ari’s Reviews > The Iliad > Status Update

— i’m already scared knowing what’s about to happen…
— Patroclus comes to Achilles, crying, and asks to go out in battle with his armour on if Achilles himself is unwilling to aid the Greeks against the Trojans corning them to their ships. Both of them are unaware of Zeus’ plans to have Patroclus die by Hector’s hands, and for Achilles to go on a grief stricken rampage where he’ll meet the same fate after killing Hector…
— “‘please do not blame me. The greeks are suffering so terribly. (…) But you, Achilles, you have become impossible! I hope the kind of anger you are fostering never takes hold of me—you monstrous hero! How can a person in the future learn anything good from you, if you refuse to save the Greeks from this catastrophe? You have no pity. Peleus the horseman was not your father, Thetis, not your mother. Grey sea and soaring rocks gave birth to you, and so you have an unrelenting heart. But if your instincts tells you to avoid some prophecy, and if your goddess mother has shared some news of this with you from Zeus, then send me out there right away. (…) let me be a light to save the Greeks. And let me wear your armour in my body, so the Trojans believe that I am you, and keep themselves back from battle, so that the warlike sons of Greece may catch their breath. They are worn out. Respite in war is only ever brief.’ (…) So he spoke and prayed. Poor fool! His wish would bring him doom and death.”
— “Patroclus! What is this! What do you mean? I do not care about a prophecy. I know of none. (…) But agony afflicts a person’s mind whenever somebody with greater power wants to deprive an equal of his trophy. That is the pain, the horror I endure, because my heart has suffered from this anguish. The woman whom the sins of Greece selected for me, to be my trophy, whom I won by my own spear when I sacked her walled city, was stolen from my arms by Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, the mighty lord, who treated me like someone with no honour, and outcast with no place to call his home. But this is in the past. We must forget it. There is, I realize, no way to rage with furious anger in one’s heart forever.”
— “So now, Patroclus, despite everything, protect the ships from ruin, and attack at full strength. Do not let their blazing fire ignite the fleet and steal our precious chance of going home again. Do as I say, remember my instructions and obey them. Then you will win great glory and respect for me from all the Greeks and they will send the lovely woman to a different home, and give me splendid gifts. (…) do not attempt to fight the warlike Trojans without me, or you will reduce my status. Do not take joy in violence and war and killing Trojans. Do not lead the men to Troy, or one of the immortal gods may come from Mount Olympus to attack you. The god who works from far away, Apollo, adores the Trojans. Turn around again after you bring salvation to the ships. Let others keep on fighting in the plain. By father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, if only the whole multitude of Trojans would die, and all the Greeks, and we were alone, the two of us, survived the devastation, so we alone together could destroy the sacred crown of Troy.” …….. this conversation is killing me + Achilles making fun of Patroclus crying is CRAZY as if he’s not had a devastating tantrum T_T
— Hector gets the upper hand on Telamonian Ajax and sets fire to the Greek ships, so Achilles sends Patroclus out with his armour and the Myrmidons to save the rest of the ships so they aren’t stuck there
— Achilles decides to stay back from the battle but prays to Zeus for Patroclus’ courage and victory against Hector and the Trojans, “After he drives the battle from the ships and still the cries of war, let him come back safety to me and my swift fleet again with all my weapons and my Myrmidons.” Zeus only half grants his wishes, “The father granted that Patroclus would drive battle from the Greek ships, but refused to let him come back safe again from war.” Achilles still not choosing “gentleness and love” over wrath T_T
— Patroclus kills many, many Trojan soldiers, some even fleeing at the sight of the Myrmidons and Patroclus. Sarpedon chooses to face Patroclus himself where he is fated to die and Zeus can’t bear his beloved son’s fate. Hera says he should let his fate unfold as is promised or else the other gods might get ideas and interfere, taking their own offspring far from battle, in a way he does not intend for them to. Zeus obeys and lets blood rain fall to glorify his son
— Poor Jumper :(
— Pained by the death of Sarpedon, Glaucus prays to Apollo that he can avenge his dead friend, even with his injury from Teucer and the Trojans struggling to fight Patroclus, “You can hear anyone from anywhere in trouble, and I am in trouble now. This wound is serious. (…) I cannot grasp my spear or fight the foe. And now the best man in the world is dead, Sarpedon, son of Zeus. That god did not protect his child. But you, my Lord Apollo, please cure this bitter wound and soothe my pain. Grant me the strength to rouse my Lucian comrades to war, and let me fight for my dead friend.” And so Apollo does, quickly, riding him of his agony and stanching his wound and filling him with courage. He urges the Lycian leaders to fight and guard Sarpedon’s body as to not strip his armour and defile him in death. The Greeks and Trojans rush into battle around his body
— Zeus, contemplating how Patroclus should die, decided he’d continue to slaughter and drive the Trojans back to Troy. He scared off Hector and the troops and they all retreat, seeing the bloodshed and the wounds and losses of mighty warriors. The greeks strip Sarpedon before Zeus calls to Apollo to remove his body and send him back home, basically, for a proper burial
— Patroclus marches on to rush Troy and Apollo has to push him back three times, though Patroclus only tries a fourth, “Give up, Patroclus. It is not your fate to make the Trojans fall beneath your spear. Even Achilles will not take this city, although he is superior to you.” Patroclus eventually yielded to Apollo
— Apollo, with the face of Hector’s uncle, Asius, spurs Hector on during his indecision to ride towards Patroclus, “Maybe you will kill him. You may be granted victory by Apollo.” Hector then b-lines it straight to Patroclus while Apollo causes chaos within the Greek’s minds
— “My goodness, you are quite the gymnast! What a fine somersault! If he were sailing the fish-filled sea, I think this man would leap out of the boat, however bad the weather, and catch sea squirts to feed a multitude. Even on dry ground, he can tumble nimbly out of his chariot. Among the Trojans there certainly must be some acrobats.” And then, after mocking his ass, Patroclus pounces on Cebriones only to get jumped by Hector. Then everyone clashes around them. T_T i would lowk kill him too for that
— Apollo and Zeus basically strip Patroclus of his armour and break his weapons, leaving him confused and open to the spear about to hit him from Euphorbus. He tries to rush back into the crowd but Hector spots him disarmed and injured and spears him through the ribs, dealing the killing blow
— “Patroclus, I suppose you thought you would destroy my city and enslave the women of Troy and rob them of their day of freedom, and take them in your ships to your homeland. Fool! Hector’s horses galloped to protect them. Their hooves were eager for the battlefield. I am the finest of the valiant fighters of Troy, and I defend the Trojan women from slavery, the day they lose their freedom. But as for you—vultures will eat you up! You are a weakling, and your great Achilles did you no good at all. He stayed behind. I bet he told you, when you left for battle, ‘Patroclus, do not drive your chariot back here to the hollow ships until you slice right through the bloody tunic to the chest of murderous Hector.’ So he spoke, I think, and you, poor fool, attempted to obey him.”
— “Hector, you make big boats now. Zeus, son of Cronus, and Apollo gave you victory, and with ease the gods have crushed me. They took the arms and armour from my body. If twenty men like you had challenged me, all of them would have died beneath my spear. But cruel destiny, and Leto’s son, Apollo, killed me, and my human killer, Euphorbus. You were third to slaughter me. But I will tell you this—take it to heart. You surely have not long to live. Your death and overwhelming fate stand near you now. The hands of great Achilles will defeat you.”
—“Patroclus, why do you for tell for me a bitter end? Who knows if great Achilles, the son of Thetis with the braided hair, may fall beneath my spear and lose his life?”
— One of the better books with Book 6 tbh