| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | Shields. | | |
The most famous in story are the Shield of Achilles described by Homer, of Hercules, described by Hesiod, and of Æn as described by Virgil. | 1 |
|
Other famous bucklers described in classic story are the following:—That of | 2 |
|
|
| |
Am&ymacr;cos (son of Poseidon or Neptune), a crayfish, symbol of prudence. |
|
| |
Cadmos and his descendants, a dragon, to indicate their descent from the dragon’s teeth. |
|
| |
Ete cles (4 syl.), one of the seven heroes against Thebes, a man scaling a wall. |
|
|
|
| |
Idoméneus (4 syl.), a cock. |
|
| |
Menel os, a serpent at his heart: alluding to the elopement of his wife with Paris. |
|
| |
Parthenopœos, one of the seven heroes, a sphinx holding a man in its claws. |
|
| |
Ulysses, a dolphin. Whence he is sometimes called Delphinosemos. |
|
 Servius says that the Greeks in the siege of Troy had, as a rule, Neptune on their bucklers, and the Trojans Minerva. | 3 |
|
It was a common custom, after a great victory, for the victorious general to hang his buckler on the walls of some temple. | 4 |
|
The clang of shields. When a chief doomed a man to death, he struck his shield with the blunt end of his spear, by way of notice to the royal bard to begin the death-song. (See Æ’GIS.) | 5 |
| |
| “Cairbar rises in his arms, |
| The clang of shields is heard.” | |
|
|
|
| |
| | |
|
|
