Yet only the one ancient vase shows Troilus as a warrior falling in a conventional battle. Dares In Dares, Troilus is the youngest of Priam's royal sons, bellicose when peace or truces are suggested and the equal of Hector in bravery, "large and most beautiful... brave and strong for his age, and eager for glory."<ref>Dares, De excidio Trojae Historia, 12.</ref> He slaughters many Greeks, wounds Achilles and Menelaus, routs the Myrmidons more than once before his horse falls and traps him and Achilles takes the opportunity to put an end to his life. Memnon rescues the body, something that didn't happen in many later versions of the tale. Troilus' death comes near the end of the war not at its beginning. He now outlives Hector and succeeds him as the Trojans' great leader in battle. Now it is in reaction to Troilus's death that Hecuba plots Achilles' murder. As the tradition of Troilus the warrior advances through time, the weaponry and the form of combat change. Already in Dares he is a mounted warrior, not a charioteer or foot warrior, something anachronistic to epic narrative. In later versions he is a knight with armour appropriate to the time of writing who fights against other knights and dukes. His expected conduct, including his romance, conforms to courtly or other values contemporary to the writing. Description in medieval texts The medieval texts follow Dares' structuring of the narrative in describing Troilus after his parents and four royal brothers Hector, Paris, Deiphobus and Helenus. Joseph of Exeter, in his Daretis Phrygii Ilias De bello Troiano (The Iliad of Dares the Phrygian on the Trojan War), describes the character as follows: The limbs of Troilus expand and fill his space. In mind a giant, though a boy in years, he yields to none in daring deeds with strength in all his parts his greater glory shines throughout his countenance. Benoît de Sainte-Maure's description in Le Roman de Troie (The Romance of Troy) is too long to quote in full, but influenced the descriptions that follow. Benoît goes into details of character and facial appearance avoided by other writers. He tells that Troilus was "the fairest of the youths of Troy" with: fair hair, very charming and naturally shining, eyes bright and full of gaiety... He was not insolent or haughty, but light of heart and gay and amorous. Well was he loved, and well