The Iliad of Homer

Monarch, awake! 'tis Jove's command I bear,
Thou and thy glory claim his heavenly care.
In just array draw forth the embattled train,
And lead the Grecians to the dusty plain;
E’en now, O king! 'tis given thee to destroy
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.

Iliad 2.81-86

The heavenly phantom hover'd o’er my head,
'And, dost thou sleep, O Atreus' son?
(he said)
Ill fits a chief who mighty nations guides,
Directs in council, and in war presides;
To whom its safety a whole people owes,
To waste long nights in indolent repose.

Iliad 2.75-80

"Friends and confederates! with attentive ear
Receive my words, and credit what you hear.
Late as I slumber'd in the shades of night,
A dream divine appear'd before my sight;
Whose visionary form like Nestor came,
The same in habit, and in mien the same

Iliad 2.69-74

In his black ship the Pylian prince he found;
There calls a senate of the peers around:
The assembly placed, the king of men express’d
The counsels labouring in his artful breast.

Iliad 2.65-68

Now rosy Morn ascends the court of Jove,
Lifts up her light, and opens day above.
The king despatch’d his heralds with commands
To range the camp and summon all the bands:
The gathering hosts the monarch’s word obey;
While to the fleet Atrides bends his way.

Iliad 2.59-64

First on his limbs a slender vest he drew,
Around him next the regal mantle threw,
The embroider’d sandals on his feet were tied;
The starry falchion glitter’d at his side;
And last, his arm the massy sceptre loads,
Unstain’d, immortal, and the gift of gods.

Iliad 2.53-58

Vain as he was, and to the future blind,
Nor saw what Jove and secret fate design’d,
What mighty toils to either host remain,
What scenes of grief, and numbers of the slain!
Eager he rises, and in fancy hears
The voice celestial murmuring in his ears.

Iliad 2.47-52

The phantom said; then vanish’d from his sight,
Resolves to air, and mixes with the night.
A thousand schemes the monarch’s mind employ;
Elate in thought he sacks untaken Troy:

Iliad 2.43-46

For now no more the gods with fate contend,
At Juno’s suit the heavenly factions end.
Destruction hangs o’er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits the impending fall.
Awake, but waking this advice approve,
And trust the vision that descends from Jove.”

Iliad 2.37-42

Monarch, awake! ‘tis Jove’s command I bear;
Thou, and thy glory, claim his heavenly care.
In just array draw forth the embattled train,
Lead all thy Grecians to the dusty plain;
E’en now, O king! ‘tis given thee to destroy
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.

Iliad 2.31-36

“Canst thou, with all a monarch’s cares oppress’d,
O Atreus’ son! canst thou indulge thy rest?
Ill fits a chief who mighty nations guides,
Directs in council, and in war presides,
To whom its safety a whole people owes,
To waste long nights in indolent repose.

Iliad 2.25-30

Swift as the word the vain illusion fled,
Descends, and hovers o’er Atrides’ head;
Clothed in the figure of the Pylian sage,
Renown’d for wisdom and revered for age:
Around his temples spreads his golden wing,
And thus the flattering dream deceives the king.

Iliad 2.19-24

Declare, e’en now ‘tis given him to destroy
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.
For now no more the gods with fate contend,
At Juno’s suit the heavenly factions end.
Destruction hangs o’er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits the impending fall.”

Iliad 2.13-18

“Fly hence, deluding Dream! and light as air,
To Agamemnon’s ample tent repair.
Bid him in arms draw forth the embattled train,
Lead all his Grecians to the dusty plain.

Iliad 2.9-12

To honor Thetis’ son he bends his care,
And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war:
Then bids an empty phantom rise to sight,
And thus commands the vision of the night.

Iliad 2.5-8

Now pleasing sleep had seal’d each mortal eye,
Stretch’d in the tents the Grecian leaders lie:
The immortals slumber’d on their thrones above;
All, but the ever-wakeful eyes of Jove.

Iliad 2.1-4

Meantime the radiant sun to mortal sight
Descending swift, roll’d down the rapid light:
Then to their starry domes the gods depart,
The shining monuments of Vulcan’s art:
Jove on his couch reclined his awful head,
And Juno slumber’d on the golden bed.

Iliad 1.776-781

Thus the blest gods the genial day prolong,
In feasts ambrosial, and celestial song.
Apollo tuned the lyre; the Muses round
With voice alternate aid the silver sound.

Iliad 1.772-775

He said, and to her hands the goblet heaved,
Which, with a smile, the white-arm’d queen received.
Then, to the rest he fill’d; and in his turn,
Each to his lips applied the nectar’d urn,
Vulcan with awkward grace his office plies,
And unextinguish’d laughter shakes the skies.

Iliad 1.766-771

Once in your cause I felt his matchless might,
Hurl’d headlong down from the ethereal height;
Toss’d all the day in rapid circles round,
Nor till the sun descended touch’d the ground.
Breathless I fell, in giddy motion lost;
The Sinthians raised me on the Lemnian coast.”

Iliad 1.760-765

Dear as you are, if Jove his arm extend,
I can but grieve, unable to defend.
What god so daring in your aid to move,
Or lift his hand against the force of Jove?

Iliad 1.756-759

Thus Vulcan spoke: and rising with a bound,
The double bowl with sparkling nectar crown’d,
Which held to Juno in a cheerful way,
“Goddess (he cried), be patient and obey.

Iliad 1.752-755

Thou, goddess-mother, with our sire comply,
Nor break the sacred union of the sky:
Lest, roused to rage, he shake the bless’d abodes,
Launch the red lightning, and dethrone the gods.
If you submit, the thunderer stands appeased;
The gracious power is willing to be pleased.”

Iliad 1.746-751

“The wretched quarrels of the mortal state
Are far unworthy, gods! of your debate:
Let men their days in senseless strife employ,
We, in eternal peace and constant joy.

Iliad 1.742-745

The thunderer spoke, nor durst the queen reply;
A reverent horror silenced all the sky.
The feast disturb’d, with sorrow Vulcan saw
His mother menaced, and the gods in awe;
Peace at his heart, and pleasure his design,
Thus interposed the architect divine:

Iliad 1.736-741

Let this suffice: the immutable decree
No force can shake: what is, that ought to be.
Goddess, submit; nor dare our will withstand,
But dread the power of this avenging hand:
The united strength of all the gods above
In vain resists the omnipotence of Jove.”

Iliad 1.730-735

Then thus the god: “O restless fate of pride,
That strives to learn what heaven resolves to hide;
Vain is the search, presumptuous and abhorr’d,
Anxious to thee, and odious to thy lord.

Iliad 1.726-729

What fatal favor has the goddess won,
To grace her fierce, inexorable son?
Perhaps in Grecian blood to drench the plain,
And glut his vengeance with my people slain.”

Iliad 1.722-725

But ‘tis for Greece I fear: for late was seen,
In close consult, the silver-footed queen.
Jove to his Thetis nothing could deny,
Nor was the signal vain that shook the sky.

Iliad 1.718-721

Full on the sire the goddess of the skies
Roll’d the large orbs of her majestic eyes,
And thus return’d:—“Austere Saturnius, say,
From whence this wrath, or who controls thy sway?
Thy boundless will, for me, remains in force,
And all thy counsels take the destined course.

Iliad 1.712-717