<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410311" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 7</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother<br>Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven sends a<br>breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain, and have<br>laboured at their oars till they are faint with toil, even so<br>welcome was the sight of these two heroes to the Trojans.<br>Thereon Alexandrus killed Menesthius the son of Areithous; he<br>lived in Ame, and was son of Areithous the Mace-man, and of<br>Phylomedusa. Hector threw a spear at Eioneus and struck him dead<br>with a wound in the neck under the bronze rim of his helmet.<br>Glaucus, moreover, son of Hippolochus, captain of the Lycians, in hard<br>hand-to-hand fight smote Iphinous son of Dexius on the shoulder, as he<br>was springing on to his chariot behind his fleet mares; so he fell<br>to earth from the car, and there was no life left in him.<br>When, therefore, Minerva saw these men making havoc of the<br>Argives, she darted down to Ilius from the summits of Olympus, and<br>Apollo, who was looking on from Pergamus, went out to meet her; for he<br>wanted the Trojans to be victorious. The pair met by the oak tree, and<br>King Apollo son of Jove was first to speak. "What would you have<br>said he, "daughter of great Jove, that your proud spirit has sent<br>you hither from Olympus? Have you no pity upon the Trojans, and<br>would you incline the scales of victory in favour of the Danaans?<br>Let me persuade you- for it will be better thus- stay the combat for<br>to-day, but let them renew the fight hereafter till they compass the<br>doom of Ilius, since you goddesses have made up your minds to<br>destroy the city."<br>And Minerva answered, "So be it, Far-Darter; it was in this mind<br>that I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans. Tell me,<br>then, how do you propose to end this present fighting?"<br>Apollo, son of Jove, replied, "Let us incite great Hector to<br>challenge some one of the Danaans in single combat; on this the<br>Achaeans will be shamed into finding a man who will fight him."<br>Minerva assented, and Helenus son of Priam divined the counsel of<br>the gods; he therefore went up to Hector and said, "Hector son of<br>Priam, peer of gods in counsel, I am your brother, let me then<br>persuade you. Bid the other Trojans and Achaeans all of them take<br>their seats, and challenge the best man among the Achaeans to meet you<br>in single combat. I have heard the voice of the ever-living gods,<br>and the hour of your doom is not yet come."<br>Hector was glad when he heard this saying, and went in among the<br>Trojans, grasping his spear by the middle to hold them back, and<br>they all sat down. Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated. But<br>Minerva and Apollo, in the likeness of vultures, perched on father<br>Jove's high oak tree, proud of their men; and the ranks sat close<br>ranged together, bristling with shield and helmet and spear. As when<br>the rising west wind furs the face of the sea and the waters grow dark<br>beneath it, so sat the companies of Trojans and Achaeans upon the<br>plain. And Hector spoke thus:-<br>"Hear me, Trojans and Achaeans, that I may speak even as I am<br>minded; Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and covenants to<br>nothing, and foreshadows ill for both of us, till you either take<br>the towers of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your ships. The<br>princes of the Achaeans are here present in the midst of you; let him,<br>then, that will fight me stand forward as your champion against<br>Hector. Thus I say, and may Jove be witness between us. If your<br>champion slay me, let him strip me of my armour and take it to your<br>ships, but let him send my body home that the Trojans and their<br>wives may give me my dues of fire when I am dead. In like manner, if<br>Apollo vouchsafe me glory and I slay your champion, I will strip him<br>of his armour and take it to the city of Ilius, where I will hang it<br>in the temple of Apollo, but I will give up his body, that the<br>Achaeans may bury him at their ships, and the build him a mound by the<br>wide waters of the Hellespont. Then will one say hereafter as he sails<br>his ship over the sea, 'This is the monument of one who died long<br>since a champion who was slain by mighty Hector.' Thus will one say,<br>and my fame shall not be lost."<br>Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to decline<br>the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last Menelaus rose<br>and rebuked them, for he was angry. "Alas," he cried, "vain braggarts,<br>women forsooth not men, double-dyed indeed will be the stain upon us<br>if no man of the Danaans will now face Hector. May you be turned every<br>man of you into earth and water as you sit spiritless and inglorious<br>in your places. I will myself go out against this man, but the<br>upshot of the fight will be from on high in the hands of the<br>immortal gods."<br>With these words he put on his armour; and then, O Menelaus, your<br>life would have come to an end at the hands of hands of Hector, for he<br>was far better the man, had not the princes of the Achaeans sprung<br>upon you and checked you. King Agamemnon caught him by the right<br>hand and said, "Menelaus, you are mad; a truce to this folly. Be<br>patient in spite of passion, do not think of fighting a man so much<br>stronger than yourself as Hector son of Priam, who is feared by many<br>another as well as you. Even Achilles, who is far more doughty than<br>you are, shrank from meeting him in battle. Sit down your own<br>people, and the Achaeans will send some other champion to fight<br>Hector; fearless and fond of battle though he be, I ween his knees<br>will bend gladly under him if he comes out alive from the<br>hurly-burly of this fight."<br>With these words of reasonable counsel he persuaded his brother,<br>whereon his squires gladly stripped the armour from off his shoulders.<br>Then Nestor rose and spoke, "Of a truth," said he, "the Achaean land<br>is fallen upon evil times. The old knight Peleus, counsellor and<br>orator among the Myrmidons, loved when I was in his house to<br>question me concerning the race and lineage of all the Argives. How<br>would it not grieve him could he hear of them as now quailing before<br>Hector? Many a time would he lift his hands in prayer that his soul<br>might leave his body and go down within the house of Hades. Would,<br>by father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, that I were still young and<br>strong as when the Pylians and Arcadians were gathered in fight by the<br>rapid river Celadon under the walls of Pheia, and round about the<br>waters of the river Iardanus. The godlike hero Ereuthalion stood<br>forward as their champion, with the armour of King Areithous upon<br>his shoulders- Areithous whom men and women had surnamed 'the<br>Mace-man,' because he fought neither with bow nor spear, but broke the<br>battalions of the foe with his iron mace. Lycurgus killed him, not<br>in fair fight, but by entrapping him in a narrow way where his mace<br>served him in no stead; for Lycurgus was too quick for him and speared<br>him through the middle, so he fell to earth on his back. Lycurgus then<br>spoiled him of the armour which Mars had given him, and bore it in<br>battle thenceforward; but when he grew old and stayed at home, he gave<br>it to his faithful squire Ereuthalion, who in this same armour<br>challenged the foremost men among us. The others quaked and quailed,<br>but my high spirit bade me fight him though none other would<br>venture; I was the youngest man of them all; but when I fought him<br>Minerva vouchsafed me victory. He was the biggest and strongest man<br>that ever I killed, and covered much ground as he lay sprawling upon<br>the earth. Would that I were still young and strong as I then was, for<br>the son of Priam would then soon find one who would face him. But you,<br>foremost among the whole host though you be, have none of you any<br>stomach for fighting Hector."<br>Thus did the old man rebuke them, and forthwith nine men started<br>to their feet. Foremost of all uprose King Agamemnon, and after him<br>brave Diomed the son of Tydeus. Next were the two Ajaxes, men<br>clothed in valour as with a garment, and then Idomeneus, and<br>Meriones his brother in arms. After these Eurypylus son of Euaemon,<br>Thoas the son of Andraemon, and Ulysses also rose. Then Nestor<br>knight of Gerene again spoke, saying: "Cast lots among you to see<br>who shall be chosen. If he come alive out of this fight he will have<br>done good service alike to his own soul and to the Achaeans."<br>Thus he spoke, and when each of them had marked his lot, and had<br>thrown it into the helmet of Agamemnon son of Atreus, the people<br>lifted their hands in prayer, and thus would one of them say as he<br>looked into the vault of heaven, "Father Jove, grant that the lot fall<br>on Ajax, or on the son of Tydeus, or upon the king of rich Mycene<br>himself."<br>As they were speaking, Nestor knight of Gerene shook the helmet, and<br>from it there fell the very lot which they wanted- the lot of Ajax.<br>The herald bore it about and showed it to all the chieftains of the<br>Achaeans, going from left to right; but they none of of them owned it.<br>When, however, in due course he reached the man who had written upon<br>it and had put it into the helmet, brave Ajax held out his hand, and<br>the herald gave him the lot. When Ajax saw him mark he knew it and was<br>glad; he threw it to the ground and said, "My friends, the lot is<br>mine, and I rejoice, for I shall vanquish Hector. I will put on my<br>armour; meanwhile, pray to King Jove in silence among yourselves<br>that the Trojans may not hear you- or aloud if you will, for we fear<br>no man. None shall overcome me, neither by force nor cunning, for I<br>was born and bred in Salamis, and can hold my own in all things."<br>With this they fell praying to King Jove the son of Saturn, and thus<br>would one of them say as he looked into the vault of heaven, "Father<br>Jove that rulest from Ida, most glorious in power, vouchsafe victory<br>to Ajax, and let him win great glory: but if you wish well to Hector<br>also and would protect him, grant to each of them equal fame and<br>prowess.<br>Thus they prayed, and Ajax armed himself in his suit of gleaming<br>bronze. When he was in full array he sprang forward as monstrous<br>Mars when he takes part among men whom Jove has set fighting with<br>one another- even so did huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans, spring<br>forward with a grim smile on his face as he brandished his long<br>spear and strode onward. The Argives were elated as they beheld him,<br>but the Trojans trembled in every limb, and the heart even of Hector<br>beat quickly, but he could not now retreat and withdraw into the ranks<br>behind him, for he had been the challenger. Ajax came up bearing his<br>shield in front of him like a wall- a shield of bronze with seven<br>folds of oxhide- the work of Tychius, who lived in Hyle and was by far<br>the best worker in leather. He had made it with the hides of seven<br>full-fed bulls, and over these he had set an eighth layer of bronze.<br>Holding this shield before him, Ajax son of Telamon came close up to<br>Hector, and menaced him saying, "Hector, you shall now learn, man to<br>man, what kind of champions the Danaans have among them even besides<br>lion-hearted Achilles cleaver of the ranks of men. He now abides at<br>the ships in anger with Agamemnon shepherd of his people, but there<br>are many of us who are well able to face you; therefore begin the<br>fight."<br>And Hector answered, "Noble Ajax, son of Telamon, captain of the<br>host, treat me not as though I were some puny boy or woman that cannot<br>fight. I have been long used to the blood and butcheries of battle.<br>I am quick to turn my leathern shield either to right or left, for<br>this I deem the main thing in battle. I can charge among the<br>chariots and horsemen, and in hand to hand fighting can delight the<br>heart of Mars; howbeit I would not take such a man as you are off<br>his guard- but I will smite you openly if I can."<br>He poised his spear as he spoke, and hurled it from him. It struck<br>the sevenfold shield in its outermost layer- the eighth, which was<br>of bronze- and went through six of the layers but in the seventh<br>hide it stayed. Then Ajax threw in his turn, and struck the round<br>shield of the son of Priam. The terrible spear went through his<br>gleaming shield, and pressed onward through his cuirass of cunning<br>workmanship; it pierced the shirt against his side, but he swerved and<br>thus saved his life. They then each of them drew out the spear from<br>his shield, and fell on one another like savage lions or wild boars of<br>great strength and endurance: the son of Priam struck the middle of<br>Ajax's shield, but the bronze did not break, and the point of his dart<br>was turned. Ajax then sprang forward and pierced the shield of Hector;<br>the spear went through it and staggered him as he was springing<br>forward to attack; it gashed his neck and the blood came pouring<br>from the wound, but even so Hector did not cease fighting; he gave<br>ground, and with his brawny hand seized a stone, rugged and huge, that<br>was lying upon the plain; with this he struck the shield of Ajax on<br>the boss that was in its middle, so that the bronze rang again. But<br>Ajax in turn caught up a far larger stone, swung it aloft, and<br>hurled it with prodigious force. This millstone of a rock broke<br>Hector's shield inwards and threw him down on his back with the shield<br>crushing him under it, but Apollo raised him at once. Thereon they<br>would have hacked at one another in close combat with their swords,<br>had not heralds, messengers of gods and men, come forward, one from<br>the Trojans and the other from the Achaeans- Talthybius and Idaeus<br>both of them honourable men; these parted them with their staves,<br>and the good herald Idaeus said, "My sons, fight no longer, you are<br>both of you valiant, and both are dear to Jove; we know this; but<br>night is now falling, and the behests of night may not be well<br>gainsaid."<br>Ajax son of Telamon answered, "Idaeus, bid Hector say so, for it was<br>he that challenged our princes. Let him speak first and I will<br>accept his saying."<br>Then Hector said, "Ajax, heaven has vouchsafed you stature and<br>strength, and judgement; and in wielding the spear you excel all<br>others of the Achaeans. Let us for this day cease fighting;<br>hereafter we will fight anew till heaven decide between us, and give<br>victory to one or to the other; night is now falling, and the<br>behests of night may not be well gainsaid. Gladden, then, the hearts<br>of the Achaeans at your ships, and more especially those of your own<br>followers and clansmen, while I, in the great city of King Priam,<br>bring comfort to the Trojans and their women, who vie with one another<br>in their prayers on my behalf. Let us, moreover, exchange presents<br>that it may be said among the Achaeans and Trojans, 'They fought<br>with might and main, but were reconciled and parted in friendship.'<br>On this he gave Ajax a silver-studded sword with its sheath and<br>leathern baldric, and in return Ajax gave him a girdle dyed with<br>purple. Thus they parted, the one going to the host of the Achaeans,<br>and the other to that of the Trojans, who rejoiced when they saw their<br>hero come to them safe and unharmed from the strong hands of mighty<br>Ajax. They led him, therefore, to the city as one that had been<br>saved beyond their hopes. On the other side the Achaeans brought<br>Ajax elated with victory to Agamemnon.<br>When they reached the quarters of the son of Atreus, Agamemnon<br>sacrificed for them a five-year-old bull in honour of Jove the son<br>of Saturn. They flayed the carcass, made it ready, and divided it into<br>joints; these they cut carefully up into smaller pieces, putting<br>them on the spits, roasting them sufficiently, and then drawing them<br>off. When they had done all this and had prepared the feast, they<br>ate it, and every man had his full and equal share, so that all were<br>satisfied, and King Agamemnon gave Ajax some slices cut lengthways<br>down the loin, as a mark of special honour. As soon as they had had<br>enough to cat and drink, old Nestor whose counsel was ever truest<br>began to speak; with all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he<br>addressed them thus:-<br>"Son of Atreus, and other chieftains, inasmuch as many of the<br>Achaeans are now dead, whose blood Mars has shed by the banks of the<br>Scamander, and their souls have gone down to the house of Hades, it<br>will be well when morning comes that we should cease fighting; we will<br>then wheel our dead together with oxen and mules and burn them not far<br>from the ships, that when we sail hence we may take the bones of our<br>comrades home to their children. Hard by the funeral pyre we will<br>build a barrow that shall be raised from the plain for all in<br>common; near this let us set about building a high wall, to shelter<br>ourselves and our ships, and let it have well-made gates that there<br>may be a way through them for our chariots. Close outside we will<br>dig a deep trench all round it to keep off both horse and foot, that<br>the Trojan chieftains may not bear hard upon us."<br>Thus he spoke, and the princess shouted in applause. Meanwhile the<br>Trojans held a council, angry and full of discord, on the acropolis by<br>the gates of King Priam's palace; and wise Antenor spoke. "Hear me<br>he said, "Trojans, Dardanians, and allies, that I may speak even as<br>I am minded. Let us give up Argive Helen and her wealth to the sons of<br>Atreus, for we are now fighting in violation of our solemn<br>covenants, and shall not prosper till we have done as I say."<br>He then sat down and Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen rose to<br>speak. "Antenor," said he, "your words are not to my liking; you can<br>find a better saying than this if you will; if, however, you have<br>spoken in good earnest, then indeed has heaven robbed you of your<br>reason. I will speak plainly, and hereby notify to the Trojans that<br>I will not give up the woman; but the wealth that I brought home<br>with her from Argos I will restore, and will add yet further of my<br>own."<br>On this, when Paris had spoken and taken his seat, Priam of the race<br>of Dardanus, peer of gods in council, rose and with all sincerity<br>and goodwill addressed them thus: "Hear me, Trojans, Dardanians, and<br>allies, that I may speak even as I am minded. Get your suppers now<br>as hitherto throughout the city, but keep your watches and be wakeful.<br>At daybreak let Idaeus go to the ships, and tell Agamemnon and<br>Menelaus sons of Atreus the saying of Alexandrus through whom this<br>quarrel has come about; and let him also be instant with them that<br>they now cease fighting till we burn our dead; hereafter we will fight<br>anew, till heaven decide between us and give victory to one or to<br>the other."<br>Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They took<br>supper in their companies and at daybreak Idaeus went his wa to the<br>ships. He found the Danaans, servants of Mars, in council at the stern<br>of Agamemnon's ship, and took his place in the midst of them. "Son<br>of Atreus," he said, "and princes of the Achaean host, Priam and the<br>other noble Trojans have sent me to tell you the saying of<br>Alexandrus through whom this quarrel has come about, if so be that you<br>may find it acceptable. All the treasure he took with him in his ships<br>to Troy- would that he had sooner perished- he will restore, and<br>will add yet further of his own, but he will not give up the wedded<br>wife of Menelaus, though the Trojans would have him do so. Priam<br>bade me inquire further if you will cease fighting till we burn our<br>dead; hereafter we will fight anew, till heaven decide between us<br>and give victory to one or to the other."<br>They all held their peace, but presently Diomed of the loud<br>war-cry spoke, saying, "Let there be no taking, neither treasure,<br>nor yet Helen, for even a child may see that the doom of the Trojans<br>is at hand."<br>The sons of the Achaeans shouted applause at the words that Diomed<br>had spoken, and thereon King Agamemnon said to Idaeus, "Idaeus, you<br>have heard the answer the Achaeans make you-and I with them. But as<br>concerning the dead, I give you leave to burn them, for when men are<br>once dead there should be no grudging them the rites of fire. Let Jove<br>the mighty husband of Juno be witness to this covenant."<br>As he spoke he upheld his sceptre in the sight of all the gods,<br>and Idaeus went back to the strong city of Ilius. The Trojans and<br>Dardanians were gathered in council waiting his return; when he<br>came, he stood in their midst and delivered his message. As soon as<br>they heard it they set about their twofold labour, some to gather<br>the corpses, and others to bring in wood. The Argives on their part<br>also hastened from their ships, some to gather the corpses, and others<br>to bring in wood.<br>The sun was beginning to beat upon the fields, fresh risen into<br>the vault of heaven from the slow still currents of deep Oceanus, when<br>the two armies met. They could hardly recognise their dead, but they<br>washed the clotted gore from off them, shed tears over them, and<br>lifted them upon their waggons. Priam had forbidden the Trojans to<br>wail aloud, so they heaped their dead sadly and silently upon the<br>pyre, and having burned them went back to the city of Ilius. The<br>Achaeans in like manner heaped their dead sadly and silently on the<br>pyre, and having burned them went back to their ships.<br>Now in the twilight when it was not yet dawn, chosen bands of the<br>Achaeans were gathered round the pyre and built one barrow that was<br>raised in common for all, and hard by this they built a high wall to<br>shelter themselves and their ships; they gave it strong gates that<br>there might be a way through them for their chariots, and close<br>outside it they dug a trench deep and wide, and they planted it within<br>with stakes.<br>Thus did the Achaeans toil, and the gods, seated by the side of Jove<br>the lord of lightning, marvelled at their great work; but Neptune,<br>lord of the earthquake, spoke, saying, "Father Jove, what mortal in<br>the whole world will again take the gods into his counsel? See you not<br>how the Achaeans have built a wall about their ships and driven a<br>trench all round it, without offering hecatombs to the gods? The The<br>fame of this wall will reach as far as dawn itself, and men will no<br>longer think anything of the one which Phoebus Apollo and myself built<br>with so much labour for Laomedon."<br>Jove was displeased and answered, "What, O shaker of the earth,<br>are you talking about? A god less powerful than yourself might be<br>alarmed at what they are doing, but your fame reaches as far as dawn<br>itself. Surely when the Achaeans have gone home with their ships,<br>you can shatter their wall and Ring it into the sea; you can cover the<br>beach with sand again, and the great wall of the Achaeans will then be<br>utterly effaced."<br>Thus did they converse, and by sunset the work of the Achaeans was<br>completed; they then slaughtered oxen at their tents and got their<br>supper. Many ships had come with wine from Lemnos, sent by Euneus<br>the son of Jason, born to him by Hypsipyle. The son of Jason freighted<br>them with ten thousand measures of wine, which he sent specially to<br>the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus. From this supply the<br>Achaeans bought their wine, some with bronze, some with iron, some<br>with hides, some with whole heifers, and some again with captives.<br>They spread a goodly banquet and feasted the whole night through, as<br>also did the Trojans and their allies in the city. But all the time<br>Jove boded them ill and roared with his portentous thunder. Pale<br>fear got hold upon them, and they spilled the wine from their cups<br>on to the ground, nor did any dare drink till he had made offerings to<br>the most mighty son of Saturn. Then they laid themselves down to<br>rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.</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=410311" data-title="The Iliad: Book 7 de Homer" data-description="With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother/Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven sends a/breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain, and have/laboured at their oars till they are faint with..."></div> </div> </div>

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