Book XV

And makes a prey of one, and all the rest Are scattered in affright, so all the Greeks Were scattered by the will of heaven before Hector and Father Jove. Yet only one, Young Periphoetes of Mycenae, fell, The son of Copreus. Once his father went An envoy from Eurystheus to the court Of mighty Hercules. The son excelled The father in all gifts of form and mind, In speed, in war, in council eminent Among the noblest of his land. His death Brought Hector new renown; for as he turned, Stepping by chance upon his buckler’s rim, That reached the ground⁠—the buckler which had been His fence against the enemy’s darts⁠—he fell Backward, his helmet clashing fearfully Around his temples. Hector saw, and came In haste, and pierced his bosom with his spear, Among his fellow-warriors, who with grief Beheld, yet dared not aid him, such their awe Of noble Hector. Now the Greeks retired Among that row of galleys which were first Drawn up the beach; the foe poured after them, In hot pursuit; again the Greeks fell back, Constrained, and left that foremost row behind, And stood beside their tents in close array, And not dispersed throughout the camp, for shame And fear restrained them, and unceasingly With shouts they bade each other bravely stand. Chiefly Gerenian Nestor, wise to guide The counsels of the Greeks, adjured them all, And in their parents’ name, to keep their ground.