ave comrade of Ulysses, in the groin, as he was dragging
the body of Simoeisius over to the other side; so he fell upon the body
and loosed his hold upon it. Ulysses was furious when he saw Leucus
slain, and strode in full armour through the front ranks till he was
quite close; then he glared round about him and took aim, and the
Trojans fell back as he did so. His dart was not sped in vain, for it
struck Democoon, the bastard son of Priam, who had come to him from
Abydos, where he had charge of his father's mares. Ulysses, infuriated
by the death of his comrade, hit him with his spear on one temple, and
the bronze point came through on the other side of his forehead.
Thereon darkness veiled his eyes, and his armour rang rattling round
him as he fell heavily to the ground. Hector, and they that were in
front, then gave round while the Argives raised a shout and drew off
the dead, pressing further forward as they did so. But Apollo looked
down from Pergamus and called aloud to the Trojans, for he was
displeased. "Trojans," he cried, "rush on the foe, and do not let
yourselves be thus beaten by the Argives. Their skins are not stone nor
iron that when hit them you do them no harm. Moreover, Achilles, the
son of lovely Thetis, is not fighting, but is nursing his anger at the
ships."

Thus spoke the mighty god, crying to them from the city, while Jove's
redoubtable daughter, the Trito-born, went about among the host of the
Achaeans, and urged them forward whenever she beheld them slackening.

Then fate fell upon Diores, son of Amarynceus, for he was struck by a
jagged stone near the ancle of his right leg. He that hurled it was
Peirous, son of Imbrasus, captain of the Thracians, who had come from
Aenus; the bones and both the tendons were crushed by the pitiless
stone. He fell to the ground on his back, and in his death throes
stretched out his hands towards his comrades. But Peirous, who had
wounded him, sprang on him and thrust a spear into his belly, so that
his bowels came gushing out upon the ground, and darkness veiled his
eyes. As he was leaving the body, Thoas of Aetolia struck him in the
chest near the nipple, and the point fixed itself in his lungs. Thoas
came close up to him, pulled the spear out of his chest, and then
drawing his sword, smote him in the middle of the belly so that he
died; but he did not strip him of his armour, for his Thracian
comrades, men who wear their hair in a tuft at the top of their he