The Iliad

by Homer

As when waves of the sea dash on the thundering shore, one after another under power of the West Wind moving— the wave rises first in the open sea, then shattering on land it roars mightily, and curling as it goes breaks around the headland, and spatters foam of the salt sea— so in this way did the ranks of Danaans move one after another ceaselessly to war. Each leader commanded his own men; the rest of the men were silent, nor would you have thought that so large an army could restrain its voice and follow, 430 keeping silent, for fear of their commanders; and on them all shone the elaborate armor that they wore as they marched. But the Trojans, as the numberless ewes of a wealthy man stand in their pen to be milked of their white milk, bleating incessantly as they hear the cries of their lambs, so the war cries of the Trojans rose through the broad army; for the speech of all the men was not the same, nor was there one voice, but the tongues were mixed in confusion; the men were summoned from many places. These men Ares drove on, and gleaming-eyed Athena drove the Achaeans, and Terror and Panic and Strife, raging, insatiable, 440 the sister and companion of man-slaughtering Ares; she is small when she first rises up, but in the end she leans her head against the heavens even as she strides upon the earth. She too hurled into their midst war-strife that levels all alike as she advanced through the throng, multiplying the...