The Story of the Iliad by Alfred John Church

Now Patroclus stood by Achilles, weeping bitterly. Then said / Achilles: "What ails thee, Patroclus, that thou weepest like a / girl-child that runs along by her mother's side, and would be taken / up, holding her gown, and looking at her with tearful eyes till she / lift her in her arms? Hast thou heard evil news from home? Or art / thou weeping for the Greeks, because they perish for their folly?"

Then said Patroclus: "Be not wroth with me, great Achilles, for / indeed the Greeks are in grievous straits, and all their bravest are / wounded, and still thou cherishest thy wrath. If thou goest not to / the battle, fearing some warning from the gods, let me go, and thy / Myrmidons with me. And let me put thy armour on me; so shall the / Greeks have breathing-space from the war."

So he spake, entreating, nor knew that for his own doom he entreated. / And Achilles made reply: --

"It is no warning that I heed, that I keep back from the war. These / men took from me my prize, which I won with my own hands. But let / the past be past. I said that I would not rise up till the battle / should come nigh to my own ships. But thou mayest put my armour upon / thee, and lead my Myrmidons to the fight. For in truth the men of / Troy are gathered as a dark cloud about the ships, and the Greeks / have scarce standing-ground between them and the sea. For they see / not the gleam of my helmet, and Diomed is not there with his spear; / nor do I hear the voice of Agamemnon, but only the voice of Hector, / as he calls the men of Troy to the battle. Go, therefore, Patroclus, / and drive the fire from the ships. And then come thou back, nor / fight any more with the Trojans, lest thou take my glory from me. / And go not near, in the delight of battle, to the walls of Troy, lest / one of the gods meet thee to thy hurt: for the keen-archer Apollo / loves the Trojans well."

But as they talked the one to the other, Ajax could hold out no / longer. For swords and javelins came thick upon him, and clattered / on his helmet, and his shoulder was weary with the great shield which / he held; and he breathed heavily and hard, and the great drops of / sweat fell upon the ground. Then at the last Hector came near and / smote his spear with a great sword, so that the head fell off. Then / was Ajax sore afraid, and gave way, and the men of Troy set torches / to the ship's stem, and a great flame shot up to the sky. And / Achilles saw it, and smote his thigh and spake: --

"Haste thee, Patroclus, for I see the fire rising up from the ships. / Put thou on the armour, and I will call my people to the war."

So Patroclus put on the armour, -- corselet, and shield, and / helmet, -- and bound upon his shoulder the silver-studded sword, and / took a mighty spear in his hand. But the great spear of Achilles he / took not, for that no man but Achilles might wield. Then Automedon / yoked the horses to the chariot, Bayard and Piebald, and with them in / the side harness, Pedasus; and the two first were deathless steeds, / but the third was mortal.

/ Au-tom'-e-don. Ped'-a-sus.

Meanwhile Achilles had called the Myrmidons to battle. Fifty ships / had he brought to Troy, and in each there were fifty men.

Then Achilles said: "Forget not, ye Myrmidons, the bold words that ye / spake against the men of Troy during the days of my wrath, making / complaint that I kept you from the battle against your will. Now, / therefore, ye have that which ye desired."

So the Myrmidons went to the battle in close array, helmet to helmet / and shield to shield, close as the stones with which a builder builds / a wall And in front went Patroclus, and Automedon in the chariot / beside him. Then Achilles went to his tent and took from the chest a / great cup, which Thetis his mother had given him. Now no man drank / of that cup but he only, nor did he pour out of it offerings to any / of the gods except to Zeus. This first he cleansed with sulphur, and / then with water from the spring. And after this he washed his hands, / and stood in the midst of the space before his tent, and poured out / of it to Zeus, saying, "O Zeus, I send my comrade to this battle; / make him strong and bold, and give him glory, and bring him home safe / to the ships, and my people with him."

So he prayed, and Father Zeus heard him, and part he granted and part / denied.

But now Patroclus with the Myrmidons had come to where the battle was / raging about the ships, and when the men of Troy beheld him, they / thought that Achilles had forgotten his wrath and was come forth to / the war. Then the men of Troy turned to flee, and many chiefs of / fame fell by the spears of the Greeks. So the battle rolled back to / the trench, and in the trench many chariots of the Trojans were / broken, but the horses of Achilles went across it at a stride, so / nimble were they and strong. And the heart of Patroclus was set to / slay Hector; but he could not overtake him, so swift were his horses. / Then did Patroclus turn his chariot, and keep back those that fled, / and rushed hither and thither, still slaying as he went.