“O friends, be men; so act that none may feel Ashamed to meet the eyes of other men. Think each one of his children and his wife, His home, his parents, living yet or dead. For them, the absent ones, I supplicate, And bid you rally here, and scorn to fly.”
He spake, and his brave words to every heart Carried new strength and courage. Pallas then Lifted the heaven-sent cloud that veiled the fight, And all things in the clear full light were seen On either side, both where the galleys lay And where the warriors struggled. They beheld Hector the great in war, and all his host, Both those who formed the rear and wielded not Their arms, and those who combated in front Beside the ships. And now it pleased no more The soul of valiant Ajax to remain In the thick squadrons with the other Greeks, But, striding on the galley-decks, he bore A sea-pike two and twenty cubits long, Huge, and beset with iron nails. As when One who is skilled to vault on running steeds Chooses four horses from a numerous herd, And on the highway to a populous town Drives them, while men and women in a crowd Behold his feats with wonder, as he leaps Boldly, without a fall, from steed to steed, And back again, and all the while they run, So on the lofty decks of those good ships From ship to ship flew Ajax, lifting up His mighty voice—a shout that reached to heaven— And bade the Greeks defend their fleet and tents. Nor loitered Hector in those armèd throngs Of Troy, but as a tawny eagle swoops Upon a flock of birds that seek their food Along a river’s border—geese or cranes, Or long-necked swans—so Hector in hot haste Sprang toward a galley with an azure prow, While mightily the power of Jove impelled The hero onward, and inflamed his train With courage. Fiercely then around the ships The struggle was renewed. Thou wouldst have said No toils of war could tire those resolute arms, So stubbornly they fought. In every mind The thought was this: the Greeks were in despair Of rescue, and believed their hour had come To perish; every Trojan hoped to give The fleet to flames, and slay the sons of Greece. With thoughts like these the hostile warriors closed.