At last Menelaus and a brother warrior lifted up the body and bore it away towards the trench. The Trojans followed, but the two Ajaxes turned around and, facing the pursuers, fought with heroic bravery to hold them back.
Thus, in hot pursuit
And close array, the Trojans following strook
With swords and two-edged spears; but when the twain
Turned and stood firm to meet them, every cheek
Grew pale, and not a single Trojan dared
Draw near the Greeks to combat for the corse.
Thus rapidly they bore away the dead
Toward their good galleys from the battlefield.
Onward with them the furious battle swept.
Bryant, Iliad, Book XVII.
Meanwhile Antilochus, the son of Nestor, was sent from the field to carry to Achilles the sad news of the death of Patroclus. The chief was just then sitting near his ships thinking over the event which he feared had already happened, for the shouts of the Greeks as they fled from the plain pursued by the Trojans, had reached his ears. Upon learning the tidings brought by Antilochus, the hero burst into a fit of grief, tearing his hair, throwing himself on the earth, and uttering loud lamentations. His goddess mother, Thetis, in her father's palace beneath the waves, heard his cries. She hastened up, attended by a number of sea nymphs, and, embracing her son, inquired the cause of his grief. Achilles told her of the death of his dear friend, and then said:
"No wish
Have I to live or to concern myself
In men's affairs, save this: that Hector first,
Pierced by my spear, shall yield his life, and pay
The debt of vengeance for Patroclus slain."
Bryant, Iliad, Book XVIII.
The weeping mother, wishing to save her son, told him of the fate which had decreed that his own death should soon follow that of Hector.
"Ah then, I see thee dying, see thee dead!
When Hector falls, thou diest."
Pope, Iliad, Book XVIII.
But the warning of Thetis was in vain. "Let my death come," said he, "when the gods will it. I shall have revenge on Hector, by whose hand my friend has been slain."