his man as soon as ever he had come up with his chariot
had dismounted twenty men, so proficient was he in all the arts of
war--he it was, O knight Patroclus, that first drove a weapon into you,
but he did not quite overpower you. Euphorbus then ran back into the
crowd, after drawing his ashen spear out of the wound; he would not
stand firm and wait for Patroclus, unarmed though he now was, to attack
him; but Patroclus unnerved, alike by the blow the god had given him
and by the spear-wound, drew back under cover of his men in fear for
his life. Hector on this, seeing him to be wounded and giving ground,
forced his way through the ranks, and when close up with him struck him
in the lower part of the belly with a spear, driving the bronze point
right through it, so that he fell heavily to the ground to the great
grief of the Achaeans. As when a lion has fought some fierce wild-boar
and worsted him--the two fight furiously upon the mountains over some
little fountain at which they would both drink, and the lion has beaten
the boar till he can hardly breathe--even so did Hector son of Priam
take the life of the brave son of Menoetius who had killed so many,
striking him from close at hand, and vaunting over him the while.
"Patroclus," said he, "you deemed that you should sack our city, rob
our Trojan women of their freedom, and carry them off in your ships to
your own country. Fool; Hector and his fleet horses were ever straining
their utmost to defend them. I am foremost of all the Trojan warriors
to stave the day of bondage from off them; as for you, vultures shall
devour you here. Poor wretch, Achilles with all his bravery availed you
nothing; and yet I ween when you left him he charged you straitly
saying, 'Come not back to the ships, knight Patroclus, till you have
rent the bloodstained shirt of murderous Hector about his body.' Thus I
ween did he charge you, and your fool's heart answered him 'yea' within
you."

Then, as the life ebbed out of you, you answered, O knight Patroclus:
"Hector, vaunt as you will, for Jove the son of Saturn and Apollo have
vouchsafed you victory; it is they who have vanquished me so easily,
and they who have stripped the armour from my shoulders; had twenty
such men as you attacked me, all of them would have fallen before my
spear. Fate and the son of Leto have overpowered me, and among mortal
men Euphorbus; you are yourself third only in the killing of me. I say
further, and lay my saying