Seba.Health

The Iliad 21.308–323

The Iliad 21.308–323
neither will the Trojans abide him in battle. Nay, bear thou aid with speed, and fill thy streams with water from thy springs, and arouse all thy torrents; raise thou a great wave, and stir thou a mighty din of tree-trunks and stones, that we may check this fierce man that now prevaileth, and is minded to vie even with the gods. For I deem that his strength shall naught avail him, neither anywise his comeliness, nor yet that goodly armour, which, I ween, deep beneath the mere shall lie covered over with slime; and himself will I enwrap in sands and shed over him great store of shingle past all measuring; nor shall the Achaeans know where to gather his bones, with such a depth of silt shall I enshroud him. Even here shall be his sepulchre, nor shall he have need of a heaped-up mound, when the Achaeans make his funeral.
φίλε κασίγνητε σθένος ἀνέρος ἀμφότεροί περ σχῶμεν, ἐπεὶ τάχα ἄστυ μέγα Πριάμοιο ἄνακτος ἐκπέρσει, Τρῶες δὲ κατὰ μόθον οὐ μενέουσιν. ἀλλʼ ἐπάμυνε τάχιστα, καὶ ἐμπίπληθι ῥέεθρα ὕδατος ἐκ πηγέων, πάντας δʼ ὀρόθυνον ἐναύλους, ἵστη δὲ μέγα κῦμα, πολὺν δʼ ὀρυμαγδὸν ὄρινε φιτρῶν καὶ λάων, ἵνα παύσομεν ἄγριον ἄνδρα ὃς δὴ νῦν κρατέει, μέμονεν δʼ γε ἶσα θεοῖσι. φημὶ γὰρ οὔτε βίην χραισμησέμεν οὔτέ τι εἶδος οὔτε τὰ τεύχεα καλά, τά που μάλα νειόθι λίμνης κείσεθʼ ὑπʼ ἰλύος κεκαλυμμένα· κὰδ δέ μιν αὐτὸν εἰλύσω ψαμάθοισιν ἅλις χέραδος περιχεύας μυρίον, οὐδέ οἱ ὀστέʼ ἐπιστήσονται Ἀχαιοὶ ἀλλέξαι· τόσσην οἱ ἄσιν καθύπερθε καλύψω. αὐτοῦ οἱ καὶ σῆμα τετεύξεται, οὐδέ τί μιν χρεὼ ἔσται τυμβοχόης, ὅτε μιν θάπτωσιν Ἀχαιοί.
Read in context →