by Homer
“Aeneas, leader in counsel of the bronze-clad Trojans,180
to the skilled son of Tydeus do I liken him in all respects,
judging by his shield and ridged helmet with the hollow eyes, and
looking at his horses; but I do not know for sure that he is not a god.
And if indeed he is the man I think, the skilled son of Tydeus,
he does not rage this way without a god, but some one of the immortals
stands close by him, wrapping his shoulders round with cloud,
who turned my swift arrow elsewhere, away from him, as it reached its mark.
For I have already shot a shaft at him, and it struck him on his right
shoulder straight on through the hollow of his breastplate;
and I thought I had sent him to the house of death,190
yet all the same I did not kill him; surely, then, this is an angry god.
I do not have horses or a chariot that I could mount, yet,
I tell you, eleven chariots stand in the house of my father Lykaon,
beautiful, fitted together for the first time, newly made, covers
spread around them; and by each paired horses
stand, munching wheat and white barley.
And the old man, spearman Lykaon, instructed me again and again
in our sturdy home as I was setting out;
he bade mount behind my horses and chariot
to lead the Trojans throughout the mighty combat;200
But I was not persuaded—which would have been far better—
and spared my horses, in fear that with men besieged
I might lack pasture, they being accustomed to eating their fill.
So I left them, and came on foot to Ilion,
trusting to my bow; but it was to be of no help to me.
For I have already let fly at two of their best men,
Tydeus and the son of Atreus, and from them both
as I struck I made real blood flow, but only aroused them the more.
Therefore it was in an evil hour I took my curved bow from its peg
on that day, when to lovely Ilion210
I came as leader among the Trojans, bearing aid to godlike Hector.
But if I return home and look with my own eyes
upon my homeland and wife and great high-roofed house,
then let some outlander cut off my head at once
if I do not put this bow in the gleaming fire
broken in two by my hands; for its service to me is useless as the wind.”
Then in reply Aeneas commander of the Trojans answered him:
“Don’t talk this way; there will be no change
until we two set out against this man with horse and chariot
to test him strength for strength with arms.220
Come, mount my chariot so you may see
what kind of horses are these of Tros, expert
in making swift pursuit or flight here and there, across the plain—
These two will bring us safely to the city, even if once more
Zeus gives honor to Diomedes son of Tydeus.
But come now, take the whip and glossy reins,
and I will dismount the chariot to fight;
or you take on this man, and the horses will be my care.”
Then in turn the splendid son of Lykaon answered him:
“Aeneas, you hold the reins yourself and drive your horses;230
they will carry their curved chariot better under their accustomed driver
should we flee back from the son of Tydeus.
May these two not balk in fear, unwilling
to carry us out of battle when they miss your voice,
and the son of great-hearted Tydeus rush at us and
kill us both and drive off the single-hoofed horses.
No, you drive your own chariot and paired horses,
and I will wait with my sharp spear for this man as he advances.”
So speaking they mounted the elaborate chariot,
and held the swift horses as they sped toward the son of Tydeus.240
Sthenelos saw them, the splendid son of Kapaneus,
and at once he addressed the son of Tydeus with winged words:
“Son of Tydeus, Diomedes, delighting my heart,
I see two powerful man eager to fight against you,
both of immeasurable strength; one is well skilled in the bow,
Pandaros, who boasts he is the son of Lykaon;
and Aeneas, who boasts he is the son born of blameless
Anchises, and whose mother is Aphrodite.
Come, let us withdraw with our horses, do not, I beg you, rush so
through the frontlines, lest you destroy your own life.”250
Then looking at him from under his brows powerful Diomedes addressed him:
“Do not speak of flight, since I do not think you will persuade me.
For it is not in my blood to do battle by fleeing,
nor to cower; my nerve is still steady,
and I am unwilling to mount my chariot, but even as I am
I will go to meet them; Pallas Athena will not allow me to retreat.
The swift horses will not bring both these two men back again
from us, even should one or the other escape.
And I will tell you something else and put it away in your mind;
if Athena in her great wisdom should grant me the glory260
of killing both men, you hold these swift horses of ours
here, drawing the reins tight to the chariot rail,
and dash for the horses of Aeneas—remember all this—
and drive them from the Trojans to the strong-greaved Achaeans;
for they are of that stock that far-thundering Zeus gave to Tros
as recompense for his son Ganymede, since they were the best
of horses, of all beneath the sun and dawn.
Anchises lord of men stole from this stock,
for in secret from Laomedon he bred mares to the horses;
and from these, six were born in his halls as offspring;270
four of these, keeping for himself, he raised at the manger,
but two he gave to Aeneas, master of the rout.
If we should take these two, we would win outstanding glory.”
So they talked these things among each other,
and the two driving the swift horses drew swiftly closer.
And the splendid son of Lykaon first called in challenge to Diomedes:
“Strong-hearted, skilled son of glorious Tydeus,
I see the swift shaft did not kill you, my bitter arrow;
now I will try you again with my spear, if I make good my aim.”
He spoke, and balancing his long-shadowed spear he hurled,280
and hit the son of Tydeus on the shield; and flying straight through it
the bronze point brushed his breastplate.
And the splendid son of Lykaon cried aloud to him:
“You are struck in the side, right through, and I do not think you
will suffer long; but you have given me great cause for glory.”
Then not afraid powerful Diomedes addressed him:
“You missed, nor did you hit your mark; and I do not think you two
will desist, until one of you at least in falling
gluts with his blood the shield-bearing warrior Ares.”
So speaking he let fly, and Athena directed his cast290
to Pandaros’ nose, beside the eye, and it passed through his white teeth;
the unyielding bronze cut away his tongue at the root,
and the spear-point came out beneath his chin.
He fell from the chariot, and his armor clashed about him
glinting, gleaming, and the swift-footed horses shied to one side;
and there his soul and strength were undone.
Aeneas sprang away from the chariot with his shield and great spear,
f
earing lest the Achaeans somehow drag the dead man away.
And he took his stand over him like a lion who trusts in his prowess,
holding before him his spear and the circle of his shield,300
straining to kill any man who might come against him,
crying a fearsome cry. But the son of Tydeus took in his hand
a boulder, a great feat, which two men could not lift,
such as mortal men are now; but he even alone brandished it with ease;
with this he struck Aeneas on the hip joint, where the thigh-bone
turns in the hip joint, and which they call the socket cup.
And the jagged stone crushed his hip socket, snapped the tendons on both sides,
and forced the skin away. And the warrior
fell on his knees and remained there and leaned with his massive hand
upon the earth; and around his eyes the black night closed.310
And there and then would Aeneas lord of men have perished
had Aphrodite, Zeus’ daughter, not taken sharp note,
his mother, she who conceived him with Anchises when he was out with his cattle;
and around her beloved son she poured her white arms,
and folded the loose parts of her shining robe in front
to be a defense against missiles, lest one of the Danaans of swift horses,
hurling a bronze shaft in his breast, take his life away.
She carried her beloved son away from the war;
nor did the son of Kapaneus forget the agreements
which Diomedes of the war cry had enjoined on him,320
but he checked their own single-hoofed horses
away from the tumult, drawing the reins tight to the chariot rail,
and dashing for the horses of Aeneas with their beautiful manes,
he drove them off from the Trojans toward the strong-greaved Achaeans;
he gave them to Deïpylos, a beloved companion, whom beyond all
of his peers he honored, because in their hearts they thought alike,
to drive to the hollow ships. Then the warrior himself
mounting behind his own horses took up the glossy reins,
and at once drove the strong-footed horses after the son of Tydeus
in fierce haste; but the son of Tydeus was ranging after Cyprian Aphrodite330
with his pitiless bronze spear, knowing that she was not a fighting god,
nor of those goddesses who hold sway throughout the war of men,
not Athena, nor city-sacking Enyo.
And when, pressing hard through the great throng, he caught her,
there the son of great-hearted Tydeus reaching out,
charging with his sharp spear, wounded the tip of her
soft hand; the spear pierced her skin straight
through her immortal robe, which the Graces themselves toiled to make for her,
above the base of her palm; the immortal blood flowed from the divinity—
ichor, which alone flows in the blessed gods.340
For they do not eat grain, nor drink shining wine;
and for this reason they are bloodless and are called immortals.
Shrieking loudly, she flung her son from her;
but Phoebus Apollo kept him safe in his arms
within a blue-black cloud, lest some one of the Danaans of swift horses
hurling bronze into his breast should rob him of his life.
And at her, Diomedes of the war cry shouted loud:
“Give over, daughter of Zeus, from war and battle.
Is it not enough that you beguile defenseless women?
If you make a habit of coming to war, then I think you350
will shudder at war all right, even if you should only hear of it from someplace else.”
So he spoke; and she, beside herself with pain, departed in dreadful distress.
And Iris with feet like the wind, taking her up, led her out of the throng
weighed down with pain, her beautiful skin blood-dark.
Then Aphrodite found furious Ares toward the left of the fighting,
sitting, his spear propped against the mist, with his two swift horses;
and falling to her knees before her dear brother,
beseeching again and again, she asked for his gold-bridled horses:
“Dear brother, rescue me and give me your horses,
that I may go to Olympus, where stands the seat of the immortals.360
I am crushed with pain in this wound, which a mortal man struck me,
the son of Tydeus, who now would fight with even Father Zeus.”
So she spoke. And Ares gave her the gold-bridled horses.
She got in the chariot grieving in her dear heart,
and beside her Iris mounted and took hold of the reins in her hands,
and lashed the whip to start the horses; and they two not unwilling flew on.
Swiftly they arrived at the seat of the gods, steep Olympus;
here swift Iris with feet like the wind drew up the horses,
released them from the chariot, and cast before them ambrosial fodder.
Divine Aphrodite fell upon the knees of Dione370
her mother; and she held her daughter tight in her arms,
and caressed her with her hand, and spoke to her and said her name:
“Who now, dear child, of the Olympians has done such a thing to you
without purpose, as if you had committed some crime in the sight of all?”
Then laughter-loving Aphrodite answered her:
“The son of Tydeus struck me, high-hearted Diomedes,
because I carried my beloved son away from the war,
Aeneas, who to me is far dearest of all men.
For this is no longer a dread battle between Trojans and Achaeans,
but now the Danaans fight with the very immortal gods.”380
Then Dione shining among goddesses answered her:
“Endure, my child, and bear up for all your pain.
For many of us who have homes on Olympus have suffered
from men, inflicting hard woes upon one another.
Ares suffered, when Otos and strong Ephialtes,
sons of Aloeus, bound him in bonds too strong for him;
they trussed him in a bronze jar for thirteen months.
Then surely Ares, the insatiable in war, would have perished,
had not their stepmother, surpassingly lovely Eëriboia,
carried word to Hermes; he took Ares away by stealth390
by now worn to extremity, for the bronze bonds defeated him.
And Hera too endured, when the powerful son of Amphitryon
struck her, down into her right breast, with a three-barbed arrow;
then pain that could not be soothed gripped even her.
Among these too mighty Hades endured a swift arrow
when the very same man, the son of Zeus who wields the aegis,
struck him amid the dead in Pylos, and delivered him to pain;
but he went to the house of Zeus and high Olympus
hurt in heart, pierced with pain, the arrow
lodged in his powerful shoulder, stricken in spirit;400
Paiëon sprinkling medicines that kill pain
healed him; for Hades was not born for death.
Wicked man! Evil-doer, who cared nothing as he performed his evil deeds,
who with his bow brought pain to the gods who hold Olympus!
Yet this deed against you the gleaming-eyed goddess Athena incited;
the fool, the son of Tydeus does not know this in his wits—
that not at all long for life is the man who battles with the gods,
his children do not call him papa at his knee
when he comes home from war and dread battle.
Now therefore, let the son of Tydeus, for all his surpassing strength,410
think carefully, for fear that someone stronger than you do battle with him—
for fear that for a long time to come his wife Aigialeia, wise daughter of Adrestos,
will wake her dear servants from sleep with her wailing,
yearning for her wedded husband, the best of Achaeans,
the goodly wife of Diomedes breaker of horses.”
She spoke, and with both her hands wiped the ichor away from her daughter’s wrist;
the hand grew whole, and the heavy pangs of pain subsided.
But Athena and Hera looking on
taunted Zeus the son of Cronus with mocking words,
and the gleaming-eyed goddess Athena began to speak among them:420
“Father Zeus, will you in any way be angry with me, if I should say something?
It seems Cypris, goading some Achaean woman
to follow after the Trojans, whom she so terribly loves,
as she caressed one of the fine-robed Achaean women
scratched her slender hand on a golden broach.”
So she spoke; and the father of gods and men smiled,
and calling her over, addressed golden Aphrodite:
“Not to you, my child, are given the deeds of war;
rather, you attend to the pleasurable deeds of marriage,
all these things will be the concern of furious Ares and Athena.”430
Thus they spoke such things to one another;
but Diomedes of the war cry rushed after Aeneas,
knowing though he did that Apollo himself held his hands above him,
but he was not awed by the great god, but ever pressed
to kill Aeneas and strip away his splendid armor.
Three times he rushed forward raging to kill,
and three times Apollo smote back his bright shield;
but when for the fourth time he charged like something more than human,
he who works from afar, Apollo, shouted out in a voice of terror:
“Take care, son of Tydeus, and give way; do not seek to think440
yourself like the gods, since never the same is the race
of immortal gods and of men who walk upon the ground.”
So he spoke, and the son of Tydeus withdrew a little back,
shrinking from the wrath of Apollo who strikes from afar.
And Apollo set Aeneas apart from the throng of battle
in holy Pergamos, where his temple stood.
Here Leto and Artemis who showers arrows
healed and glorified him within the great inner shrine.
But Apollo of the silver bow created an image
in the likeness of Aeneas himself and like his armor,450
and around the image Trojans and glorious Achaeans
kept tearing at the oxhide shields about each other’s chests,