The dwellers of Mycenae nobly built, Of Corinth famed for riches, and the town Of beautiful Cleonae, they who tilled Orneia, Araethyrea’s pleasant land, And Sicyon, where of yore Adrastus reigned, And Hyperesia and the airy heights Of Gonoessa, and Pellene’s fields, And they who came from Aegium and the shores Around it, and broad lands of Helicè— These had a hundred barques, and over them Atrides Agamemnon bore command; And with him came the largest train of troops And bravest. He was cased in gleaming mail, And his heart gloried when he thought how high He stood among the heroes—mightier far In power, and leader of a mightier host.
Then they who dwelt within the hollow vale Of queenly Lacedsemon, they who held Phare and Sparta, Messa full of doves, Bryseiae, and Augeia’s rich domain, Amyclae and the town of Helos, built Close to the sea, and those who had their homes In Laäs and the fields of Oetylus; All these obeyed the brother of the king, The valiant Menelaus. Sixty ships They brought, but these he ranged apart from those Of Agamemnon. Through the ranks he went, And, trusting in his valor, quickened theirs For battle; for his heart within him burned To avenge the wrongs of Helen and her tears.
Then came the men who tilled the Pylean coast And sweet Arenè, Thrya at the fords Of Alpheus, and the stately palace homes Of Aepy, or in Cyparissus dwelt, Or in Amphigeneia, Pteleum, Helos and Dorium, where the Muses once Met, journeying from Oecalian Eurytus, The Thracian Thamyris, and took from him His power of voice. For he had made his boast To overcome in song the daughters nine Of Jove the Aegis-bearer. They in wrath Smote him with blindness, took the heavenly gift Of song away, and made his hand forget Its cunning with the harp. All those were led By Nestor, the Gerenian knight, who came To war on Troy with fourscore ships and ten.
The Arcadians, dwelling by the lofty mount Cyllene, near the tomb of Epytus, Warriors who combat hand to hand, and they Who tilled the