The Iliad of Homer. Homer

Dear penalty; their own obnoxious heads

       Shall be the mulct, their children and their wives.

       For this I know, know surely; that a day190

       Shall come, when Ilium, when the warlike King

       Of Ilium and his host shall perish all.

       Saturnian Jove high-throned, dwelling in heaven,

       Resentful of this outrage, then shall shake

       His storm-clad Ægis over them. He will;195

       I speak no fable. Time shall prove me true.

       But, oh my Menelaus, dire distress

       Awaits me, if thy close of life be come,

       And thou must die. Then ignominy foul

       Shall hunt me back to Argos long-desired;200

       For then all here will recollect their home,

       And, hope abandoning, will Helen yield

       To be the boast of Priam, and of Troy.

       So shall our toils be vain, and while thy bones

       Shall waste these clods beneath, Troy's haughty sons205

       The tomb of Menelaus glory-crown'd

       Insulting barbarous, shall scoff at me.

       So may Atrides, shall they say, perform

       His anger still as he performed it here,

       Whither he led an unsuccessful host,210

       Whence he hath sail'd again without the spoils,

       And where he left his brother's bones to rot.

       So shall the Trojan speak; then open earth

       092 Her mouth, and hide me in her deepest gulfs!

      But him, the hero of the golden locks215

       Thus cheer'd. My brother, fear not, nor infect

       With fear the Grecians; the sharp-pointed reed

       Hath touch'd no vital part. The broider'd zone,

       The hauberk, and the tough interior quilt,

       Work of the armorer, its force repress'd.220

      Him answer'd Agamemnon, King of men.

       So be it brother! but the hand of one

       Skilful to heal shall visit and shall dress

       The wound with drugs of pain-assuaging power.

      He ended, and his noble herald, next,225

       Bespake, Talthybius. Haste, call hither quick

       The son of Æsculapius, leech renown'd,

       The prince Machaon. Bid him fly to attend

       The warlike Chieftain Menelaus; him

       Some archer, either Lycian or of Troy,230

       A dexterous one, hath stricken with a shaft

       To his own glory, and to our distress.

      He spake, nor him the herald disobey'd,

       But through the Greeks bright-arm'd his course began

       The Hero seeking earnest on all sides235

       Machaon. Him, ere long, he station'd saw

       Amid the shielded-ranks of his brave band

       From steed-famed Tricca drawn, and at his side

       With accents ardor-wing'd, him thus address'd.

      Haste, Asclepiades! The King of men240

       Calls thee. Delay not. Thou must visit quick

       Brave Menelaus, Atreus' son, for him

       Some archer, either Lycian or of Troy,

       A dexterous one, hath stricken with a shaft

       To his own glory, and to our distress.245

      So saying, he roused Machaon, who his course

       Through the wide host began. Arriving soon

       Where wounded Menelaus stood, while all

       The bravest of Achaia's host around

       The godlike hero press'd, he strove at once250

       To draw the arrow from his cincture forth.

       093 But, drawing, bent the barbs. He therefore loosed

       His broider'd belt, his hauberk and his quilt,

       Work of the armorer, and laying bare

       His body where the bitter shaft had plow'd255

       His flesh, he suck'd the wound, then spread it o'er

       With drugs of balmy power, given on a time

       For friendship's sake by Chiron to his sire.

      While Menelaus thus the cares engross'd

       Of all those Chiefs, the shielded powers of Troy260

       'Gan move toward them, and the Greeks again

       Put on their armor, mindful of the fight.

       Then hadst thou[10] not great Agamemnon seen Slumbering, or trembling, or averse from war, But ardent to begin his glorious task.265 His steeds, and his bright chariot brass-inlaid He left; the snorting steeds Eurymedon, Offspring of Ptolemy Piraïdes Detain'd apart; for him he strict enjoin'd Attendance near, lest weariness of limbs270 Should seize him marshalling his numerous host. So forth he went, and through the files on foot Proceeding, where the warrior Greeks he saw Alert, he roused them by his words the more.[11]

      Argives! abate no spark of all your fire.275

       Jove will not prosper traitors. Them who first

       Transgress'd the truce the vultures shall devour,

       But we (their city taken) shall their wives

       Lead captive, and their children home to Greece.

      So cheer'd he them. But whom he saw supine,280

       094 Or in the rugged work of war remiss,

       In terms of anger them he stern rebuked.

      Oh Greeks! The shame of Argos! Arrow-doom'd!

       Blush ye not? Wherefore stand ye thus aghast,

       Like fawns which wearied after scouring wide285

       The champain, gaze and pant, and can no more?

       Senseless like them ye stand, nor seek the fight.

       Is it your purpose patient here to wait

       Till Troy invade your vessels on the shore

       Of the grey deep, that ye may trial make290

       Of Jove, if he will prove, himself, your shield?

      Thus, in discharge of his high office, pass'd

       Atrides through the ranks, and now arrived

       Where, hardy Chief! Idomeneus in front

       Of his bold Cretans stood, stout as a boar295

       The van he occupied, while in the rear

       Meriones harangued the most remote.

       Them so prepared the King of men beheld

       With joyful heart, and thus in courteous terms

       Instant the brave Idomeneus address'd.300

      Thee fighting, feasting, howsoe'er employed,

       I most respect, Idomeneus, of all

       The well-horsed Danäi; for when the Chiefs

       Of Argos, banqueting, their beakers charge

       With rosy wine the honorable meed305

       Of valor, thou alone of all the Greeks

       Drink'st not by measure.[12] No—thy goblet stands