The Iliad. Homer

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СКАЧАТЬ all bewildered, spiritless and tame?

       So stand ye now, nor dare to face the fight.

       What! will ye wait the Trojans' near approach,

       Where on the beach, beside the hoary deep,

       Our goodly ships are drawn, and see if Jove

       Will o'er you his protecting hand extend?"

      As thus the King the serried ranks review'd,

       He came where thronging round their skilful chief

       Idomeneus, the warlike bands of Crete

       Were arming for the fight; Idomeneus,

       Of courage stubborn as the forest boar,

       The foremost ranks array'd; Meriones

       The rearmost squadrons had in charge; with joy

       The monarch Agamemnon saw, and thus

       With accents bland Idomeneus address'd:

      "Idomeneus, above all other Greeks,

       In battle and elsewhere, I honour thee;

       And in the banquet, where the noblest mix

       The ruddy wine for chiefs alone reserved,

       Though others drink their share, yet by thy side

       Thy cup, like mine, still new replenished stands

       To drink at pleasure. Up then to the fight,

       And show thyself the warrior that thou art."

      To whom the Cretan King, Idomeneus:

       "In me, Atrides, thou shalt ever find,

       As at the first I promis'd, comrade true;

       But go, and stir the other long-haired Greeks

       To speedy battle; since the Trojans now

       The truce have broken; and defeat and death

       Must wait on those who have their oaths forsworn."

      He said, and Agamemnon went his way

       Rejoicing; through the crowd he pass'd, and came

       Where stood th' Ajaces; them, in act to arm,

       Amid a cloud of infantry he found;

       And as a goat-herd from his watch-tow'r crag

       Beholds a cloud advancing o'er the sea,

       By Zephyr's breath impell'd; as from afar

       He gazes, black as pitch, it sweeps along

       O'er the dark ocean's face, and with it brings

       A hurricane of rain; he, shudd'ring, sees,

       And drives his flock beneath the shelt'ring cave:

       So thick and dark, about th' Ajaces stirr'd,

       Impatient for the war, the stalwart youths,

       Black masses, bristling close with spear and shield.

      Well pleas'd, the monarch Agamemnon saw,

       And thus address'd them: "Valiant chiefs, to you,

       The leaders of the brass-clad Greeks, I give

       ('Twere needless and unseemly) no commands;

       For well ye understand your troops to rouse

       To deeds of dauntless courage; would to Jove,

       To Pallas and Apollo, that such mind

       As is in you, in all the camp were found;

       Then soon should Priam's lofty city fall,

       Tak'n and destroy'd by our victorious hands."

      Thus saying, them he left, and onward mov'd.

       Nestor, the smooth-tongu'd Pylian chief, he found

       The troops arraying, and to valiant deeds

       His friends encouraging; stout Pelagon,

       Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, warlike Prince,

       And Bias bold, his people's sure defence.

       In the front rank, with chariot and with horse,

       He plac'd the car-borne warriors; in the rear,

       Num'rous and brave, a cloud of infantry,

       Compactly mass'd, to stem the tide of war,

       Between the two he plac'd th' inferior troops,

       That e'en against their will they needs must fight.

       The horsemen first he charg'd, and bade them keep

       Their horses well in hand, nor wildly rush

       Amid the tumult: "See," he said, "that none,

       In skill or valour over-confident,

       Advance before his comrades, nor alone

       Retire; for so your lines were easier forc'd;

       But ranging each beside a hostile car,

       Thrust with your spears; for such the better way;

       By men so disciplin'd, in elder days

       Were lofty walls and fenced towns destroy'd."

      Thus he, experienc'd in the wars of old;

       Well pleas'd, the monarch Agamemnon saw,

       And thus address'd him; "Would to Heav'n, old man,

       That, as thy spirit, such too were thy strength

       And vigour of thy limbs; but now old age,

       The common lot of mortals, weighs thee down;

       Would I could see some others in thy place,

       And thou couldst still be numbered with the young!"

      To whom Gerenian Nestor thus replied:

       "Atrides, I too fain would see restor'd

       The strength I once possess'd, what time I slew

       The godlike Ereuthalion; but the Gods

       On man bestow not all their gifts at once;

       I then was young, and now am bow'd with age,

       Yet with СКАЧАТЬ