The Iliad of Homer (1873). Homer

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СКАЧАТЬ (return) Τέττα is an affectionate phrase applied to an elder, like papa. Compare Alberti on Hesych. v. ἀπφία, t. i. p. 505, and on ἅττα, p. 606; Helladius, Chrestom. p. 9, ed. Meurs.

      He spoke, and from his chariot leaped with his arms upon the earth, and dreadfully sounded the brass on the breast of the prince, as he moved rapidly along: then truly would fear have seized even a brave spirit.

As when on the loud-resounding shore a wave of the sea is impelled in continuous succession beneath the north-west wind which has set it in motion; at first indeed it raises itself aloft in the deep, but then dashed against the land, it roars mightily; and being swollen it rises high around the projecting points, and spits from it the foam of the sea: thus then the thick phalanxes of the Greeks moved incessantly on to battle. Each leader commanded his own troops. The rest went in silence (nor would you have said that so numerous an army followed, having the power of speech in their breasts), silently reverencing their leaders. And around them all their arms of various workmanship shone brightly; clad with which, they proceeded in order. But the Trojans, as the sheep of a rich man stand countless in the fold, whilst they are milked of their white milk, continually bleating, having heard the voice of their lambs--thus was the clamour of the Trojans excited through the wide army. For there was not the same shout of all, nor the same voice, but their language was mixed, for the men were called from many climes. These Mars urged on, but those blue-eyed Minerva, ¹⁹⁰ and Terror, and Rout, and Strife, insatiably raging, the sister and attendant of homicide Mars, she raises her head, small indeed at first, but afterwards she has fixed her head in heaven, and stalks along the earth. Then also she, going through the crowd, increasing the groaning of the men, cast into the midst upon them contention alike destruction to all.

Footnote 190: (return)

      "On th' other side, Satan alarm'd

      Collecting all his might dilated stood,

      Like Teneriff or Atlas unremoved:

      His stature reach'd the sky."--Paradise Lost, iv. 985.

      But they, when now meeting, they had reached the same place, at once joined their ox-hide shields, and their spears, and the might of brazen-mailed warriors; and the bossy shields met one another, and much battle-din arose. There at the same time were heard both the groans and shouts of men slaying and being slain; and the earth flowed with blood. As when wintry torrents flowing down from the mountains, mix in a basin the impetuous water from their great springs in a hollow ravine, and the shepherd in the mountains hears the distant roar--so arose the shouting and panic of them, mixed together.

Antilochus first killed a Trojan warrior, Echepolus, son of Thalysias, valiant in the van. Him he first struck on the cone of his horse-plumed helmet, and the brazen point fixed itself in his forehead, then pierced the bone, and darkness veiled his eyes; and he fell, like a tower, in fierce conflict. Him fallen, king Elephenor, the offspring of Chalcodon, chief of the magnanimous Abantes, seized by the feet, and was drawing him beyond the reach of darts in haste, that with all haste he might despoil him of his armour: but that attempt was short; for magnanimous Agenor having descried him dragging the body, wounded him with a brazen spear in the side, which, as he stooped, appeared from beneath the covert of his shield, and he relaxed his limbs [in death]. His soul therefore left him. But over him arose a fierce conflict of Trojans and of Greeks. But they like wolves rushed on each other, and man bore down man. Then Telamonian Ajax smote the blooming youth Simoïsius, son of Anthemion, whom formerly his mother, descending from Ida, brought forth on the banks of Simois, when, to wit, she followed her parents to view the flocks; wherefore they called him Simoïsius. Nor did he repay to his dear parents the price of his early nurture, for his life was short, he being slain with a spear by magnanimous Ajax. For him advancing first, he [Ajax] struck on the breast, near the right pap: and the brazen spear passed out through his shoulder on the opposite side. He fell on the ground in the dust, like a poplar, winch has sprung up in the moist grass-land of an extensive marsh,--branches grow smooth, yet upon the very top, which the chariot-maker lops with the shining steel, that he might bend [it as] a felloe for a beauteous chariot. Drying, it lies indeed on the banks of the river. So did the high-born Ajax spoil Simoïsius, the descendant of Anthemion. But at him Antiphus, of the varied corslet, the son of Priam, took aim through the crowd with a sharp spear. From whom, indeed, it erred: but he struck Leucus, the faithful companion of Ulysses, in the groin, as he was drawing the body aside; but he fell near it, and the body dropped from his hand. For him slain, Ulysses was much enraged in mind; and he rushed through the van, armed in shining brass; and advancing very near, he stood, and casting his eyes all around him, hurled with his glittering spear. But the Trojans retired in confusion, as the hero hurled; he did not, however, hurl the spear in vain, but struck Democoon, the spurious son of Priam, who came from Abydos, from [tending] the swift mares. ¹⁹¹ Him Ulysses, enraged for his companion, struck with his spear in the temple, and the brazen point penetrated through the other temple, and darkness veiled his eyes. Falling he made a crash, and his arms resounded upon him. Both the foremost bands and illustrious Hector fell back. The Argives shouted aloud, and dragged the bodies away: then they rushed farther forward; and Apollo was enraged, looking down from Pergamus; and, shouting out, exhorted the Trojans:

Footnote 191: (return) Priam had a stud at Abydos, on the Asiatic coast of the Hellespont.--Scholiast.

      "Arouse ye, ye horse-breaking Trojans, nor yield the battle to the Greeks; since their flesh is not of stone, nor of iron, that when they are struck, it should withstand the flesh-rending brass; neither does Achilles, the son of fair-haired Thetis, fight, but at the ships he nourishes his vexatious spleen."

      Thus spoke the dreadful god from the city. But most glorious Tritonian Pallas, the daughter of Jove, going through the host, roused the Greeks wherever she saw them relaxing.

      Then fate ensnared Diores, son of Amarynceus; for he was struck with a jagged hand-stone, at the ankle, on the right leg; but Pirus, son of Imbrasus, who came from Ænos, the leader of the Thracian warriors, struck him. The reckless stone entirely crushed both tendons and bones; supine in the dust he fell, stretching forth both hands to his dear companions, and breathing forth his soul. But Pirus, he who struck him, ran up, and pierced him in the navel with his spear; and thereupon all his entrails poured forth upon the ground, and darkness veiled his eyes.

But him ¹⁹² Ætolian Thoas struck, rushing on with his spear, in the breast over the pap, and the brass was fastened in his lungs: Thoas came near to him, and drew the mighty spear out of his breast; then he unsheathed his sharp sword, and with it smote him in the midst of the belly, and took away his life. But he did not spoil him of his armour, for his companions stood round him, the hair-tufted Thracians, holding long spears in their hands, who drove him from them, though being mighty, and valiant, and glorious; but he, retreating, was repulsed with force. Thus these two were stretched in the dust near to each other; Pirus, indeed, the leader of the Thracians, and Diores, the leader of the brazen-mailed Epeans; and many others also were slain around.

Then no longer could any man, having come into the field, find fault with the action, who, even as yet neither wounded from distant blows, ¹⁹³ nor pierced close at hand with the sharp brass, might be busied in the midst, and whom spear-brandishing Minerva might lead, taking him by the hand, and might avert from him the violence of the darts; for many of the Trojans and of the Greeks on that day were stretched prone in the dust beside one another.

Footnote 192: СКАЧАТЬ