Little did they know that at the gates they should find two of the bravest chieftains, proud sons of the fighting Lapithae--the one, Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, and the other Leonteus, peer of murderous Mars.

These stood before the gates like two high oak trees upon the mountains, that tower from their wide-spreading roots, and year after year battle with wind and rain--even so did these two men await the onset of great Asius confidently and without flinching.

The Trojans led by him and by Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son of Asius, Thoon and Oenomaus, raised a loud cry of battle and made straight for the wall, holding their shields of dry ox-hide above their heads; for a while the two defenders remained inside and cheered the Achaeans on to stand firm in the defence of their ships; when, however, they saw that the Trojans were attacking the wall, while the Danaans were crying out for help and being routed, they rushed outside and fought in front of the gates like two wild boars upon the mountains that abide the attack of men and dogs, and charging on either side break down the wood all round them tearing it up by the roots, and one can hear the clattering of their tusks, till some one hits them and makes an end of them--even so did the gleaming bronze rattle about their breasts, as the weapons fell upon them; for they fought with great fury, trusting to their own prowess and to those who were on the wall above them.

These threw great stones at their assailants in defence of themselves their tents and their ships.

The stones fell thick as the flakes of snow which some fierce blast drives from the dark clouds and showers down in sheets upon the earth--even so fell the weapons from the hands alike of Trojans and Achaeans.