The Iliad of Homer. Homer

all the hollow vale of Asius rings; In number such from ships and tents effused, They cover'd the Scamandrian plain; the earth560 Rebellow'd to the feet of steeds and men. They overspread Scamander's grassy vale, Myriads, as leaves, or as the flowers of spring. As in the hovel where the peasant milks His kine in spring-time, when his pails are fill'd,565 Thick clouds of humming insects on the wing Swarm all around him, so the Grecians swarm'd An unsumm'd multitude o'er all the plain, Bright arm'd, high crested, and athirst for war. As goat-herds separate their numerous flocks570 With ease, though fed promiscuous, with like ease Their leaders them on every side reduced 048 To martial order glorious;[19] among whom Stood Agamemnon "with an eye like Jove's, To threaten or command," like Mars in girth,575 And with the port of Neptune. As the bull Conspicuous among all the herd appears, For he surpasses all, such Jove ordain'd That day the son of Atreus, in the midst Of Heroes, eminent above them all.580

      Tell me, (for ye are are heavenly, and beheld[20] A scene, whereof the faint report alone Hath reached our ears, remote and ill-informed,) Tell me, ye Muses, under whom, beneath What Chiefs of royal or of humbler note585 Stood forth the embattled Greeks? The host at large; They were a multitude in number more Than with ten tongues, and with ten mouths, each mouth Made vocal with a trumpet's throat of brass I might declare, unless the Olympian nine,590 Jove's daughters, would the chronicle themselves Indite, of all assembled, under Troy. I will rehearse the Captains and their fleets.

      [21]Bœotia's sturdy sons Peneleus led, And Leïtus, whose partners in command595 049 Arcesilaus and Prothoenor came, And Clonius. Them the dwellers on the rocks Of Aulis followed, with the hardy clans Of Hyrie, Schoenos, Scholos, and the hills Of Eteon; Thespia, Græa, and the plains600 Of Mycalessus them, and Harma served, Eleon, Erythræ, Peteon; Hyle them, Hesius and Ocalea, and the strength Of Medeon; Copæ also in their train Marched, with Eutresis and the mighty men605 Of Thisbe famed for doves; nor pass unnamed Whom Coronæa, and the grassy land Of Haliartus added to the war, Nor whom Platæa, nor whom Glissa bred, And Hypothebæ,[22] and thy sacred groves610 To Neptune, dark Onchestus. Arne claims A record next for her illustrious sons, Vine-bearing Arne. Thou wast also there Mideia, and thou Nissa; nor be thine Though last, Anthedon, a forgotten name.615 These in Bœotia's fair and gallant fleet Of fifty ships, each bearing o'er the waves Thrice forty warriors, had arrived at Troy.

      In thirty ships deep-laden with the brave,

       Aspledon and Orchomenos had sent620

       050 Their chosen youth; them ruled a noble pair,

       Sons of Astyoche; she, lovely nymph,

       Received by stealth, on Actor's stately roof,

       The embraces of a God, and bore to Mars

       Twins like himself, Ascalaphus the bold,625

       And bold Iälmenus, expert in arms.

      Beneath Epistrophus and Schedius, took

       Their destined station on Bœotia's left,

       The brave Phocensians; they in forty ships

       From Cyparissus came, and from the rocks630

       Of Python, and from Crissa the divine;

       From Anemoria, Daulis, Panopeus,

       And from Hyampolis, and from the banks

       Of the Cephissus, sacred stream, and from

       Lilæa, seated at its fountain-head.635

      Next from beyond Eubœa's happy isle

       In forty ships conveyed, stood forth well armed

       The Locrians; dwellers in Augeia some

       The pleasant, some of Opoëis possessed,

       Some of Calliarus; these Scarpha sent,640

       And Cynus those; from Bessa came the rest,

       From Tarpha, Thronius, and from the brink

       Of loud Boagrius; Ajax them, the swift,

       Son of Oïleus led, not such as he

       From Telamon, big-boned and lofty built,645

       But small of limb, and of an humbler crest;

       Yet he, competitor had none throughout

       The Grecians of what land soe'er, for skill

       In ushering to its mark the rapid lance.

      Elphenor brought (Calchodon's mighty son)650

       The Eubœans to the field. In forty ships

       From Histrïæa for her vintage famed,

       From Chalcis, from Iretria, from the gates

       Of maritime Cerinthus, from the heights

       Of Dios rock-built citadel sublime,655

       And from Caristus and from Styra came

       His warlike multitudes, all named alike

       Abantes, on whose shoulders fell behind

       051 Their locks profuse,[23] and they were eager all To split the hauberk with the pointed spear.660

      Nor Athens had withheld her generous sons,

       The people of Erectheus. Him of old

       The teeming glebe produced, a wondrous birth!

       And Pallas rear'd him: her own unctuous fane

       She made his habitation, where with bulls665

       The youth of Athens, and with slaughter'd lambs

       Her annual worship celebrate. Then led

       Menestheus, whom, (sage Nestor's self except,

       Thrice school'd in all events of human life,)

       None rivall'd ever in the just array670

       Of horse and man to battle. Fifty ships

       Black-prowed, had borne them to the distant war.

      Ajax from Salamis twelve vessels brought,

       And where the Athenian band in phalanx stood

       Marshall'd compact, there station'd he his powers.675

      The men of Argos and Tyrintha next,

       And of Hermione, that stands retired

       With Asine, within her spacious bay;

       Of Epidaurus, crown'd with purple vines,

       And of Trœzena, with the Achaian youth680

       Of sea-begirt Ægina, and with thine,

       Maseta, and the dwellers on thy coast,

       Wave-worn Eïonæ; these all obeyed

       The dauntless Hero Diomede, whom served

       Sthenelus, son of Capaneus, a Chief685

       Of deathless fame, his second in command,

       And godlike man, Euryalus, the son

       Of King Mecisteus, Talaüs' son, his third.

       But Diomede controll'd them all, and him

       Twice forty sable ships their leader own'd.690

      Came Agamemnon with a hundred ships,

       Exulting in his powers; more numerous they,

       052 And more illustrious far than other Chief

       Could boast, whoever. Clad in burnish'd brass,

       And conscious of pre-eminence, he stood.695

       He drew his host from cities far renown'd,

       Mycenæ, and Corinthus, seat of wealth,

       Orneia, and Cleonæ bulwark'd strong,

       And lovely Aræthyria; Sicyon, where

       His seat of royal power held at the first700

       Adrastus: Hyperesia, and the heights

       Of Gonoëssa; Ægium, with the towns

       That sprinkle all that far-extended coast,