n any one who happens to be passing may get stung--or again, if a
wayfarer going along the road vexes them by accident, every wasp will
come flying out in a fury to defend his little ones--even with such
rage and courage did the Myrmidons swarm from their ships, and their
cry of battle rose heavenwards. Patroclus called out to his men at the
top of his voice, "Myrmidons, followers of Achilles son of Peleus, be
men my friends, fight with might and with main, that we may win glory
for the son of Peleus, who is far the foremost man at the ships of the
Argives--he, and his close fighting followers. The son of Atreus King
Agamemnon will thus learn his folly in showing no respect to the
bravest of the Achaeans."

With these words he put heart and soul into them all, and they fell in
a body upon the Trojans. The ships rang again with the cry which the
Achaeans raised, and when the Trojans saw the brave son of Menoetius
and his squire all gleaming in their armour, they were daunted and
their battalions were thrown into confusion, for they thought the fleet
son of Peleus must now have put aside his anger, and have been
reconciled to Agamemnon; every one, therefore, looked round about to
see whither he might fly for safety.

Patroclus first aimed a spear into the middle of the press where men
were packed most closely, by the stern of the ship of Protesilaus. He
hit Pyraechmes who had led his Paeonian horsemen from the Amydon and
the broad waters of the river Axius; the spear struck him on the right
shoulder, and with a groan he fell backwards in the dust; on this his
men were thrown into confusion, for by killing their leader, who was
the finest soldier among them, Patroclus struck panic into them all. He
thus drove them from the ship and quenched the fire that was then
blazing--leaving the half-burnt ship to lie where it was. The Trojans
were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies, while the
Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting also without
ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the thunder-cloud, spreads a dense
canopy on the top of some lofty mountain, and all the peaks, the
jutting headlands, and forest glades show out in the great light that
flashes from the bursting heavens, even so when the Danaans had now
driven back the fire from their ships, they took breath for a little
while; but the fury of the fight was not yet over, for the Trojans were
not driven back in utter rout, but still gave battle, an