The Iliad
Book XVI
Thus were they fighting about the well-benched ships.
Patroklos stood by Achilles, shepherd of the people,
hot tears flowing like a stream of black water--
cloudy water pouring over a cliff's edge
so steep even the goats had deserted it.
Brilliant, swift-footed Achilles, when he saw him, took pity on him
and spoke to him with winged words:
"Why are you drenched with weeping, O Patroklos,
like a little girl
who runs to her mother's side
and begs her to lift,
grasping at her skirts, impeding her movement,
looking at her tearfully
until she take her in her arms?
You are shedding round tears, O Patroklos,
just like such a child.
Have you something to tell the Myrmidons or myself--
some message from Phthia that only you are privy to?
They say that Menoitios, Aktor's son,
and Peleus, son of Aiakos as well,
are still alive among the Myrmidons,
both of whom would bring deep sorrow had they died. 16
Or do you grieve for the Argives
because they are being slain by the hollow ships
on account of their own presumption?
Speak out, so that we both may know.
Do not keep it hidden in your mind."
Groaning heavily then, O horseman Patroklos,
you did say to him:
"O Achilles, Peleus' son, by far the very mightiest of the Achaians,
do not rebuke me,
for such is the woe that has overtaken the Achaians
that all who were before now
the very noblest of warriors
lie in the ships
wounded by arrows or stricken by spears.
The son of Tydeus, Diomedes the Mighty, is wounded;
Odysseus, famed for his javelin, lies low;
so too Agamemnon--
and Eurypolos with a dart in his thigh. 27
The healers flit about them with their remedies
attempting to temper their wounds.
But you yourself, O Achilles are incurable.
May such anger never take hold of me
as the anger that you keep watch over,
O man of deleterious valor.
How shall another,
even of generations yet to come,
have the benefit of your capacity
if you fail to avert
ignominious ruin from the Argives?
Pitiless person--
apparently your father was not the horseman Peleus,
nor Thetis your mother,
but the gray ocean itself gave birth to you
and great beetling cliffs were your sire
for your mind is impregnable! 35
If you are trying to evade the consequence of some monstrance,
something your queenly mother
has declared to you from Zeus,
why not send me in your place?
Let the rest of the Myrmidons follow,
that I might become
something of a beacon for the Danaans?
And let me fasten your battle-gear onto my shoulders 39
that the Trojans mistake me for you
and so pull out of the battle,
and the warlike sons of th'Achaians,
wearied as they are,
might have some breathing space,
for there is little room to take a breath in the midst of battle. 43
Then easily might we, unwearied,
drive weary men back to the city
and away from the huts and the ships." 45
So he spoke, beseechingly, to his own great folly.
For it was his own death and fate for which he was praying.
Greatly disturbed, swift-footed Achilles said to him:
"Ah me, Patroklos, born from Zeus,
what are you saying?
I am not concerned with some monstrance that I know about,
nor has my queenly mother
declared to me something from Zeus,
but a terrible pain comes over my heart and spirit
that a man who is the equal of another
would despoil him of his booty,
which he can do because he surpasses him in power.
It is a terrible pain for me
because I endured such woes in my heart
for the girl that the sons of the Achaians
gave to me as my guerdon,
that I'd merited by means of my spear
when I sacked that well-fortified city.
Lord Agamemnon peremptorily
snatched her out of my arms
as if I were some disreputable vagabon. 59
But let us allow these things to be but bygones.
It was not that I was consumed
with interminable rage in my heart.
I said that I'd not terminate my wrath
until the war and the war-cry
came to my own ships.
So put my famous battle-gear on your shoulders;
lead the war-loving Myrmidons into the combat,
and even if a dark cloud of Trojans
compellingly now has compassed round our vessels
and the Argives are supported only
by the breaking surf of the sea
with but a meager allotment of beach space left,
and all the Trojan people
have come out courageously,
it is only because they do not behold the visor on my helmet
shining nearby them,
and soon would the fleeing Trojans
fill up running gullies with the dead,
had Lord Agamemnon shown
a kindly attitude toward me,
but now they are fighting all around the encampment,
for no javelin rages in the hands
of Tydeus' son Diomedes
to ward off ruin from the Danaans; 75
nor do I hear the voice of Atreus' son
howling from his execrable head;
but the cries of man-slaying Hektor commanding the Trojans
breaks around me
and they with their war-howls
possess all the plain in battle
vanquishing the Achaians.
Nevertheless, O Patroklos,
do ward off ruin from the warships;
fall upon them in full force,
for if they set the ships on blazing fire,
they will deny the Danaans their dear return.
But be persuaded of this,
that I might put my full thought in your breast
and you might earn
great recompense and praise for me
from all the Danaans
and they send back at once
that lovely girl
and then bestow upon me resplendent bounty.
Drive the Trojans back from the ships.
Then you come back again.
And if Hera's loud-thundering husband grants you glory,
do not be eager to go on battling without me
against the war-loving Trojans,
for you will diminish the honor due to me. 90
And as you exult in battle, slaughtering Trojans,
do not lead on to Ilion,
lest one of the gods
whose coming into being is perpetual,
come down from Olympos,
for Apollo who works from afar
particularly loves the Trojans.
Rather come back here
once you have set a light among the ships
and let the rest of them
fight across the plain.
O Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo:
would that none of the Trojans escape death,
as many as there may be,
and none of the Argives either,
but we two alone
tear off the sacred veils that cover Troy." 100
Thus were they discoursing with one another.
Aias no longer stood fast where he had been,
for he was harried by arrows.
The mind of Zeus had him subdued--
that and the missiles of the Trojans.
And it was uncanny how his helmet
kept on ringing out as the missiles hit it,
for hit it was, without let-up
on the knobs that circled 'round it;
and he was growing weary in his left shoulder,
its being continuously immobile
holding the shining shield,
yet the Trojans were unable
to make it tremble about him
in spite of their pressing with their missiles.
And continuously was Aias
encumbered by difficult breathing,
and great quantities of perspiration
poured from everywhere out of his limbs--
no way to catch his breath--
and he was afflicted with
every manner of horrible thing,
evil upon evil. 111
Tell it to me now, O Muses who have palaces on Olympos,
how fire was first
put to the ships of the Achaians.
Hektor, standing up close to Aias,
struck with his own great sword
the spear of ash wood
at the base of the spear-point--
struck it clean off.
Telamônian Aias now
brandished a tipless javelin,
the bronze point, falling far from him,
rang out as it hit the ground. 120
And Aias shuddered at the acts of the gods,
for he knew in his blameless spirit
that Zeus who thunders above
had utterly scuttled his battle plan
and now was plotting victory for the Trojans.
He pulled back
out of the range of the missiles.
The Trojans hurled
indefatigable fire
at the swift ship,
and inextinguishable flame
spread rapidly upon her.
Thus did the fire go to work around the stern,
and Achilles beat his thighs and said to Patroklos: 125
"Now let you rouse yourself,
O Zeus-fostered horseman, Patroklos.
I see the ravaging fire
rushing along the ships.
O don't let them seize the vessels
and there no longer be any chance of escape.
Hurry to don the battle-gear.
I will gather the Myrmidons." 129
So he spoke.
Patroklos armored himself
in bronze that gleamed to the sight.
First he set the greaves
about his shins and calves,
and beautiful they were--
fitted with silver ankle-pieces.
Second, about his breast,
he donned the corselet of the swift-footed son of Aiakos,
intricately ornate and spangled with stars.
And he threw the bronze sword, studded with silver nails,
over his shoulders,
and after that the shield, big and sturdy. 136
And on his mighty head
he placed the well-wrought helmet with its horse-tail plume
and uncannily did it nod from above.
He took two valorous javelins
which fit snugly into his palms, 139
but not Achilles' javelin,
stable and massive and hearty,
for Achilles alone of th'Achaians was able to wield it.
It was the weapon made of Pêlian ash wood
that Cheiron had given his dear father
cut from the peak of Mt. Pêlion
to be deployed in the slaying of warriors. 144
He ordered Automedon
quickly to yoke his horses.
Patroklos honored Automedon
second only to Achilles
and he deemed him most to be relied upon in battle
to remain where he was
in the face of the menacing shouts of a menacing foe. 147
At his command Automedon
led the swift horses under the yoke,
Xanthos and Balios, that together flew like the winds.
The harpie whose form was a horse, named Podarge
gave birth to them
sired by Zephyr, the West Wind,
as she grazed on a meadow
by the stream Okeanos. 151
And he set blameless Pêdasos as the trace horse.
Achilles had led him away
when he seized the city of Eêtion,
and he, though only a mortal,
kept up to the immortal horses. 154
Going to and fro among the huts,
Achilles armed the Myrmidons with their battle-gear.
Like man-ravening wolves,
unspeakable fury raging in their breasts--
wolves who have slaughtered a great horned stag in the mountains
and torn him apart,
the jowels of every one of them red from his blood;
and they go in a pack
to lap with their slender tongues
the black surface water
from black water springs
while vomiting forth the red gore,
the spirit in their breasts untrembling,
their stomachs distended to the full.
The leaders and tactitions of the Myrmidons
rushed nimbly round the squire
of swift-footed Achilles
and warlike Achilles stood among them
urging on the horses and shield-bearing men. 167
Achilles dear to Zeus had
led fifty swift ships to Troy,
in each of them fifty companions at the thole pins.
Five, whom he trusted, he made captains as commanders,
he himself in his mightiness,
commanded over all.
Menestheos, with shining corselet,
son of the Spercheios, a river that flows from Zeus,
led one rank of warriors.
Lovely Polydôre, Peleus' daughter, bore him
to indefatigable Spercheios,
a woman bedding down with a god;
but nominally she bore him to Bôros, Periêres' son,
who took her unembarrassed as a wife,
proffering bride-gifts past counting. 178
Warlike Eudoros led another.
He was the son of an unwedded mother:
whom a daughter of Phylas, Polymêlê, fair in the dance, bore.
Mighty Argeiphontes fell in love with her,
when, with his own eyes, he saw her dancing the war dance
in a chorus of Artemis
of the golden arrows,
she in whose wake
disturbance follows.
He went up to her chambers
and lay with her secretly--
Hermes, the guileless, the healer--
and she gave him a glorious son in Eudôros,
swift runner, good fighter. 186
But when Eileithuia,
goddess who brings on the birth pangs,
conducted him into the light
and he saw the rays of the sun,
mighty Echekles, powerful son of Aktor,
proffered myriads of bride-gifts for her,
and old man Phylas
fostered Eudôros properly
and reared him
and loved him entirely
as if he were his own son. 192
Of the third rank, warlike Persandros was commander--
he, Maimalos' son,
stood out among all the Myrmidons
in fighting with the javelin,
after the companions of Peleus' son. 195
The old man, Phoinix, led the fourth one,
and the fifth, Alkimedon, blameless son of Laerkes.
And when Achilles had lined up
all the leaders together,
he issued a firm command:
"Myrmidons, let no one forget
the menacing taunts
you issued against the Trojans
by the swift ships
all through the time of my wrath
and how each of you rebuked me:
'Cruel son of Peleus,
your mother must of nurtured you on choler,
O pitiless person,
who holds back your companions by the ships
against their will. 204
Let us pick up and sail home again
on our sea-faring vessels,
since this wicked anger
has fallen upon your heart.' 206
Saying such things would you often
gang up and babble at me.
But now there appears before you a great task of war--
the kind of thing that e'er now
with which you found yourselves enamored.
Then let it be with a valiant heart
that each of you battles the Trojans." 209
So saying, he roused
the power and spirit of each man. 210
And the ranks all the more closed together
when they heard their words of their king.
And just as a man builds a wall for his lofty palace
out of close-fitting staves
to shut out the force of the winds,
so were their helmets arrayed close together
and their bossed shields interlaced,
shield pressing close against shield,
head-gear close against head-gear,
man against man.
The horse-haired plumes on their shining helmet phaloi
touched as their heads bobbed,
they were so closely spaced along each other. 217
Two warriors in particular posted themselves
out in front of everyone:
Patroklos and Automedon,
possessed of one spirit,
to make war out in front of the Myrmidons.
But Achilles went into the hut
and opened the lid of a chest, gorgeously ornamented,
which silver-footed Thetis put in the ship
for him to take with him;
and she filled it amply with tunics
and cloaks to ward off the wind
and woolen blankets. 224
And in it he kept a well-wrought goblet,
and no man but Achilles
drank the flaming wine
from it,
nor did he pour libations
from it to any god
but Father Zeus. 227
He took it out of the chest
and first cleansed it with sulfur,
then washed it with water
drawn from beautiful springs.
Thus he himself washed his hands
and drew the flaming wine,
and made a prayer
standing in the middle of the yard
where the hut was,
and poured the wine
raising it up toward heaven,
nor did he neglect
Zeus the thunder-bolt hurler: 232
"Lord Zeus, Dodonean, Pelasgian,
who dwells a great distance away;
who rules over Dodona
that a wintry climate vexes;
and the Selloi dwell there about you,
your oracular interpreters,
who submit not their feet to lustration
and who sleep on the ground.
Just recently you gave heed to my utterance when I prayed to you,
you honored me
and came down hard on th'Achaians;
so now again grant me fulfillment of this desire:
I myself still remain with the gathered ships,
but I send my friend to fight
amidst the many Myrmidons.
Send glory to him, O wide-watching Zeus;
make the heart in his breast courageous,
so that Hektor might learn
whether my squire
can make war in his own right,
or whether his hands rage invincible
only when I myself
go into the mêlée of Arês. 245
But when he has driven the war
and the noise of it
away from the ships,
let him return unscathed
to the swift ships and to me,
with all his armaments and comrades that fight at close range." 248
So he spoke, praying, and Zeus the counselor heard
and the father granted one part of it
but did not give his nod
regarding the other.
He granted that Patroklos turn
the war away from the ships
but did not give his nod
that he should come back from the battle. 252
And having performed his libation and made his prayer
he went directly to the hut
and put the cup back in the chest,
and came out again
and stood before it,
for now he wanted to witness the grim battle scene. 256
The men that were armed together
with great-hearted Patroklos
went forth exulting
to leap on the Trojans.
They streamed like wasps at the side of a road
that boys stir into a rage, forever tormenting them
in their way-side habitat--
thoughtless youths, creating a nuisance
for many people--262
and if some traveler, unwittingly, bestirs them,
they fly all about, having courage in their heart,
to protect their young:
so the Myrmodons, showing heart and spirit,
pured out of the ships
and an irrepressible cry went up.
And Patroklos, with a mighty shout, commanded his comrades:
"Myrmidons, companions
of Peleus' son Achilles,
be men, O friends, remember your furious valor,
that we may win honor for Peleus' son,
whi is the very best of the Argives beside the ships,
he and his minions
that fight at close quarters,
that the Son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,
might recognize his folly,
that he honored not at all
the best of the Achaians." 274
So saying, he roused
the power and spirit of each man,
and they fell on the Trojans en masse,
and all about the ships
there was the amazing sound of shouting Achaians.
The Trojans, when they saw
the brave son of Menoitios,
himself and his squire, their battle-gear gleaming,
the spirit in all of them was disturbed,
their phalanges set in incoherent motion;
for they thought that the swift-footed Peleian
had cast off his enmity
and chosen amity towards his comrades,
and each man looked about him
to see how he might run away from utter destruction. 283
Patroklos was first to hurl his shining javelin,
dead into the midst where the men thronged thickest,
by the stern of the ship
of Prôstesilaos, great in spirit,
and he struck Pyraichmê
who had led the Paionians, horse-chariot drivers,
out of Amydon, away from the wide flowing Axios. 289
He struck him on the right shoulder.
he fell over backward in the dust with a groan.
His Paionian companions around him panicked,
for Patroklos had sent terror among them by killing their leader,
who was very best of them at making war.
He drove them out of the ships
and put out the blazing fire. 293
A half-burned vessel was left there.
The Trojans were routed with a spectacular uproar.
The Danaans poured onto the hollow ships
and occasioned a ceaseless uproar;
and just as Zeus, who gathers the lightning,
moves thick clouds from the topmost peak
of a big mountain,
and every high cliff, lookout, and valley,
comes into view;
and from the heavens th'ineffable aithêr
is broken onto from below,
so the Danaans, diverting
voracious conflagration from the ships,
got a modicum of breathing space,
though respite from war itself was not forthcoming;
for the Trojans had not, for all that,
been driven headlong into rout
away from the black ships
by th'Achaians, favored by Arês,
but they would stand and face them yet,
though, of course, pulling back from the ships, as per necessity. 305
And warrior slaughtered warrior
as hostilities became disordered.
First the brave son of Menoitios
struck the thigh of Arêlukos with his sharp javelin
just as he turned to flee
and the bronze thing drove clean through.
It shattered the bone
and he fell face-first to the ground.
And warlike Menelaos thrust at Thoas and hit him
where his breast was bare
beside his shield
and loosed his limbs. 312
The son of Phyleos, with an eye on Amphiklos rushing at him,
anticipated his attack
and struck him
on the back of the leg
where the muscle of a man is thickest;
the sinews split about the spear-point
and darkness covered his eyes.
One of the sons of Nestor--Antilochos--
stabbed Atymnios
with his sharp javelin
and the bronze weapon drove through 'neath the ribcage.
He tumbled forward.
Maris, immediately proximate,
in a rage on account of his brother,
rushed Antilochos with his javelin
and took a stand
in front of his brother's corpse;
but godlike Thrasymedes anticipated him,
and struck before he could thrust,
nor did he miss his mark but hit his shoulder,
and the barb of the weapon
tore the back of his arm from the muscle
and shattered the bone entirely. 324
He fell with a thud
and darkness covered his eyes.
Two brothers vanquished by two brothers
these two went to off Erebos,
good companions of Sarpedon,
spearsmen, sons of Amisôdaros,
who fostered the enormous Chimaira,
a thing of evil to men. 329
Aias, son of Oilios,
leapt on Kleoboulos, finding him still alive,
stumbling in the crowd,
but right there
he undid his force
striking his neck
with his hilted sword,
and the sword grew hot with blood,
and dark purple death
and mighty destiny
came down upon his eyes.
Lykos and Pêneleos ran toward each other,
for they'd missed each other with their javelins,
both having hurled them vainly;
but they went at each other again,
this time with swords.
Lyko assaulted the horse-hair crest of the helmet
of Pêneleos,
and the sword broke off at the handle.
Pêneleos hit Lykos on the neck below the ear
and the whole blade sunk into it,
only the skin held unsevered,
and the head hung down on one side
and his limbs were loosed. 341
Mêriones, with rapid strides, overtook Akamas
as he was mounting his chariot
and pierced his right shoulder.
He fell from the car
and a mist poured over his eyes.
Idomeneus stabbed Erymas in the mouth
with the pitiless bronze,
and the bronze spear passed clean through
beneath the brain
and split the white skull bone asunder;
his teeth shook loose;
both eyes filled with blood;
blood burst from his nostrils
and out his gaping mouth,
and a black cloud of death
encompassed him round. 350
The leaders of the Danaans
each took out his man.
As ravening wolves fall upon kids or lambs
they'd already picked out from the flock
when, through the negligence of the shepherd,
the flock had scattered in the mountains--
the wolves see it
and take as prey
tlambs and goats whose spirits know nothing of valor.
So the Danaans fell on the Trojans,
who were thinking about nothing at all but running away
and making the sound
of a panicking warrior, hateful to the ear. 357
Great Aias was ever about
to hurl his spear at Hektor with helmet of bronze,
but he, with his battle-skill,
his broad shoulders shelterred by a bull's hide shield,
observed the whizzing missiles
and gave ear to the din of spears. 361
Indeed he was well aware
that victory in the battle
was passing to the other side;
even so he stood his ground
to save his trusted comrades. 363
And just as a cloud from Olympos
moves towards the heavens,
out of bright aether
where Zeus winds up a tempest;
so did cries and panic
manifest out of the ships,
nor did the Trojans recross the trench
in an orderly manner. 367
His swift-footed horses bore Hektor
along with his battle-gear.
He abandoned the Trojan throng
whom the dug trench impeded
against their will,
and many swift horses, while still in the trench
broke their poles
and abandoned the chariots of their masters. 371
Patroklos kept close behind them,
commanding the Danaans with vehemence,
his mind bent on calamity for the Trojans.
And they, with cries and in panic,
filled up the roadway
since their ranks had been broken.
A fog of dust spread under the clouds high above,
and the horses, with uncloven hooves,
strained to stream back to the citadel
away from the ships and the huts. 376
Patroklos, wherever he saw
the mob of Trojans most in a tumult--
to that place he'd drive on shouting,
and under his axels
men kept falling
headlong from their chariots,
and the empty chariots went rattling along. 379
The immortal horse of Patroklos kept clear of the trench,
horses the gods gave as a radiant gift to Peleus.
And they kepton galloping onward,
the spirit of Patroklos ded-set on Hektor,
because he was going to smite him,
but Hektor's swift horses kept on bearing him away. 383
And just as the black earth is burdened under a tempest
on a harvest day
wheh Zeus dumps torrential water as he rages against men
who deliver inequitable judgments in assembly
and drive out Justice
disregarding the witness of the gods,
and all their rushing rivers
are full to overflowing,
and torrents arroyo many hillsides,
and they rush from the mountains
roaring, luridly gleaming,
turning to nothing
the works of men:
so the Trojan horses roared as hey rush along. 393
When Patroklos had cut off the first battalion,
he quickly worked them back toward the ships,
nor would he allow them to return and march into the city,
but in the space between the ships.
the high battlements and the river,
he rushed among them and killed them
exacting vengeance for many.
first he struck, in that place, Pronous
with his shining javelin
on the chest where 'twas naked by the shield
and loosed his limbs. 400
He fell with a thud.
Now Patroklos rushed Thestor, son of Enops.
He sat crumpled up and cringing
in his polished chariot,
for his wits were stricken with terror
and the reins had slipped from his hands.
Patroklos stood beside him
and hit him on the right jaw with his javelin
and drove it through his teeth.
He took hold of the spear and dragged him
over the rail of his chariot
just as a man, perched on a rock,
pulls a sacred fish out of the sea
with bronze hook and line,
so he yanked him, mouth gaping, out of the chariot
and let him fall on his face
and his spirit left him as he fell. 410
Now Euryalos charged him,
but he hit him with a stone
smack on the head
which split in two
within the heavy helmet
and he fell face first to the ground
and death that devastates the spirit
poured about him. 414
Then he brought Eurymas, Amphoteos and Epotês,
Tlêpolemon, Damastoridês,
Echios, Pyris, Impheus, Euippos,
and Polymylos, son of Argeadês--
all of them, one after the other
down to the bounteous earth. 418
But Sarpedon, when he saw his comrades
with beltless chitons
vanquished by Menoitios's son,
he called out, accosting
the godlike Lykians. 421
"Shame, O Lykians, why do you flee?
Now are you swift indeed!
But I myself will confront this person
and find out who he really is
that is so mighty here
and works such calamitous deeds upon the Trojans,
for he has loosed the knees of many good men." 425
Thus Sarpedon. And down from the chariot,
he leapt to the ground in full battle-gear .
Patroklos, from an opposite quarter, when he saw him,
jumped down from his chariot.
And just as vultures
with hooked beaks and crooked claws
do battle high up on a rock
emitting furious cries,
so with furious cries they charged one another. 430
As soon as he saw them, the son
of Kronos crooked in counsel
said to Hera, his sister and wife:
"O me, Here is Sarpedon, dearest of men to me
fated to be vanquished by Patroklos, Menoitios' son.
The heart in my breast is divided
as to what to bring about--
whether I snatch him alive
out of dolorous combat,
set him down in the rich land of Lykia,
or whether I vanquish him myself with my own hands." 438
Lady Hera, whose eyes are like a cow's eyes, answered him:
"Most terrible Son of Kronos, what is this thing you are uttering?
Do you suddenly wish to loose a mortal man
long ago abandoned to fatality?
Do it.
But you can be sure of this:
not all of we other gods shall approve of it.
And let me say another thing
,
and do put it into your breast.
Consider if you send Sarpedon home,
what happens when some other god
wants to send his dear son
out of the mighty battle,
for many sons of immortals
are fighting about the great city of Priam,
and you will incite a savage wrath within in them. 449
But if he's dear to you
and your heart is wracked with grief,
still let him be vanquished at the had of Patroklos, Menoitios' son;
but when his ghost-soul leaves him
let death and sweet sleep take him
and carry him to the land of broad Lykia;
and his brothers and kinsmen perform his obsequies
with mound and pillar,
for this is the guerdon of the dead." 457
So she spoke, and the Father of Gods and Men was not unpersuaded.
He poured down rain drops of blood upon the earth
to honor his dear child,
whom Patroklos was about to slay
in Troy
whose sod goes deep
far from his fatherland. 461
Patroklos also slew
illustrious Thrasymylos,
Lord Sarpêdôn 's handy squire.
He struck him in the lower abdomen
and loosed his limbs.
But Sarpêdôn missed Patroklos as he assaulted him
with his shining javelin
and struck the horse Pêdasos
on the right shoulder.
He roared, expiring, and fell in the dust.
Moaning, his spirit flew away. 469
The other two horses struggled apart,
the yoke creaked,
the reins became entangled above them,
when their trace horse lay down in the dust.
Automedon, famed for his javelin,
found a remedy for this:
drawing his sharp-edged sword
from beside his stout thigh,
he leapt and cut loose the trace horse
without hesitation.
The two other steeds were righted and tugged at the reins,
and the two men joined again
in such strife as will not
leave the heart in peace. 476
Sarpêdôn missed again
with his shining javelin.
The back of it flew over the left shoulder
of Patroklos, who, in turn,
rushed him with his bronze, 480
and the missile flew from his hand
and not in vain
but struck where the midriff constrains the beating the heart.
He fell like an oak or a poplar
or like a majestic pine
that skilled men cut down in the forest
with freshly sharpened axes
to deploy for ship's timber.
And now he lay stretched out
in front of the horses and the car
groaning, clutching
the bloody dust. 486
And just as a lion
infiltrates a herd
and kills a bullock,
his great heart exulting
among the shambling cows
and the bullock perishes
in the lion's jaws,
so the leader of the Lykian shieldsmen
was ardent in dying
and called his companion by name: 491
"O Glaukos, most warlike among warriors,
now more than ever
you must be a spearsman
feverish in combat.
Now make evil war
a thing of desire,
and be you a swift one. 494
Be ubiquitous;
urge on the Lykian chieftains
to fight for Sarpêdôn;
and let you yourself
do battle with bronze weaponry
in my defense,
for I shall be
a thing of shame and reviling
for you hereafter
without remittance
for all your days
if now that I have fallen
where the ships are gathered
the Achaians strip me of my battle-gear. 500
But hold your position mightily
and encourage, thereby, the army entire."
As soon as he had spoken thus,
a culmination of death
covered his eyes and his nostrils.
Patroklos set his foot on Sarpêdôn's breast
and drew out the javelin
and the midriff came out along with it,
so Patroklos extracted spear-point and life-soul together. 505
The Myrmidons stopped the snorting horses
that were just about to flee away,
cut loose as they had been from the car of their master.
But terrible pain gripped Glaukos
when he heard that utterance of Sarpêdôn.
His heart was thrown in turmoil
that he would not be able to defend him.
He grabbed his own arm and pressed it
for the wound he had incurred
when rushing high on the battlements
to ward off ruin from his comrades
Teukros had shot him with an arrow--
that wound tormented him now. 512
He spoke in prayer to Apollo who shoots at long range:
"Hear me, Lord; you who have provenance
in the fertile land of Lykia and also in Troy--
but you do have power to hear from anywhere
a man who is in sorrow--
so sorrow has come to me now.
I have a bad wound.
My arm is wracked with sharp pain through and through.
The blood will not be stopped;
my shoulder is heavy from it.
I cannot wield my spear at all
nor fight against my foemen.
The noblest warrior, Sarpêdôn, Zeus's son, has fallen.
Zeus did not defend his own child. 522
But may you heal this mighty wound for me,
quell my pain,
make me strong,
that I might call my companions
and urge them to make war
and that I myself might fight about
the body of the one who was killed." 526
So he spoke, praying, and Phoibos Apollo heard him.
Apollo stopped his pain and dried the black blood
from the grievous lesion
and put strength in his spirit.
Glaukos knew in his breast and was happy
that the great god had
so swiftly heard his prayer. 531
First he urged the Lykian chieftains,
going to and fro among them all,
to fight for Sarpêdôn,
and with long strides
he went among the Trojans
to Poulydamas, son of Panthous,
and radiant Agênor.
He went up to Aeneas
and also to Hektor, armored in bronze,
and standing close to him
spoke winged words:
"Hektor, Hektor, you are
utterly negligent of your allies,
who, on account of you, are wasting away
far from their fields and their fatherland,
and you are not doing a thing
to protect them. 540
Sarpêdôn has fallen, the leader of the Lykian shieldsmen,
who wards off harm from the Lykians
by his justice and his strength.
Arês has vanquished him
by the bronze spear of Patroklos.
But O friend, take a stance about him;
establish indignation in your heart;
don't let the Myrmidons
rip the battle-gear off him
and desecrate his body 545
for full of wrath are they
because of so many slain Danaans,
whom we killed by the swift ships with our javelins." 547
so he spoke, and a grief seized the hearts of the Trojans,
impossible to bear, overwhelming,
for Sarpêdôn had been
a rock for the city
even though he came from far away,
and many of the people followed him
and he himself was preeminent among them. 551
They went straight after the Danaans with alacrity.
Hektor led them
in a rage on account of Sarpêdôn.
The son of Menoitios Patroklos
with the heart of a shaggy beast
encouraged the Danaans.
He spoke first to the two Aiantes,
who were themselves
already in battle-gear: 555
"O you two, Aiantes,
let it be your care now to defend us.
Be as valorous as you have always been among the warriors,
or even more so.
Sarpêdôn, the man
who first leaped the battlements of the Achaians
has fallen. So let us take him
and desecrate him,
and strip the battle-gear from his shoulders,
and as to his companions that seek to defend him,
let us slay them
with the pitiless bronze." 561
So he spoke,
but they were already raging to fight off the foe;
and when both sides had done readying their battalions,
Trojans and Lykians, Myrmidons and Achaians
came together to battle
over the fallen body
shouting uncannily
and the armor of them men rang out as the armies collided. 566
Zeus stretched a dismal darkness
over the mighty conflict
that the effort of combat
fought over his dear child
might seem dismal indeed.
At first the Trojans drove
the gleaming-eyed Achaians back.
By no means worst of the Myrmidons was forthwith slain--
son of great-hearted Agaklês, radiant Epigeus,
who once was lord in populous Boudeion.
But h came to Pylos and silver-fooed Thetis as a suppliant,
having slain a noble kinsman, 574
and they sent him to accompany Achilles,
who breaks the rank of men,
to Ilion with its excellent horses,
to fight against the Trojans.
Illustrious Hektor struck him
on the head with a rock
as he gripped the corpse,
and his head in its heavy helmet
was riven in two,
and he fell forward on top of the body,
and death that ruins the spirit flowed about him. 580
Pain for the death of his comrade came over Patroklos,
and he dashed through the front-rank fighters
like a swift falcon
that scatters the jackdaws and starlings.
Against the Lykians directly, O Patroklos, master of horses,
you charged--and against the Trojans,
enraged o'er the fate of your comrade. 585
And he struck Stheneleos, dear son of Ithaimenes,
on the neck with a rock
and ripped it apart from its sinews.
And the front-rank fighters as well as illustrious Hektor
recoiled from his assault.
As far the long goat-spear flies
that a man casts to test his power in a game or in war
under duress of a life-threatening enemy,
so far did the Trojans withdraw,
and the Achaians continued to press them. 593
First Glaukos, captain of the Lykians, turned about,
and skilful, great-hearted Bathyklês, dear son of Chalkon,
who, dwelling in Hellas, was, among the Myrmidons,
conspicuous for his property and possession of general abundance-- 596
Glauckos, turning suddenly, thust with his javelin and struck him
square in the middle of his chest,
just as Bathyklês, pursuing him, wa about to overtake him.
He fell with a thud.
A pang of grief
gripped the Achaians,
for a noble warrior had fallen
and the Trojans rejoiced. 600
And they came on in gangs and stood about him,
nor did the Achaians abandon their valor,
but they focused their force
straight at the enemy.
Mêrionês tuckdown a Trojan warrior in full battle-gear--
Laogonos, bold son of Onêtor,
a priest of Zeus at Mount Ida,
honored by the people like a god.
He struck him under the jaw and the ear,
and his life in an instant
fled from his members,
and hateful was the darkness that took hold of him. 607
And Aeneas went after Mêrionês with his bronze spear,
for he hoped to unman him, inching forward
under is shield.
Mêrionês gazed steadily at him
and eluded the javelin.
He leaned forward
and the long spear
got stuck in the ground behind him,
and the butt-end of it
was made to quiver.
And at that point mighty Arês
suspended his fury.
But Aeneas grew angry in his heart and said: 616
"Mêrionês, though you arre a dancer,
my javelin had stopped your dancing, if I'd struck you."
Mêrionês, famed for his spear, retorted:
"Aeneas, it would be difficult for you,
though you are a strong one,
to cursh the force of every last warrior.
Even you are mortal.
And if I should happen to strike you with my sharp bronze,
though you are mighty
and confident in your hands,
you will give glory to me
and your soul be off to Hades of the glorious horses." 625
So he spoke; and the brave son of Menoitios upbraided him:
"Mêrionês, why do you, yourself a noble person, proclaim such things?
The Trojans will not withdraw from a corpse
because they are bitten by insults!
The earth will detain quite a throng before that happens.
The outcome of war
lies in our hands.
The business of words is tactics.
It is not necessary to elaborate discourse but to fight." 631
So saying, he took the lead;
and the one who followed with him
was a godlike man.
And just as the racket of woodcutters
arises from mountain valleys,
and the sound manifests from afar,
so the thumping of bronze on ox-skin
well-wrought shields
and the thrusting of swords
and spears with double edges
went up from the warriors.
Nor could even an observant man
recognize radiant Sarpêdôn.
He had been thoroughly covered up
by missiles and blood and dust
from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. 640
And they thronged about the corpse without let
like flies on a farm abuzz about
a milk pale brim full of milk
in the spring time
when milk wets the buckets.
So they thronged about the corpse.
Nor did Zeus avert his shining eyes
from the furious conflict,
but he watched and considered in his heart,
pondering many aspects
of Patroklos' coming demise,
whether right there
in the skirmish for Sarpêdôn's body,
he should have Hektor slay him with the bronze
and strip the battle-gear from hi shoulders
or whether he should increase
the terrible industry of war. 651
And as he considered it,
this seemed the more profitable way:
That the excellent squire of Pelleus' son, Achilles
should drive the Trojans and Hektor, armored in bronze
back toward the city killing many,
inducing craven panic
in Hektor first of all.
He mounted his chariot and turned in flight
and ordered the other Trojans likewise to flee,
for he saw in the event
the sacred scales of Zeus. 658
No mighty Lykian stuck it out
but all were routed
when they saw that their king
was mortally stricken,
lying in the assembly place of the dead.
Many had fallen on top of him
when the Son of Kronos stretched tense
the mighty strife cords.
So the Achaians
took the battle-gear of Sarpêdôn, bronze and gleaming,
from his shoulders,
and the valiant son of Menoitios
gave them to his comrades
to take to the hollow ships. 665
Then Zeus, who gathers the clouds, said to Apollo:
"Rouse yourself now, my dear Phoibos;
purge the dark clouded blood from the wounds of Sarpêdôn
and take him away from the missiles.
Bear him to the streams of a distant river and bathe him
and anoint him with ambrosia
and put ambrosial raiment upon him;
commit him to speedy porters to go with him,
twin brothers--Sleep and Death--
and they will post haste place him
in the fertile land of broad Lykia
where his brothers and other kinsmen
will perform his obsequies
and set up mound and stele,
for such guerdon is due to the dead." 675
So he spoke, and Apollo did not fail
o listen to his father.
he went down from the Idaean mountains
to the terrible battle uproar
and lifting radiant Sarpêdôn away from the missiles
he bore him to the streams of a distant river and bathed him
and anointed him with ambrosia
and put ambrosial garments upon him 680
and committed him to peedy porters,
twin brothers, Sleep and Death, to conduct him,
and they place him in the fertile realm of broad Lykia. 683
Patroklos, summoning his hores, and Automedon
went in pursuit of the Trojans and the Lykians,
and great was his blindnes and folly,
for had he observed the injunction of Peleus' son,
he would have eluded the fould black fate of death. 687
But the mind of Zeus is mightier than the mind of men,
and he puts to flight and easily deprives him of victory
even a valorous warrior
whom he himself has urged into combat,
as just now he was putting spirit
into the heart of Patroklos. 691
Who was the first, who the last,
whom you slew, O Patroklos
when the gods indeed summoned you deathwards?
Adrastos was first, Autonoos and Echeklos
and Perimos, son of Megadês,
Epistoros and Melanippos;
then Elasos and Moulios; finally Pylartês.
These men he slaughtered. As for the rest of them--
each turned his mind to flight. 697
And the sons of the Achaians would have taken
high-pyloned Troy
beneath the hand of Patroklos,
for he rushed ever-onwards with his javelin,
if Phoibos Apollo himself were not standing
on the well-constructed battlement
plotting woe for Patroklos
and succor for the Trojans. 701
Three times did Patroklos
get a foot on the top of the high wall.
Three times did Apollo strike him and drive him back
with immortal hands. 704
Rebuking him uncannily,
he spoke winged words:
"Go back, O patroklos, born of Zeus.
It is not fated
that the city of the lordly Trojans
be sacked beneath your javelin,
nor even under Achilles
who is far better a warrior than you."
so he spoke, and Patroklos
gave considerable ground backwards,
tempering his wrath before Apollo that shoots from afar. 711
Hektor restrained his horses at the Skaian Gates.
He was of two minds: whether he should fight
charging into the turmoil once again,
or whether to call to the crowd
and gather them together within the walls. 714
As he was considering these things,
Phoibos Apollo came up beide him
in the form of a strong young warrior,
Aisio, who was an uncle of Hektor, tamer of horses,
the brother of Hekube, the son of Dumas.
He lived in Phrygia,
by the waters of the Sangarios.
Apollo, son of Zeus, in this likeness, spoke to Hektor:
"Hektor, why have you stopped fighting?
It does not become you.
Would that I were by so much the stronger than you
as I am the weaker,
then it would become an odious thing to you
to fail to take your proper part in the combat. 724
But come: ride and guide your horses with powerful hooves
against Patroklos
that you might slay him
and Apollo give you cause for exultation."
So saying, he changed back
into being a god
right there in the midst of the warriors.
Illustrious Hektor called to Kebrionês
to whip the horses ready to go to battle,
and Apollo went his own way
vanishing into the throng,
intent upon delivering deleterious
turmoil to the Argives
and glory to the Trojans and Hektor. 730
Hektor let the other
Danaans alone
nor sought to slay them,
but with his horses,
and their mighty hooves,
drove straight for Patroklos.
Patroklos, to oppose him,
jumped to the earth from his horses,
holding in his left hand a javelin;
in his other a stone, glittering and jagged 736
which he covered with his hand,
and not taking time to stand in awe of his enemy,
took aim and hurled it,
nor was the missile thrown idly,
but he struck Kebrionês, Hektor's charioteer,
an illegitimate son of splendid Priam,
as he was holding the reins of the horses--
struck him on the forehead
with that sharp rock. 739
The rock smashed the brows together
and the brow bone did not remain in tact,
and his eyes fell out to the ground at his feet in the dust,
and he fell out of the chariot like a diver
and the life left the bones.
And, O Patroklos, you spoke to him, sarcastically:
"O Sir, the fellow is rather nimble,
how flowingly he summersaults.
If it were into the fishy deep,
he'd satisfy the multitude, diving for shell-fish from his ship
in the middle of a tempest,
as now, in the middle of battle,
he tumbles so flowingly.
For indeed there must be tumblers among the Trojans." 750
So saying, he went for Kebrionês
with the swoop of a lion that,
while ravaging a farmstead,
has been struck on the breast
and his own powers destroy him;
so, O Patroklos, did you leap
eagerly upon Kebrionês. 754
But Hektor, to oppose this,
leapt from his car to the ground
and the two men struggled as two lions
on the peaks of a mountain
struggle for a slain dear,
both of them hungry,
both of them primed for a fight;
so the two masters of the battle-cry
were primed about Kebrionês,
Patroklos, son of Menoitios, and illustrious Hektor,
each intent upon
cutting the other's flesh with the pitiless bronze. 761
Once Hektor got hold of the head,
he'd not let it go.
Patroklos, to oppose him, took a foot.
Meanwhile the ret of the Trojan and the Danaans
joined in furious combat.
And just a Euros, the East Wind, and Notos, the South,
compete with one another to set deep woods,
deep in the mountains a-shaking--
oak and ash and long-leaved cornel wood--
they hurl the slender boughs against each other
with wondrous resounding echoes of cracking and shattering,
so the Trojans and Achaians
thrashed and tore at each other,
and neither had a thought of disastrous flight.
And many sharp spears struck the ground about Kebrionês,
and many arrows sprang from bow-strings,
and many great rocks smashed against many shields
as men fought around him
while he lay
amidst the swirling dust,
mighty in his mightiness,
neglectful of his horsemanship.776
As long as Helios was marching across mid-heaven,
the missiles from both sides struck their targets
and people fell.
But when Helios reached the time
for mid-day unyoking of oxen,
at that point the Achaians
grew strong beyond their allotment,
and they pulled Kebrionês out of the range of the arrows,
apart from the shouting of Trojans,
and stripped the battle-gear
from Sarpêdôn's shoulders. 782
Patroklos with ferocious intensity fell among the Trojans.
Three times, the equal of swift Arês, he fell upon them
roaring furiously;
three times he slew nine men.
But when for the fourth time he charged like a demon,
O Patroklos, the end of life appeared.
Phoibos, uncanny deity, encountered you amidst fierce combat,
and Patroklos, you knew him not
as he passed through the tumult, 789
for Phoibos met you enclosed in a great mist.
He took his stance behind Patroklos
and struck his back and broad shoulders
with the flat of his hand,
and the eys of Patroklos
were caused to spin around. 792
Phoibos Apollo knocked off his helmet.
It rang as it rolled
under the feet of the horses--
that four-horned helmet,
its visor furnished with eye-holes--
and the horse-hair plumes
were befouled with blood and dust.
Never before that moment had it been fitting
for that horse-hair helmet
to be fouled with dust,
but it always guarded the head and gracious brow
of the godlike warrior Achilles;
but now did Zeus
grant it to Hektor
to bear it on his head,
though his own destruction was immanent, 800
And in the hand of Patroklos
the spear that casts a long shadow was utterly broken,
though heavy and mighty and long and fully accoutered.
And his shield, fringed with tassels
dropped from his shoulders to the ground. 803
And Lord Apollo, son of Zeus, cut loose his corselet,
and blindness seized his intelligence,
and his glorious limbs
were loosed beneath him,
and he stood there bewildered,
and from behind his back
a Dardanian warrior struck him
between the shoulders
with a sharp spear.
It was Euphorbos, Panthous' son,
who excelled all men of his age
in spearsmanship, in horsemanship, and in speed of foot. 809
He had already sent twenty men from their chariots
since first arriving with his chariot
to become schooled in war.
He was the first to cast his missle at you, O horseman Patroklos,
but he failed to finish you.
He ran back into the middle of the melee,
once he'd extracted
his ashen javelin
from the flesh of your body,
not remaining with Patroklos
even though he was stripped naked of his armaments
in the midst of the fray. 815
Patroklos, afflicted by the deity
and actually vanquished by the javelin,
swiftly fell back to the group of his comrades
and warded off destiny. 817
Hektor, when he realized
that great-hearted Patroklos
had actually drawn back
though wounded by the sharp bronze,
sped through the ranks to get near him,
gave a thrust with his spear
to the bottom of his abdomen
and droe the bronze
all the way through
and he fell with a thud
to the great grief of the host of Achaians. 822
And just as a lion
overpowers in a skirmish
an indefatigable boar
when both are intent on doing battle
about a small spring
from which they both wish to drink;
the boar pants mightily,
but the lion defeats him--he's stronger; 826
just so did Hektor son of Priam,
once Menoitios' son had slain so many,
draw close with his javelin
and take his life away. 829
"Patroklos, you thought to ravage our city
and take from the women of Troy
their day of freedom
and force them in ship to your dear fatherland--
Fool! Before then the swift horses of Hektor
have bestirred themselves to war,
and I myself with my javelin
and proven pre-eminent among
the war-loving Trojans--
I who evert from the women
the inevitable day.
And as for you, O Patroklos, right here in this place,
the vultures are going to eat you,
miserable creature.
Not even the valor of Achilles was of any use to you.
No doubt though he remained
out of the fray
he lay imprecations upon you as you went forth:
'Do not return to me, O Patroklos, commander of horses,
or return to the hollow ships,
until you have rendered bloody
the shirt on the breast of man-slaying Hektor.'
so he must have spoken to you
and persuaded your mind in its folly." 842
With what little strength you had left,
you answered him, P horseman Patroklos:
"Mightily this time
my you exult, O Hektor,
for Zeus son of Kronos and Apollo have granted you victory.
They have easily vanquished me.
For it is surely they that have stripped the battle-gear
from my shoulders.
If twenty men such as you had confronted me,
they all had perished, vanquished by my javelin in this place.
But it was fate that destroyed me,
fate and the Son of Leto,
and of men--it was Euphorbos.
You are but the third to have at me.
And I will tell you another thing,
and do lay it up in your breast,
you yourself will not live very much longer,
for already death stands nearby you
and mighty Moira, Fate;
and they will vanquish you
beneath the hands of Achilles,
blameless son of Aiakos." 854
As he said hese words,
the finality of death closed him over.
And his ghost-soul flew out of his mouth
and went forth to Hades,
behowling its allotment,
leaving its youth and herohood behind it.
And even though death had now taken him,
illustrious Hektor said to him: 858
"Patroklos, why do you prophesy now
utter ruin for me?
Who knows but that Achilles, child of fair-tressed Thetis,
will not die
beneath the blow of my javelin
and lose his life?" 861
So saying, he pulled the large spear out of the wound,
stepping on the corpse with his foot
and pushing it back from the weapon.
And off he went with his spear
in quest of Automedon,
the godlike squire of the swift-footed son of Aiakos,
for he had a mind to slay him.
But Automedon's horses carried him off--
swift and ambrosial horses--
that the gods had given as resplendent gifts to Peleus. 867