And half shall be my own; glory and praise280 Shall also be his meed, equal to mine. He ended; they compact with lifted spears Bore on the Danaï, conceiving each Warm expectation in his heart to wrest From Ajax son of Telamon, the dead.285 Vain hope! he many a lifeless Trojan heap’d On slain Patroclus, but at length his speech To warlike Menelaus thus address’d. Ah, Menelaus, valiant friend! I hope No longer, now, that even we shall ’scape290 Ourselves from fight; nor fear I so the loss Of dead Patroclus, who shall soon the dogs Of Ilium, and the fowls sate with his flesh, As for my life I tremble and for thine, That cloud of battle, Hector, such a gloom295 Sheds all around; death manifest impends. Haste—call our best, if even they can hear. He spake, nor Menelaus not complied, But call’d aloud on all the Chiefs of Greece. Friends, senators, and leaders of the powers300 Of Argos! who with Agamemnon drink And Menelaus at the public feast, Each bearing rule o’er many, by the will Of Jove advanced to honor and renown! The task were difficult to single out305 Chief after Chief by name amid the blaze Of such contention; but oh, come yourselves Indignant forth, nor let the dogs of Troy Patroclus rend, and gambol with his bones! He ceased, whom Oïliades the swift310 Hearing incontinent, of all the Chiefs Ran foremost, after whom Idomeneus Approach’d, and dread as homicidal Mars Meriones. But never mind of man Could even in silent recollection name315 The whole vast multitude who, following these Renew’d the battle on the part of Greece. The Trojans first, with Hector at their head, Wedged in close phalanx, rush’d to the assault As when within some rapid river’s mouth320 The billows and stream clash, on either shore[3] Loud sounds the roar[3] of waves ejected wide, Such seem’d the clamors of the Trojan host. But the Achaians, one in heart, around Patroclus stood, bulwark’d with shields of brass325 And over all their glittering helmets Jove Darkness diffused, for he had loved Patroclus While yet he lived friend of Æacides, And now, abhorring that the dogs of Troy Should eat him, urged the Greeks to his defence,330 The host of Troy first shook the Grecian host; The body left, they fled; yet of them all, The Trojan powers, determined as they were, Slew none, but dragg’d the body. Neither stood The Greeks long time aloof, soon as repulsed335 Again led on by Ajax, who in form And in exploits all others far excell’d. Peerless Æacides alone except. Right through the foremost combatants he rush’d, In force resembling most some savage boar340 That in the mountains bursting through the brakes, The swains disperses and their hounds with ease; Like him, illustrious Ajax, mighty son Of Telamon, at his assault dispersed With ease the close imbattled ranks who fought345 Around Patroclus’ body, strong in hope To achieve it, and to make the glory theirs. Hippothoüs, a youth of high renown, Son of Pelasgian Lethus, by a noose