Page:Iliad Buckley.djvu/349

 

BOOK THE EIGHTEENTH.

 

ARGUMENT.

Thetis comforts her son for the death of Patroclus, and promises to procure him new armor from Vulcan. At the command of Juno, Achilles comes forth and strikes terror into the enemy. The body of Patroclus is rescued and prepared for funeral rites, and Vulcan forges a suit of armor and a splendid shield for Achilles.

Thus they, then,^[1] were fighting, like a blazing fire; but swift-footed Antilochus came as a messenger to Achilles. Him he found in front of his lofty-prowed ships, revolving in his mind those things which had already been accomplished; and then groaning, he communed with his own mind:

"Ah me! why are the long-haired Achæans driven back in confusion to the ships, routed through the plain? [I fear] lest the gods have accomplished evil sorrows to my soul, as my mother once informed me, and told me that the bravest of the Myrmidons, I being yet alive, would leave the light of the sun, by the hands of the Trojans. Too surely now the valiant son of Menœtius is dead—obstinate one! certainly I desired him, having repelled the hostile fire, to return to the ships, nor to fight bravely with Hector."

While he was revolving these things in his mind and in his soul, in the mean time the son of illustrious Nestor drew near, shedding warm tears, and delivered his sad message:

"Alas! O son of warlike Peleus, surely thou wilt hear a very grievous message, which—would that it had not taken place. Patroclus lies low; and around his unarmed corpse they are now fighting, while crest-tossing Hector possesses his armor."

Thus he spoke; but him a black cloud of grief overshadowed, and taking the burnt ashes with both hands, he

1. This is to be taken in connection with verse 148 of the last book, as the regular narrative is interrupted by the message of Antilochus and the grief of Achilles.