Book 21

But when they came to the crossing of the fair-flowing river,of whirling Xanthus, whom immortal Zeus begot,there Achilles split them apart, and drove one half of themtoward the city, where the Achaeans had fled in terroron the day before, when glorious Hector raged;there they poured on in flight, and Hera spread a thick mistbefore them to hold them back; but the other halfwere rolled into the deep-flowing, silver-whirling river,and fell in with a great splash, and the steep streams roared,and the banks echoed greatly on either side; and they with a cryswam this way and that, whirling around in the eddies.As when locusts rise up before the onrush of fire,fleeing toward a river — and the tireless fire blazes,rising suddenly, and they crouch down in the water —so before Achilles the stream of deep-whirling Xanthuswas filled and roaring with horses and men mingled together.But he, the Zeus-born, left his spear there on the bank,leaning against the tamarisks, and leapt in like a god,holding only his sword, and planned cruel deeds in his heart,and struck about him; and a dreadful groaning rose from themas they were smitten with the sword, and the water reddened with blood.As when before a great dolphin the other fishflee and fill the corners of a fair harbor,in terror — for he devours whatever he catches —so the Trojans along the streams of the terrible rivercowered beneath the bluffs. But when he was weary of slaying with his hands,he chose out twelve young men alive from the riveras blood-price for Patroclus, son of Menoetius, who had died;these he led out dazed, like fawns,and bound their hands behind them with well-cut straps,the straps they themselves wore on their twisted tunics,and gave them to his companions to lead down to the hollow ships.But he rushed back again, eager to slay.There he met the son of Dardanian Priam,Lycaon, fleeing out of the river, whom once he himselfhad taken and led from his father's orchard against his will,coming on him by night; and he was cutting a wild fig treewith the sharp bronze, young shoots for chariot rails;and then godlike Achilles came on him with unforeseen evil.And at that time he carried him over to well-built Lemnosin ships, and the son of Jason paid the price;and from there a guest-friend ransomed him, Eetion of Imbros, and gave much,and sent him to shining Arisbe;and from there he slipped away in flight and came to his father's house.Eleven days he delighted his heart among his dear ones,having come from Lemnos; but on the twelfth day the godput him again into the hands of Achilles, who was about to send himto the house of Hades, though he did not wish to go.Now when swift-footed godlike Achilles noticed him,naked, without helmet or shield, and he had no spear either,for he had thrown all of it to the ground; sweat oppressed himas he fled from the river, and weariness had subdued his knees;then vexed in heart he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:"Ah, what a great wonder I see with my own eyes!Surely the great-hearted Trojans, whom I killed,will rise up again from the murky darkness,since this man too has come, escaping the pitiless dayback to holy Lemnos; and the gray sea did not hold him,the sea that holds back many against their will.But come: let him taste the point of my spear,so that I may see and know in my heartwhether he will come back even from there, or whetherthe life-giving earth will hold him, which holds even the strong."So he pondered, waiting; and the other came near, dazed,eager to clasp his knees; in his heart he desiredto escape evil death and black fate.Now godlike Achilles raised his long spear,eager to strike him, but the other ducked under and caught his knees,bending low; and the spear went over his back and stoodin the earth, eager to fill itself with human flesh.And with one hand he clasped and implored his knees,and with the other he held the sharpened spear and would not let it go;and speaking aloud he addressed winged words to him:"I beg you, Achilles — respect me and have pity on me;I am like a suppliant to you, Zeus-nourished, one to be respected;for in your house I first tasted Demeter's grain,on the day you took me in the well-built orchard,and carried me far away from my father and my dear onesto holy Lemnos, and I brought you the price of a hundred oxen.And now I would pay three times as much; and this is my dawn,this is my twelfth day since I came to Ilion,having suffered much; now again a deadly fatehas put me in your hands; I must be hateful to father Zeus,who gave me over to you again; and my mother bore meto a short life, Laothoe, daughter of old Altes,Altes, who rules over the war-loving Leleges,holding steep Pedasus by the Satnioeis.And Priam had his daughter, and many others besides;from her we two were born, and you will cut both our throats:one of them you subdued among the foremost fighters,godlike Polydorus, when you struck him with your sharp spear;and now here it will be my evil too; for I do not thinkI shall escape your hands, since a god has brought me near.And I will tell you another thing, and you take it to heart:do not kill me, since I am not a brother of Hector,who killed your companion, that kind and strong man."So the glorious son of Priam spoke to him,pleading with words, but he heard a pitiless voice:"Fool, do not show me ransoms, do not argue with me.Before Patroclus met his appointed day,as long as that lasted, it was dearer to my heartto spare the Trojans, and I took many alive and sold them;but now there is no one who will escape death, whomever a godputs into my hands before Ilion,of all the Trojans, and above all of the sons of Priam.So die, friend, you too; why do you lament so?Patroclus died too, who was far better than you.Do you not see what a fine, tall man I am?I am the son of a noble father, and a goddess bore me;but death and strong fate lie over me as well;it will be morning or evening or the middle of the daywhen someone takes my life in war,either striking with the spear or with an arrow from the bowstring."So he spoke, and the other's knees and dear heart gave way;he let the spear fall, and sat down with both armsoutstretched; and Achilles, drawing his sharp sword,struck him at the collarbone beside the neck, and the wholetwo-edged sword went in; he fell face down on the ground,stretched out, and dark blood flowed out and soaked the earth.And Achilles took him by the foot and threw him into the river,and spoke winged words in triumph over him:"Lie there now among the fish, who will lick the woundclean of blood and care nothing; your mother will notlay you on a bier and mourn you, but whirling Scamanderwill carry you into the wide bosom of the sea.Some fish will leap up under the dark rippleand eat the shining fat of Lycaon.Perish, until we come to the sacred city of Ilion,you fleeing, and I slaying behind you.Not even your fair-flowing, silver-whirling riverwill protect you, to whom for so long you sacrifice many bulls,and throw living single-hoofed horses into the eddies.But even so you will die a bitter death, until you allpay for the murder of Patroclus and the ruin of the Achaeans,whom you killed beside the swift ships, away from me."So he spoke, and the river grew angrier in his heart,and pondered in his heart how he might stop godlike Achillesfrom his toil, and ward off ruin from the Trojans.Meanwhile the son of Peleus, holding his far-shadowing spear,sprang at Asteropaeus, eager to slay him,the son of Pelegon, whom broad-flowing Axios begot,and Periboea, eldest of the daughters of Acessamenus;for the deep-whirling river had lain with her.At him Achilles sprang, and the other stood facing himout of the river, holding two spears; and Xanthus put strengthin his heart, since the god was angry about the young men slaughtered,whom Achilles cut down along the stream and did not pity.Now when they came close to each other, going on,swift-footed godlike Achilles spoke first to him:"Who among men are you, and from where, that you dare come against me?It is the sons of the wretched who face my fury."Then the glorious son of Pelegon answered him:"Great-hearted son of Peleus, why do you ask my lineage?I am from far-off, rich Paeonia,leading Paeonian men with long spears; and this is nowthe eleventh dawn since I came to Ilion.And my lineage is from the wide-flowing Axios,Axios, who sends the fairest water over the earth,who begot famous Pelegon with the spear; and they sayhe begot me; but now let us fight, glorious Achilles."So he spoke in threat, and godlike Achilles raisedthe Pelian ash spear; and hero Asteropaeus hurled bothspears at once, for he was ambidextrous.With one spear he struck the shield, and it did notbreak through the shield, for the gold held it back, the gift of a god;with the other he grazed the elbow of his right hand,and dark blood gushed out; and the spear went over himand stood fixed in the earth, eager to fill itself with flesh.Second, Achilles hurled the straight-flying ash spearat Asteropaeus, eager to slay him.He missed him, and struck the high bank,and fixed the ash spear half-buried in the bank.Then the son of Peleus drew his sharp sword from his thighand sprang at him in fury; but the other could notpull the ash spear of Achilles from the bluff with his stout hand.Three times he shook it, eager to pull it free,three times he gave up his strength; the fourth time he wishedin his heart to bend and break the ash spear of Aeacus' grandson,but before that Achilles took his life with the sword close by.For he struck him in the belly beside the navel, and allhis guts poured out on the ground; and darkness covered his eyesas he gasped; and Achilles leapt upon his chestand stripped his armour, and spoke in triumph:"Lie there so; it is hard to strive with the sons of the mighty Cronion,even for one born of a river.You said you were of the lineage of the wide-flowing river,but I claim my lineage is from great Zeus.The man who begot me rules over many Myrmidons,Peleus son of Aeacus, and Aeacus was from Zeus.So Zeus is stronger than rivers that flow to the sea,and the lineage of Zeus is stronger than a river.And indeed a great river stands by you too, if it canhelp at all; but there is no fighting with Zeus the son of Cronus,to whom not even lord Achelous is equal,nor the great strength of deep-flowing Oceanus,from whom all rivers and all the seaand all springs and deep wells flow;but even he dreads the thunderbolt of great Zeusand his terrible thunder, when it crashes from heaven."He spoke, and pulled the bronze spear from the bluff,and left the other there, after he had taken his dear life,lying in the sand, and the dark water soaked him.And eels and fish busied themselves about him,eating and tearing the fat around his kidneys;and he went on after the horse-helmed Paeonians,who were still fleeing along the whirling river,when they saw their best man in the strong battlesubdued by the hands and the sword of Peleus' son.There he killed Thersilochus and Mydon and Astypylusand Mnesus and Thrasius and Aenius and Ophelestes;and swift Achilles would have killed even more Paeonians,had not the deep-whirling river, angered, spoken to him,in the likeness of a man, and called out from his deep eddy:"Achilles, you are the strongest, but you do wicked deedsagainst men; for the gods themselves always defend you.If the son of Cronus has given you to destroy all the Trojans,then drive them out of me and do your dreadful work on the plain;for my lovely streams are full of corpses,and I can nowhere pour my flow out into the shining sea,choked with corpses, and you kill without regard.But come now, let be; awe holds me, leader of men."Answering him, swift-footed Achilles said:"It shall be so, Zeus-nourished Scamander, as you command.But I will not stop slaying the arrogant Trojansuntil I have penned them in the city and made trial of Hector,face to face, whether he kills me or I kill him."So speaking he rushed at the Trojans like a god;and then the deep-whirling river spoke to Apollo:"Ah, silver-bow, child of Zeus, you did not keepthe counsel of the Cronion, who laid many commands on youto stand by the Trojans and defend them untillate evening comes and shadows the rich ploughland."He spoke, and Achilles, famed for the spear, leapt into the middlefrom the bluff; and the river rushed on, surging with his swell,and stirred all his streams in turmoil, and pushed out the manycorpses that lay thick about him, those Achilles had killed;these he cast out onto dry land, bellowing like a bull,and saved the living along his fair streams,hiding them in his deep, great eddies.And a terrible wave rose around Achilles in turmoil,and the stream fell on his shield and pushed him; he could notplant his feet firm; but he caught an elm in his hands,a tall, well-grown one; it fell from its rootsand tore away the whole bluff, and blocked the fair streamswith its dense branches, and bridged the river itselfas it fell all across; and he leapt up out of the eddyand rushed to fly over the plain on swift feet,in fear; but the great god did not cease, but rose against himdarkening his crest, to stop godlike Achillesfrom his toil, and ward off ruin from the Trojans.And the son of Peleus rushed off as far as a spear-cast,with the swoop of a black hunting eagle,which is at once the strongest and swiftest of birds;like it he rushed, and on his chest the bronzerang terribly; and he swerved aside from under itand fled, and the river followed behind with a great roar.As when a man who digs a channel leads a stream of waterfrom a dark spring through plants and gardenswith a mattock in his hands, knocking the barriers from the ditch;and as it flows out, all the pebblesare rolled along; and it murmurs as it runs swiftlydown a sloping place, and outruns even the man who leads it:so the wave of the river always caught Achilles,swift as he was; for gods are stronger than men.And as often as swift-footed godlike Achillestried to stand and face it, and to know whether allthe immortals who hold the wide heaven frightened him,so often the great wave of the heaven-fed riverbeat upon his shoulders from above; and he leapt up with his feetin anguish of heart; and the river wore down his knees,rushing violently from below, and swept the dust from under his feet.And the son of Peleus groaned, looking up to the wide heaven:"Father Zeus, so no god has taken pity on meto save me from the river; and then let me suffer what I must.Of the Uranian gods no other is so much to blameas my dear mother, who beguiled me with lies;she said I would die beneath the wall of the armoured Trojansby the swift arrows of Apollo.Would that Hector had killed me, who is the best man bred here;then a brave man would have killed me, and stripped a brave man;but now it was fated that I be caught in a wretched death,penned in a great river, like a swineherd boy,whom a torrent sweeps away as he crosses in winter."So he spoke, and quickly Poseidon and Athenacame and stood near him, in the likeness of men,and taking his hand in theirs, they pledged their word to him.And Poseidon the earth-shaker began the words among them:"Son of Peleus, do not be too afraid, do not be terrified;for we two are helpers to you,with Zeus' approval, I and Pallas Athena;so it is not fated that you be subdued by a river,but he will soon slacken, and you will see it yourself.And we will advise you firmly, if you will obey:do not stay your hands from the equal warbefore you have penned the Trojan host inside the famous wallsof Ilion, whoever escapes; and when you have taken Hector's life,go back to the ships; we grant you to win glory."So speaking, the two went back to the immortals;and he went onto the plain, for the command of the gods urged him greatly,and the whole plain was filled with the poured-out water,and many fine arms and the corpses of slain young menfloated on it; and his knees leapt highas he rushed straight on against the stream, nor did the wide-flowingriver hold him back; for Athena had put great strength in him.Nor did Scamander leave off his own fury, but was still moreangered at the son of Peleus, and roused up the wave of his streamlifting it high, and he called out to Simoeis:"Dear brother, let us two check the strength of this man,for he will soon sack the great city of lord Priam,and the Trojans will not hold out in battle.Come to my aid quickly, and fill your streamswith water from your springs, and rouse all your torrents,and raise a great wave, and stir up a great dinof logs and stones, so that we may stop this wild manwho now is master, and is minded to equal the gods.For I say that neither his strength will help him, nor his beauty,nor his fine armour, which will lie somewhere deep in the poolcovered with mud; and I will wrap him himselfin sand, pouring a boundless heap of silt over him,and the Achaeans will not know how to gather his bones;such filth will I pour over him.And there his own grave will be made, and he will have no needof a mound-builder, when the Achaeans bury him."He spoke, and surged at Achilles, raging and boiling on high,murmuring with foam and blood and corpses.And the dark, purple wave of the heaven-fed riverrose up and seized the son of Peleus.And Hera cried out greatly, in great fear for Achilleslest the great, deep-whirling river sweep him away,and straightaway she spoke to Hephaestus, her dear son:"Rise up, my crooked-footed child; for we thoughtwhirling Xanthus was a match for you in battle.Come to the rescue quickly, and show forth a great flame.And I will go and raise a harsh storm from the seaof Zephyrus and the clear Notus,which will burn the heads and the armour of the Trojans,carrying a wicked blaze; and you burn the treesalong the banks of Xanthus, and set the river himself on fire; and let him notturn you aside at all with gentle words or with threats.And do not stop your fury before that, but whenI cry out and call, then hold back the tireless fire."So she spoke, and Hephaestus prepared a heaven-blazing fire.First fire blazed on the plain, and it burned the manycorpses which lay thick about him, those Achilles had killed;and the whole plain dried up, and the shining water was checked.As when in late summer the North Wind quickly driesa newly watered garden, and the man who tends it rejoices:so the whole plain dried up, and he burnedthe corpses; and he turned his blazing flame upon the river.The elms burned, and the willows and the tamarisks,and the lotus burned, and the rushes and the galingale,which grew in abundance around the fair streams of the river;the eels were distressed and the fish, which in the eddiesand along the fair streams darted this way and that,distressed by the breath of cunning Hephaestus.And the strength of the river burned, and he spoke and named him:"Hephaestus, no god can match you,nor would I fight you like this when you blaze with fire.Cease from strife, and let godlike Achilles at oncedrive the Trojans out of the city; why should I have strife and help?"He spoke, burned with fire, and his fair streams bubbled up.And as a cauldron boils within, urged on by a great fire,melting the fat of a soft-fed hog,bubbling up on every side, with dry wood beneath it:so his fair streams burned with fire, and the water boiled;and it had no will to flow, but was held back; and the vapour oppressed itby the strength of wise Hephaestus. And he, with many prayers,spoke winged words to Hera:"Hera, why has your son set on my stream to grieve memore than all the others? I am not so much to blameas all the others who aid the Trojans.But I will stop, if you command,and let him stop too; and I will swear this as well,that I will never ward off the evil day from the Trojans,not even when all Troy is devoured by raging fireas it burns, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans burn it."And when the goddess white-armed Hera heard this,she straightaway spoke to Hephaestus, her dear son:"Hephaestus, hold back, my famous child; for it is not rightto strike an immortal god like this for the sake of mortals."So she spoke, and Hephaestus quenched the heaven-blazing fire,and back the wave flowed down the fair streams.But when the fury of Xanthus was checked, then the twostopped, for Hera held them back though she was angry;and among the other gods strife fell, heavyand painful, and their hearts blew two ways.They clashed with a great din, and the broad earth groaned,and the great heaven trumpeted. And Zeus heard it,sitting on Olympus; and his heart laughed for joywhen he saw the gods coming together in strife.Then they no longer stood apart; for Ares began,the shield-splitter, and first sprang at Athenawith his bronze spear, and spoke a mocking word:"Why again, you dog-fly, do you drive the gods to strifewith reckless daring, and your great heart urged you on?Do you not remember when you urged Diomedes, son of Tydeus,to wound me, and you yourself caught up the all-seeing spearand thrust it straight at me, and tore my fair flesh?So now I think you will pay for all you have done."So speaking he struck the tasselled aegis,the terrible one, which not even the thunderbolt of Zeus can subdue;with it murderous Ares struck her with his long spear.She drew back and caught up a stone in her stout hand,a black, rough, great stone lying in the plain,which men of former days had set to be a boundary of a field;with it she struck furious Ares on the neck, and loosed his limbs.He fell and covered seven hundred feet, and dirtied his hair,and his armour clanged; and Pallas Athena laughed,and spoke winged words in triumph over him:"Fool, you have not yet understood how much betterI claim to be than you, since you match your fury against mine.So would you pay the Erinyes of your mother,who in her anger plans evil for you because you leftthe Achaeans, and defend the arrogant Trojans."So she spoke, and turned away her shining eyes.And the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, took him by the hand and led him,groaning thickly; and with difficulty he gathered his spirit.And when the goddess white-armed Hera noticed her,she straightaway spoke winged words to Athena:"Ah, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, unwearied one,and again this dog-fly leads man-destroying Aresout of the battle and the rout; but go after her."So she spoke, and Athena rushed after her, and rejoiced in heart,and falling upon her with her stout handshe struck her on the chest; and her knees and dear heart gave way.So the two lay on the life-giving earth,and she spoke winged words in triumph:"May all who help the Trojans be like thiswhen they fight against the bronze-clad Argives,and be as bold and as enduring as Aphroditewhen she came to help Ares and faced my fury.Then we would long ago have ceased from war,having sacked the well-built citadel of Ilion."So she spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera smiled.But lord Poseidon the earth-shaker spoke to Apollo:"Phoebus, why do we two stand apart? It is not seemlywhen others have begun; it would be more shameful if we wentto Olympus unwounded, to Zeus' bronze-floored house.You begin; for you are younger in birth; it is notseemly for me, since I was born before you and know more.Fool, what a mindless heart you have! You do not even rememberall the evils we two suffered around Ilion,we alone of the gods, when we came to proud Laomedonfrom Zeus and served for a year for a fixed wage;he gave orders and commanded us.Indeed I built the Trojans a wall around the city,wide and very beautiful, so that the city would be unbreakable;and you, Phoebus, herded his crook-horned, rolling cattlein the folds of many-ridged, wooded Ida.But when the glad seasons brought the endof the wage, then mighty Laomedon robbed usof all our pay by force, and sent us away with threats.He threatened to bind our feet and hands togetherand to sell us on far-off islands;he threatened to shear off both our ears with bronze.And we went back, angry in heart,furious about the wage which he promised and did not pay.And now you show favour to his people, and you do notwith us try to make the arrogant Trojans perishutterly, in misery, with their children and their respected wives."Then lord Apollo who strikes from afar answered him:"Earth-shaker, you would not call me saneif I fought with you for the sake of mortals,wretched ones, who are like leaves: at one time they blazewith life and eat the fruit of the earth,and at another they wither without life. But let us quicklycease from the fight; let them fight it out themselves."So speaking he turned away; for he was ashamedto fight his father's brother with his hands.And his sister, the lady of wild beasts,Artemis of the hunt, chided him greatly, and spoke a mocking word:"You flee, Far-Shooter, and to Poseidon you have turned overthe whole victory, and given him a worthless boast.Fool, what is your bow to you, useless as it is?Let me not ever hear you again in your father's hallsboasting, as you used to before among the immortal gods,that you would fight Poseidon face to face."So she spoke, and Apollo who strikes from afar said nothing to her;but the respected wife of Zeus, angered, chidedthe arrow-pouring goddess with mocking words:"How do you now intend, shameless dog, to standagainst me? It is hard for you to match your fury against mine,though you are an archer, since Zeus made you a lionagainst women, and gave you to kill whomever you wish.Indeed it is better to slay wild beasts in the mountainsand wild deer than to fight the stronger.But if you wish to learn of war, so that you may know wellhow much stronger I am, since you match your fury against mine."She spoke, and caught both her wrists with her left hand,and with her right she took the bow from her shoulders,and struck her about the ears with it, smiling,as she turned away; and the swift arrows fell out.Then weeping, the goddess fled, like a dovethat flees before a hawk into a hollow rock,into a cleft; and it was not her fate to be caught there;so she fled weeping, and left her bow there.And the messenger, the slayer of Argus, spoke to Leto:"Leto, I will not fight with you; it is hardto come to blows with the wives of Zeus who gathers the clouds.No, boast freely among the immortal godsthat I was beaten by your strong strength."So he spoke, and Leto gathered up the curved bowlying scattered this way and that in the whirling dust.And she took the bow and went back to her daughter;and the other reached Olympus, to Zeus' bronze-floored house,and weeping the girl sat on her father's knees,and her immortal robe trembled about her; and her father,the son of Cronus, took her to himself and asked her, smiling sweetly:"Who of the Uranian gods did this to you, dear child,for no reason, as if you had done some evil before them?"Then the loud-crying goddess with the fair crown answered him:"Your wife struck me, father, white-armed Hera,from whom strife and quarrel have been hung upon the immortals."So they spoke such things to one another;but Phoebus Apollo went into holy Ilion;for he cared for the wall of the well-built city,lest the Danaans sack it beyond fate on that day.And the other gods, the ever-living, went to Olympus,some angry, others greatly exulting;and they sat down beside the father who gathers the dark clouds; and Achilleskept slaying the Trojans themselves and their single-hoofed horses.As when smoke goes up and reaches the wide heavenfrom a burning city, and the wrath of the gods has raised it,and it brings toil to all, and lays sorrows on many:so Achilles laid toil and sorrows on the Trojans.And old Priam stood on the sacred tower,and he saw huge Achilles; and beneath himthe Trojans were at once routed in flight, and no defencearose; and he groaned and stepped down from the tower to the ground,calling to the famous gate-keepers beside the wall:"Hold the gates open in your hands until the peoplecome fleeing into the city; for Achilles isclose at hand, driving them; now I think there will be disaster.But when they have breathed again and gathered inside the wall,put the well-fitted planks back in place;for I fear lest this deadly man leap inside the wall."So he spoke, and they opened the gates and pushed back the bars;and the gates swung open and gave light; and Apolloleapt out to meet them, to ward off ruin from the Trojans.And they went straight for the city and the high wall,parched with thirst, dusty from the plain,fleeing; and he pressed on with the spear, and a strong madnessalways held his heart, and he was eager to win glory.Then the sons of the Achaeans would have taken high-gated Troy,if Phoebus Apollo had not roused godlike Agenor,a man, the son of Antenor, blameless and strong.He put courage in his heart, and stood beside him himself,to ward off the heavy hands of death from him,leaning against an oak; and he was covered in thick mist.But when he noticed city-sacking Achilles,he stood still, and his heart churned greatly as he waited;and vexed he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:"Ah me; if I flee before strong Achilles,where the others are routed in terror,even so he will catch me and cut my throat like a coward's.But if I let these others be routedby Peleus' son Achilles, and flee with my feet from the wallanother way, across the Ilian plain, until I reachthe ridges of Ida and hide in the thickets;then in the evening, after bathing in the riverand cooling off my sweat, I could come back to Ilion.But why does my dear heart debate these things?He might see me going away from the city into the plain,and catching me with his swift feet as I run.Then there will no longer be any escape from death and fate;for he is exceedingly strong beyond all men.But if I go against him in front of the city,for his flesh too is vulnerable to the sharp bronze,and there is one life in him, and men say he is mortal;but the son of Cronus, Zeus, grants him glory."So speaking he waited for Achilles, crouching down, and in his hearthis brave spirit urged him to fight and do battle.As a leopard comes out of a deep thicketto face a hunter, and in its heartit does not fear or dread at all, when it hears the baying;for even if the man strikes it first, or wounds it or spears it,still, pierced by the spear, it does not ceasefrom its courage until it closes with him or is killed:so the son of glorious Antenor, godlike Agenor,did not wish to flee before he had made trial of Achilles.But he held his shield before him, equal on every side,and aimed with his spear at him, and shouted aloud:"Indeed you surely hope in your heart, glorious Achilles,to sack the city of the proud Trojans on this day,fool; there will still be many pains made for it.For we are many and brave men in it,who defend Ilion before our dear parents and wives and sons;and you will meet your doom here,terrible as you are and bold as a fighter."He spoke, and hurled the sharp spear from his heavy hand,and he struck his shin below the knee and did not miss.And around it the greave of newly-made tinrang terribly; and back the bronze sprangfrom the struck man, and did not pass through, for the gifts of the god held it.But the son of Peleus rushed at godlike Agenora second time; and Apollo did not let him win glory,but snatched him away, and covered him in thick mist,and sent him quietly out of the war.And he kept the son of Peleus away from the host by a trick;for the Far-Shooter stood before his feet in all things like Agenor,and he rushed on to chase him with his feet;and while he chased him over the wheat-bearing plain,turning him along the deep-whirling river Scamander,a little ahead of him — and Apollo beguiled him with a trickso that he would always hope to catch him with his feet —meanwhile the other Trojans fled and came in a crowd,glad, into the city, and the city filled with them as they gathered.And they did not dare to stay outside the city and the wallfor one another, and to learn who had escapedand who had died in the war; but they poured eagerlyinto the city, whoever their feet and knees saved.

But when they reached the ford of the fair-flowing river,whirling Xanthus, whose father was immortal Zeus,there Achilles split the Trojans in two and chased one halftoward the city, where the Greeks had run in terrorthe day before, when glorious Hector was raging;they poured along that way in flight, and Hera spreada thick mist in front of them to block them. The other halfwere herded into the deep-flowing, silver-swirling river,and they fell in with a huge splash, and the steep streams roared,and the banks echoed loudly on both sides; with shoutsthey swam this way and that, spinning around in the whirlpools.Like locusts that rise up when fire sweeps toward them,flying away toward a river — the tireless fire blazes,flaring up suddenly, and the locusts crouch down in the water —so before Achilles the stream of deep-swirling Xanthuswas packed and roaring with horses and men mixed together.But he, the son of Zeus, left his spear there on the bank,leaning against the tamarisk bushes, and jumped in like a godholding only his sword, planning cruel deeds in his heart,and he struck out in every direction; a hideous groaning roseas they were cut down with the sword, and the water turned red with blood.Like when a huge dolphin drives the other fishto flee and pack the corners of a safe harbor,terrified — because he eats whichever one he catches —so the Trojans along the streams of the terrible riverhuddled under the banks. But when his arms were tired from killing,he picked twelve young men out of the river aliveto pay for Patroclus, son of Menoetius, who had died;he dragged them out dazed like fawns,and tied their hands behind them with the cut strapsthey wore themselves on their twisted tunics,and handed them to his men to take down to the hollow ships.Then he rushed back in, eager to keep killing.There he ran into a son of Priam, of the line of Dardanus,Lycaon, fleeing out of the river — the man he himself had oncecaptured and taken from his father's orchard against his will,coming on him at night. Lycaon was cutting a wild fig treewith the sharp bronze, new shoots for chariot rails;then glorious Achilles came on him with an evil he never expected.That time he shipped him over to well-built Lemnosin his ships, and the son of Jason paid the price;from there a guest-friend, Eetion of Imbros, ransomed him and paid a lot,and sent him to shining Arisbe;from there he slipped away and got back to his father's house.For eleven days he enjoyed himself with his family,home from Lemnos; but on the twelfth day the godput him back into Achilles' hands, and Achilles was goingto send him to Hades, unwilling as he was.When swift-footed glorious Achilles noticed him,naked, with no helmet or shield, and no spear either —he had thrown all that on the ground — sweat was wearing him downas he ran from the river, and tiredness had beaten his knees —so, upset, he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:"What a thing! What a wonder I see with my own eyes!Surely the great-hearted Trojans I killedare going to rise up again out of the gloomy dark,since this one has come back, escaping the pitiless dayover to holy Lemnos; and the gray sea did not hold him,the sea that holds back plenty of men who do not want to stay.But come on: let him taste the point of my spear,so I can see and know in my heartwhether he will come back from down there too, or whetherthe life-giving earth will hold him, the earth that holds even the strong."So he waited, thinking; and Lycaon came up close, dazed,wanting to grab his knees; in his heart he wantedto escape evil death and black doom.Glorious Achilles raised his long spear,wanting to stab him, but Lycaon ducked under and grabbed his knees,bending low; the spear went over his back and stuckin the ground, eager to fill itself with human flesh.With one hand Lycaon clutched and begged his knees,with the other he held the sharpened spear and would not let go;and speaking aloud he addressed winged words to him:"I beg you, Achilles — respect me and have pity on me.I am like a suppliant to you, a man raised by Zeus, who deserves respect.Yours was the first house where I ate Demeter's bread,the day you caught me in the well-built orchardand carried me off, far from my father and my family,to holy Lemnos, and I brought you the price of a hundred oxen.Now I would pay three times that. This is my dawn,this is my twelfth day since I came to Troy,after so much suffering. Now again a deadly fatehas put me in your hands. I must be hated by father Zeus,who gave me back to you. My mother bore mefor a short life — Laothoe, daughter of old Altes,Altes, who rules the war-loving Lelegesand holds steep Pedasus on the Satnioeis.Priam had his daughter, and many others too;from her we two were born, and you will cut both our throats:one of them you beat down among the front-line fighters,godlike Polydorus, when you struck him with your sharp spear;and now this is my disaster too; I do not thinkI will escape your hands, now that a god has brought me near.I will tell you something else, and you take it to heart:do not kill me, since I am not a brother of Hector,the one who killed your friend, that kind and strong man."So the glorious son of Priam spoke to him,pleading with words, but he heard a pitiless voice:"Fool, do not show me ransoms, do not argue with me.Before Patroclus met his appointed day,as long as that lasted, I was happier in my heartto spare the Trojans, and I took many alive and sold them;but now there is no one who will escape death, whichever man a godputs into my hands in front of Ilion,of all the Trojans, and most of all the sons of Priam.So die, friend, you too. Why do you lament like this?Patroclus died too, and he was far better than you.Do you not see what a fine, tall man I am?I am the son of a noble father, and a goddess bore me;but death and strong fate lie over me as well;it will be morning, or evening, or the middle of the daywhen someone takes my life in war,either striking with a spear or with an arrow from a bow."So he spoke, and Lycaon's knees and dear heart gave way;he let the spear fall, and sat down with both armsspread out; and Achilles, drawing his sharp sword,struck him at the collarbone next to the neck, and the wholetwo-edged sword went in; he fell face down on the ground,stretched out, and dark blood poured out and soaked the earth.Achilles grabbed him by the foot and threw him into the river,and spoke winged words in triumph over him:"Lie there now with the fish, and they will lick your woundclean of blood and care nothing. Your mother will notlay you out and mourn you, but whirling Scamanderwill carry you into the wide bay of the sea.Some fish will jump up under the dark rippleand eat Lycaon's shining fat.Die, all of you, until we reach the holy city of Troy,you running, and me killing behind you.Not even your fair-flowing, silver-whirling riverwill save you — the river you sacrifice so many bulls to,and throw live single-hoofed horses into the whirlpools.Even so you will die a miserable death, until every one of youpays for the killing of Patroclus and the destruction of the Greeks,whom you killed by the swift ships while I was away."So he spoke, and the river got angrier inside,and thought how to stop godlike Achillesfrom his work, and ward off ruin from the Trojans.Meanwhile Peleus' son, holding his long-shadowing spear,jumped at Asteropaeus, eager to kill him,the son of Pelegon; broad-flowing Axios fathered him,and Periboea, oldest of the daughters of Acessamenus;the deep-swirling river had slept with her.Achilles jumped at him, and the other stood facing himout of the river with two spears; and Xanthus put strengthin his heart, because the god was angry about the young men killed,whom Achilles cut down along the stream and did not pity.When the two came close, going at each other,swift-footed glorious Achilles spoke first:"Who are you among men, and from where, that you dare come against me?Only the sons of wretches face my fury."The glorious son of Pelegon answered him:"Great-hearted son of Peleus, why do you ask about my family?I am from far-off, rich Paeonia,leading Paeonian spearmen; and this is nowthe eleventh dawn since I came to Ilion.My family line comes from the wide-flowing Axios,Axios, who sends the most beautiful water on earth,who fathered famous Pelegon with the spear; and they sayhe fathered me; but now let us fight, glorious Achilles."He spoke in a threat, and godlike Achilles raisedthe Pelian ash spear; and hero Asteropaeus hurled bothspears at once, because he could use both hands alike.With one spear he struck the shield, and it did notbreak through the shield, because the gold held it back, a god's gift;with the other he grazed the elbow of his right hand,and dark blood gushed out; and the spear went over himand stood fixed in the ground, eager to fill itself with flesh.Achilles threw his straight-flying ash spear second,at Asteropaeus, eager to kill him.He missed him, and struck the high bank,and drove the ash spear halfway into the bank.Then Peleus' son pulled his sharp sword from his thighand sprang at him in fury; but the other could notpull Achilles' ash spear out of the bluff with his strong hand.Three times he shook it, trying to pull it free,three times he gave up his strength; the fourth time he wantedin his heart to bend and break the ash spear of Aeacus' grandson,but before that Achilles took his life with the sword up close.He struck him in the belly beside the navel, and allhis guts poured out on the ground; darkness covered his eyesas he gasped; and Achilles jumped on his chestand stripped his armor, and said in triumph:"Lie there. It is hard to fight the sons of mighty Cronion,even if you were born from a river.You said you came from the wide-flowing river,but I claim my family comes from great Zeus.The man who fathered me rules many Myrmidons,Peleus son of Aeacus, and Aeacus came from Zeus.So Zeus is stronger than rivers that flow to the sea,and the family of Zeus is stronger than a river.And a great river stands by you too, if it canhelp at all; but you cannot fight Zeus the son of Cronus.Lord Achelous is not equal to him either,nor the great strength of deep-flowing Oceanus,from whom every river and the whole seaand every spring and deep well flows;but even he dreads the thunderbolt of great Zeusand his terrible thunder, when it crashes from the sky."He spoke, and pulled the bronze spear out of the bluff,and left Asteropaeus there, once he had taken his life,lying in the sand, and the dark water soaked him.Eels and fish crowded around him,eating and tearing the fat around his kidneys;then he went on after the horse-crested Paeonians,who were still running along the whirling river,when they saw their best man in the strong battlebeaten by the hands and the sword of Peleus' son.There he killed Thersilochus, Mydon, and Astypylus,and Mnesus, and Thrasius, and Aenius, and Ophelestes;and swift Achilles would have killed even more Paeonians,if the deep-swirling river had not spoken to him in anger,taking the shape of a man, calling out from his deep pool:"Achilles, you are the strongest, but you are doing wicked thingsto men; the gods themselves always protect you.If the son of Cronus gave you the job of destroying all the Trojans,then drive them out of me and do your dreadful work on the plain.My lovely streams are full of dead bodies,and I cannot pour my water out into the shining sea anywhere,choked with corpses, and you keep killing without regard.Come on now, stop. Awe holds me, leader of men."Answering him, swift-footed Achilles said:"So be it, Zeus-nourished Scamander, as you command.But I will not stop killing the arrogant Trojansuntil I have penned them in the city and tested Hector,face to face, whether he kills me or I kill him."With that he rushed at the Trojans like a god;and then the deep-swirling river spoke to Apollo:"Shame on you, Silver Bow, child of Zeus! You have not keptthe plan of Cronus' son, who gave you strict ordersto stand by the Trojans and defend them untillate evening comes and shadows the rich fields."He spoke, and spear-famous Achilles jumped into the middlefrom the bluff; the river surged at him, boiling with his swell,churned up all his streams, and shoved out the manycorpses that lay thick around him, the ones Achilles had killed;he threw them out onto dry land, bellowing like a bull,and saved the living along his beautiful streams,hiding them in his deep, wide pools.A terrible wave rose up, churning around Achilles,and the stream fell on his shield and pushed him; he could notplant his feet firm; he grabbed an elm tree with his hands,a tall, well-grown one; it tore out from its rootsand ripped away the whole bluff, and blocked the fair streamswith its thick branches, and bridged the river itselfas it fell all across it; and he jumped up out of the pooland ran to fly across the plain on quick feet,in terror; but the great god did not stop, and rose against himdarkening his crest, to stop godlike Achillesfrom his work, and ward off ruin from the Trojans.Peleus' son backed off about a spear-throw,with the swoop of a black hunting eagle,the strongest and fastest of all birds;like that he flew, and on his chest the bronzeclanged horribly; he swerved aside from under itand fled, and the river followed behind with a huge roar.Like when a man digging an irrigation ditch leads waterfrom a dark spring through plants and gardenswith a hoe in his hands, knocking out the barriers of the ditch;the water flows out, and all the pebblesget rolled along; it runs fast, murmuring,down a sloping place, and it outruns even the man leading it:so the wave of the river always caught Achilles,fast as he was; gods are stronger than men.Every time swift-footed godlike Achillestried to stand and face it, to find out whether allthe immortals who hold the wide sky frightened him,that many times the great wave of the heaven-fed riverstruck his shoulders from above; he jumped up with his feet,sick at heart; and the river wore down his knees,rushing violently from below, and swept the dust from under his feet.Peleus' son groaned, looking up at the wide sky:"Father Zeus, so no god has taken pity on meto save me from the river? Then let me suffer whatever comes.Of the gods in heaven, nobody is as much to blameas my own dear mother, who fooled me with lies.She said I would die under the wall of the armored Trojans,killed by Apollo's swift arrows.I wish Hector had killed me — he is the best man raised here.Then a brave man would have killed me, and stripped a brave man;instead it was fated that I be caught in a wretched death,penned in a great river, like a pig-farmer's boywhom a flood sweeps away when he crosses in winter."So he spoke, and quickly Poseidon and Athenacame and stood close, looking like men,and took his hand and pledged their word to him.Poseidon the earth-shaker spoke first among them:"Son of Peleus, do not be too afraid, do not be terrified;we two are helpers to you,with Zeus' approval, I and Pallas Athena;it is not fated for you to be beaten by a river.He will slacken soon, and you will see it yourself.We will give you firm advice, if you will obey:do not stop your hands from this even waruntil you have penned the Trojan army inside the famous wallsof Troy, whoever escapes; and when you have taken Hector's life,go back to the ships; we grant you the glory."With that, the two went back to the immortals;and he went onto the plain, for the gods' command urged him hard,and the whole plain was filled with the poured-out water,and many fine weapons and the bodies of dead young menfloated on it; his knees jumped highas he rushed straight against the stream, and the wide-flowingriver could not hold him back, because Athena put great strength in him.Scamander did not stop his rage either, but got evenangrier at Peleus' son, and raised the wave of his streamhigh, and shouted to Simoeis:"Dear brother, let us two stop this man's strength,because he will soon sack the great city of lord Priam,and the Trojans will not hold out in battle.Help me fast, and fill your streamswith water from your springs, and stir up all your torrents,raise a big wave, and make a huge racketwith logs and rocks, so we can stop this wild manwho is master now and thinks he is equal to the gods.I say his strength will not save him, nor his beauty,nor his fine armor, which will lie somewhere deep in the poolcovered with mud; I will wrap him himselfin sand, pouring endless silt over him,and the Greeks will not know how to gather his bones.That is the kind of filth I will pour over him.His grave marker will be there too, and he will have no needof anyone to build a mound, when the Greeks bury him."He spoke, and surged at Achilles, boiling and raging high,murmuring with foam and blood and corpses.The dark purple wave of the heaven-fed riverrose up and grabbed Peleus' son.Hera screamed out in great fear for Achilles,afraid the huge deep-swirling river would sweep him away,and right away she called to Hephaestus, her dear son:"Get up, my crook-footed child! We figuredwhirling Xanthus was a match for you in a fight.Help him fast, and show a big flame.I will go and raise a nasty storm from the seawith Zephyrus and clear Notus,which will burn the Trojan heads and armor,carrying a wicked blaze. You burn the treesalong Xanthus' banks, and set the river himself on fire; and do not let himturn you aside with gentle words or with threats.Do not stop your rage before that, but whenI shout out and call, then hold back the tireless fire."She spoke, and Hephaestus got a heaven-blazing fire ready.First fire blazed on the plain, and it burned the manycorpses that lay thick around him, the ones Achilles had killed;the whole plain dried up, and the shining water was stopped.Like in late summer when the North Wind quickly driesa freshly watered garden, and the gardener is happy:so the whole plain dried up, and he burnedthe dead; then he turned his blazing flame on the river.The elms burned, and the willows and tamarisks,the lotus burned, and the rushes and galingale,which grew thick around the river's fair streams;the eels suffered and the fish, in the poolsand along the fair streams, darting this way and that,tortured by the breath of clever Hephaestus.The river's strength burned, and he spoke and called his name:"Hephaestus, no god can match you,and I would not fight you like this while you blaze with fire.Stop the fight, and let glorious Achilles at oncedrive the Trojans out of the city. Why should I fight and help?"He spoke, burning with fire, and his fair streams bubbled up.Like a pot boiling inside, pushed on by a big fire,melting the fat of a soft-fed pig,bubbling up on every side, with dry wood under it:so his fair streams burned with fire, and the water boiled;it had no wish to flow, but was held back; the steam wore it downby the strength of clever Hephaestus. Then he begged Herawith many prayers, speaking winged words:"Hera, why has your son set on my stream to hurt memore than any of the others? I am not as much to blameas all the others who help the Trojans.But I will stop, if you command,and let him stop too; and I will swear this as well,that I will never ward off the evil day from the Trojans,not even when all Troy is eaten by raging fireas it burns, and the Greek warriors burn it."When the goddess white-armed Hera heard this,she right away called to Hephaestus, her dear son:"Hephaestus, hold back, my famous child. It is not rightto beat up an immortal god like this for the sake of mortals."She spoke, and Hephaestus put out the heaven-blazing fire,and back the wave flowed down the fair streams.When Xanthus' rage was broken, then those twostopped, because Hera held them back, angry as she was.Then among the other gods a heavy, painful quarrel broke out,and their hearts blew in two directions.They crashed together with a huge noise, and the wide earth groaned,and the great sky trumpeted. Zeus heard it,sitting on Olympus, and his heart laughed with joywhen he saw the gods coming together to fight.Then they did not stand apart for long; Ares started it,the shield-splitter, and he jumped at Athena firstwith his bronze spear, and said a mocking word:"Why do you drive the gods to fight again, you dog-fly,with your reckless daring? Your big temper pushed you on.Do you not remember when you pushed Diomedes, son of Tydeus,to wound me, and you grabbed the all-seeing spear yourselfand threw it straight at me, and tore my beautiful skin?So now I think you will pay for everything you have done."He spoke, and struck the fringed aegis,the terrifying one, which even Zeus' thunderbolt cannot beat;with it murderous Ares struck her with his long spear.She stepped back and picked up a stone in her strong hand,a big, black, rough stone lying in the plain,which men long ago had set there as a field boundary;with it she hit furious Ares on the neck and loosened his limbs.He fell and covered seven hundred feet, and dirtied his hair,and his armor clanged; Pallas Athena laughed,and spoke winged words in triumph over him:"Fool, you still have not understood how much betterI claim to be than you, since you match your rage against mine.This is how you would pay the Furies of your mother,who plans evil against you in her anger, because you leftthe Greeks and defend the arrogant Trojans."She spoke, and turned her shining eyes away.Zeus' daughter Aphrodite took Ares by the hand and led him out,groaning heavily; he barely pulled himself together.When white-armed Hera saw her,she right away spoke winged words to Athena:"Look at that, child of aegis-bearing Zeus, unwearied one!That dog-fly is leading man-destroying Aresout of the battle and the confusion. Go after her."She spoke, and Athena ran after her, glad at heart,and falling on her with her strong handshe hit her on the chest; her knees and heart gave way.So the two of them lay on the life-giving earth,and she spoke winged words in triumph:"May everyone who helps the Trojans be like thiswhen they fight the bronze-clad Greeks —this bold and this tough — the way Aphrodite cameto help Ares and faced my rage.Then we would have stopped the war long ago,after sacking the well-built city of Troy."She spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera smiled.But lord Poseidon the earth-shaker spoke to Apollo:"Phoebus, why are we two standing apart? It is not rightwhen others have started. It would be more shameful if we wentto Olympus without a fight, to Zeus' bronze-floored house.You start; you are younger than me. It is notright for me, since I was born first and know more.You fool, what a brainless heart you have! You do not even rememberall the bad things we two suffered around Troy,we alone of the gods, when we came to proud Laomedonfrom Zeus and worked a year for a fixed wage.He gave us orders and commanded us.I built the Trojans a wall around their city,wide and very beautiful, so it would be unbreakable;and you, Phoebus, herded his crook-horned cattlein the folds of wooded, many-ridged Ida.But when the happy seasons brought the endof the wage, mighty Laomedon cheated usout of all our pay and sent us off with threats.He threatened to tie our feet and hands togetherand to sell us on far-off islands;he threatened to cut off both our ears with bronze.So we went back, angry at heart,furious about the wage he promised and did not pay.And now you do favors for his people, and you do nottry with us to make the arrogant Trojans diehorribly, in misery, with their children and their respected wives."Then lord Apollo who strikes from afar answered him:"Earth-shaker, you would not call me saneif I fought with you for the sake of mortals,those miserable creatures who are like leaves: sometimes they blazewith life and eat the fruit of the earth,and sometimes they wither and die. Let us stopthe fight quickly; let them fight it out themselves."He spoke and turned away; he was ashamedto fight his father's brother with his hands.His sister, the lady of wild animals,Artemis the huntress, scolded him hard, and said a mocking word:"So you run away, Far-Shooter, and you have turned over to Poseidonthe whole victory, and given him a worthless boast.Fool, what is your bow to you, useless as it is?I do not want to hear you again in your father's hallsbragging, the way you used to among the immortal gods,that you would fight Poseidon face to face."She spoke, and Apollo who strikes from afar said nothing to her;but Zeus' respected wife, angry, scoldedthe arrow-pouring goddess with mocking words:"How do you plan now, shameless dog, to standup against me? It is hard for you to match my rage,even though you are an archer, because Zeus made you a lionagainst women, and gave you to kill whoever you wish.It is better to kill wild animals in the mountainsand wild deer than to fight people stronger than you.But if you want to learn about war, so you know wellhow much stronger I am, since you match your rage against mine."She spoke, and grabbed both her wrists with her left hand,and with her right she pulled the bow off her shoulders,and hit her around the ears with it, smiling,as Artemis twisted away; her swift arrows fell out.Crying, the goddess ran, like a dovethat flies from a hawk into a hollow rock,into a crack; and catching her there was not fate;so she ran off crying and left her bow there.The messenger, the slayer of Argus, spoke to Leto:"Leto, I will not fight you. It is hardto trade blows with the wives of Zeus who gathers the clouds.No, go ahead and boast among the immortal godsthat you beat me with your strong strength."He spoke, and Leto picked up the curved bowlying scattered here and there in the whirling dust.She took the bow and went back to her daughter;the other reached Olympus, Zeus' bronze-floored house,and crying, the girl sat on her father's knees,and her immortal robe trembled around her; her father,the son of Cronus, took her to himself and asked her, smiling sweetly:"Who of the gods in heaven did this to you, dear child,for no reason, as if you had done something evil before them?"The loud-crying goddess with the beautiful crown answered him:"Your wife hit me, father — white-armed Hera,who has hung quarrels and fighting on the immortals."So they said things like that to each other.But Phoebus Apollo went into holy Troy,because he cared about the wall of the well-built city,afraid the Greeks might sack it beyond fate that day.The other gods, the ever-living ones, went to Olympus,some angry, some very proud;they sat beside the father who gathers dark clouds; but Achilleskept killing Trojans and their single-hoofed horses.Like smoke rising to the wide skyfrom a burning city, when the gods' anger raises it,and it brings trouble to everyone, and lays grief on many:so Achilles laid trouble and grief on the Trojans.Old Priam stood on the sacred tower,and he saw enormous Achilles; under himthe Trojans were instantly routed and running, with no defenseleft; he groaned and came down from the tower to the ground,calling to the famous gatekeepers along the wall:"Hold the gates open in your hands until the peoplecome running into the city; Achilles isright here, driving them; I think there is going to be disaster.But once they have breathed again and gathered inside the wall,put the well-fitted planks back in place;I am afraid this deadly man might jump inside the wall."He spoke, and they opened the gates and pushed back the bars;the gates swung open and gave light; and Apollojumped out to meet them, to ward off ruin from the Trojans.They headed straight for the city and the high wall,parched with thirst, covered in dust from the plain,running; and he pressed on with his spear, and a strong madnessalways held his heart, and he was eager to win glory.Then the Greeks would have taken high-gated Troy,if Phoebus Apollo had not roused godlike Agenor,the son of Antenor, a blameless, strong man.He put courage in his heart, and stood beside him himself,to keep death's heavy hands away from him,leaning on an oak; he was covered in thick mist.When Agenor saw city-sacking Achilles,he stood still, and his heart churned as he waited;upset, he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:"Oh no. If I run from strong Achilles,the way all the others are running in terror,he will catch me anyway and cut my throat like a coward's.But if I let these others be routedby Peleus' son Achilles, and run with my feet away from the wallanother way, across the Ilian plain, until I reachthe ridges of Ida and hide in the bushes,then in the evening, after I bathe in the riverand cool off my sweat, I could come back to Troy.But why is my heart arguing about this?He might see me going out from the city into the plain,and catch me with his swift feet as I run.Then there will be no escaping death and doom anymore;he is far too strong, stronger than any man.But if I go at him right in front of the city —his skin can be pierced by sharp bronze too,he has one life, and people say he is mortal,but Zeus, Cronus' son, gives him glory."He spoke and waited for Achilles, crouched down, and in his hearthis brave spirit pushed him to fight and do battle.Like a leopard coming out of a deep thicketto face a hunter, and in its heartit does not fear or dread at all, when it hears the baying;even if the man strikes first and wounds it or spears it,still, pierced by the spear, it does not stopfighting until it closes with him or dies:so the son of glorious Antenor, godlike Agenor,would not run away until he had tested Achilles.He held his shield in front of him, even on every side,and aimed his spear at him, and shouted loud:"You really do hope in your heart, glorious Achilles,to sack the city of the proud Trojans today,you fool; there are still many pains waiting for it.There are many brave men in here,who defend Troy for the sake of their parents, wives, and sons;you will meet your death here,terrifying as you are, and bold as a fighter."He spoke, and threw the sharp spear from his heavy hand,and hit him on the shin below the knee, and did not miss.The greave of newly-made tin around itrang horribly; the bronze bounced backoff the man it hit and did not go through, because the god's gift held it.Peleus' son rushed at godlike Agenora second time; Apollo did not let him win glory,but snatched Agenor away and covered him in thick mist,and sent him quietly out of the war.By a trick he kept Peleus' son away from the army;the Far-Shooter stood right in front of his feet, looking exactly like Agenor,and Achilles charged, chasing him on foot;while he chased him across the wheat-bearing plain,turning him along the deep-swirling river Scamander,just a little ahead — Apollo tricked him with magicso he would always hope to catch him with his feet —meanwhile the other Trojans fled and came in a crowd,happy, into the city, and the city filled up with them.They did not dare stay outside the city and wallwaiting for each other, or to find out who had escapedand who had died in the war; they poured in eagerlyinto the city, whoever their feet and knees saved.