Ἰλιάδος Ε

Then Pallas Athena gave Tydeus' son Diomedes

strength and courage, so that he might stand out among all

the Argives and win noble glory.

She kindled from his helmet and shield tireless fire,

like the star of autumn, which above all others

blazes bright after bathing in Oceanus.

Such fire she kindled from his head and shoulders,

and drove him into the midst, where the greatest number were in turmoil.

There was among the Trojans a rich and blameless man, Dares,

a priest of Hephaestus; and he had two sons,

Phegeus and Idaeus, versed in every kind of battle.

The two broke away and charged against him;

the two from their chariot, while he rose from the ground on foot.

Now when they had come near, advancing on one another,

Phegeus was first to cast his long-shadowed spear;

but over the left shoulder of Tydeus' son passed the point

of the spear, and did not strike him; then he in turn sprang with the bronze,

Tydeus' son, and the shaft did not fly vainly from his hand,

but struck the chest between the nipples and hurled him from the horses.

Idaeus sprang away, leaving the splendid chariot,

nor did he dare to stand over his slaughtered brother;

for not even he would then have escaped black doom,

but Hephaestus drew him away and saved him, veiled in night,

so that the old man might not be altogether stricken with grief.

Then the son of great-hearted Tydeus drove out the horses

and gave them to his companions to lead down to the hollow ships.

But when the great-hearted Trojans saw the sons of Dares,

one escaped, the other slain beside the chariot,

the heart of every man was shaken; but bright-eyed Athena

took furious Ares by the hand and addressed him with words:

"Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls,

shall we not now leave Trojans and Achaeans

to fight, whichever side father Zeus may grant glory,

while we two draw back and avoid the wrath of Zeus?"

So speaking, she led furious Ares out of the battle,

and then seated him by Scamander's steep banks.

Then the Danaans turned the Trojans to flight, and each man slew

one of their leaders. First Agamemnon, lord of men,

hurled great Odius, leader of the Halizones, from his chariot;

for as he first turned away, he fixed the spear in his back,

between the shoulders, and drove it through his chest;

he fell with a thud, and his armor clattered upon him.

Then Idomeneus slew Phaestus, son of the Maeonian

Borus, who had come from Tarne of the rich soil.

Idomeneus, famed with the spear, struck him with his long spear

in the right shoulder as he was about to mount behind his horses;

he fell from the chariot, and hateful darkness seized him.

Then the attendants of Idomeneus stripped his armor.

But Scamandrius, son of Strophius, skilled in the hunt,

Menelaus, son of Atreus, slew with his sharp spear,

the good hunter; for Artemis herself had taught him

to shoot every wild thing that the mountain woods sustain.

Yet Artemis, showerer of arrows, did not avail him then,

nor the long shots in which he once excelled,

but Menelaus, famed with the spear, son of Atreus,

struck him in the back as he fled before him,

between the shoulders, and drove the spear through his chest;

he fell face-down, and his armor clattered upon him.

Then Meriones slew Phereclus, son of Tecton,

Harmon's grandson, who with his hands knew every cunning work

how to fashion; for Pallas Athena loved him exceedingly.

He also built the well-balanced ships for Paris—

ships that began the evil and proved a bane to all the Trojans

and to himself, since he knew nothing of the gods' decrees.

When Meriones caught him in pursuit,

he struck him in the right buttock, and straight through

the bladder beneath the bone went the spearpoint;

he dropped to his knees with a cry, and death enfolded him.

Then Meges slew Pedaeus, a son of Antenor,

who was a bastard, but shining Theano had raised him with care,

equally with her own dear children, to please her husband.

The son of Phyleus, famed with the spear, came close

and struck him with his sharp spear at the nape of the head;

straight through the teeth, the bronze sheared off his tongue at the root;

he fell in the dust and caught the cold bronze in his teeth.

And Eurypylus, son of Euaemon—godlike Hypsenor,

son of high-hearted Dolopion, who was Scamander's

priest and was honored like a god among the people—

him Eurypylus, Euaemon's splendid son,

running after him as he fled before him, struck his shoulder

with his sword as he sprang, and lopped off the heavy hand.

The bloody hand fell to the plain; and over his eyes

came purple death and mighty fate.

So they toiled throughout the mighty combat.

But you could not have known on which side Tydeus' son was,

whether he moved among the Trojans or among the Achaeans.

For he swept across the plain like a river in full flood,

a winter torrent that runs swiftly and scatters the dikes;

neither the close-built dikes can hold it back,

nor can the fences of the flourishing vineyards check it

when it comes suddenly, whenever the rain of Zeus bears hard;

and beneath it many fair works of young men fall in ruin.

So beneath Tydeus' son the close-packed Trojan ranks

were thrown into confusion, and though they were many, they did not stand against him.

Now when the glorious son of Lycaon saw him

charging across the plain before him, scattering the ranks,

at once he drew his curved bow against the son of Tydeus,

and struck him as he rushed on, hitting the right shoulder

upon the plate of his corselet; the bitter arrow flew through

and pierced it clean across, and the corselet was splashed with blood.

Then the glorious son of Lycaon shouted long and loud:

"Rise, great-hearted Trojans, goaders of horses!

The best of the Achaeans has been struck, and I do not think

he will long withstand this mighty shaft, if truly

the lord, the son of Zeus, sent me forth when I left Lycia."

So he spoke in triumph; but the swift shaft did not subdue him.

He drew back before his horses and chariot,

stood there, and spoke to Sthenelus, son of Capaneus:

"Up, dear son of Capaneus, climb down from the chariot,

so you may draw the bitter arrow from my shoulder."

So he spoke, and Sthenelus leapt from the horses to the ground,

stood beside him, and pulled the swift shaft clean out of his shoulder;