Page 233 - the-iliad

at their assailants in defence of themselves their tents and
their ships. The stones fell thick as the flakes of snow which
some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds and showers
down in sheets upon the earth—even so fell the weapons
from the hands alike of Trojans and Achaeans. Helmet and
shield rang out as the great stones rained upon them, and
Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, in his dismay cried aloud and
smote his two thighs. ‘Father Jove,’ he cried, ‘of a truth you
too are altogether given to lying. I made sure the Argive
heroes could not withstand us, whereas like slim-waist-
ed wasps, or bees that have their nests in the rocks by the
wayside—they leave not the holes wherein they have built
undefended, but fight for their little ones against all who
would take them—even so these men, though they be but
two, will not be driven from the gates, but stand firm either
to slay or be slain.’
He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose coun-
sel it then was to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest
of the Trojans were fighting about the other gates; I, how-
ever, am no god to be able to tell about all these things, for
the battle raged everywhere about the stone wall as it were
a fiery furnace. The Argives, discomfited though they were,
were forced to defend their ships, and all the gods who were
defending the Achaeans were vexed in spirit; but the Lapi-
thae kept on fighting with might and main.
Thereon Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, hit Dama-
sus with a spear upon his cheek-pierced helmet. The helmet
did not protect him, for the point of the spear went through
it, and broke the bone, so that the brain inside was scattered

The Iliad