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THE SLAYING AND AVENGING OF PATROCLUS
At this moment, when torches were blazing round the ships, and all seemed
lost, Patroclus came out of the hut of Eurypylus, whose wound he had been
tending, and he saw that the Greeks were in great danger, and ran weeping
to Achilles. "Why do you weep," said Achilles, "like a little girl that
runs by her mother's side, and plucks at her gown and looks at her with
tears in her eyes, till her mother takes her up in her arms? Is there
bad news from home that your father is dead, or mine; or are you sorry
that the Greeks are getting what they deserve for their folly?" Then
Patroclus told Achilles how Ulysses and many other princes were wounded
and could not fight, and begged to be allowed to put on Achilles' armour
and lead his men, who were all fresh and unwearied, into the battle, for
a charge of two thousand fresh warriors might turn the fortune of the
day.
Then Achilles was sorry that he had sworn not to fight himself till
Hector brought fire to his own ships. He would lend Patroclus his
armour, and his horses, and his men; but Patroclus must only drive the
Trojans from the ships, and not pursue them. At this moment Aias was
weary, so many spears smote his armour, and he could hardly hold up his
great shield, and Hector cut off his spear-head with the sword; the
bronze head fell ringing on the ground, and Aias brandished only the
pointless shaft. So he shrank back and fire blazed all over his ship;
and Achilles saw it, and smote his thigh, and bade Patroclus make haste.
Patroclus armed himself in the shining armour of Achilles, which all
Trojans feared, and leaped into the chariot where Automedon, the squire,
had harnessed Xanthus and Balius, two horses that were the children, men
said, of the West Wind, and a led horse was harnessed beside them in the
side traces. Meanwhile the two thousand men of Achilles, who were called
Myrmidons, had met in armour, five companies of four hundred apiece,
under five chiefs of noble names. Forth they came, as eager as a pack of
wolves that have eaten a great red deer and run to slake their thirst
with the dark water of a well in the hills.
So all in close array, helmet touching helmet and shield touching shield,
like a moving wall of shining bronze, the men of Achilles charged, and
Patroclus, in the chariot led the way. Down they came at full speed on
the flank of the Trojans, who saw the leader, and knew the bright armour
and the horses of the terrible Achilles, and thought that he had returned
to the war. Then each Trojan looked round to see by what way he could
escape, and when men do that in battle they soon run by the way they have
chosen. Patroclus rushed to the ship of Protesilaus, and slew the leader
of the Trojans there, and drove them out, and quenched the fire; while
they of Troy drew back from the ships, and Aias and the other unwounded
Greek princes leaped among them, smiting with sword and spear. Well did
Hector know that the break in the battle had come again; but even so he
stood, and did what he might, while the Trojans were driven back in
disorder across the ditch, where the poles of many chariots were broken
and the horses fled loose across the plain.
The horses of Achilles cleared the ditch, and Patroclus drove them
between the Trojans and the wall of their own town, slaying many men,
and, chief of all, Sarpedon, king of the Lycians; and round the body of
Sarpedon the Trojans rallied under Hector, and the fight swayed this way
and that, and there was such a noise of spears and swords smiting shields
and helmets as when many woodcutters fell trees in a glen of the hills.
At last the Trojans gave way, and the Greeks stripped the armour from the
body of brave Sarpedon; but men say that Sleep and Death, like two winged
angels, bore his body away to his own country. Now Patroclus forgot how
Achilles had told him not to pursue the Trojans across the plain, but to
return when he had driven them from the ships. On he raced, slaying as
he went, even till he reached the foot of the wall of Troy. Thrice he
tried to climb it, but thrice he fell back.
Hector was in his chariot in the gateway, and he bade his squire lash his
horses into the war, and struck at no other man, great or small, but
drove straight against Patroclus, who stood and threw a heavy stone at
Hector; which missed him, but killed his charioteer. Then Patroclus
leaped on the charioteer to strip his armour, but Hector stood over the
body, grasping it by the head, while Patroclus dragged at the feet, and
spears and arrows flew in clouds around the fallen man. At last, towards
sunset, the Greeks drew him out of the war, and Patroclus thrice charged
into the thick of the Trojans. But the helmet of Achilles was loosened
in the fight, and fell from the head of Patroclus, and he was wounded
from behind, and Hector, in front, drove his spear clean through his
body. With his last breath Patroclus prophesied: "Death stands near
thee, Hector, at the hands of noble Achilles." But Automedon was driving
back the swift horses, carrying to Achilles the news that his dearest
friend was slain.
After Ulysses was wounded, early in this great battle, he was not able to
fight for several days, and, as the story is about Ulysses, we must tell
quite shortly how Achilles returned to the war to take vengeance for
Patroclus, and how he slew Hector. When Patroclus fell, Hector seized
the armour which the Gods had given to Peleus, and Peleus to his son
Achilles, while Achilles had lent it to Patroclus that he might terrify
the Trojans. Retiring out of reach of spears, Hector took off his own
armour and put on that of Achilles, and Greeks and Trojans fought for the
dead body of Patroclus. Then Zeus, the chief of the Gods, looked down
and said that Hector should never come home out of the battle to his
wife, Andromache. But Hector returned into the fight around the dead
Patroclus, and here all the best men fought, and even Automedon, who had
been driving the chariot of Patroclus. Now when the Trojans seemed to
have the better of the fight, the Greeks sent Antilochus, a son of old
Nestor, to tell Achilles that his friend was slain, and Antilochus ran,
and Aias and his brother protected the Greeks who were trying to carry
the body of Patroclus back to the ships.
Swiftly Antilochus came running to Achilles, saying: "Fallen is
Patroclus, and they are fighting round his naked body, for Hector has his
armour." Then Achilles said never a word, but fell on the floor of his
hut, and threw black ashes on his yellow hair, till Antilochus seized his
hands, fearing that he would cut his own throat with his dagger, for very
sorrow. His mother, Thetis, arose from the sea to comfort him, but he
said that he desired to die if he could not slay Hector, who had slain
his friend. Then Thetis told him that he could not fight without armour,
and now he had none; but she would go to the God of armour-making and
bring from him such a shield and helmet and breastplate as had never been
seen by men.
Meanwhile the fight raged round the dead body of Patroclus, which was
defiled with blood and dust, near the ships, and was being dragged this
way and that, and torn and wounded. Achilles could not bear this sight,
yet his mother had warned him not to enter without armour the battle
where stones and arrows and spears were flying like hail; and he was so
tall and broad that he could put on the arms of no other man. So he went
down to the ditch as he was, unarmed, and as he stood high above it,
against the red sunset, fire seemed to flow from his golden hair like the
beacon blaze that soars into the dark sky when an island town is attacked
at night, and men light beacons that their neighbours may see them and
come to their help from other isles. There Achilles stood in a splendour
of fire, and he shouted aloud, as clear as a clarion rings when men fall
on to attack a besieged city wall. Thrice Achilles shouted mightily, and
thrice the horses of the Trojans shuddered for fear and turned back from
the onslaught,--and thrice the men of Troy were confounded and shaken
with terror. Then the Greeks drew the body of Patroclus out of the dust
and the arrows, and laid him on a bier, and Achilles followed, weeping,
for he had sent his friend with chariot and horses to the war; but home
again he welcomed him never more. Then the sun set and it was night.
Now one of the Trojans wished Hector to retire within the walls of Troy,
for certainly Achilles would to-morrow be foremost in the war. But
Hector said, "Have ye not had your fill of being shut up behind walls?
Let Achilles fight; I will meet him in the open field." The Trojans
cheered, and they camped in the plain, while in the hut of Achilles women
washed the dead body of Patroclus, and Achilles swore that he would slay
Hector.
In the dawn came Thetis, bearing to Achilles the new splendid armour that
the God had made for him. Then Achilles put on that armour, and roused
his men; but Ulysses, who knew all the rules of honour, would not let him
fight till peace had been made, with a sacrifice and other ceremonies,
between him and Agamemnon, and till Agamemnon had given him all the
presents which Achilles had before refused. Achilles did not want them;
he wanted only to fight, but Ulysses made him obey, and do what was
usual. Then the gifts were brought, and Agamemnon stood up, and said
that he was sorry for his insolence, and the men took breakfast, but
Achilles would neither eat nor drink. He mounted his chariot, but the
horse Xanthus bowed his head till his long mane touched the ground, and,
being a fairy horse, the child of the West Wind, he spoke (or so men
said), and these were his words: "We shall bear thee swiftly and
speedily, but thou shalt be slain in fight, and thy dying day is near at
hand." "Well I know it," said Achilles, "but I will not cease from
fighting till I have given the Trojans their fill of war."
So all that day he chased and slew the Trojans. He drove them into the
river, and, though the river came down in a red flood, he crossed, and
slew them on the plain. The plain caught fire, the bushes and long dry
grass blazed round him, but he fought his way through the fire, and drove
the Trojans to their walls. The gates were thrown open, and the Trojans
rushed through like frightened fawns, and then they climbed to the
battlements, and looked down in safety, while the whole Greek army
advanced in line under their shields.
But Hector stood still, alone, in front of the gate, and old Priam, who
saw Achilles rushing on, shining like a star in his new armour, called
with tears to Hector, "Come within the gate! This man has slain many of
my sons, and if he slays thee whom have I to help me in my old age?" His
mother also called to Hector, but he stood firm, waiting for Achilles.
Now the story says that he was afraid, and ran thrice in full armour
round Troy, with Achilles in pursuit. But this cannot be true, for no
mortal men could run thrice, in heavy armour, with great shields that
clanked against their ankles, round the town of Troy: moreover Hector was
the bravest of men, and all the Trojan women were looking down at him
from the walls.
We cannot believe that he ran away, and the story goes on to tell that he
asked Achilles to make an agreement with him. The conqueror in the fight
should give back the body of the fallen to be buried by his friends, but
should keep his armour. But Achilles said that he could make no
agreement with Hector, and threw his spear, which flew over Hector's
shoulder. Then Hector threw his spear, but it could not pierce the
shield which the God had made for Achilles. Hector had no other spear,
and Achilles had one, so Hector cried, "Let me not die without honour!"
and drew his sword, and rushed at Achilles, who sprang to meet him, but
before Hector could come within a sword-stroke Achilles had sent his
spear clean through the neck of Hector. He fell in the dust and Achilles
said, "Dogs and birds shall tear your flesh unburied." With his dying
breath Hector prayed him to take gold from Priam, and give back his body
to be burned in Troy. But Achilles said, "Hound! would that I could
bring myself to carve and eat thy raw flesh, but dogs shall devour it,
even if thy father offered me thy weight in gold." With his last words
Hector prophesied and said, "Remember me in the day when Paris shall slay
thee in the Scaean gate." Then his brave soul went to the land of the
Dead, which the Greeks called Hades. To that land Ulysses sailed while
he was still a living man, as the story tells later.
Then Achilles did a dreadful deed; he slit the feet of dead Hector from
heel to ankle, and thrust thongs through, and bound him by the thongs to
his chariot and trailed the body in the dust. All the women of Troy who
were on the walls raised a shriek, and Hector's wife, Andromache, heard
the sound. She had been in an inner room of her house, weaving a purple
web, and embroidering flowers on it, and she was calling her bower
maidens to make ready a bath for Hector when he should come back tired
from battle. But when she heard the cry from the wall she trembled, and
the shuttle with which she was weaving fell from her hands. "Surely I
heard the cry of my husband's mother," she said, and she bade two of her
maidens come with her to see why the people lamented.
She ran swiftly, and reached the battlements, and thence she saw her dear
husband's body being whirled through the dust towards the ships, behind
the chariot of Achilles. Then night came over her eyes and she fainted.
But when she returned to herself she cried out that now none would defend
her little boy, and other children would push him away from feasts,
saying, "Out with you; no father of thine is at our table," and his
father, Hector, would lie naked at the ships, unclad, unburned,
unlamented. To be unburned and unburied was thought the greatest of
misfortunes, because the dead man unburned could not go into the House of
Hades, God of the Dead, but must always wander, alone and comfortless, in
the dark borderland between the dead and the living. _
Read next: THE CRUELTY OF ACHILLES, AND THE RANSOMING OF HECTOR
Read previous: BATTLE AT THE SHIPS
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