As soon as the east was illuminated by the first light of the coming morning, Zeus sent the goddess Enmity to the camp of the Greeks. The goddess stood up on Odysseus’s huge ship, screamed loudly and terribly, and instilled an uncontrollable thirst for all the warriors to fight. King Agamemnon also loudly excited the heroes to battle, dressed in magnificent armor and shaking a huge spear. The Greek heroes rushed into battle on foot. The Trojans fought bravely against them, and Hector surpassed them all in his exploits. Like furious wolves, the warriors rushed across the battlefield. The Goddess of Enmity was having fun seeing the bloody battle. The gods retired from the battle to bright Olympus to their palaces, complaining that Zeus was helping the Trojans. Zeus looked joyfully at the battle. King Agamemnon was especially fierce in this battle. He killed many heroes with a heavy spear. He also killed Priam's two sons, Isa and Antiphus. Together they fought the enemies, standing in the same chariot. More recently, Agamemnon saw them in the camp of the Greeks, where Achilles led them, capturing both brothers on the slopes of Ida. The Trojans did not give help to the Priamides; they both died. Agamemnon also killed the two sons of Antimachus. In vain they prayed for mercy for the king of Mycenae. Agamemnon took revenge on their father because he, bribed by Paris, advised the death of Menelaus, who came to Troy as an ambassador. Having killed them, Agamemnon rushed to where the battle was in full swing. Just as fire devours a forest and trees crushed by a firestorm fall, so the son of Atreus crushed the Trojan heroes one after another. The chariots rushed with thunder across the battlefield, from which Agamemnon knocked down the heroes standing on them, and these heroes lay dead in the dust. The Trojans wavered and fled, but they stopped at the Scaean Gate.
The thunderer Zeus saw this flight of the Trojans and ordered the goddess Iris to rush to Hector and tell him to enter the battle when he saw that Agamemnon was wounded, which would give Zeus great strength to Hector, and he would push the Greeks back to their very ships. Iris quickly fulfilled Zeus' orders. Hector jumped off his chariot and inspired the Trojans. Meanwhile, Agamemnon continued to defeat the Trojan heroes one after another. He killed Iphidamas, the son of Antenor. Antenor's eldest son, Koont, wanted to avenge the death of his brother. He struck Agamemnon in the arm near the elbow with a spear, but the king of Mycenae cut off his head with a blow of his sword, and the eldest son of Antenor fell dead on the corpse of his brother. But Agamemnon could no longer fight, his wound became terribly painful, and he left the battlefield.
Seeing that Agamemnon had left in his chariot, Hector began to encourage the soldiers in a loud voice and rushed into battle himself. He defeated many heroes. Death threatened the Greeks. But Odysseus called Diomedes to help, and both heroes powerfully repelled the onslaught of the Trojans. Diomedes, seeing Hector approaching, threw a spear at him and hit him in the helmet. God did not allow Apollo to pierce his helmet with a spear, God saved Hector from the inevitable death, but from a strong blow Hector fell to the ground and lost consciousness. While Diomedes walked through the ranks of soldiers to raise his spear, Hector recovered and, jumping onto his chariot, avoided death. Diomedes flared up with terrible anger; again he failed to defeat Hector. Diomedes waved his spear and struck one of the Trojan heroes to death. Diomedes bent down to remove the armor from the dead man; Paris saw this and wounded Diomedes with an arrow. Paris rejoiced. Diomedes, when Odysseus covered him with his shield, pulled the arrow out of the wound, but he could no longer fight and left the battlefield.
At this time, the Trojans surrounded Odysseus, like the dogs of a lion emerging from the forest. A lion stands and menacingly clicks his teeth. So Odysseus stood and fought off the Trojans advancing on him with a spear. Many Trojan heroes found death here from the spear of Odysseus. He struck Harops, the brother of King Sok. In revenge for the death of his brother, Sok hit Odysseus’s shield with a spear, pierced the shield and wounded Odysseus in the side. But wounded, Odysseus put Socus to flight, and killed the runner with a spear in the back. Having killed Socus, Odysseus tore the spear out of his wound, and hot blood gushed out of it. Seeing that Odysseus was wounded, the Trojans rushed at him. The king of Ithaca loudly began to call for help. Ajax Telamonides hastened to his aid and covered Odysseus with his huge shield, like a tower. Menelaus led Odysseus from the thick of the battle to the chariot. Odysseus also left the battle. Ajax rushed into battle and defeated the Trojans with his spear. At this time, Paris wounded the hero Machaon in the right shoulder with an arrow. At the request of Idomeneo, Nestor took the wounded man to the Greek camp. Hector's charioteer Cebrion saw how Ajax was pushing back the Trojan army, and told Hector about it. Hector rushed to the rescue. Zeus sent fear to Ajax. Throwing his huge shield behind his back, he began to slowly retreat. He retreated like a lion driven from the flock by dogs and brave shepherds.
He retreated slowly, stopping every now and then and, covering himself with a shield, held back the Trojans who were pressing him. The hero Eurypylus saw the retreating Ajax and hurried to his aid. But he was also wounded by Paris with an arrow, and Eurypylus had to leave the battlefield. The Greeks rushed to the aid of Ajax, and with their help the son of Telamon retreated unharmed.
In the camp, from the stern of the ship, Achilles watched the battle. Seeing that Nestor had brought the wounded hero, Achilles called his friend Patroclus and asked him to go to Nestor and find out if Machaon was wounded. Achilles' friend quickly went to Nestor's tent. Indeed, there Patroclus saw the wounded Machaon, for whom a drink was being prepared. Seeing Patroclus, the king of Pylos invited him to sit with them, but he refused, as he was in a hurry back to his friend. Nestor told Patroclus how the Trojans were pressing the Greeks, which of the heroes was wounded, and asked to help the Greeks. He advised Patroclus to beg Achilles to allow him, armed with the armor of Achilles, to lead the Myrmidons into battle; Perhaps the Trojans, mistaking Patroclus for Achilles, will stop the battle, and then the Greeks will rest from painful battles. Patroclus agreed and went back to Achilles with the firm intention of begging his friend to allow him to join the battle. On the way, Patroclus met the wounded Eurypylus with an arrow in his thigh. The hero suffered greatly from pain, and blood flowed from his wound. Patroclus took pity on the hero. He helped Eurypylus reach his ship, cut the arrow out of the wound and sprinkled the wound with healing herbs. Eurypylus also told Patroclus how the Trojans were pressuring the Greeks.
The battle was still raging. The wall and ditch could no longer serve as protection for the Greeks. But the Trojans could not immediately cross the ditch and take possession of the wall behind which the Greeks had taken refuge. Hector wanted to cross the ditch in his chariot, but his horses did not go through the ditch and rushed to the side. Then, on the advice of the hero Polydamas, the Trojans divided into five large detachments and, under the leadership of their leaders, launched an attack. The Trojan leaders fought on foot, leaving their chariots at the ditch. Only one hero, Asiy, did not leave the chariot. He wanted, pursuing the fleeing Greeks, to break through after them with his detachment into the camp and attack directly on the Greek ships. But near the walls, two heroes, the Lapiths Polypetus and Leonteus, repelled the onslaught of Asius. Like two mighty oak trees, they stood against the wall in front of the gate. The Lapiths fought bravely, repelling the attackers, and from the walls a hail of large stones and whole clouds of arrows flew at the enemies. The Lapiths repulsed Asia, killing many of the Trojan heroes. But a new detachment was already approaching the gate, led by Hector and Polydamant. Then Zeus sent a great sign. An eagle suddenly appeared above the Trojan detachment. He held a snake in his claws. Wriggling, the snake stung the eagle's chest. The eagle screamed loudly, dropped the snake among a detachment of Trojans and quickly disappeared from sight. Seeing this sign, Polydamant began to advise Hector to stop the battle and not try to take possession of the Greek camp. But Hector did not listen to Polydamant and moved with his detachment to the wall.
The thunderer Zeus raised a terrible storm. Clouds of dust rushed towards the Greek ships. Despite the storm, the Greeks bravely defended the wall. The Trojans tore off the battlements from it and loosened the logs on which the towers were strengthened in order to bring them down. The Greeks met the attackers with stones, arrows and spears. Both Ajax encouraged the Greeks to defend staunchly. Covering himself with a shield, with two spears in his hands, the mighty Sarpedon approached the gate, calling on the Lycian hero Glaucus to help him. Menestheus defended the gate. He sent the Ajaxes to call for help. Telamonides Ajax, his brother Teucer and Pandion came to the aid of Menestheus. With a mighty blow from a huge stone, Ajax overthrew the hero Epicles, who was about to climb onto the wall. Teucer wounded Glaucus with an arrow. But Sarpedon did not retreat. He even managed to destroy part of the wall, but Ajax and Teucer also repelled him. Sarpedon inspired his Lycians to a new attack. Once again they rushed to the wall, but the Greeks did not allow them to take it. The Lycians could not take possession of the wall, but the Greeks could not drive them away either. Neither the Lycians nor the Greeks could achieve an advantage in the battle. The mighty Hector was the first to burst into the Greek camp. He grabbed a huge stone, which two men would have had difficulty lifting with levers alone, and slammed it into the gate. Neither the gate nor the huge bolt could withstand the force of the blow; the gate rattled and split into pieces. Hector rushed through them into the camp, his eyes blazing with the fire of anger. The Trojans also rushed after him. The wall was taken by storm. The Greeks took flight and ran to their ships. Confusion arose in the camp.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru