The Iliads of Homer. Homer

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       Would ye the foe should nearer yet your dastard spleens provoke,

       Ev'n where on Neptune's foamy shore our navies lie in sight,

       To see if Jove will hold your hands, and teach ye how to fight?"

       Thus he, commanding, rang'd the host, and, passing many a band,

       He came to the Cretensian troops, where all did arméd stand

       About the martial Idomen; who bravely stood before

       In vanguard of his troops, and match'd for strength a savage boar;

       Meriones, his charioteer, the rearguard bringing on.

       Which seen to Atreus' son, to him it was a sight alone,

       And Idomen's confirméd mind with these kind words he seeks:

       "O Idomen! I ever lov'd thy self past all the Greeks,

       In war, or any work of peace, at table, ev'rywhere;

       For when the best of Greece besides mix ever, at our cheer,

       My good old ardent wine with small, and our inferior mates

       Drink ev'n that mix'd wine measur'd too, thou drink'st, without

       those rates,

       Our old wine neat, and evermore thy bowl stands full like mine,

       To drink still when and what thou wilt. Then rouse that heart of

       thine,

       And, whatsoever heretofore thou hast assum'd to be,

       This day be greater." To the king in this sort answer'd he:

       "Atrides, what I ever seem'd, the same at ev'ry part

       This day shall show me at the full, and I will fit thy heart.

       But thou shouldst rather cheer the rest, and tell them they in

       right

       Of all good war must offer blows, and should begin the fight,

       (Since Troy first brake the holy truce) and not endure these

       braves.

       To take wrong first, and then be dar'd to the revenge it craves;

       Assuring them that Troy in fate must have the worst at last,

       Since first, and 'gainst a truce, they hurt, where they should have

       embrac'd."

       This comfort and advice did fit Atrides' heart indeed

       Who still through new-rais'd swarms of men held his laborious

       speed,

       And came where both th' Ajaces stood; whom like the last he found

       Arm'd, casqu'd, and ready for the fight. Behind them, hid the

       ground

       A cloud of foot, that seem'd to smoke. And as a goatherd spies,

       On some hill's top, out of the sea a rainy vapour rise,

       Driv'n by the breath of Zephyrus which, though far off he rest,

       Comes on as black as pitch, and brings a tempest in his breast,

       Whereat he frighted, drives his herds apace into a den;

       So dark'ning earth with darts and shields show'd these with all

       their men.

       This sight with like joy fir'd the king, who thus let forth the

       flame

       In crying out to both the dukes: "O you of equal name,

       I must not cheer, nay, I disclaim all my command of you,

       Yourselves command with such free minds, and make your soldiers

       show

       As you nor I led, but themselves. O would our father Jove,

       Minerva, and the God of Light, would all our bodies move

       With such brave spirits as breathe in you, then Priam's lofty town

       Should soon be taken by our hands, for ever overthrown!"

       Then held he on to other troops, and Nestor next beheld,

       The subtle Pylian orator, range up and down the field

       Embattelling his men at arms, and stirring all to blows,

       Points ev'ry legion out his chief, and ev'ry chief he shows

       The forms and discipline of war, yet his commanders were

       All expert, and renownéd men. Great Pelagon was there,

       Alastor, manly Chromius, and Hæmon worth a throne,

       Arid Bias that could armies lead. With these he first put on

       His horse troops with their chariots; his foot (of which he choos'd

       Many, the best and ablest men, and which he ever us'd

       As rampire to his gen'ral pow'r) he in the rear dispos'd.

       The slothful, and the least of spirit, he in the midst inclos'd,

       That, such as wanted noble wills, base need might force to stand.

       His horse troops, that the vanguard had, he strictly did command

       To ride their horses temp'rately, to keep their ranks, and shun

       Confusion, lest their horsemanship and courage made them run

       (Too much presum'd on) much too far, and, charging so alone,

       Engage themselves in th' enemy's strength, where many fight with

       one.

       "Who his own chariot leaves to range, let him not freely go,

       But straight unhorse him with a lance; for 'tis much better so.

       And with this discipline," said he, "this form, these minds, this

       trust,

       Our ancestors have walls and towns laid level with the dust."

       Thus prompt, and long inur'd to arms, this old man did exhort;

       And this Atrides likewise took in wondrous cheerful sort,

       And said: "O father, would to heav'n, that as thy mind remains

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