The Iliad of Homer by Homer (some good books to read txt) 📕

Ajax him bespake.900

Laertes' noble son, for wiles renown'd!
Lift, or be lifted, and let Jove decide.

He said, and heaved Ulysses. Then, his wiles
Forgat not he, but on the ham behind
Chopp'd him; the limbs of Ajax at the stroke905
Disabled sank; he fell supine, and bore
Ulysses close adhering to his chest
Down with him. Wonder riveted all eyes.
Then brave Ulysses from the ground awhile
Him lifted in his turn, but ere he stood,910
Inserting his own knee the knees between[21]
Of Ajax, threw him. To the earth they fell
Both, and with dust defiled lay side by side.
And now, arising to a third essay,
They should have wrestled yet again, had not915
Achilles, interfering, them restrain'd.

Strive not together more; cease to exhaust
Each other's force; ye both have earn'd the prize
Depart alike requited, and give place
To other Grecians who shall next contend.920

He spake; they glad complied, and wiping off
The dust, put on their tunics. Then again
Achilles other prizes yet proposed,
The rapid runner's meed. First, he produced
A silver goblet of six measures; earth925
Own'd not its like for elegance of form.
Skilful Sidonian artists had around
Embellish'd it,[22] and o'er the sable deep
581 Phœnician merchants into Lemnos' port
Had borne it, and the boon to Thoas[23] given;930
But Jason's son, Euneüs, in exchange
For Priam's son Lycaon, to the hand
Had pass'd it of Patroclus famed in arms.
Achilles this, in honor of his friend,
Set forth, the swiftest runner's recompense.935
The second should a fatted ox receive
Of largest size, and he assign'd of gold
A just half-talent to the worst and last.
He stood erect, and to the Greeks he cried.

Now stand ye forth who shall this prize dispute.940
He said, and at his word instant arose
Swift Ajax Oïliades; upsprang
The shrewd Ulysses next, and after him
Brave Nestor's son Antilochus, with whom
None vied in speed of all the youths of Greece.945
They stood prepared. Achilles show'd the goal.
At once all started. Oïliades
Led swift the course, and closely at his heels
Ulysses ran. Near as some cinctured maid
Industrious holds the distaff to her breast,950
While to and fro with practised finger neat
She tends the flax drawing it to a thread,
So near Ulysses follow'd him, and press'd
His footsteps, ere the dust fill'd them again,
Pouring his breath into his neck behind,955
And never slackening pace. His ardent thirst
Of victory with universal shouts
All seconded, and, eager, bade him on.
And now the contest shortening to a close,
Ulysses his request silent and brief960
To azure-eyed Minerva thus preferr'd.

Oh Goddess hear, prosper me in the race!
Such was his prayer, with which Minerva pleased,
Freshen'd his limbs, and made him light to run.
582 And now, when in one moment they should both965
Have darted on the prize, then Ajax' foot
Sliding, he fell; for where the dung of beeves
Slain by Achilles for his friend, had spread
The soil, there[24] Pallas tripp'd him. Ordure foul
His mouth, and ordure foul his nostrils fill'd.970
Then brave Ulysses, first arriving, seized
The cup, and Ajax took his prize, the ox.
He grasp'd his horn, and sputtering as he stood
The ordure forth, the Argives thus bespake.

Ah—Pallas tripp'd my footsteps; she attends975
Ulysses ever with a mother's care.

Loud laugh'd the Grecians. Then, the remnant prize
Antilochus receiving, smiled and said.

Ye need not, fellow-warriors, to be taught
That now, as ever, the immortal Gods980
Honor on seniority bestow.
Ajax is elder, yet not much, than I.
But Laertiades was born in times
Long past, a chief coëval with our sires,
Not young, but vigorous; and of the Greeks,985
Achilles may alone with him contend.

So saying, the merit of superior speed
To Peleus' son he gave, who thus replied.

Antilochus! thy praise of me shall prove
Nor vain nor unproductive to thyself,990
For the half-talent doubled shall be thine.

He spake, and, doubling it, the talent placed
Whole in his hand. He glad the gift received.
Achilles, then Sarpedon's arms produced,
Stripp'd from him by Patroclus, his long spear,995
Helmet and shield, which in the midst he placed.
He stood erect, and to the Greeks he cried.

I call for two brave warriors arm'd to prove
Each other's skill with weapons keen, this prize
Disputing, next, in presence of us all.1000
583 Who first shall through his armor reach the skin
Of his antagonist, and shall draw his blood,
To him this silver-studded falchion bright
I give; the blade is Thracian, and of late
Asteropæus wore it, whom I slew.1005
These other arms shall be their common meed,
And I will banquet both within my tent.

He said, then Telamonian Ajax huge
Arose, and opposite the son arose
Of warlike Tydeus, Diomede the brave.1010
Apart from all the people each put on
His arms, then moved into the middle space,
Lowering terrific, and on fire to fight.
The host look'd on amazed. Approaching each
The other, thrice they sprang to the assault,1015
And thrice struck hand to hand. Ajax the shield
Pierced of his adversary, but the flesh
Attain'd not, baffled by his mail within.
Then Tydeus' son, sheer o'er the ample disk
Of Ajax, thrust a lance home to his neck,1020
And the Achaians for the life appall'd
Of Ajax, bade them, ceasing, share the prize.
But the huge falchion with its sheath and belt—
Achilles them on Diomede bestow'd.

The hero, next, an iron clod produced1025
Rough from the forge, and wont to task the might
Of King Eëtion; but, when him he slew,
Pelides, glorious chief, with other spoils
From Thebes convey'd it in his fleet to Troy.
He stood erect, and to the Greeks he cried.1030

Come forth who also shall this prize dispute!
How far soe'er remote the winner's fields,
This lump shall serve his wants five circling years;
His shepherd shall not, or his plower, need
In quest of iron seek the distant town,1035
But hence he shall himself their wants supply.[25]
584 Then Polypœtes brave in fight arose,
Arose Leonteus also, godlike chief,
With Ajax son of Telamon. Each took
His station, and Epeüs seized the clod.1040
He swung, he cast it, and the Grecians laugh'd.
Leonteus, branch of Mars, quoited it next.
Huge Telamonian Ajax with strong arm
Dismiss'd it third, and overpitch'd them both.
But when brave Polypœtes seized the mass1045
Far as the vigorous herdsman flings his staff
That twirling flies his numerous beeves between,[26]
So far his cast outmeasured all beside,
And the host shouted. Then the friends arose
Of Polypœtes valiant chief, and bore1050
His ponderous acquisition to the ships.

The archers' prize Achilles next proposed,
Ten double and ten single axes, form'd
Of steel convertible to arrow-points.
He fix'd, far distant on the sands, the mast1055
Of a brave bark cerulean-prow'd, to which
With small cord fasten'd by the foot he tied
A timorous dove, their mark at which to aim.
[27]Who strikes the dove, he conquers, and shall bear
These double axes all into his tent.1060
But who the cord alone, missing the bird,
Successful less, he wins the single blades.

The might of royal Teucer then arose,
And, fellow-warrior of the King of Crete,
Valiant Meriones. A brazen casque1065
Received the lots; they shook them, and the lot
585 Fell first to Teucer. He, at once, a shaft
Sent smartly forth, but vow'd not to the King[28]
A hecatomb, all firstlings of the flock.
He therefore (for Apollo greater praise1070
Denied him) miss'd the dove, but struck the cord
That tied her, at small distance from the knot,
And with his arrow sever'd it. Upsprang
The bird into the air, and to the ground
Depending fell the cord. Shouts rent the skies.1075
Then, all in haste, Meriones the bow
Caught from his hand holding a shaft the while
Already aim'd, and to Apollo vow'd
A hecatomb, all firstlings of the flock.
He eyed the dove aloft, under a cloud,1080
And, while she wheel'd around, struck her beneath
The pinion; through her and beyond her pass'd
The arrow, and, returning, pierced the soil
Fast by the foot of brave Meriones.
She, perching on the mast again, her head1085
Reclined, and hung her wide-unfolded wing,
But, soon expiring, dropp'd and fell remote.
Amazement seized the people. To his tent
Meriones the ten best axes bore,
And Teucer the inferior ten to his.[29]1090

Then, last, Achilles in the circus placed
A ponderous spear and caldron yet unfired,
Emboss'd with flowers around, its worth an ox.
Upstood the spear-expert; Atrides first,
Wide-ruling Agamemnon, King of men,1095
And next, brave fellow-warrior of the King
Of Crete, Meriones; when thus his speech
Achilles to the royal chief address'd.

Atrides! (for we know thy skill and force
Matchless! that none can hurl the spear as thou)1100
586 This prize is thine, order it to thy ship;
And if it please thee, as I would it might,
Let brave Meriones the spear receive.

He said; nor Agamemnon not complied,
But to Meriones the brazen spear
Presenting, to Talthybius gave in charge
The caldron, next, his own illustrious prize.

587 THE ILIAD. BOOK XXIV. 588 ARGUMENT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH BOOK.

Priam, by command of Jupiter, and under conduct of Mercury, seeks Achilles in his tent, who admonished previously by Thetis, consents to accept ransom for the body of Hector. Hector is mourned, and the manner of his funeral, circumstantially described, concludes the poem.

589 BOOK XXIV.