Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
though his hands be as fire- though his hands be fire and his
strength iron.”
Thus urged the Trojans lifted up their spears against the Achaeans,
and raised the cry of battle as they flung themselves into the midst
of their ranks. But Phoebus Apollo came up to Hector and said,
“Hector, on no account must you challenge Achilles to single
combat; keep a lookout for him while you are under cover of the
others and away from the thick of the fight, otherwise he will either
hit you with a spear or cut you down at close quarters.”
Thus he spoke, and Hector drew back within the crowd, for he was
afraid when he heard what the god had said to him. Achilles then
sprang upon the Trojans with a terrible cry, clothed in valour as
with a garment. First he killed Iphition son of Otrynteus, a leader
of much people whom a naiad nymph had borne to Otrynteus
waster of cities, in the land of Hyde under the snowy heights of Mt.
Tmolus. Achilles struck him full on the head as he was coming on
towards him, and split it clean in two; whereon he fell heavily to
the ground and Achilles vaunted over him saying, “You he low,
son of Otrynteus, mighty hero; your death is here, but your lineage
is on the Gygaean lake where your father’s estate lies, by Hyllus,
rich in fish, and the eddying waters of Hermus.”
Thus did he vaunt, but darkness closed the eyes of the other. The
chariots of the Achaeans cut him up as their wheels passed over
him in the front of the battle, and after him Achilles killed
Demoleon, a valiant man of war and son to Antenor. He struck him
on the temple through his bronze-cheeked helmet. The helmet did
not stay the spear, but it went right on, crushing the bone so that
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