"Forward, men of Troy!" shouted Hector, rushing to the front.
"Agamemnon is sorely wounded, and Zeus has promised us the victory."
And as a hunter cheers on his hounds against a lion or wild boar, so
Hector encouraged his Trojans, by word and by action, to assail the
Greeks; and like a black squall which leaps suddenly on the Ægæan, he
himself led the assault, strong in the support of Zeus, and confident
of victory.
Diomede marked him as he moved his way through the Grecian ranks, and
stood to oppose him, poising his spear. The weapon flew, and struck
him on the helmet, but rebounded from the massive brazen ridge, and
dropped on the ground. Hector, though unwounded, was hurled back by
that ponderous stroke, and sank, half-stunned, on one knee, leaning on
his hand. Following up his advantage, Diomede rushed forward to regain
his spear; but meanwhile Hector had recovered from his faintness, and
escaped in his chariot to the rear. "Again thou hast avoided death at
my hands, thou dog!" shouted Diomede after him. "But I will slay thee
yet." And he stooped to take the armour from a Trojan whom he had
killed.
Leaning against a stone pillar, the monument of Ilus, an ancient King
of Troy, stood the gay archer Paris; and when he saw Diomede kneeling
by the fallen Trojan he took steady aim, and launched an arrow, which
pierced through Diomede's right foot, and pinned him to the ground.
"Thou art hit," he cried, springing from his ambush with a loud laugh.
"Would that my shaft had cloven thy very heart! So should I have given
a breathing space to the Trojans, who cower before thee like bleating
goats before a lion."
"Out on thee, cowardly bowman!" answered Diomede, with scorn. "Thou
fightest thy battles from a safe distance, and shunnest the push of
sword or spear. And now thou art boasting aloud over this pinprick,
which harms me not at all. There is no force in the blow from a
coward's arm. But the touch of my weapon means death, and they who
feel it need no second stroke. Their last bed is the bare, cold
ground, and vultures perform their obsequies."
Notwithstanding these bold words, the wound was severe, and as soon as
Odysseus, who ran to aid his friend, had drawn out the shaft, Diomede
was obliged to retire from the battlefield.
As Odysseus was about to join the ranks of the retreating Greeks he
found himself hemmed in by a party of Trojan spearsmen, who surrounded
him with a circle of bristling points. Then as a wild boar issues from
his shady lair, foaming and champing his teeth, and charges down upon
the hounds and hunters who have beset the covert, so sprang Odysseus on
his assailants, and in a moment four of them lay writhing at his feet.
The last of these, a young noble named Charops, found an avenger in
Socus, his brother, who thrust so vigorously at Odysseus with his spear
that the point clave through shield and corslet, and made a long ragged
wound in his side. Socus, in his turn, who fled as soon as the blow
was struck, was gored in the back, between the shoulders, by the spear
of Odysseus. But that sage and valiant warrior was now in deadly
peril; for when the Trojans saw his blood flowing, as he drew out the
lance from his corslet and shield, they fell upon him like one man,
with wild cries of triumph. Slowly he gave back before them, shouting
aloud to his friends to come to his rescue. Three times he cried, and
his voice reached the ears of Menelaus, who hurried to his relief,
bringing with him the mighty Ajax, son of Telamon.
They came not a moment too soon, for Odysseus was hard beset by his
clamorous foes, who crowded round him, like jackals round a tall
antlered stag which has been wounded with an arrow, and has fled to the
shelter of the woods: but while the jackals are yelping about him, up
comes a great bearded lion, and scatters the jackals, and makes the
stag his prey. So when the towering form of Ajax appeared, as he
advanced with his huge orbed shield, the Trojans abandoned their
intended victim, and fled in dismay. Menelaus took the wounded man by
the hand, and led him to the place where his chariot was waiting,
leaving Ajax occupied with a fresh column of Trojans, who came pouring
to the attack when they saw their friends routed. Then mightily raged
the sword of Ajax, falling like a flail on the heads of his foes, and
man and horse went down before him.
All this time Hector had been fighting in another part of the field, at
the extreme left of the line of battle, where the Greeks were led by
Nestor and Idomeneus. A lucky shot from the bow of Paris disabled
Machaon, who, besides being a stout fighter, was the most skilful leech
in the Greek army. "We must save him at any cost," said Idomeneus to
Nestor. "A skilful physician is worth a whole troop of spearsmen.
Mount thou thy car, and carry him with all speed to the camp." Nestor
did as he was advised, and Idomeneus was thus left to bear the brunt
alone.
Just at this moment Cebriones, Hector's charioteer, came galloping up
with the news that the main body of the Trojans was suffering severely
from the attack led by Ajax. As the departure of Nestor and Machaon
had left him little to do in this part of the field, Hector at once
mounted his chariot, and directed his course towards the spot where
Ajax was fighting. Right between the warring lines he drove, trampling
over corpses, helmets, and shields; and steeds and car were spattered
with blood. Soon he was joined by a strong troop of Trojan warriors,
and Ajax found himself assailed by a storm of missiles. Then even that
mighty man felt a touch of fear, and throwing his shield behind him he
began slowly to retire, halting at every step, and striking down some
too daring assailant. Like a lion who has been driven off from a
herdsman's steading with javelins, and with stones, and with burning
brands, yet will not leave the place, but prowls near all night,
lusting after the flesh of the fat beeves--so Ajax, though hard beset,
drew back reluctantly, inch by inch, before the clamour and fury of his
foes. Dogged he was, and hard to stir from his place, like some big
greedy ass who has found his way into a deep field of corn, and will
not budge till he has filled his belly, though assailed by a laughing
crowd of children, who rain blows on his back and ribs,--even so the
blows rained upon Ajax, who was encumbered by the weight of the spears
which had pierced his shield. At last, the Greeks advanced to his
succour in close array, and joining their ranks he wheeled once more
and faced the thronging Trojans.