The Iliad of Homer. Homer

Was Telamonian Ajax, while wrath-bound940

       Achilles lay; for he was worthier far,

       And more illustrious were the steeds which bore

       The noble son of Peleus; but revenge

       On Agamemnon leader of the host

       Was all his thought, while in his gallant ships945

       Sharp-keel'd to cut the foaming flood, he lay.

       Meantime, along the margin of the deep

       His soldiers hurled the disk, or bent the bow.

       059 Or to its mark dispatch'd the quivering lance.

       Beside the chariots stood the unharness'd steeds950

       Cropping the lotus, or at leisure browsed

       On celery wild, from watery freshes gleaned.

       Beneath the shadow of the sheltering tent

       The chariot stood, while they, the charioteers

       Roam'd here and there the camp, their warlike lord955

       Regretting sad, and idle for his sake.

      As if a fire had burnt along the ground,

       Such seem'd their march; earth groan'd their steps beneath;

       As when in Arimi, where fame reports

       Typhoëus stretch'd, the fires of angry Jove960

       Down darted, lash the ground, so groan'd the earth

       Beneath them, for they traversed swift the plain.

      And now from Jove, with heavy tidings charged,

       Wind-footed Iris to the Trojans came.

       It was the time of council, when the throng965

       At Priam's gate assembled, young and old:

       Them, standing nigh, the messenger of heaven

       Accosted with the voice of Priam's son,

       Polites. He, confiding in his speed

       For sure deliverance, posted was abroad970

       On Æsyeta's tomb,[28] intent to watch When the Achaian host should leave the fleet. The Goddess in his form thus them address'd.

      Oh, ancient Monarch! Ever, evermore

       Speaking, debating, as if all were peace;975

       I have seen many a bright-embattled field,

       But never one so throng'd as this to-day.

       For like the leaves, or like the sands they come

       Swept by the winds, to gird the city round.

      But Hector! chiefly thee I shall exhort.980

       In Priam's spacious city are allies

       060 Collected numerous, and of nations wide

       Disseminated various are the tongues.

       Let every Chief his proper troop command,

       And marshal his own citizens to war.985

      She ceased; her Hector heard intelligent,

       And quick dissolved the council. All took arms.

       Wide flew the gates; forth rush'd the multitude,

       Horsemen and foot, and boisterous stir arose.

       In front of Ilium, distant on the plain,990

       Clear all around from all obstruction, stands

       An eminence high-raised, by mortal men

       Call'd Bateia, but the Gods the tomb

       Have named it of Myrinna swift in fight.

       Troy and her aids there set the battle forth.995

      Huge Priameian Hector, fierce in arms,

       Led on the Trojans; with whom march'd the most

       And the most valiant, dexterous at the spear.

      Æneas, (on the hills of Ida him

       The lovely Venus to Anchises bore,1000

       A Goddess by a mortal man embraced)

       Led the Dardanians; but not he alone;

       Archilochus with him and Acamas

       Stood forth, the offspring of Antenor, each,

       And well instructed in all forms of war.1005

      Fast by the foot of Ida, where they drank

       The limpid waters of Æsepus, dwelt

       The Trojans of Zeleia. Rich were they

       And led by Pandarus, Lycaon's son,

       Whom Phœbus self graced with the bow he bore.1010

      Apæsus, Adrastea, Terie steep,

       And Pitueia—them, Amphius clad

       In mail thick-woven, and Adrastus, ruled.

       They were the sons of the Percosian seer

       Merops, expert in the soothsayers' art1015

       Above all other; he his sons forbad

       The bloody fight, but disobedient they

       Still sought it, for their destiny prevailed.

      The warriors of Percote, and who dwelt

       061 In Practius, in Arisba, city fair,1020

       In Sestus, in Abydus, march'd behind

       Princely Hyrtacides; his tawny steeds,

       Strong-built and tall, from Sellcentes' bank

       And from Arisba, had him borne to Troy.

      Hippothous and Pilmus, branch of Mars,1025

       Both sons of Lethus the Pelasgian, they,

       Forth from Larissa for her fertile soil

       Far-famed, the spear-expert Pelasgians brought.

      The Thracians (all whom Hellespont includes

       Within the banks of his swift-racing tide)1030

       Heroic Acamas and Pirous led.

       Euphemus, offspring of Trœzenus, son

       Of Jove-protected Ceas, was the Chief

       Whom the spear-arm'd Ciconian band obey'd.

      Pæonia's archers follow'd to the field1035

       Pyræchmes; they from Amydon remote

       Were drawn, where Axius winds; broad Axius, stream

       Diffused delightful over all the vale.

      Pylæmenes, a Chief of giant might

       From the Eneti for forest-mules renowned1040

       March'd with his Paphlagonians; dwellers they

       In Sesamus and in Cytorus were,

       And by the stream Parthenius; Cromna these

       Sent forth, and those Ægialus on the lip

       And margin of the land, and some, the heights1045

       Of Erythini, rugged and abrupt.

      Epistrophus and Odius from the land

       Of Alybe, a region far remote,

       Where veins of silver wind, led to the field

       The Halizonians. With the Mysians came1050

       Chromis their Chief, and Ennomus; him skill'd

       In augury, but skill'd in vain, his art

       Saved not, but by Æacides[29] the swift, With others in the Xanthus[30] slain, he died. 062 Ascanius, lovely youth, and Phorcis, led1055 The Phrygians from Ascania far remote, Ardent for battle. The Mœonian race, (All those who at the foot of Tmolus dwelt,) Mesthles and Antiphus, fraternal pair, Sons of Pylæmenes