ector.

All had then been lost and no help for it, and the Achaeans would have
fled pell-mell to their ships, had not Ulysses cried out to Diomed,
"Son of Tydeus, what has happened to us that we thus forget our
prowess? Come, my good fellow, stand by my side and help me, we shall
be shamed for ever if Hector takes the ships."

And Diomed answered, "Come what may, I will stand firm; but we shall
have scant joy of it, for Jove is minded to give victory to the Trojans
rather than to us."

With these words he struck Thymbraeus from his chariot to the ground,
smiting him in the left breast with his spear, while Ulysses killed
Molion who was his squire. These they let lie, now that they had
stopped their fighting; the two heroes then went on playing havoc with
the foe, like two wild boars that turn in fury and rend the hounds that
hunt them. Thus did they turn upon the Trojans and slay them, and the
Achaeans were thankful to have breathing time in their flight from
Hector.

They then took two princes with their chariot, the two sons of Merops
of Percote, who excelled all others in the arts of divination. He had
forbidden his sons to go to the war, but they would not obey him, for
fate lured them to their fall. Diomed son of Tydeus slew them both and
stripped them of their armour, while Ulysses killed Hippodamus and
Hypeirochus.

And now the son of Saturn as he looked down from Ida ordained that
neither side should have the advantage, and they kept on killing one
another. The son of Tydeus speared Agastrophus son of Paeon in the
hip-joint with his spear. His chariot was not at hand for him to fly
with, so blindly confident had he been. His squire was in charge of it
at some distance and he was fighting on foot among the foremost until
he lost his life. Hector soon marked the havoc Diomed and Ulysses were
making, and bore down upon them with a loud cry, followed by the Trojan
ranks; brave Diomed was dismayed when he saw them, and said to Ulysses
who was beside him, "Great Hector is bearing down upon us and we shall
be undone; let us stand firm and wait his onset."

He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it, nor did he miss his
mark. He had aimed at Hector's head near the top of his helmet, but
bronze was turned by bronze, and Hector was untouched, for the spear
was stayed by the visored helm made with three plates of metal, which
Phoebus Apollo had given him. Hector sprang back with a great bound
under cover of the