HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 13

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

Homer Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Homer in Print

Page 27

Whilst he was thus speaking, a bird flew over him on the right—a lofty-flying eagle; upon which the people of the Greeks shouted, encouraged by the omen; but illustrious Hector replied:

"O babbling and vain-boasting Ajax, what hast thou said? Would that I were as sure of becoming for ever the child of aegis-bearing Jove, that the venerable Juno had borne me, and that I were honoured as Minerva and Apollo are honoured, as that this day now certainly brings destruction upon all the Greeks; and among others thou shalt be slain, if thou wilt dare to abide my long spear, which shall tear for thee thy dainty person, and thou shalt satiate the dogs and birds of the Trojans with thy fat and flesh, falling at the ships of the Greeks."

Thus then having spoken, he led on; and they followed along with him with a mighty shout, and the troops likewise shouted in the rear. The Greeks, on the other side, raised a shout, nor were they forgetful of their valour, but they awaited the bravest of the Trojans, assaulting. But the clamour of both reached to the aether and the shining splendour[453] of Jove.

[Footnote 453: Cf. Pind. Ol. iii. 43: [Greek: Augais aliou]. So "auras aetherias," Virg. Georg. ii. 291. Lucret. i. 208, "Dias-luminis auras."—Kennedy.]

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