ranks; he fell on his knees and propped himself with
his brawny hand leaning on the ground, for darkness had fallen on his
eyes. The son of Tydeus having thrown his spear dashed in among the
foremost fighters, to the place where he had seen it strike the ground;
meanwhile Hector recovered himself and springing back into his chariot
mingled with the crowd, by which means he saved his life. But Diomed
made at him with his spear and said, "Dog, you have again got away
though death was close on your heels. Phoebus Apollo, to whom I ween
you pray ere you go into battle, has again saved you, nevertheless I
will meet you and make an end of you hereafter, if there is any god who
will stand by me too and be my helper. For the present I must pursue
those I can lay hands on."

As he spoke he began stripping the spoils from the son of Paeon, but
Alexandrus husband of lovely Helen aimed an arrow at him, leaning
against a pillar of the monument which men had raised to Ilus son of
Dardanus, a ruler in days of old. Diomed had taken the cuirass from off
the breast of Agastrophus, his heavy helmet also, and the shield from
off his shoulders, when Paris drew his bow and let fly an arrow that
sped not from his hand in vain, but pierced the flat of Diomed's right
foot, going right through it and fixing itself in the ground. Thereon
Paris with a hearty laugh sprang forward from his hiding-place, and
taunted him saying, "You are wounded--my arrow has not been shot in
vain; would that it had hit you in the belly and killed you, for thus
the Trojans, who fear you as goats fear a lion, would have had a truce
from evil."

Diomed all undaunted answered, "Archer, you who without your bow are
nothing, slanderer and seducer, if you were to be tried in single
combat fighting in full armour, your bow and your arrows would serve
you in little stead. Vain is your boast in that you have scratched the
sole of my foot. I care no more than if a girl or some silly boy had
hit me. A worthless coward can inflict but a light wound; when I wound
a man though I but graze his skin it is another matter, for my weapon
will lay him low. His wife will tear her cheeks for grief and his
children will be fatherless: there will he rot, reddening the earth
with his blood, and vultures, not women, will gather round him."

Thus he spoke, but Ulysses came up and stood over him. Under this cover
he sat down to draw the arrow from his foot, and sharp was the pain he
suffered