Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
winds roar against the mast, the hearts of the sailors fail them for
fear, and they are saved but by a very little from destruction- even
so were the hearts of the Achaeans fainting within them. Or as a
savage lion attacking a herd of cows while they are feeding by
thousands in the low-lying meadows by some wide-watered shorethe
herdsman is at his wit’s end how to protect his herd and keeps
going about now in the van and now in the rear of his cattle, while
the lion springs into the thick of them and fastens on a cow so that
they all tremble for fear- even so were the Achaeans utterly panicstricken
by Hector and father Jove. Nevertheless Hector only killed
Periphetes of Mycenae; he was son of Copreus who was wont to
take the orders of King Eurystheus to mighty Hercules, but the son
was a far better man than the father in every way; he was fleet of
foot, a valiant warrior, and in understanding ranked among the
foremost men of Mycenae. He it was who then afforded Hector a
triumph, for as he was turning back he stumbled against the rim of
his shield which reached his feet, and served to keep the javelins
off him. He tripped against this and fell face upward, his helmet
ringing loudly about his head as he did so. Hector saw him fall and
ran up to him; he then thrust a spear into his chest, and killed him
close to his own comrades. These, for all their sorrow, could not
help him for they were themselves terribly afraid of Hector.
They had now reached the ships and the prows of those that had
been drawn up first were on every side of them, but the Trojans
came pouring after them. The Argives were driven back from the
first row of ships, but they made a stand by their tents without
being broken up and scattered; shame and fear restrained them.
They kept shouting incessantly to one another, and Nestor of
Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans, was loudest in
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