Zeus Send Strife

Now Dawn rose from her couch from beside lordly Tithonus, to bring light to immortals and to mortal men; and Zeus sent forth Strife unto the swift ships of the Achaeans, dread Strife, bearing in her hands a portent of war. And she took her hand by Odysseus' black ship, huge of hull, that was in the midst so that a shout could reach to either end, both to the huts of Aias, son of Telamon, and to those of Achilles; for these had drawn up their shapely ships at the furthermost ends, trusting in their valour and the strength of their hands. There stood the goddess and uttered a great and terrible shout, a shrill cry of war, and in the heart of each man of the Achaeans she put great strength to war and to fight unceasingly. And to them forthwith war became sweeter than to return in their hollow ships to their dear native land.

But the son of Atreus shouted aloud, and bade the Argives array them for battle, and himself amid them did on the gleaming bronze. The greaves first he set about his legs; beautiful they were, and fitted with silver ankle-pieces; next he did on about his chest the corselet that on a time Cinyras had given him for a guest-gift. For he heard afar in Cyprus the great rumour that the Achaeans were about to sail forth to Troy in their ships, wherefore he gave him the breastplate to do pleasure to the king. Thereon verily were ten bands of dark cyanus, and twelve of gold, and twenty of tin; and serpents of cyanus writhed up toward the neck, three on either side, like rainbows that the son of Cronos hath set in the clouds, a portent for mortal men. And about his shoulders he flung his sword, whereon gleamed studs of gold, while the scabbard about it was of silver, fitted with golden chains. And he took up his richly dight, valorous shield, that sheltered a man on both sides, a fair shield, and round about it were ten circles of bronze, and upon it twenty bosses of tin, gleaming white, and in the midst of them was one of dark cyanus. And thereon was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout. From the shield was hung a baldric of silver, and thereon writhed a serpent of cyanus, that had three heads turned this way and that, growing forth from one neck. And upon his head he set his helmet with two horns and with bosses four, with horsehair crest, and terribly did the plume nod from above. And he took two mighty spears, tipped with bronze; keen they were, and far from him into heaven shone the bronze; and thereat Athene and Hera thundered, doing honour to the king of Mycenae, rich in gold.

Then on his own charioteer each man laid command to hold in his horses well and orderly there at the trench, but themselves on foot, arrayed in their armour, ranged swiftly forward, and a cry unquenchable rose up before the face of Dawn. Long in advance of the charioteers were they arrayed at the trench, but after them a little space followed the charioteers. And among them the son of Cronos roused an evil din, and down from on high from out of heaven he sent dew-drops dank with blood, for that he was about to send forth to Hades many a valiant head.

And the Trojans over against them on the rising ground of the plain mustered about great Hector and peerless Polydamas and Aeneas that was honoured of the folk of the Trojans even as a god, and the three sons of Antenor, Polybus and goodly Agenor and young Acamas, like to the immortals. And Hector amid the foremost bare his shield that was well balanced upon every side. Even as from amid the clouds there gleameth a baneful star, all glittering, and again it sinketh behind the shadowy clouds, even so Hector would now appear amid the foremost and now amid the hindmost giving them commands; and all in bronze he flashed like the lightning of father Zeus that beareth the aegis.

And as reapers over against each other drive their swathes in a rich man's field of wheat or barley, and the handfuls fall thick and fast; even so the Trojans and Achaeans leapt upon one another and made havoc, nor would either side take thought of ruinous flight; and equal heads had the battle, and they raged like wolves. And Strife, that is fraught with many groanings, was glad as she looked thereon; for alone of the gods she was with them in their fighting; whereas the other gods were not among them, but abode in peace in their own halls, where for each one a fair palace was builded amid the folds of Olympus. And all were blaming the son of Cronos, lord of the dark clouds, for that he willed to give glory to the Trojans. Howbeit of them the father recked not; but aloof from the others he sat apart exulting in his glory, looking upon the city of the Trojans, and the ships of the Achaeans, on the flashing of the bronze, and on the slayers and the slain.

Now as long as it was morn and the sacred day was waxing, so long the missiles of either side struck home, and the folk kept falling; but at the hour when a woodman maketh ready his meal in the glades of a mountain, when his arms are grown tired with felling tall trees, and weariness cometh upon his soul, and desire of sweet food seizeth his heart, even then the Danaans by their valour brake the battalions, calling to their fellows through the lines. And among them Agamemnon rushed forth the first and slew a warrior, Bienor, shepherd of the host,—himself and after him his comrade, Oïleus, driver of horses. Oïleus verily leapt down from his chariot and stood and faced him, but even as he rushed straight upon him the king smote him on the forehead with his sharp spear, nor was the spear stayed by his helm, heavy with bronze, but passed through it and through the bone, and all his brain was spattered about within; so stayed he him in his fury. These then did Agamemnon, king of men, leave there, gleaming with their naked breasts, when he had stripped off their tunics, and went on to slay Isus and Antiphus, two sons of Priam, one a bastard and one born in wedlock, the twain being in one car: the bastard the reins, but glorious Antiphus stood by his side to fight. These twain had Achilles on a time bound with fresh withes amid the spurs of Ida, taking them as they were herding their sheep, and had set them free for a ransom. But now the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, struck Isus on the breast above the nipple with a cast of his spear, and Antiphus he smote hard by the ear with his sword, and cast him from the chariot. Then he made haste to strip from the twain their goodly battle-gear, knowing them full well, for he had seen them before by the swift ships, when Achilles, fleet of foot brought them from Ida. And as a lion easily crusheth the little ones of a swift hind, when he hath seized them with his strong teeth, and hath come to their lair, and taketh from them their tender life,--and the mother, though she chance to be very near, cannot succour them, for on herself too cometh dread trembling, and swiftly she darteth through the thick brush and the woodland, hasting and sweating before the onset of the mighty beast; even so was no one of the Trojans able to ward off destruction from these twain, but themselves were driven in flight before the Argives.


- Homer, The Iliad, Book 11