The Iliad of Homer


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Had pierced Machaon with a distant wound:  
In his right shoulder the broad shaft appear'd,  
And trembling Greece for her physician fear'd.  
To Nestor then Idomeneus begun:  
"Glory of Greece, old Neleus' valiant son!  
Ascend thy chariot, haste with speed away,  
And great Machaon to the ships convey;  
A wise physician skill'd our wounds to heal,  
Is more than armies to the public weal."  
Old Nestor mounts the seat; beside him rode  
The wounded offspring of the healing god.  
He lends the lash; the steeds with sounding feet  
Shake the dry field, and thunder toward the fleet.  
But now Cebriones, from Hector's car,  
Survey'd the various fortune of the war:  
"
While here (he cried) the flying Greeks are slain,  
Trojans on Trojans yonder load the plain.  
Before great Ajax see the mingled throng  
Of men and chariots driven in heaps along!  
I know him well, distinguish'd o'er the field  
By the broad glittering of the sevenfold shield.  
Thither, O Hector, thither urge thy steeds,  
There danger calls, and there the combat bleeds;  
There horse and foot in mingled deaths unite,  
And groans of slaughter mix with shouts of fight."  
430  


Page
428 429 430 431 432

Quick Jump
1 245 490 735 980