The Iliad — Chapter 2

"White-breasted like a star,Fronting the dawn he moved; a leopard's skinDrooped from his shoulder, but his sunny hairClustered about his temples like a god's"

"Of all men else have I avoided thee:But get thee back—my soul is too much chargedWith blood of thine already.. . . I will not fight with thee."

"Was it for this, or with such heart as now,O'er the wide billows with a chosen bandThou sailedst, and with violated vowDidst bring thy fair wife from the Apian strand,Torn from the house of men of warlike hand,And a great sorrow for thy father's head,Troy town, and all the people of the land,By thine inhospitable offence hast bred,Thus for the enemy's sport, thine own confusion dread?

"Lo, now thou cowerest, and wilt not abideFierce Menelaus—thou hadst known, I ween,Soon of what man thou hast the blooming bride!Poor had the profit of thy harp then been,Vain Aphrodite's gifts, thy hair, thy mien,He mangling in the dust thy fallen brow.But there is no wrong to the Trojans keen,And they are lambs in spirit; or else hadst thouWorn, for thine evil works, a cloke of stone ere now." W.

"Hear now my answer; in this quarrel IMay claim the chiefest share; and now I hopeTrojans and Greeks may see the final closeOf all the labours ye so long have borne,T' avenge my wrong at Paris' hand sustained.And of us two whiche'er is doomed to death,So let him die! the rest depart in peace." (D.)

"Throughout wide Troy I see no friendly eye,And Trojans shudder as I pass them by."

"Not thee I blame,But to the gods I owe this woful war."

"Oh that the day my mother gave me birth,Some storm had on the mountains cast me forth!"

"Wide-reigning, mighty monarch, ruler good,And valiant warrior; in my husband's name,Lost as I am, I called him brother once."

"For hither when on thine account to treat,Brave Menelaus and Ulysses came,I lodged them in my house, and loved them both,And studied well the form and mind of each.As they with Trojans mixed in social guise,When both were standing, o'er his comrade highWith broad-set shoulders Menelaus stood:Seated, Ulysses was the nobler form:Then, in the great assembly, when to allTheir public speech and argument they framed,In fluent language Menelaus spoke,In words though few, yet clear; though young in years,No wordy babbler, wasteful of his speech:But when the skilled Ulysses rose to speak,With downcast visage would he stand, his eyesBent on the ground; the staff he bore, nor backHe waved, nor forward, but like one untaught,He held it motionless; who only saw,Would say that he was mad, or void of sense:But when his chest its deep-toned voice sent forth,With words that fell like flakes of wintry snow,No mortal with Ulysses could compare;Then, little recked we of his outward show." (D.)

"And now I look on Ajax Telamon,I may compare him to some spacious building;His body bolds vast rooms of entertainment,And lower parts maintain the offices;Only the garret, his exalted head,Useless for wise receipt, is filled with lumber."

"My own two brethren, and my mother's sons,Castor and Pollux; Castor, horseman bold,Pollux, unmatched in pugilistic skill;In Lacedæmon have they stayed behind?Or can it be, in ocean-going shipsThat they have come indeed, but shame to joinThe fight of warriors, fearful of the shameAnd deep disgrace that on my name attend? " (D.)

"Back comes the chief in triumph,Who, in the hour of fight,Hath seen the Great Twin BrethrenIn harness on his right.Safe comes the ship to harbour,Through billows and through gales,If once the Great Twin BrethrenSit shining on the sails