Page 423 - the-iliad

do your grim work on land. My fair waters are now filled
with corpses, nor can I find any channel by which I may
pour myself into the sea for I am choked with dead, and yet
you go on mercilessly slaying. I am in despair, therefore, O
captain of your host, trouble me no further.’
Achilles answered, ‘So be it, Scamander, Jove-descended;
but I will never cease dealing out death among the Trojans,
till I have pent them up in their city, and made trial of Hec-
tor face to face, that I may learn whether he is to vanquish
me, or I him.’
As he spoke he set upon the Trojans with a fury like that
of the gods. But the river said to Apollo, ‘Surely, son of Jove,
lord of the silver bow, you are not obeying the commands of
Jove who charged you straitly that you should stand by the
Trojans and defend them, till twilight fades, and darkness
is over an the earth.’
Meanwhile Achilles sprang from the bank into mid-
stream, whereon the river raised a high wave and attacked
him. He swelled his stream into a torrent, and swept away
the many dead whom Achilles had slain and left within his
waters. These he cast out on to the land, bellowing like a bull
the while, but the living he saved alive, hiding them in his
mighty eddies. The great and terrible wave gathered about
Achilles, falling upon him and beating on his shield, so that
he could not keep his feet; he caught hold of a great elm-tree,
but it came up by the roots, and tore away the bank, dam-
ming the stream with its thick branches and bridging it all
across; whereby Achilles struggled out of the stream, and
fled full speed over the plain, for he was afraid.

The Iliad