Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
were the dense phalanxes of the Trojans driven in rout by the son
of Tydeus, and many though they were, they dared not abide his
onslaught.
Now when the son of Lycaon saw him scouring the plain and
driving the Trojans pell-mell before him, he aimed an arrow and hit
the front part of his cuirass near the shoulder: the arrow went right
through the metal and pierced the flesh, so that the cuirass was
covered with blood. On this the son of Lycaon shouted in triumph,
“Knights Trojans, come on; the bravest of the Achaeans is
wounded, and he will not hold out much longer if King Apollo
was indeed with me when I sped from Lycia hither.”
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
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