Chapter 35 35

Antilochus found Achilles sitting pensively before the ship.He was thinking of a destiny which he did not yet know was about to be fulfilled.When he saw the Greeks coming from afar, he had an ominous premonition, and said to himself: "Why did the Argos flee towards the warship in panic? My mother once prophesied that in our Was the prophecy fulfilled that the bravest hero among the Myrmidonians must die at the hands of the Trojans while he was alive?" At this moment, Antilochus came towards him with tears streaming down his face, bearing the sad news, and cried out to him from afar: "Alas, our Patroclus is dead. Hector stripped his Armor, now the two sides are fighting over his naked body."

When Achilles heard the terrible news, his eyes suddenly went dark.He scooped up the dirt with both hands, sprinkled it on his head, face and clothes, and then threw himself on the ground, pulling his hair.The slave girls whom Achilles and Patroclus had taken as trophies heard the noise and also ran out of it.When they saw the master lying on the ground, they surrounded him.When they heard what had happened, they beat their breasts and cried loudly.Antilochus grabbed Achilles' hands, fearing that Achilles would suddenly draw his sword and commit suicide. Achilles wept loudly in grief, and even his mother, who was sitting beside his elderly grandfather Nereus in the depths of the sea, heard his weeping, and sobbed uncontrollably.The other sons and daughters of Nereus heard her cry, and entered her silver cave, and beat their breasts, and wept with her. "My God," said Thetis to the sisters beside me, "I have given birth to such a noble, brave, and handsome son, but he will never return to the palace of his father Peleus! He has suffered countless I can't do anything to help him! Now I must go and see my beloved son, and I want to hear what kind of sad things have happened to him. Isn't he still sitting by the ship and watching the battle?"

The goddess took her sisters, parted the waves, came to the winding coast, and walked towards the weeping Achilles. "My child, why do you weep so bitterly?" cried his mother. "What is your pain? Tell me quickly, and don't hide a thing! Don't you like everything? Didn't the Greeks crowd into your galleys, begging for Your help?" Achilles sighed and said: "Mother, what use is all this to me? Patroclus, my close comrade-in-arms, was slain by the enemy. Hector also stripped him of his armor. That is my armor, and the gods are in you A gift to Peleus at the time of marriage. Oh, if only Peleus had taken a human woman, then you would not have endless grief for your son! I can never go back to my hometown Go. If I cannot kill Hector with the spear and avenge Patroclus, then my heart will never be at peace, and my conscience will not allow me to live on earth!"

Thetis replied with tears in his eyes, "My son, throw away this thought, for fate has decreed that after Hector's death your end will also come." Achilles exclaimed angrily: "If the god of fate does not let me protect my dead friend, then I would rather die at once. He was far away from his hometown, and he was not rescued by me, so he was killed. Now I What use was life to the Greeks? I failed to save Patroclus and countless friends from misfortune. Now that I have risked it, I will immediately fight my friend's murderer. The Trojans must understand that I have rested It's been long enough! Dear mother, please don't stop me from going to war!"

"You are right, my child," replied Thetis, "and tomorrow morning at sunrise I will bring you new arms and new armor, forged by Hephaestus himself. Remember, Before I come back, you must not go to war." After the goddess finished speaking, she called her sisters to sink into the bottom of the sea together, while she herself flew to the holy mountain of Olympus to find Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods. . At this time, the Trojans attacked again and again to snatch Patroclus' body.Hector pursued ferociously, and three times he overtook Ajax, who was snatching the corpse, and seized the corpse by its feet, and tried to drag it away, but three times he was repulsed by the two Ajax.He stepped aside, then stopped again, shouting that he would not stop.The two eponymous heroes, Ajax, tried unsuccessfully to drive him away from the corpse.Hector would indeed have taken Patroclus' body if Iris had not quietly commanded Achilles to arm himself, at the behest of Hera, unbeknownst to Zeus and the gods. "How shall I fight?" Achilles asked the messenger of the gods. "The enemy has taken my weapons, and my mother has gone to Hephaestus for armor. She bade me, before she returns, I can't fight!"

"We know that your marvelous weapon has been taken from you," replied Iris, "but if you approach the trench like this, and show yourself to the Trojans, they may stop when they see you. The Greeks take the opportunity You can rest for a while." After Aerys left, Achilles stood up.Athena slung her aegis over his shoulders, and made his face shine with divine light.Achilles went to the ditch, but still bearing his mother's warning in mind, he did not go into battle, but watched from afar, and shouted loudly.Athena bellowed with his voice, making it sound to the Trojans as if it were a bugle blowing.The Trojans were terrified when they heard the roar of the son of Peleus, and immediately turned their chariots and horses.The knights were all amazed when they saw the flames flashing from the head of the son of Peleus.Three times he shouted by the ditch, and three times the Trojans were thrown into disarray.Twelve brave heroes among them fell under the wheels and died in the chaos, or died under the random guns of their own people.

Now Patroclus' body is finally at safety.The Greek heroes put him on a stretcher, and everyone surrounded the corpse in silent mourning.Achilles saw his close comrade lying on a stretcher and saw his dead body stabbed by the point of a spear, and he couldn't help but fell on the corpse and wept bitterly.