Iliad Page #13

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.

• Poetry

								

  But the brave chiefs the inglorious life deplored,
  And, wandering o'er the camp, required their lord.

  Now, like a deluge, covering all around,
  The shining armies sweep along the ground;
  Swift as a flood of fire, when storms arise,
  Floats the wild field, and blazes to the skies.
  Earth groan'd beneath them; as when angry Jove
  Hurls down the forky lightning from above,
  On Arime when he the thunder throws,
  And fires Typhoeus with redoubled blows,
  Where Typhon, press'd beneath the burning load,
  Still feels the fury of the avenging god.

  But various Iris, Jove's commands to bear,
  Speeds on the wings of winds through liquid air;
  In Priam's porch the Trojan chiefs she found,
  The old consulting, and the youths around.
  Polites' shape, the monarch's son, she chose,
  Who from Ćsetes' tomb observed the foes,(105)
  High on the mound; from whence in prospect lay
  The fields, the tents, the navy, and the bay.
  In this dissembled form, she hastes to bring
  The unwelcome message to the Phrygian king.

  "Cease to consult, the time for action calls;
  War, horrid war, approaches to your walls!
  Assembled armies oft have I beheld;
  But ne'er till now such numbers charged a field:
  Thick as autumnal leaves or driving sand,
  The moving squadrons blacken all the strand.
  Thou, godlike Hector! all thy force employ,
  Assemble all the united bands of Troy;
  In just array let every leader call
  The foreign troops: this day demands them all!"

  The voice divine the mighty chief alarms;
  The council breaks, the warriors rush to arms.
  The gates unfolding pour forth all their train,
  Nations on nations fill the dusky plain,
  Men, steeds, and chariots, shake the trembling ground:
  The tumult thickens, and the skies resound.

  Amidst the plain, in sight of Ilion, stands
  A rising mount, the work of human hands;
  (This for Myrinne's tomb the immortals know,
  Though call'd Bateia in the world below;)
  Beneath their chiefs in martial order here,
  The auxiliar troops and Trojan hosts appear.

  The godlike Hector, high above the rest,
  Shakes his huge spear, and nods his plumy crest:
  In throngs around his native bands repair,
  And groves of lances glitter in the air.

  Divine Ćneas brings the Dardan race,
  Anchises' son, by Venus' stolen embrace,
  Born in the shades of Ida's secret grove;
  (A mortal mixing with the queen of love;)
  Archilochus and Acamas divide
  The warrior's toils, and combat by his side.

  Who fair Zeleia's wealthy valleys till,(106)
  Fast by the foot of Ida's sacred hill,
  Or drink, Ćsepus, of thy sable flood,
  Were led by Pandarus, of royal blood;
  To whom his art Apollo deign'd to show,
  Graced with the presents of his shafts and bow.

  From rich Apaesus and Adrestia's towers,
  High Teree's summits, and Pityea's bowers;
  From these the congregated troops obey
  Young Amphius and Adrastus' equal sway;
  Old Merops' sons; whom, skill'd in fates to come,
  The sire forewarn'd, and prophesied their doom:
  Fate urged them on! the sire forewarn'd in vain,
  They rush'd to war, and perish'd on the plain.

  From Practius' stream, Percote's pasture lands,
  And Sestos and Abydos' neighbouring strands,
  From great Arisba's walls and Selle's coast,
  Asius Hyrtacides conducts his host:
  High on his car he shakes the flowing reins,
  His fiery coursers thunder o'er the plains.

  The fierce Pelasgi next, in war renown'd,
  March from Larissa's ever-fertile ground:
  In equal arms their brother leaders shine,
  Hippothous bold, and Pyleus the divine.

  Next Acamas and Pyrous lead their hosts,
  In dread array, from Thracia's wintry coasts;
  Round the bleak realms where Hellespontus roars,
  And Boreas beats the hoarse-resounding shores.

  With great Euphemus the Ciconians move,
  Sprung from Troezenian Ceus, loved by Jove.

  Pyraechmes the Paeonian troops attend,
  Skill'd in the fight their crooked bows to bend;
  From Axius' ample bed he leads them on,
  Axius, that laves the distant Amydon,
  Axius, that swells with all his neighbouring rills,
  And wide around the floating region fills.

  The Paphlagonians Pylaemenes rules,
  Where rich Henetia breeds her savage mules,
  Where Erythinus' rising cliffs are seen,
  Thy groves of box, Cytorus! ever green,
  And where Ćgialus and Cromna lie,
  And lofty Sesamus invades the sky,
  And where Parthenius, roll'd through banks of flowers,
  Reflects her bordering palaces and bowers.

  Here march'd in arms the Halizonian band,
  Whom Odius and Epistrophus command,
  From those far regions where the sun refines
  The ripening silver in Alybean mines.

  There mighty Chromis led the Mysian train,
  And augur Ennomus, inspired in vain;
  For stern Achilles lopp'd his sacred head,
  Roll'd down Scamander with the vulgar dead.

  Phorcys and brave Ascanius here unite
  The Ascanian Phrygians, eager for the fight.

  Of those who round Maeonia's realms reside,
  Or whom the vales in shades of Tmolus hide,
  Mestles and Antiphus the charge partake,
  Born on the banks of Gyges' silent lake.
  There, from the fields where wild Maeander flows,
  High Mycale, and Latmos' shady brows,
  And proud Miletus, came the Carian throngs,
  With mingled clamours and with barbarous tongues.(107)
  Amphimachus and Naustes guide the train,
  Naustes the bold, Amphimachus the vain,
  Who, trick'd with gold, and glittering on his car,
  Rode like a woman to the field of war.
  Fool that he was! by fierce Achilles slain,
  The river swept him to the briny main:
  There whelm'd with waves the gaudy warrior lies
  The valiant victor seized the golden prize.

  The forces last in fair array succeed,
  Which blameless Glaucus and Sarpedon lead
  The warlike bands that distant Lycia yields,
  Where gulfy Xanthus foams along the fields.

BOOK III.

ARGUMENT.

THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS.

The armies being ready to engage, a single combat is agreed upon between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) for the determination of the war. Iris is sent to call Helen to behold the fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where Priam sat with his counsellers observing the Grecian leaders on the plain below, to whom Helen gives an account of the chief of them. The kings on either part take the solemn oath for the conditions of the combat. The duel ensues; wherein Paris being overcome, he is snatched away in a cloud by Venus, and transported to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls, and brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians, demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.

The three-and-twentieth day still continues throughout this book. The scene is sometimes in the fields before Troy, and sometimes in Troy itself.

  Thus by their leaders' care each martial band
  Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.
  With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,
  Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war
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