not,
+Despite his thirst for vengeance: otherwhere
+The arrow glanced aside, and carried death
+Whither the stern Fates guided its fierce wing,
+And slew Evenor brazen-tasleted,
+Who from Dulichium came to war with Troy.
+For his death fury-kindled was the son
+Of haughty Phyleus: as a lion leaps
+Upon the flock, so swiftly rushed he: all
+Shrank huddling back before that terrible man.
+Itymoneus he slew, and Hippasus' son
+Agelaus: from Miletus brought they war
+Against the Danaan men by Nastes led,
+The god-like, and Amphimachus mighty-souled.
+On Mycale they dwelt; beside their home
+Rose Latmus' snowy crests, stretched the long glens
+Of Branchus, and Panormus' water-meads.
+Maeander's flood deep-rolling swept thereby,
+Which from the Phrygian uplands, pastured o'er
+By myriad flocks, around a thousand forelands
+Curls, swirls, and drives his hurrying ripples on
+Down to the vine-clad land of Carian men
+These mid the storm of battle Meges slew,
+Nor these alone, but whomsoe'er his lance
+Black-shafted touched, were dead men; for his breast
+The glorious Trito-born with courage thrilled
+To bring to all his foes the day of doom.
+And Polypoetes, dear to Ares, slew
+Dresaeus, whom the Nymph Neaera bare
+To passing-wise Theiodamas for these
+Spread was the bed of love beside the foot
+Of Sipylus the Mountain, where the Gods
+Made Niobe a stony rock, wherefrom
+Tears ever stream: high up, the rugged crag
+Bows as one weeping, weeping, waterfalls
+Cry from far-echoing Hermus, wailing moan
+Of sympathy: the sky-encountering crests
+Of Sipylus, where alway floats a mist
+Hated of shepherds, echo back the cry.
+Weird marvel seems that Rock of Niobe
+To men that pass with feet fear-goaded: there
+They see the likeness of a woman bowed,
+In depths of anguish sobbing, and her tears
+Drop, as she mourns grief-stricken, endlessly.
+Yea, thou wouldst say that verily so it was,
+Viewing it from afar; but when hard by
+Thou standest, all the illusion vanishes;
+And lo, a steep-browed rock, a fragment rent
+From Sipylus -- yet Niobe is there,
+Dreeing her weird, the debt of wrath divine,
+A broken heart in guise of shattered stone.
+
+All through the tangle of that desperate fray
+Stalked slaughter and doom.  The incarnate Onset-shout
+Raved through the rolling battle; at her side
+Paced Death the ruthless, and the Fearful Faces,
+The Fates, beside them strode, and in red hands
+Bare murder and the groans of dying men.
+That day the beating of full many a heart,
+Trojan and Argive, was for ever stilled,
+While roared the battle round them, while the fury
+Of Penthesileia fainted not nor failed;
+But as amid long ridges of lone hills
+A lioness, stealing down a deep ravine,
+Springs on the kine with lightning leap, athirst
+For blood wherein her fierce heart revelleth;
+So on the Danaans leapt that warrior-maid.
+And they, their souls were cowed: backward they shrank,
+And fast she followed, as a towering surge
+Chases across the thunder-booming sea
+A flying bark, whose white sails strain beneath
+The wind's wild buffering, and all the air
+Maddens with roaring, as the rollers crash
+On a black foreland looming on the lee
+Where long reefs fringe the surf-tormented shores.
+So chased she, and so dashed the ranks asunder
+Triumphant-souled, and hurled fierce threats before:
+"Ye dogs, this day for evil outrage done
+To Priam shall ye pay!  No man of you
+Shall from mine hands deliver his own life,
+And win back home, to gladden parents eyes,
+Or comfort wife or children.  Ye shall lie
+Dead, ravined on by vultures and by wolves,
+And none shall heap the earth-mound o'er your clay.
+Where skulketh now the strength of Tydeus' son,
+And where the might of Aeacus' scion?
+Where is Aias' bulk?  Ye vaunt them mightiest men
+Of all your rabble.  Ha!  they will not dare
+With me to close in battle, lest I drag
+Forth from their fainting frames their craven souls!"
+
+Then heart-uplifted leapt she on the foe,
+Resistless as a tigress, crashing through
+Ranks upon ranks of Argives, smiting now
+With that huge halberd massy-headed, now
+Hurling the keen dart, while her battle-horse
+Flashed through the fight, and on his shoulder bare
+Quiver and bow death-speeding, close to her hand,
+If mid that revel of blood she willed to speed
+The bitter-biting shaft.  Behind her swept
+The charging lines of men fleet-footed, friends
+And brethren of the man who never flinched
+From close death-grapple, Hector, panting all
+The hot breath of the War-god from their breasts,
+All slaying Danaans with the ashen spear,
+Who fell as frost-touched leaves in autumn fall
+One after other, or as drops of rain.
+And aye went up a moaning from earth's breast
+All blood-bedrenched, and heaped with corse on corse.
+Horses pierced through with arrows, or impaled
+On spears, were snorting forth their last of strength
+With screaming neighings.  Men, with gnashing teeth
+Biting the dust, lay gasping, while the steeds
+Of Trojan charioteers stormed in pursuit,
+Trampling the dying mingled with the dead
+As oxen trample corn in threshing-floors.
+
+Then one exulting boasted mid the host
+Of Troy, beholding Penthesileia rush
+On through the foes' array, like the black storm
+That maddens o'er the sea, what time the sun
+Allies his might with winter's Goat-horned Star;
+And thus, puffed up with vain hope, shouted he:
+"O friends, in manifest presence down from heaven
+One of the deathless Gods this day hath come
+To fight the Argives, all of love for us,
+Yea, and with sanction of almighty Zeus,
+He whose compassion now remembereth
+Haply strong-hearted Priam, who may boast
+For his a lineage of immortal blood.
+For this, I trow, no mortal woman seems,
+Who is so aweless-daring, who is clad
+In splendour-flashing arms: nay, surely she
+Shall be Athene, or the mighty-souled
+Enyo -- haply Eris, or the Child
+Of Leto world-renowned.  O yea, I look
+To see her hurl amid yon Argive men
+Mad-shrieking slaughter, see her set aflame
+Yon ships wherein they came long years agone
+Bringing us many sorrows, yea, they came
+Bringing us woes of war intolerable.
+Ha!  to the home-land Hellas ne'er shall these
+With joy return, since Gods on our side fight."
+
+In overweening exultation so
+Vaunted a Trojan.  Fool! -- he had no vision
+Of ruin onward rushing upon himself
+And Troy, and Penthesileia's self withal.
+For not as yet had any tidings come
+Of that wild fray to Aias stormy-souled,
+Nor to Achilles, waster of tower and town.
+But on the grave-mound of Menoetius' son
+They twain were lying, with sad memories
+Of a dear comrade crushed, and echoing
+Each one the other's groaning.  One it was
+Of the Blest Gods who still was holding back
+These from the battle-tumult far away,
+Till many Greeks should fill the measure up
+Of woeful havoc, slain by Trojan foes 
+And glorious Penthesileia, who pursued
+With murderous intent their rifled ranks,
+While ever waxed her valour more and more,
+And waxed her might within her: never in vain
+She aimed the unswerving spear-thrust: aye she pierced
+The backs of them that fled, the breasts of such
+As charged to meet her.  All the long shaft dripped
+With steaming blood.  Swift were her feet as wind
+As down she swooped.  Her aweless spirit failed
+For weariness nor fainted, but her might
+Was adamantine.  The impending Doom,
+Which roused unto the terrible strife not yet
+Achilles, clothed her still with glory; still
+Aloof the dread Power stood, and still would shed
+Splendour of triumph o'er the death-ordained
+But for a little space, ere it should quell
+That Maiden 'neath the hands of Aeaeus' son.
+In darkness ambushed, with invisible hand
+Ever it thrust her on, and drew her feet
+Destruction-ward, and lit her path to death
+With glory, while she slew foe after foe.
+As when within a dewy garden-close,
+Longing for its green springtide freshness, leaps
+A heifer, and there rangeth to and fro,
+When none is by to stay her, treading down
+All its green herbs, and all its wealth of bloom,
+Devouring greedily this, and marring that
+With trampling feet; so ranged she, Ares' child,
+Through reeling squadrons of Achaea's sons,
+Slew these, and hunted those in panic rout.
+
+From Troy afar the women marvelling gazed
+At the Maid's battle-prowess.  Suddenly
+A fiery passion for the fray hath seized
+Antimachus' daughter, Meneptolemus' wife,
+Tisiphone.  Her heart waxed strong, and filled
+With lust of fight she cried to her fellows all,
+With desperate-daring words, to spur them on
+To woeful war, by recklessness made strong.
+"Friends, let a heart of valour in our breasts
+Awake!  Let us be like our lords, who fight
+With foes for fatherland, for babes, for us,
+And never pause for breath in that stern strife!
+Let us too throne war's spirit in our hearts!
+Let us too face the fight which favoureth none!
+For we, we women, be not creatures cast
+In diverse mould from men: to us is given
+Such energy of life as stirs in them.
+Eyes have we like to theirs, and limbs: throughout
+Fashioned we are alike: one common light
+We look on, and one common air we breathe:
+With like food are we nourished --  nay, wherein
+Have we been dowered of God more niggardly
+Than men?  Then let us shrink not from the fray
+See ye not yonder a woman far excelling
+Men in the grapple of fight?  Yet is her blood
+Nowise akin to ours, nor fighteth she
+For her own city.  For an alien king
+She warreth of her own heart's prompting, fears
+The face of no man; for her soul is thrilled
+With valour and with spirit invincible.
+But we -- to right, to left, lie woes on woes
+About our feet: this mourns beloved sons,
+And that a husband who for hearth and home
+Hath died; some wail for fathers now no more;
+Some grieve for brethren and for kinsmen lost.
+Not one but hath some share in sorrow's cup.
+Behind all this a fearful shadow looms,
+The day of bondage!  Therefore flinch not ye
+From war, O sorrow-laden!  Better far
+To die in battle now, than afterwards
+Hence to be haled into captivity
+To alien folk, we and our little ones,
+In the stern grip of fate leaving behind
+A burning city, and our husbands' graves."
+
+So cried she, and with passion for stern war
+Thrilled all those women; and with eager speed
+They hasted to go forth without the wall
+Mail-clad, afire to battle for their town
+And people: all their spirit was aflame.
+As when within a hive, when winter-tide
+Is over and gone, loud hum the swarming bees
+What time they make them ready forth to fare
+To bright flower-pastures, and no more endure
+To linger therewithin, but each to other
+Crieth the challenge-cry to sally forth;
+Even so bestirred themselves the women of Troy,
+And kindled each her sister to the fray.
+The weaving-wool, the distaff far they flung,
+And to grim weapons stretched their eager hands.
+
+And now without the city these had died
+In that wild battle, as their husbands died
+And the strong Amazons died, had not one voice
+Of wisdom cried to stay their maddened feet,
+When with dissuading words Theano spake:
+"Wherefore, ah wherefore for the toil and strain
+Of battle's fearful tumult do ye yearn,
+Infatuate ones?  Never your limbs have toiled
+In conflict yet.  In utter ignoranee
+Panting for labour unendurable,
+Ye rush on all-unthinking; for your strength
+Can never be as that of Danaan men,
+Men trained in daily battle.  Amazons
+Have joyed in ruthless fight, in charging steeds,
+From the beginning: all the toil of men
+Do they endure; and therefore evermore
+The spirit of the War-god thrills them through.
+'They fall not short of men in anything:
+Their labour-hardened frames make great their hearts
+For all achievement: never faint their knees
+Nor tremble.  Rumour speaks their queen to be
+A daughter of the mighty Lord of War.
+Therefore no woman may compare with her
+In prowess -- if she be a woman, not
+A God come down in answer to our prayers.
+Yea, of one blood be all the race of men,
+Yet unto diverse labours still they turn;
+And that for each is evermore the best
+Whereto he bringeth skill of use and wont.
+Therefore do ye from tumult of the fray
+Hold you aloof, and in your women's bowers
+Before the loom still pace ye to and fro;
+And war shall be the business of our lords.
+Lo, of fair issue is there hope: we see
+The Achaeans falling fast: we see the might
+Of our men waxing ever: fear is none
+Of evil issue now: the pitiless foe
+Beleaguer not the town: no desperate need
+There is that women should go forth to war."
+
+So cried she, and they hearkened to the words
+Of her who had garnered wisdom from the years;
+So from afar they watched the fight.  But still
+Penthesileia brake the ranks, and still
+Before her quailed the Achaeans: still they found
+Nor screen nor hiding-place from imminent death.
+As bleating goats are by the blood-stained jaws
+Of a grim panther torn, so slain were they.
+In each man's heart all lust of battle died,
+And fear alone lived.  This way, that way fled
+The panic-stricken: some to earth had flung
+The armour from their shoulders; some in dust
+Grovelled in terror 'neath their shields: the steeds
+Fled through the rout unreined of charioteers.
+In rapture of triumph charged the Amazons,
+With groan and scream of agony died the Greeks.
+Withered their manhood was in that sore strait;
+Brief was the span of all whom that fierce maid
+Mid the grim jaws of battle overtook.
+As when with mighty roaring bursteth down
+A storm upon the forest-trees, and some
+Uprendeth by the roots, and on the earth
+Dashes them down, the tail stems blossom-crowned,
+And snappeth some athwart the trunk, and high
+Whirls them through air, till all confused they lie
+A ruin of splintered stems and shattered sprays;
+So the great Danaan host lay, dashed to dust
+By doom of Fate, by Penthesileia's spear.
+
+But when the very ships were now at point
+To be by hands of Trojans set aflame,
+Then battle-bider Aias heard afar
+The panic-cries, and spake to Aeacus' son:
+"Achilles, all the air about mine ears
+Is full of multitudinous eries, is full
+Of thunder of battle rolling nearer aye.
+Let us go forth then, ere the Trojans win
+Unto the ships, and make great slaughter there
+Of Argive men, and set the ships aflame.
+Foulest reproach such thing on thee and me
+Should bring; for it beseems not that the seed
+Of mighty Zeus should shame the sacred blood
+Of hero-fathers, who themselves of old
+With Hercules the battle-eager sailed
+To Troy, and smote her even at her height
+Of glory, when Laomedon was king.
+Ay, and I ween that our hands even now
+Shall do the like: we too are mighty men."
+
+He spake: the aweless strength of Aeacus' son
+Hearkened thereto, for also to his ears
+By this the roar of bitter battle came.
+Then hasted both, and donned their warrior-gear
+All splendour-gleaming: now, in these arrayed
+Facing that stormy-tossing rout they stand.
+Loud clashed their glorious armour: in their souls
+A battle-fury like the War-god's wrath
+Maddened; such might was breathed into these twain
+By Atrytone, Shaker of the Shield,
+As on they pressed.  With joy the Argives saw
+The coming of that mighty twain: they seemed
+In semblance like A1oeus' giant sons
+Who in the old time made that haughty vaunt
+Of piling on Olympus' brow the height
+Of Ossa steeply-towering, and the crest
+Of sky-encountering Pelion, so to rear
+A mountain-stair for their rebellious rage
+To scale the highest heaven.  Huge as these
+The sons of Aeacus seemed, as forth they strode
+To stem the tide of war.  A gladsome sight
+To friends who have fainted for their coming, now
+Onward they press to crush triumphant foes.
+Many they slew with their resistless spears;
+As when two herd-destroying lions come
+On sheep amid the copses feeding, far
+From help of shepherds, and in heaps on heaps
+Slay them, till they have drunken to the full
+Of blood, and filled their maws insatiate
+With flesh, so those destroyers twain slew on,
+Spreading wide havoc through the hosts of Troy.
+
+There Deiochus and gallant Hyllus fell
+By Alas slain, and fell Eurynomus
+Lover of war, and goodly Enyeus died.
+But Peleus' son burst on the Amazons
+Smiting Antandre, Polemusa then,
+Antibrote, fierce-souled Hippothoe,
+Hurling Harmothoe down on sisters slain.
+Then hard on all their-reeling ranks he pressed
+With Telamon's mighty-hearted son; and now
+Before their hands battalions dense and strong
+Crumbled as weakly and as suddenly
+As when in mountain-folds the forest-brakes
+Shrivel before a tempest-driven fire.
+
+When battle-eager Penthesileia saw
+These twain, as through the scourging storm of war
+Like ravening beasts they rushed, to meet them there
+She sped, as when a leopard grim, whose mood
+Is deadly, leaps from forest-coverts forth,
+Lashing her tail, on hunters closing round,
+While these, in armour clad, and putting trust
+In their long spears, await her lightning leap;
+So did those warriors twain with spears upswung
+Wait Penthesileia.  Clanged the brazen plates
+About their shoulders as they moved.  And first
+Leapt the long-shafted lance sped from the hand
+Of goodly Penthesileia.  Straight it flew
+To the shield of Aeacus' son, but glancing thence
+This way and that the shivered fragments sprang
+As from a rock-face: of such temper were
+The cunning-hearted Fire-god's gifts divine.
+Then in her hand the warrior-maid swung up
+A second javelin fury-winged, against
+Aias, and with fierce words defied the twain:
+"Ha, from mine hand in vain one lance hath leapt!
+But with this second look I suddenly
+To quell the strength and courage of two foes, --
+Ay, though ye vaunt you mighty men of war
+Amid your Danaans!  Die ye shall, and so
+Lighter shall be the load of war's affliction
+That lies upon the Trojan chariot-lords.
+Draw nigh, come through the press to grips with me,
+So shall ye learn what might wells up in breasts
+Of Amazons.  With my blood is mingled war!
+No mortal man begat me, but the Lord
+Of War, insatiate of the battle-cry.
+Therefore my might is more than any man's."
+
+With scornful laughter spake she: then she hurled
+Her second lance; but they in utter scorn
+Laughed now, as swiftly flew the shaft, and smote
+The silver greave of Aias, and was foiled
+Thereby, and all its fury could not scar
+The flesh within; for fate had ordered not
+That any blade of foes should taste the blood
+Of Aias in the bitter war.  But he
+Recked of the Amazon naught, but turned him thence
+To rush upon the Trojan host, and left
+Penthesileia unto Peleus' son
+Alone, for well he knew his heart within
+That she, for all her prowess, none the less
+Would cost Achilles battle-toil as light,
+As effortless, as doth the dove the hawk.
+
+Then groaned she an angry groan that she had sped
+Her shafts in vain; and now with scoffing speech
+To her in turn the son of Peleus spake:
+"Woman, with what vain vauntings triumphing
+Hast thou come forth against us, all athirst
+To battle with us, who be mightier far
+Than earthborn heroes?  We from Cronos' Son,
+The Thunder-roller, boast our high descent.
+Ay, even Hector quailed, the battle-swift,
+Before us, e'en though far away he saw
+Our onrush to grim battle.  Yea, my spear
+Slew him, for all his might.  But thou -- thine heart
+Is utterly mad, that thou hast greatly dared
+To threaten us with death this day!  On thee
+Thy latest hour shall swiftly come -- is come!
+Thee not thy sire the War-god now shall pluck
+Out of mine hand, but thou the debt shalt pay
+Of a dark doom, as when mid mountain-folds
+A pricket meets a lion, waster of herds.
+What, woman, hast thou heard not of the heaps
+Of slain, that into Xanthus' rushing stream
+Were thrust by these mine hands? -- or hast thou heard
+In vain, because the Blessed Ones have stol'n
+Wit and discretion from thee, to the end
+That Doom's relentless gulf might gape for thee?"
+
+He spake; he swung up in his mighty hand
+And sped the long spear warrior-slaying, wrought
+By Chiron, and above the right breast pierced
+The battle-eager maid.  The red blood leapt
+Forth, as a fountain wells, and all at once
+Fainted the strength of Penthesileia's limbs;
+Dropped the great battle-axe from her nerveless hand;
+A mist of darkness overveiled her eyes,
+And anguish thrilled her soul.  Yet even so
+Still drew she difficult breath, still dimly saw
+The hero, even now in act to drag
+Her from the swift steed's back.  Confusedly
+She thought: "Or shall I draw my mighty sword,
+And bide Achilles' fiery onrush, or
+Hastily cast me from my fleet horse down
+To earth, and kneel unto this godlike man,
+And with wild breath promise for ransoming
+Great heaps of brass and gold, which pacify
+The hearts of victors never so athirst
+For blood, if haply so the murderous might
+Of Aeacus' son may hearken and may spare,
+Or peradventure may compassionate
+My youth, and so vouchsafe me to behold
+Mine home again? -- for O, I long to live!"
+
+So surged the wild thoughts in her; but the Gods
+Ordained it otherwise.  Even now rushed on
+In terrible anger Peleus' son: he thrust
+With sudden spear, and on its shaft impaled
+The body of her tempest-footed steed,
+Even as a man in haste to sup might pierce
+Flesh with the spit, above the glowing hearth
+To roast it, or as in a mountain-glade
+A hunter sends the shaft of death clear through
+The body of a stag with such winged speed
+That the fierce dart leaps forth beyond, to plunge
+Into the tall stem of an oak or pine.
+So that death-ravening spear of Peleus' son
+Clear through the goodly steed rushed on, and pierced
+Penthesileia.  Straightway fell she down
+Into the dust of earth, the arms of death,
+In grace and comeliness fell, for naught of shame
+Dishonoured her fair form.  Face down she lay
+On the long spear outgasping her last breath,
+Stretched upon that fleet horse as on a couch;
+Like some tall pine snapped by the icy mace
+Of Boreas, earth's forest-fosterling
+Reared by a spring to stately height, amidst
+Long mountain-glens, a glory of mother earth;
+So from the once fleet steed low fallen lay
+Penthesileia, all her shattered strength
+Brought down to this, and all her loveliness.
+
+Now when the Trojans saw the Warrior-queen
+Struck down in battle, ran through all their lines
+A shiver of panic.  Straightway to their walls
+Turned they in flight, heart-agonized with grief.
+As when on the wide sea, 'neath buffetings
+Of storm-blasts, castaways whose ship is wrecked
+Escape, a remnant of a crew, forspent
+With desperate conflict with the cruel sea:
+Late and at last appears the land hard by,
+Appears a city: faint and weary-limbed
+With that grim struggle, through the surf they strain
+To land, sore grieving for the good ship 1ost,
+And shipmates whom the terrible surge dragged down
+To nether gloom; so, Troyward as they fled
+From battle, all those Trojans wept for her,
+The Child of the resistless War-god, wept
+For friends who died in groan-resounding fight.
+
+Then over her with scornful laugh the son
+Of Peleus vaunted: "In the dust lie there
+A prey to teeth of dogs, to ravens' beaks,
+Thou wretched thing!  Who cozened thee to come
+Forth against me?  And thoughtest thou to fare
+Home from the war alive, to bear with thee
+Right royal gifts from Priam the old king,
+Thy guerdon for slain Argives?  Ha, 'twas not
+The Immortals who inspired thee with this thought,
+Who know that I of heroes mightiest am,
+The Danaans' light of safety, but a woe
+To Trojans and to thee, O evil-starred!
+Nay, but it was the darkness-shrouded Fates
+And thine own folly of soul that pricked thee on
+To leave the works of women, and to fare
+To war, from which strong men shrink shuddering back."
+
+So spake he, and his ashen spear the son
+Of Peleus drew from that swift horse, and from
+Penthesileia in death's agony.
+Then steed and rider gasped their lives away
+Slain by one spear.  Now from her head he plucked
+The helmet splendour-flashing like the beams
+Of the great sun, or Zeus' own glory-light.
+Then, there as fallen in dust and blood she lay,
+Rose, like the breaking of the dawn, to view
+'Neath dainty-pencilled brows a lovely face,
+Lovely in death.  The Argives thronged around,
+And all they saw and marvelled, for she seemed
+Like an Immortal.  In her armour there
+Upon the earth she lay, and seemed the Child
+Of Zeus, the tireless Huntress Artemis
+Sleeping, what time her feet forwearied are
+With following lions with her flying shafts
+Over the hills far-stretching.  She was made
+A wonder of beauty even in her death
+By Aphrodite glorious-crowned, the Bride
+Of the strong War-god, to the end that he,
+The son of noble Peleus, might be pierced
+With the sharp arrow of repentant love.
+The warriors gazed, and in their hearts they prayed
+That fair and sweet like her their wives might seem,
+Laid on the bed of love, when home they won.
+Yea, and Achilles' very heart was wrung
+With love's remorse to have slain a thing so sweet,
+Who might have borne her home, his queenly bride,
+To chariot-glorious Phthia; for she was
+Flawless, a very daughter of the Gods,
+Divinely tall, and most divinely fair.
+
+Then Ares' heart was thrilled with grief and rage
+For his child slain.  Straight from Olympus down
+He darted, swift and bright as thunderbolt
+Terribly flashing from the mighty hand Of
+Zeus, far leaping o'er the trackless sea,
+Or flaming o'er the land, while shuddereth
+All wide Olympus as it passeth by.
+So through the quivering air with heart aflame
+Swooped Ares armour-clad, soon as he heard
+The dread doom of his daughter.  For the Gales,
+The North-wind's fleet-winged daughters, bare to him,
+As through the wide halls of the sky he strode,
+The tidings of the maiden's woeful end.
+Soon as he heard it, like a tempest-blast
+Down to the ridges of Ida leapt he: quaked
+Under his feet the long glens and ravines
+Deep-scored, all Ida's torrent-beds, and all
+Far-stretching foot-hills.  Now had Ares brought
+A day of mourning on the Myrmidons,
+But Zeus himself from far Olympus sent
+Mid shattering thunders terror of levin-bolts
+Which thick and fast leapt through the welkin down
+Before his feet, blazing with fearful flames.
+And Ares saw, and knew the stormy threat
+Of the mighty-thundering Father, and he stayed
+His eager feet, now on the very brink
+Of battle's turmoil.  As when some huge crag
+Thrust from a beetling cliff-brow by the winds
+And torrent rains, or lightning-lance of Zeus,
+Leaps like a wild beast, and the mountain-glens
+Fling back their crashing echoes as it rolls
+In mad speed on, as with resistless swoop
+Of bound on bound it rushes down, until
+It cometh to the levels of the plain,
+And there perforce its stormy flight is stayed;
+
+So Ares, battle-eager Son of Zeus,
+Was stayed, how loth soe'er; for all the Gods
+To the Ruler of the Blessed needs must yield,
+Seeing he sits high-throned above them all,
+Clothed in his might unspeakable.  Yet still
+Many a wild thought surged through Ares' soul,
+Urging him now to dread the terrible threat
+Of Cronos' wrathful Son, and to return
+Heavenward, and now to reck not of his Sire,
+But with Achilles' blood to stain those hands,
+The battle-tireless.  At the last his heart
+Remembered how that many and many a son
+Of Zeus himself in many a war had died,
+Nor in their fall had Zeus availed them aught.
+Therefore he turned him from the Argives -- else,
+Down smitten by the blasting thunderbolt,
+With Titans in the nether gloom he had lain,
+Who dared defy the eternal will of Zeus.
+
+Then did the warrior sons of Argos strip
+With eager haste from corpses strown all round
+The blood-stained spoils.  But ever Peleus' son
+Gazed, wild with all regret, still gazed on her,
+The strong, the beautiful, laid in the dust;
+And all his heart was wrung, was broken down
+With sorrowing love, deep, strong as he had known
+When that beloved friend Patroclus died.
+
+Loud jeered Thersites, mocking to his face:
+"Thou sorry-souled Achilles!  art not shamed
+To let some evil Power beguile thine heart
+To pity of a pitiful Amazon
+Whose furious spirit purposed naught but ill
+To us and ours?  Ha, woman-mad art thou,
+And thy soul lusts for this thing, as she were
+Some lady wise in household ways, with gifts
+And pure intent for honoured wedlock wooed!
+Good had it been had her spear reached thine heart,
+The heart that sighs for woman-creatures still!
+Thou carest not, unmanly-souled, not thou,
+For valour's glorious path, when once thine eye
+Lights on a woman!  Sorry wretch, where now
+Is all thy goodly prowess?  where thy wit?
+And where the might that should beseem a king
+All-stainless?  Dost not know what misery
+This self-same woman-madness wrought for Troy?
+Nothing there is to men more ruinous
+Than lust for woman's beauty; it maketh fools
+Of wise men.  But the toil of war attains
+Renown.  To him that is a hero indeed
+Glory of victory and the War-god's works
+Are sweet.  'Tis but the battle-blencher craves
+The beauty and the bed of such as she!"
+
+So railed he long and loud: the mighty heart
+Of Peleus' son leapt into flame of wrath.
+A sudden buffet of his resistless hand
+Smote 'neath the railer's ear, and all his teeth
+Were dashed to the earth: he fell upon his face:
+Forth of his lips the blood in torrent gushed:
+Swift from his body fled the dastard soul
+Of that vile niddering.  Achaea's sons
+Rejoiced thereat, for aye he wont to rail
+On each and all with venomous gibes, himself
+A scandal and the shame of all the host.
+Then mid the warrior Argives cried a voice:
+"Not good it is for baser men to rail
+On kings, or secretly or openly;
+For wrathful retribution swiftly comes.
+The Lady of Justice sits on high; and she
+Who heapeth woe on woe on humankind,
+Even Ate, punisheth the shameless tongue."
+
+So mid the Danaans cried a voice: nor yet
+Within the mighty soul of Peleus' son
+Lulled was the storm of wrath, but fiercely he spake:
+"Lie there in dust, thy follies all forgot!
+'Tis not for knaves to beard their betters: once
+Thou didst provoke Odysseus' steadfast soul,
+Babbling with venomous tongue a thousand gibes,
+And didst escape with life; but thou hast found
+The son of Peleus not so patient-souled,
+Who with one only buffet from his hand
+Unkennels thy dog's soul!  A bitter doom
+Hath swallowed thee: by thine own rascalry
+Thy life is sped.  Hence from Achaean men,
+And mouth out thy revilings midst the dead!"
+
+So spake the valiant-hearted aweless son
+Of Aeacus.  But Tydeus' son alone
+Of all the Argives was with anger stirred
+Against Achilles for Thersites slain,
+Seeing these twain were of the self-same blood,
+The one, proud Tydeus' battle-eager son,
+The other, seed of godlike Agrius:
+Brother of noble Oeneus Agrius was;
+And Oeneus in the Danaan land begat
+Tydeus the battle-eager, son to whom
+Was stalwart Diomedes.  Therefore wroth
+Was he for slain Thersites, yea, had raised
+Against the son of Peleus vengeful hands,
+Exeept the noblest of Aehaea's sons
+Had thronged around him, and besought him sore,
+And held him back therefrom.  With Peleus' son
+Also they pleaded; else those mighty twain,
+The mightiest of all Argives, were at point
+To close with clash of swords, so stung were they
+With bitter wrath; yet hearkened they at last
+To prayers of comrades, and were reconciled.
+
+Then of their pity did the Atreid kings --
+For these too at the imperial loveliness
+Of Penthesileia marvelled -- render up
+Her body to the men of Troy, to bear
+Unto the burg of Ilus far-renowned
+With all her armour.  For a herald came
+Asking this boon for Priam; for the king
+Longed with deep yearning of the heart to lay
+That battle-eager maiden, with her arms,
+And with her war-horse, in the great earth-mound
+Of old Laomedon.  And so he heaped
+A high broad pyre without the city wall:
+Upon the height thereof that warrior-queen
+They laid, and costly treasures did they heap
+Around her, all that well beseems to burn
+Around a mighty queen in battle slain.
+And so the Fire-god's swift-upleaping might,
+The ravening flame, consumed her.  All around
+The people stood on every hand, and quenched
+The pyre with odorous wine.  Then gathered they
+The bones, and poured sweet ointment over them,
+And laid them in a casket: over all
+Shed they the rich fat of a heifer, chief
+Among the herds that grazed on Ida's slope.
+And, as for a beloved daughter, rang
+All round the Trojan men's heart-stricken wail,
+As by the stately wall they buried her
+On an outstanding tower, beside the bones
+Of old Laomedon, a queen beside
+A king.  This honour for the War-god's sake
+They rendered, and for Penthesileia's own.
+And in the plain beside her buried they
+The Amazons, even all that followed her
+To battle, and by Argive spears were slain.
+For Atreus' sons begrudged not these the boon
+Of tear-besprinkled graves, but let their friends,
+The warrior Trojans, draw their corpses forth,
+Yea, and their own slain also, from amidst
+The swath of darts o'er that grim harvest-field.
+Wrath strikes not at the dead: pitied are foes
+When life has fled, and left them foes no more.
+
+Far off across the plain the while uprose
+Smoke from the pyres whereon the Argives laid
+The many heroes overthrown and slain
+By Trojan hands what time the sword devoured;
+And multitudinous lamentation wailed
+Over the perished.  But above the rest
+Mourned they o'er brave Podarces, who in fight
+Was no less mighty than his hero-brother
+Protesilaus, he who long ago
+Fell, slain of Hector: so Podarces now,
+Struck down by Penthesileia's spear, hath cast
+Over all Argive hearts the pall of grief.
+Wherefore apart from him they laid in clay
+The common throng of slain; but over him
+Toiling they heaped an earth-mound far-descried
+In memory of a warrior aweless-souled.
+And in a several pit withal they thrust
+The niddering Thersites' wretched corse.
+Then to the ships, acclaiming Aeacus' son,
+Returned they all.  But when the radiant day
+Had plunged beneath the Ocean-stream, and night,
+The holy, overspread the face of earth,
+Then in the rich king Agamemnon's tent
+Feasted the might of Peleus' son, and there
+Sat at the feast those other mighty ones
+All through the dark, till rose the dawn divine.
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+How Memnon, Son of the Dawn, for Troy's sake fell in the Battle.
+
+
+When o'er the crests of the far-echoing hills
+The splendour of the tireless-racing sun
+Poured o'er the land, still in their tents rejoiced
+Achaea's stalwart sons, and still acclaimed
+Achilles the resistless.  But in Troy
+Still mourned her people, still from all her towers
+Seaward they strained their gaze; for one great fear
+Gripped all their hearts -- to see that terrible man
+At one bound overleap their high-built wall,
+Then smite with the sword all people therewithin,
+And burn with fire fanes, palaces, and homes.
+And old Thymoetes spake to the anguished ones:
+"Friends, I have lost hope: mine heart seeth not
+Or help, or bulwark from the storm of war,
+Now that the aweless Hector, who was once
+Troy's mighty champion, is in dust laid low.
+Not all his might availed to escape the Fates,
+But overborne he was by Achilles' hands,
+The hands that would, I verily deem, bear down
+A God, if he defied him to the fight,
+Even as he overthrew this warrior-queen
+Penthesileia battle-revelling,
+From whom all other Argives shrank in fear.
+Ah, she was marvellous!  When at the first
+I looked on her, meseemed a Blessed One
+From heaven had come down hitherward to bring
+Light to our darkness -- ah, vain hope, vain dream!
+Go to, let us take counsel, what to do
+Were best for us.  Or shall we still maintain
+A hopeless fight against these ruthless foes,
+Or shall we straightway flee a city doomed?
+Ay, doomed! -- for never more may we withstand
+Argives in fighting field, when in the front
+Of battle pitiless Achilles storms."
+
+Then spake Laomedon's son, the ancient king:
+"Nay, friend, and all ye other sons of Troy,
+And ye our strong war-helpers, flinch we not
+Faint-hearted from defence of fatherland!
+Yet let us go not forth the city-gates
+To battle with yon foe.  Nay, from our towers
+And from our ramparts let us make defence,
+Till our new champion come, the stormy heart
+Of Memnon.  Lo, he cometh, leading on
+Hosts numberless, Aethiopia's swarthy sons.
+By this, I trow, he is nigh unto our gates;
+For long ago, in sore distress of soul,
+I sent him urgent summons.  Yea, and he
+Promised me, gladly promised me, to come
+To Troy, and make all end of all our woes.
+And now, I trust, he is nigh.  Let us endure
+A little longer then; for better far
+It is like brave men in the fight to die
+Than flee, and live in shame mid alien fo1k."
+
+So spake the old king; but Polydamas,
+The prudent-hearted, thought not good to war
+Thus endlessly, and spake his patriot rede:
+"If Memnon have beyond all shadow of doubt
+Pledged him to thrust dire ruin far from us,
+Then do I gainsay not that we await
+The coming of that godlike man within
+Our walls -- yet, ah, mine heart misgives me, lest,
+Though he with all his warriors come, he come
+But to his death, and unto thousands more,
+Our people, nought but misery come thereof;
+For terribly against us leaps the storm
+Of the Achaeans' might.  But now, go to,
+Let us not flee afar from this our Troy
+To wander to some alien land, and there,
+In the exile's pitiful helplessness, endure
+All flouts and outrage; nor in our own land
+Abide we till the storm of Argive war
+O'erwhelm us.  Nay, even now, late though it be,
+Better it were for us to render back
+Unto the Danaans Helen and her wealth,
+Even all that glory of women brought with her
+From Sparta, and add other treasure -- yea,
+Repay it twofold, so to save our Troy
+And our own souls, while yet the spoiler's hand
+Is laid not on our substance, and while yet
+Troy hath not sunk in gulfs of ravening flame.
+I pray you, take to heart my counsel!  None
+Shall, well I wot, be given to Trojan men
+Better than this.  Ah, would that long ago
+Hector had hearkened to my pleading, when
+I fain had kept him in the ancient home!"
+
+So spake Polydamas the noble and strong,
+And all the listening Trojans in their hearts
+Approved; yet none dared utter openly
+The word, for all with trembling held in awe
+Their prince and Helen, though for her sole sake
+Daily they died.  But on that noble man
+Turned Paris, and reviled him to his face:
+"Thou dastard battle-blencher Polydamas!
+Not in thy craven bosom beats a heart
+That bides the fight, but only fear and panic.
+Yet dost thou vaunt thee -- quotha! -- still our best
+In counsel! -- no man's soul is base as thine!
+Go to, thyself shrink shivering from the strife!
+Cower, coward, in thine halls!  But all the rest,
+We men, will still go armour-girt, until
+We wrest from this our truceless war a peace
+That shall not shame us!  'Tis with travail and toil
+Of strenuous war that brave men win renown;
+But flight? -- weak women choose it, and young babes!
+Thy spirit is like to theirs.  No whit I trust
+Thee in the day of battle -- thee, the man
+Who maketh faint the hearts of all the host!"
+
+So fiercely he reviled: Polydamas
+Wrathfully answered; for he shrank not, he,
+From answering to his face.  A caitiff hound,
+A reptile fool, is he who fawns on men
+Before their faces, while his heart is black
+With malice, and, when they be gone, his tongue
+Backbites them.  Openly Polydamas
+Flung back upon the prince his taunt and scoff:
+"O thou of living men most mischievous!
+Thy valour -- quotha! -- brings us misery!
+Thine heart endures, and will endure, that strife
+Should have no limit, save in utter ruin
+Of fatherland and people for thy sake!
+Ne'er may such wantwit valour craze my soul!
+Be mine to cherish wise discretion aye,
+A warder that shall keep mine house in peace."
+
+Indignantly he spake, and Paris found
+No word to answer him, for conscience woke
+Remembrance of all woes he had brought on Troy,
+And should bring; for his passion-fevered heart
+Would rather hail quick death than severance
+From Helen the divinely fair, although
+For her sake was it that the sons of Troy
+Even then were gazing from their towers to see
+The Argives and Achilles drawing nigh.
+
+But no long time thereafter came to them
+Memnon the warrior-king, and brought with him
+A countless host of swarthy Aethiops.
+From all the streets of Troy the Trojans flocked
+Glad-eyed to gaze on him, as seafarers,
+With ruining tempest utterly forspent,
+See through wide-parting clouds the radiance
+Of the eternal-wheeling Northern Wain;
+So joyed the Troyfolk as they thronged around,
+And more than all Laomedon's son, for now
+Leapt in his heart a hope, that yet the ships
+Might by those Aethiop men be burned with fire;
+So giantlike their king was, and themselves
+So huge a host, and so athirst for fight.
+Therefore with all observance welcomed he
+The strong son of the Lady of the Dawn
+With goodly gifts and with abundant cheer.
+So at the banquet King and Hero sat
+And talked, this telling of the Danaan chiefs,
+And all the woes himself had suffered, that
+Telling of that strange immortality
+By the Dawn-goddess given to his sire,
+Telling of the unending flow and ebb
+Of the Sea-mother, of the sacred flood
+Of Ocean fathomless-rolling, of the bounds
+Of Earth that wearieth never of her travail,
+Of where the Sun-steeds leap from orient waves,
+Telling withal of all his wayfaring
+From Ocean's verge to Priam's wall, and spurs
+Of Ida.  Yea, he told how his strong hands
+Smote the great army of the Solymi
+Who barred his way, whose deed presumptuous brought
+Upon their own heads crushing ruin and woe.
+So told he all that marvellous tale, and told
+Of countless tribes and nations seen of him.
+And Priam heard, and ever glowed his heart
+Within him; and the old lips answering spake:
+"Memnon, the Gods are good, who have vouchsafed
+To me to look upon thine host, and thee
+Here in mine halls.  O that their grace would so
+Crown this their boon, that I might see my foes
+All thrust to one destruction by thy spears.
+That well may be, for marvellous-like art thou
+To some invincible Deathless One, yea, more
+Than any earthly hero.  Wherefore thou,
+I trust, shalt hurl wild havoc through their host.
+But now, I pray thee, for this day do thou
+Cheer at my feast thine heart, and with the morn
+Shalt thou go forth to battle worthy of thee."
+
+Then in his hands a chalice deep and wide
+He raised, and Memnon in all love he pledged
+In that huge golden cup, a gift of Gods;
+For this the cunning God-smith brought to Zeus,
+His masterpiece, what time the Mighty in Power
+To Hephaestus gave for bride the Cyprian Queen;
+And Zeus on Dardanus his godlike son
+Bestowed it, he on Erichthonius;
+Erichthonius to Tros the great of heart
+Gave it, and he with all his treasure-store
+Bequeathed it unto Ilus, and he gave
+That wonder to Laomedon, and he
+To Priam, who had thought to leave the same
+To his own son.  Fate ordered otherwise.
+And Memnon clasped his hands about that cup
+So peerless-beautiful, and all his heart
+Marvelled; and thus he spake unto the King:
+"Beseems not with great swelling words to vaunt
+Amidst the feast, and lavish promises,
+But rather quietly to eat in hall,
+And to devise deeds worthy.  Whether I
+Be brave and strong, or whether I be not,
+Battle, wherein a man's true might is seen,
+Shall prove to thee.  Now would I rest, nor drink
+The long night through.  The battle-eager spirit
+By measureless wine and lack of sleep is dulled."
+
+Marvelled at him the old King, and he said:
+"As seems thee good touching the banquet, do
+After thy pleasure.  I, when thou art loth,
+Will not constrain thee.  Yea, unmeet it is
+To hold back him who fain would leave the board,
+Or hurry from one's halls who fain would stay.
+So is the good old law with all true men."
+
+Then rose that champion from the board, and passed
+Thence to his sleep -- his last!  And with him went
+All others from the banquet to their rest:
+And gentle sleep slid down upon them soon.
+
+But in the halls of Zeus, the Lightning-lord,
+Feasted the gods the while, and Cronos' son,
+All-father, of his deep foreknowledge spake
+Amidst them of the issue of the strife:
+"Be it known unto you all, to-morn shall bring
+By yonder war affliction swift and sore;
+For many mighty horses shall ye see
+In either host beside their chariots slain,
+And many heroes perishing.  Therefore ye
+Remember these my words, howe'er ye grieve
+For dear ones.  Let none clasp my knees in prayer,
+Since even to us relentless are the fates."
+
+So warned he them, which knew before, that all
+Should from the battle stand aside, howe'er
+Heart-wrung; that none, petitioning for a son
+Or dear one, should to Olympus vainly come.
+So, at that warning of the Thunderer,
+The Son of Cronos, all they steeled their hearts
+To bear, and spake no word against their king;
+For in exceeding awe they stood of him.
+Yet to their several mansions and their rest
+With sore hearts went they.  O'er their deathless eyes
+The blessing-bringer Sleep his light veils spread.
+
+When o'er precipitous crests of mountain-walls
+Leapt up broad heaven the bright morning-star
+Who rouseth to their toils from slumber sweet
+The binders of the sheaf, then his last sleep
+Unclasped the warrior-son of her who brings
+Light to the world, the Child of Mists of Night.
+Now swelled his mighty heart with eagerness
+To battle with the foe forthright.  And Dawn
+With most reluctant feet began to climb
+Heaven's broad highway.  Then did the Trojans gird
+Their battle-harness on; then armed themselves
+The Aethiop men, and all the mingled tribes
+Of those war-helpers that from many lands
+To Priam's aid were gathered.  Forth the gates
+Swiftly they rushed, like darkly lowering clouds
+Which Cronos' Son, when storm is rolling up,
+Herdeth together through the welkin wide.
+Swiftly the whole plain filled.  Onward they streamed
+Like harvest-ravaging locusts drifting on
+In fashion of heavy-brooding rain-clouds o'er
+Wide plains of earth, an irresistible host
+Bringing wan famine on the sons of men;
+So in their might and multitude they went.
+The city streets were all too strait for them
+Marching: upsoared the dust from underfoot.
+
+From far the Argives gazed, and marvelling saw
+Their onrush, but with speed arrayed their limbs
+In brass, and in the might of Peleus' son
+Put their glad trust.  Amidst them rode he on
+Like to a giant Titan, glorying
+In steeds and chariot, while his armour flashed
+Splendour around in sudden lightning-gleams.
+It was as when the sun from utmost bounds
+Of earth-encompassing ocean comes, and brings
+Light to the world, and flings his splendour wide
+Through heaven, and earth and air laugh all around.
+So glorious, mid the Argives Peleus' son
+Rode onward.  Mid the Trojans rode the while
+Memnon the hero, even such to see
+As Ares furious-hearted.  Onward swept
+The eager host arrayed about their lord.
+
+Then in the grapple of war on either side
+Closed the long lines, Trojan and Danaan;
+But chief in prowess still the Aethiops were.
+Crashed they together as when surges meet
+On the wild sea, when, in a day of storm,
+From every quarter winds to battle rush.
+Foe hurled at foe the ashen spear, and slew:
+Screams and death-groans went up like roaring fire.
+As when down-thundering torrents shout and rave
+On-pouring seaward, when the madding rains
+Stream from God's cisterns, when the huddling clouds
+Are hurled against each other ceaselessly,
+And leaps their fiery breath in flashes forth;
+So 'neath the fighters' trampling feet the earth
+Thundered, and leapt the terrible battle-yell
+Through frenzied air, for mad the war-cries were.
+
+For firstfruits of death's harvest Peleus' son
+Slew Thalius and Mentes nobly born,
+Men of renown, and many a head beside
+Dashed he to dust.  As in its furious swoop
+A whirlwind shakes dark chasms underground,
+And earth's foundations crumble and melt away
+Around the deep roots of the shuddering world,
+So the ranks crumbled in swift doom to the dust
+Before the spear and fury of Peleus's son.
+
+But on the other side the hero child
+Of the Dawn-goddess slew the Argive men,
+Like to a baleful Doom which bringeth down
+On men a grim and ghastly pestilence.
+First slew he Pheron; for the bitter spear
+Plunged through his breast, and down on him he hurled
+Goodly Ereuthus, battle-revellers both,
+Dwellers in Thryus by Alpheus' streams,
+Which followed Nestor to the god-built burg
+Of Ilium.  But when he had laid these low,
+Against the son of Neleus pressed he on
+Eager to slay.  Godlike Antilochus
+Strode forth to meet him, sped the long spear's flight,
+Yet missed him, for a little he swerved, but slew
+His Aethiop comrade, son of Pyrrhasus.
+Wroth for his fall, against Antilochus
+He leapt, as leaps a lion mad of mood
+Upon a boar, the beast that flincheth not
+From fight with man or brute, whose charge is a flash
+Of lightning; so was his swift leap.  His foe
+Antilochus caught a huge stone from the ground,
+Hurled, smote him; but unshaken abode his strength,
+For the strong helm-crest fenced his head from death;
+But rang the morion round his brows.  His heart
+Kindled with terrible fury at the blow
+More than before against Antilochus.
+Like seething cauldron boiled his maddened might.
+He stabbed, for all his cunning of fence, the son
+Of Nestor above the breast; the crashing spear
+Plunged to the heart, the spot of speediest death.
+
+Then upon all the Danaans at his fall
+Came grief; but anguish-stricken was the heart
+Of Nestor most of all, to see his child
+Slain in his sight; for no more bitter pang
+Smiteth the heart of man than when a son
+Perishes, and his father sees him die.
+Therefore, albeit unused to melting mood,
+His soul was torn with agony for the son
+By black death slain.  A wild cry hastily
+To Thrasymedes did he send afar:
+"Hither to me, Thrasymedes war-renowned!
+Help me to thrust back from thy brother's corse,
+Yea, from mine hapless son, his murderer,
+That so ourselves may render to our dead
+All dues of mourning.  If thou flinch for fear,
+No son of mine art thou, nor of the line
+Of Periclymenus, who dared withstand
+Hercules' self.  Come, to the battle-toil!
+For grim necessity oftentimes inspires
+The very coward with courage of despair."
+
+Then at his cry that brother's heart was stung
+With bitter grief.  Swift for his help drew nigh
+Phereus, on whom for his great prince's fall
+Came anguish.  Charged these warriors twain to face
+Strong Memnon in the gory strife.  As when
+Two hunters 'mid a forest's mountain-folds,
+Eager to take the prey, rush on to meet
+A wild boar or a bear, with hearts afire
+To slay him, but in furious mood he leaps
+On them, and holds at bay the might of men;
+So swelled the heart of Memnon.  Nigh drew they,
+Yet vainly essayed to slay him, as they hurled
+The long spears, but the lances glanced aside
+Far from his flesh: the Dawn-queen turned them thence.
+Yet fell their spears not vainly to the ground:
+The lance of fiery-hearted Phereus, winged
+With eager speed, dealt death to Meges' son,
+Polymnius: Laomedon was slain
+By the wrath of Nestor's son for a brother dead,
+The dear one Memnon slew in battle-rout,
+And whom the slayer's war-unwearied hands
+Now stripped of his all-brazen battle-gear,
+Nought recking, he, of Thrasymedes' might,
+Nor of stout Phereus, who were unto him
+But weaklings.  A great lion seemed he there
+Standing above a hart, as jackals they,
+That, howso hungry, dare not come too nigh.
+
+But hard thereby the father gazed thereon
+In agony, and cried the rescue-cry
+To other his war-comrades for their aid
+Against the foe.  Himself too burned to fight
+From his war-car; for yearning for the dead
+Goaded him to the fray beyond his strength.
+Ay, and himself had been on his dear son
+Laid, numbered with the dead, had not the voice
+Of Memnon stayed him even in act to rush
+Upon him, for he reverenced in his heart
+The white hairs of an age-mate of his sire:
+"Ancient," he cried, "it were my shame to fight.
+With one so much mine elder: I am not
+Blind unto honour.  Verily I weened
+That this was some young warrior, when I saw
+Thee facing thus the foe.  My bold heart hoped
+For contest worthy of mine hand and spear.
+Nay, draw thou back afar from battle-toil
+And bitter death.  Go, lest, how loth soe'er,
+I smite thee of sore need.  Nay, fall not thou
+Beside thy son, against a mightier man
+Fighting, lest men with folly thee should charge,
+For folly it is that braves o'ermastering might."
+
+He spake, and answered him that warrior old:
+"Nay, Memnon, vain was that last word of thine.
+None would name fool the father who essayed,
+Battling with foes for his son's sake, to thrust
+The ruthless slayer back from that dear corpse,
+But ah that yet my strength were whole in me,
+That thou might'st know my spear!  Now canst thou vaunt
+Proudly enow: a young man's heart is bold
+And light his wit.  Uplifted is thy soul
+And vain thy speech.  If in my strength of youth
+Thou hadst met me -- ha, thy friends had not rejoiced,
+For all thy might!  But me the grievous weight
+Of age bows down, like an old lion whom
+A cur may boldly drive back from the fold,
+For that he cannot, in his wrath's despite,
+Maintain his own cause, being toothless now,
+And strengthless, and his strong heart tamed by time.
+So well the springs of olden strength no more
+Now in my breast.  Yet am I stronger still
+Than many men; my grey hairs yield to few
+That have within them all the strength of youth."
+
+So drew he back a little space, and left
+Lying in dust his son, since now no more
+Lived in the once lithe limbs the olden strength,
+For the years' weight lay heavy on his head.
+Back leapt Thrasymedes likewise, spearman good,
+And battle-eager Phereus, and the rest
+Their comrades; for that slaughter-dealing man
+Pressed hard on them.  As when from mountains high
+A shouting river with wide-echoing din
+Sweeps down its fathomless whirlpools through the gloom,
+When God with tumult of a mighty storm
+Hath palled the sky in cloud from verge to verge,
+When thunders crash all round, when thick and fast
+Gleam lightnings from the huddling clouds, when fields
+Are flooded as the hissing rain descends,
+And all the air is filled with awful roar
+Of torrents pouring down the hill-ravines;
+So Memnon toward the shores of Hellespont
+Before him hurled the Argives, following hard
+Behind them, slaughtering ever.  Many a man
+Fell in the dust, and left his life in blood
+'Neath Aethiop hands.  Stained was the earth with gore
+As Danaans died.  Exulted Memnon's soul
+As on the ranks of foemen ever he rushed,
+And heaped with dead was all the plain of Troy.
+And still from fight refrained he not; he hoped
+To be a light of safety unto Troy
+And bane to Danaans.  But all the while
+Stood baleful Doom beside him, and spurred on
+To strife, with flattering smile.  To right, to left
+His stalwart helpers wrought in battle-toil,
+Alcyoneus and Nychius, and the son
+Of Asius furious-souled; Meneclus' spear,
+Clydon and Alexippus, yea, a host
+Eager to chase the foe, men who in fight
+Quit them like men, exulting in their king.
+Then, as Meneclus on the Danaans charged,
+The son of Neleus slew him.  Wroth for his friend,
+Whole throngs of foes fierce-hearted Memnon slew.
+As when a hunter midst the mountains drives
+Swift deer within the dark lines of his toils --
+The eager ring of beaters closing in
+Presses the huddled throng into the snares
+Of death: the dogs are wild with joy of the chase
+Ceaselessly giving tongue, the while his darts
+Leap winged with death on brocket and on hind;
+So Memnon slew and ever slew: his men
+Rejoiced, the while in panic stricken rout
+Before that glorious man the Argives fled.
+As when from a steep mountain's precipice-brow
+Leaps a huge crag, which all-resistless Zeus
+By stroke of thunderbolt hath hurled from the crest;
+Crash oakwood copses, echo long ravines,
+Shudders the forest to its rattle and roar,
+And flocks therein and herds and wild things flee
+Scattering, as bounding, whirling, it descends
+With deadly pitiless onrush; so his foes
+Fled from the lightning-flash of Memnon's spear.
+
+Then to the side of Aeacus' mighty son
+Came Nestor.  Anguished for his son he cried:
+"Achilles, thou great bulwark of the Greeks,
+Slain is my child!  The armour of my dead
+Hath Memnon, and I fear me lest his corse
+Be cast a prey to dogs.  Haste to his help!
+True friend is he who still remembereth
+A friend though slain, and grieves for one no more."
+
+Achilles heard; his heart was thrilled with grief:
+He glanced across the rolling battle, saw
+Memnon, saw where in throngs the Argives fell
+Beneath his spear.  Forthright he turned away
+From where the rifted ranks of Troy fell fast
+Before his hands, and, thirsting for the fight,
+Wroth for Antilochus and the others slain,
+Came face to face with Memnon.  In his hands
+That godlike hero caught up from the ground
+A stone, a boundary-mark 'twixt fields of wheat,
+And hurled.  Down on the shield of Peleus' son
+It crashed.  But he, the invincible, shrank not
+Before the huge rock-shard, but, thrusting out
+His long lance, rushed to close with him, afoot,
+For his steeds stayed behind the battle-rout.
+On the right shoulder above the shield he smote
+And staggered him; but he, despite the wound,
+Fought on with heart unquailing.  Swiftly he thrust
+And pricked with his strong spear Achilles' arm.
+Forth gushed the blood: rejoicing with vain joy
+To Aeacus' son with arrogant words he cried:
+"Now shalt thou in thy death fill up, I trow,
+Thy dark doom, overmastered by mine hands.
+Thou shalt not from this fray escape alive!
+Fool, wherefore hast thou ruthlessly destroyed
+Trojans, and vaunted thee the mightiest man
+Of men, a deathless Nereid's son?  Ha, now
+Thy doom hath found thee!  Of birth divine am I,
+The Dawn-queen's mighty son, nurtured afar
+By lily-slender Hesperid Maids, beside
+The Ocean-river.  Therefore not from thee
+Nor from grim battle shrink I, knowing well
+How far my goddess-mother doth transcend
+A Nereid, whose child thou vauntest thee.
+To Gods and men my mother bringeth light;
+On her depends the issue of all things,
+Works great and glorious in Olympus wrought
+Whereof comes blessing unto men.  But thine --
+She sits in barren crypts of brine: she dwells
+Glorying mid dumb sea-monsters and mid fish,
+Deedless, unseen!  Nothing I reck of her,
+Nor rank her with the immortal Heavenly Ones."
+
+In stern rebuke spake Aeacus' aweless son:
+"Memnon, how wast thou so distraught of wit
+That thou shouldst face me, and to fight defy
+Me, who in might, in blood, in stature far
+Surpass thee?  From supremest Zeus I trace
+My glorious birth; and from the strong Sea-god
+Nereus, begetter of the Maids of the Sea,
+The Nereids, honoured of the Olympian Gods.
+And chiefest of them all is Thetis, wise
+With wisdom world-renowned; for in her bowers
+She sheltered Dionysus, chased by might
+Of murderous Lycurgus from the earth.
+Yea, and the cunning God-smith welcomed she
+Within her mansion, when from heaven he fell.
+Ay, and the Lightning-lord she once released
+From bonds.  The all-seeing Dwellers in the Sky
+Remember all these things, and reverence
+My mother Thetis in divine Olympus.
+Ay, that she is a Goddess shalt thou know
+When to thine heart the brazen spear shall pierce
+Sped by my might.  Patroclus' death I avenged
+On Hector, and Antilochus on thee
+Will I avenge.  No weakling's friend thou hast slain!
+But why like witless children stand we here
+Babbling our parents' fame and our own deeds?
+Now is the hour when prowess shall decide."
+
+Then from the sheath he flashed his long keen sword,
+And Memnon his; and swiftly in fiery fight
+Closed they, and rained the never-ceasing blows
+Upon the bucklers which with craft divine
+Hephaestus' self had fashioned.  Once and again
+Clashed they together, and their cloudy crests
+Touched, mingling all their tossing storm of hair.
+And Zeus, for that he loved them both, inspired
+With prowess each, and mightier than their wont
+He made them, made them tireless, nothing like
+To men, but Gods: and gloated o'er the twain
+The Queen of Strife.  In eager fury these
+Thrust swiftly out the spear, with fell intent
+To reach the throat 'twixt buckler-rim and helm,
+Thrust many a time and oft, and now would aim
+The point beneath the shield, above the greave,
+Now close beneath the corslet curious-wrought
+That lapped the stalwart frame: hard, fast they lunged,
+And on their shoulders clashed the arms divine.
+Roared to the very heavens the battle-shout
+Of warring men, of Trojans, Aethiops,
+And Argives mighty-hearted, while the dust
+Rolled up from 'neath their feet, tossed to the sky
+In stress of battle-travail great and strong.
+
+As when a mist enshrouds the hills, what time
+Roll up the rain-clouds, and the torrent-beds
+Roar as they fill with rushing floods, and howls
+Each gorge with fearful voices; shepherds quake
+To see the waters' downrush and the mist,
+Screen dear to wolves and all the wild fierce things
+Nursed in the wide arms of the forest; so
+Around the fighters' feet the choking dust
+Hung, hiding the fair splendour of the sun
+And darkening all the heaven.  Sore distressed
+With dust and deadly conflict were the folk.
+Then with a sudden hand some Blessed One
+Swept the dust-pall aside; and the Gods saw
+The deadly Fates hurling the charging lines
+Together, in the unending wrestle locked
+Of that grim conflict, saw where never ceased
+Ares from hideous slaughter, saw the earth
+Crimsoned all round with rushing streams of blood,
+Saw where dark Havoc gloated o'er the scene,
+Saw the wide plain with corpses heaped, even all
+Bounded 'twixt Simois and Xanthus, where
+They sweep from Ida down to Hellespont.
+
+But when long lengthened out the conflict was
+Of those two champions, and the might of both
+In that strong tug and strain was equal-matched,
+Then, gazing from Olympus' far-off heights,
+The Gods joyed, some in the invincible son
+Of Peleus, others in the goodly child
+Of old Tithonus and the Queen of Dawn.
+Thundered the heavens on high from east to west,
+And roared the sea from verge to verge, and rocked
+The dark earth 'neath the heroes' feet, and quaked
+Proud Nereus' daughters all round Thetis thronged
+In grievous fear for mighty Achilles' sake;
+And trembled for her son the Child of the Mist
+As in her chariot through the sky she rode.
+Marvelled the Daughters of the Sun, who stood
+Near her, around that wondrous splendour-ring
+Traced for the race-course of the tireless sun
+By Zeus, the limit of all Nature's life
+And death, the dally round that maketh up
+The eternal circuit of the rolling years.
+And now amongst the Blessed bitter feud
+Had broken out; but by behest of Zeus
+The twin Fates suddenly stood beside these twain,
+One dark -- her shadow fell on Memnon's heart;
+One bright -- her radiance haloed Peleus' son.
+And with a great cry the Immortals saw,
+And filled with sorrow they of the one part were,
+They of the other with triumphant joy.
+
+Still in the midst of blood-stained battle-rout
+Those heroes fought, unknowing of the Fates
+Now drawn so nigh, but each at other hurled
+His whole heart's courage, all his bodily might.
+Thou hadst said that in the strife of that dread day
+Huge tireless Giants or strong Titans warred,
+So fiercely blazed the wildfire of their strife,
+Now, when they clashed with swords, now when they leapt
+Hurling huge stones.  Nor either would give back
+Before the hail of blows, nor quailed.  They stood
+Like storm-tormented headlands steadfast, clothed
+With might past words, unearthly; for the twain
+Alike could boast their lineage of high Zeus.
+Therefore 'twixt these Enyo lengthened out
+The even-balanced strife, while ever they
+In that grim wrestle strained their uttermost,
+They and their dauntless comrades, round their kings
+With ceaseless fury toiling, till their spears
+Stood shivered all in shields of warriors slain,
+And of the fighters woundless none remained;
+But from all limbs streamed down into the dust
+The blood and sweat of that unresting strain
+Of fight, and earth was hidden with the dead,
+As heaven is hidden with clouds when meets the sun
+The Goat-star, and the shipman dreads the deep.
+As charged the lines, the snorting chariot-steeds
+Trampled the dead, as on the myriad leaves
+Ye trample in the woods at entering-in
+Of winter, when the autumn-tide is past.
+
+Still mid the corpses and the blood fought on
+Those glorious sons of Gods, nor ever ceased
+From wrath of fight.  But Eris now inclined
+The fatal scales of battle, which no more
+Were equal-poised.  Beneath the breast-bone then
+Of godlike Memnon plunged Achilles' sword;
+Clear through his body all the dark-blue blade
+Leapt: suddenly snapped the silver cord of life.
+Down in a pool of blood he fell, and clashed
+His massy armour, and earth rang again.
+Then turned to flight his comrades panic-struck,
+And of his arms the Myrmidons stripped the dead,
+While fled the Trojans, and Achilles chased,
+As whirlwind swift and mighty to destroy.
+
+Then groaned the Dawn, and palled herself in clouds,
+And earth was darkened.  At their mother's hest
+All the light Breathings of the Dawn took hands,
+And slid down one 1ong stream of sighing wind
+To Priam's plain, and floated round the dead,
+And softly, swiftly caught they up, and bare
+Through silver mists the Dawn-queen's son, with hearts
+Sore aching for their brother's fall, while moaned
+Around them all the air.  As on they passed,
+Fell many blood-gouts from those pierced limbs
+Down to the earth, and these were made a sign
+To generations yet to be.  The Gods
+Gathered them up from many lands, and made
+Thereof a far-resounding river, named
+Of all that dwell beneath long Ida's flanks
+Paphlagoneion.  As its waters flow
+'Twixt fertile acres, once a year they turn
+To blood, when comes the woeful day whereon
+Died Memnon.  Thence a sick and choking reek
+Steams: thou wouldst say that from a wound unhealed
+Corrupting humours breathed an evil stench.
+Ay, so the Gods ordained: but now flew on
+Bearing Dawn's mighty son the rushing winds
+Skimming earth's face and palled about with night.
+
+Nor were his Aethiopian comrades left
+To wander of their King forlorn: a God
+Suddenly winged those eager souls with speed
+Such as should soon be theirs for ever, changed
+To flying fowl, the children of the air.
+Wailing their King in the winds' track they sped.
+As when a hunter mid the forest-brakes
+Is by a boar or grim-jawed lion slain,
+And now his sorrowing friends take up the corse,
+And bear it heavy-hearted; and the hounds
+Follow low-whimpering, pining for their lord
+In that disastrous hunting lost; so they
+Left far behind that stricken field of blood,
+And fast they followed after those swift winds
+
+With multitudinous moaning, veiled in mist
+Unearthly.  Trojans over all the plain
+And Danaans marvelled, seeing that great host
+Vanishing with their King.  All hearts stood still
+In dumb amazement. But the tireless winds
+Sighing set hero Memnon's giant corpse
+Down by the deep flow of Aesopus' stream,
+Where is a fair grove of the bright-haired Nymphs,
+The which round his long barrow afterward
+Aesopus' daughters planted, screening it
+With many and manifold trees: and long and loud
+Wailed those Immortals, chanting his renown,
+The son of the Dawn-goddess splendour-throned.
+
+Now sank the sun: the Lady of the Morn
+Wailing her dear child from the heavens came down.
+Twelve maidens shining-tressed attended her,
+The warders of the high paths of the sun
+For ever circling, warders of the night
+And dawn, and each world-ordinance framed of Zeus,
+Around whose mansion's everlasting doors
+From east to west they dance, from west to east,
+Whirling the wheels of harvest-laden years,
+While rolls the endless round of winter's cold,
+And flowery spring, and lovely summer-tide,
+And heavy-clustered autumn.  These came down
+From heaven, for Memnon wailing wild and high;
+And mourned with these the Pleiads.  Echoed round
+Far-stretching mountains, and Aesopus' stream.
+Ceaseless uprose the keen, and in their midst,
+Fallen on her son and clasping, wailed the Dawn;
+"Dead art thou, dear, dear child, and thou hast clad
+Thy mother with a pall of grief.  Oh, I,
+Now thou art slain, will not endure to light
+The Immortal Heavenly Ones!  No, I will plunge
+Down to the dread depths of the underworld,
+Where thy lone spirit flitteth to and fro,
+And will to blind night leave earth, sky, and sea,
+Till Chaos and formless darkness brood o'er all,
+That Cronos' Son may also learn what means
+Anguish of heart.  For not less worship-worthy
+Than Nereus' Child, by Zeus's ordinance,
+Am I, who look on all things, I, who bring
+All to their consummation.  Recklessly
+My light Zeus now despiseth!  Therefore I
+Will pass into the darkness.  Let him bring
+Up to Olympus Thetis from the sea
+To hold for him light forth to Gods and men!
+My sad soul loveth darkness more than day,
+Lest I pour light upon thy slayer's head"
+
+Thus as she cried, the tears ran down her face
+Immortal, like a river brimming aye:
+Drenched was the dark earth round the corse.  The Night
+Grieved in her daughter's anguish, and the heaven
+Drew over all his stars a veil of mist
+And cloud, of love unto the Lady of Light.
+
+Meanwhile within their walls the Trojan folk
+For Memnon sorrowed sore, with vain regret
+Yearning for that lost king and all his host.
+Nor greatly joyed the Argives, where they lay
+Camped in the open plain amidst the dead.
+There, mingled with Achilles' praise, uprose
+Wails for Antilochus: joy clasped hands with grief.
+
+All night in groans and sighs most pitiful
+The Dawn-queen lay: a sea of darkness moaned
+Around her.  Of the dayspring nought she recked:
+She loathed Olympus' spaces.  At her side
+Fretted and whinnied still her fleetfoot steeds,
+Trampling the strange earth, gazing at their Queen
+Grief-stricken, yearning for the fiery course.
+Suddenly crashed the thunder of the wrath
+Of Zeus; rocked round her all the shuddering earth,
+And on immortal Eos trembling came.
+
+Swiftly the dark-skinned Aethiops from her sight
+Buried their lord lamenting.  As they wailed
+Unceasingly, the Dawn-queen lovely-eyed
+Changed them to birds sweeping through air around
+The barrow of the mighty dead.  And these
+Still do the tribes of men "The Memnons" call;
+And still with wailing cries they dart and wheel
+Above their king's tomb, and they scatter dust
+Down on his grave, still shrill the battle-cry,
+In memory of Memnon, each to each.
+But he in Hades' mansions, or perchance
+Amid the Blessed on the Elysian Plain,
+Laugheth.  Divine Dawn comforteth her heart
+Beholding them: but theirs is toil of strife
+Unending, till the weary victors strike
+The vanquished dead, or one and all fill up
+The measure of their doom around his grave.
+
+So by command of Eos, Lady of Light,
+The swift birds dree their weird.  But Dawn divine
+Now heavenward soared with the all-fostering Hours,
+Who drew her to Zeus' threshold, sorely loth,
+Yet conquered by their gentle pleadings, such
+As salve the bitterest grief of broken hearts.
+Nor the Dawn-queen forgat her daily course,
+But quailed before the unbending threat of Zeus,
+Of whom are all things, even all comprised
+Within the encircling sweep of Ocean's stream,
+Earth and the palace-dome of burning stars.
+Before her went her Pleiad-harbingers,
+Then she herself flung wide the ethereal gates,
+And, scattering spray of splendour, flashed there-through.
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+How by the shaft of a God laid low was Hero Achilles.
+
+
+When shone the light of Dawn the splendour-throned,
+Then to the ships the Pylian spearmen bore
+Antilochus' corpse, sore sighing for their prince,
+And by the Hellespont they buried him
+With aching hearts.  Around him groaning stood
+The battle-eager sons of Argives, all,
+Of love for Nestor, shrouded o'er with grief.
+But that grey hero's heart was nowise crushed
+By sorrow; for the wise man's soul endures
+Bravely, and cowers not under affliction's stroke.
+But Peleus' son, wroth for Antilochus
+His dear friend, armed for vengeance terrible
+Upon the Trojans.  Yea, and these withal,
+Despite their dread of mighty Achilles' spear,
+Poured battle-eager forth their gates, for now
+The Fates with courage filled their breasts, of whom
+Many were doomed to Hades to descend,
+Whence there is no return, thrust down by hands
+Of Aeacus' son, who also was foredoomed
+To perish that same day by Priam's wall.
+Swift met the fronts of conflict: all the tribes
+Of Troy's host, and the battle-biding Greeks,
+Afire with that new-kindled fury of war.
+
+Then through the foe the son of Peleus made
+Wide havoc: all around the earth was drenched
+With gore, and choked with corpses were the streams
+Of Simois and Xanthus.  Still he chased,
+Still slaughtered, even to the city's walls;
+For panic fell on all the host.  And now
+All had he slain, had dashed the gates to earth,
+Rending them from their hinges, or the bolts,
+Hurling himself against them, had he snapped,
+And for the Danaans into Priam's burg
+Had made a way, had utterly destroyed
+That goodly town -- but now was Phoebus wroth
+Against him with grim fury, when he saw
+Those countless troops of heroes slain of him.
+Down from Olympus with a lion-leap
+He came: his quiver on his shoulders lay,
+And shafts that deal the wounds incurable.
+Facing Achilles stood he; round him clashed
+Quiver and arrows; blazed with quenchless flame
+His eyes, and shook the earth beneath his feet.
+Then with a terrible shout the great God cried,
+So to turn back from war Achilles awed
+By the voice divine, and save from death the Trojans:
+"Back from the Trojans, Peleus' son!  Beseems not
+That longer thou deal death unto thy foes,
+Lest an Olympian God abase thy pride."
+
+But nothing quailed the hero at the voice
+Immortal, for that round him even now
+Hovered the unrelenting Fates.  He recked
+Naught of the God, and shouted his defiance.
+"Phoebus, why dost thou in mine own despite
+Stir me to fight with Gods, and wouldst protect
+The arrogant Trojans?  Heretofore hast thou
+By thy beguiling turned me from the fray,
+When from destruction thou at the first didst save
+Hector, whereat the Trojans all through Troy
+Exulted.  Nay, thou get thee back: return
+Unto the mansion of the Blessed, lest
+I smite thee -- ay, immortal though thou be!"
+
+Then on the God he turned his back, and sped
+After the Trojans fleeing cityward,
+And harried still their flight; but wroth at heart
+Thus Phoebus spake to his indignant soul:
+"Out on this man!  he is sense-bereft!  But now
+Not Zeus himself nor any other Power
+Shall save this madman who defies the Gods!"
+
+From mortal sight he vanished into cloud,
+And cloaked with mist a baleful shaft he shot
+Which leapt to Achilles' ankle: sudden pangs
+With mortal sickness made his whole heart faint.
+He reeled, and like a tower he fell, that falls
+Smit by a whirlwind when an earthquake cleaves
+A chasm for rushing blasts from underground;
+So fell the goodly form of Aeacus' son.
+He glared, a murderous glance, to right, to left,
+[Upon the Trojans, and a terrible threat]
+Shouted, a threat that could not be fulfilled:
+"Who shot at me a stealthy-smiting shaft?
+Let him but dare to meet me face to face!
+So shall his blood and all his bowels gush out
+About my spear, and he be hellward sped!
+I know that none can meet me man to man
+And quell in fight -- of earth-born heroes none,
+Though such an one should bear within his breast
+A heart unquailing, and have thews of brass.
+But dastards still in stealthy ambush lurk
+For lives of heroes.  Let him face me then! --
+Ay! though he be a God whose anger burns
+Against the Danaans!  Yea, mine heart forebodes
+That this my smiter was Apollo, cloaked
+In deadly darkness.  So in days gone by
+My mother told me how that by his shafts
+I was to die before the Scaean Gates
+A piteous death.  Her words were not vain words."
+
+Then with unflinching hands from out the wound
+Incurable he drew the deadly shaft
+In agonized pain.  Forth gushed the blood; his heart
+Waxed faint beneath the shadow of coming doom.
+Then in indignant wrath he hurled from him
+The arrow: a sudden gust of wind swept by,
+And caught it up, and, even as he trod
+Zeus' threshold, to Apollo gave it back;
+For it beseemed not that a shaft divine,
+Sped forth by an Immortal, should be lost.
+He unto high Olympus swiftly came,
+To the great gathering of immortal Gods,
+Where all assembled watched the war of men,
+These longing for the Trojans' triumph, those
+For Danaan victory; so with diverse wills
+Watched they the strife, the slayers and the slain.
+
+Him did the Bride of Zeus behold, and straight
+Upbraided with exceeding bitter words:
+"What deed of outrage, Phoebus, hast thou done
+This day, forgetful of that day whereon
+To godlike Peleus' spousals gathered all
+The Immortals?  Yea, amidst the feasters thou
+Sangest how Thetis silver-footed left
+The sea's abysses to be Peleus' bride;
+And as thou harpedst all earth's children came
+To hearken, beasts and birds, high craggy hills,
+Rivers, and all deep-shadowed forests came.
+All this hast thou forgotten, and hast wrought
+A ruthless deed, hast slain a godlike man,
+Albeit thou with other Gods didst pour
+The nectar, praying that he might be the son
+By Thetis given to Peleus.  But that prayer
+Hast thou forgotten, favouring the folk
+Of tyrannous Laomedon, whose kine
+Thou keptest.  He, a mortal, did despite
+To thee, the deathless!  O, thou art wit-bereft!
+Thou favourest Troy, thy sufferings all forgot.
+Thou wretch, and doth thy false heart know not this,
+What man is an offence, and meriteth
+Suffering, and who is honoured of the Gods?
+Ever Achilles showed us reverence -- yea,
+Was of our race.  Ha, but the punishment
+Of Troy, I ween, shall not be lighter, though
+Aeacus' son have fallen; for his son
+Right soon shall come from Scyros to the war
+To help the Argive men, no less in might
+Than was his sire, a bane to many a foe.
+But thou -- thou for the Trojans dost not care,
+But for his valour enviedst Peleus' son,
+Seeing he was the mightest of all men.
+Thou fool!  how wilt thou meet the Nereid's eyes,
+When she shall stand in Zeus' hall midst the Gods,
+Who praised thee once, and loved as her own son?"
+
+So Hera spake, in bitterness of soul
+Upbraiding, but he answered her not a word,
+Of reverence for his mighty Father's bride;
+Nor could he lift his eyes to meet her eyes,
+But sat abashed, aloof from all the Gods
+Eternal, while in unforgiving wrath
+Scowled on him all the Immortals who maintained
+The Danaans' cause; but such as fain would bring
+Triumph to Troy, these with exultant hearts
+Extolled him, hiding it from Hera's eyes,
+Before whose wrath all Heaven-abiders shrank.
+
+But Peleus' son the while forgat not yet
+War's fury: still in his invincible limbs
+The hot blood throbbed, and still he longed for fight.
+Was none of all the Trojans dared draw nigh
+The stricken hero, but at distance stood,
+As round a wounded lion hunters stand
+Mid forest-brakes afraid, and, though the shaft
+Stands in his heart, yet faileth not in him
+His royal courage, but with terrible glare
+Roll his fierce eyes, and roar his grimly jaws;
+So wrath and anguish of his deadly hurt
+To fury stung Peleides' soul; but aye
+His strength ebbed through the god-envenomed wound.
+Yet leapt he up, and rushed upon the foe,
+And flashed the lightning of his lance; it slew
+The goodly Orythaon, comrade stout
+Of Hector, through his temples crashing clear:
+His helm stayed not the long lance fury-sped
+Which leapt therethrough, and won within the bones
+The heart of the brain, and spilt his lusty life.
+Then stabbed he 'neath the brow Hipponous
+Even to the eye-roots, that the eyeball fell
+To earth: his soul to Hades flitted forth.
+Then through the jaw he pierced Alcathous,
+And shore away his tongue: in dust he fell
+Gasping his life out, and the spear-head shot
+Out through his ear.  These, as they rushed on him,
+That hero slew; but many a fleer's life
+He spilt, for in his heart still leapt the blood.
+
+But when his limbs grew chill, and ebbed away
+His spirit, leaning on his spear he stood,
+While still the Trojans fled in huddled rout
+Of panic, and he shouted unto them:
+"Trojan and Dardan cravens, ye shall not
+Even in my death, escape my merciless spear,
+But unto mine Avenging Spirits ye
+Shall pay -- ay, one and all -- destruction's debt!"
+
+He spake; they heard and quailed: as mid the hills
+Fawns tremble at a lion's deep-mouthed roar,
+And terror-stricken flee the monster, so
+The ranks of Trojan chariot-lords, the lines
+Of battle-helpers drawn from alien lands,
+Quailed at the last shout of Achilles, deemed
+That he was woundless yet.  But 'neath the weight
+Of doom his aweless heart, his mighty limbs,
+At last were overborne.  Down midst the dead
+He fell, as fails a beetling mountain-cliff.
+Earth rang beneath him: clanged with a thundercrash
+His arms, as Peleus' son the princely fell.
+And still his foes with most exceeding dread
+Stared at him, even as, when some murderous beast
+Lies slain by shepherds, tremble still the sheep
+Eyeing him, as beside the fold he lies,
+And shrinking, as they pass him, far aloof
+And, even as he were living, fear him dead;
+So feared they him, Achilles now no more.
+
+Yet Paris strove to kindle those faint hearts;
+For his own heart exulted, and he hoped,
+Now Peleus' son, the Danaans' strength, had fallen,
+Wholly to quench the Argive battle-fire:
+"Friends, if ye help me truly and loyally,
+Let us this day die, slain by Argive men,
+Or live, and hale to Troy with Hector's steeds
+In triumph Peleus' son thus fallen dead,
+The steeds that, grieving, yearning for their lord
+To fight have borne me since my brother died.
+Might we with these but hale Achilles slain,
+Glory were this for Hector's horses, yea,
+For Hector -- if in Hades men have sense
+Of righteous retribution.  This man aye
+Devised but mischief for the sons of Troy;
+And now Troy's daughters with exultant hearts
+From all the city streets shall gather round,
+As pantheresses wroth for stolen cubs,
+Or lionesses, might stand around a man
+Whose craft in hunting vexed them while he lived.
+So round Achilles -- a dead corpse at last! --
+In hurrying throngs Troy's daughters then shall come
+In unforgiving, unforgetting hate,
+For parents wroth, for husbands slain, for sons,
+For noble kinsmen.  Most of all shall joy
+My father, and the ancient men, whose feet
+Unwillingly are chained within the walls
+By eld, if we shall hale him through our gates,
+And give our foe to fowls of the air for meat."
+
+Then they, which feared him theretofore, in haste
+Closed round the corpse of strong-heart Aeacus' son,
+Glaucus, Aeneas, battle-fain Agenor,
+And other cunning men in deadly fight,
+Eager to hale him thence to Ilium
+The god-built burg.  But Aias failed him not.
+Swiftly that godlike man bestrode the dead:
+Back from the corpse his long lance thrust them all.
+Yet ceased they not from onslaught; thronging round,
+Still with swift rushes fought they for the prize,
+One following other, like to long-lipped bees
+Which hover round their hive in swarms on swarms
+To drive a man thence; but he, recking naught
+Of all their fury, carveth out the combs
+Of nectarous honey: harassed sore are they
+By smoke-reek and the robber; spite of all
+Ever they dart against him; naught cares he;
+So naught of all their onsets Aias recked;
+But first he stabbed Agelaus in the breast,
+And slew that son of Maion: Thestor next:
+Ocythous he smote, Agestratus,
+Aganippus, Zorus, Nessus, Erymas
+The war-renowned, who came from Lycia-land
+With mighty-hearted Glaucus, from his home
+In Melanippion on the mountain-ridge,
+Athena's fane, which Massikyton fronts
+Anigh Chelidonia's headland, dreaded sore
+Of scared seafarers, when its lowering crags
+Must needs be doubled.  For his death the blood
+Of famed Hippolochus' son was horror-chilled;
+For this was his dear friend.  With one swift thrust
+He pierced the sevenfold hides of Aias' shield,
+Yet touched his flesh not; stayed the spear-head was
+By those thick hides and by the corset-plate
+Which lapped his battle-tireless limbs.  But still
+From that stern conflict Glaucus drew not back,
+Burning to vanquish Aias, Aeacus' son,
+And in his folly vaunting threatened him:
+"Aias, men name thee mightiest man of all
+The Argives, hold thee in passing-high esteem
+Even as Achilles: therefore thou, I wot,
+By that dead warrior dead this day shalt lie!"
+
+So hurled he forth a vain word, knowing not
+How far in might above him was the man
+Whom his spear threatened.  Battle-bider Aias
+Darkly and scornfully glaring on him, said
+"Thou craven wretch, and knowest thou not this,
+How much was Hector mightier than thou
+In war-craft?  yet before my might, my spear,
+He shrank.  Ay, with his valour was there blent
+Discretion.  Thou thy thoughts are deathward set,
+Who dar'st defy me to the battle, me,
+A mightier far than thou!  Thou canst not say
+That friendship of our fathers thee shall screen;
+Nor me thy gifts shall wile to let thee pass
+Scatheless from war, as once did Tydeus' son.
+Though thou didst 'scape his fury, will not I
+Suffer thee to return alive from war.
+Ha, in thy many helpers dost thou trust
+Who with thee, like so many worthless flies,
+Flit round the noble Achilles' corpse?  To these
+Death and black doom shall my swift onset deal."
+
+Then on the Trojans this way and that he turned,
+As mid long forest-glens a lion turns
+On hounds, and Trojans many and Lycians slew
+That came for honour hungry, till he stood
+Mid a wide ring of flinchers; like a shoal
+Of darting fish when sails into their midst
+Dolphin or shark, a huge sea-fosterling;
+So shrank they from the might of Telamon's son,
+As aye he charged amidst the rout.  But still
+Swarmed fighters up, till round Achilles' corse
+To right, to left, lay in the dust the slain
+Countless, as boars around a lion at bay;
+And evermore the strife waxed deadlier.
+Then too Hippolochus' war-wise son was slain
+By Aias of the heart of fire.  He fell
+Backward upon Achilles, even as falls
+A sapling on a sturdy mountain-oak;
+So quelled by the spear on Peleus' son he fell.
+But for his rescue Anchises' stalwart son
+Strove hard, with all his comrades battle-fain,
+And haled the corse forth, and to sorrowing friends
+Gave it, to bear to Ilium's hallowed burg.
+Himself to spoil Achilles still fought on,
+Till warrior Aias pierced him with the spear
+Through the right forearm.  Swiftly leapt he back
+From murderous war, and hasted thence to Troy.
+There for his healing cunning leeches wrought,
+Who stanched the blood-rush, and laid on the gash
+Balms, such as salve war-stricken warriors' pangs.
+
+But Aias still fought on: here, there he slew
+With thrusts like lightning-flashes.  His great heart
+Ached sorely for his mighty cousin slain.
+And now the warrior-king Laertes' son
+Fought at his side: before him blenched the foe,
+As he smote down Peisander's fleetfoot son,
+The warrior Maenalus, who left his home
+In far-renowned Abydos: down on him
+He hurled Atymnius, the goodly son
+Whom Pegasis the bright-haired Nymph had borne
+To strong Emathion by Granicus' stream.
+Dead by his side he laid Orestius' son,
+Proteus, who dwelt 'neath lofty Ida's folds.
+Ah, never did his mother welcome home
+That son from war, Panaceia beauty-famed!
+He fell by Odysseus' hands, who spilt the lives
+Of many more whom his death-hungering spear
+Reached in that fight around the mighty dead.
+Yet Alcon, son of Megacles battle-swift,
+Hard by Odysseus' right knee drave the spear
+Home, and about the glittering greave the blood
+Dark-crimsom welled.  He recked not of the wound,
+But was unto his smiter sudden death;
+For clear through his shield he stabbed him with his spear
+Amidst his battle-fury: to the earth
+Backward he dashed him by his giant might
+And strength of hand: clashed round him in the dust
+His armour, and his corslet was distained
+With crimson life-blood.  Forth from flesh and shield
+The hero plucked the spear of death: the soul
+Followed the lance-head from the body forth,
+And life forsook its mortal mansion.  Then
+Rushed on his comrades, in his wound's despite,
+Odysseus, nor from that stern battle-toil
+Refrained him.  And by this a mingled host
+Of Danaans eager-hearted fought around
+The mighty dead, and many and many a foe
+Slew they with those smooth-shafted ashen spears.
+Even as the winds strew down upon the ground
+The flying leaves, when through the forest-glades
+Sweep the wild gusts, as waneth autumn-tide,
+And the old year is dying; so the spears
+Of dauntless Danaans strewed the earth with slain,
+For loyal to dead Achilles were they all,
+And loyal to hero Aias to the death.
+For like black Doom he blasted the ranks of Troy.
+Then against Aias Paris strained his bow;
+But he was ware thereof, and sped a stone
+Swift to the archer's head: that bolt of death
+Crashed through his crested helm, and darkness closed
+Round him.  In dust down fell he: naught availed
+His shafts their eager lord, this way and that
+Scattered in dust: empty his quiver lay,
+Flew from his hand the bow.  In haste his friends
+Upcaught him from the earth, and Hector's steeds
+Hurried him thence to Troy, scarce drawing breath,
+And moaning in his pain.  Nor left his men
+The weapons of their lord, but gathered up
+All from the plain, and bare them to the prince;
+While Aias after him sent a wrathful shout:
+"Dog, thou hast 'scaped the heavy hand of death
+To-day!  But swiftly thy last hour shall come
+By some strong Argive's hands, or by mine own,
+But now have I a nobler task in hand,
+From murder's grip to rescue Achilles' corse."
+Then turned he on the foe, hurling swift doom
+On such as fought around Peleides yet.
+'These saw how many yielded up the ghost
+Neath his strong hands, and, with hearts failing them
+For fear, against him could they stand no more.
+As rascal vultures were they, which the swoop
+Of an eagle, king of birds, scares far away
+From carcasses of sheep that wolves have torn;
+So this way, that way scattered they before
+The hurtling stones, the sword, the might of Aias.
+In utter panic from the war they fled,
+In huddled rout, like starlings from the swoop
+Of a death-dealing hawk, when, fleeing bane,
+One drives against another, as they dart
+All terror-huddled in tumultuous flight.
+So from the war to Priam's burg they fled
+Wretchedly clad with terror as a cloak,
+Quailing from mighty Aias' battle-shout,
+As with hands dripping blood-gouts he pursued.
+Yea, all, one after other, had he slain,
+Had they not streamed through city-gates flung wide
+Hard-panting, pierced to the very heart with fear.
+Pent therewithin he left them, as a shepherd
+Leaves folded sheep, and strode back o'er the plain;
+Yet never touched he with his feet the ground,
+But aye he trod on dead men, arms, and blood;
+For countless corpses lay o'er that wide stretch
+Even from broad-wayed Troy to Hellespont,
+Bodies of strong men slain, the spoil of Doom.
+As when the dense stalks of sun-ripened corn
+Fall 'neath the reapers' hands, and the long swaths,
+Heavy with full ears, overspread the field,
+And joys the heart of him who oversees
+The toil, lord of the harvest; even so,
+By baleful havoc overmastered, lay
+All round face-downward men remembering not
+The death-denouncing war-shout.  But the sons
+Of fair Achaea left their slaughtered foes
+In dust and blood unstripped of arms awhile
+Till they should lay upon the pyre the son
+Of Peleus, who in battle-shock had been
+Their banner of victory, charging in his might.
+So the kings drew him from that stricken field
+Straining beneath the weight of giant limbs,
+And with all loving care they bore him on,
+And laid him in his tent before the ships.
+And round him gathered that great host, and wailed
+Heart-anguished him who had been the Achaeans' strength,
+And now, forgotten all the splendour of spears,
+Lay mid the tents by moaning Hellespont,
+In stature more than human, even as lay
+Tityos, who sought to force Queen Leto, when
+She fared to Pytho: swiftly in his wrath
+Apollo shot, and laid him low, who seemed
+Invincible: in a foul lake of gore
+There lay he, covering many a rood of ground,
+On the broad earth, his mother; and she moaned
+Over her son, of blessed Gods abhorred;
+But Lady Leto laughed.  So grand of mould
+There in the foemen's land lay Aeacus' son,
+For joy to Trojans, but for endless grief
+To Achaean men lamenting.  Moaned the air
+With sighing from the abysses of the sea;
+And passing heavy grew the hearts of all,
+Thinking: "Now shall we perish by the hands
+Of Trojans!"  Then by those dark ships they thought
+Of white-haired fathers left in halls afar,
+Of wives new-wedded, who by couches cold
+Mourned, waiting, waiting, with their tender babes
+For husbands unreturning; and they groaned
+In bitterness of soul.  A passion of grief
+Came o'er their hearts; they fell upon their faces
+On the deep sand flung down, and wept as men
+All comfortless round Peleus' mighty son,
+And clutched and plucked out by the roots their hair,
+And east upon their heads defiling sand.
+Their cry was like the cry that goeth up
+From folk that after battle by their walls
+Are slaughtered, when their maddened foes set fire
+To a great city, and slay in heaps on heaps
+Her people, and make spoil of all her wealth;
+So wild and high they wailed beside the sea,
+Because the Danaans' champion, Aeacus' son,
+Lay, grand in death, by a God's arrow slain,
+As Ares lay, when She of the Mighty Father
+With that huge stone down dashed him on Troy's plain.
+
+Ceaselessly wailed the Myrmidons Achilles,
+A ring of mourners round the kingly dead,
+That kind heart, friend alike to each and all,
+To no man arrogant nor hard of mood,
+But ever tempering strength with courtesy.
+
+Then Aias first, deep-groaning, uttered forth
+His yearning o'er his father's brother's son
+God-stricken -- ay, no man had smitten him
+Of all upon the wide-wayed earth that dwell!
+Him glorious Aias heavy-hearted mourned,
+Now wandering to the tent of Peleus' son,
+Now cast down all his length, a giant form,
+On the sea-sands; and thus lamented he:
+"Achilles, shield and sword of Argive men,
+Thou hast died in Troy, from Phthia's plains afar,
+Smitten unwares by that accursed shaft,
+Such thing as weakling dastards aim in fight!
+For none who trusts in wielding the great shield,
+None who for war can skill to set the helm
+Upon his brows, and sway the spear in grip,
+And cleave the brass about the breasts of foes,
+Warreth with arrows, shrinking from the fray.
+Not man to man he met thee, whoso smote;
+Else woundless never had he 'scaped thy lance!
+But haply Zeus purposed to ruin all,
+And maketh all our toil and travail vain --
+Ay, now will grant the Trojans victory
+Who from Achaea now hath reft her shield!
+Ah me!  how shall old Peleus in his halls
+Take up the burden of a mighty grief
+Now in his joyless age!  His heart shall break
+At the mere rumour of it.  Better so,
+Thus in a moment to forget all pain.
+But if these evil tidings slay him not,
+Ah, laden with sore sorrow eld shall come
+Upon him, eating out his heart with grief
+By a lone hearth Peleus so passing dear
+Once to the Blessed!  But the Gods vouchsafe
+No perfect happiness to hapless men."
+
+So he in grief lamented Peleus' son.
+Then ancient Phoenix made heart-stricken moan,
+Clasping the noble form of Aeacus' seed,
+And in wild anguish wailed the wise of heart:
+"Thou art reft from me, dear child, and cureless pain
+Hast left to me!  Oh that upon my face
+The veiling earth had fallen, ere I saw
+Thy bitter doom!  No pang more terrible
+Hath ever stabbed mine heart no, not that hour
+Of exile, when I fled from fatherland
+And noble parents, fleeing Hellas through,
+Till Peleus welcomed me with gifts, and lord
+Of his Dolopians made me.  In his arms
+Thee through his halls one day he bare, and set
+Upon my knees, and bade me foster thee,
+His babe, with all love, as mine own dear child:
+I hearkened to him: blithely didst thou cling
+About mine heart, and, babbling wordless speech,
+Didst call me `father' oft, and didst bedew
+My breast and tunic with thy baby lips.
+Ofttimes with soul that laughed for glee I held
+Thee in mine arms; for mine heart whispered me
+`This fosterling through life shall care for thee,
+Staff of thine age shall be.'  And that mine hope
+Was for a little while fulfilled; but now
+Thou hast vanished into darkness, and to me
+Is left long heart-ache wild with all regret.
+Ah, might my sorrow slay me, ere the tale
+To noble Peleus come!  When on his ears
+Falleth the heavy tidings, he shall weep
+And wail without surcease.  Most piteous grief
+We twain for thy sake shall inherit aye,
+Thy sire and I, who, ere our day of doom,
+Mourning shall go down to the grave for thee --
+Ay, better this than life unholpen of thee!"
+
+So moaned his ever-swelling tide of grief.
+And Atreus' son beside him mourned and wept
+With heart on fire with inly smouldering pain:
+"Thou hast perished, chiefest of the Danaan men,
+Hast perished, and hast left the Achaean host
+Fenceless!  Now thou art fallen, are they left
+An easier prey to foes.  Thou hast given joy
+To Trojans by thy fall, who dreaded thee
+As sheep a lion.  These with eager hearts
+Even to the ships will bring the battle now.
+Zeus, Father, thou too with deceitful words
+Beguilest mortals!  Thou didst promise me
+That Priam's burg should be destroyed; but now
+That promise given dost thou not fulfil,
+But thou didst cheat mine heart: I shall not win
+The war's goal, now Achilles is no more."
+
+So did he cry heart-anguished.  Mourned all round
+Wails multitudinous for Peleus' son:
+The dark ships echoed back the voice of grief,
+And sighed and sobbed the immeasurable air.
+And as when long sea-rollers, onward driven
+By a great wind, heave up far out at sea,
+And strandward sweep with terrible rush, and aye
+Headland and beach with shattered spray are scourged,
+And roar unceasing; so a dread sound rose
+Of moaning of the Danaans round the corse,
+Ceaselessly wailing Peleus' aweless son.
+
+And on their mourning soon black night had come,
+But spake unto Atreides Neleus' son,
+Nestor, whose own heart bare its load of grief
+Remembering his own son Antilochus:
+"O mighty Agamemnon, sceptre-lord
+Of Argives, from wide-shrilling lamentation
+Refrain we for this day.  None shall withhold
+Hereafter these from all their heart's desire
+Of weeping and lamenting many days.
+But now go to, from aweless Aeacus' son
+Wash we the foul blood-gouts, and lay we him
+Upon a couch: unseemly it is to shame
+The dead by leaving them untended long."
+
+So counselled Neleus' son, the passing-wise.
+Then hasted he his men, and bade them set
+Caldrons of cold spring-water o'er the flames,
+And wash the corse, and clothe in vesture fair,
+Sea-purple, which his mother gave her son
+At his first sailing against Troy.  With speed
+They did their lord's command: with loving care,
+All service meetly rendered, on a couch
+Laid they the mighty fallen, Peleus' son.
+
+The Trito-born, the passing-wise, beheld
+And pitied him, and showered upon his head
+Ambrosia, which hath virtue aye to keep
+Taintless, men say, the flesh of warriors slain.
+Like softly-breathing sleeper dewy-fresh
+She made him: over that dead face she drew
+A stern frown, even as when he lay, with wrath
+Darkening his grim face, clasping his slain friend
+Patroclus; and she made his frame to be
+More massive, like a war-god to behold.
+And wonder seized the Argives, as they thronged
+And saw the image of a living man,
+Where all the stately length of Peleus' son
+Lay on the couch, and seemed as though he slept.
+
+Around him all the woeful captive-maids,
+Whom he had taken for a prey, what time
+He had ravaged hallowed Lemnos, and had scaled
+The towered crags of Thebes, Eetion's town,
+Wailed, as they stood and rent their fair young flesh,
+And smote their breasts, and from their hearts bemoaned
+That lord of gentleness and courtesy,
+Who honoured even the daughters of his foes.
+And stricken most of all with heart-sick pain
+Briseis, hero Achilles' couchmate, bowed
+Over the dead, and tore her fair young flesh
+With ruthless fingers, shrieking: her soft breast
+Was ridged with gory weals, so cruelly
+She smote it thou hadst said that crimson blood
+Had dripped on milk.  Yet, in her griefs despite,
+Her winsome loveliness shone out, and grace
+Hung like a veil about her, as she wailed:
+"Woe for this grief passing all griefs beside!
+Never on me came anguish like to this
+Not when my brethren died, my fatherland
+Was wasted -- like this anguish for thy death!
+Thou wast my day, my sunlight, my sweet life,
+Mine hope of good, my strong defence from harm,
+Dearer than all my beauty -- yea, more dear
+Than my lost parents!  Thou wast all in all
+To me, thou only, captive though I be.
+Thou tookest from me every bondmaid's task
+And like a wife didst hold me.  Ah, but now
+Me shall some new Achaean master bear
+To fertile Sparta, or to thirsty Argos.
+The bitter cup of thraldom shall I drain,
+Severed, ah me, from thee!  Oh that the earth
+Had veiled my dead face ere I saw thy doom!"
+
+So for slain Peleus' son did she lament
+With woeful handmaids and heart-anguished Greeks,
+Mourning a king, a husband.  Never dried
+Her tears were: ever to the earth they streamed
+Like sunless water trickling from a rock
+While rime and snow yet mantle o'er the earth
+Above it; yet the frost melts down before
+The east-wind and the flame-shafts of the sun.
+
+Now came the sound of that upringing wail
+To Nereus' Daughters, dwellers in the depths
+Unfathomed.  With sore anguish all their hearts
+Were smitten: piteously they moaned: their cry
+Shivered along the waves of Hellespont.
+Then with dark mantles overpalled they sped
+Swiftly to where the Argive men were thronged.
+As rushed their troop up silver paths of sea,
+The flood disported round them as they came.
+With one wild cry they floated up; it rang,
+A sound as when fleet-flying cranes forebode
+A great storm.  Moaned the monsters of the deep
+Plaintively round that train of mourners.  Fast
+On sped they to their goal, with awesome cry
+Wailing the while their sister's mighty son.
+Swiftly from Helicon the Muses came
+Heart-burdened with undying grief, for love
+And honour to the Nereid starry-eyed.
+
+Then Zeus with courage filled the Argive men,
+That-eyes of flesh might undismayed behold
+That glorious gathering of Goddesses.
+Then those Divine Ones round Achilles' corse
+Pealed forth with one voice from immortal lips
+A lamentation.  Rang again the shores
+Of Hellespont.  As rain upon the earth
+Their tears fell round the dead man, Aeacus' son;
+For out of depths of sorrow rose their moan.
+And all the armour, yea, the tents, the ships
+Of that great sorrowing multitude were wet
+With tears from ever-welling springs of grief.
+His mother cast her on him, clasping him,
+And kissed her son's lips, crying through her tears:
+"Now let the rosy-vestured Dawn in heaven
+Exult!  Now let broad-flowing Axius
+Exult, and for Asteropaeus dead
+Put by his wrath!  Let Priam's seed be glad
+But I unto Olympus will ascend,
+And at the feet of everlasting Zeus
+Will cast me, bitterly planning that he gave
+Me, an unwilling bride, unto a man --
+A man whom joyless eld soon overtook,
+To whom the Fates are near, with death for gift.
+Yet not so much for his lot do I grieve
+As for Achilles; for Zeus promised me
+To make him glorious in the Aeacid halls,
+In recompense for the bridal I so loathed
+That into wild wind now I changed me, now
+To water, now in fashion as a bird
+I was, now as the blast of flame; nor might
+A mortal win me for his bride, who seemed
+All shapes in turn that earth and heaven contain,
+Until the Olympian pledged him to bestow
+A godlike son on me, a lord of war.
+Yea, in a manner this did he fulfil
+Faithfully; for my son was mightiest
+Of men.  But Zeus made brief his span of life
+Unto my sorrow.  Therefore up to heaven
+Will I: to Zeus's mansion will I go
+And wail my son, and will put Zeus in mind
+Of all my travail for him and his sons
+In their sore stress, and sting his soul with shame."
+
+So in her wild lament the Sea-queen cried.
+But now to Thetis spake Calliope,
+She in whose heart was steadfast wisdom throned:
+"From lamentation, Thetis, now forbear,
+And do not, in the frenzy of thy grief
+For thy lost son, provoke to wrath the Lord
+Of Gods and men.  Lo, even sons of Zeus,
+The Thunder-king, have perished, overborne
+By evil fate.  Immortal though I be,
+Mine own son Orpheus died, whose magic song
+Drew all the forest-trees to follow him,
+And every craggy rock and river-stream,
+And blasts of winds shrill-piping stormy-breathed,
+And birds that dart through air on rushing wings.
+Yet I endured mine heavy sorrow: Gods
+Ought not with anguished grief to vex their souls.
+Therefore make end of sorrow-stricken wail
+For thy brave child; for to the sons of earth
+Minstrels shall chant his glory and his might,
+By mine and by my sisters' inspiration,
+Unto the end of time.  Let not thy soul
+Be crushed by dark grief, nor do thou lament
+Like those frail mortal women.  Know'st thou not
+That round all men which dwell upon the earth
+Hovereth irresistible deadly Fate,
+Who recks not even of the Gods?  Such power
+She only hath for heritage.  Yea, she
+Soon shall destroy gold-wealthy Priam's town,
+And Trojans many and Argives doom to death,
+Whomso she will.  No God can stay her hand."
+
+So in her wisdom spake Calliope.
+Then plunged the sun down into Ocean's stream,
+And sable-vestured Night came floating up
+O'er the wide firmament, and brought her boon
+Of sleep to sorrowing mortals.  On the sands
+There slept they, all the Achaean host, with heads
+Bowed 'neath the burden of calamity.
+But upon Thetis sleep laid not his hand:
+Still with the deathless Nereids by the sea
+She sate; on either side the Muses spake
+One after other comfortable words
+To make that sorrowing heart forget its pain.
+
+But when with a triumphant laugh the Dawn
+Soared up the sky, and her most radiant light
+Shed over all the Trojans and their king,
+Then, sorrowing sorely for Achilles still,
+The Danaans woke to weep.  Day after day,
+For many days they wept.  Around them moaned
+Far-stretching beaches of the sea, and mourned
+Great Nereus for his daughter Thetis' sake;
+And mourned with him the other Sea-gods all
+For dead Achilles.  Then the Argives gave
+The corpse of great Peleides to the flame.
+A pyre of countless tree-trunks built they up
+Which, all with one mind toiling, from the heights
+Of Ida they brought down; for Atreus' sons
+Sped on the work, and charged them to bring thence
+Wood without measure, that consumed with speed
+Might be Achilles' body.  All around
+Piled they about the pyre much battle-gear
+Of strong men slain; and slew and cast thereon
+Full many goodly sons of Trojan men,
+And snorting steeds, and mighty bulls withal,
+And sheep and fatling swine thereon they cast.
+And wailing captive maids from coffers brought
+Mantles untold; all cast they on the pyre:
+Gold heaped they there and amber.  All their hair
+The Myrmidons shore, and shrouded with the same
+The body of their king.  Briseis laid
+Her own shorn tresses on the corpse, her gift,
+Her last, unto her lord.  Great jars of oil
+Full many poured they out thereon, with jars
+Of honey and of wine, rich blood of the grape
+That breathed an odour as of nectar, yea,
+Cast incense-breathing perfumes manifold
+Marvellous sweet, the precious things put forth
+By earth, and treasures of the sea divine.
+
+Then, when all things were set in readiness
+About the pyre, all, footmen, charioteers,
+Compassed that woeful bale, clashing their arms,
+While, from the viewless heights Olympian, Zeus
+Rained down ambrosia on dead Aeacus' son.
+For honour to the Goddess, Nereus' child,
+He sent to Aeolus Hermes, bidding him
+Summon the sacred might of his swift winds,
+For that the corpse of Aeacus' son must now
+Be burned.  With speed he went, and Aeolus
+Refused not: the tempestuous North in haste
+He summoned, and the wild blast of the West;
+And to Troy sped they on their whirlwind wings.
+Fast in mad onrush, fast across the deep
+They darted; roared beneath them as they flew
+The sea, the land; above crashed thunder-voiced
+Clouds headlong hurtling through the firmament.
+Then by decree of Zeus down on the pyre
+Of slain Achilles, like a charging host
+Swooped they; upleapt the Fire-god's madding breath:
+Uprose a long wail from the Myrmidons.
+Then, though with whirlwind rushes toiled the winds,
+All day, all night, they needs must fan the flames
+Ere that death-pyre burned out.  Up to the heavens
+Vast-volumed rolled the smoke.  The huge tree-trunks
+Groaned, writhing, bursting, in the heat, and dropped
+The dark-grey ash all round.  So when the winds
+Had tirelessly fulfilled their mighty task,
+Back to their cave they rode cloud-charioted.
+
+Then, when the fire had last of all consumed
+That hero-king, when all the steeds, the men
+Slain round the pyre had first been ravined up,
+With all the costly offerings laid around
+The mighty dead by Achaia's weeping sons,
+The glowing embers did the Myrmidons quench
+With wine.  Then clear to be discerned were seen
+His bones; for nowise like the rest were they,
+But like an ancient Giant's; none beside
+With these were blent; for bulls and steeds, and sons
+Of Troy, with all that mingled hecatomb,
+Lay in a wide ring round his corse, and he
+Amidst them, flame-devoured, lay there alone.
+So his companions groaning gathered up
+His bones, and in a silver casket laid
+Massy and deep, and banded and bestarred
+With flashing gold; and Nereus' daughters shed
+Ambrosia over them, and precious nards
+For honour to Achilles: fat of kine
+And amber honey poured they over all.
+A golden vase his mother gave, the gift
+In old time of the Wine-god, glorious work
+Of the craft-master Fire-god, in the which
+They laid the casket that enclosed the bones
+Of mighty-souled Achilles.  All around
+The Argives heaped a barrow, a giant sign,
+Upon a foreland's uttermost end, beside
+The Hellespont's deep waters, wailing loud
+Farewells unto the Myrmidons' hero-king.
+
+Nor stayed the immortal steeds of Aeacus' son
+Tearless beside the ships; they also mourned
+Their slain king: sorely loth were they to abide
+Longer mid mortal men or Argive steeds
+Bearing a burden of consuming grief;
+But fain were they to soar through air, afar
+From wretched men, over the Ocean's streams,
+Over the Sea-queen's caverns, unto where
+Divine Podarge bare that storm-foot twain
+Begotten of the West-wind clarion-voiced
+Yea, and they had accomplished their desire,
+But the Gods' purpose held them back, until
+From Scyros' isle Achilles' fleetfoot son
+Should come.  Him waited they to welcome, when
+He came unto the war-host; for the Fates,
+Daughters of holy Chaos, at their birth
+Had spun the life-threads of those deathless foals,
+Even to serve Poseidon first, and next
+Peleus the dauntless king, Achilles then
+The invincible, and, after these, the fourth,
+The mighty-hearted Neoptolemus,
+Whom after death to the Elysian Plain
+They were to bear, unto the Blessed Land,
+By Zeus' decree.  For which cause, though their hearts
+Were pierced with bitter anguish, they abode
+Still by the ships, with spirits sorrowing
+For their old lord, and yearning for the new.
+
+Then from the surge of heavy-plunging seas
+Rose the Earth-shaker.  No man saw his feet
+Pace up the strand, but suddenly he stood
+Beside the Nereid Goddesses, and spake
+To Thetis, yet for Achilles bowed with grief:
+"Refrain from endless mourning for thy son.
+Not with the dead shall he abide, but dwell
+With Gods, as doth the might of Herakles,
+And Dionysus ever fair.  Not him
+Dread doom shall prison in darkness evermore,
+Nor Hades keep him.  To the light of Zeus
+Soon shall he rise; and I will give to him
+A holy island for my gift: it lies
+Within the Euxine Sea: there evermore
+A God thy son shall be.  The tribes that dwell
+Around shall as mine own self honour him
+With incense and with steam of sacrifice.
+Hush thy laments, vex not thine heart with grief."
+
+Then like a wind-breath had he passed away
+Over the sea, when that consoling word
+Was spoken; and a little in her breast
+Revived the spirit of Thetis: and the God
+Brought this to pass thereafter.  All the host
+Moved moaning thence, and came unto the ships
+That brought them o'er from Hellas.  Then returned
+To Helicon the Muses: 'neath the sea,
+Wailing the dear dead, Nereus' Daughters sank,
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+How in the Funeral Games of Achilles heroes contended.
+
+
+Nor did the hapless Trojans leave unwept
+The warrior-king Hippolochus' hero-son,
+But laid, in front of the Dardanian gate,
+Upon the pyre that captain war-renowned.
+But him Apollo's self caught swiftly up
+Out of the blazing fire, and to the winds
+Gave him, to bear away to Lycia-land;
+And fast and far they bare him, 'neath the glens
+Of high Telandrus, to a lovely glade;
+And for a monument above his grave
+Upheaved a granite rock. The Nymphs therefrom
+Made gush the hallowed water of a stream
+For ever flowing, which the tribes of men
+Still call fair-fleeting Glaucus. This the gods
+Wrought for an honour to the Lycian king.
+
+But for Achilles still the Argives mourned
+Beside the swift ships: heart-sick were they all
+With dolorous pain and grief.  Each yearned for him
+As for a son; no eye in that wide host
+Was tearless.  But the Trojans with great joy
+Exulted, seeing their sorrow from afar,
+And the great fire that spake their foe consumed.
+And thus a vaunting voice amidst them cried:
+"Now hath Cronion from his heaven vouchsafed
+A joy past hope unto our longing eyes,
+To see Achilles fallen before Troy.
+Now he is smitten down, the glorious hosts
+Of Troy, I trow, shall win a breathing-space
+From blood of death and from the murderous fray.
+Ever his heart devised the Trojans' bane;
+In his hands maddened aye the spear of doom
+With gore besprent, and none of us that faced
+Him in the fight beheld another dawn.
+But now, I wot, Achaea's valorous sons
+Shall flee unto their galleys shapely-prowed,
+Since slain Achilles lies.  Ah that the might
+Of Hector still were here, that he might slay
+The Argives one and all amidst their tents!"
+
+So in unbridled joy a Trojan cried;
+But one more wise and prudent answered him:
+"Thou deemest that yon murderous Danaan host
+Will straightway get them to the ships, to flee
+Over the misty sea.  Nay, still their lust
+Is hot for fight: us will they nowise fear,
+Still are there left strong battle-eager men,
+As Aias, as Tydeides, Atreus' sons:
+Though dead Achilles be, I still fear these.
+Oh that Apollo Silverbow would end them!
+Then in that day were given to our prayers
+A breathing-space from war and ghastly death."
+
+In heaven was dole among the Immortal Ones,
+Even all that helped the stalwart Danaans' cause.
+In clouds like mountains piled they veiled their heads
+For grief of soul.  But glad those others were
+Who fain would speed Troy to a happy goal.
+Then unto Cronos' Son great Hera spake:
+"Zeus, Lightning-father, wherefore helpest thou
+Troy, all forgetful of the fair-haired bride
+Whom once to Peleus thou didst give to wife
+Midst Pelion's glens?  Thyself didst bring to pass
+Those spousals of a Goddess: on that day
+All we Immortals feasted there, and gave
+Gifts passing-fair.  All this dost thou forget,
+And hast devised for Hellas heaviest woe."
+
+So spake she; but Zeus answered not a word;
+For pondering there he sat with burdened breast,
+Thinking how soon the Argives should destroy
+The city of Priam, thinking how himself
+Would visit on the victors ruin dread
+In war and on the great sea thunder-voiced.
+Such thoughts were his, ere long to be fulfilled.
+
+Now sank the sun to Ocean's fathomless flood:
+O'er the dim land the infinite darkness stole,
+Wherein men gain a little rest from toil.
+Then by the ships, despite their sorrow, supped
+The Argives, for ye cannot thrust aside
+Hunger's importunate craving, when it comes
+Upon the breast, but straightway heavy and faint
+Lithe limbs become; nor is there remedy
+Until one satisfy this clamorous guest
+Therefore these ate the meat of eventide
+In grief for Achilles' hard necessity
+Constrained them all.  And, when they had broken bread,
+Sweet sleep came on them, loosening from their frames
+Care's heavy chain, and quickening strength anew
+
+But when the starry Bears had eastward turned
+Their heads, expectant of the uprushing light
+Of Helios, and when woke the Queen of Dawn,
+Then rose from sleep the stalwart Argive men
+Purposing for the Trojans death and doom.
+Stirred were they like the roughly-ridging sea
+Icarian, or as sudden-rippling corn
+In harvest field, what time the rushing wings
+Of the cloud-gathering West sweep over it;
+So upon Hellespont's strand the folk were stirred.
+And to those eager hearts cried Tydeus' son:
+"If we be battle-biders, friends, indeed,
+More fiercely fight we now the hated foe,
+Lest they take heart because Achilles lives
+No longer.  Come, with armour, car, and steed
+Let us beset them.  Glory waits our toil?"
+
+But battle-eager Aias answering spake
+"Brave be thy words, and nowise idle talk,
+Kindling the dauntless Argive men, whose hearts
+Before were battle-eager, to the fight
+Against the Trojan men, O Tydeus' son.
+But we must needs abide amidst the ships
+Till Goddess Thetis come forth of the sea;
+For that her heart is purposed to set here
+Fair athlete-prizes for the funeral-games.
+This yesterday she told me, ere she plunged
+Into sea-depths, yea, spake to me apart
+From other Danaans; and, I trow, by this
+Her haste hath brought her nigh.  Yon Trojan men,
+Though Peleus' son hath died, shall have small heart
+For battle, while myself am yet alive,
+And thou, and noble Atreus' son, the king."
+
+So spake the mighty son of Telamon,
+But knew not that a dark and bitter doom
+For him should follow hard upon those games
+By Fate's contrivance.  Answered Tydeus' son
+"O friend, if Thetis comes indeed this day
+With goodly gifts for her son's funeral-games,
+Then bide we by the ships, and keep we here
+All others.  Meet it is to do the will
+Of the Immortals: yea, to Achilles too,
+Though the Immortals willed it not, ourselves
+Must render honour grateful to the dead."
+
+So spake the battle-eager Tydeus' son.
+And lo, the Bride of Peleus gliding came
+Forth of the sea, like the still breath of dawn,
+And suddenly was with the Argive throng
+Where eager-faced they waited, some, that looked
+Soon to contend in that great athlete-strife,
+And some, to joy in seeing the mighty strive.
+Amidst that gathering Thetis sable-stoled
+Set down her prizes, and she summoned forth
+Achaea's champions: at her best they came.
+
+But first amidst them all rose Neleus' son,
+Not as desiring in the strife of fists
+To toil, nor strain of wrestling; for his arms
+And all his sinews were with grievous eld
+Outworn, but still his heart and brain were strong.
+Of all the Achaeans none could match himself
+Against him in the folkmote's war of words;
+Yea, even Laertes' glorious son to him
+Ever gave place when men for speech were met;
+Nor he alone, but even the kingliest
+Of Argives, Agamemnon, lord of spears.
+Now in their midst he sang the gracious Queen
+Of Nereids, sang how she in willsomeness
+Of beauty was of all the Sea-maids chief.
+Well-pleased she hearkened.  Yet again he sang,
+Singing of Peleus' Bridal of Delight,
+Which all the blest Immortals brought to pass
+By Pelion's crests; sang of the ambrosial feast
+When the swift Hours brought in immortal hands
+Meats not of earth, and heaped in golden maunds;
+Sang how the silver tables were set forth
+In haste by Themis blithely laughing; sang
+How breathed Hephaestus purest flame of fire;
+Sang how the Nymphs in golden chalices
+Mingled ambrosia; sang the ravishing dance
+Twined by the Graces' feet; sang of the chant
+The Muses raised, and how its spell enthralled
+All mountains, rivers, all the forest brood;
+How raptured was the infinite firmament,
+Cheiron's fair caverns, yea, the very Gods.
+
+Such noble strain did Neleus' son pour out
+Into the Argives' eager ears; and they
+Hearkened with ravished souls.  Then in their midst
+He sang once more the imperishable deeds
+Of princely Achilles.  All the mighty throng
+Acclaimed him with delight.  From that beginning
+With fitly chosen words did he extol
+The glorious hero; how he voyaged and smote
+Twelve cities; how he marched o'er leagues on leagues
+Of land, and spoiled eleven; how he slew
+Telephus and Eetion's might renowned
+In Thebe; how his spear laid Cyenus low,
+Poseidon's son, and godlike Polydorus,
+Troilus the goodly, princely Asteropaeus;
+And how he dyed with blood the river-streams
+Of Xanthus, and with countless corpses choked
+His murmuring flow, when from the limbs he tore
+Lycaon's life beside the sounding river;
+And how he smote down Hector; how he slew
+Penthesileia, and the godlike son
+Of splendour-throned Dawn; -- all this he sang
+To Argives which already knew the tale;
+Sang of his giant mould, how no man's strength
+In fight could stand against him, nor in games
+Where strong men strive for mastery, where the swift
+Contend with flying feet or hurrying wheels
+Of chariots, nor in combat panoplied;
+And how in goodlihead he far outshone
+All Danaans, and how his bodily might
+Was measureless in the stormy clash of war.
+Last, he prayed Heaven that he might see a son
+Like that great sire from sea-washed Scyros come.
+
+That noble song acclaiming Argives praised;
+Yea, silver-looted Thetis smiled, and gave
+The singer fleetfoot horses, given of old
+Beside Caicus' mouth by Telephus
+To Achilles, when he healed the torturing wound
+With that same spear wherewith himself had pierced
+Telephus' thigh, and thrust the point clear through.
+These Nestor Neleus' son to his comrades gave,
+And, glorying in their godlike lord, they led
+The steeds unto his ships.  Then Thetis set
+Amidst the athlete-ring ten kine, to be
+Her prizes for the footrace, and by each
+Ran a fair suckling calf.  These the bold might
+Of Peleus' tireless son had driven down
+From slopes of Ida, prizes of his spear.
+
+To strive for these rose up two victory-fain,
+Teucer the first, the son of Telamon,
+And Aias, of the Locrian archers chief.
+These twain with swift hands girded them about
+With loin-cloths, reverencing the Goddess-bride
+Of Peleus, and the Sea-maids, who with her
+Came to behold the Argives' athlete-sport.
+And Atreus' son, lord of all Argive men,
+Showed them the turning-goal of that swift course.
+Then these the Queen of Rivalry spurred on,
+As from the starting-line like falcons swift
+They sped away.  Long doubtful was the race:
+Now, as the Argives gazed, would Aias' friends
+Shout, now rang out the answering cheer from friends
+Of Teucer.  But when in their eager speed
+Close on the end they were, then Teucer's feet
+Were trammelled by unearthly powers: some god
+Or demon dashed his foot against the stock
+Of a deep-rooted tamarisk.  Sorely wrenched
+Was his left ankle: round the joint upswelled
+The veins high-ridged.  A great shout rang from all
+That watched the contest.  Aias darted past
+Exultant: ran his Locrian folk to hail
+Their lord, with sudden joy in all their souls.
+Then to his ships they drave the kine, and cast
+Fodder before them.  Eager-helpful friends
+Led Teucer halting thence.  The leeches drew
+Blood from his foot: then over it they laid
+Soft-shredded linen ointment-smeared, and swathed
+With smooth bands round, and charmed away the pain.
+
+Then swiftly rose two mighty-hearted ones
+Eager to match their strength in wrestling strain,
+The son of Tydeus and the giant Aias.
+Into the midst they strode, and marvelling gazed
+The Argives on men shapen like to gods.
+Then grappled they, like lions famine-stung
+Fighting amidst the mountains o'er a stag,
+Whose strength is even-balanced; no whit less
+Is one than other in their deadly rage;
+So these long time in might were even-matched,
+Till Aias locked his strong hands round the son
+Of Tydeus, straining hard to break his back;
+But he, with wrestling-craft and strength combined,
+Shifted his hip 'neath Telamon's son, and heaved
+The giant up; with a side-twist wrenched free
+From Aias' ankle-lock his thigh, and so
+With one huge shoulder-heave to earth he threw
+That mighty champion, and himself came down
+Astride him: then a mighty shout went up.
+But battle-stormer Aias, chafed in mind,
+Sprang up, hot-eager to essay again
+That grim encounter.  From his terrible hands
+He dashed the dust, and challenged furiously
+With a great voice Tydeides: not a whit
+That other quailed, but rushed to close with him.
+Rolled up the dust in clouds from 'neath their feet:
+Hurtling they met like battling mountain-bulls
+That clash to prove their dauntless strength, and spurn
+The dust, while with their roaring all the hills
+Re-echo: in their desperate fury these
+Dash their strong heads together, straining long
+Against each other with their massive strength,
+Hard-panting in the fierce rage of their strife,
+While from their mouths drip foam-flakes to the ground;
+So strained they twain with grapple of brawny hands.
+'Neath that hard grip their backs and sinewy necks
+Cracked, even as when in mountain-glades the trees
+Dash storm-tormented boughs together.  Oft
+Tydeides clutched at Aias' brawny thighs,
+But could not stir his steadfast-rooted feet.
+Oft Aias hurled his whole weight on him, bowed
+His shoulders backward, strove to press him down;
+And to new grips their hands were shifting aye.
+All round the gazing people shouted, some
+Cheering on glorious Tydeus' son, and some
+The might of Aias.  Then the giant swung
+The shoulders of his foe to right, to left;
+Then gripped him 'neath the waist; with one fierce heave
+And giant effort hurled him like a stone
+To earth.  The floor of Troyland rang again
+As fell Tydeides: shouted all the folk.
+Yet leapt he up all eager to contend
+With giant Aias for the third last fall:
+But Nestor rose and spake unto the twain:
+"From grapple of wrestling, noble sons, forbear;
+For all we know that ye be mightiest
+Of Argives since the great Achilles died."
+
+Then these from toil refrained, and from their brows
+Wiped with their hands the plenteous-streaming sweat:
+They kissed each other, and forgat their strife.
+Then Thetis, queen of Goddesses, gave to them
+Four handmaids; and those strong and aweless ones
+Marvelled beholding them, for these surpassed
+All captive-maids in beauty and household-skill,
+Save only lovely-tressed Briseis.  These
+Achilles captive brought from Lesbos' Isle,
+And in their service joyed.  The first was made
+Stewardess of the feast and lady of meats;
+The second to the feasters poured the wine;
+The third shed water on their hands thereafter;
+The fourth bare all away, the banquet done.
+These Tydeus' son and giant Aias shared,
+And, parted two and two, unto their ships
+Sent they those fair and serviceable ones.
+
+Next, for the play of fists Idomeneus rose,
+For cunning was he in all athlete-lore;
+But none came forth to meet him, yielding all
+To him, the elder-born, with reverent awe.
+So in their midst gave Thetis unto him
+A chariot and fleet steeds, which theretofore
+Mighty Patroclus from the ranks of Troy
+Drave, when he slew Sarpedon, seed of Zeus,
+These to his henchmen gave Idomeneus
+To drive unto the ships: himself remained
+Still sitting in the glorious athlete-ring.
+Then Phoenix to the stalwart Argives cried:
+"Now to Idomeneus the Gods have given
+A fair prize uncontested, free of toil
+Of mighty arms and shoulders, honouring
+The elder-born with bloodless victory.
+But lo, ye younger men, another prize
+Awaiteth the swift play of cunning hands.
+Step forth then: gladden great Peleides' soul."
+
+He spake, they heard; but each on other looked,
+And, loth to essay the contest, all sat still,
+Till Neleus' son rebuked those laggard souls:
+"Friends, it were shame that men should shun the play
+Of clenched hands, who in that noble sport
+Have skill, wherein young men delight, which links
+Glory to toil.  Ah that my thews were strong
+As when we held King Pelias' funeral-feast,
+I and Acastus, kinsmen joining hands,
+When I with godlike Polydeuces stood
+In gauntlet-strife, in even-balanced fray,
+And when Ancaeus in the wrestlers' ring
+Mightier than all beside, yet feared and shrank
+From me, and dared not strive with me that day,
+For that ere then amidst the Epeian men --
+No battle-blenchers they! -- I had vanquished him,
+For all his might, and dashed him to the dust
+By dead Amaryncus' tomb, and thousands round
+Sat marvelling at my prowess and my strength.
+Therefore against me not a second time
+Raised he his hands, strong wrestler though he were;
+And so I won an uncontested prize.
+But now old age is on me, and many griefs.
+Therefore I bid you, whom it well beseems,
+To win the prize; for glory crowns the youth
+Who bears away the meed of athlete-strife."
+
+Stirred by his gallant chiding, a brave man
+Rose, son of haughty godlike Panopeus,
+The man who framed the Horse, the bane of Troy,
+Not long thereafter.  None dared meet him now
+In play of fists, albeit in deadly craft
+Of war, when Ares rusheth through the field,
+He was not cunning.  But for strife of hands
+The fair prize uncontested had been won
+By stout Epeius -- yea, he was at point
+To bear it thence unto the Achaean ships;
+But one strode forth to meet him, Theseus' son,
+The spearman Acamas, the mighty of heart,
+Bearing already on his swift hands girt
+The hard hide-gauntlets, which Evenor's son
+Agelaus on his prince's hands had drawn
+With courage-kindling words.  The comrades then
+Of Panopeus' princely son for Epeius raised
+A heartening cheer.  He like a lion stood
+Forth in the midst, his strong hands gauntleted
+With bull's hide hard as horn.  Loud rang the cheers
+From side to side of that great throng, to fire
+The courage of the mighty ones to clash
+Hands in the gory play.  Sooth, little spur
+Needed they for their eagerness for fight.
+But, ere they closed, they flashed out proving blows
+To wot if still, as theretofore, their arms
+Were limber and lithe, unclogged by toil of war;
+Then faced each other, and upraised their hands
+With ever-watching eyes, and short quick steps
+A-tiptoe, and with ever-shifting feet,
+Each still eluding other's crushing might.
+Then with a rush they closed like thunder-clouds
+Hurled on each other by the tempest-blast,
+Flashing forth lightnings, while the welkin thrills
+As clash the clouds and hollow roar the winds;
+So 'neath the hard hide-gauntlets clashed their jaws.
+Down streamed the blood, and from their brows the sweat
+Blood-streaked made on the flushed cheeks crimson bars.
+Fierce without pause they fought, and never flagged
+Epeius, but threw all his stormy strength
+Into his onrush.  Yet did Theseus' son
+Never lose heart, but baffled the straight blows
+Of those strong hands, and by his fighting-craft
+Flinging them right and left, leapt in, brought home
+A blow to his eyebrow, cutting to the bone.
+Even then with counter-stroke Epeius reached
+Acamas' temple, and hurled him to the ground.
+Swift he sprang up, and on his stalwart foe
+Rushed, smote his head: as he rushed in again,
+The other, slightly swerving, sent his left
+Clean to his brow; his right, with all his might
+Behind it, to his nose.  Yet Acamas still
+Warded and struck with all the manifold shifts
+Of fighting-craft.  But now the Achaeans all
+Bade stop the fight, though eager still were both
+To strive for coveted victory.  Then came
+Their henchmen, and the gory gauntlets loosed
+In haste from those strong hands.  Now drew they breath
+From that great labour, as they bathed their brows
+With sponges myriad-pored.  Comrades and friends
+With pleading words then drew them face to face,
+And prayed, "In friendship straight forget your wrath."
+So to their comrades' suasion hearkened they;
+For wise men ever bear a placable mind.
+They kissed each other, and their hearts forgat
+That bitter strife.  Then Thetis sable-stoled
+Gave to their glad hands two great silver bowls
+The which Euneus, Jason's warrior son
+In sea-washed Lemnos to Achilles gave
+To ransom strong Lycaon from his hands.
+These had Hephaestus fashioned for his gift
+To glorious Dionysus, when he brought
+His bride divine to Olympus, Minos' child
+Far-famous, whom in sea-washed Dia's isle
+Theseus unwitting left.  The Wine-god brimmed
+With nectar these, and gave them to his son;
+And Thoas at his death to Hypsipyle
+With great possessions left them.  She bequeathed
+The bowls to her godlike son, who gave them up
+Unto Achilles for Lycaon's life.
+The one the son of lordly Theseus took,
+And goodly Epeius sent to his ship with joy
+The other.  Then their bruises and their scars
+Did Podaleirius tend with loving care.
+First pressed he out black humours, then his hands
+Deftly knit up the gashes: salves he laid
+Thereover, given him by his sire of old,
+Such as had virtue in one day to heal
+The deadliest hurts, yea, seeming-cureless wounds.
+Straight was the smart assuaged, and healed the scars
+Upon their brows and 'neath their clustering hair
+
+Then for the archery-test Oileus' son
+Stood forth with Teucer, they which in the race
+Erewhile contended.  Far away from these
+Agamemnon, lord of spears, set up a helm
+Crested with plumes, and spake: "The master-shot
+Is that which shears the hair-crest clean away."
+Then straightway Aias shot his arrow first,
+And smote the helm-ridge: sharply rang the brass.
+Then Teucer second with most earnest heed
+Shot: the swift shaft hath shorn the plume away.
+Loud shouted all the people as they gazed,
+And praised him without stint, for still his foot
+Halted in pain, yet nowise marred his aim
+When with his hands he sped the flying shaft.
+Then Peleus' bride gave unto him the arms
+Of godlike Troilus, the goodliest
+Of all fair sons whom Hecuba had borne
+In hallowed Troy; yet of his goodlihead
+No joy she had; the prowess and the spear
+Of fell Achilles reft his life from him.
+As when a gardener with new-whetted scythe
+Mows down, ere it may seed, a blade of corn
+Or poppy, in a garden dewy-fresh
+And blossom-flushed, which by a water-course
+Crowdeth its blooms -- mows it ere it may reach
+Its goal of bringing offspring to the birth,
+And with his scythe-sweep makes its life-work vain
+And barren of all issue, nevermore
+Now to be fostered by the dews of spring;
+So did Peleides cut down Priam's son
+The god-like beautiful, the beardless yet
+And virgin of a bride, almost a child!
+Yet the Destroyer Fate had lured him on
+To war, upon the threshold of glad youth,
+When youth is bold, and the heart feels no void.
+
+Forthwith a bar of iron massy and long
+From the swift-speeding hand did many essay
+To hurl; but not an Argive could prevail
+To cast that ponderous mass.  Aias alone
+Sped it from his strong hand, as in the time
+Of harvest might a reaper fling from him
+A dry oak-bough, when all the fields are parched.
+And all men marvelled to behold how far
+Flew from his hand the bronze which scarce two men
+Hard-straining had uplifted from the ground.
+Even this Antaeus' might was wont to hurl
+Erstwhile, ere the strong hands of Hercules
+O'ermastered him.  This, with much spoil beside,
+Hercules took, and kept it to make sport
+For his invincible hand; but afterward
+Gave it to valiant Peleus, who with him
+Had smitten fair-towered Ilium's burg renowned;
+And he to Achilles gave it, whose swift ships
+Bare it to Troy, to put him aye in mind
+Of his own father, as with eager will
+He fought with stalwart Trojans, and to be
+A worthy test wherewith to prove his strength.
+Even this did Aias from his brawny hand
+Fling far.  So then the Nereid gave to him
+The glorious arms from godlike Memnon stripped.
+Marvelling the Argives gazed on them: they were
+A giant's war-gear.  Laughing a glad laugh
+That man renowned received them: he alone
+Could wear them on his brawny limbs; they seemed
+As they had even been moulded to his frame.
+The great bar thence he bore withal, to be
+His joy when he was fain of athlete-toil.
+
+Still sped the contests on; and many rose
+Now for the leaping.  Far beyond the marks
+Of all the rest brave Agapenor sprang:
+Loud shouted all for that victorious leap;
+And Thetis gave him the fair battle-gear
+Of mighty Cycnus, who had smitten first
+Protesilaus, then had reft the life
+From many more, till Peleus' son slew him
+First of the chiefs of grief-enshrouded Troy.
+
+Next, in the javelin-cast Euryalus
+Hurled far beyond all rivals, while the folk
+Shouted aloud: no archer, so they deemed,
+Could speed a winged shaft farther than his cast;
+Therefore the Aeacid hero's mother gave
+To him a deep wide silver oil-flask, ta'en
+By Achilles in possession, when his spear
+Slew Mynes, and he spoiled Lyrnessus' wealth.
+
+Then fiery-hearted Aias eagerly
+Rose, challenging to strife of hands and feet
+The mightiest hero there; but marvelling
+They marked his mighty thews, and no man dared
+Confront him.  Chilling dread had palsied all
+Their courage: from their hearts they feared him, lest
+His hands invincible should all to-break
+His adversary's face, and naught but pain
+Be that man's meed.  But at the last all men
+Made signs to battle-bider Euryalus,
+For well they knew him skilled in fighting-craft;
+But he too feared that giant, and he cried:
+"Friends, any other Achaean, whom ye will,
+Blithe will I face; but mighty Alas -- no!
+Far doth he overmatch me.  He will rend
+Mine heart, if in the onset anger rise
+Within him: from his hands invincible,
+I trow, I should not win to the ships alive."
+
+Loud laughed they all: but glowed with triumph-joy
+The heart of Aias.  Gleaming talents twain
+Of silver he from Thetis' hands received,
+His uncontested prize.  His stately height
+Called to her mind her dear son, and she sighed.
+
+They which had skill in chariot-driving then
+Rose at the contest's summons eagerly:
+Menelaus first, Eurypylus bold in fight,
+Eumelus, Thoas, godlike Polypoetes
+Harnessed their steeds, and led them to the cars
+All panting for the joy of victory.
+Then rode they in a glittering chariot rank
+Out to one place, to a stretch of sand, and stood
+Ranged at the starting-line.  The reins they grasped
+In strong hands quickly, while the chariot-steeds
+Shoulder to shoulder fretted, all afire
+To take the lead at starting, pawed the sand,
+Pricked ears, and o'er their frontlets flung the foam.
+With sudden-stiffened sinews those ear-lords
+Lashed with their whips the tempest-looted steeds;
+Then swift as Harpies sprang they forth; they strained
+Furiously at the harness, onward whirling
+The chariots bounding ever from the earth.
+Thou couldst not see a wheel-track, no, nor print
+Of hoof upon the sand -- they verily flew.
+Up from the plain the dust-clouds to the sky
+Soared, like the smoke of burning, or a mist
+Rolled round the mountain-forelands by the might
+Of the dark South-wind or the West, when wakes
+A tempest, when the hill-sides stream with rain.
+Burst to the front Eumelus' steeds: behind
+Close pressed the team of godlike Thoas: shouts
+Still answered shouts that cheered each chariot, while
+Onward they swept across the wide-wayed plain.
+
+((LACUNA))
+
+"From hallowed Elis, when he had achieved
+A mighty triumph, in that he outstripped
+The swift ear of Oenomaus evil-souled,
+The ruthless slayer of youths who sought to wed
+His daughter Hippodameia passing-wise.
+Yet even he, for all his chariot-lore,
+Had no such fleetfoot steeds as Atreus' son --
+Far slower! -- the wind is in the feet of these."
+
+So spake he, giving glory to the might
+Of those good steeds, and to Atreides' self;
+And filled with joy was Menelaus' soul.
+Straightway his henchmen from the yoke-band loosed
+The panting team, and all those chariot-lords,
+Who in the race had striven, now unyoked
+Their tempest-footed steeds.  Podaleirius then
+Hasted to spread salves over all the wounds
+Of Thoas and Eurypylus, gashes scored
+Upon their frames when from the cars they fell
+But Menelaus with exceeding joy
+Of victory glowed, when Thetis 1ovely-tressed
+Gave him a golden cup, the chief possession
+Once of Eetion the godlike; ere
+Achilles spoiled the far-famed burg of Thebes.
+
+Then horsemen riding upon horses came
+Down to the course: they grasped in hand the whip
+And bounding from the earth bestrode their steeds,
+The while with foaming mouths the coursers champed
+The bits, and pawed the ground, and fretted aye
+To dash into the course.  Forth from the line
+Swiftly they darted, eager for the strife,
+Wild as the blasts of roaring Boreas
+Or shouting Notus, when with hurricane-swoop
+He heaves the wide sea high, when in the east
+Uprises the disastrous Altar-star
+Bringing calamity to seafarers;
+So swift they rushed, spurning with flying feet
+The deep dust on the plain.  The riders cried
+Each to his steed, and ever plied the lash
+And shook the reins about the clashing bits.
+On strained the horses: from the people rose
+A shouting like the roaring of a sea.
+On, on across the level plain they flew;
+And now the flashing-footed Argive steed
+By Sthenelus bestridden, had won the race,
+But from the course he swerved, and o'er the plain
+Once and again rushed wide; nor Capaneus' son,
+Good horseman though he were, could turn him back
+By rein or whip, because that steed was strange
+Still to the race-course; yet of lineage
+Noble was he, for in his veins the blood
+Of swift Arion ran, the foal begotten
+By the loud-piping West-wind on a Harpy,
+The fleetest of all earth-born steeds, whose feet
+Could race against his father's swiftest blasts.
+Him did the Blessed to Adrastus give:
+And from him sprang the steed of Sthenelus,
+Which Tydeus' son had given unto his friend
+In hallowed Troyland.  Filled with confidence
+In those swift feet his rider led him forth
+Unto the contest of the steeds that day,
+Looking his horsemanship should surely win
+Renown: yet victory gladdened not his heart
+In that great struggle for Achilles' prizes;
+Nay, swift albeit he was, the King of Men
+By skill outraced him.  Shouted all the folk,
+"Glory to Agamemnon!"  Yet they acclaimed
+The steed of valiant Sthenelus and his lord,
+For that the fiery flying of his feet
+Still won him second place, albeit oft
+Wide of the course he swerved.  Then Thetis gave
+To Atreus' son, while laughed his lips for joy,
+God-sprung Polydorus' breastplate silver-wrought.
+To Sthenelus Asteropaeus' massy helm,
+Two lances, and a taslet strong, she gave.
+Yea, and to all the riders who that day
+Came at Achilles' funeral-feast to strive
+She gave gifts.  But the son of the old war-lord,
+Laertes, inly grieved to be withheld
+From contests of the strong, how fain soe'er,
+By that sore wound which Alcon dealt to him
+In the grim fight around dead Aeacas' son.
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+How the Arms of Achilles were cause of madness and death unto
+Aias.
+
+
+So when all other contests had an end,
+Thetis the Goddess laid down in the midst
+Great-souled Achilles' arms divinely wrought;
+And all around flashed out the cunning work
+Wherewith the Fire-god overchased the shield
+Fashioned for Aeacus' son, the dauntless-souled.
+
+Inwrought upon that labour of a God
+Were first high heaven and cloudland, and beneath
+Lay earth and sea: the winds, the clouds were there,
+The moon and sun, each in its several place;
+There too were all the stars that, fixed in heaven,
+Are borne in its eternal circlings round.
+Above and through all was the infinite air
+Where to and fro flit birds of slender beak:
+Thou hadst said they lived, and floated on the breeze.
+Here Tethys' all-embracing arms were wrought,
+And Ocean's fathomless flow.  The outrushing flood
+Of rivers crying to the echoing hills
+All round, to right, to left, rolled o'er the land.
+
+Round it rose league-long mountain-ridges, haunts
+Of terrible lions and foul jackals: there
+Fierce bears and panthers prowled; with these were seen
+Wild boars that whetted deadly-clashing tusks
+In grimly-frothing jaws.  There hunters sped
+After the hounds: beaters with stone and dart,
+To the life portrayed, toiled in the woodland sport.
+
+And there were man-devouring wars, and all
+Horrors of fight: slain men were falling down
+Mid horse-hoofs; and the likeness of a plain
+Blood-drenched was on that shield invincible.
+Panic was there, and Dread, and ghastly Enyo
+With limbs all gore-bespattered hideously,
+And deadly Strife, and the Avenging Spirits
+Fierce-hearted -- she, still goading warriors on
+To the onset they, outbreathing breath of fire.
+Around them hovered the relentless Fates;
+Beside them Battle incarnate onward pressed
+Yelling, and from their limbs streamed blood and sweat.
+There were the ruthless Gorgons: through their hair
+Horribly serpents coiled with flickering tongues.
+A measureless marvel was that cunning work
+Of things that made men shudder to behold
+Seeming as though they verily lived and moved.
+
+And while here all war's marvels were portrayed,
+Yonder were all the works of lovely peace.
+The myriad tribes of much-enduring men
+Dwelt in fair cities.  Justice watched o'er all.
+To diverse toils they set their hands; the fields
+Were harvest-laden; earth her increase bore.
+
+Most steeply rose on that god-laboured work
+The rugged flanks of holy Honour's mount,
+And there upon a palm-tree throned she sat
+Exalted, and her hands reached up to heaven.
+All round her, paths broken by many rocks
+Thwarted the climbers' feet; by those steep tracks
+Daunted ye saw returning many folk:
+Few won by sweat of toil the sacred height.
+
+And there were reapers moving down long swaths
+Swinging the whetted sickles: 'neath their hands
+The hot work sped to its close.  Hard after these
+Many sheaf-binders followed, and the work
+Grew passing great.  With yoke-bands on their necks
+Oxen were there, whereof some drew the wains
+Heaped high with full-eared sheaves, and further on
+Were others ploughing, and the glebe showed black
+Behind them.  Youths with ever-busy goads
+Followed: a world of toil was there portrayed.
+
+And there a banquet was, with pipe and harp,
+Dances of maids, and flashing feet of boys,
+All in swift movement, like to living souls.
+
+Hard by the dance and its sweet winsomeness
+Out of the sea was rising lovely-crowned
+Cypris, foam-blossoms still upon her hair;
+And round her hovered smiling witchingly
+Desire, and danced the Graces lovely-tressed.
+
+And there were lordly Nereus' Daughters shown
+Leading their sister up from the wide sea
+To her espousals with the warrior-king.
+And round her all the Immortals banqueted
+On Pelion's ridge far-stretching.  All about
+Lush dewy watermeads there were, bestarred
+With flowers innumerable, grassy groves,
+And springs with clear transparent water bright.
+
+There ships with sighing sheets swept o'er the sea,
+Some beating up to windward, some that sped
+Before a following wind, and round them heaved
+The melancholy surge.  Seared shipmen rushed
+This way and that, adread for tempest-gusts,
+Hauling the white sails in, to 'scape the death --
+It all seemed real -- some tugging at the oars,
+While the dark sea on either side the ship
+Grew hoary 'neath the swiftly-plashing blades.
+
+And there triumphant the Earth-shaker rode
+Amid sea-monsters' stormy-footed steeds
+Drew him, and seemed alive, as o'er the deep
+They raced, oft smitten by the golden whip.
+Around their path of flight the waves fell smooth,
+And all before them was unrippled calm.
+Dolphins on either hand about their king
+Swarmed, in wild rapture of homage bowing backs,
+And seemed like live things o'er the hazy sea
+Swimming, albeit all of silver wrought.
+
+Marvels of untold craft were imaged there
+By cunning-souled Hephaestus' deathless hands
+Upon the shield.  And Ocean's fathomless flood
+Clasped like a garland all the outer rim,
+And compassed all the strong shield's curious work.
+
+And therebeside the massy helmet lay.
+Zeus in his wrath was set upon the crest
+Throned on heaven's dome; the Immortals all around
+Fierce-battling with the Titans fought for Zeus.
+Already were their foes enwrapped with flame,
+For thick and fast as snowflakes poured from heaven
+The thunderbolts: the might of Zeus was roused,
+And burning giants seemed to breathe out flames.
+
+And therebeside the fair strong corslet lay,
+Unpierceable, which clasped Peleides once:
+There were the greaves close-lapping, light alone
+To Achilles; massy of mould and huge they were.
+
+And hard by flashed the sword whose edge and point
+No mail could turn, with golden belt, and sheath
+Of silver, and with haft of ivory:
+Brightest amid those wondrous arms it shone.
+Stretched on the earth thereby was that dread spear,
+Long as the tall-tressed pines of Pelion,
+Still breathing out the reek of Hector's blood.
+
+Then mid the Argives Thetis sable-stoled
+In her deep sorrow for Achilles spake;
+"Now all the athlete-prizes have been won
+Which I set forth in sorrow for my child.
+Now let that mightiest of the Argives come
+Who rescued from the foe my dead: to him
+These glorious and immortal arms I give
+Which even the blessed Deathless joyed to see."
+
+Then rose in rivalry, each claiming them,
+Laertes' seed and godlike Telamon's son,
+Aias, the mightiest far of Danaan men:
+He seemed the star that in the glittering sky
+Outshines the host of heaven, Hesperus,
+So splendid by Peleides' arms he stood;
+"And let these judge," he cried, "Idomeneus,
+Nestor, and kingly-counselled Agamemnon,"
+For these, he weened, would sureliest know the truth
+Of deeds wrought in that glorious battle-toil.
+"To these I also trust most utterly,"
+Odysseus said, "for prudent of their wit
+Be these, and princeliest of all Danaan men."
+
+But to Idomeneus and Atreus' son
+Spake Nestor apart, and willingly they heard:
+"Friends, a great woe and unendurable
+This day the careless Gods have laid on us,
+In that into this lamentable strife
+Aias the mighty hath been thrust by them
+Against Odysseus passing-wise.  For he,
+To whichsoe'er God gives the victor's glory --
+O yea, he shall rejoice!  But he that 1oseth --
+All for the grief in all the Danaans' hearts
+For him!  And ours shall be the deepest grief
+Of all; for that man will not in the war
+Stand by us as of old.  A sorrowful day
+It shall be for us, whichsoe'er of these
+Shall break into fierce anger, seeing they
+Are of our heroes chiefest, this in war,
+And that in counsel.  Hearken then to me,
+Seeing that I am older far than ye,
+Not by a few years only: with mine age
+Is prudence joined, for I have suffered and wrought
+Much; and in counsel ever the old man,
+Who knoweth much, excelleth younger men.
+Therefore let us ordain to judge this cause
+'Twixt godlike Aias and war-fain Odysseus,
+Our Trojan captives.  They shall say whom most
+Our foes dread, and who saved Peleides' corse
+From that most deadly fight.  Lo, in our midst
+Be many spear-won Trojans, thralls of Fate;
+And these will pass true judgment on these twain,
+To neither showing favour, since they hate
+Alike all authors of their misery."
+
+He spake: replied Agamemnon lord of spears:
+"Ancient, there is none other in our midst
+Wiser than thou, of Danaans young or old,
+In that thou say'st that unforgiving wrath
+Will burn in him to whom the Gods herein
+Deny the victory; for these which strive
+Are both our chiefest.  Therefore mine heart too
+Is set on this, that to the thralls of war
+This judgment we commit: the loser then
+Shall against Troy devise his deadly work
+Of vengeance, and shall not be wroth with us."
+
+He spake, and these three, being of one mind,
+In hearing of all men refused to judge
+Judgment so thankless: they would none of it.
+Therefore they set the high-born sons of Troy
+There in the midst, spear-thralls although they were,
+To give just judgment in the warriors' strife.
+Then in hot anger Aias rose, and spake:
+"Odysseus, frantic soul, why hath a God
+Deluded thee, to make thee hold thyself
+My peer in might invincible?  Dar'st thou say
+That thou, when slain Achilles lay in dust,
+When round him swarmed the Trojans, didst bear back
+That furious throng, when I amidst them hurled
+Death, and thou coweredst away?  Thy dam
+Bare thee a craven and a weakling wretch
+Frail in comparison of me, as is
+A cur beside a lion thunder-voiced!
+No battle-biding heart is in thy breast,
+But wiles and treachery be all thy care.
+Hast thou forgotten how thou didst shrink back
+From faring with Achaea's gathered host
+To Ilium's holy burg, till Atreus' sons
+Forced thee, the cowering craven, how loth soe'er,
+To follow them -- would God thou hadst never come!
+For by thy counsel left we in Lemnos' isle
+Groaning in agony Poeas' son renowned.
+And not for him alone was ruin devised
+Of thee; for godlike Palamedes too
+Didst thou contrive destruction -- ha, he was
+Alike in battle and council better than thou!
+And now thou dar'st to rise up against me,
+Neither remembering my kindness, nor
+Having respect unto the mightier man
+Who rescued thee erewhile, when thou didst quaff
+In fight before the onset of thy foes,
+When thou, forsaken of all Greeks beside,
+ Midst tumult of the fray, wast fleeing too!
+Oh that in that great fight Zeus' self had stayed
+My dauntless might with thunder from his heaven!
+Then with their two-edged swords the Trojan men
+Had hewn thee limb from limb, and to their dogs
+Had cast thy carrion!  Then thou hadst not presumed
+To meet me, trusting in thy trickeries!
+Wretch, wherefore, if thou vauntest thee in might
+Beyond all others, hast thou set thy ships
+In the line's centre, screened from foes, nor dared
+As I, on the far wing to draw them up?
+Because thou wast afraid!  Not thou it was
+Who savedst from devouring fire the ships;
+But I with heart unquailing there stood fast
+Facing the fire and Hector ay, even he
+Gave back before me everywhere in fight.
+Thou -- thou didst fear him aye with deadly fear!
+Oh, had this our contention been but set
+Amidst that very battle, when the roar
+Of conflict rose around Achilles slain!
+Then had thine own eyes seen me bearing forth
+Out from the battle's heart and fury of foes
+That goodly armour and its hero lord
+Unto the tents.  But here thou canst but trust
+In cunning speech, and covetest a place
+Amongst the mighty!  Thou -- thou hast not strength
+To wear Achilles' arms invincible,
+Nor sway his massy spear in thy weak hands!
+But I they are verily moulded to my frame:
+Yea, seemly it is I wear those glorious arms,
+Who shall not shame a God's gifts passing fair.
+But wherefore for Achilles' glorious arms
+With words discourteous wrangling stand we here?
+Come, let us try in strife with brazen spears
+Who of us twain is best in murderous right!
+For silver-footed Thetis set in the midst
+This prize for prowess, not for pestilent words.
+In folkmote may men have some use for words:
+In pride of prowess I know me above thee far,
+And great Achilles' lineage is mine own."
+
+He spake: with scornful glance and bitter speech
+Odysseus the resourceful chode with him:
+"Aias, unbridled tongue, why these vain words
+To me?  Thou hast called me pestilent, niddering,
+And weakling: yet I boast me better far
+Than thou in wit and speech, which things increase
+The strength of men.  Lo, how the craggy rock,
+Adamantine though it seem, the hewers of stone
+Amid the hills by wisdom undermine
+Full lightly, and by wisdom shipmen cross
+The thunderous-plunging sea, when mountain-high
+It surgeth, and by craft do hunters quell
+Strong lions, panthers, boars, yea, all the brood
+Of wild things.  Furious-hearted bulls are tamed
+To bear the yoke-bands by device of men.
+Yea, all things are by wit accomplished.  Still
+It is the man who knoweth that excels
+The witless man alike in toils and counsels.
+For my keen wit did Oeneus' valiant son
+Choose me of all men with him to draw nigh
+To Hector's watchmen: yea, and mighty deeds
+We twain accomplished.  I it was who brought
+To Atreus' sons Peleides far-renowned,
+Their battle-helper.  Whensoe'er the host
+Needeth some other champion, not for the sake
+Of thine hands will he come, nor by the rede
+Of other Argives: of Achaeans I
+Alone will draw him with soft suasive words
+To where strong men are warring.  Mighty power
+The tongue hath over men, when courtesy
+Inspires it.  Valour is a deedless thing;
+And bulk and big assemblage of a man
+Cometh to naught, by wisdom unattended.
+But unto me the Immortals gave both strength
+And wisdom, and unto the Argive host
+Made me a blessing.  Nor, as thou hast said,
+Hast thou in time past saved me when in flight
+From foes.  I never fled, but steadfastly
+Withstood the charge of all the Trojan host.
+Furious the enemy came on like a flood
+But I by might of hands cut short the thread
+Of many lives.  Herein thou sayest not true
+Me in the fray thou didst not shield nor save,
+But for thine own life roughtest, lest a spear
+Should pierce thy back if thou shouldst turn to flee
+From war.  My ships?  I drew them up mid-line,
+Not dreading the battle-fury of any foe,
+But to bring healing unto Atreus' sons
+Of war's calamities: and thou didst set
+Far from their help thy ships.  Nay more, I seamed
+With cruel stripes my body, and entered so
+The Trojans' burg, that I might learn of them
+All their devisings for this troublous war.
+Nor ever I dreaded Hector's spear; myself
+Rose mid the foremost, eager for the fight,
+When, prowess-confident, he defied us all.
+Yea, in the fight around Achilles, I
+Slew foes far more than thou; 'twas I who saved
+The dead king with this armour.  Not a whit
+I dread thy spear now, but my grievous hurt
+With pain still vexeth me, the wound I gat
+In fighting for these arms and their slain lord.
+In me as in Achilles is Zeus' blood."
+
+He spake; strong Aias answered him again.
+"Most cunning and most pestilent of men,
+Nor I, nor any other Argive, saw
+Thee toiling in that fray, when Trojans strove
+Fiercely to hale away Achilles slain.
+My might it was that with the spear unstrung
+The knees of some in fight, and others thrilled
+With panic as they pressed on ceaselessly.
+Then fled they in dire straits, as geese or cranes
+Flee from an eagle swooping as they feed
+Along a grassy meadow; so, in dread
+The Trojans shrinking backward from my spear
+And lightening sword, fled into Ilium
+To 'scape destruction.  If thy might came there
+Ever at all, not anywhere nigh me
+With foes thou foughtest: somewhere far aloot
+Mid other ranks thou toiledst, nowhere nigh
+Achilles, where the one great battle raged."
+
+He spake; replied Odysseus the shrewd heart:
+"Aias, I hold myself no worse than thou
+In wit or might, how goodly in outward show
+Thou be soever.  Nay, I am keener far
+Of wit than thou in all the Argives' eyes.
+In battle-prowess do I equal thee
+Haply surpass; and this the Trojans know,
+Who tremble when they see me from afar.
+Aye, thou too know'st, and others know my strength
+By that hard struggle in the wrestling-match,
+When Peleus' son set glorious prizes forth
+Beside the barrow of Patroclus slain."
+
+So spake Laertes' son the world-renowned.
+Then on that strife disastrous of the strong
+The sons of Troy gave judgment.  Victory
+And those immortal arms awarded they
+With one consent to Odysseus mighty in war.
+Greatly his soul rejoiced; but one deep groan
+Brake from the Greeks.  Then Aias' noble might
+Stood frozen stiff; and suddenly fell on him
+Dark wilderment; all blood within his frame
+Boiled, and his gall swelled, bursting forth in flood.
+Against his liver heaved his bowels; his heart
+With anguished pangs was thrilled; fierce stabbing throes
+Shot through the filmy veil 'twixt bone and brain;
+And darkness and confusion wrapped his mind.
+With fixed eyes staring on the ground he stood
+Still as a statue.  Then his sorrowing friends
+Closed round him, led him to the shapely ships,
+Aye murmuring consolations.  But his feet
+Trod for the last time, with reluctant steps,
+That path; and hard behind him followed Doom.
+
+When to the ships beside the boundless sea
+The Argives, faint for supper and for sleep,
+Had passed, into the great deep Thetis plunged,
+And all the Nereids with her.  Round them swam
+Sea-monsters many, children of the brine.
+
+Against the wise Prometheus bitter-wroth
+The Sea-maids were, remembering how that Zeus,
+Moved by his prophecies, unto Peleus gave
+Thetis to wife, a most unwilling bride.
+Then cried in wrath to these Cymothoe:
+"O that the pestilent prophet had endured
+All pangs he merited, when, deep-burrowing,
+The eagle tare his liver aye renewed!"
+
+So to the dark-haired Sea-maids cried the Nymph.
+Then sank the sun: the onrush of the night
+Shadowed the fields, the heavens were star-bestrewn;
+And by the long-prowed ships the Argives slept
+By ambrosial sleep o'ermastered, and by wine
+The which from proud Idomeneus' realm of Crete:
+The shipmen bare o'er foaming leagues of sea.
+
+But Aias, wroth against the Argive men,
+Would none of meat or drink, nor clasped him round
+The arms of sleep. In fury he donned his mail,
+He clutched his sword, thinking unspeakable thoughts;
+For now he thought to set the ships aflame,
+And slaughter all the Argives, now, to hew
+With sudden onslaught of his terrible sword
+Guileful Odysseus limb from limb.  Such things
+He purposed -- nay, had soon accomplished all,
+Had Pallas not with madness smitten him;
+For over Odysseus, strong to endure, her heart
+Yearned, as she called to mind the sacrifices
+Offered to her of him continually.
+Therefore she turned aside from Argive men
+The might of Aias.  As a terrible storm,
+Whose wings are laden with dread hurricane-blasts,
+Cometh with portents of heart-numbing fear
+To shipmen, when the Pleiads, fleeing adread
+From glorious Orion, plunge beneath
+The stream of tireless Ocean, when the air
+Is turmoil, and the sea is mad with storm;
+So rushed he, whithersoe'er his feet might bear.
+This way and that he ran, like some fierce beast
+Which darteth down a rock-walled glen's ravines
+With foaming jaws, and murderous intent
+Against the hounds and huntsmen, who have torn
+Out of the cave her cubs, and slain: she runs
+This way and that, and roars, if mid the brakes
+Haply she yet may see the dear ones lost;
+Whom if a man meet in that maddened mood,
+Straightway his darkest of all days hath dawned;
+So ruthless-raving rushed he; blackly boiled
+His heart, as caldron on the Fire-god's hearth
+Maddens with ceaseless hissing o'er the flames
+From blazing billets coiling round its sides,
+At bidding of the toiler eager-souled
+To singe the bristles of a huge-fed boar;
+So was his great heart boiling in his breast.
+Like a wild sea he raved, like tempest-blast,
+Like the winged might of tireless flame amidst
+The mountains maddened by a mighty wind,
+When the wide-blazing forest crumbles down
+In fervent heat.  So Aias, his fierce heart
+With agony stabbed, in maddened misery raved.
+Foam frothed about his lips; a beast-like roar
+Howled from his throat.  About his shoulders clashed
+His armour.  They which saw him trembled, all
+Cowed by the fearful shout of that one man.
+
+From Ocean then uprose Dawn golden-reined:
+Like a soft wind upfloated Sleep to heaven,
+And there met Hera, even then returned
+To Olympus back from Tethys, unto whom
+But yester-morn she went.  She clasped him round,
+And kissed him, who had been her marriage-kin
+Since at her prayer on Ida's erest he had lulled
+To sleep Cronion, when his anger burned
+Against the Argives.  Straightway Hera passed
+To Zeus's mansion, and Sleep swiftly flew
+To Pasithea's couch.  From slumber woke
+All nations of the earth.  But Aias, like
+Orion the invincible, prowled on,
+Still bearing murderous madness in his heart.
+He rushed upon the sheep, like lion fierce
+Whose savage heart is stung with hunger-pangs.
+Here, there, he smote them, laid them dead in dust
+Thick as the leaves which the strong North-wind's might
+Strews, when the waning year to winter turns;
+So on the sheep in fury Aias fell,
+Deeming he dealt to Danaans evil doom.
+
+Then to his brother Menelaus came,
+And spake, but not in hearing of the rest:
+"This day shall surely be a ruinous day
+For all, since Aias thus is sense-distraught.
+It may be he will set the ships aflame,
+And slay us all amidst our tents, in wrath
+For those lost arms.  Would God that Thetis ne'er
+Had set them for the prize of rivalry!
+Would God Laertes' son had not presumed
+In folly of soul to strive with a better man!
+Fools were we all; and some malignant God
+Beguiled us; for the one great war-defence
+Left us, since Aeacus' son in battle fell,
+Was Aias' mighty strength.  And now the Gods
+Will to our loss destroy him, bringing bane
+On thee and me, that all we may fill up
+The cup of doom, and pass to nothingness."
+
+He spake; replied Agamemnon, lord of spears:
+"Now nay, Menelaus, though thine heart he wrung,
+Be thou not wroth with the resourceful king
+Of Cephallenian folk, but with the Gods
+Who plot our ruin.  Blame not him, who oft
+Hath been our blessing and our enemies' curse."
+
+So heavy-hearted spake the Danaan kings.
+But by the streams of Xanthus far away
+'Neath tamarisks shepherds cowered to hide from death,
+As when from a swift eagle cower hares
+'Neath tangled copses, when with sharp fierce scream
+This way and that with wings wide-shadowing
+He wheeleth very nigh; so they here, there,
+Quailed from the presence of that furious man.
+At last above a slaughtered ram he stood,
+And with a deadly laugh he cried to it:
+"Lie there in dust; be meat for dogs and kites!
+Achilles' glorious arms have saved not thee,
+For which thy folly strove with a better man!
+Lie there, thou cur!  No wife shall fall on thee,
+And clasp, and wail thee and her fatherless childs,
+Nor shalt thou greet thy parents' longing eyes,
+The staff of their old age!  Far from thy land
+Thy carrion dogs and vultures shall devour!"
+
+So cried he, thinking that amidst the slain
+Odysseus lay blood-boltered at his feet.
+But in that moment from his mind and eyes
+Athena tore away the nightmare-fiend
+Of Madness havoc-breathing, and it passed
+Thence swiftly to the rock-walled river Styx
+Where dwell the winged Erinnyes, they which still
+Visit with torments overweening men.
+
+Then Aias saw those sheep upon the earth
+Gasping in death; and sore amazed he stood,
+For he divined that by the Blessed Ones
+His senses had been cheated.  All his limbs
+Failed under him; his soul was anguished-thrilled:
+He could not in his horror take one step
+Forward nor backward.  Like some towering rock
+Fast-rooted mid the mountains, there he stood.
+But when the wild rout of his thoughts had rallied,
+He groaned in misery, and in anguish wailed:
+"Ah me! why do the Gods abhor me so?
+They have wrecked my mind, have with fell madness filled,
+Making me slaughter all these innocent sheep!
+Would God that on Odysseus' pestilent heart
+Mine hands had so avenged me!  Miscreant, he
+Brought on me a fell curse!  O may his soul
+Suffer all torments that the Avenging Fiends
+Devise for villains!  On all other Greeks
+May they bring murderous battle, woeful griefs,
+And chiefly on Agamemnon, Atreus' son!
+Not scatheless to the home may he return
+So long desired!  But why should I consort,
+I, a brave man, with the abominable?
+Perish the Argive host, perish my life,
+Now unendurable!  The brave no more
+Hath his due guerdon, but the baser sort
+Are honoured most and loved, as this Odysseus
+Hath worship mid the Greeks: but utterly
+Have they forgotten me and all my deeds,
+All that I wrought and suffered in their cause."
+
+So spake the brave son of strong Telamon,
+Then thrust the sword of Hector through his throat.
+Forth rushed the blood in torrent: in the dust
+Outstretched he lay, like Typhon, when the bolts
+Of Zeus had blasted him.  Around him groaned
+The dark earth as he fell upon her breast.
+
+Then thronging came the Danaans, when they saw
+Low laid in dust the hero; but ere then
+None dared draw nigh him, but in deadly fear
+They watched him from afar.  Now hasted they
+And flung themselves upon the dead, outstretched
+Upon their faces: on their heads they cast
+Dust, and their wailing went up to the sky.
+As when men drive away the tender lambs
+Out of the fleecy flock, to feast thereon,
+And round the desolate pens the mothers leap
+Ceaselessly bleating, so o'er Aias rang
+That day a very great and bitter cry.
+Wild echoes pealed from Ida forest-palled,
+And from the plain, the ships, the boundless sea.
+
+Then Teucer clasping him was minded too
+To rush on bitter doom: howbeit the rest
+Held from the sword his hand.  Anguished he fell
+Upon the dead, outpouring many a tear
+More comfortlessly than the orphan babe
+That wails beside the hearth, with ashes strewn
+On head and shoulders, wails bereavement's day
+That brings death to the mother who hath nursed
+The fatherless child; so wailed he, ever wailed
+His great death-stricken brother, creeping slow
+Around the corpse, and uttering his lament:
+"O Aias, mighty-souled, why was thine heart
+Distraught, that thou shouldst deal unto thyself
+Murder and bale?  All, was it that the sons
+Of Troy might win a breathing-space from woes,
+Might come and slay the Greeks, now thou art not?
+From these shall all the olden courage fail
+When fast they fall in fight.  Their shield from harm
+s broken now!  For me, I have no will
+To see mine home again, now thou art dead.
+Nay, but I long here also now to die,
+That so the earth may shroud me -- me and thee
+Not for my parents so much do I care,
+If haply yet they live, if haply yet
+Spared from the grave, in Salamis they dwell,
+As for thee, O my glory and my crown!"
+
+So cried he groaning sore; with answering moan
+Queenly Tecmessa wailed, the princess-bride
+Of noble Aias, captive of his spear,
+Yet ta'en by him to wife, and household-queen
+O'er all his substance, even all that wives
+Won with a bride-price rule for wedded lords.
+Clasped in his mighty arms, she bare to him
+A son Eurysaces, in all things like
+Unto his father, far as babe might be
+Yet cradled in his tent.  With bitter moan
+Fell she on that dear corpse, all her fair form
+Close-shrouded in her veil, and dust-defiled,
+And from her anguished heart cried piteously:
+"Alas for me, for me now thou art dead,
+Not by the hands of foes in fight struck down,
+But by thine own!  On me is come a grief
+Ever-abiding!  Never had I looked
+To see thy woeful death-day here by Troy.
+Ah, visions shattered by rude hands of Fate!
+Oh that the earth had yawned wide for my grave
+Ere I beheld thy bitter doom!  On me
+No sharper, more heart-piercing pang hath come --
+No, not when first from fatherland afar
+And parents thou didst bear me, wailing sore
+Mid other captives, when the day of bondage
+Had come on me, a princess theretofore.
+Not for that dear lost home so much I grieve,
+Nor for my parents dead, as now for thee:
+For all thine heart was kindness unto me
+The hapless, and thou madest me thy wife,
+One soul with thee; yea, and thou promisedst
+To throne me queen of fair-towered Salamis,
+When home we won from Troy.  The Gods denied
+Accomplishment thereof.  And thou hast passed
+Unto the Unseen Land: thou hast forgot
+Me and thy child, who never shall make glad
+His father's heart, shall never mount thy throne.
+But him shall strangers make a wretched thrall:
+For when the father is no more, the babe
+Is ward of meaner men.  A weary life
+The orphan knows, and suffering cometh in
+From every side upon him like a flood.
+To me too thraldom's day shall doubtless come,
+Now thou hast died, who wast my god on earth."
+
+Then in all kindness Agamemnon spake:
+"Princess, no man on earth shall make thee thrall,
+While Teucer liveth yet, while yet I live.
+Thou shalt have worship of us evermore
+And honour as a Goddess, with thy son,
+As though yet living were that godlike man,
+Aias, who was the Achaeans' chiefest strength.
+Ah that he had not laid this load of grief
+On all, in dying by his own right hand!
+For all the countless armies of his foes
+Never availed to slay him in fair fight."
+
+So spake he, grieved to the inmost heart.  The folk
+Woefully wafted all round.  O'er Hellespont
+Echoes of mourning rolled: the sighing air
+Darkened around, a wide-spread sorrow-pall.
+Yea, grief laid hold on wise Odysseus' self
+For the great dead, and with remorseful soul
+To anguish-stricken Argives thus he spake:
+"O friends, there is no greater curse to men
+Than wrath, which groweth till its bitter fruit
+Is strife.  Now wrath hath goaded Aias on
+To this dire issue of the rage that filled
+His soul against me.  Would to God that ne'er
+Yon Trojans in the strife for Achilles' arms
+Had crowned me with that victory, for which
+Strong Telamon's brave son, in agony
+Of soul, thus perished by his own right hand!
+Yet blame not me, I pray you, for his wrath:
+Blame the dark dolorous Fate that struck him down.
+For, had mine heart foreboded aught of this,
+This desperation of a soul distraught,
+Never for victory had I striven with him,
+Nor had I suffered any Danaan else,
+Though ne'er so eager, to contend with him.
+Nay, I had taken up those arms divine
+With mine own hands, and gladly given them
+To him, ay, though himself desired it not.
+But for such mighty grief and wrath in him
+I had not looked, since not for a woman's sake
+Nor for a city, nor possessions wide,
+I then contended, but for Honour's meed,
+Which alway is for all right-hearted men
+The happy goal of all their rivalry.
+But that great-hearted man was led astray
+By Fate, the hateful fiend; for surely it is
+Unworthy a man to be made passion's fool.
+The wise man's part is, steadfast-souled to endure
+All ills, and not to rage against his lot."
+
+So spake Laertes' son, the far-renowned.
+But when they all were weary of grief and groan,
+Then to those sorrowing ones spake Neleus' son:
+"O friends, the pitiless-hearted Fates have laid
+Stroke after stroke of sorrow upon us,
+Sorrow for Aias dead, for mighty Achilles,
+For many an Argive, and for mine own son
+Antilochus.  Yet all unmeet it is
+Day after day with passion of grief to wail
+Men slain in battle: nay, we must forget
+Laments, and turn us to the better task
+Of rendering dues beseeming to the dead,
+The dues of pyre, of tomb, of bones inurned.
+No lamentations will awake the dead;
+No note thereof he taketh, when the Fates,
+The ruthless ones, have swallowed him in night."
+
+So spake he words of cheer: the godlike kings
+Gathered with heavy hearts around the dead,
+And many hands upheaved the giant corpse,
+And swiftly bare him to the ships, and there
+Washed they away the blood that clotted lay
+Dust-flecked on mighty limbs and armour: then
+In linen swathed him round.  From Ida's heights
+Wood without measure did the young men bring,
+And piled it round the corpse.  Billets and logs
+Yet more in a wide circle heaped they round;
+And sheep they laid thereon, fair-woven vests,
+And goodly kine, and speed-triumphant steeds,
+And gleaming gold, and armour without stint,
+From slain foes by that glorious hero stripped.
+And lucent amber-drops they laid thereon,
+Years, say they, which the Daughters of the Sun,
+The Lord of Omens, shed for Phaethon slain,
+When by Eridanus' flood they mourned for him.
+These, for undying honour to his son,
+The God made amber, precious in men's eyes.
+Even this the Argives on that broad-based pyre
+Cast freely, honouring the mighty dead.
+And round him, groaning heavily, they laid
+Silver most fair and precious ivory,
+And jars of oil, and whatsoe'er beside
+They have who heap up goodly and glorious wealth.
+Then thrust they in the strength of ravening flame,
+And from the sea there breathed a wind, sent forth
+By Thetis, to consume the giant frame
+Of Aias.  All the night and all the morn
+Burned 'neath the urgent stress of that great wind
+Beside the ships that giant form, as when
+Enceladus by Zeus' levin was consumed
+Beneath Thrinacia, when from all the isle
+Smoke of his burning rose -- or like as when
+Hercules, trapped by Nessus' deadly guile,
+Gave to devouring fire his living limbs,
+What time he dared that awful deed, when groaned
+All Oeta as he burned alive, and passed
+His soul into the air, leaving the man
+Far-famous, to be numbered with the Gods,
+When earth closed o'er his toil-tried mortal part.
+So huge amid the flames, all-armour clad,
+Lay Aias, all the joy of fight forgot,
+While a great multitude watching thronged the sands.
+Glad were the Trojans, but the Achaeans grieved.
+
+But when that goodly frame by ravening fire
+Was all consumed, they quenched the pyre with wine;
+They gathered up the bones, and reverently
+Laid in a golden casket.  Hard beside
+Rhoeteium's headland heaped they up a mound
+Measureless-high.  Then scattered they amidst
+The long ships, heavy-hearted for the man
+Whom they had honoured even as Achilles.
+Then black night, bearing unto all men sleep,
+Upfloated: so they brake bread, and lay down
+Waiting the Child of the Mist.  Short was sleep,
+Broken by fitful staring through the dark,
+Haunted by dread lest in the night the foe
+Should fall on them, now Telamon's son was dead.
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+How came for the helping of Troy Eurypylus, Hercules' grandson.
+
+
+Rose Dawn from Ocean and Tithonus' bed,
+And climbed the steeps of heaven, scattering round
+Flushed flakes of splendour; laughed all earth and air.
+Then turned unto their labours, each to each,
+Mortals, frail creatures daily dying.  Then
+Streamed to a folkmote all the Achaean men
+At Menelaus' summons.  When the host
+Were gathered all, then in their midst he spake:
+"Hearken my words, ye god-descended kings:
+Mine heart within my breast is burdened sore
+For men which perish, men that for my sake
+Came to the bitter war, whose home-return
+Parents and home shall welcome nevermore;
+For Fate hath cut off thousands in their prime.
+Oh that the heavy hand of death had fallen
+On me, ere hitherward I gathered these!
+But now hath God laid on me cureless pain
+In seeing all these ills.  Who could rejoice
+Beholding strivings, struggles of despair?
+Come, let us, which be yet alive, in haste
+Flee in the ships, each to his several land,
+Since Aias and Achilles both are dead.
+I look not, now they are slain, that we the rest
+Shall 'scape destruction; nay, but we shall fall
+Before yon terrible Trojans for my sake
+And shameless Helen's!  Think not that I care
+For her: for you I care, when I behold
+Good men in battle slain.  Away with her --
+Her and her paltry paramour!  The Gods
+Stole all discretion out of her false heart
+When she forsook mine home and marriage-bed.
+Let Priam and the Trojans cherish her!
+But let us straight return: 'twere better far
+To flee from dolorous war than perish all."
+
+So spake he but to try the Argive men.
+Far other thoughts than these made his heart burn
+With passionate desire to slay his foes,
+To break the long walls of their city down
+From their foundations, and to glut with blood
+Ares, when Paris mid the slain should fall.
+Fiercer is naught than passionate desire!
+Thus as he pondered, sitting in his place,
+Uprose Tydeides, shaker of the shield,
+And chode in fiery speech with Menelaus:
+"O coward Atreus' son, what craven fear
+Hath gripped thee, that thou speakest so to us
+As might a weakling child or woman speak?
+Not unto thee Achaea's noblest sons
+Will hearken, ere Troy's coronal of towers
+Be wholly dashed to the dust: for unto men
+Valour is high renown, and flight is shame!
+If any man shall hearken to the words
+Of this thy counsel, I will smite from him
+His head with sharp blue steel, and hurl it down
+For soaring kites to feast on.  Up!  all ye
+Who care to enkindle men to battle: rouse
+Our warriors all throughout the fleet to whet
+The spear, to burnish corslet, helm and shield;
+And cause both man and horse, all which be keen
+In fight, to break their fast.  Then in yon plain
+Who is the stronger Ares shall decide."
+
+So speaking, in his place he sat him down;
+Then rose up Thestor's son, and in the midst,
+Where meet it is to speak, stood forth and cried:
+"Hear me, ye sons of battle-biding Greeks:
+Ye know I have the spirit of prophecy.
+Erewhile I said that ye in the tenth year
+Should lay waste towered Ilium: this the Gods
+Are even now fulfilling; victory lies
+At the Argives' very feet.  Come, let us send
+Tydeides and Odysseus battle-staunch
+With speed to Scyros overseas, by prayers
+Hither to bring Achilles' hero son:
+A light of victory shall he be to us."
+
+So spake wise Thestius' son, and all the folk
+Shouted for joy; for all their hearts and hopes
+Yearned to see Calchas' prophecy fulfilled.
+Then to the Argives spake Laertes' son:
+"Friends, it befits not to say many words
+This day to you, in sorrow's weariness.
+I know that wearied men can find no joy
+In speech or song, though the Pierides,
+The immortal Muses, love it.  At such time
+Few words do men desire.  But now, this thing
+That pleaseth all the Achaean host, will I
+Accomplish, so Tydeides fare with me;
+For, if we twain go, we shall surely bring,
+Won by our words, war-fain Achilles' son,
+Yea, though his mother, weeping sore, should strive
+Within her halls to keep him; for mine heart
+Trusts that he is a hero's valorous son."
+
+Then out spake Menelaus earnestly:
+"Odysseus, the strong Argives' help at need,
+If mighty-souled Achilles' valiant son
+From Scyros by thy suasion come to aid
+Us who yearn for him, and some Heavenly One
+Grant victory to our prayers, and I win home
+To Hellas, I will give to him to wife
+My noble child Hermione, with gifts
+Many and goodly for her marriage-dower
+With a glad heart.  I trow he shall not scorn
+Either his bride or high-born sire-in-law."
+
+With a great shout the Danaans hailed his words.
+Then was the throng dispersed, and to the ships
+They scattered hungering for the morning meat
+Which strengtheneth man's heart.  So when they ceased
+From eating, and desire was satisfied,
+Then with the wise Odysseus Tydeus' son
+Drew down a swift ship to the boundless sea,
+And victual and all tackling cast therein.
+Then stepped they aboard, and with them twenty men,
+Men skilled to row when winds were contrary,
+Or when the unrippled sea slept 'neath a calm.
+They smote the brine, and flashed the boiling foam:
+On leapt the ship; a watery way was cleft
+About the oars that sweating rowers tugged.
+As when hard-toiling oxen, 'neath the yoke
+Straining, drag on a massy-timbered wain,
+While creaks the circling axle 'neath its load,
+And from their weary necks and shoulders streams
+Down to the ground the sweat abundantly;
+So at the stiff oars toiled those stalwart men,
+And fast they laid behind them leagues of sea.
+Gazed after them the Achaeans as they went,
+Then turned to whet their deadly darts and spears,
+The weapons of their warfare.  In their town
+The aweless Trojans armed themselves the while
+War-eager, praying to the Gods to grant
+Respite from slaughter, breathing-space from toil.
+
+To these, while sorely thus they yearned, the Gods
+Brought present help in trouble, even the seed
+Of mighty Hercules, Eurypylus.
+A great host followed him, in battle skilled,
+All that by long Caicus' outflow dwelt,
+Full of triumphant trust in their strong spears.
+Round them rejoicing thronged the sons of Troy:
+As when tame geese within a pen gaze up
+On him who casts them corn, and round his feet
+Throng hissing uncouth love, and his heart warms
+As he looks down on them; so thronged the sons
+Of Troy, as on fierce-heart Eurypylus
+They gazed; and gladdened was his aweless soul
+To see those throngs: from porchways women looked
+Wide-eyed with wonder on the godlike man.
+Above all men he towered as on he strode,
+As looks a lion when amid the hills
+He comes on jackals.  Paris welcomed him,
+As Hector honouring him, his cousin he,
+Being of one blood with him, who was born Of
+Astyoche, King Priam's sister fair
+Whom Telephus embraced in his strong arms,
+Telephus, whom to aweless Hercules
+Auge the bright-haired bare in secret love.
+That babe, a suckling craving for the breast,
+A swift hind fostered, giving him the teat
+As to her own fawn in all love; for Zeus
+So willed it, in whose eyes it was not meet
+That Hercules' child should perish wretchedly.
+His glorious son with glad heart Paris led
+Unto his palace through the wide-wayed burg
+Beside Assaracus' tomb and stately halls
+Of Hector, and Tritonis' holy fane.
+Hard by his mansion stood, and therebeside
+The stainless altar of Home-warder Zeus
+Rose.  As they went, he lovingly questioned him
+Of brethren, parents, and of marriage-kin;
+And all he craved to know Eurypylus told.
+So communed they, on-pacing side by side.
+Then came they to a palace great and rich:
+There goddess-like sat Helen, clothed upon
+With beauty of the Graces.  Maidens four
+About her plied their tasks: others apart
+Within that goodly bower wrought the works
+Beseeming handmaids.  Helen marvelling gazed
+Upon Eurypylus, on Helen he.
+Then these in converse each with other spake
+In that all-odorous bower.  The handmaids brought
+And set beside their lady high-seats twain;
+And Paris sat him down, and at his side
+Eurypylus.  That hero's host encamped
+Without the city, where the Trojan guards
+Kept watch.  Their armour laid they on the earth;
+Their steeds, yet breathing battle, stood thereby,
+And cribs were heaped with horses' provender.
+
+Upfloated night, and darkened earth and air;
+Then feasted they before that cliff-like wall,
+Ceteian men and Trojans: babel of talk
+Rose from the feasters: all around the glow
+Of blazing campfires lighted up the tents:
+Pealed out the pipe's sweet voice, and hautboys rang
+With their clear-shrilling reeds; the witching strain
+Of lyres was rippling round.  From far away
+The Argives gazed and marvelled, seeing the plain
+Aglare with many fires, and hearing notes
+Of flutes and lyres, neighing of chariot-steeds
+And pipes, the shepherd's and the banquet's joy.
+Therefore they bade their fellows each in turn
+Keep watch and ward about the tents till dawn,
+Lest those proud Trojans feasting by their walls
+Should fall on them, and set the ships aflame.
+
+Within the halls of Paris all this while
+With kings and princes Telephus' hero son
+Feasted; and Priam and the sons of Troy
+Each after each prayed him to play the man
+Against the Argives, and in bitter doom
+To lay them low; and blithe he promised all.
+So when they had supped, each hied him to his home;
+But there Eurypylus laid him down to rest
+Full nigh the feast-hall, in the stately bower
+Where Paris theretofore himself had slept
+With Helen world-renowned.  A bower it was
+Most wondrous fair, the goodliest of them all.
+There lay he down; but otherwhere their rest
+Took they, till rose the bright-throned Queen of Morn.
+Up sprang with dawn the son of Telephus,
+And passed to the host with all those other kings
+In Troy abiding.  Straightway did the folk
+All battle-eager don their warrior-gear,
+Burning to strike in forefront of the fight.
+And now Eurypylus clad his mighty limbs
+In armour that like levin-flashes gleamed;
+Upon his shield by cunning hands were wrought
+All the great labours of strong Hercules.
+
+Thereon were seen two serpents flickering
+Black tongues from grimly jaws: they seemed in act
+To dart; but Hercules' hands to right and left --
+Albeit a babe's hands -- now were throttling them;
+For aweless was his spirit.  As Zeus' strength
+From the beginning was his strength.  The seed
+Of Heaven-abiders never deedless is
+Nor helpless, but hath boundless prowess, yea,
+Even when in the womb unborn it lies.
+
+Nemea's mighty lion there was seen
+Strangled in the strong arms of Hercules,
+His grim jaws dashed about with bloody foam:
+He seemed in verity gasping out his life.
+
+Thereby was wrought the Hydra many-necked
+Flickering its dread tongues.  Of its fearful heads
+Some severed lay on earth, but many more
+Were budding from its necks, while Hercules
+And Iolaus, dauntless-hearted twain,
+Toiled hard; the one with lightning sickle-sweeps
+Lopped the fierce heads, his fellow seared each neck
+With glowing iron; the monster so was slain.
+
+Thereby was wrought the mighty tameless Boar
+With foaming jaws; real seemed the pictured thing,
+As by Aleides' giant strength the brute
+Was to Eurystheus living borne on high.
+
+There fashioned was the fleetfoot stag which laid
+The vineyards waste of hapless husbandmen.
+The Hero's hands held fast its golden horns,
+The while it snorted breath of ravening fire.
+
+Thereon were seen the fierce Stymphalian Birds,
+Some arrow-smitten dying in the dust,
+Some through the grey air darting in swift flight.
+At this, at that one -- hot in haste he seemed --
+Hercules sped the arrows of his wrath.
+
+Augeias' monstrous stable there was wrought
+With cunning craft on that invincible targe;
+And Hercules was turning through the same
+The deep flow of Alpheius' stream divine,
+While wondering Nymphs looked down on every hand
+Upon that mighty work.  Elsewhere portrayed
+Was the Fire-breathing Bull: the Hero's grip
+On his strong horns wrenched round the massive neck:
+The straining muscles on his arm stood out:
+The huge beast seemed to bellow.  Next thereto
+Wrought on the shield was one in beauty arrayed
+As of a Goddess, even Hippolyta.
+The hero by the hair was dragging her
+From her swift steed, with fierce resolve to wrest
+With his strong hands the Girdle Marvellous
+From the Amazon Queen, while quailing shrank away
+The Maids of War.  There in the Thracian land
+Were Diomedes' grim man-eating steeds:
+These at their gruesome mangers had he slain,
+And dead they lay with their fiend-hearted lord.
+
+There lay the bulk of giant Geryon
+Dead mid his kine.  His gory heads were cast
+In dust, dashed down by that resistless club.
+Before him slain lay that most murderous hound
+Orthros, in furious might like Cerberus
+His brother-hound: a herdman lay thereby,
+Eurytion, all bedabbled with his blood.
+
+There were the Golden Apples wrought, that gleamed
+In the Hesperides' garden undefiled:
+All round the fearful Serpent's dead coils lay,
+And shrank the Maids aghast from Zeus' bold son.
+
+And there, a dread sight even for Gods to see,
+Was Cerberus, whom the Loathly Worm had borne
+To Typho in a craggy cavern's gloom
+Close on the borders of Eternal Night,
+A hideous monster, warder of the Gate
+Of Hades, Home of Wailing, jailer-hound
+Of dead folk in the shadowy Gulf of Doom.
+But lightly Zeus' son with his crashing blows
+Tamed him, and haled him from the cataract flood
+Of Styx, with heavy-drooping head, and dragged
+The Dog sore loth to the strange upper air
+All dauntlessly.  And there, at the world's end,
+Were Caucasus' long glens, where Hercules,
+Rending Prometheus' chains, and hurling them
+This way and that with fragments of the rock
+Whereinto they were riveted, set free
+The mighty Titan.  Arrow-smitten lay
+The Eagle of the Torment therebeside.
+
+There stormed the wild rout of the Centaurs round
+The hall of Pholus: goaded on by Strife
+And wine, with Hercules the monsters fought.
+Amidst the pine-trunks stricken to death they lay
+Still grasping those strange weapons in dead hands,
+While some with stems long-shafted still fought on
+In fury, and refrained not from the strife;
+And all their heads, gashed in the pitiless fight,
+Were drenched with gore -- the whole scene seemed to live --
+With blood the wine was mingled: meats and bowls
+And tables in one ruin shattered lay.
+
+There by Evenus' torrent, in fierce wrath
+For his sweet bride, he laid with the arrow low
+Nessus in mid-flight.  There withal was wrought
+Antaeus' brawny strength, who challenged him
+To wrestling-strife; he in those sinewy arms
+Raised high above the earth, was crushed to death.
+
+There where swift Hellespont meets the outer sea,
+Lay the sea-monster slain by his ruthless shafts,
+While from Hesione he rent her chains.
+
+Of bold Alcides many a deed beside
+Shone on the broad shield of Eurypylus.
+He seemed the War-god, as from rank to rank
+He sped; rejoiced the Trojans following him,
+Seeing his arms, and him clothed with the might
+Of Gods; and Paris hailed him to the fray:
+"Glad am I for thy coming, for mine heart
+Trusts that the Argives all shall wretchedly
+Be with their ships destroyed; for such a man
+Mid Greeks or Trojans never have I seen.
+Now, by the strength and fury of Hercules --
+To whom in stature, might, and goodlihead
+Most like thou art I pray thee, have in mind
+Him, and resolve to match his deeds with thine.
+Be the strong shield of Trojans hard-bestead:
+Win us a breathing-space.  Thou only, I trow,
+From perishing Troy canst thrust the dark doom back."
+
+With kindling words he spake.  That hero cried:
+"Great-hearted Paris, like the Blessed Ones
+In goodlihead, this lieth foreordained
+On the Gods' knees, who in the fight shall fall,
+And who outlive it.  I, as honour bids,
+And as my strength sufficeth, will not flinch
+From Troy's defence.  I swear to turn from fight
+Never, except in victory or death."
+
+Gallantly spake he: with exceeding joy
+Rejoiced the Trojans.  Champions then he chose,
+Alexander and Aeneas fiery-souled,
+Polydamas, Pammon, and Deiphobus,
+And Aethicus, of Paphlagonian men
+The staunchest man to stem the tide of war;
+These chose he, cunning all in battle-toil,
+To meet the foe in forefront of the fight.
+Swiftly they strode before that warrior-throng
+Then from the city cheering charged.  The host
+Followed them in their thousands, as when bees
+Follow by bands their leaders from the hives,
+With loud hum on a spring day pouring forth.
+So to the fight the warriors followed these;
+And, as they charged, the thunder-tramp of men
+And steeds, and clang of armour, rang to heaven.
+As when a rushing mighty wind stirs up
+The barren sea-plain from its nethermost floor,
+And darkling to the strand roll roaring waves
+Belching sea-tangle from the bursting surf,
+And wild sounds rise from beaches harvestless;
+So, as they charged, the wide earth rang again.
+
+Now from their rampart forth the Argives poured
+Round godlike Agamemnon.  Rang their shouts
+Cheering each other on to face the fight,
+And not to cower beside the ships in dread
+Of onset-shouts of battle-eager foes.
+They met those charging hosts with hearts as light
+As calves bear, when they leap to meet the kine
+Down faring from hill-pastures in the spring
+Unto the steading, when the fields are green
+With corn-blades, when the earth is glad with flowers,
+And bowls are brimmed with milk of kine and ewes,
+And multitudinous lowing far and near
+Uprises as the mothers meet their young,
+And in their midst the herdman joys; so great
+Was the uproar that rose when met the fronts
+Of battle: dread it rang on either hand.
+Hard-strained was then the fight: incarnate
+Strife Stalked through the midst, with Slaughter ghastly-faced.
+Crashed bull-hide shields, and spears, and helmet-crests
+Meeting: the brass flashed out like leaping flames.
+Bristled the battle with the lances; earth
+Ran red with blood, as slaughtered heroes fell
+And horses, mid a tangle of shattered ears,
+Some yet with spear-wounds gasping, while on them
+Others were falling.  Through the air upshrieked
+An awful indistinguishable roar;
+For on both hosts fell iron-hearted Strife.
+Here were men hurling cruel jagged stones,
+There speeding arrows and new-whetted darts,
+There with the axe or twibill hewing hard,
+Slashing with swords, and thrusting out with spears:
+Their mad hands clutched all manner of tools of death.
+
+At first the Argives bore the ranks of Troy
+Backward a little; but they rallied, charged,
+Leapt on the foe, and drenched the field with blood.
+Like a black hurricane rushed Eurypylus
+Cheering his men on, hewing Argives down
+Awelessly: measureless might was lent to him
+By Zeus, for a grace to glorious Hercules.
+Nireus, a man in beauty like the Gods,
+His spear long-shafted stabbed beneath the ribs,
+Down on the plain he fell, forth streamed the blood
+Drenching his splendid arms, drenching the form
+Glorious of mould, and his thick-clustering hair.
+There mid the slain in dust and blood he lay,
+Like a young lusty olive-sapling, which
+A river rushing down in roaring flood,
+Tearing its banks away, and cleaving wide
+A chasm-channel, hath disrooted; low
+It lieth heavy-blossomed; so lay then
+The goodly form, the grace of loveliness
+Of Nireus on earth's breast.  But o'er the slain
+Loud rang the taunting of Eurypylus:
+"Lie there in dust!  Thy beauty marvellous
+Naught hath availed thee!  I have plucked thee away
+From life, to which thou wast so fain to cling.
+Rash fool, who didst defy a mightier man
+Unknowing!  Beauty is no match for strength!"
+
+He spake, and leapt upon the slain to strip
+His goodly arms: but now against him came
+Machaon wroth for Nireus, by his side
+Doom-overtaken.  With his spear he drave
+At his right shoulder: strong albeit he was,
+He touched him, and blood spurted from the gash.
+Yet, ere he might leap back from grapple of death,
+Even as a lion or fierce mountain-boar
+Maddens mid thronging huntsmen, furious-fain
+To rend the man whose hand first wounded him;
+So fierce Eurypylus on Machaon rushed.
+The long lance shot out swiftly, and pierced him through
+On the right haunch; yet would he not give back,
+Nor flinch from the onset, fast though flowed the blood.
+In haste he snatched a huge stone from the ground,
+And dashed it on the head of Telephus' son;
+But his helm warded him from death or harm
+Then waxed Eurypylus more hotly wroth
+With that strong warrior, and in fury of soul
+Clear through Machaon's breast he drave his spear,
+And through the midriff passed the gory point.
+He fell, as falls beneath a lion's jaws
+A bull, and round him clashed his glancing arms.
+Swiftly Eurypylus plucked the lance of death
+Out of the wound, and vaunting cried aloud:
+"Wretch, wisdom was not bound up in thine heart,
+That thou, a weakling, didst come forth to fight
+A mightier.  Therefore art thou in the toils
+Of Doom.  Much profit shall be thine, when kites
+Devour the flesh of thee in battle slain!
+Ha, dost thou hope still to return, to 'scape
+Mine hands?  A leech art thou, and soothing salves
+Thou knowest, and by these didst haply hope
+To flee the evil day!  Not thine own sire,
+On the wind's wings descending from Olympus,
+Should save thy life, not though between thy lips
+He should pour nectar and ambrosia!"
+
+Faint-breathing answered him the dying man:
+"Eurypylus, thine own weird is to live
+Not long: Fate is at point to meet thee here
+On Troy's plain, and to still thine impious tongue."
+
+So passed his spirit into Hades' halls.
+Then to the dead man spake his conqueror:
+"Now on the earth lie thou.  What shall betide
+Hereafter, care I not -- yea, though this day
+Death's doom stand by my feet: no man may live
+For ever: each man's fate is foreordained."
+
+Stabbing the corpse he spake.  Then shouted loud
+Teucer, at seeing Machaon in the dust.
+Far thence he stood hard-toiling in the fight,
+For on the centre sore the battle lay:
+Foe after foe pressed on; yet not for this
+Was Teucer heedless of the fallen brave,
+Neither of Nireus lying hard thereby
+Behind Machaon in the dust.  He saw,
+
+And with a great voice raised the rescue-cry:
+"Charge, Argives!  Flinch not from the charging foe!
+For shame unspeakable shall cover us
+If Trojan men hale back to Ilium
+Noble Machaon and Nireus godlike-fair.
+Come, with a good heart let us face the foe
+To rescue these slain friends, or fall ourselves
+Beside them.  Duty bids that men defend
+Friends, and to aliens leave them not a prey,
+Not without sweat of toil is glory won!"
+
+Then were the Danaans anguish-stung: the earth
+All round them dyed they red with blood of slain,
+As foe fought foe in even-balanced fight.
+By this to Podaleirius tidings came
+How that in dust his brother lay, struck down
+By woeful death.  Beside the ships he sat
+Ministering to the hurts of men with spears
+Stricken.  In wrath for his brother's sake he rose,
+He clad him in his armour; in his breast
+Dread battle-prowess swelled.  For conflict grim
+He panted: boiled the mad blood round his heart
+He leapt amidst the foemen; his swift hands
+Swung the snake-headed javelin up, and hurled,
+And slew with its winged speed Agamestor's son
+Cleitus, a bright-haired Nymph had given him birth
+Beside Parthenius, whose quiet stream
+Fleets smooth as oil through green lands, till it pours
+Its shining ripples to the Euxine sea.
+Then by his warrior-brother laid he low
+Lassus, whom Pronoe, fair as a goddess, bare
+Beside Nymphaeus' stream, hard by a cave,
+A wide and wondrous cave: sacred it is
+Men say, unto the Nymphs, even all that haunt
+The long-ridged Paphlagonian hills, and all
+That by full-clustered Heracleia dwell.
+That cave is like the work of gods, of stone
+In manner marvellous moulded: through it flows
+Cold water crystal-clear: in niches round
+Stand bowls of stone upon the rugged rock,
+Seeming as they were wrought by carvers' hands.
+Statues of Wood-gods stand around, fair Nymphs,
+Looms, distaffs, all such things as mortal craft
+Fashioneth.  Wondrous seem they unto men
+Which pass into that hallowed cave.  It hath,
+Up-leading and down-leading, doorways twain,
+Facing, the one, the wild North's shrilling blasts,
+And one the dank rain-burdened South.  By this
+Do mortals pass beneath the Nymphs' wide cave;
+But that is the Immortals' path: no man
+May tread it, for a chasm deep and wide
+Down-reaching unto Hades, yawns between.
+This track the Blest Gods may alone behold.
+So died a host on either side that warred
+Over Machaon and Aglaia's son.
+But at the last through desperate wrestle of fight
+The Danaans rescued them: yet few were they
+Which bare them to the ships: by bitter stress
+Of conflict were the more part compassed round,
+And needs must still abide the battle's brunt.
+But when full many had filled the measure up
+Of fate, mid tumult, blood and agony,
+Then to their ships did many Argives flee
+Pressed by Eurypylus hard, an avalanche
+Of havoc.  Yet a few abode the strife
+Round Aias and the Atreidae rallying;
+And haply these had perished all, beset
+By throngs on throngs of foes on every hand,
+Had not Oileus' son stabbed with his spear
+'Twixt shoulder and breast war-wise Polydamas;
+Forth gushed the blood, and he recoiled a space.
+Then Menelaus pierced Deiphobus
+By the right breast, that with swift feet he fled.
+And many of that slaughter-breathing throng
+Were slain by Agamemnon: furiously
+He rushed on godlike Aethicus with the spear;
+But he shrank from the forefront back mid friends.
+
+Now when Eurypylus the battle-stay
+Marked how the ranks of Troy gave back from fight,
+He turned him from the host that he had chased
+Even to the ships, and rushed with eagle-swoop
+On Atreus' strong sons and Oileus' seed
+Stout-hearted, who was passing fleet of foot
+And in fight peerless.  Swiftly he charged on these
+Grasping his spear long-shafted: at Iris side
+Charged Paris, charged Aeneas stout of heart,
+Who hurled a stone exceeding huge, that crashed
+On Aias' helmet: dashed to the dust he was,
+Yet gave not up the ghost, whose day of doom
+Was fate-ordained amidst Caphaerus' rocks
+On the home-voyage.  Now his valiant men
+Out of the foes' hands snatched him, bare him thence,
+Scarce drawing breath, to the Achaean ships.
+And now the Atreid kings, the war-renowned,
+Were left alone, and murder-breathing foes
+Encompassed them, and hurled from every side
+Whate'er their hands might find the deadly shaft
+Some showered, some the stone, the javelin some.
+They in the midst aye turned this way and that,
+As boars or lions compassed round with pales
+On that day when kings gather to the sport
+The people, and have penned the mighty beasts
+Within the toils of death; but these, although
+With walls ringed round, yet tear with tusk and fang
+What luckless thrall soever draweth near.
+So these death-compassed heroes slew their foes
+Ever as they pressed on.  Yet had their might
+Availed not for defence, for all their will,
+Had Teucer and Idomeneus strong of heart
+Come not to help, with Thoas, Meriones,
+And godlike Thrasymedes, they which shrank
+Erewhile before Eurypylus yea, had fled
+Unto the ships to 'scape the crushing doom,
+But that, in fear for Atreus' sons, they rallied
+Against Eurypylus: deadly waxed the fight.
+
+Then Teucer with a mighty spear-thrust smote
+Aeneas' shield, yet wounded not his flesh,
+For the great fourfold buckler warded him;
+Yet feared he, and recoiled a little space.
+Leapt Meriones upon Laophoon
+The son of Paeon, born by Axius' flood
+Of bright-haired Cleomede.  Unto Troy
+With noble Asteropaeus had he come
+To aid her folk: him Meriones' keen spear
+Stabbed 'neath the navel, and the lance-head tore
+His bowels forth; swift sped his soul away
+Into the Shadow-land.  Alcimedes,
+The warrior-friend of Aias, Oileus' son,
+Shot mid the press of Trojans; for he sped
+With taunting shout a sharp stone from a sling
+Into their battle's heart.  They quailed in fear
+Before the hum and onrush of the bolt.
+Fate winged its flight to the bold charioteer
+Of Pammon, Hippasus' son: his brow it smote
+While yet he grasped the reins, and flung him stunned
+Down from the chariot-seat before the wheels.
+The rushing war-wain whirled his wretched form
+'Twixt tyres and heels of onward-leaping steeds,
+And awful death in that hour swallowed him
+When whip and reins had flown from his nerveless hands.
+Then grief thrilled Pammon: hard necessity
+Made him both chariot-lord and charioteer.
+Now to his doom and death-day had he bowed,
+Had not a Trojan through that gory strife
+Leapt, grasped the reins, and saved the prince, when now
+His strength failed 'neath the murderous hands of foes.
+
+As godlike Acamas charged, the stalwart son
+Of Nestor thrust the spear above his knee,
+And with that wound sore anguish came on him:
+Back from the fight he drew; the deadly strife
+He left unto his comrades: quenched was now
+His battle-lust.  Eurypylus' henchman smote
+Echemmon, Thoas' friend, amidst the fray
+Beneath the shoulder: nigh his heart the spear
+Passed bitter-biting: o'er his limbs brake out
+Mingled with blood cold sweat of agony.
+He turned to flee; Eurypylus' giant might
+Chased, caught him, shearing his heel-tendons through:
+There, where the blow fell, his reluctant feet
+Stayed, and the spirit left his mortal frame.
+Thoas pricked Paris with quick-thrusting spear
+On the right thigh: backward a space he ran
+For his death-speeding bow, which had been left
+To rearward of the fight.  Idomeneus
+Upheaved a stone, huge as his hands could swing,
+And dashed it on Eurypylus' arm: to earth
+Fell his death-dealing spear.  Backward he stepped
+To grasp another, since from out his hand
+The first was smitten.  So had Atreus' sons
+A moment's breathing-space from stress of war.
+But swiftly drew Eurypylus' henchmen near
+Bearing a stubborn-shafted lance, wherewith
+He brake the strength of many.  In stormy might
+Then charged he on the foe: whomso he met
+He slew, and spread wide havoc through their ranks.
+
+Now neither Atreus' sons might steadfast stand,
+Nor any valiant Danaan beside,
+For ruinous panic suddenly gripped the hearts
+Of all; for on them all Eurypylus rushed
+Flashing death in their faces, chased them, slew,
+Cried to the Trojans and to his chariot-lords:
+"Friends, be of good heart!  To these Danaans
+Let us deal slaughter and doom's darkness now!
+Lo, how like scared sheep back to the ships they flee!
+Forget not your death-dealing battle-lore,
+O ye that from your youth are men of war!"
+
+Then charged they on the Argives as one man;
+And these in utter panic turned and fled
+The bitter battle, those hard after them
+Followed, as white-fanged hounds hold deer in chase
+Up the long forest-glens.  Full many in dust
+They dashed down, howsoe'er they longed to escape.
+The slaughter grim and great of that wild fray.
+Eurypylus hath slain Bucolion,
+Nesus, and Chromion and Antiphus;
+Twain in Mycenae dwelt, a goodly land;
+In Lacedaemon twain.  Men of renown
+Albeit they were, he slew them.  Then he smote
+A host unnumbered of the common throng.
+My strength should not suffice to sing their fate,
+How fain soever, though within my breast
+Were iron lungs.  Aeneas slew withal
+Antimachus and Pheres, twain which left
+Crete with Idomeneus.  Agenor smote
+Molus the princely, -- with king Sthenelus
+He came from Argos, -- hurled from far behind
+A dart new-whetted, as he fled from fight,
+Piercing his right leg, and the eager shaft
+Cut sheer through the broad sinew, shattering
+The bones with anguished pain: and so his doom
+Met him, to die a death of agony.
+Then Paris' arrows laid proud Phorcys low,
+And Mosynus, brethren both, from Salamis
+Who came in Aias' ships, and nevermore
+Saw the home-land.  Cleolaus smote he next,
+Meges' stout henchman; for the arrow struck
+His left breast: deadly night enwrapped him round,
+And his soul fleeted forth: his fainting heart
+Still in his breast fluttering convulsively
+Made the winged arrow shiver.  Yet again
+Did Paris shoot at bold Eetion.
+Through his jaw leapt the sudden-flashing brass:
+He groaned, and with his blood were mingled tears.
+So ever man slew man, till all the space
+Was heaped with Argives each on other cast.
+Now had the Trojans burnt with fire the ships,
+Had not night, trailing heavy-folded mist,
+Uprisen.  So Eurypylus drew back,
+And Troy's sons with him, from the ships aloof
+A little space, by Simois' outfall; there
+Camped they exultant.  But amidst the ships
+Flung down upon the sands the Argives wailed
+Heart-anguished for the slain, so many of whom
+Dark fate had overtaken and laid in dust.
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+How the Son of Achilles was brought to the War from the Isle of
+Scyros.
+
+
+When heaven hid his stars, and Dawn awoke
+Outspraying splendour, and night's darkness fled,
+Then undismayed the Argives' warrior-sons
+Marched forth without the ships to meet in fight
+Eurypylus, save those that tarried still
+To render to Machaon midst the ships
+Death-dues, with Nireus -- Nireus, who in grace
+And goodlihead was like the Deathless Ones,
+Yet was not strong in bodily might: the Gods
+Grant not perfection in all things to men;
+But evil still is blended with the good
+By some strange fate: to Nireus' winsome grace
+Was linked a weakling's prowess.  Yet the Greeks
+Slighted him not, but gave him all death-dues,
+And mourned above his grave with no less grief
+Than for Machaon, whom they honoured aye,
+For his deep wisdom, as the immortal Gods.
+One mound they swiftly heaped above these twain.
+
+Then in the plain once more did murderous war
+Madden: the multitudinous clash and cry
+Rose, as the shields were shattered with huge stones,
+Were pierced with lances.  So they toiled in fight;
+But all this while lay Podaleirius
+Fasting in dust and groaning, leaving not
+His brother's tomb; and oft his heart was moved
+With his own hands to slay himself.  And now
+He clutched his sword, and now amidst his herbs
+Sought for a deadly drug; and still his friends
+Essayed to stay his hand and comfort him
+With many pleadings.  But he would not cease
+From grieving: yea, his hands had spilt his life
+There on his noble brother's new-made tomb,
+But Nestor heard thereof, and sorrowed sore
+In his affliction, and he came on him
+As now he flung him on that woeful grave,
+And now was casting dust upon his head,
+Beating his breast, and on his brother's name
+Crying, while thralls and comrades round their lord
+Groaned, and affliction held them one and all.
+Then gently spake he to that stricken one:
+"Refrain from bitter moan and deadly grief,
+My son.  It is not for a wise man's honour
+To wail, as doth a woman, o'er the fallen.
+Thou shalt not bring him up to light again
+Whose soul hath fleeted vanishing into air,
+Whose body fire hath ravined up, whose bones
+Earth has received.  His end was worthy his life.
+Endure thy sore grief, even as I endured,
+Who lost a son, slain by the hands of foes,
+A son not worse than thy Machaon, good
+With spears in battle, good in counsel.  None
+Of all the youths so loved his sire as he
+Loved me.  He died for me yea, died to save
+His father.  Yet, when he was slain, did I
+Endure to taste food, and to see the light,
+Well knowing that all men must tread one path
+Hades-ward, and before all lies one goal,
+Death's mournful goal.  A mortal man must bear
+All joys, all griefs, that God vouchsafes to send."
+
+Made answer that heart-stricken one, while still
+Wet were his cheeks with ever-flowing tears:
+"Father, mine heart is bowed 'neath crushing grief
+For a brother passing wise, who fostered me
+Even as a son.  When to the heavens had passed
+Our father, in his arms he cradled me:
+Gladly he taught me all his healing lore;
+We shared one table; in one bed we lay:
+We had all things in common these, and love.
+My grief cannot forget, nor I desire,
+Now he is dead, to see the light of life."
+
+Then spake the old man to that stricken one:
+"To all men Fate assigns one same sad lot,
+Bereavement: earth shall cover all alike,
+Albeit we tread not the same path of life,
+And none the path he chooseth; for on high
+Good things and bad lie on the knees of
+Gods Unnumbered, indistinguishably blent.
+These no Immortal seeth; they are veiled
+In mystic cloud-folds.  Only Fate puts forth
+Her hands thereto, nor looks at what she takes,
+But casts them from Olympus down to earth.
+This way and that they are wafted, as it were
+By gusts of wind.  The good man oft is whelmed
+In suffering: wealth undeserved is heaped
+On the vile person.  Blind is each man's life;
+Therefore he never walketh surely; oft
+He stumbleth: ever devious is his path,
+Now sloping down to sorrow, mounting now
+To bliss.  All-happy is no living man
+From the beginning to the end, but still
+The good and evil clash.  Our life is short;
+Beseems not then in grief to live.  Hope on,
+Still hope for better days: chain not to woe
+Thine heart.  There is a saying among men
+That to the heavens unperishing mount the souls
+Of good men, and to nether darkness sink
+Souls of the wicked.  Both to God and man
+Dear was thy brother, good to brother-men,
+And son of an Immortal.  Sure am I
+That to the company of Gods shall he
+Ascend, by intercession of thy sire."
+
+Then raised he that reluctant mourner up
+With comfortable words.  From that dark grave
+He drew him, backward gazing oft with groans.
+To the ships they came, where Greeks and Trojan men
+Had bitter travail of rekindled war.
+
+Eurypylus there, in dauntless spirit like
+The War-god, with mad-raging spear and hands
+Resistless, smote down hosts of foes: the earth
+Was clogged with dead men slain on either side.
+On strode he midst the corpses, awelessly
+He fought, with blood-bespattered hands and feet;
+Never a moment from grim strife he ceased.
+Peneleos the mighty-hearted came
+Against him in the pitiless fray: he fell
+Before Eurypylus' spear: yea, many more
+Fell round him.  Ceased not those destroying hands,
+But wrathful on the Argives still he pressed,
+As when of old on Pholoe's long-ridged heights
+Upon the Centaurs terrible Hercules rushed
+Storming in might, and slew them, passing-swift
+And strong and battle-cunning though they were;
+So rushed he on, so smote he down the array,
+One after other, of the Danaan spears.
+Heaps upon heaps, here, there, in throngs they fell
+Strewn in the dust.  As when a river in flood
+Comes thundering down, banks crumble on either side
+To drifting sand: on seaward rolls the surge
+Tossing wild crests, while cliffs on every hand
+Ring crashing echoes, as their brows break down
+Beneath long-leaping roaring waterfalls,
+And dikes are swept away; so fell in dust
+The war-famed Argives by Eurypylus slain,
+Such as he overtook in that red rout.
+Some few escaped, whom strength of fleeing feet
+Delivered.  Yet in that sore strait they drew
+Peneleos from the shrieking tumult forth,
+And bare to the ships, though with swift feet themselves
+Were fleeing from ghastly death, from pitiless doom.
+Behind the rampart of the ships they fled
+In huddled rout: they had no heart to stand
+Before Eurypylus, for Hercules,
+To crown with glory his son's stalwart son,
+Thrilled them with panic.  There behind their wall
+They cowered, as goats to leeward of a hill
+Shrink from the wild cold rushing of the wind
+That bringeth snow and heavy sleet and haft.
+No longing for the pasture tempteth them
+Over the brow to step, and face the blast,
+But huddling screened by rock-wall and ravine
+They abide the storm, and crop the scanty grass
+Under dim copses thronging, till the gusts
+Of that ill wind shall lull: so, by their towers
+Screened, did the trembling Danaans abide
+Telephus' mighty son.  Yea, he had burnt
+The ships, and all that host had he destroyed,
+Had not Athena at the last inspired
+The Argive men with courage.  Ceaselessly
+From the high rampart hurled they at the foe
+With bitter-biting darts, and slew them fast;
+And all the walls were splashed with reeking gore,
+And aye went up a moan of smitten men.
+
+So fought they: nightlong, daylong fought they on,
+Ceteians, Trojans, battle-biding Greeks,
+Fought, now before the ships, and now again
+Round the steep wall, with fury unutterable.
+Yet even so for two days did they cease
+From murderous fight; for to Eurypylus came
+A Danaan embassage, saying, "From the war
+Forbear we, while we give unto the flames
+The battle-slain."  So hearkened he to them:
+From ruin-wreaking strife forebore the hosts;
+And so their dead they buried, who in dust
+Had fallen.  Chiefly the Achaeans mourned
+Peneleos; o'er the mighty dead they heaped
+A barrow broad and high, a sign for men
+Of days to be.  But in a several place
+The multitude of heroes slain they laid,
+Mourning with stricken hearts.  On one great pyre
+They burnt them all, and buried in one grave.
+So likewise far from thence the sons of Troy
+Buried their slain.  Yet murderous Strife slept not,
+But roused again Eurypylus' dauntless might
+To meet the foe.  He turned not from the ships,
+But there abode, and fanned the fury of war.
+
+Meanwhile the black ship on to Scyros ran;
+And those twain found before his palace-gate
+Achilles' son, now hurling dart and lance,
+Now in his chariot driving fleetfoot steeds.
+Glad were they to behold him practising
+The deeds of war, albeit his heart was sad
+For his slain sire, of whom had tidings come
+Ere this.  With reverent eyes of awe they went
+To meet him, for that goodly form and face
+Seemed even as very Achilles unto them.
+But he, or ever they had spoken, cried:
+"All hail, ye strangers, unto this mine home
+Say whence ye are, and who, and what the need
+That hither brings you over barren seas."
+
+So spake he, and Odysseus answered him:
+"Friends are we of Achilles lord of war,
+To whom of Deidameia thou wast born --
+Yea, when we look on thee we seem to see
+That Hero's self; and like the Immortal Ones
+Was he.  Of Ithaca am I: this man
+Of Argos, nurse of horses -- if perchance
+Thou hast heard the name of Tydeus' warrior son
+Or of the wise Odysseus.  Lo, I stand
+Before thee, sent by voice of prophecy.
+I pray thee, pity us: come thou to Troy
+And help us.  Only so unto the war
+An end shall be.  Gifts beyond words to thee
+The Achaean kings shall give: yea, I myself
+Will give to thee thy godlike father's arms,
+And great shall be thy joy in bearing them;
+For these be like no mortal's battle-gear,
+But splendid as the very War-god's arms.
+Over their marvellous blazonry hath gold
+Been lavished; yea, in heaven Hephaestus' self
+Rejoiced in fashioning that work divine,
+The which thine eyes shall marvel to behold;
+For earth and heaven and sea upon the shield
+Are wrought, and in its wondrous compass are
+Creatures that seem to live and move -- a wonder
+Even to the Immortals.  Never man
+Hath seen their like, nor any man hath worn,
+Save thy sire only, whom the Achaeans all
+Honoured as Zeus himself.  I chiefliest
+From mine heart loved him, and when he was slain,
+To many a foe I dealt a ruthless doom,
+And through them all bare back to the ships his corse.
+Therefore his glorious arms did Thetis give
+To me.  These, though I prize them well, to thee
+Will I give gladly when thou com'st to Troy.
+Yea also, when we have smitten Priam's towns
+And unto Hellas in our ships return,
+Shall Menelaus give thee, an thou wilt,
+His princess-child to wife, of love for thee,
+And with his bright-haired daughter shall bestow
+Rich dower of gold and treasure, even all
+That meet is to attend a wealthy king."
+
+So spake he, and replied Achilles' son:
+"If bidden of oracles the Achaean men
+Summon me, let us with to-morrow's dawn
+Fare forth upon the broad depths of the sea,
+If so to longing Danaans I may prove
+A light of help.  Now pass we to mine halls,
+And to such guest-fare as befits to set
+Before the stranger.  For my marriage-day --
+To this the Gods in time to come shall see."
+
+Then hall-ward led he them, and with glad hearts
+They followed.  To the forecourt when they came
+Of that great mansion, found they there the Queen
+Deidameia in her sorrow of soul
+Grief-wasted, as when snow from mountain-sides
+Before the sun and east-wind wastes away;
+So pined she for that princely hero slain.
+Then came to her amidst her grief the kings,
+And greeted her in courteous wise.  Her son
+Drew near and told their lineage and their names;
+But that for which they came he left untold
+Until the morrow, lest unto her woe
+There should be added grief and floods of tears,
+And lest her prayers should hold him from the path
+Whereon his heart was set.  Straight feasted these,
+And comforted their hearts with sleep, even all
+Which dwelt in sea-ringed Scyros, nightlong lulled
+By long low thunder of the girdling deep,
+Of waves Aegean breaking on her shores.
+But not on Deidameia fell the hands
+Of kindly sleep.  She bore in mind the names
+Of crafty Odysseus and of Diomede
+The godlike, how these twain had widowed her
+Of battle-fain Achilles, how their words
+Had won his aweless heart to fare with them
+To meet the war-cry where stern Fate met him,
+Shattered his hope of home-return, and laid
+Measureless grief on Peleus and on her.
+Therefore an awful dread oppressed her soul
+Lest her son too to tumult of the war
+Should speed, and grief be added to her grief.
+
+Dawn climbed the wide-arched heaven, straightway they
+Rose from their beds.  Then Deidameia knew;
+And on her son's broad breast she cast herself,
+And bitterly wailed: her cry thrilled through the air,
+As when a cow loud-lowing mid the hills
+Seeks through the glens her calf, and all around
+Echo long ridges of the mountain-steep;
+So on all sides from dim recesses rang
+The hall; and in her misery she cried:
+"Child, wherefore is thy soul now on the wing
+To follow strangers unto Ilium
+The fount of tears, where perish many in fight,
+Yea, cunning men in war and battle grim?
+And thou art but a youth, and hast not learnt
+The ways of war, which save men in the day
+Of peril.  Hearken thou to me, abide
+Here in thine home, lest evil tidings come
+From Troy unto my ears, that thou in fight
+Hast perished; for mine heart saith, never thou
+Hitherward shalt from battle-toil return.
+Not even thy sire escaped the doom of death --
+He, mightier than thou, mightier than all
+Heroes on earth, yea, and a Goddess' son --
+But was in battle slain, all through the wiles
+And crafty counsels of these very men
+Who now to woeful war be kindling thee.
+Therefore mine heart is full of shuddering fear
+Lest, son, my lot should be to live bereaved
+Of thee, and to endure dishonour and pain,
+For never heavier blow on woman falls
+Than when her lord hath perished, and her sons
+Die also, and her house is left to her
+Desolate.  Straightway evil men remove
+Her landmarks, yea, and rob her of her all,
+Setting the right at naught.  There is no lot
+More woeful and more helpless than is hers
+Who is left a widow in a desolate home."
+
+Loud-wailing spake she; but her son replied:
+"Be of good cheer, my mother; put from thee
+Evil foreboding.  No man is in war
+Beyond his destiny slain.  If my weird be
+To die in my country's cause, then let me die
+When I have done deeds worthy of my sire."
+
+Then to his side old Lycomedes came,
+And to his battle-eager grandson spake:
+"O valiant-hearted son, so like thy sire,
+I know thee strong and valorous; yet, O yet
+For thee I fear the bitter war; I fear
+The terrible sea-surge.  Shipmen evermore
+Hang on destruction's brink.  Beware, my child,
+Perils of waters when thou sailest back
+From Troy or other shores, such as beset
+Full oftentimes the voyagers that ride
+The long sea-ridges, when the sun hath left
+The Archer-star, and meets the misty Goat,
+When the wild blasts drive on the lowering storm,
+Or when Orion to the darkling west
+Slopes, into Ocean's river sinking slow.
+Beware the time of equal days and nights,
+When blasts that o'er the sea's abysses rush,
+None knoweth whence in fury of battle clash.
+Beware the Pleiads' setting, when the sea
+Maddens beneath their power nor these alone,
+But other stars, terrors of hapless men,
+As o'er the wide sea-gulf they set or rise."
+
+Then kissed he him, nor sought to stay the feet
+Of him who panted for the clamour of war,
+Who smiled for pleasure and for eagerness
+To haste to the ship.  Yet were his hurrying feet
+Stayed by his mother's pleading and her tears
+Still in those halls awhile.  As some swift horse
+Is reined in by his rider, when he strains
+Unto the race-course, and he neighs, and champs
+The curbing bit, dashing his chest with foam,
+And his feet eager for the course are still
+Never, his restless hooves are clattering aye;
+His mane is a stormy cloud, he tosses high
+His head with snortings, and his lord is glad;
+So reined his mother back the glorious son
+Of battle-stay Achilles, so his feet
+Were restless, so the mother's loving pride
+Joyed in her son, despite her heart-sick pain.
+
+A thousand times he kissed her, then at last
+Left her alone with her own grief and moan
+There in her father's halls.  As o'er her nest
+A swallow in her anguish cries aloud
+For her lost nestlings which, mid piteous shrieks,
+A fearful serpent hath devoured, and wrung
+The loving mother's heart; and now above
+That empty cradle spreads her wings, and now
+Flies round its porchway fashioned cunningly
+Lamenting piteously her little ones:
+So for her child Deidameia mourned.
+Now on her son's bed did she cast herself,
+Crying aloud, against his door-post now
+She leaned, and wept: now laid she in her lap
+Those childhood's toys yet treasured in her bower,
+Wherein his babe-heart joyed long years agone.
+She saw a dart there left behind of him,
+And kissed it o'er and o'er yea, whatso else
+Her weeping eyes beheld that was her son's.
+
+Naught heard he of her moans unutterable,
+But was afar, fast striding to the ship.
+He seemed, as his feet swiftly bare him on,
+Like some all-radiant star; and at his side
+With Tydeus' son war-wise Odysseus went,
+And with them twenty gallant-hearted men,
+Whom Deidameia chose as trustiest
+Of all her household, and unto her son
+Gave them for henchmen swift to do his will.
+And these attended Achilles' valiant son,
+As through the city to the ship he sped.
+On, with glad laughter, in their midst he strode;
+And Thetis and the Nereids joyed thereat.
+Yea, glad was even the Raven-haired, the Lord
+Of all the sea, beholding that brave son
+Of princely Achilles, marking how he longed
+For battle.  Beardless boy albeit he was,
+His prowess and his might were inward spurs
+To him.  He hasted forth his fatherland
+Like to the War-god, when to gory strife
+He speedeth, wroth with foes, when maddeneth
+His heart, and grim his frown is, and his eyes
+Flash levin-flame around him, and his face
+Is clothed with glory of beauty terror-blent,
+As on he rusheth: quail the very Gods.
+So seemed Achilles' goodly son; and prayers
+Went up through all the city unto Heaven
+To bring their noble prince safe back from war;
+And the Gods hearkened to them.  High he towered
+Above all stateliest men which followed him.
+
+So came they to the heavy-plunging sea,
+And found the rowers in the smooth-wrought ship
+Handling the tackle, fixing mast and sail.
+Straightway they went aboard: the shipmen cast
+The hawsers loose, and heaved the anchor-stones,
+The strength and stay of ships in time of need.
+Then did the Sea-queen's lord grant voyage fair
+To these with gracious mind; for his heart yearned
+O'er the Achaeans, by the Trojan men
+And mighty-souled Eurypylus hard-bestead.
+On either side of Neoptolemus sat
+Those heroes, gladdening his soul with tales
+Of his sire's mighty deeds -- of all he wrought
+In sea-raids, and in valiant Telephus' land,
+And how he smote round Priam's burg the men
+Of Troy, for glory unto Atreus' sons.
+His heart glowed, fain to grasp his heritage,
+His aweless father's honour and renown.
+
+In her bower, sorrowing for her son the while,
+Deidameia poured forth sighs and tears.
+With agony of soul her very heart
+Melted in her, as over coals doth lead
+Or wax, and never did her moaning cease,
+As o'er the wide sea her gaze followed him.
+Ay, for her son a mother fretteth still,
+Though it be to a feast that he hath gone,
+By a friend bidden forth.  But soon the sail
+Of that good ship far-fleeting o'er the blue
+Grew faint and fainter -- melted in sea-haze.
+But still she sighed, still daylong made her moan.
+
+On ran the ship before a following wind,
+Seeming to skim the myriad-surging sea,
+And crashed the dark wave either side the prow:
+Swiftly across the abyss unplumbed she sped.
+Night's darkness fell about her, but the breeze
+Held, and the steersman's hand was sure.  O'er gulfs
+Of brine she flew, till Dawn divine rose up
+To climb the sky.  Then sighted they the peaks
+Of Ida, Chrysa next, and Smintheus' fane,
+Then the Sigean strand, and then the tomb
+Of Aeacus' son.  Yet would Laertes' seed,
+The man discreet of soul, not point it out
+To Neoptolemus, lest the tide of grief
+Too high should swell within his breast.  They passed
+Calydnae's isles, left Tenedos behind;
+And now was seen the fane of Eleus,
+Where stands Protesilaus' tomb, beneath
+The shade of towcry elms; when, soaring high
+Above the plain, their topmost boughs discern
+Troy, straightway wither all their highest sprays.
+Nigh Ilium now the ship by wind and oar
+Was brought: they saw the long strand fringed with keels
+Of Argives, who endured sore travail of war
+Even then about the wall, the which themselves
+Had reared to screen the ships and men in stress
+Of battle.  Even now Eurypylus' hands
+To earth were like to dash it and destroy;
+But the quick eyes of Tydeus' strong son marked
+How rained the darts and stones on that long wall.
+Forth of the ship he sprang, and shouted loud
+With all the strength of his undaunted breast:
+"Friends, on the Argive men is heaped this day
+Sore travail!  Let us don our flashing arms
+With speed, and to yon battle-turmoil haste.
+For now upon our towers the warrior sons
+Of Troy press hard -- yea, haply will they tear
+The long walls down, and burn the ships with fire,
+And so the souls that long for home-return
+Shall win it never; nay, ourselves shall fall
+Before our due time, and shall lie in graves
+In Troyland, far from children and from wives."
+
+All as one man down from the ship they leapt;
+For trembling seized on all for that grim sight --
+On all save aweless Neoptolemus
+Whose might was like his father's: lust of war
+Swept o'er him.  To Odysseus' tent in haste
+They sped, for close it lay to where the ship
+Touched land.  About its walls was hung great store
+Of change of armour, of wise Odysseus some,
+And rescued some from gallant comrades slain.
+Then did the brave man put on goodly arms;
+But they in whose breasts faintlier beat their hearts
+Must don the worser.  Odysseus stood arrayed
+In those which came with him from Ithaca:
+To Diomede he gave fair battle-gear
+Stripped in time past from mighty Socus slain.
+But in his father's arms Achilles' son
+Clad him and lo, he seemed Achilles' self!
+Light on his limbs and lapping close they lay --
+So cunning was Hephaestus' workmanship --
+Which for another had been a giant's arms.
+The massive helmet cumbered not his brows;
+Yea, the great Pelian spear-shaft burdened not
+His hand, but lightly swung he up on high
+The heavy and tall lance thirsting still for blood.
+
+Of many Argives which beheld him then
+Might none draw nigh to him, how fain soe'er,
+So fast were they in that grim grapple locked
+Of the wild war that raged all down the wall.
+But as when shipmen, under a desolate isle
+Mid the wide sea by stress of weather bound,
+Chafe, while afar from men the adverse blasts
+Prison them many a day; they pace the deck
+With sinking hearts, while scantier grows their store
+Of food; they weary till a fair wind sings;
+So joyed the Achaean host, which theretofore
+Were heavy of heart, when Neoptolemus came,
+Joyed in the hope of breathing-space from toil.
+Then like the aweless lion's flashed his eyes,
+Which mid the mountains leaps in furious mood
+To meet the hunters that draw nigh his cave,
+Thinking to steal his cubs, there left alone
+In a dark-shadowed glen but from a height
+The beast hath spied, and on the spoilers leaps
+With grim jaws terribly roaring; even so
+That glorious child of Aeacus' aweless son
+Against the Trojan warriors burned in wrath.
+Thither his eagle-swoop descended first
+Where loudest from the plain uproared the fight,
+There weakest, he divined, must be the wall,
+The battlements lowest, since the surge of foes
+Brake heaviest there.  Charged at his side the rest
+Breathing the battle-spirit.  There they found
+Eurypylus mighty of heart and all his men
+Scaling a tower, exultant in the hope
+Of tearing down the walls, of slaughtering
+The Argives in one holocaust.  No mind
+The Gods had to accomplish their desire!
+But now Odysseus, Diomede the strong,
+Leonteus, and Neoptolemus, as a God
+In strength and beauty, hailed their javelins down,
+And thrust them from the wall.  As dogs and shepherds
+By shouting and hard fighting drive away
+Strong lions from a steading, rushing forth
+From all sides, and the brutes with glaring eyes
+Pace to and fro; with savage lust for blood
+Of calves and kine their jaws are slavering;
+Yet must their onrush give back from the hounds
+And fearless onset of the shepherd folk;
+[So from these new defenders shrank the foe]
+A little, far as one may hurl a stone
+Exceeding great; for still Eurypylus
+Suffered them not to flee far from the ships,
+But cheered them on to bide the brunt, until
+The ships be won, and all the Argives slain;
+For Zeus with measureless might thrilled all his frame.
+Then seized he a rugged stone and huge, and leapt
+And hurled it full against the high-built wall.
+It crashed, and terribly boomed that rampart steep
+To its foundations.  Terror gripped the Greeks,
+As though that wall had crumbled down in dust;
+Yet from the deadly conflict flinched they not,
+But stood fast, like to jackals or to wolves
+Bold robbers of the sheep -- when mid the hills
+Hunter and hound would drive them forth their caves,
+Being grimly purposed there to slay their whelps.
+Yet these, albeit tormented by the darts,
+Flee not, but for their cubs' sake bide and fight;
+So for the ships' sake they abode and fought,
+And for their own lives.  But Eurypylus
+Afront of all the ships stood, taunting them:
+"Coward and dastard souls!  no darts of yours
+Had given me pause, nor thrust back from your ships,
+Had not your rampart stayed mine onset-rush.
+Ye are like to dogs, that in a forest flinch
+Before a lion!  Skulking therewithin
+Ye are fighting -- nay, are shrinking back from death!
+But if ye dare come forth on Trojan ground,
+As once when ye were eager for the fray,
+None shall from ghastly death deliver you:
+Slain by mine hand ye all shall lie in dust!"
+
+So did he shout a prophecy unfulfilled,
+Nor heard Doom's chariot-wheels fast rolling near
+Bearing swift death at Neoptolemus' hands,
+Nor saw death gleaming from his glittering spear.
+Ay, and that hero paused not now from fight,
+But from the ramparts smote the Trojans aye.
+From that death leaping from above they quailed
+In tumult round Eurypylus: deadly fear
+Gripped all their hearts.  As little children cower
+About a father's knees when thunder of Zeus
+Crashes from cloud to cloud, when all the air
+Shudders and groans, so did the sons of Troy,
+With those Ceteians round their great king, cower
+Ever as prince Neoptolemus hurled; for death
+Rode upon all he cast, and bare his wrath
+Straight rushing down upon the heads of foes.
+Now in their hearts those wildered Trojans said
+That once more they beheld Achilles' self
+Gigantic in his armour.  Yet they hid
+That horror in their breasts, lest panic fear
+Should pass from them to the Ceteian host
+And king Eurypylus; so on every side
+They wavered 'twixt the stress of their hard strait
+And that blood-curdling dread, 'twixt shame and fear.
+As when men treading a precipitous path
+Look up, and see adown the mountain-slope
+A torrent rushing on them, thundering down
+The rocks, and dare not meet its clamorous flood,
+But hurry shuddering on, with death in sight
+Holding as naught the perils of the path;
+So stayed the Trojans, spite of their desire
+[To flee the imminent death that waited them]
+Beneath the wall.  Godlike Eurypylus
+Aye cheered them on to fight.  He trusted still
+That this new mighty foe would weary at last
+With toil of slaughter; but he wearied not.
+
+That desperate battle-travail Pallas saw,
+And left the halls of Heaven incense-sweet,
+And flew o'er mountain-crests: her hurrying feet
+Touched not the earth, borne by the air divine
+In form of cloud-wreaths, swifter than the wind.
+She came to Troy, she stayed her feet upon
+Sigeum's windy ness, she looked forth thence
+Over the ringing battle of dauntless men,
+And gave the Achaeans glory.  Achilles' son
+Beyond the rest was filled with valour and strength
+Which win renown for men in whom they meet.
+Peerless was he in both: the blood of Zeus
+Gave strength; to his father's valour was he heir;
+So by those towers he smote down many a foe.
+And as a fisher on the darkling sea,
+To lure the fish to their destruction, takes
+Within his boat the strength of fire; his breath
+Kindles it to a flame, till round the boat
+Glareth its splendour, and from the black sea
+Dart up the fish all eager to behold
+The radiance -- for the last time; for the barbs
+Of his three-pointed spear, as up they leap,
+Slay them; his heart rejoices o'er the prey.
+So that war-king Achilles' glorious son
+Slew hosts of onward-rushing foes around
+That wall of stone.  Well fought the Achaeans all,
+Here, there, adown the ramparts: rang again
+The wide strand and the ships: the battered walls
+Groaned ever.  Men with weary ache of toil
+Fainted on either side; sinews and might
+Of strong men were unstrung.  But o'er the son
+Of battle-stay Achilles weariness
+Crept not: his battle-eager spirit aye
+Was tireless; never touched by palsying fear
+He fought on, as with the triumphant strength
+Of an ever-flowing river: though it roll
+'Twixt blazing forests, though the madding blast
+Roll stormy seas of flame, it feareth not,
+For at its brink faint grows the fervent heat,
+The strong flood turns its might to impotence;
+So weariness nor fear could bow the knees
+Of Hero Achilles' gallant-hearted son,
+Still as he fought, still cheered his comrades on.
+Of myriad shafts sped at him none might touch
+His flesh, but even as snowflakes on a rock
+Fell vainly ever: wholly screened was he
+By broad shield and strong helmet, gifts of a God.
+In these exulting did the Aeacid's son
+Stride all along the wall, with ringing shouts
+Cheering the dauntless Argives to the fray,
+Being their mightiest far, bearing a soul
+Insatiate of the awful onset-cry,
+Burning with one strong purpose, to avenge
+His father's death: the Myrmidons in their king
+Exulted.  Roared the battle round the wall.
+
+Two sons he slew of Meges rich in gold,
+Scion of Dymas -- sons of high renown,
+Cunning to hurl the dart, to drive the steed
+In war, and deftly cast the lance afar,
+Born at one birth beside Sangarius' banks
+Of Periboea to him, Celtus one,
+And Eubius the other.  But not long
+His boundless wealth enjoyed they, for the
+Fates Span them a thread of life exceeding brief.
+As on one day they saw the light, they died
+On one day by the same hand.  To the heart
+Of one Neoptolemus sped a javelin; one
+He smote down with a massy stone that crashed
+Through his strong helmet, shattered all its ridge,
+And dashed his brains to earth.  Around them fell
+Foes many, a host untold.  The War-god's work
+Waxed ever mightier till the eventide,
+Till failed the light celestial; then the host
+Of brave Eurypylus from the ships drew back
+A little: they that held those leaguered towers
+Had a short breathing-space; the sons of Troy
+Had respite from the deadly-echoing strife,
+From that hard rampart-battle.  Verily all
+The Argives had beside their ships been slain,
+Had not Achilles' strong son on that day
+Withstood the host of foes and their great chief
+Eurypylus.  Came to that young hero's side
+Phoenix the old, and marvelling gazed on one
+The image of Peleides.  Tides of joy
+And grief swept o'er him --  grief, for memories
+Of that swift-footed father -- joy, for sight
+Of such a son.  He for sheer gladness wept;
+For never without tears the tribes of men
+Live -- nay, not mid the transports of delight.
+He clasped him round as father claspeth son
+Whom, after long and troublous wanderings,
+The Gods bring home to gladden a father's heart.
+So kissed he Neoptolemus' head and breast,
+Clasping him round, and cried in rapture of joy:
+"Hail, goodly son of that Achilles whom
+I nursed a little one in mine own arms
+With a glad heart.  By Heaven's high providence
+Like a strong sapling waxed he in stature fast,
+And daily I rejoiced to see his form
+And prowess, my life's blessing, honouring him
+As though he were the son of mine old age;
+For like a father did he honour me.
+I was indeed his father, he my son
+In spirit: thou hadst deemed us of one blood
+Who were in heart one: but of nobler mould
+Was he by far, in form and strength a God.
+Thou art wholly like him -- yea, I seem to see
+Alive amid the Argives him for whom
+Sharp anguish shrouds me ever.  I waste away
+In sorrowful age -- oh that the grave had closed
+On me while yet he lived!  How blest to be
+By loving hands of kinsmen laid to rest!
+Ah child, my sorrowing heart will nevermore
+Forget him!  Chide me not for this my grief.
+But now, help thou the Myrmidons and Greeks
+In their sore strait: wreak on the foe thy wrath
+For thy brave sire.  It shall be thy renown
+To slay this war-insatiate Telephus' son;
+For mightier art thou, and shalt prove, than he,
+As was thy father than his wretched sire."
+
+Made answer golden-haired Achilles' son:
+"Ancient, our battle-prowess mighty Fate
+And the o'ermastering War-god shall decide."
+
+But, as he spake, he had fain on that same day
+Forth of the gates have rushed in his sire's arms;
+But night, which bringeth men release from toil,
+Rose from the ocean veiled in sable pall.
+
+With honour as of mighty Achilles' self
+Him mid the ships the glad Greeks hailed, who had won
+Courage from that his eager rush to war.
+With princely presents did they honour him,
+With priceless gifts, whereby is wealth increased;
+For some gave gold and silver, handmaids some,
+Brass without weight gave these, and iron those;
+Others in deep jars brought the ruddy wine:
+Yea, fleetfoot steeds they gave, and battle-gear,
+And raiment woven fair by women's hands.
+Glowed Neoptolemus' heart for joy of these.
+A feast they made for him amidst the tents,
+And there extolled Achilles' godlike son
+With praise as of the immortal Heavenly Ones;
+And joyful-voiced Agamemnon spake to him:
+"Thou verily art the brave-souled Aeacid's son,
+His very image thou in stalwart might,
+In beauty, stature, courage, and in soul.
+Mine heart burns in me seeing thee.  I trust
+Thine hands and spear shall smite yon hosts of foes,
+Shall smite the city of Priam world-renowned --
+So like thy sire thou art!  Methinks I see
+Himself beside the ships, as when his shout
+Of wrath for dead Patroclus shook the ranks
+Of Troy.  But he is with the Immortal Ones,
+Yet, bending from that heaven, sends thee to-day
+To save the Argives on destruction's brink."
+
+Answered Achilles' battle-eager son:
+"Would I might meet him living yet, O King,
+That so himself might see the son of his love
+Not shaming his great father's name. I trust
+So shall it be, if the Gods grant me life."
+
+So spake he in wisdom and in modesty;
+And all there marvelled at the godlike man.
+But when with meat and wine their hearts were filled,
+Then rose Achilles' battle-eager son,
+And from the feast passed forth unto the tent
+That was his sire's.  Much armour of heroes slain
+Lay there; and here and there were captive maids
+Arraying that tent widowed of its lord,
+As though its king lived.  When that son beheld
+Those Trojan arms and handmaid-thralls, he groaned,
+By passionate longing for his father seized.
+As when through dense oak-groves and tangled glens
+Comes to the shadowed cave a lion's whelp
+Whose grim sire by the hunters hath been slain,
+And looketh all around that empty den,
+And seeth heaps of bones of steeds and kine
+Slain theretofore, and grieveth for his sire;
+Even so the heart of brave Peleides' son
+With grief was numbed.  The handmaids marvelling gazed;
+And fair Briseis' self, when she beheld
+Achilles' son, was now right glad at heart,
+And sorrowed now with memories of the dead.
+Her soul was wildered all, as though indeed
+There stood the aweless Aeacid living yet.
+
+Meanwhile exultant Trojans camped aloof
+Extolled Eurypylus the fierce and strong,
+As erst they had praised Hector, when he smote
+Their foes, defending Troy and all her wealth.
+But when sweet sleep stole over mortal men,
+Then sons of Troy and battle-biding Greeks
+All slumber-heavy slept unsentinelled.
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+How Hercules' Grandson perished in fight with the Son of
+Achilles.
+
+
+When from the far sea-line, where is the cave
+Of Dawn, rose up the sun, and scattered light
+Over the earth, then did the eager sons
+Of Troy and of Achaea arm themselves
+Athirst for battle: these Achilles' son
+Cheered on to face the Trojans awelessly;
+And those the giant strength of Telephus' seed
+Kindled.  He trusted to dash down the wall
+To earth, and utterly destroy the ships
+With ravening fire, and slay the Argive host.
+Ah, but his hope was as the morning breeze
+Delusive: hard beside him stood the Fates
+Laughing to scorn his vain imaginings.
+
+Then to the Myrmidons spake Achilles' son,
+The aweless, to the fight enkindling them:
+"Hear me, mine henchmen: take ye to your hearts
+The spirit of war, that we may heal the wounds
+Of Argos, and be ruin to her foes.
+Let no man fear, for mighty prowess is
+The child of courage; but fear slayeth strength
+And spirit.  Gird yourselves with strength for war;
+Give foes no breathing-space, that they may say
+That mid our ranks Achilles liveth yet."
+
+Then clad he with his father's flashing arms
+His shoulders.  Then exulted Thetis' heart
+When from the sea she saw the mighty strength
+Of her son's son.  Then forth with eagle-speed
+Afront of that high wall he rushed, his ear
+Drawn by the immortal horses of his sire.
+As from the ocean-verge upsprings the sun
+In glory, flashing fire far over earth --
+Fire, when beside his radiant chariot-team
+Races the red star Sirius, scatterer
+Of woefullest diseases over men;
+So flashed upon the eyes of Ilium's host
+That battle-eager hero, Achilles' son.
+Onward they whirled him, those immortal steeds,
+The which, when now he longed to chase the foe
+Back from the ships, Automedon, who wont
+To rein them for his father, brought to him.
+With joy that pair bore battleward their lord,
+So like to Aeacus' son, their deathless hearts
+Held him no worser than Achilles' self.
+Laughing for glee the Argives gathered round
+The might resistless of Neoptolemus,
+Eager for fight as wasps [whose woodland bower
+The axe] hath shaken, who dart swarming forth
+Furious to sting the woodman: round their nest
+Long eddying, they torment all passers by;
+So streamed they forth from galley and from wall
+Burning for fight, and that wide space was thronged,
+And all the plain far blazed with armour-sheen,
+As shone from heaven's vault the sun thereon.
+As flees the cloud-rack through the welkin wide
+Scourged onward by the North-wind's Titan blasts,
+When winter-tide and snow are hard at hand,
+And darkness overpalls the firmament;
+So with their thronging squadrons was the earth
+Covered before the ships.  To heaven uprolled,
+Dust hung on hovering wings' men's armour clashed;
+Rattled a thousand chariots; horses neighed
+On-rushing to the fray.  Each warrior's prowess
+Kindled him with its trumpet-call to war.
+
+As leap the long sea-rollers, onward hurled
+By two winds terribly o'er th' broad sea-flood
+Roaring from viewless bournes, with whirlwind blasts
+Crashing together, when a ruining storm
+Maddens along the wide gulfs of the deep,
+And moans the Sea-queen with her anguished waves
+Which sweep from every hand, uptowering
+Like precipiced mountains, while the bitter squall,
+Ceaselessly veering, shrieks across the sea;
+So clashed in strife those hosts from either hand
+With mad rage.  Strife incarnate spurred them on,
+And their own prowess.  Crashed together these
+Like thunderclouds outlightening, thrilling the air.
+With shattering trumpet-challenge, when the blasts
+Are locked in frenzied wrestle, with mad breath
+Rending the clouds, when Zeus is wroth with men
+Who travail with iniquity, and flout
+His law.  So grappled they, as spear with spear
+Clashed, shield with shield, and man on man was hurled.
+
+And first Achilles' war-impetuous son
+Struck down stout Melaneus and Alcidamas,
+Sons of the war-lord Alexinomus,
+Who dwelt in Caunus mountain-cradled, nigh
+The clear lake shining at Tarbelus' feet
+'Neath snow-capt Imbrus.  Menes, fleetfoot son
+Of King Cassandrus, slew he, born to him
+By fair Creusa, where the lovely streams
+Of Lindus meet the sea, beside the marches
+Of battle-biding Carians, and the heights
+Of Lycia the renowned.  He slew withal
+Morys the spearman, who from Phrygia came;
+Polybus and Hippomedon by his side
+He laid, this stabbed to the heart, that pierced between
+Shoulder and neck: man after man he slew.
+Earth groaned 'neath Trojan corpses; rank on rank
+Crumbled before him, even as parched brakes
+Sink down before the blast of ravening fire
+When the north wind of latter summer blows;
+So ruining squadrons fell before his charge.
+
+Meanwhile Aeneas slew Aristolochus,
+Crashing a great stone down on his head: it brake
+Helmet and skull together, and fled his life.
+Fleetfoot Eumaeus Diomede slew; he dwelt
+In craggy Dardanus, where the bride-bed is
+Whereon Anchises clasped the Queen of Love.
+Agamemnon smote down Stratus: unto Thrace
+Returned he not from war, but died far off
+From his dear fatherland.  And Meriones
+Struck Chlemus down, Peisenor's son, the friend
+Of god-like Glaucus, and his comrade leal,
+Who by Limurus' outfall dwelt: the folk
+Honoured him as their king, when reigned no more
+Glaucus, in battle slain, -- all who abode
+Around Phoenice's towers, and by the crest
+Of Massicytus, and Chimaera's glen.
+
+So man slew man in fight; but more than all
+Eurypylus hurled doom on many a foe.
+First slew he battle-bider Eurytus,
+Menoetius of the glancing taslet next,
+Elephenor's godlike comrades.  Fell with these
+Harpalus, wise Odysseus' warrior-friend;
+But in the fight afar that hero toiled,
+And might not aid his fallen henchman: yet
+Fierce Antiphus for that slain man was wroth,
+And hurled his spear against Eurypylus,
+Yet touched him not; the strong shaft glanced aside,
+And pierced Meilanion battle-staunch, the son
+Of Cleite lovely-faced, Erylaus' bride,
+Who bare him where Caicus meets the sea.
+Wroth for his comrade slain, Eurypylus
+Rushed upon Antiphus, but terror-winged
+He plunged amid his comrades; so the spear
+Of the avenger slew him not, whose doom
+Was one day wretchedly to be devoured
+By the manslaying Cyclops: so it pleased
+Stern Fate, I know not why.  Elsewhither sped
+Eurypylus; and aye as he rushed on
+Fell 'neath his spear a multitude untold.
+As tall trees, smitten by the strength of steel
+In mountain-forest, fill the dark ravines,
+Heaped on the earth confusedly, so fell
+The Achaeans 'neath Eurypylus' flying spears --
+Till heart-uplifted met him face to face
+Achilles' son.  The long spears in their hands
+They twain swung up, each hot to smite his foe.
+But first Eurypylus cried the challenge-cry;
+"Who art thou?  Whence hast come to brave me here?
+To Hades merciless Fate is bearing thee;
+For in grim fight hath none escaped mine hands;
+But whoso, eager for the fray, have come
+Hither, on all have I hurled anguished death.
+By Xanthus' streams have dogs devoured their flesh
+And gnawed their bones.  Answer me, who art thou?
+Whose be the steeds that bear thee exultant on?"
+
+Answered Achilles' battle-eager son:
+"Wherefore, when I am hurrying to the fray,
+Dost thou, a foe, put question thus to me,
+As might a friend, touching my lineage,
+Which many know?  Achilles' son am I,
+Son of the man whose long spear smote thy sire,
+And made him flee -- yea, and the ruthless fates
+Of death had seized him, but my father's self
+Healed him upon the brink of woeful death.
+The steeds which bear me were my godlike sire's;
+These the West-wind begat, the Harpy bare:
+Over the barren sea their feet can race
+Skimming its crests: in speed they match the winds.
+Since then thou know'st the lineage of my steeds
+And mine, now put thou to the test the might
+Of my strong spear, born on steep Pelion's crest,
+Who hath left his father-stock and forest there."
+
+He spake; and from the chariot sprang to earth
+That glorious man: he swung the long spear up.
+But in his brawny hand his foe hath seized
+A monstrous stone: full at the golden shield
+Of Neoptolemus he sped its flight;
+But, no whir staggered by its whirlwind rush,
+He like a giant mountain-foreland stood
+Which all the banded fury of river-floods
+Can stir not, rooted in the eternal hills;
+So stood unshaken still Achilles' son.
+Yet not for this Eurypylus' dauntless might
+Shrank from Achilles' son invincible,
+On-spurred by his own hardihood and by Fate.
+Their hearts like caldrons seethed o'er fires of wrath,
+Their glancing armour flashed about their limbs.
+Like terrible lions each on other rushed,
+Which fight amid the mountains famine-stung,
+Writhing and leaping in the strain of strife
+For a slain ox or stag, while all the glens
+Ring with their conflict; so they grappled, so
+Clashed they in pitiless strife.  On either hand
+Long lines of warriors Greek and Trojan toiled
+In combat: round them roared up flames of war.
+Like mighty rushing winds they hurled together
+With eager spears for blood of life athirst.
+Hard by them stood Enyo, spurred them on
+Ceaselessly: never paused they from the strife.
+Now hewed they each the other's shield, and now
+Thrust at the greaves, now at the crested helms.
+Reckless of wounds, in that grim toil pressed on
+Those aweless heroes: Strife incarnate watched
+And gloated o'er them.  Ran the sweat in streams
+From either: straining hard they stood their ground,
+For both were of the seed of Blessed Ones.
+From Heaven, with hearts at variance, Gods looked down;
+For some gave glory to Achilles' son,
+Some to Eurypylus the godlike.  Still
+They fought on, giving ground no more than rock.
+Of granite mountains.  Rang from side to side
+Spear-smitten shields.  At last the Pelian lance,
+Sped onward by a mighty thrust, hath passed
+Clear through Eurypylus' throat.  Forth poured the blood
+Torrent-like; through the portal of the wound
+The soul from the body flew: darkness of death
+Dropped o'er his eyes.  To earth in clanging arms
+He fell, like stately pine or silver fir
+Uprooted by the fury of Boreas;
+Such space of earth Eurypylus' giant frame
+Covered in falling: rang again the floor
+And plain of Troyland.  Grey death-pallor swept
+Over the corpse, and all the flush of life
+Faded away.  With a triumphant laugh
+Shouted the mighty hero over him:
+"Eurypylus, thou saidst thou wouldst destroy
+The Danaan ships and men, wouldst slay us all
+Wretchedly -- but the Gods would not fulfil
+Thy wish.  For all thy might invincible,
+My father's massy spear hath now subdued
+Thee under me, that spear no man shall 'scape,
+Though he be brass all through, who faceth me."
+
+He spake, and tore the long lance from the corse,
+While shrank the Trojans back in dread, at sight
+Of that strong-hearted man.  Straightway he stripped
+The armour from the dead, for friends to bear
+Fast to the ships Achaean.  But himself
+To the swift chariot and the tireless steeds
+Sprang, and sped onward like a thunderbolt
+That lightning-girdled leaps through the wide air
+From Zeus's hands unconquerable -- the bolt
+Before whose downrush all the Immortals quail
+Save only Zeus.  It rusheth down to earth,
+It rendeth trees and rugged mountain-crags;
+So rushed he on the Trojans, flashing doom
+Before their eyes; dashed to the earth they fell
+Before the charge of those immortal steeds:
+The earth was heaped with slain, was dyed with gore.
+As when in mountain-glens the unnumbered leaves
+Down-streaming thick and fast hide all the ground,
+So hosts of Troy untold on earth were strewn
+By Neoptolemus and fierce-hearted Greeks,
+Shed by whose hands the blood in torrents ran
+'Neath feet of men and horses.  Chariot-rails
+Were dashed with blood-spray whirled up from the tyres.
+
+Now had the Trojans fled within their gates
+As calves that flee a lion, or as swine
+Flee from a storm -- but murderous Ares came,
+Unmarked of other Gods, down from the heavens,
+Eager to help the warrior sons of Troy.
+Red-fire and Flame, Tumult and Panic-fear,
+His car-steeds, bare him down into the fight,
+The coursers which to roaring Boreas
+Grim-eyed Erinnys bare, coursers that breathed
+Life-blasting flame: groaned all the shivering air,
+As battleward they sped.  Swiftly he came
+To Troy: loud rang the earth beneath the feet
+Of that wild team.  Into the battle's heart
+Tossing his massy spear, he came; with a shout
+He cheered the Trojans on to face the foe.
+They heard, and marvelled at that wondrous cry,
+Not seeing the God's immortal form, nor steeds,
+Veiled in dense mist.  But the wise prophet-soul
+Of Helenus knew the voice divine that leapt
+Unto the Trojans' ears, they knew not whence,
+And with glad heart to the fleeing host he cried:
+"O cravens, wherefore fear Achilles' son,
+Though ne'er so brave?  He is mortal even as we;
+His strength is not as Ares' strength, who is come
+A very present help in our sore need.
+That was his shout far-pealing, bidding us
+Fight on against the Argives.  Let your hearts
+Be strong, O friends: let courage fill your breasts.
+No mightier battle-helper can draw nigh
+To Troy than he.  Who is of more avail
+For war than Ares, when he aideth men
+Hard-fighting?  Lo, to our help he cometh now!
+On to the fight!  Cast to the winds your fears!"
+
+They fled no more, they faced the Argive men,
+As hounds, that mid the copses fled at first,
+Turn them about to face and fight the wolf,
+Spurred by the chiding of their shepherd-lord;
+So turned the sons of Troy again to war,
+Casting away their fear.  Man leapt on man
+Valiantly fighting; loud their armour clashed
+Smitten with swords, with lances, and with darts.
+Spears plunged into men's flesh: dread Ares drank
+His fill of blood: struck down fell man on man,
+As Greek and Trojan fought.  In level poise
+The battle-balance hung.  As when young men
+In hot haste prune a vineyard with the steel,
+And each keeps pace with each in rivalry,
+Since all in strength and age be equal-matched;
+So did the awful scales of battle hang
+Level: all Trojan hearts beat high, and firm
+Stood they in trust on aweless Ares' might,
+While the Greeks trusted in Achilles' son.
+Ever they slew and slew: stalked through the midst
+Deadly Enyo, her shoulders and her hands
+Blood-splashed, while fearful sweat streamed from her limbs.
+Revelling in equal fight, she aided none,
+Lest Thetis' or the War-god's wrath be stirred.
+
+Then Neoptolemus slew one far-renowned,
+Perimedes, who had dwelt by Smintheus' grove;
+Next Cestrus died, Phalerus battle-staunch,
+Perilaus the strong, Menalcas lord of spears,
+Whom Iphianassa bare by the haunted foot
+Of Cilla to the cunning craftsman Medon.
+In the home-land afar the sire abode,
+And never kissed his son's returning head:
+For that fair home and all his cunning works
+Did far-off kinsmen wrangle o'er his grave.
+Deiphobus slew Lycon battle-staunch:
+The lance-head pierced him close above the groin,
+And round the long spear all his bowels gushed out.
+Aeneas smote down Dymas, who erewhile
+In Aulis dwelt, and followed unto Troy
+Arcesilaus, and saw never more
+The dear home-land.  Euryalus hurled a dart,
+And through Astraeus' breast the death-winged point
+Flew, shearing through the breathways of man's life;
+And all that lay within was drenched with blood.
+And hard thereby great-souled Agenor slew
+Hippomenes, hero Teucer's comrade staunch,
+With one swift thrust 'twixt shoulder and neck: his soul
+Rushed forth in blood; death's night swept over him.
+Grief for his comrade slain on Teucer fell;
+He strained his bow, a swift-winged shaft he sped,
+But smote him not, for slightly Agenor swerved.
+Yet nigh him Deiophontes stood; the shaft
+Into his left eye plunged, passed through the ball,
+And out through his right ear, because the Fates
+Whither they willed thrust on the bitter barbs.
+Even as in agony he leapt full height,
+Yet once again the archer's arrow hissed:
+It pierced his throat, through the neck-sinews cleft
+Unswerving, and his hard doom came on him.
+
+So man to man dealt death; and joyed the Fates
+And Doom, and fell Strife in her maddened glee
+Shouted aloud, and Ares terribly
+Shouted in answer, and with courage thrilled
+The Trojans, and with panic fear the Greeks,
+And shook their reeling squadrons.  But one man
+He scared not, even Achilles' son; he abode,
+And fought undaunted, slaying foes on foes.
+As when a young lad sweeps his hand around
+Flies swarming over milk, and nigh the bowl
+Here, there they lie, struck dead by that light touch,
+And gleefully the child still plies the work;
+So stern Achilles' glorious scion joyed
+Over the slain, and recked not of the God
+Who spurred the Trojans on: man after man
+Tasted his vengeance of their charging host.
+Even as a giant mountain-peak withstands
+On-rushing hurricane-blasts, so he abode
+Unquailing.  Ares at his eager mood
+Grew wroth, and would have cast his veil of cloud
+Away, and met him face to face in fight,
+But now Athena from Olympus swooped
+To forest-mantled Ida.  Quaked the earth
+And Xanthus' murmuring streams; so mightily
+She shook them: terror-stricken were the souls
+Of all the Nymphs, adread for Priam's town.
+From her immortal armour flashed around
+The hovering lightnings; fearful serpents breathed
+Fire from her shield invincible; the crest
+Of her great helmet swept the clouds.  And now
+She was at point to close in sudden fight
+With Ares; but the mighty will of Zeus
+Daunted them both, from high heaven thundering
+His terrors.  Ares drew back from the war,
+For manifest to him was Zeus's wrath.
+To wintry Thrace he passed; his haughty heart
+Reeked no more of the Trojans.  In the plain
+Of Troy no more stayed Pallas; she was gone
+To hallowed Athens.  But the armies still
+Strove in the deadly fray; and fainted now
+The Trojans' prowess; but all battle-fain
+The Argives pressed on these as they gave ground.
+As winds chase ships that fly with straining sails
+On to the outsea -- as on forest-brakes
+Leapeth the fury of flame -- as swift hounds drive
+Deer through the mountains, eager for the prey,
+So did the Argives chase them: Achilles' son
+Still cheered them on, still slew with that great spear
+Whomso he overtook.  On, on they fled
+Till into stately-gated Troy they poured.
+
+Then had the Argives a short breathing-space
+From war, when they had penned the hosts of Troy
+In Priam's burg, as shepherds pen up lambs
+Upon a lonely steading.  And, as when
+After hard strain, a breathing-space is given
+To oxen that, quick-panting 'neath the yoke,
+Up a steep hill have dragged a load, so breathed
+Awhile the Achaeans after toil in arms.
+Then once more hot for the fray did they beset
+The city-towers.  But now with gates fast barred
+The Trojans from the walls withstood the assault.
+As when within their steading shepherd-folk
+Abide the lowering tempest, when a day
+Of storm hath dawned, with fury of lightnings, rain
+And heavy-drifting snow, and dare not haste
+Forth to the pasture, howsoever fain,
+Till the great storm abate, and rivers, wide
+With rushing floods, again be passable;
+So trembling on their walls they abode the rage
+Of foes against their ramparts surging fast.
+And as when daws or starlings drop in clouds
+Down on an orchard-close, full fain to feast
+Upon its pleasant fruits, and take no heed
+Of men that shout to scare them thence away,
+Until the reckless hunger be appeased
+That makes them bold; so poured round Priam's burg
+The furious Danaans.  Against the gates
+They hurled themselves, they strove to batter down
+The mighty-souled Earth-shaker's work divine.
+
+Yet did tim Troyfolk not, despite their fear,
+Flinch from the fight: they manned their towers, they toiled
+Unresting: ever from the fair-built walls
+Leapt arrows, stones, and fleet-winged javelins down
+Amidst the thronging foes; for Phoebus thrilled
+Their souls with steadfast hardihood.  Fain was he
+To save them still, though Hector was no more.
+
+Then Meriones shot forth a deadly shaft,
+And smote Phylodamas, Polites' friend,
+Beneath the jaw; the arrow pierced his throat.
+Down fell he like a vulture, from a rock
+By fowler's barbed arrow shot and slain;
+So from the high tower swiftly down he fell:
+His life fled; clanged his armour o'er the corpse.
+With laughter of triumph stalwart Molus' son
+A second arrow sped, with strong desire
+To smite Polites, ill-starred Priam's son:
+But with a swift side-swerve did he escape
+The death, nor did the arrow touch his flesh.
+As when a shipman, as his bark flies on
+O'er sea-gulfs, spies amid the rushing tide
+A rock, and to escape it swiftly puts
+The helm about, and turns aside the ship
+Even as he listeth, that a little strength
+Averts a great disaster; so did he
+Foresee and shun the deadly shaft of doom.
+
+Ever they fought on; walls, towers, battlements
+Were blood-besprent, wherever Trojans fell
+Slain by the arrows of the stalwart Greeks.
+Yet these escaped not scatheless; many of them
+Dyed the earth red: aye waxed the havoc of death
+As friends and foes were stricken.  O'er the strife
+Shouted for glee Enyo, sister of War.
+
+Now had the Argives burst the gates, had breached
+The walls of Troy, for boundless was their might;
+But Ganymedes saw from heaven, and cried,
+Anguished with fear for his own fatherland:
+"O Father Zeus, if of thy seed I am,
+If at thine best I left far-famous Troy
+For immortality with deathless Gods,
+O hear me now, whose soul is anguish-thrilled!
+I cannot bear to see my fathers' town
+In flames, my kindred in disastrous strife ú
+Perishing: bitterer sorrow is there none!
+Oh, if thine heart is fixed to do this thing,
+Let me be far hence!  Less shall be my grief
+If I behold it not with these mine eyes.
+That is the depth of horror and of shame
+To see one's country wrecked by hands of foes."
+
+With groans and tears so pleaded Ganymede.
+Then Zeus himself with one vast pall of cloud
+Veiled all the city of Priam world-renowned;
+And all the murderous fight was drowned in mist,
+And like a vanished phantom was the wall
+In vapours heavy-hung no eye could pierce;
+And all around crashed thunders, lightnings flamed
+From heaven.  The Danaans heard Zeus' clarion peal
+Awe-struck; and Neleus' son cried unto them:
+"Far-famous lords of Argives, all our strength
+Palsied shall be, while Zeus protecteth thus
+Our foes.  A great tide of calamity
+On us is rolling; haste we then to the ships;
+Cease we awhile from bitter toil of strife,
+Lest the fire of his wrath consume us all.
+Submit we to his portents; needs must all
+Obey him ever, who is mightier far
+Than all strong Gods, all weakling sons of men.
+On the presumptuous Titans once in wrath
+He poured down fire from heaven: then burned all earth
+Beneath, and Ocean's world-engirdling flood
+Boiled from its depths, yea, to its utmost bounds:
+Far-flowing mighty rivers were dried up:
+Perished all broods of life-sustaining earth,
+All fosterlings of the boundless sea, and all
+Dwellers in rivers: smoke and ashes veiled
+The air: earth fainted in the fervent heat.
+Therefore this day I dread the might of Zeus.
+Now, pass we to the ships, since for to-day
+He helpeth Troy.  To us too shall he grant
+Glory hereafter; for the dawn on men,
+Though whiles it frown, anon shall smile.  Not yet,
+But soon, shall Fate lead us to smite yon town,
+If true indeed was Calchas' prophecy
+Spoken aforetime to the assembled Greeks,
+That in the tenth year Priam's burg should fall."
+
+Then left they that far-famous town, and turned
+From war, in awe of Zeus's threatenings,
+Hearkening to one with ancient wisdom wise.
+Yet they forgat not friends in battle slain,
+But bare them from the field and buried them.
+These the mist hid not, but the town alone
+And its unscaleable wall, around which fell
+Trojans and Argives many in battle slain.
+So came they to the ships, and put from them
+Their battle-gear, and strode into the waves
+Of Hellespont fair-flowing, and washed away
+All stain of dust and sweat and clotted gore.
+
+The sun drave down his never-wearying steeds
+Into the dark west: night streamed o'er the earth,
+Bidding men cease from toil.  The Argives then
+Acclaimed Achilles' valiant son with praise
+High as his father's.  Mid triumphant mirth
+He feasted in kings' tents: no battle-toil
+Had wearied him; for Thetis from his limbs
+Had charmed all ache of travail, making him
+As one whom labour had no power to tire.
+When his strong heart was satisfied with meat,
+He passed to his father's tent, and over him
+Sleep's dews were poured.  The Greeks slept in the plain
+Before the ships, by ever-changing guards
+Watched; for they dreaded lest the host of Troy,
+Or of her staunch allies, should kindle flame
+Upon the ships, and from them all cut off
+Their home-return.  In Priam's burg the while
+By gate and wall men watched and slept in turn,
+Adread to hear the Argives' onset-shout.
+
+
+
+BOOK IX
+
+How from his long lone exile returned to the war Philoctetes.
+
+
+When ended was night's darkness, and the Dawn
+Rose from the world's verge, and the wide air glowed
+With splendour, then did Argos' warrior-sons
+Gaze o'er the plain; and lo, all cloudless-clear
+Stood Ilium's towers.  The marvel of yesterday
+Seemed a strange dream.  No thought the Trojans had
+Of standing forth to fight without the wall.
+A great fear held them thralls, the awful thought
+That yet alive was Peleus' glorious son.
+But to the King of Heaven Antenor cried:
+"Zeus, Lord of Ida and the starry sky,
+Hearken my prayer!  Oh turn back from our town
+That battle-eager murderous-hearted man,
+Be he Achilles who hath not passed down
+To Hades, or some other like to him.
+For now in heaven-descended Priam's burg
+By thousands are her people perishing:
+No respite cometh from calamity:
+Murder and havoc evermore increase.
+O Father Zeus, thou carest not though we
+Be slaughtered of our foes: thou helpest them,
+Forgetting thy son, godlike Dardanus!
+But, if this be the purpose of thine heart
+That Argives shall destroy us wretchedly,
+Now do it: draw not out our agony!"
+
+In passionate prayer he cried; and Zeus from heaven
+Hearkened, and hasted on the end of all,
+Which else he had delayed.  He granted him
+This awful boon, that myriads of Troy's sons
+Should with their children perish: but that prayer
+He granted not, to turn Achilles' son
+Back from the wide-wayed town; nay, all the more
+He enkindled him to war, for he would now
+Give grace and glory to the Nereid Queen.
+
+So purposed he, of all Gods mightiest.
+But now between the city and Hellespont
+Were Greeks and Trojans burning men and steeds
+In battle slain, while paused the murderous strife.
+For Priam sent his herald Menoetes forth
+To Agamemnon and the Achaean chiefs,
+Asking a truce wherein to burn the dead;
+And they, of reverence for the slain, gave ear;
+For wrath pursueth not the dead.  And when
+They had lain their slain on those close-thronging pyres,
+Then did the Argives to their tents return,
+And unto Priam's gold-abounding halls
+The Trojans, for Eurypylus sorrowing sore:
+For even as Priam's sons they honoured him.
+Therefore apart from all the other slain,
+Before the Gate Dardanian -- where the streams
+Of eddying Xanthus down from Ida flow
+Fed by the rains of heavens -- they buried him.
+
+Aweless Achilles' son the while went forth
+To his sire's huge tomb.  Outpouring tears, he kissed
+The tall memorial pillar of the dead,
+And groaning clasped it round, and thus he cried:
+"Hail, father!  Though beneath the earth thou lie
+In Hades' halls, I shall forget thee not.
+Oh to have met thee living mid the host!
+Then of each other had our souls had joy,
+Then of her wealth had we spoiled Ilium.
+But now, thou hast not seen thy child, nor I
+Seen thee, who yearned to look on thee in life.
+Yet, though thou be afar amidst the dead,
+Thy spear, thy son, have made thy foes to quail;
+And Danaans with exceeding joy behold
+One like to thee in stature, fame and deeds."
+
+He spake, and wiped the hot tears from his face;
+And to his father's ships passed swiftly thence:
+With him went Myrmidon warriors two and ten,
+And white-haired Phoenix followed on with these
+Woefully sighing for the glorious dead.
+
+Night rose o'er earth, the stars flashed out in heaven;
+So these brake bread, and slept till woke the Dawn.
+Then the Greeks donned their armour: flashed afar
+Its splendour up to the very firmament.
+Forth of their gates in one great throng they poured,
+Like snowflakes thick and fast, which drift adown
+Heavily from the clouds in winter's cold;
+So streamed they forth before the wall, and rose
+Their dread shout: groaned the deep earth 'neath their tramp.
+
+The Trojans heard that shout, and saw that host,
+And marvelled.  Crushed with fear were all their hearts
+Foreboding doom; for like a huge cloud seemed
+That throng of foes: with clashing arms they came:
+Volumed and vast the dust rose 'neath their feet.
+Then either did some God with hardihood thrill
+Deiphobus' heart, and made it void of fear,
+Or his own spirit spurred him on to fight,
+To drive by thrust of spear that terrible host
+Of foemen from the city of his birth.
+So there in Troy he cried with heartening speech:
+"O friends, be stout of heart to play the men!
+Remember all the agonies that war
+Brings in the end to them that yield to foes.
+Ye wrestle not for Alexander alone,
+Nor Helen, but for home, for your own lives,
+For wives, for little ones, for parents grey,
+For all the grace of life, for all ye have,
+For this dear land -- oh may she shroud me o'er
+Slain in the battle, ere I see her lie
+'Neath foemen's spears -- my country!  I know not
+A bitterer pang than this for hapless men!
+O be ye strong for battle!  Forth to the fight
+With me, and thrust this horror far away!
+Think not Achilles liveth still to war
+Against us: him the ravening fire consumed.
+Some other Achaean was it who so late
+Enkindled them to war.  Oh, shame it were
+If men who fight for fatherland should fear
+Achilles' self, or any Greek beside!
+Let us not flinch from war-toil!  have we not
+Endured much battle-travail heretofore?
+What, know ye not that to men sorely tried
+Prosperity and joyance follow toil?
+So after scourging winds and ruining storms
+Zeus brings to men a morn of balmy air;
+After disease new strength comes, after war
+Peace: all things know Time's changeless law of change."
+
+Then eager all for war they armed themselves
+In haste.  All through the town rang clangour of arms
+As for grim fight strong men arrayed their limbs.
+Here stood a wife, shuddering with dread of war,
+Yet piling, as she wept, her husband's arms
+Before his feet.  There little children brought
+To a father his war-gear with eager haste;
+And now his heart was wrung to hear their sobs,
+And now he smiled on those small ministers,
+And stronger waxed his heart's resolve to fight
+To the last gasp for these, the near and dear.
+Yonder again, with hands that had not lost
+Old cunning, a grey father for the fray
+Girded a son, and murmured once and again:
+"Dear boy, yield thou to no man in the war!"
+And showed his son the old scars on his breast,
+Proud memories of fights fought long ago.
+
+So when they all stood mailed in battle-gear,
+Forth of the gates they poured all eager-souled
+For war.  Against the chariots of the Greeks
+Their chariots charged; their ranks of footmen pressed
+To meet the footmen of the foe.  The earth
+Rang to the tramp of onset; pealed the cheer
+From man to man; swift closed the fronts of war.
+Loud clashed their arms all round; from either side
+War-cries were mingled in one awful roar
+Swift-winged full many a dart and arrow flew
+From host to host; loud clanged the smitten shields
+'Neath thrusting spears. neath javelin-point and sword:
+Men hewed with battle-axes lightening down;
+Crimson the armour ran with blood of men.
+And all this while Troy's wives and daughters watched
+From high walls that grim battle of the strong.
+All trembled as they prayed for husbands, sons,
+And brothers: white-haired sires amidst them sat,
+And gazed, while anguished fear for sons devoured
+Their hearts.  But Helen in her bower abode
+Amidst her maids, there held by utter shame.
+
+So without pause before the wall they fought,
+While Death exulted o'er them; deadly Strife
+Shrieked out a long wild cry from host to host.
+With blood of slain men dust became red mire:
+Here, there, fast fell the warriors mid the fray.
+
+Then slew Deiphobus the charioteer
+Of Nestor, Hippasus' son: from that high car
+Down fell he 'midst the dead; fear seized his lord
+Lest, while his hands were cumbered with the reins,
+He too by Priam's strong son might be slain.
+Melanthius marked his plight: swiftly he sprang
+Upon the car; he urged the horses on,
+Shaking the reins, goading them with his spear,
+Seeing the scourge was lost.  But Priam's son
+Left these, and plunged amid a throng of foes.
+There upon many he brought the day of doom;
+For like a ruining tempest on he stormed
+Through reeling ranks.  His mighty hand struck down
+Foes numberless: the plain was heaped with dead.
+
+As when a woodman on the long-ridged hills
+Plunges amid the forest-depths, and hews
+With might and main, and fells sap-laden trees
+To make him store of charcoal from the heaps
+Of billets overturfed and set afire:
+The trunks on all sides fallen strew the slopes,
+While o'er his work the man exulteth; so
+Before Deiphobus' swift death-dealing hands
+In heaps the Achaeans each on other fell.
+The charging lines of Troy swept over some;
+Some fled to Xanthus' stream: Deiphobus chased
+Into the flood yet more, and slew and slew.
+As when on fish-abounding Hellespont's strand
+The fishermen hard-straining drag a net
+Forth of the depths to land; but, while it trails
+Yet through the sea, one leaps amid the waves
+Grasping in hand a sinuous-headed spear
+To deal the sword-fish death, and here and there,
+Fast as he meets them, slays them, and with blood
+The waves are reddened; so were Xanthus' streams
+Impurpled by his hands, and choked with dead.
+
+Yet not without sore loss the Trojans fought;
+For all this while Peleides' fierce-heart son
+Of other ranks made havoc.  Thetis gazed
+Rejoicing in her son's son, with a joy
+As great as was her grief for Achilles slain.
+For a great host beneath his spear were hurled
+Down to the dust, steeds, warriors slaughter-blent.
+And still he chased, and still he slew: he smote
+Amides war-renowned, who on his steed
+Bore down on him, but of his horsemanship
+Small profit won.  The bright spear pierced him through
+From navel unto spine, and all his bowels
+Gushed out, and deadly Doom laid hold on him
+Even as he fell beside his horse's feet.
+Ascanius and Oenops next he slew;
+Under the fifth rib of the one he drave
+His spear, the other stabbed he 'neath the throat
+Where a wound bringeth surest doom to man.
+Whomso he met besides he slew -- the names
+What man could tell of all that by the hands
+Of Neoptolemus died?  Never his limbs
+Waxed weary.  As some brawny labourer,
+With strong hands toiling in a fruitful field
+The livelong day, rains down to earth the fruit
+Of olives, swiftly beating with his pole,
+And with the downfall covers all the ground,
+So fast fell 'neath his hands the thronging foe.
+
+Elsewhere did Agamemnon, Tydeus' son,
+And other chieftains of the Danaans toil
+With fury in the fight.  Yet never quailed
+The mighty men of Troy: with heart and soul
+They also fought, and ever stayed from flight
+Such as gave back.  Yet many heeded not
+Their chiefs, but fled, cowed by the Achaeans' might.
+
+Now at the last Achilles' strong son marked
+How fast beside Scamander's outfall Greeks
+Were perishing.  Those Troyward-fleeing foes
+Whom he had followed slaying, left he now,
+And bade Automedon thither drive, where hosts
+Were falling of the Achaeans.  Straightway he
+Hearkened, and scourged the steeds immortal on
+To that wild fray: bearing their lord they flew
+Swiftly o'er battle-highways paved with death.
+
+As Ares chariot-borne to murderous war
+Fares forth, and round his onrush quakes the ground,
+While on the God's breast clash celestial arms
+Outflashing fire, so charged Achilles' son
+Against Deiphobus.  Clouds of dust upsoared
+About his horses' feet.  Automedon marked
+The Trojan chief, and knew him.  To his lord
+Straightway he named that hero war-renowned:
+"My king, this is Deiphobus' array --
+The man who from thy father fled in fear.
+Some God or fiend with courage fills him now."
+
+Naught answered Neoptolemus, save to bid
+Drive on the steeds yet faster, that with speed
+He might avert grim death from perishing friends.
+But when to each other now full nigh they drew,
+Deiphobus, despite his battle-lust,
+Stayed, as a ravening fire stays when it meets
+Water.  He marvelled, seeing Achilles' steeds
+And that gigantic son, huge as his sire;
+And his heart wavered, choosing now to flee,
+And now to face that hero, man to man
+As when a mountain boar from his young brood
+Chases the jackals -- then a lion leaps
+From hidden ambush into view: the boar
+Halts in his furious onset, loth to advance,
+Loth to retreat, while foam his jaws about
+His whetted tusks; so halted Priam's son
+Car-steeds and car, perplexed, while quivered his hands
+About the lance.  Shouted Achilles' son:
+"Ho, Priam's son, why thus so mad to smite
+Those weaker Argives, who have feared thy wrath
+And fled thine onset?  So thou deem'st thyself
+Far mightiest!  If thine heart be brave indeed,
+Of my spear now make trial in the strife."
+
+On rushed he, as a lion against a stag,
+Borne by the steeds and chariot of his sire.
+And now full soon his lance had slain his foe,
+Him and his charioteer -- but Phoebus poured
+A dense cloud round him from the viewless heights
+Of heaven, and snatched him from the deadly fray,
+And set him down in Troy, amid the rout
+Of fleeing Trojans: so did Peleus' son
+Stab but the empty air; and loud he cried:
+"Dog, thou hast 'scaped my wrath!  No might of thine
+Saved thee, though ne'er so fain!  Some God hath cast
+Night's veil o'er thee, and snatched thee from thy death."
+
+Then Cronos' Son dispersed that dense dark cloud:
+Mist-like it thinned and vanished into air:
+Straightway the plain and all the land were seen.
+Then far away about the Scaean Gate
+He saw the Trojans: seeming like his sire,
+He sped against them; they at his coming quailed.
+As shipmen tremble when a wild wave bears
+Down on their bark, wind-heaved until it swings
+Broad, mountain-high above them, when the sea
+Is mad with tempest; so, as on he came,
+Terror clad all those Trojans as a cloak,
+The while he shouted, cheering on his men:
+"Hear, friends! -- fill full your hearts with dauntless strength,
+The strength that well beseemeth mighty men
+Who thirst to win them glorious victory,
+To win renown from battle's tumult!  Come,
+Brave hearts, now strive we even beyond our strength
+Till we smite Troy's proud city, till we win
+Our hearts' desire!  Foul shame it were to abide
+Long deedless here and strengthless, womanlike!
+Ere I be called war-blencher, let me die!"
+
+Then unto Ares' work their spirits flamed.
+Down on the Trojans charged they: yea, and these
+Fought with high courage, round their city now,
+And now from wall and gate-towers.  Never lulled
+The rage of war, while Trojan hearts were hot
+To hurl the foemen back, and the strong Greeks
+To smite the town: grim havoc compassed all.
+
+Then, eager for the Trojans' help, swooped down
+Out of Olympus, cloaked about with clouds,
+The son of Leto.  Mighty rushing winds
+Bare him in golden armour clad; and gleamed
+With lightning-splendour of his descent the long
+Highways of air.  His quiver clashed; loud rang
+The welkin; earth re-echoed, as he set
+His tireless feet by Xanthus.  Pealed his shout
+Dreadly, with courage filling them of Troy,
+Scaring their foes from biding the red fray.
+But of all this the mighty Shaker of Earth
+Was ware: he breathed into the fainting
+Greeks Fierce valour, and the fight waxed murderous
+Through those Immortals' clashing wills.  Then died
+Hosts numberless on either side.  In wrath
+Apollo thought to smite Achilles' son
+In the same place where erst he smote his sire;
+But birds of boding screamed to left, to stay
+His mood, and other signs from heaven were sent;
+Yet was his wrath not minded to obey
+Those portents.  Swiftly drew Earth-shaker nigh
+In mist celestial cloaked: about his feet
+Quaked the dark earth as came the Sea-king on.
+Then, to stay Phoebus' hand, he cried to him:
+"Refrain thy wrath: Achilles' giant son
+Slay not!  Olympus' Lord himself shall be
+Wroth for his death, and bitter grief shall light
+On me and all the Sea-gods, as erstwhile
+For Achilles' sake.  Nay, get thee back to heights
+Celestial, lest thou kindle me to wrath,
+And so I cleave a sudden chasm in earth,
+And Ilium and all her walls go down
+To darkness.  Thine own soul were vexed thereat."
+
+Then, overawed by the brother of his sire,
+And fearing for Troy's fate and for her folk,
+To heaven went back Apollo, to the sea
+Poseidon.  But the sons of men fought on,
+And slew; and Strife incarnate gloating watched.
+
+At last by Calchas' counsel Achaea's sons
+Drew back to the ships, and put from them the thought
+Of battle, seeing it was not foreordained
+That Ilium should fall until the might
+Of war-wise Philoctetes came to aid
+The Achaean host.  This had the prophet learnt.
+From birds of prosperous omen, or had read
+In hearts of victims.  Wise in prophecy-lore
+Was he, and like a God knew things to be.
+
+Trusting in him, the sons of Atreus stayed
+Awhile the war, and unto Lemnos, land
+Of stately mansions, sent they Tydeus' son
+And battle-staunch Odysseus oversea.
+Fast by the Fire-god's city sped they on
+Over the broad flood of the Aegean Sea
+To vine-clad Lemnos, where in far-off days
+The wives wreaked murderous vengeance on their lords,
+In fierce wrath that they gave them not their due,
+But couched beside the handmaid-thralls of Thrace,
+The captives of their spears when they laid waste
+The land of warrior Thracians.  Then these wives,
+Their hearts with fiery jealousy's fever filled,
+Murdered in every home with merciless hands
+Their husbands: no compassion would they show
+To their own wedded lords -- such madness shakes
+The heart of man or woman, when it burns
+With jealousy's fever, stung by torturing pangs.
+So with souls filled with desperate hardihood
+In one night did they slaughter all their lords;
+And on a widowed nation rose the sun.
+
+To hallowed Lemnos came those heroes twain;
+They marked the rocky cave where lay the son
+Of princely Poeas.  Horror came on them
+When they beheld the hero of their quest
+Groaning with bitter pangs, on the hard earth
+Lying, with many feathers round him strewn,
+And others round his body, rudely sewn
+Into a cloak, a screen from winter's cold.
+For, oft as famine stung him, would he shoot
+The shaft that missed no fowl his aim had doomed.
+Their flesh he ate, their feathers vestured him.
+And there lay herbs and healing leaves, the which,
+Spread on his deadly wound, assuaged its pangs.
+Wild tangled elf-locks hung about his head.
+He seemed a wild beast, that hath set its foot,
+Prowling by night, upon a hidden trap,
+And so hath been constrained in agony
+To bite with fierce teeth through the prisoned limb
+Ere it could win back to its cave, and there
+In hunger and torturing pains it languisheth.
+So in that wide cave suffering crushed the man;
+And all his frame was wasted: naught but skin
+Covered his bones.  Unwashen there he crouched
+With famine-haggard cheeks, with sunken eyes
+Glaring his misery 'neath cavernous brows.
+Never his groaning ceased, for evermore
+The ulcerous black wound, eating to the bone,
+Festered with thrills of agonizing pain.
+As when a beetling cliff, by seething seas
+Aye buffeted, is carved and underscooped,
+For all its stubborn strength, by tireless waves,
+Till, scourged by winds and lashed by tempest-flails,
+The sea into deep caves hath gnawed its base;
+So greater 'neath his foot grew evermore
+The festering wound, dealt when the envenomed fangs
+Tare him of that fell water-snake, which men
+Say dealeth ghastly wounds incurable,
+When the hot sun hath parched it as it crawls
+Over the sands; and so that mightiest man
+Lay faint and wasted with his cureless pain;
+And from the ulcerous wound aye streamed to earth
+Fetid corruption fouling all the floor
+Of that wide cave, a marvel to be heard
+Of men unborn.  Beside his stony bed
+Lay a long quiver full of arrows, some
+For hunting, some to smite his foes withal;
+With deadly venom of that fell water-snake
+Were these besmeared.  Before it, nigh to his hand,
+Lay the great bow, with curving tips of horn,
+Wrought by the mighty hands of Hercules.
+
+Now when that solitary spied these twain
+Draw nigh his cave, he sprang to his bow, he laid
+The deadly arrow on the string; for now
+Fierce memory of his wrongs awoke against
+These, who had left him years agone, in pain
+Groaning upon the desolate sea-shore.
+Yea, and his heart's stem will he had swiftly wrought,
+But, even as upon that godlike twain
+He gazed, Athena caused his bitter wrath
+To melt away.  Then drew they nigh to him
+With looks of sad compassion, and sat down
+On either hand beside him in the cave,
+And of his deadly wound and grievous pangs
+Asked; and he told them all his sufferings.
+And they spake hope and comfort; and they said:
+"Thy woeful wound, thine anguish, shall be healed,
+If thou but come with us to Achaea's host --
+The host that now is sorrowing after thee
+With all its kings.  And no man of them all
+Was cause of thine affliction, but the Fates,
+The cruel ones, whom none that walk the earth
+Escape, but aye they visit hapless men
+Unseen; and day by day with pitiless hearts
+Now they afflict men, now again exalt
+To honour -- none knows why; for all the woes
+And all the joys of men do these devise
+After their pleasure."  Hearkening he sat
+To Odysseus and to godlike Diomede;
+And all the hoarded wrath for olden wrongs
+And all the torturing rage, melted away.
+
+Straight to the strand dull-thundering and the ship,
+Laughing for joy, they bare him with his bow.
+There washed they all his body and that foul wound
+With sponges, and with plenteous water bathed:
+So was his soul refreshed.  Then hasted they
+And made meat ready for the famished man,
+And in the galley supped with him.  Then came
+The balmy night, and sleep slid down on them.
+Till rose the dawn they tarried by the strand
+Of sea-girt Lemnos, but with dayspring cast
+The hawsers loose, and heaved the anchor-stones
+Out of the deep.  Athena sent a breeze
+Blowing behind the galley taper-prowed.
+They strained the sail with either stern-sheet taut;
+Seaward they pointed the stout-girdered ship;
+O'er the broad flood she leapt before the wind;
+Broken to right and left the dark wave sighed,
+And seething all around was hoary foam,
+While thronging dolphins raced on either hand
+Flashing along the paths of silver sea.
+
+Full soon to fish-fraught Hellespont they came
+And the far-stretching ships.  Glad were the Greeks
+To see the longed-for faces.  Forth the ship
+With joy they stepped; and Poeas' valiant son
+On those two heroes leaned thin wasted hands,
+Who bare him painfully halting to the shore
+Staying his weight upon their brawny arms.
+As seems mid mountain-brakes an oak or pine
+By strength of the woodcutter half hewn through,
+Which for a little stands on what was left
+Of the smooth trunk by him who hewed thereat
+Hard by the roots, that its slow-smouldering wood
+Might yield him pitch -- now like to one in pain
+It groans, in weakness borne down by the wind,
+Yet is upstayed upon its leafy boughs
+Which from the earth bear up its helpless weight;
+So by pain unendurable bowed down
+Leaned he on those brave heroes, and was borne
+Unto the war-host.  Men beheld, and all
+Compassionated that great archer, crushed
+By anguish of his hurt.  But one drew near,
+Podaleirius, godlike in his power to heal.
+Swifter than thought he made him whole and sound;
+For deftly on the wound he spread his salves,
+Calling on his physician-father's name;
+And soon the Achaeans shouted all for joy,
+All praising with one voice Asclepius' son.
+Lovingly then they bathed him, and with oil
+Anointed.  All his heaviness of cheer
+And misery vanished by the Immortals' will;
+And glad at heart were all that looked on him;
+And from affliction he awoke to joy.
+Over the bloodless face the flush of health
+Glowed, and for wretched weakness mighty strength
+Thrilled through him: goodly and great waxed all his limbs.
+As when a field of corn revives again
+Which erst had drooped, by rains of ruining storm
+Down beaten flat, but by warm summer winds
+Requickened, o'er the laboured land it smiles,
+So Philoctetes' erstwhile wasted frame
+Was all requickened: -- in the galley's hold
+He seemed to have left all cares that crushed his soul.
+
+And Atreus' sons beheld him marvelling
+As one re-risen from the dead: it seemed
+The work of hands immortal.  And indeed
+So was it verily, as their hearts divined;
+For 'twas the glorious Trito-born that shed
+Stature and grace upon him.  Suddenly
+He seemed as when of old mid Argive men
+He stood, before calamity struck him down.
+Then unto wealthy Agamemnon's tent
+Did all their mightiest men bring Poeas' son,
+And set him chief in honour at the feast,
+Extolling him.  When all with meat and drink
+Were filled, spake Agamemnon lord of spears:
+"Dear friend, since by the will of Heaven our souls
+Were once perverted, that in sea-girt Lemnos
+We left thee, harbour not thine heart within
+Fierce wrath for this: by the blest Gods constrained
+We did it; and, I trow, the Immortals willed
+To bring much evil on us, bereft of thee,
+Who art of all men skilfullest to quell
+With shafts of death all foes that face thee in fight.
+For all the tangled paths of human life,
+By land and sea, are by the will of Fate
+Hid from our eyes, in many and devious tracks
+Are cleft apart, in wandering mazes lost.
+Along them men by Fortune's dooming drift
+Like unto leaves that drive before the wind.
+Oft on an evil path the good man's feet
+Stumble, the brave finds not a prosperous path;
+And none of earth-born men can shun the Fates,
+And of his own will none can choose his way.
+So then doth it behove the wise of heart
+Though on a troublous track the winds of fate
+Sweep him away to suffer and be strong.
+Since we were blinded then, and erred herein,
+With rich gifts will we make amends to thee
+Hereafter, when we take the stately towers
+Of Troy: but now receive thou handmaids seven,
+Fleet steeds two-score, victors in chariot-race,
+And tripods twelve, wherein thine heart may joy
+Through all thy days; and always in my tent
+Shall royal honour at the feast be thine."
+
+He spake, and gave the hero those fair gifts.
+Then answered Poeas' mighty-hearted son;
+"Friend, I forgive thee freely, and all beside
+Whoso against me haply hath trangressed.
+I know how good men's minds sometimes be warped:
+Nor meet it is that one be obdurate
+Ever, and nurse mean rancours: sternest wrath
+Must yield anon unto the melting mood.
+Now pass we to our rest; for better is sleep
+Than feasting late, for him who longs to fight."
+
+He spake, and rose, and came to his comrades' tent;
+Then swiftly for their war-fain king they dight
+The couch, while laughed their hearts for very joy.
+Gladly he laid him down to sleep till dawn.
+
+So passed the night divine, till flushed the hills
+In the sun's light, and men awoke to toil.
+Then all athirst for war the Argive men
+'Gan whet the spear smooth-shafted, or the dart,
+Or javelin, and they brake the bread of dawn,
+And foddered all their horses.  Then to these
+Spake Poeas' son with battle-kindling speech:
+"Up!  let us make us ready for the war!
+Let no man linger mid the galleys, ere
+The glorious walls of Ilium stately-towered
+Be shattered, and her palaces be burned!"
+
+Then at his words each heart and spirit glowed:
+They donned their armour, and they grasped their shields.
+Forth of the ships in one huge mass they poured
+Arrayed with bull-hide bucklers, ashen spears,
+And gallant-crested helms.  Through all their ranks
+Shoulder to shoulder marched they: thou hadst seen
+No gap 'twixt man and man as on they charged;
+So close they thronged, so dense was their array.
+
+
+
+BOOK X
+
+How Paris was stricken to death, and in vain sought help of
+Oenone.
+
+
+Now were the Trojans all without the town
+Of Priam, armour-clad, with battle-cars
+And chariot-steeds; for still they burnt their dead,
+And still they feared lest the Achaean men
+Should fall on them. They looked, and saw them come
+With furious speed against the walls. In haste
+They cast a hurried earth-mound o'er the slain,
+For greatly trembled they to see their foes.
+Then in their sore disquiet spake to them
+Polydamas, a wise and prudent chief:
+"Friends, unendurably against us now
+Maddens the war.  Go to, let us devise
+How we may find deliverance from our strait.
+Still bide the Danaans here, still gather strength:
+Now therefore let us man our stately towers,
+And thence withstand them, fighting night and day,
+Until yon Danaans weary, and return
+To Sparta, or, renownless lingering here
+Beside the wall, lose heart.  No strength of theirs
+Shall breach the long walls, howsoe'er they strive,
+For in the imperishable work of Gods
+Weakness is none.  Food, drink, we shall not lack,
+For in King Priam's gold-abounding halls
+Is stored abundant food, that shall suffice
+For many more than we, through many years,
+Though thrice so great a host at our desire
+Should gather, eager to maintain our cause."
+
+Then chode with him Anchises' valiant son:
+"Polydamas, wherefore do they call thee wise,
+Who biddest suffer endless tribulations
+Cooped within walls?  Never, how long soe'er
+The Achaeans tarry here, will they lose heart;
+But when they see us skulking from the field,
+More fiercely will press on.  So ours shall be
+The sufferance, perishing in our native home,
+If for long season they beleaguer us.
+No food, if we be pent within our walls,
+Shall Thebe send us, nor Maeonia wine,
+But wretchedly by famine shall we die,
+Though the great wall stand firm.  Nay, though our lot
+Should be to escape that evil death and doom,
+And not by famine miserably to die;
+Yet rather let us fight in armour clad
+For children and grey fathers!  Haply Zeus
+Will help us yet; of his high blood are we.
+Nay, even though we be abhorred of him,
+Better straightway to perish gloriously
+Fighting unto the last for fatherland,
+Than die a death of lingering agony!"
+
+Shouted they all who heard that gallant rede.
+Swiftly with helms and shields and spears they stood
+In close array.  The eyes of mighty Zeus
+From heaven beheld the Trojans armed for fight
+Against the Danaans: then did he awake
+Courage in these and those, that there might be
+Strain of unflinching fight 'twixt host and host.
+That day was Paris doomed, for Helen's sake
+Fighting, by Philoctetes' hands to die.
+
+To one place Strife incarnate drew them all,
+The fearful Battle-queen, beheld of none,
+But cloaked in clouds blood-raining: on she stalked
+Swelling the mighty roar of battle, now
+Rushed through Troy's squadrons, through Achaea's now;
+Panic and Fear still waited on her steps
+To make their father's sister glorious.
+From small to huge that Fury's stature grew;
+Her arms of adamant were blood-besprent,
+The deadly lance she brandished reached the sky.
+Earth quaked beneath her feet: dread blasts of fire
+Flamed from her mouth: her voice pealed thunder-like
+Kindling strong men.  Swift closed the fronts of fight
+Drawn by a dread Power to the mighty work.
+Loud as the shriek of winds that madly blow
+In early spring, when the tall woodland trees
+Put forth their leaves -- loud as the roar of fire
+Blazing through sun-scorched brakes -- loud as the voice
+Of many waters, when the wide sea raves
+Beneath the howling blast, with thunderous crash
+Of waves, when shake the fearful shipman's knees;
+So thundered earth beneath their charging feet.
+Strife swooped on them: foe hurled himself on foe.
+
+First did Aeneas of the Danaans slay
+Harpalion, Arizelus' scion, born
+In far Boeotia of Amphinome,
+Who came to Troy to help the Argive men
+With godlike Prothoenor.  'Neath his waist
+Aeneas stabbed, and reft sweet life from him.
+Dead upon him he cast Thersander's son,
+For the barbed javelin pierced through Hyllus' throat
+Whom Arethusa by Lethaeus bare
+In Crete: sore grieved Idomeneus for his fall.
+
+By this Peleides' son had swiftly slain
+Twelve Trojan warriors with his father's spear.
+First Cebrus fell, Harmon, Pasitheus then,
+Hysminus, Schedius, and Imbrasius,
+Phleges, Mnesaeus, Ennomus, Amphinous,
+Phasis, Galenus last, who had his home
+
+By Gargarus' steep -- a mighty warrior he
+Among Troy's mighties: with a countless host
+To Troy he came: for Priam Dardanus' son
+Promised him many gifts and passing fair.
+Ah fool!  his own doom never he foresaw,
+Whose weird was suddenly to fall in fight
+Ere he bore home King Priam's glorious gifts.
+
+Doom the Destroyer against the Argives sped
+Valiant Aeneas' friend, Eurymenes.
+Wild courage spurred him on, that he might slay
+Many -- and then fill death's cup for himself.
+Man after man he slew like some fierce beast,
+And foes shrank from the terrible rage that burned
+On his life's verge, nor reeked of imminent doom.
+Yea, peerless deeds in that fight had he done,
+Had not his hands grown weary, his spear-head
+Bent utterly: his sword availed him not,
+Snapped at the hilt by Fate.  Then Meges' dart
+Smote 'neath his ribs; blood spurted from his mouth,
+And in death's agony Doom stood at his side.
+
+Even as he fell, Epeius' henchmen twain,
+Deileon and Amphion, rushed to strip
+His armour; but Aeneas brave and strong
+Chilled their hot hearts in death beside the dead.
+As one in latter summer 'mid his vines
+Kills wasps that dart about his ripening grapes,
+And so, ere they may taste the fruit, they die;
+So smote he them, ere they could seize the arms.
+
+Menon and Amphinous Tydeides slew,
+Both goodly men.  Paris slew Hippasus' son
+Demoleon, who in Laconia's land
+Beside the outfall of Eurotas dwelt,
+The stream deep-flowing, and to Troy he came
+With Menelaus.  Under his right breast
+The shaft of Paris smote him unto death,
+Driving his soul forth like a scattering breath.
+
+Teucer slew Zechis, Medon's war-famed son,
+Who dwelt in Phrygia, land of myriad flocks,
+Below that haunted cave of fair-haired Nymphs
+Where, as Endymion slept beside his kine,
+Divine Selene watched him from on high,
+And slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love
+Drew down the immortal stainless Queen of Night.
+And a memorial of her couch abides
+Still 'neath the oaks; for mid the copses round
+Was poured out milk of kine; and still do men
+Marvelling behold its whiteness.  Thou wouldst say
+Far off that this was milk indeed, which is
+A well-spring of white water: if thou draw
+A little nigher, lo, the stream is fringed
+As though with ice, for white stone rims it round.
+
+Rushed on Alcaeus Meges, Phyleus' son,
+And drave his spear beneath his fluttering heart.
+Loosed were the cords of sweet life suddenly,
+And his sad parents longed in vain to greet
+That son returning from the woeful war
+To Margasus and Phyllis lovely-girt,
+Dwellers by lucent streams of Harpasus,
+Who pours the full blood of his clamorous flow
+Into Maeander madly rushing aye.
+
+With Glaucus' warrior-comrade Scylaceus
+Odeus' son closed in the fight, and stabbed
+Over the shield-rim, and the cruel spear
+Passed through his shoulder, and drenched his shield with blood.
+Howbeit he slew him not, whose day of doom
+Awaited him afar beside the wall
+Of his own city; for when Illium's towers
+Were brought low by that swift avenging host
+Fleeing the war to Lycia then he came
+Alone; and when he drew nigh to the town,
+The thronging women met and questioned him
+Touching their sons and husbands; and he told
+How all were dead. They compassed him about,
+And stoned the man with great stones, that he died.
+So had he no joy of his winning home,
+But the stones muffled up his dying groans,
+And of the same his ghastly tomb was reared
+Beside Bellerophon's grave and holy place
+In Tlos, nigh that far-famed Chimaera's Crag.
+Yet, though he thus fulfilled his day of doom,
+As a God afterward men worshipped him
+By Phoebus' hest, and never his honour fades.
+
+Now Poeas' son the while slew Deioneus
+And Acamas, Antenor's warrior son:
+Yea, a great host of strong men laid he low.
+On, like the War-god, through his foes he rushed,
+Or as a river roaring in full flood
+Breaks down long dykes, when, maddening round its rocks,
+Down from the mountains swelled by rain it pours
+An ever-flowing mightily-rushing stream
+Whose foaming crests over its forelands sweep;
+So none who saw him even from afar
+Dared meet renowned Poeas' valiant son,
+Whose breast with battle-fury was fulfilled,
+Whose limbs were clad in mighty Hercules' arms
+Of cunning workmanship; for on the belt
+Gleamed bears most grim and savage, jackals fell,
+And panthers, in whose eyes there seems to lurk
+A deadly smile.  There were fierce-hearted wolves,
+And boars with flashing tusks, and mighty lions
+All seeming strangely alive; and, there portrayed
+Through all its breadth, were battles murder-rife.
+With all these marvels covered was the belt;
+And with yet more the quiver was adorned.
+There Hermes was, storm-footed Son of Zeus,
+Slaying huge Argus nigh to Inachus' streams,
+Argus, whose sentinel eyes in turn took sleep.
+And there was Phaethon from the Sun-car hurled
+Into Eridanus.  Earth verily seemed
+Ablaze, and black smoke hovered on the air.
+There Perseus slew Medusa gorgon-eyed
+By the stars' baths and utmost bounds of earth
+And fountains of deep-flowing Ocean, where
+Night in the far west meets the setting sun.
+There was the Titan Iapetus' great son
+Hung from the beetling crag of Caucasus
+In bonds of adamant, and the eagle tare
+His liver unconsumed -- he seemed to groan!
+All these Hephaestus' cunning hands had wrought
+For Hercules; and these to Poeas' son,
+Most near of friends and dear, he gave to bear.
+
+So glorying in those arms he smote the foe.
+But Paris at the last to meet him sprang
+Fearlessly, bearing in his hands his bow
+And deadly arrows -- but his latest day
+Now met himself.  A flying shaft he sped
+Forth from the string, which sang as leapt the dart,
+Which flew not vainly: yet the very mark
+It missed, for Philoctetes swerved aside
+A hair-breadth, and it smote above the breast
+Cleodorus war-renowned, and cleft a path
+Clear through his shoulder; for he had not now
+The buckler broad which wont to fence from death
+Its bearer, but was falling back from fight,
+Being shieldless; for Polydamas' massy lance
+Had cleft the shoulder-belt whereby his targe
+Hung, and he gave back therefore, fighting still
+With stubborn spear.  But now the arrow of death
+Fell on him, as from ambush leaping forth.
+For so Fate willed, I trow, to bring dread doom
+On noble-hearted Lernus' scion, born
+Of Amphiale, in Rhodes the fertile land.
+
+But soon as Poeas' battle-eager son
+Marked him by Paris' deadly arrow slain,
+Swiftly he strained his bow, shouting aloud:
+"Dog!  I will give thee death, will speed thee down
+To the Unseen Land, who darest to brave me!
+And so shall they have rest, who travail now
+For thy vile sake.  Destruction shall have end
+When thou art dead, the author of our bane."
+
+Then to his breast he drew the plaited cord.
+The great bow arched, the merciless shaft was aimed
+Straight, and the terrible point a little peered
+Above the bow, in that constraining grip.
+Loud sang the string, as the death-hissing shaft
+Leapt, and missed not: yet was not Paris' heart
+Stilled, but his spirit yet was strong in him;
+For that first arrow was not winged with death:
+It did but graze the fair flesh by his wrist.
+Then once again the avenger drew the bow,
+And the barbed shaft of Poeas' son had plunged,
+Ere he could swerve, 'twixt flank and groin.  No more
+He abode the fight, but swiftly hasted back
+As hastes a dog which on a lion rushed
+At first, then fleeth terror-stricken back.
+So he, his very heart with agony thrilled,
+Fled from the war.  Still clashed the grappling hosts,
+Man slaying man: aye bloodier waxed the fray
+As rained the blows: corpse upon corpse was flung
+Confusedly, like thunder-drops, or flakes
+Of snow, or hailstones, by the wintry blast
+At Zeus' behest strewn over the long hills
+And forest-boughs; so by a pitiless doom
+Slain, friends with foes in heaps on heaps were strown.
+
+Sorely groaned Paris; with the torturing wound
+Fainted his spirit.  Leeches sought to allay
+His frenzy of pain.  But now drew back to Troy
+The Trojans, and the Danaans to their ships
+Swiftly returned, for dark night put an end
+To strife, and stole from men's limbs weariness,
+Pouring upon their eyes pain-healing sleep.
+
+But through the livelong night no sleep laid hold
+On Paris: for his help no leech availed,
+Though ne'er so willing, with his salves.  His weird
+Was only by Oenone's hands to escape
+Death's doom, if so she willed.  Now he obeyed
+The prophecy, and he went -- exceeding loth,
+But grim necessity forced him thence, to face
+The wife forsaken.  Evil-boding fowl
+Shrieked o'er his head, or darted past to left,
+Still as he went.  Now, as he looked at them,
+His heart sank; now hope whispered, "Haply vain
+Their bodings are!" but on their wings were borne
+Visions of doom that blended with his pain.
+Into Oenone's presence thus he came.
+Amazed her thronging handmaids looked on him
+As at the Nymph's feet that pale suppliant fell
+Faint with the anguish of his wound, whose pangs
+Stabbed him through brain and heart, yea, quivered through
+His very bones, for that fierce venom crawled
+Through all his inwards with corrupting fangs;
+And his life fainted in him agony-thrilled.
+As one with sickness and tormenting thirst
+Consumed, lies parched, with heart quick-shuddering,
+With liver seething as in flame, the soul,
+Scarce conscious, fluttering at his burning lips,
+Longing for life, for water longing sore;
+So was his breast one fire of torturing pain.
+Then in exceeding feebleness he spake:
+"O reverenced wife, turn not from me in hate
+For that I left thee widowed long ago!
+Not of my will I did it: the strong Fates
+Dragged me to Helen -- oh that I had died
+Ere I embraced her -- in thine arms had died!
+All, by the Gods I pray, the Lords of Heaven,
+By all the memories of our wedded love,
+Be merciful!  Banish my bitter pain:
+Lay on my deadly wound those healing salves
+Which only can, by Fate's decree, remove
+This torment, if thou wilt.  Thine heart must speak
+My sentence, to be saved from death or no.
+Pity me -- oh, make haste to pity me!
+This venom's might is swiftly bringing death!
+Heal me, while life yet lingers in my limbs!
+Remember not those pangs of jealousy,
+Nor leave me by a cruel doom to die
+Low fallen at thy feet!  This should offend
+The Prayers, the Daughters of the Thunderer Zeus,
+Whose anger followeth unrelenting pride
+With vengeance, and the Erinnys executes
+Their wrath.  My queen, I sinned, in folly sinned;
+Yet from death save me -- oh, make haste to save!"
+
+So prayed he; but her darkly-brooding heart
+Was steeled, and her words mocked his agony:
+"Thou comest unto me! -- thou, who didst leave
+Erewhile a wailing wife in a desolate home! --
+Didst leave her for thy Tyndarid darling!  Go,
+Lie laughing in her arms for bliss!  She is better
+Than thy true wife -- is, rumour saith, immortal!
+Make haste to kneel to her but not to me!
+Weep not to me, nor whimper pitiful prayers!
+Oh that mine heart beat with a tigress' strength,
+That I might tear thy flesh and lap thy blood
+For all the pain thy folly brought on me!
+Vile wretch!  where now is Love's Queen glory-crowned?
+Hath Zeus forgotten his daughter's paramour?
+Have them for thy deliverers!  Get thee hence
+Far from my dwelling, curse of Gods and men!
+Yea, for through thee, thou miscreant, sorrow came
+On deathless Gods, for sons and sons' sons slain.
+Hence from my threshold! -- to thine Helen go!
+Agonize day and night beside her bed:
+There whimper, pierced to the heart with cruel pangs,
+Until she heal thee of thy grievous pain."
+
+So from her doors she drave that groaning man --
+Ah fool!  not knowing her own doom, whose weird
+Was straightway after him to tread the path
+Of death!  So Fate had spun her destiny-thread.
+
+Then, as he stumbled down through Ida's brakes,
+Where Doom on his death-path was leading him
+Painfully halting, racked with heart-sick pain,
+Hera beheld him, with rejoicing soul
+Throned in the Olympian palace-court of Zeus.
+And seated at her side were handmaids four
+Whom radiant-faced Selene bare to the Sun
+To be unwearying ministers in Heaven,
+In form and office diverse each from each;
+For of these Seasons one was summer's queen,
+And one of winter and his stormy star,
+Of spring the third, of autumn-tide the fourth.
+So in four portions parted is man's year
+Ruled by these Queens in turn -- but of all this
+Be Zeus himself the Overseer in heaven.
+And of those issues now these spake with her
+Which baleful Fate in her all-ruining heart
+Was shaping to the birth the new espousals
+Of Helen, fatal to Deiphobus --
+The wrath of Helenus, who hoped in vain
+For that fair bride, and how, when he had fled,
+Wroth with the Trojans, to the mountain-height,
+Achaea's sons would seize him and would hale
+Unto their ships -- how, by his counselling
+Strong Tydeus' son should with Odysseus scale
+The great wall, and should slay Alcathous
+The temple-warder, and should bear away
+Pallas the Gracious, with her free consent,
+Whose image was the sure defence of Troy; --
+Yea, for not even a God, how wroth soe'er,
+Had power to lay the City of Priam waste
+While that immortal shape stood warder there.
+No man had carven that celestial form,
+But Cronos' Son himself had cast it down
+From heaven to Priam's gold-abounding burg.
+
+Of these things with her handmaids did the Queen
+Of Heaven hold converse, and of many such,
+But Paris, while they talked, gave up the ghost
+On Ida: never Helen saw him more.
+Loud wailed the Nymphs around him; for they still
+Remembered how their nursling wont to lisp
+His childish prattle, compassed with their smiles.
+And with them mourned the neatherds light of foot,
+Sorrowful-hearted; moaned the mountain-glens.
+
+Then unto travail-burdened Priam's queen
+A herdman told the dread doom of her son.
+Wildly her trembling heart leapt when she heard;
+With failing limbs she sank to earth and wailed:
+"Dead!  thou dead, O dear child!  Grief heaped on grief
+Hast thou bequeathed me, grief eternal!  Best
+Of all my sons, save Hector alone, wast thou!
+While beats my heart, my grief shall weep for thee.
+The hand of Heaven is in our sufferings:
+Some Fate devised our ruin -- oh that I
+Had lived not to endure it, but had died
+In days of wealthy peace!  But now I see
+Woes upon woes, and ever look to see
+Worse things -- my children slain, my city sacked
+And burned with fire by stony-hearted foes,
+Daughters, sons' wives, all Trojan women, haled
+Into captivity with our little ones!"
+
+So wailed she; but the King heard naught thereof,
+But weeping ever sat by Hector's grave,
+For most of all his sons he honoured him,
+His mightiest, the defender of his land.
+Nothing of Paris knew that pierced heart;
+But long and loud lamented Helen; yet
+Those wails were but for Trojan ears; her soul
+With other thoughts was busy, as she cried:
+"Husband, to me, to Troy, and to thyself
+A bitter blow is this thy woeful death!
+In misery hast thou left me, and I look
+To see calamities more deadly yet.
+Oh that the Spirits of the Storm had snatched
+Me from the earth when first I fared with thee
+Drawn by a baleful Fate!  It might not be;
+The Gods have meted ruin to thee and me.
+With shuddering horror all men look on me,
+All hate me!  Place of refuge is there none
+For me; for if to the Danaan host I fly,
+With torments will they greet me.  If I stay,
+Troy's sons and daughters here will compass me
+And rend me.  Earth shall cover not my corpse,
+But dogs and fowl of ravin shall devour.
+Oh had Fate slain me ere I saw these woes!"
+
+So cried she: but for him far less she mourned
+Than for herself, remembering her own sin.
+Yea, and Troy's daughters but in semblance wailed
+For him: of other woes their hearts were full.
+Some thought on parents, some on husbands slain,
+These on their sons, on honoured kinsmen those.
+
+One only heart was pierced with grief unfeigned,
+Oenone.  Not with them of Troy she wailed,
+But far away within that desolate home
+Moaning she lay on her lost husband's bed.
+As when the copses on high mountains stand
+White-veiled with frozen snow, which o'er the glens
+The west-wind blasts have strown, but now the sun
+And east-wind melt it fast, and the long heights
+With water-courses stream, and down the glades
+Slide, as they thaw, the heavy sheets, to swell
+The rushing waters of an ice-cold spring,
+So melted she in tears of anguished pain,
+And for her own, her husband, agonised,
+And cried to her heart with miserable moans:
+"Woe for my wickedness!  O hateful life!
+I loved mine hapless husband -- dreamed with him
+To pace to eld's bright threshold hand in hand,
+And heart in heart!  The gods ordained not so.
+Oh had the black Fates snatched me from the earth
+Ere I from Paris turned away in hate!
+My living love hath left me! -- yet will I
+Dare to die with him, for I loathe the light."
+
+So cried she, weeping, weeping piteously,
+Remembering him whom death had swallowed up,
+Wasting, as melteth wax before the flame
+Yet secretly, being fearful lest her sire
+Should mark it, or her handmaids till the night
+Rose from broad Ocean, flooding all the earth
+With darkness bringing men release from toil.
+Then, while her father and her maidens slept,
+She slid the bolts back of the outer doors,
+And rushed forth like a storm-blast.  Fast she ran,
+As when a heifer 'mid the mountains speeds,
+Her heart with passion stung, to meet her mate,
+And madly races on with flying feet,
+And fears not, in her frenzy of desire,
+The herdman, as her wild rush bears her on,
+So she but find her mate amid the woods;
+So down the long tracks flew Oenone's feet;
+Seeking the awful pyre, to leap thereon.
+No weariness she knew: as upon wings
+Her feet flew faster ever, onward spurred
+By fell Fate, and the Cyprian Queen.  She feared
+No shaggy beast that met her in the dark
+Who erst had feared them sorely -- rugged rock
+And precipice of tangled mountain-slope,
+She trod them all unstumbling; torrent-beds
+She leapt.  The white Moon-goddess from on high
+Looked on her, and remembered her own love,
+Princely Endymion, and she pitied her
+In that wild race, and, shining overhead
+In her full brightness, made the long tracks plain.
+
+Through mountain-gorges so she won to where
+Wailed other Nymphs round Alexander's corpse.
+Roared up about him a great wall of fire;
+For from the mountains far and near had come
+Shepherds, and heaped the death-bale broad and high
+For 1ove's and sorrow's latest service done
+To one of old their comrade and their king.
+Sore weeping stood they round.  She raised no wail,
+The broken-hearted, when she saw him there,
+But, in her mantle muffling up her face,
+Leapt on the pyre: loud wailed that multitude.
+There burned she, clasping Paris.  All the Nymphs
+Marvelled, beholding her beside her lord
+Flung down, and heart to heart spake whispering:
+"Verily evil-hearted Paris was,
+Who left a leal true wife, and took for bride
+A wanton, to himself and Troy a curse.
+Ah fool, who recked not of the broken heart
+Of a most virtuous wife, who more than life
+Loved him who turned from her and loved her not!"
+
+So in their hearts the Nymphs spake: but they twain
+Burned on the pyre, never to hail again
+The dayspring.  Wondering herdmen stood around,
+As once the thronging Argives marvelling saw
+Evadne clasping mid the fire her lord
+Capaneus, slain by Zeus' dread thunderbolt.
+But when the blast of the devouring fire
+Had made twain one, Oenone and Paris, now
+One little heap of ashes, then with wine
+Quenched they the embers, and they laid their bones
+In a wide golden vase, and round them piled
+The earth-mound; and they set two pillars there
+That each from other ever turn away;
+For the old jealousy in the marble lives.
+
+
+
+BOOK XI
+
+How the sons of Troy for the last time fought from her walls and
+her towers.
+
+
+Troy's daughters mourned within her walls; might none
+Go forth to Paris' tomb, for far away
+From high-built Troy it lay.  But the young men
+Without the city toiled unceasingly
+In fight wherein from slaughter rest was none,
+Though dead was Paris; for the Achaeans pressed
+Hard on the Trojans even unto Troy.
+Yet these charged forth -- they could not choose but so,
+For Strife and deadly Enyo in their midst
+Stalked, like the fell Erinyes to behold,
+Breathing destruction from their lips like flame.
+Beside them raged the ruthless-hearted Fates
+Fiercely: here Panic-fear and Ares there
+Stirred up the hosts: hard after followed
+Dread With slaughter's gore besprent, that in one host
+Might men see, and be strong, in the other fear;
+And all around were javelins, spears, and darts
+Murder-athirst from this side, that side, showered.
+Aye, as they hurled together, armour clashed,
+As foe with foe grappled in murderous fight.
+
+There Neoptolemus slew Laodamas,
+Whom Lycia nurtured by fair Xanthus' stream,
+The stream revealed to men by Leto, bride
+Of Thunderer Zeus, when Lycia's stony plain
+Was by her hands uptorn mid agonies
+Of travail-throes wherein she brought to light
+Mid bitter pangs those babes of birth divine.
+Nirus upon him laid he dead; the spear
+Crashed through his jaw, and clear through mouth and tongue
+Passed: on the lance's irresistible point
+Shrieking was he impaled: flooded with gore
+His mouth was as he cried.  The cruel shaft,
+Sped on by that strong hand, dashed him to earth
+In throes of death.  Evenor next he smote
+Above the flank, and onward drave the spear
+Into his liver: swiftly anguished death
+Came upon him.  Iphition next he slew:
+He quelled Hippomedon, Hippasus' bold son,
+Whom Ocyone the Nymph had borne beside
+Sangarius' river-flow.  Ne'er welcomed she
+Her son's returning face, but ruthless Fate
+With anguish thrilled her of her child bereaved.
+
+Bremon Aeneas slew, and Andromachus,
+Of Cnossus this, of hallowed Lyctus that:
+On one spot both from their swift chariots fell;
+This gasped for breath, his throat by the long spear
+Transfixed; that other, by a massy stone,
+Sped from a strong hand, on the temple struck,
+Breathed out his life, and black doom shrouded him.
+The startled steeds, bereft of charioteers,
+Fleeing, mid all those corpses were confused,
+And princely Aeneas' henchmen seized on them
+With hearts exulting in the goodly spoil.
+
+There Philoctetes with his deadly shaft
+Smote Peirasus in act to flee the war:
+The tendons twain behind the knee it snapped,
+And palsied all his speed.  A Danaan marked,
+And leapt on that maimed man with sweep of sword
+Shearing his neck through.  On the breast of earth
+The headless body fell: the head far flung
+Went rolling with lips parted as to shriek;
+And swiftly fleeted thence the homeless soul.
+
+Polydamas struck down Eurymachus
+And Cleon with his spear.  From Syme came
+With Nireus' following these: cunning were both
+In craft of fisher-folk to east the hook
+Baited with guile, to drop into the sea
+The net, from the boat's prow with deftest hands
+Swiftly and straight to plunge the three-forked spear.
+But not from bane their sea-craft saved them now.
+
+Eurypylus battle-staunch laid Hellus low,
+Whom Cleito bare beside Gygaea's mere,
+Cleito the fair-cheeked.  Face-down in the dust
+Outstretched he lay: shorn by the cruel sword
+From his strong shoulder fell the arm that held
+His long spear.  Still its muscles twitched, as though
+Fain to uplift the lance for fight in vain;
+For the man's will no longer stirred therein,
+But aimlessly it quivered, even as leaps
+The severed tail of a snake malignant-eyed,
+Which cannot chase the man who dealt the wound;
+So the right hand of that strong-hearted man
+With impotent grip still clutched the spear for fight.
+
+Aenus and Polydorus Odysseus slew,
+Ceteians both; this perished by his spear,
+That by his sword death-dealing.  Sthenelus
+Smote godlike Abas with a javelin-cast:
+On through his throat and shuddering nape it rushed:
+Stopped were his heart-beats, all his limbs collapsed.
+
+Tydeides slew Laodocus; Melius fell
+By Agamemnon's hand; Deiphobus
+Smote Alcimus and Dryas: Hippasus,
+How war-renowned soe'er, Agenor slew
+Far from Peneius' river.  Crushed by fate,
+Love's nursing-debt to parents ne'er he paid.
+
+Lamus and stalwart Lyncus Thoas smote,
+And Meriones slew Lycon; Menelaus
+Laid low Archelochus.  Upon his home
+Looked down Corycia's ridge, and that great rock
+Of the wise Fire-god, marvellous in men's eyes;
+For thereon, nightlong, daylong, unto him
+Fire blazes, tireless and unquenchable.
+Laden with fruit around it palm-trees grow,
+While mid the stones fire plays about their roots.
+Gods' work is this, a wonder to all time.
+
+By Teucer princely Hippomedon's son was slain,
+Menoetes: as the archer drew on him,
+Rushed he to smite him; but already hand
+And eye, and bow-craft keen were aiming straight
+On the arching horn the shaft.  Swiftly released
+It leapt on the hapless man, while sang the string.
+Stricken full front he heaved one choking gasp,
+Because the fates on the arrow riding flew
+Right to his heart, the throne of thought and strength
+For men, whence short the path is unto death.
+
+Far from his brawny hand Euryalus hurled
+A massy stone, and shook the ranks of Troy.
+As when in anger against long-screaming cranes
+A watcher of the field leaps from the ground,
+In swift hand whirling round his head the sling,
+And speeds the stone against them, scattering
+Before its hum their ranks far down the wind
+Outspread, and they in huddled panic dart
+With wild cries this way and that, who theretofore
+Swept on in ordered lines; so shrank the foe
+To right and left from that dread bolt of doom
+Hurled of Euryalus.  Not in vain it flew
+Fate-winged; it shattered Meles' helm and head
+Down to the eyes: so met him ghastly death.
+
+Still man slew man, while earth groaned all around,
+As when a mighty wind scourges the land,
+And this way, that way, under its shrieking blasts
+Through the wide woodland bow from the roots and fall
+Great trees, while all the earth is thundering round;
+So fell they in the dust, so clanged their arms,
+So crashed the earth around.  Still hot were they
+For fell fight, still dealt bane unto their foes.
+
+Nigh to Aeneas then Apollo came,
+And to Eurymachus, brave Antenor's son;
+For these against the mighty Achaeans fought
+Shoulder to shoulder, as two strong oxen, matched
+In age, yoked to a wain; nor ever ceased
+From battling.  Suddenly spake the God to these
+In Polymestor's shape, the seer his mother
+By Xanthus bare to the Far-darter's priest:
+"Eurymachus, Aeneas, seed of Gods,
+'Twere shame if ye should flinch from Argives!  Nay,
+Not Ares' self should joy to encounter you,
+An ye would face him in the fray; for Fate
+Hath spun long destiny-threads for thee and thee."
+
+He spake, and vanished, mingling with the winds.
+But their hearts felt the God's power: suddenly
+Flooded with boundless courage were their frames,
+Maddened their spirits: on the foe they leapt
+Like furious wasps that in a storm of rage
+Swoop upon bees, beholding them draw nigh
+In latter-summer to the mellowing grapes,
+Or from their hives forth-streaming thitherward;
+So fiercely leapt these sons of Troy to meet
+War-hardened Greeks.  The black Fates joyed to see
+Their conflict, Ares laughed, Enyo yelled
+Horribly.  Loud their glancing armour clanged:
+They stabbed, they hewed down hosts of foes untold
+With irresistible hands.  The reeling ranks
+Fell, as the swath falls in the harvest heat,
+When the swift-handed reapers, ranged adown
+The field's long furrows, ply the sickle fast;
+So fell before their hands ranks numberless:
+With corpses earth was heaped, with torrent blood
+Was streaming: Strife incarnate o'er the slain
+Gloated.  They paused not from the awful toil,
+But aye pressed on, like lions chasing sheep.
+Then turned the Greeks to craven flight; all feet
+Unmaimed as yet fled from the murderous war.
+Aye followed on Anchises' warrior son,
+Smiting foes' backs with his avenging spear:
+On pressed Eurymachus, while glowed the heart
+Of Healer Apollo watching from on high.
+
+As when a man descries a herd of swine
+Draw nigh his ripening corn, before the sheaves
+Fall neath the reapers' hands, and harketh on
+Against them his strong dogs; as down they rush,
+The spoilers see and quake; no more think they
+Of feasting, but they turn in panic flight
+Huddling: fast follow at their heels the hounds
+Biting remorselessly, while long and loud
+Squealing they flee, and joys the harvest's lord;
+So rejoiced Phoebus, seeing from the war
+Fleeing the mighty Argive host.  No more
+Cared they for deeds of men, but cried to the Gods
+For swift feet, in whose feet alone was hope
+To escape Eurymachus' and Aeneas' spears
+Which lightened ever all along their rear.
+
+But one Greek, over-trusting in his strength,
+Or by Fate's malice to destruction drawn,
+Curbed in mid flight from war's turmoil his steed,
+And strove to wheel him round into the fight
+To face the foe.  But fierce Agenor thrust
+Ere he was ware; his two-edged partizan
+Shore though his shoulder; yea, the very bone
+Of that gashed arm was cloven by the steel;
+The tendons parted, the veins spirted blood:
+Down by his horse's neck he slid, and straight
+Fell mid the dead.  But still the strong arm hung
+With rigid fingers locked about the reins
+Like a live man's.  Weird marvel was that sight,
+The bloody hand down hanging from the rein,
+Scaring the foes yet more, by Ares' will.
+Thou hadst said, "It craveth still for horsemanship!"
+So bare the steed that sign of his slain lord.
+
+Aeneas hurled his spear; it found the waist
+Of Anthalus' son, it pierced the navel through,
+Dragging the inwards with it.  Stretched in dust,
+Clutching with agonized hands at steel and bowels,
+Horribly shrieked he, tore with his teeth the earth
+Groaning, till life and pain forsook the man.
+Scared were the Argives, like a startled team
+Of oxen 'neath the yoke-band straining hard,
+What time the sharp-fanged gadfly stings their flanks
+Athirst for blood, and they in frenzy of pain
+Start from the furrow, and sore disquieted
+The hind is for marred work, and for their sake,
+Lest haply the recoiling ploughshare light
+On their leg-sinews, and hamstring his team;
+So were the Danaans scared, so feared for them
+Achilles' son, and shouted thunder-voiced:
+"Cravens, why flee, like starlings nothing-worth
+Scared by a hawk that swoopeth down on them?
+Come, play the men!  Better it is by far
+To die in war than choose unmanly flight!"
+
+Then to his cry they hearkened, and straightway
+Were of good heart.  Mighty of mood he leapt
+Upon the Trojans, swinging in his hand
+The lightening spear: swept after him his host
+Of Myrmidons with hearts swelled with the strength
+Resistless of a tempest; so the Greeks
+Won breathing-space.  With fury like his sire's
+One after other slew he of the foe.
+Recoiling back they fell, as waves on-rolled
+By Boreas foaming from the deep to the strand,
+Are caught by another blast that whirlwind-like
+Leaps, in a short lull of the north-wind, forth,
+Smites them full-face, and hurls them back from the shore;
+So them that erewhile on the Danaans pressed
+Godlike Achilles' son now backward hurled
+A short space only brave Aeneas' spirit
+Let him not flee, but made him bide the fight
+Fearlessly; and Enyo level held
+The battle's scales.  Yet not against Aeneas
+Achilles' son upraised his father's spear,
+But elsewhither turned his fury: in reverence
+For Aphrodite, Thetis splendour-veiled
+Turned from that man her mighty son's son's rage
+And giant strength on other hosts of foes.
+There slew he many a Trojan, while the ranks
+Of Greeks were ravaged by Aeneas' hand.
+Over the battle-slain the vultures joyed,
+Hungry to rend the hearts and flesh of men.
+But all the Nymphs were wailing, daughters born
+Of Xanthus and fair-flowing Simois.
+
+So toiled they in the fight: the wind's breath rolled
+Huge dust-clouds up; the illimitable air
+Was one thick haze, as with a sudden mist:
+Earth disappeared, faces were blotted out;
+Yet still they fought on; each man, whomso he met,
+Ruthlessly slew him, though his very friend
+It might be -- in that turmoil none could tell
+Who met him, friend or foe: blind wilderment
+Enmeshed the hosts.  And now had all been blent
+Confusedly, had perished miserably,
+All falling by their fellows' murderous swords,
+Had not Cronion from Olympus helped
+Their sore strait, and he swept aside the dust
+Of conflict, and he calmed those deadly winds.
+Yet still the hosts fought on; but lighter far
+Their battle-travail was, who now discerned
+Whom in the fray to smite, and whom to spare.
+The Danaans now forced back the Trojan host,
+The Trojans now the Danaan ranks, as swayed
+The dread fight to and fro.  From either side
+Darts leapt and fell like snowflakes.  Far away
+Shepherds from Ida trembling watched the strife,
+And to the Heaven-abiders lifted hands
+Of supplication, praying that all their foes
+Might perish, and that from the woeful war
+Troy might win breathing-space, and see at last
+The day of freedom: the Gods hearkened not.
+Far other issues Fate devised, nor recked
+Of Zeus the Almighty, nor of none beside
+Of the Immortals.  Her unpitying soul
+Cares naught what doom she spinneth with her thread
+Inevitable, be it for men new-born
+Or cities: all things wax and wane through her.
+So by her hest the battle-travail swelled
+'Twixt Trojan chariot-lords and Greeks that closed
+In grapple of fight -- they dealt each other death
+Ruthlessly: no man quailed, but stout of heart
+Fought on; for courage thrusts men into war.
+
+But now when many had perished in the dust,
+Then did the Argive might prevail at last
+By stern decree of Pallas; for she came
+Into the heart of battle, hot to help
+The Greeks to lay waste Priam's glorious town.
+Then Aphrodite, who lamented sore
+For Paris slain, snatched suddenly away
+Renowned Aeneas from the deadly strife,
+And poured thick mist about him.  Fate forbade
+That hero any longer to contend
+With Argive foes without the high-built wall.
+Yea, and his mother sorely feared the wrath
+Of Pallas passing-wise, whose heart was keen
+To help the Danaans now -- yea, feared lest she
+Might slay him even beyond his doom, who spared
+Not Ares' self, a mightier far than he.
+
+No more the Trojans now abode the edge
+Of fight, but all disheartened backward drew.
+For like fierce ravening beasts the Argive men
+Leapt on them, mad with murderous rage of war.
+Choked with their slain the river-channels were,
+Heaped was the field; in red dust thousands fell,
+Horses and men; and chariots overturned
+Were strewn there: blood was streaming all around
+Like rain, for deadly Doom raged through the fray.
+
+Men stabbed with swords, and men impaled on spears
+Lay all confusedly, like scattered beams,
+When on the strand of the low-thundering sea
+Men from great girders of a tall ship's hull
+Strike out the bolts and clamps, and scatter wide
+Long planks and timbers, till the whole broad beach
+Is paved with beams o'erplashed by darkling surge;
+So lay in dust and blood those slaughtered men,
+Rapture and pain of fight forgotten now.
+
+A remnant from the pitiless strife escaped
+Entered their stronghold, scarce eluding doom.
+Children and wives from their limbs blood-besprent
+Received their arms bedabbled with foul gore;
+And baths for all were heated.  Leeches ran
+Through all the town in hot haste to the homes
+Of wounded men to minister to their hurts.
+Here wives and daughters moaned round men come back
+From war, there cried on many who came not
+Here, men stung to the soul by bitter pangs
+Groaned upon beds of pain; there, toil-spent men
+Turned them to supper.  Whinnied the swift steeds
+And neighed o'er mangers heaped.  By tent and ship
+Far off the Greeks did even as they of Troy.
+
+When o'er the streams of Ocean Dawn drove up
+Her splendour-flashing steeds, and earth's tribes waked,
+Then the strong Argives' battle-eager sons
+Marched against Priam's city lofty-towered,
+Save some that mid the tents by wounded men
+Tarried, lest haply raiders on the ships
+Might fall, to help the Trojans, while these fought
+The foe from towers, while rose the flame of war.
+
+Before the Scaean gate fought Capaneus' son
+And godlike Diomedes.  High above
+Deiphobus battle-staunch and strong Polites
+With many comrades, stoutly held them back
+With arrows and huge stones.  Clanged evermore
+The smitten helms and shields that fenced strong men
+From bitter doom and unrelenting fate,
+
+Before the Gate Idaean Achilles' son
+Set in array the fight: around him toiled
+His host of battle-cunning Myrmidons.
+Helenus and Agenor gallant-souled,
+Down-hailing darts, against them held the wall,
+Aye cheering on their men.  No spurring these
+Needed to fight hard for their country's walls.
+
+Odysseus and Eurypylus made assault
+Unresting on the gates that fated the plain
+And looked to the swift ships.  From wall and tower
+With huge stones brave Aeneas made defence.
+
+In battle-stress by Simons Teucer toiled.
+Each endured hardness at his several post.
+
+Then round war-wise Odysseus men renowned,
+By that great captain's battle cunning ruled,
+Locked shields together, raised them o'er their heads
+Ranged side by side, that many were made one.
+Thou hadst said it was a great hall's solid roof,
+Which no tempestuous wind-blast misty wet
+Can pierce, nor rain from heaven in torrents poured.
+So fenced about with shields firm stood the ranks
+Of Argives, one in heart for fight, and one
+In that array close-welded.  From above
+The Trojans hailed great stones; as from a rock
+Rolled these to earth.  Full many a spear and dart
+And galling javelin in the pierced shields stood;
+Some in the earth stood; many glanced away
+With bent points falling baffled from the shields
+Battered on all sides.  But that clangorous din
+None feared; none flinched; as pattering drops of rain
+They heard it.  Up to the rampart's foot they marched:
+None hung back; shoulder to shoulder on they came
+Like a long lurid cloud that o'er the sky
+Cronion trails in wild midwinter-tide.
+On that battalion moved, with thunderous tread
+Of tramping feet: a little above the earth
+Rose up the dust; the breeze swept it aside
+Drifting away behind the men.  There went
+A sound confused of voices with them, like
+The hum of bees that murmur round the hives,
+And multitudinous panting, and the gasp
+Of men hard-breathing.  Exceeding glad the sons
+Of Atreus, glorying in them, saw that wall
+Unwavering of doom-denouncing war.
+In one dense mass against the city-gate
+They hurled themselves, with twibills strove to breach
+The long walls, from their hinges to upheave
+The gates, and dash to earth.  The pulse of hope
+Beat strong in those proud hearts.  But naught availed
+Targes nor levers, when Aeneas' might
+Swung in his hands a stone like a thunderbolt,
+Hurled it with uttermost strength, and dashed to death
+All whom it caught beneath the shields, as when
+A mountain's precipice-edge breaks off and falls
+On pasturing goats, and all that graze thereby
+Tremble; so were those Danaans dazed with dread.
+Stone after stone he hurled on the reeling ranks,
+As when amid the hills Olympian Zeus
+With thunderbolts and blazing lightnings rends
+From their foundations crags that rim a peak,
+And this way, that way, sends them hurtling down;
+Then the flocks tremble, scattering in wild flight;
+So quailed the Achaeans, when Aeneas dashed
+To sudden fragments all that battle-wall
+Moulded of adamant shields, because a God
+Gave more than human strength.  No man of them
+Could lift his eyes unto him in that fight,
+Because the arms that lapped his sinewy limbs
+Flashed like the heaven-born lightnings.  At his side
+Stood, all his form divine in darkness cloaked,
+Ares the terrible, and winged the flight
+Of what bare down to the Argives doom or dread.
+He fought as when Olympian Zeus himself
+From heaven in wrath smote down the insolent bands
+Of giants grim, and shook the boundless earth,
+And sea, and ocean, and the heavens, when reeled
+The knees of Atlas neath the rush of Zeus.
+So crumbled down beneath Aeneas' bolts
+The Argive squadrons.  All along the wall
+Wroth with the foeman rushed he: from his hands
+Whatso he lighted on in onslaught-haste
+Hurled he; for many a battle-staying bolt
+Lay on the walls of those staunch Dardan men.
+With such Aeneas stormed in giant might,
+With such drave back the thronging foes.  All round
+The Trojans played the men.  Sore travail and pain
+Had all folk round the city: many fell,
+Argives and Trojans.  Rang the battle-cries:
+Aeneas cheered the war-fain Trojans on
+To fight for home, for wives, and their own souls
+With a good heart: war-staunch Achilles' son
+Shouted: "Flinch not, ye Argives, from the walls,
+Till Troy be taken, and sink down in flames!"
+And round these twain an awful measureless roar
+Rang, daylong as they fought: no breathing-space
+Came from the war to them whose spirits burned,
+These, to smite Ilium, those, to guard her safe.
+
+But from Aeneas valiant-souled afar
+Fought Aias, speeding midst the men of Troy
+Winged death; for now his arrow straight through air
+Flew, now his deadly dart, and smote them down
+One after one: yet others cowered away
+Before his peerless prowess, and abode
+The fight no more, but fenceless left the wall
+
+Then one, of all the Locrians mightiest,
+Fierce-souled Alcimedon, trusting in his prince
+And his own might and valour of his youth,
+All battle-eager on a ladder set
+Swift feet, to pave for friends a death-strewn path
+Into the town.  Above his head he raised
+
+The screening shield; up that dread path he went
+Hardening his heart from trembling, in his hand
+Now shook the threatening spear, now upward climbed ú
+Fast high in air he trod the perilous way.
+Now on the Trojans had disaster come,
+But, even as above the parapet
+His head rose, and for the first time and the last
+From her high rampart he looked down on Troy,
+Aeneas, who had marked, albeit afar,
+That bold assault, rushed on him, dashed on his head
+So huge a stone that the hero's mighty strength
+Shattered the ladder.  Down from on high he rushed
+As arrow from the string: death followed him
+As whirling round he fell; with air was blent
+His lost life, ere he crashed to the stony ground.
+Strong spear, broad shield, in mid fall flew from his hands,
+And from his head the helm: his corslet came
+Alone with him to earth.  The Locrian men
+Groaned, seeing their champion quelled by evil doom;
+For all his hair and all the stones around
+Were brain-bespattered: all his bones were crushed,
+And his once active limbs besprent with gore.
+
+Then godlike Poeas' war-triumphant son
+Marked where Aeneas stormed along the wall
+In lion-like strength, and straightway shot a shaft
+Aimed at that glorious hero, neither missed
+The man: yet not through his unyielding targe
+To the fair flesh it won, being turned aside
+By Cytherea and the shield, but grazed
+The buckler lightly: yet not all in vain
+Fell earthward, but between the targe and helm
+Smote Medon: from the tower he fell, as falls
+A wild goat from a crag, the hunter's shaft
+Deep in its heart: so nerveless-flung he fell,
+And fled away from him the precious life.
+Wroth for his friend, a stone Aeneas hurled,
+And Philoctetes' stalwart comrade slew,
+Toxaechmes; for he shattered his head and crushed
+Helmet and skull-bones; and his noble heart
+Was stilled.  Loud shouted princely Poeas' son:
+"Aeneas, thou, forsooth, dost deem thyself
+A mighty champion, fighting from a tower
+Whence craven women war with foes!  Now if
+Thou be a man, come forth without the wall
+In battle-harness, and so learn to know
+In spear-craft and in bow-craft Poeas' son!"
+
+So cried he; but Anchises' valiant seed,
+How fain soe'er, naught answered, for the stress
+Of desperate conflict round that wall and burg
+Ceaselessly raging: pause from fight was none:
+Yea, for long time no respite had there been
+For the war-weary from that endless toil.
+
+
+
+BOOK XII
+
+How the Wooden Horse was fashioned, and brought into Troy by her
+people.
+
+
+When round the walls of Troy the Danaan host
+Had borne much travail, and yet the end was not,
+By Calchas then assembled were the chiefs;
+For his heart was instructed by the hests
+Of Phoebus, by the flights of birds, the stars,
+And all the signs that speak to men the will
+Of Heaven; so he to that assembly cried:
+"No longer toil in leaguer of yon walls;
+Some other counsel let your hearts devise,
+Some stratagem to help the host and us.
+For here but yesterday I saw a sign:
+A falcon chased a dove, and she, hard pressed,
+Entered a cleft of the rock; and chafing he
+Tarried long time hard by that rift, but she
+Abode in covert.  Nursing still his wrath,
+He hid him in a bush.  Forth darted she,
+In folly deeming him afar: he swooped,
+And to the hapless dove dealt wretched death.
+Therefore by force essay we not to smite Troy,
+but let cunning stratagem avail."
+
+He spake; but no man's wit might find a way
+To escape their grievous travail, as they sought
+To find a remedy, till Laertes' son
+Discerned it of his wisdom, and he spake:
+"Friend, in high honour held of the Heavenly Ones,
+If doomed it be indeed that Priam's burg
+By guile must fall before the war-worn Greeks,
+A great Horse let us fashion, in the which
+Our mightiest shall take ambush.  Let the host
+Burn all their tents, and sail from hence away
+To Tenedos; so the Trojans, from their towers
+Gazing, shall stream forth fearless to the plain.
+Let some brave man, unknown of any in Troy,
+With a stout heart abide without the Horse,
+Crouching beneath its shadow, who shall say:
+"`Achaea's lords of might, exceeding fain
+Safe to win home, made this their offering
+For safe return, an image to appease
+The wrath of Pallas for her image stolen
+From Troy.'  And to this story shall he stand,
+How long soe'er they question him, until,
+Though never so relentless, they believe,
+And drag it, their own doom, within the town.
+Then shall war's signal unto us be given --
+To them at sea, by sudden flash of torch,
+To the ambush, by the cry, `Come forth the Horse!'
+When unsuspecting sleep the sons of Troy."
+
+He spake, and all men praised him: most of all
+Extolled him Calchas, that such marvellous guile
+He put into the Achaeans' hearts, to be
+For them assurance of triumph, but for Troy
+Ruin; and to those battle-lords he cried:
+"Let your hearts seek none other stratagem,
+Friends; to war-strong Odysseus' rede give ear.
+His wise thought shall not miss accomplishment.
+Yea, our desire even now the Gods fulfil.
+Hark!  for new tokens come from the Unseen!
+Lo, there on high crash through the firmament
+Zeus' thunder and lightning!  See, where birds to right
+Dart past, and scream with long-resounding cry!
+Go to, no more in endless leaguer of Troy
+Linger we.  Hard necessity fills the foe
+With desperate courage that makes cowards brave;
+For then are men most dangerous, when they stake
+Their lives in utter recklessness of death,
+As battle now the aweless sons of Troy
+All round their burg, mad with the lust of fight."
+
+But cried Achilles' battle-eager son:
+"Calchas, brave men meet face to face their foes!
+Who skulk behind their walls, and fight from towers,
+Are nidderings, hearts palsied with base fear.
+Hence with all thought of wile and stratagem!
+The great war-travail of the spear beseems
+True heroes.  Best in battle are the brave."
+
+But answer made to him Laertes' seed:
+"Bold-hearted child of aweless Aeacus' son,
+This as beseems a hero princely and brave,
+Dauntlessly trusting in thy strength, thou say'st.
+Yet thine invincible sire's unquailing might
+Availed not to smite Priam's wealthy burg,
+Nor we, for all our travail.  Nay, with speed,
+As counselleth Calchas, go we to the ships,
+And fashion we the Horse by Epeius' hands,
+Who in the woodwright's craft is chiefest far
+Of Argives, for Athena taught his lore."
+
+Then all their mightiest men gave ear to him
+Save twain, fierce-hearted Neoptolemus
+And Philoctetes mighty-souled; for these
+Still were insatiate for the bitter fray,
+Still longed for turmoil of the fight.  They bade
+Their own folk bear against that giant wall
+What things soe'er for war's assaults avail,
+In hope to lay that stately fortress low,
+Seeing Heaven's decrees had brought them both to war.
+Yea, they had haply accomplished all their will,
+But from the sky Zeus showed his wrath; he shook
+The earth beneath their feet, and all the air
+Shuddered, as down before those heroes twain
+He hurled his thunderbolt: wide echoes crashed
+Through all Dardania.  Unto fear straightway
+Turned were their bold hearts: they forgat their might,
+And Calchas' counsels grudgingly obeyed.
+So with the Argives came they to the ships
+In reverence for the seer who spake from Zeus
+Or Phoebus, and they obeyed him utterly.
+
+What time round splendour-kindled heavens the stars
+From east to west far-flashing wheel, and when
+Man doth forget his toil, in that still hour
+Athena left the high mansions of the Blest,
+Clothed her in shape of a maiden tender-fleshed,
+And came to ships and host.  Over the head
+Of brave Epeius stood she in his dream,
+And bade him build a Horse of tree: herself
+Would labour in his labour, and herself
+Stand by his side, to the work enkindling him.
+Hearing the Goddess' word, with a glad laugh
+Leapt he from careless sleep: right well he knew
+The Immortal One celestial.  Now his heart
+Could hold no thought beside; his mind was fixed
+Upon the wondrous work, and through his soul
+Marched marshalled each device of craftsmanship.
+
+When rose the dawn, and thrust back kindly night
+To Erebus, and through the firmament streamed
+Glad glory, then Epeius told his dream
+To eager Argives -- all he saw and heard;
+And hearkening joyed they with exceeding joy.
+Straightway to tall-tressed Ida's leafy glades
+The sons of Atreus sent swift messengers.
+These laid the axe unto the forest-pines,
+And hewed the great trees: to their smiting rang
+The echoing glens.  On those far-stretching hills
+All bare of undergrowth the high peaks rose:
+Open their glades were, not, as in time past,
+Haunted of beasts: there dry the tree-trunks rose
+Wooing the winds.  Even these the Achaeans hewed
+With axes, and in haste they bare them down
+From those shagged mountain heights to Hellespont's shores.
+Strained with a strenuous spirit at the work
+Young men and mules; and all the people toiled
+Each at his task obeying Epeius's hest.
+For with the keen steel some were hewing beams,
+Some measuring planks, and some with axes lopped
+Branches away from trunks as yet unsawn:
+Each wrought his several work.  Epeius first
+Fashioned the feet of that great Horse of Wood:
+The belly next he shaped, and over this
+Moulded the back and the great loins behind,
+The throat in front, and ridged the towering neck
+With waving mane: the crested head he wrought,
+The streaming tail, the ears, the lucent eyes --
+All that of lifelike horses have.  So grew
+Like a live thing that more than human work,
+For a God gave to a man that wondrous craft.
+And in three days, by Pallas's decree,
+Finished was all.  Rejoiced thereat the host
+Of Argos, marvelling how the wood expressed
+Mettle, and speed of foot -- yea, seemed to neigh.
+Godlike Epeius then uplifted hands
+To Pallas, and for that huge Horse he prayed:
+"Hear, great-souled Goddess: bless thine Horse and me!"
+He spake: Athena rich in counsel heard,
+And made his work a marvel to all men
+Which saw, or heard its fame in days to be.
+
+But while the Danaans o'er Epeius' work
+Joyed, and their routed foes within the walls
+Tarried, and shrank from death and pitiless doom,
+Then, when imperious Zeus far from the Gods
+Had gone to Ocean's streams and Tethys' caves,
+Strife rose between the Immortals: heart with heart
+Was set at variance.  Riding on the blasts
+Of winds, from heaven to earth they swooped: the air
+Crashed round them.  Lighting down by Xanthus' stream
+Arrayed they stood against each other, these
+For the Achaeans, for the Trojans those;
+And all their souls were thrilled with lust of war:
+There gathered too the Lords of the wide Sea.
+These in their wrath were eager to destroy
+The Horse of Guile and all the ships, and those
+Fair Ilium.  But all-contriving Fate
+Held them therefrom, and turned their hearts to strife
+Against each other.  Ares to the fray
+Rose first, and on Athena rushed.  Thereat
+Fell each on other: clashed around their limbs
+The golden arms celestial as they charged.
+Round them the wide sea thundered, the dark earth
+Quaked 'neath immortal feet.  Rang from them all
+Far-pealing battle-shouts; that awful cry
+Rolled up to the broad-arching heaven, and down
+Even to Hades' fathomless abyss:
+Trembled the Titans there in depths of gloom.
+Ida's long ridges sighed, sobbed clamorous streams
+Of ever-flowing rivers, groaned ravines
+Far-furrowed, Argive ships, and Priam's towers.
+Yet men feared not, for naught they knew of all
+That strife, by Heaven's decree.  Then her high peaks
+The Gods' hands wrenched from Ida's crest, and hurled
+Against each other: but like crumbling sands
+Shivered they fell round those invincible limbs,
+Shattered to small dust.  But the mind of Zeus,
+At the utmost verge of earth, was ware of all:
+Straight left he Ocean's stream, and to wide heaven
+Ascended, charioted upon the winds,
+The East, the North, the West-wind, and the South:
+For Iris rainbow-plumed led 'neath the yoke
+Of his eternal ear that stormy team,
+The ear which Time the immortal framed for him
+Of adamant with never-wearying hands.
+So came he to Olympus' giant ridge.
+His wrath shook all the firmament, as crashed
+From east to west his thunders; lightnings gleamed,
+As thick and fast his thunderbolts poured to earth,
+And flamed the limitless welkin.  Terror fell
+Upon the hearts of those Immortals: quaked
+The limbs of all -- ay, deathless though they were!
+Then Themis, trembling for them, swift as thought
+Leapt down through clouds, and came with speed to them --
+For in the strife she only had no part
+And stood between the fighters, and she cried:
+"Forbear the conflict!  O, when Zeus is wroth,
+It ill beseems that everlasting Gods
+Should fight for men's sake, creatures of a day:
+Else shall ye be all suddenly destroyed;
+For Zeus will tear up all the hills, and hurl
+Upon you: sons nor daughters will he spare,
+But bury 'neath one ruin of shattered earth
+All.  No escape shall ye find thence to light,
+In horror of darkness prisoned evermore."
+
+Dreading Zeus' menace gave they heed to her,
+From strife refrained, and cast away their wrath,
+And were made one in peace and amity.
+Some heavenward soared, some plunged into the sea,
+On earth stayed some.  Amid the Achaean host
+Spake in his subtlety Laertes' son:
+"O valorous-hearted lords of the Argive host,
+Now prove in time of need what men ye be,
+How passing-strong, how flawless-brave!  The hour
+Is this for desperate emprise: now, with hearts
+Heroic, enter ye yon carven horse,
+So to attain the goal of this stern war.
+For better it is by stratagem and craft
+Now to destroy this city, for whose sake
+Hither we came, and still are suffering
+Many afflictions far from our own land.
+Come then, and let your hearts be stout and strong
+For he who in stress of fight hath turned to bay
+And snatched a desperate courage from despair,
+Oft, though the weaker, slays a mightier foe.
+For courage, which is all men's glory, makes
+The heart great.  Come then, set the ambush, ye
+Which be our mightiest, and the rest shall go
+To Tenedos' hallowed burg, and there abide
+Until our foes have haled within their walls
+Us with the Horse, as deeming that they bring
+A gift unto Tritonis.  Some brave man,
+One whom the Trojans know not, yet we lack,
+To harden his heart as steel, and to abide
+Near by the Horse.  Let that man bear in mind
+Heedfully whatsoe'er I said erewhile.
+And let none other thought be in his heart,
+Lest to the foe our counsel be revealed."
+
+Then, when all others feared, a man far-famed
+Made answer, Sinon, marked of destiny
+To bring the great work to accomplishment.
+Therefore with worship all men looked on him,
+The loyal of heart, as in the midst he spake:
+"Odysseus, and all ye Achaean chiefs,
+This work for which ye crave will I perform --
+Yea, though they torture me, though into fire
+Living they thrust me; for mine heart is fixed
+Not to escape, but die by hands of foes,
+Except I crown with glory your desire."
+
+Stoutly he spake: right glad the Argives were;
+And one said: "How the Gods have given to-day
+High courage to this man!  He hath not been
+Heretofore valiant.  Heaven is kindling him
+To be the Trojans' ruin, but to us
+Salvation.  Now full soon, I trow, we reach
+The goal of grievous war, so long unseen."
+
+So a voice murmured mid the Achaean host.
+Then, to stir up the heroes, Nestor cried:
+"Now is the time, dear sons, for courage and strength:
+Now do the Gods bring nigh the end of toil:
+Now give they victory to our longing hands.
+Come, bravely enter ye this cavernous Horse.
+For high renown attendeth courage high.
+Oh that my limbs were mighty as of old,
+When Aeson's son for heroes called, to man
+Swift Argo, when of the heroes foremost I
+Would gladly have entered her, but Pelias
+The king withheld me in my own despite.
+Ah me, but now the burden of years -- O nay,
+As I were young, into the Horse will I
+Fearlessly!  Glory and strength shall courage give."
+
+Answered him golden-haired Achilles' son:
+"Nestor, in wisdom art thou chief of men;
+But cruel age hath caught thee in his grip:
+No more thy strength may match thy gallant will;
+Therefore thou needs must unto Tenedos' strand.
+We will take ambush, we the youths, of strife
+Insatiate still, as thou, old sire, dost bid."
+
+Then strode the son of Neleus to his side,
+And kissed his hands, and kissed the head of him
+Who offered thus himself the first of all
+To enter that huge horse, being peril-fain,
+And bade the elder of days abide without.
+Then to the battle-eager spake the old:
+"Thy father's son art thou!  Achilles' might
+And chivalrous speech be here!  O, sure am I
+That by thine hands the Argives shall destroy
+The stately city of Priam.  At the last,
+After long travail, glory shall be ours,
+Ours, after toil and tribulation of war;
+The Gods have laid tribulation at men's feet
+But happiness far off, and toil between:
+Therefore for men full easy is the path
+To ruin, and the path to fame is hard,
+Where feet must press right on through painful toil."
+
+He spake: replied Achilles' glorious son:
+"Old sire, as thine heart trusteth, be it vouchsafed
+In answer to our prayers; for best were this:
+But if the Gods will otherwise, be it so.
+Ay, gladlier would I fall with glory in fight
+Than flee from Troy, bowed 'neath a load of shame."
+
+Then in his sire's celestial arms he arrayed
+His shoulders; and with speed in harness sheathed
+Stood the most mighty heroes, in whose healers
+Was dauntless spirit.  Tell, ye Queens of Song,
+Now man by man the names of all that passed
+Into the cavernous Horse; for ye inspired
+My soul with all my song, long ere my cheek
+Grew dark with manhood's beard, what time I fed
+My goodly sheep on Smyrna's pasture-lea,
+From Hermus thrice so far as one may hear
+A man's shout, by the fane of Artemis,
+In the Deliverer's Grove, upon a hill
+Neither exceeding low nor passing high.
+
+Into that cavernous Horse Achilles' son
+First entered, strong Menelaus followed then,
+Odysseus, Sthenelus, godlike Diomede,
+Philoctetes and Menestheus, Anticlus,
+Thoas and Polypoetes golden-haired,
+Aias, Eurypylus, godlike Thrasymede,
+Idomeneus, Meriones, far-famous twain,
+Podaleirius of spears, Eurymachus,
+Teucer the godlike, fierce Ialmenus,
+Thalpius, Antimachus, Leonteus staunch,
+Eumelus, and Euryalus fair as a God,
+Amphimachus, Demophoon, Agapenor,
+Akamas, Meges stalwart Phyleus' son --
+Yea, more, even all their chiefest, entered in,
+So many as that carven Horse could hold.
+Godlike Epeius last of all passed in,
+The fashioner of the Horse; in his breast lay
+The secret of the opening of its doors
+And of their closing: therefore last of all
+He entered, and he drew the ladders up
+Whereby they clomb: then made he all secure,
+And set himself beside the bolt.  So all
+In silence sat 'twixt victory and death.
+
+But the rest fired the tents, wherein erewhile
+They slept, and sailed the wide sea in their ships.
+Two mighty-hearted captains ordered these,
+Nestor and Agamemnon lord of spears.
+Fain had they also entered that great Horse,
+But all the host withheld them, bidding stay
+With them a-shipboard, ordering their array:
+For men far better work the works of war
+When their kings oversee them; therefore these
+Abode without, albeit mighty men.
+So came they swiftly unto Tenedos' shore,
+And dropped the anchor-stones, then leapt in haste
+Forth of the ships, and silent waited there
+Keen-watching till the signal-torch should flash.
+
+But nigh the foe were they in the Horse, and now
+Looked they for death, and now to smite the town;
+And on their hopes and fears uprose the dawn.
+
+Then marked the Trojans upon Hellespont's strand
+The smoke upleaping yet through air: no more
+Saw they the ships which brought to them from Greece
+Destruction dire.  With joy to the shore they ran,
+But armed them first, for fear still haunted them
+Then marked they that fair-carven Horse, and stood
+Marvelling round, for a mighty work was there.
+A hapless-seeming man thereby they spied,
+Sinon; and this one, that one questioned him
+Touching the Danaans, as in a great ring
+They compassed him, and with unangry words
+First questioned, then with terrible threatenings.
+Then tortured they that man of guileful soul
+Long time unceasing.  Firm as a rock abode
+The unquivering limbs, the unconquerable will.
+His ears, his nose, at last they shore away
+In every wise tormenting him, until
+He should declare the truth, whither were gone
+The Danaans in their ships, what thing the Horse
+Concealed within it.  He had armed his mind
+With resolution, and of outrage foul
+Recked not; his soul endured their cruel stripes,
+Yea, and the bitter torment of the fire;
+For strong endurance into him Hera breathed;
+And still he told them the same guileful tale:
+"The Argives in their ships flee oversea
+Weary of tribulation of endless war.
+This horse by Calchas' counsel fashioned they
+For wise Athena, to propitiate
+Her stern wrath for that guardian image stol'n
+From Troy.  And by Odysseus' prompting I
+Was marked for slaughter, to be sacrificed
+To the sea-powers, beside the moaning waves,
+To win them safe return.  But their intent
+I marked; and ere they spilt the drops of wine,
+And sprinkled hallowed meal upon mine head,
+Swiftly I fled, and, by the help of Heaven,
+I flung me down, clasping the Horse's feet;
+And they, sore loth, perforce must leave me there
+Dreading great Zeus's daughter mighty-souled."
+
+In subtlety so he spake, his soul untamed
+By pain; for a brave man's part is to endure
+To the uttermost.  And of the Trojans some
+Believed him, others for a wily knave
+Held him, of whose mind was Laocoon.
+Wisely he spake: "A deadly fraud is this,"
+He said, "devised by the Achaean chiefs!"
+And cried to all straightway to burn the Horse,
+And know if aught within its timbers lurked.
+
+Yea, and they had obeyed him, and had 'scaped
+Destruction; but Athena, fiercely wroth
+With him, the Trojans, and their city, shook
+Earth's deep foundations 'neath Laocoon's feet.
+Straight terror fell on him, and trembling bowed
+The knees of the presumptuous: round his head
+Horror of darkness poured; a sharp pang thrilled
+His eyelids; swam his eyes beneath his brows;
+His eyeballs, stabbed with bitter anguish, throbbed
+Even from the roots, and rolled in frenzy of pain.
+Clear through his brain the bitter torment pierced
+Even to the filmy inner veil thereof;
+Now bloodshot were his eyes, now ghastly green;
+Anon with rheum they ran, as pours a stream
+Down from a rugged crag, with thawing snow
+Made turbid.  As a man distraught he seemed:
+All things he saw showed double, and he groaned
+Fearfully; yet he ceased not to exhort
+The men of Troy, and recked not of his pain.
+Then did the Goddess strike him utterly blind.
+Stared his fixed eyeballs white from pits of blood;
+And all folk groaned for pity of their friend,
+And dread of the Prey-giver, lest he had sinned
+In folly against her, and his mind was thus
+Warped to destruction yea, lest on themselves
+Like judgment should be visited, to avenge
+The outrage done to hapless Sinon's flesh,
+Whereby they hoped to wring the truth from him.
+So led they him in friendly wise to Troy,
+Pitying him at the last.  Then gathered all,
+And o'er that huge Horse hastily cast a rope,
+And made it fast above; for under its feet
+Smooth wooden rollers had Epeius laid,
+That, dragged by Trojan hands, it might glide on
+Into their fortress.  One and all they haled
+With multitudinous tug and strain, as when
+Down to the sea young men sore-labouring drag
+A ship; hard-crushed the stubborn rollers groan,
+As, sliding with weird shrieks, the keel descends
+Into the sea-surge; so that host with toil
+Dragged up unto their city their own doom,
+Epeius' work.  With great festoons of flowers
+They hung it, and their own heads did they wreathe,
+While answering each other pealed the flutes.
+Grimly Enyo laughed, seeing the end
+Of that dire war; Hera rejoiced on high;
+Glad was Athena.  When the Trojans came
+Unto their city, brake they down the walls,
+Their city's coronal, that the Horse of Death
+Might be led in.  Troy's daughters greeted it
+With shouts of salutation; marvelling all
+Gazed at the mighty work where lurked their doom.
+
+But still Laocoon ceased not to exhort
+His countrymen to burn the Horse with fire:
+They would not hear, for dread of the Gods' wrath.
+But then a yet more hideous punishment
+Athena visited on his hapless sons.
+A cave there was, beneath a rugged cliff
+Exceeding high, unscalable, wherein
+Dwelt fearful monsters of the deadly brood
+Of Typhon, in the rock-clefts of the isle
+Calydna that looks Troyward from the sea.
+Thence stirred she up the strength of serpents twain,
+And summoned them to Troy.  By her uproused
+They shook the island as with earthquake: roared
+The sea; the waves disparted as they came.
+Onward they swept with fearful-flickering tongues:
+Shuddered the very monsters of the deep:
+Xanthus' and Simois' daughters moaned aloud,
+The River-nymphs: the Cyprian Queen looked down
+In anguish from Olympus.  Swiftly they came
+Whither the Goddess sped them: with grim jaws
+Whetting their deadly fangs, on his hapless sons
+Sprang they.  All Trojans panic-stricken fled,
+Seeing those fearsome dragons in their town.
+No man, though ne'er so dauntless theretofore,
+Dared tarry; ghastly dread laid hold on all
+Shrinking in horror from the monsters. Screamed
+The women; yea, the mother forgat her child,
+Fear-frenzied as she fled: all Troy became
+One shriek of fleers, one huddle of jostling limbs:
+The streets were choked with cowering fugitives.
+Alone was left Laocoon with his sons,
+For death's doom and the Goddess chained their feet.
+Then, even as from destruction shrank the lads,
+Those deadly fangs had seized and ravined up
+The twain, outstretching to their sightless sire
+Agonized hands: no power to help had he.
+Trojans far off looked on from every side
+Weeping, all dazed.  And, having now fulfilled
+Upon the Trojans Pallas' awful hest,
+Those monsters vanished 'neath the earth; and still
+Stands their memorial, where into the fane
+They entered of Apollo in Pergamus
+The hallowed.  Therebefore the sons of Troy
+Gathered, and reared a cenotaph for those
+Who miserably had perished.  Over it
+Their father from his blind eyes rained the tears:
+Over the empty tomb their mother shrieked,
+Boding the while yet worse things, wailing o'er
+The ruin wrought by folly of her lord,
+Dreading the anger of the Blessed Ones.
+As when around her void nest in a brake
+In sorest anguish moans the nightingale
+Whose fledglings, ere they learned her plaintive song,
+A hideous serpent's fangs have done to death,
+And left the mother anguish, endless woe,
+And bootless crying round her desolate home;
+So groaned she for her children's wretched death,
+So moaned she o'er the void tomb; and her pangs
+Were sharpened by her lord's plight stricken blind.
+
+While she for children and for husband moaned --
+These slain, he of the sun's light portionless --
+The Trojans to the Immortals sacrificed,
+Pouring the wine.  Their hearts beat high with hope
+To escape the weary stress of woeful war.
+Howbeit the victims burned not, and the flames
+Died out, as though 'neath heavy-hissing rain;
+And writhed the smoke-wreaths blood-red, and the thighs
+Quivering from crumbling altars fell to earth.
+Drink-offerings turned to blood, Gods' statues wept,
+And temple-walls dripped gore: along them rolled
+Echoes of groaning out of depths unseen;
+And all the long walls shuddered: from the towers
+Came quick sharp sounds like cries of men in pain;
+And, weirdly shrieking, of themselves slid back
+The gate-bolts.  Screaming "Desolation!" wailed
+The birds of night.  Above that God-built burg
+A mist palled every star; and yet no cloud
+Was in the flashing heavens.  By Phoebus' fane
+Withered the bays that erst were lush and green.
+Wolves and foul-feeding jackals came and howled
+Within the gates.  Ay, other signs untold
+Appeared, portending woe to Dardanus' sons
+And Troy: yet no fear touched the Trojans' hearts
+Who saw all through the town those portents dire:
+Fate crazed them all, that midst their revelling
+Slain by their foes they might fill up their doom.
+
+One heart was steadfast, and one soul clear-eyed,
+Cassandra.  Never her words were unfulfilled;
+Yet was their utter truth, by Fate's decree,
+Ever as idle wind in the hearers' ears,
+That no bar to Troy's ruin might be set.
+She saw those evil portents all through Troy
+Conspiring to one end; loud rang her cry,
+As roars a lioness that mid the brakes
+A hunter has stabbed or shot, whereat her heart
+Maddens, and down the long hills rolls her roar,
+And her might waxes tenfold; so with heart
+Aflame with prophecy came she forth her bower.
+Over her snowy shoulders tossed her hair
+Streaming far down, and wildly blazed her eyes.
+Her neck writhed, like a sapling in the wind
+Shaken, as moaned and shrieked that noble maid:
+"O wretches!  into the Land of Darkness now
+We are passing; for all round us full of fire
+And blood and dismal moan the city is.
+Everywhere portents of calamity
+Gods show: destruction yawns before your feet.
+Fools!  ye know not your doom: still ye rejoice
+With one consent in madness, who to Troy
+Have brought the Argive Horse where ruin lurks!
+Oh, ye believe not me, though ne'er so loud
+I cry!  The Erinyes and the ruthless Fates,
+For Helen's spousals madly wroth, through Troy
+Dart on wild wings.  And ye, ye are banqueting there
+In your last feast, on meats befouled with gore,
+When now your feet are on the Path of Ghosts!"
+
+Then cried a scoffing voice an ominous word:
+"Why doth a raving tongue of evil speech,
+Daughter of Priam, make thy lips to cry
+Words empty as wind?  No maiden modesty
+With purity veils thee: thou art compassed round
+With ruinous madness; therefore all men scorn
+Thee, babbler!  Hence, thine evil bodings speak
+To the Argives and thyself!  For thee doth wait
+Anguish and shame yet bitterer than befell
+Presumptuous Laocoon.  Shame it were
+In folly to destroy the Immortals' gift."
+
+So scoffed a Trojan: others in like sort
+Cried shame on her, and said she spake but lies,
+Saying that ruin and Fate's heavy stroke
+Were hard at hand.  They knew not their own doom,
+And mocked, and thrust her back from that huge Horse ú
+For fain she was to smite its beams apart,
+Or burn with ravening fire.  She snatched a brand
+Of blazing pine-wood from the hearth and ran
+In fury: in the other hand she bare
+A two-edged halberd: on that Horse of Doom
+She rushed, to cause the Trojans to behold
+With their own eyes the ambush hidden there.
+But straightway from her hands they plucked and flung
+Afar the fire and steel, and careless turned
+To the feast; for darkened o'er them their last night.
+Within the horse the Argives joyed to hear
+The uproar of Troy's feasters setting at naught
+Cassandra, but they marvelled that she knew
+So well the Achaeans' purpose and device.
+
+As mid the hills a furious pantheress,
+Which from the steading hounds and shepherd-folk
+Drive with fierce rush, with savage heart turns back
+Even in departing, galled albeit by darts:
+So from the great Horse fled she, anguish-racked
+For Troy, for all the ruin she foreknew.
+
+
+
+BOOK XIII
+
+How Troy in the night was taken and sacked with fire and
+slaughter.
+
+
+So feasted they through Troy, and in their midst
+Loud pealed the flutes and pipes: on every hand
+Were song and dance, laughter and cries confused
+Of banqueters beside the meats and wine.
+They, lifting in their hands the beakers brimmed,
+Recklessly drank, till heavy of brain they grew,
+Till rolled their fluctuant eyes.  Now and again
+Some mouth would babble the drunkard's broken words.
+The household gear, the very roof and walls
+Seemed as they rocked: all things they looked on seemed
+Whirled in wild dance.  About their eyes a veil
+Of mist dropped, for the drunkard's sight is dimmed,
+And the wit dulled, when rise the fumes to the brain:
+And thus a heavy-headed feaster cried:
+"For naught the Danaans mustered that great host
+Hither!  Fools, they have wrought not their intent,
+But with hopes unaccomplished from our town
+Like silly boys or women have they fled."
+
+So cried a Trojan wit-befogged with wine,
+Fool, nor discerned destruction at the doors.
+
+When sleep had locked his fetters everywhere
+Through Troy on folk fulfilled of wine and meat,
+Then Sinon lifted high a blazing torch
+To show the Argive men the splendour of fire.
+But fearfully the while his heart beat, lest
+The men of Troy might see it, and the plot
+Be suddenly revealed.  But on their beds
+Sleeping their last sleep lay they, heavy with wine.
+The host saw, and from Tenedos set sail.
+
+Then nigh the Horse drew Sinon: softly he called,
+Full softly, that no man of Troy might hear,
+But only Achaea's chiefs, far from whose eyes
+Sleep hovered, so athirst were they for fight.
+They heard, and to Odysseus all inclined
+Their ears: he bade them urgently go forth
+Softly and fearlessly; and they obeyed
+That battle-summons, pressing in hot haste
+To leap to earth: but in his subtlety
+He stayed them from all thrusting eagerly forth.
+But first himself with swift unfaltering hands,
+Helped of Epeius, here and there unbarred
+The ribs of the Horse of beams: above the planks
+A little he raised his head, and gazed around
+On all sides, if he haply might descry
+One Trojan waking yet.  As when a wolf,
+With hunger stung to the heart, comes from the hills,
+And ravenous for flesh draws nigh the flock
+Penned in the wide fold, slinking past the men
+And dogs that watch, all keen to ward the sheep,
+Then o'er the fold-wall leaps with soundless feet;
+So stole Odysseus down from the Horse: with him
+Followed the war-fain lords of Hellas' League,
+Orderly stepping down the ladders, which
+Epeius framed for paths of mighty men,
+For entering and for passing forth the Horse,
+Who down them now on this side, that side, streamed
+As fearless wasps startled by stroke of axe
+In angry mood pour all together forth
+From the tree-bole, at sound of woodman's blow;
+So battle-kindled forth the Horse they poured
+Into the midst of that strong city of Troy
+With hearts that leapt expectant.  [With swift hands
+Snatched they the brands from dying hearths, and fired
+Temple and palace.  Onward then to the gates
+Sped they,] and swiftly slew the slumbering guards,
+[Then held the gate-towers till their friends should come.]
+Fast rowed the host the while; on swept the ships
+Over the great flood: Thetis made their paths
+Straight, and behind them sent a driving wind
+Speeding them, and the hearts Achaean glowed.
+Swiftly to Hellespont's shore they came, and there
+Beached they the keels again, and deftly dealt
+With whatso tackling appertains to ships.
+Then leapt they aland, and hasted on to Troy
+Silent as sheep that hurry to the fold
+From woodland pasture on an autumn eve;
+So without sound of voices marched they on
+Unto the Trojans' fortress, eager all
+To help those mighty chiefs with foes begirt.
+Now these -- as famished wolves fierce-glaring round
+Fall on a fold mid the long forest-hills,
+While sleeps the toil-worn watchman, and they rend
+The sheep on every hand within the wall
+In darkness, and all round [are heaped the slain;
+So these within the city smote and slew,
+As swarmed the awakened foe around them; yet,
+Fast as they slew, aye faster closed on them
+Those thousands, mad to thrust them from the gates.]
+Slipping in blood and stumbling o'er the dead
+[Their line reeled,] and destruction loomed o'er them,
+Though Danaan thousands near and nearer drew.
+
+But when the whole host reached the walls of Troy,
+Into the city of Priam, breathing rage
+Of fight, with reckless battle-lust they poured;
+And all that fortress found they full of war
+And slaughter, palaces, temples, horribly
+Blazing on all sides; glowed their hearts with joy.
+In deadly mood then charged they on the foe.
+Ares and fell Enyo maddened there:
+Blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth,
+As Trojans and their alien helpers died.
+Here were men lying quelled by bitter death
+All up and down the city in their blood;
+Others on them were falling, gasping forth
+Their life's strength; others, clutching in their hands
+Their bowels that looked through hideous gashes forth,
+Wandered in wretched plight around their homes:
+Others, whose feet, while yet asleep they lay,
+Had been hewn off, with groans unutterable
+Crawled mid the corpses.  Some, who had rushed to fight,
+Lay now in dust, with hands and heads hewn off.
+Some were there, through whose backs, even as they fled,
+The spear had passed, clear through to the breast, and some
+Whose waists the lance had pierced, impaling them
+Where sharpest stings the anguish-laden steel.
+And all about the city dolorous howls
+Of dogs uprose, and miserable moans
+Of strong men stricken to death; and every home
+With awful cries was echoing.  Rang the shrieks
+Of women, like to screams of cranes, which see
+An eagle stooping on them from the sky,
+Which have no courage to resist, but scream
+Long terror-shrieks in dread of Zeus's bird;
+So here, so there the Trojan women wailed,
+Some starting from their sleep, some to the ground
+Leaping: they thought not in that agony
+Of robe and zone; in naught but tunics clad
+Distraught they wandered: others found nor veil
+Nor cloak to cast about them, but, as came
+Onward their foes, they stood with beating hearts
+Trembling, as lettered by despair, essaying,
+All-hapless, with their hands alone to hide
+Their nakedness.  And some in frenzy of woe:
+Their tresses tore, and beat their breasts, and screamed.
+Others against that stormy torrent of foes
+Recklessly rushed, insensible of fear,
+Through mad desire to aid the perishing,
+Husbands or children; for despair had given
+High courage.  Shrieks had startled from their sleep
+Soft little babes whose hearts had never known
+Trouble -- and there one with another lay
+Gasping their lives out!  Some there were whose dreams
+Changed to a sudden vision of doom.  All round
+The fell Fates gloated horribly o'er the slain.
+And even as swine be slaughtered in the court
+Of a rich king who makes his folk a feast,
+So without number were they slain.  The wine
+Left in the mixing-bowls was blent with blood
+Gruesomely.  No man bare a sword unstained
+With murder of defenceless folk of Troy,
+Though he were but a weakling in fair fight.
+And as by wolves or jackals sheep are torn,
+What time the furnace-breath of midnoon-heat
+Darts down, and all the flock beneath the shade
+Are crowded, and the shepherd is not there,
+But to the homestead bears afar their milk;
+And the fierce brutes leap on them, tear their throats,
+Gorge to the full their ravenous maws, and then
+Lap the dark blood, and linger still to slay
+All in mere lust of slaughter, and provide
+An evil banquet for that shepherd-lord;
+So through the city of Priam Danaans slew
+One after other in that last fight of all.
+No Trojan there was woundless, all men's limbs
+With blood in torrents spilt were darkly dashed.
+
+Nor seetheless were the Danaans in the fray:
+With beakers some were smitten, with tables some,
+Thrust in the eyes of some were burning brands
+Snatched from the hearth; some died transfixed with spits
+Yet left within the hot flesh of the swine
+Whereon the red breath of the Fire-god beat;
+Others struck down by bills and axes keen
+Gasped in their blood: from some men's hands were shorn
+The fingers, who, in wild hope to escape
+The imminent death, had clutched the blades of swords.
+And here in that dark tumult one had hurled
+A stone, and crushed the crown of a friend's head.
+Like wild beasts trapped and stabbed within a fold
+On a lone steading, frenziedly they fought,
+Mad with despair-enkindled rage, beneath
+That night of horror.  Hot with battle-lust
+Here, there, the fighters rushed and hurried through
+The palace of Priam.  Many an Argive fell
+Spear-slain; for whatso Trojan in his halls
+Might seize a sword, might lift a spear in hand,
+Slew foes -- ay, heavy though he were with wine.
+
+Upflashed a glare unearthly through the town,
+For many an Argive bare in hand a torch
+To know in that dim battle friends from foes.
+
+Then Tydeus' son amid the war-storm met
+Spearman Coroebus, lordly Mygdon's son,
+And 'neath the left ribs pierced him with the lance
+Where run the life-ways of man's meat and drink;
+So met him black death borne upon the spear:
+Down in dark blood he fell mid hosts of slain.
+Ah fool!  the bride he won not, Priam's child
+Cassandra, yea, his loveliest, for whose sake
+To Priam's burg but yesterday he came,
+And vaunted he would thrust the Argives back
+From Ilium.  Never did the Gods fulfil
+His hope: the Fates hurled doom upon his head.
+With him the slayer laid Eurydamas low,
+Antenor's gallant son-in-law, who most
+For prudence was pre-eminent in Troy.
+Then met he Ilioneus the elder of days,
+And flashed his terrible sword forth.  All the limbs
+Of that grey sire were palsied with his fear:
+He put forth trembling hands, with one he caught
+The swift avenging sword, with one he clasped
+The hero's knees.  Despite his fury of war,
+A moment paused his wrath, or haply a God
+Held back the sword a space, that that old man
+Might speak to his fierce foe one word of prayer.
+Piteously cried he, terror-overwhelmed:
+"I kneel before thee, whosoe'er thou be
+Of mighty Argives.  Oh compassionate
+My suppliant hands!  Abate thy wrath!  To slay
+The young and valiant is a glorious thing;
+But if thou smite an old man, small renown
+Waits on thy prowess.  Therefore turn from me
+Thine hands against young men, if thou dost hope
+Ever to come to grey hairs such as mine."
+
+So spake he; but replied strong Tydeus' son:
+"Old man, I look to attain to honoured age;
+But while my Strength yet waxeth, will not I
+Spare any foe, but hurl to Hades all.
+The brave man makes an end of every foe."
+
+Then through his throat that terrible warrior drave
+The deadly blade, and thrust it straight to where
+The paths of man's life lead by swiftest way
+Blood-paved to doom: death palsied his poor strength
+By Diomedes' hands.  Thence rushed he on
+Slaying the Trojans, storming in his might
+All through their fortress: pierced by his long spear
+Eurycoon fell, Perimnestor's son renowned.
+Amphimedon Aias slew: Agamemnon smote
+Damastor's son: Idomeneus struck down
+Mimas: by Meges Deiopites died.
+
+Achilles' son with his resistless lance
+Smote godlike Pammon; then his javelin pierced
+Polites in mid-rush: Antiphonus
+Dead upon these he laid, all Priam's sons.
+Agenor faced him in the fight, and fell:
+Hero on hero slew he; everywhere
+Stalked at his side Death's black doom manifest:
+Clad in his sire's might, whomso he met he slew.
+Last, on Troy's king in murderous mood he came.
+By Zeus the Hearth-lord's altar.  Seeing him,
+Old Priam knew him and quaked not; for he longed
+Himself to lay his life down midst his sons;
+And craving death to Achilles' seed he spake:
+"Fierce-hearted son of Achilles strong in war,
+Slay me, and pity not my misery.
+I have no will to see the sun's light more,
+Who have suffered woes so many and so dread.
+With my sons would I die, and so forget
+Anguish and horror of war.  Oh that thy sire
+Had slain me, ere mine eyes beheld aflame
+Illium, had slain me when I brought to him
+Ransom for Hector, whom thy father slew.
+He spared me -- so the Fates had spun my thread
+Of destiny.  But thou, glut with my blood
+Thy fierce heart, and let me forget my pain."
+Answered Achilles' battle-eager son:
+"Fain am I, yea, in haste to grant thy prayer.
+A foe like thee will I not leave alive;
+For naught is dearer unto men than life."
+
+With one stroke swept he off that hoary head
+Lightly as when a reaper lops an ear
+In a parched cornfield at the harvest-tide.
+With lips yet murmuring low it rolled afar
+From where with quivering limbs the body lay
+Amidst dark-purple blood and slaughtered men.
+So lay he, chiefest once of all the world
+In lineage, wealth, in many and goodly sons.
+Ah me, not long abides the honour of man,
+But shame from unseen ambush leaps on him
+So clutched him Doom, so he forgat his woes.
+
+Yea, also did those Danaan car-lords hurl
+From a high tower the babe Astyanax,
+Dashing him out of life.  They tore the child
+Out of his mother's arms, in wrathful hate
+Of Hector, who in life had dealt to them
+Such havoc; therefore hated they his seed,
+And down from that high rampart flung his child --
+A wordless babe that nothing knew of war!
+As when amid the mountains hungry wolves
+Chase from the mother's side a suckling calf,
+And with malignant cunning drive it o'er
+An echoing cliffs edge, while runs to and fro
+Its dam with long moans mourning her dear child,
+And a new evil followeth hard on her,
+For suddenly lions seize her for a prey;
+So, as she agonized for her son, the foe
+To bondage haled with other captive thralls
+That shrieking daughter of King Eetion.
+Then, as on those three fearful deaths she thought
+Of husband, child, and father, Andromaehe
+Longed sore to die.  Yea, for the royally-born
+Better it is to die in war, than do
+The service of the thrall to baser folk.
+All piteously the broken-hearted cried:
+"Oh hurl my body also from the wall,
+Or down the cliff, or cast me midst the fire,
+Ye Argives!  Woes are mine unutterable!
+For Peleus' son smote down my noble father
+In Thebe, and in Troy mine husband slew,
+Who unto me was all mine heart's desire,
+Who left me in mine halls one little child,
+My darling and my pride -- of all mine hopes
+In him fell merciless Fate hath cheated me!
+Oh therefore thrust this broken-hearted one
+Now out of life!  Hale me not overseas
+Mingled with spear-thralls; for my soul henceforth
+Hath no more pleasure in life, since God hath slain
+My nearest and my dearest!  For me waits
+Trouble and anguish and lone homelessness!"
+
+So cried she, longing for the grave; for vile
+Is life to them whose glory is swallowed up
+Of shame: a horror is the scorn of men.
+But, spite her prayers, to thraldom dragged they her.
+
+In all the homes of Troy lay dying men,
+And rose from all a lamentable cry,
+Save only Antenor's halls; for unto him
+The Argives rendered hospitality's debt,
+For that in time past had his roof received
+And sheltered godlike Menelaus, when
+He with Odysseus came to claim his own.
+Therefore the mighty sons of Achaea showed
+Grace to him, as to a friend, and spared his life
+And substance, fearing Themis who seeth all.
+
+Then also princely Anchises' noble son --
+Hard had he fought through Priam's burg that night
+With spear and valour, and many had he slain --
+When now he saw the city set aflame
+By hands of foes, saw her folk perishing
+In multitudes, her treasures spoiled, her wives
+And children dragged to thraldom from their homes,
+No more he hoped to see the stately walls
+Of his birth-city, but bethought him now
+How from that mighty ruin to escape.
+And as the helmsman of a ship, who toils
+On the deep sea, and matches all his craft
+Against the winds and waves from every side
+Rushing against him in the stormy time,
+Forspent at last, both hand and heart, when now
+The ship is foundering in the surge, forsakes
+The helm, to launch forth in a little boat,
+And heeds no longer ship and lading; so
+Anchises' gallant son forsook the town
+And left her to her foes, a sea of fire.
+His son and father alone he snatched from death;
+The old man broken down with years he set
+On his broad shoulders with his own strong hands,
+And led the young child by his small soft hand,
+Whose little footsteps lightly touched the ground;
+And, as he quaked to see that work of deaths
+His father led him through the roar of fight,
+And clinging hung on him the tender child,
+Tears down his soft cheeks streaming.  But the man
+O'er many a body sprang with hurrying feet,
+And in the darkness in his own despite
+Trampled on many.  Cypris guided them,
+Earnest to save from that wild ruin her son,
+His father, and his child.  As on he pressed,
+The flames gave back before him everywhere:
+The blast of the Fire-god's breath to right and left
+Was cloven asunder.  Spears and javelins hurled
+Against him by the Achaeans harmless fell.
+Also, to stay them, Calchas cried aloud:
+"Forbear against Aeneas' noble head
+To hurl the bitter dart, the deadly spear!
+Fated he is by the high Gods' decree
+To pass from Xanthus, and by Tiber's flood
+To found a city holy and glorious
+Through all time, and to rule o'er tribes of men
+Far-sundered.  Of his seed shall lords of earth
+Rule from the rising to the setting sun.
+Yea, with the Immortals ever shall he dwell,
+Who is son of Aphrodite lovely-tressed.
+From him too is it meet we hold our hands
+Because he hath preferred his father and son
+To gold, to all things that might profit a man
+Who fleeth exiled to an alien land.
+This one night hath revealed to us a man
+Faithful to death to his father and his child."
+
+Then hearkened they, and as a God did all
+Look on him.  Forth the city hasted he
+Whither his feet should bear him, while the foe
+Made havoc still of goodly-builded Troy.
+
+Then also Menelaus in Helen's bower
+Found, heavy with wine, ill-starred Deiphobus,
+And slew him with the sword: but she had fled
+And hidden her in the palace.  O'er the blood
+Of that slain man exulted he, and cried:
+"Dog!  I, even I have dealt thee unwelcome death
+This day!  No dawn divine shall meet thee again
+Alive in Troy -- ay, though thou vaunt thyself
+Spouse of the child of Zeus the thunder-voiced!
+Black death hath trapped thee slain in my wife's bower!
+Would I had met Alexander too in fight
+Ere this, and plucked his heart out!  So my grief
+Had been a lighter load.  But he hath paid
+Already justice' debt, hath passed beneath
+Death's cold dark shadow.  Ha, small joy to thee
+My wife was doomed to bring!  Ay, wicked men
+Never elude pure Themis: night and day
+Her eyes are on them, and the wide world through
+Above the tribes of men she floats in air,
+Holpen of Zeus, for punishment of sin."
+
+On passed he, dealing merciless death to foes,
+For maddened was his soul with jealousy.
+Against the Trojans was his bold heart full
+Of thoughts of vengeance, which were now fulfilled
+By the dread Goddess Justice, for that theirs
+Was that first outrage touching Helen, theirs
+That profanation of the oaths, and theirs
+That trampling on the blood of sacrifice
+When their presumptuous souls forgat the Gods.
+Therefore the Vengeance-friends brought woes on them
+Thereafter, and some died in fighting field,
+Some now in Troy by board and bridal bower.
+
+Menelaus mid the inner chambers found
+At last his wife, there cowering from the wrath
+Of her bold-hearted lord.  He glared on her,
+Hungering to slay her in his jealous rage.
+But winsome Aphrodite curbed him, struck
+Out of his hand the sword, his onrush reined,
+Jealousy's dark cloud swept she away, and stirred
+Love's deep sweet well-springs in his heart and eyes.
+Swept o'er him strange amazement: powerless all
+Was he to lift the sword against her neck,
+Seeing her splendour of beauty.  Like a stock
+Of dead wood in a mountain forest, which
+No swiftly-rushing blasts of north-winds shake,
+Nor fury of south-winds ever, so he stood,
+So dazed abode long time.  All his great strength
+Was broken, as he looked upon his wife.
+And suddenly had he forgotten all
+Yea, all her sins against her spousal-troth;
+For Aphrodite made all fade away,
+She who subdueth all immortal hearts
+And mortal.  Yet even so he lifted up
+From earth his sword, and made as he would rush
+Upon his wife but other was his intent,
+Even as he sprang: he did but feign, to cheat
+Achaean eyes.  Then did his brother stay
+His fury, and spake with pacifying words,
+Fearing lest all they had toiled for should be lost:
+"Forbear wrath, Menelaus, now: 'twere shame
+To slay thy wedded wife, for whose sake we
+Have suffered much affliction, while we sought
+Vengeance on Priam.  Not, as thou dost deem,
+Was Helen's the sin, but his who set at naught
+The Guest-lord, and thine hospitable board;
+So with death-pangs hath God requited him."
+
+Then hearkened Menelaus to his rede.
+But the Gods, palled in dark clouds, mourned for Troy,
+A ruined glory save fair-tressed Tritonis
+And Hera: their hearts triumphed, when they saw
+The burg of god-descended Priam destroyed.
+Yet not the wise heart Trito-born herself
+Was wholly tearless; for within her fane
+Outraged Cassandra was of Oileus son
+Lust-maddened.  But grim vengeance upon him
+Ere long the Goddess wreaked, repaying insult
+With mortal sufferance.  Yea, she would not look
+Upon the infamy, but clad herself
+With shame and wrath as with a cloak: she turned
+Her stern eyes to the temple-roof, and groaned
+The holy image, and the hallowed floor
+Quaked mightily.  Yet did he not forbear
+His mad sin, for his soul was lust-distraught.
+
+Here, there, on all sides crumbled flaming homes
+In ruin down: scorched dust with smoke was blent:
+Trembled the streets to the awful thunderous crash.
+Here burned Aeneas' palace, yonder flamed
+Antimachus' halls: one furnace was the height
+Of fair-built Pergamus; flames were roaring round
+Apollo's temple, round Athena's fane,
+And round the Hearth-lord's altar: flames licked up
+Fair chambers of the sons' sons of a king;
+And all the city sank down into hell.
+
+Of Trojans some by Argos' sons were slain,
+Some by their own roofs crashing down in fire,
+Giving at once in death and tomb to them:
+Some in their own throats plunged the steel, when foes
+And fire were in the porch together seen:
+Some slew their wives and children, and flung themselves
+Dead on them, when despair had done its work
+Of horror.  One, who deemed the foe afar,
+Caught up a vase, and, fain to quench the flame,
+Hasted for water.  Leapt unmarked on him
+An Argive, and his spirit, heavy with wine,
+Was thrust forth from the body by the spear.
+Clashed the void vase above him, as he fell
+Backward within the house.  As through his hall
+Another fled, the burning roof-beam crashed
+Down on his head, and swift death came with it.
+And many women, as in frenzied flight
+They rushed forth, suddenly remembered babes
+Left in their beds beneath those burning roofs:
+With wild feet sped they back -- the house fell in
+Upon them, and they perished, mother and child.
+Horses and dogs in panic through the town
+Fled from the flames, trampling beneath their feet
+The dead, and dashing into living men
+To their sore hurt.  Shrieks rang through all the town.
+In through his blazing porchway rushed a man
+To rescue wife and child.  Through smoke and flame
+Blindly he groped, and perished while he cried
+Their names, and pitiless doom slew those within.
+
+The fire-glow upward mounted to the sky,
+The red glare o'er the firmament spread its wings,
+And all the tribes of folk that dwelt around
+Beheld it, far as Ida's mountain-crests,
+And sea-girt Tenedos, and Thracian Samos.
+And men that voyaged on the deep sea cried:
+"The Argives have achieved their mighty task
+After long toil for star-eyed Helen's sake.
+All Troy, the once queen-city, burns in fire:
+For all their prayers, no God defends them now;
+For strong Fate oversees all works of men,
+And the renownless and obscure to fame
+She raises, and brings low the exalted ones.
+Oft out of good is evil brought, and good
+From evil, mid the travail and change of life."
+
+So spake they, who from far beheld the glare
+Of Troy's great burning.  Compassed were her folk
+With wailing misery: through her streets the foe
+Exulted, as when madding blasts turmoil
+The boundless sea, what time the Altar ascends
+To heaven's star-pavement, turned to the misty south
+Overagainst Arcturus tempest-breathed,
+And with its rising leap the wild winds forth,
+And ships full many are whelmed 'neath ravening seas;
+Wild as those stormy winds Achaea's sons
+Ravaged steep Ilium while she burned in flame.
+As when a mountain clothed with shaggy woods
+Burns swiftly in a fire-blast winged with winds,
+And from her tall peaks goeth up a roar,
+And all the forest-children this way and that
+Rush through the wood, tormented by the flame;
+So were the Trojans perishing: there was none
+To save, of all the Gods.  Round these were staked
+The nets of Fate, which no man can escape.
+
+Then were Demophoon and Acamas
+By mighty Theseus' mother Aethra met.
+Yearning to see them was she guided on
+To meet them by some Blessed One, the while
+'Wildered from war and fire she fled.  They saw
+In that red glare a woman royal-tall,
+Imperial-moulded, and they weened that this
+Was Priam's queen, and with swift eagerness
+Laid hands on her, to lead her captive thence
+To the Danaans; but piteously she moaned:
+"Ah, do not, noble sons of warrior Greeks,
+To your ships hale me, as I were a foe!
+I am not of Trojan birth: of Danaans came
+My princely blood renowned.  In Troezen's halls
+Pittheus begat me, Aegeus wedded me,
+And of my womb sprang Theseus glory-crowned.
+For great Zeus' sake, for your dear parents' sake,
+I pray you, if the seed of Theseus came
+Hither with Atreus' sons, O bring ye me
+Unto their yearning eyes.  I trow they be
+Young men like you.  My soul shall be refreshed
+If living I behold those chieftains twain."
+
+Hearkening to her they called their sire to mind,
+His deeds for Helen's sake, and how the sons
+Of Zeus the Thunderer in the old time smote
+Aphidnae, when, because these were but babes,
+Their nurses hid them far from peril of fight;
+And Aethra they remembered -- all she endured
+Through wars, as mother-in-law at first, and thrall
+Thereafter of Helen.  Dumb for joy were they,
+Till spake Demophoon to that wistful one:
+"Even now the Gods fulfil thine heart's desire:
+We whom thou seest are the sons of him,
+Thy noble son: thee shall our loving hands
+Bear to the ships: with joy to Hellas' soil
+Thee will we bring, where once thou wast a queen."
+
+Then his great father's mother clasped him round
+With clinging arms: she kissed his shoulders broad,
+His head, his breast, his bearded lips she kissed,
+And Acamas kissed withal, the while she shed
+Glad tears on these who could not choose but weep.
+As when one tarries long mid alien men,
+And folk report him dead, but suddenly
+He cometh home: his children see his face,
+And break into glad weeping; yea, and he,
+His arms around them, and their little heads
+Upon his shoulders, sobs: echoes the home
+With happy mourning's music-beating wings;
+So wept they with sweet sighs and sorrowless moans.
+
+Then, too, affliction-burdened Priam's child,
+Laodice, say they, stretched her hands to heaven,
+Praying the mighty Gods that earth might gape
+To swallow her, ere she defiled her hand
+With thralls' work; and a God gave ear, and rent
+Deep earth beneath her: so by Heaven's decree
+Did earth's abysmal chasm receive the maid
+In Troy's last hour.  Electra's self withal,
+The Star-queen lovely-robed, shrouded her form
+In mist and cloud, and left the Pleiad-band,
+Her sisters, as the olden legend tells.
+Still riseth up in sight of toil-worn men
+Their bright troop in the skies; but she alone
+Hides viewless ever, since the hallowed town
+Of her son Dardanus in ruin fell,
+When Zeus most high from heaven could help her not,
+Because to Fate the might of Zeus must bow;
+And by the Immortals' purpose all these things
+Had come to pass, or by Fate's ordinance.
+
+Still on Troy's folk the Argives wreaked their wrath,
+And battle's issues Strife Incarnate held.
+
+
+
+BOOK XIV.
+
+How the conquerors sailed from Troy unto judgment of tempest and
+shipwreck.
+
+
+Then rose from Ocean Dawn the golden-throned
+Up to the heavens; night into Chaos sank.
+And now the Argives spoiled fair-fenced Troy,
+And took her boundless treasures for a prey.
+Like river-torrents seemed they, that sweep down,
+By rain, floods swelled, in thunder from the hills,
+And seaward hurl tall trees and whatsoe'er
+Grows on the mountains, mingled with the wreck
+Of shattered cliff and crag; so the long lines
+Of Danaans who had wasted Troy with fire
+Seemed, streaming with her plunder to the ships.
+Troy's daughters therewithal in scattered bands
+They haled down seaward -- virgins yet unwed,
+And new-made brides, and matrons silver-haired,
+And mothers from whose bosoms foes had torn
+Babes for the last time closing lips on breasts.
+
+Amidst of these Menelaus led his wife
+Forth of the burning city, having wrought
+A mighty triumph -- joy and shame were his.
+Cassandra heavenly-fair was haled the prize
+Of Agamemnon: to Achilles' son
+Andromache had fallen: Hecuba
+Odysseus dragged unto his ship.  The tears
+Poured from her eyes as water from a spring;
+Trembled her limbs, fear-frenzied was her heart;
+Rent were her hoary tresses and besprent
+With ashes of the hearth, cast by her hands
+When she saw Priam slain and Troy aflame.
+And aye she deeply groaned for thraldom's day
+That trapped her vainly loth.  Each hero led
+A wailing Trojan woman to his ship.
+Here, there, uprose from these the wild lament,
+The woeful-mingling cries of mother and babe.
+As when with white-tusked swine the herdmen drive
+Their younglings from the hill-pens to the plain
+As winter closeth in, and evermore
+Each answereth each with mingled plaintive cries;
+So moaned Troy's daughters by their foes enslaved,
+Handmaid and queen made one in thraldom's lot.
+
+But Helen raised no lamentation: shame
+Sat on her dark-blue eyes, and cast its flush
+Over her lovely cheeks.  Her heart beat hard
+With sore misgiving, lest, as to the ships
+She passed, the Achaeans might mishandle her.
+Therefore with fluttering soul she trembled sore;
+And, her head darkly mantled in her veil,
+Close-following trod she in her husband's steps,
+With cheek shame-crimsoned, like the Queen of Love,
+What time the Heaven-abiders saw her clasped
+In Ares' arms, shaming in sight of all
+The marriage-bed, trapped in the myriad-meshed
+Toils of Hephaestus: tangled there she lay
+In agony of shame, while thronged around
+The Blessed, and there stood Hephaestus' self:
+For fearful it is for wives to be beheld
+By husbands' eyes doing the deed of shame.
+Lovely as she in form and roseate blush
+Passed Helen mid the Trojan captives on
+To the Argive ships.  But the folk all around
+Marvelled to see the glory of loveliness
+Of that all-flawless woman.  No man dared
+Or secretly or openly to cast
+Reproach on her.  As on a Goddess all
+Gazed on her with adoring wistful eyes.
+As when to wanderers on a stormy sea,
+After long time and passion of prayer, the sight
+Of fatherland is given; from deadly deeps
+Escaped, they stretch hands to her joyful-souled;
+So joyed the Danaans all, no man of them
+Remembered any more war's travail and pain.
+Such thoughts Cytherea stirred in them, for grace
+To Helen starry-eyed, and Zeus her sire.
+
+Then, when he saw that burg beloved destroyed,
+Xanthus, scarce drawing breath from bloody war,
+Mourned with his Nymphs for ruin fallen on Troy,
+Mourned for the city of Priam blotted out.
+As when hail lashes a field of ripened wheat,
+And beats it small, and smites off all the ears
+With merciless scourge, and levelled with the ground
+Are stalks, and on the earth is all the grain
+Woefully wasted, and the harvest's lord
+Is stricken with deadly grief; so Xanthus' soul
+Was utterly whelmed in grief for Ilium made
+A desolation; grief undying was his,
+Immortal though he was.  Mourned Simois
+And long-ridged Ida: all who on Ida dwelt
+Wailed from afar the ruin of Priam's town.
+
+But with loud laughter of glee the Argives sought
+Their galleys, chanting the triumphant might
+Of victory, chanting now the Blessed Gods,
+Now their own valour, and Epeius' work
+Ever renowned.  Their song soared up to heaven,
+Like multitudinous cries of daws, when breaks
+A day of sunny calm and windless air
+After a ruining storm: from their glad hearts
+So rose the joyful clamour, till the Gods
+Heard and rejoiced in heaven, all who had helped
+With willing hands the war-fain Argive men.
+But chafed those others which had aided Troy,
+Beholding Priam's city wrapped in flame,
+Yet powerless for her help to override
+Fate; for not Cronos' Son can stay the hand
+Of Destiny, whose might transcendeth all
+The Immortals, and Zeus sanctioneth all her deeds.
+
+The Argives on the flaming altar-wood
+Laid many thighs of oxen, and made haste
+To spill sweet wine on their burnt offerings,
+Thanking the Gods for that great work achieved.
+And loudly at the feast they sang the praise
+Of all the mailed men whom the Horse of Tree
+Had ambushed.  Far-famed Sinon they extolled
+For that dire torment he endured of foes;
+Yea, song and honour-guerdons without end
+All rendered him: and that resolved soul
+Glad-hearted joyed for the Argives victory,
+And for his own misfeaturing sorrowed not.
+For to the wise and prudent man renown
+Is better far than gold, than goodlihead,
+Than all good things men have or hope to win.
+
+So, feasting by the ships all void of fear,
+Cried one to another ever and anon:
+"We have touched the goal of this long war, have won
+Glory, have smitten our foes and their great town!
+Now grant, O Zeus, to our prayers safe home-return!"
+But not to all the Sire vouchsafed return.
+
+Then rose a cunning harper in their midst.
+And sang the song of triumph and of peace
+Re-won, and with glad hearts untouched by care
+They heard; for no more fear of war had they,
+But of sweet toil of law-abiding days
+And blissful, fleeting hours henceforth they dreamed.
+All the War's Story in their eager ears
+He sang -- how leagued peoples gathering met
+At hallowed Aulis -- how the invincible strength
+Of Peleus' son smote fenced cities twelve
+In sea-raids, how he marched o'er leagues on leagues
+Of land, and spoiled eleven -- all he wrought
+In fight with Telephus and Eetion --
+How he slew giant Cycnus -- all the toil
+Of war that through Achilles' wrath befell
+The Achaeans -- how he dragged dead Hector round
+His own Troy's wall, and how he slew in fight
+Penthesileia and Tithonus' son: --
+How Aias laid low Glaucus, lord of spears,
+Then sang he how the child of Aeacus' son
+Struck down Eurypylus, and how the shafts
+Of Philoctetes dealt to Paris death.
+Then the song named all heroes who passed in
+To ambush in the Horse of Guile, and hymned
+The fall of god-descended Priam's burg;
+The feast he sang last, and peace after war;
+Then many another, as they listed, sang.
+
+But when above those feasters midnight's stars
+Hung, ceased the Danaans from the feast and wine,
+And turned to sleep's forgetfulness of care,
+For that with yesterday's war-travail all
+Were wearied; wherefore they, who fain all night
+Had revelled, needs must cease: how loth soe'er,
+Sleep drew them thence; here, there, soft slumbered they.
+
+But in his tent Menelaus lovingly
+With bright-haired Helen spake; for on their eyes
+Sleep had not fallen yet.  The Cyprian Queen
+Brooded above their souls, that olden love
+Might be renewed, and heart-ache chased away.
+
+Helen first brake the silence, and she said:
+"O Menelaus, be not wroth with me!
+Not of my will I left thy roof, thy bed,
+But Alexander and the sons of Troy
+Came upon me, and snatched away, when thou
+Wast far thence.  Oftentimes did I essay
+By the death-noose to perish wretchedly,
+Or by the bitter sword; but still they stayed
+Mine hand, and still spake comfortable words
+To salve my grief for thee and my sweet child.
+For her sake, for the sake of olden love,
+And for thine own sake, I beseech thee now,
+Forget thy stern displeasure against thy wife."
+
+Answered her Menelaus wise of wit:
+"No more remember past griefs: seal them up
+Hid in thine heart.  Let all be locked within
+The dim dark mansion of forgetfulness.
+What profits it to call ill deeds to mind?"
+
+Glad was she then: fear flitted from her heart,
+And came sweet hope that her lord's wrath was dead.
+She cast her arms around him, and their eyes
+With tears were brimming as they made sweet moan;
+And side by side they laid them, and their hearts
+Thrilled with remembrance of old spousal joy.
+And as a vine and ivy entwine their stems
+Each around other, that no might of wind
+Avails to sever them, so clung these twain
+Twined in the passionate embrace of love.
+
+When came on these too sorrow-drowning sleep,
+Even then above his son's head rose and stood
+Godlike Achilles' mighty shade, in form
+As when he lived, the Trojans' bane, the joy
+Of Greeks, and kissed his neck and flashing eyes
+Lovingly, and spake comfortable words:
+"All hail, my son!  Vex not thine heart with grief
+For thy dead sire; for with the Blessed Gods
+Now at the feast I sit.  Refrain thy soul
+From sorrow, and plant my strength within thy mind.
+Be foremost of the Argives ever; yield
+To none in valour, but in council bow
+Before thine elders: so shall all acclaim
+Thy courtesy.  Honour princely men and wise;
+For the true man is still the true man's friend,
+Even as the vile man cleaveth to the knave.
+If good thy thought be, good shall be thy deeds:
+But no man shall attain to Honour's height,
+Except his heart be right within: her stem
+Is hard to climb, and high in heaven spread
+Her branches: only they whom strength and toil
+Attend, strain up to pluck her blissful fruit,
+Climbing the Tree of Honour glow-crowned.
+Thou therefore follow fame, and let thy soul
+Be not in sorrow afflicted overmuch,
+Nor in prosperity over-glad.  To friends,
+To comrades, child and wife, be kindly of heart,
+Remembering still that near to all men stand
+The gates of doom, the mansions of the dead:
+For humankind are like the flower of grass,
+The blossom of spring; these fade the while those bloom:
+Therefore be ever kindly with thy kind.
+Now to the Argives say -- to Atreus' son
+Agamemnon chiefly -- if my battle-toil
+Round Priam's walls, and those sea-raids I led
+Or ever I set foot on Trojan land,
+Be in their hearts remembered, to my tomb
+Be Priam's daughter Polyxeina led --
+Whom as my portion of the spoil I claim --
+And sacrificed thereon: else shall my wrath
+Against them more than for Briseis burn.
+The waves of the great deep will I turmoil
+To bar their way, upstirring storm on storm,
+That through their own mad folly pining away
+Here they may linger long, until to me
+They pour drink-offerings, yearning sore for home.
+But, when they have slain the maiden, I grudge not
+That whoso will may bury her far from me."
+
+Then as a wind-breath swift he fleeted thence,
+And came to the Elysian Plain, whereto
+A path to heaven reacheth, for the feet
+Ascending and descending of the Blest.
+Then the son started up from sleep, and called
+His sire to mind, and glowed the heart in him.
+
+When to wide heaven the Child of Mist uprose,
+Scattering night, unveiling earth and air,
+Then from their rest upsprang Achaea's sons
+Yearning for home.  With laughter 'gan they hale
+Down to the sea the keels: but lo, their haste
+Was reined in by Achilles' mighty son:
+
+He assembled them, and told his sire's behest:
+"Hearken, dear sons of Argives battle-staunch,
+To this my glorious father's hest, to me
+Spoken in darkness slumbering on my bed:
+He saith, he dwells with the Immortal Gods:
+He biddeth you and Atreus' son the king
+To bring, as his war-guerdon passing-fair,
+To his dim dark tomb Polyxeina queenly-robed,
+To slay her there, but far thence bury her.
+But if ye slight him, and essay to sail
+The sea, he threateneth to stir up the waves
+To bar your path upon the deep, and here
+Storm-bound long time to hold you, ships and men."
+
+Then hearkened they, and as to a God they prayed;
+For even now a storm-blast on the sea
+Upheaved the waves, broad-backed and thronging fast
+More than before beneath the madding wind.
+Tossed the great deep, smit by Poseidon's hands
+For a grace to strong Achilles.  All the winds
+Swooped on the waters.  Prayed the Dardans all
+To Achilles, and a man to his fellow cried:
+"Great Zeus's seed Achilles verily was;
+Therefore is he a God, who in days past
+Dwelt among us; for lapse of dateless time
+Makes not the sons of Heaven to fade away."
+
+Then to Achilles' tomb the host returned,
+And led the maid, as calf by herdmen dragged
+For sacrifice, from woodland pastures torn
+From its mother's side, and lowing long and loud
+It moans with anguished heart; so Priam's child
+Wailed in the hands of foes.  Down streamed her tears
+As when beneath the heavy sacks of sand
+Olives clear-skinned, ne'er blotched by drops of storm,
+Pour out their oil, when the long levers creak
+As strong men strain the cords; so poured the tears
+Of travail-burdened Priam's daughter, haled
+To stern Achilles' tomb, tears blent with moans.
+Drenched were her bosom-folds, glistened the drops
+On flesh clear-white as costly ivory.
+
+Then, to crown all her griefs, yet sharper pain
+Fell on the heart of hapless Hecuba.
+Then did her soul recall that awful dream,
+The vision of sleep of that night overpast:
+Herseemed that on Achilles' tomb she stood
+Moaning, her hair down-streaming to the ground,
+And from her breasts blood dripped to earth the while,
+And drenched the tomb.  Fear-haunted touching this,
+Foreboding all calamity, she wailed
+Piteously; far rang her wild lament.
+As a dog moaning at her master's door,
+Utters long howls, her teats with milk distent,
+Whose whelps, ere their eyes opened to the light,
+Her lords afar have flung, a prey to kites;
+And now with short sharp cries she plains, and now
+Long howling: the weird outcry thrills the air;
+So wailed and shrieked for her child Hecuba:
+"Ah me! what sorrows first or last shall I
+Lament heart-anguished, who am full of woes?
+Those unimagined ills my sons, my king
+Have suffered?  or my city, or daughters shamed?
+Or my despair, my day of slavery?
+Oh, the grim fates have caught me in a net
+Of manifold ills!  O child, they have spun for thee
+Dread weird of unimagined misery!
+They have thrust thee away, when near was Hymen"s hymn,
+From thine espousals, marked thee for destruction
+Dark, unendurable, unspeakable!
+For lo, a dead man's heart, Achilles' heart,
+Is by our blood made warm with life to-day!
+O child, dear child, that I might die with thee,
+That earth might swallow me, ere I see thy doom!"
+So cried she, weeping never-ceasing tears,
+For grief on bitter grief encompassed her.
+But when these reached divine Achilles' tomb,
+Then did his son unsheathe the whetted sword,
+His left hand grasped the maid, and his right hand
+Was laid upon the tomb, and thus he cried:
+"Hear, father, thy son's prayer, hear all the prayers
+Of Argives, and be no more wroth with us!
+Lo, unto thee now all thine heart's desire
+Will we fulfil.  Be gracious to us thou,
+And to our praying grant sweet home-return."
+
+Into the maid's throat then he plunged the blade
+Of death: the dear life straightway sobbed she forth,
+With the last piteous moan of parting breath.
+Face-downward to the earth she fell: all round
+Her flesh was crimsoned from her neck, as snow
+Stained on a mountain-side with scarlet blood
+Rushing, from javelin-smitten boar or bear.
+The maiden's corpse then gave they, to be borne
+Unto the city, to Antenor's home,
+For that, when Troy yet stood, he nurtured her
+In his fair halls, a bride for his own son
+Eurymachus.  The old man buried her,
+King Priam's princess-child, nigh his own house,
+By Ganymedes' shrine, and overagainst
+The temple of Pallas the Unwearied One.
+Then were the waves stilled, and the blast was hushed
+To sleep, and all the sea-flood lulled to calm.
+
+Swift with glad laughter hied they to the ships,
+Hymning Achilles and the Blessed Ones.
+A feast they made, first severing thighs of kine
+For the Immortals.  Gladsome sacrifice
+Steamed on all sides: in cups of silver and gold
+They drank sweet wine: their hearts leaped up with hope
+Of winning to their fatherland again.
+But when with meats and wine all these were filled,
+Then in their eager ears spake Neleus' son:
+"Hear, friends, who have 'scaped the long turmoil of war,
+That I may say to you one welcome word:
+Now is the hour of heart's delight, the hour
+Of home-return.  Away!  Achilles soul
+Hath ceased from ruinous wrath; Earth-shaker stills
+The stormy wave, and gentle breezes blow;
+No more the waves toss high.  Haste, hale the ships
+Down to the sea.  Now, ho for home-return!"
+
+Eager they heard, and ready made the ships.
+Then was a marvellous portent seen of men;
+For all-unhappy Priam's queen was changed
+From woman's form into a pitiful hound;
+And all men gathered round in wondering awe.
+Then all her body a God transformed to stone --
+A mighty marvel for men yet unborn!
+At Calchas' bidding this the Achaeans bore
+In a swift ship to Hellespont's far side.
+Then down to the sea in haste they ran the keels:
+Their wealth they laid aboard, even all the spoil
+Taken, or ever unto Troy they came,
+From conquered neighbour peoples; therewithal
+Whatso they took from Ilium, wherein most
+They joyed, for untold was the sum thereof.
+And followed with them many a captive maid
+With anguished heart: so went they aboard the ships.
+But Calchas would not with that eager host
+Launch forth; yea, he had fain withheld therefrom
+All the Achaeans, for his prophet-soul
+Foreboded dread destruction looming o'er
+The Argives by the Rocks Capherean.
+But naught they heeded him; malignant
+Fate Deluded men's souls: only Amphilochus
+The wise in prophet-lore, the gallant son
+Of princely Amphiaraus, stayed with him.
+Fated were these twain, far from their own land,
+To reach Pamphylian and Cilician burgs;
+And this the Gods thereafter brought to pass.
+
+But now the Achaeans cast the hawsers loose
+From shore: in haste they heaved the anchor-stones.
+Roared Hellespont beneath swift-flashing oars;
+Crashed the prows through the sea.  About the bows
+Much armour of slain foes was lying heaped:
+Along the bulwarks victory-trophies hung
+Countless.  With garlands wreathed they all the ships,
+Their heads, the spears, the shields wherewith they had fought
+Against their foes.  The chiefs stood on the prows,
+And poured into the dark sea once and again
+Wine to the Gods, to grant them safe return.
+But with the winds their prayers mixed; far away
+Vainly they floated blent with cloud and air.
+
+With anguished hearts the captive maids looked back
+On Ilium, and with sobs and moans they wailed,
+Striving to hide their grief from Argive eyes.
+Clasping their knees some sat; in misery some
+Veiled with their hands their faces; others nursed
+Young children in their arms: those innocents
+Not yet bewailed their day of bondage, nor
+Their country's ruin; all their thoughts were set
+On comfort of the breast, for the babe's heart
+Hath none affinity with sorrow.  All
+Sat with unbraided hair and pitiful breasts
+Scored with their fingers.  On their cheeks there lay
+Stains of dried tears, and streamed thereover now
+Fresh tears full fast, as still they gazed aback
+On the lost hapless home, wherefrom yet rose
+The flames, and o'er it writhed the rolling smoke.
+Now on Cassandra marvelling they gazed,
+Calling to mind her prophecy of doom;
+But at their tears she laughed in bitter scorn,
+In anguish for the ruin of her land.
+
+Such Trojans as had scaped from pitiless war
+Gathered to render now the burial-dues
+Unto their city's slain.  Antenor led
+To that sad work: one pyre for all they raised.
+
+But laughed with triumphing hearts the Argive men,
+As now with oars they swept o'er dark sea-ways,
+Now hastily hoised the sails high o'er the ships,
+And fleeted fast astern Dardania-land,
+And Hero Achilles' tomb.  But now their hearts,
+How blithe soe'er, remembered comrades slain,
+And sorely grieved, and wistfully they looked
+Back to the alien's land; it seemed to them
+Aye sliding farther from their ships.  Full soon
+By Tenedos' beaches slipt they: now they ran
+By Chrysa, Sminthian Phoebus' holy place,
+And hallowed Cilla.  Far away were glimpsed
+The windy heights of Lesbos.  Rounded now
+Was Lecton's foreland, where is the last peak
+Of Ida.  In the sails loud hummed the wind,
+Crashed round the prows the dark surge: the long waves
+Showed shadowy hollows, far the white wake gleamed.
+
+Now had the Argives all to the hallowed soil
+Of Hellas won, by perils of the deep
+Unscathed, but for Athena Daughter of Zeus
+The Thunderer, and her indignation's wrath.
+When nigh Euboea's windy heights they drew,
+She rose, in anger unappeasable
+Against the Locrian king, devising doom
+Crushing and pitiless, and drew nigh to Zeus
+Lord of the Gods, and spake to him apart
+In wrath that in her breast would not be pent:
+"Zeus, Father, unendurable of Gods
+Is men's presumption!  They reck not of thee,
+Of none of the Blessed reck they, forasmuch
+As vengeance followeth after sin no more;
+And ofttimes more afflicted are good men
+Than evil, and their misery hath no end.
+Therefore no man regardeth justice: shame
+Lives not with men!  And I, I will not dwell
+Hereafter in Olympus, not be named
+Thy daughter, if I may not be avenged
+On the Achaeans' reckless sin!  Behold,
+Within my very temple Oileus' son
+Hath wrought iniquity, hath pitied not
+Cassandra stretching unregarded hands
+Once and again to me; nor did he dread
+My might, nor reverenced in his wicked heart
+The Immortal, but a deed intolerable
+He did.  Therefore let not thy spirit divine
+Begrudge mine heart's desire, that so all men
+May quake before the manifest wrath of Gods."
+
+Answered the Sire with heart-assuaging words:
+"Child, not for the Argives' sake withstand I thee;
+But all mine armoury which the Cyclops' might
+To win my favour wrought with tireless hands,
+To thy desire I give.  O strong heart, hurl
+A ruining storm thyself on the Argive fleet."
+
+Then down before the aweless Maid he cast
+Swift lightning, thunder, and deadly thunderbolt;
+And her heart leapt, and gladdened was her soul.
+She donned the stormy Aegis flashing far,
+Adamantine, massy, a marvel to the Gods,
+Whereon was wrought Medusa's ghastly head,
+Fearful: strong serpents breathing forth the blast
+Of ravening fire were on the face thereof.
+Crashed on the Queen's breast all the Aegis-links,
+As after lightning crashes the firmament.
+Then grasped she her father's weapons, which no God
+Save Zeus can lift, and wide Olympus shook.
+Then swept she clouds and mist together on high;
+Night over earth was poured, haze o'er the sea.
+Zeus watched, and was right glad as broad heaven's floor
+Rocked 'neath the Goddess's feet, and crashed the sky,
+As though invincible Zeus rushed forth to war.
+Then sped she Iris unto Acolus,
+From heaven far-flying over misty seas,
+To bid him send forth all his buffering winds
+O'er iron-bound Caphereus' cliffs to sweep
+Ceaselessly, and with ruin of madding blasts
+To upheave the sea.  And Iris heard, and swift
+She darted, through cloud-billows plunging down --
+Thou hadst said: "Lo, in the sky dark water and fire!"
+And to Aeolia came she, isle of caves,
+Of echoing dungeons of mad-raging winds
+With rugged ribs of mountain overarched,
+Whereby the mansion stands of Aeolus
+Hippotas' son.  Him found she therewithin
+With wife and twelve sons; and she told to him
+Athena's purpose toward the homeward-bound
+Achaeans.  He denied her not, but passed
+Forth of his halls, and in resistless hands
+Upswung his trident, smiting the mountain-side
+Within whose chasm-cell the wild winds dwelt
+Tempestuously shrieking.  Ever pealed
+Weird roarings of their voices round its vaults.
+Cleft by his might was the hill-side; forth they poured.
+He bade them on their wings bear blackest storm
+To upheave the sea, and shroud Caphereus' heights.
+Swiftly upsprang they, ere their king's command
+Was fully spoken.  Mightily moaned the sea
+As they rushed o'er it; waves like mountain-cliffs
+From all sides were uprolled.  The Achaeans' hearts
+Were terror-palsied, as the uptowering surge
+Now swung the ships up high through palling mist,
+Now hurled them rolled as down a precipice
+To dark abysses.  Up through yawning deeps
+Some power resistless belched the boiling sand
+From the sea's floor.  Tossed in despair, fear-dazed,
+Men could not grasp the oar, nor reef the sail
+About the yard-arm, howsoever fain,
+Ere the winds rent it, could not with the sheets
+Trim the torn canvas, buffeted so were they
+By ruining blasts.  The helmsman had no power
+To guide the rudder with his practised hands,
+For those ill winds hurled all confusedly.
+No hope of life was left them: blackest night,
+Fury of tempest, wrath of deathless Gods,
+Raged round them.  Still Poseidon heaved and swung
+The merciless sea, to work the heart's desire
+Of his brother's glorious child; and she on high
+Stormed with her lightnings, ruthless in her rage.
+Thundered from heaven Zeus, in purpose fixed
+To glorify his daughter.  All the isles
+And mainlands round were lashed by leaping seas
+Nigh to Euboea, where the Power divine
+Scourged most with unrelenting stroke on stroke
+The Argives.  Groan and shriek of perishing men
+Rang through the ships; started great beams and snapped
+With ominous sound, for ever ship on ship
+With shivering timbers crashed.  With hopeless toil
+Men strained with oars to thrust back hulls that reeled
+Down on their own, but with the shattered planks
+Were hurled into the abyss, to perish there
+By pitiless doom; for beams of foundering ships
+From this, from that side battered out their lives,
+And crushed were all their bodies wretchedly.
+Some in the ships fell down, and like dead men
+Lay there; some, in the grip of destiny,
+Clinging to oars smooth-shaven, tried to swim;
+Some upon planks were tossing.  Roared the surge
+From fathomless depths: it seemed as though sea, sky,
+And land were blended all confusedly.
+
+Still from Olympus thundering Atrytone
+Wielded her Father's power unshamed, and still
+The welkin shrieked around.  Her ruin of wrath
+Now upon Aias hurled she: on his ship
+Dashed she a thunderbolt, and shivered it
+Wide in a moment into fragments small,
+While earth and air yelled o'er the wreck, and whirled
+And plunged and fell the whole sea down thereon.
+They in the ship were all together flung
+Forth: all about them swept the giant waves,
+Round them leapt lightnings flaming through the dark.
+Choked with the strangling surf of hissing brine,
+Gasping out life, they drifted o'er the sea.
+
+But even in death those captive maids rejoiced,
+As some ill-starred ones, clasping to their breasts
+Their babes, sank in the sea; some flung their arms
+Round Danaans' horror-stricken heads, and dragged
+These down with them, so rendering to their foes
+Requital for foul outrage down to them.
+And from on high the haughty Trito-born
+Looked down on all this, and her heart was glad.
+
+But Aias floated now on a galley's plank,
+Now through the brine with strong hands oared his path,
+Like some old Titan in his tireless might.
+Cleft was the salt sea-surge by the sinewy hands
+Of that undaunted man: the Gods beheld
+And marvelled at his courage and his strength.
+But now the billows swung him up on high
+Through misty air, as though to a mountain's peak,
+Now whelmed him down, as they would bury him
+In ravening whirlpits: yet his stubborn hands
+Toiled on unwearied.  Aye to right and left
+Flashed lightnings down, and quenched them in the sea;
+For not yet was the Child of Thunderer Zeus
+Purposed to smite him dead, despite her wrath,
+Ere he had drained the cup of travail and pain
+Down to the dregs; so in the deep long time
+Affliction wore him down, tormented sore
+On every side.  Grim Fates stood round the man
+Unnumbered; yet despair still kindled strength.
+He cried: "Though all the Olympians banded come
+In wrath, and rouse against me all the sea,
+I will escape them!"  But no whit did he
+Elude the Gods' wrath; for the Shaker of Earth
+In fierceness of his indignation marked
+Where his hands clung to the Gyraean Rock,
+And in stern anger with an earthquake shook
+Both sea and land.  Around on all sides crashed
+Caphereus' cliffs: beneath the Sea-king's wrath
+The surf-tormented beaches shrieked and roared.
+The broad crag rifted reeled into the sea,
+The rock whereto his desperate hands had clung;
+Yet did he writhe up round its jutting spurs,
+While flayed his hands were, and from 'neath his nails
+The blood ran.  Wrestling with him roared the waves,
+And the foam whitened all his hair and beard.
+
+Yet had he 'scaped perchance his evil doom,
+Had not Poseidon, wroth with his hardihood,
+Cleaving the earth, hurled down the chasm the rock,
+As in the old time Pallas heaved on high
+Sicily, and on huge Enceladus
+Dashed down the isle, which burns with the burning yet
+Of that immortal giant, as he breathes
+Fire underground; so did the mountain-crag,
+Hurled from on high, bury the Locrian king,
+Pinning the strong man down, a wretch crushed flat.
+And so on him death's black destruction came
+Whom land and sea alike were leagued to slay.
+
+Still over the great deep were swept the rest
+Of those Achaeans, crouching terror-dazed
+Down in the ships, save those that mid the waves
+Had fallen.  Misery encompassed all;
+For some with heavily-plunging prows drave on,
+With keels upturned some drifted.  Here were masts
+Snapped from the hull by rushing gusts, and there
+Were tempest-rifted wrecks of scattered beams;
+And some had sunk, whelmed in the mighty deep,
+Swamped by the torrent downpour from the clouds:
+For these endured not madness of wind-tossed sea
+Leagued with heaven's waterspout; for streamed the sky
+Ceaselessly like a river, while the deep
+Raved round them.  And one cried: "Such floods on men
+Fell only when Deucalion's deluge came,
+When earth was drowned, and all was fathomless sea!"
+
+So cried a Danaan, seeing soul-appalled
+That wild storm.  Thousands perished; corpses thronged
+The great sea-highways: all the beaches were
+Too strait for them: the surf belched multitudes
+Forth on the land.  The heavy-booming sea
+With weltering beams of ships was wholly paved,
+And here and there the grey waves gleamed between.
+
+So found they each his several evil fate,
+Some whelmed beneath broad-rushing billows, some
+Wretchedly perishing with their shattered ships
+By Nauplius' devising on the rocks.
+Wroth for that son whom they had done to death,
+He; when the storm rose and the Argives died,
+Rejoiced amid his sorrow, seeing a God
+Gave to his hands revenge, which now he wreaked
+Upon the host he hated, as o'er the deep
+They tossed sore-harassed.  To his sea-god sire
+He prayed that all might perish, ships and men
+Whelmed in the deep.  Poseidon heard his prayer,
+And on the dark surge swept them nigh his land.
+He, like a harbour-warder, lifted high
+A blazing torch, and so by guile he trapped
+The Achaean men, who deemed that they had won
+A sheltering haven: but sharp reefs and crags
+Gave awful welcome unto ships and men,
+Who, dashed to pieces on the cruel rocks
+In the black night, crowned ills with direr ills.
+Some few escaped, by a God or Power unseen
+Plucked from death's hand.  Athena now rejoiced
+Her heart within, and now was racked with fears
+For prudent-souled Odysseus; for his weird
+Was through Poseidon's wrath to suffer woes
+Full many.
+
+               But Earth-shaker's jealousy now
+Burned against those long walls and towers uppiled
+By the strong Argives for a fence against
+The Trojans' battle-onset.  Swiftly then
+He swelled to overbrimming all the sea
+That rolls from Euxine down to Hellespont,
+And hurled it on the shore of Troy: and Zeus,
+For a grace unto the glorious Shaker of Earth,
+Poured rain from heaven: withal Far-darter bare
+In that great work his part; from Ida's heights
+Into one channel led he all her streams,
+And flooded the Achaeans' work.  The sea
+Dashed o'er it, and the roaring torrents still
+Rushed on it, swollen by the rains of Zeus;
+And the dark surge of the wide-moaning sea
+Still hurled them back from mingling with the deep,
+Till all the Danaan walls were blotted out
+Beneath their desolating flood.  Then earth
+Was by Poseidon chasm-cleft: up rushed
+Deluge of water, slime and sand, while quaked
+Sigeum with the mighty shock, and roared
+The beach and the foundations of the land
+Dardanian.  So vanished, whelmed from sight,
+That mighty rampart.  Earth asunder yawned,
+And all sank down, and only sand was seen,
+When back the sea rolled, o'er the beach outspread
+Far down the heavy-booming shore.  All this
+The Immortals' anger wrought.  But in their ships
+The Argives storm-dispersed went sailing on.
+So came they home, as heaven guided each,
+Even all that 'scaped the fell sea-tempest blasts.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext; The Fall of Troy, by Quintus Smyrnaeus
+
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