Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
and gathered much wood. They then offered unblemished
hecatombs to the immortals, and the wind carried the sweet savour
of sacrifice to heaven- but the blessed gods partook not thereof, for
they bitterly hated Ilius with Priam and Priam’s people. Thus high
in hope they sat through the livelong night by the highways of war,
and many a watchfire did they kindle. As when the stars shine
clear, and the moon is bright- there is not a breath of air, not a peak
nor glade nor jutting headland but it stands out in the ineffable
radiance that breaks from the serene of heaven; the stars can all of
them be told and the heart of the shepherd is glad- even thus shone
the watchfires of the Trojans before Ilius midway between the ships
and the river Xanthus. A thousand camp-fires gleamed upon the
plain, and in the glow of each there sat fifty men, while the horses,
champing oats and corn beside their chariots, waited till dawn
should come.
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