ns slay any of them with their spears, although
desirous, but drew off the body. But the Greeks were about to be absent
from him a very short while, for very quickly did Ajax rally them, who,
next to the renowned son of Peleus, excelled the other Greeks in beauty
and in deeds. And he broke through the front ranks, resembling a wild
boar in strength, which amongst the mountains easily disperses the dogs
and blooming youths through the woods, turning to bay; so the son of
illustrious Telamon, noble Ajax, having made the attack, easily routed
the phalanxes of the Trojans who had surrounded Patroclus, and mostly
expected to drag him to their city, and bear away glory. Meanwhile
Hippothous, the illustrious son of Pelasgian Lethus, was dragging him by
the foot through the violent conflict, having bound him with a strap at
the ancle round the tendons, gratifying Hector and the Trojans. But soon
came evil upon him, which no one, even of those desiring it, averted
from him. Him the son of Telamon, rushing through the crowd, smote in
close fight through the brazen-cheeked helmet. The horse-haired helmet
was cleft by the point of the weapon, stricken by the great spear and
strong hand; and the brain, bloody, gushed out of the wound at the cone
of the helmet;[556] and his strength was there relaxed. Then he let fall
from his hands the foot of magnanimous Patroclus, to lie upon the earth,
and near him he himself fell, prone upon the dead body, far away from
fertile Larissa: nor did he repay the debt of nourishment to his beloved
parents, for his life was short, subdued by the spear of magnanimous
Ajax. But Hector again aimed at Ajax with his shining spear; he,
however, seeing it opposite, avoided the brazen spear by a little; but
he struck Schedius, the magnanimous son of Iphitus, by far the bravest
of the Phoceans, who inhabited dwellings in renowned Panopeus, ruling
over many men. Him he smote under the middle of the clavicle, and the
brazen point of the weapon went quite through, near the extremity of the
shoulder. Falling, he made a crash, and his arms rang upon him. Then
Ajax again smote warlike Phorcys, the son of Phaenops, in the middle of
the belly, while defending Hippothous. And he broke the cavity of the
corslet, and the brazen weapon drank his entrails through; and falling
in the dust, he seized the earth with the palm of his hand. The foremost
warriors and illustrious Hector retreated; but the Greeks shouted
loudly, and d