Achilles (Mythological character); Classical literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth,
smiting him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face
uppermost upon the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did
Agamemnon smite; he cut off his hands and his head—which he sent
rolling in among the crowd as though it were a ball. There he let
them both lie, and wherever the ranks were thickest thither he
flew, while the other Achaeans followed. Foot soldiers drove the
foot soldiers of the foe in rout before them, and slew them;
horsemen did the like by horsemen, and the thundering tramp of
the horses raised a cloud of dust from off the plain. King
Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and cheering on the
Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze—the eddying
gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets shrivel and
are consumed before the blast of the flame—even so fell the heads
of the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus, and many a
noble pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the highways of
war, for lack of drivers who were lying on the plain, more useful
now to vultures than to their wives.
Jove drew Hector away from the darts and dust, with the carnage
and din of battle; but the son of Atreus sped onwards, calling
out lustily to the Danaans. They flew on by the tomb of old Ilus,
son of Dardanus, in the middle of the plain, and past the place
of the wild fig-tree making always for the city—the son of Atreus
still shouting, and with hands all bedrabbled in gore; but when
they had reached the Scaean gates and the oak tree, there they
halted and waited for the others to come up. Meanwhile the
Trojans kept on flying over the middle of the plain like a herd
of cows maddened with fright when a lion has attacked them in the
dead of night—he springs on one of them, seizes her neck in the
grip of his strong teeth and then laps up her blood and gorges
himself upon her entrails—even so did King Agamemnon son of
Atreus pursue the foe, ever slaughtering the hindmost as they
fled pell-mell before him. Many a man was flung headlong from his
chariot by the hand of the son of Atreus, for he wielded his
spear with fury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account