HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 7

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

Homer Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Homer in Print

Page 7

Thus did the old man upbraid them; and nine heroes in all arose. Much the first arose Agamemnon, the king of men; after him arose brave Diomede, son of Tydeus, and after them the Ajaces, clad in impetuous valour: after them Idomeneus, and Meriones, the armour-bearer of Idomeneus, equal to man-slaughtering Mars. After them Eurypylus, the gallant son of Evaemon. And there [also arose] Thoas, son of Andraemon, and divine Ulysses. All these wished to fight with noble Hector. But these again the Gerenian knight Nestor addressed:

"Decide now, exclusively by lot, who shall obtain [the accepting of the challenge]; for he indeed will aid the well-greaved Greeks; and he will also delight his own soul, if he shall escape safe from the hostile war and the grievous fight."

Thus he spoke, and they marked each his own lot, and they cast them into the helmet of Agamemnon, the son of Atreus. The people supplicated, and raised their hands to the gods, and thus would one of them say, looking towards the wide heaven:

"O father Jove, grant that Ajax obtain the lot, or the son of Tydeus, or the king himself of rich Mycenae."

Thus they spake, and the Gerenian knight Nestor shook [the lots], and the lot of Ajax, which indeed they wished for, leaped forth from the helmet. Then a herald bearing it around through the multitude, beginning at the right, showed it to all the chiefs of the Greeks. But they, not recognizing it, disclaimed it severally. But, when at last the herald, carrying it round through the multitude, came to him, illustrious Ajax, who had inscribed and cast it into the helmet, he [Ajax] stretched forth his hand, and the herald standing near, placed it in it. Having inspected it, he knew his own mark, and rejoiced in his soul. He cast it on the ground at his feet, and said:

"O friends, surely the lot is mine, and I myself rejoice in my soul, since I think that I shall conquer noble Hector. But come, while I put on my warlike arms, do ye meantime pray to Jove, the Saturnian king, silently within yourselves, that the Trojans may not hear; or even openly, since we fear no one at all. For no one willingly shall, by force, overcome me against my will, nor through my inexperience; since I hope I have not been so ignorantly[258] born and bred at Salamis."

[Footnote 258: I. e. ignorant of arms.]

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