Jupiter assembles a council of the deities, and threatens them with the
pains of Tartarus if they assist either side: Minerva only obtains of
him that she may direct the Greeks by her counsels. The armies join
battle: Jupiter on Mount Ida weighs in his balances the fates of both,
and affrights the Greeks with his thunders and lightnings. Nestor alone
continues in the field in great danger: Diomed relieves him; whose
exploits, and those of Hector, are excellently described. Juno
endeavours to animate Neptune to the assistance of the Greeks, but in
vain. The acts of Teucer, who is at length wounded by Hector, and
carried off. Juno and Minerva prepare to aid the Grecians, but are
restrained by Iris, sent from Jupiter. The night puts an end to the
battle. Hector continues in the field, (the Greeks being driven to
their fortifications before the ships,) and gives orders to keep the
watch all night in the camp, to prevent the enemy from re-embarking and
escaping by flight. They kindle fires through all the fields, and pass
the night under arms.
The time of seven and twenty days is employed from the opening of the
poem to the end of this book. The scene here (except of the celestial
machines) lies in the field towards the seashore.