Classic Poem

xviii.478

First then made he a big strong shield, with his cunningest craft-skill
Wrought all over, and thereabout round it all put he a threefold
Bright shineing rim most brilliant, & there hung a fair silver baldrick.
So, now, the shield itself was of five layers made, & so made he
Cunning devices thereon full many from out his own shrewd wit.
On it wrought he the earth, & the heavens, also the sea-waters;
Wrought he the inexhaustible sun, the moon waxing to fulness;
Wrought he the various constellations there crowning the sky-vault,
Pleiades, also Hyades, & with them too the might of Orion.
There too the Bear, that is likewise known for the Wain, for a surname,
Turning, she, in her place, & Orion ever observing;
She of them all there the sole one barred from the baths of the Ocean.
On it moreover he wrought two beautiful cities of menfolk.
So, now, further, in one were espousals, festival banquets;
Forth under flameing torches the brides were led out of their chambers
Down through the streets, & a many-voiced bridal-song rose around them;
Youths whirled there in the dance, & from out of their midst lutes and lyres rang
High, & the women each one at their doors hung looking with wonder.
There in the market-place was a crowd of the folk, & a quarrel
Surged: two men had a quarrel between them because of a ransom
Due for a slain man; one of them vowed he had given the whole price,
Showing it so to the folk; that other denied aught for handfast.
Both then shouted for having an end of it, fronting an umpire.
So, now, the crowd took sides there, & pleaded for each one with outcries;
Then did the heralds tone down the people, & so then the elders
Sat upon smooth stone seats in the circle inviolate, seated
Holding up in their hands those staves of the shrilly-voiced heralds;
Therewith, followed it, rose they in order, delivering judgement.
Now there were placed two talents of gold in their midmost, the guerdon
Placed to be given to him whose cause the best answered to justice.
Round, now, the second city two armies of men had encampment,
Splendid in arms. And between them they urged two different projects,
Either to doom it to sack or to share fair measure in portions
Whatso for plunder the pleasant city contained within walls there;
Nay, but of yielding thought not the men therein, stealthy for ambush
Armed they, sooth, while their own dear wives & their little ones, infants,
Mingled with men that were aged, stood up on the walls to defend them.
On came the others; their heads were Ares & Pallas Athene,
Both gold figures, & having to clothe them both golden vesture,
Goodly & grand to behold with their arms, right fully to Gods like,
Seen most eminent round o'er the field, & the troops were diminished.
So, then, when these reached the point where an ambuscade seemed inviteing,
Hard by a stream's ford, down where the cattle had water in common,
There did they make their seat, clad all in a metal that glittered.
So, now, they placed two scouts of their body away at a distance,
Look-outs, watchful for seeing the crook-horned oxen & sheep come.
Soon, then, did these come on, & in company followed two shepherds,
Cheered by their play on the reed-pipes, little foreseeing a trap laid.
Right so ran, having spied these things, all the rest, & delayed not
Straightway to cut off the oxen-herds & the flocks of the fair white
Sheep; furthermore did they slay those shepherds. When the besieged ones
Heard, being then in the place of debate, great noise of a tumult
Raised by the pasture-beasts, on the instant sallied they outward,
Mounted on high-stepping chargers fleet, & were speedily present.
There, taking place by the stream's banks, ready they stood for the combat.
Each then smote at the other with thrusts of the bronze-pointed spear-heads.
'Mid them was Strife, 'mid them Discord there, & the cruel Death-Goddess,
Grasping one with a quick wound, one unharmed, & she dragged one
On by his feet through the dust-raised length of the battle, a dead man;
She round her shoulders a garment wore all bloody with man's blood.
So, then, they hurtled even as do live mortals, & battled,
So dragged on & along there of each one's slaughtered the corpses.
Moreover, thereon set he a field, fat fallows for tillage,
Broad, thrice ploughed, & of husbandmen in the field there were numbers
Turning the yoke's course, pushing it up & down onward before them.
These, when came they close on the verge of the field for the wheel round,
Straightway met them a man, & he into their hands gave a goblet
Charged with a honey-sweet wine; but the foremost turned to the furrows,
Longing to get to the term of their hard day's work in the plough-field.
Now, all this, sheer gold though it was, dark stood at its background,
Seeming a ploughed field verily; that above all was the marvel.
Moreover, thereon set he a close of tall grain, & the reapers
Plied at their reapers' work, with the sharp-edged sickles in hand there,
Armfuls thick on the lines of the furrows their lengths to the ground fell;
Some lay strewn, that the sheaf-binders gathered & bound-up in straw-bands.
Three of the sheaf-binders on one side, & ever behind them
Boys fast gathered the cornstalks, ceaselessly bring their armfuls
Up to be bound; & the lord of it stood mid-field where the swathes lay,
Holding his staff in attentive silence, in heart very joyful.
Now, hard by did the heralds dress the feast under an oak-tree,
They having killed a big sacrificial ox; and the women
Mixed much meal of the barley white for the labourers' supper.
Moreover, thereon set he, with vines of large clusters, a vineyard,
Golden, lovely to see, & the grapes up the rows they were black ones;
Nay, but of solid silver for them to cling to were the vine-props.
Round it a steel-blue ditch he drew, over about was a fence-work
Fashioned of tin; & there led to the vineyard one single pathway,
That which the bearers took at the vintageing time in the vineyard.
Maidens & adolescents, cheerfully-minded, were there, too,
Bearing the sweet fruit piled high up in the fair-plaited baskets.
Them did a boy in their midst enchant with a silvery hand-lute,
Makeing a pleasant music; he sang them a sweet song of Linos,
Pitched in a delicate voice; & then those all strikeing in common,
Followed with song & with hum, & with jumps of their feet to the measure.
Also a herd of the kine having high-raised horns, on it made he;
Wrought all of gold & of tin were the kine, which bellowing dashed forth
Out of the stables & on to the pastures, nigh where a stream rushed
Noising on beside beds of the slender bordering reed-blades.
So, now, after the kine four shepherds came, & there followed
Close at their masters' heels nine dogs nimble-footed behind them.
Lo, then, a couple of frightful lions amid the kine foremost,
Fast held a roaring bull of the herd; & it mightily bellowed,
Tugged by the lions, & after him ran all the dogs & the youngsters.
Sooth, having rended the big bull's hide, did the lions devour him,
Swallowing entrails & black blood, vainly assailed by the shepherds
Crying the swift dogs on, for these shrank from the lions, not dareing
Bite, & they barked in a ring set close round about them, but held off.
Thereon further was done by the art of the glorious Lame-God,
Down in a beautiful valley, a pasture spacious for white sheep,
Stables were there, too, & well-roofed huts, & were also enclosures.
Craftily, on it the glorious Lame-God fashioned a dance-place,
Like the device, which in old time Daidalos worked with his cunning,
Over in spacious Knossos, for beautiful-tressed Ariadne.
Sooth, then, were there young men seen, & maidens costly for wooing,
All holding hands by the wrist, all stepping it out to the measure.
So, for the damsels, they wore fine veils, & the youths they wore tunics
Spun of rare tissue, faintly with sprinkle of oil rendered shineing;
Beautiful garlands, troth, did the girls have on, & the lads wore
Golden daggers, that hung at their sides from the silver-worked belt-strap.
These would now quicken their steps to a run, good sooth, deftly-footed.
Even as when at his work some leg-stretched potter his wheel holds,
Trying it, twixt both hands, so to see in the run if it goes well;
Now, at another while, ran they ranked, one another engageing.
These, then, a numerous band that dance enchanting encircled,
Joying to view; & among them sang a most heavenly minstrel,
Strikeing the lyre; & behold, mid-circle a couple of tumblers
Played at their antics just when the note of the song was beginning.
Thereon set he besides, near the thick shield's outermost margin,
Made so solidly strong, the full might of the river of Ocean.