Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
with fear. The son of Atreus sprang upon them like a lion, and the
pair besought him from their chariot. “Take us alive,” they cried,
“son of Atreus, and you shall receive a great ransom for us. Our
father Antimachus has great store of gold, bronze, and wrought
iron, and from this he will satisfy you with a very large ransom
should he hear of our being alive at the ships of the Achaeans.”
With such piteous words and tears did they beseech the king, but
they heard no pitiful answer in return. “If,” said Agamemnon, “you
are sons of Antimachus, who once at a council of Trojans proposed
that Menelaus and Ulysses, who had come to you as envoys,
should be killed and not suffered to return, you shall now pay for
the foul iniquity of your father.”
As he spoke he felled Pisander from his chariot to the earth,
smiting him on the chest with his spear, so that he lay face
uppermost upon the ground. Hippolochus fled, but him too did
Agamemnon smite; he cut off his hands and his head- which he
sent rolling in among the crowd as though it were a ball. There he
let them both lie, and wherever the ranks were thickest thither he
flew, while the other Achaeans followed. Foot soldiers drove the
foot soldiers of the foe in rout before them, and slew them;
horsemen did the like by horsemen, and the thundering tramp of
the horses raised a cloud of dust frim off the plain. King
Agamemnon followed after, ever slaying them and cheering on the
Achaeans. As when some mighty forest is all ablaze- the eddying
gusts whirl fire in all directions till the thickets shrivel and are
consumed before the blast of the flame- even so fell the heads of
the flying Trojans before Agamemnon son of Atreus, and many a
noble pair of steeds drew an empty chariot along the highways of
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