Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was
hasting from the streams of Oceanus, to bring
light to mortals and immortals, Thetis
reached the ships with the armour that the god had
given her. She found her son fallen about
the body of Patroclus and weeping bitterly.
Many also of his followers were weeping
round him, but when the goddess came
among them she clasped his hand in her
own, saying, "My son, grieve as we may we
must let this man lie, for it is by
heaven's will that he has fallen; now, therefore, accept
from Vulcan this rich and goodly armour,
which no man has ever yet borne upon his
shoulders."
As she spoke she set the armour before
Achilles, and it rang out bravely as she did so.
The Myrmidons were struck with awe, and
none dared look full at it, for they were
afraid; but Achilles was roused to still
greater fury, and his eyes gleamed with a fierce
light, for he was glad when he handled the
splendid present which the god had made
him. Then, as soon as he had satisfied
himself with looking at it, he said to his mother,
"Mother, the god has given me armour, meet
handiwork for an immortal and such as no
living could have fashioned; I will now
arm, but I much fear that flies will settle upon the
son of Menoetius and breed worms about his
wounds, so that his body, now he is
dead, will be disfigured and the flesh
will rot."
Silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, be
not disquieted about this matter. I will find
means to protect him from the swarms of
noisome flies that prey on the bodies of men
who have been killed in battle. He may lie
for a whole year, and his flesh shall still be as
sound as ever, or even sounder. Call,
therefore, the Achaean heroes in assembly; unsay
your anger against Agamemnon; arm at once,
and fight with might and main."
As she spoke she put strength and courage
into his heart, and she then dropped
ambrosia and red nectar into the wounds of
Patroclus, that his body might suffer no
change.
Then Achilles went out upon the seashore,
and with a loud cry called on the Achaean
heroes. On this even those who as yet had
stayed always at the ships, the pilots and
helmsmen, and even the stewards who were
about the ships and served out rations, all
came to the place of assembly because
Achilles had shown himself after having held
aloof so long from fighting. Two sons of
Mars, Ulysses and the son of Tydeus, came
limping, for their wounds still pained
them; nevertheless they came, and took their seats
in the front row of the assembly. Last of
all came Agamemnon, king of men, he too
wounded, for Coon son of Antenor had
struck him with a spear in battle.
When the Achaeans were got together
Achilles rose and said, "Son of Atreus, surely it
would have been better alike for both you
and me, when we two were in such high
anger about Briseis, surely it would have
been better, had Diana's arrow slain her at the
ships on the day when I took her after
having sacked Lyrnessus. For so, many an
Achaean the less would have bitten dust
before the foe in the days of my anger. It has
been well for Hector and the Trojans, but
the Achaeans will long indeed remember our
quarrel. Now, however, let it be, for it
is over. If we have been angry, necessity has
schooled our anger. I put it from me: I
dare not nurse it for ever; therefore, bid the
Achaeans arm forthwith that I may go out
against the Trojans, and learn whether they
will be in a mind to sleep by the ships or
no. Glad, I ween, will he be to rest his knees
who may fly my spear when I wield it."
Thus did he speak, and the Achaeans
rejoiced in that he had put away his anger.
Then Agamemnon spoke, rising in his place,
and not going into the middle of the
assembly. "Danaan heroes," said he,
"servants of Mars, it is well to listen when a man
stands up to speak, and it is not seemly
to interrupt him, or it will go hard even with a
practised speaker. Who can either hear or
speak in an uproar? Even the finest orator
will be disconcerted by it. I will expound
to the son of Peleus, and do you other
Achaeans heed me and mark me well. Often
have the Achaeans spoken to me of this
matter and upbraided me, but it was not I
that did it: Jove, and Fate, and Erinys that
walks in darkness struck me mad when we
were assembled on the day that I took from
Achilles the meed that had been awarded to
him. What could I do? All things are in the
hand of heaven, and Folly, eldest of
Jove's daughters, shuts men's eyes to their
destruction. She walks delicately, not on
the solid earth, but hovers over the heads of
men to make them stumble or to ensnare
them.
"Time was when she fooled Jove himself,
who they say is greatest whether of gods or
men; for Juno, woman though she was,
beguiled him on the day when Alcmena was to
bring forth mighty Hercules in the fair
city of Thebes. He told it out among the gods
saying, 'Hear me all gods and goddesses,
that I may speak even as I am minded; this
day shall an Ilithuia, helper of women who
are in labour, bring a man child into the
world who shall be lord over all that
dwell about him who are of my blood and lineage.'
Then said Juno all crafty and full of
guile, 'You will play false, and will not hold to your
word. Swear me, O Olympian, swear me a
great oath, that he who shall this day fall
between the feet of a woman, shall be lord
over all that dwell about him who are of
your blood and lineage.'
"Thus she spoke, and Jove suspected her
not, but swore the great oath, to his much
ruing thereafter. For Juno darted down
from the high summit of Olympus, and went in
haste to Achaean Argos where she knew that
the noble wife of Sthenelus son of
Perseus then was. She being with child and
in her seventh month, Juno brought the child
to birth though there was a month still
wanting, but she stayed the offspring of Alcmena,
and kept back the Ilithuiae. Then she went
to tell Jove the son of Saturn, and said,
'Father Jove, lord of the lightning- I
have a word for your ear. There is a fine child born
this day, Eurystheus, son to Sthenelus the
son of Perseus; he is of your lineage; it is well,
therefore, that he should reign over the
Argives.'
"On this Jove was stung to the very quick,
and in his rage he caught Folly by the hair,
and swore a great oath that never should
she again invade starry heaven and Olympus,
for she was the bane of all. Then he
whirled her round with a twist of his hand, and flung
her down from heaven so that she fell on
to the fields of mortal men; and he was ever
angry with her when he saw his son
groaning under the cruel labours that Eurystheus
laid upon him. Even so did I grieve when
mighty Hector was killing the Argives at their
ships, and all the time I kept thinking of
Folly who had so baned me. I was blind, and
Jove robbed me of my reason; I will now
make atonement, and will add much treasure
by way of amends. Go, therefore, into
battle, you and your people with you. I will give
you all that Ulysses offered you yesterday
in your tents: or if it so please you, wait,
though you would fain fight at once, and
my squires shall bring the gifts from my ship,
that you may see whether what I give you
is enough."
And Achilles answered, "Son of Atreus,
king of men Agamemnon, you can give such
gifts as you think proper, or you can
withhold them: it is in your own hands. Let us now
set battle in array; it is not well to
tarry talking about trifles, for there is a deed which is
as yet to do. Achilles shall again be seen
fighting among the foremost, and laying low the
ranks of the Trojans: bear this in mind
each one of you when he is fighting."
Then Ulysses said, "Achilles, godlike and
brave, send not the Achaeans thus against
Ilius to fight the Trojans fasting, for
the battle will be no brief one, when it is once begun,
and heaven has filled both sides with
fury; bid them first take food both bread and wine
by the ships, for in this there is
strength and stay. No man can do battle the livelong day
to the going down of the sun if he is
without food; however much he may want to fight
his strength will fail him before he knows
it; hunger and thirst will find him out, and his
limbs will grow weary under him. But a man
can fight all day if he is full fed with meat
and wine; his heart beats high, and his
strength will stay till he has routed all his foes;
therefore, send the people away and bid
them prepare their meal; King Agamemnon
will bring out the gifts in presence of
the assembly, that all may see them and you may
be satisfied. Moreover let him swear an
oath before the Argives that he has never gone
up into the couch of Briseis, nor been
with her after the manner of men and women; and
do you, too, show yourself of a gracious
mind; let Agamemnon entertain you in his tents
with a feast of reconciliation, that so
you may have had your dues in full. As for you, son
of Atreus, treat people more righteously
in future; it is no disgrace even to a king that he
should make amends if he was wrong in the
first instance."
And King Agamemnon answered, "Son of
Laertes, your words please me well, for
throughout you have spoken wisely. I will
swear as you would have me do; I do so of
my own free will, neither shall I take the
name of heaven in vain. Let, then, Achilles wait,
though he would fain fight at once, and do
you others wait also, till the gifts come from
my tent and we ratify the oath with
sacrifice. Thus, then, do I charge you: take some
noble young Achaeans with you, and bring
from my tents the gifts that I promised
yesterday to Achilles, and bring the women
also; furthermore let Talthybius find me a
boar from those that are with the host,
and make it ready for sacrifice to Jove and to the
sun."
Then said Achilles, "Son of Atreus, king
of men Agamemnon, see to these matters at
some other season, when there is breathing
time and when I am calmer. Would you
have men eat while the bodies of those
whom Hector son of Priam slew are still lying
mangled upon the plain? Let the sons of
the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without
food, till we have avenged them;
afterwards at the going down of the sun let them eat
their fill. As for me, Patroclus is lying
dead in my tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet
to the door, and his comrades are mourning
round him. Therefore I can take thought of
nothing save only slaughter and blood and
the rattle in the throat of the dying."
Ulysses answered, "Achilles, son of
Peleus, mightiest of all the Achaeans, in battle you
are better than I, and that more than a
little, but in counsel I am much before you, for I
am older and of greater knowledge.
Therefore be patient under my words. Fighting is a
thing of which men soon surfeit, and when
Jove, who is wars steward, weighs the
upshot, it may well prove that the straw
which our sickles have reaped is far heavier
than the grain. It may not be that the
Achaeans should mourn the dead with their bellies;
day by day men fall thick and threefold
continually; when should we have respite from
our sorrow? Let us mourn our dead for a
day and bury them out of sight and mind, but
let those of us who are left eat and drink
that we may arm and fight our foes more
fiercely. In that hour let no man hold
back, waiting for a second summons; such
summons shall bode ill for him who is
found lagging behind at our ships; let us rather
sally as one man and loose the fury of war
upon the Trojans."
When he had thus spoken he took with him
the sons of Nestor, with Meges son of
Phyleus, Thoas, Meriones, Lycomedes son of
Creontes, and Melanippus, and went to
the tent of Agamemnon son of Atreus. The
word was not sooner said than the deed
was done: they brought out the seven
tripods which Agamemnon had promised, with
the twenty metal cauldrons and the twelve
horses; they also brought the women skilled
in useful arts, seven in number, with
Briseis, which made eight. Ulysses weighed out the
ten talents of gold and then led the way
back, while the young Achaeans brought the
rest of the gifts, and laid them in the
middle of the assembly.
Agamemnon then rose, and Talthybius whose
voice was like that of a god came to him
with the boar. The son of Atreus drew the
knife which he wore by the scabbard of his
mighty sword, and began by cutting off
some bristles from the boar, lifting up his hands
in prayer as he did so. The other Achaeans
sat where they were all silent and orderly to
hear the king, and Agamemnon looked into
the vault of heaven and prayed saying, "I
call Jove the first and mightiest of all
gods to witness, I call also Earth and Sun and the
Erinyes who dwell below and take vengeance
on him who shall swear falsely, that I
have laid no hand upon the girl Briseis,
neither to take her to my bed nor otherwise, but
that she has remained in my tents
inviolate. If I swear falsely may heaven visit me with all
the penalties which it metes out to those
who perjure themselves."
He cut the boar's throat as he spoke,
whereon Talthybius whirled it round his head, and
flung it into the wide sea to feed the
fishes. Then Achilles also rose and said to the
Argives, "Father Jove, of a truth you
blind men's eyes and bane them. The son of
Atreus had not else stirred me to so
fierce an anger, nor so stubbornly taken Briseis
from me against my will. Surely Jove must
have counselled the destruction of many an
Argive. Go, now, and take your food that
we may begin fighting."
On this he broke up the assembly, and
every man went back to his own ship. The
Myrmidons attended to the presents and
took them away to the ship of Achilles. They
placed them in his tents, while the
stable-men drove the horses in among the others.
Briseis, fair as Venus, when she saw the
mangled body of Patroclus, flung herself upon
it and cried aloud, tearing her breast,
her neck, and her lovely face with both her hands.
Beautiful as a goddess she wept and said,
"Patroclus, dearest friend, when I went hence
I left you living; I return, O prince, to
find you dead; thus do fresh sorrows multiply
upon me one after the other. I saw him to
whom my father and mother married me, cut
down before our city, and my three own
dear brothers perished with him on the
self-same day; but you, Patroclus, even
when Achilles slew my husband and sacked the
city of noble Mynes, told me that I was
not to weep, for you said you would make
Achilles marry me, and take me back with
him to Phthia, we should have a wedding
feast among the Myrmidons. You were always
kind to me and I shall never cease to
grieve for you."
She wept as she spoke, and the women
joined in her lament-making as though their
tears were for Patroclus, but in truth
each was weeping for her own sorrows. The
elders of the Achaeans gathered round
Achilles and prayed him to take food, but he
groaned and would not do so. "I pray you,"
said he, "if any comrade will hear me, bid
me neither eat nor drink, for I am in
great heaviness, and will stay fasting even to the
going down of the sun."
On this he sent the other princes away,
save only the two sons of Atreus and Ulysses,
Nestor, Idomeneus, and the knight Phoenix,
who stayed behind and tried to comfort
him in the bitterness of his sorrow: but
he would not be comforted till he should have
flung himself into the jaws of battle, and
he fetched sigh on sigh, thinking ever of
Patroclus. Then he said-
"Hapless and dearest comrade, you it was
who would get a good dinner ready for me
at once and without delay when the
Achaeans were hasting to fight the Trojans; now,
therefore, though I have meat and drink in
my tents, yet will I fast for sorrow. Grief
greater than this I could not know, not
even though I were to hear of the death of my
father, who is now in Phthia weeping for
the loss of me his son, who am here fighting the
Trojans in a strange land for the accursed
sake of Helen, nor yet though I should hear
that my son is no more- he who is being
brought up in Scyros- if indeed Neoptolemus is
still living. Till now I made sure that I
alone was to fall here at Troy away from Argos,
while you were to return to Phthia, bring
back my son with you in your own ship, and
show him all my property, my bondsmen, and
the greatness of my house- for Peleus
must surely be either dead, or what little
life remains to him is oppressed alike with the
infirmities of age and ever present fear
lest he should hear the sad tidings of my death."
He wept as he spoke, and the elders sighed
in concert as each thought on what he had
left at home behind him. The son of Saturn
looked down with pity upon them, and said
presently to Minerva, "My child, you have
quite deserted your hero; is he then gone so
clean out of your recollection? There he
sits by the ships all desolate for the loss of his
dear comrade, and though the others are
gone to their dinner he will neither eat nor
drink. Go then and drop nectar and
ambrosia into his breast, that he may know no
hunger."
With these words he urged Minerva, who was
already of the same mind. She darted
down from heaven into the air like some
falcon sailing on his broad wings and
screaming. Meanwhile the Achaeans were
arming throughout the host, and when
Minerva had dropped nectar and ambrosia
into Achilles so that no cruel hunger should
cause his limbs to fail him, she went back
to the house of her mighty father. Thick as the
chill snow-flakes shed from the hand of
Jove and borne on the keen blasts of the north
wind, even so thick did the gleaming
helmets, the bossed shields, the strongly plated
breastplates, and the ashen spears stream
from the ships. The sheen pierced the sky,
the whole land was radiant with their
flashing armour, and the sound of the tramp of
their treading rose from under their feet.
In the midst of them all Achilles put on his
armour; he gnashed his teeth, his eyes
gleamed like fire, for his grief was greater than he
could bear. Thus, then, full of fury
against the Trojans, did he don the gift of the god, the
armour that Vulcan had made him.
First he put on the goodly greaves fitted
with ancle-clasps, and next he did on the
breastplate about his chest. He slung the
silver-studded sword of bronze about his
shoulders, and then took up the shield so
great and strong that shone afar with a
splendour as of the moon. As the light
seen by sailors from out at sea, when men have
lit a fire in their homestead high up
among the mountains, but the sailors are carried out
to sea by wind and storm far from the
haven where they would be- even so did the
gleam of Achilles' wondrous shield strike
up into the heavens. He lifted the redoubtable
helmet, and set it upon his head, from
whence it shone like a star, and the golden
plumes which Vulcan had set thick about
the ridge of the helmet, waved all around it.
Then Achilles made trial of himself in his
armour to see whether it fitted him, so that his
limbs could play freely under it, and it
seemed to buoy him up as though it had been
wings.
He also drew his father's spear out of the
spear-stand, a spear so great and heavy and
strong that none of the Achaeans save only
Achilles had strength to wield it; this was the
spear of Pelian ash from the topmost
ridges of Mt. Pelion, which Chiron had once given
to Peleus, fraught with the death of
heroes. Automedon and Alcimus busied themselves
with the harnessing of his horses; they
made the bands fast about them, and put the bit
in their mouths, drawing the reins back
towards the chariot. Automedon, whip in hand,
sprang up behind the horses, and after him
Achilles mounted in full armour, resplendent
as the sun-god Hyperion. Then with a loud
voice he chided with his father's horses
saying, "Xanthus and Balius, famed
offspring of Podarge- this time when we have done
fighting be sure and bring your driver
safely back to the host of the Achaeans, and do
not leave him dead on the plain as you did
Patroclus."
Then fleet Xanthus answered under the
yoke- for white-armed Juno had endowed him
with human speech- and he bowed his head
till his mane touched the ground as it hung
down from under the yoke-band. "Dread
Achilles," said he, "we will indeed save you
now, but the day of your death is near,
and the blame will not be ours, for it will be
heaven and stern fate that will destroy
you. Neither was it through any sloth or
slackness on our part that the Trojans
stripped Patroclus of his armour; it was the
mighty god whom lovely Leto bore that slew
him as he fought among the foremost, and
vouchsafed a triumph to Hector. We two can
fly as swiftly as Zephyrus who they say is
fleetest of all winds; nevertheless it is
your doom to fall by the hand of a man and of a
god."
When he had thus said the Erinyes stayed
his speech, and Achilles answered him in
great sadness, saying, "Why, O Xanthus, do
you thus foretell my death? You need not
do so, for I well know that I am to fall
here, far from my dear father and mother; none
the more, however, shall I stay my hand
till I have given the Trojans their fill of fighting."
So saying, with a loud cry he drove his
horses to the front.