Read the excerpt from "The Arming of Patroclus." Then Patroclus flung his spear and it struck Sarpedon even through the heart. From his chariot, he fell, as a pine or a poplar falls on the hills before the woodsman’s ax. What does the figurative phrase "as a pine or a poplar falls on the hills before the woodsman’s ax" mean as used in the excerpt? Sarpedon falls on an ax made from a pine or poplar tree. Sarpedon is as noble as a pine or poplar tree. Sarpedon's fall resembles a tree falling as it is cut down. Sarpedon is struck as though hit by a woodsman with an ax.