Iliad Page #9

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

								

  Such just examples on offenders shown,
  Sedition silence, and assert the throne."

  'Twas thus the general voice the hero praised,
  Who, rising, high the imperial sceptre raised:
  The blue-eyed Pallas, his celestial friend,
  (In form a herald,) bade the crowds attend.
  The expecting crowds in still attention hung,
  To hear the wisdom of his heavenly tongue.
  Then deeply thoughtful, pausing ere he spoke,
  His silence thus the prudent hero broke:

  "Unhappy monarch! whom the Grecian race
  With shame deserting, heap with vile disgrace.
  Not such at Argos was their generous vow:
  Once all their voice, but ah! forgotten now:
  Ne'er to return, was then the common cry,
  Till Troy's proud structures should in ashes lie.
  Behold them weeping for their native shore;
  What could their wives or helpless children more?
  What heart but melts to leave the tender train,
  And, one short month, endure the wintry main?
  Few leagues removed, we wish our peaceful seat,
  When the ship tosses, and the tempests beat:
  Then well may this long stay provoke their tears,
  The tedious length of nine revolving years.
  Not for their grief the Grecian host I blame;
  But vanquish'd! baffled! oh, eternal shame!
  Expect the time to Troy's destruction given.
  And try the faith of Chalcas and of heaven.
  What pass'd at Aulis, Greece can witness bear,(89)
  And all who live to breathe this Phrygian air.
  Beside a fountain's sacred brink we raised
  Our verdant altars, and the victims blazed:
  'Twas where the plane-tree spread its shades around,
  The altars heaved; and from the crumbling ground
  A mighty dragon shot, of dire portent;
  From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent.
  Straight to the tree his sanguine spires he roll'd,
  And curl'd around in many a winding fold;
  The topmost branch a mother-bird possess'd;
  Eight callow infants fill'd the mossy nest;
  Herself the ninth; the serpent, as he hung,
  Stretch'd his black jaws and crush'd the crying young;
  While hovering near, with miserable moan,
  The drooping mother wail'd her children gone.
  The mother last, as round the nest she flew,
  Seized by the beating wing, the monster slew;
  Nor long survived: to marble turn'd, he stands
  A lasting prodigy on Aulis' sands.
  Such was the will of Jove; and hence we dare
  Trust in his omen, and support the war.
  For while around we gazed with wondering eyes,
  And trembling sought the powers with sacrifice,
  Full of his god, the reverend Chalcas cried,(90)
  'Ye Grecian warriors! lay your fears aside.
  This wondrous signal Jove himself displays,
  Of long, long labours, but eternal praise.
  As many birds as by the snake were slain,
  So many years the toils of Greece remain;
  But wait the tenth, for Ilion's fall decreed:'
  Thus spoke the prophet, thus the Fates succeed.
  Obey, ye Grecians! with submission wait,
  Nor let your flight avert the Trojan fate."
  He said: the shores with loud applauses sound,
  The hollow ships each deafening shout rebound.
  Then Nestor thus--"These vain debates forbear,
  Ye talk like children, not like heroes dare.
  Where now are all your high resolves at last?
  Your leagues concluded, your engagements past?
  Vow'd with libations and with victims then,
  Now vanish'd like their smoke: the faith of men!
  While useless words consume the unactive hours,
  No wonder Troy so long resists our powers.
  Rise, great Atrides! and with courage sway;
  We march to war, if thou direct the way.
  But leave the few that dare resist thy laws,
  The mean deserters of the Grecian cause,
  To grudge the conquests mighty Jove prepares,
  And view with envy our successful wars.
  On that great day, when first the martial train,
  Big with the fate of Ilion, plough'd the main,
  Jove, on the right, a prosperous signal sent,
  And thunder rolling shook the firmament.
  Encouraged hence, maintain the glorious strife,
  Till every soldier grasp a Phrygian wife,
  Till Helen's woes at full revenged appear,
  And Troy's proud matrons render tear for tear.
  Before that day, if any Greek invite
  His country's troops to base, inglorious flight,
  Stand forth that Greek! and hoist his sail to fly,
  And die the dastard first, who dreads to die.
  But now, O monarch! all thy chiefs advise:(91)
  Nor what they offer, thou thyself despise.
  Among those counsels, let not mine be vain;
  In tribes and nations to divide thy train:
  His separate troops let every leader call,
  Each strengthen each, and all encourage all.
  What chief, or soldier, of the numerous band,
  Or bravely fights, or ill obeys command,
  When thus distinct they war, shall soon be known
  And what the cause of Ilion not o'erthrown;
  If fate resists, or if our arms are slow,
  If gods above prevent, or men below."

  To him the king: "How much thy years excel
  In arts of counsel, and in speaking well!
  O would the gods, in love to Greece, decree
  But ten such sages as they grant in thee;
  Such wisdom soon should Priam's force destroy,
  And soon should fall the haughty towers of Troy!
  But Jove forbids, who plunges those he hates
  In fierce contention and in vain debates:
  Now great Achilles from our aid withdraws,
  By me provoked; a captive maid the cause:
  If e'er as friends we join, the Trojan wall
  Must shake, and heavy will the vengeance fall!
  But now, ye warriors, take a short repast;
  And, well refresh'd, to bloody conflict haste.
  His sharpen'd spear let every Grecian wield,
  And every Grecian fix his brazen shield,
  Let all excite the fiery steeds of war,
  And all for combat fit the rattling car.
  This day, this dreadful day, let each contend;
  No rest, no respite, till the shades descend;
  Till darkness, or till death, shall cover all:
  Let the war bleed, and let the mighty fall;
  Till bathed in sweat be every manly breast,
  With the huge shield each brawny arm depress'd,
  Each aching nerve refuse the lance to throw,
  And each spent courser at the chariot blow.
  Who dares, inglorious, in his ships to stay,
  Who dares to tremble on this signal day;
  That wretch, too mean to fall by martial power,
  The birds shall mangle, and the dogs devour."

  The monarch spoke; and straight a murmur rose,
  Loud as the surges when the tempest blows,
  That dash'd on broken rocks tumultuous roar,
  And foam and thunder on the stony shore.
  Straight to the tents the troops dispersing bend,
  The fires are kindled, and the smokes ascend;
  With hasty feasts they sacrifice, and pray,
  To avert the dangers of the doubtful day.
  A steer of five years' age, large limb'd, and fed,(92)
  To Jove's high altars Agamemnon led:
  There bade the noblest of the Grecian peers;
  And Nestor first, as most advanced in years.
  Next came Idomeneus,(93)
  and Tydeus' son,(94)
  Ajax the less, and Ajax Telamon;(95)
  Then wise Ulysses in his rank was placed;
  And Menelaus came, unbid, the last.(96)
  The chiefs surround the destined beast, and take
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