The Iliad of Homer Translated into English Blank Verse by...

[1]All night both Gods and Chiefs equestrian slept, But not the Sire of all. He, waking soon, Mused how to exalt Achilles, and destroy No few in battle at the Grecian fleet. This counsel, at the last, as best he chose5 And likeliest; to dispatch an evil Dream To Agamemnon’s tent, and to his side The phantom summoning, him thus addressed.

Haste, evil Dream! Fly to the Grecian fleet, And, entering royal Agamemnon’s tent,10 His ear possess thou thus, omitting nought Of all that I enjoin thee. Bid him arm His universal host, for that the time When the Achaians shall at length possess Wide Ilium, hath arrived. The Gods above15 No longer dwell at variance. The request Of Juno hath prevail’d; now, wo to Troy! So charged, the Dream departed. At the ships Well-built arriving of Achaia’s host, He Agamemnon, son of Atreus, sought.20 Him sleeping in his tent he found, immersed In soft repose ambrosial. At his head The shadow stood, similitude exact Of Nestor, son of Neleus; sage, with whom In Agamemnon’s thought might none compare.25 His form assumed, the sacred Dream began.

Oh son of Atreus the renown’d in arms And in the race! Sleep’st thou? It ill behoves To sleep all night the man of high employ, And charged, as thou art, with a people’s care.30 Now, therefore, mark me well, who, sent from Jove, Inform thee, that although so far remote, He yet compassionates and thinks on thee With kind solicitude. He bids thee arm Thy universal host, for that the time35 When the Achaians shall at length possess Wide Ilium, hath arrived. The Gods above No longer dwell at variance. The requests Of Juno have prevail’d. Now, wo to Troy From Jove himself! Her fate is on the wing.40 Awaking from thy dewy slumbers, hold In firm remembrance all that thou hast heard.

So spake the Dream, and vanishing, him left In false hopes occupied and musings vain. Full sure he thought, ignorant of the plan45 By Jove design’d, that day the last of Troy. Fond thought! For toils and agonies to Greeks And Trojans both, in many a bloody field To be endured, the Thunderer yet ordain’d. Starting he woke, and seeming still to hear50 The warning voice divine, with hasty leap Sprang from his bed, and sat.[2] His fleecy vest New-woven he put on, and mantle wide; His sandals fair to his unsullied feet He braced, and slung his argent-studded sword.55 Then, incorruptible for evermore The sceptre of his sires he took, with which He issued forth into the camp of Greece.

Aurora now on the Olympian heights Proclaiming stood new day to all in heaven,60 When he his clear-voiced heralds bade convene The Greeks in council. Went the summons forth Into all quarters, and the throng began. First, at the ship of Nestor, Pylian King,[3] The senior Chiefs for high exploits renown’d65 He gather’d, whom he prudent thus address’d.

Oh son of Atreus the renown’d in arms And in the race, sleep’st thou? It ill behoves To sleep all night the man of high employ, And charged as thou art with a people’s care.75 Now, therefore, mark me well, who, sent from Jove, Inform thee, that although so far remote, He yet compassionates and thinks on thee With kind solicitude. He bids thee arm Thy universal host; for that the time80 When the Achaians shall at length possess Wide Ilium, hath arrived. The Gods above No longer dwell at variance. The requests Of Juno have prevail’d. Now, wo to Troy From Jove himself! Her fate is on the wing.85 Charge this on thy remembrance. Thus he spake, Then vanished suddenly, and I awoke. Haste therefore, let us arm, if arm we may,[4] The warlike sons of Greece; but first, myself Will prove them, recommending instant flight90 With all our ships, and ye throughout the host Dispersed, shall, next, encourage all to stay.

Friends, Counsellors, and Leaders of the Greeks! Had any meaner Argive told his dream, We had pronounced it false, and should the more Have shrunk from battle; but the dream is his Who boasts himself our highest in command.100 Haste, arm we, if we may, the sons of Greece.

So saying, he left the council; him, at once The sceptred Chiefs, obedient to his voice, Arising, follow’d; and the throng began. As from the hollow rock bees stream abroad,105 And in succession endless seek the fields, Now clustering, and now scattered far and near, In spring-time, among all the new-blown flowers, So they to council swarm’d, troop after troop, Grecians of every tribe, from camp and fleet110 Assembling orderly o’er all the plain Beside the shore of Ocean. In the midst A kindling rumor, messenger of Jove, Impell’d them, and they went. Loud was the din Of the assembling thousands; groan’d the earth115 When down they sat, and murmurs ran around. Nine heralds cried aloud—Will ye restrain Your clamors, that your heaven-taught Kings may speak? Scarce were they settled, and the clang had ceased, When Agamemnon, sovereign o’er them all,120 Sceptre in hand, arose. (That sceptre erst Vulcan with labor forged, and to the hand Consign’d it of the King, Saturnian Jove; Jove to the vanquisher[5] of Ino’s[6] guard, And he to Pelops; Pelops in his turn,125 To royal Atreus; Atreus at his death Bequeath’d it to Thyestes rich in flocks, And rich Thyestes left it to be borne By Agamemnon, symbol of his right To empire over Argos and her isles)130 On that he lean’d, and rapid, thus began.[7]

Friends, Grecian Heroes, ministers of Mars! Ye see me here entangled in the snares Of unpropitious Jove. He promised once, And with a nod confirm’d it, that with spoils135 Of Ilium laden, we should hence return; But now, devising ill, he sends me shamed, And with diminished numbers, home to Greece. So stands his sovereign pleasure, who hath laid The bulwarks of full many a city low,140 And more shall level, matchless in his might. That such a numerous host of Greeks as we, Warring with fewer than ourselves, should find No fruit of all our toil, (and none appears) Will make us vile with ages yet to come.145 For should we now strike truce, till Greece and Troy Might number each her own, and were the Greeks Distributed in bands, ten Greeks in each, Our banded decads should exceed so far Their units, that all Troy could not supply150 For every ten, a man, to fill us wine; So far the Achaians, in my thought, surpass The native Trojans. But in Troy are those Who baffle much my purpose; aids derived From other states, spear-arm’d auxiliars, firm155 In the defence of Ilium’s lofty towers. Nine years have passed us over, nine long years; Our ships are rotted, and our tackle marr’d, And all our wives and little-ones at home Sit watching our return, while this attempt160 Hangs still in doubt, for which that home we left. Accept ye then my counsel. Fly we swift With all our fleet back to our native land, Hopeless of Troy, not yet to be subdued.

So spake the King, whom all the concourse heard165 With minds in tumult toss’d; all, save the few, Partners of his intent. Commotion shook The whole assembly, such as heaves the flood Of the Icarian Deep, when South and East Burst forth together from the clouds of Jove.170 And as when vehement the West-wind falls On standing corn mature, the loaded ears Innumerable bow before the gale, So was the council shaken. With a shout All flew toward the ships; uprais’d, the dust175 Stood o’er them; universal was the cry, “Now clear the passages, strike down the props, Set every vessel free, launch, and away!” Heaven rang with exclamation of the host All homeward bent, and launching glad the fleet.180 Then baffled Fate had the Achaians seen Returning premature, but Juno thus, With admonition quick to Pallas spake.

Unconquer’d daughter of Jove Ægis-arm’d! Ah foul dishonor! Is it thus at last185 That the Achaians on the billows borne, Shall seek again their country, leaving here, To be the vaunt of Ilium and her King, Helen of Argos, in whose cause the Greeks Have numerous perish’d from their home remote?190 Haste! Seek the mail-arm’d multitude, by force Detain them of thy soothing speech, ere yet All launch their oary barks into the flood.

She spake, nor did Minerva not comply, But darting swift from the Olympian heights,195 Reach’d soon Achaia’s fleet. There, she perceived Prudent as Jove himself, Ulysses; firm He stood; he touch’d not even with his hand His sable bark, for sorrow whelm’d his soul. The Athenæan Goddess azure-eyed200 Beside him stood, and thus the Chief bespake.

Laertes’ noble son, for wiles renown’d! Why seek ye, thus precipitate, your ships? Intend ye flight? And is it thus at last, That the Achaians on the billows borne,205 Shall seek again their country, leaving here, To be the vaunt of Ilium and her King, Helen of Argos, in whose cause the Greeks Have numerous perish’d from their home remote? Delay not. Rush into the throng; by force210 Detain them of thy soothing speech, ere yet All launch their oary barks into the flood.

She ceased, whom by her voice Ulysses knew, Casting his mantle from him, which his friend Eurybates the Ithacensian caught,215 He ran; and in his course meeting the son Of Atreus, Agamemnon, from his hand The everlasting sceptre quick received, Which bearing, through Achaia’s fleet he pass’d. What King soever, or distinguish’d Greek220 He found, approaching to his side, in terms Of gentle sort he stay’d him. Sir, he cried, It is unseemly that a man renown’d As thou, should tremble. Go—Resume the seat Which thou hast left, and bid the people sit.225 Thou know’st not clearly yet the monarch’s mind. He proves us now, but soon he will chastize. All were not present; few of us have heard His speech this day in council. Oh, beware, Lest in resentment of this hasty course230 Irregular, he let his anger loose. Dread is the anger of a King; he reigns By Jove’s own ordinance, and is dear to Jove,

But what plebeian base soe’er he heard Stretching his throat to swell the general cry,235 He laid the sceptre smartly on his back, With reprimand severe. Fellow, he said, Sit still; hear others; thy superiors hear. For who art thou? A dastard and a drone, Of none account in council, or in arms.240 By no means may we all alike bear sway At Ilium; such plurality of Kings Were evil. One suffices. One, to whom The son of politic Saturn hath assign’d The sceptre, and inforcement of the laws,245 That he may rule us as a monarch ought.[8]

The host all seated, and the benches fill’d, Thersites only of loquacious tongue Ungovern’d, clamor’d mutinous; a wretch Of utterance prompt, but in coarse phrase obscene255 Deep learn’d alone, with which to slander Kings. Might he but set the rabble in a roar, He cared not with what jest; of all from Greece To Ilium sent, his country’s chief reproach. Cross-eyed he was, and halting moved on legs260 Ill-pair’d; his gibbous shoulders o’er his breast Contracted, pinch’d it; to a peak his head Was moulded sharp, and sprinkled thin with hair Of starveling length, flimsy and soft as down. Achilles and Ulysses had incurr’d265 Most his aversion; them he never spared; But now, imperial Agamemnon self In piercing accents stridulous he charged With foul reproach. The Grecians with contempt Listen’d, and indignation, while with voice270 At highest pitch, he thus the monarch mock’d.

What wouldst thou now? Whereof is thy complaint Now, Agamemnon? Thou hast fill’d thy tents With treasure, and the Grecians, when they take A city, choose the loveliest girls for thee.275 Is gold thy wish? More gold? A ransom brought By some chief Trojan for his son’s release Whom I, or other valiant Greek may bind? Or wouldst thou yet a virgin, one, by right Another’s claim, but made by force thine own?280 It was not well, great Sir, that thou shouldst bring A plague on the Achaians, as of late. But come, my Grecian sisters, soldiers named Unfitly, of a sex too soft for war, Come, let us homeward: let him here digest285 What he shall gorge, alone; that he may learn If our assistance profit him or not. For when he shamed Achilles, he disgraced A Chief far worthier than himself, whose prize He now withholds. But tush,—Achilles lacks290 Himself the spirit of a man; no gall Hath he within him, or his hand long since Had stopp’d that mouth,[9] that it should scoff no more.

Thersites! Railer!—peace. Think not thyself, Although thus eloquent, alone exempt From obligation not to slander Kings.300 I deem thee most contemptible, the worst Of Agamemnon’s followers to the war; Presume not then to take the names revered Of Sovereigns on thy sordid lips, to asperse Their sacred character, and to appoint305 The Greeks a time when they shall voyage home. How soon, how late, with what success at last We shall return, we know not: but because Achaia’s heroes numerous spoils allot To Agamemnon, Leader of the host,310 Thou therefore from thy seat revilest the King. But mark me. If I find thee, as even now, Raving and foaming at the lips again, May never man behold Ulysses’ head On these my shoulders more, and may my son315 Prove the begotten of another Sire, If I not strip thee to that hide of thine As bare as thou wast born, and whip thee hence Home to thy galley, sniveling like a boy.

He ceased, and with his sceptre on the back320 And shoulders smote him. Writhing to and fro, He wept profuse, while many a bloody whelk Protuberant beneath the sceptre sprang. Awe-quell’d he sat, and from his visage mean, Deep-sighing, wiped the rheums. It was no time325 For mirth, yet mirth illumined every face, And laughing, thus they spake. A thousand acts Illustrious, both by well-concerted plans And prudent disposition of the host Ulysses hath achieved, but this by far330 Transcends his former praise, that he hath quell’d Such contumelious rhetoric profuse. The valiant talker shall not soon, we judge, Take liberties with royal names again.[10] So spake the multitude. Then, stretching forth335 The sceptre, city-spoiler Chief, arose Ulysses. Him beside, herald in form, Appeared Minerva. Silence she enjoined To all, that all Achaia’s sons might hear, Foremost and rearmost, and might weigh his words.340 He then his counsel, prudent, thus proposed.

Atrides! Monarch! The Achaians seek To make thee ignominious above all In sight of all mankind. None recollects His promise more in steed-famed Argos pledged,345 Here to abide till Ilium wall’d to heaven Should vanquish’d sink, and all her wealth be ours. No—now, like widow’d women, or weak boys, They whimper to each other, wishing home. And home, I grant, to the afflicted soul350 Seems pleasant.[11] The poor seaman from his wife One month detain’d, cheerless his ship and sad Possesses, by the force of wintry blasts, And by the billows of the troubled deep Fast lock’d in port. But us the ninth long year355 Revolving, finds camp’d under Ilium still. I therefore blame not, if they mourn beside Their sable barks, the Grecians. Yet the shame That must attend us after absence long Returning unsuccessful, who can bear?360 Be patient, friends! wait only till we learn If Calchas truly prophesied, or not; For well we know, and I to all appeal, Whom Fate hath not already snatch’d away, (It seems but yesterday, or at the most365 A day or two before) that when the ships Wo-fraught for Priam, and the race of Troy, At Aulis met, and we beside the fount With perfect hecatombs the Gods adored

Beneath the plane-tree, from whose root a stream370 Ran crystal-clear, there we beheld a sign Wonderful in all eyes. A serpent huge, Tremendous spectacle! with crimson spots His back all dappled, by Olympian Jove Himself protruded, from the altar’s foot375 Slipp’d into light, and glided to the tree. There on the topmost bough, close-cover’d sat With foliage broad, eight sparrows, younglings all, Then newly feather’d, with their dam, the ninth. The little ones lamenting shrill he gorged,380 While, wheeling o’er his head, with screams the dam Bewail’d her darling brood. Her also next, Hovering and clamoring, he by the wing Within his spiry folds drew, and devoured. All eaten thus, the nestlings and the dam,385 The God who sent him, signalized him too, For him Saturnian Jove transform’d to stone. We wondering stood, to see that strange portent Intrude itself into our holy rites, When Calchas, instant, thus the sign explain’d.390

Why stand ye, Greeks, astonish’d? Ye behold A prodigy by Jove himself produced, An omen, whose accomplishment indeed Is distant, but whose fame shall never die.[12] E’en as this serpent in your sight devour’d395 Eight youngling sparrows, with their dam, the ninth, So we nine years must war on yonder plain, And in the tenth, wide-bulwark’d Troy is ours.

Then Nestor the Gerenian,[13] warrior old, Arising, spake; and, by the Gods, he said, Ye more resemble children inexpert In war, than disciplined and prudent men. Where now are all your promises and vows,410 Councils, libations, right-hand covenants?[14] Burn them, since all our occupation here Is to debate and wrangle, whereof end Or fruit though long we wait, shall none be found. But, Sovereign, be not thou appall’d. Be firm.415 Relax not aught of thine accustomed sway, But set the battle forth as thou art wont. And if there be a Grecian, here and there, One,[15] adverse to the general voice, let such Wither alone. He shall not see his wish420 Gratified, neither will we hence return To Argos, ere events shall yet have proved Jove’s promise false or true. For when we climb’d Our gallant barks full-charged with Ilium’s fate, Saturnian Jove omnipotent, that day,425 (Omen propitious!) thunder’d on the right. Let no man therefore pant for home, till each Possess a Trojan spouse, and from her lips Take sweet revenge for Helen’s pangs of heart. Who then? What soldier languishes and sighs430 To leave us? Let him dare to lay his hand On his own vessel, and he dies the first. But hear, O King! I shall suggest a course Not trivial. Agamemnon! sort the Greeks By districts and by tribes, that tribe may tribe435 Support, and each his fellow. This performed, And with consent of all, thou shalt discern With ease what Chief, what private man deserts, And who performs his part.

To whom Atrides, King of men, replied. Old Chief! Thou passest all Achaia’s sons In consultation; would to Jove our Sire,445 To Athenæan Pallas, and Apollo! That I had ten such coadjutors, wise As thou art, and the royal city soon Of Priam, with her wealth, should all be ours.[16] But me the son of Saturn, Jove supreme450 Himself afflicts, who in contentious broils Involves me, and in altercation vain. Thence all that wordy tempest for a girl Achilles and myself between, and I The fierce aggressor. Be that breach but heal’d!455 And Troy’s reprieve thenceforth is at an end. Go—take refreshment now that we may march Forth to our enemies. Let each whet well His spear, brace well his shield, well feed his brisk High-mettled horses, well survey and search460 His chariot on all sides, that no defect Disgrace his bright habiliments of war. So will we give the day from morn to eve To dreadful battle. Pause there shall be none Till night divide us. Every buckler’s thong465 Shall sweat on the toil’d bosom, every hand That shakes the spear shall ache, and every steed Shall smoke that whirls the chariot o’er the plain. Wo then to whom I shall discover here Loitering among the tents; let him escape470 My vengeance if he can. The vulture’s maw Shall have his carcase, and the dogs his bones.

He spake; whom all applauded with a shout Loud as against some headland cliff the waves Roll’d by the stormy South o’er rocks that shoot475 Afar into the deep, which in all winds The flood still overspreads, blow whence they may. Arising, forth they rush’d, among the ships All scatter’d; smoke from every tent arose, The host their food preparing; next, his God480 Each man invoked (of the Immortals him Whom he preferr’d) with sacrifice and prayer For safe escape from danger and from death. But Agamemnon to Saturnian Jove Omnipotent, an ox of the fifth year485 Full-flesh’d devoted, and the Princes call’d Noblest of all the Grecians to his feast. First, Nestor with Idomeneus the King, Then either Ajax, and the son he call’d Of Tydeus, with Ulysses sixth and last,490 Jove’s peer in wisdom. Menelaus went, Heroic Chief! unbidden, for he knew His brother’s mind with weight of care oppress’d. The ox encircling, and their hands with meal Of consecration fill’d, the assembly stood,495 When Agamemnon thus his prayer preferred.

Almighty Father! Glorious above all! Cloud-girt, who dwell’st in heaven thy throne sublime, Let not the sun go down, till Priam’s roof Fall flat into the flames; till I shall burn500 His gates with fire; till I shall hew away His hack’d and riven corslet from the breast Of Hector, and till numerous Chiefs, his friends, Around him, prone in dust, shall bite the ground.

They then, the triturated barley grain First duly sprinkling, the sharp steel infix’d Deep in the victim’s neck reversed, then stripp’d510 The carcase, and divided at their joint The thighs, which in the double caul involved They spread with slices crude, and burn’d with fire Ascending fierce from billets sere and dry. The spitted entrails next they o’er the coals515 Suspended held. The thighs with fire consumed, They gave to each his portion of the maw, Then slash’d the remnant, pierced it with the spits, And managing with culinary skill The roast, withdrew it from the spits again.520 Thus, all their task accomplished, and the board Set forth, they feasted, and were all sufficed. When neither hunger more nor thirst remain’d Unsatisfied, Gerenian Nestor spake.

Atrides! Agamemnon! King of men!525 No longer waste we time in useless words, Nor to a distant hour postpone the work To which heaven calls thee. Send thine heralds forth. Who shall convene the Achaians at the fleet, That we, the Chiefs assembled here, may range,530 Together, the imbattled multitude, And edge their spirits for immediate fight.

He spake, nor Agamemnon not complied. At once he bade his clear-voiced heralds call The Greeks to battle. They the summons loud535 Gave forth, and at the sound the people throng’d. Then Agamemnon and the Kings of Greece Dispatchful drew them into order just, With whom Minerva azure-eyed advanced, The inestimable Ægis on her arm,540 Immortal, unobnoxious to decay A hundred braids, close twisted, all of gold, Each valued at a hundred beeves,[17] around Dependent fringed it. She from side to side Her eyes cerulean rolled, infusing thirst545 Of battle endless into every breast. War won them now, war sweeter now to each Than gales to waft them over ocean home.[18] As when devouring flames some forest seize On the high mountains, splendid from afar550 The blaze appears, so, moving on the plain, The steel-clad host innumerous flash’d to heaven. And as a multitude of fowls in flocks Assembled various, geese, or cranes, or swans Lithe-neck’d, long hovering o’er Caÿster’s banks555 On wanton plumes, successive on the mead Alight at last, and with a clang so loud That all the hollow vale of Asius rings; In number such from ships and tents effused, They cover’d the Scamandrian plain; the

earth560 Rebellow’d to the feet of steeds and men. They overspread Scamander’s grassy vale, Myriads, as leaves, or as the flowers of spring. As in the hovel where the peasant milks His kine in spring-time, when his pails are fill’d,565 Thick clouds of humming insects on the wing Swarm all around him, so the Grecians swarm’d An unsumm’d multitude o’er all the plain, Bright arm’d, high crested, and athirst for war. As goat-herds separate their numerous flocks570 With ease, though fed promiscuous, with like ease Their leaders them on every side reduced To martial order glorious;[19] among whom Stood Agamemnon “with an eye like Jove’s, To threaten or command,” like Mars in girth,575 And with the port of Neptune. As the bull Conspicuous among all the herd appears, For he surpasses all, such Jove ordain’d That day the son of Atreus, in the midst Of Heroes, eminent above them all.580

Tell me, (for ye are are heavenly, and beheld[20] A scene, whereof the faint report alone Hath reached our ears, remote and ill-informed,) Tell me, ye Muses, under whom, beneath What Chiefs of royal or of humbler note585 Stood forth the embattled Greeks? The host at large; They were a multitude in number more Than with ten tongues, and with ten mouths, each mouth Made vocal with a trumpet’s throat of brass I might declare, unless the Olympian nine,590 Jove’s daughters, would the chronicle themselves Indite, of all assembled, under Troy. I will rehearse the Captains and their fleets.

[21]Bœotia’s sturdy sons Peneleus led, And Leïtus, whose partners in command595 Arcesilaus and Prothoenor came, And Clonius. Them the dwellers on the rocks Of Aulis followed, with the hardy clans Of Hyrie, Schoenos, Scholos, and the hills Of Eteon; Thespia, Græa, and the plains600 Of Mycalessus them, and Harma served, Eleon, Erythræ, Peteon; Hyle them, Hesius and Ocalea, and the strength Of Medeon; Copæ also in their train Marched, with Eutresis and the mighty men605 Of Thisbe famed for doves; nor pass unnamed Whom Coronæa, and the grassy land Of Haliartus added to the war, Nor whom Platæa, nor whom Glissa bred, And Hypothebæ,[22] and thy sacred groves610 To Neptune, dark Onchestus. Arne claims A record next for her illustrious sons, Vine-bearing Arne. Thou wast also there Mideia, and thou Nissa; nor be thine Though last, Anthedon, a forgotten name.615 These in Bœotia’s fair and gallant fleet Of fifty ships, each bearing o’er the waves Thrice forty warriors, had arrived at Troy.