Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
Alcimedon sprang on to the chariot, and caught up the whip and
reins, while Automedon leaped from off the car. When Hector saw
him he said to Aeneas who was near him, “Aeneas, counsellor of
the mail-clad Trojans, I see the steeds of the fleet son of Aeacus
come into battle with weak hands to drive them. I am sure, if you
think well, that we might take them; they will not dare face us if we
both attack them.”
The valiant son of Anchises was of the same mind, and the pair
went right on, with their shoulders covered under shields of tough
dry ox-hide, overlaid with much bronze. Chromius and Aretus
went also with them, and their hearts beat high with hope that they
might kill the men and capture the horses- fools that they were, for
they were not to return scatheless from their meeting with
Automedon, who prayed to father Jove and was forthwith filled
with courage and strength abounding. He turned to his trusty
comrade Alcimedon and said, “Alcimedon, keep your horses so
close up that I may feel their breath upon my back; I doubt that we
shall not stay Hector son of Priam till he has killed us and mounted
behind the horses; he will then either spread panic among the
ranks of the Achaeans, or himself be killed among the foremost.”
On this he cried out to the two Ajaxes and Menelaus, “Ajaxes
captains of the Argives, and Menelaus, give the dead body over to
them that are best able to defend it, and come to the rescue of us
living; for Hector and Aeneas who are the two best men among the
Trojans, are pressing us hard in the full tide of war. Nevertheless
the issue lies on the lap of heaven, I will therefore hurl my spear
and leave the rest to Jove.”
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