The Third Battle, and Exploits of Agamemnon
Renewal of the fight by Agamemnon—His prowess—Hector warned by Iris not to fight till Agamemnon is wounded—Agamemnon disabled—Hector makes great havoc till checked by Ulysses and Diomed—Diomed wounded by Paris, and rescued by Ajax, who rallies the Greeks—Machaon wounded—Conversations of Nestor and Patroclus.
Now did the Morning from her couch beside Renowned Tithonus rise, that she might bring The light to gods and men, when Jupiter To the swift galleys of the Grecian host Sent baleful Strife, who bore in hand aloft War’s ensigns. On the huge black ship that brought Ulysses, in the centre of the fleet, She stood, where she might shout to either side— To Telamonian Ajax in his tents And to Achilles, who had ranged their ships At each extreme of the Achaian camp, Relying on their valor and strong arms. Loud was the voice, and terrible, in which She shouted from her station to the Greeks, And into every heart it carried strength And the resolve to combat manfully And never yield. The battle now to them Seemed more to be desired than the return To their dear country in their roomy ships. Atrides called aloud, exhorting them To gird themselves for battle. Then he clad Himself in glittering brass. First to his thighs He bound the beautiful greaves with silver clasps, Then fitted to his chest the breastplate given By Cinyras, a pledge of kind intent;— For, when he heard in Cyprus that the Greeks Were bound for Ilium in their ships, he sent This gift, a homage to the king of men;— Ten were its bars of tawny bronze, and twelve Were gold, and twenty tin; and on each side Were three bronze serpents stretching toward the neck, Curved like the colored bow which Saturn’s son Sets in the clouds, a sign to men. He hung His sword, all glittering with its golden studs, About his shoulders.