Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/187

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Hector saw that Agamemnon had departed from the battle, he called aloud to the Trojans and the allies: "Come on, and play the man. The leader of the Greeks is gone; and Zeus giveth the honour unto me."

So he stirred the spirit within them. As a hunter setteth his dogs on a wild boar or a lion in the field, so did Hector set the men of Troy upon the Greeks, and he himself went among the foremost, and plunged into the battle as a storm cometh down upon the sea. Many valiant men did he slay, till Ulysses called to Diomed: "Son of Tydeus, have we forgotten our courage? Come hither, and stand by me; it were shame if Hector should take our ships."

Strong Diomed made answer, "I will, indeed, abide with thee; but it will fare ill with us if Zeus give the mastery to the men of Troy rather than to us."