Book 13
Late Antiquity Quintus Smyrnaeus Greek- And they throughout the city were feasting; and among them the flutes together with the pipes sounded loud; and on every side song to the dance and a confused din arose of the feasters, such as comes at a banquet and over wine. And one, taking in his hands a brimming cup, drank heedlessly; and his wits grew heavy within; and his eyes whirled round about; and one word upon another he let fall from his mouth, uttering broken speech; and to him in the hall the treasures and the house itself seemed like things in motion; and he thought that all was whirling about the city; and a mist enveloped his eyes; for by strong wine are blurred the sight and the mind of men, when it comes flooding into the wits; and, his head heavy, he spoke a word like this: "Truly in vain the Danaans gathered a great host hither, the wretches, nor accomplished what they devised in their minds, but in just this way they have sped away from our city, like little children or like women." So spoke one of the Trojans, his wits hemmed in by wine, the fool; nor did he perceive destruction at the doors. For when sleep held throughout the city one man and another as they filled themselves with boundless wine and food, then Sinon raised aloft the smoking beacon, showing the Argives the gleam of fire; and about him his heart beat unspeakably within his breast, lest the Trojans see him, the strong Trojans, and all at once be made plain; but they upon their beds slept their last sleep, weighed down with much strong wine; and the others, seeing it, from Tenedos made ready their ships for the voyage. And Sinon himself went near the horse; and softly he called, softly and long, that none among the Trojans might hear, but only the leaders of the Danaans, from whom sleep had wholly flown, in their longing to toil. And they, being within, heard him, and toward Odysseus all bent their ears; and he urged them softly and steadily to come forth; and they obeyed his urging toward battle, and from the horse to the ground they were eager to go down; but in his skill he held back all in their eagerness; and he himself with swift hands of the wooden horse very quietly here and there opened the sides, with his good ashen spear, by Epeius' work. A little he leaned out over the planks, and on every side peered for the Trojans, to see if any were awake; and as when, smitten in heart with grievous hunger, a wolf comes from the mountains, craving food, toward the broad fold of the flock, and shunning men and dogs, who are eager to guard the sheep, goes at ease on his feet over the sheepfold's wall; so Odysseus came down from the horse; and about him the other mighty kings of all the Hellenes followed, descending the ladders in rows, which Epeius had made, paths for the strong chiefs as they went into the horse and came out of the horse. And these then about it came down, one from this side, one from that, like bold wasps, which when a woodcutter has stirred, they all together, roused in heart, pour out from the bough, when they hear the noise; so they, eager, poured out from the horse into the well-built city of the Trojans; and in them the heart beat in their breasts . . . . . . quickly they slew the foe . . . . . . and the others still rowed within the sea; and the ships were borne over the great swell; and Thetis guided their course, sending a fair wind behind; and the heart of the Achaeans was warmed; and swiftly coming to the shores of the Hellespont, there again they beached their ships, and all the gear they took down skilfully, all that ever follows ships. And they, straightway disembarking, hastened to Ilium, silent, as sheep that rush toward the fold from the woodland pasture in the night of autumn; so they, voiceless, went toward the city of the Trojans, all eager to help the chiefs. And they, as wolves, ravening dreadfully in their hunger, fall upon the fold along the long mountains and the woodland while the wretched watchman sleeps, and one upon another slay the sheep within the pen beneath the darkness, and on every side . . . . . . . . . with blood and corpses, and dread destruction arose, though still more of the Danaans were outside; but when all of them had come to the walls of Troy, then, raging, pitilessly they poured into the city of Priam, breathing the might of Ares. And the whole city they found full of war and of corpses; and everywhere the groaning halls burned grievously with fire; and greatly in their hearts they were gladdened. And they too, with evil purpose, rushed upon the Trojans; and in their midst raged Ares and groaning Enyo; and everywhere dark blood flowed over, and the earth was drenched as the Trojans were slain and the allies from foreign lands. Of these some, overcome by chilling death, lay throughout the city in their blood; and others above them fell, breathing out their strength; and others with their hands clutching their entrails wretchedly wandered about the houses; and others, their feet cut off on either side, crawled about the corpses, wailing unspeakably; and of many who longed to fight in the dust the hands were struck off, together with the heads themselves; and as others fled, the ashen spears pierced through their backs clean out at the breast, and of others reached the loins above the privy parts, clean through, where most the point of unwearied Ares brings much pain. And everywhere about the city a grievous howling of dogs arose; and the groaning of slaughtered warriors was piteous; and around all the halls there rang an unspeakable cry; and the groaning wail of women was there, like cranes, when they see an eagle darting on high through the air, and there is in their breasts no bold spirit, but only they twitter long, in fear of the sacred bird; so the women of Troy wailed loud, one here, one there, some starting up from their beds, others to the ground leaping; and they took no more thought of their grievous girdle, but in this very way wandered with only a tunic cast about their limbs; and others had not time to take a veil or a deep robe upon their limbs, but, as the foe came on, trembling, they were fettered in helplessness, their hearts quaking, and only with their swift hands the wretched ones hid their shame; and others grievously tore the hair from their heads, and beat their breasts with their hands, wailing aloud; and others endured the turmoil of the foe face to face, and forgot their fear, eager to help the perishing, their husbands or their children, since great courage necessity gave them. And the wailing roused from sleep the tender-minded infants, whose hearts knew not yet of sorrows; and some breathed out their lives upon others; and they sank down, seeing their doom together with their dreams; and around them the baleful Fates rejoiced wretchedly over the dying. And they, as swine in the house of a wealthy lord who makes ready a boundless banquet for the host, in their thousands were slain; and with the baleful gore was mingled the wine still left in the mixing-bowls; nor was there any who, apart from slaughter, bore the groaning iron, not even one who was very weak; and the Trojans were destroyed. And as beneath jackals or wolves the sheep are slaughtered when, in the rushing of the foul heat at midday, the shepherd not being present, in a shady place in a flock all huddled close together they remain, while he brings milk to his own body, . . . filling their capacious bellies, coming upon all, they drink the black blood, and waiting they destroy the whole flock, and make an evil feast for the wretched herdsman; so the Danaans through the city of Priam one upon another slew, rushing on, in the last fray; nor was there any of the Trojans unwounded, but of all alike the bent limbs were spattered, blackened with much blood. Nor was the strife unwounding for the Argives, but some were struck with cups, others with tables, others, struck on the still-burning hearth with brands, others, pierced with spits, breathed their last, on which there still remained the warm flesh of swine as the breath of consuming Hephaestus seethed about; and others again, by axes and swift hatchets, gasped, laid low in their blood; and from their hands the fingers were cut, when upon the sword they cast their hands, longing to ward off the hateful Fates; and one crushed together the skull and the brain of a comrade with a stone he hurled in the fray; and they, like beasts wounded in the steadings of a herdsman of the field, raged grievously, their wrath awakened beneath the baleful night; and greatly thirsting for Ares about the halls of Priam they raised turmoil, driving one this way, one that; and many also fell by the spears of the Argives; for the Trojans, all who had time in the halls to raise either sword or long spear in their hands, laid low the foe, even though weighed down with wine. And an unspeakable gleam arose through the city, because of the Achaeans many held in their hands the gleam of fire, that in the strife they might see clearly both foe and friends. And then the son of Tydeus, meeting in the fray the spearman Coroebus, son of noble Mygdon, pierced him with his spear through the hollow gullet, where the swift paths of drink and food are. And about the spear black doom overtook him; he fell into the black blood and the throngs of the other dead, the fool, nor had joy of the marriage, for whose sake he had come the day before to the city of Priam . . . . . . and had promised to thrust the Achaeans back from Ilium; but the god did not bring his hope to pass; for the Fates had sent destruction upon him. And with him he slew Eurydamas as he came against him, the son-in-law of good-ashen-speared Antenor, who especially in heart among the Trojans was adorned with wisdom. There too he met Ilioneus, an elder of the people, and drew his terrible sword upon him; and the aged man's limbs were wholly loosed upon his body; and trembling, with both his hands he grasped with one the swift sword, with the other the knees of the man-slaying hero; and he, eager though he was for the fray, either by a delay of his wrath, or because a god urged him, held his sword a little back from the old man, that he might say something, beseeching the swift and mighty man; and he, grievously, cried out in haste; and hateful dread enwrapped him: "I beseech you, whoever you are of the mighty Argives, respect my hands cast about you, and from your grievous wrath cease; for indeed it is great glory for a man to have slain a young and mighty man; but if an old man you slay, there will follow no praise for you for valour; therefore turn your hands away from me toward the warriors, hoping yourself one day to come to like old age." To him as he spoke the son of strong Tydeus answered: "O old man, I hope myself to come to a goodly old age; but while still my strength grows, I will leave none an enemy of my head, but will send them all to Hades, since a noble man is he who wards off the foeman." So speaking, he drove the deadly sword through his throat, the terrible man; and he guided it where, for mortals, toward doom, the dire paths of the life and the blood go swiftest; and dire doom loosed him in death, laid low by the hands of the son of Tydeus. And he, still slaying the Trojans, rushed through the city, raging in his might; and he laid low noble Abas; and he struck beneath his long spear the glorious son of Perimnestus, Eurycoon. And Ajax slew Amphimedon, and Agamemnon the son of Damastor, and Idomeneus Mimas, and Meges took Deiopites. And the son of Achilles, beneath his irresistible spear, destroyed noble Pammon, and struck Polites as he came on, and slew Antiphonus besides; and all these together were sons of Priam; and as he came against him in the fray he laid low noble Agenor; and one upon another he slew of the heroes; and everywhere black destruction appeared of the dying; and he, clothed in his father's valour, raging, slaughtered all he caught. And he himself upon the king of the foe, with evil purpose, came at the altar of the Courtyard-god; and he, when he saw the son of Achilles, knew him at once for what he was, and did not tremble, since himself his heart longed to perish over his own sons; therefore he addressed him, longing to die: "O strong-hearted child of warlike Achilles, slay me, and pity not my wretchedness; for I, having suffered such things and so many, long not to look upon the light of the all-seeing sun, but rather already to perish together with my children, and to forget my grief, baleful, and the ill-sounding turmoil. Would that your father had slain me, before I saw blazing Ilium, when I bore the ransom for slain Hector, whom your father slew for me; but that, I think, the Fates spun out; but you, of my slaughter glut your mighty heart, that I may forget my pains." To him as he spoke the mighty son of Achilles answered: "O old man, you bid me, eager and hasting as I am; for I will not leave you, an enemy, among the living; for nothing is dearer to men than life." So speaking, he cut off the head of the grey old man easily, as one would reap an ear from the dry cornfield in the season of warm summer. And it, with a great moan, rolled far over the ground apart from the other limbs by which a man is moved; and it lay in the black blood and the slaughter of other men . . . in wealth and in lineage and in countless children; for not long for men does glory increase, but somehow reproach rushes upon them unforeseen; and him doom took; and he forgot all his woes. And the swift-horsed Danaans cast Astyanax too from the high tower, and slew his dear life, snatching him from his mother's arms, in anger for Hector, since indeed he had brought woe upon them while he lived; therefore they hated his offspring, and cast his child down from the steep wall, the infant, who knew not yet the strife of war. As when wolves in the mountains, craving food, cast down a calf into a sounding chasm by their ill devising, having cut it off from its mother's milk-rich teats, and she runs wailing for her dear young this way and that, lamenting long, and behind her another evil comes, when lions snatch her up too; so her, grieving boundlessly for her own child, the foemen led, together with the other captive women, the daughter of blameless Eetion, crying terribly. And she, remembering her child and her husband and her father, the dire slaughter, fair-ankled Eetione, longed to die, since for queens it is better to die in war than to wait upon meaner folk; and she cried out a piteous cry, grieving greatly in her heart within: "Come now, cast my body too from the dire wall or from the rocks or into the fire, at once, O Argives; for boundless woes are mine; for the son of Peleus slew my noble father in holy Thebe, and in Troy my glorious husband, who was all things to me, all that my heart desired; and he left me a little child still in the halls, in whom I gloried boundlessly, in whom many hopes the evil and reckless Fate has cheated me of. Therefore now, in my grief, from this much-toiled life take me swiftly away, nor lead me to your homes mingled with the captives, since no longer in my heart is it pleasing to be among men, since a god has destroyed my protectors; and dire grief receives me, left desolate by the Trojans amid hateful pains." So she spoke, longing to sink into the earth; for it is not fitting that those should live whom great glory turned to reproach encompasses; for it is terrible to be an object of others' suspicion. But by force they led her unwilling toward the day of slavery. And others in other houses left their lives, the men; and among them a tearful cry arose; but not in the halls of Antenor, because of him the Argives remembered the lovely hospitality, how he had once entertained in the city and saved godlike Menelaus, come together with Odysseus; to him therefore, showing favour, the best sons of the Achaeans left him alive, and let his possessions be, in reverence for all-seeing Themis and for their friend. And then the noble son of blameless Anchises, having toiled much about the city of god-born Priam with spear and manhood, and having taken the lives of many, when he saw, beneath the grievous hands of the foe, the city ablaze, and the host perishing all together, and boundless wealth; and from the halls the wives dragged out together with their children, no longer did his heart have hope to see his well-walled fatherland, but his mind pondered to escape the great woe. As when on the deep of the sea a man, plying the helm of his ship skilfully, shunning the wind and the wave that rush on from every side in the hateful season of storm, wearies his hand and his heart, and, as the ship goes under and perishes, leaving apart the helm alone, goes onto a little boat, and cares no longer for the freighted ship; so the noble son of wise Anchises, leaving the city ablaze with much fire to the foe, snatched up and bore away his son and his father, the one set upon his broad shoulder with his strong hands, labouring beneath much-enduring old age, the other touching with his soft hand and his feet the ground; and, fearing the deeds of the deadly fray, he led him out of the ill-sounding war; and by necessity he hung clinging, the tender child; and tears poured down his soft cheeks; but he, over the bodies of the dead, leaped much with swift feet, and much in the darkness unwillingly he trod; and Cypris led the way, saving from dire woe her grandson and her child and the man, of her own will; and beneath his hasting feet everywhere the fire gave way; and the breaths of consuming Hephaestus parted asunder; and the spears and the shafts of men fell all vainly to the ground, as many as the Achaeans hurled at him in that tearful war. And then Calchas cried aloud, restraining the host: "Cease against the mighty head of Aeneas to hurl your groaning shafts and deadly spears; for it is fated, by the glorious counsel of the gods, that he, coming to the broad-flowing Tiber from the Xanthus, shall build a holy city, a wonder to men to come, and shall himself rule over far-scattered mortals; and from him a race hereafter shall reign even to the rising and the unwearied setting of the dawn; and for him too it is ordained to be among the immortals, since he is the child of fair-tressed Aphrodite. And for other reasons let us keep our hands from this man, since both the gold and all else that is his possession, which saves a man as he flees to a foreign land, above all these he has preferred his father and his son; and one night has shown us a son to an aged father exceedingly tender, and a parent blameless to his child." So he spoke; and they obeyed, and looked upon him as a god, all of them; and he in haste had gone forth from his city, where his feet bore him busily; and still the Argives plundered the well-built city of Troy. And then Menelaus, with his groaning sword, slew Deiphobus, overtaking him heavy-headed beside the bed of Helen, the wretched man; and she in flight hid herself in the halls; but he, as the blood gushed forth, rejoiced over the slaughter; and he spoke a word like this: "O dog, how I have sent groaning death upon you this day; nor shall bright Dawn find you yet alive among the Trojans, even if you boast to be of Zeus the loud-thundering the son-in-law; but black destruction has received you, flayed grievously beside the halls of my wife; would that even before this I had taken the life of accursed Alexander, meeting him in the fray; then my grief would have been lighter; but he has already gone beneath the chilling gloom, having paid all his due; but you my wife was not, it seems, to profit, since lawless men never escape Themis the undefiled, because she beholds them by night and by day, and on every side over the tribes of men through the air she flies, taking vengeance with Zeus on those who know evil deeds." So speaking, he wrought pitiless destruction on the foe; for the heart raged within his breast, swelling greatly, jealous; and many evil things with bold mind he purposed against the Trojans, which the goddess brought to pass, venerable Justice; for they first did reckless deeds about Helen, and first too violated the oaths, the wretches, when they trampled through the black blood and the sacred things of the immortals, by the transgressions of their mind; therefore afterward the Furies wrought woes for them; therefore some perished before the walls, and others through the city taking their delight at the feast and with their fair-haired wives. And at last Menelaus in the inmost parts of the house found his wife, trembling at the threat of her wedded husband, bold of heart, who, beholding her, purposed to slay her in the jealousy of his mind, had not lovely Aphrodite restrained his might, who struck the sword from his hands and stayed his onrush; for she thrust away his dark jealousy, and beneath roused sweet desire in his heart and his eyes. And upon him came astonishment unlooked for; nor did he longer dare, seeing her conspicuous beauty, to bring the sword upon her neck, but, like a dry log in a wooded mountain, he stood, which neither the swift blasts of the North rushing through the air stir, nor of the South; so he in amazement stood long; and his valour was unstrung as he looked upon his wife; and at once he forgot all, all the wrongs she had done him in his wedded bed; for the goddess Cypris confounded all, who of all the immortals and of mortal men subdues the mind. But even so, raising the swift sword again from the ground, he rushed upon his wife; and his mind in his heart strove with other purpose as he hastened; but with guile he beguiled the Achaeans. And then his brother restrained him, eager though he was, with very many soothing words speaking beside him; for he feared lest all should be made vain for them: "Stay now, Menelaus, your wrath; for it is not fitting to slay your wedded wife, for whose sake many woes we have endured, devising evil for Priam; for Helen is not the cause, as you suppose, but Paris, who forgot the hospitable Zeus and your table; therefore the god has punished him amid woes." So he spoke; and at once he obeyed. And the gods over glorious Troy, covering themselves in dark clouds, lamented, save fair-tressed Tritonis and Hera, who greatly gloried in their hearts, when they saw the famed city of god-born Priam being sacked. Yet not even wise Tritogeneia herself was wholly tearless, since in her temple Ajax, the mighty son of Oileus, had outraged Cassandra, mad in heart and mind; and she upon him a dire woe cast afterward, and avenged the man for the outrage; nor did she look upon the unseemly deed, but shame and wrath were poured about her; and she turned her grim eyes to the high-roofed temple; and the divine image groaned around, and the floor of the temple greatly trembled; but he from the baleful recklessness did not cease, since Cypris had blinded his wits. And everywhere this way and that the halls crashed down from on high; and dry dust mingled with smoke; and a dire crash arose, and the streets trembled; and the house of Aeneas burned, and all the halls of Antimachus burned; and there blazed the boundless height about lovely Pergamus and about the holy temple of Apollo and the sacred shrine of Tritonis and about the altar of the Courtyard-god; and the lovely bridal chambers of the sons of Priam were set ablaze; and all the city was laid in ashes. And of the Trojans some perished beneath the children of the Argives, others beneath the baleful fire and their own halls, where for them was made both evil fate and tomb, and others drove their swords through their own throats, seeing the fire together with the foe at their doors, and others, having slain together with their children their wives, fell, having fulfilled an unbearable deed by necessity. And one, thinking the cry of the foe was far off, took up swiftly a pitcher from the hearth of Hephaestus and was eager to labour at the water; but, forestalling him, one of the Argives struck him with the spear, and took his life, weighed down with strong wine; and he fell within the house; and around him the empty pitcher fell. And upon another, as he fled through the hall, the cross-beam fell, burning, and steep destruction crashed upon him. And many women again, in grievous flight rushing, remembered their dear children beneath the house, whom they had left in their beds; and at once running on their feet they perished together with their children as the houses fell above them. And horses and dogs through the city were panicked, fleeing the might of the hateful fire; and beneath their feet they trampled the slain, and bringing woe to the living they ever crashed against them. And a cry rang about the city. And of some warrior, as he rushed through the flame . . . crying out; and within them pitiless Fate laid them low; and different paths of groaning destruction bore one and another. And the flame rose up to the divine air; and a boundless gleam spread out; and the tribes of the dwellers round about beheld it, even to the high peaks of the Idaean mountains, and of Thracian Samos and of sea-girt Tenedos; and one on the deep of the sea, within his ship, spoke a word: "The strong-hearted Argives have accomplished a boundless deed, having toiled greatly for Helen of the rolling eyes, and all that city, before so wholly blessed, in fire burns; nor did any of the gods defend it in their longing; for boundless Fate looks down on all the deeds of mortals; and many things, inglorious and unconspicuous, she makes glorious, and the lofty she has made less; and often from good comes evil, and from evil good, as much-enduring life is changed about." So spoke one of mortals from afar, beholding the boundless gleam; and groaning misery still enwrapped the Trojans; and the Argives raised turmoil through the city, like winds that, fierce, drive on the boundless sea when it is stirred, when over against the foul-blowing Arcturus the Altar rises to the starry threshold, turned toward the misty south, and about it many ships are destroyed in the sea, sunk beneath, as the winds rise; like these were the sons of the Achaeans as they plundered steep Ilium; and it burned in much fire. As when a mountain, clothed thick all over with woodland, burns swiftly beneath fire roused by the winds, and the long peaks roar round about, and grievously all the wild things are tortured beneath the might of Hephaestus, wheeling about the wood; so the Trojans were slain throughout the city; nor did any of the heavenly ones save them; for everywhere about them the Fates had set their long nets, which no mortal ever escaped. And then to Demophoon and war-steadfast Acamas, through the city, the mother of great Theseus came, Aethra, in her longing; and one of the blessed ones led her, who brought her face to face with them; and she had wandered fleeing from the war and the fire; and they, beholding in the gleam of Hephaestus the form and stature of the woman, said she was the godlike wife of god-born Priam; and at once, in their eagerness, upon her they cast their hands, longing to lead her away to the Danaans; and she, groaning terribly, spoke among them: "Do not, glorious children of the war-loving Argives, dragging me like a foe, lead me to your ships; for I boast not to be of Trojan race, but noble blood is mine, the blood of the Danaans, most glorious, since Pittheus begot me in Troezen; and noble Aegeus wedded me in marriage; and from me came glorious Theseus my son. But me, by great Zeus and by your dear parents, if truly the sons of blameless Theseus have come hither together with the sons of Atreus, show me, to his dear children, in my longing, throughout the host, whom I think to be of like age with you; and my heart will breathe again, if I see them living, both noble chiefs." So she spoke; and they, hearing, remembered their father, all he did for Helen, and how they sacked Aphidnae, the sons of loud-thundering Zeus, before, when from the battle they hid away their nurses, while they were still infants; and they remembered noble Aethra, all she toiled under captive necessity, being at once both a mother-in-law and a handmaid born to godlike Helen; and in their amazement they rejoiced. And noble Demophoon spoke to her in her longing: "For you indeed the gods are fulfilling your heart's desire at once, since you have beheld the sons of the blameless son, even us, who, lifting you in our dear hands, will bear you to the ships, and to the holy soil of Hellas will lead you gladly, where before you were queen." So he spoke; and the mother of his great father embraced him, casting her arms about him, and kissed his broad shoulders and his head and his breast and his bearded chin; and likewise she kissed Acamas, and about them tears sweet flowed down their eyelids as they wept; as when, of a warrior who is among foreign men, the people spread the report of his death, and then his sons, beholding him afterward come home, weep very sweetly; and he likewise with his children himself mourns in the halls upon their shoulders, and about the house a piteous sound of sweet lamenting flies around; so over them as they wept a sweet wailing flamed about. And then they say that the daughter of much-possessing Priam, Laodice, stretched her hands to the air, praying to the unwearied blessed ones, that the earth might swallow her up, before she set her hand to slavish work. And one of the gods heard her, and straightway the earth beneath he rent, boundless; and she, by the promptings of the god, received the divine maiden within a hollow chasm, as Ilium perished, for whose sake they say even deep-robed Electra herself wrapped her body about with mist and clouds, departing from the dance of the other Pleiades, who are indeed her sisters; but they, in the sight of wretched men, rise in their throng to the sky; but she alone is hidden ever unseen, since the holy city of her noble son Dardanus had fallen; nor did Zeus himself, most high, help her from the air, since to the Fates even the might of great Zeus yields; but this, I think, the noble mind of the immortals soon wrought, or they themselves; and the Argives still roused their spirit against the Trojans everywhere through the city; and Strife held the bounds of battle.