Achilles (Mythological character); Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
So spake he, and sorrow came on the Argives by reason of his boasting.
And chiefly he roused the wrath of the wise son of Telamon, Aias, for
the man fell close by him. Swiftly he cast at the other, as he
departed, with his shining spear. And Polydamas himself avoided black
Fate, starting to one side, but Archelochos, son of Antenor, received
the spear, for the gods had willed his death. Him the spear struck at
the meeting of the head and neck, on the last joint of the spine, and
cut in twain both the tendons. And his head, and mouth, and nose, as he
fell, reached the earth long before his legs and knees, and Aias again
shouted to noble Polydamas: “Consider, Polydamas, and tell me truly,
whether thou sayst not that this man is worth slaying in place of
Prothoenor: he seems to me no coward, nor born of cowards, but a
brother of horse-taming Antenor, or a child, for he most closely
favoureth his house.”
So he spake, knowing the truth right well, and sorrow seized the hearts
of the Trojans. Then Akamas wounded Promachos the Boiotian with his
spear, from where he stood above his brother, that Promachos was
dragging away by the feet. Over him Akamas boasted terribly, shouting
aloud: “Ye Argive bowmen, insatiate of threats, verily not for us alone
shall there be struggle and toil, nay, but even as we shall ye likewise
perish. Consider how your Promachos sleepeth, vanquished by my spear,
that my brother’s blood-price may not be long unpaid. Even for this it
is that a man may well pray to leave some kinsman in his halls, that
will avenge his fall.”
So he spake, and sorrow came on the Argives at his boast. And chiefly
he stirred the heart of the wise Peneleos, who made for Akamas, and
Akamas abode not the onset of the prince Peneleos. But Peneleos wounded
Ilioneus, the son of Phorbas, rich in herds, that Hermes loved most
dearly of all the Trojans, and gave him wealth. Now his mother bare
Ilioneus, an only child, to Phorbas. Him did Peneleos wound beneath the
brows, at the bases of the eye, and drave out the eyeball, and the
spear went clean through the eye and through the nape of the neck, and
he fell back, stretching out both his hands. And Peneleos, drawing
forth his sharp sword, smote him on the middle of the neck, and smote
off even to the ground the head with the helmet, and still the strong
spear stood in the eye, and lifting it up like a poppy head, he showed
it to the Trojans, and spoke his boastful words: “Ye Trojans, I pray
you bid the dear father and the mother of proud Ilioneus to wail in
their halls, for neither will the wife of Promachos, son of Alegenor,
rejoice in her dear husband’s coming, in that hour when we youths of
the Achaians return with our ships out of Troy-land.”
So he spake, and fear fell on the limbs of all of them; and each man
looked about to see where he might flee sheer destruction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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