Of such sort was I among warriors, as sure as ever I was. But Achilles would alone have profit of his valour. Nay, verily, methinks he will bitterly lament hereafter, when the folk perisheth. Ah, friend, of a surety Menoetius thus laid charge upon thee on the day when he sent thee forth from Phthia to Agamemnon. And we twain were within, I and goodly Odysseus, and in the halls we heard all things, even as he gave thee charge. For we had come to the well-builded house of Peleus, gathering the host throughout the bounteous land of Achaia. There then we found in the house the warrior Menoetius and thee, and with you Achilles; and the old man Peleus, driver of chariots, was burning the fat thighs of a bull to Zeus that hurleth the thunderbolt, in the enclosure of the court, and he held in his hand a golden cup, pouring forth the flaming wine to accompany the burning offerings. Ye twain were busied about the flesh of the bull, and lo, we stood in the doorway; and Achilles, seized with wonder, sprang up, and took us by the hand and led us in, and bade us be seated, and he set before us abundant entertainment, all that is the due of strangers. But when we had had our fill of food and drink, I was first to speak, and bade you follow with us; and ye were both right eager, and those twain laid on you many commands.
Old Peleus bade his son Achilles ever be bravest, and pre-eminent above all, but to thee did Menoetius, son of Actor, thus give command: ‘My child, in birth is Achilles nobler than thou, but thou art the elder though in might he is the better far. Yet do thou speak to him well a word of wisdom and give him counsel, and direct him; and he will obey thee to his profit.’ Thus did the old man charge thee, but thou forgettest. Yet even now at the last do thou speak thus to wise-hearted Achilles, if so be he may hearken. Who knows but that heaven helping thou mightest rouse his spirit with thy persuading? A good thing is the persuasion of a friend. But if in his heart he is shunning some oracle and his queenly mother hath declared to him aught from Zeus, yet let him send thee forth, and with thee let the rest of the host of the Myrmidons follow, if so be thou mayest prove a light of deliverance to the Danaans; and let him give thee his fair armour to bear into the war, in hope that the Trojans may take thee for him, and so hold aloof from battle, and the warlike sons of the Achaeans may take breath, wearied though they be; for scant is the breathing-space in battle.
And lightly might ye that are unwearied drive men that are wearied with battle back toward the city from the ships and the huts. So spake he, and roused the heart in the breast of Patroclus, and he set out to run along the line of the ships to Achilles, son of Aeacus. But when in his running Patroclus was come to the ships of godlike Odysseus, where was their place of gathering and of the giving of dooms, whereby also were builded their altars of the gods, there Eurypylus met him, the Zeus-born son of Euaemon, smitten in the thigh with an arrow, limping from out the battle. And in streams down from his head and shoulders flowed the sweat, and from his grievous wound the black blood was gushing, yet was his spirit unshaken. At sight of him the valiant son of Menoetius had pity on him, and with wailing spake to him winged words: Ah ye wretched men, leaders and lords of the Danaans, thus then were ye destined, far from your friends and your native land, to glut with your white fat the swift dogs in Troy. But come, tell me this, Eurypylus, warrior fostered of Zeus, will the Achaeans haply still hold back mighty Hector, or will they now perish, slain beneath his spear?
And to him again made answer the wounded Eurypylus: No longer, Zeus-born Patroclus, will there be any defence of the Achaeans, but they will fling themselves upon the black ships. For verily all they that aforetime were bravest, lie among the ships smitten by darts or wounded with spear-thrusts at the hands of the Trojans, whose strength ever waxeth. But me do thou succour, and lead me to my black ship, and cut the arrow from my thigh, and wash the black blood from it with warm water, and sprinkle thereon kindly simples of healing power, whereof men say that thou hast learned from Achilles, whom Cheiron taught, the most righteous of the Centaurs. For the leeches, Podaleirius and Machaon, the one methinks lieth wounded amid the huts, having need himself of a goodly leech, and the other in the plain abideth the sharp battle of the Trojans. And to him again spake the valiant son of Menoetius: How may these things be? What shall we do, warrior Eurypylus? I am on my way to declare to wise-hearted Achilles a message wherewith Nestor of Gerenia, warder of the Achaeans, charged me. Nay, but even so will I not neglect thee that art in grievous plight. He spake and clasped the shepherd of the host beneath the breast, and led him to his hut, and his squire when he saw them strewed upon the ground hides of oxen. There Patroclus made him lie at length, and with a knife cut from his thigh the sharp-piercing arrow, and from the wound washed the black blood with warm water, and upon it cast a bitter root, when he had rubbed it between his hands, a root that slayeth pain, which stayed all his pangs; and the wound waxed dry, and the blood ceased.
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