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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="/comments.php?id=410309" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 5</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=410309" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then Pallas Minerva put valour into the heart of Diomed, son of<br>Tydeus, that he might excel all the other Argives, and cover himself<br>with glory. She made a stream of fire flare from his shield and helmet<br>like the star that shines most brilliantly in summer after its bath in<br>the waters of Oceanus- even such a fire did she kindle upon his head<br>and shoulders as she bade him speed into the thickest hurly-burly of<br>the fight.<br>Now there was a certain rich and honourable man among the Trojans,<br>priest of Vulcan, and his name was Dares. He had two sons, Phegeus and<br>Idaeus, both of them skilled in all the arts of war. These two came<br>forward from the main body of Trojans, and set upon Diomed, he being<br>on foot, while they fought from their chariot. When they were close up<br>to one another, Phegeus took aim first, but his spear went over<br>Diomed's left shoulder without hitting him. Diomed then threw, and his<br>spear sped not in vain, for it hit Phegeus on the breast near the<br>nipple, and he fell from his chariot. Idaeus did not dare to<br>bestride his brother's body, but sprang from the chariot and took to<br>flight, or he would have shared his brother's fate; whereon Vulcan<br>saved him by wrapping him in a cloud of darkness, that his old<br>father might not be utterly overwhelmed with grief; but the son of<br>Tydeus drove off with the horses, and bade his followers take them<br>to the ships. The Trojans were scared when they saw the two sons of<br>Dares, one of them in fright and the other lying dead by his<br>chariot. Minerva, therefore, took Mars by the hand and said, "Mars,<br>Mars, bane of men, bloodstained stormer of cities, may we not now<br>leave the Trojans and Achaeans to fight it out, and see to which of<br>the two Jove will vouchsafe the victory? Let us go away, and thus<br>avoid his anger."<br>So saying, she drew Mars out of the battle, and set him down upon<br>the steep banks of the Scamander. Upon this the Danaans drove the<br>Trojans back, and each one of their chieftains killed his man. First<br>King Agamemnon flung mighty Odius, captain of the Halizoni, from his<br>chariot. The spear of Agamemnon caught him on the broad of his back,<br>just as he was turning in flight; it struck him between the<br>shoulders and went right through his chest, and his armour rang<br>rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.<br>Then Idomeneus killed Phaesus, son of Borus the Meonian, who had<br>come from Varne. Mighty Idomeneus speared him on the right shoulder as<br>he was mounting his chariot, and the darkness of death enshrouded<br>him as he fell heavily from the car.<br>The squires of Idomeneus spoiled him of his armour, while<br>Menelaus, son of Atreus, killed Scamandrius the son of Strophius, a<br>mighty huntsman and keen lover of the chase. Diana herself had<br>taught him how to kill every kind of wild creature that is bred in<br>mountain forests, but neither she nor his famed skill in archery could<br>now save him, for the spear of Menelaus struck him in the back as he<br>was flying; it struck him between the shoulders and went right through<br>his chest, so that he fell headlong and his armour rang rattling round<br>him.<br>Meriones then killed Phereclus the son of Tecton, who was the son of<br>Hermon, a man whose hand was skilled in all manner of cunning<br>workmanship, for Pallas Minerva had dearly loved him. He it was that<br>made the ships for Alexandrus, which were the beginning of all<br>mischief, and brought evil alike both on the Trojans and on Alexandrus<br>himself; for he heeded not the decrees of heaven. Meriones overtook<br>him as he was flying, and struck him on the right buttock. The point<br>of the spear went through the bone into the bladder, and death came<br>upon him as he cried aloud and fell forward on his knees.<br>Meges, moreover, slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor, who, though he was<br>a bastard, had been brought up by Theano as one of her own children,<br>for the love she bore her husband. The son of Phyleus got close up<br>to him and drove a spear into the nape of his neck: it went under<br>his tongue all among his teeth, so he bit the cold bronze, and fell<br>dead in the dust.<br>And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, killed Hypsenor, the son of noble<br>Dolopion, who had been made priest of the river Scamander, and was<br>honoured among the people as though he were a god. Eurypylus gave<br>him chase as he was flying before him, smote him with his sword upon<br>the arm, and lopped his strong hand from off it. The bloody hand<br>fell to the ground, and the shades of death, with fate that no man can<br>withstand, came over his eyes.<br>Thus furiously did the battle rage between them. As for the son of<br>Tydeus, you could not say whether he was more among the Achaeans or<br>the Trojans. He rushed across the plain like a winter torrent that has<br>burst its barrier in full flood; no dykes, no walls of fruitful<br>vineyards can embank it when it is swollen with rain from heaven,<br>but in a moment it comes tearing onward, and lays many a field waste<br>that many a strong man hand has reclaimed- even so were the dense<br>phalanxes of the Trojans driven in rout by the son of Tydeus, and many<br>though they were, they dared not abide his onslaught.<br>Now when the son of Lycaon saw him scouring the plain and driving<br>the Trojans pell-mell before him, he aimed an arrow and hit the<br>front part of his cuirass near the shoulder: the arrow went right<br>through the metal and pierced the flesh, so that the cuirass was<br>covered with blood. On this the son of Lycaon shouted in triumph,<br>"Knights Trojans, come on; the bravest of the Achaeans is wounded, and<br>he will not hold out much longer if King Apollo was indeed with me<br>when I sped from Lycia hither."<br>Thus did he vaunt; but his arrow had not killed Diomed, who withdrew<br>and made for the chariot and horses of Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus.<br>"Dear son of Capaneus," said he, "come down from your chariot, and<br>draw the arrow out of my shoulder."<br>Sthenelus sprang from his chariot, and drew the arrow from the<br>wound, whereon the blood came spouting out through the hole that had<br>been made in his shirt. Then Diomed prayed, saying, "Hear me, daughter<br>of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, if ever you loved my father well<br>and stood by him in the thick of a fight, do the like now by me; grant<br>me to come within a spear's throw of that man and kill him. He has<br>been too quick for me and has wounded me; and now he is boasting<br>that I shall not see the light of the sun much longer."<br>Thus he prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard him; she made his limbs<br>supple and quickened his hands and his feet. Then she went up close to<br>him and said, "Fear not, Diomed, to do battle with the Trojans, for<br>I have set in your heart the spirit of your knightly father Tydeus.<br>Moreover, I have withdrawn the veil from your eyes, that you know gods<br>and men apart. If, then, any other god comes here and offers you<br>battle, do not fight him; but should Jove's daughter Venus come,<br>strike her with your spear and wound her."<br>When she had said this Minerva went away, and the son of Tydeus<br>again took his place among the foremost fighters, three times more<br>fierce even than he had been before. He was like a lion that some<br>mountain shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is springing over<br>the wall of a sheep-yard to attack the sheep. The shepherd has<br>roused the brute to fury but cannot defend his flock, so he takes<br>shelter under cover of the buildings, while the sheep,<br>panic-stricken on being deserted, are smothered in heaps one on top of<br>the other, and the angry lion leaps out over the sheep-yard wall. Even<br>thus did Diomed go furiously about among the Trojans.<br>He killed Astynous, and shepherd of his people, the one with a<br>thrust of his spear, which struck him above the nipple, the other with<br>a sword- cut on the collar-bone, that severed his shoulder from his<br>neck and back. He let both of them lie, and went in pursuit of Abas<br>and Polyidus, sons of the old reader of dreams Eurydamas: they never<br>came back for him to read them any more dreams, for mighty Diomed made<br>an end of them. He then gave chase to Xanthus and Thoon, the two<br>sons of Phaenops, both of them very dear to him, for he was now worn<br>out with age, and begat no more sons to inherit his possessions. But<br>Diomed took both their lives and left their father sorrowing bitterly,<br>for he nevermore saw them come home from battle alive, and his kinsmen<br>divided his wealth among themselves.<br>Then he came upon two sons of Priam, Echemmon and Chromius, as<br>they were both in one chariot. He sprang upon them as a lion fastens<br>on the neck of some cow or heifer when the herd is feeding in a<br>coppice. For all their vain struggles he flung them both from their<br>chariot and stripped the armour from their bodies. Then he gave<br>their horses to his comrades to take them back to the ships.<br>When Aeneas saw him thus making havoc among the ranks, he went<br>through the fight amid the rain of spears to see if he could find<br>Pandarus. When he had found the brave son of Lycaon he said,<br>"Pandarus, where is now your bow, your winged arrows, and your<br>renown as an archer, in respect of which no man here can rival you nor<br>is there any in Lycia that can beat you? Lift then your hands to<br>Jove and send an arrow at this fellow who is going so masterfully<br>about, and has done such deadly work among the Trojans. He has<br>killed many a brave man- unless indeed he is some god who is angry<br>with the Trojans about their sacrifices, and and has set his hand<br>against them in his displeasure."<br>And the son of Lycaon answered, "Aeneas, I take him for none other<br>than the son of Tydeus. I know him by his shield, the visor of his<br>helmet, and by his horses. It is possible that he may be a god, but if<br>he is the man I say he is, he is not making all this havoc without<br>heaven's help, but has some god by his side who is shrouded in a cloud<br>of darkness, and who turned my arrow aside when it had hit him. I have<br>taken aim at him already and hit him on the right shoulder; my arrow<br>went through the breastpiece of his cuirass; and I made sure I<br>should send him hurrying to the world below, but it seems that I<br>have not killed him. There must be a god who is angry with me.<br>Moreover I have neither horse nor chariot. In my father's stables<br>there are eleven excellent chariots, fresh from the builder, quite<br>new, with cloths spread over them; and by each of them there stand a<br>pair of horses, champing barley and rye; my old father Lycaon urged me<br>again and again when I was at home and on the point of starting, to<br>take chariots and horses with me that I might lead the Trojans in<br>battle, but I would not listen to him; it would have been much<br>better if I had done so, but I was thinking about the horses, which<br>had been used to eat their fill, and I was afraid that in such a great<br>gathering of men they might be ill-fed, so I left them at home and<br>came on foot to Ilius armed only with my bow and arrows. These it<br>seems, are of no use, for I have already hit two chieftains, the<br>sons of Atreus and of Tydeus, and though I drew blood surely enough, I<br>have only made them still more furious. I did ill to take my bow<br>down from its peg on the day I led my band of Trojans to Ilius in<br>Hector's service, and if ever I get home again to set eyes on my<br>native place, my wife, and the greatness of my house, may some one cut<br>my head off then and there if I do not break the bow and set it on a<br>hot fire- such pranks as it plays me."<br>Aeneas answered, "Say no more. Things will not mend till we two go<br>against this man with chariot and horses and bring him to a trial of<br>arms. Mount my chariot, and note how cleverly the horses of Tros can<br>speed hither and thither over the plain in pursuit or flight. If<br>Jove again vouchsafes glory to the son of Tydeus they will carry us<br>safely back to the city. Take hold, then, of the whip and reins<br>while I stand upon the car to fight, or else do you wait this man's<br>onset while I look after the horses."<br>"Aeneas." replied the son of Lycaon, "take the reins and drive; if<br>we have to fly before the son of Tydeus the horses will go better<br>for their own driver. If they miss the sound of your voice when they<br>expect it they may be frightened, and refuse to take us out of the<br>fight. The son of Tydeus will then kill both of us and take the<br>horses. Therefore drive them yourself and I will be ready for him with<br>my spear."<br>They then mounted the chariot and drove full-speed towards the son<br>of Tydeus. Sthenelus, son of Capaneus, saw them coming and said to<br>Diomed, "Diomed, son of Tydeus, man after my own heart, I see two<br>heroes speeding towards you, both of them men of might the one a<br>skilful archer, Pandarus son of Lycaon, the other, Aeneas, whose<br>sire is Anchises, while his mother is Venus. Mount the chariot and let<br>us retreat. Do not, I pray you, press so furiously forward, or you may<br>get killed."<br>Diomed looked angrily at him and answered: "Talk not of flight,<br>for I shall not listen to you: I am of a race that knows neither<br>flight nor fear, and my limbs are as yet unwearied. I am in no mind to<br>mount, but will go against them even as I am; Pallas Minerva bids me<br>be afraid of no man, and even though one of them escape, their<br>steeds shall not take both back again. I say further, and lay my<br>saying to your heart- if Minerva sees fit to vouchsafe me the glory of<br>killing both, stay your horses here and make the reins fast to the rim<br>of the chariot; then be sure you spring Aeneas' horses and drive<br>them from the Trojan to the Achaean ranks. They are of the stock<br>that great Jove gave to Tros in payment for his son Ganymede, and<br>are the finest that live and move under the sun. King Anchises stole<br>the blood by putting his mares to them without Laomedon's knowledge,<br>and they bore him six foals. Four are still in his stables, but he<br>gave the other two to Aeneas. We shall win great glory if we can<br>take them."<br>Thus did they converse, but the other two had now driven close up to<br>them, and the son of Lycaon spoke first. "Great and mighty son,"<br>said he, "of noble Tydeus, my arrow failed to lay you low, so I will<br>now try with my spear."<br>He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it from him. It struck<br>the shield of the son of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and<br>passed on till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of Lycaon<br>shouted out and said, "You are hit clean through the belly; you will<br>not stand out for long, and the glory of the fight is mine."<br>But Diomed all undismayed made answer, "You have missed, not hit,<br>and before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you<br>shall glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood."<br>With this he hurled his spear, and Minerva guided it on to<br>Pandarus's nose near the eye. It went crashing in among his white<br>teeth; the bronze point cut through the root of his to tongue,<br>coming out under his chin, and his glistening armour rang rattling<br>round him as he fell heavily to the ground. The horses started aside<br>for fear, and he was reft of life and strength.<br>Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear,<br>fearing lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode it as<br>a lion in the pride of strength, with shield and on spear before him<br>and a cry of battle on his lips resolute to kill the first that should<br>dare face him. But the son of Tydeus caught up a mighty stone, so huge<br>and great that as men now are it would take two to lift it;<br>nevertheless he bore it aloft with ease unaided, and with this he<br>struck Aeneas on the groin where the hip turns in the joint that is<br>called the "cup-bone." The stone crushed this joint, and broke both<br>the sinews, while its jagged edges tore away all the flesh. The hero<br>fell on his knees, and propped himself with his hand resting on the<br>ground till the darkness of night fell upon his eyes. And now<br>Aeneas, king of men, would have perished then and there, had not his<br>mother, Jove's daughter Venus, who had conceived him by Anchises<br>when he was herding cattle, been quick to mark, and thrown her two<br>white arms about the body of her dear son. She protected him by<br>covering him with a fold of her own fair garment, lest some Danaan<br>should drive a spear into his breast and kill him.<br>Thus, then, did she bear her dear son out of the fight. But the<br>son of Capaneus was not unmindful of the orders that Diomed had<br>given him. He made his own horses fast, away from the hurly-burly,<br>by binding the reins to the rim of the chariot. Then he sprang upon<br>Aeneas's horses and drove them from the Trojan to the Achaean ranks.<br>When he had so done he gave them over to his chosen comrade<br>Deipylus, whom he valued above all others as the one who was most<br>like-minded with himself, to take them on to the ships. He then<br>remounted his own chariot, seized the reins, and drove with all<br>speed in search of the son of Tydeus.<br>Now the son of Tydeus was in pursuit of the Cyprian goddess, spear<br>in hand, for he knew her to be feeble and not one of those goddesses<br>that can lord it among men in battle like Minerva or Enyo the waster<br>of cities, and when at last after a long chase he caught her up, he<br>flew at her and thrust his spear into the flesh of her delicate<br>hand. The point tore through the ambrosial robe which the Graces had<br>woven for her, and pierced the skin between her wrist and the palm<br>of her hand, so that the immortal blood, or ichor, that flows in the<br>veins of the blessed gods, came pouring from the wound; for the gods<br>do not eat bread nor drink wine, hence they have no blood such as<br>ours, and are immortal. Venus screamed aloud, and let her son fall,<br>but Phoebus Apollo caught him in his arms, and hid him in a cloud of<br>darkness, lest some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and<br>kill him; and Diomed shouted out as he left her, "Daughter of Jove,<br>leave war and battle alone, can you not be contented with beguiling<br>silly women? If you meddle with fighting you will get what will make<br>you shudder at the very name of war."<br>The goddess went dazed and discomfited away, and Iris, fleet as<br>the wind, drew her from the throng, in pain and with her fair skin all<br>besmirched. She found fierce Mars waiting on the left of the battle,<br>with his spear and his two fleet steeds resting on a cloud; whereon<br>she fell on her knees before her brother and implored him to let her<br>have his horses. "Dear brother," she cried, "save me, and give me your<br>horses to take me to Olympus where the gods dwell. I am badly<br>wounded by a mortal, the son of Tydeus, who would now fight even<br>with father Jove."<br>Thus she spoke, and Mars gave her his gold-bedizened steeds. She<br>mounted the chariot sick and sorry at heart, while Iris sat beside her<br>and took the reins in her hand. She lashed her horses on and they flew<br>forward nothing loth, till in a trice they were at high Olympus, where<br>the gods have their dwelling. There she stayed them, unloosed them<br>from the chariot, and gave them their ambrosial forage; but Venus<br>flung herself on to the lap of her mother Dione, who threw her arms<br>about her and caressed her, saying, "Which of the heavenly beings<br>has been treating you in this way, as though you had been doing<br>something wrong in the face of day?"<br>And laughter-loving Venus answered, "Proud Diomed, the son of<br>Tydeus, wounded me because I was bearing my dear son Aeneas, whom I<br>love best of all mankind, out of the fight. The war is no longer one<br>between Trojans and Achaeans, for the Danaans have now taken to<br>fighting with the immortals."<br>"Bear it, my child," replied Dione, "and make the best of it. We<br>dwellers in Olympus have to put up with much at the hands of men,<br>and we lay much suffering on one another. Mars had to suffer when Otus<br>and Ephialtes, children of Aloeus, bound him in cruel bonds, so that<br>he lay thirteen months imprisoned in a vessel of bronze. Mars would<br>have then perished had not fair Eeriboea, stepmother to the sons of<br>Aloeus, told Mercury, who stole him away when he was already well-nigh<br>worn out by the severity of his bondage. Juno, again, suffered when<br>the mighty son of Amphitryon wounded her on the right breast with a<br>three-barbed arrow, and nothing could assuage her pain. So, also,<br>did huge Hades, when this same man, the son of aegis-bearing Jove, hit<br>him with an arrow even at the gates of hell, and hurt him badly.<br>Thereon Hades went to the house of Jove on great Olympus, angry and<br>full of pain; and the arrow in his brawny shoulder caused him great<br>anguish till Paeeon healed him by spreading soothing herbs on the<br>wound, for Hades was not of mortal mould. Daring, head-strong,<br>evildoer who recked not of his sin in shooting the gods that dwell<br>in Olympus. And now Minerva has egged this son of Tydeus on against<br>yourself, fool that he is for not reflecting that no man who fights<br>with gods will live long or hear his children prattling about his<br>knees when he returns from battle. Let, then, the son of Tydeus see<br>that he does not have to fight with one who is stronger than you<br>are. Then shall his brave wife Aegialeia, daughter of Adrestus,<br>rouse her whole house from sleep, wailing for the loss of her wedded<br>lord, Diomed the bravest of the Achaeans."<br>So saying, she wiped the ichor from the wrist of her daughter with<br>both hands, whereon the pain left her, and her hand was healed. But<br>Minerva and Juno, who were looking on, began to taunt Jove with<br>their mocking talk, and Minerva was first to speak. "Father Jove,"<br>said she, "do not be angry with me, but I think the Cyprian must<br>have been persuading some one of the Achaean women to go with the<br>Trojans of whom she is so very fond, and while caressing one or<br>other of them she must have torn her delicate hand with the gold pin<br>of the woman's brooch."<br>The sire of gods and men smiled, and called golden Venus to his<br>side. "My child," said he, "it has not been given you to be a warrior.<br>Attend, henceforth, to your own delightful matrimonial duties, and<br>leave all this fighting to Mars and to Minerva."<br>Thus did they converse. But Diomed sprang upon Aeneas, though he<br>knew him to be in the very arms of Apollo. Not one whit did he fear<br>the mighty god, so set was he on killing Aeneas and stripping him of<br>his armour. Thrice did he spring forward with might and main to slay<br>him, and thrice did Apollo beat back his gleaming shield. When he<br>was coming on for the fourth time, as though he were a god, Apollo<br>shouted to him with an awful voice and said, "Take heed, son of<br>Tydeus, and draw off; think not to match yourself against gods, for<br>men that walk the earth cannot hold their own with the immortals."<br>The son of Tydeus then gave way for a little space, to avoid the<br>anger of the god, while Apollo took Aeneas out of the crowd and set<br>him in sacred Pergamus, where his temple stood. There, within the<br>mighty sanctuary, Latona and Diana healed him and made him glorious to<br>behold, while Apollo of the silver bow fashioned a wraith in the<br>likeness of Aeneas, and armed as he was. Round this the Trojans and<br>Achaeans hacked at the bucklers about one another's breasts, hewing<br>each other's round shields and light hide-covered targets. Then<br>Phoebus Apollo said to Mars, "Mars, Mars, bane of men, blood-stained<br>stormer of cities, can you not go to this man, the son of Tydeus,<br>who would now fight even with father Jove, and draw him out of the<br>battle? He first went up to the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand<br>near her wrist, and afterwards sprang upon me too, as though he were a<br>god."<br>He then took his seat on the top of Pergamus, while murderous Mars<br>went about among the ranks of the Trojans, cheering them on, in the<br>likeness of fleet Acamas chief of the Thracians. "Sons of Priam," said<br>he, "how long will you let your people be thus slaughtered by the<br>Achaeans? Would you wait till they are at the walls of Troy? Aeneas<br>the son of Anchises has fallen, he whom we held in as high honour as<br>Hector himself. Help me, then, to rescue our brave comrade from the<br>stress of the fight."<br>With these words he put heart and soul into them all. Then<br>Sarpedon rebuked Hector very sternly. "Hector," said he, "where is<br>your prowess now? You used to say that though you had neither people<br>nor allies you could hold the town alone with your brothers and<br>brothers-in-law. I see not one of them here; they cower as hounds<br>before a lion; it is we, your allies, who bear the brunt of the<br>battle. I have come from afar, even from Lycia and the banks of the<br>river Xanthus, where I have left my wife, my infant son, and much<br>wealth to tempt whoever is needy; nevertheless, I head my Lycian<br>soldiers and stand my ground against any who would fight me though I<br>have nothing here for the Achaeans to plunder, while you look on,<br>without even bidding your men stand firm in defence of their wives.<br>See that you fall not into the hands of your foes as men caught in the<br>meshes of a net, and they sack your fair city forthwith. Keep this<br>before your mind night and day, and beseech the captains of your<br>allies to hold on without flinching, and thus put away their<br>reproaches from you."<br>So spoke Sarpedon, and Hector smarted under his words. He sprang<br>from his chariot clad in his suit of armour, and went about among<br>the host brandishing his two spears, exhorting the men to fight and<br>raising the terrible cry of battle. Then they rallied and again<br>faced the Achaeans, but the Argives stood compact and firm, and were<br>not driven back. As the breezes sport with the chaff upon some<br>goodly threshing-floor, when men are winnowing- while yellow Ceres<br>blows with the wind to sift the chaff from the grain, and the chaff-<br>heaps grow whiter and whiter- even so did the Achaeans whiten in the<br>dust which the horses' hoofs raised to the firmament of heaven, as<br>their drivers turned them back to battle, and they bore down with<br>might upon the foe. Fierce Mars, to help the Trojans, covered them<br>in a veil of darkness, and went about everywhere among them,<br>inasmuch as Phoebus Apollo had told him that when he saw Pallas,<br>Minerva leave the fray he was to put courage into the hearts of the<br>Trojans- for it was she who was helping the Danaans. Then Apollo<br>sent Aeneas forth from his rich sanctuary, and filled his heart with<br>valour, whereon he took his place among his comrades, who were<br>overjoyed at seeing him alive, sound, and of a good courage; but<br>they could not ask him how it had all happened, for they were too busy<br>with the turmoil raised by Mars and by Strife, who raged insatiably in<br>their midst.<br>The two Ajaxes, Ulysses and Diomed, cheered the Danaans on, fearless<br>of the fury and onset of the Trojans. They stood as still as clouds<br>which the son of Saturn has spread upon the mountain tops when there<br>is no air and fierce Boreas sleeps with the other boisterous winds<br>whose shrill blasts scatter the clouds in all directions- even so<br>did the Danaans stand firm and unflinching against the Trojans. The<br>son of Atreus went about among them and exhorted them. "My friends,"<br>said he, "quit yourselves like brave men, and shun dishonour in one<br>another's eyes amid the stress of battle. They that shun dishonour<br>more often live than get killed, but they that fly save neither life<br>nor name."<br>As he spoke he hurled his spear and hit one of those who were in the<br>front rank, the comrade of Aeneas, Deicoon son of Pergasus, whom the<br>Trojans held in no less honour than the sons of Priam, for he was ever<br>quick to place himself among the foremost. The spear of King Agamemnon<br>struck his shield and went right through it, for the shield stayed<br>it not. It drove through his belt into the lower part of his belly,<br>and his armour rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the<br>ground.<br>Then Aeneas killed two champions of the Danaans, Crethon and<br>Orsilochus. Their father was a rich man who lived in the strong city<br>of Phere and was descended from the river Alpheus, whose broad<br>stream flows through the land of the Pylians. The river begat<br>Orsilochus, who ruled over much people and was father to Diocles,<br>who in his turn begat twin sons, Crethon and Orsilochus, well<br>skilled in all the arts of war. These, when they grew up, went to<br>Ilius with the Argive fleet in the cause of Menelaus and Agamemnon<br>sons of Atreus, and there they both of them fell. As two lions whom<br>their dam has reared in the depths of some mountain forest to<br>plunder homesteads and carry off sheep and cattle till they get killed<br>by the hand of man, so were these two vanquished by Aeneas, and fell<br>like high pine-trees to the ground.<br>Brave Menelaus pitied them in their fall, and made his way to the<br>front, clad in gleaming bronze and brandishing his spear, for Mars<br>egged him on to do so with intent that he should be killed by<br>Aeneas; but Antilochus the son of Nestor saw him and sprang forward,<br>fearing that the king might come to harm and thus bring all their<br>labour to nothing; when, therefore Aeneas and Menelaus were setting<br>their hands and spears against one another eager to do battle,<br>Antilochus placed himself by the side of Menelaus. Aeneas, bold though<br>he was, drew back on seeing the two heroes side by side in front of<br>him, so they drew the bodies of Crethon and Orsilochus to the ranks of<br>the Achaeans and committed the two poor fellows into the hands of<br>their comrades. They then turned back and fought in the front ranks.<br>They killed Pylaemenes peer of Mars, leader of the Paphlagonian<br>warriors. Menelaus struck him on the collar-bone as he was standing on<br>his chariot, while Antilochus hit his charioteer and squire Mydon, the<br>son of Atymnius, who was turning his horses in flight. He hit him with<br>a stone upon the elbow, and the reins, enriched with white ivory, fell<br>from his hands into the dust. Antilochus rushed towards him and struck<br>him on the temples with his sword, whereon he fell head first from the<br>chariot to the ground. There he stood for a while with his head and<br>shoulders buried deep in the dust- for he had fallen on sandy soil<br>till his horses kicked him and laid him flat on the ground, as<br>Antilochus lashed them and drove them off to the host of the Achaeans.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=410309" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But Hector marked them from across the ranks, and with a loud cry<br>rushed towards them, followed by the strong battalions of the Trojans.<br>Mars and dread Enyo led them on, she fraught with ruthless turmoil<br>of battle, while Mars wielded a monstrous spear, and went about, now<br>in front of Hector and now behind him.<br>Diomed shook with passion as he saw them. As a man crossing a wide<br>plain is dismayed to find himself on the brink of some great river<br>rolling swiftly to the sea- he sees its boiling waters and starts back<br>in fear- even so did the son of Tydeus give ground. Then he said to<br>his men, "My friends, how can we wonder that Hector wields the spear<br>so well? Some god is ever by his side to protect him, and now Mars<br>is with him in the likeness of mortal man. Keep your faces therefore<br>towards the Trojans, but give ground backwards, for we dare not<br>fight with gods."<br>As he spoke the Trojans drew close up, and Hector killed two men,<br>both in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus, heroes well versed in<br>war. Ajax son of Telamon pitied them in their fall; he came close up<br>and hurled his spear, hitting Amphius the son of Selagus, a man of<br>great wealth who lived in Paesus and owned much corn-growing land, but<br>his lot had led him to come to the aid of Priam and his sons. Ajax<br>struck him in the belt; the spear pierced the lower part of his belly,<br>and he fell heavily to the ground. Then Ajax ran towards him to<br>strip him of his armour, but the Trojans rained spears upon him,<br>many of which fell upon his shield. He planted his heel upon the<br>body and drew out his spear, but the darts pressed so heavily upon him<br>that he could not strip the goodly armour from his shoulders. The<br>Trojan chieftains, moreover, many and valiant, came about him with<br>their spears, so that he dared not stay; great, brave and valiant<br>though he was, they drove him from them and he was beaten back.<br>Thus, then, did the battle rage between them. Presently the strong<br>hand of fate impelled Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, a man both<br>brave and of great stature, to fight Sarpedon; so the two, son and<br>grandson of great Jove, drew near to one another, and Tlepolemus spoke<br>first. "Sarpedon," said he, "councillor of the Lycians, why should you<br>come skulking here you who are a man of peace? They lie who call you<br>son of aegis-bearing Jove, for you are little like those who were of<br>old his children. Far other was Hercules, my own brave and<br>lion-hearted father, who came here for the horses of Laomedon, and<br>though he had six ships only, and few men to follow him, sacked the<br>city of Ilius and made a wilderness of her highways. You are a coward,<br>and your people are falling from you. For all your strength, and all<br>your coming from Lycia, you will be no help to the Trojans but will<br>pass the gates of Hades vanquished by my hand."<br>And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, "Tlepolemus, your<br>father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon's folly in refusing<br>payment to one who had served him well. He would not give your<br>father the horses which he had come so far to fetch. As for<br>yourself, you shall meet death by my spear. You shall yield glory to<br>myself, and your soul to Hades of the noble steeds."<br>Thus spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus upraised his spear. They threw<br>at the same moment, and Sarpedon struck his foe in the middle of his<br>throat; the spear went right through, and the darkness of death fell<br>upon his eyes. Tlepolemus's spear struck Sarpedon on the left thigh<br>with such force that it tore through the flesh and grazed the bone,<br>but his father as yet warded off destruction from him.<br>His comrades bore Sarpedon out of the fight, in great pain by the<br>weight of the spear that was dragging from his wound. They were in<br>such haste and stress as they bore him that no one thought of<br>drawing the spear from his thigh so as to let him walk uprightly.<br>Meanwhile the Achaeans carried off the body of Tlepolemus, whereon<br>Ulysses was moved to pity, and panted for the fray as he beheld<br>them. He doubted whether to pursue the son of Jove, or to make<br>slaughter of the Lycian rank and file; it was not decreed, however,<br>that he should slay the son of Jove; Minerva, therefore, turned him<br>against the main body of the Lycians. He killed Coeranus, Alastor,<br>Chromius, Alcandrus, Halius, Noemon, and Prytanis, and would have<br>slain yet more, had not great Hector marked him, and sped to the front<br>of the fight clad in his suit of mail, filling the Danaans with<br>terror. Sarpedon was glad when he saw him coming, and besought him,<br>saying, "Son of Priam, let me not he here to fall into the hands of<br>the Danaans. Help me, and since I may not return home to gladden the<br>hearts of my wife and of my infant son, let me die within the walls of<br>your city."<br>Hector made him no answer, but rushed onward to fall at once upon<br>the Achaeans and. kill many among them. His comrades then bore<br>Sarpedon away and laid him beneath Jove's spreading oak tree. Pelagon,<br>his friend and comrade drew the spear out of his thigh, but Sarpedon<br>fainted and a mist came over his eyes. Presently he came to himself<br>again, for the breath of the north wind as it played upon him gave him<br>new life, and brought him out of the deep swoon into which he had<br>fallen.<br>Meanwhile the Argives were neither driven towards their ships by<br>Mars and Hector, nor yet did they attack them; when they knew that<br>Mars was with the Trojans they retreated, but kept their faces still<br>turned towards the foe. Who, then, was first and who last to be<br>slain by Mars and Hector? They were valiant Teuthras, and Orestes<br>the renowned charioteer, Trechus the Aetolian warrior, Oenomaus,<br>Helenus the son of Oenops, and Oresbius of the gleaming girdle, who<br>was possessed of great wealth, and dwelt by the Cephisian lake with<br>the other Boeotians who lived near him, owners of a fertile country.<br>Now when the goddess Juno saw the Argives thus falling, she said<br>to Minerva, "Alas, daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, the<br>promise we made Menelaus that he should not return till he had<br>sacked the city of Ilius will be of none effect if we let Mars rage<br>thus furiously. Let us go into the fray at once."<br>Minerva did not gainsay her. Thereon the august goddess, daughter of<br>great Saturn, began to harness her gold-bedizened steeds. Hebe with<br>all speed fitted on the eight-spoked wheels of bronze that were on<br>either side of the iron axle-tree. The felloes of the wheels were of<br>gold, imperishable, and over these there was a tire of bronze,<br>wondrous to behold. The naves of the wheels were silver, turning round<br>the axle upon either side. The car itself was made with plaited<br>bands of gold and silver, and it had a double top-rail running all<br>round it. From the body of the car there went a pole of silver, on<br>to the end of which she bound the golden yoke, with the bands of<br>gold that were to go under the necks of the horses Then Juno put her<br>steeds under the yoke, eager for battle and the war-cry.<br>Meanwhile Minerva flung her richly embroidered vesture, made with<br>her own hands, on to her father's threshold, and donned the shirt of<br>Jove, arming herself for battle. She threw her tasselled aegis<br>about. her shoulders, wreathed round with Rout as with a fringe, and<br>on it were Strife, and Strength, and Panic whose blood runs cold;<br>moreover there was the head of the dread monster Gorgon,, grim and<br>awful to behold, portent of aegis-bearing Jove. On her head she set<br>her helmet of gold, with four plumes, and coming to a peak both in<br>front and behind- decked with the emblems of a hundred cities; then<br>she stepped into her flaming chariot and grasped the spear, so stout<br>and sturdy and strong, with which she quells the ranks of heroes who<br>have displeased her. Juno lashed the horses on, and the gates of<br>heaven bellowed as they flew open of their own accord -gates over<br>which the flours preside, in whose hands are Heaven and Olympus,<br>either to open the dense cloud that hides them, or to close it.<br>Through these the goddesses drove their obedient steeds, and found the<br>son of Saturn sitting all alone on the topmost ridges of Olympus.<br>There Juno stayed her horses, and spoke to Jove the son of Saturn,<br>lord of all. "Father Jove," said she, "are you not angry with Mars for<br>these high doings? how great and goodly a host of the Achaeans he<br>has destroyed to my great grief, and without either right or reason,<br>while the Cyprian and Apollo are enjoying it all at their ease and<br>setting this unrighteous madman on to do further mischief. I hope,<br>Father Jove, that you will not be angry if I hit Mars hard, and<br>chase him out of the battle."<br>And Jove answered, "Set Minerva on to him, for she punishes him more<br>often than any one else does."<br>Juno did as he had said. She lashed her horses, and they flew<br>forward nothing loth midway betwixt earth and sky. As far as a man can<br>see when he looks out upon the sea from some high beacon, so far can<br>the loud-neighing horses of the gods spring at a single bound. When<br>they reached Troy and the place where its two flowing streams Simois<br>and Scamander meet, there Juno stayed them and took them from the<br>chariot. She hid them in a thick cloud, and Simois made ambrosia<br>spring up for them to eat; the two goddesses then went on, flying like<br>turtledoves in their eagerness to help the Argives. When they came<br>to the part where the bravest and most in number were gathered about<br>mighty Diomed, fighting like lions or wild boars of great strength and<br>endurance, there Juno stood still and raised a shout like that of<br>brazen-voiced Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men<br>together. "Argives," she cried; "shame on cowardly creatures, brave in<br>semblance only; as long as Achilles was fighting, fi his spear was<br>so deadly that the Trojans dared not show themselves outside the<br>Dardanian gates, but now they sally far from the city and fight even<br>at your ships."<br>With these words she put heart and soul into them all, while Minerva<br>sprang to the side of the son of Tydeus, whom she found near his<br>chariot and horses, cooling the wound that Pandarus had given him. For<br>the sweat caused by the hand that bore the weight of his shield<br>irritated the hurt: his arm was weary with pain, and he was lifting up<br>the strap to wipe away the blood. The goddess laid her hand on the<br>yoke of his horses and said, "The son of Tydeus is not such another as<br>his father. Tydeus was a little man, but he could fight, and rushed<br>madly into the fray even when I told him not to do so. When he went<br>all unattended as envoy to the city of Thebes among the Cadmeans, I<br>bade him feast in their houses and be at peace; but with that high<br>spirit which was ever present with him, he challenged the youth of the<br>Cadmeans, and at once beat them in all that he attempted, so<br>mightily did I help him. I stand by you too to protect you, and I<br>bid you be instant in fighting the Trojans; but either you are tired<br>out, or you are afraid and out of heart, and in that case I say that<br>you are no true son of Tydeus the son of Oeneus."<br>Diomed answered, "I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing<br>Jove, and will hide nothing from you. I am not afraid nor out of<br>heart, nor is there any slackness in me. I am only following your<br>own instructions; you told me not to fight any of the blessed gods;<br>but if Jove's daughter Venus came into battle I was to wound her<br>with my spear. Therefore I am retreating, and bidding the other<br>Argives gather in this place, for I know that Mars is now lording it<br>in the field."<br>"Diomed, son of Tydeus," replied Minerva, "man after my own heart,<br>fear neither Mars nor any other of the immortals, for I will<br>befriend you. Nay, drive straight at Mars, and smite him in close<br>combat; fear not this raging madman, villain incarnate, first on one<br>side and then on the other. But now he was holding talk with Juno<br>and myself, saying he would help the Argives and attack the Trojans;<br>nevertheless he is with the Trojans, and has forgotten the Argives."<br>With this she caught hold of Sthenelus and lifted him off the<br>chariot on to the ground. In a second he was on the ground,<br>whereupon the goddess mounted the car and placed herself by the side<br>of Diomed. The oaken axle groaned aloud under the burden of the<br>awful goddess and the hero; Pallas Minerva took the whip and reins,<br>and drove straight at Mars. He was in the act of stripping huge<br>Periphas, son of Ochesius and bravest of the Aetolians. Bloody Mars<br>was stripping him of his armour, and Minerva donned the helmet of<br>Hades, that he might not see her; when, therefore, he saw Diomed, he<br>made straight for him and let Periphas lie where he had fallen. As<br>soon as they were at close quarters he let fly with his bronze spear<br>over the reins and yoke, thinking to take Diomed's life, but Minerva<br>caught the spear in her hand and made it fly harmlessly over the<br>chariot. Diomed then threw, and Pallas Minerva drove the spear into<br>the pit of Mars's stomach where his under-girdle went round him. There<br>Diomed wounded him, tearing his fair flesh and then drawing his<br>spear out again. Mars roared as loudly as nine or ten thousand men<br>in the thick of a fight, and the Achaeans and Trojans were struck with<br>panic, so terrible was the cry he raised.<br>As a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat, even<br>so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad heavens.<br>With all speed he reached high Olympus, home of the gods, and in great<br>pain sat down beside Jove the son of Saturn. He showed Jove the<br>immortal blood that was flowing from his wound, and spoke piteously,<br>saying, "Father Jove, are you not angered by such doings? We gods<br>are continually suffering in the most cruel manner at one another's<br>hands while helping mortals; and we all owe you a grudge for having<br>begotten that mad termagant of a daughter, who is always committing<br>outrage of some kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us, but her<br>you neither scold nor punish; you encourage her because the<br>pestilent creature is your daughter. See how she has been inciting<br>proud Diomed to vent his rage on the immortal gods. First he went up<br>to the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and then he<br>sprang upon me too as though he were a god. Had I not run for it I<br>must either have lain there for long enough in torments among the<br>ghastly corpes, or have been eaten alive with spears till I had no<br>more strength left in me."<br>Jove looked angrily at him and said, "Do not come whining here,<br>Sir Facing-bothways. I hate you worst of all the gods in Olympus,<br>for you are ever fighting and making mischief. You have the<br>intolerable and stubborn spirit of your mother Juno: it is all I can<br>do to manage her, and it is her doing that you are now in this plight:<br>still, I cannot let you remain longer in such great pain; you are my<br>own off-spring, and it was by me that your mother conceived you; if,<br>however, you had been the son of any other god, you are so destructive<br>that by this time you should have been lying lower than the Titans."<br>He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing<br>herbs upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal mould. As<br>the juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it in a moment<br>though it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon cure fierce Mars.<br>Then Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly raiment, and he took<br>his seat by his father Jove all glorious to behold.<br>But Juno of Argos and Minerva of Alalcomene, now that they had put a<br>stop to the murderous doings of Mars, went back again to the house<br>of Jove.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br/></a><a href="https://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="https://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a></strong>, translated by Samuel Butler</div>

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