part against the other. With a great crash they came together, and the broad earth resounded, and the heavens rang as with the voice of a trumpet; and Zeus heard it as he sat on Olympus, and was glad in heart to see the gods join in battle.
First of all, Ares, the shield-piercer, rushed against Athené, holding his spear in his hand, and cried: "Why dost thou make the gods to strive in battle, thou that art bold as a fly and shameless as a dog? Dost thou not remember how thou didst set Diomed, the son of Tydeus, upon me to wound me, and how thou didst take his spear in thy hand, so that all might see it, and drive it through my thigh? Now will I requite thee for all that thou hast done."
And he smote on the ægis shield―the mighty shield that not even the thunder of Zeus can break. But Athené took up in her hand a great stone that lay upon the plain. Black it was and rough, and very great, that men of old had set for a boundary of the field. With this she smote Ares on the neck, that his knees failed beneath him. He lay along the
