<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410307" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 3</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,<br>the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream<br>overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of<br>Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and they<br>wrangle in the air as they fly; but the Achaeans marched silently,<br>in high heart, and minded to stand by one another.<br>As when the south wind spreads a curtain of mist upon the mountain<br>tops, bad for shepherds but better than night for thieves, and a man<br>can see no further than he can throw a stone, even so rose the dust<br>from under their feet as they made all speed over the plain.<br>When they were close up with one another, Alexandrus came forward as<br>champion on the Trojan side. On his shoulders he bore the skin of a<br>panther, his bow, and his sword, and he brandished two spears shod<br>with bronze as a challenge to the bravest of the Achaeans to meet<br>him in single fight. Menelaus saw him thus stride out before the<br>ranks, and was glad as a hungry lion that lights on the carcase of<br>some goat or horned stag, and devours it there and then, though dogs<br>and youths set upon him. Even thus was Menelaus glad when his eyes<br>caught sight of Alexandrus, for he deemed that now he should be<br>revenged. He sprang, therefore, from his chariot, clad in his suit<br>of armour.<br>Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank in<br>fear of his life under cover of his men. As one who starts back<br>affrighted, trembling and pale, when he comes suddenly upon a<br>serpent in some mountain glade, even so did Alexandrus plunge into the<br>throng of Trojan warriors, terror-stricken at the sight of the son<br>Atreus.<br>Then Hector upbraided him. "Paris," said he, "evil-hearted Paris,<br>fair to see, but woman-mad, and false of tongue, would that you had<br>never been born, or that you had died unwed. Better so, than live to<br>be disgraced and looked askance at. Will not the Achaeans mock at us<br>and say that we have sent one to champion us who is fair to see but<br>who has neither wit nor courage? Did you not, such as you are, get<br>your following together and sail beyond the seas? Did you not from<br>your a far country carry off a lovely woman wedded among a people of<br>warriors- to bring sorrow upon your father, your city, and your<br>whole country, but joy to your enemies, and hang-dog shamefacedness to<br>yourself? And now can you not dare face Menelaus and learn what manner<br>of man he is whose wife you have stolen? Where indeed would be your<br>lyre and your love-tricks, your comely locks and your fair favour,<br>when you were lying in the dust before him? The Trojans are a<br>weak-kneed people, or ere this you would have had a shirt of stones<br>for the wrongs you have done them."<br>And Alexandrus answered, "Hector, your rebuke is just. You are<br>hard as the axe which a shipwright wields at his work, and cleaves the<br>timber to his liking. As the axe in his hand, so keen is the edge of<br>your scorn. Still, taunt me not with the gifts that golden Venus has<br>given me; they are precious; let not a man disdain them, for the<br>gods give them where they are minded, and none can have them for the<br>asking. If you would have me do battle with Menelaus, bid the<br>Trojans and Achaeans take their seats, while he and I fight in their<br>midst for Helen and all her wealth. Let him who shall be victorious<br>and prove to be the better man take the woman and all she has, to bear<br>them to his home, but let the rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace<br>whereby you Trojans shall stay here in Troy, while the others go<br>home to Argos and the land of the Achaeans."<br>When Hector heard this he was glad, and went about among the<br>Trojan ranks holding his spear by the middle to keep them back, and<br>they all sat down at his bidding: but the Achaeans still aimed at<br>him with stones and arrows, till Agamemnon shouted to them saying,<br>"Hold, Argives, shoot not, sons of the Achaeans; Hector desires to<br>speak."<br>They ceased taking aim and were still, whereon Hector spoke. "Hear<br>from my mouth," said he, "Trojans and Achaeans, the saying of<br>Alexandrus, through whom this quarrel has come about. He bids the<br>Trojans and Achaeans lay their armour upon the ground, while he and<br>Menelaus fight in the midst of you for Helen and all her wealth. Let<br>him who shall be victorious and prove to be the better man take the<br>woman and all she has, to bear them to his own home, but let the<br>rest swear to a solemn covenant of peace."<br>Thus he spoke, and they all held their peace, till Menelaus of the<br>loud battle-cry addressed them. "And now," he said, "hear me too,<br>for it is I who am the most aggrieved. I deem that the parting of<br>Achaeans and Trojans is at hand, as well it may be, seeing how much<br>have suffered for my quarrel with Alexandrus and the wrong he did<br>me. Let him who shall die, die, and let the others fight no more.<br>Bring, then, two lambs, a white ram and a black ewe, for Earth and<br>Sun, and we will bring a third for Jove. Moreover, you shall bid Priam<br>come, that he may swear to the covenant himself; for his sons are<br>high-handed and ill to trust, and the oaths of Jove must not be<br>transgressed or taken in vain. Young men's minds are light as air, but<br>when an old man comes he looks before and after, deeming that which<br>shall be fairest upon both sides."<br>The Trojans and Achaeans were glad when they heard this, for they<br>thought that they should now have rest. They backed their chariots<br>toward the ranks, got out of them, and put off their armour, laying it<br>down upon the ground; and the hosts were near to one another with a<br>little space between them. Hector sent two messengers to the city to<br>bring the lambs and to bid Priam come, while Agamemnon told Talthybius<br>to fetch the other lamb from the ships, and he did as Agamemnon had<br>said.<br>Meanwhile Iris went to Helen in the form of her sister-in-law,<br>wife of the son of Antenor, for Helicaon, son of Antenor, had<br>married Laodice, the fairest of Priam's daughters. She found her in<br>her own room, working at a great web of purple linen, on which she was<br>embroidering the battles between Trojans and Achaeans, that Mars had<br>made them fight for her sake. Iris then came close up to her and said,<br>"Come hither, child, and see the strange doings of the Trojans and<br>Achaeans till now they have been warring upon the plain, mad with lust<br>of battle, but now they have left off fighting, and are leaning upon<br>their shields, sitting still with their spears planted beside them.<br>Alexandrus and Menelaus are going to fight about yourself, and you are<br>to the the wife of him who is the victor."<br>Thus spoke the goddess, and Helen's heart yearned after her former<br>husband, her city, and her parents. She threw a white mantle over<br>her head, and hurried from her room, weeping as she went, not alone,<br>but attended by two of her handmaids, Aethrae, daughter of Pittheus,<br>and Clymene. And straightway they were at the Scaean gates.<br>The two sages, Ucalegon and Antenor, elders of the people, were<br>seated by the Scaean gates, with Priam, Panthous, Thymoetes, Lampus,<br>Clytius, and Hiketaon of the race of Mars. These were too old to<br>fight, but they were fluent orators, and sat on the tower like cicales<br>that chirrup delicately from the boughs of some high tree in a wood.<br>When they saw Helen coming towards the tower, they said softly to<br>one another, "Small wonder that Trojans and Achaeans should endure<br>so much and so long, for the sake of a woman so marvellously and<br>divinely lovely. Still, fair though she be, let them take her and<br>go, or she will breed sorrow for us and for our children after us."<br>But Priam bade her draw nigh. "My child," said he, "take your seat<br>in front of me that you may see your former husband, your kinsmen<br>and your friends. I lay no blame upon you, it is the gods, not you who<br>are to blame. It is they that have brought about this terrible war<br>with the Achaeans. Tell me, then, who is yonder huge hero so great and<br>goodly? I have seen men taller by a head, but none so comely and so<br>royal. Surely he must be a king."<br>"Sir," answered Helen, "father of my husband, dear and reverend in<br>my eyes, would that I had chosen death rather than to have come here<br>with your son, far from my bridal chamber, my friends, my darling<br>daughter, and all the companions of my girlhood. But it was not to be,<br>and my lot is one of tears and sorrow. As for your question, the<br>hero of whom you ask is Agamemnon, son of Atreus, a good king and a<br>brave soldier, brother-in-law as surely as that he lives, to my<br>abhorred and miserable self."<br>The old man marvelled at him and said, "Happy son of Atreus, child<br>of good fortune. I see that the Achaeans are subject to you in great<br>multitudes. When I was in Phrygia I saw much horsemen, the people of<br>Otreus and of Mygdon, who were camping upon the banks of the river<br>Sangarius; I was their ally, and with them when the Amazons, peers<br>of men, came up against them, but even they were not so many as the<br>Achaeans."<br>The old man next looked upon Ulysses; "Tell me," he said, "who is<br>that other, shorter by a head than Agamemnon, but broader across the<br>chest and shoulders? His armour is laid upon the ground, and he stalks<br>in front of the ranks as it were some great woolly ram ordering his<br>ewes."<br>And Helen answered, "He is Ulysses, a man of great craft, son of<br>Laertes. He was born in rugged Ithaca, and excels in all manner of<br>stratagems and subtle cunning."<br>On this Antenor said, "Madam, you have spoken truly. Ulysses once<br>came here as envoy about yourself, and Menelaus with him. I received<br>them in my own house, and therefore know both of them by sight and<br>conversation. When they stood up in presence of the assembled Trojans,<br>Menelaus was the broader shouldered, but when both were seated Ulysses<br>had the more royal presence. After a time they delivered their<br>message, and the speech of Menelaus ran trippingly on the tongue; he<br>did not say much, for he was a man of few words, but he spoke very<br>clearly and to the point, though he was the younger man of the two;<br>Ulysses, on the other hand, when he rose to speak, was at first silent<br>and kept his eyes fixed upon the ground. There was no play nor<br>graceful movement of his sceptre; he kept it straight and stiff like a<br>man unpractised in oratory- one might have taken him for a mere<br>churl or simpleton; but when he raised his voice, and the words came<br>driving from his deep chest like winter snow before the wind, then<br>there was none to touch him, and no man thought further of what he<br>looked like."<br>Priam then caught sight of Ajax and asked, "Who is that great and<br>goodly warrior whose head and broad shoulders tower above the rest<br>of the Argives?"<br>"That," answered Helen, "is huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans,<br>and on the other side of him, among the Cretans, stands Idomeneus<br>looking like a god, and with the captains of the Cretans round him.<br>Often did Menelaus receive him as a guest in our house when he came<br>visiting us from Crete. I see, moreover, many other Achaeans whose<br>names I could tell you, but there are two whom I can nowhere find,<br>Castor, breaker of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer; they are<br>children of my mother, and own brothers to myself. Either they have<br>not left Lacedaemon, or else, though they have brought their ships,<br>they will not show themselves in battle for the shame and disgrace<br>that I have brought upon them."<br>She knew not that both these heroes were already lying under the<br>earth in their own land of Lacedaemon.<br>Meanwhile the heralds were bringing the holy oath-offerings<br>through the city- two lambs and a goatskin of wine, the gift of earth;<br>and Idaeus brought the mixing bowl and the cups of gold. He went up to<br>Priam and said, "Son of Laomedon, the princes of the Trojans and<br>Achaeans bid you come down on to the plain and swear to a solemn<br>covenant. Alexandrus and Menelaus are to fight for Helen in single<br>combat, that she and all her wealth may go with him who is the victor.<br>We are to swear to a solemn covenant of peace whereby we others<br>shall dwell here in Troy, while the Achaeans return to Argos and the<br>land of the Achaeans."<br>The old man trembled as he heard, but bade his followers yoke the<br>horses, and they made all haste to do so. He mounted the chariot,<br>gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor took his seat beside<br>him; they then drove through the Scaean gates on to the plain. When<br>they reached the ranks of the Trojans and Achaeans they left the<br>chariot, and with measured pace advanced into the space between the<br>hosts.<br>Agamemnon and Ulysses both rose to meet them. The attendants brought<br>on the oath-offerings and mixed the wine in the mixing-bowls; they<br>poured water over the hands of the chieftains, and the son of Atreus<br>drew the dagger that hung by his sword, and cut wool from the lambs'<br>heads; this the men-servants gave about among the Trojan and Achaean<br>princes, and the son of Atreus lifted up his hands in prayer.<br>"Father Jove," he cried, "that rulest in Ida, most glorious in<br>power, and thou oh Sun, that seest and givest ear to all things, Earth<br>and Rivers, and ye who in the realms below chastise the soul of him<br>that has broken his oath, witness these rites and guard them, that<br>they be not vain. If Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and<br>all her wealth, while we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus<br>kills Alexandrus, let the Trojans give back Helen and all that she<br>has; let them moreover pay such fine to the Achaeans as shall be<br>agreed upon, in testimony among those that shall be born hereafter.<br>Aid if Priam and his sons refuse such fine when Alexandrus has fallen,<br>then will I stay here and fight on till I have got satisfaction."<br>As he spoke he drew his knife across the throats of the victims, and<br>laid them down gasping and dying upon the ground, for the knife had<br>reft them of their strength. Then they poured wine from the<br>mixing-bowl into the cups, and prayed to the everlasting gods, saying,<br>Trojans and Achaeans among one another, "Jove, most great and<br>glorious, and ye other everlasting gods, grant that the brains of them<br>who shall first sin against their oaths- of them and their children-<br>may be shed upon the ground even as this wine, and let their wives<br>become the slaves of strangers."<br>Thus they prayed, but not as yet would Jove grant them their prayer.<br>Then Priam, descendant of Dardanus, spoke, saying, "Hear me, Trojans<br>and Achaeans, I will now go back to the wind-beaten city of Ilius: I<br>dare not with my own eyes witness this fight between my son and<br>Menelaus, for Jove and the other immortals alone know which shall<br>fall."<br>On this he laid the two lambs on his chariot and took his seat. He<br>gathered the reins in his hand, and Antenor sat beside him; the two<br>then went back to Ilius. Hector and Ulysses measured the ground, and<br>cast lots from a helmet of bronze to see which should take aim<br>first. Meanwhile the two hosts lifted up their hands and prayed<br>saying, "Father Jove, that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power,<br>grant that he who first brought about this war between us may die, and<br>enter the house of Hades, while we others remain at peace and abide by<br>our oaths."<br>Great Hector now turned his head aside while he shook the helmet,<br>and the lot of Paris flew out first. The others took their several<br>stations, each by his horses and the place where his arms were<br>lying, while Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, put on his goodly<br>armour. First he greaved his legs with greaves of good make and fitted<br>with ancle-clasps of silver; after this he donned the cuirass of his<br>brother Lycaon, and fitted it to his own body; he hung his<br>silver-studded sword of bronze about his shoulders, and then his<br>mighty shield. On his comely head he set his helmet, well-wrought,<br>with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it, and he<br>grasped a redoubtable spear that suited his hands. In like fashion<br>Menelaus also put on his armour.<br>When they had thus armed, each amid his own people, they strode<br>fierce of aspect into the open space, and both Trojans and Achaeans<br>were struck with awe as they beheld them. They stood near one<br>another on the measured ground, brandishing their spears, and each<br>furious against the other. Alexandrus aimed first, and struck the<br>round shield of the son of Atreus, but the spear did not pierce it,<br>for the shield turned its point. Menelaus next took aim, praying to<br>Father Jove as he did so. "King Jove," he said, "grant me revenge on<br>Alexandrus who has wronged me; subdue him under my hand that in ages<br>yet to come a man may shrink from doing ill deeds in the house of<br>his host."<br>He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it at the shield of<br>Alexandrus. Through shield and cuirass it went, and tore the shirt<br>by his flank, but Alexandrus swerved aside, and thus saved his life.<br>Then the son of Atreus drew his sword, and drove at the projecting<br>part of his helmet, but the sword fell shivered in three or four<br>pieces from his hand, and he cried, looking towards Heaven, "Father<br>Jove, of all gods thou art the most despiteful; I made sure of my<br>revenge, but the sword has broken in my hand, my spear has been hurled<br>in vain, and I have not killed him."<br>With this he flew at Alexandrus, caught him by the horsehair plume<br>of his helmet, and began dragging him towards the Achaeans. The<br>strap of the helmet that went under his chin was choking him, and<br>Menelaus would have dragged him off to his own great glory had not<br>Jove's daughter Venus been quick to mark and to break the strap of<br>oxhide, so that the empty helmet came away in his hand. This he<br>flung to his comrades among the Achaeans, and was again springing upon<br>Alexandrus to run him through with a spear, but Venus snatched him<br>up in a moment (as a god can do), hid him under a cloud of darkness,<br>and conveyed him to his own bedchamber.<br>Then she went to call Helen, and found her on a high tower with<br>the Trojan women crowding round her. She took the form of an old woman<br>who used to dress wool for her when she was still in Lacedaemon, and<br>of whom she was very fond. Thus disguised she plucked her by<br>perfumed robe and said, "Come hither; Alexandrus says you are to go to<br>the house; he is on his bed in his own room, radiant with beauty and<br>dressed in gorgeous apparel. No one would think he had just come<br>from fighting, but rather that he was going to a dance, or had done<br>dancing and was sitting down."<br>With these words she moved the heart of Helen to anger. When she<br>marked the beautiful neck of the goddess, her lovely bosom, and<br>sparkling eyes, she marvelled at her and said, "Goddess, why do you<br>thus beguile me? Are you going to send me afield still further to some<br>man whom you have taken up in Phrygia or fair Meonia? Menelaus has<br>just vanquished Alexandrus, and is to take my hateful self back with<br>him. You are come here to betray me. Go sit with Alexandrus<br>yourself; henceforth be goddess no longer; never let your feet carry<br>you back to Olympus; worry about him and look after him till he make<br>you his wife, or, for the matter of that, his slave- but me? I shall<br>not go; I can garnish his bed no longer; I should be a by-word among<br>all the women of Troy. Besides, I have trouble on my mind."<br>Venus was very angry, and said, "Bold hussy, do not provoke me; if<br>you do, I shall leave you to your fate and hate you as much as I<br>have loved you. I will stir up fierce hatred between Trojans and<br>Achaeans, and you shall come to a bad end."<br>At this Helen was frightened. She wrapped her mantle about her and<br>went in silence, following the goddess and unnoticed by the Trojan<br>women.<br>When they came to the house of Alexandrus the maid-servants set<br>about their work, but Helen went into her own room, and the<br>laughter-loving goddess took a seat and set it for her facing<br>Alexandrus. On this Helen, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, sat down,<br>and with eyes askance began to upbraid her husband.<br>"So you are come from the fight," said she; "would that you had<br>fallen rather by the hand of that brave man who was my husband. You<br>used to brag that you were a better man with hands and spear than<br>Menelaus. go, but I then, an challenge him again- but I should<br>advise you not to do so, for if you are foolish enough to meet him<br>in single combat, you will soon all by his spear."<br>And Paris answered, "Wife, do not vex me with your reproaches.<br>This time, with the help of Minerva, Menelaus has vanquished me;<br>another time I may myself be victor, for I too have gods that will<br>stand by me. Come, let us lie down together and make friends. Never<br>yet was I so passionately enamoured of you as at this moment- not even<br>when I first carried you off from Lacedaemon and sailed away with you-<br>not even when I had converse with you upon the couch of love in the<br>island of Cranae was I so enthralled by desire of you as now." On this<br>he led her towards the bed, and his wife went with him.<br>Thus they laid themselves on the bed together; but the son of Atreus<br>strode among the throng, looking everywhere for Alexandrus, and no<br>man, neither of the Trojans nor of the allies, could find him. If they<br>had seen him they were in no mind to hide him, for they all of them<br>hated him as they did death itself. Then Agamemnon, king of men,<br>spoke, saying, "Hear me, Trojans, Dardanians, and allies. The<br>victory has been with Menelaus; therefore give back Helen with all her<br>wealth, and pay such fine as shall be agreed upon, in testimony<br>among them that shall be born hereafter."<br>Thus spoke the son of Atreus, and the Achaeans shouted in applause.</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=410307" data-title="The Iliad: Book 3 de Homer" data-description="When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,/the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream/overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of/Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the..."></div> </div> </div>

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