team-mate

Prefiguring Peleides to come,
brave Diomedes drove the Trojans back,
in shining gold, a blazing earth-bound sun
against a battlefield in red, and black.
Onlookers are excused if they mistook
this apparition for Apollo's face.
But less than halfway through this epic book,
apotheosis would be out of place.
This mortal hero--not the super sort--
can't hold a candle to the sea nymph's son.
His aristeia's glorious, but short
his wad's been shot before the climax comes.
Last bulwark when Achilles quit the game,
but only specialists still know his name.