Thus he cried loudly, and fell to the fight on the eddies of the brine with well-skilled spear — as a man of Marathon he was in love with seafighting. In that tumult of many oars Ares was then an excellent mariner. Rout held rudder in hand. Terror was pilot of the fray and threw off the hawsers of the javelin-bearing ships.
Troops of Cyclopians navigated the sea, showering rocks from the shore upon the ships ; Euryalos shouted the warcry, and Halimedes high as the sky dashed raging into battle with brineblustering tumult. In both armies the sea-battle roared after the conflict on land, while Indian ships charged Bacchic ships with brineblustering yells. There was carnage on both sides, and the waves boiled with gore ; a great company fell from both armies, the back of the blue sea grew red with newly -shed blood.
Many on this side and that side fell into the mess of carnage, and navigated the sea swollen and floating. The merciless winds dragged with them the crowds of dead bodies, tossed about by the surge with breezes to ferry them. Many fell of themselves under the whirlwind of battle, and slipt into the flood, then drank of the bitter brine, for they could not help it, and weighed down with their corselets knew the threads of the Fate who drowned them in the waters. The black water covered the black livid bodies of the swollen dead with seaweed in the depths ; slimy mud covered coat of mail and seafaring wearer together ; the sea was their grave. Many again had sepulture in the maw of seamonsters, or the darting seal entombed the inanimate corpse in her fishy throat and belched out a stream of brownish blood. The sea took the armour of the dead ; the plumed helmet worked loose from the strap and floated upon the water by itself, its owner newly slain ; many a round shield swam at random on the flood with soaking sling driven by the gale, and under the surface of the waves masses of red foam bubbled up from the grey brine, marking the spread of white with streaks of blood.
Melicertes also was stained by the drops of gore ; Leucothea cried out for joy, she the nurse of Lyaios, raising a proud neck, and the Nymph crowned her hair with flowers of seaweed for the Indianslaying victory ; and Thetis unveiled peeping up out of the sea, with her hands resting on Doris and Panopeia, turned a gladsome eye towards Dionysos with his thyrsus.
Galatea too came from the depths and moved half visible through the bosom of the deep sea, wrinkling the calm surface, and looking upon the sea-affrighting battle of murderous Cyclops she was shaken, and her cheeks changed colour from fear, for she thought she saw Polyphemos fighting for Lyaios against Deriades in this Indian War ; and in dismay she besought Aphrodite of the sea to protect the heroic son of Poseidon, and she prayed the loving father Seabluehair to defend his son Polyphemos in the battle.” The daughters of Nereus gathered round the bearer of the deepsea trident ; Earthshaker the seagod leaning upon his trident watched the neighbouring conflict, and scanning the host of corseleted Dionysos, he observed with jealousy the valour of another Cyclops, and loudly reproached Bacchos for disturbing the waters with battle :
“Bacchos my friend, how many Cyclopians you have brought into your war, and left only one far from the battle ! Your conflict has lasted through many cycles, seven years, feeding the varying hopes of endless strife, because all the foremost champions of your great contest lack one, Polyphemos the invincible. If my son the Cyclops had come to your conflict, and brandished the prong of my trident, his father’s, then indeed as the ally of Dionysos he would have pierced the chest of horned Deriades on this field — he would have destroyed a great and terrible host with my threetooth, and slain the whole Indian nation in one day ! Before this another son of mine with a hundred hands helped your Father to destroy the Titans, Aigaion manyarm, when he put Cronos to flight and stretched the farspread legion of his high-climbing arms and shadowed the sun with hair flying high over his neck, so that the grim Titans were driven from Olympos cringing, before the attack of Briareos and all his arms !
So he spoke, in a tone of grudging jealousy ; and Thoosa sank down her cheeks in shame that lovesick Polyphemos was not present in the battle.
Cite This Text