speak Of what the Trojan knights have then to do. My prayer to Jove and to the other gods, And my hope is, that I may drive away These curs, brought hither by an evil fate In their black ships. All night will we keep watch, And, arming, with the early morn renew The desperate conflict at the hollow ships. Then shall I see if valiant Diomed Tydides has the power to make me leave The Grecian galleys for the city-walls, Or whether I shall slay him with my spear And take his bloody spoils. Tomorrow’s sun Will make his valor known, if he withstand The assault of this my weapon. Yet I think The sunrise will behold him slain among The first, with many comrades lying round. Would that I knew myself as certainly Secure from death and the decays of age, And to be held in honor like the gods Apollo and Minerva, as I know This day will bring misfortune to the Greeks!”
So Hector spake, and all the Trojan host Applauded; from the yoke forthwith they looped The sweaty steeds, and bound them to the cars With halters; to the town they sent in haste For oxen and the fatlings of the flock, And to their homes for bread and pleasant wine, And gathered fuel in large store. The winds Bore up the fragrant fumes from earth to heaven.