Outer Ring: PLOWING THE FIELD. From the Shield of Achilles by Kathleen Vail
© All Rights Reserved

“Hephaistos put next a freshly plowed field with many plowmen upon it.
One guided his ox-team with care through the turn as he reached the wide field’s limit,
And there, awaiting the hard-working man, was his friend with a sweet cup of wine.
Back along the deep furrows they drove their beasts, eager to have the work finished,
And the turned-up sod seemed black behind them, although in truth it was gold.
For this was the fame of the Master Smith’s craft: his handiwork looked real.”

[Homer’s Iliad, Book 18, Lines 541-549, Vail’s translation]