The Trojan attack on the wall

The day continues. The Trojans, after pushing the Greeks back across the plain, reach the wall. Hector, on Polydamas's advice, has the army dismount and form up on foot for the assault. The wall is high, with a ditch full of stakes outside it and gates that can only be forced. The Trojans split into five companies and attack in echelon.

An omen appears overhead: an eagle flying with a live snake in its claws. The snake twists and bites the eagle in the throat; the eagle drops the snake among the Trojan host and flies off. Polydamas, the Trojan seer, reads this as a clear sign — the Trojans, like the eagle, will pay for what they are about to grasp. He urges Hector to call off the attack. Hector's reply is famous: "The only good omen is to fight for your country." He drives the army forward.

The wall is breached at multiple points. Sarpedon, the Lycian ally and son of Zeus, leads his men over a section. Ajax and Teucer hold him off with arrows and spears. Then Hector reaches the central gate, lifts a stone "two men of today could not have rolled into a wagon," and smashes the gate inward in a single throw. The Trojan army pours through the breach into the Greek camp. The book ends with Hector inside the wall and the ships beyond him. The disaster Achilles asked for has arrived.