Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
than hawks as they raise the dust on the plain and bear you back to
your city.”
As he was thus speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand, and
the host of the Achaeans shouted, for they took heart at the omen.
But Hector answered, “Ajax, braggart and false of tongue, would
that I were as sure of being son for evermore to aegis-bearing Jove,
with Queen Juno for my mother, and of being held in like honour
with Minerva and Apollo, as I am that this day is big with the
destruction of the Achaeans; and you shall fall among them if you
dare abide my spear; it shall rend your fair body and bid you glut
our hounds and birds of prey with your fat and your flesh, as you
fall by the ships of the Achaeans.”
With these words he led the way and the others followed after with
a cry that rent the air, while the host shouted behind them. The
Argives on their part raised a shout likewise, nor did they forget
their prowess, but stood firm against the onslaught of the Trojan
chieftains, and the cry from both the hosts rose up to heaven and to
the brightness of Jove’s presence.
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