Helmet and shield rang out as the great stones rained upon them, and Asius, the son of Hyrtacus, in his dismay cried aloud and smote his two thighs.

"Father Jove," he cried, "of a truth you too are altogether given to lying.

I made sure the Argive heroes could not withstand us, whereas like slim-waisted wasps, or bees that have their nests in the rocks by the wayside--they leave not the holes wherein they have built undefended, but fight for their little ones against all who would take them--even so these men, though they be but two, will not be driven from the gates, but stand firm either to slay or be slain." He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then was to give glory to Hector.

Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were fighting about the other gates; I, however, am no god to be able to tell about all these things, for the battle raged everywhere about the stone wall as it were a fiery furnace.

The Argives, discomfited though they were, were forced to defend their ships, and all the gods who were defending the Achaeans were vexed in spirit; but the Lapithae kept on fighting with might and main.
Thereon Polypoetes, mighty son of Pirithous, hit Damasus with a spear upon his cheek-pierced helmet.