his strong hand; and the point went quite through his soft
neck. And falling, he made a crash, and his armour rang upon him. And
his locks, like unto the Graces, were bedewed with blood, and his curls,
which were bound with gold and silver. And as a man rears a
widely-blooming plant of olive, fair budding, in a solitary place, where
water is wont to spring[549] up in abundance, and which the breezes of
every wind agitate, and it buds forth with a white flower; but a wind,
suddenly coming on with a mighty blast, overturns it from the furrow,
and stretches it upon the earth: so the son of Panthus, Euphorbus,
skilled in [the use of] the ashen spear, Menelaus, son of Atreus, when
he had slain [him], spoiled of his armour. As when any mountain-nurtured
lion, relying on his strength, has carried off from the pasturing herd a
heifer, which is the best; but first he breaks its neck, seizing it in
his strong teeth, and then tearing it in pieces, laps up the blood and
all the entrails; whilst around him dogs and herdsmen shout very
frequently from a distance, nor do they wish to go against him, for pale
fear violently seizes them: thus the soul of no one within his breast
dared to advance against glorious Menelaus. Then indeed the son of
Atreus had easily borne off the celebrated arms of the son of Panthus,
had not Phoebus Apollo envied him, who immediately aroused Hector, equal
to fleet Mars, against him, assimilating himself to the hero Mentes,
leader of the Cicones; and addressing him, he spoke winged words:

"Hector, now indeed thou art thus running, pursuing things not to be
overtaken, the steeds of warlike Achilles; they indeed are difficult to
be managed by mortal men, or to be driven by any other. than Achilles,
whom an immortal mother bore. In the meanwhile Menelaus, the warlike son
of Atreus, protecting Patroclus, has slain the bravest of the Trojans,
Euphorbus, the son of Panthus, and made him cease from impetuous
valour."

[Footnote 549: This perfect has much the same usage as [Greek:
epenenothe], 219.]

Thus having spoken, the god on his part again departed into the labour
of the men; but heavy grief oppressed Hector as to his dark soul. Then,
indeed, he looked around through the ranks, and immediately observed the
one bearing away the famous armour, and the other lying upon the ground;
and the blood flowed through the inflicted wound. But he advanced
through the foremost warriors, armed in shining brass, shr