Ajax Fear

So saying he smote the fair-maned horses with the shrill-sounding lash, and they, feeling the blow, fleetly bare the swift car amid the Trojans and Achaeans, trampling on the dead and on the shields, and with blood was all the axle sprinkled beneath, and the rims round about the car, with the drops that smote upon them from the horses' hooves and from the tires. And Hector was eager to enter the throng of muen, to leap in and shatter it, and an evil din of war he sent among the Danaans, and scant rest did he give his spear. Nay, he ranged among the ranks of the other warriors with spear and sword and with great stones; only he avoided battle with Aias, son of Telamon.

Now father Zeus, throned on high, roused Aias to flight, and he stood in a daze, and on his back he cast his sevenfold shield of bull's-hide, and with an anxious glance toward the throng he gave way, like a wild beast, ever turning him about and retreating slowly step by step. And even as a tawny lion is driven from the fold of the kine by dogs and country folk, that suffer him not to seize the fattest of the herd, watching the whole night through, but he in his lust for flesh goeth straight on, yet accomplisheth naught thereby, for thick the darts fly to meet him, hurled by bold hands, and blazing brands withal, before which he quaileth, how eager soever he be, and at dawn he departeth with sullen heart; so Aias then gave way before the Trojans sullen at heart, and sorely against his will, for exceedingly did he fear for the ships of the Achaeans. And as when an ass that passeth by a cornfield getteth the better of boys—a lazy ass about whose ribs many a cudgel is broken, and he goeth in and wasteth the deep grain, and the boys beat him with cudgels, though their might is but puny, and hardly do they drive him forth when he hath had his fill of fodder; even so then did the Trojans, high of heart, and their allies, gathered from many lands, smite great Aias, son of Telamon, with spears full upon his shield, and ever press upon him. And Aias would now be mindful of his furious valour, and wheeling upon them would hold back the battalions of the horse-taming Trojans, and now again he would turn him to flee. But he barred them all from making way to the swift ships, and himself stood between Trojans and Achaeans, battling furiously. And the spears hurled by bold hands were some of them lodged in his great shield, as they sped onward, and many, ere ever they reached his white body, stood fixed midway in the earth, fain to glut themselves with flesh.


- Homer, The Iliad, Book 11 (A. T. Murray translation)


----------

So he spoke, and lashed forward the bright-maned horses
with the singing whip, and they at the feel of the stroke lightly
carried the running chariot among Achaians and Trojans,
trampling down dead men and shields, and the axle under
the chariot was all splashed with blood and the rails which encircled
the chariot, struck by flying drops from the feet of the horses,
from the running rims of the wheels. So Hektor was straining to plunge in
the turmoil of men, and charge them and break them. He hurled the confusion
of disaster upon the Danaäns, and stayed from the spear’s stroke
little, but with his spear and his sword and with huge stones flung
ranged about among the ranks of the rest of the fighters
yet kept clear still of the attack of Telamonian Aias.
But Zeus father who sits on high drove fear upon Aias.
He stood stunned, and swung the sevenfold ox-hide shield behind him
and drew back, throwing his eyes round the crowd of men, like a wild beast,
turning on his way, shifting knee past knee only a little;
as when the men who live in the wild and their dogs have driven
a tawny lion away from the mid-fenced ground of their oxen,
and will not let him tear out the fat of the oxen, watching
nightlong against him, and he in his hunger for meat closes in
but can get nothing of what he wants, for the raining javelins
thrown from the daring hands of the men beat ever against him,
and the flaming torches, and these he balks at for all of his fury
and with the daylight goes away, disappointed of desire;
so Aias, disappointed at heart, drew back from the Trojans
much unwilling, but feared for the ships of the Achaians. As when
a donkey, stubborn and hard to move, goes into a cornfield
in despite of boys, and many sticks have been broken upon him,
but he gets in and goes on eating the deep grain, and the children
beat him with sticks, but their strength is infantile; yet at last
by hard work they drive him out when he is glutted with eating;
so the high-hearted Trojans and companions in arms gathered
from far places kept after great Aias, the son of Telamon,
stabbing always with their spears at the center of the great shield.
And now Aias would remember again his furious valor
and turn upon them, and beat back the battalions of Trojans,
breakers of horses, and then again would turn and run from them.
He blocked them all from making their way on to the fast ships
and himself stood and fought on in the space between the Achaians
and Trojans, and of the spears thrown by the daring hands of the fighters
some that were driven forward stuck fast in the great shield, others
and many in the mid space before they had got to his white skin
stood fast in the ground, though they had been straining to reach his body.


- Homer, The Iliad, Book 11 (Richmond Lattimore translation)