[Illustration: _Design by Burne-Jones._]
Nearly three books of the Iliad are occupied in telling about the battle
that now followed, though it lasted only one day. But it was a fierce
and mighty conflict in which many brave warriors fought and fell.
For that day
Saw many a Trojan slain, and many a Greek,
Stretched side by side upon the bloody field.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book IV.
All the chiefs of both armies took part in this battle, except Achilles,
who still remained inactive at his ships, "indignant for the sake of the
fair-haired Briseis." The heroes of the day on the Trojan side were
Hector and Æneas. Of the Greeks (also sometimes called A-chaʹians) none
performed so many feats of valor as Diomede (or Diomed), also called
Ty-diʹdes, from the name of his father, Tyʹdeus. He was the particular
favorite of Minerva, who caused a bright light to shine from his shield
and helmet, which made him a striking figure in the field, and very
terrible to the enemy.
Pallas to Tydides Diomed
Gave strength and courage, that he might appear
Among the Achaians greatly eminent,
And win a glorious name. Upon his head
And shield she caused a constant flame to play,
Like to the autumnal star that shines in heaven
Most brightly when new-bathed in ocean tides.
Such light she caused to beam upon his crest
And shoulders, as she sent the warrior forth
Into the thick and tumult of the fight.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
Diomede slew many brave warriors, and often, breaking through the close
ranks of the Trojans, drove them back towards their walls, before he
himself was smitten with an arrow sent flying at him by the archer
Pandarus. The weapon pierced his shoulder right through, and the blood
came streaming down his armor. Then Pandarus shouted to his comrades to
advance, boasting that now the bravest of the Greeks was fatally
wounded. But Diomede prayed to Minerva for aid, and his prayer was
heard. Immediately the goddess appeared and stood beside him, and in an
instant healed his wound. Then she encouraged him, saying: "Henceforth
fight with confidence, O Diomede. I have given you great strength. I
have also removed from your eyes the mortal mists which heretofore were
upon them, so that now you may know gods from men. Beware, however, of
using your weapons against any god, unless Venus should come into the
battle. Her I desire and command you to wound."
[Illustration: MINERVA.
_Vatican, Rome._]
With fresh courage and increased fury Diomede again rushed into the
conflict, striking down a Trojan with every blow of his huge sword.
Æneas, noticing his exploits, hastily sought out Pandarus and begged him
to aim an arrow at the man who was thus destroying their ranks.
"That man," said Pandarus, "very much resembles the warlike son of
Tydeus, and if it be he, some god is surely at his side to protect him,
for only a little ago I smote him in the shoulder, and I thought I had
sent him to Pluto's kingdom. Of small use it seems is this bow of mine.
Already I have aimed at two chiefs, Menelaus and Diomede, and wounded
both, but I have only roused them the more to heroic deeds."
"In an evil hour
I took my bow and quiver from the wall
And came to lead the Trojans for the sake
Of Hector. But if ever I return
To see my native country and my wife
And my tall spacious mansion, may some foe
Strike off my head if with these hands I fail
To break my bow in pieces, casting it
Into the flames, a useless weapon now."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
But Æneas made the great archer try his skill once more. Taking Pandarus
with him in his own chariot, he drove rapidly to where Diomede was
dealing death amongst the Trojans with his terrible sword. Sthenʹe-lus,
the companion and charioteer of Diomede, saw them coming, and he advised
his friend to retreat, and not risk his life in a contest with two such
heroes as Æneas and Pandarus, one the son of a goddess, and the other
excelling all men in the use of the bow. But Diomede sternly refused to
retire from the conflict. Nor would he even consent to mount his chariot
as Sthenelus urged him to do.
"As I am," said he, "I shall advance against them, for Minerva has made
me fearless. And if it be my fortune to slay both, do you, Sthenelus,
seize the horses of Æneas and drive them into the ranks of the Greeks.
Valuable prizes they will be, for they are of that heavenly breed which
Jupiter gave to King Tros as the price of his son Ganymede."
But now the chariot of Æneas was close at hand. This time Pandarus used
his spear, which he launched with great force. It struck the shield of
Diomede and, piercing it through, fixed itself in his breastplate. With
a shout of joy Pandarus exclaimed, "Now, I think, I have given you your
death wound."
"Not so," replied the son of Tydeus, "thou hast missed thy aim, but one
of you, at least, shall die." As he spoke he hurled his lance. Directed
by Minerva, the weapon flew right into the face of the unfortunate
Pandarus, striking him lifeless to the earth.
Headlong he falls, his helmet knocks the ground;
Earth groans beneath him, and his arms resound.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
Instantly Æneas leaped down from his chariot, with his shield and spear,
to defend the body of his heroic comrade against being despoiled by the
Greeks. This was one of the customs of war in those times. When a hero
was slain in battle the enemy carried off his arms and armor as trophies
of victory. But Æneas did his best to protect the corpse of his fallen
friend from being thus dishonored.
Watchful he wheels, protects it every way,
As the grim lion stalks around his prey.
O'er the fall'n trunk his ample shield displayed,
He hides the hero with his mighty shade,
And threats aloud! the Greeks with longing eyes
Behold at distance, but forbear the prize.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
But Diomede, braver than the rest, took up a great stone and hurled it
at Æneas.
Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise,
Such men as live in these degenerate days.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book. V.
It struck the Trojan hero on the hip, tearing the flesh and crushing the
joint. He sank upon his knees, a dark mist covering his eyes. And now
Æneas would have perished by the sword of the furious Diomede had not
his mother, Venus, come quickly to his aid. With her shining robe the
goddess shielded his body, and spreading her arms about him she bore him
away from the battle. Then Sthenelus, not forgetting the bidding of his
friend, rushed forward, and, seizing the fleet steeds of the Dardan
prince, drove them off to the Grecian camp.
But Diomede went in pursuit of Venus. He had seen and recognized her as
she descended on the field, Minerva having given him power of sight to
know gods from men. The goddess also, as we have seen, commanded him to
wound Venus should she come into the field. Diomede, therefore, when he
had overtaken Venus, as she was bearing away the Trojan hero, thrust at
her with his lance, and pierced the skin of her tender hand. From the
wound out gushed the Iʹchor, as the blood of the gods was called.
The ichor,--such
As from the blessed gods may flow; for they
Eat not the wheaten loaf, nor drink dark wine;
And therefore they are bloodless, and are called
Immortal.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
Crying aloud with pain, the goddess dropped her son from her arms, but
Apollo enveloped him in a thick cloud, thus saving him from the wrath of
the furious Greeks. Meanwhile the swift-footed Iris hastened down from
heaven to the aid of Venus, whom she conducted to where Mars sat on the
left of the battlefield, watching the conflict. At the entreaty of his
wounded sister.
Mars resigned to her his steeds
With trappings of bright gold. She climbed the car,
Still grieving, and, beside her, Iris took
Her seat, and caught the reins and plied the lash.
On flew the coursers, on, with willing speed,
And soon were at the mansion of the gods
On high Olympus.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
There the goddess was affectionately received by her mother, Di-oʹne,
who begged her to be patient, reminding her that in times past others of
the gods had suffered by the hands of men. Mars, she said, was chained
in a brazen cell for fifteen months by the giants Oʹtus and
Eph-i-alʹtes, and he would perhaps have perished there but that Mercury
set him free by stealing into the cell, and slipping the chains out of
the rings to which they were fastened. Juno herself, and Pluto, the god
of Hades, were wounded by Hercules. "As for this son of Tydeus," said
Dione, "who has dared to war upon an immortal, he shall be punished for
his crime."
"The fool!
He knew not that, the man who dares to meet
The gods in combat lives not long. No child
Shall prattling call him father when he comes
Returning from the dreadful tasks of war."
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
Dione then wiped the ichor from the hand of Venus, and at her touch the
wound healed and the pain ceased.
Meanwhile, on the plain before Troy Diomede still eagerly pursued Æneas,
though knowing that the hero was under divine protection. Thrice did he
rush on, and thrice did Apollo drive him back, but when he made the
fourth attempt,
The archer of the skies, Apollo, thus
With menacing words rebuked him: "Diomed,
Beware; desist, nor think to make thyself
The equal of a god. The deathless race
Of gods is not as those who walk the earth."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
Diomede shrank back, fearing the wrath of the Far-darter, and Apollo
bore Æneas away, and set him down in his own temple in sacred
Perʹga-mus, the citadel of Troy. There Diana and La-toʹna, the mother of
Apollo, healed his wound and restored his health and strength. Then
Apollo begged Mars to assist the Trojans in the battle, and particularly
to drive from the field the impious son of Tydeus, who had dared to
attack the immortals with his spear, and would now fight even with
Jupiter himself. The god of war consented, and assuming the form of
Acʹa-mas, a Thracian leader, he went through the Trojan ranks
encouraging the chiefs to fight bravely.
"O sons of Priam, him who claims descent
From Jupiter! how long will ye submit
To see your people slaughtered by the Greeks?
Is it until the battle-storm shall reach
Your city's stately portals?"
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
The hero Sarpedon also appealed to Hector, and then the Trojan commander
in chief, leaping from his chariot, and brandishing his javelins,
rushed among his troops exhorting them to battle.
Terrible
The conflict that ensued. The men of Troy
Made head against the Greeks: the Greeks stood firm,
Nor ever thought of flight.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book V.
Soon, however, the Greeks were forced to fall back. Their great chiefs,
Agamemnon and Menelaus, and the two Ajaxes and Ulysses, performed
wondrous deeds of courage, slaying many Trojan warriors. But Minerva had
left the field, and Mars was fighting on the Trojan side. Æneas, too,
had returned to the battle with renewed strength and courage, and Hector
and Sarpedon were in the front, dealing death among the enemy. The
fierce god of war and mighty Hector fought side by side, and they slew
numbers of Argive warriors.
Such destruction of her beloved Greeks was not pleasing to Juno, who was
watching the conflict from her place on high Olympus, and she begged of
Jupiter to permit her to drive Mars from the battle. Jupiter consented,
but he advised her to intrust that work to Minerva, who had often before
"brought grievous troubles on the god of war." Juno obeyed. Then the two
goddesses, who had already mounted the queen of heaven's own grand
chariot, glittering with gold and silver and brass, set out for the
Grecian camp.
Eight brazen spokes in radiant order flame;
The circles gold, of uncorrupted frame,
Such as the heavens produce: and round the gold
Two brazen rings of work divine were roll'd.
The bossy naves of solid silver shone;
Braces of gold suspend the moving throne;
The car, behind, an arching figure bore;
The bending concave form'd an arch before.
Silver the beam, the extended yoke was gold,
And golden reins the immortal coursers hold.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
Riding in this magnificent chariot, driven by Juno herself, "midway
between the earth and the starry heaven," the goddesses descended upon
the plain of Troy, near where the Simois and the Scamander united their
streams. There they alighted, and cast a dense mist around the chariot
and the steeds to hide them from mortal view. Then they hastened to
where the bravest of the Greek chiefs were standing around the warrior
Diomede, Juno likening herself to the herald Stenʹtor, who had a voice
louder than the shout of fifty men.
Stentor the strong, endued with brazen lungs,
Whose throat surpass'd the force of fifty tongues.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
Appearing before the Greek chiefs in the form of the loud-voiced
herald, the queen of heaven cried out in words of reproof:
"Shame upon you, Argives! You are heroes only in name. While the divine
Achilles was with you, fighting at the front, the Trojans dared not
advance beyond their gates, for they dreaded his mighty spear; but now
they are almost at your ships."
Minerva, too, severely censured Diomede for holding back from the
battle, but the warrior answered that it was by her command that he had
refrained from attacking Mars. "You did not permit me," said he, "to
fight with any of the gods except Venus."
"Fear not this Mars at all," answered Minerva, "nor any of the
immortals. Come now and direct your steeds against the war god, and I
will be with you." So saying, and putting on her head the helmet of
Pluto, which made any person who wore it invisible, she mounted the
chariot beside the brave Diomede, and, seizing the reins, drove rapidly
to where the fierce Mars was slaying Greek warriors.
As soon as Mars beheld Diomede approaching, he rushed against him, and
hurled his brazen spear; but Minerva grasped the weapon and turned it
aside from the chariot. Diomede now thrust forward his lance, Minerva
directing it, and adding her strength to give force to the blow. It
pierced the loin of the war god, making a deep wound.
Mars bellows with the pain:
Loud as the roar encountering armies yield,
When shouting millions shake the thundering field.
Both armies start, and trembling gaze around;
And earth and heaven rebellow to the sound.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book V.
The wounded god disappeared in a dark cloud, and, quickly ascending to
Olympus, made bitter complaint to Jupiter against Minerva. But the king
of heaven sternly reproved him, saying that he had brought his
sufferings upon himself, for discord and wars were always his delight.
Nevertheless he ordered Pæʹon, the physician of the gods, to heal the
wound, which was immediately done.
Meanwhile Juno and Minerva returned to Olympus, Mars being removed from
the battlefield. And now the fortune of war began to favor the Greeks.
The Trojans, no longer aided by a god fighting on their side, were
driven back to their walls, and it seemed as if they were about to be
totally defeated. In this perilous situation Helenus, the prophet and
soothsayer, advised his brother Hector to go quickly into the city, and
request their mother, the queen, to call together the matrons of Troy,
and with them to offer up sacrifices and prayers in the temple of
Minerva, begging the help and protection of that goddess. The advice
seemed good to Hector. Leaping from his chariot, he went through the
army bidding the warriors to fight bravely during his absence. Then he
hastened to the city. At the Scæan Gate he was met by crowds of anxious
wives and mothers and daughters, who eagerly inquired for their
husbands, sons, and brothers.
He admonished all
Duly to importune the gods in prayer,
For woe, he said, was near to many a one.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
Arriving at the royal palace Hector was met by his mother, who offered
him wine to refresh himself with. But the hero would not taste the
liquor. "Do not ask me to drink wine, dear mother," he said, "for it
would enfeeble me, and deprive me of my strength and valor."
"Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind,
Unnerves the limbs, and dulls the noble mind."
POPE, _Iliad_, Book VI.
Then Hector told his mother why he had come from the field of battle.
She gladly consented to do as her son requested, and so Queen Hecuba and
the matrons of Troy went to the temple of Minerva, and prayed and
offered sacrifices. But the goddess refused to hear their prayers, for
she still hated the Trojans because of the never-forgotten judgment on
Mount Ida.
Meantime the hero went to the palace of Paris, whom he found in his
chamber, handling and preparing his armor, while Helen sat near him with
her maids, directing their various tasks. Angry at seeing his brother
thus engaged, instead of being in the front of the fight, Hector
reproached him in sharp and bitter words.
"The people," said he, "are perishing, the conflict rages round the
walls, and all on your account. Arise, then, and act, lest our city soon
be in flames." Paris answered mildly, saying that he deserved his
brother's censure, and promising that he would immediately repair to the
field of battle.
Hector next proceeded to his own home to visit his dear wife,
An-dromʹa-che, and his infant son; "for I know not," said he, "whether I
shall ever return to them again." Arriving at the palace, he learned
from Andromache's maids that their mistress had just gone towards the
city walls.
"To the lofty tower of Troy she went
When it was told her that the Trojan troops
Lost heart, and that the valor of the Greeks
Prevailed. She now is hurrying toward the walls.
Like one distracted, with her son and nurse."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
Leaving the palace, Hector hastened through the city, and, arriving at
the Scæan Gate, he there met Andromache and her nurse, the latter
bearing in her arms the infant Sca-man'dri-us. His father had given the
child this name, from the name of the river, but the people called him
As-tyʹa-nax, meaning "city-king." The lines in which Homer describes the
interview which here took place between the noble Hector and his loving
wife, are among the most beautiful of the whole Iliad. Andromache was a
daughter of E-ëʹti-on, king of Thebe, the town from which the maiden
Chryseis was carried away. Eëtion and all his family had been slain,
with the exception of Andromache, who therefore had now neither parents
nor brothers nor sisters. Of this she spoke in touching words, while
entreating Hector to remain within the city and not again risk his life
in battle.
"Too brave! thy valor yet will cause thy death:
Thou hast no pity on thy tender child,
Nor me, unhappy one, who soon must be
Thy widow. All the Greeks will rush on thee
To take thy life. A happier lot were mine,
If I must lose thee, to go down to earth,
For I shall have no hope when thou art gone,--
Nothing but sorrow. Father I have none,
And no dear mother. Great Achilles slew
My father when he sacked the populous town
Of the Cilicians,--Thebe with high gates.
Hector, thou
Art father and dear mother now to me,
And brother and my youthful spouse besides.
In pity keep within the fortress here,
Nor make thy child an orphan nor thy wife
A widow."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
Hector was deeply moved by these words, but he could not think of
deserting his brave companions.
"All this
I bear in mind, dear wife; but I should stand
Ashamed before the men and long-robed dames
Of Troy, were I to keep aloof and shun
The conflict, cowardlike. Not thus my heart
Prompts me, for greatly have I learned to dare
And strike among the foremost sons of Troy,
Upholding my great father's fame and mine;
Yet well in my undoubting mind I know
The day shall come in which our sacred Troy,
And Priam, and the people over whom
Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
But it was not the dark prospect of his country's ruin that grieved the
loving husband so much as the thought that his wife might some day be
carried off as a slave by the conquering Greeks.
"But not the sorrows of the Trojan race,
Nor those of Hecuba herself, nor those
Of royal Priam, nor the woes that wait
My brothers many and brave,--who all at last,
Slain by the pitiless foe, shall lie in dust,--
Grieve me so much as thine, when some mailed Greek
Shall lead thee weeping hence, and take from thee
Thy day of freedom. . . . .
O let the earth
Be heaped above my head in death before
I hear thy cries as thou art borne away!"
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
[Illustration: HECTOR PARTING FROM ANDROMACHE.
_Painting by Maignan._]
Then Hector stretched out his hands to embrace his son, but the little
fellow shrank back and screamed in fright at the nodding crest on his
father's helmet. Both parents gently smiled, and Hector, taking off his
helmet, and placing it on the ground, kissed his boy, and fondled him in
his arms, praying to the gods that he might become a brave warrior, and
the defender of his country.
"O Jupiter and all ye deities,
Vouchsafe that this my son may yet become
Among the Trojans eminent like me,
And nobly rule in Ilium. May they say,
'This man is greater than his father was.'"
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
The parting between the hero and his sorrowing wife was very affecting.
Andromache received the infant from his father's arms, mingling tears
with her smiles as she looked into the face of her child.
The chief
Beheld, and, moved with tender pity, smoothed
Her forehead gently with his hand and said:--
"Sorrow not thus, beloved one, for me.
No living man can send me to the shades
Before my time; no man of woman born,
Coward or brave, can shun his destiny.
But go thou home, and tend thy labors there,--
The web, the distaff,--and command thy maids
To speed the work. The cares of war pertain
To all men born in Troy, and most to me."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VI.
Then Hector took his helmet from the ground, and Andromache departed for
her home, "oft looking back, and shedding many tears."
As the hero went out at the Scæan Gate, after taking leave of his wife,
he met Paris, arrayed in his shining armor, and eager to join the
battle. Together they rushed into the plain, and slew many of the enemy.
The goddess Minerva, observing that the battle was going against the
Greeks, quickly descended from the top of Olympus. Apollo, seeing her
from the Trojan citadel, hastened to meet her, and he proposed that they
should now bring the conflict to an end for the day. With this object,
Minerva having consented, they both agreed to cause Hector to challenge
one of the Greek warriors to engage with him in single combat. Helenus,
being a soothsayer, knew the purpose of the gods, and he told his
brother. "But," said he, "you shall not fall in the fight, for it is not
thy fate yet to perish. Thus have the immortal gods spoken, and I have
heard their voice."
Hector rejoiced at his brother's words, and immediately advancing to the
front of the army he commanded the Trojans to cease fighting.
He bore his spear,
Holding it in the middle, and pressed back
The ranks of Trojans, and they all sat down.
And Agamemnon caused the well-armed Greeks
To sit down also.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VII.
Then the Trojan chief, standing between the two hosts, spoke in a loud
voice, and challenged the bravest of the Greeks to engage with him in
mortal combat. For a few moments there was silence in the ranks of the
Argives. Even the boldest of them hesitated at the thought of fighting
such a warrior as Hector. At length Menelaus, rising from his seat,
declared that he was ready to accept the challenge, and so he put on his
armor. But Agamemnon held him back, warning him against rashly venturing
into a conflict with a man who was much stronger and braver than he, and
whom every other chief, even Achilles himself, regarded with fear.
Nestor then arose, and in severe words upbraided his countrymen for
their want of courage. "Would that my frame were unworn with years," he
exclaimed, "then Hector should soon find a foe to meet him; but now
among the bravest of the Achaians there is no one to meet the Trojan
leader in arms."
The venerable Nestor had no sooner ceased speaking than nine warriors
started to their feet, every one eager for the honor of being permitted
to accept the challenge of Hector. Among them were Agamemnon, the two
Ajaxes, Diomede, and Ulysses. Nestor then proposed that one should be
chosen by lot. This was agreed to, and lots being cast, the honor fell
to Ajax Telamon, the mightiest and most valiant of the Greeks except
Achilles. The hero greatly rejoiced, believing that he would conquer
Hector, and so he quickly put on his armor, and went forward to the
ground marked out for the combat.
His massy javelin quivering in his hand,
He stood, the bulwark of the Grecian band.
POPE, _Iliad_, Book VII.
Hector having also taken his place on the ground, the combat began.
First the Trojan chief, brandishing his long spear, hurled it at his
foe. Ajax received it on his shield, which was made of seven folds of
oxhides and an eighth fold of solid brass. Through six of the hides the
weapon of Hector pierced, but it stuck fast in the seventh.
Then the Grecian champion sent forth his javelin. It passed right
through Hector's shield and corselet, and might have proved fatal, had
the hero not quickly bent aside his body. Again both champions launched
spears, one after the other. This time Hector was slightly wounded in
the neck. Nothing daunted, however, he seized a huge stone which lay at
his feet, and hurled it at Ajax. It struck the hero's shield and the
brass resounded with the blow. Quickly the Argive warrior took up a much
larger stone, and flung it at his antagonist with tremendous force. The
stone crashed through Hector's shield, and, striking him on the knee,
stretched him flat on the ground. But Apollo instantly raised him up,
renewing his strength, and then with their swords the two heroes fell
upon each other, fighting hand to hand. At this point, night having come
on, two heralds, one from the Trojan army, the other from the Greek,
approached the champions, and ordered them to cease fighting, I-daeʹus,
the Trojan herald, giving the command in a loud voice:
"Cease to contend, dear sons, in deadly fray;
Ye both are loved by cloud-compelling Jove,
And both are great in war, as all men know.
The night is come; be then the night obeyed."
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VII.
Ajax answered that as it was Hector who gave the challenge, it was for
him first to speak of truce. Hector replied, speaking words of praise
and admiration for his antagonist, and saying that they should now cease
from battle for the day.
"Since, then, the night extends her gloomy shade,
And heaven enjoins it, be the night obey'd.
Return, brave Ajax, to thy Grecian friends,
And joy the nations whom thy arm defends;
But let us, on this memorable day,
Exchange some gift: that Greece and Troy may say
'Not hate, but glory, made these chiefs contend;
And each brave foe was in his soul a friend.'"
POPE, _Iliad_, Book VII.
Then Hector gave Ajax a silver-studded sword with scabbard, and Ajax
presented to Hector a belt of rich purple. Thus ended the terrible
conflict which had raged throughout the day, and the two heroes retired,
each joyfully welcomed by his comrades and friends.
Then they both departed,--one
To join the Grecian host, and one to meet
The Trojan people, who rejoiced to see
Hector alive, unwounded, and now safe
From the great might and irresistible arm
Of Ajax. Straightway to the town they led
Him for whose life they scarce had dared to hope.
And Ajax also by the well-armed Greeks,
Exulting in his feats of arms, was brought
To noble Agamemnon.
BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book VII.