Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
made trial of himself in his armour to see whether it fitted him, so
that his limbs could play freely under it, and it seemed to buoy
him up as though it had been wings.
He also drew his father’s spear out of the spear-stand, a spear so
great and heavy and strong that none of the Achaeans save only
Achilles had strength to wield it; this was the spear of Pelian ash
from the topmost ridges of Mt. Pelion, which Chiron had once
given to Peleus, fraught with the death of heroes. Automedon and
Alcimus busied themselves with the harnessing of his horses; they
made the bands fast about them, and put the bit in their mouths,
drawing the reins back towards the chariot. Automedon, whip in
hand, sprang up behind the horses, and after him Achilles mounted
in full armour, resplendent as the sun-god Hyperion. Then with a
loud voice he chided with his father’s horses saying, “Xanthus and
Balius, famed offspring of Podarge- this time when we have done
fighting be sure and bring your driver safely back to the host of the
Achaeans, and do not leave him dead on the plain as you did
Patroclus.”
Then fleet Xanthus answered under the yoke- for white-armed Juno
had endowed him with human speech- and he bowed his head till
his mane touched the ground as it hung down from under the
yoke-band. “Dread Achilles,” said he, “we will indeed save you
now, but the day of your death is near, and the blame will not be
ours, for it will be heaven and stern fate that will destroy you.
Neither was it through any sloth or slackness on our part that the
Trojans stripped Patroclus of his armour; it was the mighty god
whom lovely Leto bore that slew him as he fought among the
foremost, and vouchsafed a triumph to Hector. We two can fly as
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