BOOK THE TWELFTH.
ARGUMENT.
Thus then at the tents the valiant son of Menœtius was healing the wounded Eurypylus; but the Greeks and Trojans kept fighting in masses; nor was the ditch of the Greeks destined to prove a barrier any longer, and the wide wall from above, which they had erected in defense of the ships; but they had drawn a foss around (nor had they given splendid hecatombs to the gods); that it inclosing within, might defend the swift ships and the great booty. But it was built against the will of the immortal gods, therefore it remained not perfect for any long period.[1] As long as Hector was alive, and Achilles indignant, and the city of king Priam unravaged, so long was the mighty wall of the Greeks firm. But when all the bravest of the Trojans were dead, and many of the Greeks were subdued, but others left surviving, when in the tenth year the city of Priam was sacked, and the Greeks went in their ships to their dear fatherland; then at length Neptune and Apollo took counsel to demolish the wall, introducing the strength of rivers, as many as flow into the sea from the Idæan mountains, both the Rhesus and the Heptaporus, the Caresus
- ↑ Cf. Pseudo-Socrat. Epist. i. Πολλοὶς δὲ πολλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἴρεται ποιητῶν περὶ θεῶν καὶ ὅτι τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν βούλησιν πραττόμενα ἐπὶ τὸ λώιον ἐκβαίνει, τὰ δὲ παρὰ θεὸν ἀλυσιτελῆ ὑπάρχει τοῖς πράξασι, where Duport, p. 72, thinks there is a reference to the present passage.
