I
The promise which Zeus had made to Thetis seemed now on the point of
being fulfilled, and accordingly Zeus, by whose direct interference
alone the Trojans had been able to work such havoc among the Greeks,
relaxed his attention, and left the rival armies to fight out the issue
between them, never dreaming that any of the gods would venture to act
against his express command.
But Poseidon, his brother, and second only to Zeus himself in power,
was a staunch ally of the Greeks, and was bitterly indignant that they
should suffer defeat at the hands of the hated and despised Trojans.
As long as the eye of Zeus was on the battlefield he dared not
interfere; but as soon as he saw his great brother engaged elsewhere he
left his seat on the island of Samothrace, where he had been
overlooking the battle, and sped on his way to Ægæ, his sacred city on
the shores of the Gulf of Corinth. The mountains bowed their heads,
and the trees vailed[1] their high tops, beneath the immortal feet of
Poseidon, the King. In three steps he reached his goal, and entered
his shining, golden palace, built in the cool depths of that glassy
bay. There he bade harness his brazen-footed steeds, and mounting the
car drove it across the waters. The charmed billows parted to make him
a path, and round him played the dolphins, and other huge children of
the deep, as his wheels passed unwetted over that heaving, liquid
floor. So on they bounded, until they reached the shores of Troy.
[1] "_Vailing_ [stooping] her high top lower than her
ribs."--Shakespeare: _Merchant of Venice_.
The Greeks were still flying before the victorious Trojans, who pressed
them hard, with furious uproar, when suddenly there appeared among them
one like unto Calchas, the prophet, in form and in voice. "Take heart,
comrades!" said he, addressing himself to Ajax, who, with his namesake,
was still heading the defence; "we shall beat them yet, if only we can
quench the fury of that madman, Hector, who bears himself like a son of
Zeus. Have at them, and thrust them back from the ships!"
His words were common, but they were uttered by a god, and breathed a
mysterious influence, which was aided by a light touch from the staff
which he bore. Instantly a strange lightness and vigour entered into
their limbs, and when the pretended Calchas vanished as abruptly as he
came, they knew that the words which they had heard were spoken by no
mortal lips.
Without pausing for a moment, Poseidon continued the work which he had
begun. From rank to rank, from leader to leader, he flew, inspiring,
encouraging, entreating; and wherever he passed a new fire was kindled
in every breast, so that they who but a moment before had given up all
for lost now thought with shame of their faintheartedness, and rallied
to the call of their leaders, resolved to conquer or die.
Where Ajax and his namesake fought were mustered the choicest troops in
the Greek army. Shoulder to shoulder, and knee to knee, they stood,
making a firm fence with shield overlapping shield, and bristling with
a forest of spears. "Stand fast!" shouted Ajax, as Hector came on with
headlong rush, like some huge rock, which hangs threatening on a steep
mountain-side, until it is undermined by a winter torrent, and thunders
down the slope until it has spent its force and lies motionless on the
plain. So Hector hurled himself with fury against the solid phalanx of
the Greeks, but spent his fury in vain on that hedge of iron, and could
not break through it, for all his rage.