Iliad

Tell me now you Muses that dwell in the mansions of Olympus, who, whether of the Trojans or of their allies, was first to face Agamemnon? It was Iphidamas son of Antenor, a man both brave and of great stature, who was brought up in fertile Thrace the mother of sheep. Kissês, his mother's father, brought him up in his own house when he was a child - Kissês, father to fair Theano. When he reached manhood, Kissês would have kept him there, and was for giving him his daughter in marriage, but as soon as he had married, he went away from the bride chamber, looking for glory [ kleos ] from the Achaeans. He came with twelve ships: these he had left at Perkote and had come on by land to Ilion . He it was that now met Agamemnon son of Atreus. When they were close up with one another, the son of Atreus missed his aim, and Iphidamas hit him on the belt below the cuirass and then flung himself upon him, trusting to his strength of arm; the belt, however, was not pierced, nor nearly so, for the point of the spear struck against the silver and was turned aside as though it had been lead: King Agamemnon caught it from his hand, and drew it towards him with the fury of a lion; he then drew his sword, and killed Iphidamas by striking him on the neck. So there the poor young man lay, sleeping a sleep as it were of bronze, killed in the defense of his fellow-citizens, far from his wedded wife, of whom he had had no joy [ kharis ] though he had given much for her: he had given a hundred-head of cattle down, and had promised later on to give a thousand sheep and goats mixed, from the countless flocks of which he was possessed. Agamemnon son of Atreus then despoiled him, and carried off his armor into the host of the Achaeans.

IliadBook 11, Line 218Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 11

HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-11-218