Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
Meriones saw it coming and stooped forward to avoid it, whereon
the spear flew past him and the point stuck in the ground, while
the butt-end went on quivering till Mars robbed it of its force. The
spear, therefore, sped from Aeneas’s hand in vain and fell
quivering to the ground. Aeneas was angry and said, “Meriones,
you are a good dancer, but if I had hit you my spear would soon
have made an end of you.”
And Meriones answered, “Aeneas, for all your bravery, you will
not be able to make an end of every one who comes against you.
You are only a mortal like myself, and if I were to hit you in the
middle of your shield with my spear, however strong and selfconfident
you may be, I should soon vanquish you, and you would
yield your life to Hades of the noble steeds.”
On this the son of Menoetius rebuked him and said, “Meriones,
hero though you be, you should not speak thus; taunting speeches,
my good friend, will not make the Trojans draw away from the
dead body; some of them must go under ground first; blows for
battle, and words for council; fight, therefore, and say nothing.”
He led the way as he spoke and the hero went forward with him.
As the sound of woodcutters in some forest glade upon the
mountains- and the thud of their axes is heard afar- even such a din
now rose from earth-clash of bronze armour and of good ox-hide
shields, as men smote each other with their swords and spears
pointed at both ends. A man had need of good eyesight now to
know Sarpedon, so covered was he from head to foot with spears
and blood and dust. Men swarmed about the body, as flies that
buzz round the full milk-pails in spring when they are brimming
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