§17.694ὣς ἔφατʼ, Ἀντίλοχος δὲ κατέστυγε μῦθον ἀκούσας· §17.695δὴν δέ μιν ἀμφασίη ἐπέων λάβε, τὼ δέ οἱ ὄσσε §17.696δακρυόφι πλῆσθεν, θαλερὴ δέ οἱ ἔσχετο φωνή. §17.697ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὧς Μενελάου ἐφημοσύνης ἀμέλησε, §17.698βῆ δὲ θέειν, τὰ δὲ τεύχεʼ ἀμύμονι δῶκεν ἑταίρῳ §17.699Λαοδόκῳ, ὅς οἱ σχεδὸν ἔστρεφε μώνυχας ἵππους. §17.700τὸν μὲν δάκρυ χέοντα πόδες φέρον ἐκ πολέμοιο §17.701Πηλεΐδῃ Ἀχιλῆϊ κακὸν ἔπος ἀγγελέοντα. §17.702οὐδʼ ἄρα σοὶ Μενέλαε διοτρεφὲς ἤθελε θυμὸς §17.703τειρομένοις ἑτάροισιν ἀμυνέμεν, ἔνθεν ἀπῆλθεν §17.704Ἀντίλοχος, μεγάλη δὲ ποθὴ Πυλίοισιν ἐτύχθη· §17.705ἀλλʼ ὅ γε τοῖσιν μὲν Θρασυμήδεα δῖον ἀνῆκεν, §17.706αὐτὸς δʼ αὖτʼ ἐπὶ Πατρόκλῳ ἥρωϊ βεβήκει, §17.707στῆ δὲ παρʼ Αἰάντεσσι θέων, εἶθαρ δὲ προσηύδα· §17.708κεῖνον μὲν δὴ νηυσὶν ἐπιπροέηκα θοῇσιν §17.709ἐλθεῖν εἰς Ἀχιλῆα πόδας ταχύν· οὐδέ μιν οἴω §17.710νῦν ἰέναι μάλα περ κεχολωμένον Ἕκτορι δίῳ· §17.711οὐ γάρ πως ἂν γυμνὸς ἐὼν Τρώεσσι μάχοιτο. §17.712ἡμεῖς δʼ αὐτοί περ φραζώμεθα μῆτιν ἀρίστην, §17.713ἠμὲν ὅπως τὸν νεκρὸν ἐρύσσομεν, ἠδὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ §17.714Τρώων ἐξ ἐνοπῆς θάνατον καὶ κῆρα φύγωμεν. §17.715τὸν δʼ ἠμείβετʼ ἔπειτα μέγας Τελαμώνιος Αἴας· §17.716πάντα κατʼ αἶσαν ἔειπες ἀγακλεὲς ὦ Μενέλαε· §17.717ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν καὶ Μηριόνης ὑποδύντε μάλʼ ὦκα §17.718νεκρὸν ἀείραντες φέρετʼ ἐκ πόνου· αὐτὰρ ὄπισθε §17.719νῶϊ μαχησόμεθα Τρωσίν τε καὶ Ἕκτορι δίῳ §17.720ἶσον θυμὸν ἔχοντες ὁμώνυμοι, οἳ τὸ πάρος περ §17.721μίμνομεν ὀξὺν Ἄρηα παρʼ ἀλλήλοισι μένοντες. §17.722ὣς ἔφαθʼ, οἳ δʼ ἄρα νεκρὸν ἀπὸ χθονὸς ἀγκάζοντο §17.723ὕψι μάλα μεγάλως· ἐπὶ δʼ ἴαχε λαὸς ὄπισθε §17.724Τρωϊκός, ὡς εἴδοντο νέκυν αἴροντας Ἀχαιούς. §17.725ἴθυσαν δὲ κύνεσσιν ἐοικότες, οἵ τʼ ἐπὶ κάπρῳ §17.726βλημένῳ ἀΐξωσι πρὸ κούρων θηρητήρων· §17.727ἕως μὲν γάρ τε θέουσι διαρραῖσαι μεμαῶτες, §17.728ἀλλʼ ὅτε δή ῥʼ ἐν τοῖσιν ἑλίξεται ἀλκὶ πεποιθώς, §17.729ἄψ τʼ ἀνεχώρησαν διά τʼ ἔτρεσαν ἄλλυδις ἄλλος. §17.730ὣς Τρῶες εἷος μὲν ὁμιλαδὸν αἰὲν ἕποντο §17.731νύσσοντες ξίφεσίν τε καὶ ἔγχεσιν ἀμφιγύοισιν· §17.732ἀλλʼ ὅτε δή ῥʼ Αἴαντε μεταστρεφθέντε κατʼ αὐτοὺς §17.733σταίησαν, τῶν δὲ τράπετο χρώς, οὐδέ τις ἔτλη §17.734πρόσσω ἀΐξας περὶ νεκροῦ δηριάασθαι. §17.735ὣς οἵ γʼ ἐμμεμαῶτε νέκυν φέρον ἐκ πολέμοιο §17.736νῆας ἔπι γλαφυράς· ἐπὶ δὲ πτόλεμος τέτατό σφιν §17.737ἄγριος ἠΰτε πῦρ, τό τʼ ἐπεσσύμενον πόλιν ἀνδρῶν §17.738ὄρμενον ἐξαίφνης φλεγέθει, μινύθουσι δὲ οἶκοι §17.739ἐν σέλαϊ μεγάλῳ· τὸ δʼ ἐπιβρέμει ἲς ἀνέμοιο. §17.740ὣς μὲν τοῖς ἵππων τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν αἰχμητάων §17.741ἀζηχὴς ὀρυμαγδὸς ἐπήϊεν ἐρχομένοισιν· §17.742οἳ δʼ ὥς θʼ ἡμίονοι κρατερὸν μένος ἀμφιβαλόντες §17.743ἕλκωσʼ ἐξ ὄρεος κατὰ παιπαλόεσσαν ἀταρπὸν §17.744ἢ δοκὸν ἠὲ δόρυ μέγα νήϊον· ἐν δέ τε θυμὸς §17.745τείρεθʼ ὁμοῦ καμάτῳ τε καὶ ἱδρῷ σπευδόντεσσιν· §17.746ὣς οἵ γʼ ἐμμεμαῶτε νέκυν φέρον.
So he spoke, and Antilochus was struck with horror at hearing his words.\n For a long time speechless amazement seized him, and his two eyes\n were filled with tears, and his vigorous voice was checked.\n Yet even so he did not neglect the command of Menelaus,\n but set out to run, and gave his armor to his peerless comrade,\n Laodocus, who close by was wheeling his single-hoofed horses.\n As he wept, his feet bore him out of the battle,\n to bring the evil tidings to Achilles, son of Peleus.\n Nor did your heart, nurtured by Zeus, Menelaus, wish\n to aid the hard-pressed comrades where Antilochus had departed,\n from where Antilochus went, and great longing was made for the Pylians.\n But he sent noble Thrasymedes to them,\n and himself ran back again to the hero Patroclus,\n and stood by the Ajaxes, and straightway spoke:\n "That man indeed I have sent forth to the swift ships\n to go to Achilles, swift of foot; yet I do not think\n he will come now, however greatly angered he be at noble Hector;\n for in no way could he fight with the Trojans, being naked.\n But let us ourselves think of the best plan,\n both how we may drag away the dead body, and how we ourselves\n may escape death and fate from the battle-cry of the Trojans."\n And then great Telamonian Ajax answered him:\n "All has been said aright, glorious Menelaus;\n but do you and Meriones stoop full quickly\n and lift the dead body and bear it out of the toil of war; and behind you\n we two will fight with the Trojans and noble Hector,\n keeping a single heart, we who share one name, and who of old\n were wont to stand by one another and abide the sharp battle."\n So he spoke, and they lifted the dead body from the ground in their arms,\n high and with great effort; and the Trojan host behind shouted aloud,\n when they saw the Achaeans lifting the dead body.\n They rushed on like hounds that spring upon a wounded wild boar\n before the young huntsmen;\n for a while indeed they run, eager to tear him in pieces,\n but when indeed he wheels among them, trusting in his strength,\n then they shrink back and flee in terror, one this way, one that.\n Even so the Trojans for a time followed ever in throngs,\n thrusting with swords and double-pointed spears;\n but when the Ajaxes wheeled and stood against them,\n then their color changed, and no man dared\n to rush forward and fight for the dead body.\n Thus they eagerly bore the dead body out of the battle\n toward the hollow ships; and the battle was strained against them,\n fierce as fire that, rushing upon a city of men,\n and rising suddenly, sets it ablaze, and the houses perish\n in the great glare, and the might of the wind roars over it.\n Even so a relentless din of horses and of spearmen\n came upon them as they went.\n But they, like mules that, putting forth their great strength,\n drag down from the mountain along a rugged path\n either a beam or a great ship-timber; and their heart\n within them is spent with toil and sweat as they hasten;\n even so they eagerly bore the dead body.
αὐτὰρ ὄπισθεν §17.747Αἴαντʼ ἰσχανέτην, ὥς τε πρὼν ἰσχάνει ὕδωρ §17.748ὑλήεις πεδίοιο διαπρύσιον τετυχηκώς, §17.749ὅς τε καὶ ἰφθίμων ποταμῶν ἀλεγεινὰ ῥέεθρα §17.750ἴσχει, ἄφαρ δέ τε πᾶσι ῥόον πεδίον δὲ τίθησι §17.751πλάζων· οὐδέ τί μιν σθένεϊ ῥηγνῦσι ῥέοντες· §17.752ὣς αἰεὶ Αἴαντε μάχην ἀνέεργον ὀπίσσω §17.753Τρώων· οἳ δʼ ἅμʼ ἕποντο, δύω δʼ ἐν τοῖσι μάλιστα §17.754Αἰνείας τʼ Ἀγχισιάδης καὶ φαίδιμος Ἕκτωρ. §17.755τῶν δʼ ὥς τε ψαρῶν νέφος ἔρχεται ἠὲ κολοιῶν §17.756οὖλον κεκλήγοντες, ὅτε προΐδωσιν ἰόντα §17.757κίρκον, ὅ τε σμικρῇσι φόνον φέρει ὀρνίθεσσιν, §17.758ὣς ἄρʼ ὑπʼ Αἰνείᾳ τε καὶ Ἕκτορι κοῦροι Ἀχαιῶν §17.759οὖλον κεκλήγοντες ἴσαν, λήθοντο δὲ χάρμης. §17.760πολλὰ δὲ τεύχεα καλὰ πέσον περί τʼ ἀμφί τε τάφρον §17.761φευγόντων Δαναῶν· πολέμου δʼ οὐ γίγνετʼ ἐρωή.
And behind them\n the Ajaxes held back the enemy, even as a wooded ridge holds back water,\n which stretches straight across a plain,\n and holds back the destructive floods even of mighty rivers,\n and straightway turns all their streams into the plain,\n bending their course; nor can they break through it by the strength of their flowing.\n Even so did the Ajaxes ever keep back the battle of the Trojans;\n but they followed close, and two among them especially,\n Aeneas, son of Anchises, and glorious Hector.\n And as a cloud of starlings or of daws goes\n shrieking a confused cry, when they see coming\n a hawk, which brings death to small birds;\n even so before Aeneas and Hector the young Achaeans\n went shrieking a confused cry, and forgot all fight.\n And many beautiful weapons fell about the trench\n as the Danaans fled; but there was no ceasing of war.