Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/210

178 CHAPTER XVI. THE BATTLE AT THE SHIPS. when Zeus had brought the Trojans near to the ships, he turned away his eyes, and looked upon them no more, for he deemed that none of the immortal gods would come to help or Trojan or Greek. But Poseidon was watching the battle from the wooded height of Samothrace, whence he could see Ida and Troy and the ships. And he pitied the Greeks, when he saw how they fled before Hector, and purposed in his heart to help them. So he left the height of Samothrace, and came with four strides to Ægae, where his palace was in the depths of the sea. There he harnessed the horses to his chariot, and rode, passing over the waves, and the great beasts of the sea gambolled about him as he went, knowing their king.

His horses he stabled in a cavern of the sea, and loosed them from the car, and gave them immortal food to eat, and put shackles of gold