The Iliad of Homer


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Due to stern Pallas, and Pelides' spear:  
Yet Jove deferr'd the death he was to pay,  
And gave what fate allow'd, the honours of a day!  
Now all on fire for fame, his breast, his eyes  
Burn at each foe, and single every prize;  
Still at the closest ranks, the thickest fight,  
He points his ardour, and exerts his might.  
The Grecian phalanx, moveless as a tower,  
On all sides batter'd, yet resists his power:  
So some tall rock o'erhangs the hoary main,(241)  
By winds assail'd, by billows beat in vain,  
Unmoved it hears, above, the tempest blow,  
And sees the watery mountains break below.  
Girt in surrounding flames, he seems to fall  
Like fire from Jove, and bursts upon them all:  
Bursts as a wave that from the cloud impends,  
And, swell'd with tempests, on the ship descends;  
White are the decks with foam; the winds aloud  
Howl o'er the masts, and sing through every shroud:  
Pale, trembling, tired, the sailors freeze with fears;  
And instant death on every wave appears.  
So pale the Greeks the eyes of Hector meet,  
The chief so thunders, and so shakes the fleet.  
As when a lion, rushing from his den,  
572  


Page
570 571 572 573 574

Quick Jump
1 245 490 735 980