13.  Diomede does not fear Hector, but Jupiter, who, he has previously
   said, will give the Trojans the day.

14. [In the original—­{kera aglae}.—­All that I pretend to know of
   this expression is that it is ironical, and may relate either to
   the head-dress of Paris, or to his archership.  To translate it is
   impossible; to paraphrase it, in a passage of so much emotion,
   would be absurd.  I have endeavored to supply its place by an
   appellation in point of contempt equal.]—­TR.

15.  No moral is so evident throughout the Iliad, as the dependence of
   man upon divine assistance and protection.  Apollo saves Hector from
   the dart, and Minerva Ulysses.

16.  Homer here pays a marked distinction.  The army had seen several of
   their bravest heroes wounded, yet without expressing as much
   concern as at the danger of Machaon, their physician and surgeon.

17. [This interpretation of—­{minyntha de chazeto douros}—­is taken
   from the Scholium by Villoisson.  It differs from those of Clarke,
   Eustathius, and another Scholiast quoted by Clarke, but seems to
   suit the context much better than either.]—­TR.

18.  The address of Homer in bringing off Ajax is admirable.  He makes
   Hector afraid to approach him, and brings down Jupiter to terrify
   him.  Thus he retreats, not from a mortal, but from a God.

The whole passage is inimitably just and beautiful.  We see Ajax slowly retreating between two armies, and even with a look repulse the one and protect the other.  Every line resembles Ajax.  The character of a stubborn and undaunted warrior is perfectly maintained.  He compares him first to the lion for his undaunted spirit in fighting, and then to the ass for his stubborn slowness in retreating.  In the latter comparison there are many points of resemblance that enliven the image.  The havoc he makes in the field is represented by the tearing and trampling down the harvests; and we see the bulk, strength, and obstinancy of the hero, when the Trojans, in respect to him, are compared to the troops of boys that impotently endeavor to drive him away.

   It must be borne in mind that among the people of the East, an ass
   was a beast upon which kings and princes might ride with dignity.

19.  Though the resentment of Achilles would not permit him to be an
   actor in the field, yet his love of war inclines him to be a
   spectator.  As the poet did not intend to draw the character of a
   perfect man in Achilles, he makes him delighted with the
   destruction of the Greeks, because it gratified his revenge.  That
   resentment which is the subject of the poem, still presides over
   every other feeling, even the love of his country.  He begins now to
   pity his countrymen, yet he seems gratified by their distress,
   because it will contribute to his glory.