"Yet I will not nurse that anger forever while the ships burn," he said. Patroclus might wear the armor and drive the Trojans from the fleet, but he must turn back once the fire was quenched and the men had air to breathe.
If he pressed on toward Troy, some god from Olympus might strike him. Apollo loved the Trojans, and Achilles wanted the honor of the fighting for himself when he returned. Let Patroclus win glory near the ships, then come home.
While they spoke, Aias could barely hold his ground. Spears and arrows rained on him without rest; sweat poured down his body under the broad shield; his left arm was worn out from holding it. Hector kept close, and at last fire was thrown onto the ship of Protesilaos.
Achilles saw the blaze, struck his two thighs, and cried out to Patroclus to arm at once. "Up now — I see the fire at the ships. Arm quickly, and I will gather the Myrmidons."
Patroclus put on Achilles' gear: greaves with silver clasps, the starry corselet, the silver-studded sword, the great shield, and the helmet with its horsehair crest nodding terribly. He left the ash spear of Peleus untouched, for no other Achaean could wield that heavy shaft.
Automedon yoked Xanthos and Balios, the deathless horses the West Wind sired when the gods gave them to Peleus, and Pedasos, a mortal horse of fine stock, ran beside them as trace-horse. Patroclus mounted the chariot, and Automedon took the reins.
Achilles went among the Myrmidons and ordered them to arm. They crowded around him like wasps whose nest by the roadside has been stirred by boys again and again, pouring out with hearts full of fight to defend their young.
Fifty ships Achilles had brought to Troy, and over the men he set five captains he trusted: Menesthios, Eudoros, Peisandros, Phoenix, and Alcimedon. He charged them to remember the threats they had spoken against the Trojans while he sat idle in anger by the ships.
Then he went into his shelter, opened the chest Thetis had given him, and took the cup from which no other man drank wine to any god but Zeus. He washed it, filled it with bright wine, stood in the court, and poured a drink-offering, looking toward heaven.
He prayed to Zeus of Dodona, lord of the Selloi who sleep on the ground with unwashed feet. Let Athena and Zeus give Patroclus strength; let him drive the fire from the ships and come back alive with the armor and all the comrades.
Zeus heard the prayer. Part he granted, and part he refused. He gave Patroclus strength to push the Trojans from the ships and win great glory, but not a safe return to Achilles' side.