As when the flames beneath a cauldron rise,
To melt the fat of some rich sacrifice,
Amid the fierce embrace of circling fires
The waters foam, the heavy smoke aspires:
So boils the imprison'd flood, forbid to flow,
And choked with vapors feels his bottom glow.

The course of this day's fighting is anxiously watched by old King
Priam from the top of the Trojan ramparts, and, when he sees
Achilles' forces pursuing his fleeing army across the plain, he orders
the gates opened to admit the fugitives, and quickly closed again so
the foe cannot enter too. To facilitate this move, Apollo assumes the
guise of Hector and decoys Achilles away from the gates until the bulk
of the Trojan army is safe.

_Book XXII._ Meantime the real Hector is stationed beside the gate,
and Achilles, suddenly perceiving he has been pursuing a mere phantom,
darts with a cry of wrath toward his foe. Seeing him coming, Hector's
parents implore him to seek refuge within the walls, but the young man
is too brave to accept such a proposal. Still, when he sees the fire
in Achilles' eyes, he cannot resist an involuntary recoil, and
turning, flees, with Achilles in close pursuit, hurling taunts at him.

These warriors circle the citadel, until the gods, looking on, knowing
they can no longer defer Hector's death, but wishing it to be
glorious, send Apollo down to urge him to fight. In the guise of one
of Hector's brothers, this god offers to aid him, so, thus supported,
Hector turns to meet Achilles, with whom before fighting he tries to
bargain that the victor shall respect the remains of the vanquished.
But Achilles refuses to listen to terms, and in the course of the