Seba.Health

The Iliad 5.133–147

The Iliad 5.133–147
and though afore his heart had been eager to do battle with the Trojans, now verily did fury thrice so great lay hold upon him, even as upon a lion that a shepherd in the field, guarding his fleecy sheep, hath wounded as he leapt over the wall of the sheep-fold, but hath not vanquished; his might hath he roused, but thereafter maketh no more defence, but slinketh amid the farm buildings, and the flock all unprotected is driven in rout, and the sheep are strewn in heaps, each hard by each, but the lion in his fury leapeth forth from the high fold; even in such fury did mighty Diomedes mingle with the Trojans. Then slew he Astynous and Hypeiron, shepherd of the host; the one he smote above the nipple with a cast of his bronze-shod spear, and the other he struck with his great sword upon the collar-bone beside the shoulder, and shore off the shoulder from the neck and from the back. These then he let be, but went his way in pursuit of Abas and Polyidus, sons of the old man Eurydamas, the reader of dreams;
μὲν ἄρʼ ὣς εἰποῦσʼ ἀπέβη γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη, Τυδεΐδης δʼ ἐξαῦτις ἰὼν προμάχοισιν ἐμίχθη καὶ πρίν περ θυμῷ μεμαὼς Τρώεσσι μάχεσθαι· δὴ τότε μιν τρὶς τόσσον ἕλεν μένος ὥς τε λέοντα ὅν ῥά τε ποιμὴν ἀγρῷ ἐπʼ εἰροπόκοις ὀΐεσσι χραύσῃ μέν τʼ αὐλῆς ὑπεράλμενον οὐδὲ δαμάσσῃ· τοῦ μέν τε σθένος ὦρσεν, ἔπειτα δέ τʼ οὐ προσαμύνει, ἀλλὰ κατὰ σταθμοὺς δύεται, τὰ δʼ ἐρῆμα φοβεῖται· αἳ μέν τʼ ἀγχιστῖναι ἐπʼ ἀλλήλῃσι κέχυνται, αὐτὰρ ἐμμεμαὼς βαθέης ἐξάλλεται αὐλῆς· ὣς μεμαὼς Τρώεσσι μίγη κρατερὸς Διομήδης. ἔνθʼ ἕλεν Ἀστύνοον καὶ Ὑπείρονα ποιμένα λαῶν, τὸν μὲν ὑπὲρ μαζοῖο βαλὼν χαλκήρεϊ δουρί, τὸν δʼ ἕτερον ξίφεϊ μεγάλῳ κληῗδα παρʼ ὦμον πλῆξʼ, ἀπὸ δʼ αὐχένος ὦμον ἐέργαθεν ἠδʼ ἀπὸ νώτου.
Lattimore commentary
The “shepherd of the people,” a common phrase, here picks up on the immediately preceding image (Diomedes as a lion grazed by a shepherd’s throw) and recalls earlier comparisons of Trojans to sheep (e. g., 4.433).
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