“Ajaces, leaders of the warlike Greeks, The honored son of noble Peteus asks That ye will come, though for a little space, To aid him and to share his warlike toils; For terrible will be the slaughter there, So fiercely are the Lycians pressing on, Impetuous ever in assault. If here The fight be also urgent, then at least Let the brave Telamonian Ajax come. And Teucer, the great archer, follow him.”
He ended. Ajax, son of Telamon, Hearkened, and to his fellow-warrior said:—
“Here, where the gallant Lycomedes stands, Ajax! remain, and, cheering on the Greeks, Lead them to combat valiantly. I go To stem the battle there, and when our friends Are succored I will instantly return.”
So speaking, Ajax, son of Telamon, Departed thence, and with him Teucer, sprung From the same father. With them also went Pandion, carrying Teucer’s crooked bow. They came to brave Menestheus at his tower, And went within the wall and met their friends, Hard-pressed—for gallantly the Lycian chiefs And captains, like a gloomy tempest, rushed Up the tall breastworks; while the Greeks withstood Their onset, and a mighty clamor rose.
Then Telamonian Ajax smote to death Epicles, great of soul, Sarpedon’s friend: Against that chief he cast a huge, rough stone, That lay high up beside a pinnacle Within the wall. No man with both his hands— Such men as now are—though in prime of youth, Could lift its weight; and yet he wielded it Aloft, and flung it. Through the four-coned helm It crashed, and brake the skull within. Down plunged The Lycian, like a diver, from his place On the high tower, and life forsook his limbs. Then Teucer also wounded with a shaft Glaucus, the brave son of Hippolochus, As he leaped forth to scale the lofty wall— Wounded him where the naked arm was seen, And made him leave the combat. Back he sprang, Hiding amid the crowd, that so the Greeks Might not behold the