Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/276

236 death of many, and none might wield it but Achilles' self. Then he spake to his horses: "Take heed, Bayard and Piebald, that ye save your driver to-day, nor leave him dead on the field, as ye left Patroclus." Then Hera gave to the horse Bayard a voice, so that he spake: "Surely we will save thee, great Achilles; yet for all that, doom is near to thee, nor are we the cause, but the gods and mastering Fate. Nor was it of us that Patroclus died, but Apollo slew him and gave the glory to Hector. So shalt thou, too, die by the hands of a god and of a mortal man."

And Achilles said: "What need to tell me of my doom? Right well I know it. Yet will I not cease till I have made the Trojans weary of battle."