ὡς οἱ μὲν τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀγόρευον:
τῶν δ': ὅσον ἐκ νηῶν ἀπὸ πύργου τάφρος ἔεργε,
πλῆθεν ὁμῶς ἵ̈ππων τὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν ἀσπιστάων
εἰλομένων: εἴλει δὲ θοῷ ἀτάλαντος Ἄρηϊ
Ἕκτωρ Πριαμίδης, ὅτε οἱ Ζεὺς κῦδος ἔδωκε:
καί νύ κεν ἔπρησεν πυρὶ κηλέῳ νῆας ἐἴ̈σας,
εἰ μὴ ἐπὶ φρεσὶ θῆκ' Ἀγαμέμνονι πότνια Ἥρη
αὐτῷ ποιπνύσαντι, θοῶς ὀτρῦναι Ἀχαιούς:
βῆ δ' ἱ̈έναι παρά τε κλισίας καὶ νῆας Ἀχαιῶν
πορφύρεον μέγα φᾶρος ἔχων ἐν χειρὶ παχείῃ:
στῆ δ' ἐπ' Ὀδυσσῆος μεγακήτεϊ νηῒ μελαίνῃ.
ἥ ρ' ἐν μεσσάτῳ ἔσκε γεγωνέμεν ἀμφοτέρωσε:
ἤϋσεν δὲ διαπρύσιον. Δαναοῖσι γεγωνώς:
αἰδὼς Ἀργεῖοι, κὰκ' ἐλέγχεα, εἶδος ἀγητοὶ:
πῇ ἔβαν εὐχωλαὶ, ὅτε δὴ φάμεν εἶναι ἄριστοι,
ἃς ὁπότ' ἐν Λήμνῳ κενεαυχέες ἠγοράασθε.
ἔσθοντες κρέα πολλὰ, βοῶν ὀρθοκραιρά̄ων.
πίνοντες κρητῆρας ἐπιστεφέας οἴνοιο.
Τρώων ἄνθ' ἑκατόν τε διηκοσίων τε ἕκαστος
στήσεσθ' ἐν πολέμῳ: νῦν οὐδενὸς ἄξιοί εἰμεν
Ἕκτορος. ὃς τάχα νῆας ἐνιπρήσει πυρὶ κηλέῳ:
Ζεῦ πάτερ. ἦ ρά τιν' ἤδη ὑπερμενέων βασιλήων
τῇδ' ἄτῃ ᾶσᾰς. καί μιν μέγα κῦδος ἀπηύρας.
οὐ μεν δή ποτε φημὶ τεὸν περικαλλέα βωμὸν
νηῒ πολυκλήϊδι παρελθέμεν ἐνθάδε έρρων,
ἀλλ`' ἐπὶ πᾶσι. βοῶν δημὸν καὶ μηρί' ἔκηον
ϊέμενος Τροίην εὐτείχεον ἐξαλαπάξαι:
ἀλλὰ Ζεῦ τόδε πέρ μοι ἐπικρήηνον ἐέλδωρ:
αὐτοὺς δή περ ἔασον ὑπεκφυγέειν καὶ ἀλύξαι.
μὴδ' οὕτω Τρώεσσιν έα δάμνασθαι Ἀχαιούς:
On this wise spake they, one to the other; and now was all the space that the moat of the wall enclosed on the side of the ships filled alike with chariots and shield-bearing men huddled together: and huddled they were by Hector, Priam's son, the peer of swift Ares, now that Zeus vouchsafed him glory. And now would he have burned the shapely ships with blazing fire, had not queenly Hera put it in Agamemnon's mind himself to bestir him, and speedily rouse on the Achaeans. So he went his way along the huts and ships of the Achaeans, bearing his great purple cloak in his stout hand, and took his stand by Odysseus' black ship, huge of hull, that was in the midst so that a shout could reach to either end, both to the huts of Aias, son of Telamon, and to those of Achilles; for these had drawn up their shapely ships at the furthermost ends, trusting in their valour and in the strength of their hands. There uttered he a piercing shout, calling aloud to the Danaans: "Fie, ye Argives, base things of shame fair in semblance only. Whither are gone our boastings, when forsooth we declared that we were bravest, the boasts that when ye were in Lemnos ye uttered vaingloriously as ye ate abundant flesh of straight-horned kine and drank bowls brim full of wine, saying that each man would stand to face in battle an hundred, aye, two hundred Trojans! whereas now can we match not even one, this Hector, that soon will burn our ships with blazing fire. Father Zeus, was there ever ere now one among mighty kings whose soul thou didst blind with blindness such as this, and rob him of great glory? Yet of a surety do I deem that never in my benched ship did I pass by fair altar of thine on my ill-starred way hither, but upon all I burned the fat and the thighs of bulls, in my eagerness to lay waste well-walled Troy. Nay, Zeus, this desire fulfill thou me: ourselves at least do thou suffer to flee and escape, and permit not the Achaeans thus to be vanquished by the Trojans."
