THE TAKING OF ILIOS 



line. And the neck he fixed to carven breast and 

 I'cspangled the purple -fringed mane with yellow 

 uold ; and the mane, waving aloft on the arched 

 neck, was sealed on the head with crested band. In 

 two circles he set the gem-like eyes of sea-green 

 ber\-l and blood-red anieth^vst : and in the mingling 

 of them a double colour flashed ; the eyes were red 

 and ringed with the green gems. In the jaws he 

 set Avhite rows of jagged teeth, eager to champ the 

 ends of the well-twisted bit. And he opened secret 

 paths in the mighty mouth to preserve the tide of 

 breath for the men in hiding, and through the 

 nostrils flowed the life-giving air. Ears were fixed 

 on the top of its temples, pricked up, ever ready to 

 await the sound of the trumpet. And back and 

 flanks he fitted together and supple backbone, and 

 joined hip-joint to smooth hip. Unto the heels of 

 the feet trailed the flowing tail, even as vine 

 weighed down with twisted tassels. And the feet 

 that moved with the dappled knees — even as if they 

 were about to set them to the winged race, so were 

 they eager, yet constraint bade them bide. Not 

 without bronze were the hooves that stood below 

 the legs, but they were bound with spirals of 

 shining tortoise and hardly touched the ground ^vith 

 the strong-hoofed bronze. Also he set therein a 

 barred door and a fashioned ladder : the one that 

 unseen, fitted to the sides, it might carr\' the 

 Achaean company of the famous horse this way and 

 that ; the other that, unfolded and firmly put 

 together, it might be for them a path whereby to 

 speed upward or downward. And he girt the horse 

 about on white neck and cheeks with purple- 

 flowered straps and coiling spirals of compelling 



587 



