The Iliad of Homer


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A single warrior half a host sustains:  
But soon as Ajax leaves his tower-like shield,  
The scattered crowds fly frighted o'er the field;  
Atrides' arm the sinking hero stays,  
And, saved from numbers, to his car conveys.  
Victorious Ajax plies the routed crew;  
And first Doryclus, Priam's son, he slew,  
On strong Pandocus next inflicts a wound,  
And lays Lysander bleeding on the ground.  
As when a torrent, swell'd with wintry rains,  
Pours from the mountains o'er the deluged plains,  
And pines and oaks, from their foundations torn,  
A country's ruins! to the seas are borne:  
Fierce Ajax thus o'erwhelms the yielding throng;  
Men, steeds, and chariots, roll in heaps along.  
But Hector, from this scene of slaughter far,  
Raged on the left, and ruled the tide of war:  
Loud groans proclaim his progress through the plain,  
And deep Scamander swells with heaps of slain.  
There Nestor and Idomeneus oppose  
The warrior's fury; there the battle glows;  
There fierce on foot, or from the chariot's height,  
His sword deforms the beauteous ranks of fight.  
The spouse of Helen, dealing darts around,  
429  


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427 428 429 430 431

Quick Jump
1 245 490 735 980