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him, till he came to the very fringe of the battle where the Cauconians<br />

were arming themselves <strong>for</strong> fight. Neptune, shaker of the earth, then<br />

came near to him and said, Aeneas, what god has egged you on to this<br />

folly in fighting the son of Peleus, who is both a mightier man of<br />

valour and more beloved of heaven than you are? Give way be<strong>for</strong>e him<br />

whensoever you meet him, lest you go down to the house of Hades even<br />

though fate would have it otherwise. When Achilles is dead you may<br />

then fight among the <strong>for</strong>emost undaunted, <strong>for</strong> none other of the Achaeans<br />

shall slay you."<br />

<strong>The</strong> god left him when he had given him these instructions, and at<br />

once removed the darkness from be<strong>for</strong>e the eyes of Achilles, who opened<br />

them wide indeed and said in great anger, "Alas! what marvel am I<br />

now beholding? Here is my spear upon the ground, but I see not him<br />

whom I meant to kill when I hurled it. Of a truth Aeneas also must<br />

be under heaven's protection, although I had thought his boasting<br />

was idle. Let him go hang; he will be in no mood to fight me further,<br />

seeing how narrowly he has missed being killed. I will now give my<br />

orders to the Danaans and attack some other of the Trojans."<br />

He sprang <strong>for</strong>ward along the line and cheered his men on as he did<br />

so. "Let not the Trojans," he cried, "keep you at arm's length, Achaeans,<br />

but go <strong>for</strong> them and fight them man <strong>for</strong> man. However valiant I may<br />

be, I cannot give chase to so many and fight all of them. Even Mars,<br />

who is an immortal, or Minerva, would shrink from flinging himself<br />

into the jaws of such a fight and laying about him; nevertheless,<br />

so far as in me lies I will show no slackness of hand or foot nor<br />

want of endurance, not even <strong>for</strong> a moment; I will utterly break their

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