Page:Iliad of Homer - Bryant - 1870.djvu/31

Rh Who guardest Chrysa, and the holy isle Of Cilia, and art lord in Tenedos, O Smintheus! if I ever helped to deck Thy glorious temple, if I ever burned Upon thy altar the fat thighs of goats And bullocks, grant my prayer, and let thy shafts Avenge upon the Greeks the tears I shed."
 * So spake he supplicating, and to him

Phœbus Apollo hearkened. Down he came, Down from the summit of the Olympian mount, Wrathful in heart; his shoulders bore the bow And hollow quiver; there the arrows rang Upon the shoulders of the angry god, As on he moved. He came as comes the night, And, seated from the ships aloof, sent forth An arrow; terrible was heard the clang Of that resplendent bow. At first he smote The mules and the swift dogs, and then on man He turned the deadly arrow. All around Glared evermore the frequent funeral piles. Nine clays already had his shafts been showered Among the host, and now, upon the tenth, Achilles called the people of the camp To council. Juno, of the snow-white arms, Had moved his mind to this, for she beheld With sorrow that the men were perishing. And when the assembly met and now was full, Stood swift Achilles in the midst and said:
 * "To me it seems, Atrides, that 't were well,