Book XI

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The fortune of battle now turned in favor of the men of Troy. Nine warrior princes of the Greeks were struck down, one after another, by the sword of Hector. The brave Diomede, wounded by an arrow from the bow of Paris, was obliged to retire to his tent. A spear hurled by the Trojan chief, Soʹcus, pierced the corselet of Ulysses, and wounded him in the side. But the Trojan did not long survive this exploit, for as he turned to flee, Ulysses sent a javelin through his body, felling him lifeless to the earth. A serious misfortune had almost happened to the Greeks at the hand of Paris, who shot a triple barbed arrow at the hero and physician, Machaon, wounding him in the shoulder. The life of the great son of Æsculapius being worth many men, Idomeneus cried to Nestor to come and take him away in his chariot.

"Haste, mount thy chariot; let Machaon take A place beside thee; urge thy firm-paced steeds Rapidly toward the fleet; a leech like him, Who cuts the arrow from the wound and soothes The pain with balms, is worth a host to us."

BRYANT, _Iliad_,