Ἰλιάδος Μ

So within the shelters the valiant son of Menoetius

was healing wounded Eurypylus; but they fought on,

Argives and Trojans in a mass; nor was the trench

of the Danaans to hold them longer, nor the wall above it,

the wide wall they had built to guard the ships, and around it dug

a trench; but they gave no glorious hecatombs to the gods,

so that within it their swift ships and all their rich spoil

might lie protected. It had been built against the will of the immortal

gods; and so it did not stand firm for long.

As long as Hector lived and Achilles nursed his wrath,

and the city of lord Priam remained unsacked,

so long the great wall of the Achaeans also stood firm.

But when all the best of the Trojans had died,

and many Argives too, some slain and some left alive,

and the city of Priam was sacked in the tenth year,

and the Argives sailed in their ships to their dear native land,

then at last Poseidon and Apollo took counsel

to obliterate the wall by bringing against it the might of rivers,

all that flow from the mountains of Ida down to the sea:

Rhesus and Heptaporus, Caresus and Rhodius,

Granicus and Aesepus, and godlike Scamander,

and Simoeis, where many oxhide shields and helmets

fell in the dust, and the race of demigod men.

Phoebus Apollo turned the mouths of all these together,

and for nine days drove their flood against the wall; and Zeus rained

without cease, to make the walls sea-washed all the sooner.

The Earth-shaker himself, holding his trident in his hands,

led the work, and sent all the foundations into the waves,

the beams and stones the Achaeans had laid down with toil,

and made all smooth beside the strong-flowing Hellespont;

then covered the broad shore again with sand

after obliterating the wall, and turned the rivers back

into the channels where their fair-flowing water had run before.

So Poseidon and Apollo were to bring this about in time to come;

but then battle and war-cry blazed around

the well-built wall, and the timbers of the towers clattered

under blows. The Argives, beaten down by the scourge of Zeus,

were penned beside the hollow ships and held there,

fearing Hector, mighty deviser of rout;

and as before, he fought equal to a storm.

As when among dogs and hunting men

a boar or lion wheels about, exulting in his strength,

and they marshal themselves in ranks like a tower

and stand against him, casting thick-falling

spears from their hands; yet his glorious heart never

quails or fears, and his own high spirit kills him;

again and again he wheels and tries the ranks of men,

and wherever he charges, there the ranks of men give way;

so Hector, moving through the throng, pleaded with his companions

and urged them to cross the trench; but his horses

did not dare, swift-footed though they were, but neighed loudly as they stood

on its very lip, for the trench before them struck fear into them,

wide as it was, neither easy to leap across at close range nor to pass through.

For overhanging banks stood all around it

on either side, and above it bristled with

sharp stakes, which the sons of the Achaeans had planted

close and tall as a defense against enemy men.

No horse drawing a smooth-running chariot could easily

enter there, but the foot soldiers were eager to see if they could accomplish it.

Then Polydamas stood beside bold Hector and said:

"Hector, and you other leaders of the Trojans and their allies,

we are thoughtlessly driving our swift horses across the trench.

It is very hard to cross: sharp stakes stand

within it, and close beyond them is the wall of the Achaeans.

There is no way for charioteers to descend or fight

there; the ground is narrow, and I think we will be wounded.

If, bent wholly on evil for them, he is crushing the Achaeans,

Zeus who thunders on high, and longs to aid the Trojans,

then I myself would wish this to happen here and now:

for the Achaeans to perish nameless here, far from Argos.

But if they turn upon us and a counter-pursuit begins

from the ships, and we crash into the dug trench,

then I think not even a messenger will make his way back

again toward the city, once the Achaeans wheel upon us.

Come, then, let all of us obey as I shall say:

let the attendants hold the horses here beside the trench,

while we ourselves, foot fighters armed in our war gear,

all follow Hector in one mass; and the Achaeans

will not stand if the cords of destruction have been fastened upon them."

So Polydamas spoke, and his harmless counsel pleased Hector,

and at once he leapt to the ground from his chariot in his armor.

Nor did the other Trojans remain gathered on their horses,

but all sprang down when they saw godlike Hector.

Then each man ordered his own charioteer

to hold the horses well and in due order there beside the trench.

They parted company, marshaled themselves,

and formed in five divisions, then followed their leaders.

One company went with Hector and blameless Polydamas,

the most numerous and best, and the most eager

to break through the wall and fight beside the hollow ships.

Cebriones followed them as the third commander; but beside the chariot

Hector left another man, less capable than Cebriones.

The second company was led by Paris, Alcathous, and Agenor;

the third by Helenus and godlike Deiphobus,

two sons of Priam; and with them the hero Asius,

Asius, son of Hyrtacus, whom from Arisbe his horses bore,

fiery and great, from the river Selleis.

The fourth company was led by the noble son of Anchises,

Aeneas, and with him the two sons of Antenor,

Archelochus and Acamas, well versed in every kind of battle.

Sarpedon led the glorious allies,

and chose beside him Glaucus and warlike Asteropaeus,

for they seemed to him by far the best

of all the rest after himself; and he stood out even among them all.

When they had fitted one another close with well-made oxhide shields,

they went straight at the Danaans, eager for battle, and no longer thought they would

hold back, but will fall upon the black ships.

Then the other Trojans and far-famed allies

obeyed the counsel of blameless Polydamas;

but Asius, son of Hyrtacus, marshal of men, would not