Chapter summary
Menelaus sees that Patroclus has fallen, cuts through the champions, and stands over the body with spear and shield, like a cow of first calving over her calf. Euphorbus, son of Panthous, orders him to withdraw, because he was the first to wound Patroclus and wants the glory of the spoils. Menelaus answers that no leopard, lion or boar has as much pride as the sons of Panthous; he recalls that he killed their brother Hyperenor, who had insulted him, and orders him to go away before he suffers. Euphorbus says he will avenge his brother, his widow and his parents, and throws; but the point bends on the shield. Menelaus prays to Zeus and pierces him through the neck. Euphorbus falls like an olive tree uprooted by the storm, and no one dares oppose Menelaus when he begins to strip him.
Apollo, in the form of Mentes, chief of the Cicones, urges Hector on: he pursues in vain the horses of Achilles, which no one can tame, while Menelaus has killed the best of the Trojans. Hector, overcome with grief, advances shouting, and Menelaus deliberates: if he leaves the armor and the body, the Danaans will reproach him; if he fights alone against Hector and the Trojans, he will be surrounded. Concluding that whoever fights against a man whom a god honors invites great disaster, and that no one will blame him for giving way, he decides to go call Ajax, and withdraws like a lion driven from the pen. When he returns with Ajax, Hector has already stripped Patroclus and tries to behead him, to give the body to the Trojan dogs; but Ajax arrives with his shield like a tower, Hector withdraws and orders the Trojans to carry the armor to the city. Ajax stands over the body like a lion over its cubs, and Menelaus, beside him, feeds the grief in his chest.
Glaucus, chief of the Lycians, rebukes Hector: his fame is empty, he left Sarpedon, guest and companion, as prey for the Argives, and the Lycians will fight for Troy no more, for there is no gratitude in fighting without truce; if the Trojans had courage, they would take the body of Patroclus and trade it for Sarpedon's. Hector, offended, answers that he does not fear battle, but that the mind of Zeus is stronger, now putting the valiant to flight, now urging him on; he challenges Glaucus to see whether he is a coward all day, exhorts the Trojans, and withdraws. He catches up with those carrying Patroclus's armor, hands it over to be taken to Troy, and puts on the immortal armor of Achilles, which the gods gave to Peleus, and Peleus gave to his son. Zeus sees him and speaks to himself: the wretch does not think of the death that is near, and puts on the armor of a man before whom all tremble; because he killed his companion and stripped his armor without decorum, he will receive great strength, in compensation for not returning from the battle, and Andromache will not receive the armor from him. Zeus nods, Ares enters Hector, and all the allies see Achilles in him. He exhorts them, saying that he called them to defend women and children, and promises to whoever drags Patroclus's body half the spoils.
Ajax tells Menelaus that he fears less for the body than for their own heads, for the cloud of war, Hector, covers everything, and he sends for the chiefs. The other Ajax, Idomeneus and Meriones answer, and the Trojans come with Hector, like a wave against a river mouth. The Achaeans close ranks around Patroclus, and Zeus pours mist over the helmets, because he did not hate him while alive, and now he detests that he should become prey for the Trojan dogs. The Trojans push the Achaeans back; then Ajax scatters them like a boar. Hippothous drags the body by the ankles to please Hector, and Ajax kills him, and Patroclus's foot falls to the ground. Apollo, in the guise of the herald Periphas, urges Aeneas, who recognizes the god and calls Hector; the Trojans advance, and Ajax orders that no one retreat behind the body nor move ahead of the others, but that all fight beside him. The struggle around Patroclus is such that not even Ares or Athena would look upon it with contempt, and Achilles, far away, does not yet know that his friend has died, for he expected him to return alive from the gates of Troy.
Achilles' horses, far from the fighting, mourn their charioteer. Automedon lashes them, speaks gently and threatens, but they will go neither to the ships nor to war, and stand motionless like the stele of a tomb, with hot tears streaming down. Zeus sees them, takes pity, and promises that Hector will not mount them; he infuses them with strength, and the horses carry Automedon into battle. Alone, he cannot drive and throw at the same time, until Alcimedon takes up the reins. Hector sees the horses and calls Aeneas to take them; Automedon prays to Zeus, fills with strength, asks the two Ajaxes and Menelaus to look after the body, and kills Areithous, while Hector throws and misses. The two Ajaxes part them, and Automedon, stripping Areithous, says he has eased the grief for the son of Menoetius only a little.
Athena, sent by Zeus, descends in the form of Phoenix and urges Menelaus: it would be a disgrace to let the Trojan dogs drag the faithful companion of Achilles. Menelaus answers that he would wish to defend the body, because Patroclus, dying, touched his heart, but that Hector has the strength of fire and Zeus gives him glory. Athena rejoices that he invoked her first and gives him the courage of a fly, and Menelaus kills Podes, friend of Hector. Apollo, as Phaenops, rebukes Hector for fearing the man who was formerly weak, and Hector returns to the fight. Then Zeus takes up the aegis, covers Ida with clouds, thunders, gives victory to the Trojans and puts the Achaeans to flight. Peneleos is the first to flee; Hector wounds Leitus; Idomeneus strikes Hector on the breastplate, but the spear breaks, and Idomeneus and Meriones withdraw to the ships.
Ajax perceives that Zeus helps the Trojans, since all their darts hit and those of the Achaeans fall in vain, and proposes to devise the best plan for the body and for their own men. He wants to send a messenger to Achilles, but mist prevents him from seeing anyone. He prays to Zeus: let him scatter the mist and give light, and kill them in the light if so it pleases him. Zeus takes pity and disperses the mist, and Ajax sends Menelaus to look for Antilochus, son of Nestor, to carry the news to Achilles. Menelaus sets out reluctantly, like a lion withdrawing weary from the pen, and asks the Ajaxes and Meriones to remember the gentleness of Patroclus, who was kind to all in life. He finds Antilochus on the left of the fight and tells him that the best of the Achaeans has died, that Hector has the armor, and that he should run to Achilles so that Achilles may save at least the naked body. Antilochus is left speechless, his eyes full of tears, but he obeys: he hands the armor to Laodocus and runs, weeping, with the bad news.
Menelaus returns and tells the Ajaxes that he sent the messenger, but doubts that Achilles will come to fight Hector without armor. He and Meriones raise the body, and the two Ajaxes stay behind, like a dike. The Trojans pursue them like dogs after a wounded boar, and they retreat when Ajax turns. The bearers advance under the war as under a fire that devours a city, or like mules dragging a beam, and the Ajaxes hold back the surge as a promontory holds back the waters. Aeneas and Hector press on, and the Achaeans flee in a flock, like starlings before a hawk. Many weapons fall around the trench, and the fighting does not pause.
Analysis
The whole book fights against one image, that of Patroclus's body in the mouths of the Trojan dogs. Menelaus, Ajax and even Zeus oppose it, and Hector pursues it, because for him the body is proof of valor and a bargaining chip for Sarpedon. No one advances in the war: the fight is for a corpse, and the poem treats that corpse as if it were the most disputed territory.
Achilles' armor organizes the book: Hector puts it on, Zeus laments him and gives him strength, and the allies see Achilles in him. The strength Zeus gives him is the same that leads him to Achilles. On the other side, the news travels in the opposite direction, with Antilochus running and weeping, and the poem ends without saying how Achilles will receive it.
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