Page 109 - the-iliad

BOOK VI

HE fight between Trojans and Achaeans was now left
Tto rage as it would, and the tide of war surged hither
and thither over the plain as they aimed their bronze-shod
spears at one another between the streams of Simois and
Xanthus.
First, Ajax son of Telamon, tower of strength to the
Achaeans, broke a phalanx of the Trojans, and came to the
assistance of his comrades by killing Acamas son of Eus-
sorus, the best man among the Thracians, being both brave
and of great stature. The spear struck the projecting peak of
his helmet: its bronze point then went through his forehead
into the brain, and darkness veiled his eyes.
Then Diomed killed Axylus son of Teuthranus, a rich
man who lived in the strong city of Arisbe, and was beloved
by all men; for he had a house by the roadside, and enter-
tained every one who passed; howbeit not one of his guests
stood before him to save his life, and Diomed killed both
him and his squire Calesius, who was then his charioteer—
so the pair passed beneath the earth.
Euryalus killed Dresus and Opheltius, and then went in
pursuit of Aesepus and Pedasus, whom the naiad nymph
Abarbarea had borne to noble Bucolion. Bucolion was el-
dest son to Laomedon, but he was a bastard. While tending
his sheep he had converse with the nymph, and she con-

10 The Iliad