Page 323 - the-iliad

burnt ship to lie where it was. The Trojans were now driven
back with a shout that rent the skies, while the Danaans
poured after them from their ships, shouting also with-
out ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the thunder-cloud,
spreads a dense canopy on the top of some lofty mountain,
and all the peaks, the jutting headlands, and forest glades
show out in the great light that flashes from the bursting
heavens, even so when the Danaans had now driven back
the fire from their ships, they took breath for a little while;
but the fury of the fight was not yet over, for the Trojans
were not driven back in utter rout, but still gave battle, and
were ousted from their ground only by sheer fighting.
The fight then became more scattered, and the chieftains
killed one another when and how they could. The val-
iant son of Menoetius first drove his spear into the thigh
of Areilycus just as he was turning round; the point went
clean through, and broke the bone so that he fell forward.
Meanwhile Menelaus struck Thoas in the chest, where it
was exposed near the rim of his shield, and he fell dead.
The son of Phyleus saw Amphiclus about to attack him, and
ere he could do so took aim at the upper part of his thigh,
where the muscles are thicker than in any other part; the
spear tore through all the sinews of the leg, and his eyes
were closed in darkness. Of the sons of Nestor one, Anti-
lochus, speared Atymnius, driving the point of the spear
through his throat, and down he fell. Maris then sprang on
Antilochus in hand-to-hand fight to avenge his brother, and
bestrode the body spear in hand; but valiant Thrasymedes
was too quick for him, and in a moment had struck him in

The Iliad