Chapter 17 17

Zeus remembered the hint he had made to Thetis, the goddess of the sea, and for this he sent the Dreamer to Agamemnon's barracks, where the king was fast asleep.Oneiroi took the form of Nestor and stood at the head of the king's bed.Of all the elders, the king loved and respected Nestor the most, and he heard Nestor say to him in a trance: "Why, son of Atreus, are you still sleeping? A man in charge of an army should not have slept that long.Follow my advice, I am a messenger from Zeus.He commands you to assemble the Argos army, and now the time has come to conquer Troy.The gods have made a decision to destroy the city of Troy. "

Agamemnon got up immediately after waking up.He put on his clothes, fastened his shoes, carried the sword on his shoulder, held the king's staff in his hand, and strode towards the warship.He ordered the heralds to summon the army from every barracks, and told the princes to meet in Nestor's ship.Agamemnon said: "My friends, listen! The gods just gave me a dream. In the dream, a man who looked like Nestor told me that Zeus had decided to destroy the city of Troy. Because of Achilles' anger And the fighting spirit of the army has been dissipated. Let us try to see if we can reinvigorate them to go to the battlefield. I will try them myself. come down."

After Agamemnon finished speaking, Nestor stood up and said to the princes: "If someone else told me this dream, I would reprimand him for lying and ignore him. But now we are the ones who say this." The supreme commander of the Greeks. We should trust him and follow his plan!" Nestor left the meeting, and Agamemnon and the other princes followed him to the crowded square.The uproar gradually died down.Agamemnon stood among the crowd, propping up the king's scepter, and began to say: "Dear friends, warriors of the Danean nation assembled here! The cruel Zeus has deceived us, who once solemnly promised me to conquer Troy and return victorious. But now he is in trouble and orders me to return in disgrace. Argos, our dead in battle are sacrifices in vain. It will be shameful for our posterity to hear that the great Greeks were not victorious against so weak an enemy. Of course the Trojans had many mighty Confederates, prevent us from taking their cities, as we have in mind. Nine years of war have been fought, and the planks of our ships are rotting, and the cables are snapping. Our wives and children are eagerly awaiting us at home. So now we had better obey the will of the gods and get on board and set sail for our homeland."

Agamemnon's words caused a commotion in the crowd.They rushed towards the warship like a gust of wind, stirring up the dust.They encouraged each other to drag the warship into the sea.Here they are pulling the crossbar under the boat, and there they are dredging the waterway from the barracks to the sea. The gods who supported the Greeks on the holy mountain of Olympus were also amazed at this scene.Hera urges Athena to descend to the ground and prevent the Argives from fleeing.Pallas Athena obeyed the order and flew down from the holy mountain of Olympus to the Greek barracks.She saw Odysseus standing quietly in front of his ship, not wanting to move his ship.At this time the goddess approached him, showed her original shape, and said to him kindly: "Do you really want to escape? Are you really willing to leave honor to Priam and Helen to the Trojans? For Helen , how many Greeks are far from their native land. No, wise and noble Odysseus, of course you cannot bear this disgrace! Do not hesitate any longer! Go and use your wisdom and eloquence to stop them!"

Hearing the goddess' words, Odysseus threw off his cloak and hurried towards the chaotic soldiers.Eurybates, his herald, picked up his cloak and hurried after him.Odysseus said to every prince or nobleman who came towards him, "Do you want to run away like a coward? You should be quiet, and others should be quiet. You know Atreus What is the son thinking, isn't he trying to test the Greeks?" When he saw the soldiers making a noise on the road, he angrily raised his scepter and swung them at them, threatening roughly: " Bastard! Don't move around, go back to where you are. Listen to others! We Greeks can't all be kings! Dragons have no leader, it's no good, Zeus gave the scepter to one man, and the others should obey him command!"

Odysseus' passionate voice spread throughout the army, and the soldiers were finally dissuaded from leaving the warship and returned to the assembly square.Everyone was quiet, and only the chattering of one person was heard at this time, and he was Thersites.He still spoke bitter words as usual, blaming and opposing the king and princes.He was the ugliest of the Greeks who came to Troy: squinting, lame, hunchbacked, pointed head, and tangled hair.This troublemaker was especially hated by Achilles and Odysseus, because he often vilified them consciously or unconsciously.But this time he blamed Agamemnon, the commander of the army. "Son of Atreus, what do you complain about?" What a comfort, but we have been messed up by you, and we are indescribably troubled and depressed.

Might as well go home by boat.Leave him alone in Troy to devour the spoils and amass riches! He challenged again, "He once insulted the brave Achilles and took his spoils!"But this spineless son of Peleus has no guts, otherwise, this tyrant would have died long ago! " When Odysseus heard these words, he came up to him, looked at him with disgust, then raised his staff and hit him hard on the back and shoulders, and loudly reprimanded: "You rascal, if I hear you again If you talk nonsense, if you don’t strip you naked, beat you up, and make you cry and go back to the ship, I’m not a human being, nor the father of Telemachus!” Thersites curled up from the beating His body was covered with blood on his shoulders and back.He yelled in pain and ran away angrily.Everyone present elbowed the person next to him, laughed happily, and rejoiced that this shameless man had received the punishment he deserved.

Odysseus stood before his warriors, with Athena transformed into an orderly beside him, and called for silence.Odysseus raised his scepter to call the attention of those present, and said to them, "Be patient a little longer, my friends. You must remember the omen we received when we left the port of Auris. We were in a tree A great sacrifice was made to the altar under the dense maple tree. It seemed to me as if it happened yesterday. A huge black snake crawled out from under the altar, and climbed up the tree with a curled body. There was a bird's nest on the branch, and there Eight little birds huddled together, and the ninth was the mother bird feeding them. The mother bird wailed and flapped its wings to cover the little birds. The giant snake turned its head, and one bit its wing. The giant snake devoured the mother bird and eight Then Zeus, who sent it, turned it into a stone. At this time, all the Argives present were stunned. But the prophet Calchas said loudly: "Why are you stunned? standing there?Can't you see that this is a sign from Zeus?The nine birds mean that we will fight in Troy for nine years, and you will conquer this majestic city in the tenth year.Calchas' prophecy is about to be fulfilled!Nine years have passed since the war, and now the tenth year is upon us.Victory followed.You should hold out for a while longer, stay until we break King Priam's acropolis! "

The assembled Argives gave a burst of cheers in reply to Odysseus' speech.The wise Nestor took the opportunity to take advantage of the changes in the mood of the soldiers to suggest to King Agamemnon that those who miss their hometown should go home on board.In this way it will be possible to know with certainty who are the heroes and who are the cowards among the warriors and the leaders, and whether it is God, or fear, or inexperience that stands in the way of war.The king accepted this wise advice. "Nestor, you are the wisest man among us. If there were ten men like you in the Greek camp, the towering Acropolis of Troy would have been taken and razed to the ground! I must admit, I Fighting Achilles over a woman is really stupid. Zeus must have numbed me. If the two of us reconcile, the fall of Troy is just around the corner. Now we should be ready to attack. Everyone Feed well, shields and spears ready. Feed and drink the horses, prepare the chariots, and devote yourself to the fight, perhaps till this evening. If anyone is afraid and stays on board on purpose, smash him , Feed the dog, feed the eagle!"

The people of Dannea cheered thunderously.The soldiers all jumped up and ran to the barracks.After a while, smoke rose from the barracks.Agamemnon sacrificed a bull to Zeus and invited the nobles of Argos to have a meal together.Then he gave orders to the heralds to issue battle orders.The chiefs led the army into the field, and the son of Atreus led the way.His features were majestic and majestic, his eyes and forehead were as majestic as that of the All-Father, his broad chest was as strong as that of Poseidon, and his armor was as fine as that of Ares the brave god of war.