Menelaus saw Deipyros fall and came against Helenos with a spear. Helenos shot him in the breastplate with an arrow, but it bounced off like beans from a winnowing shovel.
Menelaus then struck Peisandros as the man came close with axe and spear. The spear missed; the axe hit the shield boss; Menelaus drove his sword through the forehead above the nose and stripped him.
Harpalion, son of king Pylaimenes, came at Menelaus and struck his shield without piercing.
As he turned back to his friends, Meriones shot him in the right buttock; the arrow passed through under the bladder. He sank in his comrades' arms, stretched like a worm on the ground, and dark blood soaked the earth.
The Paphlagonians carried Harpalion away in sorrow, but his father could not repay death with vengeance.
Paris, angered for his host's son, shot Euchenor of Corinth, a rich seer's son who knew from his father Polyidos that he would die either by sickness at home or by Trojan hands at the ships. He chose war to avoid disease and payment, and Paris's arrow found him.
While they fought on the left, Hector still did not know that the Trojans were being cut down there. He stayed near the ships where the wall had been breached, pressing the Aiantes.
Polydamas came to him and urged counsel: the leaders were scattered, and many of the best were dead or wounded. Hector should gather them before pushing farther.
Hector answered that Polydamas had spoken well and went to find the captains. He found Paris and rebuked him, asking where Deiphobos, Helenos, Adamas, Asios, and others had gone.
Paris answered that some were dead by the ships, some wounded, but he himself had not held back. He urged Hector to lead, and they would follow.
Hector went on, bright with bronze, and the Trojans rallied around him. The Argives saw him and steadied themselves.
The lesser Aias mocked him from the line, saying a god must have driven him mad to come so close; without Zeus he would not escape. A bird sign then came for the Achaeans, and they shouted.
Hector answered that Aias spoke like a fool. He wished he were as surely the son of Zeus and Hera and honored like Athena and Apollo as this day would bring ruin to the Argives. If Aias dared stand, Hector's spear would tear his soft flesh and feed dogs and birds by the ships.
He led on, and the Trojans followed with a roar. The Achaeans shouted from their side, not forgetting courage. The cry of both armies went up to the bright air and the splendor of Zeus.