wood. And foam arose about his mouth, and his eyes flashed from beneath his grim eyebrows; and the helm was shaken awfully upon the temples of Hector, fighting; for Jove himself from the æther was an assistant to him, and honored and glorified him alone among many men; because he was destined to be short-lived: for Pallas Minerva already impelled him toward the fatal day, by the might of the son of Peleus. And he wished to break the ranks of heroes, trying them, wheresoever he beheld the greatest crowd and the best arms. But not thus was he able to break through them, although very eager; for they, compact in squares, sustained his attack, as a lofty, huge cliff, being near the hoary deep, which abides the impetuous inroads of the shrill winds, and the swollen billows which are dashed against it. Thus the Greeks firmly awaited the Trojans, nor fled. But he, gleaming with fire on all sides, rushed upon the crowd; and fell upon them, as when an impetuous wave, wind-nurtured from the clouds, dashes against a swift ship, and it [the ship] is wholly enveloped with the spray, and a dreadful blast of wind roars within the sail: but the sailors tremble in mind, fearing, because they are borne but a little way from death: thus was the mind of the Greeks divided in their breasts. He, however, like a destructive lion coming upon oxen which feed in myriads in the moist ground of a spacious marsh, and among them a keeper not very skillful in fighting with a wild beast for the slaughter of a crooked-horned ox;[1] he indeed always accompanies the foremost or the hindmost cattle, while [the lionj springing into the midst, devours an ox, and all the rest fly in terror; thus then were the Greeks wondrously put to flight by Hector and father Jove, all—but [Hector] slew only Mycenæan Periphetes, the dear son of Copreus, who went with a messenger of king Eurystheus to mighty Hercules. From this far inferior father sprung a son superior in all kinds of accomplishments, as well in the race as in the combat, and who in prudence was among the first of the Mycenæans, who at that time gave into the hands of Hector superior glory. For, turning backward, he trod upon the rim of his shield which he bore, a fence against javelins,
- ↑ i. e., about its carcass. The Scholiast also gives another interpretation, viz., "to prevent his killing an ox;" but Kennedy, with reason, prefers the former one.
