who was the first to go up against King Agamemnon,
who of the Trojans or famous Trojan allies?
Iphidamas, the rough and rangy son of Antenor
bred in the fertile land of Thrace, mother of flocks.
Cisseus reared him at home when he was little--
his mother's father who sired the fine beauty Theano--
but once he hit the stride of his youth and ached for fame,
Cisseus tried to hold him back, gave him a daughter's hand
but warm from the bridal chamber marched the groom,
fired up by word that Achaea's troops had landed.
Twelve beaked ships sailed out in his command,
trim vessels he left behind him in Percote,
making his way to Troy to fight on foot
and here he came now, up against Agamemnon,
closer, closing ...
Atrides hurled and missed,
his spearshaft just slanting aside the man's flank
as Iphidamas went for the waist beneath the breastplate--
he stabbed home, leaning into the blow full weight,
trusting his heavy hand but failed to pierce
the glittering belt, failed flat-out-the point,
smashing against the silver, bent back like lead.
And seizing the spearshaft powerful Agamemnon
dragged it toward him, tussling like some lion
and wrenching it free from Iphidamas' slack grasp
he hacked his neck with a sword and loosed his limbs.
And there he dropped and slept the sleep of bronze,
poor soldier, striving to help his fellow Trojans,
far from his wedded wife, his new bride ...
No joy had he known from her for all his gifts,
the full hundred oxen he gave her on the spot
then promised a thousand head of goats and sheep
from the boundless herds he'd rounded up himself.
Now the son of Atreus stripped him, robbed his corpse
and strode back to his waiting Argive armies,
hoisting the gleaming gear.
But Coon marked him, Coon,
Antenor's eldest son, a distinguished man-at-arms,
and stinging grief went misting down his eyes
for his fallen brother. In from the blind side
he came--
Agamemnon never saw him--
tensed with a spear
and slashed him under the elbow, down the forearm--
a glint of metal--the point ripped through his flesh
and the lord of fighting men Atrides shuddered.
Not that he quit the foray even then--
he sprang at Coon, gripping his big spearshaft
tough from the gusting wind that whipped its tree.
Coon was just dragging his brother footfirst,
wild now to retrieve his own father's son,
calling for help from all the bravest men--
but as Coon hauled the body through the press
Agamemnon lunged up, under his bossed shield,
thrust home hard with the polished bronze point,
unstrung his limbs and reared and lopped his head
and the head tumbled onto his fallen brother's corpse.
So then and there under royal Agamemnon's hands
the two sons of Antenor filled out their fates
and down they plunged to the strong House of Death.
But the king kept ranging, battling ranks on ranks
and thrusting his spear and sword and hurling heavy rocks
so long as the blood came flowing warm from his wound.
But soon as the gash dried and firm clots formed,
sharp pain came bursting in on Atrides' strength--
spear-sharp as the labor-pangs that pierce a woman,
agonies brought on by the harsh, birthing spirits,
Hera's daughters who hold the stabbing power of birth--
so sharp the throes that burst on Atrides' strength.
And back he sprang in the car and told his driver
to make for the hollow ships, racked with pain
but he loosed a shrill cry to all his men:
"Friends--lords of the Argives, 0 my captains!
Your turn now--keep on shielding our fast ships
from this latest mass attack. Zeus who rules the world
forbids me to battle Trojans all day long."
A crack of the lash
and his driver whipped the team with streaming manes
straight for the curved ships, and on they flew,
holding nothing back, their heaving chests foaming,
bellies pelted with dust, rushing the wounded warlord
free and clear of battle.
There--Hector's signal!
Seeing Atrides hurt and speeding off the lines
he gave a ringing shout to his troops and allies:
"Trojans! Lycians! Dardan fighters hand-to-hand-
now be men, my friends, call up your battle-fury!
Their best man cuts and runs--
Zeus is handing me glory, awesome glory.
Drive your horses right at these mighty Argives,
seize the higher triumph--seize it now!"
Hector--
whipping the fight and fire in each man like a huntsman
crying on his hounds, their white fangs flashing,
harrying savage game, some wild boar or lion--
so at Achaea's ranks he drove his fearless Trojans,
Hector son of Priam, a match for murderous Ares.
The prince himself went wading into the front lines,
his hopes soaring, and down he hurled on the fray
like a sudden killer-squall that blasts down
on the dark blue sea to whip and chop its crests.
Who was the first he slaughtered, who the last,
Hector the son of Priam, now Zeus gave him glory?
Asaeus first, Autonous next and then Opites,
Dolops, Clytius' son, and Opheltius, Agelaus,
Aesymnus and Orus, Hipponous staunch in combat.
These were the Argive captains Hector killed
then went for the main mass
like the West Wind battering soft shining clouds
the South Wind wafts along--in deep explosive blasts
it strikes and the great swelling waves roll on and on
and the spray goes shooting up from under the wind's hurl
swerving, roaring down the sea--so wildly Hector routed
the packed lines of fighters caught in his onslaught.
Now there would have been havoc, irreversible chaos,
fleeing bands of Achaeans flung back on their ships
if Odysseus had not shouted out to Diomedes,
"What's wrong with us? Forgetting our battle-fury?
Come here, old friend, stand by me! What humiliation--
if Hector with that flashing helmet takes our ships!"
Powerful Diomedes took his challenge quickly:
"I'll stand and fight, by god, and take the worst
but little joy it will bring our comrades now.
Zeus the king of the clouds has pitched on victory
for the Trojans, not for us."
But all the same
he hurled Thymbraeus down to ground from his car--
Diomedes speared his left breast as Odysseus killed
the warlord's aide-in-arms Molion tall as a god
and left them there for dead, their fighting finished.
Then both went thrashing into the lines to make a slaughter
as two wild boars bristling, ramping back for the kill,
fling themselves on the yelping packs that hunt them--
back they whirled on attack and laid the Trojans low
while Achaeans just in flight from Hector's onset
leapt at the chance to gather second wind.
At once
they took two lords of the realm and seized their car,
the two good sons of Merops out of Percote harbor,
Merops adept beyond all men in the mantic arts.
He refused to let his two boys march to war,
this man-killing war, but the young ones fought him
all the way--the forces of black death drove them on
and Diomedes a marvel with a spear destroyed them both,
stripped them of life breath and tore their gear away
and Odysseus killed Hippodamus, killed Hypirochus.
And there,
gazing down from his ridge on Ida, the son of Cronus
stretched the rope of battle tense and taut
as the fighters kept on killing side-to-side.
Diomedes hurled a spear that struck Agastrophus,
Paeon's warrior son, and smashed the joint of his hip
but his team was not close by for fast escape--
a big mistake, the fool.
His driver held them reined off at the side
while he advanced through the front ranks on foot,
plowing on and on till he lost his own life ...
But Hector quickly marked them across the lines--
he charged them both full force with a savage shout
and Trojan battalions churning in his wake.
Diomedes shuddered to see him coming on,
the lord of the war cry called out to Odysseus
quickly, close beside him, "We're in for shipwreck--
a breaker rolling down on us, look, this massive Hector!
Brace for him, stand our ground together--beat him back!"
He aimed and hurled and his spear's long shadow flew--
a clean hit, no miss, trained at the head of Hector,
his helmet ridge. But bronze glanced off bronze
and never grazed firm flesh, the helmet blocked it,
triple-ply with the great blank hollow eyes,
a gift of Apollo. Sprinting a long way back,
downfield and fast, Hector rejoined his men
and sinking down onto one knee, propped himself
with a strong hand planted against the earth--
and the world went black as night across his eyes.
But soon as Tydides followed up his spear,
tracking its flight far down along the front
where it stuck in sand, Hector caught his breath
and boarding his car, drove for his own main force
as he hurtled clear of the dark fates of death--
Diomedes shouting after him, shaking his spear,
"Now, again, you've escaped your death, you dog,
but a good close brush with death it was, I'd say!
Now, again, your Phoebus Apollo pulls you through,
the one you pray to, wading into our storm of spears.
We'll fight again--I'll finish you off next time
if one of the gods will only urge me on as well.
But now I'll go for the others, anyone I can catch."
And he set to stripping his kill, Paeon's spearman son.
But at once Paris the lord of fair-haired Helen
drew his bow at the rugged captain Diomedes ...
the archer leaning firmly against a pillar
raised on the man-made tomb of Dardan's son,.
Ilus an old lord of the realm in ancient days.
As Diomedes was stripping strong Agastrophus bare,
tearing the burnished breastplate off his victim's chest,
the shield from his shoulders and heavy crested helmet,
Paris, clenching the grip and drawing back his bow,
shot!--no wasted shot, it whizzed from his hand
and punched the flat top of Tydides' right foot,
the shaft dug through and stuck fast in the ground.
And loosing a heady laugh of triumph Paris leapt
from his hiding-place and shouted out in glory,
"Now you're hit--no wasted shot, my winging arrow!
But would to god I'd hit you deep in the guts
and ripped your life away! Then my Trojans
could catch their breath again, reprieved from death--
they cringed at you like bleating goats before some lion."
But never flinching, staunch Diomedes countered,
"So brave with your bow and arrows--big bravado--
glistening lovelocks, roving eye for girls!
Come, try me in combat, weapons hand-to-hand-
bow and spattering shafts will never help you then.
You scratch my foot and you're vaunting all the same--
but who cares? A woman or idiot boy could wound me so.
The shaft of a good-for-nothing coward's got no point
but mine's got heft and edge. Let it graze a man--
my weapon works in a flash and drops him dead.
And his good wife will tear her cheeks in grief,
his sons are orphans and he, soaking the soil
red with his own blood, he rots away himself--
more birds than women flocking round his body!"
So he yelled and the famous spearman Odysseus
rushed in close and reared up to shield him.
Slipping behind, Tydides dropped to a knee
and yanked the winged arrow from his foot
as the raw pain went stabbing through his flesh.
Back Diomedes jumped on his car and told his driver
to make for the hollow ships--Tydides racked with pain.
That left the famous spearman Odysseus on his own,
not a single Argive comrade standing by his side
since panic seized them all. Unnerved himself,
Odysseus probed his own great fighting heart:
"O dear god, what becomes of Odysseus now?
A disgraceful thing if I should break and run,
fearing their main force--but it's far worse
if I'm taken all alone. Look, Zeus just drove
the rest of my comrades off in panic flight.
But why debate, my friend, why thrash things out?
Cowards, I know, would quit the fighting now
but the man who wants to make his mark in war
must stand his ground and brace for all he's worth--
suffer his wounds or wound his man to death."
Weighing it all, heart and soul, as on they came,
closing in on their own sure destruction ...
like hounds and lusty hunters closing, ringing
a wild boar till out of his thicket lair he crashes,
whetting his white tusks sharp in his bent, wrenching jaws
and they rush in to attack and under the barks and shouts
you can hear the gnash of tusks but the men stand firm--
terrible, murderous as he is--so the Trojans ringed
Odysseus dear to Zeus, rushing him straight on.
But he lunged first, wounding lordly Deiopites,
spearshaft slicing into the Trojan's shoulder,
then cut down Thoon and Ennomus in their blood,
Chersidamas next, vaulting down from his car--
Odysseus caught him up under the bulging shield
with a jabbing spear that split him crotch to navel--
the man writhed in the dust, hands clutching the earth.
Odysseus left them dead and skewered Hippasus' son,
one Charops the blood brother of wealthy Socus
but Socus moved in quick as a god to shield his kin,
standing up to his enemy, crying out, "Odysseus--
wild for fame, glutton for cunning, glutton for war,
today you can triumph over the two sons of Hippasus,
killing such good men and stripping off their gear--
or beaten down by my spear you'll breathe your last!"
With that he stabbed at Odysseus' balanced shield,
straight through the gleaming hide the heavy weapon drove,
ripping down and in through the breastplate finely worked
and it flayed the skin clean off Odysseus' ribs
but Pallas Athena would never let it pierce
her hero's vitals. Odysseus knew the end
had not yet come--no final, fatal wound--
and drawing back he hurled his boast at Socus:
"Poor man, headlong death is about to overtake you!
You've stopped my fighting against the Trojans, true,
but I tell you here and now that a dark, bloody doom
will take you down today--gouged by my spear
you'll give me glory now,
you'll give your life to the famous horseman Death!"
And spinning in terror off he ran but as he spun
Odysseus plunged a spear in his back between the shoulders--
straight through his chest the shaft came jutting out
and down Socus crashed, Odysseus vaunting over him:
"Socus, son of Hippasus, skilled breaker of horses,
so, Death in its rampage outraced you--no escape.
No, poor soldier. Now your father and noble mother
will never close your eyes in death--screaming vultures
will claw them out of you, wings beating your corpse!
But I, if I should die,
my comrades-in-arms will bury me in style!"
He dragged the heavy spear of hardened Socus
squelching out of his own wound and bulging shield.
As the fighter tore it out the blood came gushing forth
and his heart sank. And seeing Odysseus bleeding there
the Trojan troops exulted, calling across the melee,
charging him in a mass as edging, backing off
he gave ground now, calling his own companions.
Three shattering cries he loosed at full pitch
till Odysseus' head would burst--three times
Menelaus tense for combat heard his cries
and at once he called to Ajax standing near,
"Ajax, royal son of Telamon, captain of armies,
my ears ring with his cries--Odysseus never daunted.
He sounds like a man cut off and overpowered,
mauled by Trojan ranks in the rough assault.
Quick through the onset--better save him now!
I'm afraid he may be hurt, alone with the Trojans,
brave as Odysseus is--a blow to all our troops."
And Atrides led the way and Ajax took his lead,
striding on like a god until they found Odysseus
dear to Zeus but round him Trojans thronged
like tawny jackals up in the mountains swarming
round a homed stag just wounded--a hunter's hit him
with one fast shaft from his bow and the stag's escaped,
sprinting at top speed so long as his blood runs warm
and the spring in his knees still lasts ...
But soon as the swift arrow saps his strength
the ravening carrion packs begin their feasting
off on a ridge in twilight woods until some god,
some power drives a lion down against them--ctaw-mad
and the panicked jackals scatter, the lion rends their prey.