It is my prayer to Jove and to all heaven
610
(Not without hope) that I may hence expel
These dogs, whom Ilium’s unpropitious
fates
Have wafted hither in their sable barks.
But we will also watch this night, ourselves,
And, arming with the dawn, will at their
ships 615
Give them brisk onset. Then shall
it appear
If Diomede the brave shall me compel
Back to our walls, or I, his arms blood-stain’d,
Torn from his breathless body, bear away.
To-morrow, if he dare but to abide
620
My lance, he shall not want occasion meet
For show of valor. But much more
I judge
That the next rising sun shall see him
slain
With no few friends around him. Would
to heaven!
I were as sure to ’scape the blight
of age 625
And share their honors with the Gods above,
As comes the morrow fraught with wo to
Greece.
So Hector, whom his host with
loud acclaim
All praised. Then each his sweating
steeds released,
And rein’d them safely at his chariot-side.
630
And now from Troy provision large they
brought,
Oxen, and sheep, with store of wine and
bread,
And fuel much was gather’d. [16]Next
the Gods
With sacrifice they sought, and from the
plain
Upwafted by the winds the smoke aspired
635
Savoury, but unacceptable to those
Above; such hatred in their hearts they
bore
To Priam, to the people of the brave
Spear-practised Priam, and to sacred Troy.
Big with great purposes and
proud, they sat, 640
Not disarray’d, but in fair form
disposed
Of even ranks, and watch’d their
numerous fires,
As when around the clear bright moon,
the stars
Shine in full splendor, and the winds
are hush’d,
The groves, the mountain-tops, the headland-heights
645
Stand all apparent, not a vapor streaks
The boundless blue, but ether open’d
wide
All glitters, and the shepherd’s
heart is cheer’d;[17]
So numerous seem’d those fires the
bank between
Of Xanthus, blazing, and the fleet of
Greece, 650
In prospect all of Troy; a thousand fires,
Each watch’d by fifty warriors seated
near.
The steeds beside the chariots stood,
their corn
Chewing, and waiting till the golden-throned
Aurora should restore the light of day.
655
THE ILIAD.
ARGUMENT OF THE
NINTH BOOK.
By advice of Nestor, Agamemnon sends Ulysses, Phoenix,
and Ajax to the tent of Achilles with proposals of
reconciliation. They execute their commission,
but without effect. Phoenix remains with Achilles;
Ulysses and Ajax return.
