Homer, Iliad

Then had neither Idomeneus the heart to abide, nor Agamemnon, nor yet the Aiantes twain, squires of Ares; [80] only Nestor of Gerenia abode, the warder of the Achaeans, and he nowise of his own will, but his horse was sore wounded, seeing goodly Alexander, lord of fair-haired Helen, had smitten him with an arrow upon the crown of the head where the foremost hairs of horses grow upon the skull, and where is the deadliest spot. [85] So, stung with agony the horse leapt on high as the arrow sank into his brain, and he threw into confusion horses and car as he writhed upon the bronze. And while the old man sprang forth and with his sword was cutting away the traces, meanwhile the swift horses of Hector came on through the tumult, bearing a bold charioteer, [90] even Hector. And now would the old man here have lost his life, had not Diomedes, good at the war-cry, been quick to see; and he shouted with a terrible shout, urging on Odysseus:“Zeus-born son of Laërtes, Odysseus of many wiles, whither fleest thou with thy back turned, like a coward in the throng? [95] Let it not be that as thou fleest some man plant his spear in thy back. Nay, hold thy ground, that we may thrust back from old Nestor this wild warrior.” So spake he, howbeit the much-enduring goodly Odysseus heard him not,¹ but hasted by to the hollow ships of the Achaeans. But the son of Tydeus, alone though he was, mingled with the foremost fighters, [100] and took his stand before the horses of the old man, Neleus' son, and spake and addressed him with winged words:“Old sir, of a surety young warriors press thee sore; whereas thy might is broken and grievous old age attends thee, and thy squire is a weakling and thy horses slow. [105] Nay, come, mount upon my car, that thou mayest see of what sort are the horses of Tros, well skilled to course fleetly hither and thither over the plain whether in pursuit or in flight, even those that once I took from Aeneas, devisers of rout. Thy horses shall our two squires tend, but these twain [110] shall thou and I drive straight against the horse-taming Trojans, that Hector too may know whether my spear also rageth in my hands.”