第69章 BOOK XII(3)

"Odysseus, and all ye Achaean chiefs, This work for which ye crave will I perform -- Yea, though they torture me, though into fire Living they thrust me; for mine heart is fixed Not to escape, but die by hands of foes, Except I crown with glory your desire."

Stoutly he spake: right glad the Argives were;

And one said: "How the Gods have given to-day High courage to this man! He hath not been Heretofore valiant. Heaven is kindling him To be the Trojans' ruin, but to us Salvation. Now full soon, I trow, we reach The goal of grievous war, so long unseen."

So a voice murmured mid the Achaean host.

Then, to stir up the heroes, Nestor cried:

"Now is the time, dear sons, for courage and strength:

Now do the Gods bring nigh the end of toil:

Now give they victory to our longing hands.

Come, bravely enter ye this cavernous Horse.

For high renown attendeth courage high.

Oh that my limbs were mighty as of old, When Aeson's son for heroes called, to man Swift Argo, when of the heroes foremost I Would gladly have entered her, but Pelias The king withheld me in my own despite.

Ah me, but now the burden of years -- O nay, As I were young, into the Horse will I Fearlessly! Glory and strength shall courage give."

Answered him golden-haired Achilles' son:

"Nestor, in wisdom art thou chief of men;

But cruel age hath caught thee in his grip:

No more thy strength may match thy gallant will;

Therefore thou needs must unto Tenedos' strand.

We will take ambush, we the youths, of strife Insatiate still, as thou, old sire, dost bid."

Then strode the son of Neleus to his side, And kissed his hands, and kissed the head of him Who offered thus himself the first of all To enter that huge horse, being peril-fain, And bade the elder of days abide without.

Then to the battle-eager spake the old:

"Thy father's son art thou! Achilles' might And chivalrous speech be here! O, sure am I That by thine hands the Argives shall destroy The stately city of Priam. At the last, After long travail, glory shall be ours, Ours, after toil and tribulation of war;

The Gods have laid tribulation at men's feet But happiness far off, and toil between:

Therefore for men full easy is the path To ruin, and the path to fame is hard, Where feet must press right on through painful toil."

He spake: replied Achilles' glorious son:

"Old sire, as thine heart trusteth, be it vouchsafed In answer to our prayers; for best were this:

But if the Gods will otherwise, be it so.

Ay, gladlier would I fall with glory in fight Than flee from Troy, bowed 'neath a load of shame."

Then in his sire's celestial arms he arrayed His shoulders; and with speed in harness sheathed Stood the most mighty heroes, in whose healers Was dauntless spirit. Tell, ye Queens of Song, Now man by man the names of all that passed Into the cavernous Horse; for ye inspired My soul with all my song, long ere my cheek Grew dark with manhood's beard, what time I fed My goodly sheep on Smyrna's pasture-lea, From Hermus thrice so far as one may hear A man's shout, by the fane of Artemis, In the Deliverer's Grove, upon a hill Neither exceeding low nor passing high.

Into that cavernous Horse Achilles' son First entered, strong Menelaus followed then, Odysseus, Sthenelus, godlike Diomede, Philoctetes and Menestheus, Anticlus, Thoas and Polypoetes golden-haired, Aias, Eurypylus, godlike Thrasymede, Idomeneus, Meriones, far-famous twain, Podaleirius of spears, Eurymachus, Teucer the godlike, fierce Ialmenus, Thalpius, Antimachus, Leonteus staunch, Eumelus, and Euryalus fair as a God, Amphimachus, Demophoon, Agapenor, Akamas, Meges stalwart Phyleus' son -- Yea, more, even all their chiefest, entered in, So many as that carven Horse could hold.

Godlike Epeius last of all passed in, The fashioner of the Horse; in his breast lay The secret of the opening of its doors And of their closing: therefore last of all He entered, and he drew the ladders up Whereby they clomb: then made he all secure, And set himself beside the bolt. So all In silence sat 'twixt victory and death.

But the rest fired the tents, wherein erewhile They slept, and sailed the wide sea in their ships.

Two mighty-hearted captains ordered these, Nestor and Agamemnon lord of spears.

Fain had they also entered that great Horse, But all the host withheld them, bidding stay With them a-shipboard, ordering their array:

For men far better work the works of war When their kings oversee them; therefore these Abode without, albeit mighty men.

So came they swiftly unto Tenedos' shore, And dropped the anchor-stones, then leapt in haste Forth of the ships, and silent waited there Keen-watching till the signal-torch should flash.

But nigh the foe were they in the Horse, and now Looked they for death, and now to smite the town;

And on their hopes and fears uprose the dawn.

Then marked the Trojans upon Hellespont's strand The smoke upleaping yet through air: no more Saw they the ships which brought to them from Greece Destruction dire. With joy to the shore they ran, But armed them first, for fear still haunted them Then marked they that fair-carven Horse, and stood Marvelling round, for a mighty work was there.

A hapless-seeming man thereby they spied, Sinon; and this one, that one questioned him Touching the Danaans, as in a great ring They compassed him, and with unangry words First questioned, then with terrible threatenings.

Then tortured they that man of guileful soul Long time unceasing. Firm as a rock abode The unquivering limbs, the unconquerable will.

His ears, his nose, at last they shore away In every wise tormenting him, until He should declare the truth, whither were gone The Danaans in their ships, what thing the Horse Concealed within it. He had armed his mind With resolution, and of outrage foul Recked not; his soul endured their cruel stripes, Yea, and the bitter torment of the fire;

For strong endurance into him Hera breathed;

And still he told them the same guileful tale:

"The Argives in their ships flee oversea Weary of tribulation of endless war.