Achilles (Mythological character); Classical literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
And now as a band of reapers mow swathes of wheat or barley upon
a rich man’s land, and the sheaves fall thick before them, even
so did the Trojans and Achaeans fall upon one another; they were
in no mood for yielding but fought like wolves, and neither side
got the better of the other. Discord was glad as she beheld them,
for she was the only god that went among them; the others were
not there, but stayed quietly each in his own home among the
dells and valleys of Olympus. All of them blamed the son of
Saturn for wanting to give victory to the Trojans, but father
Jove heeded them not: he held aloof from all, and sat apart in
his all-glorious majesty, looking down upon the city of the
Trojans, the ships of the Achaeans, the gleam of bronze, and
alike upon the slayers and on the slain.
Now so long as the day waxed and it was still morning, their
darts rained thick on one another and the people perished, but as
the hour drew nigh when a woodman working in some mountain forest
will get his midday meal—for he has felled till his hands are
weary; he is tired out, and must now have food—then the Danaans
with a cry that rang through all their ranks, broke the
battalions of the enemy. Agamemnon led them on, and slew first
Bienor, a leader of his people, and afterwards his comrade and
charioteer Oileus, who sprang from his chariot and was coming
full towards him; but Agamemnon struck him on the forehead with
his spear; his bronze visor was of no avail against the weapon,
which pierced both bronze and bone, so that his brains were
battered in and he was killed in full fight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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