Page 186 - the-iliad

‘Old man, your heart is of iron; you rest not one moment
from your labours. Are there no younger men among the
Achaeans who could go about to rouse the princes? There
is no tiring you.’
And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, ‘My son, all
that you have said is true. I have good sons, and also much
people who might call the chieftains, but the Achaeans are
in the gravest danger; life and death are balanced as it were
on the edge of a razor. Go then, for you are younger than I,
and of your courtesy rouse Ajax and the fleet son of Phyle-
us.’
Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his
shoulders— a skin that reached his feet—and grasped his
spear. When he had roused the heroes, he brought them
back with him; they then went the round of those who were
on guard, and found the captains not sleeping at their posts
but wakeful and sitting with their arms about them. As
sheep dogs that watch their flocks when they are yarded,
and hear a wild beast coming through the mountain for-
est towards them—forthwith there is a hue and cry of dogs
and men, and slumber is broken—even so was sleep chased
from the eyes of the Achaeans as they kept the watches of
the wicked night, for they turned constantly towards the
plain whenever they heard any stir among the Trojans. The
old man was glad bade them be of good cheer. ‘Watch on,
my children,’ said he, ‘and let not sleep get hold upon you,
lest our enemies triumph over us.’
With this he passed the trench, and with him the other
chiefs of the Achaeans who had been called to the coun-

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