Before the Walls of Troy. Homer (fl. 850 B.C.). Asia Minor: Troy. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Asia: Vols. XXI-XXIII

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

Asia Minor: Troy

Before the Walls of Troy

Homer (fl. 850 B.C.)


(From The Iliad, Book VIII) Translated by Alfred, Lord Tennyson SO Hector said, and sea-like roared his host;
Then loosed their sweating horses from the yoke
And each beside his chariot bound his own;
And oxen from the city, and goodly sheep
In haste they drove, and honey-hearted wine	5
And bread from out the houses brought, and heaped
Their fire-wood, and the winds from off the plain
Rolled the rich vapor far into the heaven.
And these all night upon the bridge of war
Sat glorying; many a fire before them blazed:	10
As when in heaven the stars about the moon
Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid,
And every height comes out, and jutting peak
And valley, and the immeasurable heavens
Break open to their highest, and all the stars	15
Shine upon the shepherd gladdens in his heart:
So many a fire between the ships and stream
Of Hanthus blazed before the towers of Troy,
A thousand on the plain; and close by each
Sat fifty in the blaze of burning fire;	20
And champing golden grain, the horses stood
Hard by their chariots, waiting for the dawn.