Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
ox-hide above their heads; for a while the two defenders remained
inside and cheered the Achaeans on to stand firm in the defence of
their ships; when, however, they saw that the Trojans were
attacking the wall, while the Danaans were crying out for help and
being routed, they rushed outside and fought in front of the gates
like two wild boars upon the mountains that abide the attack of
men and dogs, and charging on either side break down the wood
all round them tearing it up by the roots, and one can hear the
clattering of their tusks, till some one hits them and makes an end
of them- even so did the gleaming bronze rattle about their breasts,
as the weapons fell upon them; for they fought with great fury,
trusting to their own prowess and to those who were on the wall
above them. These threw great stones at their assailants in defence
of themselves their tents and their ships. The stones fell thick as the
flakes of snow which some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds
and showers down in sheets upon the earth- even so fell the
weapons from the hands alike of Trojans and Achaeans. Helmet
and shield rang out as the great stones rained upon them, and
Asius the son of Hyrtacus in his dismay cried aloud and smote his
two thighs. “Father Jove,” he cried, “of a truth you too are
altogether given to lying. I made sure the Argive heroes could not
withstand us, whereas like slim-waisted wasps, or bees that have
their nests in the rocks by the wayside- they leave not the holes
wherein they have built undefended, but fight for their little ones
against all who would take them- even so these men, though they
be but two, will not be driven from the gates, but stand firm either
to slay or be slain.”
He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then
was to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were
227