The Iliad by Homer (pdf to ebook reader .TXT) 📖

ships, or
has Achilles hewn him limb from limb, and given him to his hounds?"

"Sir," replied the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, "neither hounds
nor vultures have yet devoured him; he is still just lying at the tents
by the ship of Achilles, and though it is now twelve days that he has
lain there, his flesh is not wasted nor have the worms eaten him
although they feed on warriors. At daybreak Achilles drags him cruelly
round the sepulchre of his dear comrade, but it does him no hurt. You
should come yourself and see how he lies fresh as dew, with the blood
all washed away, and his wounds every one of them closed though many
pierced him with their spears. Such care have the blessed gods taken of
your brave son, for he was dear to them beyond all measure."

The old man was comforted as he heard him and said, "My son, see what a
good thing it is to have made due offerings to the immortals; for as
sure as that he was born my son never forgot the gods that hold
Olympus, and now they requite it to him even in death. Accept therefore
at my hands this goodly chalice; guard me and with heaven's help guide
me till I come to the tent of the son of Peleus."

Then answered the slayer of Argus, guide and guardian, "Sir, you are
tempting me and playing upon my youth, but you shall not move me, for
you are offering me presents without the knowledge of Achilles whom I
fear and hold it great guilt to defraud, lest some evil presently
befall me; but as your guide I would go with you even to Argos itself,
and would guard you so carefully whether by sea or land, that no one
should attack you through making light of him who was with you."

The bringer of good luck then sprang on to the chariot, and seizing the
whip and reins he breathed fresh spirit into the mules and horses. When
they reached the trench and the wall that was before the ships, those
who were on guard had just been getting their suppers, and the slayer
of Argus threw them all into a deep sleep. Then he drew back the bolts
to open the gates, and took Priam inside with the treasure he had upon
his waggon. Ere long they came to the lofty dwelling of the son of
Peleus for which the Myrmidons had cut pine and which they had built
for their king; when they had built it they thatched it with coarse
tussock-grass which they had mown out on the plain, and all round it
they made a large courtyard, which was fenced with stakes set close
together. The gate was barred with a single bolt of pine which it took
three men to force into its place, and three to draw back so as to open
the gate, but Achilles could draw it by himself. Mercury opened the
gate for the old man, and brought in the treasure that he was taking
with him for the son of Peleus. Then he sprang from the chariot on to
the ground and said, "Sir, it is I, immortal Mercury, that am come with
you, for my father sent me to escort you. I will now leave you, and
will not enter into the presence of Achilles, for it might anger him
that a god should befriend mortal men thus openly. Go you within, and
embrace the knees of the son of Peleus: beseech him by his father, his
lovely mother, and his son; thus you may move him."

With these words Mercury went back to high Olympus. Priam sprang from
his chariot to the ground, leaving Idaeus where he was, in charge of
the mules and horses. The old man went straight into the house where
Achilles, loved of the gods, was sitting. There he found him with his
men seated at a distance from him: only two, the hero Automedon, and
Alcimus of the race of Mars, were busy in attendance about his person,
for he had but just done eating and drinking, and the table was still
there. King Priam entered without their seeing him, and going right up
to Achilles he clasped his knees and kissed the dread murderous hands
that had slain so many of his sons.

As when some cruel spite has befallen a man that he should have killed
some one in his own country, and must fly to a great man's protection
in a land of strangers, and all marvel who see him, even so did
Achilles marvel as he beheld Priam. The others looked one to another
and marvelled also, but Priam besought Achilles saying, "Think of your
father, O Achilles like unto the gods, who is such even as I am, on the
sad threshold of old age. It may be that those who dwell near him
harass him, and there is none to keep war and ruin from him. Yet when
he hears of you being still alive, he is glad, and his days are full of
hope that he shall see his dear son come home to him from Troy; but I,
wretched man that I am, had the bravest in all Troy for my sons, and
there is not one of them left. I had fifty sons when the Achaeans came
here; nineteen of them were from a single womb, and the others were
borne to me by the women of my household. The greater part of them has
fierce Mars laid low, and Hector, him who was alone left, him who was
the guardian of the city and ourselves, him have you lately slain;
therefore I am now come to the ships of the Achaeans to ransom his body
from you with a great ransom. Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven;
think on your own father and have compassion upon me, who am the more
pitiable, for I have steeled myself as no man yet has ever steeled
himself before me, and have raised to my lips the hand of him who slew
my son."

Thus spoke Priam, and the heart of Achilles yearned as he bethought him
of his father. He took the old man's hand and moved him gently away.
The two wept bitterly--Priam, as he lay at Achilles' feet, weeping for
Hector, and Achilles now for his father and now for Patroclus, till the
house was filled with their lamentation. But when Achilles was now
sated with grief and had unburthened the bitterness of his sorrow, he
left his seat and raised the old man by the hand, in pity for his white
hair and beard; then he said, "Unhappy man, you have indeed been
greatly daring; how could you venture to come alone to the ships of the
Achaeans, and enter the presence of him who has slain so many of your
brave sons? You must have iron courage: sit now upon this seat, and for
all our grief we will hide our sorrows in our hearts, for weeping will
not avail us. The immortals know no care, yet the lot they spin for man
is full of sorrow; on the floor of Jove's palace there stand two urns,
the one filled with evil gifts, and the other with good ones. He for
whom Jove the lord of thunder mixes the gifts he sends, will meet now
with good and now with evil fortune; but he to whom Jove sends none but
evil gifts will be pointed at by the finger of scorn, the hand of
famine will pursue him to the ends of the world, and he will go up and
down the face of the earth, respected neither by gods nor men. Even so
did it befall Peleus; the gods endowed him with all good things from
his birth upwards, for he reigned over the Myrmidons excelling all men
in prosperity and wealth, and mortal though he was they gave him a
goddess for his bride. But even on him too did heaven send misfortune,
for there is no race of royal children born to him in his house, save
one son who is doomed to die all untimely; nor may I take care of him
now that he is growing old, for I must stay here at Troy to be the bane
of you and your children. And you too, O Priam, I have heard that you
were aforetime happy. They say that in wealth and plenitude of
offspring you surpassed all that is in Lesbos, the realm of Makar to
the northward, Phrygia that is more inland, and those that dwell upon
the great Hellespont; but from the day when the dwellers in heaven sent
this evil upon you, war and slaughter have been about your city
continually. Bear up against it, and let there be some intervals in
your sorrow. Mourn as you may for your brave son, you will take nothing
by it. You cannot raise him from the dead, ere you do so yet another
sorrow shall befall you."

And Priam answered, "O king, bid me not be seated, while Hector is
still lying uncared for in your tents, but accept the great ransom
which I have brought you, and give him to me at once that I may look
upon him. May you prosper with the ransom and reach your own land in
safety, seeing that you have suffered me to live and to look upon the
light of the sun."

Achilles looked at him sternly and said, "Vex me, sir, no longer; I am
of myself minded to give up the body of Hector. My mother, daughter of
the old man of the sea, came to me from Jove to bid me deliver it to
you. Moreover I know well, O Priam, and you cannot hide it, that some
god has brought you to the ships of the Achaeans, for else, no man
however strong and in his prime would dare to come to our host; he
could neither pass our guard unseen, nor draw the bolt of my gates thus
easily; therefore, provoke me no further, lest I sin against the word
of Jove, and suffer you not, suppliant though you are, within my tents."

The old man feared him and obeyed. Then the son of Peleus sprang like a
lion through the door of his house, not alone, but with him went his
two squires Automedon and Alcimus who were closer to him than any
others of his comrades now that Patroclus was no more. These unyoked
the horses and mules, and bade Priam's herald and attendant be seated
within the house. They lifted the ransom for Hector's body from the
waggon, but they left two mantles and a goodly shirt, that Achilles
might wrap the body in them when he gave it to be taken home. Then he
called to his servants and ordered them to wash the body and anoint it,
but he first took it to a place where Priam should not see it, lest if
he did so, he should break out in the bitterness of his grief, and
enrage Achilles, who might then kill him and sin against the word of
Jove. When the servants had washed the body and anointed it, and had
wrapped it in a fair shirt and mantle, Achilles himself lifted it on to
a bier, and he and his men then laid it on the waggon. He cried aloud
as he did so and called on the name of his dear comrade, "Be not angry
with me, Patroclus," he said, "if you hear even in the house of Hades
that I have given Hector to his father for a ransom. It has been no
unworthy one, and I will share it equitably with you."