The Fall of Troy [58]
So spake he, and Odysseus answered him: "Friends are we of Achilles lord of war, To whom of Deidameia thou wast born -- Yea, when we look on thee we seem to see That Hero's self; and like the Immortal Ones Was he. Of Ithaca am I: this man Of Argos, nurse of horses -- if perchance Thou hast heard the name of Tydeus' warrior son Or of the wise Odysseus. Lo, I stand Before thee, sent by voice of prophecy. I pray thee, pity us: come thou to Troy And help us. Only so unto the war An end shall be. Gifts beyond words to thee The Achaean kings shall give: yea, I myself Will give to thee thy godlike father's arms, And great shall be thy joy in bearing them; For these be like no mortal's battle-gear, But splendid as the very War-god's arms. Over their marvellous blazonry hath gold Been lavished; yea, in heaven Hephaestus' self Rejoiced in fashioning that work divine, The which thine eyes shall marvel to behold; For earth and heaven and sea upon the shield Are wrought, and in its wondrous compass are Creatures that seem to live and move -- a wonder Even to the Immortals. Never man Hath seen their like, nor any man hath worn, Save thy sire only, whom the Achaeans all Honoured as Zeus himself. I chiefliest From mine heart loved him, and when he was slain, To many a foe I dealt a ruthless doom, And through them all bare back to the ships his corse. Therefore his glorious arms did Thetis give To me. These, though I prize them well, to thee Will I give gladly when thou com'st to Troy. Yea also, when we have smitten Priam's towns And unto Hellas in our ships return, Shall Menelaus give thee, an thou wilt, His princess-child to wife, of love for thee, And with his bright-haired daughter shall bestow Rich dower of gold and treasure, even all That meet is to attend a wealthy king."
So spake he, and replied Achilles' son: "If bidden of oracles the Achaean men Summon me, let us with to-morrow's dawn Fare forth upon the broad depths of the sea, If so to longing Danaans I may prove A light of help. Now pass we to mine halls, And to such guest-fare as befits to set Before the stranger. For my marriage-day -- To this the Gods in time to come shall see."
Then hall-ward led he them, and with glad hearts They followed. To the forecourt when they came Of that great mansion, found they there the Queen Deidameia in her sorrow of soul Grief-wasted, as when snow from mountain-sides Before the sun and east-wind wastes away; So pined she for that princely hero slain. Then came to her amidst her grief the kings, And greeted her in courteous wise. Her son Drew near and told their lineage and their names; But that for which they came he left untold Until the morrow, lest unto her woe There should be added grief and floods of tears, And lest her prayers should hold him from the path Whereon his heart was set. Straight feasted these, And comforted their hearts with sleep, even all Which dwelt in sea-ringed Scyros, nightlong lulled By long low thunder of the girdling deep, Of waves Aegean breaking on her shores. But not on Deidameia fell the hands Of kindly sleep. She bore in mind the names Of crafty Odysseus and of Diomede The godlike, how these twain had widowed her Of battle-fain Achilles, how their words Had won his aweless heart to fare with them To meet the war-cry where stern Fate met him, Shattered his hope of home-return, and laid Measureless grief on Peleus and on her. Therefore an awful dread oppressed her soul Lest her son too to tumult of the war Should speed, and grief be added to her grief.
Dawn climbed the wide-arched heaven, straightway they Rose from their beds. Then Deidameia knew; And on her son's broad breast she cast herself, And bitterly wailed: her cry thrilled through the air, As when a cow loud-lowing mid the hills Seeks through the glens her calf, and all around Echo long ridges of the mountain-steep; So on all sides from dim recesses rang The hall; and in her misery she cried: "Child, wherefore is thy soul now on the wing To follow strangers unto Ilium The fount of tears, where perish many in fight, Yea, cunning