and the young Arcadian Parthenopaeus, whose parting from his mother
Atalanta formed a brief episode in Book IV. Stoutly defending the dead
Tydeus, Hippomedon is tempted away by Tisiphone’s lying message that
Adrastus is taken prisoner, and on returning discovers that the foe
have secured his friend’s body. During Hippomedon’s subsequent deeds
of prowess, he is opposed by the River-god Ismenus and is saved from
drowning only to succumb on the bank under a rain of darts. Parthenopaeus
signalizes himself by feats of archery. He is in the end, at the
instigation of Mars, slain by Dryas, who is in turn slain by an invisible
hand, deemed to be that of Diana herself. The book concludes with the
dying behests of Parthenopaeus.