Achilles (Mythological character); Classical literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
Then, O knight Patroclus, with a deep sigh you answered,
“Achilles, son of Peleus, foremost champion of the Achaeans, do
not be angry, but I weep for the disaster that has now befallen
the Argives. All those who have been their champions so far are
lying at the ships, wounded by sword or spear. Brave Diomed son
of Tydeus has been hit with a spear, while famed Ulysses and
Agamemnon have received sword-wounds; Eurypylus again has been
struck with an arrow in the thigh; skilled apothecaries are
attending to these heroes, and healing them of their wounds; are
you still, O Achilles, so inexorable? May it never be my lot to
nurse such a passion as you have done, to the baning of your own
good name. Who in future story will speak well of you unless you
now save the Argives from ruin? You know no pity; knight Peleus
was not your father nor Thetis your mother, but the grey sea bore
you and the sheer cliffs begot you, so cruel and remorseless are
you. If however you are kept back through knowledge of some
oracle, or if your mother Thetis has told you something from the
mouth of Jove, at least send me and the Myrmidons with me, if I
may bring deliverance to the Danaans. Let me moreover wear your
armour; the Trojans may thus mistake me for you and quit the
field, so that the hard-pressed sons of the Achaeans may have
breathing time—which while they are fighting may hardly be. We
who are fresh might soon drive tired men back from our ships and
tents to their own city.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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