And nostrils, to the realms of death he pass'd.
Thus slew these Grecian leaders, each, a foe.
Sudden as hungry wolves the kids purloin
Or lambs, which haply some unheeding swain
Hath left to roam at large the mountains wild; 425
They, seeing, snatch them from beside the dams,
And rend incontinent the feeble prey,
So swift the Danai the host assail'd
Of Ilium; they, into tumultuous flight
Together driven, all hope, all courage lost. 430
Huge Ajax ceaseless sought his spear to cast
At Hector brazen-mail'd, who, not untaught
The warrior's art, with bull-hide buckler stood
Sheltering his ample shoulders, while he mark'd
The hiss of flying shafts and crash of spears. 435
Full sure he saw the shifting course of war
Now turn'd, but scorning flight, bent all his thoughts
To rescue yet the remnant of his friends.
As when the Thunderer spreads a sable storm
O'er ether, late serene, the cloud that wrapp'd 440
Olympus' head escapes into the skies,
So fled the Trojans from the fleet of Greece
Clamoring in their flight, nor pass'd the trench
In fair array; the coursers fleet indeed
Of Hector, him bore safe with all his arms 445
Right through, but in the foss entangled foul
He left his host, and struggling to escape.
Then many a chariot-whirling steed, the pole
Broken at its extremity, forsook
His driver, while Patroclus with the shout 450
Of battle calling his Achaians on,
Destruction purposed to the powers of Troy.
They, once dispersed, with clamor and with flight
Fill'd all the ways, the dust beneath the clouds
Hung like a tempest, and the steeds firm-hoof'd 455
Whirl'd off at stretch the chariots to the town.
He, wheresoe'er most troubled he perceived
The routed host, loud-threatening thither drove,
While under his own axle many a Chief
Fell prone, and the o'ertumbled chariots rang. 460
Right o'er the hollow foss the coursers leap'd
Immortal, by the Gods to Peleus given,
Impatient for the plain, nor less desire
Felt he who drove to smite the Trojan Chief,
But him his fiery steeds caught swift away. 465
As when a tempest from autumnal skies
Floats all the fields, what time Jove heaviest pours
Impetuous rain, token of wrath divine
Against perverters of the laws by fo