Achilles was the bravest and strongest of the Grecian heroes, and all looked to him as the man through whom success must come. However, he became angered at Agamemnon and withdrew from the contest, and victory seemed about to fall to the Trojans. One day Patroclus, the friend and kinsman of Achilles, distressed at the Greek fortunes, removed of Achilles his armor, and at the head of Achilles's own men, went forth to do battle with the Trojans. He was slain by Hector, the son of Priam, the bravest of the Trojan defenders, and in anger at his friend's death, Achilles returned to the conflict. The battle was waged outside the city, and owing to the prowess of Achilles, matters looked bad for the Trojans. Apollo, god of light, who favored the Trojans, took upon himself the form of a Trojan warrior, and while appearing to flee, drew Achilles after him, and thus allowed the Trojans to gain the shelter of the city walls. The selection from the _Iliad_ given here begins just as Apollo throws off his disguise and reveals his identity to Achilles. Thus to their bulwarks, smit with panic fear, The herded Ilians* rush like driven deer: There safe they wipe the briny drops away, And drown in bowls the labors of the day. Close to the walls, advancing o'er the fields Beneath one roof of well-compacted shields, March, bending on, the Greeks' embodied powers, Far stretching in the shade of Trojan towers. Great Hector singly stay'd: chain'd down by fate There fix'd he stood before the Scaean gate; Still his bold arms determined to employ, The guardian still of long-defended Troy. *[Footnote: _Ilium_, or _Ilion_, was another name for Troy, and the Ilians were Trojans.] Apollo now to tired Achilles turns (The power confess'd in all his glory burns): "And what," he cries, "has Peleus'* son in view, With mortal speed a godhead to pursue? For not to thee to know the gods' is given, Unskill'd to trace the latent marks of heaven. What boots thee now, that Troy forsook the plain? Vain thy past labor, and thy present vain: Safe in their walls are now her troops bestow'd, While here thy frantic rage attacks a god." *[Footnote: Achilles was the son of Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis.] The chief incensed--"Too partial god of day! To check my conquests in the middle way: How few in Ilion else had refuge found! What gasping numbers now had bit the ground! Thou robb'st me of a glory justly mine, Powerful of godhead, and of fraud divine: Mean fame, alas! for one of heavenly strain, To cheat a mortal who repines in vain."