Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/181

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THE VALIANT DEEDS OF AGAMEMNON.
151

CHAPTER XIII.

THE VALIANT DEEDS OF AGAMEMNON.

When the next day dawned, King Agamemnon called the Greeks to battle. And first he donned his arms; about his breast he put the corselet which Cinyras of Cyprus gave him; twelve bands it had of dark iron, and twelve of gold, and of tin twenty, and on either side three dragons upright, stretching up to the neck, with many colours, as the rainbow which Zeus setteth in the clouds to be a sign to men. From his shoulder he hung his flashing sword with bosses of gold and silver scabbard; and on his arm he put his shield, ankle-long, with a Gorgon head, dreadful to look upon, in the midst, and Fear and Flight on either side. Rimmed with silver was the shield, and wrought upon the rims in iron a dragon with three heads growing from a single neck. Last he took two spears, one in either