Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
slaughtered by the Achaeans? Would you wait till they are at the
walls of Troy? Aeneas the son of Anchises has fallen, he whom we
held in as high honour as Hector himself. Help me, then, to rescue
our brave comrade from the stress of the fight.”
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Then
Sarpedon rebuked Hector very sternly. “Hector,” said he, “where is
your prowess now? You used to say that though you had neither
people nor allies you could hold the town alone with your brothers
and brothers-in-law. I see not one of them here; they cower as
hounds before a lion; it is we, your allies, who bear the brunt of the
battle. I have come from afar, even from Lycia and the banks of the
river Xanthus, where I have left my wife, my infant son, and much
wealth to tempt whoever is needy; nevertheless, I head my Lycian
soldiers and stand my ground against any who would fight me
though I have nothing here for the Achaeans to plunder, while you
look on, without even bidding your men stand firm in defence of
their wives. See that you fall not into the hands of your foes as men
caught in the meshes of a net, and they sack your fair city forthwith.
Keep this before your mind night and day, and beseech the
captains of your allies to hold on without flinching, and thus put
away their reproaches from you.”
So spoke Sarpedon, and Hector smarted under his words. He
sprang from his chariot clad in his suit of armour, and went about
among the host brandishing his two spears, exhorting the men to
fight and raising the terrible cry of battle. Then they rallied and
again faced the Achaeans, but the Argives stood compact and firm,
and were not driven back. As the breezes sport with the chaff upon
some goodly threshing-floor, when men are winnowing- while
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