The Iliad: Book 2 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDBBEFGBHIBBBEEBJK EBEBFEBLMBEBEEBBNOFN BBPEFBBHEQHBEBRJHEEH BBHSDBTUEBENVEOBBBBH EPEEEBEUBCSHWPFFEOXY EZBOBA2BBHB2HSFC2EOX BD2BEBE2| Now the other gods and the armed warriors on the plain slept | A |
| soundly but Jove was wakeful for he was thinking how to do honour to | B |
| Achilles and destroyed much people at the ships of the Achaeans In | C |
| the end he deemed it would be best to send a lying dream to King | D |
| Agamemnon so he called one to him and said to it quot Lying Dream go to | B |
| the ships of the Achaeans into the tent of Agamemnon and say to | B |
| him word to word as I now bid you Tell him to get the Achaeans | E |
| instantly under arms for he shall take Troy There are no longer | F |
| divided counsels among the gods Juno has brought them to her own | G |
| mind and woe betides the Trojans quot | B |
| The dream went when it had heard its message and soon reached the | H |
| ships of the Achaeans It sought Agamemnon son of Atreus and found him | I |
| in his tent wrapped in a profound slumber It hovered over his head | B |
| in the likeness of Nestor son of Neleus whom Agamemnon honoured | B |
| above all his councillors and said | B |
| quot You are sleeping son of Atreus one who has the welfare of his | E |
| host and so much other care upon his shoulders should dock his | E |
| sleep Hear me at once for I come as a messenger from Jove who | B |
| though he be not near yet takes thought for you and pities you He | J |
| bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms for you shall take | K |
| Troy There are no longer divided counsels among the gods Juno has | E |
| brought them over to her own mind and woe betides the Trojans at | B |
| the hands of Jove Remember this and when you wake see that it does | E |
| not escape you quot | B |
| The dream then left him and he thought of things that were | F |
| surely not to be accomplished He thought that on that same day he was | E |
| to take the city of Priam but he little knew what was in the mind | B |
| of Jove who had many another hard fought fight in store alike for | L |
| Danaans and Trojans Then presently he woke with the divine message | M |
| still ringing in his ears so he sat upright and put on his soft | B |
| shirt so fair and new and over this his heavy cloak He bound his | E |
| sandals on to his comely feet and slung his silver studded sword | B |
| about his shoulders then he took the imperishable staff of his | E |
| father and sallied forth to the ships of the Achaeans | E |
| The goddess Dawn now wended her way to vast Olympus that she might | B |
| herald day to Jove and to the other immortals and Agamemnon sent | B |
| the criers round to call the people in assembly so they called them | N |
| and the people gathered thereon But first he summoned a meeting of | O |
| the elders at the ship of Nestor king of Pylos and when they were | F |
| assembled he laid a cunning counsel before them | N |
| quot My friends quot said he quot I have had a dream from heaven in the dead | B |
| of night and its face and figure resembled none but Nestor's It | B |
| hovered over my head and said 'You are sleeping son of Atreus one | P |
| who has the welfare of his host and so much other care upon his | E |
| shoulders should dock his sleep Hear me at once for I am a messenger | F |
| from Jove who though he be not near yet takes thought for you and | B |
| pities you He bids you get the Achaeans instantly under arms for you | B |
| shall take Troy There are no longer divided counsels among the | H |
| gods Juno has brought them over to her own mind and woe betides | E |
| the Trojans at the hands of Jove Remember this ' The dream then | Q |
| vanished and I awoke Let us now therefore arm the sons of the | H |
| Achaeans But it will be well that I should first sound them and to | B |
| this end I will tell them to fly with their ships but do you others | E |
| go about among the host and prevent their doing so quot | B |
| He then sat down and Nestor the prince of Pylos with all | R |
| sincerity and goodwill addressed them thus quot My friends quot said he | J |
| quot princes and councillors of the Argives if any other man of the | H |
| Achaeans had told us of this dream we should have declared it false | E |
| and would have had nothing to do with it But he who has seen it is | E |
| the foremost man among us we must therefore set about getting the | H |
| people under arms quot | B |
| With this he led the way from the assembly and the other sceptred | B |
| kings rose with him in obedience to the word of Agamemnon but the | H |
| people pressed forward to hear They swarmed like bees that sally from | S |
| some hollow cave and flit in countless throng among the spring | D |
| flowers bunched in knots and clusters even so did the mighty | B |
| multitude pour from ships and tents to the assembly and range | T |
| themselves upon the wide watered shore while among them ran | U |
| Wildfire Rumour messenger of Jove urging them ever to the fore Thus | E |
| they gathered in a pell mell of mad confusion and the earth groaned | B |
| under the tramp of men as the people sought their places Nine heralds | E |
| went crying about among them to stay their tumult and bid them | N |
| listen to the kings till at last they were got into their several | V |
| places and ceased their clamour Then King Agamemnon rose holding his | E |
| sceptre This was the work of Vulcan who gave it to Jove the son of | O |
| Saturn Jove gave it to Mercury slayer of Argus guide and | B |
| guardian King Mercury gave it to Pelops the mighty charioteer and | B |
| Pelops to Atreus shepherd of his people Atreus when he died left | B |
| it to Thyestes rich in flocks and Thyestes in his turn left it to be | B |
| borne by Agamemnon that he might be lord of all Argos and of the | H |
| isles Leaning then on his sceptre he addressed the Argives | E |
| quot My friends quot he said quot heroes servants of Mars the hand of heaven | P |
| has been laid heavily upon me Cruel Jove gave me his solemn promise | E |
| that I should sack the city of Priam before returning but he has | E |
| played me false and is now bidding me go ingloriously back to Argos | E |
| with the loss of much people Such is the will of Jove who has laid | B |
| many a proud city in the dust as he will yet lay others for his | E |
| power is above all It will be a sorry tale hereafter that an | U |
| Achaean host at once so great and valiant battled in vain against | B |
| men fewer in number than themselves but as yet the end is not in | C |
| sight Think that the Achaeans and Trojans have sworn to a solemn | S |
| covenant and that they have each been numbered the Trojans by the | H |
| roll of their householders and we by companies of ten think | W |
| further that each of our companies desired to have a Trojan | P |
| householder to pour out their wine we are so greatly more in number | F |
| that full many a company would have to go without its cup bearer | F |
| But they have in the town allies from other places and it is these | E |
| that hinder me from being able to sack the rich city of Ilius Nine of | O |
| Jove years are gone the timbers of our ships have rotted their | X |
| tackling is sound no longer Our wives and little ones at home look | Y |
| anxiously for our coming but the work that we came hither to do has | E |
| not been done Now therefore let us all do as I say let us sail | Z |
| back to our own land for we shall not take Troy quot | B |
| With these words he moved the hearts of the multitude so many of | O |
| them as knew not the cunning counsel of Agamemnon They surged to | B |
| and fro like the waves of the Icarian Sea when the east and south | A2 |
| winds break from heaven's clouds to lash them or as when the west | B |
| wind sweeps over a field of corn and the ears bow beneath the blast | B |
| even so were they swayed as they flew with loud cries towards the | H |
| ships and the dust from under their feet rose heavenward They | B2 |
| cheered each other on to draw the ships into the sea they cleared the | H |
| channels in front of them they began taking away the stays from | S |
| underneath them and the welkin rang with their glad cries so eager | F |
| were they to return | C2 |
| Then surely the Argives would have returned after a fashion that was | E |
| not fated But Juno said to Minerva quot Alas daughter of | O |
| aegis bearing Jove unweariable shall the Argives fly home to their | X |
| own land over the broad sea and leave Priam and the Trojans the glory | B |
| of still keeping Helen for whose sake so many of the Achaeans have | D2 |
| died at Troy far from their homes Go about at once among the host | B |
| and speak fairly to them man by man that they draw not their ships | E |
| into the sea quot | B |
| Minerva was not slack to do her bidding Down | E2 |
Homer
(1)
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