Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 16

Page 4

"This to me is a bitter grief, since I have suffered sorrows in my mind. The maid whom the sons of the Greeks selected as a reward for me, and [whom] I won by my spear, having sacked a well-fortified city, her has king Agamemnon, son of Atreus, taken back out of my hands, as from some dishonoured alien. But we shall allow these things to be among the things that were;[512] nor is it right, indeed, to be continually enraged in one's mind. Certainly I affirmed that I would not put a stop to my wrath, before that clamour and war should reach my ships. But do thou put on thy shoulders my famous armour, and lead on the war-loving Myrmidons to battle; since now a black cloud of Trojans hath strongly surrounded the ships, and the Greeks are hemmed in by the shore of the sea, possessing now but a small portion of land. And the whole city of the Trojans has rushed on, confident, because they behold not the front of my helmet gleaming near. Certainly, quickly flying, would they have filled the trenches with their bodies, if king Agamemnon had known mildness to me: but now they are fighting around the army. For the spear does not rage in the hands of Diomede, the son of Tydeus, to avert destruction from the Greeks: nor do I at all hear the voice of Agamemnon shouting from his odious head; but [the voice] of man-slaughtering Hector, animating the Trojans, resounds: whilst they with a shout possess the whole plain, conquering the Greeks in battle. Yet even thus, Patroclus, do thou fall on them bravely, warding off destruction from the ships; nor let them consume the vessels with blazing fire, and cut off thy own return. But obey, as I shall lay the sum of my advice in thy mind, in order that thou mayest obtain for me great honour and glory from all the Greeks; and they may send back to me the beautiful maid, and afford [me] besides rich presents. Having repulsed the enemy from the ships, return back: and if, indeed, the loud-thundering husband of Juno permit thee to obtain glory, do not be desirous of fighting with the warlike Trojans apart from me; for thou wouldst render me more dishonoured; nor, exulting in the battle and havoc, lead on as far as Ilium, slaughtering the Trojans, lest some of the immortal gods come down from Olympus [against thee]; for far-darting Apollo greatly loves them. But return after thou hast given safety to the ships, and allow the others to contend through the plain. For would that, O father Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, not one of the Trojans, as many as there are, may escape death, nor any of the Greeks: whilst to us two it [may be granted] to avoid destruction, that we alone might overthrow the sacred bulwarks of Troy."

[Footnote 512: I.e. "Let bygones be bygones."—Dublin Ed.]

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Rhapsody 16

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