The Iliad by Homer (pdf to ebook reader .TXT) 📖

great
daring."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Menelaus, we both of us need shrewd
counsel to save the Argives and our ships, for Jove has changed his
mind, and inclines towards Hector's sacrifices rather than ours. I
never saw nor heard tell of any man as having wrought such ruin in one
day as Hector has now wrought against the sons of the Achaeans--and
that too of his own unaided self, for he is son neither to god nor
goddess. The Argives will rue it long and deeply. Run, therefore, with
all speed by the line of the ships, and call Ajax and Idomeneus.
Meanwhile I will go to Nestor, and bid him rise and go about among the
companies of our sentinels to give them their instructions; they will
listen to him sooner than to any man, for his own son, and Meriones
brother in arms to Idomeneus, are captains over them. It was to them
more particularly that we gave this charge."

Menelaus replied, "How do I take your meaning? Am I to stay with them
and wait your coming, or shall I return here as soon as I have given
your orders?" "Wait," answered King Agamemnon, "for there are so many
paths about the camp that we might miss one another. Call every man on
your way, and bid him be stirring; name him by his lineage and by his
father's name, give each all titular observance, and stand not too much
upon your own dignity; we must take our full share of toil, for at our
birth Jove laid this heavy burden upon us."

With these instructions he sent his brother on his way, and went on to
Nestor shepherd of his people. He found him sleeping in his tent hard
by his own ship; his goodly armour lay beside him--his shield, his two
spears and his helmet; beside him also lay the gleaming girdle with
which the old man girded himself when he armed to lead his people into
battle--for his age stayed him not. He raised himself on his elbow and
looked up at Agamemnon. "Who is it," said he, "that goes thus about the
host and the ships alone and in the dead of night, when men are
sleeping? Are you looking for one of your mules or for some comrade? Do
not stand there and say nothing, but speak. What is your business?"

And Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean
name, it is I, Agamemnon son of Atreus, on whom Jove has laid labour
and sorrow so long as there is breath in my body and my limbs carry me.
I am thus abroad because sleep sits not upon my eyelids, but my heart
is big with war and with the jeopardy of the Achaeans. I am in great
fear for the Danaans. I am at sea, and without sure counsel; my heart
beats as though it would leap out of my body, and my limbs fail me. If
then you can do anything--for you too cannot sleep--let us go the round
of the watch, and see whether they are drowsy with toil and sleeping to
the neglect of their duty. The enemy is encamped hard and we know not
but he may attack us by night."

Nestor replied, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon, Jove
will not do all for Hector that Hector thinks he will; he will have
troubles yet in plenty if Achilles will lay aside his anger. I will go
with you, and we will rouse others, either the son of Tydeus, or
Ulysses, or fleet Ajax and the valiant son of Phyleus. Some one had
also better go and call Ajax and King Idomeneus, for their ships are
not near at hand but the farthest of all. I cannot however refrain from
blaming Menelaus, much as I love him and respect him--and I will say so
plainly, even at the risk of offending you--for sleeping and leaving
all this trouble to yourself. He ought to be going about imploring aid
from all the princes of the Achaeans, for we are in extreme danger."

And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, you may sometimes blame him justly, for
he is often remiss and unwilling to exert himself--not indeed from
sloth, nor yet heedlessness, but because he looks to me and expects me
to take the lead. On this occasion, however, he was awake before I was,
and came to me of his own accord. I have already sent him to call the
very men whom you have named. And now let us be going. We shall find
them with the watch outside the gates, for it was there I said that we
would meet them."

"In that case," answered Nestor, "the Argives will not blame him nor
disobey his orders when he urges them to fight or gives them
instructions."

With this he put on his shirt, and bound his sandals about his comely
feet. He buckled on his purple coat, of two thicknesses, large, and of
a rough shaggy texture, grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod spear, and
wended his way along the line of the Achaean ships. First he called
loudly to Ulysses peer of gods in counsel and woke him, for he was soon
roused by the sound of the battle-cry. He came outside his tent and
said, "Why do you go thus alone about the host, and along the line of
the ships in the stillness of the night? What is it that you find so
urgent?" And Nestor knight of Gerene answered, "Ulysses, noble son of
Laertes, take it not amiss, for the Achaeans are in great straits. Come
with me and let us wake some other, who may advise well with us whether
we shall fight or fly."

On this Ulysses went at once into his tent, put his shield about his
shoulders and came out with them. First they went to Diomed son of
Tydeus, and found him outside his tent clad in his armour with his
comrades sleeping round him and using their shields as pillows; as for
their spears, they stood upright on the spikes of their butts that were
driven into the ground, and the burnished bronze flashed afar like the
lightning of father Jove. The hero was sleeping upon the skin of an ox,
with a piece of fine carpet under his head; Nestor went up to him and
stirred him with his heel to rouse him, upbraiding him and urging him
to bestir himself. "Wake up," he exclaimed, "son of Tydeus. How can you
sleep on in this way? Can you not see that the Trojans are encamped on
the brow of the plain hard by our ships, with but a little space
between us and them?"

On these words Diomed leaped up instantly and said, "Old man, your
heart is of iron; you rest not one moment from your labours. Are there
no younger men among the Achaeans who could go about to rouse the
princes? There is no tiring you."

And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, "My son, all that you have
said is true. I have good sons, and also much people who might call the
chieftains, but the Achaeans are in the gravest danger; life and death
are balanced as it were on the edge of a razor. Go then, for you are
younger than I, and of your courtesy rouse Ajax and the fleet son of
Phyleus."

Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his shoulders--a skin
that reached his feet--and grasped his spear. When he had roused the
heroes, he brought them back with him; they then went the round of
those who were on guard, and found the captains not sleeping at their
posts but wakeful and sitting with their arms about them. As sheep dogs
that watch their flocks when they are yarded, and hear a wild beast
coming through the mountain forest towards them--forthwith there is a
hue and cry of dogs and men, and slumber is broken--even so was sleep
chased from the eyes of the Achaeans as they kept the watches of the
wicked night, for they turned constantly towards the plain whenever
they heard any stir among the Trojans. The old man was glad and bade
them be of good cheer. "Watch on, my children," said he, "and let not
sleep get hold upon you, lest our enemies triumph over us."

With this he passed the trench, and with him the other chiefs of the
Achaeans who had been called to the council. Meriones and the brave son
of Nestor went also, for the princes bade them. When they were beyond
the trench that was dug round the wall they held their meeting on the
open ground where there was a space clear of corpses, for it was here
that when night fell Hector had turned back from his onslaught on the
Argives. They sat down, therefore, and held debate with one another.

Nestor spoke first. "My friends," said he, "is there any man bold
enough to venture among the Trojans, and cut off some straggler, or
bring us news of what the enemy mean to do whether they will stay here
by the ships away from the city, or whether, now that they have worsted
the Achaeans, they will retire within their walls. If he could learn
all this and come back safely here, his fame would be high as heaven in
the mouths of all men, and he would be rewarded richly; for the chiefs
from all our ships would each of them give him a black ewe with her
lamb--which is a present of surpassing value--and he would be asked as
a guest to all feasts and clan-gatherings."

They all held their peace, but Diomed of the loud war-cry spoke saying,
"Nestor, gladly will I visit the host of the Trojans over against us,
but if another will go with me I shall do so in greater confidence and
comfort. When two men are together, one of them may see some
opportunity which the other has not caught sight of; if a man is alone
he is less full of resource, and his wit is weaker."

On this several offered to go with Diomed. The two Ajaxes, servants of
Mars, Meriones, and the son of Nestor all wanted to go, so did Menelaus
son of Atreus; Ulysses also wished to go among the host of the Trojans,
for he was ever full of daring, and thereon Agamemnon king of men spoke
thus: "Diomed," said he, "son of Tydeus, man after my own heart, choose
your comrade for yourself--take the best man of those that have
offered, for many would now go with you. Do not through delicacy reject
the better man, and take the worst out of respect for his lineage,
because he is of more royal blood."

He said this because he feared for Menelaus. Diomed answered, "If you
bid me take the man of my own choice, how in that case can I fail to
think of Ulysses, than whom there is no man more eager to face all
kinds of danger--and Pallas Minerva loves him well? If he were to go
with me we should pass safely through fire itself, for he is quick to
see and understand."

"Son of Tydeus," replied Ulysses, "say neither good nor ill about me,
for you are among Argives who know me well. Let us be going, for the
night wanes and dawn is at hand. The stars have gone forward,
two-thirds of the night are already spent, and the third is alone left
us."

They then put on their armour. Brave Thrasymedes provided the son of
Tydeus with a sword and a shield (for he had left his own at his ship)
and on his head he