“O Greeks! Do ye again submit to yield The victory to Hector, Priam’s son. That he may seize our fleet and bear away The glory of the day? This is his hope, And this his boast, since now Achilles lies Inactive at his ships, in sullen wrath. Yet little should we need him, if the rest Stood bravely by each other. Hear me now, And do what I advise. Let all of us, The best and bravest, bearing shields, and capped With glittering helms, and wielding in our hands The longest spears, advance, and I will lead The charge; nor do I think that Hector, son Of Priam, daring as he seems, will yet Abide our onset. Who so has the heart To make a stand with me, and yet who bears A narrow shield, let it be given to one Less warlike, and a broader shield be found.”
He spake; they hearkened and obeyed. The kings Tydides, and Ulysses, and the son Of Atreus, Agamemnon, though their wounds Still galled them, marshalled and reviewed the ranks, And changed their arms; they made the braver wear The better armor, and the worse they gave To the less warlike. Now, when o’er their breasts The burnished mail was girded, they began Their march; the great earth-shaker, Neptune, led The onset, grasping in his sinewy hand A sword of fearful length and flashing blade, Like lightning. No man dared encounter it In combat; every arm was stayed by fear.
Right opposite, illustrious Hector ranged His Trojans. Dark-haired Neptune and the son Of Priam now engaged in desperate strife, One on the side of Troy, and one for Greece. The sea swelled upward toward the Grecian tents And fleet, while both the armies flung themselves Against each other with a loud uproar. Not with such noise the ocean-billows lash The mainland, when the violent north wind Tumbles them shoreward; not with such a noise Roar the fierce flames within the mountain glen, When leaping upward to consume the trees; And not so loudly howls the hurricane Among the lofty branches of the oaks When in its greatest fury, as now rose The din of battle from the hosts that rushed Against each other with terrific cries.