The two then made towards him to strip him of his armour, but Hector called on all his brothers for help, and he especially upbraided brave Melanippus son of Hiketaon, who erewhile used to pasture his herds of cattle in Percote before the war broke out; but when the ships of the Danaans came, he went back to Ilius, where he was eminent among the Trojans, and lived near Priam who treated him as one of his own sons.

Hector now rebuked him and said, "Why, Melanippus, are we thus remiss?
do you take no note of the death of your kinsman, and do you not see how they are trying to take Dolops's armour?
Follow me; there must be no fighting the Argives from a distance now, but we must do so in close combat till either we kill them or they take the high wall of Ilius and slay her people." He led on as he spoke, and the hero Melanippus followed after.
Meanwhile Ajax son of Telamon was cheering on the Argives.

"My friends," he cried, "be men, and fear dishonour; quit yourselves in battle so as to win respect from one another.

Men who respect each other's good opinion are less likely to be killed than those who do not, but in flight there is neither gain nor glory." Thus did he exhort men who were already bent upon driving back the Trojans.

They laid his words to heart and hedged the ships as with a wall of bronze, while Jove urged on the Trojans.