foe furiously over
the plain, slaying both men and horses.

Hector did not yet know what Ajax was doing, for he was fighting on the
extreme left of the battle by the banks of the river Scamander, where
the carnage was thickest and the war-cry loudest round Nestor and brave
Idomeneus. Among these Hector was making great slaughter with his spear
and furious driving, and was destroying the ranks that were opposed to
him; still the Achaeans would have given no ground, had not Alexandrus
husband of lovely Helen stayed the prowess of Machaon, shepherd of his
people, by wounding him in the right shoulder with a triple-barbed
arrow. The Achaeans were in great fear that as the fight had turned
against them the Trojans might take him prisoner, and Idomeneus said to
Nestor, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, mount your
chariot at once; take Machaon with you and drive your horses to the
ships as fast as you can. A physician is worth more than several other
men put together, for he can cut out arrows and spread healing herbs."

Nestor knight of Gerene did as Idomeneus had counselled; he at once
mounted his chariot, and Machaon son of the famed physician
Aesculapius, went with him. He lashed his horses and they flew onward
nothing loth towards the ships, as though of their own free will.

Then Cebriones seeing the Trojans in confusion said to Hector from his
place beside him, "Hector, here are we two fighting on the extreme wing
of the battle, while the other Trojans are in pell-mell rout, they and
their horses. Ajax son of Telamon is driving them before him; I know
him by the breadth of his shield: let us turn our chariot and horses
thither, where horse and foot are fighting most desperately, and where
the cry of battle is loudest."

With this he lashed his goodly steeds, and when they felt the whip they
drew the chariot full speed among the Achaeans and Trojans, over the
bodies and shields of those that had fallen: the axle was bespattered
with blood, and the rail round the car was covered with splashes both
from the horses' hoofs and from the tyres of the wheels. Hector tore
his way through and flung himself into the thick of the fight, and his
presence threw the Danaans into confusion, for his spear was not long
idle; nevertheless though he went among the ranks with sword and spear,
and throwing great stones, he avoided Ajax son of Telamon, for Jove
would have been angry with him if he had fought a better man t