Page 414 - the-iliad

known that he should not prevail with him, for the man
was in no mood for pity or forbearance but was in grim ear-
nest. Therefore when Tros laid hold of his knees and sought
a hearing for his prayers, Achilles drove his sword into his
liver, and the liver came rolling out, while his bosom was all
covered with the black blood that welled from the wound.
Thus did death close his eyes as he lay lifeless.
Achilles then went up to Mulius and struck him on the
ear with a spear, and the bronze spear-head came right out at
the other ear. He also struck Echeclus son of Agenor on the
head with his sword, which became warm with the blood,
while death and stern fate closed the eyes of Echeclus. Next
in order the bronze point of his spear wounded Deucalion
in the fore-arm where the sinews of the elbow are united,
whereon he waited Achilles’ onset with his arm hanging
down and death staring him in the face. Achilles cut his
head off with a blow from his sword and flung it helmet and
all away from him, and the marrow came oozing out of his
backbone as he lay. He then went in pursuit of Rhigmus,
noble son of Peires, who had come from fertile Thrace, and
struck him through the middle with a spear which fixed
itself in his belly, so that he fell headlong from his chariot.
He also speared Areithous squire to Rhigmus in the back as
he was turning his horses in flight, and thrust him from his
chariot, while the horses were struck with panic.
As a fire raging in some mountain glen after long
drought—and the dense forest is in a blaze, while the wind
carries great tongues of fire in every direction—even so fu-
riously did Achilles rage, wielding his spear as though he

1