Iliad

So saying, he shouted aloud, and called to the Trojans:

Ye Trojans, and Lycians, and Dardanians that fight in close combat,be men, my friends, and bethink you of furious valour, until I put upon me the armour of peerless Achilles, the goodly armour that I stripped from the mighty Patroclus, when I slew him.

When he had thus spoken, Hector of the flashing helm went forth from the fury of war, and ran,and speedily reached his comrades not yet far off, hastening after them with swift steps, even them that were bearing toward the city the glorious armour of the son of Peleus. Then he halted apart from the tear-fraught battle, and changed his armour; his own he gave to the war-loving Trojans to bear to sacred Ilios, but clad himself in the immortal armourof Peleus' son, Achilles, that the heavenly gods had given to his father and that he had given to his son, when he himself waxed old; howbeit in the armour of the father the son came not to old age. But when Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, beheld him from afar as he harnessed him in the battle-gear of the godlike son of Peleus,he shook his head, and thus he spake unto his own heart:

Ah, poor wretch, death verily is not in thy thoughts, that yet draweth nigh thee; but thou art putting upon thee the immortal armour of a princely man before whom others besides thee are wont to quail. His comrade, kindly and valiant, hast thou slain,and in unseemly wise hast stripped the armour from his head and shoulders. Howbeit for this present will I vouch-safe thee great might, in recompense for this—that in no wise shalt thou return from out the battle for Andromache to receive from thee the glorious armour of the son of Peleus.

The son of Cronos spake and bowed thereto with his dark brows,and upon Hector's body he made the armour to fit, and there entered into him Ares, the dread Enyalius, and his limbs were filled within with valour and with might. Then went he his way into the company of the famed allies,crying a great cry, and shewed himself before the eyes of all,[*](1) flashing in the armour of the great-souled son of Peleus. And going to and fro he spake and heartened each man, Mesthles and Glaucus and Medon and Thersilochus and Asteropaeus and Deisenor and Hippothous and Phorcys and Chroraius and Ennomus, the augur—these he heartened, and spake to them winged words:

Hear me, ye tribes uncounted of allies that dwell round about. Not because I sought for numbers or had need thereof, did I gather each man of you from, your cities, but that with ready hearts ye might save the Trojans' wives and their little children from the war-loving Achaeans.With this intent am I wasting the substance of mine own folk that ye may have gifts and food, and thereby I cause the strength of each one of you to wax. Wherefore let every man turn straight against the foe and die haply, or live; for this is the dalliance of war. And whosoever shall hale Patroclus, dead though he be,into the midst of the horse-taming Trojans, and make Aias to yield, the half of the spoils shall I render unto him, and the half shall I keep mine ownself; and his glory shall be even as mine own.

So spake he, and they charged straight against the Danaans with all their weight, holding their spears on high, and their hearts within themwere full of hope to drag the corpse froma beneath Aias, son of Telamon—fools that they were! Verily full many did he rob of life over that corpse. Then spake Aias unto Menelaus, good at the war-cry,

Good Menelaus, fostered of Zeus, no more have I hope that we twain by ourselves alone shall win back from out the war.In no wise have I such dread for the corpse of Patroclus that shall presently glut the dogs and birds of the Trojans, as I have for mine own life, lest some evil befall, and for thine as well, for a cloud of war compasseth everything about, even Hector, and for us is utter destruction plain to see.Howbeit, come thou, call upon the chieftains of the Danaans, if so be any may hear.

So spake he, and Menelaus, good at the war-cry, failed not to hearken, but uttered a piercing shout and called to the Danaans:

Friends, leaders and rulers of the Argives, ye that at the board of the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus,drink at the common cost, and give commands each one to his folk—ye upon whom attend honour and glory from Zeus—hard is it for me to discern each man of the chieftains, in such wise is the strife of war ablaze. Nay, let every man go forth unbidden, and have shame at heart thatPatroclus should become the sport of the dogs of Troy.

So spake he, and swift Aias, son of Oileus, heard him clearly, and was first to come running to meet him amid the battle, and after him Idomeneus and Idomeneus' comrade, Meriones, the peer of Enyalius, slayer of men.But of the rest, what man of his own wit could name the names—of all that came after these and aroused the battle of the Achaeans? Then the Trojans drave forward in close throng, and Hector led them. And as when at the mouth of some heaven-fed river the mighty wave roareth against the stream,and the headlands of the shore echo on either hand, as the salt-sea belloweth without; even with such din of shouting came on the Trojans. But the Achaeans stood firm about the son of Menoetius with oneness of heart, fenced about with shields of bronze. And the son of Cronosshed thick darkness over their bright helms, for even aforetime was the son of Menoetius nowise hated of him, while he was yet alive and the squire of the son of Aeacus; and now was Zeus full loath that he should become the sport of the dogs of his foemen, even them of Troy; wherefore Zeus roused his comrades to defend him.