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96
ILIAD. V.
553—588.

the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus: but there the end of death overshadowed them.

They two,[1] just as two lions have been reared under their dam, amid the thickets of a deep wood, on the mountain's heights; they in process of time seizing oxen and fat sheep, lay waste the stalls of men, till at length they are themselves killed by the hands of men with the sharp brass; such these two, subdued by the hands of Æneas; fell like lofty firs. Then Menelaus brave in the din of war, pitied them fallen, and went through the van, equipped in shining brass, brandishing his spear; for Mars kindled his strength, with the design that he should be subdued by the hands of Æneas.

But him Antilochus, son of magnanimous Nestor, beheld, and proceeded through the van, for he feared much for the shepherd of the people lest he should suffer any thing, and greatly disappoint them of [the fruits of] their labor. And now they were stretching forth their hands and sharp spears against each other, eager to fight; but Antilochus stood very near the shepherd[2] of the people. But Æneas, though a brisk warrior, remained not, when he beheld the two heroes standing near each other. When, therefore, they had drawn the dead bodies[3] to the people of the Greeks, they gave the miserable pair into the hands of their companions; and they themselves, returning back, fought in the van.

Then they slew Pylæmenes, equal to Mars, general of the magnanimous shielded Paphlagonians. Him indeed the son of Atreus, spear-renowned Menelaus, wounded with a spear, as he stood, having smote him on the collar-bone. But Antilochus on his part smote the charioteer Mydon, his brave attendant, the son of Atymnias (now he was in the act of turning his solid-hoofed steeds), having struck him with a hand-stone on the elbow; immediately the reins, white with ivory, fell from his hands on the ground in the dust. But Antilochus, rushing on, smote him with his sword in the temple, and panting he fell from the well-made chariot, headlong in the dust, on his head and his shoulders. Very long he stood (for he fell on deep sand), till the two horses, striking

  1. The order is, τώγε, οἵω λέωντε δύω. Anthon refers to Kühner, 443, 4, p. 97, Jelf's Translation.
  2. See note on ver. 50.
  3. Of the sons of Diocles.