Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
And King Agamemnon answered, “Nestor, if the Trojans are
indeed fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the
trench has served us- over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and
which they deemed would be an impregnable bulwark both for us
and our fleet- I see it must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans
should perish ingloriously here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove
was willing to defend us, and I know now that he is raising the
Trojans to like honour with the gods, while us, on the other hand,
he bas bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say;
let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and draw them
into the water; let us make them fast to their mooring-stones a little
way out, against the fall of night- if even by night the Trojans will
desist from fighting; we may then draw down the rest of the fleet.
There is nothing wrong in flying ruin even by night. It is better for a
man that he should fly and be saved than be caught and killed.”
Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, “Son of Atreus, what are
you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some
other and baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has
allotted a life of hard fighting from youth to old age, till we every
one of us perish. Is it thus that you would quit the city of Troy, to
win which we have suffered so much hardship? Hold your peace,
lest some other of the Achaeans hear you say what no man who
knows how to give good counsel, no king over so great a host as
that of the Argives should ever have let fall from his lips. I despise
your judgement utterly for what you have been saying. Would
you, then, have us draw down our ships into the water while the
battle is raging, and thus play further into the hands of the
conquering Trojans? It would be ruin; the Achaeans will not go on
fighting when they see the ships being drawn into the water, but
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