not the Greeks To perish, slaughtered by the sons of Troy.”
So spake he supplicating. Jupiter The All-disposer thundered as he heard The old man’s prayer. The Trojans by that voice Of aegis-bearing Jove were moved to press The Greeks more resolutely, and were filled With fiercer valor. As a mighty wave On the great ocean, driven before a gale Such as rolls up the hugest billow, sweeps O’er the ship’s side, so swept the Trojan host With dreadful tumult o’er the wall. They drave Their steeds into the camp, and there they fought Beside the galley-sterns, and hand to hand, With two-edged spears—they from their cars, the Greeks From their black ships on high with long-stemmed poles Which lay upon the decks, prepared for fight At sea, and strongly joined to blades of brass.
Patroclus, while the Greeks and Trojans fought Around the wall, at distance from the fleet Sat with the brave Eurypylus in his tent, Amusing him with pleasant talk, and dressed His wound with balms that calmed the bitter pain. But when he saw the Trojans bursting in Over the wall, and heard the din, and saw The Achaians put to rout, he gave a cry Of sudden grief, and with his open hands Smote both his thighs, and sorrowfully said:—