Thus did he vaunt; but his arrow had not killed Diomed,
who withdrew and made for the chariot and horses of
Sthenelus, the son of Capaneus. “Dear son
of Capaneus,” said he, “come down from
your chariot, and draw the arrow out of my shoulder.”
Sthenelus sprang from his chariot, and drew the arrow
from the wound, whereon the blood came spouting out
through the hole that had been made in his shirt.
Then Diomed prayed, saying, “Hear me, daughter
of aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, if ever you loved
my father well and stood by him in the thick of a
fight, do the like now by me; grant me to come within
a spear’s throw of that man and kill him.
He has been too quick for me and has wounded me; and
now he is boasting that I shall not see the light of
the sun much longer.”
Thus he prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard him; she
made his limbs supple and quickened his hands and
his feet. Then she went up close to him and said,
“Fear not, Diomed, to do battle with the Trojans,
for I have set in your heart the spirit of your knightly
father Tydeus. Moreover, I have withdrawn the
veil from your eyes, that you know gods and men apart.
If, then, any other god comes here and offers you
battle, do not fight him; but should Jove’s
daughter Venus come, strike her with your spear and
wound her.”
When she had said this Minerva went away, and the
son of Tydeus again took his place among the foremost
fighters, three times more fierce even than he had
been before. He was like a lion that some mountain
shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is springing
over the wall of a sheep-yard to attack the sheep.
The shepherd has roused the brute to fury but cannot
defend his flock, so he takes shelter under cover
of the buildings, while the sheep, panic-stricken
on being deserted, are smothered in heaps one on top
of the other, and the angry lion leaps out over the
sheep-yard wall. Even thus did Diomed go furiously
about among the Trojans.
He killed Astynous, and Hypeiron shepherd of his people,
the one with a thrust of his spear, which struck him
above the nipple, the other with a sword-cut on the
collar-bone, that severed his shoulder from his neck
and back. He let both of them lie, and went in
pursuit of Abas and Polyidus, sons of the old reader
of dreams Eurydamas: they never came back for
him to read them any more dreams, for mighty Diomed
made an end of them. He then gave chase to Xanthus
and Thoon, the two sons of Phaenops, both of them
very dear to him, for he was now worn out with age,
and begat no more sons to inherit his possessions.
But Diomed took both their lives and left their father
sorrowing bitterly, for he nevermore saw them come
home from battle alive, and his kinsmen divided his
wealth among themselves.
Then he came upon two sons of Priam, Echemmon and
Chromius, as they were both in one chariot. He
sprang upon them as a lion fastens on the neck of
some cow or heifer when the herd is feeding in a coppice.
For all their vain struggles he flung them both from
their chariot and stripped the armour from their bodies.
Then he gave their horses to his comrades to take them
back to the ships.
