"Not through our crime, or slowness in the course, Fell thy Patroclus, but by heavenly force; The bright far-shooting god who gilds the day (Confess'd we saw him) tore his arms away. No--could our swiftness o'er the winds prevail, Or beat the pinions of the western gale, All were in vain--the Fates thy death demand, Due to a mortal and immortal hand." POPE, _Iliad_, Book XIX. But Achilles already knew his fate, and he was prepared to meet it with courage. "I know my fate: to die, to see no more My much-loved parents, and my native shore-- Enough--when heaven ordains, I sink in night: Now perish Troy!" He said, and rush'd to fight. POPE, _Iliad_, Book XIX, In the battle which now began many of the gods took active part, Jupiter, at a council on Mount Olympus, having given them permission to do so. Down to the plain before Troy they sped with haste, Juno, Minerva, Neptune, Mercury, and Vulcan taking the side of the Greeks, and Mars, Apollo, Venus, Diana, Latona, and the river god, Xanthus, going to the assistance of the Trojans. Meantime Achilles, having rushed forth to the field, plunged into the thick of the fight, eagerly seeking for Hector. But first he met Æneas, whom Apollo had urged to encounter him. Achilles warned the Trojan hero to withdraw from the battle. "Once already," said he, "I forced you to flee before my spear, running fast down Ida's slopes. I counsel you now to retire, lest evil happen to you." Æneas answered that he was not to be thus frightened, as if he were a beardless boy. "I am the son of the goddess Venus," said he, "and my father, Anchises, was descended from Jove himself. We are not here, however, to talk, but to fight, and words will not turn me from my purpose." So saying, Æneas hurled his spear. It struck the shield of Achilles with a ringing sound, and passed through two of its folds. Vulcan's skill Fenced with five folds the disk,--the outer two Of brass, the inner two of tin; between Was one of gold, and there the brazen spear Was stayed. BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book XX. Achilles now cast his heavy javelin. Through the shield of Æneas it crashed, but, as the hero stooped to avoid it, the spear passed over his shoulder, and plunged deep into the earth. Then with sword in hand, the Myrmidonian chief rushed furiously upon Æneas. He would probably have slain him, had not Neptune interfered. But the ocean god spread a mist over the eyes of the Greek warrior, and carried Æneas away in safety to the rear of the battlefield. The Trojan prince was thus preserved because the Dardan race, to which he belonged, was beloved by Jupiter. Moreover it was decreed by the Fates that the son of Anchises should, in later times, rule over a Trojan people, and that his sons' sons should rule after him.