Page 401 - the-iliad

jans at the top of his voice, now from the acropolis, and now
speeding up the side of the river Simois till he came to the
hill Callicolone.
Thus did the gods spur on both hosts to fight, and rouse
fierce contention also among themselves. The sire of gods
and men thundered from heaven above, while from beneath
Neptune shook the vast earth, and bade the high hills trem-
ble. The spurs and crests of many-fountained Ida quaked, as
also the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Achaeans.
Hades, king of the realms below, was struck with fear; he
sprang panic-stricken from his throne and cried aloud in
terror lest Neptune, lord of the earthquake, should crack
the ground over his head, and lay bare his mouldy man-
sions to the sight of mortals and immortals—mansions so
ghastly grim that even the gods shudder to think of them.
Such was the uproar as the gods came together in battle.
Apollo with his arrows took his stand to face King Neptune,
while Minerva took hers against the god of war; the archer-
goddess Diana with her golden arrows, sister of far-darting
Apollo, stood to face Juno; Mercury the lusty bringer of
good luck faced Leto, while the mighty eddying river whom
men can Scamander, but gods Xanthus, matched himself
against Vulcan.
The gods, then, were thus ranged against one another.
But the heart of Achilles was set on meeting Hector son of
Priam, for it was with his blood that he longed above all
things else to glut the stubborn lord of battle. Meanwhile
Apollo set Aeneas on to attack the son of Peleus, and put
courage into his heart, speaking with the voice of Lycaon

00 The Iliad