<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410293" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 12</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus<br>within the tent, but the Argives and Trojans still fought desperately,<br>nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to keep the Trojans in<br>check longer. They had built it to protect their ships, and had dug<br>the trench all round it that it might safeguard both the ships and the<br>rich spoils which they had taken, but they had not offered hecatombs<br>to the gods. It had been built without the consent of the immortals,<br>and therefore it did not last. So long as Hector lived and Achilles<br>nursed his anger, and so long as the city of Priam remained untaken,<br>the great wall of the Achaeans stood firm; but when the bravest of the<br>Trojans were no more, and many also of the Argives, though some were<br>yet left alive when, moreover, the city was sacked in the tenth<br>year, and the Argives had gone back with their ships to their own<br>country- then Neptune and Apollo took counsel to destroy the wall, and<br>they turned on to it the streams of all the rivers from Mount Ida into<br>the sea, Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, Rhodius, Grenicus, Aesopus,<br>and goodly Scamander, with Simois, where many a shield and helm had<br>fallen, and many a hero of the race of demigods had bitten the dust.<br>Phoebus Apollo turned the mouths of all these rivers together and made<br>them flow for nine days against the wall, while Jove rained the<br>whole time that he might wash it sooner into the sea. Neptune himself,<br>trident in hand, surveyed the work and threw into the sea all the<br>foundations of beams and stones which the Achaeans had laid with so<br>much toil; he made all level by the mighty stream of the Hellespont,<br>and then when he had swept the wall away he spread a great beach of<br>sand over the place where it had been. This done he turned the<br>rivers back into their old courses.<br>This was what Neptune and Apollo were to do in after time; but as<br>yet battle and turmoil were still raging round the wall till its<br>timbers rang under the blows that rained upon them. The Argives, cowed<br>by the scourge of Jove, were hemmed in at their ships in fear of<br>Hector the mighty minister of Rout, who as heretofore fought with<br>the force and fury of a whirlwind. As a lion or wild boar turns<br>fiercely on the dogs and men that attack him, while these form solid<br>wall and shower their javelins as they face him- his courage is all<br>undaunted, but his high spirit will be the death of him; many a time<br>does he charge at his pursuers to scatter them, and they fall back<br>as often as he does so- even so did Hector go about among the host<br>exhorting his men, and cheering them on to cross the trench.<br>But the horses dared not do so, and stood neighing upon its brink,<br>for the width frightened them. They could neither jump it nor cross<br>it, for it had overhanging banks all round upon either side, above<br>which there were the sharp stakes that the sons of the Achaeans had<br>planted so close and strong as a defence against all who would<br>assail it; a horse, therefore, could not get into it and draw his<br>chariot after him, but those who were on foot kept trying their very<br>utmost. Then Polydamas went up to Hector and said, "Hector, and you<br>other captains of the Trojans and allies, it is madness for us to<br>try and drive our horses across the trench; it will be very hard to<br>cross, for it is full of sharp stakes, and beyond these there is the<br>wall. Our horses therefore cannot get down into it, and would be of no<br>use if they did; moreover it is a narrow place and we should come to<br>harm. If, indeed, great Jove is minded to help the Trojans, and in his<br>anger will utterly destroy the Achaeans, I would myself gladly see<br>them perish now and here far from Argos; but if they should rally<br>and we are driven back from the ships pell-mell into the trench<br>there will be not so much as a man get back to the city to tell the<br>tale. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let our squires hold our<br>horses by the trench, but let us follow Hector in a body on foot, clad<br>in full armour, and if the day of their doom is at hand the Achaeans<br>will not be able to withstand us."<br>Thus spoke Polydamas and his saying pleased Hector, who sprang in<br>full armour to the ground, and all the other Trojans, when they saw<br>him do so, also left their chariots. Each man then gave his horses<br>over to his charioteer in charge to hold them ready for him at the<br>trench. Then they formed themselves into companies, made themselves<br>ready, and in five bodies followed their leaders. Those that went with<br>Hector and Polydamas were the bravest and most in number, and the most<br>determined to break through the wall and fight at the ships. Cebriones<br>was also joined with them as third in command, for Hector had left his<br>chariot in charge of a less valiant soldier. The next company was<br>led by Paris, Alcathous, and Agenor; the third by Helenus and<br>Deiphobus, two sons of Priam, and with them was the hero Asius-<br>Asius the son of Hyrtacus, whose great black horses of the breed<br>that comes from the river Selleis had brought him from Arisbe.<br>Aeneas the valiant son of Anchises led the fourth; he and the two sons<br>of Antenor, Archelochus and Acamas, men well versed in all the arts of<br>war. Sarpedon was captain over the allies, and took with him Glaucus<br>and Asteropaeus whom he deemed most valiant after himself- for he<br>was far the best man of them all. These helped to array one another in<br>their ox-hide shields, and then charged straight at the Danaans, for<br>they felt sure that they would not hold out longer and that they<br>should themselves now fall upon the ships.<br>The rest of the Trojans and their allies now followed the counsel of<br>Polydamas but Asius son of Hyrtacus would not leave his horses and his<br>esquire behind him; in his foolhardiness he took them on with him<br>towards the ships, nor did he fail to come by his end in<br>consequence. Nevermore was he to return to wind-beaten Ilius, exulting<br>in his chariot and his horses; ere he could do so, death of ill-omened<br>name had overshadowed him and he had fallen by the spear of<br>Idomeneus the noble son of Deucalion. He had driven towards the left<br>wing of the ships, by which way the Achaeans used to return with their<br>chariots and horses from the plain. Hither he drove and found the<br>gates with their doors opened wide, and the great bar down- for the<br>gatemen kept them open so as to let those of their comrades enter<br>who might be flying towards the ships. Hither of set purpose did he<br>direct his horses, and his men followed him with a loud cry, for<br>they felt sure that the Achaeans would not hold out longer, and that<br>they should now fall upon the ships. Little did they know that at<br>the gates they should find two of the bravest chieftains, proud sons<br>of the fighting Lapithae- the one, Polypoetes, mighty son of<br>Pirithous, and the other Leonteus, peer of murderous Mars. These stood<br>before the gates like two high oak trees upon the mountains, that<br>tower from their wide-spreading roots, and year after year battle with<br>wind and rain- even so did these two men await the onset of great<br>Asius confidently and without flinching. The Trojans led by him and by<br>Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son of Asius, Thoon and Oenomaus,<br>raised a loud cry of battle and made straight for the wall, holding<br>their shields of dry ox-hide above their heads; for a while the two<br>defenders remained inside and cheered the Achaeans on to stand firm in<br>the defence of their ships; when, however, they saw that the Trojans<br>were attacking the wall, while the Danaans were crying out for help<br>and being routed, they rushed outside and fought in front of the gates<br>like two wild boars upon the mountains that abide the attack of men<br>and dogs, and charging on either side break down the wood all round<br>them tearing it up by the roots, and one can hear the clattering of<br>their tusks, till some one hits them and makes an end of them- even so<br>did the gleaming bronze rattle about their breasts, as the weapons<br>fell upon them; for they fought with great fury, trusting to their own<br>prowess and to those who were on the wall above them. These threw<br>great stones at their assailants in defence of themselves their<br>tents and their ships. The stones fell thick as the flakes of snow<br>which some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds and showers down<br>in sheets upon the earth- even so fell the weapons from the hands<br>alike of Trojans and Achaeans. Helmet and shield rang out as the great<br>stones rained upon them, and Asius the son of Hyrtacus in his dismay<br>cried aloud and smote his two thighs. "Father Jove," he cried, "of a<br>truth you too are altogether given to lying. I made sure the Argive<br>heroes could not withstand us, whereas like slim-waisted wasps, or<br>bees that have their nests in the rocks by the wayside- they leave not<br>the holes wherein they have built undefended, but fight for their<br>little ones against all who would take them- even so these men, though<br>they be but two, will not be driven from the gates, but stand firm<br>either to slay or be slain."<br>He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then<br>was to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were<br>fighting about the other gates; I, however, am no god to be able to<br>tell about all these things, for the battle raged everywhere about the<br>stone wall as it were a fiery furnace. The Argives, discomfited though<br>they were, were forced to defend their ships, and all the gods who<br>were defending the Achaeans were vexed in spirit; but the Lapithae<br>kept on fighting with might and main.<br>Thereon Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, hit Damasus with a<br>spear upon his cheek-pierced helmet. The helmet did not protect him,<br>for the point of the spear went through it, and broke the bone, so<br>that the brain inside was scattered about, and he died fighting. He<br>then slew Pylon and Ormenus. Leonteus, of the race of Mars, killed<br>Hippomachus the son of Antimachus by striking him with his spear<br>upon the girdle. He then drew his sword and sprang first upon<br>Antiphates whom he killed in combat, and who fell face upwards on<br>the earth. After him he killed Menon, Iamenus, and Orestes, and laid<br>them low one after the other.<br>While they were busy stripping the armour from these heroes, the<br>youths who were led on by Polydamas and Hector (and these were the<br>greater part and the most valiant of those that were trying to break<br>through the wall and fire the ships) were still standing by the<br>trench, uncertain what they should do; for they had seen a sign from<br>heaven when they had essayed to cross it- a soaring eagle that flew<br>skirting the left wing of their host, with a monstrous blood-red snake<br>in its talons still alive and struggling to escape. The snake was<br>still bent on revenge, wriggling and twisting itself backwards till it<br>struck the bird that held it, on the neck and breast; whereon the bird<br>being in pain, let it fall, dropping it into the middle of the host,<br>and then flew down the wind with a sharp cry. The Trojans were<br>struck with terror when they saw the snake, portent of aegis-bearing<br>Jove, writhing in the midst of them, and Polydamas went up to Hector<br>and said, "Hector, at our councils of war you are ever given to rebuke<br>me, even when I speak wisely, as though it were not well, forsooth,<br>that one of the people should cross your will either in the field or<br>at the council board; you would have them support you always:<br>nevertheless I will say what I think will be best; let us not now go<br>on to fight the Danaans at their ships, for I know what will happen if<br>this soaring eagle which skirted the left wing of our with a monstrous<br>blood-red snake in its talons (the snake being still alive) was really<br>sent as an omen to the Trojans on their essaying to cross the<br>trench. The eagle let go her hold; she did not succeed in taking it<br>home to her little ones, and so will it be- with ourselves; even<br>though by a mighty effort we break through the gates and wall of the<br>Achaeans, and they give way before us, still we shall not return in<br>good order by the way we came, but shall leave many a man behind us<br>whom the Achaeans will do to death in defence of their ships. Thus<br>would any seer who was expert in these matters, and was trusted by the<br>people, read the portent."<br>Hector looked fiercely at him and said, "Polydamas, I like not of<br>your reading. You can find a better saying than this if you will.<br>If, however, you have spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven<br>robbed you of your reason. You would have me pay no heed to the<br>counsels of Jove, nor to the promises he made me- and he bowed his<br>head in confirmation; you bid me be ruled rather by the flight of<br>wild-fowl. What care I whether they fly towards dawn or dark, and<br>whether they be on my right hand or on my left? Let us put our trust<br>rather in the counsel of great Jove, king of mortals and immortals.<br>There is one omen, and one only- that a man should fight for his<br>country. Why are you so fearful? Though we be all of us slain at the<br>ships of the Argives you are not likely to be killed yourself, for you<br>are not steadfast nor courageous. If you will. not fight, or would<br>talk others over from doing so, you shall fall forthwith before my<br>spear."<br>With these words he led the way, and the others followed after<br>with a cry that rent the air. Then Jove the lord of thunder sent the<br>blast of a mighty wind from the mountains of Ida, that bore the dust<br>down towards the ships; he thus lulled the Achaeans into security, and<br>gave victory to Hector and to the Trojans, who, trusting to their<br>own might and to the signs he had shown them, essayed to break through<br>the great wall of the Achaeans. They tore down the breastworks from<br>the walls, and overthrew the battlements; they upheaved the<br>buttresses, which the Achaeans had set in front of the wall in order<br>to support it; when they had pulled these down they made sure of<br>breaking through the wall, but the Danaans still showed no sign of<br>giving ground; they still fenced the battlements with their shields of<br>ox-hide, and hurled their missiles down upon the foe as soon as any<br>came below the wall.<br>The two Ajaxes went about everywhere on the walls cheering on the<br>Achaeans, giving fair words to some while they spoke sharply to any<br>one whom they saw to be remiss. "My friends," they cried, "Argives one<br>and all- good bad and indifferent, for there was never fight yet, in<br>which all were of equal prowess- there is now work enough, as you very<br>well know, for all of you. See that you none of you turn in flight<br>towards the ships, daunted by the shouting of the foe, but press<br>forward and keep one another in heart, if it may so be that Olympian<br>Jove the lord of lightning will vouchsafe us to repel our foes, and<br>drive them back towards the city."<br>Thus did the two go about shouting and cheering the Achaeans on.<br>As the flakes that fall thick upon a winter's day, when Jove is minded<br>to snow and to display these his arrows to mankind- he lulls the<br>wind to rest, and snows hour after hour till he has buried the tops of<br>the high mountains, the headlands that jut into the sea, the grassy<br>plains, and the tilled fields of men; the snow lies deep upon the<br>forelands, and havens of the grey sea, but the waves as they come<br>rolling in stay it that it can come no further, though all else is<br>wrapped as with a mantle so heavy are the heavens with snow- even thus<br>thickly did the stones fall on one side and on the other, some<br>thrown at the Trojans, and some by the Trojans at the Achaeans; and<br>the whole wall was in an uproar.<br>Still the Trojans and brave Hector would not yet have broken down<br>the gates and the great bar, had not Jove turned his son Sarpedon<br>against the Argives as a lion against a herd of horned cattle.<br>Before him he held his shield of hammered bronze, that the smith had<br>beaten so fair and round, and had lined with ox hides which he had<br>made fast with rivets of gold all round the shield; this he held in<br>front of him, and brandishing his two spears came on like some lion of<br>the wilderness, who has been long famished for want of meat and will<br>dare break even into a well-fenced homestead to try and get at the<br>sheep. He may find the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks<br>with dogs and spears, but he is in no mind to be driven from the<br>fold till he has had a try for it; he will either spring on a sheep<br>and carry it off, or be hit by a spear from strong hand- even so was<br>Sarpedon fain to attack the wall and break down its battlements.<br>Then he said to Glaucus son of Hippolochus, "Glaucus, why in Lycia<br>do we receive especial honour as regards our place at table? Why are<br>the choicest portions served us and our cups kept brimming, and why do<br>men look up to us as though we were gods? Moreover we hold a large<br>estate by the banks of the river Xanthus, fair with orchard lawns<br>and wheat-growing land; it becomes us, therefore, to take our stand at<br>the head of all the Lycians and bear the brunt of the fight, that<br>one may say to another, Our princes in Lycia eat the fat of the land<br>and drink best of wine, but they are fine fellows; they fight well and<br>are ever at the front in battle.' My good friend, if, when we were<br>once out of this fight, we could escape old age and death<br>thenceforward and for ever, I should neither press forward myself<br>nor bid you do so, but death in ten thousand shapes hangs ever over<br>our heads, and no man can elude him; therefore let us go forward and<br>either win glory for ourselves, or yield it to another."<br>Glaucus heeded his saying, and the pair forthwith led on the host of<br>Lycians. Menestheus son of Peteos was dismayed when he saw them, for<br>it was against his part of the wall that they came- bringing<br>destruction with them; he looked along the wall for some chieftain<br>to support his comrades and saw the two Ajaxes, men ever eager for the<br>fray, and Teucer, who had just come from his tent, standing near them;<br>but he could not make his voice heard by shouting to them, so great an<br>uproar was there from crashing shields and helmets and the battering<br>of gates with a din which reached the skies. For all the gates had<br>been closed, and the Trojans were hammering at them to try and break<br>their way through them. Menestheus, therefore, sent Thootes with a<br>message to Ajax. "Run, good Thootes," said and call Ajax, or better<br>still bid both come, for it will be all over with us here directly;<br>the leaders of the Lycians are upon us, men who have ever fought<br>desperately heretofore. But if the have too much on their hands to let<br>them come, at any rate let Ajax son of Telamon do so, and let Teucer<br>the famous bowman come with him."<br>The messenger did as he was told, and set off running along the wall<br>of the Achaeans. When he reached the Ajaxes he said to them, "Sirs,<br>princes of the Argives, the son of noble Peteos bids you come to him<br>for a while and help him. You had better both come if you can, or it<br>will be all over with him directly; the leaders of the Lycians are<br>upon him, men who have ever fought desperately heretofore; if you have<br>too much on your hands to let both come, at any rate let Ajax son of<br>Telamon do so, and let Teucer the famous bowman come with him."<br>Great Ajax, son of Telamon, heeded the message, and at once spoke to<br>the son of Oileus. "Ajax," said he, "do you two, yourself and brave<br>Lycomedes, stay here and keep the Danaans in heart to fight their<br>hardest. I will go over yonder, and bear my part in the fray, but I<br>will come back here at once as soon as I have given them the help they<br>need."<br>With this, Ajax son of Telamon set off, and Teucer his brother by<br>the same father went also, with Pandion to carry Teucer's bow. They<br>went along inside the wall, and when they came to the tower where<br>Menestheus was (and hard pressed indeed did they find him) the brave<br>captains and leaders of the Lycians were storming the battlements as<br>it were a thick dark cloud, fighting in close quarters, and raising<br>the battle-cry aloud.<br>First, Ajax son of Telamon killed brave Epicles, a comrade of<br>Sarpedon, hitting him with a jagged stone that lay by the<br>battlements at the very top of the wall. As men now are, even one<br>who is in the bloom of youth could hardly lift it with his two<br>hands, but Ajax raised it high aloft and flung it down, smashing<br>Epicles' four-crested helmet so that the bones of his head were<br>crushed to pieces, and he fell from the high wall as though he were<br>diving, with no more life left in him. Then Teucer wounded Glaucus the<br>brave son of Hippolochus as he was coming on to attack the wall. He<br>saw his shoulder bare and aimed an arrow at it, which made Glaucus<br>leave off fighting. Thereon he sprang covertly down for fear some of<br>the Achaeans might see that he was wounded and taunt him. Sarpedon was<br>stung with grief when he saw Glaucus leave him, still he did not leave<br>off fighting, but aimed his spear at Alcmaon the son of Thestor and<br>hit him. He drew his spear back again Alcmaon came down headlong after<br>it with his bronzed armour rattling round him. Then Sarpedon seized<br>the battlement in his strong hands, and tugged at it till it an gave<br>way together, and a breach was made through which many might pass.<br>Ajax and Teucer then both of them attacked him. Teucer hit him<br>with an arrow on the band that bore the shield which covered his body,<br>but Jove saved his son from destruction that he might not fall by<br>the ships' sterns. Meanwhile Ajax sprang on him and pierced his<br>shield, but the spear did not go clean through, though it hustled<br>him back that he could come on no further. He therefore retired a<br>little space from the battlement, yet without losing all his ground,<br>for he still thought to cover himself with glory. Then he turned round<br>and shouted to the brave Lycians saying, "Lycians, why do you thus<br>fail me? For all my prowess I cannot break through the wall and open a<br>way to the ships single-handed. Come close on behind me, for the<br>more there are of us the better."<br>The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who<br>was their counsellor their king. The Argives on their part got their<br>men in fighting order within the wall, and there was a deadly struggle<br>between them. The Lycians could not break through the wall and force<br>their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans drive the Lycians from<br>the wall now that they had once reached it. As two men, measuring-rods<br>in hand, quarrel about their boundaries in a field that they own in<br>common, and stickle for their rights though they be but in a mere<br>strip, even so did the battlements now serve as a bone of<br>contention, and they beat one another's round shields for their<br>possession. Many a man's body was wounded with the pitiless bronze, as<br>he turned round and bared his back to the foe, and many were struck<br>clean through their shields; the wall and battlements were<br>everywhere deluged with the blood alike of Trojans and of Achaeans.<br>But even so the Trojans could not rout the Achaeans, who still held<br>on; and as some honest hard-working woman weighs wool in her balance<br>and sees that the scales be true, for she would gain some pitiful<br>earnings for her little ones, even so was the fight balanced evenly<br>between them till the time came when Jove gave the greater glory to<br>Hector son of Priam, who was first to spring towards the wall of the<br>Achaeans. As he did so, he cried aloud to the Trojans, "Up, Trojans,<br>break the wall of the Argives, and fling fire upon their ships."<br>Thus did he hound them on, and in one body they rushed straight at<br>the wall as he had bidden them, and scaled the battlements with<br>sharp spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone that lay just<br>outside the gates and was thick at one end but pointed at the other;<br>two of the best men in a town, as men now are, could hardly raise it<br>from the ground and put it on to a waggon, but Hector lifted it<br>quite easily by himself, for the son of scheming Saturn made it<br>light for him. As a shepherd picks up a ram's fleece with one hand and<br>finds it no burden, so easily did Hector lift the great stone and<br>drive it right at the doors that closed the gates so strong and so<br>firmly set. These doors were double and high, and were kept closed<br>by two cross-bars to which there was but one key. When he had got<br>close up to them, Hector strode towards them that his blow might<br>gain in force and struck them in the middle, leaning his whole<br>weight against them. He broke both hinges, and the stone fell inside<br>by reason of its great weight. The portals re-echoed with the sound,<br>the bars held no longer, and the doors flew open, one one way, and the<br>other the other, through the force of the blow. Then brave Hector<br>leaped inside with a face as dark as that of flying night. The<br>gleaming bronze flashed fiercely about his body and he had tow<br>spears in his hand. None but a god could have withstood him as he<br>flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes glared like fire. Then he<br>turned round towards the Trojans and called on them to scale the wall,<br>and they did as he bade them- some of them at once climbing over the<br>wall, while others passed through the gates. The Danaans then fled<br>panic-stricken towards their ships, and all was uproar and confusion.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410293" data-title="The Iliad: Book 12 de Homer" data-description="So the son of Menoetius was attending to the hurt of Eurypylus/within the tent, but the Argives and Trojans still fought desperately,/nor were the trench and the high wall above it, to keep the Trojans in/check longer. They had built it to protect..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black