With such persuasive words the warrior calmed His brother’s anger, and they went where raged The hottest conflict round Cebriones, Phalces, Ortbasus, and the excellent Polydamas, with Palmys at his side, And Polyphoetes, godlike in his form, And where Ascanius and Morys fought, Sons of Hippotion. They the day before Came marching from Ascania’s fertile fields, Moved by the will of Jove to share the war. All these swept on, as when a hurricane, A thunder-gust, from Father Jupiter Buffets the plain, and mingles with the deep, In mighty uproar, and the billows rise All over the resounding brine, and swell, Whitening with foam, and chase each other on. So moved the Trojans on, man after man, In close array, all armed in glittering brass, Following their generals. Hector, Priam’s son, And peer of Mars in battle, led the van, His round shield held before him, tough with hides And overlaid with brass. Upon his brow The gleaming helmet nodded as he moved. On every side he tried the phalanxes, If haply they might yield to his assault, Made from beneath that buckler; but the Greeks In spirit or in order wavered not. And Ajax, striding forth, defied him thus:—
“Draw nearer, friend! Think’st thou to frighten thus The Greeks? We are not quite so inexpert In war, although so cruelly chastised