Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/133

Rh the ships, had not Hera put it in the heart of King Agamemnon to exhort the Greeks to battle. On the ship of Ulysses, that was mid-most of all, he stood, so that he could shout to either end, to where Ajax the Greater on one side, and Achilles on the other, had drawn up their ships. And he cried aloud:—

"Shame on you, ye Greeks! Where are now your boastings wherewith ye boasted in Lemnos, as ye ate the flesh of cattle, and drank from the brimming bowls of wine, how one man of you would outmatch five score, yea, ten score, of the sons of Troy? And now one single man is of more worth than you all! O Father Zeus, hast thou ever afflicted any king in such fashion? and yet have I never passed by altar of thine, but burnt on it the fat of beeves, praying that I might take the city of Troy. Grant us, now, that we may at least escape with our lives."

And Zeus hearkened to his prayer, and sent a sign from heaven, an eagle that held a kid in his claw; by the altar of Zeus, the god of warning, did he drop it, and the Greeks, when they saw it, took heart, and leaped upon