Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
me to Right from Ida, when he attacked our cattle and sacked
Lyrnessus and Pedasus; Jove indeed saved me in that he
vouchsafed me strength to fly, else had the fallen by the hands of
Achilles and Minerva, who went before him to protect him and
urged him to fall upon the Lelegae and Trojans. No man may fight
Achilles, for one of the gods is always with him as his guardian
angel, and even were it not so, his weapon flies ever straight, and
fails not to pierce the flesh of him who is against him; if heaven
would let me fight him on even terms he should not soon
overcome me, though he boasts that he is made of bronze.”
Then said King Apollo, son to Jove, “Nay, hero, pray to the everliving
gods, for men say that you were born of Jove’s daughter
Venus, whereas Achilles is son to a goddess of inferior rank. Venus
is child to Jove, while Thetis is but daughter to the old man of the
sea. Bring, therefore, your spear to bear upon him, and let him not
scare you with his taunts and menaces.”
As he spoke he put courage into the heart of the shepherd of his
people, and he strode in full armour among the ranks of the
foremost fighters. Nor did the son of Anchises escape the notice of
white-armed Juno, as he went forth into the throng to meet Achilles.
She called the gods about her, and said, “Look to it, you two,
Neptune and Minerva, and consider how this shall be; Phoebus
Apollo has been sending Aeneas clad in full armour to fight
Achilles. Shall we turn him back at once, or shall one of us stand by
Achilles and endow him with strength so that his heart fail not, and
he may learn that the chiefs of the immortals are on his side, while
the others who have all along been defending the Trojans are but
vain helpers? Let us all come down from Olympus and join in the
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