Page 273 - the-iliad

thrust at one another with their swords and spears.
The wounded kings, the son of Tydeus, Ulysses, and
Agamemnon son of Atreus, fell in Nestor as they were com-
ing up from their ships—for theirs were drawn up some way
from where the fighting was going on, being on the shore
itself inasmuch as they had been beached first, while the
wall had been built behind the hindermost. The stretch of
the shore, wide though it was, did not afford room for all
the ships, and the host was cramped for space, therefore
they had placed the ships in rows one behind the other, and
had filled the whole opening of the bay between the two
points that formed it. The kings, leaning on their spears,
were coming out to survey the fight, being in great anxiety,
and when old Nestor met them they were filled with dismay.
Then King Agamemnon said to him, ‘Nestor son of Neleus,
honour to the Achaean name, why have you left the bat-
tle to come hither? I fear that what dread Hector said will
come true, when he vaunted among the Trojans saying that
he would not return to Ilius till he had fired our ships and
killed us; this is what he said, and now it is all coming true.
Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with
me that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our ships.’
Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, ‘It is indeed as
you say; it is all coming true at this moment, and even Jove
who thunders from on high cannot prevent it. Fallen is the
wall on which we relied as an impregnable bulwark both
for us and our fleet. The Trojans are fighting stubbornly
and without ceasing at the ships; look where you may you
cannot see from what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is

The Iliad