Meanwhile Ajax sprang on him and pierced his shield, but the spear did not go clean through, though it hustled him back that he could come on no further.

He therefore retired a little space from the battlement, yet without losing all his ground, for he still thought to cover himself with glory.

Then he turned round and shouted to the brave Lycians saying, "Lycians, why do you thus fail me?
For all my prowess I cannot break through the wall and open a way to the ships single-handed.

Come close on behind me, for the more there are of us the better." The Lycians, shamed by his rebuke, pressed closer round him who was their counsellor and their king.

The Argives on their part got their men in fighting order within the wall, and there was a deadly struggle between them.