Page 354 - the-iliad

them, and on their hands and eyes, as they fought over the
squire of the fleet son of Peleus. It was as when a man gives
a great ox-hide all drenched in fat to his men, and bids them
stretch it; whereon they stand round it in a ring and tug till
the moisture leaves it, and the fat soaks in for the many that
pull at it, and it is well stretched—even so did the two sides
tug the dead body hither and thither within the compass of
but a little space—the Trojans steadfastly set on dragging
it into Ilius, while the Achaeans were no less so on taking
it to their ships; and fierce was the fight between them. Not
Mars himself the lord of hosts, nor yet Minerva, even in
their fullest fury could make light of such a battle.
Such fearful turmoil of men and horses did Jove on that
day ordain round the body of Patroclus. Meanwhile Achil-
les did not know that he had fallen, for the fight was under
the wall of Troy a long way off the ships. He had no idea,
therefore, that Patroclus was dead, and deemed that he
would return alive as soon as he had gone close up to the
gates. He knew that he was not to sack the city neither with
nor without himself, for his mother had often told him this
when he had sat alone with her, and she had informed him
of the counsels of great Jove. Now, however, she had not told
him how great a disaster had befallen him in the death of
the one who was far dearest to him of all his comrades.
The others still kept on charging one another round the
body with their pointed spears and killing each other. Then
would one say, ‘My friends, we can never again show our
faces at the ships— better, and greatly better, that earth
should open and swallow us here in this place, than that we