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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: that I am fain to fight--therefore let us make trial of one
another with our spears."
As he spoke he drove his spear at the great and terrible shield
of Achilles, which rang out as the point struck it. The son of
Peleus held the shield before him with his strong hand, and he
was afraid, for he deemed that Aeneas's spear would go through it
quite easily, not reflecting that the god's glorious gifts were
little likely to yield before the blows of mortal men; and indeed
Aeneas's spear did not pierce the shield, for the layer of gold,
gift of the god, stayed the point. It went through two layers,
but the god had made the shield in five, two of bronze, the two
The Iliad |
