The Iliad. Homer

by tribes and clans,

       O Agamemnon! range thy troops, that so

       Tribe may to tribe give aid, and clan to clan.

       If thus thou do, and Greeks thy words obey,

       Then shalt thou see, of chiefs and troops alike,

       The good and bad; for on their own behoof

       They all shall fight; and if thou fail, shalt know

       Whether thy failure be of Heav'n's decree,

       Or man's default and ignorance of war."

      To whom the monarch Agamemnon thus:

       "Father, in council, of the sons of Greece,

       None can compare with thee; and would to Jove

       To Pallas, and Apollo, at my side

       I had but ten such counsellors as thee!

       Then soon should royal Priam's city fall,

       Tak'n and destroy'd by our victorious hands.

       But now on me hath aegis-bearing Jove,

       The son of Saturn, fruitless toil impos'd,

       And hurtful quarrels; for in wordy war

       About a girl, Achilles and myself

       Engag'd; and I, alas! the strife began:

       Could we be friends again, delay were none,

       How short soe'er, of Ilium's final doom.

       But now to breakfast, ere we wage the fight.

       Each sharpen well his spear, his shield prepare,

       Each to his fiery steeds their forage give,

       Each look his chariot o'er, that through the day

       We may unwearied stem the tide of war;

       For respite none, how short soe'er, shall be

       Till night shall bid the storm of battle cease.

       With sweat shall reek upon each warrior's breast

       The leathern belt beneath the cov'ring shield;

       And hands shall ache that wield the pond'rous spear:

       With sweat shall reek the fiery steeds that draw

       Each warrior's car; but whomsoe'er I find

       Loit'ring beside the beaked ships, for him

       'Twere hard to'scape the vultures and the dogs."

      He said; and from th' applauding ranks of Greece

       Rose a loud sound, as when the ocean wave,

       Driv'n by the south wind on some lofty beach,

       Dashes against a prominent crag, expos'd

       To blasts from every storm that roars around.

       Uprising then, and through the camp dispers'd

       They took their sev'ral ways, and by their tents

       The fires they lighted, and the meal prepar'd;

       And each to some one of the Immortal Gods

       His off'ring made, that in the coming fight

       He might escape the bitter doom of death.

       But to the o'erruling son of Saturn, Jove,

       A sturdy ox, well-fatten'd, five years old,

       Atrides slew; and to the banquet call'd

       The aged chiefs and councillors of Greece;

       Nestor the first, the King Idomeneus,

       The two Ajaces next, and Tydeus' son,

       Ulysses sixth, as Jove in council sage.

       But uninvited Menelaus came,

       Knowing what cares upon his brother press'd.

       Around the ox they stood, and on his head

       The salt cake sprinkled; then amid them all

       The monarch Agamemnon pray'd aloud:

       "Most great, most glorious Jove! who dwell'st on high,

       In clouds and darkness veil'd, grant Thou that ere

       This sun shall set, and night o'erspread the earth,

       I may the haughty walls of Priam's house

       Lay prostrate in the dust; and burn with fire

       His lofty gates; and strip from Hector's breast

       His sword-rent tunic, while around his corpse

       Many brave comrades, prostrate, bite the dust."

      Thus he; but Saturn's son his pray'r denied;

       Receiv'd his off'rings, but his toils increas'd.

       Their pray'rs concluded, and the salt cake strewed

       Upon the victim's head, they drew him back,

       And slew, and flay'd; then cutting from the thighs

       The choicest pieces, and in double layers

       O'erspreading them with fat, above them plac'd

       The due meat-off'rings; these they burnt with logs

       Of leafless timber; and the inward parts,

       First to be tasted, o'er the fire they held.

       The thighs consum'd with fire, the inward parts

       They tasted first; the rest upon the spits

       Roasted with care, and from the fire withdrew.

       Their labours ended, and the feast prepar'd,

       They shared the social meal, nor lacked there aught.

       The rage of thirst and hunger satisfied,

       Gerenian Nestor thus his speech began:

       "Most mighty Agamemnon, King of men,

       Great Atreus' son, no longer let us pause,

       The work delaying which the pow'rs of Heav'n

       Have trusted to our hands; do thou forthwith

       Bid that the heralds proclamation make,

       And summon through the camp the brass-clad Greeks;

       While, in a body, through the wide-spread ranks

       We pass, and stimulate their warlike zeal."

      He said; and Agamemnon, King of men,

       Obedient to his counsel, gave command

       That to the war the clear-voic'd heralds call

       The long-hair'd Greeks: they gave the word, and straight

       From ev'ry quarter throng'd the eager crowd.

       The Heav'n-born Kings, encircling Atreus' son,

       The troops inspected: Pallas, blue-ey'd Maid,

       Before the chiefs her glorious aegis bore,

       By time untouch'd, immortal: all around

       A hundred tassels hung, rare works of art,

       All gold, each one a hundred oxen's price.

       With this the Goddess pass'd along the ranks,

       Exciting all; and fix'd in every breast

       The firm resolve to wage unwearied war;

       And dearer to their hearts than thoughts of home

       Or wish'd return, became the battle-field.

      As when a wasting fire, on mountain tops,

       Hath seized the blazing woods, afar is seen

       The glaring light; so, as they mov'd, to Heav'n

       Flash'd the bright glitter of their burnish'd arms.

      As when a num'rous flock of birds, or geese,

       Or cranes, or long-neck'd