The Iliad by Homer — Book VIII, The scales of Zeus

When they were got together in one place, shield clashed with shield, and spear with spear, in the conflict of mail-clad men. Mighty was the din as the bossed shields pressed hard on one another- death - cry and shout of triumph of slain and slayers, and the earth ran red with blood.

⁶⁶Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning their weapons beat against one another, and the people fell, but when the sun had reached mid-heaven, the sire of all balanced his golden scales, and put two fates of death within them, one for the Trojans and the other for the Achaeans. He took the balance by the middle, and when he lifted it up the day of the Achaeans sank; the death-fraught scale of the Achaeans settled down upon the ground, while that of the Trojans rose heavenwards. Then he thundered aloud from Ida, and sent the glare of his lightning upon the Achaeans; when they saw this, pale fear fell upon them and they were sore afraid.

⁷⁸Idomeneus dared not stay nor yet Agamemnon, nor did the two Ajaxes, squires [therapontes] of Ares, hold their ground. Nestor horseman of Gerene alone stood firm, bulwark of the Achaeans, not of his own will, but one of his horses was disabled. Alexander husband of lovely Helen had hit it with an arrow just on the top of its head where the mane begins to grow away from the skull, a very deadly place. The horse bounded in his anguish as the arrow pierced his brain, and his struggles threw others into confusion. The old man instantly began cutting the traces with his sword, but Hektor's fleet horses bore down upon him through the rout with their bold charioteer, even Hektor himself, and the old man would have perished there and then had not Diomedes been quick to mark, and with a loud cry called Odysseus to help him.

⁹⁴"Odysseus," he cried, "noble son of Laertes where are you fleeing to, with your back turned like a coward? See that you are not struck with a spear between the shoulders. Stay here and help me to defend Nestor from this man's furious onset."

⁹⁷Odysseus would not give ear, but sped onward to the ships of the Achaeans, and the son of Tydeus flinging himself alone into the thick of the fight took his stand before the horses of the son of Neleus. "Sir," said he, "these young warriors are pressing you hard, your force is spent, ¹⁰⁴and age is heavy upon you, your squire [therapôn] is naught, and your horses are slow to move. Mount my chariot and see what the horses of Tros can do- how cleverly they can scud hither and thither over the plain either in flight or in pursuit. I took them from the hero Aeneas. Let our squires [theraponte] attend to your own steeds, but let us drive mine straight at the Trojans, that Hektor may learn how furiously I too can wield my spear."

¹¹²Nestor horseman of Gerene hearkened to his words. Thereon the doughty squires [therapontes], Sthenelos and kind-hearted Eurymedon, saw to Nestor's horses, while the two both mounted Diomedes' chariot. Nestor took the reins in his hands and lashed the horses on; they were soon close up with Hektor, and the son of Tydeus aimed a spear at him as he was charging full speed towards them. He missed him, but struck his charioteer and squire [therapôn] Eniopeus son of noble Thebaios in the breast by the nipple while the reins were in his hands, so that he lost his life-breath [psukhê] there and then, and the horses swerved as he fell headlong from the chariot. Hektor was greatly grieved at the loss of his charioteer, but let him lie, despite his sorrow [akhos], while he went in quest of another driver; nor did his steeds have to go long without one, for he presently found brave Arkheptolemos the son of Iphitos, and made him get up behind the horses, giving the reins into his hand.

¹³⁰All had then been lost and no help for it, for they would have been penned up in Ilion like sheep, had not the sire of gods and men been quick to mark, and hurled a fiery flaming thunderbolt which fell just in front of Diomedes' 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. Then he was afraid and said to Diomedes, "Son of Tydeus, turn your horses in flight; see you not that the hand of Zeus is against you? To-day he grants victory to Hektor; tomorrow, if it so please him, he will again grant it to ourselves; no man, however brave, may thwart the purpose [noon] of Zeus, for he is far stronger than any."

¹⁴⁵Diomedes answered, "All that you have said is true; there is a grief [akhos], however, which pierces me to the very heart, for Hektor will talk among the Trojans and say, ‘The son of Tydeus fled before me to the ships.’ This is the vaunt he will make, and may earth then swallow me."

¹⁵¹"Son of Tydeus," replied Nestor, "what mean you? Though Hektor say that you are a coward the Trojans and Dardanians will not believe him, nor yet the wives of the mighty warriors whom you have laid low."

¹⁵⁷So saying he turned the horses back through the thick of the battle, and with a cry that rent the air the Trojans and Hektor rained their darts after them. Hektor shouted to him and said, "Son of Tydeus, the Danaans have done you honor hitherto as regards your place at table, the meals they give you, and the filling of your cup with wine. Henceforth they will despise you, for you are become no better than a woman. Be off, girl and coward that you are, you shall not try to scale our towers without my stopping you; neither shall you carry off our wives in your ships, for I shall give you, with my own hand, a fate [daimôn] that will doom you."

¹⁶⁷The son of Tydeus was in two minds whether or no to turn his horses round again and fight him. Thrice did he doubt, and thrice did Zeus thunder from the heights of Ida in token [sêma] to the Trojans that he would turn the battle in their favor. Hektor then shouted to them and said, "Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanians, lovers of close fighting, be men, my friends, and fight with might and with main; I see that Zeus is minded to grant victory and great glory to myself, while he will deal destruction upon the Danaans. Fools, for having thought of building this weak and worthless wall. It shall not stay my fury; my horses will spring lightly over their trench, and when I am at their ships forget not to bring me fire that I may burn them, while I slaughter the Argives who will be all dazed and bewildered by the smoke."

¹⁸⁴Then he cried to his horses, "Xanthos and Podagros, and you Aithon and goodly Lampos, pay me for your keep now and for all the honey-sweet grain with which Andromache daughter of great Eetion has fed you, and for she has mixed wine and water for you to drink whenever you would, before doing so even for me who am her own husband. Haste in pursuit, that we may take the shield of Nestor, the fame [kleos] of which ascends to heaven, for it is of solid gold, arm-rods and all, and that we may strip from the shoulders of Diomedes. the cuirass which Hephaistos made him. Could we take these two things, the Achaeans would set sail in their ships this self-same night."

¹⁹⁸Thus did he vaunt, but Queen Hera made high Olympus quake as she shook with rage upon her throne. Then said she to the mighty god of Poseidon, "What now, wide ruling lord of the earthquake? Can you find no compassion in your heart for the dying Danaans, who bring you many a welcome offering to Helike and to Aigai? Wish them well then. If all of us who are with the Danaans were to drive the Trojans back and keep Zeus from helping them, he would have to sit there sulking alone on Ida."

²⁰⁸King Poseidon was greatly troubled and answered, "Hera, rash of tongue, what are you talking about? We other gods must not set ourselves against Zeus, for he is far stronger than we are."

²¹²Thus did they converse; but the whole space enclosed by the ditch, from the ships even to the wall, was filled with horses and warriors, who were pent up there by Hektor son of Priam, now that the hand of Zeus was with him. He would even have set fire to the ships and burned them, had not Queen Hera put it into the mind of Agamemnon, to bestir himself and to encourage the Achaeans. To this end he went round the ships and tents carrying a great purple cloak, and took his stand by the huge black hull of Odysseus' ship, which was middlemost of all; it was from this place that his voice would carry farthest, on the one hand towards the tents of Ajax son of Telamon, and on the other towards those of Achilles- ²²⁵for these two heroes, well assured of their own strength, had valorously drawn up their ships at the two ends of the line. From this spot then, with a voice that could be heard afar, he shouted to the Danaans, saying, "Argives, shame ²²⁸on you cowardly creatures, brave in semblance only; where are now our vaunts that we should prove victorious - the vaunts we made so vaingloriously in Lemnos, when we ate the flesh of horned cattle and filled our mixing-bowls to the brim? You vowed that you would each of you stand against a hundred or two hundred men, and now you prove no match even for one- for Hektor, who will be ere long setting our ships in a blaze. Father Zeus, did you ever before cause the ruin [atê] of a great king to such an extent and rob him so utterly of his greatness? yet, when to my sorrow I was coming hither, I never let my ship pass your altars without offering the fat and thigh-bones of heifers upon every one of them, so eager was I to sack the city of Troy. Vouchsafe me then this prayer- suffer us to escape at any rate with our lives, and let not the Achaeans be so utterly vanquished by the Trojans."

²⁴⁵Thus did he pray, and father Zeus pitying his tears granted him that his people should live, not die; forthwith he sent them an eagle, most unfailingly portentous of all birds, with a young fawn in its talons; the eagle dropped the fawn by the altar on which the Achaeans sacrificed to Zeus the lord of omens; When, therefore, the people saw that the bird had come from Zeus, they sprang more fiercely upon the Trojans and fought more boldly.

²⁵³There was no man of all the many Danaans who could then boast that he had driven his horses over the trench and gone forth to fight sooner than the son of Tydeus; long before any one else could do so he slew an armed warrior of the Trojans, Agelaos the son of Phradmon. He had turned his horses in flight, but the spear struck him in the back midway between his shoulders and went right through his chest, and his armor rang rattling round him as he fell forward from his chariot.

²⁶¹After him came Agamemnon and Menelaos, sons of Atreus, the two Ajaxes clothed in valor as with a garment, Idomeneus and his companion in arms Meriones, peer of murderous Ares, and Eurypylos the brave son of Euaemon. 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.

²⁷³Which of the Trojans did brave Teucer first kill? Orsilokhos, and then Ormenos and Ophelestes, Daitor, Chromios, and godlike Lykophontes, Amopaon son of Polyaimon, and Melanippos. these in turn did he lay low upon the earth, and King Agamemnon was glad when he saw him making havoc of the Trojans with his mighty bow. He went up to him and said, "Teucer, man after my own heart, son of Telamon, leader among the host, shoot on, and be at once the saving of the Danaans and the glory of your father Telamon, who brought you up and took care of you in his own house when you were a child, bastard though you were. Cover him with glory though he is far off; I will promise and I will assuredly perform; if aegis-bearing Zeus and Athena grant me to sack the city of Ilion, you shall have the next best prize of honor after my own - a tripod, or two horses with their chariot, or a woman who shall go up into your bed."

²⁹²And Teucer answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, you need not urge me; from the moment we began to drive them back to Ilion, I have never ceased so far as in me lies to look out for men whom I can shoot and kill; I have shot eight barbed shafts, and all of them have been buried in the flesh of warlike youths, but this mad dog I cannot hit."

³⁰⁰As he spoke he aimed another arrow straight at Hektor, for he was bent on hitting him; nevertheless he missed him, and the arrow hit Priam's brave son Gorgythion in the breast. ³⁰⁵His mother, fair Kastianeira, lovely as a goddess, had been married from Aisyme, 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.

³¹⁰Again he aimed at Hektor, for he was longing to hit him, and again his arrow missed, for Apollo turned it aside; but he hit Hektor's brave charioteer Arkheptolemos in the breast, by the nipple, as he was driving furiously into the fight. The horses swerved aside as he fell headlong from the chariot, and there was no life-breath [psukhê] left in him. Hektor was greatly grieved at the loss of his charioteer, but for all his sorrow [akhos] he let him lie where he fell, and bade his brother Kebriones, who was hard by, take the reins. Kebriones did as he had said. Hektor thereon with a loud cry sprang from his chariot to the ground, and seizing a great stone made straight for Teucer with intent kill him. Teucer had just taken an arrow from his quiver and had laid it upon the bow-string, but Hektor struck him with the jagged stone as he was taking aim and drawing the string to his shoulder; he hit him just where the collar-bone divides the neck from the chest, a very deadly place, and broke the sinew of his arm so that his wrist was less, and the bow dropped from his hand as he fell forward on his knees. Ajax saw that his brother had fallen, and running towards him bestrode him and sheltered him with his shield. Meanwhile his two trusty squires, Mekisteus son of Echios, and Alastor, came up and bore him to the ships groaning in his great pain. glad when he saw