ing wound, and said, "This
is the hand, this the lance, with which I conquered but now. The same
will I use against him; in his {case}, I pray that the event may prove
the same." Thus he said, and he hurled it at Cygnus, nor did the ashen
lance miss him; and, not escaped {by him}, it resounded on his left
shoulder: thence it was repelled, as though by a wall, or a solid rock.
Yet Achilles saw Cygnus marked with blood, where he had been struck, and
he rejoiced, {but in} vain. There was no wound; that was the blood of
Menoetes.

Then indeed, raging, he leaps headlong from his lofty chariot, and hand
to hand, with his gleaming sword striking at his fearless foe, he
perceives that the shield and the helmet are pierced with his sword, and
that his weapon, too, is blunted upon his hard body. He endures it no
longer; and drawing back his shield, he three or four times strikes the
face of the hero, and his hollow temples, with the hilt of the sword;
and following, he presses onward as the other gives ground, and
confounds him, and drives him on, and gives him no respite in his
confusion. Horror seizes on him, and darkness swims before his eyes; and
as he moves backwards his retreating steps, a stone in the middle of the
field stands in his way. Impelled over this, with his breast upwards,
Achilles throws Cygnus with great violence, and dashes him[16] to the
earth. Then, pressing down his breast with his shield and his hard
knees, he draws tight the straps of his helmet; which, fastened beneath
his pressed chin, squeeze close his throat, and take away his
respiration and the passage of his breath.

He is preparing to strip his vanquished {foe}; he sees {nothing but} his
armour, left behind. The God of the Ocean changed his body into a white
bird, of which he {so} lately bore the name.

[Footnote 1: _Unavailing offerings._--Ver. 3. 'Inferias inanes' is
a poetical expression, signifying the offering sacrifices of
honey, milk, wine, blood, flowers, frankincense, and other things,
at a tomb, which was empty or honorary. The Greeks called these
kind of sacrifices by the name of +choai+.]

[Footnote 2: _A ravished wife._--Ver. 5. This was Helen, the wife
of Menelaues, whose abduction by Paris was the cause of the Trojan
war.]

[Footnote 3: _A thousand ships._--Ver. 7. That is, a thousand in
round numbers. For Homer makes them, 1186; Dictys Cretensis, 1225;
and Dares, 1140.]

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