The Iliad of Homer


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Nor great Idomeneus that sight could bear,  
Nor each stern Ajax, thunderbolts of war:  
Nor he, the king of war, the alarm sustain'd  
Nestor alone, amidst the storm remain'd.  
Unwilling he remain'd, for Paris' dart  
Had pierced his courser in a mortal part;  
Fix'd in the forehead, where the springing man  
Curl'd o'er the brow, it stung him to the brain;  
Mad with his anguish, he begins to rear,  
Paw with his hoofs aloft, and lash the air.  
Scarce had his falchion cut the reins, and freed  
The encumber'd chariot from the dying steed,  
When dreadful Hector, thundering through the war,  
Pour'd to the tumult on his whirling car.  
That day had stretch'd beneath his matchless hand  
The hoary monarch of the Pylian band,  
But Diomed beheld; from forth the crowd  
He rush'd, and on Ulysses call'd aloud:  
"Whither, oh whither does Ulysses run?  
Oh, flight unworthy great Laertes' son!  
Mix'd with the vulgar shall thy fate be found,  
Pierced in the back, a vile, dishonest wound?  
Oh turn and save from Hector's direful rage  
The glory of the Greeks, the Pylian sage."  
His fruitless words are lost unheard in air,  
314  


Page
312 313 314 315 316

Quick Jump
1 245 490 735 980