The Fall of Troy [61]
nay, ourselves shall fall Before our due time, and shall lie in graves In Troyland, far from children and from wives."
All as one man down from the ship they leapt; For trembling seized on all for that grim sight -- On all save aweless Neoptolemus Whose might was like his father's: lust of war Swept o'er him. To Odysseus' tent in haste They sped, for close it lay to where the ship Touched land. About its walls was hung great store Of change of armour, of wise Odysseus some, And rescued some from gallant comrades slain. Then did the brave man put on goodly arms; But they in whose breasts faintlier beat their hearts Must don the worser. Odysseus stood arrayed In those which came with him from Ithaca: To Diomede he gave fair battle-gear Stripped in time past from mighty Socus slain. But in his father's arms Achilles' son Clad him and lo, he seemed Achilles' self! Light on his limbs and lapping close they lay -- So cunning was Hephaestus' workmanship -- Which for another had been a giant's arms. The massive helmet cumbered not his brows; Yea, the great Pelian spear-shaft burdened not His hand, but lightly swung he up on high The heavy and tall lance thirsting still for blood.
Of many Argives which beheld him then Might none draw nigh to him, how fain soe'er, So fast were they in that grim grapple locked Of the wild war that raged all down the wall. But as when shipmen, under a desolate isle Mid the wide sea by stress of weather bound, Chafe, while afar from men the adverse blasts Prison them many a day; they pace the deck With sinking hearts, while scantier grows their store Of food; they weary till a fair wind sings; So joyed the Achaean host, which theretofore Were heavy of heart, when Neoptolemus came, Joyed in the hope of breathing-space from toil. Then like the aweless lion's flashed his eyes, Which mid the mountains leaps in furious mood To meet the hunters that draw nigh his cave, Thinking to steal his cubs, there left alone In a dark-shadowed glen but from a height The beast hath spied, and on the spoilers leaps With grim jaws terribly roaring; even so That glorious child of Aeacus' aweless son Against the Trojan warriors burned in wrath. Thither his eagle-swoop descended first Where loudest from the plain uproared the fight, There weakest, he divined, must be the wall, The battlements lowest, since the surge of foes Brake heaviest there. Charged at his side the rest Breathing the battle-spirit. There they found Eurypylus mighty of heart and all his men Scaling a tower, exultant in the hope Of tearing down the walls, of slaughtering The Argives in one holocaust. No mind The Gods had to accomplish their desire! But now Odysseus, Diomede the strong, Leonteus, and Neoptolemus, as a God In strength and beauty, hailed their javelins down, And thrust them from the wall. As dogs and shepherds By shouting and hard fighting drive away Strong lions from a steading, rushing forth From all sides, and the brutes with glaring eyes Pace to and fro; with savage lust for blood Of calves and kine their jaws are slavering; Yet must their onrush give back from the hounds And fearless onset of the shepherd folk; [So from these new defenders shrank the foe] A little, far as one may hurl a stone Exceeding great; for still Eurypylus Suffered them not to flee far from the ships, But cheered them on to bide the brunt, until The ships be won, and all the Argives slain; For Zeus with measureless might thrilled all his frame. Then seized he a rugged stone and huge, and leapt And hurled it full against the high-built wall. It crashed, and terribly boomed that rampart steep To its foundations. Terror gripped the Greeks, As though that wall had crumbled down in dust; Yet from the deadly conflict flinched they not, But stood fast, like to jackals or to wolves Bold robbers of the sheep -- when mid the hills Hunter and hound would drive them forth their caves, Being grimly purposed there to slay their whelps. Yet these, albeit tormented by the darts, Flee not, but for their cubs' sake bide and fight; So for the ships' sake they abode and
All as one man down from the ship they leapt; For trembling seized on all for that grim sight -- On all save aweless Neoptolemus Whose might was like his father's: lust of war Swept o'er him. To Odysseus' tent in haste They sped, for close it lay to where the ship Touched land. About its walls was hung great store Of change of armour, of wise Odysseus some, And rescued some from gallant comrades slain. Then did the brave man put on goodly arms; But they in whose breasts faintlier beat their hearts Must don the worser. Odysseus stood arrayed In those which came with him from Ithaca: To Diomede he gave fair battle-gear Stripped in time past from mighty Socus slain. But in his father's arms Achilles' son Clad him and lo, he seemed Achilles' self! Light on his limbs and lapping close they lay -- So cunning was Hephaestus' workmanship -- Which for another had been a giant's arms. The massive helmet cumbered not his brows; Yea, the great Pelian spear-shaft burdened not His hand, but lightly swung he up on high The heavy and tall lance thirsting still for blood.
Of many Argives which beheld him then Might none draw nigh to him, how fain soe'er, So fast were they in that grim grapple locked Of the wild war that raged all down the wall. But as when shipmen, under a desolate isle Mid the wide sea by stress of weather bound, Chafe, while afar from men the adverse blasts Prison them many a day; they pace the deck With sinking hearts, while scantier grows their store Of food; they weary till a fair wind sings; So joyed the Achaean host, which theretofore Were heavy of heart, when Neoptolemus came, Joyed in the hope of breathing-space from toil. Then like the aweless lion's flashed his eyes, Which mid the mountains leaps in furious mood To meet the hunters that draw nigh his cave, Thinking to steal his cubs, there left alone In a dark-shadowed glen but from a height The beast hath spied, and on the spoilers leaps With grim jaws terribly roaring; even so That glorious child of Aeacus' aweless son Against the Trojan warriors burned in wrath. Thither his eagle-swoop descended first Where loudest from the plain uproared the fight, There weakest, he divined, must be the wall, The battlements lowest, since the surge of foes Brake heaviest there. Charged at his side the rest Breathing the battle-spirit. There they found Eurypylus mighty of heart and all his men Scaling a tower, exultant in the hope Of tearing down the walls, of slaughtering The Argives in one holocaust. No mind The Gods had to accomplish their desire! But now Odysseus, Diomede the strong, Leonteus, and Neoptolemus, as a God In strength and beauty, hailed their javelins down, And thrust them from the wall. As dogs and shepherds By shouting and hard fighting drive away Strong lions from a steading, rushing forth From all sides, and the brutes with glaring eyes Pace to and fro; with savage lust for blood Of calves and kine their jaws are slavering; Yet must their onrush give back from the hounds And fearless onset of the shepherd folk; [So from these new defenders shrank the foe] A little, far as one may hurl a stone Exceeding great; for still Eurypylus Suffered them not to flee far from the ships, But cheered them on to bide the brunt, until The ships be won, and all the Argives slain; For Zeus with measureless might thrilled all his frame. Then seized he a rugged stone and huge, and leapt And hurled it full against the high-built wall. It crashed, and terribly boomed that rampart steep To its foundations. Terror gripped the Greeks, As though that wall had crumbled down in dust; Yet from the deadly conflict flinched they not, But stood fast, like to jackals or to wolves Bold robbers of the sheep -- when mid the hills Hunter and hound would drive them forth their caves, Being grimly purposed there to slay their whelps. Yet these, albeit tormented by the darts, Flee not, but for their cubs' sake bide and fight; So for the ships' sake they abode and