before his very feet. Down from the sumptuous seat he plunged, as dives A swimmer, and the life forsook his limbs. And this, Patroclus, was thy cruel jest:—
“Truly a nimble man is this who dives With such expertness. Were this, now, the sea, Where fish are bred, and he were searching it For oysters, he might get an ample store For many men, in leaping from a ship, Though in a storm, so skilfully he dives Even from the chariot to the plain. No doubt There must be divers in the town of Troy.”
He spake, and sprang upon Cebriones. With all a lion’s fury, which attacks The stables and is wounded in the breast, And perishes through his own daring; thus, Patroclus, didst thou fall upon the slain, While Hector, hastening also, left his steeds, And both contended for Cebriones. As lions for the carcass of a deer Fight on a mountain summit, hungry both, And both unyielding, thus two mighty men Of war, Patroclus Menoetiades And glorious Hector, eager each to smite His adversary with the cruel spear, Fought for Cebriones. The slain man’s head Was seized by Hector’s powerful hand, whose grasp Relaxed not, while Patroclus held the foot; And, thronging to the spot, the other Greeks And Trojans mingled in the desperate strife.