The Iliad: A New Translation by Peter Green by Homer

Author:Homer
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780520281417
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2015-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

So he spoke, and Idomeneus lashed the fine-maned horses

back to the hollow ships, for fear had seized his heart.625

Nor did great-hearted Aias and Menelaös fail to see

that Zeus was backing the Trojans, turning the tide of battle.

Of these it was Telamōn’s son, great Aias, who spoke first:

“What’s to be done? By this time even the merest idiot

could figure that Zeus himself, the Father, is for the Trojans:630

all their missiles, whoever throws them, coward or hero,

hit their target—Zeus anyway steers them straight—but for us

every man’s shot falls uselessly to the ground!

So let’s think up a plan, the best way we can contrive

to drag that corpse out of the fray, and as for ourselves,635

manage to get back home, a great joy to our comrades,

who must be distressed by the scene here, who don’t believe

that the rage and invincible hands of Hektōr, killer of men,

can now be stood off, are sure they’ll descend on the black ships!

If only there were some comrade to take a message posthaste640

to Pēleus’s son, since I don’t think he’s yet received

the sorrowful news that his own dear comrade is slain.

But such a one I can’t see amongst the Achaians,

since they’re all shrouded in mist—themselves and their horses!

Zeus, Father, rescue the Achaians’ sons from this mist,645

make the sky clear, let us see with our eyes; if you mean

to kill us, if that’s your pleasure, at least do it in daylight.”

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