Agamemnon proposes that the Achaeans should sail home, and is

      rebuked by Ulysses—Juno beguiles Jupiter—Hector is wounded.



      Nestor was sitting over his wine, but the cry of battle did not

      escape him, and he said to the son of Aesculapius, “What, noble

      Machaon, is the meaning of all this? The shouts of men fighting

      by our ships grow stronger and stronger; stay here, therefore,

      and sit over your wine, while fair Hecamede heats you a bath and

      washes the clotted blood from off you. I will go at once to the

      look-out station and see what it is all about.”



      As he spoke he took up the shield of his son Thrasymedes that was

      lying in his tent, all gleaming with bronze, for Thrasymedes had

      taken his father’s shield; he grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod

      spear, and as soon as he was outside saw the disastrous rout of

      the Achaeans who, now that their wall was overthrown, were flying

      pell-mell before the Trojans. As when there is a heavy swell upon

      the sea, but the waves are dumb—they keep their eyes on the watch

      for the quarter whence the fierce winds may spring upon them, but

      they stay where they are and set neither this way nor that, till

      some particular wind sweeps down from heaven to determine

      them—even so did the old man ponder whether to make for the crowd

      of Danaans, or go in search of Agamemnon. In the end he deemed it

      best to go to the son of Atreus; but meanwhile the hosts were

      fighting and killing one another, and the hard bronze rattled on

      their bodies, as they thrust at one another with their swords and

      spears.



      The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon son

      of Atreus, fell in with Nestor as they were coming up from their

      ships—for theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting

      was going on, being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been

      beached first, while the wall had been built behind the

      hindermost. The stretch of the shore, wide though it was, did not

      afford room for all the ships, and the host was cramped for

      space, therefore they had placed the ships in rows one behind the

      other, and had filled the whole opening of the bay between the

      two points that formed it. The kings, leaning on their spears,

      were coming out to survey the fight, being in great anxiety, and

      when old Nestor met them they were filled with dismay. Then King

      Agamemnon said to him, “Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the

      Achaean name, why have you left the battle to come hither? I fear

      that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among

      the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had

      fired our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it

      is all coming true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles,

      are in such anger with me that they refuse to fight by the sterns

      of our ships.”



      Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, “It is indeed as you say;

      it is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders

      from on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we

      relied as an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The

      Trojans are fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships;

      look where you may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of

      the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed in a confused mass

      and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel

      can be of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our

      going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is

      wounded.”



      And King Agamemnon answered, “Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed

      fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the

      trench has served us—over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and

      which they deemed would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and

      our fleet—I see it must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans

      should perish ingloriously here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove

      was willing to defend us, and I know now that he is raising the

      Trojans to like honour with the gods, while us, on the other

      hand, he has bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all do

      as I say; let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and

      draw them into the water; let us make them fast to their

      mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of night—if

      even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may then

      draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying

      ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and

      be saved than be caught and killed.”



      Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, “Son of Atreus, what are

      you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other

      and baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has

      allotted a life of hard fighting from youth to old age, till we

      every one of us perish. Is it thus that you would quit the city

      of Troy, to win which we have suffered so much hardship? Hold

      your peace, lest some other of the Achaeans hear you say what no

      man who knows how to give good counsel, no king over so great a

      host as that of the Argives should ever have let fall from his

      lips. I despise your judgement utterly for what you have been

      saying. Would you, then, have us draw down our ships into the

      water while the battle is raging, and thus play further into the

      hands of the conquering Trojans? It would be ruin; the Achaeans

      will not go on fighting when they see the ships being drawn into

      the water, but will cease attacking and keep turning their eyes

      towards them; your counsel, therefore, sir captain, would be our

      destruction.”



      Agamemnon answered, “Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the

      heart. I am not, however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their

      ships into the sea whether they will or no. Someone, it may be,

      old or young, can offer us better counsel which I shall rejoice

      to hear.”



      Then said Diomed, “Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek,

      if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am

      younger than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire,

      Tydeus, who lies buried at Thebes. For Portheus had three noble

      sons, two of whom, Agrius and Melas, abode in Pleuron and rocky

      Calydon. The third was the knight Oeneus, my father’s father, and

      he was the most valiant of them all. Oeneus remained in his own

      country, but my father (as Jove and the other gods ordained it)

      migrated to Argos. He married into the family of Adrastus, and

      his house was one of great abundance, for he had large estates of

      rich corn-growing land, with much orchard ground as well, and he

      had many sheep; moreover he excelled all the Argives in the use

      of the spear. You must yourselves have heard whether these things

      are true or no; therefore when I say well despise not my words as

      though I were a coward or of ignoble birth. I say, then, let us

      go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though we be. When

      there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of the

      spears lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have

      already, but we can spur on others, who have been indulging their

      spleen and holding aloof from battle hitherto.”



      Thus did he speak; whereon they did even as he had said and set

      out, King Agamemnon leading the way.



      Meanwhile Neptune had kept no blind look-out, and came up to them

      in the semblance of an old man. He took Agamemnon’s right hand in

      his own and said, “Son of Atreus, I take it Achilles is glad now

      that he sees the Achaeans routed and slain, for he is utterly

      without remorse—may he come to a bad end and heaven confound him.

      As for yourself, the blessed gods are not yet so bitterly angry

      with you but that the princes and counsellors of the Trojans

      shall again raise the dust upon the plain, and you shall see them

      flying from the ships and tents towards their city.”



      With this he raised a mighty cry of battle, and sped forward to

      the plain. The voice that came from his deep chest was as that of

      nine or ten thousand men when they are shouting in the thick of a

      fight, and it put fresh courage into the hearts of the Achaeans

      to wage war and do battle without ceasing.



      Juno of the golden throne looked down as she stood upon a peak of

      Olympus and her heart was gladdened at the sight of him who was

      at once her brother and her brother-in-law, hurrying hither and

      thither amid the fighting. Then she turned her eyes to Jove as he

      sat on the topmost crests of many-fountained Ida, and loathed

      him. She set herself to think how she might hoodwink him, and in

      the end she deemed that it would be best for her to go to Ida and

      array herself in rich attire, in the hope that Jove might become

      enamoured of her, and wish to embrace her. While he was thus

      engaged a sweet and careless sleep might be made to steal over

      his eyes and senses.



      She went, therefore, to the room which her son Vulcan had made

      her, and the doors of which he had cunningly fastened by means of

      a secret key so that no other god could open them. Here she

      entered and closed the doors behind her. She cleansed all the

      dirt from her fair body with ambrosia, then she anointed herself

      with olive oil, ambrosial, very soft, and scented specially for

      herself—if it were so much as shaken in the bronze-floored house

      of Jove, the scent pervaded the universe of heaven and earth.

      With this she anointed her delicate skin, and then she plaited

      the fair ambrosial locks that flowed in a stream of golden

      tresses from her immortal head. She put on the wondrous robe

      which Minerva had worked for her with consummate art, and had

      embroidered with manifold devices; she fastened it about her

      bosom with golden clasps, and she girded herself with a girdle

      that had a hundred tassels: then she fastened her earrings, three

      brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the

      pierced lobes of her ears, and threw a lovely new veil over her

      head. She bound her sandals on to her feet, and when she had

      arrayed herself perfectly to her satisfaction, she left her room

      and called Venus to come aside and speak to her. “My dear child,”

      said she, “will you do what I am going to ask of you, or will you

      refuse me because you are angry at my being on the Danaan side,

      while you are on the Trojan?”



      Jove’s daughter Venus answered, “Juno, august queen of goddesses,

      daughter of mighty Saturn, say what you want, and I will do it

      for you at once, if I can, and if it can be done at all.”



      Then Juno told her a lying tale and said, “I want you to endow me

      with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring

      all things mortal and immortal to your feet. I am going to the

      world’s end to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and

      mother Tethys: they received me in their house, took care of me,

      and brought me up, having taken me over from Rhaea when Jove

      imprisoned great Saturn in the depths that are under earth and

      sea. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them;

      they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not

      slept with one another this long while; if I can bring them round

      and restore them to one another’s embraces, they will be grateful

      to me and love me for ever afterwards.”



      Thereon laughter-loving Venus said, “I cannot and must not refuse

      you, for you sleep in the arms of Jove who is our king.”



      As she spoke she loosed from her bosom the curiously embroidered

      girdle into which all her charms had been wrought—love, desire,

      and that sweet flattery which steals the judgement even of the

      most prudent. She gave the girdle to Juno and said, “Take this

      girdle wherein all my charms reside and lay it in your bosom. If

      you will wear it I promise you that your errand, be it what it

      may, will not be bootless.”



      When she heard this Juno smiled, and still smiling she laid the

      girdle in her bosom.



      Venus now went back into the house of Jove, while Juno darted

      down from the summits of Olympus. She passed over Pieria and fair

      Emathia, and went on and on till she came to the snowy ranges of

      the Thracian horsemen, over whose topmost crests she sped without

      ever setting foot to ground. When she came to Athos she went on

      over the waves of the sea till she reached Lemnos, the city of

      noble Thoas. There she met Sleep, own brother to Death, and

      caught him by the hand, saying, “Sleep, you who lord it alike

      over mortals and immortals, if you ever did me a service in times

      past, do one for me now, and I shall be grateful to you ever

      after. Close Jove’s keen eyes for me in slumber while I hold him

      clasped in my embrace, and I will give you a beautiful golden

      seat, that can never fall to pieces; my clubfooted son Vulcan

      shall make it for you, and he shall give it a footstool for you

      to rest your fair feet upon when you are at table.”



      Then Sleep answered, “Juno, great queen of goddesses, daughter of

      mighty Saturn, I would lull any other of the gods to sleep

      without compunction, not even excepting the waters of Oceanus

      from whom all of them proceed, but I dare not go near Jove, nor

      send him to sleep unless he bids me. I have had one lesson

      already through doing what you asked me, on the day when Jove’s

      mighty son Hercules set sail from Ilius after having sacked the

      city of the Trojans. At your bidding I suffused my sweet self

      over the mind of aegis-bearing Jove, and laid him to rest;

      meanwhile you hatched a plot against Hercules, and set the blasts

      of the angry winds beating upon the sea, till you took him to the

      goodly city of Cos, away from all his friends. Jove was furious

      when he awoke, and began hurling the gods about all over the

      house; he was looking more particularly for myself, and would

      have flung me down through space into the sea where I should

      never have been heard of any more, had not Night who cows both

      men and gods protected me. I fled to her and Jove left off

      looking for me in spite of his being so angry, for he did not

      dare do anything to displease Night. And now you are again asking

      me to do something on which I cannot venture.”



      And Juno said, “Sleep, why do you take such notions as those into

      your head? Do you think Jove will be as anxious to help the

      Trojans, as he was about his own son? Come, I will marry you to

      one of the youngest of the Graces, and she shall be your

      own—Pasithea, whom you have always wanted to marry.”



      Sleep was pleased when he heard this, and answered, “Then swear

      it to me by the dread waters of the river Styx; lay one hand on

      the bounteous earth, and the other on the sheen of the sea, so

      that all the gods who dwell down below with Saturn may be our

      witnesses, and see that you really do give me one of the youngest

      of the Graces—Pasithea, whom I have always wanted to marry.”



      Juno did as he had said. She swore, and invoked all the gods of

      the nether world, who are called Titans, to witness. When she had

      completed her oath, the two enshrouded themselves in a thick mist

      and sped lightly forward, leaving Lemnos and Imbrus behind them.

      Presently they reached many-fountained Ida, mother of wild

      beasts, and Lectum where they left the sea to go on by land, and

      the tops of the trees of the forest soughed under the going of

      their feet. Here Sleep halted, and ere Jove caught sight of him

      he climbed a lofty pine-tree—the tallest that reared its head

      towards heaven on all Ida. He hid himself behind the branches and

      sat there in the semblance of the sweet-singing bird that haunts

      the mountains and is called Chalcis by the gods, but men call it

      Cymindis. Juno then went to Gargarus, the topmost peak of Ida,

      and Jove, driver of the clouds, set eyes upon her. As soon as he

      did so he became inflamed with the same passionate desire for her

      that he had felt when they had first enjoyed each other’s

      embraces, and slept with one another without their dear parents

      knowing anything about it. He went up to her and said, “What do

      you want that you have come hither from Olympus—and that too with

      neither chariot nor horses to convey you?”



      Then Juno told him a lying tale and said, “I am going to the

      world’s end, to visit Oceanus, from whom all we gods proceed, and

      mother Tethys; they received me into their house, took care of

      me, and brought me up. I must go and see them that I may make

      peace between them: they have been quarrelling, and are so angry

      that they have not slept with one another this long time. The

      horses that will take me over land and sea are stationed on the

      lowermost spurs of many-fountained Ida, and I have come here from

      Olympus on purpose to consult you. I was afraid you might be

      angry with me later on, if I went to the house of Oceanus without

      letting you know.”



      And Jove said, “Juno, you can choose some other time for paying

      your visit to Oceanus—for the present let us devote ourselves to

      love and to the enjoyment of one another. Never yet have I been

      so overpowered by passion neither for goddess nor mortal woman as

      I am at this moment for yourself—not even when I was in love with

      the wife of Ixion who bore me Pirithous, peer of gods in counsel,

      nor yet with Danae the daintily-ancled daughter of Acrisius, who

      bore me the famed hero Perseus. Then there was the daughter of

      Phoenix, who bore me Minos and Rhadamanthus: there was Semele,

      and Alcmena in Thebes by whom I begot my lion-hearted son

      Hercules, while Semele became mother to Bacchus the comforter of

      mankind. There was queen Ceres again, and lovely Leto, and

      yourself—but with none of these was I ever so much enamoured as I

      now am with you.”



      Juno again answered him with a lying tale. “Most dread son of

      Saturn,” she exclaimed, “what are you talking about? Would you

      have us enjoy one another here on the top of Mount Ida, where

      everything can be seen? What if one of the ever-living gods

      should see us sleeping together, and tell the others? It would be

      such a scandal that when I had risen from your embraces I could

      never show myself inside your house again; but if you are so

      minded, there is a room which your son Vulcan has made me, and he

      has given it good strong doors; if you would so have it, let us

      go thither and lie down.”



      And Jove answered, “Juno, you need not be afraid that either god

      or man will see you, for I will enshroud both of us in such a

      dense golden cloud, that the very sun for all his bright piercing

      beams shall not see through it.”



      With this the son of Saturn caught his wife in his embrace;

      whereon the earth sprouted them a cushion of young grass, with

      dew-bespangled lotus, crocus, and hyacinth, so soft and thick

      that it raised them well above the ground. Here they laid

      themselves down and overhead they were covered by a fair cloud of

      gold, from which there fell glittering dew-drops.



      Thus, then, did the sire of all things repose peacefully on the

      crest of Ida, overcome at once by sleep and love, and he held his

      spouse in his arms. Meanwhile Sleep made off to the ships of the

      Achaeans, to tell earth-encircling Neptune, lord of the

      earthquake. When he had found him he said, “Now, Neptune, you can

      help the Danaans with a will, and give them victory though it be

      only for a short time while Jove is still sleeping. I have sent

      him into a sweet slumber, and Juno has beguiled him into going to

      bed with her.”



      Sleep now departed and went his ways to and fro among mankind,

      leaving Neptune more eager than ever to help the Danaans. He

      darted forward among the first ranks and shouted saying,

      “Argives, shall we let Hector son of Priam have the triumph of

      taking our ships and covering himself with glory? This is what he

      says that he shall now do, seeing that Achilles is still in

      dudgeon at his ship; we shall get on very well without him if we

      keep each other in heart and stand by one another. Now,

      therefore, let us all do as I say. Let us each take the best and

      largest shield we can lay hold of, put on our helmets, and sally

      forth with our longest spears in our hands; I will lead you on,

      and Hector son of Priam, rage as he may, will not dare to hold

      out against us. If any good staunch soldier has only a small

      shield, let him hand it over to a worse man, and take a larger

      one for himself.”



      Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. The son of

      Tydeus, Ulysses, and Agamemnon, wounded though they were, set the

      others in array, and went about everywhere effecting the

      exchanges of armour; the most valiant took the best armour, and

      gave the worse to the worse man. When they had donned their

      bronze armour they marched on with Neptune at their head. In his

      strong hand he grasped his terrible sword, keen of edge and

      flashing like lightning; woe to him who comes across it in the

      day of battle; all men quake for fear and keep away from it.



      Hector on the other side set the Trojans in array. Thereon

      Neptune and Hector waged fierce war on one another—Hector on the

      Trojan and Neptune on the Argive side. Mighty was the uproar as

      the two forces met; the sea came rolling in towards the ships and

      tents of the Achaeans, but waves do not thunder on the shore more

      loudly when driven before the blast of Boreas, nor do the flames

      of a forest fire roar more fiercely when it is well alight upon

      the mountains, nor does the wind bellow with ruder music as it

      tears on through the tops of when it is blowing its hardest, than

      the terrible shout which the Trojans and Achaeans raised as they

      sprang upon one another.



      Hector first aimed his spear at Ajax, who was turned full towards

      him, nor did he miss his aim. The spear struck him where two

      bands passed over his chest—the band of his shield and that of

      his silver-studded sword—and these protected his body. Hector was

      angry that his spear should have been hurled in vain, and

      withdrew under cover of his men. As he was thus retreating, Ajax

      son of Telamon, struck him with a stone, of which there were many

      lying about under the men’s feet as they fought—brought there to

      give support to the ships’ sides as they lay on the shore. Ajax

      caught up one of them and struck Hector above the rim of his

      shield close to his neck; the blow made him spin round like a top

      and reel in all directions. As an oak falls headlong when

      uprooted by the lightning flash of father Jove, and there is a

      terrible smell of brimstone—no man can help being dismayed if he

      is standing near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing—even

      so did Hector fall to earth and bite the dust. His spear fell

      from his hand, but his shield and helmet were made fast about his

      body, and his bronze armour rang about him.



      The sons of the Achaeans came running with a loud cry towards

      him, hoping to drag him away, and they showered their darts on

      the Trojans, but none of them could wound him before he was

      surrounded and covered by the princes Polydamas, Aeneas, Agenor,

      Sarpedon captain of the Lycians, and noble Glaucus. Of the

      others, too, there was not one who was unmindful of him, and they

      held their round shields over him to cover him. His comrades then

      lifted him off the ground and bore him away from the battle to

      the place where his horses stood waiting for him at the rear of

      the fight with their driver and the chariot; these then took him

      towards the city groaning and in great pain. When they reached

      the ford of the fair stream of Xanthus, begotten of Immortal

      Jove, they took him from off his chariot and laid him down on the

      ground; they poured water over him, and as they did so he

      breathed again and opened his eyes. Then kneeling on his knees he

      vomited blood, but soon fell back on to the ground, and his eyes

      were again closed in darkness for he was still stunned by the

      blow.



      When the Argives saw Hector leaving the field, they took heart

      and set upon the Trojans yet more furiously. Ajax fleet son of

      Oileus began by springing on Satnius son of Enops, and wounding

      him with his spear: a fair naiad nymph had borne him to Enops as

      he was herding cattle by the banks of the river Satnioeis. The

      son of Oileus came up to him and struck him in the flank so that

      he fell, and a fierce fight between Trojans and Danaans raged

      round his body. Polydamas son of Panthous drew near to avenge

      him, and wounded Prothoenor son of Areilycus on the right

      shoulder; the terrible spear went right through his shoulder, and

      he clutched the earth as he fell in the dust. Polydamas vaunted

      loudly over him saying, “Again I take it that the spear has not

      sped in vain from the strong hand of the son of Panthous; an

      Argive has caught it in his body, and it will serve him for a

      staff as he goes down into the house of Hades.”



      The Argives were maddened by this boasting. Ajax son of Telamon

      was more angry than any, for the man had fallen close beside him;

      so he aimed at Polydamas as he was retreating, but Polydamas

      saved himself by swerving aside and the spear struck Archelochus

      son of Antenor, for heaven counselled his destruction; it struck

      him where the head springs from the neck at the top joint of the

      spine, and severed both the tendons at the back of the head. His

      head, mouth, and nostrils reached the ground long before his legs

      and knees could do so, and Ajax shouted to Polydamas saying,

      “Think, Polydamas, and tell me truly whether this man is not as

      well worth killing as Prothoenor was: he seems rich, and of rich

      family, a brother, it may be, or son of the knight Antenor, for

      he is very like him.”



      But he knew well who it was, and the Trojans were greatly

      angered. Acamas then bestrode his brother’s body and wounded

      Promachus the Boeotian with his spear, for he was trying to drag

      his brother’s body away. Acamas vaunted loudly over him saying,

      “Argive archers, braggarts that you are, toil and suffering shall

      not be for us only, but some of you too shall fall here as well

      as ourselves. See how Promachus now sleeps, vanquished by my

      spear; payment for my brother’s blood has not been long delayed;

      a man, therefore, may well be thankful if he leaves a kinsman in

      his house behind him to avenge his fall.”



      His taunts infuriated the Argives, and Peneleos was more enraged

      than any of them. He sprang towards Acamas, but Acamas did not

      stand his ground, and he killed Ilioneus son of the rich

      flock-master Phorbas, whom Mercury had favoured and endowed with

      greater wealth than any other of the Trojans. Ilioneus was his

      only son, and Peneleos now wounded him in the eye under his

      eyebrows, tearing the eye-ball from its socket: the spear went

      right through the eye into the nape of the neck, and he fell,

      stretching out both hands before him. Peneleos then drew his

      sword and smote him on the neck, so that both head and helmet

      came tumbling down to the ground with the spear still sticking in

      the eye; he then held up the head, as though it had been a

      poppy-head, and showed it to the Trojans, vaunting over them as

      he did so. “Trojans,” he cried, “bid the father and mother of

      noble Ilioneus make moan for him in their house, for the wife

      also of Promachus son of Alegenor will never be gladdened by the

      coming of her dear husband—when we Argives return with our ships

      from Troy.”



      As he spoke fear fell upon them, and every man looked round about

      to see whither he might fly for safety.



      Tell me now, O Muses that dwell on Olympus, who was the first of

      the Argives to bear away blood-stained spoils after Neptune lord

      of the earthquake had turned the fortune of war. Ajax son of

      Telamon was first to wound Hyrtius son of Gyrtius, captain of the

      staunch Mysians. Antilochus killed Phalces and Mermerus, while

      Meriones slew Morys and Hippotion, Teucer also killed Prothoon

      and Periphetes. The son of Atreus then wounded Hyperenor shepherd

      of his people, in the flank, and the bronze point made his

      entrails gush out as it tore in among them; on this his life came

      hurrying out of him at the place where he had been wounded, and

      his eyes were closed in darkness. Ajax son of Oileus killed more

      than any other, for there was no man so fleet as he to pursue

      flying foes when Jove had spread panic among them.