ὡς δ' ὅτε τίς τε λέων ὀρεσίτροφος ἀλκὶ πεποιθὼς,
βοσκομένης ἀγέλης βοῦν ἁρπάσῃ ἥ τις ἀρίστη.
τῆς δ' ἐξ αὐχέν' ἔαξε λαβὼν κρατεροῖσιν ὀδοῦσι
πρῶτον. ἔπειτα δέ θ' αἷμα καὶ ἔγκατα πάντα λαφύσσει
δῃῶν: ἀμφὶ δὲ τόν γε κύνες ἄνδρές τε νομῆες
πολλὰ μάλ’ ϊύζουσιν ἀπόπροθεν οὐδ' ἐθέλουσιν
ἀντίον ἐλθέμεναι μάλα γὰρ χλωρὸν δέος αιρεῖ.
ὣς τῶν οὔ τινι θυμὸς ἐνι στήθεσσιν ἐτόλμα
ἀντίον ἐλθέμεναι Μενελάου κυδαλίμοιο:
ἔνθά κε ῥεῖα φέροι κλυτὰ τεύχεα Πανθοίδαο
Ἀτρείδης, εἰ μή οἱ ἀγάσσατο Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων:
ὅς ῥά οἱ Ἕκτορ' ἐπῶρσε θοῶ ἀτάλαντον Ἄρηϊ:
ἀνέρι εἰσάμενος, Κικόνων ἡγήτορι Μέντῃ.
καί μιν φωνήσας, ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα:
Ἕκτορ. νῦν σὺ μὲν ὧδε θέεις. ἀκίχητα διώκων
ἵππους Αἰακίδαο δαί̈φρονος: οἳ δ̀' ἀλεγεινοὶ
ἀνδράσι γε θνητοῖσι δαμήμεναι ἠδ' ὀχέεσθαι
ἄλλῳ γ'. ἢ Ἀχιλῆϊ. τὸν ἀθανάτη τέκε μήτηρ:
τόφρα δέ τοι Μενέλαος ἀρήϊος. Ἀτρέος υἱὸς.
Πατρόκλῳ περιβὰς. Τρώων τὸν ἄριστον ἔπεφνε.
Πανθοίδην Εὔφορβον. ἔπαυσε δὲ θούριδος ἀλκῆς:
And as when a mountain-nurtured lion, trusting in his might, hath seized from amid a grazing herd the heifer that is goodliest: her neck he seizeth first in his strong jaws, and breaketh it, and thereafter devoureth the blood and all the inward parts in his fury; and round about him hounds and herds-men folk clamour loudly from afar, but have no will to come against him, for pale fear taketh hold on them; even so dared not the heart in the breast of any Trojan go to face glorious Menelaus. Full easily then would Atreus' son have borne off the glorious armour of the son of Panthous, but that Phoebus Apollo begrudged it him, and in the likeness of a man, even of Mentes, leader of the Cicones, aroused against him Hector, the peer of swift Ares. And he spake and addressed him in winged words: "Hector, now art thou hasting thus vainly after what thou mayest not attain, even the horses of the wise-hearted son of Aeacus; but hard are they for mortal men to master or to drive, save only for Achilles, whom an immortal mother bare. Meanwhile hath warlike Menelaus, son of Atreus, bestridden Patroclus, and slain the best man of the Trojans, even Panthous' son, Euphorbus, and hath made him cease from his furious valour."
