The third time they
recognized one another, and at once drew their daggers and rode
together with loud shouts of defiance. With their reins flowing loose
they drove their horses against one another like two triremes, and
each clutched at the other as he passed, so that each tore the helmet
from the other's head, and burst the fastenings of the corslet upon
his shoulder. Both fell from their horses, and wrestled together in
deadly strife on the ground. As Neoptolemus strove to rise, Eumenes
struck him behind the knee, and leaped upon his own feet, but
Neoptolemus rested upon his other knee, and continued the fight until
he received a mortal stab in the neck. Eumenes through the mortal hate
which he bore him at once fell to stripping him of his armour and
abusing him, forgetting that he was still alive. He received a slight
stab in the groin, but the wound frightened Eumenes more than it hurt
him, as the hand that dealt it was almost powerless. Yet when Eumenes
had finished despoiling the corpse he found that he was severely cut
about the arms and thighs, in spite of which he remounted his horse,
and rode to the other side of the battle-field, where he thought the
enemy might still be offering resistance. Here he heard of the death
of Kraterus, and rode up to where he lay. Finding that he was still
alive and conscious, Eumenes dismounted, and with tears and
protestations of friendship cursed Neoptolemus and lamented his hard
fate, which had forced him either to kill his old friend and comrade
or to perish at his hands.
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