Not in my back will I receive thy spear,
But through my heart.
In putting enemies to flight he gives useful advice, not to be busied with the spoil, nor give time for flight, but to press on and pursue (I. vi. 68):—
Loiter not now behind, to throw yourselves
Upon the prey, and bear it to the ships;
Let all your aim be now to kill, then
Ye may at leisure spoil your slaughtered foe.
There are in his poetry successful deeds achieved by every age, by which every one, no matter who he may be, can be encouraged: the man in the flower of his strength by Achilles, Ajax, and Diomed; by younger ones Antilochus and Meriones; the mature by Idomeneus and Odysseus; the old men by Nestor; and every king by all of these named and by Agamemnon. Such are in Homer the examples of the discourse and action of civilized life.
Let us see now whether Homer had any familiarity with medicine. That he held the art in high regard is clear from the following (I. xi. 514):—
Worth many a life is his, the skilful leech.
Medical science appears to be the science of disease and health. That it is a science any one can learn from this (O. iv. 23):—
There each one is a leech skilled beyond all men.
That it deals with disease and health (O. iv. 230):—
Many that are healing in the cup, and many baneful,—