Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 7

Page 12

"Son of Atreus, and ye other chiefs of all the Greeks, many of the long-haired Achaeans have perished, whose black blood fierce Mars has now shed near fair-flowing Scamander, and their souls have descended to the shades! Therefore it behoves you to cause the battle of the Greeks to cease with the dawn, and let us, collected together, carry the bodies hither on chariots, with oxen and mules, and burn them at a little distance from the ships, that each may carry home the bones [of the deceased] to their children, when we return again to our father-land. And let us, going out, heap up in the plain one common tomb for all, round the pyre, and beside it let us speedily erect lofty towers, as a bulwark of our ships and of ourselves; and in it let us make a well-fitted gate, that through it there may be a passage for the chariots. But outside let us sink, near at hand, a deep trench, which, being circular, may serve as a defence to both steeds and men, lest at any time the war of the haughty Trojans should press sorely."

Thus he spoke, and all the princes approved of his counsel. But of the Trojans also was a panic-struck and turbulent council held in the lofty citadel of Ilium, at the gates of Priam; and to them wise Antenor thus began to harangue:

"Hear me, ye Trojans and Dardanians and allies, that I may tell you what the soul in my breast commands me. Come then, let us restore Argive Helen, and her treasures with her to the sons of Atreus to lead away; for now we are fighting after having violated the faithful leagues. Wherefore I think that nothing better will be brought to pass by us, unless we act thus."

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Rhapsody 7

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