Book XVI

He spake, and all were resolute to beat The enemy back; and when, on either side, Trojans and Lycians, Myrmidons and Greeks, Had put their phalanxes in firm array, They closed, with dreadful shouts and horrid clash Of arms, in fight around the dead, while Jove Drew o’er that deadly fray an awful veil Of darkness, that the struggle for the corpse Of his dear son might rage more furiously. The Trojans first drave back the dark-eyed Greeks, For one was in the onset smitten down, Not the least valiant of the Myrmidons⁠— The son of brave Agacles, nobly born Epeigeus, who aforetime, when he ruled The populous Budeium, having slain A noble kinsman, fled a suppliant To Peleus and the silver-footed queen, Thetis, his consort, and by them was sent, With terrible Achilles, to the coast Of courser-breeding Ilium and the siege Of Troy. As now he stooped to seize the dead, Illustrious Hector smote him with a stone Upon the forehead, cleaving it in two In the strong helmet; headlong on the corse He fell, and cruel death crept over him. With grief Patroclus saw his comrade slain, And broke his way among the foremost ranks. As a swift hawk that chases through the air Starlings and daws, so didst thou dart among Trojans and Lycians, for thy wrath was roused, O knight Patroclus! by thy comrade’s death. And now his hand struck Sthenelaüs down, The dear son of Ithaemenes; he flung A stone that crushed the sinews of the neck. Back drew illustrious Hector, and with him The warriors who were fighting in the van. As far as one can send a javelin, When men contend in martial games, or meet Their deadly enemies in war, so far Withdrew the Trojans, and the Greeks pursued. The leader of the bucklered Lycian host, Glaucus, was first to turn against his foes. He slew the brave Bathycles, the dear son Of Chalcon, who in Hellas had his home, And was the richest of the Myrmidons. The Lycian, turning on him suddenly As he drew near pursuing, sent his spear Right through his breast, and with a clash he fell. Great was the sorrow of the Greeks to see That valiant warrior fall; the men of Troy Exulted, and pressed round him in a crowd. Nor lacking was the valor of the Greeks, Who met them manfully. Meriones Struck down a Trojan chief, Laogonus, Onetor’s