Citations have three parts:
11: 222/333
11 indicates Book Eleven
222 identifies the line of the Greek text in the Loeb edition of the Iliad
333 is for the first line of Robert Fagles English translation.
This page will make keyword searches easier. It contains only my descriptive sentence and the text of the similes. This page can be searched using your brower's FIND... and FIND AGAIN commands.
Some of Homer's similes share subjects and themes that appear several times. Here is a list of those I noticed:
arrow air ax ball beans bees birds boar bull calf cattle chaff
child children city cliff cloud corn cow dark dawn day deer dew
diver doe doves dust earth ewes falcon farm fawns field fierce
fire fish flame flashes flies flocks flood flowers fly forest
furnace geese girl goat goatherder goatherdsmen hawk headland
horses hounds hunter ivory jackals lamb leaves leopard lightning
lion man meteor milk mist mountain mules net night oak ram rainbows
razor reapers river sailor sand scales for weights seas sheep
shining snake snow stag star storm sun surf thunder torrents tower
tree vultures wall wasps water waves wheelwright whirlwind wild
wind winter wolves woodman worm
Please send comments, questions, and suggestions to (Don't Forget To Delete REMOVE) Bob King at: SimileREMOVE@vaticanus.mailshell.com
BOOK I
Apollo's face dark as night
So he spake in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard his prayer. He
came down furious from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and
his quiver upon his shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back
with the rage that trembled within him. He sat himself down away
from the ships with a face as dark as night, and his silver bow
rang death as he shot his arrow in the midst of them. (1: 43/50)
Thetis, the mother of Achilles, appears like a grey mist
As he spoke he wept aloud, and his mother heard him where she
was sitting in the depths of the sea hard by the old man her father.
Forthwith she rose as it were a grey mist out of the waves, (1: 357/422)
BOOK II
The Greeks swarm like bees from the ships to hear Agamemnon
With this he led the way from the assembly, and the other sceptred
kings rose with him in obedience to the word of Agamemnon; but
the people pressed forward to hear. They swarmed like bees that
sally from some hollow cave and flit in countless throng among
the spring flowers, bunched in knots and clusters; even so did
the mighty multitude pour from ships and tents to the assembly,
and range themselves upon the wide-watered shore, while among
them ran Wildfire Rumour, messenger of Jove, urging them ever
to the fore. Thus they gathered in a pell-mell of mad confusion,
and the earth groaned under the tramp of men as the people sought
their places. (2: 84/100)
The troops of Agamemnon surge like waves
With these words he moved the hearts of the multitude, so many
of them as knew not the cunning counsel of Agamemnon. They surged
to and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea, when the east and
south winds break from heaven's clouds to lash them; (2: 142/165)
//CONTINUES//
or as a field of corn swept by the west wind
or as when the west wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears
bow beneath the blast, even so were they swayed as they flew with
loud cries towards the ships, and the dust from under their feet
rose heavenward. They cheered each other on to draw the ships
into the sea; they cleared the channels in front of them; they
began taking away the stays from underneath them, and the welkin
rang with their glad cries, so eager were they to return. (2: 147/171)
The Greeks return to the assembly with a sound like the thunder
of surf
Thus masterfully did he go about among the host, and the people
hurried back to the council from their tents and ships with a
sound as the thunder of surf when it comes crashing down upon
the shore, and all the sea is in an uproar. (2: 200/229)
Odysseus accuses the Greeks of being like murmuring children
or widowed women
"King Agamemnon, the Achaeans are for making you a by-word
among all mankind. They forget the promise they made you when
they set out from Argos, that you should not return till you had
sacked the town of Troy, and, like children or widowed women,
they murmur and would set off homeward. (2: 284/331)
King Nestor also compares the Greeks to talking children
On this the Argives raised a shout, till the ships rang again
with the uproar. Nestor, knight of Gerene, then addressed them.
"Shame on you," he cried, "to stay talking here
like children, when you should fight like men. (2: 333/394)
The Greek soldiers respond like waves breaking against a headland
Thus he spoke, and the Achaeans roared applause. As when the waves
run high before the blast of the south wind and break on some
lofty headland, dashing against it and buffeting it without ceasing,
as the storms from every quarter drive them, even so did the Achaeans
rise and hurry in all directions to their ships. There they lighted
their fires at their tents and got dinner, offering sacrifice
every man to one or other of the gods, and praying each one of
them that he might live to come out of the fight. (2: 394/468)
The Greek armor shines like a raging forest fire flashing off
the firmament
Minerva went among them holding her priceless aegis that knows
neither age nor death. From it there waved a hundred tassels of
pure gold, all deftly woven, and each one of them worth a hundred
oxen. With this she darted furiously everywhere among the hosts
of the Achaeans, urging them forward, and putting courage into
the heart of each, so that he might fight and do battle without
ceasing. Thus war became sweeter in their eyes even than returning
home in their ships. As when some great forest fire is raging
upon a mountain top and its light is seen afar, even so as they
marched the gleam of their armour flashed up into the firmament
of heaven.(2: 446/528) //CONTINUES//
The Greeks are like screaming flocks of geese, or cranes, or
swans AND the ground rings like brass
They were like great flocks of geese, or cranes, or swans on the
plain about the waters of Cayster, that wing their way hither
and thither, glorying in the pride of flight, and crying as they
settle till the fen is alive with their screaming. Even thus did
their tribes pour from ships and tents on to the plain of the
Scamander, and the ground rang as brass under the feet of men
and horses. (2: 459/543) //CONTINUES//
The Greeks assemble as think as a field covered with blooming
flowers
They stood as thick upon the flower-bespangled field as leaves
that bloom in summer. (2: 467/552) //CONTINUES//
The Greeks are like swarms of flies around pails of milk
As countless swarms of flies buzz around a herdsman's homestead
in the time of spring when the pails are drenched with milk, even
so did the Achaeans swarm on to the plain to charge the Trojans
and destroy them. (2: 469/556) //CONTINUES//
The Greek leaders are like goatherdsmen organizing their flocks
The chiefs disposed their men this way and that before the fight
began, drafting them out as easily as goatherds draft their flocks
when they have got mixed while feeding; (2: 474/560) //CONTINUES//
Agamemnon's body like Zeus, Ares, and Poseidon
and among them went King Agamemnon, with a head and face like
Jove the lord of thunder, a waist like Mars, and a chest like
that of Neptune. (2: 476/565) //CONTINUES//
Agamemnon like a bull
As some great bull that lords it over the herds upon the plain,
even so did Jove make the son of Atreus stand peerless among the
multitude of heroes. (2: 480/569)
Two rivers join but like oil on water do not mingle
Guneus brought two and twenty ships from Cyphus, and he was followed
by the Enienes and the valiant Peraebi, who dwelt about wintry
Dodona, and held the lands round the lovely river Titaresius,
which sends its waters into the Peneus. They do not mingle with
the silver eddies of the Peneus, but flow on the top of them like
oil; for the Titaresius is a branch of dread Orcus and of the
river Styx. (2: 748/850)
The chariot horses of Pheres are as fleet as birds and fierce
as Ares
Of the horses, those of the son of Pheres were by far the finest.
They were driven by Eumelus, and were as fleet as birds. They
were of the same age and colour, and perfectly matched in height.
Apollo, of the silver bow, had bred them in Perea- both of them
mares, and terrible as Mars in battle. (2: 763/866)
The two armies advance like fire and the earth shakes
Thus marched the host like a consuming fire, and the earth groaned
beneath them when the lord of thunder is angry and lashes the
land about Typhoeus among the Arimi, where they say Typhoeus lies.
Even so did the earth groan beneath them as they sped over the
plain. (2: 780/886)
The Greeks are as numerous as leaves or sand
I have been in many a battle, but never yet saw such a host as
is now advancing. They are crossing the plain to attack the city
as thick as leaves or as the sands of the sea. (2: 798/908)
Nastes, wearing golden armor, is foolish like a girl
Nastes led the Carians, men of a strange speech. These held Miletus
and the wooded mountain of Phthires, with the water of the river
Maeander and the lofty crests of Mt. Mycale. These were commanded
by Nastes and Amphimachus, the brave sons of Nomion. He came into
the fight with gold about him, like a girl; fool that he was,
his gold was of no avail to save him, for he fell in the river
by the hand of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, and Achilles bore
away his gold. (2: 867/979)
BOOK III
The Trojans advance like wild cranes screaming and wrangling
in the sky
When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain,
the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream
overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters
of Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and
they wrangle in the air as they fly;(3: 1/1)
The rising dust of the advancing armies is like a thick mountain
mist
As when the south wind spreads a curtain of mist upon the mountain
tops, bad for shepherds but better than night for thieves, and
a man can see no further than he can throw a stone, even so rose
the dust from under their feet as they made all speed over the
plain. (3: 10/10)
Menelaus is like a hungry lion when he sees Paris
Menelaus saw him thus stride out before the ranks, and was glad
as a hungry lion that lights on the carcase of some goat or horned
stag, and devours it there and then, though dogs and youths set
upon him. (3: 21/23)
Paris is frightened like a man who almost steps on a snake
Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank
in fear of his life under cover of his men. As one who starts
back affrighted, trembling and pale, when he comes suddenly upon
a serpent in some mountain glade, even so did Alexandrus plunge
into the throng of Trojan warriors, terror-stricken at the sight
of the son Atreus. (3: 31/34)
The words of Hector to Paris are like a keen edged ax
And Alexandrus answered, "Hector, your rebuke is just. You
are hard as the axe which a shipwright wields at his work, and
cleaves the timber to his liking. As the axe in his hand, so keen
is the edge of your scorn. (3: 60/70)
The minds of young men are light as air
Young men's minds are light as air, but when an old man comes
he looks before and after, deeming that which shall be fairest
upon both sides." (3: 108/131)
The old men of Troy like cicales chirping from a high tree
The two sages, Ucalegon and Antenor, elders of the people, were
seated by the Scaean gates, with Priam, Panthous, Thymoetes, Lampus,
Clytius, and Hiketaon of the race of Mars. These were too old
to fight, but they were fluent orators, and sat on the tower like
cicales that chirrup delicately from the boughs of some high tree
in a wood. (3: 148/179)
Odysseus like a great stalking ram
The old man next looked upon Ulysses; "Tell me," he
said, "who is that other, shorter by a head than Agamemnon,
but broader across the chest and shoulders? His armour is laid
upon the ground, and he stalks in front of the ranks as it were
some great woolly ram ordering his ewes." (3: 191/231)
The oratory of Odyssesu is like a winter storm
Ulysses, on the other hand, when he rose to speak, was at first
silent and kept his eyes fixed upon the ground. There was no play
nor graceful movement of his sceptre; he kept it straight and
stiff like a man unpractised in oratory- one might have taken
him for a mere churl or simpleton; but when he raised his voice,
and the words came driving from his deep chest like winter snow
before the wind, then there was none to touch him, and no man
thought further of what he looked like." (3: 216/265)
BOOK IV
Athena darts from Olympus like a meteor
This was what Minerva was already eager to do, so down she darted
from the topmost summits of Olympus. She shot through the sky
as some brilliant meteor which the son of scheming Saturn has
sent as a sign to mariners or to some great army, and a fiery
train of light follows in its wake. (4: 73/85)
Athena deflects an arrow like a mother whisking away a fly
She turned it from his skin as a mother whisks a fly from off
her child when it is sleeping sweetly; she guided it to the part
where the golden buckles of the belt that passed over his double
cuirass were fastened, so the arrow struck the belt that went
tightly round him. (4: 130/148)
The legs of Menalaus are stained with blood like dyed ivory
As when some woman of Meonia or Caria strains purple dye on to
a piece of ivory that is to be the cheek-piece of a horse, and
is to be laid up in a treasure house- many a knight is fain to
bear it, but the king keeps it as an ornament of which both horse
and driver may be proud- even so, O Menelaus, were your shapely
thighs and your legs down to your fair ancles stained with blood.
(4: 141/160)
Agamemnon compares his faltering troops to frightened fawns
and deer
But he angrily rebuked those whom he saw shirking and disinclined
to fight. "Argives," he cried, "cowardly miserable
creatures, have you no shame to stand here like frightened fawns
who, when they can no longer scud over the plain, huddle together,
but show no fight? You are as dazed and spiritless as deer. (4: 240/275)
Idomeneus leads the Cretans fierce as a wild boar
Passing through the crowd, he came presently on the Cretans, arming
round Idomeneus, who was at their head, fierce as a wild boar,
while Meriones was bringing up the battalions that were in the
rear. (4: 250/287)
The troops of the Ajaxes are as thick as a black storm seen
by a goatherder
The son of Atreus went on, glad at heart, till he came upon the
two Ajaxes arming themselves amid a host of foot-soldiers. As
when a goat-herd from some high post watches a storm drive over
the deep before the west wind- black as pitch is the offing and
a mighty whirlwind draws towards him, so that he is afraid and
drives his flock into a cave- even thus did the ranks of stalwart
youths move in a dark mass to battle under the Ajaxes, horrid
with shield and spear. Glad was King Agamemnon when he saw them.
(4: 272/310)
The Greeks advance like crashing surf
As when some mighty wave that thunders on the beach when the west
wind has lashed it into fury- it has reared its head afar and
now comes crashing down on the shore; it bows its arching crest
high over the jagged rocks and spews its salt foam in all directions-
even so did the serried phalanxes of the Danaans march steadfastly
to battle. (4: 422/489)
The Trojans advance like ewes bleating to be milked
But the clamour of the Trojan ranks was as that of many thousand
ewes that stand waiting to be milked in the yards of some rich
flockmaster, and bleat incessantly in answer to the bleating of
their lambs; for they had not one speech nor language, but their
tongues were diverse, and they came from many different places.
(4: 433/503)
The two armies lock in battle like swollen flood torrents of
water roaring through a gorge
As torrents swollen with rain course madly down their deep channels
till the angry floods meet in some gorge, and the shepherd on
the hillside hears their roaring from afar- even such was the
toil and uproar of the hosts as they joined in battle. (4: 446/517)
Echopolus, speared by Antilochus, falls like a tower
First Antilochus slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Echepolus,
son of Thalysius, fighting in the foremost ranks. He struck at
the projecting part of his helmet and drove the spear into his
brow; the point of bronze pierced the bone, and darkness veiled
his eyes; headlong as a tower he fell amid the press of the fight,
(4: 457/529)
The Trojans and Greeks fly upon one another like wolves
Then the fight between Trojans and Achaeans grew furious over
his body (King Elephenor), and they flew upon each other like
wolves, man and man crushing one upon the other. (4: 470/544)
Simoisius is cut down by Ajax like a poplar tree by a wheelwright
Therefore he was named Simoeisius, but he did not live to pay
his parents for his rearing, for he was cut off untimely by the
spear of mighty Ajax, who struck him in the breast by the right
nipple as he was coming on among the foremost fighters; the spear
went right through his shoulder, and he fell as a poplar that
has grown straight and tall in a meadow by some mere, and its
top is thick with branches. Then the wheelwright lays his axe
to its roots that he may fashion a felloe for the wheel of some
goodly chariot, and it lies seasoning by the waterside. In such
wise did Ajax fell to earth Simoeisius, son of Anthemion. (4: 473/547)
BOOK V
Diomedes' shield and helmet flare like a star
Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of
Tydeus, that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover himself
with glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his shield and
helmet like the star that shines most brilliantly in summer after
its bath in the waters of Oceanus- even such a fire did she kindle
upon his head and shoulders as she bade him speed into the thickest
hurly-burly of the fight. (5: 1/1)
Diomedes overwhelms the Trojans like a winter torrent flooding
fields
Thus furiously did the battle rage between them. As for the son
of Tydeus, you could not say whether he was more among the Achaeans
or the Trojans. He rushed across the plain like a winter torrent
that has burst its barrier in full flood; no dykes, no walls of
fruitful vineyards can embank it when it is swollen with rain
from heaven, but in a moment it comes tearing onward, and lays
many a field waste that many a strong man hand has reclaimed-
even so were the dense phalanxes of the Trojans driven in rout
by the son of Tydeus, and many though they were, they dared not
abide his onslaught. (5: 84/93)
Diomedes like a wounded lion slaughtering sheep
When she had said this Minerva went away, and the son of Tydeus
again took his place among the foremost fighters, three times
more fierce even than he had been before. He was like a lion that
some mountain shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is springing
over the wall of a sheep-yard to attack the sheep. The shepherd
has roused the brute to fury but cannot defend his flock, so he
takes shelter under cover of the buildings, while the sheep, panic-stricken
on being deserted, are smothered in heaps one on top of the other,
and the angry lion leaps out over the sheep-yard wall. Even thus
did Diomed go furiously about among the Trojans. (5: 133/148)
Diomedes springs on Echemmon and Chromius like a lion seizing
a cow's neck
Then he came upon two sons of Priam, Echemmon and Chromius, as
they were both in one chariot. He sprang upon them as a lion fastens
on the neck of some cow or heifer when the herd is feeding in
a coppice. For all their vain struggles he flung them both from
their chariot and stripped the armour from their bodies. Then
he gave their horses to his comrades to take them back to the
ships. (5: 159/178)
Aeneas defends the body of Pandarius like a lion full of strength
Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear, fearing
lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode it as
a lion in the pride of strength, with shield and on spear before
him and a cry of battle on his lips resolute to kill the first
that should dare face him. (5: 297/330)
Sarpedon accuses the Trojans of cowardness like hounds before
a lion
Then Sarpedon rebuked Hector very sternly. "Hector,"
said he, "where is your prowess now? You used to say that
though you had neither people nor allies you could hold the town
alone with your brothers and brothers-in-law. I see not one of
them here; they cower as hounds before a lion; it is we, your
allies, who bear the brunt of the battle. (5: 470/540)
The Trojans are captured by cowardice like men in a net
I head my Lycian soldiers and stand my ground against any who
would fight me though I have nothing here for the Achaeans to
plunder, while you look on, without even bidding your men stand
firm in defense of their wives. See that you fall not into the
hands of your foes as men caught in the meshes of a net, and they
sack your fair city forthwith." (5: 477/555)
The dust of battle whitens the Greeks like grain chaff upon
a threshing floor
Then they rallied and again faced the Achaeans, but the Argives
stood compact and firm, and were not driven back. As the breezes
sport with the chaff upon some goodly threshing-floor, when men
are winnowing- while yellow Ceres blows with the wind to sift
the chaff from the grain, and the chaff- heaps grow whiter and
whiter- even so did the Achaeans whiten in the dust which the
horses' hoofs raised to the firmament of heaven, as their drivers
turned them back to battle, and they bore down with might upon
the foe. (5: 495/571)
The two Ajaxes stiffen the Greek fighting line like immobile
mountain top clouds
The two Ajaxes, Ulysses and Diomed, cheered the Danaans on, fearless
of the fury and onset of the Trojans. They stood as still as clouds
which the son of Saturn has spread upon the mountain tops when
there is no air and fierce Boreas sleeps with the other boisterous
winds whose shrill blasts scatter the clouds in all directions-
even so did the Danaans stand firm and unflinching against the
Trojans. (5: 519/599)
Crethon and Orsilochus are slain like maurauding lions and
fall like felled trees
Crethon and Orsilochus, well skilled in all the arts of war. These,
when they grew up, went to Ilius with the Argive fleet in the
cause of Menelaus and Agamemnon sons of Atreus, and there they
both of them fell. As two lions whom their dam has reared in the
depths of some mountain forest to plunder homesteads and carry
off sheep and cattle till they get killed by the hand of man,
so were these two vanquished by Aeneas, and fell like high pine-trees
to the ground. (5: 555/630)
Domedes is like a man who cannot cross a river
Diomed shook with passion as he saw them. As a man crossing a
wide plain is dismayed to find himself on the brink of some great
river rolling swiftly to the sea- he sees its boiling waters and
starts back in fear- even so did the son of Tydeus give ground.
(5: 575/684)
Hera's chariot moves as fast as sight
Juno did as he had said. She lashed her horses, and they flew
forward nothing loth midway betwixt earth and sky. As far as a
man can see when he looks out upon the sea from some high beacon,
so far can the loud-neighing horses of the gods spring at a single
bound. When they reached Troy and the place where its two flowing
streams Simois and Scamander meet, there Juno stayed them and
took them from the chariot. She hid them in a thick cloud, and
Simois made ambrosia spring up for them to eat; (5: 768/882)
June and Athena appear on the battlefield like eager doves
the two goddesses then went on, flying like turtledoves in their
eagerness to help the Argives. (5: 778/896) //CONTINUES//
The strength and endurance of the Greeks are like lions and
boars
When they came to the part where the bravest and most in number
were gathered about mighty Diomed, fighting like lions or wild
boars of great strength and endurance, (5: 780/898) //CONTINUES//
The goddess Hera enters the thick of the battle and shouts
there Juno stood still and raised a shout like that of brazen-voiced
Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men together.
(5: 783/902)
Ares is wounded in the belly by Diomedes and roars like ten
thousand men
Mars roared as loudly as nine or ten thousand men in the thick
of a fight, and the Achaeans and Trojans were struck with panic,
so terrible was the cry he raised. (5: 859/990)
Ares beats a retreat like a rising storm thunderhead
As a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat,
even so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad
heavens. (5: 864/998)
Paeon's herbs curdles like fig juice poured into milk
He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing
herbs upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal mould.
As the juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it in
a moment though it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon cure
fierce Mars. Then Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly raiment,
and he took his seat by his father Jove all glorious to behold.
(5: 899/1041)
BOOK VI
Glaucus tells Diomedes men's live are like falling tree leaves
And the son of Hippolochus answered, son of Tydeus, why ask me
of my lineage? Men come and go as leaves year by year upon the
trees. Those of autumn the wind sheds upon the ground, but when
spring returns the forest buds forth with fresh vines. Even so
is it with the generations of mankind, the new spring up as the
old are passing away. (6: 142/169)
Hecuba offers Athena a robe that glitters like a star
Hecuba took out the largest robe, and the one that was most beautifully
enriched with embroidery, as an offering to Minerva: it glittered
like a star, and lay at the very bottom of the chest. With this
she went on her way and many matrons with her. (6: 293/348)
The son of Hector, Astyanax, lovely as a star
Hector's darling son, and lovely as a star. Hector had named him
Scamandrius, but the people called him Astyanax, for his father
stood alone as chief guardian of Ilius. (6: 399/472)
Paris rejoins Hector exaulting in his strength like a horse
Paris did not remain long in his house. He donned his goodly armour
overlaid with bronze, and hasted through the city as fast as his
feet could take him. As a horse, stabled and fed, breaks loose
and gallops gloriously over the plain to the place where he is
wont to bathe in the fair-flowing river- he holds his head high,
and his mane streams upon his shoulders as he exults in his strength
and flies like the wind to the haunts and feeding ground of the
mares- even so went forth Paris from high Pergamus, gleaming like
sunlight in his armour, and he laughed aloud as he sped swiftly
on his way. (6: 503/601)
BOOK VII
Hector and Paris arrive like the wind saving becalmed sailors
With these words Hector passed through the gates, and his brother
Alexandrus with him, both eager for the fray. As when heaven sends
a breeze to sailors who have long looked for one in vain, and
have laboured at their oars till they are faint with toil, even
so welcome was the sight of these two heroes to the Trojans. (7: 1/1)
The armies darken the plain like darkening wind blown seas
and the ranks sat close ranged together, bristling with shield
and helmet and spear. As when the rising west wind furs the face
of the sea and the waters grow dark beneath it, so sat the companies
of Trojans and Achaeans upon the plain. (7: 61/70)
The Ajaxes clothed in valor answer Nestor's challenge to duel
with Hector
Thus did the old man rebuke them, and forthwith nine men started
to their feet. Foremost of all uprose King Agamemnon, and after
him brave Diomed the son of Tydeus. Next were the two Ajaxes,
men clothed in valour as with a garment, and then Idomeneus, and
Meriones his brother in arms. (7: 161/187)
Ajax appears like like the god Mars
Thus they prayed, and Ajax armed himself in his suit of gleaming
bronze. When he was in full array he sprang forward as monstrous
Mars when he takes part among men whom Jove has set fighting with
one another- even so did huge Ajax, bulwark of the Achaeans, spring
forward with a grim smile on his face as he brandished his long
spear and strode onward. (7: 206/237)
Ajax bears his shield like it was a wall
Ajax came up bearing his shield in front of him like a wall- a
shield of bronze with seven folds of oxhide- the work of Tychius,
who lived in Hyle and was by far the best worker in leather. He
had made it with the hides of seven full-fed bulls, and over these
he had set an eighth layer of bronze. (7: 220/250)
Hector says he is not a boy or a woman
And Hector answered, "Noble Ajax, son of Telamon, captain
of the host, treat me not as though I were some puny boy or woman
that cannot fight. I have been long used to the blood and butcheries
of battle. I am quick to turn my leathern shield either to right
or left, for this I deem the main thing in battle. I can charge
among the
chariots and horsemen, and in hand to hand fighting can delight
the heart of Mars; howbeit I would not take such a man as you
are off his guard- but I will smite you openly if I can."
(7: 233/271)
Hector and Ajax fight like lions or boars
They then each of them drew out the spear from his shield, and
fell on one another like savage lions or wild boars of great strength
and endurance: the son of Priam struck the middle of Ajax's shield,
but the bronze did not break, and the point of his dart was turned.
Ajax then sprang forward and pierced the shield of Hector; (7: 255/296)
Poseidon complains that the fame of the Greek will reach as
far as the new day's dawn
Thus did the Achaeans toil, and the gods, seated by the side of
Jove the lord of lightning, marvelled at their great work; but
Neptune, lord of the earthquake, spoke, saying, "Father Jove,
what mortal in the whole world will again take the gods into his
counsel? See you not how the Achaeans have built a wall about
their ships and driven a trench all round it, without offering
hecatombs to the gods? The fame of this wall will reach as far
as dawn itself, and men will no longer think anything of the one
which Phoebus Apollo and myself built with so much labour for
Laomedon." (7: 442/511) //CONTINUES//
Zeus tells Poseidon his fame reaches as far as the new day's
dawn
Jove was displeased and answered, "What, O shaker of the
earth, are you talking about? A god less powerful than yourself
might be alarmed at what they are doing, but your fame reaches
as far as dawn itself. Surely when the Achaeans have gone home
with their ships, you can shatter their wall and fling it into
the sea; you can cover the beach with sand again, and the great
wall of the Achaeans will then be
utterly effaced." (7: 454/526)
BOOK VIII
The Trojans nearly trapped like sheep in a pen
All had then been lost and no help for it, for they would have
been penned up in Ilius like sheep, had not the sire of gods and
men been quick to mark, and hurled a fiery flaming thunderbolth
which fell just in front of Diomed's horses with a flare of burning
brimstone. The horses were frightened and tried to back beneath
the car, while the reins dropped from Nestor's hands. (8: 130/149)
Teucer ducks under Ajax's shield like a child to its mother
Ninth came Teucer with his bow, and took his place under cover
of the shield of Ajax son of Telamon. When Ajax lifted his shield
Teucer would peer round, and when he had hit any one in the throng,
the man would fall dead; then Teucer would hie back to Ajax as
a child to its mother, and again duck down under his shield. (8: 266/306)
Wounded, Gorgythion bows his head like a rain drenched poppy
flower
As he spoke he aimed another arrow straight at Hector, for he
was bent on hitting him; nevertheless he missed him, and the arrow
hit Priam's brave son Gorgythion in the breast. His mother, fair
Castianeira, lovely as a goddess, had been married from Aesyme,
and now he bowed his head as a garden poppy in full bloom when
it is weighed down by showers in spring- even thus heavy bowed
his head beneath the weight of his helmet. (8: 300/342)
Hector, like a hound gripping the flank of a lion, picks off
fleeing Greeks
Jove now again put heart into the Trojans, and they drove the
Achaeans to their deep trench with Hector in all his glory at
their head. As a hound grips a wild boar or lion in flank or buttock
when he gives him chase, and watches warily for his wheeling,
even so did Hector follow close upon the Achaeans, ever killing
the hindmost as they rushed panic-stricken onwards. (8: 335/382)
//CONTINUES//
Hector's eyes glare like Gorgo or Ares
When they had fled through the set stakes and trench and many
Achaeans had been laid low at the hands of the Trojans, they halted
at their ships, calling upon one another and praying every man
instantly as they lifted up their hands to the gods; but Hector
wheeled his horses this way and that, his eyes glaring like those
of Gorgo or murderous Mars. (8: 343/391)
Iris, fleet as the wind
With this Iris went her way, fleet as the wind, from the heights
of Ida to the lofty summits of Olympus. She met the goddesses
at the outer gates of its many valleys and gave them her message.
"What," said she, "are you about? Are you mad?
The son of Saturn forbids going. (8: 409/470)
The Trojan watchfires are like clear shining stars
Thus high in hope they sat through the livelong night by the highways
of war, and many a watchfire did they kindle. As when the stars
shine clear, and the moon is bright- there is not a breath of
air, not a peak nor glade nor jutting headland but it stands out
in the ineffable radiance that breaks from the serene of heaven;
the stars can all of them be told and the heart of the shepherd
is glad- even thus shone the watchfires of the Trojans before
Ilius midway between the ships and the river Xanthus. A thousand
camp-fires gleamed upon the plain, and in the glow of each there
sat fifty men, while the horses, champing oats and corn beside
their chariots, waited till dawn should come. (8: 542/630)
BOOK IX
The Greek despair is like dark waves tossed by two storm winds
Thus did the Trojans watch. But Panic, comrade of blood-stained
Rout, had taken fast hold of the Achaeans and their princes were
all of them in despair. As when the two winds that blow from Thrace-
the north and the northwest- spring up of a sudden and rouse the
fury of the main- in a moment the dark waves uprear their heads
and scatter their sea-wrack in all directions- even thus troubled
were the hearts of the Achaeans. (9: 1/1)
Agamemnon's tears like a stream of water running over the side
of a cliff
The son of Atreus in dismay bade the heralds call the people to
a council man by man, but not to cry the matter aloud; he made
haste also himself to call them, and they sat sorry at heart in
their assembly. Agamemnon shed tears as it were a running stream
or cataract on the side of some sheer cliff; and thus, with many
a heavy sigh he spoke to the Achaeans. (9: 9/9)
Hector like a maniac man gone mad
Jove, moreover, has sent his lightnings on their right; Hector,
in all his glory, rages like a maniac; confident that Jove is
with him he fears neither god nor man, but is gone raving mad,
and prays for the approach of day. (9: 236/285)
Achilles like a starving mother-bird feeding her greedy nestlings
I have taken nothing by all my hardships- with my life ever in
my hand; as a bird when she has found a morsel takes it to her
nestlings, and herself fares hardly, even so man a long night
have I been wakeful, and many a bloody battle have I waged by
day against those who were fighting for their women. With my ships
I have taken twelve cities, and eleven round about Troy have I
stormed with my men by land; I took great store of wealth from
every one of them, but I gave all up to Agamemnon son of Atreus.
He stayed where he was by his ships, yet of what came to him he
gave little, and kept much himself. (9: 321/390)
Achilles spurns the offered gifts as so much sand or dust
He may offer me ten or even twenty times what he has now done,
nay- not though it be all that he has in the world, both now or
ever shall have; he may promise me the wealth of Orchomenus or
of Egyptian Thebes, which is the richest city in the whole world,
for it has a hundred gates through each of which two hundred men
may drive at once with their chariots and horses; he may offer
me gifts as the sands of the sea or the dust of the plain in multitude,
but even so he shall not move me till I have been revenged in
full for the bitter wrong he has done me. (9: 379/464)
Prayers personified as the daughters of Zeus
For prayers are as daughters to great Jove; halt, wrinkled, with
eyes askance, they follow in the footsteps of sin, who, being
fierce and fleet of foot, leaves them far behind him, and ever
baneful to mankind outstrips them even to the ends of the world;
but nevertheless the prayers come hobbling and healing after.
If a man has pity upon these daughters of Jove when they draw
near him, they will bless him and hear him too when he is praying;
but if he deny them and will not listen to them, they go to Jove
the son of Saturn and pray that he may presently fall into sin-
to his ruing bitterly hereafter. Therefore, Achilles, give these
daughters of Jove due reverence, and bow before them as all good
men will bow. (9: 502/609)
Achilles treated like a tramp or vagrant man
"Ajax," replied Achilles, "noble son of Telamon,
you have spoken much to my liking, but my blood boils when I think
it all over, and remember how the son of Atreus treated me with
contumely as though I were some vile tramp, and that too in the
presence of the Argives. (9: 644/786)
BOOK X
Agamemnon frets
Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole
night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that
he could get no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning
in token of great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten
the ground, or again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws
of hungry war, even so did Agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh,
for his soul trembled within him. (10: 1/1)
Bronze weapons flash like lightning
On this Ulysses went at once into his tent, put his shield about
his shoulders and came out with them. First they went to Diomed
son of Tydeus, and found him outside his tent clad in his armour
with his comrades sleeping round him and using their shields as
pillows; as for their spears, they stood upright on the spikes
of their butts that were driven into the ground, and the burnished
bronze flashed afar like the lightning of father Jove. (10: 148/173)
Nestor rouses Diomedes warning him that they are on the edge
of a razor
And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, "My son, all that
you have said is true. I have good sons, and also much people
who might call the chieftains, but the Achaeans are in the gravest
danger; life and death are balanced as it were on the edge of
a razor. Go then, for you are younger than I, and of your courtesy
rouse Ajax and the fleet son of Phyleus." (10: 162/190)
The Greek sentries are as watchful as sheep dogs
Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his shoulders-
a skin that reached his feet- and grasped his spear. When he had
roused the heroes, he brought them back with him; they then went
the round of those who were on guard, and found the captains not
sleeping at their posts but wakeful and sitting with their arms
about them. As sheep dogs that watch their flocks when they are
yarded, and hear a wild beast coming through the mountain forest
towards them- forthwith there is a hue and cry of dogs and men,
and slumber is broken- even so was sleep chased from the eyes
of the Achaeans as they kept the watches of the wicked night,
for they turned constantly towards the plain whenever they heard
any stir among the Trojans. The old man was glad bade them be
of good cheer. "Watch on, my children," said he, "and
let not sleep get hold upon you, lest our enemies triumph over
us." (10: 177/208)
Diomedes and Odysseus prowl the battlefield like two lions
Thus they prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard their prayer. When
they had done praying to the daughter of great Jove, they went
their way like two lions prowling by night amid the armour and
blood-stained bodies of them that had fallen. (10: 295/346)
Diomedes and Odysseus chase a Trojan spy like hounds after
a doe or hare
With this they turned out of their way and lay down among the
corpses. Dolon suspected nothing and soon passed them, but when
he had got about as far as the distance by which a mule-plowed
furrow exceeds one that has been ploughed by oxen (for mules can
plow fallow land quicker than oxen) they ran after him, and when
he heard their footsteps he stood still, for he made sure they
were friends from the Trojan camp come by Hector's orders to bid
him return; when, however, they were only a spear's cast, or less
away form him, he saw that they were enemies and fled as fast
as his legs could take him. The others gave chase at once, and
as a couple of well-trained hounds press forward after a doe or
hare that runs screaming in front of them, even so did the son
of Tydeus and Ulysses pursue Dolon and cut him off from his own
people. (10: 349/407)
Diomedes kills the sleeping Thracians like a lion on unprotected
sheep or goats
Thereon Minerva put courage into the heart of Diomed, and he smote
them right and left. They made a hideous groaning as they were
being hacked about, and the earth was red with their blood. As
a lion springs furiously upon a flock of sheep or goats when he
finds without their shepherd, so did the son of Tydeus set upon
the Thracian soldiers till he had killed twelve. (10: 482/557)
Diomedes and Odysseus return with the spoils that are like
sunbeams
He had hardly done speaking when the two men came in and dismounted,
whereon the others shook hands right gladly with them and congratulated
them. Nestor knight of Gerene was first to question them. "Tell
me," said he, "renowned Ulysses, how did you two come
by these horses? Did you steal in among the Trojan forces, or
did some god meet you and give them to you? They are like sunbeams.
I am well conversant with the Trojans, for old warrior though
I am I never hold back by the ships, but I never yet saw or heard
of such horses as these are. Surely some god must have met you
and given them to you, for you are both of dear to Jove, and to
Jove's daughter Minerva." (10: 540/623)
BOOK XI
The serpents of cyanus on Agamemnon's breastplate are like
rainbows after a storm
The son of Atreus shouted aloud and bade the Argives gird themselves
for battle while he put on his armour. First he girded his goodly
greaves about his legs, making them fast with ankle clasps of
silver; and about his chest he set the breastplate which Cinyras
had once given him as a guest-gift. It had been noised abroad
as far as Cyprus that the Achaeans were about to sail for Troy,
and therefore he gave it to the king. It had ten courses of dark
cyanus, twelve of gold, and ten of tin. There were serpents of
cyanus that reared themselves up towards the neck, three upon
either side, like the rainbows which the son of Saturn has set
in heaven as a sign to mortal men. (11: 15/17)
Agamemnon's armor shines like a flame
On his head Agamemnon set a helmet, with a peak before and behind,
and four plumes of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it;
then he grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears, and the gleam
of his armour shot from him as a flame into the firmament, while
Juno and Minerva thundered in honour of the king of rich Mycene.
(11: 40/45)
The shield of Hector shines like a baneful star amidst clouds
The Trojans, on the other side upon the rising slope of the plain,
were gathered round great Hector, noble Polydamas, Aeneas who
was honoured by the Trojans like an immortal, and the three sons
of Antenor, Polybus, Agenor, and young Acamas beauteous as a god.
Hector's round shield showed in the front rank, and as some baneful
star that shines for a moment through a rent in the clouds and
is again hidden beneath them; even so was Hector now seen in the
front ranks and now again in the hindermost, and his bronze armour
gleamed like the lightning of aegis-bearing Jove. (11: 56/64)
The Greeks and Trojans cut one another down like grain reapers
cutting wheat or barley; like fighting wolves
And now as a band of reapers mow swathes of wheat or barley upon
a rich man's land, and the sheaves fall thick before them, even
so did the Trojans and Achaeans fall upon one another; they were
in no mood for yielding but fought like wolves, and neither side
got the better of the other. (11: 67/76)
Description of a woodman ready for lunch
Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their darts
rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as the
hour drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest
will get his midday meal- for he has felled till his hands are
weary; he is tired out, and must now have food- then the Danaans
with a cry that rang through all their ranks, broke the battalions
of the enemy. (11: 84/97)
Agamemnon kills Isus and Antiphus like the fawns of a helpless
hind
Agamemnon son of Atreus smote Isus in the chest above the nipple
with his spear, while he struck Antiphus hard by the ear and threw
him from his chariot. Forthwith he stripped their goodly armour
from off them and recognized them, for he had already seen them
at ships when Achilles brought them in from Ida. As a lion fastens
on the fawns of a hind and crushes them in his great jaws, robbing
them of their tender life while he on his way back to his lair-
the hind can do nothing for them even though she be close by,
for she is in an agony of fear, and flies through the thick forest,
sweating, and at her utmost speed before the mighty monster- so,
no man of the Trojans could help Isus and Antiphus, for they were
themselves flying panic before the Argives. (11: 107/124)
Agamemnon confronts the sons of Antimachus- Peisander and Hipplochus
like a lion
Then King Agamemnon took the two sons of Antimachus, Pisander
and brave Hippolochus. It was Antimachus who had been foremost
in preventing Helen's being restored to Menelaus, for he was largely
bribed by Alexandrus; and now Agamemnon took his two sons, both
in the same chariot, trying to bring their horses to a stand-
for they had lost hold of the reins and the horses were mad with
fear. The son of Atreus sprang upon them like a lion, and the
pair besought him from their chariot. (11: 122/143)
Agamemnon rolls the head of Hippolochus towards the Trojans
like a ball
As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth,
smiting him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face uppermost
upon the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did Agamemnon smite;
he cut off his hands and his head- which he sent rolling in among
the crowd as though it were a ball. (11: 147/166)
The Greeks rout the Trojans like a raging forest fire
Foot soldiers drove the foot soldiers of the foe in rout before
them, and slew them; horsemen did the like by horsemen, and the
thundering tramp of the horses raised a cloud of dust frim off
the plain. King Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and
cheering on the Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze-
the eddying gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets
shrivel and are consumed before the blast of the flame- even so
fell the heads of the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus,
and many a noble pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the
highways of war, for lack of drivers who were lying on the plain,
more useful now to vultures than to their wives. (11: 150/174)
Trojans flee Agamemnon like cattle attacked in the night by
a lion
Meanwhile the Trojans kept on flying over the middle of the plain
like a herd of cows maddened with fright when a lion has attacked
them in the dead of night- he springs on one of them, seizes her
neck in the grip of his strong teeth and then laps up her blood
and gorges himself upon her entrails- even so did King Agamemnon
son of Atreus pursue the foe, ever slaughtering the hindmost as
they fled pell-mell before him. Many a man was flung headlong
from his chariot by the hand of the son of Atreus, for he wielded
his spear with fury. (11: 172/200)
Agamemnon drags Iphidamas towards him by his own spear like
a furious lion
When they were close up with one another, the son of Atreus missed
his aim, and Iphidamas hit him on the girdle below the cuirass
and then flung himself upon him, trusting to his strength of arm;
the girdle, however, was not pierced, nor nearly so, for the point
of the spear struck against the silver and was turned aside as
though it had been lead: King Agamemnon caught it from his hand,
and drew it towards him with the fury of a lion; (11: 232/267)
Agamemnon's spear is as fleet as the wind and he kills Coon
When noble Coon, Antenor's eldest son, saw this, sore indeed were
his eyes at the sight of his fallen brother. Unseen by Agamemnon
he got beside him, spear in hand, and wounded him in the middle
of his arm below the elbow, the point of the spear going right
through the arm. Agamemnon was convulsed with pain, but still
not even for this did he leave off struggling and fighting, but
grasped his spear that flew as fleet as the wind, and sprang upon
Coon who was trying to drag off the body of his brother- his father's
son- by the foot, and was crying for help to all the bravest of
his comrades; but Agamemnon struck him with a bronze-shod spear
and killed him as he was dragging the dead body through the press
of men under cover of his shield: he then cut off his head, standing
over the body of Iphidamas. (11: 250/288)
Agamemnon is overcome by pain as sharp as the pangs of labor
As long as the blood still welled warm from his wound Agamemnon
went about attacking the ranks of the enemy with spear and sword
and with great handfuls of stone, but when the blood had ceased
to flow and the wound grew dry, the pain became great. As the
sharp pangs which the Eilithuiae, goddesses of childbirth, daughters
of Juno and dispensers of cruel pain, send upon a woman when she
is in labour- even so sharp were the pangs of the son of Atreus.
(11: 264/310)
Hector sets his men on the Greeks like a hunter setting dogs
on a lion or wild boar
With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and as a
huntsman hounds his dogs on against a lion or wild boar, even
so did Hector, peer of Mars, hound the proud Trojans on against
the Achaeans. (11: 291/339) //CONTINUES//
Hector swoops down on the Greeks like a storm sea tempest
Full of hope he plunged in among the foremost, and fell on the
fight like some fierce tempest that swoops down upon the sea,
and lashes its deep blue waters into fury. (11: 296/344)
The heads of Greeks fall to Hector like clouds broken and driven
in a storm
As when the west wind hustles the clouds of the white south and
beats them down with the fierceness of its fury- the waves of
the sea roll high, and the spray is flung aloft in the rage of
the wandering wind- even so thick were the heads of them that
fell by the hand of Hector. (11: 305/354)
Diomedes and Odysseus turn on the Trojans like boars on pursueing
hounds
With these words he (Diomedes) struck Thymbraeus from his chariot
to the ground, smiting him in the left breast with his spear,
while Ulysses killed Molion who was his squire. These they let
lie, now that they had stopped their fighting; the two heroes
then went on playing havoc with the foe, like two wild boars that
turn in fury and rend the hounds that hunt them. Thus did they
turn upon the Trojans and slay them, and the Achaeans were thankful
to have breathing time in their flight from Hector. (11: 320/371)
The Trojans fear Diomedes like a goat fears a lion
Paris drew his bow and let fly an arrow that sped not from his
hand in vain, but pierced the flat of Diomed's right foot, going
right through it and fixing itself in the ground. Thereon Paris
with a hearty laugh sprang forward from his hiding-place, and
taunted him saying, "You are wounded- my arrow has not been
shot in vain; would that it had hit you in the belly and killed
you, for thus the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a lion,
would have had a truce from evil." (11: 375/441)
The Trojans close around Odysseus like hounds upon a wild boar
While he was thus in two minds, the ranks of the Trojans advanced
and hemmed him in, and bitterly did they come to me it. As hounds
and lusty youths set upon a wild boar that sallies from his lair
whetting his white tusks- they attack him from every side and
can hear the gnashing of his jaws, but for all his fierceness
they still hold their ground- even so furiously did the Trojans
attack Ulysses. (11: 411/487)
The Trojans set upon Odysseus like jackals on the carcass of
a stag
He led the way and mighty Ajax went with him. The Trojans had
gathered round Ulysses like ravenous mountain jackals round the
carcase of some homed stag that has been hit with an arrow- the
stag has fled at full speed so long as his blood was warm and
his strength has lasted, but when the arrow has overcome him,
the savage jackals devour him in the shady glades of the forest.
(11: 472/555) //CONTINUES//
Ajax sends the Trojans scurrying like a fierce lion
Then heaven sends a fierce lion thither, whereon the jackals fly
in terror and the lion robs them of their prey- even so did Trojans
many and brave gather round crafty Ulysses, but the hero stood
at bay and kept them off with his spear. Ajax then came up with
his shield before him like a wall, and stood hard by, whereon
the Trojans fled in all directions. (11: 480/565)
Ajax crashes through the Trojans like a storm swollen river
torrent
Menelaus took Ulysses by the hand, and led him out of the press
while his squire brought up his chariot, but Ajax rushed furiously
on the Trojans and killed Doryclus, a bastard son of Priam; then
he wounded Pandocus, Lysandrus, Pyrasus, and Pylartes; as some
swollen torrent comes rushing in full flood from the mountains
on to the plain, big with the rain of heaven- many a dry oak and
many a pine does it engulf, and much mud does it bring down and
cast into the sea- even so did brave Ajax chase the foe furiously
over the plain, slaying both men and horses. (11: 488/574)
The Trojans surround Ajax like herdsman peasants surrounding
a lion with fire and hounds
Then father Jove from his high throne struck fear into the heart
of Ajax, so that he stood there dazed and threw his shield behind
him- looking fearfully at the throng of his foes as though he
were some wild beast, and turning hither and thither but crouching
slowly backwards. As peasants with their hounds chase a lion from
their stockyard, and watch by night to prevent his carrying off
the pick of their herd- he makes his greedy spring, but in vain,
for the darts from many a strong hand fall thick around him, with
burning brands that scare him for all his fury, and when morning
comes he slinks foiled and angry away- even so did Ajax, sorely
against his will, retreat angrily before the Trojans, fearing
for the ships of the Achaeans. (11: 544/638) //CONTINUES//
Ajax, like a lazy ass driven from a grain corn field, is finally
forced back
Or as some lazy ass that has had many a cudgel broken about his
back, when he into a field begins eating the corn- boys beat him
but he is too many for them, and though they lay about with their
sticks they cannot hurt him; still when he has had his fill they
at last drive him from the field- even so did the Trojans and
their allies pursue great Ajax, ever smiting the middle of his
shield with their darts. Now and again he would turn and show
fight, keeping back the battalions of the Trojans, and then he
would again retreat; but he prevented any of them from making
his way to the ships. Single-handed he stood midway between the
Trojans and Achaeans: the spears that sped from their hands stuck
some of them in his mighty shield, while many, though thirsting
for his blood, fell to the ground ere they could reach him to
the wounding of his fair flesh. (11: 559/656)
The Trojans advance on Ajax and the Greeks like an advancing
fire
Even so did he cry when he was wounded; thereon the others came
near, and gathered round him, holding their shields upwards from
their shoulders so as to give him cover. Ajax then made towards
them, and turned round to stand at bay as soon as he had reached
his men.
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. (11: 592/698)
Petroclus looks like Ares
He called from the ship to his comrade Patroclus, who heard him
in the tent and came out looking like Mars himself- here indeed
was the beginning of the ill that presently befell him. (11: 603/710)
Nestor tells Achilles he once could fight like a whirlwind
I speared him as he was coming towards me, and when he fell headlong
in the dust, I sprang upon his chariot and took my place in the
front ranks. The Epeans fled in all directions when they saw the
captain of their horsemen (the best man they had) laid low, and
I swept down on them like a whirlwind, taking fifty chariots-
and in each of them two men bit the dust, slain by my spear. (11: 742/882)
BOOK XII
Hector terrifies the Greeks like a whirlwind, a lion, a wild
boar
This was what Neptune and Apollo were to do in after time; but
as yet battle and turmoil were still raging round the wall till
its timbers rang under the blows that rained upon them. The Argives,
cowed by the scourge of Jove, were hemmed in at their ships in
fear of Hector the mighty minister of Rout, who as heretofore
fought with the force and fury of a whirlwind. As a lion or wild
boar turns fiercely on the dogs and men that attack him, while
these form solid wall and shower their javelins as they face him-
his courage is all undaunted, but his high spirit will be the
death of him; many a time does he charge at his pursuers to scatter
them, and they fall back as often as he does so- even so did Hector
go about among the host exhorting his men, and cheering them on
to cross the trench. (12: 34/41)
Asius charges the Greek gates but comes against two defenders
like oak trees
Hither he drove and found the gates with their doors opened wide,
and the great bar down- for the gatemen kept them open so as to
let those of their comrades enter who might be flying towards
the ships. Hither of set purpose did he direct his horses, and
his men followed him with a loud cry, for they felt sure that
the Achaeans would not hold out longer, and that they should now
fall upon the ships. Little did they know that at the gates they
should find two of the bravest chieftains, proud sons of the fighting
Lapithae- the one, Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, and the
other Leonteus, peer of murderous Mars. These stood before the
gates like two high oak trees upon the mountains, that tower from
their wide-spreading roots, and year after year battle with wind
and rain- even so did these two men await the onset of great Asius
confidently and without flinching. (12: 120/142) //CONTINUES//
Polypoetes and Leonteus fight like boars
The Trojans led by him and by Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son
of Asius, Thoon and Oenomaus, raised a loud cry of battle and
made straight for the wall, holding their shields of dry ox-hide
above their heads; for a while the two defenders remained inside
and cheered the Achaeans on to stand firm in the defence of their
ships; when, however, they saw that the Trojans were attacking
the wall, while the Danaans were crying out for help and being
routed, they rushed outside and fought in front of the gates like
two wild boars upon the mountains that abide the attack of men
and dogs, and charging on either side break down the wood all
round them tearing it up by the roots, and one can hear the clattering
of their tusks, till some one hits them and makes an end of them-
even so did the gleaming bronze rattle about their breasts, as
the weapons fell upon them; for they fought with great fury, trusting
to their own prowess and to those who were on the wall above them.
(12: 137/161) //CONTINUES//
Stones fall like winter storm snow
These threw great stones at their assailants in defence of themselves
their tents and their ships. The stones fell thick as the flakes
of snow which some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds and
showers down in sheets upon the earth- even so fell the weapons
from the hands alike of Trojans and Achaeans. (12: 154/180)
//CONTINUES//
The Greeks fight like wasps
Helmet and shield rang out as the great stones rained upon them,
and Asius the son of Hyrtacus in his dismay cried aloud and smote
his two thighs. "Father Jove," he cried, "of a
truth you too are altogether given to lying. I made sure the Argive
heroes could not withstand us, whereas like slim-waisted wasps,
or bees that have their nests in the rocks by the wayside- they
leave not the holes wherein they have built undefended, but fight
for their little ones against all who would take them- even so
these men, though they be but two, will not be driven from the
gates, but stand firm either to slay or be slain." (12: 160/185)
//CONTINUES//
The battle is like a fiery furnace
Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were fighting about the other
gates; I, however, am no god to be able to tell about all these
things, for the battle raged everywhere about the stone wall as
it were a fiery furnace. The Argives, discomfited though they
were, were forced to defend their ships, and all the gods who
were defending the Achaeans were vexed in spirit; but the Lapithae
kept on fighting with might and main. (12: 175/202)
Stones accumulate thick as blizzard snows
Thus did the two (Aeantes) go about shouting and cheering the
Achaeans on. As the flakes that fall thick upon a winter's day,
when Jove is minded to snow and to display these his arrows to
mankind- he lulls the wind to rest, and snows hour after hour
till he has buried the tops of the high mountains, the headlands
that jut into the sea, the grassy plains, and the tilled fields
of men; the snow lies deep upon the forelands, and havens of the
grey sea, but the waves as they come rolling in stay it that it
can come no further, though all else is wrapped as with a mantle
so heavy are the heavens with snow- even thus thickly did the
stones fall on one side and on the other, some thrown at the Trojans,
and some by the Trojans at the Achaeans; and the whole wall was
in an uproar. (12: 265/322) //CONTINUES//
Sarpedon breaks down the gates like a starved lion
Still the Trojans and brave Hector would not yet have broken down
the gates and the great bar, had not Jove turned his son Sarpedon
against the Argives as a lion against a herd of horned cattle.
Before him he held his shield of hammered bronze, that the smith
had beaten so fair and round, and had lined with ox hides which
he had made fast with rivets of gold all round the shield; this
he held in front of him, and brandishing his two spears came on
like some lion of the wilderness, who has been long famished for
want of meat and will dare break even into a well-fenced homestead
to try and get at the sheep. He may find the shepherds keeping
watch over their flocks with dogs and spears, but he is in no
mind to be driven from the fold till he has had a try for it;
he will either spring on a sheep and carry it off, or be hit by
a spear from strong hand- even so was Sarpedon fain to attack
the wall and break down its battlements. (12: 290/337) //CONTINUES//
Ajax and Teucer run to where the fighting is like a cloud
With this, Ajax son of Telamon set off, and Teucer his brother
by the same father went also, with Pandion to carry Teucer's bow.
They went along inside the wall, and when they came to the tower
where Menestheus was (and hard pressed indeed did they find him)
the brave captains and leaders of the Lycians were storming the
battlements as it were a thick dark cloud, fighting in close quarters,
and raising the battle-cry aloud. (12: 370/426) //CONTINUES//
A slain Trojan topples from the wall like a diver
First, Ajax son of Telamon killed brave Epicles, a comrade of
Sarpedon, hitting him with a jagged stone that lay by the battlements
at the very top of the wall. As men now are, even one who is in
the bloom of youth could hardly lift it with his two hands, but
Ajax raised it high aloft and flung it down, smashing Epicles'
four-crested helmet so that the bones of his head were crushed
to pieces, and he fell from the high wall as though he were diving,
with no more life left in him. (12: 378/435)
The armies struggle like two farmers quarreling over field
boundaries
The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who
was their counsellor their king. The Argives on their part got
their men in fighting order within the wall, and there was a deadly
struggle between them. The Lycians could not break through the
wall and force their way to the ships, nor could the Danaans drive
the Lycians from the wall now that they had once reached it. As
two men, measuring-rods in hand, quarrel about their boundaries
in a field that they own in common, and stickle for their rights
though they be but in a mere strip, even so did the battlements
now serve as a bone of contention, and they beat one another's
round shields for their possession. Many a man's body was wounded
with the pitiless bronze, as he turned round and bared his back
to the foe, and many were struck clean through their shields;
the wall and battlements were everywhere deluged with the blood
alike of Trojans and of Achaeans. (12: 413/480) //CONTINUES//
The battlelines are balanced against one another like scales
But even so the Trojans could not rout the Achaeans, who still
held on; and as some honest hard-working woman weighs wool in
her balance and sees that the scales be true, for she would gain
some pitiful earnings for her little ones, even so was the fight
balanced evenly between them till the time came when Jove gave
the greater glory to Hector son of Priam, who was first to spring
towards the wall of the Achaeans. As he did so, he cried aloud
to the Trojans, "Up, Trojans, break the wall of the Argives,
and fling fire upon their ships." (12: 432/501) //CONTINUES//
Hector picks up a boulder like it was a sheep's fleece
Thus did he hound them on, and in one body they rushed straight
at the wall as he had bidden them, and scaled the battlements
with sharp spears in their hands. Hector laid hold of a stone
that lay just outside the gates and was thick at one end but pointed
at the other; two of the best men in a town, as men now are, could
hardly raise it from the ground and put it on to a waggon, but
Hector lifted it quite easily by himself, for the son of scheming
Saturn made it light for him. As a shepherd picks up a ram's fleece
with one hand and finds it no burden, so easily did Hector lift
the great stone and drive it right at the doors that closed the
gates so strong and so firmly set. (12: 422/513)
Hector's face like night and his eyes like fires
Then brave Hector leaped inside with a face as dark as that of
flying night. The gleaming bronze flashed fiercely about his body
and he had tow spears in his hand. None but a god could have withstood
him as he flung himself into the gateway, and his eyes glared
like fire. Then he turned round towards the Trojans and called
on them to scale the wall, and they did as he bade them- some
of them at once climbing over the wall, while others passed through
the gates. The Danaans then fled panic-stricken towards their
ships, and all was uproar and confusion. (12: 462/537)
BOOK XIII
The Trojans advance like a storm cloud and fire
Now the Trojans followed Hector son of Priam in close array like
a storm-cloud or flame of fire, fighting with might and main and
raising the cry battle; for they deemed that they should take
the ships of the Achaeans and kill all their chiefest heroes then
and there. Meanwhile earth-encircling Neptune lord of the earthquake
cheered on the Argives, for he had come up out of the sea and
had assumed the form and voice of Calchas. (13: 39/49) //CONTINUES//
Hector like a pillar of fire
First he spoke to the two Ajaxes, who were doing their best already,
and said, "Ajaxes, you two can be the saving of the Achaeans
if you will put out all your strength and not let yourselves be
daunted. I am not afraid that the Trojans, who have got over the
wall in force, will be victorious in any other part, for the Achaeans
can hold all of them in check, but I much fear that some evil
will befall us here where furious Hector, who boasts himself the
son of great Jove himself, is leading them on like a pillar of
flame. May some god, then, put it into your hearts to make a firm
stand here, and to incite others to do the like. In this case
you will drive him from the ships even though he be inspired by
Jove himself." (13: 45/57) //CONTINUES//
Poseidon departs like a falcon
As he spoke the earth-encircling lord of the earthquake struck
both of them with his sceptre and filled their hearts with daring.
He made their legs light and active, as also their hands and their
feet. Then, as the soaring falcon poises on the wing high above
some sheer rock, and presently swoops down to chase some bird
over the plain, even so did Neptune lord of the earthquake wing
his flight into the air and leave them. (13: 59/73)
The Trojans usually like frightened deer
First he went up to Teucer and Leitus, the hero Peneleos, and
Thoas and Deipyrus; Meriones also and Antilochus, valiant warriors;
all did he exhort. "Shame on you young Argives," he
cried, "it was on your prowess I relied for the saving of
our ships; if you fight not with might and main, this very day
will see us overcome by the Trojans. Of a truth my eyes behold
a great and terrible portent which I had never thought to see-
the Trojans at our ships- they, who were heretofore like panic-stricken
hinds, the prey of jackals and wolves in a forest, with no strength
but in flight for they cannot defend themselves. (13: 91/109)
Hector charges like a boulder thundering off a mountain
The Trojans advanced in a dense body, with Hector at their head
pressing right on as a rock that comes thundering down the side
of some mountain from whose brow the winter torrents have torn
it; the foundations of the dull thing have been loosened by floods
of rain, and as it bounds headlong on its way it sets the whole
forest in an uproar; it swerves neither to right nor left till
it reaches level ground, but then for all its fury it can go no
further- even so easily did Hector for a while seem as though
he would career through the tents and ships of the Achaeans till
he had reached the sea in his murderous course; (13: 136/163)
//CONTINUES//
The Greeks resist like a wall
but the closely serried battalions stayed him when he reached
them, for the sons of the Achaeans thrust at him with swords and
spears pointed at both ends, and drove him from them so that he
staggered and gave ground; thereon he shouted to the Trojans,
"Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians, fighters in close combat,
stand firm: the Achaeans have set themselves as a wall against
me, but they will not check me for long; they will give ground
before me if the mightiest of the gods, the thundering spouse
of Juno, has indeed inspired my onset." (13: 145/174)
The Trojan, Imbrius, falls like a felled ash-tree
The others continued fighting, and the cry of battle rose up into
the heavens. Teucer son of Telamon was the first to kill his man,
to wit, the warrior Imbrius son of Mentor rich in horses. Until
the Achaeans came he had lived in Pedaeum, and had married Medesicaste
a bastard daughter of Priam; but on the arrival of the Danaan
fleet he had gone back to Ilius, and was a great man among the
Trojans, dwelling near Priam himself, who gave him like honour
with his own sons. The son of Telamon now struck him under the
ear with a spear which he then drew back again, and Imbrius fell
headlong as an ash-tree when it is felled on the crest of some
high mountain beacon, and its delicate green foliage comes toppling
down to the ground. (13: 169/212)
Like lions, two Greeks drag his body away
Stichius and Menestheus, captains of the Athenians, bore away
Amphimachus to the host of the Achaeans, while the two brave and
impetuous Ajaxes did the like by Imbrius. As two lions snatch
a goat from the hounds that have it in their fangs, and bear it
through thick brushwood high above the ground in their jaws, thus
did the Ajaxes bear aloft the body of Imbrius, and strip it of
its armour. Then the son of Oileus severed the head from the neck
in revenge for the death of Amphimachus, and sent it whirling
over the crowd as though it had been a ball, till fell in the
dust at Hector's feet. (13: 195/233)
The armor of Idomeneus flashes like lightning
Therewith the god went back into the thick of the fight, and Idomeneus
when he had reached his tent donned his armour, grasped his two
spears, and sallied forth. As the lightning which the son of Saturn
brandishes from bright Olympus when he would show a sign to mortals,
and its gleam flashes far and wide- even so did his armour gleam
about him as he ran. Meriones his sturdy squire met him while
he was still near his tent (for he was going to fetch his spear)
and Idomeneus said (13: 239/283)
No more talking like children
If you were struck by a dart or smitten in close combat, it would
not be from behind, in your neck nor back, but the weapon would
hit you in the chest or belly as you were pressing forward to
a place in the front ranks. But let us no longer stay here talking
like children, lest we be ill spoken of; go, fetch your spear
from the tent at once." (13: 289/341) //CONTINUES//
Meriones like Ares
On this Meriones, peer of Mars, went to the tent and got himself
a spear of bronze. He then followed after Idomeneus, big with
great deeds of valour. As when baneful Mars sallies forth to battle,
and his son Panic so strong and dauntless goes with him, to strike
terror even into the heart of a hero- the pair have gone from
Thrace to arm themselves among the Ephyri or the brave Phlegyans,
but they will not listen to both the contending hosts, and will
give victory to one side or to the other- even so did Meriones
and Idomeneus, captains of men, go out to battle clad in their
bronze armour. (13: 295/347)
Idomeneus like a flame of fire
Now when the Trojans saw Idomeneus coming on like a flame of fire,
him and his squire clad in their richly wrought armour, they shouted
and made towards him all in a body, and a furious hand-to-hand
fight raged under the ships' sterns. (13: 330/384)
and a battle like a dust storm
Fierce as the shrill winds that whistle upon a day when dust lies
deep on the roads, and the gusts raise it into a thick cloud-
even such was the fury of the combat, and might and main did they
hack at each other with spear and sword throughout the host. The
field bristled with the long and deadly spears which they bore.
Dazzling was the sheen of their gleaming helmets, their fresh-burnished
breastplates, and glittering shields as they joined battle with
one another. (13: 334/388)
Asius is felled like a tree for timber
With this Idomeneus began dragging him by the foot through the
thick of the fight, but Asius came up to protect the body, on
foot, in front of his horses which his esquire drove so close
behind him that he could feel their 'breath upon his shoulder.
He was longing to strike down Idomeneus, but ere he could do so
Idomeneus smote him with his spear in the throat under the chin,
and the bronze point went clean through it. He fell as an oak,
or poplar, or pine which shipwrights have felled for ship's timber
upon the mountains with whetted axes- even thus did he lie full
length in front of his chariot and horses, grinding his teeth
and clutching at the bloodstained dust. His charioteer was struck
with panic and did not dare turn his horses round and escape:
thereupon Antilochus hit him in the middle of his body with a
spear; his cuirass of bronze did not protect him, and the spear
stuck in his belly. (13: 383/446)
Alcathous paralyzed like a pillar or tree
Then fell Alcathous son of noble Aesyetes: he was son-in-law to
Anchises, having married his eldest daughter Hippodameia who was
the darling of her father and mother, and excelled all her generation
in beauty, accomplishments, and understanding, wherefore the bravest
man in all Troy had taken her to wife- him did Neptune lay low
by the hand of Idomeneus, blinding his bright eyes and binding
his strong limbs in fetters so that he could neither go back nor
to one side, but stood stock still like pillar or lofty tree when
Idomeneus struck him with a spear in the middle of his chest.
The coat of mail that had hitherto protected his body was now
broken, and rang harshly as the spear tore through it. He fell
heavily to the ground, and the spear stuck in his heart, which
still beat, and made the butt-end of the spear quiver till dread
Mars put an end to his life. (13: 427/495)
Idomeneus faces Aeneas like a wild boar
With these words he moved the heart of Aeneas, and he went in
pursuit of Idomeneus, big with great deeds of valour; but Idomeneus
was not to be thus daunted as though he were a mere child; he
held his ground as a wild boar at bay upon the mountains, who
abides the coming of a great crowd of men in some lonely place-
the bristles stand upright on his back, his eyes flash fire, and
he whets his tusks in his eagerness to defend himself against
hounds and men- even so did famed Idomeneus hold his ground and
budge not at the coming of Aeneas. He cried aloud to his comrades
looking towards Ascalaphus, Aphareus, Deipyrus, Meriones, and
Antilochus, all of them brave soldiers- "Hither my friends,"
he cried, "and leave me not single-handed- I go in great
fear by fleet Aeneas, who is coming against me, and is a redoubtable
dispenser of death battle. Moreover he is in the flower of youth
when a man's strength is greatest; if I was of the same age as
he is and in my present mind, either he or I should soon bear
away the prize of victory. (13: 468/542) //CONTINUES//
The Trojans follow Aeneas like sheep behind their ram
On this, all of them as one man stood near him, shield on shoulder.
Aeneas on the other side called to his comrades, looking towards
Deiphobus, Paris, and Agenor, who were leaders of the Trojans
along with himself, and the people followed them as sheep follow
the ram when they go down to drink after they have been feeding,
and the heart of the shepherd is glad- even so was the heart of
Aeneas gladdened when he saw his people follow him. (13: 488/565)
Meriones springs like a vulture to yank out a spear
Grim Mars of awful voice did not yet know that his son had fallen,
for he was sitting on the summits of Olympus under the golden
clouds, by command of Jove, where the other gods were also sitting,
forbidden to take part in the battle. Meanwhile men fought furiously
about the body. Deiphobus tore the helmet from off his head, but
Meriones sprang upon him, and struck him on the arm with a spear
so that the visored helmet fell from his hand and came ringing
down upon the ground. Thereon Meriones sprang upon him like a
vulture, drew the spear from his shoulder, and fell back under
cover of his men. (13: 520/605)
A spear sticks like a fire charred stake
As he was thus aiming among the crowd, he was seen by Adamas son
of Asius, who rushed towards him and struck him with a spear in
the middle of his shield, but Neptune made its point without effect,
for he grudged him the life of Antilochus. One half, therefore,
of the spear stuck fast like a charred stake in Antilochus's shield,
while the other lay on the ground. (13: 560/649) //CONTINUES//
A wounded man convulses like a bound bull
Adamas then sought shelter under cover of his men, but Meriones
followed after and hit him with a spear midway between the private
parts and the navel, where a wound is particualrly painful to
wretched mortals. There did Meriones transfix him, and he writhed
convulsively about the spear as some bull whom mountain herdsmen
have bound with ropes of withes and are taking away perforce.
Even so did he move convulsively for a while, but not for very
long, till Meriones came up and drew the spear out of his body,
and his eyes were veiled in darkness. (13: 565/655)
An arrow richochets like winnowed beans
On this Menelaus was grieved, and made menacingly towards Helenus,
brandishing his spear; but Helenus drew his bow, and the two attacked
one another at one and the same moment, the one with his spear,
and the other with his bow and arrow. The son of Priam hit the
breastplate of Menelaus's corslet, but the arrow glanced from
off it. As black beans or pulse come pattering down on to a threshing-floor
from the broad winnowing-shovel, blown by shrill winds and shaken
by the shovel- even so did the arrow glance off and recoil from
the shield of Menelaus, who in his turn wounded the hand with
which Helenus carried his bow; the spear went right through his
hand and stuck in the bow itself, so that to his life he retreated
under cover of his men, with his hand dragging by his side- for
the spear weighed it down till Agenor drew it out and bound the
hand carefully up in a woollen sling which his esquire had with
him. (13: 581/672)
Harpalion lies dying like a crushed worm
Harpalion son of King Pylaemenes then sprang upon him; he had
come to fight at Troy along with his father, but he did not go
home again. He struck the middle of Menelaus's shield with his
spear but could not pierce it, and to save his life drew back
under cover of his men, looking round him on every side lest he
should be wounded. But Meriones aimed a bronze-tipped arrow at
him as he was leaving the field, and hit him on the right buttock;
the arrow pierced the bone through and through, and penetrated
the bladder, so he sat down where he was and breathed his last
in the arms of his comrades, stretched like a worm upon the ground
and watering the earth with the blood that flowed from his wound.
(13: 643/741)
The battle like a swirling fire
Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. (13: 673/777)
Hector like a wall of fire
The Boeotians and the Ionians with their long tunics, the Locrians,
the men of Phthia, and the famous force of the Epeans could hardly
stay Hector as he rushed on towards the ships, nor could they
drive him from them, for he was as a wall of fire. (13: 685/792)
The Ajaxes fight together like yoked oxen
Ajax son of Oileus never for a moment left the side of Ajax son
of Telamon, but as two swart oxen both strain their utmost at
the plough which they are drawing in a fallow field, and the sweat
steams upwards from about the roots of their horns- nothing but
the yoke divides them as they break up the ground till they reach
the end of the field- even so did the two Ajaxes stand shoulder
to shoulder by one another. (13: 703/811)
Hector hemmed in by a circle of fire
therefore I will say what I think will be best. The fight has
hemmed you in as with a circle of fire, and even now that the
Trojans are within the wall some of them stand aloof in full armour,
while others are fighting scattered and outnumbered near the ships.
Draw back, (13: 735/849)
Hector moves like a snowy mountain
He then sped onward, towering like a snowy mountain, and with
a loud cry flew through the ranks of the Trojans and their allies.
(13: 754/871)
The Trojans advance like fierce winds and crashing waves
With these words he satisfied his brother, and the two went towards
the part of the battle where the fight was thickest, about Cebriones,
brave Polydamas, Phalces, Orthaeus, godlike Polyphetes, Palmys,
Ascanius, and Morys son of Hippotion, who had come from fertile
Ascania on the preceding day to relieve other troops. Then Jove
urged them on to fight. They flew forth like the blasts of some
fierce wind that strike earth in the van of a thunderstorm- they
buffet the salt sea into an uproar; many and mighty are the great
waves that come crashing in one after the other upon the shore
with their arching heads all crested with foam- even so did rank
behind rank of Trojans arrayed in gleaming armour follow their
leaders onward. (13: 788/913)
BOOK XIV
Nestor, like a seasoned sailor just before a storm, sees the
Greeks panic
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. (14: 9/10)
Poseidon's battle cry
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. (14: 147/181)
Hera's headdress shimmers like the sun
(n.b. Samuel Butler's translation misses this simili. The passage
below is from A. T. Murray's translation of the Iliad printed
by The Loeb Classical Library.)
And with a veil over all did the bright did the bright goddess
veil herself, a fair veil, all glistering, and white was it as
the sun; (14: 184/226)
Poseidon's sword is flashes like lightning
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. (14: 383/456) //CONTINUES//
The armies collide like thundering waves, a roaring forest
fire, a bellowing wind
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 trees when it is blowing its hardest, than
the terrible shout which the Trojans and Achaeans raised as they
sprang upon one another. (14: 388/461)
Hector falls like an uprooted oak struck by lightning
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. (14: 409/483)
Peneleos displays the speared head of Ilioneus like a poppy
flower
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. (14: 486/569)
BOOK XV
Juno goes to Olympus as swift as thought
Juno heeded his words and went from the heights of Ida to great
Olympus. Swift as the thought of one whose fancy carries him over
vast continents, and he says to himself, "Now I will be here,
or there," and he would have all manner of things- even so
swiftly did Juno wing her way till she came to high Olympus and
went in among the gods who were gathered in the house of Jove.
(15: 78/97)
The clouds encircle Zeus like a diadem
Thereon Juno left them and resumed her seat inside, while Iris
and Apollo made all haste on their way. When they reached many-fountained
Ida, mother of wild beasts, they found Jove seated on topmost
Gargarus with a fragrant cloud encircling his head as with a diadem.
They stood before his presence, and he was pleased with them for
having been so quick in obeying the orders his wife had given
them. (15: 149/179)
Iris like winter wind driven snow
Iris, fleet as the wind, obeyed him, and as the cold hail or snowflakes
that fly from out the clouds before the blast of Boreas, even
so did she wing her way till she came close up to the great shaker
of the earth. Then she said, "I have come, O dark-haired
king that holds the world in his embrace, to bring you a message
from Jove. He bids you leave off fighting, and either join the
company of the gods or go down into the sea; if, however, you
take no heed and disobey him, he says he will come down here and
fight you. He would have you keep out of his reach, for he is
older and much stronger than you are, and yet you are not afraid
to set yourself up as on a level with himself, of whom all the
other gods stand in awe." (15: 168/201)
Apollo returns like a falcon
Apollo obeyed his father's saying, and left the crests of Ida,
flying like a falcon, bane of doves and swiftest of all birds.
He found Hector no longer lying upon the ground, but sitting up,
for he had just come to himself again. He knew those who were
about him, and the sweat and hard breathing had left him from
the moment when the will of aegis-bearing Jove had revived him.
Apollo stood beside him and said, "Hector, son of Priam,
why are you so faint, and why are you here away from the others?
Has any mishap befallen you?" (15: 236/280)
Hector like a vaunting horse
As he spoke he infused great strength into the shepherd of his
people. And as a horse, stabled and full-fed, breaks loose and
gallops gloriously over the plain to the place where he is wont
to take his bath in the river- he tosses his head, and his mane
streams over his shoulders as in all the pride of his strength
he flies full speed to the pastures where the mares are feeding-
even so Hector, when he heard what the god said, urged his horsemen
on, and sped forward as fast as his limbs could take him. (15: 262/312)
//CONTINUES//
The Greeks, like peasants, are frightened by thhe lion like
Hector
As country peasants set their hounds on to a homed stag or wild
goat- he has taken shelter under rock or thicket, and they cannot
find him, but, lo, a bearded lion whom their shouts have roused
stands in their path, and they are in no further humour for the
chase- even so the Achaeans were still charging on in a body,
using their swords and spears pointed at both ends, but when they
saw Hector going about among his men they were afraid, and their
hearts fell down into their feet. (15: 271/322)
The Greeks panic like cattle or sheep sprung upon by wild beasts
So long as Phoebus Apollo held his aegis quietly and without shaking
it, the weapons on either side took effect and the people fell,
but when he shook it straight in the face of the Danaans and raised
his mighty battle-cry their hearts fainted within them and they
forgot their former prowess. As when two wild beasts spring in
the dead of night on a herd of cattle or a large flock of sheep
when the herdsman is not there- even so were the Danaans struck
helpless, for Apollo filled them with panic and gave victory to
Hector and the Trojans. (15: 318/376)
Apollo bridges the Greek trench as wide as a spear throw
As he spoke he laid his whip about his horses' shoulders and called
to the Trojans throughout their ranks; the Trojans shouted with
a cry that rent the air, and kept their horses neck and neck with
his own. Phoebus Apollo went before, and kicked down the banks
of the deep trench into its middle so as to make a great broad
bridge, as broad as the throw of a spear when a man is trying
his strength. (15: 352/414) //CONTINUES//
Apollo destroys the Greek wall as if it were a child's sand
castle
The Trojan battalions poured over the bridge, and Apollo with
his redoubtable aegis led the way. He kicked down the wall of
the Achaeans as easily as a child who playing on the sea-shore
has built a house of sand and then kicks it down again and destroys
it- even so did you, O Apollo, shed toil and trouble upon the
Argives, filling them with panic and confusion. (15: 360/423)
The Trojans leap over the wall like strom driven sea waves
over a ship's bulwarks
All counselling Jove thundered loudly in answer to the prayer
of the aged son of Neleus. When the heard Jove thunder they flung
themselves yet more fiercely on the Achaeans. As a wave breaking
over the bulwarks of a ship when the sea runs high before a gale-
for it is the force of the wind that makes the waves so great-
even so did the Trojans spring over the wall with a shout, and
drive their chariots onwards. The two sides fought with their
double-pointed spears in hand-to-hand encounter-the Trojans from
their chariots, and the Achaeans climbing up into their ships
and wielding the long pikes that were lying on the decks ready
for use in a sea-fight, jointed and shod with bronze (15: 377/433).
The battle lines are tightly locked together like a carpenter's
stretched line
When he (Patroclus) had thus spoken he went his way. The Achaeans
stood firm and resisted the attack of the Trojans, yet though
these were fewer in number, they could not drive them back from
the ships, neither could the Trojans break the Achaean ranks and
make their way in among the tents and ships. As a carpenter's
line gives a true edge to a piece of ship's timber, in the hand
of some skilled workman whom Minerva has instructed in all kinds
of useful arts- even so level was the issue of the fight between
the two sides, as they fought some round one and some round another.
(15: 405/575)
The Greeks stand like a wall of iron
Thus did he (Ajax) exhort men who were already bent upon driving
back the Trojans. They laid his words to heart and hedged the
ships as with a wall of bronze, while Jove urged on the Trojans.
(15: 565/655)
Antilochus springs on Melinippus' body like a dog on a fawn
He (Menelaus) hurried away when he had thus spurred Antilochus,
who at once darted out from the front ranks and aimed a spear,
after looking carefully round him. The Trojans fell back as he
threw, and the dart did not speed from his hand without effect,
for it struck Melanippus the proud son of Hiketaon in the breast
by the nipple as he was coming forward, and his armour rang rattling
round him as he fell heavily to the ground. Antilochus sprang
upon him as a dog springs on a fawn which a hunter has hit as
it was breaking away from its covert, and killed it. Even so,
O Melanippus, did stalwart Antilochus spring upon you to strip
you of your armour; but noble Hector marked him, and came running
up to him through the thick of the battle. (15: 572/663)
//CONTINUES//
Antilochus runs from Hector like a guilty animal
Antilochus, brave soldier though he was, would not stay to face
him, but fled like some savage creature which knows it has done
wrong, and flies, when it has killed a dog or a man who is herding
his cattle, before a body of men can be gathered to attack it.
Even so did the son of Nestor fly, and the Trojans and Hector
with a cry that rent the air showered their weapons after him;
nor did he turn round and stay his flight till he had reached
his comrades. (15: 585/678) //CONTINUES//
The Trojans are made fierce as lions by Zeus
The Trojans, fierce as lions, were still rushing on towards the
ships in fulfilment of the behests of Jove who kept spurring them
on to new deeds of daring, while he deadened the courage of the
Argives and defeated them by encouraging the Trojans. (15: 592/686)
The fury of Hector is like a forest fire
His fury was as that of Mars, or as when a fire is raging in the
glades of some dense forest upon the mountains; he foamed at the
mouth, his eyes glared under his terrible eye-brows, and his helmet
quivered on his temples by reason of the fury with which he fought.
Jove from heaven was with him, and though he was but one against
many, vouchsafed him victory and glory; for he was doomed to an
early death, and already Pallas Minerva was hurrying on the hour
of his destruction at the hands of the son of Peleus. (15: 605/700)
//CONTINUES//
The Greeks like a tower or a cliff resist Hector like fire
Now, however, he kept trying to break the ranks of the enemy wherever
he could see them thickest, and in the goodliest armour; but do
what he might he could not break through them, for they stood
as a tower foursquare, or as some high cliff rising from the grey
sea that braves the anger of the gale, and of the waves that thunder
up against it. He fell upon them like flames of fire from every
quarter. (15: 615/714) //CONTINUES//
Hector terrifies the Greeks like a ship floundering storm wave
As when a wave, raised mountain high by wind and storm, breaks
over a ship and covers it deep in foam, the fierce winds roar
against the mast, the hearts of the sailors fail them for fear,
and they are saved but by a very little from destruction- even
so were the hearts of the Achaeans fainting within them. (15: 624/724)
//CONTINUES//
Hector like a lion attacking cattle
Or as a savage lion attacking a herd of cows while they are feeding
by thousands in the low-lying meadows by some wide-watered shore-
the herdsman is at his wit's end how to protect his herd and keeps
going about now in the van and now in the rear of his cattle,
while the lion springs into the thick of them and fastens on a
cow so that they all tremble for fear- even so were the Achaeans
utterly panic-stricken by Hector and father Jove. (15: 630/730)
Ajax like a performer jumping amidst galloping horses
Ajax could not bring himself to retreat along with the rest, but
strode from deck to deck with a great sea-pike in his hands twelve
cubits long and jointed with rings. As a man skilled in feats
of horsemanship couples four horses together and comes tearing
full speed along the public way from the country into some large
town- many both men and women marvel as they see him for he keeps
all the time changing his horse, springing from one to another
without ever missing his feet while the horses are at a gallop-
even so did Ajax go striding from one ship's deck to another,
and his voice went up into the heavens. (15: 674/783) //CONTINUES//
Hector swoops on the ships like an eagle upon swimming birds
and fowls
He kept on shouting his orders to the Danaans and exhorting them
to defend their ships and tents; neither did Hector remain within
the main body of the Trojan warriors, but as a dun eagle swoops
down upon a flock of wild-fowl feeding near a river-geese, it
may be, or cranes, or long-necked swans- even so did Hector make
straight for a dark-prowed ship, rushing right towards it; for
Jove with his mighty hand impelled him forward, and roused his
people to follow him. (15: 687/799)
BOOK XVI
Patroclus cries like a crystal water stream falling over a
cliff ledge
Thus did they fight about the ship of Protesilaus. Then Patroclus
drew near to Achilles with tears welling from his eyes, as from
some spring whose crystal stream falls over the ledges of a high
precipice. (16: 1/1) //CONTINUES//
Patroclus cries like a silly child
When Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for him and said,
"Why, Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like some silly
child that comes running to her mother, and begs to be taken up
and carried- she catches hold of her mother's dress to stay her
though she is in a hurry, and looks tearfully up until her mother
carries her- even such tears, Patroclus, are you now shedding.
Have you anything to say to the Myrmidons or to myself? or have
you had news from Phthia which you alone know?
(16: 5/5)
Achilles accuses Agamemnon of treating him like a common tramp
or vagrant
but I am cut to the very heart that one of my own rank should
dare to rob me because he is more powerful than I am. This, after
all that I have gone through, is more than I can endure. The girl
whom the sons of the Achaeans chose for me, whom I won as the
fruit of my spear on having sacked a city- her has King Agamemnon
taken from me as though I were some common vagrant. (16: 52/60)
The horses of Achilles fly like the wind
He (Patroclus) bade Automedon yoke his horses with all speed,
for he was the man whom he held in honour next after Achilles,
and on whose support in battle he could rely most firmly. Automedon
therefore yoked the fleet horses Xanthus and Balius, steeds that
could fly like the wind: these were they whom the harpy Podarge
bore to the west wind, as she was grazing in a meadow by the waters
of the river Oceanus. (16: 145/173)
The Myrmidons as fierce as bloody jawed wolves
Meanwhile Achilles went about everywhere among the tents, and
bade his Myrmidons put on their armour. Even as fierce ravening
wolves that are feasting upon a homed stag which they have killed
upon the mountains, and their jaws are red with blood- they go
in a pack to lap water from the clear spring with their long thin
tongues; and they reek of blood and slaughter; they know not what
fear is, for it is hunger drives them- even so did the leaders
and counsellors of the Myrmidons gather round the good squire
of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, and among them stood Achilles
himself cheering on both men and horses. (16: 155/185)
The Myrmidons form ranks like a tightly fitted stone wall
With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they
serried their companies yet more closely when they heard the of
their king. As the stones which a builder sets in the wall of
some high house which is to give shelter from the winds- even
so closely were the helmets and bossed shields set against one
another. Shield pressed on shield, helm on helm, and man on man;
so close were they that the horse-hair plumes on the gleaming
ridges of their helmets touched each other as they bent their
heads. (16: 210/240)
The Myrmidons swarm around Patroclus like furious wasps
Meanwhile the armed band that was about Patroclus marched on till
they sprang high in hope upon the Trojans. They came swarming
out like wasps whose nests are by the roadside, and whom silly
children love to tease, whereon any one who happens to be passing
may get stung- or again, if a wayfarer going along the road vexes
them by accident, every wasp will come flying out in a fury to
defend his little ones- even with such rage and courage did the
Myrmidons swarm from their ships, and their cry of battle rose
heavenwards. (16: 257/303)
The ship fires are put out like dense lightning streaked clouds
He thus drove them from the ship and quenched the fire that was
then blazing- leaving the half-burnt ship to lie where it was.
The Trojans were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies,
while the Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting
also without ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the thunder-cloud,
spreads a dense canopy on the top of some lofty mountain, and
all the peaks, the jutting headlands, and forest glades show out
in the great light that flashes from the bursting heavens, even
so when the Danaans had now driven back the fire from their ships,
they took breath for a little while; but the fury of the fight
was not yet over, for the Trojans were not driven back in utter
rout, but still gave battle, and were ousted from their ground
only by sheer fighting. (16: 293/344)
Greek captains fall on their Trojan counterparts like wolves
on isolated lambs
Thus did these chieftains of the Danaans each of them kill his
man. As ravening wolves seize on kids or lambs, fastening on them
when they are alone on the hillsides and have strayed from the
main flock through the carelessness of the shepherd- and when
the wolves see this they pounce upon them at once because they
cannot defend themselves- even so did the Danaans now fall on
the Trojans, who fled with ill-omened cries in their panic and
had no more fight left in them. (16: 351/414)
Panic envelopes the Trojans like an unexpected storm
As when a cloud goes up into heaven from Olympus, rising out of
a clear sky when Jove is brewing a gale- even with such panic
stricken rout did the Trojans now fly, and there was no order
in their going. Hector's fleet horses bore him and his armour
out of the fight, and he left the Trojan host penned in by the
deep trench against their will. Many a yoke of horses snapped
the pole of their chariots in the trench and left their master's
car behind them. Patroclus gave chase, calling impetuously on
the Danaans and full of fury against the Trojans, who, being now
no longer in a body, filled all the ways with their cries of panic
and rout; the air was darkened with the clouds of dust they raised,
and the horses strained every nerve in their flight from the tents
and ships towards the city. (16: 364/429)
The Trojan horses strain forward like a furious storm tempest
He was intent on trying to get near Hector, for he had set his
heart on spearing him, but Hector's horses were now hurrying him
away. As the whole dark earth bows before some tempest on an autumn
day when Jove rains his hardest to punish men for giving crooked
judgement in their courts, and arriving justice therefrom without
heed to the decrees of heaven- all the rivers run full and the
torrents tear many a new channel as they roar headlong from the
mountains to the dark sea, and it fares ill with the works of
men- even such was the stress and strain of the Trojan horses
in their flight. (16: 382/450)
Petroclus spears Thestor like a fish
Next he sprang on Thestor son of Enops, who was sitting all huddled
up in his chariot, for he had lost his head and the reins had
been torn out of his hands. Patroclus went up to him and drove
a spear into his right jaw; he thus hooked him by the teeth and
the spear pulled him over the rim of his car, as one who sits
at the end of some jutting rock and draws a strong fish out of
the sea with a hook and a line- even so with his spear did he
pull Thestor all gaping from his chariot; he then threw him down
on his face and he died while falling. (16: 401/477)
Patroclus and Sarpedon rush at one another like screaming vultures
He sprang from his chariot as he spoke, and Patroclus, when he
saw this, leaped on to the ground also. The two then rushed at
one another with loud cries like eagle-beaked crook-taloned vultures
that scream and tear at one another in some high mountain fastness.
(16: 425/505)
Sarpedon falls like an axed oak, poplar, or pine tree
Sarpedon now took a second aim at Patroclus, and again missed
him, the point of the spear passed over his left shoulder without
hitting him. Patroclus then aimed in his turn, and the spear sped
not from his hand in vain, for he hit Sarpedon just where the
midriff surrounds the ever-beating heart. He fell like some oak
or silver poplar or tall pine to which woodmen have laid their
axes upon the mountains to make timber for ship-building- even
so did he lie stretched at full length in front of his chariot
and horses, moaning and clutching at the blood-stained dust. (16: 477/565)
//CONTINUES//
Sarpedon dies like a bull under a lion
As when a lion springs with a bound upon a herd of cattle and
fastens on a great black bull which dies bellowing in its clutches-
even so did the leader of the Lycian warriors struggle in death
as he fell by the hand of Patroclus. (16: 487/575)
Patroclus attacks the Trojans like a hawk attacking small birds
Patroclus was enraged by the death of his comrade, and sped through
the front ranks as swiftly as a hawk that swoops down on a flock
of daws or starlings. Even so swiftly, O noble knight Patroclus,
did you make straight for the Lycians and Trojans to avenge your
comrade. (16: 581/679) //CONTINUES//
The Trojans retreat a full javelin throw
Forthwith he struck Sthenelaus the son of Ithaemenes on the neck
with a stone, and broke the tendons that join it to the head and
spine. On this Hector and the front rank of his men gave ground.
As far as a man can throw a javelin when competing for some prize,
or even in battle- so far did the Trojans now retreat before the
Achaeans. (16: 586/684)
The distant sound of battle like the thud of axes
He led the way as he spoke and the hero went forward with him.
As the sound of woodcutters in some forest glade upon the mountains-
and the thud of their axes is heard afar- even such a din now
rose from earth-clash of bronze armour and of good ox-hide shields,
as men smote each other with their swords and spears pointed at
both ends. (16: 632/734) //CONTINUES//
Greeks and Trojans fight around Sarpedon's body like flies
around pails of milk
A man had need of good eyesight now to know Sarpedon, so covered
was he from head to foot with spears and blood and dust. Men swarmed
about the body, as flies that buzz round the full milk-pails in
spring when they are brimming with milk- even so did they gather
round Sarpedon; nor did Jove turn his keen eyes away for one moment
from the fight, but kept looking at it all the time, for he was
settling how best to kill Patroclus, and considering whether Hector
should be allowed to end him now in the fight round the body of
Sarpedon, and strip him of his armour, or whether he should let
him give yet further trouble to the Trojans. (16: 641/745)
Patroclus taunts the dead Cebriones for falling like a diver
He stood still and threw it, nor did it go far without hitting
some one; the cast was not in vain, for the stone struck Cebriones,
Hector's charioteer, a bastard son of Priam, as he held the reins
in his hands. The stone hit him on the forehead and drove his
brows into his head for the bone was smashed, and his eyes fell
to the ground at his feet. He dropped dead from his chariot as
though he were diving, and there was no more life left in him.
Over him did you then vaunt, O knight Patroclus, saying, "Bless
my heart, how active he is, and how well he dives. If we had been
at sea this fellow would have dived from the ship's side and brought
up as many oysters as the whole crew could stomach, even in rough
water, for he has dived beautifully off his chariot on to the
ground. It seems, then, that there are divers also among the Trojans."
(16: 736/857) //CONTINUES//
Patroclus springs on Cebriones like a lion in a stockyard
As he spoke he flung himself on Cebriones with the spring, as
it were, of a lion that while attacking a stockyard is himself
struck in the chest, and his courage is his own bane- even so
furiously, O Patroclus, did you then spring upon Cebriones. (16: 751/874)
//CONTINUES//
Hector and Patroclus fight like two lions over a stag
Hector sprang also from his chariot to the ground. The pair then
fought over the body of Cebriones. As two lions fight fiercely
on some high mountain over the body of a stag that they have killed,
even so did these two mighty warriors, Patroclus son of Menoetius
and brave Hector, hack and hew at one another over the corpse
of Cebriones. (16: 755/879) //CONTINUES//
The fight over Cebriones is like a mountain wind storm breaking
tree limbs
Hector would not let him go when he had once got him by the head,
while Patroclus kept fast hold of his feet, and a fierce fight
raged between the other Danaans and Trojans. As the east and south
wind buffet one another when they beat upon some dense forest
on the mountains- there is beech and ash and spreading cornel;
the to of the trees roar as they beat on one another, and one
can hear the boughs cracking and breaking- even so did the Trojans
and Achaeans spring upon one another and lay about each other,
and neither side would give way. Many a pointed spear fell to
ground and many a winged arrow sped from its bow-string about
the body of Cebriones; many a great stone, moreover, beat on many
a shield as they fought around his body, but there he lay in the
whirling clouds of dust, all huge and hugely, heedless of his
driving now. (16: 762/889)
Patroclus attacks like Mars
Then Patroclus sprang like Mars with fierce intent and a terrific
shout upon the Trojans, and thrice did he kill nine men; but as
he was coming on like a god for a time, then, O Patroclus, was
the hour of your end approaching, for Phoebus fought you in fell
earnest. (16: 784/911)
Hector kills Patroclus like a lion that kills a wild boar
As when a lion has fought some fierce wild-boar and worsted him-
the two fight furiously upon the mountains over some little fountain
at which they would both drink, and the lion has beaten the boar
till he can hardly breathe- even so did Hector son of Priam take
the life of the brave son of Menoetius who had killed so many,
striking him from close at hand, and vaunting over him the while.
(16: 823/959)
BOOK XVII
Menelaus defends the body of Patroclus like a cow standing
over her calf
Brave Menelaus son of Atreus now came to know that Patroclus had
fallen, and made his way through the front ranks clad in full
armour to bestride him. As a cow stands lowing over her first
calf, even so did yellow-haired Menelaus bestride Patroclus. He
held his round shield and his spear in front of him, resolute
to kill any who should dare face him. (17: 1/1)
Menelaus compares Panthous' pride to a leopard, lion, and a
wild boar
To this Menelaus answered in great anger "By father Jove,
boasting is an ill thing. The pard is not more bold, nor the lion
nor savage wild-boar, which is fiercest and most dauntless of
all creatures, than are the proud sons of Panthous.(17: 18/19)
Panthous with his beautiful hair fall like a young olive tree
blasted by a hurricane storm
As he spoke he struck Menelaus full on the shield, but the spear
did not go through, for the shield turned its point. Menelaus
then took aim, praying to father Jove as he did so; Euphorbus
was drawing back, and Menelaus struck him about the roots of his
throat, leaning his whole weight on the spear, so as to drive
it home. The point went clean through his neck, and his armour
rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground. His
hair which was like that of the Graces, and his locks so deftly
bound in bands of silver and gold, were all bedrabbled with blood.
As one who has grown a fine young olive tree in a clear space
where there is abundance of water- the plant is full of promise,
and though the winds beat upon it from every quarter it puts forth
its white blossoms till the blasts of some fierce hurricane sweep
down upon it and level it with the ground- even so did Menelaus
strip the fair youth Euphorbus of his armour after he had slain
him. (17: 43/48) //CONTINUES//
Menelaus is like a lion the herders are too afraid of to chase
away
Or as some fierce lion upon the mountains in the pride of his
strength fastens on the finest heifer in a herd as it is feeding-
first he breaks her neck with his strong jaws, and then gorges
on her blood and entrails; dogs and shepherds raise a hue and
cry against him, but they stand aloof and will not come close
to him, for they are pale with fear- even so no one had the courage
to face valiant Menelaus. (17: 61/69)
Hector advances like a blazing fire
The god then went back into the toil and turmoil, but the soul
of Hector was darkened with a cloud of grief; he looked along
the ranks and saw Euphorbus lying on the ground with the blood
still flowing from his wound, and Menelaus stripping him of his
armour. On this he made his way to the front like a flame of fire,
clad in his gleaming armour, and crying with a loud voice. (17: 82/91)
Surrounded by Trojans, Menelaus is out powered like a lion
retreating from a stockyard
While he was thus in two minds, the Trojans came up to him with
Hector at their head; he therefore drew back and left the body,
turning about like some bearded lion who is being chased by dogs
and men from a stockyard with spears and hue and cry, whereon
he is daunted and slinks sulkily off- even so did Menelaus son
of Atreus turn and leave the body of Patroclus. (17: 106/122)
Ajax stands over the body of Patroclus like a lion guarding
its cubs
But Ajax came up with his shield like wall before him, on which
Hector withdrew under shelter of his men, and sprang on to his
chariot, giving the armour over to the Trojans to take to the
city, as a great trophy for himself; Ajax, therefore, covered
the body of Patroclus with his broad shield and bestrode him;
as a lion stands over his whelps if hunters have come upon him
in a forest when he is with his little ones- in the pride and
fierceness of his strength he draws his knit brows down till they
cover his eyes- even so did Ajax bestride the body of Patroclus,
and by his side stood Menelaus son of Atreus, nursing great sorrow
in his heart. (17: 128/147)
The Trojans charge like a huge sea wave
The Trojans with Hector at their head charged in a body. As a
great wave that comes thundering in at the mouth of some heaven-born
river, and the rocks that jut into the sea ring with the roar
of the breakers that beat and buffet them- even with such a roar
did the Trojans come on; but the Achaeans in singleness of heart
stood firm about the son of Menoetius, and fenced him with their
bronze shields. (17: 263/298)
Ajax scatters the Trojans like dogs or hounds chased by a wild
boar
At first the Trojans drove the Achaeans back, and they withdrew
from the dead man daunted. The Trojans did not succeed in killing
any one, nevertheless they drew the body away. But the Achaeans
did not lose it long, for Ajax, foremost of all the Danaans after
the son of Peleus alike in stature and prowess, quickly rallied
them and made towards the front like a wild boar upon the mountains
when he stands at bay in the forest glades and routs the hounds
and lusty youths that have attacked him- even so did Ajax son
of Telamon passing easily in among the phalanxes of the Trojans,
disperse those who had bestridden Patroclus and were most bent
on winning glory by dragging him off to their city. (17: 274/313)
The battle is waged in darkness
Thus did they fight as it were a flaming fire; it seemed as though
it had gone hard even with the sun and moon, for they were hidden
over all that part where the bravest heroes were fighting about
the dead son of Menoetius, whereas the other Danaans and Achaeans
fought at their ease in full daylight with brilliant sunshine
all round them, and there was not a cloud to be seen neither on
plain nor mountain. These last moreover would rest for a while
and leave off fighting, for they were some distance apart and
beyond the range of one another's weapons, whereas those who were
in the thick of the fray suffered both from battle and darkness.
(17: 366/423)
The Greeks and Trojans pull on the body like an oxhide stretched
by tanners
Thus through the livelong day did they wage fierce war, and the
sweat of their toil rained ever on their legs under them, and
on their hands and eyes, as they fought over the squire of the
fleet son of Peleus. It was as when a man gives a great ox-hide
all drenched in fat to his men, and bids them stretch it; whereon
they stand round it in a ring and tug till the moisture leaves
it, and the fat soaks in for the many that pull at it, and it
is well stretched- even so did the two sides tug the dead body
hither and thither within the compass of but a little space- the
Trojans steadfastly set on drag ing it into Ilius, while the Achaeans
were no less so on taking it to their ships; and fierce was the
fight between them. Not Mars himself the lord of hosts, nor yet
Minerva, even in their fullest fury could make light of such a
battle.(17: 384/445)
The chariot horses of Achilles are like pillars refusing to
move from grief
The horses of the descendant