Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
they compass the doom of Ilius, since you goddesses have made
up your minds to destroy the city.”
And Minerva answered, “So be it, Far-Darter; it was in this mind
that I came down from Olympus to the Trojans and Achaeans. Tell
me, then, how do you propose to end this present fighting?”
Apollo, son of Jove, replied, “Let us incite great Hector to
challenge some one of the Danaans in single combat; on this the
Achaeans will be shamed into finding a man who will fight him.”
Minerva assented, and Helenus son of Priam divined the counsel
of the gods; he therefore went up to Hector and said, “Hector son
of Priam, peer of gods in counsel, I am your brother, let me then
persuade you. Bid the other Trojans and Achaeans all of them take
their seats, and challenge the best man among the Achaeans to meet
you in single combat. I have heard the voice of the ever-living
gods, and the hour of your doom is not yet come.”
Hector was glad when he heard this saying, and went in among the
Trojans, grasping his spear by the middle to hold them back, and
they all sat down. Agamemnon also bade the Achaeans be seated.
But Minerva and Apollo, in the likeness of vultures, perched on
father Jove’s high oak tree, proud of their men; and the ranks sat
close ranged together, bristling with shield and helmet and spear.
As when the rising west wind furs the face of the sea and the waters
grow dark beneath it, so sat the companies of Trojans and Achaeans
upon the plain. And Hector spoke thus:-
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