Some fragments from The Iliad

I’ve just finished reading The Iliad in the new translation by the godlike Emily Wilson.

I had tried to read The Iliad previously and had always given up after not many pages. The Odyssey though, has long been a favorite. After reading Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey a few years ago and loving it, I was hopeful her Iliad would take me over the hump.
It did.

I’m still partial to The Odyssey. I had to force myself to finish The Iliad. It gets repetitive for my taste, and there are too many genealogies of men fallen in battle.
But there are brilliant moments, and I have found it surprisingly bracing.

Here are a few fragments that have impressed me in various ways:

You keep complaining, but I tell you this,

and swear that it will surely come to pass,

if I find that you continue acting

as stupidly as you are doing now,

I hope my head stops resting on my shoulders,

and let Odysseus no more be called

the father of Telemachus, unless

I grab you, rip your cloak and tunic off,

expose your private parts, and beat you up,

humiliating you with blows. I shall

force you to leave the meeting place and go

back to the swift ships, weeping and ashamed.

from page 34, book 2.

So no man ought to hurry off back home

before he shares a Trojan woman’s bed

to pay for Helen’s sufferings and struggles.

But if some man is desperate to go home,

then let him touch his black ship’s rowing benches,

and he can meet his fated end and die

right here in front of everyone. […]

from page 37, Book 2.

When godlike Paris Alexander saw him

appear among the foremost line of fighters,

his confidence was battered and he slunk

back to his group of friends, avoiding death.

As in the valleys of a mountainside

when someone sees a snake and startles back,

their body trembles and their cheeks turn pale

and off they run—so godlike Paris, frightened

of Menelaus, son of Atreus,

drew back among the throng of Trojan fighters.

But Hector saw him and reproached and shamed him.

from page 58.

So they were struggling amid the crush

of violent fighting. As for Diomedes

you could not even tell which group of men

he sided with, the Trojans or the Greeks.

Across the plain he hurtled, like a river

swollen by the winter rain, that overflows

and smashes the embankments built to stop it.

No dam, no fence around the verdant vineyards

can hold its place against the sudden onslaught

from page 100.

As when the herdsman is away, a lion

leaps to attack a flock of sheep or goats,

and pounces on them with intent to kill,

so Diomedes, son of Tydeus,

slaughtered the Thracians and killed twelve of them.

Canny Odysseus stood just behind him,

and every time the son of Tydeus

approached a man and killed him with his sword,

Odysseus would grab the victim’s foot

and drag him to the side, because he wanted

to make sure the splendid long-maned horses

would pass through easily and not be spooked

by stepping on the corpses of the dead.

from page 241, book 10.

But noble Hector, glittering in bronze,

answered him,

“Ajax, you are such a peasant!

Your words are always wrong. A stupid speech!

[…]

Among your people you will die today,

if you are brave enough to stand and face

my long spear, which will feast and have a banquet

upon your lily skin, and you will feed

the dogs and birds of Troy with fat and flesh

when you have fallen dead beside your ships

from page 325, book 13.

Odysseus, the master strategist,

scowled as he answered him. “Lord Agamemnon,

what have you said? What words have now escaped

out of your mouth and past your fence of teeth?

Curse you! I wish you led some other army,

from page 330.

[…] Even the wisest people

are roused to rage, which trickles into you

sweeter than honey, and inside your body

it swells like smoke—just so, Lord Agamemnon

enraged me. But that happened in the past.

from page 443 book 18.

But now I shall explain myself quite clearly

to Lord Achilles, son of Peleus.

You other Greeks must listen and attend

to everything I say. The Greeks have often

spoken to me about the things I said

and blamed me for them. It was not my fault!

The ones to blame are Destiny and Zeus

and the avenging night-walker, the Fury,

sent a wild delusion in my mind

from page 466.

This made Achilles yearn

to mourn his father. With his hand, he gently

took hold of the old man and pushed him back.

Then both remembered those whom they had lost.

Curled in a ball beside Achilles’ feet

Priam sobbed desperately for murderous Hector.

Achilles wept, at times for his own father,

and sometimes for Patroclus. So their wailing

suffused the house. But when godlike Achilles

had had his fill of tears and his desire

to weep had left his body and his mind,

he jumped up from his chair and with his hand

lifted the old man to his feet, in pity

for his white hair and his white beard, and spoke

winged words to him.

“Poor man! Your heart has suffered

so much. How could you bear to come alone

here to the Greek fleet to face me, who slaughtered

so many of your fine and noble sons?

Your heart is surely made of iron. Come,

sit on a chair, and let us hide our grief

inside ourselves, despite our bitter sorrow.

from page 599, book 24.