Thou meet'st a chief deserving of thy arms,

To combat born, and bred amidst alarms:

I know to shift my ground, remount the car,

Turn, charge, and answer every call of war;

To right, to left, the dexterous lance I wield,

And bear thick battle on my sounding shield

But open be our fight, and bold each blow;

I steal no conquest from a noble foe."

He said, and rising, high above the field

Whirl'd the long lance against the sevenfold shield.

Full on the brass descending from above

Through six bull-hides the furious weapon drove,

Till in the seventh it fix'd. Then Ajax threw;

Through Hector's shield the forceful javelin flew,

His corslet enters, and his garment rends,

And glancing downwards, near his flank descends.

The wary Trojan shrinks, and bending low

Beneath his buckler, disappoints the blow.

From their bored shields the chiefs their javelins drew,

Then close impetuous, and the charge renew;

Fierce as the mountain-lions bathed in blood,

Or foaming boars, the terror of the wood.

At Ajax, Hector his long lance extends;

The blunted point against the buckler bends;

But Ajax, watchful as his foe drew near,

296

The Iliad of Homer