Page 296 - the-iliad

for I should have had much trouble with him. Take, then,
your tasselled aegis, and shake it furiously, so as to set the
Achaean heroes in a panic; take, moreover, brave Hector, O
Far-Darter, into your own care, and rouse him to deeds of
daring, till the Achaeans are sent flying back to their ships
and to the Hellespont. From that point I will think it well
over, how the Achaeans may have a respite from their trou-
bles.’
Apollo obeyed his father’s saying, and left the crests of
Ida, flying like a falcon, bane of doves and swiftest of all
birds. He found Hector no longer lying upon the ground,
but sitting up, for he had just come to himself again. He
knew those who were about him, and the sweat and hard
breathing had left him from the moment when the will of
aegis-bearing Jove had revived him. Apollo stood beside
him and said, ‘Hector son of Priam, why are you so faint,
and why are you here away from the others? Has any mis-
hap befallen you?’
Hector in a weak voice answered, ‘And which, kind sir,
of the gods are you, who now ask me thus? Do you not
know that Ajax struck me on the chest with a stone as I was
killing his comrades at the ships of the Achaeans, and com-
pelled me to leave off fighting? I made sure that this very
day I should breathe my last and go down into the house
of Hades.’
Then King Apollo said to him, ‘Take heart; the son of
Saturn has sent you a mighty helper from Ida to stand by
you and defend you, even me, Phoebus Apollo of the golden
sword, who have been guardian hitherto not only of your-