Page 274 - the-iliad

coming; they are being killed in a confused mass and the
battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel can be
of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our
going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he
is wounded.’
And King Agamemnon answered, ‘Nestor, if the Trojans
are indeed fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the
wall nor the trench has served us—over which the Danaans
toiled so hard, and which they deemed would be an impreg-
nable bulwark both for us and our fleet—I see it must be
the will of Jove that the Achaeans should perish inglorious-
ly here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove was willing to
defend us, and I know now that he is raising the Trojans to
like honour with the gods, while us, on the other hand, he
bas bound hand and foot. Now, therefore, let us all do as I
say; let us bring down the ships that are on the beach and
draw them into the water; let us make them fast to their
mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of night—if
even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may
then draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong
in flying ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he
should fly and be saved than be caught and killed.’
Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, ‘Son of Atreus,
what are you talking about? Wretch, you should have com-
manded some other and baser army, and not been ruler over
us to whom Jove has allotted a life of hard fighting from
youth to old age, till we every one of us perish. Is it thus
that you would quit the city of Troy, to win which we have
suffered so much hardship? Hold your peace, lest some oth-