“Hector, what other Greek will fear thee now, Since thou dost shrink from Menelaus, deemed Effeminate in war? Behold, he drags Away a warrior from thy host; his hand Hath slain thy faithful friend, Eëtion’s son, Brave Podes, fighting in the foremost ranks.”
He spake: a cloud of sorrow overspread The soul of Hector. Armed in glittering brass, He went among the warriors in the van. Then did the son of Saturn lift on high His fringèd aegis, gleaming; with a cloud He covered Ida, sent his lightnings down, And thundered terribly, and made the mount Shake to its base, and gave the victory To Troy, and put to rout the Grecian host.
Peneleus of Bueotia led the fight. A spear that lighted on the shoulder-tip, As he came forward, wounded him. The blade, Hurled by Polydamas in close assault, Entered and grazed the bone. Then Hector pierced The wrist of Leitus, Alectryon’s son, And made him leave the combat. As he fled He looked around in fear, nor hoped again To wield the spear against the men of Troy. As Hector followed Leitus, he met The long spear of Idomeneus, which struck His corselet near the pap; the weapon broke Sheer at the socket, and the Trojans raised A shout, while Hector at Idomeneus Let fly his spear. It missed the chief, but smote Coeranus, who from pleasant Lyctus came, The friend and follower of Meriones. For on that day Idomeneus had come From his good ships on foot, and great had been The triumph of the Trojans at his fall, If Coeranus had not with his swift steeds Passed near and bid him mount. ’Twas thus he came To save Idomeneus from death, and yield To the man-queller Hector his own life; The javelin entered underneath the ear, By the jaw-bone, where, forcing out the teeth, It cleft the tongue in twain. He fell to earth, And dropped the reins. Meriones stooped down And took them from the dust in his own hands, And thus bespake Idomeneus: “Ply well The lash, until thy coursers reach the fleet, For thou mayst clearly see that victory Today is not upon the Grecian side.”