, why have you left the battle to come hither? I
fear that what dread Hector said will come true, when he vaunted among
the Trojans saying that he would not return to Ilius till he had fired
our ships and killed us; this is what he said, and now it is all coming
true. Alas! others of the Achaeans, like Achilles, are in anger with me
that they refuse to fight by the sterns of our ships."

Then Nestor knight of Gerene, answered, "It is indeed as you say; it is
all coming true at this moment, and even Jove who thunders from on high
cannot prevent it. Fallen is the wall on which we relied as an
impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet. The Trojans are fighting
stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships; look where you may you
cannot see from what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is coming; they
are being killed in a confused mass and the battle-cry ascends to
heaven; let us think, if counsel can be of any use, what we had better
do; but I do not advise our going into battle ourselves, for a man
cannot fight when he is wounded."

And King Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, if the Trojans are indeed
fighting at the rear of our ships, and neither the wall nor the trench
has served us--over which the Danaans toiled so hard, and which they
deemed would be an impregnable bulwark both for us and our fleet--I see
it must be the will of Jove that the Achaeans should perish
ingloriously here, far from Argos. I knew when Jove was willing to
defend us, and I know now that he is raising the Trojans to like honour
with the gods, while us, on the other hand, he has bound hand and foot.
Now, therefore, let us all do as I say; let us bring down the ships
that are on the beach and draw them into the water; let us make them
fast to their mooring-stones a little way out, against the fall of
night--if even by night the Trojans will desist from fighting; we may
then draw down the rest of the fleet. There is nothing wrong in flying
ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and be
saved than be caught and killed."

Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, "Son of Atreus, what are you
talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other and baser
army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has allotted a life of
hard fighting from youth to old age, till we every one of us perish. Is
it thus that you would quit the city of Troy, to win which we have
suffered so much hardship? Hold your peace, lest some other of the
Ac