The Iliad of Homer | Page 8

and the forces were now
dying one upon another, and the shafts of the god went on all sides
through the wide army of the Greeks. But to us the skilful seer unfolded
the divine will of the Far-darter. Straightway I first exhorted that we
should appease the god; but then rage seized upon the son of Atreus,

and instantly rising, he uttered a threatening speech, which is now
accomplished; for the rolling-eyed Greeks attend her to Chrysa with a
swift bark, and bring presents to the king; but the heralds have just now
gone from my tent, conducting the virgin daughter of Brisëis, whom
the sons of the Greeks gave to me. But do thou, if thou art able, aid thy
son. Going to Olympus, supplicate Jove, if ever thou didst delight the
heart of Jove as to anything, by word or deed; for I frequently heard
thee boasting in the palaces of my sire, when thou saidest that thou
alone, amongst the immortals, didst avert unworthy destruction from
the cloud-collecting son of Saturn, when the other Olympian
inhabitants, Juno, and Neptune, and Pallas Minerva, wished to bind him.
But thou, O goddess, having approached, freed him from his chains,
having quickly summoned to lofty Olympus, the hundred-handed,
whom the gods call Briareus, and all men Ægeon, because he was
superior to his father in strength,[47] who then sat by the son of Saturn,
exulting in renown. Him then the blessed gods dreaded, nor did they
bind [Jove]. Of these things now reminding him, sit beside him, and
embrace his knees, if in anywise he may consent to aid the Trojans, and
hem in[48] at their ships, and along the sea, the Greeks [while they get]
slaughtered, that all may enjoy their king, and that the son of Atreus,
wide-ruling Agamemnon, may know his baleful folly,[49] when he in
no wise honoured the bravest of the Greeks."
[Footnote 46: Thebe was situated on the border of Mysia, on the
mountain Placus, in the district afterwards called Adramyttium. The
inhabitants were Cilicians.--See Heyne, and De Pinedo on Steph. Byz.
s.v. p. 307, n. 58.]
[Footnote 47: There is some doubt whether Homer considered Briareus
as the son of Neptune or of Uranus and Terra.--See Arnold. The fable is
ridiculed by Minucius Felix, § 22.]
[Footnote 48: See Buttm. Lexil. pp. 257, 261, Fishlake's translation.]
[Footnote 49: The idea of infatuation is not, however, necessarily
implied in [Greek: atê]. See Buttm. Lex. p. 5, sq.]
But him Thetis then answered, shedding down a tear: "Alas! my son,

wherefore have I reared thee, having brought thee forth in an evil hour.
Would that thou wert seated at the ships tearless and uninjured; for thy
destined life is but for a very short period, nor very long; but now art
thou both swift-fated and wretched above all mortals: therefore have I
brought thee forth in my palace under an evil fate. However, to tell thy
words to thunder-delighting Jove, I myself will go to snow-clad
Olympus, if by chance he will be persuaded. But do thou, now sitting at
the swift ships, wage resentment against the Greeks, and totally abstain
from war. For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus,[50] to the blameless
Æthiopians, to a banquet, and with him went all the gods. But on the
twelfth day he will return to Olympus; and then will I go to the
brazen-floored palace of Jove, and suppliantly embrace his knees, and I
think that he will be persuaded."
[Footnote 50: According to Homer, the earth is a circular plane, and
Oceanus is an immense stream encircling it, from which the different
rivers run inward.]
Thus having said, she departed, and left him there wrathful in his soul
for his well-girded maid, whom they had taken from him against his
will. But Ulysses, meantime, came to Chrysa, bringing the sacred
hecatomb. But they, when they had entered the deep haven, first furled
their sails, and stowed them in the sable bark; they next brought the
mast to its receptacle, lowering it quickly by its stays, and they rowed
the vessel forwards with oars into its moorage; they heaved out the
sleepers, and tied the hawsers. They themselves then went forth on the
breakers of the sea, and disembarked the hecatomb to far-darting
Apollo, and then they made the daughter of Chryses descend from the
sea-traversing bark. Then wise Ulysses, leading her to the altar, placed
her in the hands of her dear father, and addressed him:
"O Chryses, Agamemnon, king of men, sent me forth to conduct to thee
thy daughter, and to sacrifice a sacred hecatomb to Phoebus for the
Greeks, that we may appease the king, who now has sent evils fraught
with groanings upon the Argives."
Thus having spoken, he placed her in his hands;