Provided by The Internet Classics Archive. See bottom for copyright ...

an up to him; he then thrust a spear into his chest, and killed him
close to his own comrades. These, for all their sorrow, could not
help him for they were themselves terribly afraid of Hector.
They had now reached the ships and the prows of those that had been
drawn up first were on every side of them, but the Trojans came pouring
after them. The Argives were driven back from the first row of ships,
but they made a stand by their tents without being broken up and scattered;
shame and fear restrained them. They kept shouting incessantly to
one another, and Nestor of Gerene, tower of strength to the Achaeans,
was loudest in imploring every man by his parents, and beseeching
him to stand firm.
"Be men, my friends," he cried, "and respect one another's good opinion.
Think, all of you, on your children, your wives, your property, and
your parents whether these be alive or dead. On their behalf though
they are not here, I implore you to stand firm, and not to turn in
flight."
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Minerva lifted
the thick veil of darkness from their eyes, and much light fell upon
them, alike on the side of the ships and on that where the fight was
raging. They could see Hector and all his men, both those in the rear
who were taking no part in the battle, and those who were fighting
by the ships.
Ajax could not bring himself to retreat along with the rest, but strode
from deck to deck with a great sea-­‐pike in his hands twelve cubits