The Battle on the Plain
Zeus called all the gods and goddesses and said: “Listen to me, and obey. No one shall help either the Greeks or the Trojans. If any god or goddess dares to do so I will throw him down from here into the outer darkness.”
The gods were terribly afraid. Athena said: “Father, we know that none of us can stand up against you. Yet we cannot help pitying the Greeks, for we fear that they will be destroyed. We will not help them, but, if you will permit, we will give them advice.”
Zeus gave his consent and flew midway between heaven and Earth to watch the battle, for the time was come when he would keep the promise he had made to Thetis.
The two armies came together in battle, but neither prevailed over the other. At noon, Zeus held out his golden scales. In one scale he laid a weight for the Trojans, in the other a weight for the Greeks. The weights were weights of death, and the army whose weight was heavier would suffer most. The scale of the Greeks sank lower.
Thus Zeus sent a thunderbolt into the Greek army, and after this no man could hold his ground. Old Nestor was greatly afraid and cried: “O Diomed, let us fly; Zeus is against us. He gives glory to Hector today; tomorrow, maybe, he will give it to you. But what he wills that will he do, and no man may hinder him.”
Diomed answered: “Old sir, you speak wisely, but Hector will say, ‘Diomed fled before me, seeking to hide himself in the ships.’ I had sooner that the Earth should swallow me up than that I should hear such things.”
But Nestor answered: “Hector may call you coward, but the sons of Troy will not believe him.”
So then Diomed turned the horses to fly. Hector cried when he saw the great Diomed fly before him: “Run, coward!”
Diomed was angry to hear these words, and wondered whether he should flee or turn again to the battle. But as he thought, Zeus made a great thundering in the sky, and he was afraid.
The Greeks fled to the wall that they had built for a defense for their ships. Then Hera put into the heart of King Agamemnon that he should encourage his people to turn again to battle. So the King cried aloud: “Shame on you, Greeks! Was there ever a king who had such cowards for his people?”
The Greeks took courage and turned and set upon the Trojans. The first to slay a Trojan was Diomed. After Diomed came King Agamemnon, and Ajax and other chiefs.
But the Trojans drove back the Greeks to the ditch in front of the wall. Then Hera, as she sat on the top of Olympus, said to Athena: “Shall we not have pity on the Greeks and help them? I fear that they will perish altogether.”
Athena answered: “This is my Father Zeus’s doing. He listened to Thetis when she asked him to do honor to her son, Achilles. But, perhaps, he may now listen to me and will let me help the Greeks. Make your chariot ready, therefore, and I will put on my armor. We will go together to the battle; Hector will not be glad when he sees us coming against him.”
Then the two mounted the chariot, and went toward Troy.
But Zeus saw them and said to Iris, messenger of the gods: “Go tell these two that they had better not set themselves against me. If they do, I will strike them with my thunderbolt and they will not recover for ten years or more.”
Iris gave them the message of Zeus. When Hera heard it, she said to Athena: “It is not wise for us two to fight with Zeus for the sake of men. Let them live or die, as he may think best, but we will not set ourselves against him.”
So they went back to Olympus. When Zeus saw that they had gone back, he went to Olympus, and he mocked them, saying: “Why do you look so sad?”
Hera answered, “We know, Zeus, that you are stronger than all the gods. Nevertheless we cannot but pity the Greeks when we see them perishing in this way.”
Zeus spoke again: “Do you pity the Greeks for what they have suffered today? Tomorrow you shall see worse things than these, O Queen. For Hector will not cease slaying the Greeks till the great Achilles himself shall rise from his place by his ships.”
Night fell. The Trojans were angry that the darkness had come; but the Greeks were glad of the night, for it gave them time to breathe.
Hector called the Trojans to an assembly and said: “Let us sit down and rest. Tomorrow we will arm ourselves, and drive these Greeks to their ships. Tomorrow shall surely bring ruin on the Greeks.”
The Trojans shouted with joy to hear such words. They sat all night in hope of what the next day would bring. As on a calm night the stars shine bright, so shone the watch fires of the Trojans. A thousand fires were burning, and by each fire sat 50 men. And the horses stood by the chariots. They all waited for the morning.
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