The Iliad (Penguin Classics) Read online

  Idomeneus commander of the Cretans said in reply:

  ‘Son of Atreus, you can rely on my loyal support and the solemn assurance I gave you when this business began. Inspire the rest of the long-haired Greeks, so that we can join battle at (270) once, now that the Trojans have broken their oaths. As for them, they can look forward to nothing but death and disaster, since they first broke the oaths.’

  Ajax and Teucer

  So he spoke, and Agamemnon passed on, well pleased. In his tour of the throng of men, he came upon the two brothers, Ajax and Teucer. The pair were putting on their helmets and had a cloud of infantrymen at their back. As a goatherd in his lookout sees a cloud approaching across the sea, driven by a roaring west wind; the goatherd is some way off but, black as pitch, the cloud advances at him across the sea bringing a great whirlwind in its wake, and he (280) shudders when he sees it and drives his flocks into a cave – such were the close-packed ranks of Olympian-bred young men under the two brothers, dark, bristling with shields and spears as they moved off into battle. Lord Agamemnon was delighted to see them and spoke winged words:

  ‘Ajax and Teucer, leaders of the bronze-armoured Greeks, I have no orders – encouraging you would be quite out of place! Your very leadership inspires your men to fight their best. Father Zeus, Athene and Apollo, if only everyone had your attitude! (290) The town of lord Priam would soon be captured, sacked and turned over to Greek hands.’

  Nestor

  With these words Agamemnon left them and moved on to the others. There he came across Nestor the clear-voiced speaker from Pylos, whom he found preparing his men to fight and marshalling them under their leaders, great Pelagon, Alastor and Chromius, lord Haemon and Bias shepherd of the people. Nestor stationed his charioteers with their horses and chariots in the front and at the back his many brave foot-soldiers, to serve as rearguard. He placed his inferior (300) troops in the middle so that even the unwilling would be forced to fight. He told his charioteers, whom he was instructing first, to keep control of their horses and not get entangled in the mêlée:

  ‘Don’t think bravery and skill entitle a charioteer to charge forward and fight the Trojans on his own. And don’t let anyone drop behind and weaken the whole force. When a man in his own chariot comes within reach of the enemy, he should try a spear-thrust. That is the best tactic. This is the discipline and courage that enabled our forefathers to storm towns and fortifications.’

  (310) So old Nestor used the experience he had gained in battles long ago to inspire his troops. Lord Agamemnon was delighted to see him and spoke winged words:

  ‘Venerable sir, how happy I could be if your spirit were matched by the vigour of your limbs, and your strength was unimpaired! But age, which no one can escape, lies heavy upon you. If only you could pass it on to someone else and rejoin the ranks of youth!’

  Then Nestor the Gerenian charioteer replied to him:

  ‘Son of Atreus, I too could wish most heartily to be the man (320) I was when I killed godlike Ereuthalion. But the gods do not grant us all their favours at one time. I was a young man then; now age presses hard upon me. Yet for all that I shall still be with my charioteers and in command. Their tactics and orders come from me – that’s the privilege of age – even if the spear is left to younger men than myself, who can rely on their muscle.’

  So he spoke, and Agamemnon moved on, well pleased. Next he found Peteos’ son the horse-driver Menestheus. This man and his Athenian troops, champions of the battle-cry, were (330) standing idle; and nearby was quick-thinking Odysseus with his Cephallenian troops, a substantial force, standing idle too. The call to battle had not yet reached their ears, since the Trojan and Greek troops had only just begun to move into action. So they stood there and waited for some other Greek contingent to advance against the Trojans and signal the start of the fighting. When he noticed this, Agamemnon lord of men attacked them and spoke winged words:

  Odysseus

  ‘You, Menestheus, son of a noble father, and you, Odysseus, master of sharp practice, always looking (340) out for number one, why are you hanging back like this and leaving others to advance? You ought to be taking your place in the front line, ready to bear the heat of battle. You two are the first to get an invitation from me when we lay on a feast for the senior advisers. On such occasions you’re quite happy to take your fill of roast meat and sweet wine for as long as you want. But now you seem happy to stand by and watch while ten contingents of Greeks fall on the enemy with their spears before you make a move.’

  Quick-thinking Odysseus gave him a black look and replied:

  (350) ’Son of Atreus, why do you say such a thing? How can you maintain that, when we Greeks unleash the dogs of war against the horse-taming Trojans, we shirk the fighting? You’ll have your wish, if that’s what is troubling you, and see the father of Telemachus at grips with the front ranks of these horse-taming Trojans. As for you, you’re all hot air.’

  When lord Agamemnon realized that Odysseus was angry, he smiled and answered with an apology:

  ‘Olympian-born son of Laertes, resourceful Odysseus, I am not really attacking you and I have no more orders to give. I (360) know in your heart of hearts you are well disposed to me. In fact, we see eye to eye. On, then; I’ll make up for it later if I have said anything offensive. May the gods scatter it to the winds.’

  With these words Agamemnon left them and moved on to the others. He found Tydeus’ son great-heated Diomedes stationary there among the horses and finely built chariots. Sthenelus son of Capaneus stood close at hand. Seeing him, Agamemnon lord of men attacked him and spoke winged words:

  Diomedes (contrasted with Tydeus)

  (370) ‘Diomedes son of that dauntless charioteer Tydeus, what can I say? Why are you hanging back like this, just eyeing the lines of battle? It was not your father Tydeus’ habit to hang back but to come to grips with the enemy way out in front of his men. That is what people say who saw the man at work. They say he was the best of them all. I myself never met or saw him, though he did come to Mycenae once, not to fight but on a personal mission with godlike Polyneices in search of reinforcements. It was the time they were attacking the sacred walls of Thebes to drive out (380) Eteocles. They entreated our people to provide adequate support, and our people were sympathetic and promised all they asked for.

  ‘But Zeus made us change our minds with some unfavourable omens. So Tydeus and his men left Mycenae. When they had gone some way along the road and reached the meadows and reedy banks of the River Asopus near Thebes, the Greeks sent Tydeus with a message into the town. He entered and found a large group of Thebans, the people of Cadmus, feasting in the palace of their leader, mighty Eteocles. But even as a visitor, alone among a crowd of Thebans, Tydeus showed no fear. He challenged them to athletic contests and won easily in every (390) case, since he had Athene to help him.

  ‘This infuriated the horse-racing Thebans and, when Tydeus left, they gathered and laid an ambush in his path, fifty men with two leaders, Maeon, a man like the gods, and resolute Polyphontes. But Tydeus dealt with them and brought them to a nasty end. He killed the whole party except the one he sent back to Thebes (acknowledging signs from the gods, he let Maeon go) .

  ‘That was Tydeus from Aetolia. You are his son. But you do (400) not fight as he did, though you may be better when it comes to talking.’

  So he spoke, and mighty Diomedes made no reply. He dutifully accepted the rebuke from the leader he respected. But Sthenelus son of illustrious Capaneus replied:

  Diomedes silences Sthenelus

  ’Son of Atreus, you know the facts: don’t lie about them. I say we are far better men than our fathers. We did succeed in capturing seven-gated Thebes. With a weaker force, we stormed more powerful defences than they ever faced, because we trusted in Zeus’ help and the signs that the gods sent us; but our fathers were (410) destroyed through their own recklessness. So don’t talk to me about our fathers in the same breath as us.’

  Mighty Diomedes gave S
thenelus a black look and said:

  ‘Be quiet, man, and listen to me. I am not going to quarrel with Agamemnon shepherd of the people for encouraging the Greeks to fight. It is he who will get the credit if the Greeks beat the Trojans and capture sacred Ilium; but at the same time, if the Greeks are defeated, he will also get the grief. Come: time for the two of us to call up that fighting spirit of ours!’

  He spoke and, fully armed, leapt from his chariot to the (420) ground. As he charged into action, the bronze rang terrifyingly on his chest. The bravest heart might well have quailed.

  As the waves of the ocean under a westerly gale race one after the other on to a booming beach; far out at sea the white horses rise, then break and crash thunderously on the shore and, arching up, climb headlands and send the salt spray flying – so, one after the other, the Greek contingents moved relentlessly into battle. Each leader was issuing orders to his own command, (430) but the men advanced in silence. You would not think so large an army was on the march or had a voice, so silent were they, in fear of their commanders. Their ornate armour glittered as they advanced, rank on rank.

  As for the Trojans, like sheep that stand in their thousands in a rich man’s yard, yielding their white milk and bleating incessantly because they hear their lambs, so a hubbub went up through the great army. Their speech and dialects were all different, as they spoke a mixture of languages – the troops hailed from many parts.

  The War-god Ares spurred on the Trojan forces, and grey-eyed (440) Athene the Greeks. Terror and Panic accompanied her, and so did implacably determined Strife, the sister and ally of man-slaying Ares. Small at first, she soars upward and, though her feet are still on the ground, reaches high Olympus with her head. Now she too swept in among the Trojans and Greeks, filling them with hatred of one another and ensuring the death-cries of more and more men.

  Battle is joined

  The armies advanced and met in a single space with a clash of shields, spears and bronze-armoured warriors. The bossed shields collided and a great roar went up – the (450) screams of the dying, the jeers of the victors – and the earth ran with blood. As two mountain rivers in winter, fed by their great springs higher up, meet in full spate in some deep ravine, while far off in the mountains a shepherd hears the thunder, such were the yelling and turmoil as the two armies came to grips.

  Antilochus kills Echepolus

  Antilochus was the first to kill his man, brave Echepolus, who was fighting in full armour in the Trojan front ranks. Antilochus hit him on the (460) ridge of his plumed helmet. The bronze spear hit Echepolus’ forehead and pierced right through the bone. Darkness engulfed his eyes and he crashed, like a tower, in the thick of the action.

  Agenor kills Elephenor

  As he fell, lord Elephenor, leader of the greathearted Abantes, seized him by the feet and tried to drag him quickly out of range, eager to strip him of his armour. But the attempt was short-lived, since Agenor saw him dragging the body away. With his bronze spear he stabbed Elephenor in the side which his shield had left exposed as he (470) bent over. Agenor brought him down, life left him, and a grim struggle between Trojans and Greeks developed over him. They leapt at each other like wolves, and man grappled with man.

  Ajax kills Simoïsius

  Then Ajax son of Telamon hit Anthemion’s son Simoïsius, an unmarried young man at the prime of his youth. His mother bore him by the banks of the River Simoïs when she was returning from Mount Ida where her father and mother had taken her to see to their sheep. So they called him Simoïsius. His life was too short to repay his parents for their loving care, for it ended when he met the spear (480) of great-hearted Ajax. As the young man advanced among the front ranks, Ajax hit him in the chest by the right nipple. The bronze spear went clean through his shoulder, and he crashed to the ground in the dust like a poplar which grows in the hollow of a great water-meadow, its trunk trimmed and the branches sprouting out at the top. A chariot-maker cuts it down with his gleaming axe to make the wheel-rims for a beautiful chariot; but he leaves it now to lie and season on the bank. So Ajax slaughtered Anthemion’s son Simoïsius.

  (490) Now Priam’s son brightly armoured Antiphus threw a sharp spear at Ajax through the crowd. Antiphus missed his man but hit Leucus, one of Odysseus’ brave comrades, in the groin as he was dragging Simoïsius away. The body fell from Leucus’ hands, and he himself came crashing down on top of it.

  Antiphus kills Leucus; Odysseus kills Democoön

  Odysseus was infuriated when he saw Leucus killed. His bronze armour glittering, he advanced through the front ranks up to the enemy lines, where he took his stand and, looking carefully round, threw his gleaming spear. The Trojans leapt back when they saw it coming. But Odysseus’ spear did not leave his hand for nothing. It hit Democoön, a bastard son of Priam, who had (500) joined Priam from the town of Abydus. He was standing by his horses when Odysseus, infuriated by his companion’s death, hit him with his spear on the temple, and the bronze tip passed right through and came out the other side. Darkness engulfed Democoön’s eyes; he thudded to the ground, and his armour clattered about him.

  At this glorious Hector and the Trojan front ranks fell back, while the Greeks gave a great shout, dragged in the bodies and pushed forward. This filled Apollo, who was watching from Pergamus – Ilium’s highest point – with indignation, and he shouted to the Trojans:

  APOLLO allies the Trojans

  ‘On with you, horse-taming Trojans! Never give Greeks best in your will to fight! They are not made of stone or iron. Their flesh can’t keep out penetrating spears when they are hit. And what’s more, Achilles, (510) son of lovely-haired Thetis, is not fighting, but nursing his heart-tearing anger by the ships.’

  So the awe-inspiring god spoke from the citadel, while the Greeks were encouraged by Athene, Triton-born, most glorious daughter of Zeus, who went through the ranks herself spurring on any Greek she saw holding back.

  Peiros kills Diores; Thoas kills Peiros

  Now destiny shackled Diores. He was hit by a jagged stone on the right leg near the ankle. The man who threw it was the Thracian leader Peiros who came from Aenus. The shameless rock completely (520) shattered the two tendons and the bones; and Diores fell backwards in the dust, stretching his hands out to his friends and gasping for life. But Peiros, the man who had hit him, ran up and stabbed him by the navel with his spear. All his innards gushed out on to the ground, and darkness engulfed his eyes.

  As Peiros sprang away, however, Thoas from Aetolia hit him in the chest with his spear, below the nipple, and the bronze (530) point sank into his lung. Thoas then came up to him, pulled the heavy spear from Peiros’ chest and, drawing his sharp sword, struck him full in the belly. He took Peiros’ life but he did not get his armour. For Peiros’ men, the Thracians with their hair in top-knots, surrounded him. They held their long spears steady in their hands and forced Thoas, great, powerful and noble though he was, to retreat. Shaken, he withdrew.

  So these two, Peiros and Diores, lay stretched in the dust at each other’s side, one of them leader of the Thracians, the other of the bronze-armoured Eleans. And many others lay dead around them.

  Indeed, this was no idle skirmish. Anyone arriving fresh in (540) the middle of this battle uninjured by throw or thrust of a sharp spear – he would have needed Athene to shield him from the hail of missiles and lead him by the hand – would have soon found that out. Trojans and Greeks that day lay there in their multitudes, stretched out alongside each other, face down in the dust.

  5

  DIOMEDES’ HEROICS

  1–35: ATHENE inspires Diomedes, who goes on the rampage. ATHENE leads the War-god ARES out of the fighting.

  36–165: Diomedes’ onslaught starts a Trojan retreat. Pandarus hits Diomedes in the shoulder with an arrow, but ATHENE revitalizes him and enables him to distinguish between men and gods.

  166–296: Aeneas and Pandarus attack Diomedes, who kills Pandarus.

  297–470: APHRODITE rescues Aeneas, but
Diomedes stabs her. She complains to her mother DIONE; ZEUS gently teases her. Diomedes pursues Aeneas but is warned off by APOLLO. ARES inspires the Trojans.

  471–710: Sarpedon rebukes Hector, who storms into battle with ARES’ support. General fighting ensues. Diomedes leads the retreat from Hector and ARES.

  711–92: HERA and ATHENE agree to act against ARES. They arm and tell ZEUS their plans. HERA rallies the Greeks.

  793–909: ATHENE rebukes Diomedes, and together they wound ARES. He complains to ZEUS.

  Pallas Athene now inspired Diomedes son of Tydeus with determination and bravery, so that he might eclipse all the Greeks and win heroic glory. She made his shield and helmet glow with a steady blaze, like Sirius the autumn star which rises from its bath in Ocean to shine brightest of all. Such was the fire she made blaze from his head and shoulders as she thrust him into the very heart of the battle where the fighting was at its most confused.

  Diomedes kills Phegeus

  (10) There was a Trojan called Dares, rich and handsome, who was a priest of Hephaestus. He had two sons Phegeus and Idaeus, both experienced in every kind of fighting. These two detached themselves from the rest and launched themselves against Diomedes in their chariot, while he went to meet them on foot. When they had come within range of each other, Phegeus was the first to hurl his long-shadowed spear. But the spear-point passed over Diomedes’ left shoulder and did not hit him. Then Diomedes son of Tydeus replied with his bronze spear. It did not leave his hand for nothing.