Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/231

Rh it, the bow-string was broken in his hands, and the arrow went far astray, for Zeus would not that Hector should so fall. Then Teucer cried aloud to his brother:— "Surely some god confounds our counsels, breaking my bow-string, which this very day I tied new upon my bow."

But Ajax said: "Let be thy bow, if it please not the gods, but take spear and shield, and fight with the men of Troy. For though they master us to-day, they shall not take our ships for naught."

So Teucer armed himself afresh for the battle. But Hector, when he saw the broken bow, cried out:— "Come on, ye men of Troy, for Zeus is with us. Even now he brake the bow of Teucer, the great archer. And they whom Zeus helps prevail, and they whom he favours not grow weak. Come on; for even though a man fall, it is well that he fall fighting for his fatherland; and his wife and his children are safe, nor shall his glory cease, if so be that we drive the Greeks in their ships across the sea."

And on the other side Ajax, the son of