High dreams of triumph arose in the heart of Patroclus when he saw the
enemy flying, and, forgetting the earnest injunction of Achilles, he
bade Automedon lay on the lash, and followed in hot pursuit. Even to
the very walls he drove; but then he found awaiting him one mightier
than Hector, even Apollo himself, who shook the ægis in his face, and
warned him back. Patroclus retired a little, and while he hesitated
Apollo went to the gates of the city, where Hector was lingering, in
doubt whether to continue the battle, or to withdraw behind the walls.
"What doest thou here, son of Priam?" said the god; "come with me, and
I will show thee where the path of glory lies." When he heard Apollo's
voice, Hector's courage returned, and he commanded Cebriones, his
charioteer, to drive back to the battlefield. Avoiding the other
Greeks, Hector made straight for the place where Patroclus had been
left standing by Apollo. Patroclus came to meet him, holding his spear
in his left hand, while in his right he grasped a jagged stone. And as
the car approached, he flung the stone with all his force, and struck
Cebriones on the forehead, shattering the bones. The reins dropped
from his hands, and without a single cry he fell from the car, striking
the ground with his head. "How bravely the man tumbles!" cried
Patroclus. "He would make a rare diver, and earn a good wage by
bringing up oysters from the sea. I perceive that the Trojans can
dance, as well as the Cretans."
Thereupon he leapt upon the prostrate charioteer, and Hector sprang
forward to defend his comrade's body. So there they met, like two
hungry lions fighting for the carcass of a stag; and the Greeks and
Trojans thronged on either side to their support, like two winds from
opposite quarters, which shatter the boughs of beech and ash in a
mountain forest. All the ground about the corpse was set thick with
javelins and arrows, and heaped with the stones which crashed upon
corslet and shield. And there lay the giant Trojan, while the battle
raged above him, mighty and mightily fallen, and all his horsemanship
forgot.
Never had the arm of Patroclus dealt such havoc among the foemen's
ranks as then; for his doom was near, and Zeus gave him honour in this,
his latest hour. Thrice he made an onset, fierce as the god of war
himself, and thrice he slew nine men. But when for the fourth time he
sprang to the encounter, Phœbus made after him, and smote him on the
back with his open hand. Patroclus reeled and grew dizzy, like one who
has received a sunstroke. Then Apollo struck the helmet from his head,
and it rolled clattering among the horses' feet, that mighty brazen
helm, whose plumes, now soiled with dust and gore, had once waved above
the princely brow of Achilles. The spear was shivered to pieces in his
hand, and his shield slipped from his shoulder to the ground. And as
he stood thus, defenceless and amazed, a Trojan, whose name was
Euphorbus, wounded him between the shoulders with his spear. The blow
was not mortal, and Patroclus drew back, to mingle with the press; but
Hector followed after him, and drove his spear deep into his side. And
as a lion overpowers a wild boar, fighting with him in the lone
mountains for the possession of a little spring, and slays him by his
might, so slew Hector the valiant son of Menœtius, and stayed the
ravage of the Trojan ranks.
"Ah! Patroclus," said he, gazing in triumph on the dying hero, "thou
thoughtest this day to have taken our city by storm, and led captive
the women of Troy. But they have in me a defender who is too strong
for thee. Vain man! Achilles, I doubt not, bade thee bring back to
him the bloody spoils of Hector, and now thou liest slain by Hector's
hand."
"Boast not," answered Patroclus faintly. "It is small glory for thee
to have slain the slain. I received my death blow from Apollo and
Euphorbus, not from thee. And thine own fate shall overtake thee soon,
when thou shalt die by the hands of Æacides."
Even as he spake the shadow of death fell upon him, and his soul took
wing for the realm of Hades, bewailing her lot, leaving all that beauty
and manly bloom.