THE ROUSING OF ACHILLES
Fierce was the fight about the body of Patroclus, and many heroes
fell, both on this side and on that, and first of them all Euphorbus,
who first had wounded him. For as he came near to strip the dead man
of his arms, Menelaus slew him with his spear. He slew him, but took
not his arms, for Hector came through the battle; nor did Menelaus
dare to abide his coming, but went back into the ranks of his own
people. Then did Hector strip off the arms of Patroclus, the arms
which the great Achilles had given him to wear. Then he laid hold of
the body, and would have dragged it into the host of the Trojans, but
Ajax Telamon came forth, and put his broad shield before it, as a
lion stands before its cubs when the hunters meet it in the woods,
drawing down over its eyes its shaggy brows. Then Hector gave place,
but Glaucus saw him, and said:--
"Now is this a shame to thee, that thou darest not to stand against
Ajax. How wilt thou and thy countrymen save the city of Troy? For
surely no more will thy allies fight for it. Small profit have they
of thee. Did not Sarpedon fall, and didst thou not leave him to be a
prey to the dogs? And now, if thou hadst stood firm and carried off
Patroclus, we might have made exchange, and gained from the Greeks
Sarpedon and his arms. But it may not be, for thou fearest Ajax, and
fleest before him."
But Hector said: "I fear him not, nor any man. Only Zeus giveth
victory now to one man and now to another. But wait thou here, and
see whether I be a coward, as thou sayest."
Now he had sent the armour of Patroclus to the city. But now he ran
after those that were carrying it, and overtook them, and put on the
armour himself (but Zeus saw him doing it, and liked it not), and
came back to the battle; and all who saw him thought that it had been
the great Achilles himself. Then they all charged together, and
fiercer grew the battle and fiercer as the day went on. For the
Greeks said one to another: "Now had the earth better yawn and
swallow us up alive, than we should let the men of Troy carry off
Patroclus to their city;" and the Trojans said: "Now if we must all
fall by the body of this man, be it so, but we will not yield." But
the horses of Achilles stood apart from the battle, when they knew
that Patroclus was dead, and wept. Nor could Automedon move them
with the lash, nor with gentle words, nor with threats. They would
not return to the ships, nor would they go into the battle; but as a
pillar stands on the tomb of some dead man, so they stood, with their
heads drooped to the ground, and with big tears dropping to the
earth, and their long manes trailing in the dust.
But Father Zeus beheld them, and pitied them, and said:--
"It was not well that we gave you, immortal as ye are, to a mortal
man; for of all things that, move on earth, mortal man is the fullest
of sorrow. But Hector shall not possess you. It is enough for him,
yea, and too much, that he hath the arms of Achilles."
Then did the horses move from their place, and obey their charioteers
as before. Nor could Hector take them, though he desired them very
much. And all the while the battle raged about the dead Patroclus.
And at last Ajax said to Menelaus (now these two had borne themselves
more bravely in the fight than all others):--
"See if thou canst find Antilochus, Nestor's son, that he may carry
the tidings to Achilles, how that Patroclus is dead."
An-til'-o-chus.
So Menelaus went and found Antilochus on the left of the battle, and
said to him: "I have ill news for thee. Thou seest that the men of
Troy have the victory to-day. And also Patroclus lies dead. Run,
therefore, to Achilles, and tell him, if haply he may save the body;
but as for the arms, Hector has them already."
Sore dismayed was Antilochus to hear such tidings, and his eyes were
filled with tears, and his voice was choked. Yet did he give heed to
the words of Menelaus, and ran to tell Achilles of what had chanced.
But Menelaus went back to Ajax, where he had left him by Patroclus,
and said:--
"Antilochus, indeed, bears the tidings to Achilles. Yet I doubt
whether he will come, for all his wrath against Hector, seeing that
he has no armour to cover him. Let us think, then, how we may best
carry Patroclus away from the men of Troy."
Then said Ajax, "Do thou and Meriones run forward and raise the body
in your arms, and I and Ajax the Less will keep off, meanwhile, the
men of Troy."
Me-ri'-o-nes.
So Menelaus and Meriones ran forward and lifted up the body, And the
Trojans ran forward with a great shout when they saw them, as dogs
run barking before the hunters when they chase a wild boar; but when
the beast turns to bay, then they flee this way and that. So did the
men of Troy flee when Ajax the Greater and Ajax the Less turned to
give battle. But still the Greeks gave way, and still the Trojans
came on, and ever in the front were Hector, the son of Priam, and
Æneas, the son of Anchises. But in the meantime Antilochus came near
to Achilles, who, indeed, seeing that the Greeks fled and the men of
Troy pursued, was already sore afraid. And he said, weeping as he
spake:--
An-chi'-ses.
"I bring ill news,--Patroclus lies low. The Greeks fight for his
body, but Hector has his arms."
Then Achilles took of the dust of the plain in his hand, and poured
it on his head, and lay at his length upon the ground, and tare his
hair. And all the women wailed. And Antilochus sat weeping; but
ever he held the hands of Achilles, lest he should slay himself in
his great grief.
Then came his mother, hearing his cry, from where she sat in the
depths of the sea, and laid her hand on him and said:--
"Why weepest thou, my son? Hide not the matter from me, but tell me."
And Achilles answered: "All that Zeus promised thee for me he hath
fulfilled. But what profit have I, for my friend Patroclus is dead,
and Hector has the arms which I gave him to wear. And as for me, I
care not to live, except I can avenge me upon him."
Then said Thetis: "Nay, my son, speak not thus. For when Hector
dieth, thy doom also is near."
And Achilles spake in great wrath: "Would that I might die this hour,
seeing that I could not help my friend, but am a burden on the
earth--I, who am better in battle than all the Greeks besides.
Cursed be the wrath that sets men to strive the one with the other,
even as it set me to strive with King Agamemnon! But let the past be
past. And as for my fate--let it come when it may, so that I first
avenge myself on Hector. Therefore, seek not to keep me back from
the battle."
Then Thetis said: "Be it so; only thou canst not go without thy arms,
which Hector hath. But to-morrow will I go to Hephæstus, that he may
furnish thee anew."
But while they talked the men of Troy pressed the Greeks more and
more, and the two heroes, Ajax the Greater and Ajax the Less, could
no longer keep Hector back, but that he should lay hold of the body
of Patroclus. And indeed he would have taken it, but that Zeus sent
Iris to Achilles, who said:--
"Rouse thee, son of Peleus, or Patroclus will be a prey for the dogs
of Troy!"
But Achilles said: "How shall I go?--for arms have I none, nor know I
whose I might wear."
Then answered Iris, "Go only to the trench and show thyself; so shall
the men of Troy tremble and cease from the battle, and the Greeks
shall have breathing-space."
Then went he to the trench; with the battle he mingled not, heeding
his mother's commands, but he shouted aloud, and his voice was as the
sound of a trumpet. And when the men of Troy heard, they were
stricken with fear, and the horses backed with the chariots, and the
drivers were astonished when they saw the flaming fire above his head
which Athene had kindled. Thrice across the trench the great
Achilles shouted, and thrice the men of Troy fell back. And that
hour there perished twelve chiefs of fame, wounded by their own
spears or trampled by their own steeds, so great was the terror among
the men of Troy.
Right gladly did the Greeks take Patroclus out of the press. Then
they laid him on a bier, and carried him to the tent, Achilles
walking with many tears by his side.