The Iliad tr by W Soootheby Author:Homerus Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: " Oh that some god would aid, would steel your breast " To stand yourselves, and animate the rest: " Then from your fleet would Hector fly, tho' Jove " Held o'er... more » his brow the /Egis from above." He spake : and striking with his sceptre, fill'd Their limbs with strength, and godlike pow'r instill'd. Their hands, their feet were lighten'd of their load, And each elastic limb confest the god— Then, as a hawk, on wings outstretcht for flight, Sweeps from a promontory's topmost height, Wins through the void of air his way unheard, And strikes with sudden death a flying bird, Thus Neptune sped, and, as he past from view, Th' Oiliean first the form celestial knew, And thus to Ajax cried, " A present god, " Who bad to guard the fleet, before us trod. " 'Twas not the Seer, not Calchas—I pursu'd " No mortal man in man's similitude, " But visibly, at his departure, trac'd " The glory that the god divinely grac'd. " How doubt his influence ?—feel I not the glow " That burns for battle, and provokes the foe? " These hands, these feet are lighten'd of their load, nd each elastic limb proclaims the god." " I, too"—Great Ajax cried—" I feel the flame, " More firm I grasp the lance, and poise its aim. " I tread on air, and thrill with keen desire, " I, sole, to quench in blood th' Hectorean fire." Such their bold speech : so Neptune's strong controul Had fill'd with joy each battle-breathing soul. Then to the fleet the Sea-God onward prest, Call'd forth the chiefs, and rous'd from needful rest: The war-worn chiefs, whose sufferings claim'd repose, Yet tenfold suffer'd in their nation's woes : And when they heard from far the turrets fall, And view'd the Trojans pouring o'er the wall, They, tears of deep despair in secret shed, And deem'd themselves now number'd with the dead— But Neptun...« less