The Story of the Iliad by Alfred John Church

When the River saw that Asteropeus was dead, he took upon him the / shape of a man, and spake to Achilles, saying: "Truly, Achilles, thou / excellest all other men in might and deeds of blood, for the gods / themselves protect thee. It may be that Zeus hath given thee to slay / all the sons of Troy; nevertheless, depart from me and work thy will / upon the plain; for my stream is choked with the multitude of / corpses, nor can I pass to the sea. Do thou, therefore, cease from / troubling me."

To him Achilles made answer: "This shall be as thou wilt, O / Scamander. But the Trojans I will not cease from slaying till I have / driven them into their city and have made trial of Hector, whether I / shall vanquish him or he shall vanquish me."

And as he spake he sped on, pursuing the Trojans. Then the River / cried to Apollo: "Little thou doest the will of thy father, thou of / the Silver Bow, who bade thee stand by the men of Troy and help them / till darkness should cover the land. " And he rushed on with a great / wave, stirring together all his streams. The dead bodies he threw / upon the shore, roaring as a bull roareth; and them that lived he hid / in the depth of his eddies. And all about Achilles rose up the / flood, beating full upon his shield, so that he could not stand fast / upon his feet. Then Achilles laid hold of a lime tree, fair and / tall, that grew upon the bank; but the tree brake therefrom with all / its roots, and tare down the bank, and lay across the River, staying / its flow, for it had many branches. Thereupon Achilles leapt out of / the water and sped across the plain, being sore afraid. But the / River ceased not from pursuing him, that he might stay him from / slaughter and save the sons of Troy. So far as a man may throw a / spear, so far did Achilles leap. And still as he fled the River / pursued after him with a great roar.

And when Achilles would have stood against the River, seeking to know / whether indeed all the gods were against him, then the great wave / smote upon his shoulders; and when he leapt into the air, it bowed / his knees beneath him and devoured the ground from under his feet. / Then Achilles looked up to heaven and groaned, crying out: "O Zeus, / will none of the gods pity me, and save me from the River? I care / not what else may befall me. Truly my mother hath deceived me, / saying that I should perish under the walls of Troy by the arrows of / Apollo. Surely it had been better that Hector should slay me, for he / is the bravest of the men of Troy, but now I shall perish miserably / in the River, as some herdboy perisheth whom a torrent sweepeth away / in a storm."

So he spake; but Poseidon and Athene stood by him, having taken upon / them the shape of men, and took him by the hand and strengthened him / with comforting words, for Poseidon spake, saying: "Son of Peletis, / tremble not, neither be afraid. It is not thy fate to be mastered by / the River. He shall soon cease from troubling thee. And do thou / heed what we say. Stay not thy hands from the battle, till thou / shalt have driven all the sons of Troy that escape thee within the / walls of the city. And when thou shalt have slain Hector, go back to / the ships; for this day is the day of thy glory."

Then the two departed from him. Now all the plain was covered with / water, wherein floated much fair armour and many dead bodies. But / Achilles went on even against the stream, nor could the River hold / him back; for Athene put great might into his heart. Yet did not / Scamander cease, from his wrath, but lifted his waves yet higher, and / cried aloud to Simois: "Dear brother, let us two stay the fury of / this man, or else of a surety he will destroy the city of Priam. / Come now, fill all thy streams and rouse thy torrents against him, / and lift up against him a mighty wave with tree-trunks and stones, / that we may stay this wild man from his fighting. Neither his might, / nor his beauty, nor his fair form shall profit him, for they shall be / covered with much mud; and over him will I heap sand beyond all / counting. Neither shall the Greeks be able to gather his bones / together, with such a heap will I hide them."

/ Si'-mo-is.

Then he rushed again upon Achilles, swelling high with foam and blood / and dead bodies of men. Very dark was the wave as it rose, and was / like to have overwhelmed the man, so that Hera greatly feared for / him, lest the River should sweep him away. And she cried to / Hephestus, her son, saying: "Rouse thee, Haltfoot, my son! Come, / help us, and bring much fire with thee; and I will call the west wind / and the south wind from the sea, with such a storm as shall consume / the sons of Troy, both them and their arms. And do thou burn the / trees that are by the banks of Xanthus, yea, and the River himself. / And let him not turn thee from thy purpose by fury or by craft; but / burn till I shall bid thee cease."

Then Hephestus lit a great fire. First it burned the dead bodies / that lay upon the plain, and it dried all the plain, as the north / wind in the autumn time dries a field, to the joy of him that tills / it. After this it laid hold of the River. The lime tree and the / willows and the tamarisks it burned; also the plants that grew in the / streams. And the eels and the fishes were sore distressed, twisting / hither and thither in the water, being troubled by the breath of / Hephestus. So the might of the River was subdued, and he cried / aloud: "O Hephestus, no one of the gods can match himself with thee. / Cease now from consuming me; and Achilles may drive the men of Troy / from the city if he will. What have I to do with the strife and / sorrow of men?"

And Queen Hera heard him, and called to Hephestus, saying: "Cease, my / son; it doth not beseem thee to work such damage to a god for the / sake of a mortal man."

So Hephestus quenched his fire, and the River flowed as he flowed / before.