Page 144 - the-iliad

have perished there and then had not Diomed been quick
to mark, and with a loud cry called Ulysses to help him.
‘Ulysses,’ he cried, ‘noble son of Laertes where are you
flying to, with your back turned like a coward? See that you
are not struck with a spear between the shoulders. Stay here
and help me to defend Nestor from this man’s furious on-
set.’
Ulysses would not give ear, but sped onward to the ships
of the Achaeans, and the son of Tydeus flinging himself
alone into the thick of the fight took his stand before the
horses of the son of Neleus. ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘these young war-
riors are pressing you hard, your force is spent, and age is
heavy upon you, your squire is naught, and your horses are
slow to move. Mount my chariot and see what the horses of
Tros can do—how cleverly they can scud hither and thither
over the plain either in flight or in pursuit. I took them from
the hero Aeneas. Let our squires attend to your own steeds,
but let us drive mine straight at the Trojans, that Hector
may learn how furiously I too can wield my spear.’
Nestor knight of Gerene hearkened to his words. Thereon
the doughty squires, Sthenelus and kind-hearted Euryme-
don, saw to Nestor’s horses, while the two both mounted
Diomed’s chariot. Nestor took the reins in his hands and
lashed the horses on; they were soon close up with Hector,
and the son of Tydeus aimed a spear at him as he was charg-
ing full speed towards them. He missed him, but struck his
charioteer and squire Eniopeus son of noble Thebaeus in
the breast by the nipple while the reins were in his hands,
so that he died there and then, and the horses swerved as he

1