The cinematic Iliad

[Jeff Bernstein]

"The Ultimate Sacrifice"

First to fall of the Achaeans as the Trojans forced their way
forward toward Patroclus was a leader of the Boeotians,
Peneleos. He had never failed but to fight at the front,
but now he was sent out of the field with a wounded shoulder.
A spear thrown by someone had incised a bloody scratch there,
then wild-fighting Polydamas had leapt in with his sword,
and with one hammer-blow deepened the scratch all the way
to the bone. Polydamas sprung away to wound the next man,
and Peneleos returned to the ships, passing by Hector
grappling with Leitus in close combat. Leitus' two hands
fluttered around his body as he sought to ward off the blows
from Hector's fists : then Hector drew sword. Leitus' eyes grew wide,
but he still didn't see the strike come to him, so quick it was.
But the wound he received seemed trifling. Yet this smallest of wounds
on his wrist left Leitus unable to brandish a weapon;
and Hector smiled at his little victory, and left Leitus
alone after that. So Leitus, great-hearted Alectryon's son,
had to sheepishly withdraw from the battlefield, scurrying
in fear on his way to the ships, for his right hand was useless.
And while Hector was smiling, a tremendous spear struck
him in the chest, thrown from the hand of mighty Idomeneus.
The spear-point bounced off Hector's breast-plate and the shaft shattered
into pieces, and all Trojan fighters nearby shouted in inextinguishable fury.
A Trojan then tossed Hector a spear, and the moment he caught it,
Hector cast it at Idomeneus, who was coming straight
for him in a chariot; but the driver turned the horses,
and took the spear himself, even Coeranus, close friend
of the bloodthirsty one Meriones, whom Coeranus
had followed out of the city of Lyctus to come to war.
Just moments before, Coeranus had seen mighty hero
Idomeneus on foot, and invited him into the chariot-box.
So when the spear came in, which would had unhappily given
Hector the victory, Coeranus knew what he had to do.
The warrior made the ultimate sacrifice for the good
of the army, and fell at the hands of Hector Man-Killer.
The spear shattered his face, and let no more be said about it.
So he tumbled backwards out of the chariot. And before
even Idomeneus knew what was what, Meriones
had leapt into the chariot-box beside him, grabbed the reins,
and turned the sleek-muscled horses round. And he said to his friend :
"Whip the horses all the way to the ships! We need more armour,
more men, and more weapons. How can fortunes keep changing
so quickly? What is going on?"

To this Idomeneus could offer no answer. So they
rushed off the field of battle, with fear falling on their hearts.

 

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