And now as he scanned across the Trojan plain Agamemnon marveled in horror at those fires, a thousand fires blazing against the walls of Troy, and the shrill of pipes and flutes and low roar of men

And now as he scanned across the Trojan plain
Agamemnon marveled in horror at those fires,
a thousand fires blazing against the walls of Troy,
and the shrill of pipes and flutes and low roar of men.
And now as he glanced back at Achaea’s troops and ships
he tore out his hair by the roots, he looked to Zeus on high,
groaning from the depths of his proud, embattled heart.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 13-19. As Agamemnon looks across the plain in horror at the thousand fires of the confident Trojans, he turns his gaze up to Zeus, groaning from the depths of his proud heart. He is fearful for the fate of his armies, after the thrashing they received from the Trojans the day before. So worried is he, he is literally pulling his hair out.

Homer Quotes