ὣς οἱ μὲν μάρναντο δέμας πυρὸς οὐδέ κε φαίης
οὔτέ ποτ' ἠέλιον σόον ἔμμεναι οὔδε σελήνην:
ἠέρι γὰρ κατέχοντο μάχης ἐπί θ' ὅσσον ἄριστοι
ἕστασαν ἀμφὶ Μενοιτιαδῃ κατατεθνηῶτι:
οἱ δ' ἄλλοι Τρῶες καὶ ἐυκνήμιδες Ἀχαιοί
εὔκηλοι πολέμιζον ὑπ' αἰθέρι: πέπτατο δ' αὐγή
ἠελίου ὀξεῖα: νέφος δ' οὐ φαίνετο πάσης
γαίης: οὐδ' ὀρέων: μεταπαυόμενοι δ' ἐμάχοντο
ἀλλήλων ἀλεείνοντες βέλεα στονόεντα:
πολλὸν ἀφεσταότες: τοίδ' ἐν μέσω ἄλγε' ἔπασχον 375
ἠέρι καὶ πολέμῳ: τείροντο δὲ νηλέϊ χαλκῷ
ὅσσοι ἄριστοι ἔσαν: δύω δ' οὔ πω φῶτε πεπύσθην:
ἀνέρε κυδαλίμῳ: θρασυμήδης Ἀντίλοχός τε:
Πατρόκλοιο θανόντος ἀμύμονος: ἀλλ' ἔτ' ἔφαντο
ζωὸν ἐνὶ πρώτῳ ὁμάδῳ Τρώεσσι μάχεσθαι:
τὼ δ' ἐπιοσσομένω θάνατον καὶ φύζαν ἑταίρων
νόσφιν ἐμαρνάσθην: ἐπεὶ ὣς ἐπετέλλετο Νέστωρ:
ὀτρύνων πόλεμόν δε μελαινάων ἀπὸ νηῶν
So fought they like unto blazing fire, nor wouldst thou have deemed that sun or moon yet abode, for with darkness were they shrouded in the fight, all the chieftains that stood around the slain son of Menoetius. But the rest of the Trojans and the well-greaved Achaeans fought at their ease under clear air, and over them was spread the piercing brightness of the sun, and on all the earth and the mountains was no cloud seen; and they fought resting themselves at times, avoiding one another's shafts, fraught with groaning, and standing far apart. But those in the midst suffered woes by reason of the darkness and the war, and were sore distressed with the pitiless bronze, even all they that were chieftains. Howbeit two men that were famous warriors, even Thrasymedes and Antilochus, had not yet learned that peerless Patroclus was dead, but deemed that, yet alive, he was fighting with the Trojans in the forefront of the throng. And they twain, watching against the death and rout of their comrades, were warring in a place apart, for thus had Nestor bidden them, when he roused them forth to the battle from the black ships.
