was overshadowed by much
darkness. But he, when he perceived Achilles, the destroyer of cities,
stood still, and much his heart was darkened[692] as he remained; and
sighing, he thus addressed his own great-hearted soul:

"Alas, me! if indeed I fly from terrible Achilles, in the way by which
the others, routed, are flying, even thus will he seize me, and will
slay me unwarlike; but if I suffer these to be thrown into confusion by
Achilles, the son of Peleus, and fly in another direction on my feet
from the wall through the Ilian plain, until I reach the lawns of Ida,
and enter its thickets; then indeed, having bathed myself at evening in
the river, I may return back to Troy, cleansed from sweat. But why does
my mind commune these things? Truly he may observe me departing from the
city towards the plain, and, quickly pursuing, may overtake me on his
swift feet; then will it no longer be possible to escape Death and Fate;
for he is very powerful beyond all men. But if I go against him in front
of the city--for his body also is without doubt vulnerable by the sharp
brass, there is one soul in it, and men say that he is mortal; although
Jove, the son of Saturn, affords him glory."

So saying, gathering himself up,[693] he awaited Achilles; and his
valiant heart within him burned to combat and to fight. As a panther
advances from a deep thicket against a huntsman,[694] nor is aught
troubled in mind, nor put to flight, although it hears the yelling; and
although anticipating it, he may have wounded, or stricken it,
nevertheless, although pierced with a spear, it desists not from the
combat, till either it be engaged in close fight, or be subdued. Thus
noble Agenor, the son of renowned Antenor, would not fly till he had
made trial of Achilles; but, on the contrary, held before him his
shield, equal on all sides, and took aim at him with his spear, and
shouted aloud:

[Footnote 692: Cf. Donalson on Soph. Antig. 20, where there is a
similar use of [Greek: kalchainein]. The present metaphor is
taken from the troubled and darkling aspect of the sea before a
storm.]

[Footnote 693: Cf. xvi. 403, 714.]

[Footnote 694: This pleonasm of [Greek: aner] is very common; ii.
474, [Greek: andres aipolii]; iv. 187, [Greek: andres chalkees].
Cf. iii. 170; xii. 41. So [Greek: andres politai], Phlegon.
Trall, p. 26. [Greek: Andres demotai], Aristoph. Plut. 254.
[Greek: Andres basileus], Palaephatus, 39. [Gree