29.03.2013 Views

Provided by The Internet Classics Archive. See bottom for copyright ...

Provided by The Internet Classics Archive. See bottom for copyright ...

Provided by The Internet Classics Archive. See bottom for copyright ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

the men you have always been, or even better-­‐ Sarpedon is fallen-­‐<br />

he who was first to overleap the wall of the Achaeans; let us take<br />

the body and outrage it; let us strip the armour from his shoulders,<br />

and kill his comrades if they try to rescue his body."<br />

He spoke to men who of themselves were full eager; both sides, there<strong>for</strong>e,<br />

the Trojans and Lycians on the one hand, and the Myrmidons and Achaeans<br />

on the other, strengthened their battalions, and fought desperately<br />

about the body of Sarpedon, shouting fiercely the while. Mighty was<br />

the din of their armour as they came together, and Jove shed a thick<br />

darkness over the fight, to increase the of the battle over the body<br />

of his son.<br />

At first the Trojans made some headway against the Achaeans, <strong>for</strong> one<br />

of the best men among the Myrmidons was killed, Epeigeus, son of noble<br />

Agacles who had erewhile been king in the good city of Budeum; but<br />

presently, having killed a valiant kinsman of his own, he took refuge<br />

with Peleus and <strong>The</strong>tis, who sent him to Ilius the land of noble steeds<br />

to fight the Trojans under Achilles. Hector now struck him on the<br />

head with a stone just as he had caught hold of the body, and his<br />

brains inside his helmet were all battered in, so that he fell face<br />

<strong>for</strong>emost upon the body of Sarpedon, and there died. Patroclus was<br />

enraged <strong>by</strong> the death of his comrade, and sped through the front ranks<br />

as swiftly as a hawk that swoops down on a flock of daws or starlings.<br />

Even so swiftly, O noble knight Patroclus, did you make straight <strong>for</strong><br />

the Lycians and Trojans to avenge your comrade. Forthwith he struck<br />

Sthenelaus the son of Ithaemenes on the neck with a stone, and broke<br />

the tendons that join it to the head and spine. On this Hector and

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!