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- Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the
- fleet runner Antilochus, who had been sent as messenger, reached Achilles,
- and found him sitting by his tall ships and boding that which was
- indeed too surely true. "Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness
- of his heart, "why are the Achaeans again scouring the plain and flocking
- towards the ships? Heaven grant the gods be not now bringing that
- sorrow upon me of which my mother Thetis spoke, saying that while
- I was yet alive the bravest of the Myrmidons should fall before the
- Trojans, and see the light of the sun no longer. I fear the brave
- son of Menoetius has fallen through his own daring and yet I bade
- him return to the ships as soon as he had driven back those that were
- bringing fire against them, and not join battle with Hector."
- As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and told
- his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. "Alas," he cried, "son of
- noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that they were
- untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging about his naked
- body- for Hector holds his armour."
- A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled
- both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head,
- disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his
- shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at
- full length, and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom
- Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief,
- beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow.
- Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands
- as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into
- his own throat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard
- him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her
- father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus
- that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. There
- were Glauce, Thalia and Cymodoce, Nesaia, Speo, thoe and dark-eyed
- Halie, Cymothoe, Actaea and Limnorea, Melite, Iaera, Amphithoe and
- Agave, Doto and Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene, Dexamene, Amphinome and
- Callianeira, Doris, Panope, and the famous sea-nymph Galatea, Nemertes,
- Apseudes and Callianassa. There were also Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa,
- Maera, Oreithuia and Amatheia of the lovely locks, with other Nereids
- who dwell in the depths of the sea. The crystal cave was filled with
- their multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them
- in their lament.
- "Listen," she cried, "sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may hear
- the burden of my sorrows. Alas, woe is me, woe in that I have borne
- the most glorious of offspring. I bore him fair and strong, hero among
- heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended him as a plant in a
- goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans,
- but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus. So long
- as he lives to look upon the light of the sun he is in heaviness,
- and though I go to him I cannot help him. Nevertheless I will go,
- that I may see my dear son and learn what sorrow has befallen him
- though he is still holding aloof from battle."
- She left the cave as she spoke, while the others followed weeping
- after, and the waves opened a path before them. When they reached
- the rich plain of Troy, they came up out of the sea in a long line
- on to the sands, at the place where the ships of the Myrmidons were
- drawn up in close order round the tents of Achilles. His mother went
- up to him as he lay groaning; she laid her hand upon his head and
- spoke piteously, saying, "My son, why are you thus weeping? What sorrow
- has now befallen you? Tell me; hide it not from me. Surely Jove has
- granted you the prayer you made him, when you lifted up your hands
- and besought him that the Achaeans might all of them be pent up at
- their ships, and rue it bitterly in that you were no longer with them."
- Achilles groaned and answered, "Mother, Olympian Jove has indeed vouchsafed
- me the fulfilment of my prayer, but what boots it to me, seeing that
- my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen- he whom I valued more than all
- others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him; aye,
- and Hector when he had killed him stripped the wondrous armour, so
- glorious to behold, which the gods gave to Peleus when they laid you
- in the couch of a mortal man. Would that you were still dwelling among
- the immortal sea-nymphs, and that Peleus had taken to himself some
- mortal bride. For now you shall have grief infinite by reason of the
- death of that son whom you can never welcome home- nay, I will not
- live nor go about among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and
- thus pay me for having slain Patroclus son of Menoetius."
- Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand-
- for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector."
- Then said Achilles in his great grief, "I would die here and now,
- in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home,
- and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is
- there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have brought
- no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades of whom so
- many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by my ships a bootless
- burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have no peer among the Achaeans,
- though in council there are better than I. Therefore, perish strife
- both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous
- man will harden his heart- which rises up in the soul of a man like
- smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey. Even
- so has Agamemnon angered me. And yet- so be it, for it is over; I
- will force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will
- pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will then
- abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to send it.
- Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove- even he could not escape
- the hand of death, but fate and Juno's fierce anger laid him low,
- as I too shall lie when I am dead if a like doom awaits me. Till then
- I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and Dardanian women wring tears
- from their tender cheeks with both their hands in the grievousness
- of their great sorrow; thus shall they know that he who has held aloof
- so long will hold aloof no longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in
- the love you bear me, for you shall not move me."
- Then silver-footed Thetis answered, "My son, what you have said is
- true. It is well to save your comrades from destruction, but your
- armour is in the hands of the Trojans; Hector bears it in triumph
- upon his own shoulders. Full well I know that his vaunt shall not
- be lasting, for his end is close at hand; go not, however, into the
- press of battle till you see me return hither; to-morrow at break
- of day I shall be here, and will bring you goodly armour from King
- Vulcan."
- On this she left her brave son, and as she turned away she said to
- the sea-nymphs her sisters, "Dive into the bosom of the sea and go
- to the house of the old sea-god my father. Tell him everything; as
- for me, I will go to the cunning workman Vulcan on high Olympus, and
- ask him to provide my son with a suit of splendid armour."
- When she had so said, they dived forthwith beneath the waves, while
- silver-footed Thetis went her way that she might bring the armour
- for her son.
- Thus, then, did her feet bear the goddess to Olympus, and meanwhile
- the Achaeans were flying with loud cries before murderous Hector till
- they reached the ships and the Hellespont, and they could not draw
- the body of Mars's servant Patroclus out of reach of the weapons that
- were showered upon him, for Hector son of Priam with his host and
- horsemen had again caught up to him like the flame of a fiery furnace;
- thrice did brave Hector seize him by the feet, striving with might
- and main to draw him away and calling loudly on the Trojans, and thrice
- did the two Ajaxes, clothed in valour as with a garment, beat him
- from off the body; but all undaunted he would now charge into the
- thick of the fight, and now again he would stand still and cry aloud,
- but he would give no ground. As upland shepherds that cannot chase
- some famished lion from a carcase, even so could not the two Ajaxes
- scare Hector son of Priam from the body of Patroclus.
- And now he would even have dragged it off and have won imperishable
- glory, had not Iris fleet as the wind, winged her way as messenger
- from Olympus to the son of Peleus and bidden him arm. She came secretly
- without the knowledge of Jove and of the other gods, for Juno sent
- her, and when she had got close to him she said, "Up, son of Peleus,
- mightiest of all mankind; rescue Patroclus about whom this fearful
- fight is now raging by the ships. Men are killing one another, the
- Danaans in defence of the dead body, while the Trojans are trying
- to hale it away, and take it to wind Ilius: Hector is the most furious
- of them all; he is for cutting the head from the body and fixing it
- on the stakes of the wall. Up, then, and bide here no longer; shrink
- from the thought that Patroclus may become meat for the dogs of Troy.
- Shame on you, should his body suffer any kind of outrage."
- And Achilles said, "Iris, which of the gods was it that sent you to
- me?"
- Iris answered, "It was Juno the royal spouse of Jove, but the son
- of Saturn does not know of my coming, nor yet does any other of the
- immortals who dwell on the snowy summits of Olympus."
- Then fleet Achilles answered her saying, "How can I go up into the
- battle? They have my armour. My mother forbade me to arm till I should
- see her come, for she promised to bring me goodly armour from Vulcan;
- I know no man whose arms I can put on, save only the shield of Ajax
- son of Telamon, and he surely must be fighting in the front rank and
- wielding his spear about the body of dead Patroclus."
- Iris said, 'We know that your armour has been taken, but go as you
- are; go to the deep trench and show yourelf before the Trojans, that
- they may fear you and cease fighting. Thus will the fainting sons
- of the Achaeans gain some brief breathing-time, which in battle may
- hardly be."
- Iris left him when she had so spoken. But Achilles dear to Jove arose,
- and Minerva flung her tasselled aegis round his strong shoulders;
- she crowned his head with a halo of golden cloud from which she kindled
- a glow of gleaming fire. As the smoke that goes up into heaven from
- some city that is being beleaguered on an island far out at sea- all
- day long do men sally from the city and fight their hardest, and at
- the going down of the sun the line of beacon-fires blazes forth, flaring
- high for those that dwell near them to behold, if so be that they
- may come with their ships and succour them- even so did the light
- flare from the head of Achilles, as he stood by the trench, going
- beyond the wall- but he aid not join the Achaeans for he heeded the
- charge which his mother laid upon him.
- There did he stand and shout aloud. Minerva also raised her voice
- from afar, and spread terror unspeakable among the Trojans. Ringing
- as the note of a trumpet that sounds alarm then the foe is at the
- gates of a city, even so brazen was the voice of the son of Aeacus,
- and when the Trojans heard its clarion tones they were dismayed; the
- horses turned back with their chariots for they boded mischief, and
- their drivers were awe-struck by the steady flame which the grey-eyed
- goddess had kindled above the head of the great son of Peleus.
- Thrice did Achilles raise his loud cry as he stood by the trench,
- and thrice were the Trojans and their brave allies thrown into confusion;
- whereon twelve of their noblest champions fell beneath the wheels
- of their chariots and perished by their own spears. The Achaeans to
- their great joy then drew Patroclus out of reach of the weapons, and
- laid him on a litter: his comrades stood mourning round him, and among
- them fleet Achilles who wept bitterly as he saw his true comrade lying
- dead upon his bier. He had sent him out with horses and chariots into
- battle, but his return he was not to welcome.
- Then Juno sent the busy sun, loth though he was, into the waters of
- Oceanus; so he set, and the Achaeans had rest from the tug and turmoil
- of war.
- Now the Trojans when they had come out of the fight, unyoked their
- horses and gathered in assembly before preparing their supper. They
- kept their feet, nor would any dare to sit down, for fear had fallen
- upon them all because Achilles had shown himself after having held
- aloof so long from battle. Polydamas son of Panthous was first to
- speak, a man of judgement, who alone among them could look both before
- and after. He was comrade to Hector, and they had been born upon the
- same night; with all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed
- them thus:-
- "Look to it well, my friends; I would urge you to go back now to your
- city and not wait here by the ships till morning, for we are far from
- our walls. So long as this man was at enmity with Agamemnon the Achaeans
- were easier to deal with, and I would have gladly camped by the ships
- in the hope of taking them; but now I go in great fear of the fleet
- son of Peleus; he is so daring that he will never bide here on the
- plain whereon the Trojans and Achaeans fight with equal valour, but
- he will try to storm our city and carry off our women. Do then as
- I say, and let us retreat. For this is what will happen. The darkness
- of night will for a time stay the son of Peleus, but if he find us
- here in the morning when he sallies forth in full armour, we shall
- have knowledge of him in good earnest. Glad indeed will he be who
- can escape and get back to Ilius, and many a Trojan will become meat
- for dogs and vultures may I never live to hear it. If we do as I say,
- little though we may like it, we shall have strength in counsel during
- the night, and the great gates with the doors that close them will
- protect the city. At dawn we can arm and take our stand on the walls;
- he will then rue it if he sallies from the ships to fight us. He will
- go back when he has given his horses their fill of being driven all
- whithers under our walls, and will be in no mind to try and force
- his way into the city. Neither will he ever sack it, dogs shall devour
- him ere he do so."
- Hector looked fiercely at him and answered, "Polydamas, your words
- are not to my liking in that you bid us go back and be pent within
- the city. Have you not had enough of being cooped up behind walls?
- In the old-days the city of Priam was famous the whole world over
- for its wealth of gold and bronze, but our treasures are wasted out
- of our houses, and much goods have been sold away to Phrygia and fair
- Meonia, for the hand of Jove has been laid heavily upon us. Now, therefore,
- that the son of scheming Saturn has vouchsafed me to win glory here
- and to hem the Achaeans in at their ships, prate no more in this fool's
- wise among the people. You will have no man with you; it shall not
- be; do all of you as I now say;- take your suppers in your companies
- throughout the host, and keep your watches and be wakeful every man
- of you. If any Trojan is uneasy about his possessions, let him gather
- them and give them out among the people. Better let these, rather
- than the Achaeans, have them. At daybreak we will arm and fight about
- the ships; granted that Achilles has again come forward to defend
- them, let it be as he will, but it shall go hard with him. I shall
- not shun him, but will fight him, to fall or conquer. The god of war
- deals out like measure to all, and the slayer may yet be slain."
- Thus spoke Hector; and the Trojans, fools that they were, shouted
- in applause, for Pallas Minerva had robbed them of their understanding.
- They gave ear to Hector with his evil counsel, but the wise words
- of Polydamas no man would heed. They took their supper throughout
- the host, and meanwhile through the whole night the Achaeans mourned
- Patroclus, and the son of Peleus led them in their lament. He laid
- his murderous hands upon the breast of his comrade, groaning again
- and again as a bearded lion when a man who was chasing deer has robbed
- him of his young in some dense forest; when the lion comes back he
- is furious, and searches dingle and dell to track the hunter if he
- can find him, for he is mad with rage- even so with many a sigh did
- Achilles speak among the Myrmidons saying, "Alas! vain were the words
- with which I cheered the hero Menoetius in his own house; I said that
- I would bring his brave son back again to Opoeis after he had sacked
- Ilius and taken his share of the spoils- but Jove does not give all
- men their heart's desire. The same soil shall be reddened here at
- Troy by the blood of us both, for I too shall never be welcomed home
- by the old knight Peleus, nor by my mother Thetis, but even in this
- place shall the earth cover me. Nevertheless, O Patroclus, now that
- I am left behind you, I will not bury you, till I have brought hither
- the head and armour of mighty Hector who has slain you. Twelve noble
- sons of Trojans will I behead before your bier to avenge you; till
- I have done so you shall lie as you are by the ships, and fair women
- of Troy and Dardanus, whom we have taken with spear and strength of
- arm when we sacked men's goodly cities, shall weep over you both night
- and day."
- Then Achilles told his men to set a large tripod upon the fire that
- they might wash the clotted gore from off Patroclus. Thereon they
- set a tripod full of bath water on to a clear fire: they threw sticks
- on to it to make it blaze, and the water became hot as the flame played
- about the belly of the tripod. When the water in the cauldron was
- boiling they washed the body, anointed it with oil, and closed its
- wounds with ointment that had been kept nine years. Then they laid
- it on a bier and covered it with a linen cloth from head to foot,
- and over this they laid a fair white robe. Thus all night long did
- the Myrmidons gather round Achilles to mourn Patroclus.
- Then Jove said to Juno his sister-wife, "So, Queen Juno, you have
- gained your end, and have roused fleet Achilles. One would think that
- the Achaeans were of your own flesh and blood."
- And Juno answered, "Dread son of Saturn, why should you say this thing?
- May not a man though he be only mortal and knows less than we do,
- do what he can for another person? And shall not I- foremost of all
- goddesses both by descent and as wife to you who reign in heaven-
- devise evil for the Trojans if I am angry with them?"
- Thus did they converse. Meanwhile Thetis came to the house of Vulcan,
- imperishable, star-bespangled, fairest of the abodes in heaven, a
- house of bronze wrought by the lame god's own hands. She found him
- busy with his bellows, sweating and hard at work, for he was making
- twenty tripods that were to stand by the wall of his house, and he
- set wheels of gold under them all that they might go of their own
- selves to the assemblies of the gods, and come back again- marvels
- indeed to see. They were finished all but the ears of cunning workmanship
- which yet remained to be fixed to them: these he was now fixing, and
- he was hammering at the rivets. While he was thus at work silver-footed
- Thetis came to the house. Charis, of graceful head-dress, wife to
- the far-famed lame god, came towards her as soon as she saw her, and
- took her hand in her own, saying, "Why have you come to our house,
- Thetis, honoured and ever welcome- for you do not visit us often?
- Come inside and let me set refreshment before you."
- The goddess led the way as she spoke, and bade Thetis sit on a richly
- decorated seat inlaid with silver; there was a footstool also under
- her feet. Then she called Vulcan and said, "Vulcan, come here, Thetis
- wants you"; and the far-famed lame god answered, "Then it is indeed
- an august and honoured goddess who has come here; she it was that
- took care of me when I was suffering from the heavy fall which I had
- through my cruel mother's anger- for she would have got rid of me
- because I was lame. It would have gone hardly with me had not Eurynome,
- daughter of the ever-encircling waters of Oceanus, and Thetis, taken
- me to their bosom. Nine years did I stay with them, and many beautiful
- works in bronze, brooches, spiral armlets, cups, and chains, did I
- make for them in their cave, with the roaring waters of Oceanus foaming
- as they rushed ever past it; and no one knew, neither of gods nor
- men, save only Thetis and Eurynome who took care of me. If, then,
- Thetis has come to my house I must make her due requital for having
- saved me; entertain her, therefore, with all hospitality, while I
- put by my bellows and all my tools."
- On this the mighty monster hobbled off from his anvil, his thin legs
- plying lustily under him. He set the bellows away from the fire, and
- gathered his tools into a silver chest. Then he took a sponge and
- washed his face and hands, his shaggy chest and brawny neck; he donned
- his shirt, grasped his strong staff, and limped towards the door.
- There were golden handmaids also who worked for him, and were like
- real young women, with sense and reason, voice also and strength,
- and all the learning of the immortals; these busied themselves as
- the king bade them, while he drew near to Thetis, seated her upon
- a goodly seat, and took her hand in his own, saying, "Why have you
- come to our house, Thetis honoured and ever welcome- for you do not
- visit us often? Say what you want, and I will do it for you at once
- if I can, and if it can be done at all."
- Thetis wept and answered, "Vulcan, is there another goddess in Olympus
- whom the son of Saturn has been pleased to try with so much affliction
- as he has me? Me alone of the marine goddesses did he make subject
- to a mortal husband, Peleus son of Aeacus, and sorely against my will
- did I submit to the embraces of one who was but mortal, and who now
- stays at home worn out with age. Neither is this all. Heaven vouchsafed
- me a son, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling. I tended
- him as a plant in a goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilius
- to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house
- of Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun,
- he is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him; King
- Agamemnon has made him give up the maiden whom the sons of the Achaeans
- had awarded him, and he wastes with sorrow for her sake. Then the
- Trojans hemmed the Achaeans in at their ships' sterns and would not
- let them come forth; the elders, therefore, of the Argives besought
- Achilles and offered him great treasure, whereon he refused to bring
- deliverance to them himself, but put his own armour on Patroclus and
- sent him into the fight with much people after him. All day long they
- fought by the Scaean gates and would have taken the city there and
- then, had not Apollo vouchsafed glory to Hector and slain the valiant
- son of Menoetius after he had done the Trojans much evil. Therefore
- I am suppliant at your knees if haply you may be pleased to provide
- my son, whose end is near at hand, with helmet and shield, with goodly
- greaves fitted with ancle-clasps, and with a breastplate, for he lost
- his own when his true comrade fell at the hands of the Trojans, and
- he now lies stretched on earth in the bitterness of his soul."
- And Vulcan answered, "Take heart, and be no more disquieted about
- this matter; would that I could hide him from death's sight when his
- hour is come, so surely as I can find him armour that shall amaze
- the eyes of all who behold it."
- When he had so said he left her and went to his bellows, turning them
- towards the fire and bidding them do their office. Twenty bellows
- blew upon the melting-pots, and they blew blasts of every kind, some
- fierce to help him when he had need of them, and others less strong
- as Vulcan willed it in the course of his work. He threw tough copper
- into the fire, and tin, with silver and gold; he set his great anvil
- on its block, and with one hand grasped his mighty hammer while he
- took the tongs in the other.
- First he shaped the shield so great and strong, adorning it all over
- and binding it round with a gleaming circuit in three layers; and
- the baldric was made of silver. He made the shield in five thicknesses,
- and with many a wonder did his cunning hand enrich it.
- He wrought the earth, the heavens, and the sea; the moon also at her
- full and the untiring sun, with all the signs that glorify the face
- of heaven- the Pleiads, the Hyads, huge Orion, and the Bear, which
- men also call the Wain and which turns round ever in one place, facing.
- Orion, and alone never dips into the stream of Oceanus.
- He wrought also two cities, fair to see and busy with the hum of men.
- In the one were weddings and wedding-feasts, and they were going about
- the city with brides whom they were escorting by torchlight from their
- chambers. Loud rose the cry of Hymen, and the youths danced to the
- music of flute and lyre, while the women stood each at her house door
- to see them.
- Meanwhile the people were gathered in assembly, for there was a quarrel,
- and two men were wrangling about the blood-money for a man who had
- been killed, the one saying before the people that he had paid damages
- in full, and the other that he had not been paid. Each was trying
- to make his own case good, and the people took sides, each man backing
- the side that he had taken; but the heralds kept them back, and the
- elders sate on their seats of stone in a solemn circle, holding the
- staves which the heralds had put into their hands. Then they rose
- and each in his turn gave judgement, and there were two talents laid
- down, to be given to him whose judgement should be deemed the fairest.
- About the other city there lay encamped two hosts in gleaming armour,
- and they were divided whether to sack it, or to spare it and accept
- the half of what it contained. But the men of the city would not yet
- consent, and armed themselves for a surprise; their wives and little
- children kept guard upon the walls, and with them were the men who
- were past fighting through age; but the others sallied forth with
- Mars and Pallas Minerva at their head- both of them wrought in gold
- and clad in golden raiment, great and fair with their armour as befitting
- gods, while they that followed were smaller. When they reached the
- place where they would lay their ambush, it was on a riverbed to which
- live stock of all kinds would come from far and near to water; here,
- then, they lay concealed, clad in full armour. Some way off them there
- were two scouts who were on the look-out for the coming of sheep or
- cattle, which presently came, followed by two shepherds who were playing
- on their pipes, and had not so much as a thought of danger. When those
- who were in ambush saw this, they cut off the flocks and herds and
- killed the shepherds. Meanwhile the besiegers, when they heard much
- noise among the cattle as they sat in council, sprang to their horses,
- and made with all speed towards them; when they reached them they
- set battle in array by the banks of the river, and the hosts aimed
- their bronze-shod spears at one another. With them were Strife and
- Riot, and fell Fate who was dragging three men after her, one with
- a fresh wound, and the other unwounded, while the third was dead,
- and she was dragging him along by his heel: and her robe was bedrabbled
- in men's blood. They went in and out with one another and fought as
- though they were living people haling away one another's dead.
- He wrought also a fair fallow field, large and thrice ploughed already.
- Many men were working at the plough within it, turning their oxen
- to and fro, furrow after furrow. Each time that they turned on reaching
- the headland a man would come up to them and give them a cup of wine,
- and they would go back to their furrows looking forward to the time
- when they should again reach the headland. The part that they had
- ploughed was dark behind them, so that the field, though it was of
- gold, still looked as if it were being ploughed- very curious to behold.
- He wrought also a field of harvest corn, and the reapers were reaping
- with sharp sickles in their hands. Swathe after swathe fell to the
- ground in a straight line behind them, and the binders bound them
- in bands of twisted straw. There were three binders, and behind them
- there were boys who gathered the cut corn in armfuls and kept on bringing
- them to be bound: among them all the owner of the land stood by in
- silence and was glad. The servants were getting a meal ready under
- an oak, for they had sacrificed a great ox, and were busy cutting
- him up, while the women were making a porridge of much white barley
- for the labourers' dinner.
- He wrought also a vineyard, golden and fair to see, and the vines
- were loaded with grapes. The bunches overhead were black, but the
- vines were trained on poles of silver. He ran a ditch of dark metal
- all round it, and fenced it with a fence of tin; there was only one
- path to it, and by this the vintagers went when they would gather
- the vintage. Youths and maidens all blithe and full of glee, carried
- the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with them there went a
- boy who made sweet music with his lyre, and sang the Linus-song with
- his clear boyish voice.
- He wrought also a herd of homed cattle. He made the cows of gold and
- tin, and they lowed as they came full speed out of the yards to go
- and feed among the waving reeds that grow by the banks of the river.
- Along with the cattle there went four shepherds, all of them in gold,
- and their nine fleet dogs went with them. Two terrible lions had fastened
- on a bellowing bull that was with the foremost cows, and bellow as
- he might they haled him, while the dogs and men gave chase: the lions
- tore through the bull's thick hide and were gorging on his blood and
- bowels, but the herdsmen were afraid to do anything, and only hounded
- on their dogs; the dogs dared not fasten on the lions but stood by
- barking and keeping out of harm's way.
- The god wrought also a pasture in a fair mountain dell, and large
- flock of sheep, with a homestead and huts, and sheltered sheepfolds.
- Furthermore he wrought a green, like that which Daedalus once made
- in Cnossus for lovely Ariadne. Hereon there danced youths and maidens
- whom all would woo, with their hands on one another's wrists. The
- maidens wore robes of light linen, and the youths well woven shirts
- that were slightly oiled. The girls were crowned with garlands, while
- the young men had daggers of gold that hung by silver baldrics; sometimes
- they would dance deftly in a ring with merry twinkling feet, as it
- were a potter sitting at his work and making trial of his wheel to
- see whether it will run, and sometimes they would go all in line with
- one another, and much people was gathered joyously about the green.
- There was a bard also to sing to them and play his lyre, while two
- tumblers went about performing in the midst of them when the man struck
- up with his tune.
- All round the outermost rim of the shield he set the mighty stream
- of the river Oceanus.
- Then when he had fashioned the shield so great and strong, he made
- a breastplate also that shone brighter than fire. He made helmet,
- close fitting to the brow, and richly worked, with a golden plume
- overhanging it; and he made greaves also of beaten tin.
- Lastly, when the famed lame god had made all the armour, he took it
- and set it before the mother of Achilles; whereon she darted like
- a falcon from the snowy summits of Olympus and bore away the gleaming
- armour from the house of Vulcan.
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