Page 306 - the-iliad

confident of victory, Menelaus came up to help Meges, and
got by the side of Dolops unperceived; he then speared him
in the shoulder, from behind, and the point, driven so furi-
ously, went through into his chest, whereon he fell headlong.
The two then made towards him to strip him of his armour,
but Hector called on all his brothers for help, and he espe-
cially upbraided brave Melanippus son of Hiketaon, who
erewhile used to pasture his herds of cattle in Percote before
the war broke out; but when the ships of the Danaans came,
he went back to Ilius, where he was eminent among the Tro-
jans, and lived near Priam who treated him as one of his
own sons. Hector now rebuked him and said, ‘Why, Mela-
nippus, are we thus remiss? do you take no note of the death
of your kinsman, and do you not see how they are trying to
take Dolops’s armour? Follow me; there must be no fighting
the Argives from a distance now, but we must do so in close
combat till either we kill them or they take the high wall of
Ilius and slay her people.’
He led on as he spoke, and the hero Melanippus followed
after. Meanwhile Ajax son of Telamon was cheering on the
Argives. ‘My friends,’ he cried, ‘be men, and fear dishonour;
quit yourselves in battle so as to win respect from one an-
other. Men who respect each other’s good opinion are less
likely to be killed than those who do not, but in flight there
is neither gain nor glory.’
Thus did he exhort men who were already bent upon
driving back the Trojans. They laid his words to heart and
hedged the ships as with a wall of bronze, while Jove urged
on the Trojans. Menelaus of the loud battle-cry urged An-

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