He spake, and, springing to the foremost ranks Stood firm; the Trojans also turned and faced The Achaians. Then Aeneas with his spear Struck down Leocritus, the gallant friend Of Lycomedes and Arisbas’ son. The warlike Lycomedes saw his fall With grief, and came and cast his shining spear At Apisaon, son of Hippasus, A shepherd of the people. Underneath The midriff, through the liver went the spear, And he fell lifeless. He had come to Troy From rich Pseonia, and was great in war, Next to Asteropaeus. As he saw His comrade fall, Asteropaeus, moved By grief, advanced to combat with the Greeks, But could not; for the group that stood around Patroclus showed a fence of shields, and held Their spears before them. Ajax moved among The warriors, charging them that none should leave The corpse, and none should step beyond the rest To strike the foe, but stay to guard the dead, And combat hand to hand. Such was the charge Of mighty Ajax. All the earth around Was steeped with blood, and many a corpse was heaped On corpse of Trojans and their brave allies, And of the Greeks, for even on their side The strife was not unbloody, though of Greeks There perished fewer; each was on the watch To ward the battle’s dangers from the rest.
Then did they fight like fire. You could not say The sun was safe, nor yet the moon, so thick A darkness gathered over the brave men Around the corpse of Menoetiades. The other Trojans and the well-armed Greeks Fought freely under the clear sky; the sun Shed o’er them his full brightness; not a cloud Shadowed the earth, or rested on the hills. From time to time they paused, and warily They shunned each other’s cruel darts, and kept Far from each other, while in the mid-war Struggled the combatants in darkness, galled By the remorseless weapons of their foes. Yet Thrasymedes and Antilochus, Two famous Grecian warriors, had not learned That excellent Patroclus was no more, But thought that, still alive, he led the war Against the Trojans, fighting in the van. They watched the flight and slaughter of the Greeks, And fought apart, for Nestor so enjoined, Who sent them to the battle from the fleet.