Oh shame, ye Grecians! vigorous as ye are
And in life’s prime, to your exertions most120
I trusted for the safety of our ships.
If ye renounce the labors of the field,
Then hath the day arisen of our defeat
And final ruin by the powers of Troy.
Oh! I behold a prodigy, a sight125
Tremendous, deem’d impossible by me,
The Trojans at our ships! the dastard race
Fled once like fleetest hinds the destined prey
Of lynxes, leopards, wolves; feeble and slight
And of a nature indisposed to war130
They rove uncertain; so the Trojans erst
Stood not, nor to Achaian prowess dared
The hindrance of a moment’s strife oppose.
But now, Troy left afar, even at our ships
They give us battle, through our leader’s fault135
And through the people’s negligence, who fill’d
With fierce displeasure against him, prefer
Death at their ships, to war in their defence.
But if the son of Atreus, our supreme,
If Agamemnon, have indeed transgress’d140
Past all excuse, dishonoring the swift
Achilles, ye at least the fight decline
Blame-worthy, and with no sufficient plea.
But heal we speedily the breach; brave minds
Easily coalesce. It is not well145
That thus your fury slumbers, for the host
Hath none illustrious as yourselves in arms.
I can excuse the timid if he shrink,
But am incensed at you. My friends, beware!
Your tardiness will prove ere long the cause150
Of some worse evil. Let the dread of shame
Affect your hearts; oh tremble at the thought
Of infamy! Fierce conflict hath arisen;
Loud shouting Hector combats at the ships
Nobly, hath forced the gates and burst the bar.155
With such encouragement those Grecian chiefs
The King of Ocean roused. Then, circled soon
By many a phalanx either Ajax stood,
Whose order Mars himself arriving there
Had praised, or Pallas, patroness of arms.160
For there the flower of all expected firm
Bold Hector and his host; spear crowded spear,
Shield, helmet, man, press’d helmet, man and shield;[3]
The hairy crests of their resplendent casques
Kiss’d close at every nod, so wedged they stood;165
No spear was seen but in the manly grasp
It quiver’d, and their every wish was war.
The powers of Ilium gave the first assault
Embattled close; them Hector led himself[4]
Right on, impetuous as a rolling rock170
Destructive; torn by torrent waters off
From its old lodgment on the mountain’s brow,
It bounds, it shoots away; the crashing wood
Falls under it; impediment or check
None stays its fury, till the level found,175
There, settling by degrees, it rolls no more;
So after many a threat that he would pass
Easily through the Grecian camp and fleet
And slay to the sea-brink, when Hector once
Had fallen on those firm ranks, standing, he bore180
Vehement on them; but by many a spear
Urged and bright falchion, soon, reeling, retired,
And call’d vociferous on the host of Troy.
Trojans, and Lycians, and close-fighting sons
Of Dardanus, oh stand! not long the Greeks185
Will me confront, although embodied close
In solid phalanx; doubt it not; my spear
Shall chase and scatter them, if Jove, in truth,
High-thundering mate of Juno, bid me on.
So saying he roused the courage of them all190
Foremost of whom advanced, of Priam’s race
Deiphobus, ambitious of renown.
Tripping he came with shorten’d steps,[5] his feet
Sheltering behind his buckler; but at him
Aiming, Meriones his splendid lance195
Dismiss’d, nor err’d; his bull-hide targe he struck
But ineffectual; where the hollow wood
Receives the inserted brass, the quivering beam
Snapp’d; then, Deiphobus his shield afar
Advanced before him, trembling at a spear200
Hurl’d by Meriones. He, moved alike
With indignation for the victory lost
And for his broken spear, into his band
At first retired, but soon set forth again
In prowess through the Achaian camp, to fetch205
Its fellow-spear within his tent reserved.
The rest all fought, and dread the shouts arose
On all sides. Telamonian Teucer, first,
Slew valiant Imbrius, son of Mentor, rich
In herds of sprightly steeds. He ere the Greeks210
Arrived at Ilium, in Pedæus dwelt,
And Priam’s spurious daughter had espoused
Medesicasta. But the barks well-oar’d
Of Greece arriving, he return’d to Troy,
Where he excell’d the noblest, and abode215
With Priam, loved and honor’d as his own.
Him Teucer pierced beneath his ear, and pluck’d
His weapon home; he fell as falls an ash
Which on some mountain visible afar,
Hewn from its bottom by the woodman’s axe,220
With all its tender foliage meets the ground
So Imbrius fell; loud rang his armor bright
With ornamental brass, and Teucer flew
To seize his arms, whom hasting to the spoil
Hector with his resplendent spear assail’d;225
He, marking opposite its rapid flight,
Declined it narrowly and it pierced the breast,
As he advanced to battle, of the son
Of Cteatus of the Actorian race,
Amphimachus; he, sounding, smote the plain,230
And all his batter’d armor rang aloud.
Then Hector swift approaching, would have torn
The well-forged helmet from the brows away
Of brave Amphimachus; but Ajax hurl’d
Right forth at Hector hasting to the spoil235
His radiant spear; no wound the spear impress’d,
For he was arm’d complete in burnish’d brass
Terrific; but the solid boss it pierced
Of Hector’s shield, and with enormous force
So shock’d him, that retiring he resign’d240
Both bodies,[6] which the Grecians dragg’d away.
Stichius and Menestheus, leaders both
Of the Athenians, to the host of Greece
Bore off Amphimachus, and, fierce in arms
The Ajaces, Imbrius. As two lions bear245
Through thick entanglement of boughs and brakes
A goat snatch’d newly from the peasants’ cogs,
Upholding high their prey above the ground,
So either Ajax terrible in fight,
Upholding Imbrius high, his brazen arms250
Tore off, and Oïliades his head
From his smooth neck dissevering in revenge
For slain Amphimachus, through all the host
Sent it with swift rotation like a globe,
Till in the dust at Hector’s feet it fell.255
Then anger fill’d the heart of Ocean’s King,
His grandson[7] slain in battle; forth he pass’d
Through the Achaian camp and fleet, the Greeks
Rousing, and meditating wo to Troy.
It chanced that brave Idomeneus return’d260
That moment from a Cretan at the knee
Wounded, and newly borne into his tent;
His friends had borne him off, and when the Chief
Had given him into skilful hands, he sought
The field again, still coveting renown.265
Him therefore, meeting him on his return,
Neptune bespake, but with the borrow’d voice
Of Thoas, offspring of Andræmon, King
In Pleuro and in lofty Calydon,
And honor’d by the Ætolians as a God.270
Oh counsellor of Crete! our threats denounced
Against the towers of Troy, where are they now?
To whom the leader of the Cretans, thus,
Idomeneus. For aught that I perceive
Thoas! no Grecian is this day in fault!275
For we are all intelligent in arms,
None yields by fear oppress’d, none lull’d by sloth
From battle shrinks; but such the pleasure seems
Of Jove himself, that we should perish here
Inglorious, from our country far remote280
But, Thoas! (for thine heart was ever firm
In battle, and thyself art wont to rouse
Whom thou observ’st remiss) now also fight
As erst, and urge each leader of the host.
Him answered, then, the Sovereign of the Deep.285
Return that Grecian never from the shores
Of Troy, Idomeneus! but may the dogs
Feast on him, who shall this day intermit
Through wilful negligence his force in fight!
But haste, take arms and come; we must exert290
All diligence, that, being only two,
We yet may yield some service. Union much
Emboldens even the weakest, and our might
Hath oft been proved on warriors of renown.
So Neptune spake, and, turning, sought again295
The toilsome field. Ere long, Idomeneus
Arriving in his spacious tent, put on
His radiant armor, and, two spears in hand,
Set forth like lightning which Saturnian Jove
From bright Olympus shakes into the air,300
A sign to mortal men, dazzling all eyes;
So beam’d the Hero’s armor as he ran.
But him not yet far distant from his tent
Meriones, his fellow-warrior met,
For he had left the fight, seeking a spear,305
When thus the brave Idomeneus began.