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alive and at the ships of the Achaeans."
Thus did he plead, and Menelaus was for yielding and giving him to
a squire to take to the ships of the Achaeans, but Agamemnon came
running up to him and rebuked him. "My good Menelaus," said he, "this
is no time for giving quarter. Has, then, your house fared so well
at the hands of the Trojans? Let us not spare a single one of them-­‐
not even the child unborn and in its mother's womb; let not a man
of them be left alive, but let all in Ilius perish, unheeded and forgotten."
Thus did he speak, and his brother was persuaded by him, for his words
were just. Menelaus, therefore, thrust Adrestus from him, whereon
King Agamemnon struck him in the flank, and he fell: then the son
of Atreus planted his foot upon his breast to draw his spear from
the body.
Meanwhile Nestor shouted to the Argives, saying, "My friends, Danaan
warriors, servants of Mars, let no man lag that he may spoil the dead,
and bring back much booty to the ships. Let us kill as many as we
can; the bodies will lie upon the plain, and you can despoil them
later at your leisure."
With these words he put heart and soul into them all. And now the
Trojans would have been routed and driven back into Ilius, had not
Priam's son Helenus, wisest of augurs, said to Hector and Aeneas,
"Hector and Aeneas, you two are the mainstays of the Trojans and Lycians,
for you are foremost at all times, alike in fight and counsel; hold
your ground here, and go about among the host to rally them in front