Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/252

Till, faint with labour, and by foes repelled,
His tired slow steps he drags along the field.
⁠Deïphobus beheld him as he passed,
And, fired with hate, a parting javelin cast:
The javelin erred, but held its course along,
And pierced Ascalaphus, the brave and young:
The son of Mars fell gasping on the ground,
And gnashed the dust all bloody with his wound.
⁠Nor knew the furious father of his fall:
High-throned amidst the great Olympian hall,
On golden clouds the immortal synod sat;
Detained from bloody war by Jove and Fate.
⁠Now, where in dust the breathless hero lay,
For slain Ascalaphus commenced the fray.
Deïphobus to seize his helmet flies,
And from his temples rends the glittering prize:
Valiant as Mars, Meriones drew near,
And on his loaded arm discharged his spear.
He drops the weight, disabled with the pain;
The hollow helmet rings against the plain.
Swift as a vulture leaping on his prey,
From his torn arm the Grecian rent away
The reeking javelin, and rejoined his friends.
His wounded brother good Polites tends;
Around his waist his pious arms he threw,
And from the rage of combat gently drew:
Him his swift coursers, on his splendid car,
Rapt from the lessening thunder of the war;
To Troy they drove him, groaning, from the shore,
And sprinkling, as he passed, the sands with gore.
⁠Meanwhile fresh slaughter bathes the sanguine ground,
Heaps fall on heaps, and heaven and earth resound.
Bold Aphareus by great Æneas bled;
As toward the chief he turned his daring head,
He pierced his throat; the bending head, depressed
Beneath his helmet, nods upon his breast;
His shield reversed o'er the fallen warrior lies;
And everlasting slumber seals his eyes.
Antilochus, as Thoön turned him round,
Transpierced his back with a dishonest wound:
The hollow vein that to the neck extends
Along the chine, his eager javelin rends:
Supine he falls, and to his social train
Spreads his imploring arms, but spreads in vain.
The exulting victor, leaping where he lay,
From his broad shoulders tore the spoils away;
His time observed; for, closed by foes around,
On all sides thick, the peals of arms resound.

His shield, embossed, the ringing storm sustains,