The dead, encircled by his friends, forego,

And save the living from a fiercer foe.

Unhelp'd we stand, unequal to engage

The force of Hector, and Æneas' rage:

Yet mighty as they are, my force to prove

Is only mine: the event belongs to Jove."

He spoke, and high the sounding javelin flung,

Which pass'd the shield of Aretus the young:

It pierced his belt, emboss'd with curious art,

Then in the lower belly struck the dart.

As when a ponderous axe, descending full,

Cleaves the broad forehead of some brawny bull:(249)

Struck 'twixt the horns, he springs with many a bound,

Then tumbling rolls enormous on the ground:

Thus fell the youth; the air his soul received,

And the spear trembled as his entrails heaved.

Now at Automedon the Trojan foe

Discharged his lance; the meditated blow,

Stooping, he shunn'd; the javelin idly fled,

And hiss'd innoxious o'er the hero's head;

Deep rooted in the ground, the forceful spear

In long vibrations spent its fury there.

With clashing falchions now the chiefs had closed,

But each brave Ajax heard, and interposed;

650

The Iliad of Homer