Achilles (Mythological character); Classical literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He eased his pain,
staunched the black blood from the wound, and gave him new
strength. Glaucus perceived this, and was thankful that the
mighty god had answered his prayer; forthwith, therefore, he went
among the Lycian captains, and bade them come to fight about the
body of Sarpedon. From these he strode on among the Trojans to
Polydamas son of Panthous and Agenor; he then went in search of
Aeneas and Hector, and when he had found them he said, “Hector,
you have utterly forgotten your allies, who languish here for
your sake far from friends and home while you do nothing to
support them. Sarpedon leader of the Lycian warriors has
fallen—he who was at once the right and might of Lycia; Mars has
laid him low by the spear of Patroclus. Stand by him, my friends,
and suffer not the Myrmidons to strip him of his armour, nor to
treat his body with contumely in revenge for all the Danaans whom
we have speared at the ships.”
As he spoke the Trojans were plunged in extreme and ungovernable
grief; for Sarpedon, alien though he was, had been one of the
main stays of their city, both as having much people with him,
and himself the foremost among them all. Led by Hector, who was
infuriated by the fall of Sarpedon, they made instantly for the
Danaans with all their might, while the undaunted spirit of
Patroclus son of Menoetius cheered on the Achaeans. First he
spoke to the two Ajaxes, men who needed no bidding. “Ajaxes,”
said he, “may it now please you to show yourselves the men you
have always been, or even better—Sarpedon is fallen—he who was
first to overleap the wall of the Achaeans; let us take the body
and outrage it; let us strip the armour from his shoulders, and
kill his comrades if they try to rescue his body.”
He spoke to men who of themselves were full eager; both sides,
therefore, the Trojans and Lycians on the one hand, and the
Myrmidons and Achaeans on the other, strengthened their
battalions, and fought desperately about the body of Sarpedon,
shouting fiercely the while. Mighty was the din of their armour
as they came together, and Jove shed a thick darkness over the
fight, to increase the toil of the battle over the body of his
son.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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