Iliad

Patroklos kept on heading his horses wherever he saw most men fleeing in confusion, cheering on his men the while. Chariots were being smashed in all directions, and many a man came tumbling down from his own car to fall beneath the wheels of that of Patroklos, whose immortal steeds, given by the gods to Peleus, sprang over the trench at a bound as they sped onward. He was intent on trying to get near Hektor, for he had set his heart on spearing him, but Hektor's horses were now hurrying him away. As the whole dark earth bows before some tempest on an autumn day when Zeus rains his hardest to punish men for judging [ krinô ] crookedly in their courts, and arriving justice there from without heed to the decrees [ themistes ] of heaven - all the rivers run full and the torrents tear many a new channel as they roar headlong from the mountains to the dark sea, and it fares ill with the works of men - even such was the stress and strain of the Trojan horses in their flight.

IliadBook 16, Line 377Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 16

HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-16-377