As Areïlycus had turned him round,
Sharp in his thigh he felt the piercing wound;
The brazen-pointed spear, with vigour thrown,
The thigh transfixed, and broke the brittle bone:
Headlong he fell. Next, Thoas, was thy chance,
Thy breast, unarmed, received the Spartan lance.[1]
Phylides' dart, as Amphiclus drew nigh,
His blow prevented, and transpierced his thigh,
Tore all the brawn, and rent the nerves away;
In darkness and in death the warrior lay.
In equal arms two sons of Nestor stand,
And two bold brothers of the Lycian band:
By great Antilochus, Antymnius dies,
Pierced in the flank, lamented youth! he lies.
Kind Maris, bleeding in his brother's wound,
Defends the breathless carcass on the ground.
Furious he flies, his murderer to engage,
But godlike Thrasymed prevents his rage:
Between his arm and shoulder aims a blow;
His arm falls spouting on the dust below:
He sinks, with endless darkness covered o'er,
And vents his soul, effused with gushing gore.
Slain by two brothers, thus two brothers bleed,
Sarpedon's friends, Amisodarus' seed ;[2]
Amisodarus, who, by Furies led,
The bane of man, abhorred Chimæra bred:
Skilled in the dart in vain, his sons expire,
And pay the forfeit of their guilty sire.
Stopped in the tumult Cleobulus lies,
Beneath Oïleus' arm, a living prize;
A living prize not long the Trojan stood:
The thirsty faulchion drank his reeking blood;
Plunged in his throat the smoking weapon lies:
Black death, and fate unpitying, seal his eyes.
Amid the ranks, with mutual thirst of fame,
Lycon the brave, and fierce Peneleus came;
In vain their javelins at each other flew;
Now, met in arms, their eager swords they drew:
On the plumed crest of his Boaotian foe
The daring Lycon aimed a noble blow;
The sword broke short; but his, Peneleus sped
Full on the juncture of the neck and head:
The head, divided by a stroke so just,
Hung by the skin; the body sunk to dust.
Overtaken Acamas by Merion bleeds,
Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/303
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BOOK XVI
301
