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Homer
From the Iliad
Book I
Sing, O
daughter of heaven, - of Peleus’ son, of Achilles,
Him whose
terrible wrath - brought thousand woes on Achaio,
Many a
stalwart soul did it hurl - untimely to Hades,
Souls of
the heroes of old: - and their bones lay strewn on the
sea-sands,
Prey to
the vulture and dog. - Yet was Zeus fulfilling a
purpose;
Since
that far-off day, when - in hot strife parted asunder
Atreus’
sceptered son, and the - chos’n of heaven, Achilles.
Say then,
which of the Gods - bid arise up battle between them?
Zeus and
Leto’s son. With - the king was kindled his anger:
Then went
sickness abroad, - and the people died of the sickness:
For that
of Atreus’ son – had his priest been lightly entreated,
Chryses,
Apollo’s priest – For he came to the ships of Achaia,
Bearing a
daughter’s ransom, - a sum not easy to number:
And in
his hand was the emblem – of Him, far darting Apollo,
High on a
sceptre of gold: - and he prayed to the hosts of Achaia;
Chiefly
to Atreus’ sons, - twin chieftains, ordering armies.
“Chiefs
sprung of Atreus’ loins; - and ye, brazen-greaved
Achaians!
So may
the Gods this day, - the Olympus-palaced, grant you
Priam’s
city to raze, - and return unscathed to your homesteads:
Only my
own dear daughter – I ask; take ransom and yield her,
Rev’rencing His great
name, - son of Zeus, far-darting Apollo.”
Then from
the host of Achaians – arose tumultuous answer:
“Due to
the priest is his honour; - accept rich ransom and yield
her.”
But there
was war in the spirit – of Atreus’ son, Agamemnon;
Disdainful he dismissed
him, - a right stern fiat appending: -
“Woe be
to thee, old man, - if I find thee lingering longer,
Yea or
returning again, - by the hollow ships of Achaians!
Scarce
much then will avail thee – the great god’s sceptre and
emblem.
Her will
I never release. – Old age must first come upon
her,
In my own
home, yea in Argos, - afar from the land of her fathers,
Following
the loom, and attending – upon my bed. But avaunt
thee!
Go, and
provoke not me, - that thy way may be haply securer.”
These
were the words of the king, - and the old man feared and obeyed
him:
Voiceless
he went by the shore - of the the great dull-echoing
ocean,
Thither
he gat him apart, - that ancient man; and a long prayer
Prayed to
Apollo his Lord, - son of golden-ringleted Leto:
“Lord of
the silver bow, thou whose arm girds Chryse and Cilla, -
Cilla
beloved of the Gods, - and in might sways Tenedos,
hearken!
Oh! if,
in days gone by, - I have guilt from floor unto cornice,
Smintheus, a fair shrine
for thee, - or burned in the flames of the altar
Fat flesh
of bulls and of goats; then do this thing that I ask
thee:
Hurl on
the Greeks thy shafts, - that they servant’s tears be
avenged!”
So did he
pray, and his prayer reached the ears of Phœbus Apollo.
Dark was
the soul of the god as he moved from the heights of
Olympus,
Shouldering a bow, and a
quiver – on this side fast and on that side.
Onward in
anger he moved. – And the arrows, stirred by the motion,
Rattled
and rang on his shoulder: - he came as cometh the
midnight.
Hard by
the ships he stayed him, - and loosed one shaft from the
bow-string;
Harshly
the stretched string twanged of the bow all
silvery-shining.
First
fell his wrath on the mules, - and the swift-footed hound of the
herdsman;
Afterward
smote he the host. – With a rankling arrow he smote them
Aye; and
the morn and the even – were red with the glare of the
corpse-fires.
From Iliad VIII
As in the
heights of the heaven – the moon gleams clear, and around
her
Shine in
their beauty the stars, - nor is one cloud moving in
ether;
Shines
forth every cliff, and the jutting peaks of the
headlands,
Forest
and glen: then, - as opens the rifting firmament heavenwards,
-
Star is
revealed upon star: - and gay is the heart of the
herdsman:-
Not in
less number than they, - from the Xanthus’ stream to the sea
sands,
Glimmered
the red watch fires – that encompassed Ilion alway;-
Glimmered
amid Troy’s host – as a thousand stars; and at each one
There sat
three score and ten, - their face lighted up by the fire
brand.
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