BOOK VIII.

ARGUMENT.

THE SECOND BATTLE, AND THE DISTRESS OF THE GREEKS.

Jupiter assembles a council of the deities, and threatens them with the

pains of Tartarus if they assist either side: Minerva only obtains of him

that she may direct the Greeks by her counsels.(189) his balances the

fates of both, and affrights the Greeks with his thunders and lightnings.

Nestor alone continues in the field in great danger: Diomed relieves him;

whose exploits, and those of Hector, are excellently described. Juno

endeavours to animate Neptune to the assistance of the Greeks, but in

vain. The acts of Teucer, who is at length wounded by Hector, and carried

off. Juno and Minerva prepare to aid the Grecians, but are restrained by

Iris, sent from Jupiter. The night puts an end to the battle. Hector

continues in the field, (the Greeks being driven to their fortifications

before the ships,) and gives orders to keep the watch all night in the

camp, to prevent the enemy from re-embarking and escaping by flight. They

kindle fires through all the fields, and pass the night under arms.

The time of seven and twenty days is employed from the opening of the poem

to the end of this book. The scene here (except of the celestial machines)

lies in the field towards the seashore.

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The Iliad of Homer