Page 81 - the-iliad

followers take them to the ships. The Trojans were scared
when they saw the two sons of Dares, one of them in fright
and the other lying dead by his chariot. Minerva, therefore,
took Mars by the hand and said, ‘Mars, Mars, bane of men,
bloodstained stormer of cities, may we not now leave the
Trojans and Achaeans to fight it out, and see to which of
the two Jove will vouchsafe the victory? Let us go away, and
thus avoid his anger.’
So saying, she drew Mars out of the battle, and set him
down upon the steep banks of the Scamander. Upon this
the Danaans drove the Trojans back, and each one of their
chieftains killed his man. First King Agamemnon flung
mighty Odius, captain of the Halizoni, from his chariot. The
spear of Agamemnon caught him on the broad of his back,
just as he was turning in flight; it struck him between the
shoulders and went right through his chest, and his armour
rang rattling round him as he fell heavily to the ground.
Then Idomeneus killed Phaesus, son of Borus the Me-
onian, who had come from Varne. Mighty Idomeneus
speared him on the right shoulder as he was mounting his
chariot, and the darkness of death enshrouded him as he
fell heavily from the car.
The squires of Idomeneus spoiled him of his armour,
while Menelaus, son of Atreus, killed Scamandrius the
son of Strophius, a mighty huntsman and keen lover of the
chase. Diana herself had taught him how to kill every kind
of wild creature that is bred in mountain forests, but nei-
ther she nor his famed skill in archery could now save him,
for the spear of Menelaus struck him in the back as he was

0 The Iliad