flowing cups. They will despise thee now, For thou art like a woman. Timorous girl! Take thyself hence, and never think that I Shall yield to thee, that thou mayst climb our towers And bear away our women in thy ships; For I shall give thee first the doom of death.”
He spake; and Diomed, in doubtful mood, Questioned his spirit whether he should turn His steeds and fight with Hector. Thrice the thought Arose within his mind, and thrice on high Uttered the all-forecasting Jupiter His thunder from the Idaean mount, a sign Of victory changing to the Trojan side. Then Hector to the Trojans called aloud:—
“Trojans and Lycians all, and ye who close In deadly fight, the sons of Dardanus! Acquit yourselves like men, my friends; recall Your fiery valor now, for I perceive The son of Saturn doth award to me Victory and vast renown, and to the Greeks Destruction. Fools! who built this slender wall Which we contemn, which cannot stand before The strength I bring; our steeds can overleap The trench they digged. When I shall reach their fleet, Remember the consuming power of fire, That I may give their vessels to the flames, And hew the Achaians down beside their prows, While they are wrapped in the bewildering smoke.”
He spake; and then he cheered his coursers thus:— “Xanthus, Podargus, Lampus nobly bred, And Aethon, now repay the generous care, The pleasant grain which my Andromache, Daughter of great Eëtion, largely gives. She mingles wine that ye may drink at will Ere yet she ministers to me, who boast To be her youthful husband. Let us now Pursue with fiery haste, that we may seize The shield of Nestor, the great fame of which Has reached to heaven—an orb of massive gold Even to the handles. Let us from the limbs Of Diomed, the tamer of fleet steeds, Strip off the glorious mail that Vulcan forged: This done, our hope may be that all the Greeks Will climb their galleys and depart tonight.”