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as he saw him fall; he therefore went close up, and speared Apisaon
son of Hippasus shepherd of his people in the liver under the midriff,
so that he died; he had come from fertile Paeonia and was the best
man of them all after Asteropaeus. Asteropaeus flew forward to avenge
him and attack the Danaans, but this might no longer be, inasmuch
as those about Patroclus were well covered by their shields, and held
their spears in front of them, for Ajax had given them strict orders
that no man was either to give ground, or to stand out before the
others, but all were to hold well together about the body and fight
hand to hand. Thus did huge Ajax bid them, and the earth ran red with
blood as the corpses fell thick on one another alike on the side of
the Trojans and allies, and on that of the Danaans; for these last,
too, fought no bloodless fight though many fewer of them perished,
through the care they took to defend and stand by one another.
Thus did they fight as it were a flaming fire; it seemed as though
it had gone hard even with the sun and moon, for they were hidden
over all that part where the bravest heroes were fighting about the
dead son of Menoetius, whereas the other Danaans and Achaeans fought
at their ease in full daylight with brilliant sunshine all round them,
and there was not a cloud to be seen neither on plain nor mountain.
These last moreover would rest for a while and leave off fighting,
for they were some distance apart and beyond the range of one another's
weapons, whereas those who were in the thick of the fray suffered
both from battle and darkness. All the best of them were being worn
out by the great weight of their armour, but the two valiant heroes,
Thrasymedes and Antilochus, had not yet heard of the death of Patroclus,
and believed him to be still alive and leading the van against the