as he did so. Then he sprang on to his chariot and bade the
charioteer drive him to the ships, for he was sick at heart.

Ulysses was now alone; not one of the Argives stood by him, for they
were all panic-stricken. "Alas," said he to himself in his dismay,
"what will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly before these odds,
but it will be worse if I am left alone and taken prisoner, for the son
of Saturn has struck the rest of the Danaans with panic. But why talk
to myself in this way? Well do I know that though cowards quit the
field, a hero, whether he wound or be wounded, must stand firm and hold
his own."

While he was thus in two minds, the ranks of the Trojans advanced and
hemmed him in, and bitterly did they come to rue it. As hounds and
lusty youths set upon a wild boar that sallies from his lair whetting
his white tusks--they attack him from every side and can hear the
gnashing of his jaws, but for all his fierceness they still hold their
ground--even so furiously did the Trojans attack Ulysses. First he
sprang spear in hand upon Deiopites and wounded him on the shoulder
with a downward blow; then he killed Thoon and Ennomus. After these he
struck Chersidamas in the loins under his shield as he had just sprung
down from his chariot; so he fell in the dust and clutched the earth in
the hollow of his hand. These he let lie, and went on to wound Charops
son of Hippasus own brother to noble Socus. Socus, hero that he was,
made all speed to help him, and when he was close to Ulysses he said,
"Far-famed Ulysses, insatiable of craft and toil, this day you shall
either boast of having killed both the sons of Hippasus and stripped
them of their armour, or you shall fall before my spear."

With these words he struck the shield of Ulysses. The spear went
through the shield and passed on through his richly wrought cuirass,
tearing the flesh from his side, but Pallas Minerva did not suffer it
to pierce the entrails of the hero. Ulysses knew that his hour was not
yet come, but he gave ground and said to Socus, "Wretch, you shall now
surely die. You have stayed me from fighting further with the Trojans,
but you shall now fall by my spear, yielding glory to myself, and your
soul to Hades of the noble steeds."

Socus had turned in flight, but as he did so, the spear struck him in
the back midway between the shoulders, and went right through his
chest. He fell heavily to the ground and Ulysses vaunted over him
saying, "O