The Iliad | Page 7

Eurybates. "Go," said he, "to
the tent of Achilles, son of Peleus; take Briseis by the hand and bring
her hither; if he will not give her I shall come with others and take
her--which will press him harder."
He charged them straightly further and dismissed them, whereon they
went their way sorrowfully by the seaside, till they came to the tents
and ships of the Myrmidons. They found Achilles sitting by his tent
and his ships, and ill-pleased he was when he beheld them. They stood
fearfully and reverently before him, and never a word did they speak,
but he knew them and said, "Welcome, heralds, messengers of gods
and men; draw near; my quarrel is not with you but with Agamemnon
who has sent you for the girl Briseis. Therefore, Patroclus, bring her
and give her to them, but let them be witnesses by the blessed gods, by
mortal men, and by the fierceness of Agamemnon's anger, that if ever
again there be need of me to save the people from ruin, they shall seek
and they shall not find. Agamemnon is mad with rage and knows not
how to look before and after that the Achaeans may fight by their ships
in safety."
Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him. He brought Briseis
from the tent and gave her over to the heralds, who took her with them
to the ships of the Achaeans--and the woman was loth to go. Then
Achilles went all alone by the side of the hoar sea, weeping and looking
out upon the boundless waste of waters. He raised his hands in prayer
to his immortal mother, "Mother," he cried, "you bore me doomed to
live but for a little season; surely Jove, who thunders from Olympus,
might have made that little glorious. It is not so. Agamemnon, son of
Atreus, has done me dishonour, and has robbed me of my prize by
force."
As he spoke he wept aloud, and his mother heard him where she was
sitting in the depths of the sea hard by the old man her father. Forthwith
she rose as it were a grey mist out of the waves, sat down before him as
he stood weeping, caressed him with her hand, and said, "My son, why

are you weeping? What is it that grieves you? Keep it not from me, but
tell me, that we may know it together."
Achilles drew a deep sigh and said, "You know it; why tell you what
you know well already? We went to Thebe the strong city of Eetion,
sacked it, and brought hither the spoil. The sons of the Achaeans shared
it duly among themselves, and chose lovely Chryseis as the meed of
Agamemnon; but Chryses, priest of Apollo, came to the ships of the
Achaeans to free his daughter, and brought with him a great ransom:
moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo, wreathed with a
suppliant's wreath, and he besought the Achaeans, but most of all the
two sons of Atreus who were their chiefs.
"On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting the
priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so Agamemnon,
who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away. So he went back
in anger, and Apollo, who loved him dearly, heard his prayer. Then the
god sent a deadly dart upon the Argives, and the people died thick on
one another, for the arrows went everywhither among the wide host of
the Achaeans. At last a seer in the fulness of his knowledge declared to
us the oracles of Apollo, and I was myself first to say that we should
appease him. Whereon the son of Atreus rose in anger, and threatened
that which he has since done. The Achaeans are now taking the girl in a
ship to Chryse, and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god; but the heralds
have just taken from my tent the daughter of Briseus, whom the
Achaeans had awarded to myself.
"Help your brave son, therefore, if you are able. Go to Olympus, and if
you have ever done him service in word or deed, implore the aid of
Jove. Ofttimes in my father's house have I heard you glory in that you
alone of the immortals saved the son of Saturn from ruin, when the
others, with Juno, Neptune, and Pallas Minerva would have put him in
bonds. It was you, goddess, who delivered him by calling to Olympus
the hundred-handed monster whom gods call Briareus, but men
Aegaeon, for he is stronger even than his father; when therefore he took
his seat all-glorious beside the son of Saturn, the other gods were afraid,
and did not bind him. Go,