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and consider how this shall be; Phoebus Apollo has been sending Aeneas
clad in full armour to fight Achilles. Shall we turn him back at once,
or shall one of us stand by Achilles and endow him with strength so
that his heart fail not, and he may learn that the chiefs of the immortals
are on his side, while the others who have all along been defending
the Trojans are but vain helpers? Let us all come down from Olympus
and join in the fight, that this day he may take no hurt at the hands
of the Trojans. Hereafter let him suffer whatever fate may have spun
out for him when he was begotten and his mother bore him. If Achilles
be not thus assured by the voice of a god, he may come to fear presently
when one of us meets him in battle, for the gods are terrible if they
are seen face to face."
Neptune lord of the earthquake answered her saying, "Juno, restrain
your fury; it is not well; I am not in favour of forcing the other
gods to fight us, for the advantage is too greatly on our own side;
let us take our places on some hill out of the beaten track, and let
mortals fight it out among themselves. If Mars or Phoebus Apollo begin
fighting, or keep Achilles in check so that he cannot fight, we too,
will at once raise the cry of battle, and in that case they will soon
leave the field and go back vanquished to Olympus among the other
gods."
With these words the dark-­‐haired god led the way to the high earth-­‐barrow
of Hercules, built round solid masonry, and made by the Trojans and
Pallas Minerva for him fly to when the sea-­‐monster was chasing him
from the shore on to the plain. Here Neptune and those that were with
him took their seats, wrapped in a thick cloud of darkness; but the