Glaucus was in dire distress when he heard his dying comrade's voice.
But he was disabled by the wound which he had received in scaling the
wall. Nursing his injured arm, he prayed aloud to Apollo: "Hear me, O
King, whether thou art now in Lycia or in Troy; for thine ear is ever
open to the cry of need, however far away. My hand is maimed, and my
arm is burning with sharp pains, so that I cannot wield my spear,
though Sarpedon is fallen, and his father hath forsaken him. So
forsake thou not me, but heal my wound, and give me back my strength,
that I may save his body from outrage."
Apollo heard, and granted his prayer, and straightway the flow of his
blood was stopped, and he felt in his body that he was healed of his
hurt. Then Glaucus was glad, and he made all haste to do his comrade's
bidding. First he called to the men of Lycia to do battle for their
slaughtered captain, and then he went to rouse the Trojan leaders to do
their duty by their great ally. Finding Hector engaged in another part
of the field, he reproached him for his neglect. "Hast thou
forgotten," he asked indignantly, "what thou owest to us, who have come
on a far journey to shed our blood for thee and thy country? Cold lies
Sarpedon, chief pillar of thine allies; come, friends, and help us to
save his corpse, or ye will be shamed for ever."
This was bitter news for the Trojans, who reverenced Sarpedon as the
chief corner-stone of their defence; and they rushed with one accord to
avenge his death. Patroclus on his side summoned the bravest of the
Greeks to his aid, and the whole fury of the struggle was now centred
in the place where the dead Sarpedon lay.
The first who fell in this new battle was a friend of Patroclus, who
years ago had found a new home in the house of Peleus, having been
banished from his own country for the murder of his cousin. He was now
struck down by a stone from the hand of Hector; and Patroclus, in his
anger at his comrade's death, made so furious an assault that the
Trojans gave way before him about the length of a spear's cast. Then
Glaucus advanced again, and slew Bathycles, a man of high note among
the Myrmidons; and Meriones on the other side killed Laogonus, the
priest of Idæan Zeus. Æneas, ever famed for his piety, hurled his
spear at Meriones, hoping to avenge the fall of that sacred head; but
Meriones stooped low, and the spear flew over his head, and sunk deep
in the ground, with quivering shaft, just behind him. "The Cretan can
dance, I see!" shouted Æneas; "he comes from a land of dancers." "Thou
shall dance to my piping, before thou hast done," answered Meriones
derisively. "Thinkest thou that we owe thee a life for every cast of
thy spear?" "Peace!" said Patroclus, rebuking him. "We must fight
with our swords, not with our tongues, if we would do aught worthy
here."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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