Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
ships- for theirs were drawn up some way from where the fighting
was going on, being on the shore itself inasmuch as they had been
beached first, while the wall had been built behind the hindermost.
The stretch of the shore, wide though it was, did not afford room
for all the ships, and the host was cramped for space, therefore they
had placed the ships in rows one behind the other, and had filled
the whole opening of the bay between the two points that formed
it. The kings, leaning on their spears, were coming out to survey
the fight, being in great anxiety, and when old Nestor met them
they were filled with dismay. Then King Agamemnon said to him,
“Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, why have you
left the battle to come hither? I fear that what dread Hector said will
come true, when he vaunted among the Trojans saying that he
would not return to Ilius till he had fired our ships and killed us;
this is what he said, and now it is all coming true. Alas! others of
the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with me that they refuse to
fight by the sterns of our ships.”
Then Nestor knight of Gerene answered, “It is indeed as you say; it
is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders
from on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we
relied as an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The
Trojans are fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships;
look where you may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of
the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed in a confused mass
and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel can be
of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our going
into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is wounded.”
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