By godlike Paris, fair-hair’d Helen’s lord:
Just on the crown, where close behind the head
First springs the mane, the deadliest spot of all,
The arrow struck him; madden’d with the pain
He rear’d, then plunging forward, with the shaft
Fix’d in his brain, and rolling in the dust,
The other steeds in dire confusion threw.[[131]]
[131]. Iliad, viii. 80-86 (Lord Derby’s trans.).
The most vulnerable point is here pointed out with anatomical correctness.[[132]] Exactly where the mane begins, the bony shield of the skull comes to an end, and the route to the brain, especially to a dart coming, like that of Paris, from behind, lies comparatively open. The sudden upspringing of the death-smitten creature, followed by his struggle on the ground, is also perfectly true to nature, and suggests personal observation of the occurrence described.
[132]. Buchholz, Homer. Realien, Bd. i. Abth. ii. p. 175.