Ἀργεῖοι δ' ὑπέμειναν ἀολλέες. ῶρτο δ' ἀϋτὴ
ὀξεῖ' ἀμφοτέρωθεν, ἀπὸ νευρῆφι δ' ὀϊστοὶ
θρῷσκον. πολλὰ δὲ δοῦρα θρασειάων ἀπὸ χειρῶν:
ἄλλα μὲν, ἐν χροῒ πήγνυτ' ἀρηϊθόων αἰζηῶν.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ μεσσηγὺ, πάρος χρόα λευκὸν ἐπαυρεῖν
ἐν γαίῃ ἵ̈σταντο: λιλαιόμενα χροὸς ᾶσαι:
ὄφρα μὲν αἰγίδα χερσὶν ἔχ' ἀτρέμα Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων:
τόφρα μάλ' ἀμφοτέρων βέλε' ήπτετο: πῖπτε δὲ λαός λαὸς:
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κατένῶπα ἰ̈δὼν Δαναῶν ταχυπώλων:
σεῖσ'. ἐπι δ' αὐτὸς ἄϋσε μάλα μέγα. τοῖσι δὲ θυμὸν
ἐν στήθεσσιν, ἔθελξε. λάθοντο δὲ θούριδος ἀλκῆς:
οἳ δ̀' ὥς τ' ἠὲ βοῶν ἀγέλην. ἢ πῶϋ μέγ' οἰῶν
θῆρε δύω κλονέωσι μελαίνης νυκτὸς ἀμολγῷ:
ἐλθόντ' ἐξαπίνης, σημάντορος οὐ παρεόντος.
ὡς ἐφόβηθεν Ἀχαιοὶ ἀνάλκιδες, ἐν γὰρ Ἀπόλλων
ῆκε φόβον, Τρωσὶν δὲ καὶ Ἕκτορι κῦδος ὄπαζεν:
And the Argives in close throng abode their coming, and the war-cry rose shrill from either side, and the arrows leapt from the bow-string, and many spears, hurled by bold hands, ere some of them lodged in the flesh of youths swift in battle, and many of them, or ever they reached the white flesh, stood fixed midway in the earth, fain to glut themselves with flesh. Now so long as Phoebus Apollo held the aegis moveless in his hands, even so long the missiles of either side reached their mark and the folk kept falling; but when he looked full in the faces of the Danaans of swift horses, and shook the aegis, and himself shouted mightily withal, then made he their hearts to faint within their breasts, and they forgat their furious might. And as when two wild beasts drive in confusion a herd of kine or a great flock of sheep in the darkness of black night, when they have come upon them suddenly, and a herdsman is not by, even so were the Achaeans driven in rout with no might in them; for upon them Apollo had sent panic, and unto the Trojans and Hector was he giving glory.
