Verse
Iliad
Book 20, Line 86 by Samuel Butler (English)
And Aeneas answered, "Why do you thus bid me fight the proud son of Peleus, when I am in no mind to do so? Were I to face him now, it would not be for the first time. His spear has already put me to Right from Ida, when he attacked our cattle and sacked Lyrnessos and Pedasos; Zeus indeed saved me in that he granted me strength to flee, else had the fallen by the hands of Achilles and Athena, who went before him to protect him and urged him to fall upon the Leleges and Trojans. No man may fight Achilles, for one of the gods is always with him as his guardian, and even were it not so, his weapon flies ever straight, and fails not to pierce the flesh of him who is against him; if heaven would let me fight him to the finish [ telos ] on even terms, he should not soon overcome me, though he boasts that he is made of bronze."
IliadBook 20, Line 86Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 20
HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-20-86