Page 210 - the-iliad

and file. As when the west wind hustles the clouds of the
white south and beats them down with the fierceness of its
fury—the waves of the sea roll high, and the spray is flung
aloft in the rage of the wandering wind—even so thick were
the heads of them that fell by the hand of Hector.
All had then been lost and no help for it, and the Achae-
ans would have fled pell-mell to their ships, had not Ulysses
cried out to Diomed, ‘Son of Tydeus, what has happened to
us that we thus forget our prowess? Come, my good fellow,
stand by my side and help me, we shall be shamed for ever
if Hector takes the ships.’
And Diomed answered, ‘Come what may, I will stand
firm; but we shall have scant joy of it, for Jove is minded to
give victory to the Trojans rather than to us.’
With these words he struck Thymbraeus from his chariot
to the ground, smiting him in the left breast with his spear,
while Ulysses killed Molion who was his squire. These they
let lie, now that they had stopped their fighting; the two
heroes then went on playing havoc with the foe, like two
wild boars that turn in fury and rend the hounds that hunt
them. Thus did they turn upon the Trojans and slay them,
and the Achaeans were thankful to have breathing time in
their flight from Hector.
They then took two princes with their chariot, the two
sons of Merops of Percote, who excelled all others in the
arts of divination. He had forbidden his sons to go to the
war, but they would not obey him, for fate lured them to
their fall. Diomed son of Tydeus slew them both and
stripped them of their armour, while Ulysses killed Hippo-

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