Book 5

Then again to Tydeus' son Diomedes Pallas Athenagave might and courage, that he might stand out among allthe Argives and win noble glory.She kindled from his helmet and his shield a tireless fire,like the star of late summer, which most of allshines bright, bathed in the Ocean stream;such fire she kindled from his head and his shoulders,and urged him into the midst, where most men were in turmoil.There was among the Trojans one Dares, wealthy and blameless,a priest of Hephaestus; and he had two sons,Phegeus and Idaeus, well skilled in every kind of battle.These two, parted from him, rushed out to face the foe;they from their chariot, but he rose from the ground on foot.And when they were near, coming at one another,Phegeus first hurled his long-shadowing spear;but the point of the spear passed over Tydeus' son's left shoulder,and did not strike him; and Tydeides rose up next with the bronze.From his hand the weapon did not fly in vain,but struck his chest between the breasts, and hurled him from his horses.Idaeus sprang out, leaving the beautiful chariot,nor dared he stand over his slain brother;for not even he himself would have escaped black death,but Hephaestus rescued him, and saved him, wrapping him in night,so that the old man might not be wholly grieved.And the son of great-hearted Tydeus, driving out the horses,gave them to his companions to lead down to the hollow ships.But the great-hearted Trojans, when they saw the two sons of Dares,the one escaping, the other slain beside the car,the spirit of all was shaken; but bright-eyed Athenatook furious Ares by the hand and spoke to him in words:Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls,shall we not now let the Trojans and the Achaeansfight, to whichever side father Zeus may grant glory,while we two draw back, and avoid the wrath of Zeus?So speaking she led furious Ares out of the battle;then she seated him on the flowery bank of Scamander,and the Danaans bent the Trojans back; and each of the leaderstook a man; and first the lord of men Agamemnoncast great Odius, leader of the Halizones, from his chariot.For as he first turned, he fixed the spear in his backbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his chest;and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged upon him.And Idomeneus slew Phaestus, son of Maeon,of Borus, who had come from deep-soiled Tarne.Him Idomeneus, famed for the spear, with his long spearstruck as he was mounting his horses, on the right shoulder;and he fell from the car, and hateful darkness seized him.Then the attendants of Idomeneus stripped him of his armor;and the son of Strophius, Scamandrius, a keen hunter,Menelaus, son of Atreus, slew with his sharp spear,a good hunter; for Artemis herself had taught himto strike all wild beasts, which the forest rears in the mountains;but not even Artemis, the shooter of arrows, helped him then,nor his far-shooting, in which he had before excelled;but him Menelaus, famed for the spear, son of Atreus,as he fled before him, wounded in the back with his spearbetween the shoulders, and drove it through his chest,and he fell face down, and his armor clanged upon him.Meriones slew Phereclus, son of the craftsmanHarmonides, who knew in his hands to make all mannerof cunning works; for Pallas Athena loved him exceedingly.He it was who built for Alexander the balanced ships,the beginning of evils, which became a woe to all the Trojansand to himself, since he knew nothing of the decrees of the gods.Him Meriones, when he had caught him in the pursuit,struck on the right buttock; and straight throughthe point went, right through beneath the bone to the bladder;and he fell on his knees groaning, and death covered him about.And Meges slew Pedaeus, son of Antenor,who was indeed a bastard, yet noble Theano reared him,gratifying her husband, as much as her own dear children.Him the son of Phyleus, famed for the spear, coming near,struck with his sharp spear at the base of his head;and the bronze cut right through his teeth beneath the tongue;and he fell in the dust, and took the cold bronze in his teeth.And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, slew noble Hypsenor,son of high-hearted Dolopion, who had been madea priest of Scamander, and was honored by the people as a god.Him Eurypylus, the shining son of Euaemon,as he fled before him, running after, struck on the shoulderwith a sword, springing at him, and sheared off his heavy arm;and the bloody arm fell to the plain; and over his eyespurple death and strong fate seized him.Thus they labored throughout the strong battle;but Tydeides you could not tell with which side he was,whether he mingled with the Trojans or with the Achaeans.For he raged over the plain like a river swollenwith a winter torrent, which rushing swiftly scatters the bridges;and neither do the compacted bridges hold it back,nor do the fences of the blooming orchards contain itwhen it comes suddenly, when the rain of Zeus bears down;and many noble works of stalwart men fall beneath it.So beneath Tydeides the close phalanxes of the Trojanswere thrown into turmoil, nor did they await him, many though they were.And when the shining son of Lycaon saw himraging over the plain and throwing the phalanxes into rout before him,at once he bent his curved bow against Tydeides,and struck him as he rushed on, hitting the right shoulder,the plate of his breastplate; and the bitter arrow flew through,and pierced right through, and the breastplate was spattered with blood.Then over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted aloud:Rouse up, great-hearted Trojans, drivers of horses;for the best of the Achaeans is hit, and I do not thinkhe will long withstand the strong shaft, if trulythe lord, the son of Zeus, urged me as I set out from Lycia.So he spoke boasting; but the swift weapon did not subdue him,but he drew back before his horses and his chariotand stood, and spoke to Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus:Rouse up, dear son of Capaneus, come down from the chariot,so that you may draw the bitter arrow from my shoulder.So he spoke, and Sthenelus leaped down from the horses to the ground,and standing beside him drew the swift arrow clean through his shoulder;and the blood spurted up through his woven tunic.Then indeed Diomedes, good at the war cry, prayed:Hear me, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,if ever you stood beside my father and me with kindly intentin the hostile war, now again befriend me, Athena;and grant that I may slay the man and come within reach of my spear,who struck me first and boasts over me, and sayshe will not much longer see the bright light of the sun.So he spoke praying; and Pallas Athena heard him,and made his limbs light, his feet and his hands above all;and standing near she spoke winged words:Take courage now, Diomedes, to fight against the Trojans;for in your breast I have put the might of your father,undaunted, such as shield-brandishing horseman Tydeus had;and I have taken from your eyes the mist that was there before,so that you may well know both god and man.So now if a god comes here to test you,do not you fight face to face with any otherof the immortal gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,comes into the war, wound her with the sharp bronze.So speaking, bright-eyed Athena departed,and Tydeides, going back again, mingled with the foremost fighters,though even before he had yearned in his heart to fight the Trojans.Then indeed three times as much might seized him, as a lionwhich a shepherd in the field, over his woolly sheep,has grazed as it leapt over the fold, but has not subdued;he rouses its strength, and then he does not defend the sheep,but cowers in the pens, and the sheep, frightened, flee;and they lie heaped upon one another,while he, eager, leaps out of the deep fold.So eager did strong Diomedes mingle with the Trojans.Then he slew Astynous and Hypeiron, shepherd of the people,the one he struck above the nipple with his bronze spear,and the other with his great sword beside the collarbone at the shoulderhe smote, and shore the shoulder from the neck and from the back.These he left, and he pursued Abas and Polyidus,the sons of Eurydamas, the old man, a reader of dreams;for them the old man did not read dreams as they came,but strong Diomedes despoiled them.Then he went after Xanthus and Thoon, the two sons of Phaenops,both late-born; and he was worn with grievous old age,and had begotten no other son to leave among his possessions.There he despoiled them, and took away the dear lifeof both, and left to their father lamentation and grievous grief,since they did not come home alive from the warand receive him; and strangers divided his substance.Then he took two sons of Priam, the Dardanid,who were in one chariot, Echemmon and Chromius.As a lion bounding on cattle breaks the neckof a calf or a cow grazing in the thicket,so the son of Tydeus brought both of them from their horsesdown, sorely against their will, and then stripped their armor;and he gave the horses to his companions to drive to the ships.And Aeneas saw him destroying the ranks of men,and he went through the battle and through the turmoil of spears,seeking godlike Pandarus, if he might find him anywhere;he found the blameless and strong son of Lycaon,and stood before him and spoke a word to him face to face:Pandarus, where is your bow and your winged arrowsand your glory? In which no man here contends with you,nor does any man in Lycia boast to be better than you.But come, send an arrow at this man, with your hands raised to Zeus,whoever this is who masters us and has already done many evilsto the Trojans, since he has loosed the knees of many good men;unless perhaps it is some god angered against the Trojans,enraged over sacrifices; and hard is the wrath of a god.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, counselor of the bronze-clad Trojans,to Tydeides I liken him in all things, a man of war,knowing him by his shield and his ridged helmet,and looking at his horses; but I do not know clearly if he is a god.But if he is the man I say, the war-minded son of Tydeus,not without a god does he rage thus, but some onestands near, of the immortals, wrapped in a cloud about his shoulders,who has turned aside elsewhere the swift arrow that reached him.For already I sent an arrow at him, and struck his rightshoulder clean through the plate of his breastplate;and I for my part thought to send him to Aidoneus,yet I did not subdue him; so some god is angry.And horses and chariot are not at hand for me to mount;but somewhere in the halls of Lycaon eleven chariotsstand, fair, newly built, freshly wrought; and about them robesare spread; and beside each of them are paired horsesstanding, eating white barley and oats.Indeed the old spearman Lycaon gave me very many commandsas I was setting out, in his well-built house;he ordered me, mounted on horses and chariot,to lead the Trojans in the strong battles;but I did not obey; and truly it would have been far better;sparing the horses, lest they want for fodder,accustomed as they are to eat their fill when men are penned in.So I left them, and I have come on foot to Ilios,trusting in my bow; but it was not going to help me.For already I have shot at two of the best men,Tydeides and the son of Atreus, and from bothI drew sure blood when I struck, but only roused them more.So with evil fate I took the curved bow from its pegon that day when I led the Trojans to lovely Ilios,bringing pleasure to noble Hector.But if I return and see with my eyesmy own country and my wife and my high-roofed great house,then let a stranger cut off my head at onceif I do not put these bows in the blazing fire,breaking them with my hands; for they follow me to no purpose.Then Aeneas, leader of the Trojans, answered him:Do not speak so; there will be no other way before then,until the two of us have faced this man with horses and chariotand tried him in arms face to face.But come, mount my chariot, so that you may seewhat kind the Trojan horses are, knowing how over the plainto chase swiftly here and there and to flee;they will save the two of us to the city, even if once moreZeus grants glory to Tydeides Diomedes.But come now, take the whip and the shining reins,and I will step down from the horses so that I may fight;or you receive these, and I will care for the horses.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, you yourself hold the reins and your own two horses;better beneath a charioteer accustomed to it will the curved chariotcarry us, if once more we flee from the son of Tydeus;lest the two, frightened, hold back and refuseto carry you out of the war, longing for your voice,and the son of great-hearted Tydeus rush upon usand kill us both and drive off the single-hoofed horses.But do you yourself drive your chariot and your two horses,and I will receive him as he comes on with my sharp spear.So speaking, they mounted the dappled chariotand eagerly drove their swift horses at Tydeides.And Sthenelus, the shining son of Capaneus, saw them,and at once spoke winged words to Tydeides:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,I see two mighty men eager to fight against you,possessing boundless strength; one is well skilled with the bow,Pandarus, and he boasts to be the son of Lycaon;and Aeneas boasts to be born of blameless Anchises,and his mother is Aphrodite.But come, let us give way on the horses, and do notrage thus through the foremost fighters, lest you destroy your dear heart.Then looking darkly at him strong Diomedes said:Do not speak of fear, since I do not think you will persuade me.It is not noble for me to shun battle and skulk away,nor to cower; my might is still steadfast;I am reluctant to mount the horses, but even soI go against them face to face; Pallas Athena does not allow me to tremble.These two their swift horses will not carry back againboth away from us, if indeed one of them escapes.And another thing I will tell you, and do you lay it in your mind:if wise Athena grants me gloryto kill them both, then do you hold back these swift horseshere, stretching the reins from the rail,and rush upon Aeneas' horses, mindful of them,and drive them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.For of that breed of which wide-thundering Zeusgave to Tros as a price for his son Ganymede, because they were the bestof horses, as many as are beneath the dawn and the sun,of that breed the lord of men Anchises stole,secretly from Laomedon, bringing mares to breed;and of them six were born to him in his halls.Four he kept himself and reared at the manger,and two he gave to Aeneas, a bringer of rout.If we could take these two, we would win noble glory.So these two spoke such words to one another,and the other two quickly came near, driving their swift horses.First the shining son of Lycaon spoke to him:Strong-hearted, war-minded son of proud Tydeus,surely the swift bitter arrow did not subdue you;now again I will try with the spear, if I may hit you.So he spoke, and swinging it hurled his long-shadowing spear,and struck the shield of Tydeides; and through itthe bronze point flew and came near the breastplate;and over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted aloud:You are hit clean through the flank, and I do not thinkyou will long withstand it; and you have given me great glory.Then unafraid strong Diomedes answered him:You missed and did not hit; but I do not think the two of youwill stop before one of you at least has fallenand glutted Ares, the stubborn warrior, with blood.So speaking he hurled; and Athena guided the weaponby his nose beside his eye, and it passed through his white teeth.The unyielding bronze cut off the root of his tongue,and the point came out by his lower jaw;and he fell from the car, and his armor clanged upon him,dappled and flashing, and his swift-footed horsesshied away; and there his life and his strength were loosed.And Aeneas sprang down with his shield and his long spear,fearing lest the Achaeans drag off the corpse.And about him he strode like a lion trusting in its strength,and before him he held his spear and his shield equal on every side,eager to kill whoever came against him,crying terribly; and Tydeides took in his hand a stone,a great work which not even two men would lift,such as mortals are now; but he wielded it easily, alone.With it he struck Aeneas on the hip, where the thighturns in the hip, and men call it the socket;and he crushed his socket, and broke both tendons,and the rough stone tore away the skin; but the herofell to his knee and stayed, propped on his stout handupon the ground; and black night covered his eyes.And then the lord of men Aeneas would have perished,if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, had not quickly noticed,his mother, who bore him to Anchises the herdsman;and she poured her white arms about her dear son,and before him spread a fold of her shining robeto be a bulwark against weapons, lest any of the swift-horsed Danaansstrike bronze into his chest and take his life.So she carried her dear son out of the war;but the son of Capaneus did not forget the commandswhich good at the war cry Diomedes had laid on him,but he held back his own single-hoofed horsesapart from the din, stretching the reins from the rail,and rushing upon Aeneas' fair-maned horseshe drove them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.And he gave them to his dear companion Deipylus, whom beyond allof his own age he honored, because he knew in his mind things apt,to drive to the hollow ships; but the heromounted his own horses and took the shining reins,and swiftly pursued with his strong-hoofed horses,eagerly; and he went after Cypris with pitiless bronze,knowing that she was a coward god, and not one of thosegoddesses who rule over the war of men,neither Athena nor city-sacking Enyo.But when he caught up with her, pursuing her through the great throng,there the son of great-hearted Tydeus, reaching out,wounded the top of her hand, springing at her with his sharp spear,grazing it; and straightway the spear pierced her skinthrough the immortal robe which the Graces themselves had made her,at the base of the palm; and there flowed the immortal blood of the god,ichor, such as flows in the blessed gods;for they do not eat bread, nor drink gleaming wine,and therefore they are bloodless and are called immortal.And she, crying aloud, cast down her son from her;and Phoebus Apollo drew him up in his handsin a dark cloud, lest any of the swift-horsed Danaansstrike bronze into his chest and take his life.And over her good at the war cry Diomedes shouted aloud:Give way, daughter of Zeus, from war and battle;is it not enough that you deceive cowardly women?But if you enter the war, I think you will surelyshudder at war, even if you hear of it elsewhere.So he spoke, and she went away in anguish, and was terribly distressed;and Iris of the swift feet took her and led her out of the throngburdened with pains, and her fair skin was darkened.Then she found furious Ares on the left of the battle,seated; and his spear and his swift horses leaned in the mist;and she fell on her knees before her dear brother,and beseeching him much she asked for the gold-frontleted horses:Dear brother, save me and give me the horses,so that I may reach Olympus, where the seat of the immortals is.I am greatly burdened by the wound which a mortal man struck me,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus.So she spoke, and Ares gave her the gold-frontleted horses;and she mounted the chariot, grieved in her dear heart,and Iris mounted beside her and took the reins in her hands,and whipped them to go, and the two flew not unwilling.And quickly they came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus;there swift Iris of the swift feet stopped the horses,loosed them from the chariot, and set before them immortal fodder;and the goddess Aphrodite fell on the knees of Dione,her mother; and she took her daughter in her arms,and stroked her with her hand and spoke a word and called her by name:Who now, dear child, of the heavenly ones has done such things to youwantonly, as though you had done some evil in their sight?Then smiling Aphrodite answered her:The son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes, wounded me,because I was carrying my dear son out of the war,Aeneas, who is far dearest to me of all.For no longer is the grim battle of Trojans and Achaeans,but now the Danaans fight even with the immortals.Then Dione, shining among goddesses, answered her:Endure, my child, and bear up, though you are grieved;for many of us who hold Olympian homes have enduredharsh pains from men, bringing them on one another.Ares endured when Otus and strong Ephialtes,the sons of Aloeus, bound him in a strong bond;in a bronze jar he was bound thirteen months;and then Ares, insatiate of war, would have perished,if their stepmother, the beautiful Eeriboea,had not told Hermes; and he stole Ares awayalready worn, and the harsh bond was subduing him.And Hera endured, when the strong son of Amphitryonstruck her right breast with a three-barbed arrow;and then incurable pain took her.And huge Hades endured among them a swift arrow,when the same man, the son of aegis-bearing Zeus,in Pylos among the dead struck him and gave him over to pains;and he went to the house of Zeus and tall Olympusgrieving at heart, pierced with pains; and the arrowwas driven into his stout shoulder, and grieved his heart.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.Wretched, violent-doing, who did not care that he did reckless things,who with his bow grieved the gods who hold Olympus.But against you the goddess bright-eyed Athena sent this one;fool, and the son of Tydeus does not know in his mindthat he who fights with the immortals is not long for life,and his children do not call him grandfatherat his knees when he comes from the war and the dread battle.So now let Tydeides, even if he is very strong,take thought lest one better than you fight with him,lest wise Aegialea, the daughter of Adrastus,weeping from sleep wake her dear household,longing for her wedded husband, the best of the Achaeans,the mighty wife of horse-taming Diomedes.So she spoke, and with both hands wiped away the ichor from her hand;the hand was healed, and the heavy pains were assuaged.And Athena and Hera, looking on,provoked Zeus the son of Cronus with mocking words.And among them the goddess bright-eyed Athena began the speech:Father Zeus, will you be angry with me for what I say?Surely Cypris, stirring up some Achaean womanto follow the Trojans, whom she now loves exceedingly,while stroking one of the well-robed Achaean women,scratched her slender hand on a golden brooch.So she spoke, and the father of men and gods smiled,and calling golden Aphrodite to him he said:To you, my child, are not given the works of war,but do you pursue the lovely works of marriage,and all these things will be the care of swift Ares and Athena.So these spoke such words to one another,and good at the war cry Diomedes rushed at Aeneas,knowing that Apollo himself held his hands over him;but he did not revere even the great god, and ever pressed onto kill Aeneas and strip his famous armor.Three times then he rushed on, eager to slay him,and three times Apollo beat back his shining shield;but when he rushed on the fourth time, like a god,loudly threatening, far-shooting Apollo spoke to him:Take thought, Tydeides, and give way, and do notwish to think equal to the gods, since never is the race alikeof the immortal gods and of men who walk the earth.So he spoke, and Tydeides gave back a littleavoiding the wrath of far-shooting Apollo.And Aeneas Apollo set apart from the throngin holy Pergamon, where his temple was built.And him Leto and Artemis the shooter of arrowshealed and glorified in the great shrine;but silver-bowed Apollo made a phantomlike Aeneas himself and like him in armor,and about the phantom Trojans and shining Achaeanskept slaying one another's ox-hide shieldswell-rounded and winged bucklers.Then Phoebus Apollo spoke to furious Ares:Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls,Would you not then draw back this man from battle, coming after him,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus?First he wounded Cypris close by on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god.So speaking, he himself sat down on the height of Pergamon,and baleful Ares, coming after, roused the Trojan ranks,likened to Acamas, the swift leader of the Thracians;and he called to the sons of Priam, reared by Zeus:O sons of Priam, of the king reared by Zeus,how long will you let your people be slain by the Achaeans?Or until they fight about your well-built gates?There lies a man whom we honored as equal to noble Hector,Aeneas, son of great-hearted Anchises;but come, let us save our good companion from the din.So speaking he roused the might and the spirit of each.Then Sarpedon rebuked noble Hector greatly:Hector, where has your might gone, that you had before?You say, I suppose, that you will hold the city without the people and without allies,alone with your brothers-in-law and your own brothers.But of these I now can see and observe not one,but they cower like dogs around a lion;while we fight, who are here as allies.For I too, being an ally, have come from very far;for Lycia is far away, on the whirling Xanthus,where I left my dear wife and my infant son,and many possessions, which a needy man longs for.But even so I urge the Lycians and am eager myselfto fight the man; yet here I have nothing of the kindas the Achaeans might carry off or lead away.But you stand still, and do not order the otherpeople to stand firm and defend against the foe.Lest like fish caught in a net of all-catching meshyou become a spoil and a prey to hostile men;and they will soon sack your well-peopled city.And you must care for all this both by night and by day,beseeching the leaders of the far-famed alliesto hold firm unceasingly, and to put away harsh reproach.So spoke Sarpedon, and his word bit the heart of Hector;at once he leaped from his chariot with his armor to the ground,brandishing sharp spears he went throughout the army everywhere,rousing them to fight, and he woke the dread din of battle.And they wheeled about and stood facing the Achaeans;and the Argives stood firm in a mass and did not flee.As the wind carries chaff through the sacred threshing floorsof men who winnow, when fair-haired Demeterseparates grain and chaff with rushing winds,and the heaps of chaff grow white beneath; so then the Achaeansgrew white above with dust, which through themthe feet of the horses beat up to the bronze-wrought sky,as they closed again; and the charioteers wheeled them about.And they bore the strength of their hands straight on; and about themfurious Ares covered the battle in night, aiding the Trojans,ranging everywhere; and he fulfilled the commandsof Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, who urged himto rouse the spirit in the Trojans, since he saw PallasAthena gone away; for she was the helper of the Danaans.And he himself brought Aeneas out of the rich shrine,and put might in the breast of the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas took his place among his companions; and they rejoiced,when they saw him alive and unharmed, coming forwardand possessing good might; yet they did not question him at all.For no other toil allowed it, which the silver-bowed god roused,and butcher Ares and Strife, insatiably eager.But the two Ajaxes and Odysseus and Diomedesurged the Danaans to fight; and they themselvesneither shrank from the violence of the Trojans nor their onsets,but stood like clouds which the son of Cronussets in windless weather on the towering mountainsunmoved, while the might of the North Wind sleeps and of the othershrill winds, which with clear-blowing blastsscatter the shadowy clouds as they blow;so the Danaans stood firm against the Trojans and did not flee.And the son of Atreus went through the throng, commanding much:Dear friends, be men and take a valiant heart,and have shame before one another in the strong battles;of men who have shame, more are saved than are slain;but from fleeing men neither glory arises nor any defense.So he spoke, and quickly cast his spear, and struck a foremost man,the companion of great-hearted Aeneas, Deicoonthe son of Pergasus, whom the Trojans equally with the sons of Priamhonored, since he was swift to fight among the foremost.Him lord Agamemnon struck with his spear upon the shield;it did not keep out the spear, but the bronze passed right through,and drove through his belt into his lower belly;and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged upon him.Then Aeneas slew the best men of the Danaans,the two sons of Diocles, Crethon and Orsilochus,whose father dwelt in well-built Pherae,rich in substance, and was of the race of the riverAlpheus, which flows wide through the land of the Pylians,who begot Ortilochus, lord over many men;and Ortilochus begot great-hearted Diocles,and from Diocles twin sons were born,Crethon and Orsilochus, well skilled in all battle.These two, when they came to manhood, on the black shipsfollowed to horse-rich Ilios with the Argives,seeking honor for Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus;and there the end of death covered them.Like two lions on the peaks of a mountainthey were reared by their mother in the thickets of a deep wood;the two, seizing cattle and sturdy sheep,ravaged the folds of men, until they toowere slain in the hands of men by the sharp bronze;so the two, subdued at the hands of Aeneas,fell, like tall fir trees.And fallen, they moved the pity of war-loving Menelaus,and he went through the foremost fighters, helmeted in blazing bronze,brandishing his spear; and Ares roused his might,intending that he be subdued at the hands of Aeneas.And Antilochus, son of great-hearted Nestor, saw him,and went through the foremost fighters; for he feared for the shepherd of the peoplelest he suffer something, and greatly bereave them of their toil.So the two held their hands and their sharp spearsfacing one another, eager to fight;and Antilochus stood very near the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas did not stay, swift warrior though he was,when he saw two men standing by one another.And when they had dragged the corpses to the Achaean host,they tossed the two pitiful men into the hands of companions,and the two turned and fought among the foremost.Then they slew Pylaemenes, the peer of Ares,leader of the great-hearted, shield-bearing Paphlagonians.Him Menelaus, famed for the spear, son of Atreus,as he stood, struck with his spear, hitting the collarbone;and Antilochus struck Mydon, his charioteer and attendant,the good son of Atymnius; and he was turning his single-hoofed horses;Antilochus hit him with a stone in the middle of the elbow; and from his handsthe white reins, ivory-studded, fell to the ground in the dust.And Antilochus rushed on and struck his temple with his sword;and he, gasping, fell from the well-built chariotheadlong into the dust on his head and his shoulders.He stood there a long while; for he hit deep mud;until his two horses struck him and laid him in the dust;them Antilochus whipped, and drove to the Achaean host.And Hector noticed them along the ranks, and rose against themshouting; and with him followed the strong phalanxes of the Trojans;and Ares led them and queenly Enyo,she holding Rout, the shameless, of the battle,while Ares wielded in his hands a monstrous spear,and went sometimes before Hector, sometimes behind.And good at the war cry Diomedes, seeing him, shuddered;as when a man without skill, going over a great plain,stands at a swift-flowing river running to the sea,gazing at it roaring with foam, and runs back again,so then Tydeides gave back, and spoke to the host:Friends, how we wonder that noble Hectoris a spearman and a daring warrior;but always one of the gods is beside him, who wards off ruin;and now that Ares is beside him, like a mortal man.But turn always backward toward the Trojans,give way, and do not yearn to fight the gods with might.So he spoke, and the Trojans came very near to them.Then Hector killed two men skilled in the fight,being in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus.And great Telamonian Ajax pitied the two fallen;he stood coming very near, and cast with his shining spear,and struck Amphius, son of Selagus, who in Paesusdwelt, rich in possessions, rich in fields; but fateled him to aid Priam and his sons.Him Telamonian Ajax struck upon the belt,and the long-shadowing spear was fixed in his lower belly,and he fell with a thud; and shining Ajax ran upto strip his armor; and the Trojans poured spears upon him,sharp and flashing; and his shield received many.And he, stepping with his heel on the corpse, pulled out the bronze spear;but he could no longer take the rest of the fair armorfrom his shoulders; for he was pressed by missiles.And he feared the strong encirclement of the proud Trojans,who stood about him, many and good, holding spears,who, though he was great and mighty and proud,thrust him away from them; and he gave way and was shaken.So they labored throughout the strong battle;and Tlepolemus, son of Heracles, good and great,strong fate roused against godlike Sarpedon.And when they were near, coming at one another,the son and the grandson of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,then Tlepolemus first spoke a word to him:Sarpedon, counselor of the Lycians, what need have youto cower here, being a man ignorant of battle?They lie who say that you are the offspring of aegis-bearingZeus, since you fall far short of those menwho were born of Zeus among earlier men;but such a one they say the might of Heracles was,my father, bold-hearted, lion-hearted;who once came here for the horses of Laomedonwith six ships only and with fewer men,and sacked the city of Ilios, and widowed its streets;but your heart is cowardly, and your people perish.Nor do I think you will be any defense to the Trojans,having come from Lycia, not even if you are very strong,but subdued by me you will pass the gates of Hades.Then Sarpedon, leader of the Lycians, answered him:Tlepolemus, indeed that man destroyed holy Iliosthrough the follies of the proud Laomedon,who reproached him with an evil word though he had served him well,and did not give the horses for which he had come from afar.But for you I say that here slaughter and black deathwill be made by me, and subdued by my spearyou will give me glory, and your soul to Hades, famed for horses.So spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus raised his ashen spear;and their long spears flew togetherfrom their hands; Sarpedon struck the middle of his neck,and the grievous point went clean through;and dark night covered his eyes.And Tlepolemus had struck his left thigh with his long spear,and the point rushed through, eager,grazing the bone, but his father still warded off ruin.And his shining companions carried godlike Sarpedonout of the war; and the long spear weighed him downas it was dragged; and no one thought or noticedto draw the ashen spear from his thigh so that he might step,in their haste; for such labor they had in tending him.And on the other side the well-greaved Achaeanscarried Tlepolemus out of the war; and shining Odysseus noticed,having an enduring spirit, and his dear heart was eager;and he pondered then in his mind and his spiritwhether he should pursue further the son of loud-thundering Zeus,or take the life from more of the Lycians.But it was not destined for great-hearted Odysseusto kill the mighty son of Zeus with the sharp bronze;so Athena turned his heart toward the throng of the Lycians.Then he slew Coeranus and Alastor and Chromiusand Alcander and Halius and Noemon and Prytanis.And shining Odysseus would have killed still more of the Lycians,if great Hector of the shining helmet had not quickly noticed;he went through the foremost fighters, helmeted in blazing bronze,bringing dread to the Danaans; and Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, rejoicedat his coming, and spoke a piteous word:Son of Priam, do not leave me to lie as a spoil for the Danaans,but defend me; and then let my life leave mein your city, since I was not going toreturn home to my dear fatherlandand gladden my dear wife and my infant son.So he spoke, and Hector of the shining helmet did not answer him at all,but passed by, eager that as quickly as possiblehe might thrust back the Argives, and take the life from many.And his shining companions set godlike Sarpedonbeneath a beautiful oak of aegis-bearing Zeus;and from his thigh mighty Pelagon, who was his dear companion,pushed out the ashen spear;and his soul left him, and a mist poured over his eyes;but he breathed again, and the blast of the North Windrevived him as it blew on him, breathing life into his sorely gasping spirit.And the Argives under Ares and Hector of the bronze helmetwere never driven back to the black shipsnor ever held their ground in fight, but always backwardthey gave way, when they learned that Ares was with the Trojans.Then whom first and whom last did they despoil,Hector the son of Priam and the bronze Ares?Godlike Teuthras, and after him horse-rousing Orestes,and Trechus the spearman, the Aetolian, and Oenomaus,and Oenopides Helenus and Oresbius of the flashing belt,who dwelt in Hyle, caring greatly for his wealth,lying by the Cephisian lake; and beside him othersdwelt, Boeotians, holding a very rich land.And when the goddess, white-armed Hera, saw themdestroying the Argives in the strong battle,at once she spoke winged words to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,surely we promised Menelaus an idle wordthat he would return after sacking well-walled Ilios,if we let baleful Ares rage so.But come now, let us two also take thought of furious valor.So she spoke, and the goddess bright-eyed Athena did not disobey.And Hera, the revered goddess, daughter of great Cronus,going about, harnessed the gold-frontleted horses;and Hebe quickly set on the chariot the curved wheels,bronze, eight-spoked, on either side of the iron axle.Of these the felloe is golden, imperishable, and aboveare bronze tires fitted on, a wonder to behold;and the naves are of silver, running round on both sides;and the chariot is stretched with golden and silverstraps, and there are two rails running round.And its pole was of silver; and at the tipshe bound a fair golden yoke, and put on itfair golden collars; and beneath the yoke Hera ledthe swift-footed horses, eager for strife and the war cry.And Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus,let fall on her father's floor her soft robe,dappled, which she herself had made and worked with her hands;and she, putting on the tunic of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,armed herself in armor for the tearful war.And about her shoulders she cast the tasselled aegis,terrible, which is crowned all about with Fear,and in it is Strife, and in it Strength, and in it cold Rout,and in it the Gorgon head of the dread monster,terrible and awful, the portent of aegis-bearing Zeus.And on her head she set a two-peaked helmet, four-crested,golden, fitted for the foot-soldiers of a hundred cities;and she stepped with her feet onto the blazing chariot, and took the spear,heavy, great, sturdy, with which she subdues the ranks of men,of heroes with whom she, the mighty father's daughter, is angry.And Hera quickly touched the horses with the whip;and the gates of heaven groaned of themselves, which the Seasons keep,to whom the great heaven and Olympus are entrusted,both to open the thick cloud and to close it.Through these they drove the goaded horses;and they found the son of Cronus sitting apart from the other godson the highest peak of many-ridged Olympus.There the goddess, white-armed Hera, stopping the horses,questioned and spoke to Zeus the highest, son of Cronus:Father Zeus, are you not indignant at these strong deeds of Ares,how many and how great a host of the Achaeans he has destroyedrecklessly and not in order? And it grieves me, while those others at easetake their pleasure, Cypris and the silver-bowed Apollo,letting this foolish one loose, who knows no laws at all.Father Zeus, will you be angry with me, if Istrike Ares wretchedly and drive him out of the battle?And answering her, Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Come then, rouse Athena the driver of the spoil against him,who is most accustomed to bring grievous pains upon him.So he spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera did not disobey,but whipped the horses; and the two flew not unwillingmidway between the earth and the starry heaven.And as far as a man sees in the misty air with his eyes,sitting on a lookout, gazing over the wine-dark sea,so far do the loud-neighing horses of the gods leap at a bound.But when they came to Troy, where the two rivers flow,where Simoeis and Scamander join their streams,there the goddess white-armed Hera stopped the horses,loosing them from the chariot, and poured a thick mist about them;and for them Simoeis made immortal fodder spring up to graze.And the two went with the gait of trembling doves,eager to ward off harm from the Argive men.But when they came where the most and the beststood about the might of horse-taming Diomedes,gathered like flesh-eating lionsor like boars, whose strength is not feeble,there the goddess white-armed Hera stood and shouted,likened to great-hearted Stentor of the bronze voice,who could shout as loud as fifty other men:Shame, Argives, base reproaches, admirable in form;while noble Achilles used to go to war,never did the Trojans venture outside the Dardanian gates;for they dreaded his mighty spear;but now they fight far from the city beside the hollow ships.So speaking she roused the might and the spirit of each.And the goddess bright-eyed Athena rushed at Tydeides;and she found the lord beside his horses and chariotcooling the wound which Pandarus had struck him with an arrow.For sweat was vexing him beneath the broad strapof his round shield; with this he was worn, and his hand was weary,and lifting up the strap he wiped away the black blood.And the goddess touched the yoke of the horses and spoke:Truly Tydeus begot a son little like himself.Tydeus truly was small in body, but a fighter;and even when I would not let him fightor rage in battle, when he came apart from the Achaeansas an envoy to Thebes among the many Cadmeians,I told him to feast at ease in the halls;but he, keeping the fierce heart he had as before,challenged the young men of the Cadmeians, and conquered them alleasily; such a helper was I to him.But for you, I indeed stand beside you and guard you,and I eagerly urge you to fight the Trojans;but either weariness from much shouting has entered your limbs,or surely some spiritless fear holds you; then you areno offspring of Tydeus, the war-minded son of Oeneus.And answering her strong Diomedes said:I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus;so I will speak to you readily, and I will not conceal it.Neither does any spiritless fear hold me, nor any hesitation,but I still remember your commands, which you laid on me:you did not let me fight face to face with the otherblessed gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,should come into the war, wound her with the sharp bronze.Therefore now I myself draw back, and I have ordered the otherArgives all to gather here;for I know that Ares is ruling over the battle.Then the goddess bright-eyed Athena answered him:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,do not you fear Ares at all, nor any otherof the immortals, for such a helper am I to you;but come, drive your single-hoofed horses at Ares first,and strike him at close range, and do not revere furious Ares,this mad one, a wrought evil, a turncoat,who just now promised to me and to Hera, speaking,that he would fight the Trojans, and would help the Argives,but now he consorts with the Trojans, and has forgotten them.So speaking, she thrust Sthenelus from the horses to the ground,pulling him back with her hand, and he sprang up hastily;and she mounted the chariot beside shining Diomedes,the eager goddess; and the beechen axle groaned loudlyunder the weight; for it carried a dread goddess and the best of men.And Pallas Athena took the whip and the reins;at once she drove the single-hoofed horses at Ares first.And he was just then despoiling huge Periphas,by far the best of the Aetolians, the shining son of Ochesius;him murderous Ares was despoiling; but Athenaput on the helm of Hades, so that mighty Ares might not see her.And when Ares, the bane of mortals, saw shining Diomedes,he indeed left huge Periphas thereto lie where he first killed him and took his life,and he went straight at horse-taming Diomedes.And when the two were near, coming at one another,first Ares reached over the yoke and the reins of the horseswith his bronze spear, eager to take his life;and the goddess bright-eyed Athena caught it with her handand thrust it aside from the chariot to fly in vain.Second then good at the war cry Diomedes rushed onwith his bronze spear; and Pallas Athena drove it homeinto his lower flank, where he was girt with his war belt;there he struck him, and tore through his fair skin,and pulled the spear out again; and bronze Ares bellowedas loud as nine thousand or ten thousandmen cry out in war, joining the strife of Ares.And trembling seized both Achaeans and Trojansin their fear; so loud did Ares, insatiate of war, bellow.And as from the clouds a dark mist appearsfrom the heat, when a foul wind rises,so to Tydeides Diomedes did bronze Aresappear, going with the clouds into the wide heaven.And swiftly he came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus,and sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, grieving at heart,and showed the immortal blood flowing down from his wound,and lamenting he spoke winged words:Father Zeus, are you not indignant as you look on these strong deeds?Always we gods endure the most dreadful thingsby one another's will, bringing favor to men.We all fight with you; for you begot a foolish daughter,a ruinous one, whose mind is ever set on reckless deeds.For all the other gods, as many as are in Olympus,obey you, and each of us is subdued to you;but her you neither rebuke in word nor in any deed,but you let her go, since you yourself begot a child of ruin;who now has let the son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes,rage against the immortal gods.First he wounded Cypris close by on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god;but my swift feet bore me away; truly I would have longsuffered pains there among the dread heaps of the dead,or lived on strengthless from the blows of bronze.Then looking darkly at him Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Do not sit beside me, turncoat, and whimper.You are the most hateful to me of the gods who hold Olympus;for always strife is dear to you, and wars and battles.Your mother's spirit is ungovernable and not to be borne,Hera's; her I subdue with words, with effort;so I think you suffer this by her counsels.But I will no longer endure that you have pains;for you are of my race, and your mother bore you to me;but if you had been born of any other god so ruinous,you would long ago have been lower than the sons of Uranus.So he spoke, and he ordered Paieon to heal him.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.And as when fig juice swiftly curdles white milk,though it is liquid, and it is stirred round quickly as one stirs it,so quickly did he heal furious Ares.And Hebe bathed him, and put lovely garments on him;and he sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, glorying in his splendor.And the two went back to the house of great Zeus,Hera of Argos and Athena of Alalcomenae,having stopped butcher Ares from the slaughter of men.

Then again Athena gave Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, might and courage,so that he might stand out among all the Argivesand win good glory.She made a tireless fire burn from his helmet and his shield,like the star of late summer, which most of allshines brightly when it has been washed in the Ocean;such a fire she made burn from his head and his shoulders,and she stirred him into the middle, where the most men were in the press.There was a certain Dares among the Trojans, rich and blameless,a priest of Hephaestus; and he had two sons,Phegeus and Idaeus, who knew every kind of fighting well.The two of them, separated from him, rushed out to face the enemy;they from their chariot, but he rose from the ground on foot.When they had come close, moving at each other,Phegeus first threw his long-shadowing spear;but the point of the spear went over Tydeus' son's left shoulderand did not hit him; then the son of Tydeus rose up next with the bronze.The weapon did not fly from his hand in vain,but it hit his chest between the breasts, and pushed him off his horses.Idaeus jumped down, leaving the beautiful chariot,and he did not dare to stand over his killed brother;for not even he himself would have escaped black death,but Hephaestus protected him and saved him, wrapping him in night,so that the old man would not be completely grieving.And the son of great-hearted Tydeus, driving out the horses,gave them to his companions to lead down to the hollow ships.But the great-hearted Trojans, when they saw the two sons of Dares,the one escaping and the other killed beside the chariot,the spirit of all of them was shaken; but bright-eyed Athenatook furious Ares by the hand and spoke to him in words:Ares, Ares, destroyer of men, defiled with blood, stormer of walls,would we not now let the Trojans and the Achaeansfight, to whichever side father Zeus grants the glory,while the two of us step back, and avoid the anger of Zeus?After she said this she led furious Ares out of the battle;then she seated him on the flowery bank of the Scamander,and the Danaans bent the Trojans back; and each of the leaderstook a man; and first the lord of men Agamemnonthrew great Odius, the leader of the Halizones, from his chariot.For as he first turned around he drove the spear into his backbetween the shoulders, and pushed it through his chest,and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged over him.And Idomeneus killed Phaestus, the son of Maeonof Borus, who had come from deep-soiled Tarne.Idomeneus, famous for the spear, struck him with his long spearas he was climbing onto his horses, on the right shoulder;and he fell from the chariot, and hateful darkness took him.Then the attendants of Idomeneus stripped his armor;and the son of Strophius, Scamandrius, a keen hunter,Menelaus son of Atreus killed with his sharp spear,a good hunter; for Artemis herself had taught himto shoot every wild animal that the forest raises in the mountains;but not even Artemis, the shooter of arrows, helped him then,nor the far-shooting in which he had once excelled;but Menelaus, famous for the spear, son of Atreus,struck him in the back with his spear as he fled in front of him,between the shoulders, and drove it through his chest,and he fell face forward, and his armor clanged over him.And Meriones killed Phereclus, the son of the craftsmanHarmonides, who knew how to make with his hands every kindof cunning work; for Pallas Athena loved him especially.He also built for Alexander the balanced ships,the beginning of evils, which became a disaster for all the Trojansand for himself, because he did not know at all the decrees of the gods.When Meriones caught up with him in the chase,he struck him on the right buttock; and the pointwent straight through, right under the bone into the bladder;and he fell on his knees groaning, and death covered him.And Meges killed Pedaeus, the son of Antenor,who was a bastard, but noble Theano raised him carefully,pleasing her husband, just as much as her own dear children.The son of Phyleus, famous for the spear, going near,struck him with his sharp spear at the base of his head;and the bronze cut straight through his teeth under his tongue;and he fell in the dust and took the cold bronze in his teeth.And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, killed noble Hypsenor,the son of high-hearted Dolopion, who had been madea priest of the Scamander and was honored by the people like a god.Eurypylus, the shining son of Euaemon,as he fled in front of him, running after him, hit him on the shoulderwith a sword as he sprang at him, and cut off his heavy arm;and the bloody arm fell on the plain; and over his eyespurple death and strong fate came.So they labored throughout the strong battle;but you could not tell which side Tydeides was on,whether he was mingling with the Trojans or with the Achaeans.For he rushed across the plain like a river filledwith a winter torrent, which flowing fast scatters the bridges;and neither do the close-packed bridges hold it back,nor do the fences of the blooming orchards contain itwhen it comes suddenly, when the rain of Zeus bears down on it;and many fine works of stalwart men fall down under it.So under Tydeides the close-packed ranks of the Trojanswere thrown into confusion, and they did not wait for him, though they were many.And when the shining son of Lycaon noticed himrushing over the plain and throwing the ranks into confusion ahead of him,he immediately stretched his curved bow against Tydeides,and hit him as he rushed at him, striking his right shoulderon the plate of his breastplate; and the bitter arrow flew through,and pierced straight through, and the breastplate was splattered with blood.Then over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted loudly:Rouse yourselves, great-hearted Trojans, drivers of horses;for the best of the Achaeans has been hit, and I do not thinkhe will hold out long against the strong arrow, if trulythe lord, the son of Zeus, urged me as I set out from Lycia.So he spoke boasting; but the swift arrow did not overcome him,but he stepped back in front of his horses and chariotand stood there, and spoke to Sthenelus, son of Capaneus:Rouse yourself, dear son of Capaneus, get down from the chariot,so that you can pull the bitter arrow out of my shoulder.So he spoke, and Sthenelus jumped down from the horses to the ground,and standing beside him he pulled the swift arrow right through his shoulder;and the blood spurted up through his woven tunic.Then indeed Diomedes, good at the war cry, prayed:Hear me, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,if ever you stood by my father and me with kind intentin the hostile war, now again be kind to me, Athena;and grant that I may kill the man and get within reach of my spear,who struck me first and boasts over me, and sayshe will not see the bright light of the sun much longer.So he spoke praying; and Pallas Athena heard him,and made his limbs light, his feet and hands above all;and standing near she spoke winged words:Take courage now, Diomedes, to fight against the Trojans;for into your chest I have put the might of your father,fearless, such as shield-brandishing horseman Tydeus had;and I have taken from your eyes the mist that was there before,so that you may clearly know both god and man.So now if a god comes here to test you,do not you fight face to face with anyof the other immortal gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,comes into the battle, wound her with the sharp bronze.After she said this, bright-eyed Athena went away,and Tydeides, going back again, mixed with the front-line fighters,though even before he had been eager in his heart to fight the Trojans.Then indeed three times as much might seized him, as a lionwhich a shepherd in the field, over his woolly sheep,has grazed as it jumped over the fold, but has not overcome;he rouses its strength, and then he does not defend the sheep,but goes to hide in the pens, and the sheep are deserted and flee;and they lie piled on one another,while he, eager, leaps out of the deep fold.So eager did strong Diomedes mix with the Trojans.Then he killed Astynous and Hypeiron, shepherd of the people,the one he hit above the nipple with his bronze spear,and the other with his great sword beside the collarbone at the shoulderhe struck, and cut the shoulder away from the neck and from the back.He left these, and he went after Abas and Polyidus,the sons of Eurydamas, an old man who interpreted dreams;but the old man did not interpret dreams for them as they came,and strong Diomedes stripped them.Then he went after Xanthus and Thoon, the two sons of Phaenops,both born late; and he was worn down with painful old age,and had fathered no other son to leave among his possessions.There he stripped them, and took away the dear lifeof both, and left behind for their father wailing and painful grief,since they did not come home alive from the battleand receive him; and strangers divided up his property.Then he caught two sons of Priam, the Dardanid,who were in one chariot, Echemmon and Chromius.As a lion leaping on cattle breaks the neckof a calf or a cow grazing in the thicket,so the son of Tydeus brought both of them down from their horses,sorely against their will, and then stripped off their armor;and he gave the horses to his companions to drive to the ships.And Aeneas saw him destroying the ranks of men,and he went through the battle and through the confusion of spearslooking for godlike Pandarus, in case he might find him somewhere;he found the blameless and strong son of Lycaon,and he stood in front of him and spoke a word to him face to face:Pandarus, where is your bow and your winged arrowsand your fame? No man here competes with you in that,nor does anyone in Lycia claim to be better than you.But come, shoot an arrow at this man, with your hands raised to Zeus,whoever this is who is master here and has already done many evilsto the Trojans, since he has loosened the knees of many good men;unless it is some god who is angry with the Trojans,enraged about sacrifices; and the anger of a god is hard.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, counselor of the bronze-clad Trojans,I liken him to Tydeides in everything, a man of war,recognizing him by his shield and his ridged helmet,and by looking at his horses; but I do not clearly know if he is a god.But if he is the man I say, the war-minded son of Tydeus,he does not rage like this without a god, but someonestands near, one of the immortals, wrapped in a cloud around his shoulders,who turned the swift arrow that reached him somewhere else.For I already shot an arrow at him, and I hit his rightshoulder right through the plate of his breastplate;and I thought I would send him down to Aidoneus,yet I did not overcome him; so some god is angry.And horses and a chariot are not here for me to mount;but somewhere in the halls of Lycaon there are eleven chariotsfine, newly built, freshly made; and around them clothsare spread out; and beside each of them paired horsesare standing, eating white barley and oats.Indeed the old spearman Lycaon gave me many instructionsas I was setting out, in his well-built house;he told me, mounted on horses and chariot,to lead the Trojans in the strong battles;but I did not obey; and it truly would have been far better;I was sparing the horses, in case they ran short of fodder,since they are used to eating their fill when men are penned in.So I left them, and I have come on foot to Ilios,trusting in my bow; but it was not going to help me.For I have already shot at two of the best men,Tydeides and the son of Atreus, and from bothI drew sure blood when I hit them, but I only roused them more.So with evil fortune I took the curved bow from its pegon that day when I led the Trojans to lovely Ilios,bringing pleasure to noble Hector.But if I return and see with my eyesmy own country and my wife and my high-roofed great house,then let a stranger cut off my head at onceif I do not put these bows into the blazing fire,breaking them with my hands; for they follow me for nothing.Then Aeneas, leader of the Trojans, answered him:Do not speak like that; there will be no other way before that,until the two of us face this man with horses and chariotand try him in arms face to face.But come, climb onto my chariot, so that you may seewhat kind of horses the Trojan ones are, knowing how over the plainto chase swiftly here and there and to flee;they will bring the two of us safely to the city, even if againZeus grants glory to Tydeides Diomedes.But come now, take the whip and the shining reins,and I will get down from the horses so that I can fight;or you take these, and I will look after the horses.Then the shining son of Lycaon answered him:Aeneas, you yourself hold the reins and your own two horses;better under a charioteer who is used to it will the curved chariotcarry us, if we flee once more from the son of Tydeus;in case the two, frightened, hold back and do not wantto carry you out of the battle, longing for your voice,and the son of great-hearted Tydeus, rushing on us,kills us both and drives off the single-hoofed horses.But do you yourself drive your chariot and your two horses,and I will receive him as he comes on with my sharp spear.After saying this, they climbed onto the dappled chariotand eagerly drove their swift horses at Tydeides.And Sthenelus, the shining son of Capaneus, saw them,and at once spoke winged words to Tydeides:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,I see two strong men eager to fight against you,possessing boundless strength; one is well skilled with the bow,Pandarus, and he claims to be the son of Lycaon;and Aeneas claims to have been born from blameless Anchises,and his mother is Aphrodite.But come, let us give way with the horses, and do notrage like this through the front ranks, in case you destroy your dear heart.Then looking darkly at him strong Diomedes said:Do not talk of fear, since I do not think you will persuade me.It is not noble for me to avoid battle and slink away,nor to cower; my might is still firm;I am reluctant to climb onto the horses, but even soI go against them face to face; Pallas Athena does not let me tremble.These two will not carry their swift horses back againboth away from us, if indeed one of them escapes.And another thing I will tell you, and do you put it in your mind:if wise Athena grants me the gloryto kill them both, then you hold back these swift horseshere, stretching the reins from the rail,and rush at Aeneas' horses, remembering them,and drive them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.For of that breed of which wide-thundering Zeusgave to Tros as payment for his son Ganymede, because they were the bestof horses, as many as there are beneath the dawn and the sun,of that breed the lord of men Anchises stole,secretly from Laomedon, bringing mares to breed;and of them six were born to him in his halls.Four he kept himself and raised at the manger,and two he gave to Aeneas, a bringer of panic.If we could take these two, we would win good glory.So these two spoke such words to one another,and the other two quickly came near, driving their swift horses.First the shining son of Lycaon spoke to him:Strong-hearted, war-minded son of proud Tydeus,surely the swift bitter arrow did not overcome you;now again I will try with the spear, if I can hit you.So he spoke, and swinging it he threw his long-shadowing spearand hit the shield of Tydeides; and through itthe bronze point flew and came near the breastplate;and over him the shining son of Lycaon shouted loudly:You are hit right through the flank, and I do not thinkyou will hold out much longer; and you have given me great glory.Then unafraid strong Diomedes answered him:You missed and did not hit; but I do not think the two of youwill stop before one of you at least has fallenand glutted Ares, the stubborn warrior, with blood.So saying he threw; and Athena guided the weaponby his nose beside his eye, and it went through his white teeth.The unyielding bronze cut off the root of his tongue,and the point came out by his lower jaw;and he fell from the chariot, and his armor clanged over him,dappled and flashing, and his swift-footed horsesshied away; and there his life and his strength were loosed.And Aeneas jumped down with his shield and his long spear,fearing that the Achaeans might drag off the corpse.And around him he strode like a lion trusting in its strength,and in front of him he held his spear and his shield equal on every side,eager to kill whoever came against him,crying terribly; and Tydeides took in his hand a stone,a great work which not even two men would lift,such as mortals are now; but he wielded it easily, alone.With it he hit Aeneas on the hip, where the thighturns in the hip, and men call it the socket;and he crushed his socket, and broke both tendons,and the rough stone tore away the skin; but the herofell to his knee and stayed, propped on his stout handon the ground; and black night covered his eyes.And then the lord of men Aeneas would have died,if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, had not quickly noticed,his mother, who bore him to Anchises the herdsman;and she poured her white arms around her dear son,and in front of him spread a fold of her shining robeto be a wall against weapons, in case any of the swift-horsed Danaansstruck bronze into his chest and took his life.So she carried her dear son out of the battle;but the son of Capaneus did not forget the commandswhich Diomedes, good at the war cry, had given him,but he held back his own single-hoofed horsesaway from the din, stretching the reins from the rail,and rushing at Aeneas' fair-maned horseshe drove them out from the Trojans to the well-greaved Achaeans.And he gave them to his dear companion Deipylus, whom beyond allof his own age he honored, because he knew in his mind the right things,to drive to the hollow ships; but the heroclimbed onto his own horses and took the shining reins,and swiftly followed with his strong-hoofed horses,eagerly; and he went after Cypris with pitiless bronze,knowing that she was a cowardly god, and not one of thosegoddesses who rule over the war of men,neither Athena nor city-sacking Enyo.But when he caught up with her, pursuing her through the great crowd,there the son of great-hearted Tydeus, reaching out,wounded the top of her hand, springing at her with his sharp spear,grazing it; and at once the spear pierced her skinthrough the immortal robe which the Graces themselves had made her,at the base of the palm; and there flowed the immortal blood of the god,ichor, such as flows in the blessed gods;for they do not eat bread, nor drink gleaming wine,and therefore they are bloodless and are called immortal.And she, crying loudly, threw her son down from her;and Phoebus Apollo drew him up in his handsin a dark cloud, in case any of the swift-horsed Danaansstruck bronze into his chest and took his life.And over her Diomedes, good at the war cry, shouted loudly:Give way, daughter of Zeus, from war and battle;is it not enough that you deceive cowardly women?But if you go into the battle, I think you will surelyshudder at war, even if you hear of it somewhere else.So he spoke, and she went away in anguish, and was terribly distressed;and Iris of the swift feet took her and led her out of the crowdburdened with pains, and her fair skin was darkened.Then she found furious Ares on the left of the battle,sitting; and his spear and his swift horses leaned in the mist;and she fell on her knees before her dear brother,and begging him much she asked for the gold-frontleted horses:Dear brother, take care of me and give me the horses,so that I may reach Olympus, where the seat of the immortals is.I am greatly burdened by the wound which a mortal man struck on me,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus.So she spoke, and Ares gave her the gold-frontleted horses;and she climbed onto the chariot, grieved in her dear heart,and Iris climbed on beside her and took the reins in her hands,and whipped them to go, and the two flew not unwilling.And quickly they came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus;there swift Iris of the swift feet stopped the horses,loosed them from the chariot, and set immortal food before them;and the goddess Aphrodite fell at the knees of Dione,her mother; and she took her daughter in her arms,and stroked her with her hand and spoke a word and called her by name:Who now, dear child, of the heavenly ones has done such things to youfor no reason, as though you had done some evil in their sight?Then smiling Aphrodite answered her:The son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes, wounded me,because I was carrying my dear son out of the battle,Aeneas, who is far dearest to me of all.For the grim battle of Trojans and Achaeans is no longer that,but now the Danaans fight even with the immortals.Then Dione, shining among goddesses, answered her:Endure, my child, and bear up, though you are grieving;for many of us who hold Olympian homes have enduredharsh pains from men, bringing them on one another.Ares endured when Otus and strong Ephialtes,the sons of Aloeus, bound him in a strong bond;in a bronze jar he was bound for thirteen months;and then Ares, insatiate of war, would have died,if their stepmother, the beautiful Eeriboea,had not told Hermes; and he stole Ares awayalready worn out, and the harsh bond was overcoming him.And Hera endured, when the strong son of Amphitryonhit her right breast with a three-barbed arrow;and then incurable pain took her.And huge Hades endured among them a swift arrow,when the same man, the son of aegis-bearing Zeus,in Pylos among the dead hit him and gave him over to pains;and he went to the house of Zeus and tall Olympusgrieving at heart, pierced with pains; and the arrowwas driven into his stout shoulder, and grieved his heart.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.Wretched, violent-doing, who did not care that he was doing reckless things,who with his bow grieved the gods who hold Olympus.But against you the goddess bright-eyed Athena sent this one;fool, and the son of Tydeus does not know in his mindthat he who fights with the immortals does not live long,and his children do not call him grandfatherat his knees when he comes from the battle and the dread fighting.So now let Tydeides, even if he is very strong,take thought in case someone better than you fights with him,in case wise Aegialea, the daughter of Adrastus,weeping from sleep wakes her dear household,longing for her wedded husband, the best of the Achaeans,the strong wife of horse-taming Diomedes.So she spoke, and with both hands wiped the ichor from her hand;the hand healed, and the heavy pains were soothed.And Athena and Hera, looking on,provoked Zeus the son of Cronus with mocking words.And among them the goddess bright-eyed Athena began the speech:Father Zeus, will you be angry with me for what I say?Surely Cypris, stirring up some Achaean womanto follow the Trojans, whom she now loves exceedingly,while stroking one of the well-robed Achaean women,scratched her slender hand on a golden brooch.So she spoke, and the father of men and gods smiled,and calling golden Aphrodite to him he said:To you, my child, are not given the works of war,but do you pursue the lovely works of marriage,and all these things will be the care of swift Ares and Athena.So these spoke such words to one another,and Diomedes, good at the war cry, rushed at Aeneas,knowing that Apollo himself was holding his hands over him;but he did not revere even the great god, and he kept pressing onto kill Aeneas and strip his famous armor.Three times then he rushed on, eager to kill him,and three times Apollo beat back his shining shield;but when he rushed on the fourth time, like a god,shouting terribly, far-shooting Apollo spoke to him:Take thought, Tydeides, and give way, and do notwish to think equal to the gods, since the race is never alikeof the immortal gods and of men who walk on the earth.So he spoke, and Tydeides gave back a littleavoiding the anger of far-shooting Apollo.And Aeneas Apollo set apart from the crowdin holy Pergamon, where his temple had been built.And him Leto and Artemis the shooter of arrowshealed and honored in the great shrine;but silver-bowed Apollo made a phantomlike Aeneas himself and like him in armor,and around the phantom Trojans and shining Achaeanskept striking one another's ox-hide shieldswell-rounded and winged bucklers.Then Phoebus Apollo spoke to furious Ares:Ares, Ares, destroyer of men, defiled with blood, stormer of walls,Would you not then pull this man back from the battle, going after him,Tydeides, who would now even fight with father Zeus?First he wounded Cypris close up on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god.After he said this, he himself sat down on the height of Pergamon,and baleful Ares, going after them, roused the Trojan ranks,appearing like Acamas, the swift leader of the Thracians;and he called out to the sons of Priam, raised by Zeus:O sons of Priam, of the king raised by Zeus,how long will you let your people be killed by the Achaeans?Or until they fight around your well-built gates?There lies a man whom we honored as equal to noble Hector,Aeneas, the son of great-hearted Anchises;but come, let us save our good companion from the confusion.After he said this he roused the might and spirit of each man.Then Sarpedon rebuked noble Hector greatly:Hector, where has your might gone, that you had before?You say, I suppose, that you will hold the city without the people and without allies,alone with your brothers-in-law and your own brothers.But of these I now can see and notice not one,but they cower like dogs around a lion;while we fight, who are here as allies.For I too, being an ally, have come from very far away;for Lycia is far away, on the whirling Xanthus,where I left my dear wife and my infant son,and many possessions, which a needy man longs for.But even so I urge the Lycians on and am eager myselfto fight the man; yet here I have nothing of the kindthat the Achaeans might carry off or lead away.But you stand still, and you do not order the rest of thepeople to stand firm and defend against the enemy.I fear that like fish caught in a net of all-catching meshyou will become a spoil and a prize for hostile men;and they will soon sack your well-populated city.And you must care about all this both night and day,begging the leaders of the far-famed alliesto hold firm without stopping, and to put away harsh reproach.So spoke Sarpedon, and his word bit the heart of Hector;at once he leaped from his chariot with his armor to the ground,brandishing sharp spears he went throughout the army in every direction,rousing them to fight, and he woke the dread din of battle.And they wheeled around and stood facing the Achaeans;and the Argives stood firm in a mass and did not flee.As the wind carries chaff through the sacred threshing floorsof men who winnow, when fair-haired Demeterseparates grain and chaff with the rushing winds,and the heaps of chaff grow white beneath; so then the Achaeansgrew white on top with dust, which through themthe feet of the horses beat up to the bronze-wrought sky,as they closed again; and the charioteers wheeled them around.And they carried the strength of their hands straight on; and around themfurious Ares covered the battle in night, helping the Trojans,ranging everywhere; and he carried out the commandsof Phoebus Apollo of the golden sword, who urged himto rouse the spirit in the Trojans, since he saw PallasAthena gone away; for she was the helper of the Danaans.And he himself brought Aeneas out of the rich shrine,and put might in the chest of the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas moved back among his companions; and they rejoiced,when they saw him alive and unharmed, coming forwardand having good might; yet they did not question him at all.For no other labor allowed it, which the silver-bowed god roused,and man-destroying Ares and Strife, insatiably eager.But the two Ajaxes and Odysseus and Diomedesurged the Danaans on to fight; and they themselvesneither shrank from the violence of the Trojans nor from their onsets,but stood like clouds which the son of Cronussets in windless weather on the towering mountainsunmoved, while the might of the North Wind sleeps and of the othershrill winds, which with clear-blowing blastsscatter the shadowy clouds as they blow;so the Danaans stood firm against the Trojans and did not flee.And the son of Atreus went through the throng, giving many commands:Dear friends, be men and take a valiant heart,and have shame before one another in the strong battles;of men who have shame, more are saved than are killed;but from men who flee neither glory arises nor any defense.So he spoke, and quickly threw his spear, and hit a front-line man,the companion of great-hearted Aeneas, Deicoon,the son of Pergasus, whom the Trojans equally with the sons of Priamhonored, since he was swift to fight among the front ranks.Him lord Agamemnon hit with his spear on the shield;it did not keep out the spear, but the bronze went right through,and drove through his belt into his lower belly;and he fell with a thud, and his armor clanged over him.Then Aeneas killed the best men of the Danaans,the two sons of Diocles, Crethon and Orsilochus,whose father lived in well-built Pherae,rich in substance, and was of the race of the riverAlpheus, which flows wide through the land of the Pylians,who fathered Ortilochus, lord over many men;and Ortilochus fathered great-hearted Diocles,and from Diocles twin sons were born,Crethon and Orsilochus, who knew all fighting well.These two, when they reached manhood, on the black shipsfollowed to horse-rich Ilios together with the Argives,seeking honor for Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons of Atreus;and there the end of death covered them.Like two lions on the peaks of a mountainthey were raised by their mother in the thickets of a deep wood;the two, seizing cattle and sturdy sheep,ravaged the folds of men, until they toowere killed in the hands of men by the sharp bronze;so the two, overcome at the hands of Aeneas,fell, like tall fir trees.And when they fell, war-loving Menelaus pitied them,and he went through the front ranks, helmeted in blazing bronze,brandishing his spear; and Ares roused his might,intending that he be overcome at the hands of Aeneas.And Antilochus, the son of great-hearted Nestor, saw him,and he went through the front ranks; for he feared for the shepherd of the peoplethat he might suffer something, and greatly rob them of their labor.So the two held their hands and their sharp spearsfacing one another, eager to fight;and Antilochus stood very near the shepherd of the people.And Aeneas did not stay, swift warrior though he was,when he saw two men standing by one another.And when they had dragged the corpses to the Achaean host,they threw the two pitiful men into the hands of companions,and the two turned around and fought among the front ranks.Then they killed Pylaemenes, the equal of Ares,leader of the great-hearted, shield-bearing Paphlagonians.Him Menelaus, famous for the spear, son of Atreus,as he stood, struck with his spear, hitting the collarbone;and Antilochus hit Mydon, his charioteer and attendant,the good son of Atymnius; and he was turning his single-hoofed horses;Antilochus hit him with a stone in the middle of the elbow; and from his handsthe white reins, studded with ivory, fell to the ground in the dust.And Antilochus rushed up and struck his temple with his sword;and he, gasping, fell from the well-built chariotheadlong into the dust on his head and his shoulders.He stood there a long time; for he hit deep mud;until his two horses struck him and threw him in the dust;them Antilochus whipped, and drove to the Achaean host.And Hector noticed them along the ranks, and rose against themshouting; and with him followed the strong ranks of the Trojans;and Ares led them and queenly Enyo,she holding Rout, the shameless, of the battle,while Ares wielded in his hands a monstrous spear,and went sometimes in front of Hector, sometimes behind.And Diomedes, good at the war cry, seeing him, shuddered;as when a man with no skill, going over a great plain,stands at a swift-flowing river running to the sea,gazing at it roaring with foam, and runs back again,so then Tydeides gave back, and spoke to the host:Friends, how we wonder that noble Hectoris a spearman and a daring warrior;but always one of the gods is beside him, who wards off ruin;and now that one is Ares, like a mortal man.But turn always backward toward the Trojans,give way, and do not desire to fight the gods with might.So he spoke, and the Trojans came very near to them.Then Hector killed two men who knew the fight,being in one chariot, Menesthes and Anchialus.And great Telamonian Ajax pitied the two fallen men;he came and stood very near, and threw with his shining spear,and hit Amphius, the son of Selagus, who in Paesuslived, rich in possessions, rich in fields; but fateled him to come to help Priam and his sons.Him Telamonian Ajax hit on the belt,and the long-shadowing spear was fixed in his lower belly,and he fell with a thud; and shining Ajax ran upto strip his armor; and the Trojans poured spears at him,sharp and flashing; and his shield received many.And he, stepping with his heel on the corpse, pulled out the bronze spear;but he could no longer take the rest of the fine armorfrom his shoulders; for he was pressed by the missiles.And he feared the strong encirclement of the proud Trojans,who stood around him, many and good, holding spears,who, though he was great and strong and proud,pushed him away from them; and he gave way and was shaken.So they labored throughout the strong battle;and Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, good and great,strong fate roused against godlike Sarpedon.And when they were near, moving at one another,the son and the grandson of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,then Tlepolemus first spoke a word to him:Sarpedon, counselor of the Lycians, what need have youto cower here, being a man ignorant of battle?They lie who say that you are the offspring of aegis-bearingZeus, since you fall far short of those menwho were born of Zeus among earlier men;but such a one they say the might of Heracles was,my father, bold-hearted, lion-hearted;who once came here for the horses of Laomedonwith only six ships and with fewer men,and sacked the city of Ilios, and widowed its streets;but your heart is cowardly, and your people are perishing.Nor do I think you will be any defense to the Trojans,having come from Lycia, not even if you are very strong,but overcome by me you will pass through the gates of Hades.Then Sarpedon, leader of the Lycians, answered him:Tlepolemus, indeed that man destroyed holy Iliosthrough the foolishness of the proud Laomedon,who reproached him with an evil word though he had treated him well,and did not give the horses for which he had come from far away.But for you I say that here slaughter and black deathwill be brought about by me, and overcome by my spearyou will give me glory, and your soul to Hades, famous for horses.So spoke Sarpedon, and Tlepolemus raised his ashen spear;and their long spears flew togetherfrom their hands; Sarpedon hit the middle of his neck,and the painful point went right through;and dark night covered his eyes.And Tlepolemus had struck his left thigh with his long spear,and the point rushed through, eager,grazing the bone, but his father still warded off ruin.And his shining companions carried godlike Sarpedonout of the battle; and the long spear weighed him downas it was dragged; and no one thought or noticedto pull the ashen spear from his thigh so that he could stand,in their haste; for such labor they had in tending him.And on the other side the well-greaved Achaeanscarried Tlepolemus out of the battle; and shining Odysseus noticed,having an enduring spirit, and his dear heart was eager;and he pondered then in his mind and his spiritwhether he should pursue further the son of loud-thundering Zeus,or take the life from more of the Lycians.But it was not destined for great-hearted Odysseusto kill the strong son of Zeus with the sharp bronze;so Athena turned his heart toward the crowd of the Lycians.Then he killed Coeranus and Alastor and Chromiusand Alcander and Halius and Noemon and Prytanis.And shining Odysseus would have killed still more of the Lycians,if great Hector of the shining helmet had not quickly noticed;he went through the front ranks, helmeted in blazing bronze,bringing fear to the Danaans; and Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, rejoicedat his coming, and spoke a pitiful word:Son of Priam, do not leave me here to lie as a spoil for the Danaans,but defend me; and then let my life leave mein your city, since I was not going toreturn home to my dear fatherlandand gladden my dear wife and my infant son.So he spoke, and Hector of the shining helmet did not answer him at all,but he passed by, eager that as quickly as possiblehe might push back the Argives, and take the life from many.And his shining companions set godlike Sarpedonunder a beautiful oak of aegis-bearing Zeus;and from his thigh strong Pelagon, who was his dear companion,pushed the ashen spear out;and his soul left him, and a mist poured over his eyes;but he breathed again, and the breath of the North Windrevived him as it blew on him, breathing life into his badly gasping spirit.And the Argives under Ares and Hector of the bronze helmetwere never driven back to the black shipsnor ever held their ground in the fight, but always backwardthey gave way, when they learned that Ares was with the Trojans.Then whom first and whom last did they strip,Hector the son of Priam and the bronze Ares?Godlike Teuthras, and after him horse-rousing Orestes,and Trechus the spearman, the Aetolian, and Oenomaus,and Oenopides Helenus and Oresbius with the flashing belt,who lived in Hyle, caring greatly about his wealth,lying by the Cephisian lake; and beside him otherslived, Boeotians, holding a very rich land.And when the goddess, white-armed Hera, saw themdestroying the Argives in the strong battle,at once she spoke winged words to Athena:Alas, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, Atrytone,surely we promised Menelaus a worthless wordthat he would return after sacking well-walled Ilios,if we let baleful Ares rage like this.But come now, let the two of us also take thought for furious valor.So she spoke, and the goddess bright-eyed Athena did not disobey.And Hera, the revered goddess, daughter of great Cronus,going about, harnessed the gold-frontleted horses;and Hebe quickly set on the chariot the curved wheels,bronze, eight-spoked, on either side of the iron axle.Of these the felloe is golden, imperishable, and aboveare bronze tires fitted on, a wonder to see;and the naves are of silver, running round on both sides;and the chariot is stretched with golden and silverstraps, and there are two rails running round.And its pole was of silver; and at the tipshe bound a fine golden yoke, and put on itfine golden collars; and beneath the yoke Hera ledthe swift-footed horses, eager for strife and the war cry.And Athena, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus,let fall on her father's floor her soft robe,dappled, which she herself had made and worked with her hands;and she, putting on the tunic of Zeus the cloud-gatherer,armed herself in armor for the tearful war.And around her shoulders she threw the tasselled aegis,terrible, which is crowned all over with Fear,and in it is Strife, and in it Strength, and in it cold Rout,and in it the Gorgon head of the dread monster,terrible and awful, the portent of aegis-bearing Zeus.And on her head she set a two-peaked helmet, four-crested,golden, fitted for the foot-soldiers of a hundred cities;and she stepped with her feet onto the blazing chariot, and took the spear,heavy, great, sturdy, with which she subdues the ranks of men,of heroes with whom she, the mighty father's daughter, is angry.And Hera quickly touched the horses with the whip;and the gates of heaven groaned of themselves, which the Seasons keep,to whom the great heaven and Olympus are entrusted,both to open the thick cloud and to close it.Through these they drove the goaded horses;and they found the son of Cronus sitting apart from the other godson the highest peak of many-ridged Olympus.There the goddess, white-armed Hera, stopping the horses,questioned and spoke to Zeus the highest, son of Cronus:Father Zeus, are you not indignant at these strong deeds of Ares,how many and how great a host of the Achaeans he has destroyedpointlessly and not in order? And it grieves me, while those others at easetake their pleasure, Cypris and the silver-bowed Apollo,letting this foolish one loose, who knows no laws at all.Father Zeus, will you be angry with me, if Istrike Ares wretchedly and drive him out of the battle?And answering her, Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Come then, rouse Athena the driver of the spoil against him,who is most used to bringing grievous pains on him.So he spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera did not disobey,but whipped the horses; and the two flew not unwillingmidway between the earth and the starry heaven.And as far as a man sees in the misty air with his eyes,sitting on a lookout, gazing over the wine-dark sea,so far do the loud-neighing horses of the gods leap at a bound.But when they came to Troy, where the two rivers flow,where Simoeis and Scamander join their streams,there the goddess white-armed Hera stopped the horses,loosing them from the chariot, and poured a thick mist around them;and for them Simoeis made immortal fodder spring up to graze.And the two went with the gait of trembling doves,eager to ward off harm from the Argive men.But when they came where the most and the beststood around the might of horse-taming Diomedes,gathered like flesh-eating lionsor like boars, whose strength is not weak,there the goddess white-armed Hera stood and shouted,appearing like great-hearted Stentor of the bronze voice,who could shout as loud as fifty other men:Shame, Argives, base reproaches, admirable in form;while noble Achilles used to go to war,never did the Trojans venture outside the Dardanian gates;for they dreaded his mighty spear;but now they fight far from the city beside the hollow ships.So saying she roused the might and the spirit of each.And the goddess bright-eyed Athena rushed at Tydeides;and she found the lord beside his horses and chariotcooling the wound which Pandarus had hit him with an arrow.For sweat was vexing him beneath the broad strapof his round shield; with this he was worn, and his hand was weary,and lifting up the strap he wiped away the black blood.And the goddess touched the yoke of the horses and spoke:Truly Tydeus fathered a son little like himself.Tydeus truly was small in body, but a fighter;and even when I would not let him fightor rage in battle, when he came apart from the Achaeansas an envoy to Thebes among the many Cadmeians,I told him to feast at ease in the halls;but he, keeping the fierce heart he had as before,challenged the young men of the Cadmeians, and conquered them alleasily; such a helper was I to him.But for you, I indeed stand beside you and guard you,and I eagerly urge you to fight the Trojans;but either weariness from much shouting has entered your limbs,or surely some spiritless fear holds you; then you areno offspring of Tydeus, the war-minded son of Oeneus.And answering her strong Diomedes said:I know you, goddess, daughter of aegis-bearing Zeus;so I will speak to you readily, and I will not hide it.Neither does any spiritless fear hold me, nor any hesitation,but I still remember your commands, which you laid on me:you did not let me fight face to face with the otherblessed gods; but if the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,should come into the battle, wound her with the sharp bronze.Therefore now I myself draw back, and I have ordered the otherArgives all to gather here;for I know that Ares is ruling over the battle.Then the goddess bright-eyed Athena answered him:Tydeides Diomedes, dear to my heart,do not you fear Ares at all, nor any otherof the immortals, for such a helper am I to you;but come, drive your single-hoofed horses at Ares first,and strike him at close range, and do not revere furious Ares,this mad one, a wrought evil, a turncoat,who just now promised, speaking to me and to Hera,that he would fight the Trojans, and would help the Argives,but now he consorts with the Trojans, and has forgotten them.So saying, she pushed Sthenelus from the horses to the ground,pulling him back with her hand, and he sprang up quickly;and she climbed onto the chariot beside shining Diomedes,the eager goddess; and the beechen axle groaned loudlyunder the weight; for it carried a dread goddess and the best of men.And Pallas Athena took the whip and the reins;at once she drove the single-hoofed horses at Ares first.And he was just then stripping huge Periphas,by far the best of the Aetolians, the shining son of Ochesius;murderous Ares was stripping him; but Athenaput on the helm of Hades, so that mighty Ares might not see her.And when Ares, the destroyer of men, saw shining Diomedes,he indeed left huge Periphas thereto lie where he first killed him and took his life,and he went straight at horse-taming Diomedes.And when the two were near, moving at one another,first Ares reached over the yoke and the reins of the horseswith his bronze spear, eager to take his life;and the goddess bright-eyed Athena caught it with her handand pushed it aside from the chariot to fly in vain.Second then Diomedes, good at the war cry, rushed onwith his bronze spear; and Pallas Athena drove it homeinto his lower flank, where he was girt with his war belt;there she hit him, and tore through his fair skin,and pulled the spear out again; and bronze Ares bellowedas loud as nine thousand or ten thousandmen cry out in war, joining the strife of Ares.And trembling seized both Achaeans and Trojansin their fear; so loud did Ares, insatiate of war, bellow.And as from the clouds a dark mist appearsfrom the heat, when a foul wind rises,so to Tydeides Diomedes did bronze Aresappear, going with the clouds into the wide heaven.And swiftly he came to the seat of the gods, steep Olympus,and sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, grieving at heart,and showed the immortal blood flowing down from his wound,and lamenting he spoke winged words:Father Zeus, are you not indignant as you look on these strong deeds?Always we gods endure the most dreadful thingsby one another's will, bringing favor to men.We all fight with you; for you fathered a foolish daughter,a ruinous one, whose mind is always set on reckless deeds.For all the other gods, as many as are in Olympus,obey you, and each of us is subdued to you;but her you neither rebuke in word nor in any deed,but you let her go, since you yourself fathered a child of ruin;who now has let the son of Tydeus, the overweening Diomedes,rage against the immortal gods.First he wounded Cypris close up on the hand at the wrist,and then he rushed at me myself, like a god;but my swift feet carried me away; truly I would have longsuffered pains there among the dread heaps of the dead,or lived on strengthless from the blows of bronze.Then looking darkly at him Zeus the cloud-gatherer said:Do not sit beside me, turncoat, and whimper.You are the most hateful to me of the gods who hold Olympus;for always strife is dear to you, and wars and battles.Your mother's spirit is ungovernable and not to be borne,Hera's; her I subdue with words, with effort;so I think you suffer this by her counsels.But I will no longer endure that you have pains;for you are of my race, and your mother bore you to me;but if you had been born of any other god so ruinous,you would long ago have been lower than the sons of Uranus.So he spoke, and he ordered Paieon to heal him.And Paieon, sprinkling pain-killing drugs on him,healed him; for he was not made mortal at all.And as when fig juice quickly curdles white milk,though it is liquid, and it is stirred round quickly as one stirs it,so quickly did he heal furious Ares.And Hebe bathed him, and put lovely clothes on him;and he sat down beside Zeus the son of Cronus, glorying in his splendor.And the two went back to the house of great Zeus,Hera of Argos and Athena of Alalcomenae,having stopped man-destroying Ares from the slaughter of men.