Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
“Hear me, Trojans and Achaeans, that I may speak even as I am
minded; Jove on his high throne has brought our oaths and
covenants to nothing, and foreshadows ill for both of us, till you
either take the towers of Troy, or are yourselves vanquished at your
ships. The princes of the Achaeans are here present in the midst of
you; let him, then, that will fight me stand forward as your
champion against Hector. Thus I say, and may Jove be witness
between us. If your champion slay me, let him strip me of my
armour and take it to your ships, but let him send my body home
that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire when
I am dead. In like manner, if Apollo vouchsafe me glory and I slay
your champion, I will strip him of his armour and take it to the city
of Ilius, where I will hang it in the temple of Apollo, but I will give
up his body, that the Achaeans may bury him at their ships, and the
build him a mound by the wide waters of the Hellespont. Then
will one say hereafter as he sails his ship over the sea, ‘This is the
monument of one who died long since a champion who was slain
by mighty Hector.’ Thus will one say, and my fame shall not be
lost.”
Thus did he speak, but they all held their peace, ashamed to
decline the challenge, yet fearing to accept it, till at last Menelaus
rose and rebuked them, for he was angry. “Alas,” he cried, “vain
braggarts, women forsooth not men, double-dyed indeed will be
the stain upon us if no man of the Danaans will now face Hector.
May you be turned every man of you into earth and water as you
sit spiritless and inglorious in your places. I will myself go out
against this man, but the upshot of the fight will be from on high in
the hands of the immortal gods.”
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