by Homer
to turn, and he killed great-hearted Bathykles,
the beloved son of Chalkon, who making his home in Hellas
was outstanding in prosperity and wealth among the Myrmidons;
this man Glaukos, turning suddenly, stabbed with his spear in the middle
of his chest, just as the other in pursuit was catching him,
and he fell with a thud. Crushing grief took hold of the Achaeans
as the brave man fell; but the Trojans rejoiced greatly,600
and running up they stood about him in a throng; nor did the Achaeans
forget their courage, but bore their fury straight toward them.
Then in turn Meriones slew a Trojan commander,
Laogonos, the bold son of Onetor, who was priest of Idaean
Zeus, and was honored like a god by the people;
this man Meriones struck below the jaw and ear, and swiftly his spirit
left his limbs, and the hateful darkness took him.
And Aeneas let fly a bronze-tipped spear at Meriones,
for he hoped to strike him as he strode forward under cover of his shield;
but Meriones looking straight ahead dodged the bronze spear-point,610
for he ducked forward, and the long spear-shaft
was fixed in the earth behind him, the butt-end quivering;
then mighty Ares took away its force.613
And Aeneas was angered in heart and called out:616
“Meriones, my spear would surely have put swift end to you for good,
dancer though you be, had I only hit you.”
Then spear-famed Meriones answered him in return:
“Aeneas, hard it is for you, for all your strength,620
to quench the life of every man who comes against you
to defend himself; yes, even you are mortal.
And if I too should chance to strike you dead center with sharp bronze,
even strong as you are and trusting in your strength of hand,
you would soon give glory to me and your soul to Hades.”
So he spoke; but the brave son of Menoetius rebuked him:
“Meriones, why do you, a good warrior, utter these things?
Old friend, it is not by abusive words the Trojans
will give way from the corpse; the earth will bury many a man before that.
For the sum of war lies in strength of hands, the sum of words in council;630
therefore there is no need to pile up words, but to do battle.”
So speaking he led on, and the other followed with him, a man like a god.
And as the clangor of woodcutting men is raised
in the glens of a mountain, and is heard from far away,
so from the wide-wayed earth arose the pounding of men’s
bronze and strong-made ox-hide shields,
as they stabbed at one another with their swords and double-edged spears.
Nor would even a clear-sighted man still recognize godlike Sarpedon,
since with blood and dust and missile shafts
he was covered from his head right down to the bottom of his feet;640
and always the men thronged about his corpse, as when flies
in a sheepfold buzz about pails over-full of milk
in the season of spring, when milk soaks the buckets;
so they thronged about the corpse; nor ever did Zeus
turn his shining eyes from the ferocious combat,
but ever gazed down upon them, and pondered in his heart
many things as he brooded on the slaying of Patroclus,
whether now in the ferocious combat,
right there about godlike Sarpedon, shining Hector
should kill Patroclus with his bronze spear and take the armor from his shoulders,650
or whether for yet more men he should increase the hard toil of war.
And this seemed to him, as he considered, to be best—
that the good henchmen of Peleus’ son Achilles
one more time should force the Trojans and bronze-helmed Hector
to their city, and snatch the lives of many.
And in Hector first he inspired a coward’s spirit:
mounting his chariot, Hector turned his team for flight, and bade the other
Trojans flee; for he saw how the holy scales of Zeus were balanced.
Then the strong Lycians did not stand firm, but fled,
all of them, when they saw their king struck in the heart660
lying in a heap of corpses; for many men had dropped upon him,
when the son of Cronus stretched tight the mighty strife of battle.
Then from the shoulders of Sarpedon the Achaeans seized his armor,
bronze, glittering; and this to the hollow ships
the brave son of Menoetius gave his companions to carry.
And then Zeus who gathers the clouds addressed Apollo:
“Come now, beloved Phoebus, take Sarpedon out of range of the flying
weapons and cleanse him of his dark-clouded blood, and
conveying him far away, bathe him in the flowing of a river
and anoint him with ambrosia, and put ambrosial clothing round him.670
And send him forth to be conveyed with swift guards of honor,
Sleep and Death, the twins, who will soon
lay him in broad Lycia’s rich country;
there his brothers and his kinsmen will bury him
with a tomb and marking stone, for this is the honor of the dead.”
So he spoke, nor did Apollo fail to hearken to his father;
down from the Idaean mountains he descended into the dread field of battle,
and straightway lifting godlike Sarpedon out of range of flying weapons,
conveying him far away, he bathed him in the flowing of a river
and anointed him with ambrosia, and put ambrosial clothing round him.680
And he sent him forth to be conveyed with swift guards of honor,
Sleep and Death, the twins, who soon
set him down in broad Lycia’s rich country.
But Patroclus shouting to Automedon to follow with the horses,
made for the Lycians and Trojans, blinded to his great folly—
fool; if only he had observed the son of Peleus’ command,
he might yet have escaped from the fated evil of dark death.
But the mind of Zeus is ever mightier than the mind of man;
Zeus who puts even a brave man to flight and takes away his victory
easily, but at another time urges him on to battle;690
Zeus who now put fury in the breast of Patroclus.
Then who was the first, who was the last you slew,
Patroclus, when the gods summoned you deathward?
Adrestos first, and Autonoös, and Echeklos,
and Perimos the son of Megas, and Epistor, and Melanippos,
and then Elasos and Moulios and Pylartes;
these he killed, and the rest turned their thoughts to flight, every man of them.
Then would the sons of the Achaeans have taken high-gated Troy
under the hands of Patroclus, as he raged ever forward with his spear,
had not Phoebus Apollo on the strong-built tower700
taken his stand, with deadly deeds in mind for him, but help for the Trojans.
Three times to the angled joint of the high wall went
Patroclus, and three times Apollo smote him back,
batting with immortal hands the shining shield.
But when for the fourth time Patroclus charged like something more than human,
the god calling out in a voice of dread spoke winged words:
“Give way Patroclus, seed of Zeus; it is not fated
that the city of the noble Trojans be sacked under your spear,
nor under that of Achilles, he who is greater by far than you.”
So he spoke; and Patroclus withdrew a great way back,710
shunning the wrath of far-shooting Apollo.
And at the Scaean gates Hector pulled up his single-hoofed horses;
he debated whether, driving through the tumult, he should go to battle once again,
or should call for his men to mass within the walls.
And as he thought these things there came up to him Phoebus Apollo,
in the likeness of a young and powerful man,
Asios, who was the maternal uncle of horse-breaking Hector,
brother of Hecuba, and son of Dymas,
who dwelt in Phrygia, by the flowing waters of Sangarios.
In likeness to him Apollo son of Zeus addressed him:720
“Hector, why do you give over fighting? You should not.
Would I were stronger than you by as much as I am weaker!
Then you would soon regret holding back from war.
But come, drive your strong-hoofed horses against Patroclus,
in hope you might kill him, and Apollo give you great glory.”
So speaking he set out again, a god among the fighting throng of men,
and shining Hector called to skilled Kebriones
to whip the horses into battle; and Apollo
set out and made his way into the throng, and against the Argives
he launched evil rout, and to the Trojans and to Hector he gave glory.730
And Hector let the other Danaans go, and did not kill them,
but it was against Patroclus he drove his strong-hoofed horses.
And Patroclus from his side jumped from behind his horses to the ground,
holding his spear in his left hand, and with the other he seized a rock
glittering and jagged, which his hand covered over,
and with his strength behind it he hurled; he did not long stand in awe of the man,
nor was his cast in vain, but he struck Hector’s charioteer
Kebriones, a bastard son of worthy Priam,
between his eyes with the sharp rock as he held the horses’ reins.
The stone shattered his brows, the bone did not hold,740
his eyes fell to the ground in the dust
before his feet; and he, like a diver,
dropped from the strong-made chariot, and his spirit left his bones.
And mocking, you addressed him, rider Patroclus:
“How now, truly a most nimble man; how easily he somersaults!
No doubt were he also in the fish-filled sea,
this man would fill the bellies of many as he groped for molluscs,
leaping from a ship, even in rough seas;
as now on land he somersaults lightly from his chariot.
To be sure, there are divers among the Trojans too.”750
So speaking he made for the warrior Kebriones
with the spring of a lion, who ravaging a sheepfold
is struck on the chest, and it is his courage that destroys him;
so at Kebriones, Patroclus, did you leap in your fury.
And from the other side Hector sprang from behind his horses to the ground.
They two around Kebriones contended like lions
who in mountain heights fight over a slain deer,
both hungry, both with high resolve,
so over Kebriones the two masters of battle,
Patroclus son of Menoetius and shining Hector,760
strained to cut the flesh of one another with pitiless bronze.
When Hector caught Kebriones by the head, nor would let go,
Patroclus from the other side took hold of his feet; and the rest of the
Trojans and Danaans joined in the ferocious combat.
As the East and South Winds vie with each other
in a mountain glen to set the deep woods shaking,
oak and ash and fine-barked cornel,
that hurl at each other sharp-pointed boughs
with inhuman roar, crashing as they shatter,
so the Trojans and Achaeans surging toward each other770
cut their enemy down, nor did either have thought of disastrous flight.
And around Kebriones many sharp spears stuck fast
and feathered arrows springing from their bowstrings,
and many great boulders battered the shields
of the men fighting round him. But Kebriones lay in the whirling dust,
a great man in his greatness, unmindful of his horsemanship.
As long as the sun stood astride the middle heaven,
so long the shafts of both sides found their mark, and the people fell;
but when the sun passed over to the time for unyoking of oxen,
then even beyond fate the Achaeans were the stronger.780
Away from the flying weapons they dragged the warrior Kebriones,
away from the shouting of the Trojans, and from his shoulders took his armor,
and Patroclus with evil intent sprang for the Trojans.
Three times then he charged at them, swift Ares’ equal,
shouting his terrifying cry, and three times he slew nine men;
but when for the fourth time he swept against them, like something more than human,
then for you, Patroclus, was shown the end of life;
for meeting you in the ferocious combat was Apollo
the dread. Patroclus did not see him as he closed in through the tumult;
for cloaked in thick mist Apollo met him,790
then stood behind, and struck the back and broad shoulders of Patroclus
with the flat of his hand, so that his eyes spun.
From his head Phoebus Apollo struck the helmet;
and rolling beneath the horses’ hooves it rang resounding,
four-horned, hollow-eyed, the horsehair crest defiled
with blood and dust. Before this it was forbidden that
the horsehair-crested helmet be defiled by dust,
for it had protected the handsome head and brow of the godlike man
Achilles; but now Zeus gave it to Hector
to wear on his head; but his own death was very near.800
In Patroclus’ hands the long-shadowed spear was wholly shattered,
heavy, massive, powerful, pointed with bronze; from his shoulders
his bordered shield and belt dropped to the ground;
then lord Apollo, son of Zeus, undid his breastplate.
Confusion seized his wits, his shining limbs were loosed beneath him,
Patroclus stood stunned. Behind him, in his back, between his shoulders,
a Dardanian man struck with a sharp spear at close range,
Euphorbos son of Panthoös, who surpassed the youths of his own age
in work of spear and horsemanship and speed of feet;
already he had brought down twenty men from behind their horses810
since first coming with his chariot, to learn the art of war;
he first let fly his spear at you, rider Patroclus,
but did not kill you. And back he ran again, and mingled in the crowd,
snatching from your flesh his ash-wood spear, and did not stand to wait
Patroclus, naked though he was among the fighters.
And Patroclus, broken by the blow of the god and by the spear,
tried to retreat into the band of his companions and shun death.
But Hector, when he saw great-hearted Patroclus
drawing back, when he saw him wounded with sharp bronze,
then through the ranks he closed upon him, and stabbed with his spear820
into his lower flank, and drove the bronze point through;
with a thud Patroclus fell, and his falling brought great anguish on the Achaean army.
As when a lion overpowers a tireless boar in spirited combat,
they who on the mountain heights go to battle with high resolve
over a small spring, and both desire to drink,
and as the boar gasps hard for breath, the lion beats him down with violent strength—
&n
bsp; so, having slain so many, the brave son of Menoetius
was stripped of his life by Hector son of Priam at close quarters with his spear.
And vaunting over him Hector spoke out winged words:
“Patroclus, surely you thought you would cut down our city,830
and stripping the Trojan women of their day of freedom
would carry them in ships to your beloved fatherland,
you fool; for in front of them the swift horses of Hector
galloped with outstretched legs to battle, and I with my spear myself
outshone the battle-loving Trojans, I who warded off from them
the day of slavery; you the vultures will devour here.
Poor wretch, nor, great though he is, did Achilles rescue you,
who, I suppose, laid many injunctions on you, while he remained and you departed:
‘Do not return to me, Patroclus, master of horses,
by the hollow ships, before you have ripped man-slaying Hector’s840
bloodied tunic around his breast.’
Thus I suppose he spoke to you, and persuaded your fool’s wits.”
Then with little strength you answered him, rider Patroclus:
“Make your great boast now, Hector; for Zeus the son of Cronus
has given you victory and Apollo, they who easily broke me;
For they took the armor from my shoulders.
But if twenty such as you had encountered me,
all would have died here broken beneath my spear;
deadly Fate and the son of Leto killed me,
and of men it was Euphorbos; you were third to kill me.850
And something else I will tell you, and you put it away in your mind—
you yourself will not live long, but already
death and powerful fate stand close beside you,
to be broken at the hands of blameless Achilles Aeacides.”
Then the closure of death enveloped him as he was speaking
and his soul flying from his limbs started for Hades,
lamenting her fate, abandoning manhood and all its young vigor.
And shining Hector addressed him, dead though he was:
“Patroclus, why do you now prophesy sheer destruction for me?
Who knows, whether Achilles, son of Thetis of the lovely hair,860
might be stabbed first by my spear, and lose his life?”
So speaking he drew his bronze-pointed spear from the wound,
stepping on Patroclus with his heel, and shoved him on his back away from his spear.
And straightway he went with his spear after Automedon,
the godlike henchman of swift-footed Aeacides,
and took aim to strike him; but the swift horses bore Automedon away,