Page 65 - the-iliad

jans shall be the first to break their oaths and set upon the
Achaeans.’
The sire of gods and men heeded her words, and said to
Minerva, ‘Go at once into the Trojan and Achaean hosts,
and contrive that the Trojans shall be the first to break their
oaths and set upon the Achaeans.’
This was what Minerva was already eager to do, so down
she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus. She shot
through the sky as some brilliant meteor which the son of
scheming Saturn has sent as a sign to mariners or to some
great army, and a fiery train of light follows in its wake. The
Trojans and Achaeans were struck with awe as they beheld,
and one would turn to his neighbour, saying, ‘Either we
shall again have war and din of combat, or Jove the lord of
battle will now make peace between us.’
Thus did they converse. Then Minerva took the form of
Laodocus, son of Antenor, and went through the ranks of
the Trojans to find Pandarus, the redoubtable son of Lyca-
on. She found him standing among the stalwart heroes who
had followed him from the banks of the Aesopus, so she
went close up to him and said, ‘Brave son of Lycaon, will
you do as I tell you? If you dare send an arrow at Menelaus
you will win honour and thanks from all the Trojans, and
especially from prince Alexandrus—he would be the first
to requite you very handsomely if he could see Menelaus
mount his funeral pyre, slain by an arrow from your hand.
Take your home aim then, and pray to Lycian Apollo, the
famous archer; vow that when you get home to your strong
city of Zelea you will offer a hecatomb of firstling lambs in

The Iliad