Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Achilles arrayed the Myrmidons; Patroclus armed in Achilles’ immortal panoply—all but the spear that only Achilles could wield—and Automedon yoked the immortal horses Xanthus and Balius with mortal Pedasus. Achilles prayed to Zeus that Patroclus drive the fire from the ships and come back safe; Zeus granted one half. Patroclus’s onset broke the Trojans from the ships; he quenched the fire and killed champion after champion. Sarpedon, son of Zeus, faced him; Zeus considered snatching his son away, but Hera insisted on mortal doom. Patroclus killed Sarpedon; a bitter fight rose over the body until Apollo spirited the corpse to Lycia for burial rites. Patroclus, forgetting Achilles’ limit, drove the Trojans to the walls of Troy and tried to scale them three times; Apollo flung him back and warned him off. In the fourth onset Apollo struck Patroclus’s back and shoulders, knocking off the helmet, shattering the spear, and loosening the armor. Euphorbus stabbed him; Hector closed and drove a spear through his belly. Dying, Patroclus named his killers—Apollo, Euphorbus, Hector—and foretold Hector’s own death at Achilles’ hands. Hector boasted over him and stripped the armor. The first cost of Achilles’ wrath is paid: his beloved companion lies in the dust in his own gear, and Hector puts on the stolen glory that will not save him.