the Destruction of Troy. 11
gain renewed the battle, and fought like a. man in despair, till at length Hercules broke in upon the royal standard making incredible slaughter of the Trojans, and laying hold of it, pulled it in pieces with, mighty strength of hand, and whilst king Leomedon laboured to defend it he struck him upon the helmet so strong a blow, that crushed it in pieces with his skull, and he fell from his horse dead to the ground.
Upon the loss of the standard, and the death of their king, the Trojans fainted, and were over-borne in multitudes, such as could, retiring wich great cries into the city, putting all into confusion, the ladies running up and down the streets with disheveled hair, beating their breasts and wounding their beautiful faces in a piteous manner ; so that in this confusion the Creeks entering with them. Telamon Ajax br.ng the first, and Hercules the second, a miserable slaughter ensued, insomuch that the streets flowed with blood. After this, they seized all the king’s treasury, and all the riches of the city, took Exione the king’s daughter, and gave her to Telamon to wife, fired the palace and buildings, beat- ing down the walls and towers, so that they left not one stone upon another, as Hercules before had threatened. And thus was the famous city of Troy the second time destroyed by the Greeks, under the
leading
