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Sthenelus sprang from his chariot, and drew the arrow from the wound,<br />

whereon the blood came spouting out through the hole that had been<br />

made in his shirt. <strong>The</strong>n Diomed prayed, saying, "Hear me, daughter<br />

of aegis-­‐bearing Jove, unweariable, if ever you loved my father well<br />

and stood <strong>by</strong> him in the thick of a fight, do the like now <strong>by</strong> me; grant<br />

me to come within a spear's throw of that man and kill him. He has<br />

been too quick <strong>for</strong> me and has wounded me; and now he is boasting that<br />

I shall not see the light of the sun much longer."<br />

Thus he prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard him; she made his limbs supple<br />

and quickened his hands and his feet. <strong>The</strong>n she went up close to him<br />

and said, "Fear not, Diomed, to do battle with the Trojans, <strong>for</strong> I<br />

have set in your heart the spirit of your knightly father Tydeus.<br />

Moreover, I have withdrawn the veil from your eyes, that you know<br />

gods and men apart. If, then, any other god comes here and offers<br />

you battle, do not fight him; but should Jove's daughter Venus come,<br />

strike her with your spear and wound her."<br />

When she had said this Minerva went away, and the son of Tydeus again<br />

took his place among the <strong>for</strong>emost fighters, three times more fierce<br />

even than he had been be<strong>for</strong>e. He was like a lion that some mountain<br />

shepherd has wounded, but not killed, as he is springing over the<br />

wall of a sheep-­‐yard to attack the sheep. <strong>The</strong> shepherd has roused<br />

the brute to fury but cannot defend his flock, so he takes shelter<br />

under cover of the buildings, while the sheep, panic-­‐stricken on being<br />

deserted, are smothered in heaps one on top of the other, and the<br />

angry lion leaps out over the sheep-­‐yard wall. Even thus did Diomed

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