The Project Gutenberg Etext of the Iliad of - Stanford Exploration ...

1 ILIAD. XIII. 171
timber-workers have cut down upon the mountains with lately-whetted axes,
to become ship timber. So he lay, stretched out before his horses and chariot,
gnashing his teeth, grasping the bloody dust. But the charioteer was deprived
of the senses which he previously had, nor dared he turn back the horses that he
might escape from the hands of the enemy: but him warlike Antilochus, striking,
transfixed in the middle with his spear; nor did the brazen corselet which he wore
resist, but he fixed it in the center of his stomach. Then, panting, he fell from the
well-made chariot-seat, and Antilochus, the son of magnanimous Nestor, drove
away the horses from the Trojans to the well-armed Greeks. But Deïphobus,
enraged on account of Asius, drew very near to Idomeneus, and hurled with his
shining spear. Idomeneus, however, having perceived it opposite, avoided the
brazen spear, for he was concealed behind his shield equal on all sides, which
he bore, constructed of the hides of bulls, and glittering brass, fitted with two
handles. Behind this he collected himself entirely, and the brazen spear flew over
him. But the shield returned a dry 1 sound, the spear grazing it obliquely. Yet
he (Deïphobus) sent it not in vain from his heavy hand, but he struck Hypsenor,
son of Hippasus, the shepherd of the people, upon the liver, below the breast,
and straightway relaxed his knees under him. But Deïphobus vainly boasted
over him, loudly exclaiming:
“Surely not unavenged lies Asius; I rather think that he will rejoice in his
mind, though going into the strong-gated, massy [dwelling] of Hades, since I
have given him a guide.”
Thus he spoke; but grief came upon the Greeks at his boasting, and it particularly
agitated the mind of warlike Antilochus. Yet, grieved as he was, he
neglected not his companion, but running, he protected him, and covered him
over with his shield. Him then his two dear companions, Mecisteus, son of
Echius, and noble Alastor, supporting, bore to the hollow ships, deeply groaning.
In the mean time Idomeneus ceased not his mighty valor; but always burned
either to cover some of the Trojans with pitchy night, 2 or himself to fall with
a crash, repelling destruction from the Greeks. Then the hero Alcathous, the
beloved son of Æsyetas (and he was the son-in-law of Anchises, for he had married
Hippodamia, the eldest of his daughters, whom her father and venerable
mother loved from their hearts, while in their home, because she excelled all of
her age in beauty, in accomplishments, and prudence, for which reason also the
most distinguished man in wide Troy had wedded her), him Neptune subdued
under Idomeneus, having dimmed his shining eyes, and fettered his fair limbs.
For he was able neither to fly back nor to turn aside, but him, standing motionless,
like a pillar or lofty-branching tree, the hero Idomeneus wounded with
his spear in the middle of the breast, and burst the brazen coat around him,
which formerly warded off destruction from his body: but then it sent forth a
dry sound, severed by the spear. Falling, he gave a crash, and the spear was
194. Heysch.: ∗blwtrh/ : eu)auch/ s, h( probai/ nousa kai\ a)/nw ∗irw/ skousa. Schol. on
Apoll. Rhod. i. 322: ∗pi/ tun blwtrh\n ∗( /omhros, th\n a)/xri ai)te/ ros moli/ skousan.
1 So v. 441: au)\on a)/usen. So “aridus sonnus,” in Lucret. vi. 118; “aridus fagor,” Virg.
Georg. I. 357, noticed by Quintil. I. O. viii. 3. A dry, grating, half-cracking sound is meant.
2 i. e., death.