Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/208

176 the Lycians break through the wall of the Greeks and make a way to the ships, nor could the Greeks drive back the Lycians from the wall. Even as two neighbours, standing with measures in their hands, contend about some boundary, so the Lycians and the Greeks contended for the battlements. And many a man was wounded with the pitiless bronze, either smitten in the back, where he was without defence, or smitten in front through his shield; and all the battlements were bespattered with the blood of men. And still they held the scales of battle level between them, as when a just-dealing woman puts the weight in one scale and the wool in the other, and lifts them up and balances them, earning a petty gain, that she may feed her children therewith. So it was till Zeus gave the glory to Hector. He leaped within the wall, and cried to the men of Troy, "Now follow me, and break down the wall, and burn the ships."

So he spake, and they heard his voice, and rushed together on the wall. Now in front of the gate there lay a great stone, broad at the base and sharp at the top. Scarce could two