Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/218

216 "While here," he cried, "the flying Greeks are slain,

Trojans on Trojans yonder load the plain.

Before great Ajax, see the mingled throng

Of men and chariots driven in heaps along!

I know him well, distinguished o'er the field

By the broad glittering of the sevenfold shield.

Thither, O Hector, thither urge thy steeds,

There danger calls, and there the combat bleeds;

There horse and foot in mingled deaths unite,

And groans of slaughter mix with shouts of fight."

Thus having spoke, the driver's lash resounds;

Swift through the ranks the rapid chariot bounds;

Stung by the stroke, the coursers scour the fields,

O'er heaps of carcases, and hills of shields;

The horses' hoofs are bathed in heroes' gore,

And, dashing, purple all the car before:

The groaning axle sable drops distils,

And mangled carnage clogs the rapid wheels.

Here Hector, plunging through the thickest fight,

Broke the dark phalanx, and let in the light;

By the long lance, the sword, or ponderous stone,

The ranks lie scattered, and the troops o'erthrown.

Ajax he shuns, through all the dire debate,

And fears that arm whose force he felt so late.

But partial Jove, espousing Hector's part,

Shot heaven-bred horror through the Grecian's heart;

Confused, unnerved in Hector's presence grown,

Amazed he stood, with terrors not his own.

O'er his broad back his moony shield he threw,

And, glaring round, by tardy steps withdrew.

Thus the grim lion his retreat maintains,

Beset with watchful dogs and shouting swains,

Repulsed by numbers from the nightly stalls,

Though rage impels him, and though hunger calls,

Long stands the showering darts, and missile fires;

Then sourly slow the indignant beast retires.

So turned stern Ajax, by whole hosts repelled,

While his swoln heart at every step rebelled.

As the slow beast, with heavy strength endued,

In some wild field by troops of boys pursued,

Though round his sides a wooden tempest rain,

Crops the tall harvest, and lays waste the plain;

Thick on his hide the hollow blows resound;

The patient animal maintains his ground;

Scarce from the field with all their efforts chased,

And stirs but slowly when he stirs at last.

On Ajax thus a weight of Trojans hung,

The strokes redoubled on his buckler rung;

Confiding now in bulky strength he stands,