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Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

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<strong>Homer</strong>’s <strong>Iliad</strong><br />

the body of Iphidamas. Thus did the sons of Antenor meet their<br />

fate at the hands of the son of Atreus, and go down into the house<br />

of Hades.<br />

As long as the blood still welled warm from his wound<br />

Agamemnon went about attacking the ranks of the enemy with<br />

spear and sword and with great handfuls of stone, but when the<br />

blood had ceased to flow and the wound grew dry, the pain<br />

became great. As the sharp pangs which the Eilithuiae, goddesses<br />

of childbirth, daughters of Juno and dispensers of cruel pain, send<br />

upon a woman when she is in labour- even so sharp were the<br />

pangs of the son of Atreus. He sprang on to his chariot, and bade<br />

his charioteer drive to the ships, for he was in great agony. With a<br />

loud clear voice he shouted to the Danaans, “My friends, princes<br />

and counsellors of the Argives, defend the ships yourselves, for<br />

Jove has not suffered me to fight the whole day through against the<br />

Trojans.”<br />

With this the charioteer turned his horses towards the ships, and<br />

they flew forward nothing loth. Their chests were white with foam<br />

and their bellies with dust, as they drew the wounded king out of<br />

the battle.<br />

When Hector saw Agamemnon quit the field, he shouted to the<br />

Trojans and Lycians saying, “Trojans, Lycians, and Dardanian<br />

warriors, be men, my friends, and acquit yourselves in battle<br />

bravely; their best man has left them, and Jove has vouchsafed me a<br />

great triumph; charge the foe with your chariots that. you may win<br />

still greater glory.”<br />

205

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