my father’s halls, And tell him all. I hasten to ascend The summits of Olympus, there to ask Of Vulcan, the renowned artificer, Armor of glorious beauty for my son.”
She spake: at once they plunged into the deep, While Thetis, silver-footed goddess, sought Olympus, whence it was her hope to bring New armor for her son. As thus her feet Bore her toward heaven, the Achaians, fleeing fast, With infinite clamor, driven before the arm Of the man-queller Hector, reached the ships And Hellespont. Nor could the well-armed Greeks Bear off Patroclus from the shower of darts; For rushing on them came both foot and horse, And Hector, son of Priam, like a flame In fury. Thrice illustrious Hector seized The body by the heels to drag it off, And called his Trojans with a mighty shout. Thrice did the chieftains Ajax, terrible In resolute valor, drive him from the dead. Yet kept he to his purpose, confident In his own might, now charging through the crowd, Now standing firm and shouting to his men, And never losing ground. As when, at night, Herdsmen that watch their cattle strive in vain To drive a lion, fierce and famine-pinched, From some slain beast, so the two Ajaxes, With all their valor, vainly strove to keep Hector, the son of Priam, from the corpse. And now would he have dragged it thence, and won Infinite glory, had not Iris come— The goddess whose swift feet are like the wind— To Peleus’ son, a messenger from heaven, In haste, unknown to Jupiter and all The other gods—for Juno sent her down— To bid the hero arm. She came and stood Beside him, speaking thus with wingèd words:—
“Pelides, rise, most terrible of men, In rescue of Patroclus, over whom They struggle fiercely at the fleet; for there They slay each other—these who fight to keep The dead, and those, the men of Troy, who charge To drag him off to Ilium’s airy heights; And chief, illustrious Hector longs to seize The corpse, and from the delicate neck to hew The head, and fix it on a stake. Arise, Loiter no longer;—rise, ashamed to leave Patroclus to be torn by Trojan dogs. For thine will be the infamy, if yet The corpse be brought dishonored to thy tent.”