The Iliad of Homer. Homer

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Of Rhytius him obey'd; nor these were all,

       But others from her hundred cities Crete795

       Sent forth, all whom Idomeneus the brave

       Commanded, with Meriones in arms

       Dread as the God of battles blood-imbrued.

      Nine ships Tlepolemus, Herculean-born,

       For courage famed and for superior size,800

       Fill'd with his haughty Rhodians. They, in tribes

       Divided, dwelt distinct. Jelyssus these,

       055 Those Lindus, and the rest the shining soil

       Of white Camirus occupied. Him bore

       To Hercules, (what time he led the nymph805

       From Ephyre, and from Sellea's banks,

       After full many a city laid in dust.)

       Astyocheia. In his father's house

       Magnificent, Tlepolemus spear-famed

       Had scarce up-grown to manhood's lusty prime810

       When he his father's hoary uncle slew

       Lycimnius, branch of Mars. Then built he ships,

       And, pushing forth to sea, fled from the threats

       Of the whole house of Hercules. Huge toil

       And many woes he suffer'd, till at length815

       At Rhodes arriving, in three separate bands

       He spread himself abroad, Much was he loved

       Of all-commanding Jove, who bless'd him there,

       And shower'd abundant riches on them all.

      Nireus of Syma, with three vessels came;820

       Nireus, Aglæa's offspring, whom she bore

       To Charopus the King; Nireus in form,

       (The faultless son of Peleus sole except,)

       Loveliest of all the Grecians call'd to Troy.

       But he was heartless and his men were few.[26]825

      Nisyrus, Casus, Crapathus, and Cos

       Where reign'd Eurypylus, with all the isles

       Calydnæ named, under two valiant Chiefs

       Their troops disposed; Phidippus one, and one,

       His brother Antiphus, begotten both830

       By Thessalus, whom Hercules begat.

       In thirty ships they sought the shores of Troy.

      The warriors of Pelasgian Argos next,

       Of Alus, and Alope, and who held

       Trechina, Phthia, and for women fair835

       Distinguish'd, Hellas; known by various names

       Hellenes, Myrmidons, Achæans, them

       In fifty ships embark'd, Achilles ruled.

       056 But these were deaf to the hoarse-throated war,

       For there was none to draw their battle forth,840

       And give them just array. Close in his ships

       Achilles, after loss of the bright-hair'd

       Brisëis, lay, resentful; her obtained

       Not without labor hard, and after sack

       Of Thebes and of Lyrnessus, where he slew845

       Two mighty Chiefs, sons of Evenus both,

       Epistrophus and Mynes, her he mourn'd,

       And for her sake self-prison'd in his fleet

       And idle lay, though soon to rise again.

      From Phylace, and from the flowery fields850

       Of Pyrrhasus, a land to Ceres given

       By consecration, and from Iton green,

       Mother of flocks; from Antron by the sea,

       And from the grassy meads of Pteleus, came

       A people, whom while yet he lived, the brave855

       Protesilaüs led; but him the earth

       Now cover'd dark and drear. A wife he left,

       To rend in Phylace her bleeding cheeks,

       And an unfinish'd mansion. First he died

       Of all the Greeks; for as he leap'd to land860

       Foremost by far, a Dardan struck him dead.

       Nor had his troops, though filled with deep regret,

       No leader; them Podarces led, a Chief

       Like Mars in battle, brother of the slain,

       But younger born, and from Iphiclus sprung865

       Who sprang from Phylacus the rich in flocks.

       But him Protesilaüs, as in years,

       So also in desert of arms excell'd

       Heroic, whom his host, although they saw

       Podarces at their head, still justly mourn'd;870

       For he was fierce in battle, and at Troy

       With forty sable-sided ships arrived.

      Eleven galleys, Pheræ on the lake,

       And Boebe, and Iölchus, and the vale

       Of Glaphyræ supplied with crews robust875

       Under Eumelus; him Alcestis, praised

       057 For beauty above all her sisters fair,

       In Thessaly to King Admetus bore.

      Methone, and Olizon's craggy coast,

       With Melibœa and Thaumasia sent880

       Seven ships; their rowers were good archers all,

       And every vessel dipped into the wave

       Her fifty oars. Them Philoctetes, skill'd

       To draw with sinewy arm the stubborn bow,

       СКАЧАТЬ