Page 309 - the-iliad

fainting within them. Or as a savage lion attacking a herd of
cows while they are feeding by thousands in the low-lying
meadows by some wide-watered shore—the herdsman is at
his wit’s end how to protect his herd and keeps going about
now in the van and now in the rear of his cattle, while the
lion springs into the thick of them and fastens on a cow so
that they all tremble for fear—even so were the Achaeans
utterly panic-stricken by Hector and father Jove. Neverthe-
less Hector only killed Periphetes of Mycenae; he was son
of Copreus who was wont to take the orders of King Eurys-
theus to mighty Hercules, but the son was a far better man
than the father in every way; he was fleet of foot, a valiant
warrior, and in understanding ranked among the foremost
men of Mycenae. He it was who then afforded Hector a tri-
umph, for as he was turning back he stumbled against the
rim of his shield which reached his feet, and served to keep
the javelins off him. He tripped against this and fell face
upward, his helmet ringing loudly about his head as he did
so. Hector saw him fall and ran up to him; he then thrust a
spear into his chest, and killed him close to his own com-
rades. These, for all their sorrow, could not help him for
they were themselves terribly afraid of Hector.
They had now reached the ships and the prows of those
that had been drawn up first were on every side of them,
but the Trojans came pouring after them. The Argives were
driven back from the first row of ships, but they made a
stand by their tents without being broken up and scattered;
shame and fear restrained them. They kept shouting in-
cessantly to one another, and Nestor of Gerene, tower of

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