Page 196 - the-iliad

and he smote them right and left. They made a hideous
groaning as they were being hacked about, and the earth
was red with their blood. As a lion springs furiously upon a
flock of sheep or goats when he finds without their shepherd,
so did the son of Tydeus set upon the Thracian soldiers till
he had killed twelve. As he killed them Ulysses came and
drew them aside by their feet one by one, that the horses
might go forward freely without being frightened as they
passed over the dead bodies, for they were not yet used to
them. When the son of Tydeus came to the king, he killed
him too (which made thirteen), as he was breathing hard,
for by the counsel of Minerva an evil dream, the seed of Oe-
neus, hovered that night over his head. Meanwhile Ulysses
untied the horses, made them fast one to another and drove
them off, striking them with his bow, for he had forgotten
to take the whip from the chariot. Then he whistled as a sign
to Diomed.
But Diomed stayed where he was, thinking what other
daring deed he might accomplish. He was doubting wheth-
er to take the chariot in which the king’s armour was lying,
and draw it out by the pole, or to lift the armour out and
carry it off; or whether again, he should not kill some more
Thracians. While he was thus hesitating Minerva came up
to him and said, ‘Get back, Diomed, to the ships or you may
be driven thither, should some other god rouse the Tro-
jans.’
Diomed knew that it was the goddess, and at once sprang
upon the horses. Ulysses beat them with his bow and they
flew onward to the ships of the Achaeans.

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