Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ILIAD: BOOK 17. PATROCULUS' BODY SAVED, by HOMER


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THE ILIAD: BOOK 17. PATROCULUS' BODY SAVED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So they carried the dead man out of the fighting
Last Line: Piece of gear -- and still no pause in the fighting.
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Trojan War


SO they carried the dead man out of the fighting
With passionate effort towards the hollow ships.
But the fight dragged at them angrily, like a fire
That springs with a sudden leap on a human city
And flares till the houses vanish in a great light
When the hurricane's strength sets it roaring. So
Unintermitting, a clatter of horses
And of men with spears pressed on them as they moved.
They were like mules strung to the pitch of effort,
Who from a fell-side drag by a rocky track
House-rafter or big ship's timber, though sweat and fatigue
Wear down the courage in their tugging bodies.
With such effort they carried the dead man, while
Behind them the two Aiantes held the pressure
As a wooded spur holds back a head of water,
Sprawling across the lowland: even the dangerous
Torrent waters of strong rivers it holds;
Diverting instantly across the levels
Every current, it stands in the swirl unbroken.
So the Aiantes still held up the forward
Surge of the Trojans pressing close -- in the van of them
Anchises' son AEneas and glittering Hector.
But the Greeks -- as a cloud of daws or starlings passes
Screaming for life, the hawk once sighted,
To lesser birds a messenger of murder,
So before AEneas and Hector the young
Men of Achaea rushed screaming for life,
Forgetting battle-gaiety: round the trench
Dropped from the runaway Danaans many a handsome
Piece of gear -- and still no pause in the fighting.





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