Achilles (Mythological character); Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Trojan War
So spake he, and leaped with his arms from the chariot to the ground.
But Patroklos, on the other side, when he beheld him leaped from his
chariot. And they, like vultures of crooked talons and curved beaks,
that war with loud yells on some high cliff, even so they rushed with
cries against each other. And beholding then the son of Kronos of the
crooked counsels took pity on them, and he spake to Hera, his sister
and wife: “Ah woe is me for that it is fated that Sarpedon, the
best-beloved of men to me, shall be subdued under Patroklos son of
Menoitios. And in two ways my heart within my breast is divided, as I
ponder whether I should catch him up alive out of the tearful war, and
set him down in the rich land of Lykia, or whether I should now subdue
him beneath the hands of the son of Menoitios.”
Then the ox-eyed lady Hera made answer to him: “Most dread son of
Kronos, what word is this thou hast spoken? A mortal man long doomed to
fate dost thou desire to deliver again from death of evil name? Work
thy will, but all we other gods will in no wise praise thee. And
another thing I will tell thee, and do thou lay it up in thy heart; if
thou dost send Sarpedon living to his own house, consider lest thereon
some other god likewise desire to send his own dear son away out of the
strong battle. For round the great citadel of Priam war many sons of
the Immortals, and among the Immortals wilt thou send terrible wrath.
But if he be dear to thee, and thy heart mourns for him, truly then
suffer him to be subdued in the strong battle beneath the hands of
Patroklos son of Menoitios, but when his soul and life leave that
warrior, send Death and sweet Sleep to bear him, even till they come to
the land of wide Lykia, there will his kindred and friends bury him,
with a barrow and a pillar, for this is the due of the dead.”
So spake she, nor did the father of gods and men disregard her. But he
shed bloody raindrops on the earth, honouring his dear son, that
Patroklos was about to slay in the deep-soiled land of Troia, far off
from his own country. Now when they were come near each other in onset,
there verily did Patroklos smite the renowned Thrasymelos, the good
squire of the prince Sarpedon, on the lower part of the belly, and
loosened his limbs. But Sarpedon missed him with his shining javelin,
as he in turn rushed on, but wounded the horse Pedasos on the right
shoulder with the spear, and he shrieked as he breathed his life away,
and fell crying in the dust, and his spirit fled from him. But the
other twain reared this way and that, and the yoke creaked, and the
reins were confused on them, when their trace-horse lay in the dust.
But thereof did Automedon, the spearman renowned, find a remedy, and
drawing his long-edged sword from his stout thigh, he leaped forth, and
cut adrift the horse, with no delay, and the pair righted themselves,
and strained in the reins, and they met again in life-devouring war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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