previous next
Then Idomeneus, albeit his hair was flecked with grey, called to the Danaans, and leaping amid the Trojans turned them to flight. For he slew Othryoneus of Cabesus, a sojourner in Troy, that was but newly come following the rumour of war; [365] and he asked in marriage the comeliest of the daughters of Priam, even Cassandra; he brought no gifts of wooing, but promised a mighty deed, that he would drive forth perforce out of Troy-land the sons of Achaeans. To him the old man Priam promised that he would give her, and bowed his head thereto, and Othryoneus fought, trusting in his promise. [370] But Idomeneus aimed at him with his bright spear, and cast and smote him as he strode proudly on, nor did the corselet of bronze that he wore avail him, but the spear was fixed full in his belly, and he fell with a thud and Idomeneus exulted over him and spake, saying:“Othryoneus, verily above all mortal men do I count thee happy, [375] if in good sooth thou shalt accomplish all that thou didst promise to Dardanian Priam; and he promised thee his own daughter. Aye, and we too would promise the like and would bring all to pass, and would give thee the comeliest of the daughters of the son of Atreus, bringing her forth from Argos that thou mightest wed her; [380] if only thou wilt make cause with us and sack the well-peopled city of Ilios. Nay, follow with us, that at the seafaring ships we may make agreement about the marriage, for thou mayest be sure we deal not hardly in exacting gifts of wooing.” So saying, the warrior Idomeneus dragged him by the foot through the mighty conflict. But Asius came to bear aid to Othryoneus, [385] on foot in front of his horses; and these twain the squire that was his charioteer ever drave so that their breath smote upon the shoulders of Asius. And he was ever fain of heart to cast at Idomeneus; but the other was too quick for him, and smote him with a cast of his spear on the throat beneath the chin, and drave the bronze clean through. And he fell as an oak falls, or a poplar, [390] or a tall pine that among the mountains shipwrights fell with whetted axes to be a ship's timber; even so before his horses and chariot Asius lay out-stretched, moaning aloud and clutching at the bloody dust. And the charioteer, stricken with terror, kept not the wits that afore he had, [395] neither dared turn the horses back and so escape from out the hands of the foemen; but Antilochus, staunch in fight, aimed at him, and pierced him through the middle with his spear, nor did the corselet of bronze that he wore avail him, but he fixed the spear full in his belly. And gasping he fell from out his well-built car, [400] and the horses Antilochus, son of great-souled Nestor, drave forth from the Trojans into the host of the well-greaved Achaeans.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide References (5 total)
  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886), 1.277
  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), DOS
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (3):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: