Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 21

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Thus he spoke; but they opened the gates and pushed back the bolts; and they being opened, afforded safety. But Apollo leaped out to meet them, that he might avert destruction from the Trojans. Then they, parched with thirst, and covered with dust, fled from the plain directly towards the city and the lofty wall; but he furiously pursued with his spear; for fierce madness constantly possessed his heart, and he burned to bear away glory. Then indeed the sons of the Greeks had taken lofty-gated Troy, had not Phoebus Apollo excited noble Agenor, a hero, the son of Antenor, both blameless and brave. And into his heart he threw courage, and he himself stood beside him, leaning against a beech-tree, that he might avert the heavy hands of death; but he was overshadowed by much darkness. But he, when he perceived Achilles, the destroyer of cities, stood still, and much his heart was darkened[692] as he remained; and sighing, he thus addressed his own great-hearted soul:

"Alas, me! if indeed I fly from terrible Achilles, in the way by which the others, routed, are flying, even thus will he seize me, and will slay me unwarlike; but if I suffer these to be thrown into confusion by Achilles, the son of Peleus, and fly in another direction on my feet from the wall through the Ilian plain, until I reach the lawns of Ida, and enter its thickets; then indeed, having bathed myself at evening in the river, I may return back to Troy, cleansed from sweat. But why does my mind commune these things? Truly he may observe me departing from the city towards the plain, and, quickly pursuing, may overtake me on his swift feet; then will it no longer be possible to escape Death and Fate; for he is very powerful beyond all men. But if I go against him in front of the city—for his body also is without doubt vulnerable by the sharp brass, there is one soul in it, and men say that he is mortal; although Jove, the son of Saturn, affords him glory."

So saying, gathering himself up,[693] he awaited Achilles; and his valiant heart within him burned to combat and to fight. As a panther advances from a deep thicket against a huntsman,[694] nor is aught troubled in mind, nor put to flight, although it hears the yelling; and although anticipating it, he may have wounded, or stricken it, nevertheless, although pierced with a spear, it desists not from the combat, till either it be engaged in close fight, or be subdued. Thus noble Agenor, the son of renowned Antenor, would not fly till he had made trial of Achilles; but, on the contrary, held before him his shield, equal on all sides, and took aim at him with his spear, and shouted aloud:

[Footnote 692: Cf. Donalson on Soph. Antig. 20, where there is a similar use of [Greek: kalchainein]. The present metaphor is taken from the troubled and darkling aspect of the sea before a storm.]

[Footnote 693: Cf. xvi. 403, 714.]

[Footnote 694: This pleonasm of [Greek: aner] is very common; ii. 474, [Greek: andres aipolii]; iv. 187, [Greek: andres chalkees]. Cf. iii. 170; xii. 41. So [Greek: andres politai], Phlegon. Trall, p. 26. [Greek: Andres demotai], Aristoph. Plut. 254. [Greek: Andres basileus], Palaephatus, 39. [Greek: Aner oikonomos], Manetho, iv. 610.]

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