Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ILIAD: BOOK 2, by HOMER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ILIAD: BOOK 2, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So all else - gods, and charioted chiefs
Last Line: From lycia far, where whirls scamander's stream.
Subject(s): Achilles; Mythology - Classical; Trojan War


SO all else -- gods, and charioted chiefs --
Slept the night through. But sweet sleep bound not Zeus;
Pondering what way Achilles to exalt,
And by the Achaian ships make many fall.

This to his soul the fairest counsel seemed;
To send to Atreus' son an evil Dream:
And to the Dream he spake with winged words.

"Go, evil Dream, to you Greek war-ships; seek
The tent of Agamemnon, Atreus' son;
And tell him, truly, all I tell to thee.
Say, 'Arm right speedily thy unshorn Greeks;
This hour is Ilion and her broad streets thine.
For lo! no longer are the immortals -- they
Whose home is heaven -- divided. Here's prayer
Hath bent them all; and woes are nigh to Troy.'"

He spake. The Dream, obedient, went his way;
Came swiftly to the war-ships of the Greeks,
And sought out Atreus' son: -- (at rest he lay,
Divine sleep floating o'er him, in his tent:) --
And stood above his head; in form most like
To Nestor, Neleus' son: of all who sat
In council Agamemnon ranked him first.
In such shape spake to him the heaven-sent Dream.

"Sleep'st thou, O son of Atreus? son of one
At heart a warrior, tamer of the steed?
Not all night long a counsellor should sleep,
A people's guard, whose cares are manifold.
Now hear me. Zeus's messenger am I;
Who, though far off, yet cares, yet grieves for thee.
He bids thee arm in haste the unshorn Greeks;
Saying, 'Now is Ilion and her broad streets thine.
For lo! no longer are the immortals -- they
Whose home is heaven -- divided. Here's prayer
Hath bent them all; and woes are nigh to Troy,'
Woes which Zeus sends. This ponder in thy mind:
Nor be the captive of forgetfulness,
So soon as thou shalt wake from honeyed sleep."

He spake: and parting left him there, to muse
In secret on the thing that might not be.
For in that day he thought to scale Priam's walls,
And knew not, simple one, the wiles of Zeus;
How he would bring more woes, more groanings yet,
On Trojan and on Greek in hard-fought fields.
He woke: and sate erect -- the heavenly voice
Still floating o'er him: donned his tunic soft
And fair and new: flung o'er him his great robe,
Harnessed fair sandals to his shining feet,
And o'er his shoulder swung his silver-studded sword.
And took his fathers' sceptre in his hand,
Imperishable aye: and sought therewith
The vessels of the brazen-coated Greeks.

At broad Olympus' gate stood sacred Dawn,
To Zeus and all the gods proclaiming light.
Then the king bade his shrill-tongued heralds go
And summon council-ward the unshorn Greeks;
Who came all swiftly at their heralding.

But first a council of high elders sat
At Nestor's ship, the Pylos-nurtured king.
Thither he called them: there framed shrewd advice.

"Hear, friends! In holy night a heaven-sent Dream
Came near me while I slept: in face, and form,
And bulk, it seemed great Nestor's counterpart.
Above my head it stood, and spake to me.
'Sleep'st thou, O son of Atreus? son of one
At heart a warrior, tamer of the steed?
Not all night long a counsellor should sleep,
A people's guard, whose cares are manifold.
Now hear me. Zeus's messenger am I;
Who, though far off, yet cares, yet grieves for thee.
He bids thee arm in haste thy unshorn Greeks;
Saying, Now is Ilion and her broad streets thine.
For lo! no longer are the immortals -- they
Whose home is heaven -- divided. Here's prayer
Hath bent them all; and woes are nigh to Troy,
Woes which Zeus sends. This ponder in thy mind.'
So spake the Dream; and spread his wings, and fled.
And sweet sleep gat from me. But up and look
How we may arm for war Achaia's sons.
And first I will prove them, as is meet, with words,
And bid them deck for flight their oared ships.
Ye, wending separate ways, forbid their flight."

He spake, and sat him down. Then Nestor rose,
That Nestor who in sandy Pylos reigned.
Who friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst.

"Friends! lords and captains of the Argive hosts!
Now had another Greek this vision told,
We had said, 'Thou liest;' and put us far from him.
But lo! he saw it, of Achaians all
Who vaunts him noblest. Nay then, up and look
How we may arm for war Achaia's sons."

He spake; and slowly from the council moved.
They rose, and followed in their leaders' wake,
Those sceptred kings; the host flocked after them.
As when, from some rock's hollow, swarm on swarm,
Rise multitudes of thickly-thronging bees:
And hang in clusters o'er the flowers of spring,
And fly in myriads, this way some, some that;
They in such multitudes from tent and ship,
Skirting the bottomless sea-sand, marched in troops
To council. With them sped a voice of fire
Bidding them on: Zeus sent it: and they met.
Unquietly they met: earth groaned beneath
The trampling of the hosts as they sate down:
And there was tumult. Then did heralds nine
Shout out, entreating them to stay their strife,
And listen to the kings, the sons of heaven.
In haste they sate down, halting each in his place,
And stilled their noise. Then Agamemnon rose,
Bearing that sceptre which Hephaestus wrought,
And gave unto Cronion, royal Zeus.
Zeus to the courier-god, the Argus-slayer:
Hermes to Pelops, lasher of the steed:
Pelops to Atreus, shepherd of the host:
And Atreus to Thyestes rich in lambs
Dying bequeathed it. And Thyestes last
Gave it to Agamemnon's arm to wield,
And be the lord of Argos and the isles.
Leaning whereon he spake before the host.

"Friends, sons of Ares, mighty men of Greece!
Me hath Zeus bound to heaviness and woe.
Once (reckless one!) he swore, and bowed his head,
That I should raze Troy's walls and get me home.
But mischief doth he plot against me now:
Sends me to Argos, shamed; for I have slain
Much people. Thus then fare the favourites
Of Zeus the all-mighty: who hath bent the crests
Of many cities; yea, and who shall bend
The crests of many more; for strong is he.
Our sons shall one day hear it, and cry 'Shame!
Did Greece's chosen in such numbers come,
To battle, and to fight a bootless fight' --
(For still we see no end) -- 'against a few?'
Few, say I. For suppose we struck a truce,
Trojans and Greeks, and numbered each our hosts:
They singling all who sit beside their hearths,
We parting into companies of ten;
And to each ten one Trojan served the wine: --
Unserved would sit full many a company.
So do the Greeks exceed in multitude
The Trojans in yon city. Yet have they
Allies from many cities; sworded chiefs,
Who thwart me mightily, and say me nay,
When I would level those fair walls of Troy.
Nine of the years of royal Zeus are past:
And lo! the rigging of our ships is torn,
Rotted their timbers; and our wives, I ween,
And lisping children sit within our halls,
And wait us: and our work, for which we came
To Troy, is unaccomplished. Nay but up
And do my bidding. Set we sail and fly
To our dear fatherland: for never more
May we deem Ilion and her broad streets ours."

He spake; and stirred the inmost soul of all
The broad host: all save those who knew his wiles.
Then surged the council. On the Icarian main
So surge great sea-waves, when the clouds of Zeus
Let loose upon them winds from North and East.
And as the West wind meets the standing corn,
And stirs it to its depths, and ravens on,
A hurricane; and all the ears bow down: --
Ev'n so was stirred the council. Seaward they
Rushed with a cry. The dust rose under-foot,
In volumes. Each called each, to lend a hand
And drag the vessels down to the great sea.
Cleared were the trenches: rose to heaven their cry,
As, homeward-bound, they dragged their ships from shore.

Then had the Greeks fled home before their time;
But Here to Athene spake and said:
"Oh me! oh child of AEgis-armed Zeus,
Untiring one! shall Argives thus flee home,
Riding the broad seas, to their fatherland;
And leave, that Priam and his hosts may boast,
Helen of Argos -- for whom here in Troy,
Far from his fatherland, died many a Greek?
Now range the armies of the brass-clad Greeks:
And with thy soft words stay them, man by man;
Nor seaward let them drag their rocking ships."

She spake; the blue-eyed maid gave ear to her:
Yea, from Olympus' heights went hurrying down,
And came to the Greek war-ships speedily.
And there she found Odysseus, Zeus's match
In cunning, standing still. He had not laid
A finger on his dark and oared ship;
For sorrow sat upon his heart and soul.
Standing beside him spake the blue-eyed maid.

"Laertes' son! the man of many wiles!
What! leaping thus into your oared ships
Shall ye flee home unto your fatherland:
And leave, that Priam and his hosts may boast,
Helen of Argos -- for whom here in Troy,
Far from his fatherland, died many a Greek?
Now range the armies of the brass-clad Greeks;
And with thy soft words stay them, man by man,
Nor seaward let them drag their rocking ships."

She spake. He knew her voice who spake to him:
Girt him for speed, and flung his robe away.
Eurybates the herald picked it up,
That Ithacan, his servant. He himself
Came straight to Agamemnon, Atreus' son;
And took from him the sceptre of his sires,
Imperishable aye; and sought therewith
The vessels of the brazen-coated Greeks.

Oft as he met a king, or foremost man,
He checked him, halting near, with softest words.

"Fair sir! thou shouldst not cower as doth a knave;
Now seat thyself, and likewise seat thy hosts.
Thou know'st not yet the mind of Atreus' son.
Now proves he, but anon shall plague, the Greeks.
We know not, all, the purport of his words
In council. Should his wrath wax hot, and work
A mischief to the children of the Greeks!
For high the soul of kings, the sons of heaven.
Of Zeus their glory: wise Zeus loves them well."

Then when he saw, or heard uplift his voice,
One of the people: with his sceptre he
Would thrust at him, and shout that he might hear.

"Sirrah! sit down, and stir not, but obey
Thy betters. Helpless and unwarlike thou,
Of none account in council or in strife.
We may not, look you, all be monarchs here.
The multitude of rulers bodes but ill.
Be one our lord, our king; to whom the son
Of wily Cronos gave it: sceptre gave
And sovereignty, that he should reign o'er us."

Ev'n thus he dealt his mandates through the hosts;
And councilward they rushed from tent and ship.
The noise was as the noise of boisterous seas,
That break on some broad beach, and ocean howls.

So all sate down, and halted each in his place.
Still one -- Thersites of ungoverned tongue --
Brawled on. Much store had he of scurrilous words,
Idle and scurrilous words, to hurl at kings:
Aught that he deemed the Greeks would hear and laugh.
To Troy's gates none had come so base as he.
Bow-legged he was, and halted on one foot:
His shoulders, hunched, encroached upon his chest;
And bore a peaked head -- scant hairs grew thereon.
Achilles and Odysseus most he loathed;
At them railed aye: but Agamemnon now
He taunted in shrill treble. All the Greeks
Were angered sore, and vexed within their soul.
At Agamemnon did he rail and cry.

"What lack'st thou? Why complainest, Atreus' son?
With brass thy tents abound: and in them wait
Many and peerless maidens; whom we Greeks,
Whene'er we take a town, choose first for thee.
Ask'st thou yet gold; which one mayhap shall bring --
A tamer of the steed -- from Ilion,
To buy his son? whom peradventure I,
Or some Greek else hath bound and made his prize?
Or yet a damsel to ascend thy bed,
Kept for thine own self? Nay, unkingly 'tis
To bring this mischief on Achaia's sons.
Oh cowards! oh base and mean -- not men, but maids!
Home fare we with our ships: and leave him here,
To gorge him with his honours -- here in Troy:
And see if we will fight for him or no.
For him, who scorned one better far than he;
For his hand took, he hath, Achilles' gift.
Yet naught Achilles frets, good easy man.
Else, son of Atreus, thou hadst bragged thy last."

So chode Thersites him who led the host.
But straightway was Odysseus at his side,
And, scowling, with hard words encountered him.

"Thou word-entangler! Clear thy voice and shrill:
Yet think not singly to contend with kings.
I say no mortal, out of all that came
With Atreus' sons to Troy, is base as thou.
Wherefore thou should'st not lift thy voice and roar
And rail at kings, thy watchword still 'Return.'
We know not yet the end: whether for weal
Or woe we shall return, we sons of Greece.
So thou at Agamemnon, Atreus' son,
The shepherd of the host, must sit and rail,
For that on him the mighty men of Greece
Heap gifts: and cut him to the heart with words.
But this I say, and this shall come to pass.
Forget thyself, as now thou hast, again: --
And -- from Odysseus' shoulders drop his head,
Nor be he called Telemachus's sire,
If this hand strip not all thy garments off,
Mantle and tunic, and lay bare thy loins,
And send thee to the war-ships, wailing loud;
Driven from the council with the blows of shame."

He spake: and with his sceptre smote his back
And shoulders. Writhed Thersites, and the tears
Came gushing: and a crimson wale appeared,
Where lit the golden sceptre, on his back.
Down sate he, trembling all and woe-begone;
And dried his eyes; and looked round helplessly.
Then laughed they fairly, tho' their souls were grieved,
And each unto his neighbour looked and said:

"Now many a brave deed hath Odysseus done;
Fathered fair counsels, reared the crest of war:
But bravest this which he hath wrought to-day,
Hushing that scorner's speech, who smites with words.
Sure never more that o'er-great soul of his
Shall raise him up to gibe and scoff at kings."

So spake the people. Then Odysseus rose,
Sacker of towns, his sceptre in his hand.
The blue-eyed goddess in a herald's shape
Stood near: that all, both high and low, might hear
His counsel, and acquaint them with his mind.
He friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst.

"Prince! Atreus' son! Lo! now they will that thou
Should'st do in all men's eyes a deed of shame:
Nor keep the pledge they pledged, when on their way
Hither from Argos, pasture of the steed,
That thou should'st raze yon walls and get thee home:
But ev'n as babes or widowed wives, they wail
Each to his fellow, 'Get we home again.'
And such indeed the toil we have toiled, that one
Might get him home in very weariness.
For let a man abide one single month,
He and his fair-oared ship -- let blast and storm
And angry ocean keep him prisoner --
Far from his wife: and sad shall be his soul.
But we -- we see the ninth year rolling on,
And abide here still. Wherefore small blame to them
That fret beside their ships. And yet 'twere base
To stay, and stay, and then go empty home.
Bear, friends: bide yet a little: till we learn
If Calchas speak true prophecies or false.
For this we know full well: -- bear witness all
Not yet led captive by the Powers of death: --
When -- 'twas as yesterday, -- to Aulis flocked
Achaia's ships, the messengers of woe
To Priam and to Troy; and round about
The fountain, at the holy altar, we
Made to the immortals choicest sacrifice,
By the fair plane, whence glistening waters rolled:
Then saw we a great sign. A snake whose back
Was blood-red; sent, of him who dwells in heaven,
From darkness into light -- a fearful thing --
Sprang sudden from the altar to the plane.
Whereon were young birds sitting, tiny things,
On the tree-top: and cowered amidst the leaves
Eight of them: she, who bare the brood, made nine.
He ate them; chirping, all eight, piteously;
And as the mother fluttered round and round
And wailed her offspring; darting from his coils
He seized the shrieking creature by the wing.
And when he had eaten bird and brood, the god
Appeared, and wrought in him a miracle.
As we stood marvelling to see such things,
Wise Cronos' son transformed him into stone.
Such portents mingling with our sacrifice,
Then forthwith Calchas prophesied and spake.
'What struck ye speechless, oh ye unshorn Greeks?
To us this mighty sign wise Zeus hath showed,
Late coming, late in its accomplishment,
The fame whereof shall never pass away.
Ev'n as that serpent ate up bird and brood,
Eight of them; she who bare the brood made nine; --
Shall we, for years so many warring here,
Take Ilion and her broad streets in the ninth.'
So spake he, and behold! it comes to pass.
Nay then, abide, O bravely-harnessed Greeks,
Here, until yon great citadel be ours."

He spake, and from the Greeks a mighty cry
Went up: and all the vessels round about
Rang fiercely at the shouting of the hosts,
Who liked divine Odysseus' counsel well.
To whom spake Nestor the Gerenian knight.

"Oh gods! Your speech is as the speech of babes
Too young to busy them with warfare yet.
Where then our oaths, our contracts? Fling we now
Our plots and manly counsels to the flames,
Our pledges pledged in wine, and our right hands
Wherein we trusted. For behold! we strive
Idly with words; and, long time tarrying here,
See yet no end. But thou, oh Atreus' son,
Stablished of purpose ev'n as heretofore,
Lead on the Argives still through hard-fought fields:
While they drop off, those two or three, who sit
Aloof, and plot -- (and shall accomplish naught) --
To turn them Argos-ward, or e'er we see
If AEgis-armed Zeus keep faith or no.
Yea for I say Cronion bowed his head,
The all-mighty, in that day when first the Greeks
Stept on their swift ships, messengers of blood
And death to Troy -- and, thundering to the right,
Signalled fair fortune. So let none speed home,
Till each hath lain beside a Trojan wife,
And Helen's cares and anguish are avenged.
But whoso longs amazingly for home,
Let him upon his dark and oared ship
Lay hold; and ere his fellows, drop and die.
But do thou, King, consider and obey.
Not idle are the words which Nestor speaks.
Tell into clans and tribes, oh King, thy men:
That clan may stand by clan, and tribe by tribe.
So shalt thou -- if the Greeks obey thy voice --
See which be base, which brave, of all the host,
Leaders and led: -- for singly they will fight: --
And know if it be Fate, or man's unskill
And cowardice, that bars thy road to Troy."

And royal Agamemnon spake again.
"Yea, and in council none is like to thee,
Old man, of all the children of the Greeks.
O Zeus, O Phoebus, and Athene! would
I had ten such counsellors! Soon would bow yon walls,
By our arm ta'en and sacked. But Cronos' son
Makes woe my portion. AEgis-armed Zeus
Doth cast my lot in bootless feuds and strifes.
Lo! for a girl's sake strive with warring tongues
I and Achilles -- my wrath roused the strife.
Should but we twain be one in purpose, then
Not for an hour shall linger Ilion's doom.
But break ye now your fast, and then to war.
Let each whet well his spear, and hold his shield
Ready, feed well his swift-foot steeds, and look,
For battle bound, his chariot o'er and o'er:
That in stern war we strive the livelong day.
For rest there shall be none, no not an hour,
Until night coming part the strong men's arms.
The leathern fastenings of the broad-orbed shield
Shall drip with sweat; the hands that close around
The spear-shaft falter: steeds shall drip with sweat,
Drawing their polished cars. And should I mark
One, minded by his beaked ships to abide,
Aloof from battle -- slender hope were his
Thenceforth, to 'scape the vulture and the dog."

He spake. The Argives gave a mighty roar.
So roars a billow -- by the South wind stirred,
On some high beach -- against a jutting rock,
Lashed evermore by waves from every wind
Of heaven, on this side gathering and on that.
They rose, and sprang forth, parting each to his ship;
And, kindling each his tent-fire, brake their fast:
And to the gods who live for ever prayed,
This one or that, with sacrifice, to flee
Death and the moil of war. An ox meanwhile
Did Agamemnon slaughter, King of men,
Fat, in its fifth year, to most mighty Zeus:
And called the reverend chiefs of all the Greeks,
First Nestor, and the prince Idomeneus;
Then the two Aiases, and Tydeus' son;
Odysseus sixth, in craft a match for Zeus.
Unbid the clear-voiced Menelaus came;
His soul well wotted how his brother toiled.
Ranged round the ox, they raised the barley grains,
And royal Agamemnon spake in prayer.

"Most high, most mighty, dweller in the heaven,
Zeus, hid in clouds and darkness! ere you sun
Set, and the dark draw on, may I have laid
Priam's blackening palace low, and Priam's gates
Burned with avenging flame: and rent the clothes
Of Hector with the sword's edge on his breast,
And round about him seen much people fall
In dust, and with their teeth lay hold on earth."

He spake. Cronion heard not yet his prayer:
His offering took, but multiplied his woe.
They having knelt, and strewed the barley grains,
Drew back the victim's head, and slew, and flayed,
And cut the thighs off, and around them wrapped
The fat in layers, and sprinkled flesh thereon.
And these they burned on leafless logs; and held,
Pierced with their knives, the entrails o'er the flame.
They burned the thighs, and tasted of the heart,
And mashed and fixed on spits the residue,
And made roast cunningly, and drew all off.
And when the lust of meat and drink was gone,
First spake out Nestor, the Gerenian knight.

"Most glorious Agamemnon, King of men!
Sit we not talking here, nor still forego
The thing that lo! heaven putteth in our hand.
But up. Let heralds of the brass-mailed Greeks
Cry, and collect the folk from ship and ship:
While through the broad host thus in multitude
We go, and swiftly bid keen war awake."

He spake. Nor heedless was the King of men.
Forthwith he bade his shrill-voiced heralds go
And summon council-ward the unshorn Greeks,
Who came all swiftly at their heralding.
Round Atreus' son the kings, the sons of heaven,
Ranged and arrayed them. And Athene helped,
The blue-eyed maid, her AEgis in her hand,
That precious thing, that grows not old nor fades.
A hundred tassels hang from it, all gold,
All deftly wov'n; worth each a hecatomb.
Therewith she ran wild-eyed amid the host,
Bidding them on: and roused in every breast
The will to fight and cease not. And behold!
Sweeter to them seemed warfare, than to steer
Their hollow ships unto their fatherland.

As on the mountain peaks destroying flame
Fires a great forest; far is seen the glare: --
From off the glorious steel the full-orbed light
Went skyward on through ether as they marched.

And even as great hosts of winged birds,
Storks, cranes, or long-necked swans, flit here and there
In Asian meadow round Cayster's stream
On jubilant wing: and, making van-ward each,
Scream, that the whole mead rings: -- so poured their hosts
From tent and ship into Scamander's plain.
Earth underfoot rang fiercely, to the tramp
Of warriors and of horses. There they stood
Upon Scamander's richly-blossomed plain,
Innumerable, as flowers and leaves in spring.

And as great hosts of swarming flies that flit
In springtime, when the milk is in the cans,
About the herdsman's hut: so numerous stood
Before Troy's ranks the Greeks upon the plain,
And thirsted to destroy them utterly.

And as the goatherds sunder easily
Broad droves, as one flock feeding: even so
Their captains marshalled each his company
For war; amidst them Atreus' royal son,
In eye and front like Zeus, Ares in bulk,
In chest Poseidon. As among the herd
The bull ranks noblest, o'er the gathered kine
Preeminent: such glory in that hour
Gave Zeus to Agamemnon, to be first
And chiefest among hosts of mighty men.

Now name me, Muses, ye that dwell in heaven --
For ye are goddesses, see all, all know;
We are but told a tale, and know not aught --
The captains and commanders of the Greeks.
I could not tell nor speak their multitude.
Had I ten tongues, ten mouths; were this my voice
Untiring, and the heart within me brass: --
But that those children of Olympus, sprung
Of AEgis-armed Zeus, the Muses, know
Full well what numbers came 'neath Ilion's walls.
Now tell I all the captains, all the ships.

Of the Boeotians Peneleus was chief,
Archesilaus, Clonius, Leitus,
And Prothoenor. Some in Hyria dwelt,
Schoenus or stony Aulis, or the dells
Of Eteonus: in Thespeia some,
Scholus and Graia, and the broad champaign
Of Mycalessus, Harma, Eilesius,
Erythrae, Eleon, Hyle, Peneon,
Ochaleae, and Medeon, well-walled town,
Copae, Eutresis, and the haunt of doves
Thisbe. In Coroneia, on the lawns
Of Haliartus: by Plataia, by
Glisas, and Hypothebae, well-walled town:
Onchestus, or Poseidon's holy grove,
Mideia, Arne, where the grapes grow thick,
Or sacred Cilla, or the frontier-town
Anthedon. Fifty ships went forth of these.
A hundred men and twenty sailed in each.

They of Aspledon and Orchomenos
Obeyed Ascalaphus and Ialmenus,
Chiefs whom in Actor's palace, Azeus' son,
The young Astyoche to Ares bore,
Her secret bridegroom, in her maiden's tower.
Full thirty chiselled ships did these array.

Of Phocians Schedius and Epistrophus
Ranked foremost, sons of proud Iphitus, son
Of Nauboleus. Of Cyparissus these
Were lords, and stony Python, Crisa's grove,
Daulis and Panopeus; dwelt round about
Anemoreia and Hyampolis,
Or drank of holiest Cephissus' stream,
Or held Lilaia, whence Cephissus springs.
And forty dark ships were their retinue.
These two were captains of the Phocian lines,
Next the Boeotians ranging, on the left.

The Locrian's prince, fleet Aias, Oileus' son,
Slighter than Aias, son of Telamon,
Far slighter -- small and linen-corsleted --
Yet with the spear surpassed the hosts of Greece.
From Cynus, Opoeis, Calliarus, these,
Bessa or Scarphe, sweet Augeae came,
Thronius, or Tarphe by Boagrius' stream.
Forty dark ships were theirs, who o'er against
The great Euboea dwelt -- the Locrians.

Euboea's hosts, the Abantians -- men whose lips
Breathe war -- from Chalcis, Histiaia's vines,
Cerinthus' sands, Eirethria, Dion's steep,
Or Styra or Carystus: that proud race
Brave Elephenor led, Chalcodon's son.
He led the fleet Abantians: warriors, shorn
Of their front locks; with outstretched spears athirst
To rive the breastplate on the foeman's breast.
Forty dark vessels followed in his wake.

And they who dwelt in Athens, well-walled town,
Land of great-souled Erechtheus -- whom in days
Gone by the child of Zeus, Athene, reared
(From bounteous Earth he sprang,) and bade him dwell
In Athens, in her own rich sanctuary:
There do Athenian warriors worship him,
As years roll round, with bullocks and with rams --
Their captain was Menestheus, Peteos' son.
In all the earth his like hath not arisen
To marshal steeds and shielded infantry.
Nestor alone might match him: Nestor's years
Were more. -- And fifty dark ships followed him.

Next, Aias brought twelve ships from Salamis;
And moored them by the Athenian phalanxes.

And them whom Argos reared; from Tiryns' walls,
Hermione and Asine -- that front
Each a deep bay -- from Troezen, Eion,
And vine-clad Epidaurus: all who came
From Mases or AEgina, men of war:
Loud Diomedes ruled, and Sthenelus,
Famed Capaneus's son: Euryalus third,
His sire Mecisteus, his Talaion.
Loud Diomedes ruled the whole array,
In eighty dark ships mustering.

Those who held
Mycenae or Cleonae, well-walled towns,
Or sumptuous Corinth, Araithyria sweet,
Orneia, or where first Adrastus reigned,
Sicyon; who dwelt on Gonoessa's steep,
Or Hyperesia; by Pellene dwelt
And AEgius, and all along the coast,
And round broad Helice: their hundred ships
Were led by Agamemnon, Atreus' son.
Most noble as most numerous were the hosts
That followed him. Amongst them he stood armed
In dazzling brass, exulting: and of all
The mighty men stood chiefest, as of all
Noblest was he, and most his following.

And those who tilled Laconia's rugged dales,
Pharis or Sparta, or the haunt of doves
Messe; Amyclae, Helos' sea-washed walls,
Laas or OEtylus: Menelaus led,
The king's own brother, of the ringing voice,
Full fifty ships. They mixed not with the rest.
He moved amongst them, trusting in his might,
And urged to battle: this his heart's desire,
That Helen's tears and anguish be avenged.

And those from Pylos, from Arene fair,
Thrios, the ford of Alpheus, AEpy's walls,
Cyparisseis, Helos, Pteleon,
Amphigeneia, Dorion: -- where the Nine
Fell in with Thracian Thamyris, on his road
From Thessaly, the home of Eurytus,
And silenced all his songs: because he stood
Their vaunted conqueror, would they but appear --
Those Muses, sprung of AEgis-armed Zeus --
And sing against him: they, thereat enraged,
Smote him with blindness, took away that gift
Divine, that he forgat his minstrelsy: --
Their chief was Nestor, the Gerenian knight.
And ninety chiselled ships were their array.

Them of Arcadia, 'neath Cyllene's steep,
By AEpytus's tomb, where dwells a race
Of wrestlers: them of Rhipae, Pheneus,
Orchomenos white with sheep, and Stratia,
Wind-swept Enispe, fair Mantinea,
Tegea, Stymphelus, and Parrhasia: --
King Agapenor led, Anchaeus' son.
Their ships were sixty: each ship furnished well
With men inured to war, Arcadia's sons.
To these did Agamemnon, King of men --
For they were landsmen -- give of his own store
Ships and good oars, to cross the purple seas.

They of Buprasium and great Elis; all
Whom utmost Myrsinus, Olenia's crags,
Hyrmine and Aleisium compass round;
These had four chiefs -- on each chief war-ships ten
Attended, with Epeans freighted well.
Part did Amphimachus, part Thalpius lead,
(Sprung, this from Cteatus, that from Eurytus
The seed of Actor;) stout Diores part
Whose sire was Amarynceus: o'er the fourth
Ruled brave Polyxenus -- his sire the king
Agasthenes, who sprang from AEgeus' loins.

Them of Dulichium, and the sacred isles
That fronting Elis lie, beyond the sea,
The Echinae: Meges marshalled, Phyleus' son,
In fight an Ares. Zeus loved well the knight
Phyleus his sire; who with his grandsire wroth
Came down unto Dulichium long ago.
Forty dark vessels followed after him.

The Cephalenians, haughty race, and all
Who called the quivering woods of Neritos,
Or Ithaca, or rugged AEgilips,
Their home, or Crocylaea: all who dwelt
Round Samos or Zacynthus; and whoe'er
Peopled, or faced, the mainland: these obeyed
Odysseus, like in counsel unto Zeus.
And with him sailed twelve scarlet-painted ships.

The AEtolians Thoas led, Andraemon's son;
By Pleuron, Olenus, Pylene, reared,
Or Chalcis' beach, or rocky Calydon.
For OEneus' bold sons were not; he himself
Was not, nor fair-haired Meleager, now.
So o'er AEtolia's hosts supreme command
Held Thoas. Forty dark ships followed him.

Idomeneus, brave lance, the Cretans led.
From Cnosus and Miletus, Gortyn's walls,
And Lyttus, and Lycastus, glistening white,
Phaestus and Rhytius, peopled towns, they came,
And all the parts of hundred-citied Crete.
Idomeneus led those, and Meriones,
Match of the war-god, when he lift his arm
For slaughter. Eighty dark ships followed them.

Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles,
Valiant and tall, led on nine vessels, manned
By noble Rhodians, dwelling round about
Rhodes in three portions: in Ielysus,
And Lindus, and Cameirus glistening white.
These did Tlepolemus, brave lance, command:
Astyocheia bare him to the might
Of Heracles; who led the maid away
From Sella's stream, from Ephyre, many a town
Of warriors, sons of heaven, laid first in dust.
He, grown to manhood in his stately home,
Slew straightway his sire's uncle, now in years,
Licymnius, sprung from Ares; built him ships
Forthwith, and fled, much people in his train,
O'er ocean; for he feared the other sons
And grandsons of the might of Heracles.
To Rhodes, much hardship past, the wanderer came:
There in three clans he settled; there obtained
The love of Zeus, whom heaven and earth obey.
Cronion's hand shed o'er them boundless wealth.

Nireus from Syme led three shapely ships:
Nireus, to Charopus and Aglaia born,
Nireus, of all the Greeks that came to Troy
The goodliest; all, save Peleus' noble son.
Yet poor his prowess, scant his following.

Them of Nisyrus, Crapathus, Casos, Cos,
Where reigned Eurypylus, and Calydnae's isles,
Pheidippus led and Antiphus, two sons
Of Thessalus, who sprang from Heracles.
And thirty chiselled ships were their array.

Next, all who in Pelasgic Argos dwelt,
Whose home was Trachis, Alos, Alope,
Phthia, and Hellas, for sweet damsels famed; --
Their fifty ships Achilles led to war:
Myrmidons, or Hellens, or Achaians hight.
Yet the dread din of battle woke not them:
For there was no man to array their hosts.
For in his ship their great swift leader lay,
Wroth for Briseis' sake, that fair-haired maid
Whom from Lyrnessus in hard fight he won,
When fell Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebes;
Epistrophus and Mynes, spearmen bold,
Smiting, Evenus' sons, of Sclepius' blood: --
For her sake lay he still -- but not for long.

From Phylace and flowery Pyrasus,
Demeter's own; from sheep-clad Iton some,
And sea-washed Antron, and green Pteleus, came.
Protesilaus was their warrior chief
Once: but the dark soil was his lodging now.
In Phylace his widow tore her cheeks,
Unfinished stood his home: for, first of Greeks
Leaping to land, a Dardan struck him down.
They mourned their chief, yet were not chiefless still:
Podarces led them, bred to warfare, son
Of rich Iphiclus, son of Phylacus;
Of proud Protesilaus brother born:
But younger, and less brave, than that great chief
Protesilaus. Leader lacked they not;
Yet thought, regretful, on the brave man dead.
Forty dark ships these manned.

And those who tilled
Pheras by Lake Boebeis, Glaphyrae,
Or Boebe or Iolcos, well-walled town:
Admetus' son led their eleven ships,
Eumelus, whom Alcestis, lady fair,
Of Pelias' daughters loveliest, bare to him.

Those whom Methone, whom Thaumachia reared,
Or Meliboea, or Olizon's crags;
Them Philoctetes led, an archer trained,
Seven ships: in each sat fifty rowers trained
Archers, in fight right valiant. But he lay,
Racked by strong pangs, in Lemnos' sacred isle,
Abandoned of the children of the Greeks
To rue the fell bite of the deadly snake.
There he lay sorrowing. But the Greeks were soon
To think of Philoctetes once again.
Chiefless they were not, though they mourned their chief.
Medon arrayed them, Rhene's bastard child,
By city-sacking Oileus.

Them who held
OEchalia, where OEchalian Eurytus
Was king, or Tricce, or Ithome's rocks:
These Podaleirius and Machaon led,
Asclepius' two sons, of healing arts
Each master. Thirty chiselled ships ranged they.

Them from Ormenius, Hypereia's rill,
Asterius, and Titanus' white-faced cliffs;
Euaemon's glorious son, Eurypylus,
Led forth. And forty dark ships followed him.

Argissa's, Orthe's and Gyrtona's hosts,
White Oloessa's, and Elone's; led
The sturdy Polypoetes, son of him
Whom deathless Zeus begat, Peirithous.
Him to Peirithous famed Hippodame
Bare, when those shaggy Beasts his vengeance felt.
From Pelion unto far-off Pindus driven.
Leonteus, bred to warfare, shared his toil,
Haughty Coronus' son, of Caeneus' blood.
And forty dark ships followed after these.

Gouneus from Cyphos twenty ships and two
Led. Enienians thronged them, and the men
Whose homes were round Dodona's storm-beat crags,
Sturdy Peraebians, or who tilled the meads
Of Titaresius, that pleasant stream
That flows in beauty down to Peneus;
Yet with that silver-eddied river ne'er
Mingleth, but oil-like, on the surface swims:
For Peneus is an arm of that oath-witness, Styx.

Prothous, Tenthredon's son, led Magne's hosts,
By Peneus reared, and Pelion's quivering woods.
Forty dark ships of theirs swift Prothous led.

These were the chiefs and captains of the host.
Now, tell me, Muse, who far surpassed their mates,
Horsemen or steeds, in all that chivalry

Of steeds the noblest far Eumelus drave,
Driv'n once by Pheres; swift in flight as birds,
In age, hue, depth of shoulder, fairly matched.
Those mares the Monarch of the Silver Bow
Bred in Pereia, couriers of dread war.
Of men far first was Aias, Telamon's son,
While Peleus' son was wroth. For all unmatched
Was great Achilles, all unmatched his steeds.
But in his beaked sea-vessels wroth he lay
At Agamemnon, shepherd of the host.
His army by the breakers on the beach
With spear and quoit and bow made holiday:
While, ranged beside their several cars, their steeds
On lotus browsed and parsley of the lake.
Tented, in canvas, stood the chieftains' cars.
Reft of their warrior prince, they roamed at will
Among the host, and went not forth to war.

On came they: so might fire o'errun the lands.
Groaned earth beneath: as when Zeus smites in wrath,
Revelling in thunderstorm, the soil that hides
The Dragon, where in Arimi men show
The Dragon's grave. Beneath their coming feet
Groaned she right sore. They swiftly scoured the plain.

And now wind-swift to Troy fleet Iris came
From AEgis-armed Zeus, to tell a tale
Of woe. By Priam's gates assembled all
The assembly, young and old. Then, standing near,
Spake swift-foot Iris in Polites' voice,
Priam's son, who, trusting to his feats of speed,
High upon ancient AEsyaetes' tomb
A spy sat watching till the Achaians moved
From shipboard. So disguised, fleet Iris spake.

"Sire! Thou aye lov'st entanglements of words.
Thus erst in peace-time: but 'tis stern war now.
Lo! I have looked on many a foughten field:
But ne'er saw yet so vast, so stout a host,
As, even like the leaves or like the sand,
March o'er the plain, to fight beneath our walls.
But, Hector, be my message first to thee.
This do. In Priam's great city many allies
Dwell, late o'er earth wide-scattered, and their speech
Is diverse. Let each captain then command,
Each head, his own troops: marshalling first his hosts."

She spake. He knew her voice who spake to him.
And brake the assembly up. To arms they rushed.
The gates flew open, and the hosts poured forth,
Horsemen and footmen. Mighty was their din.

Far in the plain, a steep hill fronts the walls;
A man may walk all round it: called by men
The Bramble-hill, but by the gods the tomb
Of supple-limbed Myrine. There were ranged
Both Trojans and allies.

The Trojan host
Obeyed tall Hector of the glancing plume,
Priam's son. Most noble as most numerous showed
His hosts: each spear-arm lusting for the fray.

Gallant AEneas led the Dardan lines;
Whom Aphrodite's self to Anchises bore
In Ida's glens; a goddess loved a man.
Archilochus and Acamas shared his toil,
Trained in all arts of war, Antenor's sons.

Seleia's dwellers, low at Ida's foot,
Rich Trojans, that drink dark AEsepus' stream,
These Pandarus led, Lycaon's brilliant son;
His very bow was great Apollo's gift.

From Adrasteia and Apaesus' realm,
Tereia's steep and Pityeia, came
Hosts by Adrastus and Amphius led
Of linen corslet, Merops' sons, who ruled
Percote. He, a seer among the seers,
Had said, "My children, go not up to war."
Yet recked they not -- drawn on by the dark Powers of Death.

Them who round Practium and Percote dwelt,
Sestus, Abydos, and Arisbe's grove;
Ruled Asius, prince of warriors, Asius, son
Of Hyrtacus, whom vast and fiery-hued
Steeds from Arisbe brought, from Sella's stream.

The fierce Pelasgian spearmen -- tribes who ploughed
Larissa's rich domain -- Hippothous led:
Hippothous and Pylaeus, warriors, sprung
Through Lethus from Pelasgian Teutamus.

Peirous and Acamas, mighty men, from Thrace,
Led all whom Hellespont, strong-rushing, belts.
Euphemus all Ciconia's spears: his sire
Troezenus, son of Ceas, son of heaven.

Then the Paeonians, them who bend the bow,
From far-off Amydon Pyraecmes brought,
From Axius: Axius, whose vast-volumed tide,
Matchless in beauty, broadens o'er the lands.

The hairy bulk of stout Pylaemenes
The Paphlagonians roused from Eneti,
That breeds wild mules: Cytorus, Sesamos,
Their fair homes: Cromna or Parthenia's banks,
AEgialus, or Erythinae tall.

Odius, Epistrophus, Calydon's hosts
Led from far Alybae. There is silver found.

The Mysians Cromis led, and Ennomus
The augur. Not by augury to escape
Black death. By fleet Achilles' hand he died
In Xanthus. Other Trojans fell that day.

Godlike Ascanius led, and Phorcys, troops
From far Ascania; Phrygians, war-athirst.
Maeonians, Antiphus and Mesthles, born
By Lake Gygeis to Talaimenes.
They led Maeonians, born at Tmolus' foot.

The barbarous-talking Carians Nastes led,
These held Miletus, and Maeander's stream,
And rocky Phtheirae's leaf-entangled shades,
And Mycale's steep heights. Amphimachus
Led these, and Nastes, Nomion's brilliant sons,
Amphimachus and Nastes. Gold he had;
Yet, child-like, went to war. Poor fool! what shield
Is gold against the bitterness of death?
He too must die by fleet Achilles' hand
In Xanthus. Brave Achilles took his gold.

Sarpedon and good Glaucus Lycians led
From Lycia far, where whirls Scamander's stream.





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