back and fought in the front ranks.

They killed Pylaemenes peer of Mars, leader of the Paphlagonian
warriors. Menelaus struck him on the collar-bone as he was
standing on his chariot, while Antilochus hit his charioteer and
squire Mydon, the son of Atymnius, who was turning his horses in
flight. He hit him with a stone upon the elbow, and the reins,
enriched with white ivory, fell from his hands into the dust.
Antilochus rushed towards him and struck him on the temples with
his sword, whereon he fell head first from the chariot to the
ground. There he stood for a while with his head and shoulders
buried deep in the dust--for he had fallen on sandy soil till his
horses kicked him and laid him flat on the ground, as Antilochus
lashed them and drove them off to the host of the Achaeans.

But Hector marked them from across the ranks, and with a loud cry
rushed towards them, followed by the strong battalions of the
Trojans. Mars and dread Enyo led them on, she fraught with
ruthless turmoil of battle, while Mars wielded a monstrous spear,
and went about, now in front of Hector and now behind him.

Diomed shook with passion as he saw them. As a man crossing a
wide plain is dismayed to find himself on the brink of some great
river rolling swiftly to the sea--he sees its boiling waters and
starts back in fear--even so did the son of Tydeus give ground.
Then he said to his men, "My friends, how can we wonder that
Hector wields the spear so well? Some god is ever by his side to
protect him, and now Mars is with him in the likeness of mortal
man. Keep your faces therefore towards the Trojans, but give
ground backwards, for we dare not fight with gods."

As he spoke the Trojans drew close up, and Hector killed two men,
both in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus, heroes well versed
in war. Ajax son of Telamon pitied them in their fall; he came
close up and hurled his spear, hitting Amphius the son of
Selagus, a man of great wealth who lived in Paesus and owned much
corn-growing land, but his lot had led him to come to the aid of
Priam and his sons. Ajax struck him in the belt; the spear
pierced the lower part of his belly, and he fell heavily to the
ground. Then Ajax ran towards him to strip him of his armour, but
the Trojans rained spears upon him, many of which fell upon his
shield. He planted his heel upon the body and drew out his spear,
but the darts pressed so heavily upon him that he could not strip
the goodly armour from his shoulders. The Trojan chieftains,
moreover, many and valiant, came about him with their spears, so
that he dared not stay; great, brave and valiant though he was,
they drove him from them and he was beaten back.

Thus, then, did the battle rage between them. Presently the
strong hand of fate impelled Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, a
man both brave and of great stature, to fight Sarpedon; so the
two, son and grandson of great Jove, drew near to one another,
and Tlepolemus spoke first. "Sarpedon," said he, "councillor of
the Lycians, why should you come skulking here you who are a man
of peace? They lie who call you son of aegis-bearing Jove, for
you are little like those who were of old his children. Far other
was Hercules, my own brave and lion-hearted father, who came here
for the horses of Laomedon, and though he had six ships only, and
few men to follow him, sacked the city of Ilius and made a
wilderness of her highways. You are a coward, and your people are
falling from you. For all your strength, and all your coming from
Lycia, you will be no help to the Trojans but will pass the gates
of Hades vanquished by my hand."

And Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, answered, "Tlepolemus, your
father overthrew Ilius by reason of Laomedon's folly in refusing
payment to one who had served him well. He would not give your
father the horses which he had come so far to fetch. As for
yourself, you shall meet death by my spear. You shall yield glory
to myself, and your soul to Hades of the noble steeds."

Thus spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus upraised his spear. They
threw at the same moment, and Sarpedon struck his foe in the
middle of his throat; the spear went right through, and the
darkness of death fell upon his eyes. Tlepolemus's spear struck
Sarpedon on the left thigh with such force that it tore through
the flesh and grazed the bone, but his father as yet warded off
destruction from him.

His comrades bore Sarpedon out of the fight, in great pain by the
weight of the spear that was dragging from his wound. They were
in such haste and stress as they bore him that no one thought of
drawing the spear from his thigh so as to let him walk uprightly.
Meanwhile the Achaeans carried off the body of Tlepolemus,
whereon Ulysses was moved to pity, and panted for the fray as he
beheld them. He doubted whether to pursue the son of Jove, or to
make slaughter of the Lycian rank and file; it was not decreed,
however, that he should slay the son of Jove; Minerva, therefore,
turned him against the main body of the Lycians. He killed
Coeranus, Alastor, Chromius, Alcandrus, Halius, Noemon, and
Prytanis, and would have slain yet more, had not great Hector
marked him, and sped to the front of the fight clad in his suit
of mail, filling the Danaans with terror. Sarpedon was glad when
he saw him coming, and besought him, saying, "Son of Priam, let
me not be here to fall into the hands of the Danaans. Help me,
and since I may not return home to gladden the hearts of my wife
and of my infant son, let me die within the walls of your city."

Hector made him no answer, but rushed onward to fall at once upon
the Achaeans and kill many among them. His comrades then bore


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