ables, but he gave the other two to Aeneas. We shall
win great glory if we can take them."

Thus did they converse, but the other two had now driven close up to
them, and the son of Lycaon spoke first. "Great and mighty son," said
he, "of noble Tydeus, my arrow failed to lay you low, so I will now try
with my spear."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it from him. It struck the
shield of the son of Tydeus; the bronze point pierced it and passed on
till it reached the breastplate. Thereon the son of Lycaon shouted out
and said, "You are hit clean through the belly; you will not stand out
for long, and the glory of the fight is mine."

But Diomed all undismayed made answer, "You have missed, not hit, and
before you two see the end of this matter one or other of you shall
glut tough-shielded Mars with his blood."

With this he hurled his spear, and Minerva guided it on to Pandarus's
nose near the eye. It went crashing in among his white teeth; the
bronze point cut through the root of his tongue, coming out under his
chin, and his glistening armour rang rattling round him as he fell
heavily to the ground. The horses started aside for fear, and he was
reft of life and strength.

Aeneas sprang from his chariot armed with shield and spear, fearing
lest the Achaeans should carry off the body. He bestrode it as a lion
in the pride of strength, with shield and spear before him and a cry of
battle on his lips resolute to kill the first that should dare face
him. But the son of Tydeus caught up a mighty stone, so huge and great
that as men now are it would take two to lift it; nevertheless he bore
it aloft with ease unaided, and with this he struck Aeneas on the groin
where the hip turns in the joint that is called the "cup-bone." The
stone crushed this joint, and broke both the sinews, while its jagged
edges tore away all the flesh. The hero fell on his knees, and propped
himself with his hand resting on the ground till the darkness of night
fell upon his eyes. And now Aeneas, king of men, would have perished
then and there, had not his mother, Jove's daughter Venus, who had
conceived him by Anchises when he was herding cattle, been quick to
mark, and thrown her two white arms about the body of her dear son. She
protected him by covering him with a fold of her own fair garment, lest
some Danaan should drive a spear into his breast and kill him.

Thus, then, did she bear her dear son out of the fight. But the son of