Statius: ACHILLEID

    Magnanimum Aeaciden formidatamque Tonanti
progeniem et patrio vetitam succedere caelo,
diva, refer. quamquam acta viri multum inclita cantu
Maeonio (sed plura vacant), nos ire per omnem—
sic amor est—heroa velis Scyroque latentem                5
Dulichia proferre tuba nec in Hectore tracto
sistere, sed tota iuvenem deducere Troia.
tu modo, si veterem digno deplevimus haustu,
da fontes mihi, Phoebe, novos ac fronde secunda
necte comas: neque enim Aonium nemus advena pulso                10
nec mea nunc primis augescunt tempora vittis.

    O goddess, relate the great‑souled Aeacidan and the progeny feared by the Thunderer
and forbidden to succeed to the paternal heaven. Although the deeds of the man are much famed
in Maeonian song (but there is more to tell), we would go through every—such is love—heroic tale,
and by willing sails and Scyros hidden bring forth the hero with the Dulichian trumpet                5
Nor to halt with Hector handled, nor to fix there, but to lead the youth through all Troy.
You only, Phoebus, if we have drained the antique spring with a worthy draught,
grant me new fountains and bind my hair with fresh foliage: for neither does the Aonian grove, with the stranger driven off,                10
nor do my temples now swell with their first wreaths.

scit Dircaeus ager meque inter prisca parentum
nomina cumque suo numerant Amphione Thebae.
At tu, quem longe primum stupet Itala virtus
Graiaque, cui geminae florent vatumque ducumque 15

the Dircaean field knows me, and Thebes with Amphion count me among the ancient names of my parents.
But you, whom far first Italic virtue
and Greek marvel at, to whom the twin glories of poets and of leaders bloom 15

certatim laurus—olim dolet altera vinci—,
da veniam ac trepidum patere hoc sudare parumper
pulvere: te longo necdum fidente paratu
molimur magnusque tibi praeludit Achilles.
Solverat Oebalio classem de litore pastor 20
Dardanus incautas blande populatus Amyclas
plenaque materni referens praesagia somni
culpatum relegebat iter, qua condita ponto
fluctibus invisis iam Nereis imperat Helle,
cum Thetis Idaeos—heu numquam vana parentum 25
auguria!—expavit vitreo sub gurgite remos.
nec mora et undosis turba comitante sororum
prosiluit thalamis: fervent coeuntia Phrixi
litora et angustum dominas non explicat aequor.

the laurel vies eagerly—once the other grieved to be vanquished—,
grant pardon and endure to sweat, trembling, in this dust a little while:
I strain you with a purpose not yet trusting in long preparation,
and mighty Achilles makes a prelude to you. From the Oebalian shore the shepherd had launched his fleet 20
Dardanus, having gently plundered the unwary Amyclae,
and bearing back full the presages of a mother’s dream,
was refitting the guilty course, where, the sea having been founded,
Helle already rules the waves, hateful to the Nereids,
when Thetis of Ida—ah, parents’ auguries never void!—frightened the oars beneath the glassy gulf. 25
nor was there delay, but with a throng of wave‑comrade sisters she sprang forth from the bridal‑chambers:
the shores of Phrixus seethe as they gather, and the narrow sea will not let the mistresses spread out.

Illa ubi discusso primum subit aera ponto, 30

When she, the sea first lashed, first rises into the air from the deep, 30

'Me petit haec, mihi classis' ait 'funesta minatur,
agnosco monitus et Protea vera locutum.
ecce novam Priamo facibus de puppe levatis
fert Bellona nurum: video iam mille carinis
Ionium Aegaeumque premi; nec sufficit, omnis 35
quod plaga Graiugenum tumidis coniurat Atridis:
iam pelago terrisque meus quaeretur Achilles,
et volet ipse sequi. quid enim cunabula parvo
Pelion et torvi commisimus antra magistri?

'This fleet seeks me,' he said, 'it threatens deadly things,
I recognise the warnings and Proteus has truly spoken.
Behold, with torches lifted from the stern Bellona bears a new bride to Priam:
I see already a thousand keels pressing the Ionian and the Aegean; nor is it enough, omnis 35
the whole onslaught which the blow of the Greek-born, the swollen Atridae, combine:
already my Achilles will be searched for on sea and on land,
and he himself will wish to follow. For to what cradles did we commit
Pelion and the caves of the grim master on the small boy?

illic, ni fallor, Lapitharum proelia ludit 40
inprobus et patria iam se metitur in hasta.
o dolor, o seri materno in corde timores!
non potui infelix, cum primum gurgite nostro
Rhoeteae cecidere trabes, attollere magnum
aequor et incesti praedonis vela profunda 45

there, if I am not mistaken, the Lapiths' battles are being played out 40
the wicked man even now measures himself on his father's spear.
O pain, O fears belated in a mother's heart!
unhappy, I could not, when first into our gulf
the Rhoetean beams fell, lift up the great
sea and the deep sails of the unchaste plunderer 45

tempestate sequi cunctasque inferre sorores?
nunc quoque—sed tardum, iam plena iniuria raptae.
ibo tamen pelagique deos dextramque secundi,
quod superest, complexa Iovis per Tethyos annos
grandaevumque patrem supplex miseranda rogabo 50
unam hiemem.' Dixit magnumque in tempore regem
aspicit.

to follow the tempest and bring it upon all my sisters?
even now — but too late, already plundered and full of injury.
yet I will go to the sea-gods and the propitious right hand of Fortune,
and what remains, having embraced through Tethys the years of Jove,
I will, a pitiable suppliant, beg my aged father for one winter 50
she said; and in due time she beholds the great king.

Oceano veniebat ab hospite, mensis
laetus et aequoreo diffusus nectare vultus,
unde hiemes ventique silent; cantuque quieto
armigeri Tritones eunt scopulosaque cete 55
Tyrrhenique greges circumque infraque rotantur
rege salutato; placidis ipse arduus undis
eminet et triplici telo iubet ire iugales;
illi spumiferos glomerant a pectore cursus,
pone natant delentque pedum vestigia cauda; 60

He came from the Ocean as a guest, his countenance glad and diffused with oceanic nectar,
from which winters and winds are silent; and with a tranquil song the armed Tritons go
and rocky whales and Tyrrhenian herds are rolled about above and below
with the king saluted; he himself towers high above the placid waves
and commands the yoked steeds to go with a threefold spear;
they gather foamy courses from their breasts,
they swim behind and with their tails efface the prints of their feet; 55

cum Thetis: 'O magni genitor rectorque profundi,
aspicis in qualis miserum patefeceris usus
aequor? eunt tutis terrarum crimina velis,
ex quo iura freti maiestatemque repostam
rupit Iasonia puppis Pagasaea rapina. 65
en aliud furto scelus et spolia hospita portans
navigat iniustae temerarius arbiter Idae,
eheu quos gemitus terris caeloque daturus,
quos mihi! sic Phrygiae pensamus gaudia palmae,
hi Veneris mores, hoc gratae munus alumnae. 70
has saltem—num semideos nostrumque reportant
Thesea?—si quis adhuc undis honor, obrue puppes,
aut permitte fretum!

with Thetis: 'O great sire and ruler of the deep,
do you behold into what sort of miserable sea your handling has laid open?
let the crimes of lands go forth under safe sails,
since the Jasonian, Pagasaean ship, trusting in laws and in a reposited majesty,
has violated them by plunder. 65
behold another crime by theft and bearing hostile spoils
sails—rash arbiter of unjust Ida—over the sea,
ah, what groans he will give to lands and to heaven,
what to me! thus shall we weigh the joys of Phrygia's palm,
these the manners of Venus, this the welcome gift of a foster-daughter. 70
at least these—shall they not bring back our semidivine Theseus?—if any honor yet belongs to the waves, overwhelm the prows,
or let the sea have its way!'

nulla inclementia: fas sit
pro nato timuisse mihi. da pellere luctus,
nec tibi de tantis placeat me fluctibus unum 75

no cruelty: may it be right that I feared for my son. Grant to drive away my griefs,
nor may it please you that I alone among so many be pleasing to the waves 75

litus et Iliaci scopulos habitare sepulcri.'
     Orabat laniata genas et pectore nudo
caeruleis obstabat equis. sed rector aquarum
invitat curru dictisque ita mulcet amicis:
'Ne pete Dardaniam frustra, Theti, mergere classem;                80
fata vetant: ratus ordo deis miscere cruentas
Europamque Asiamque manus, consultaque belli
Iuppiter et tristes edixit caedibus annos.
quem tu illic natum Sigeo in pulvere, quanta
aspicies victrix Phrygiarum funera matrum,                85
cum tuus Aeacides tepido modo sanguine Teucros
undabit campos, modo crassa exire vetabit
flumina et Hectoreo tardabit funere currus
inpelletque manu nostros, opera inrita, muros!

that the shore and the rocks of Ilium are the dwelling of a sepulcher.'
     She prayed, her cheeks torn and her breast bared,
opposing with her blue steeds. But the pilot of the waters
calls to her from his chariot and so soothes his friends with words:
'Do not seek to plunge the fleet into Dardania in vain, Thetis;                80
the fates forbid: deeming the ordained order to mingle bloody
hands with the gods, to mix Europa and Asia, and Jupiter, counseled in war,
has proclaimed years of sorrow by slaughter. Him whom there you will see born
in the dust of Sigeum, what great funerals of Phrygian mothers you will behold,                85
when your Aeacides, now only warm with blood, will flood the Trojan fields,
at one moment will forbid thick rivers from flowing forth and at another the chariots
will be hindered by Hectorian death and with his hand will drive back our walls, our labors vain!'

Pelea iam desiste queri thalamosque minores: 90

Pelea, cease now to complain, and cease to bewail the lesser bridal-chambers: 90

crederis peperisse Iovi; nec inulta dolebis
cognatisque utere fretis: dabo tollere fluctus,
cum reduces Danai nocturnaque signa Caphereus
exseret et dirum pariter quaeremus Ulixem.'
Dixerat. illa gravi vultum demissa repulsa, 95
quae iam excire fretum et ratibus bellare parabat
Iliacis, alios animo commenta paratus,
tristis ad Haemonias detorquet bracchia terras.
ter conata manu, liquidum ter gressibus aequor
reppulit et niveas feriunt vada Thessala plantas. 100
laetantur montes et conubialia pandunt
antra sinus lateque deae Sperchios abundat
obvius et dulci vestigia circuit unda.

you will be believed to have borne to Jove; nor will you grieve unavenged
use the kindred seas: I will give means to lift the waves,
when the returning Danaans thrust forth the nocturnal signal at Caphereus
and together we shall seek dread Ulysses.'
She had spoken. She, her face cast down in heavy rejection, 95
who was already preparing to rouse the strait and to war with Iliac craft,
having planned other things in her mind, turns her sorrowful arms
toward the Haemonian lands. Thrice with her hand tried, thrice with her steps
she pushed back the liquid sea and Thessalian waves strike her snow-white feet. 100
the mountains rejoice and open bridal caves,
the bays spread wide and the Sperchios overflows for the goddess;
a meeting wave comes forward and with sweet water circles her footprints.

illa nihil gavisa locis, sed coepta fatigat
pectore consilia et sollers pietate magistra 105

she rejoiced in none of those places, but exhausts the counsels begun in her breast, and, adroit, a mistress in piety 105

longaevum Chirona petit. domus ardua montem
perforat et longo suspendit Pelion arcu;
pars exhausta manu, partem sua ruperat aetas.
signa tamen divumque tori et quem quisque sacrarit
accubitu genioque locum monstrantur; at intra 110
Centauri stabula alta patent, non aequa nefandis
fratribus: hic hominum nullos experta cruores
spicula nec truncae bellis genialibus orni
aut consanguineos fracti crateres in hostes,
sed pharetrae insontes et inania terga ferarum. 115
haec quoque dum viridis; nam tunc labor unus inermi
nosse salutiferas dubiis animantibus herbas,
aut monstrare lyra veteres heroas alumno.

he seeks aged Chiron. A lofty house pierces the mountain
and suspends Pelion with a long arch;
part raised by the hand, part his own age has burst away. Yet the standards and the couch of the gods and the place which each has consecrated
are shown by the seat and by the presiding genius; but within 110
the high stables of the Centaurs open, not equal for the wicked
brothers: here no human blood has tried
spears nor trunks honed for congenial wars
or kindred cauldrons broken upon foes,
but harmless quivers and the empty backs of beasts. 115
these also while green; for then one task was to know, unarmed,
the salutary plants for doubtful creatures,
or to show with the lyre the ancient heroes to a pupil.

et tunc venatu rediturum in limine primo
opperiens properatque dapes largoque serenat 120

and then, expecting that he will return from the hunt at the first threshold,
awaiting, he hastens and prepares a lavish banquet and with abundance brightens the hour 120

igne domum, cum visa procul de litore surgens
Nereis; erumpit silvis—dant gaudia vires—
notaque desueto crepuit senis ungula campo.
tunc blandus dextra atque imos demissus in armos
pauperibus tectis inducit et admonet antri.                125
     Iamdudum tacito lustrat Thetis omnia visu
nec perpessa moras: 'Ubinam mea pignora, Chiron,
dic', ait, 'aut cur ulla puer iam tempora ducit
te sine? non merito trepidus sopor atraque matri
signa deum et magnos utinam mentita timores?                130
namque modo infensos utero mihi contuor enses,
nunc planctu livere manus, modo in ubera saevas
ire feras; saepe ipsa—nefas!—sub inania natum
Tartara et ad Stygios iterum fero mergere fontes.

with fire the house, when from afar a Nereid rising was seen from the shore
she bursts from the woods—joys give strength—
and the hoof, known to the unaccustomed field, clattered of the old man.
then with a coaxing right hand and lowered into the deepest glens
he leads them into poor roofs and warns of the cave.                125
     Long now Thetis scans all things with a silent gaze
and, not enduring delays: "Where are my pledges, Chiron, tell me,
or why does any boy now pass his seasons apart from you?
Is it not rightly, anxious, that sleep and the dark mother
have forged signs of the gods and, would that they were lies, great terrors?                130
for but now I gaze upon hostile swords in my womb,
now my hands are bruised from lamentation, now beasts go to my breasts;
often I myself—accursed!—have born a child into empty
Tartarus and again borne him to plunge into the Stygian springs.

hos abolere metus magici iubet ordine sacri 135

he bids that these fears of magic be abolished by the sacred order 135

Carpathius vates puerumque sub axe peracto
secretis lustrare fretis, ubi litora summa
Oceani et genitor tepet inlabentibus astris
Pontus. ibi ignotis horrenda piacula divis
donaque—sed longum cuncta enumerare vetorque. 140
trade magis!' sic ficta parens: neque enim ille dedisset,
si molles habitus et tegmina foeda fateri
ausa seni. tunc ipse refert: 'Duc, optima, quaeso,
duc, genetrix, humilique deos infringe precatu.

Carpathius the seer and the boy, beneath the completed axis,
to purify in secret seas, where the utmost shores
of Ocean are and the father Sea grows warm beneath the gliding stars.
There to unknown gods hideous expiations and gifts— but I am forbidden to recount all things at length. 140
"Give more!" thus the mother, feigning: for he would not have yielded,
had he dared to confess the soft garments and foul coverings
to the old man. Then he himself replies: "Lead on, most excellent, I beg,
lead on, mother, and by humble entreaty break the gods."

nam superant tua vota modum placandaque multum 145
invidia est. non addo metum, sed vera fatebor:
nescio quid magnum—nec me patria omina fallunt—
vis festina parat tenuesque supervenit annos.
olim et ferre minas avideque audire solebat
imperia et nostris procul haut discedere ab antris; 150

for your vows exceed measure, and there is much envy to be appeased 145
I do not add fear, but I will confess true things:
I know not what great—nor do the omens of my native land deceive me—
a hasty force prepares and overtakes my slender years.
once he was wont both to utter threats and eagerly to hear commands,
and by no means to depart far from our caves; 150

nunc illum non Ossa capit, non Pelion ingens
Pharsaliaeve nives. ipsi mihi saepe queruntur
Centauri raptasque domos abstractaque coram
armenta et semet campis fluviisque fugari,
insidiasque et bella parant tumideque minantur.                155
olim equidem, Argoos pinus cum Thessala reges
hac veheret, iuvenem Alciden et Thesea vidi-
-sed taceo.' Figit gelidus Nereida pallor:
ille aderat multo sudore et pulvere maior,
et tamen arma inter festinatosque labores                160
dulcis adhuc visu: niveo natat ignis in ore
purpureus fulvoque nitet coma gratior auro.
necdum prima nova lanugine vertitur aetas,
tranquillaeque faces oculis et plurima vultu
mater inest: qualis Lycia venator Apollo                165

now neither Ossa contains him, nor mighty Pelion
nor Pharsalian snows. The Centaurs themselves oft complain to me
that their seized homes and their herds were torn away before them
and that they themselves are driven from the plains and rivers,
and they prepare ambushes and wars and threaten with swelling pride.                155
once indeed, when a Thessalian pine bore Argive kings this way,
I saw the youth Alcides and Theseus—yet I am silent.' A chill pallor fastens on the Nereid:
he was present larger with much sweat and dust,
and yet among his arms and his hastening toils still sweet to the sight:                160
fire swims on his snow-white mouth;
a purple mane gleams, more charming than tawny gold.
Not yet has his first age been changed by new down,
and tranquil torches are in his eyes and a great many a mother's look is present:
such as Lycia's hunter, Apollo                165

cum redit et saevis permutat plectra pharetris.
forte et laetus adest—o quantum gaudia formae
adiciunt!—: fetam Pholoes sub rupe leaenam
perculerat ferro vacuisque reliquerat antris
ipsam, sed catulos adportat et incitat ungues. 170
quos tamen, ut fido genetrix in limine visa est,
abicit exceptamque avidis circumligat ulnis,
iam gravis amplexu iamque aequus vertice matri.
insequitur magno iam tunc conexus amore
Patroclus tantisque extenditur aemulus actis, 175
par studiis aevique modis, sed robore longe,
et tamen aequali visurus Pergama fato.

when he returns and changes the shafts in his cruel quivers.
by chance he comes also—how much joy adds to beauty!—: beneath a cliff he had with iron struck Pholoe’s pregnant lioness
and had left her herself in empty caves, but he brings forth the cubs and spurs their claws on. 170
which, however, as the mother was seen upon the faithful threshold, she casts off and, having taken the foundlings up, binds them about with eager arms,
now heavy in embrace and already matching the mother in head.
he follows, bound then by a great love,
Patroclus, and is stretched out as a rival in such deeds, 175
equal in pursuits and measures of age, but far superior in strength,
and yet by equal fate destined to behold Pergama.

Protinus ille subit rapido quae proxima saltu
flumina fumantisque genas crinemque novatur
fontibus: Eurotae qualis vada Castor anhelo 180

Straightway he springs upon the nearest with a rapid leap,
and renews rivers and steaming cheeks and hair with springs: such as the shallows of the Eurota which Castor, panting,

intrat equo fessumque sui iubar excitat astri.
miratur comitque senex, nunc pectora mulcens
nunc fortis umeros; angunt sua gaudia matrem.
tunc libare dapes Baccheaque munera Chiron
orat et attonitae varia oblectamina nectens 185
elicit extremo chelyn et solantia curas
fila movet leviterque expertas pollice chordas
dat puero.

he enters on horseback and stirs the weary radiance of his own star.
the old man marvels and attends him, now soothing his breast
now his stalwart shoulders; his joys constrict the mother.
then Chiron begs to taste the feast and Bacchic gifts
and, weaving various delights for the astonished one, 185
draws forth a lyre at the rear and, easing cares,
sets the strings moving with his practiced thumb
and gives them to the boy.

canit ille libens inmania laudum
semina: quot tumidae superarit iussa novercae
Amphitryoniades, crudum quo Bebryca caestu 190
obruerit Pollux, quanto circumdata nexu
ruperit Aegides Minoia bracchia tauri,
maternos in fine toros superisque gravatum
Pelion: hic victo risit Thetis anxia vultu.
nox trahit in somnos; saxo collabitur ingens 195

he sings gladly the monstrous seeds of praise
how many commands of the swollen stepmother will survive, Amphitryon's son — by which raw Bebrycian caestus
Pollux overwhelmed him, by how great a bond encircled he broke the Minoan bull's Aegidean arms,
the maternal couches at the end and Pelion piled aloft on high:
here, with the foe overcome, anxious Thetis smiled in countenance. night draws men into sleep; a vast rock collapses 195

Centaurus blandusque umeris se innectit Achilles,
quamquam ibi fida parens, adsuetaque pectora mavult.
     At Thetis undisonis per noctem in rupibus astans,
quae nato secreta velit, quibus abdere terris
destinet, huc illuc divisa mente volutat.                200
proxima, sed studiis multum Mavortia, Thrace;
nec Macetum gens dura placet laudumque daturi
Cecropidae stimulos; nimium opportuna carinis
Sestos Abydenique sinus. placet ire per artas
Cycladas; hic spretae Myconosque humilisque Seriphos                205
et Lemnos non aequa viris atque hospita Delos
gentibus.

Achilles clasps himself to Centaurus and to gentle shoulders,
although there a faithful parent prefers him, and familiar breasts are preferred.
     But Thetis, standing through the night on the sound‑less rocks,
who wishes to determine to her son the secrets by which lands to hide him,
turns this way and that with a divided mind.                200
nearest, but much Mars‑devoted, Thrace;
nor does the hardy Macetian people please, nor the Cecropidae, about to give incentives of praise;
Sestos and the Abydusian bay are too convenient for keels. It pleases to sail through the narrow
Cyclades; here Myconos rejected and lowly Seriphos                205
and Lemnos not equal for men, and Delos hospitable to peoples.

inbelli nuper Lycomedis ab aula
virgineos coetus et litora persona ludo
audierat, duros laxantem Aegaeona nexus
missa sequi centumque dei numerare catenas. 210

recently from the unwarlike court of Lycomedēs he had heard
the virginal gatherings and the shores in personae for the play,
he had heard Aegaeon loosening his harsh bonds,
sent forth to follow and to number the 100 chains of the god. 210

haec placet, haec timidae tellus tutissima matri.
qualis vicino volucris iam sedula partu
iamque timens, qua fronde domum suspendat inanem;
providet hic ventos, hic anxia cogitat angues,
hic homines: tandem dubiae placet umbra, novisque                215
vix stetit in ramis et protinus arbor amatur.
     Altera consilio superest tristemque fatigat
cura deam, natum ipsa sinu conplexa per undas
an magno Tritone ferat, ventosne volucres
advocet an pelago solitam Thaumantida pasci.                220
elicit inde fretis et murice frenat acuto
delphinas biiugos, quos illi maxima Tethys
gurgite Atlanteo pelagi sub valle sonora
nutrierat—nullis vada per Neptunia glaucae
tantus honos formae nandique potentia nec plus                225

this pleases, this land most safe for the timid mother.
such as a bird, now busy with neighbouring birth
and now fearing, where on what leaf to suspend her empty nest;
here she foresees the winds, here anxious she thinks of snakes,
here of men: at last the doubtful shade pleases, and with fresh                215
scarcely had she settled on the branches and straightaway the tree is loved.
     Another plan remains and wears the goddess with sad care,
her son herself clasped in her bosom through the waves—whether she should bear him on great Triton,
or summon the winged winds, or let the Thaumantid feed him as is wont upon the sea.                220
thence she draws from the straits and bridles with sharp purple
the two-yoked dolphins, whom great Tethys had nourished for her
in the Atlantic gurgle of the sea under a sonorous hollow—no waters of sea-blue Neptune
bestow so great an honour of form nor greater power of swimming, nor more than                225

pectoris humani—; iubet hos subsistere pleno
litore, ne nudae noceant contagia terrae.
ipsa dehinc toto resolutum pectore Achillem,
qui pueris sopor, Haemonii de rupibus antri
ad placidas deportat aquas et iussa tacere                230
litora; monstrat iter totoque effulgurat orbe
Cynthia. prosequitur divam celeresque recursus
securus pelagi Chiron rogat udaque celat
lumina et abreptos subito iamiamque latentes
erecto prospectat equo, qua cana parumper                235
spumant signa fugae et liquido perit orbita ponto.
illum non alias rediturum ad Thessala Tempe
iam tristis Pholoe, iam nubilus ingemit Othrys
et tenuior Sperchios aquis speluncaque docti
muta senis; quaerunt puerilia carmina Fauni                240

of the human breast—; she bids them stand on the full shore,
lest their bare contagions injure the soil.
then she, with whole heart, loosens Achilles,
who as sleep to boys carries from the Haemonian rock of the cave
to placid waters and the shores ordered to be silent                230
the shores; Cynthia shows the way and shines across the whole orb.
Chiron follows the goddess and, the return of the sea assured,
asks and hides his wet eyes and watches the seized ones suddenly and now hidden
on his high-stepping horse, where for a short while the hoary
                235
markers foam of flight and the track perishes in the liquid deep.
that one will not return again to Thessalian Tempe—already sad Pholoe, already clouded Othrys groans,
and the Sperchios thinner with waters and the cave of the learned old man
is mute; the Fauns seek boyish songs.                240

et sperata diu plorant conubia Nymphae.
Iam premit astra dies humilique ex aequore Titan
rorantes evolvit equos et ab aethere magno
sublatum curru pelagus cadit, at vada mater
Scyria iamdudum fluctus emensa tenebat, 245
exierantque iugo fessi delphines erili,
cum pueri tremefacta quies oculique patentes
infusum sensere diem. stupet aere primo:
quae loca, qui fluctus, ubi Pelion?

and the Nymphs long bewail the nuptials hoped for.
Now Day presses down the stars and Titan from the low sea
unfastens his dripping horses and from the great ether
the sea, lifted on his chariot, falls; but the Scyrian mother
had long been skimming and holding the shallows of the waves, 245
and the dolphins, wearied from the ridge, had come forth for their master,
when the boys, in trembling quiet and with eyes wide open,
perceived the poured-in day. At first he stands astonished at the bronze:
what places, what waves, where is Pelion?

omnia versa
atque ignota videt dubitatque agnoscere matrem. 250
occupat illa manu blandeque adfata paventem:
'Si mihi, care puer, thalamos sors aequa tulisset,
quos dabat, aetheriis ego te conplexa tenerem
sidus grande plagis, magnique puerpera caeli
nil humiles Parcas terrenaque fata vererer. 255

she sees all things turned and unknown, and hesitates to know her mother. 250
she seizes him with her hand and, having gently addressed the fearful boy:
'If Fortune had granted me, dear boy, a marriage of equal rank,
whom the heavens gave, I, having clasped you in my etherial embraces, would retain;
a great star in the realms, and a mother of the lofty sky—
I would fear neither the humble Parcae nor the destinies of earth.' 255

nunc inpar tibi, nate, genus, praeclusaque leti
tantum a matre via est; quin et metuenda propinquant
tempora et extremis admota pericula metis.
cedamus, paulumque animos submitte viriles
atque habitus dignare meos. si Lydia dura                260
pensa manu mollesque tulit Tirynthius hastas,
si decet aurata Bacchum vestigia palla
verrere, virgineos si Iuppiter induit artus,
nec magnum ambigui fregerunt Caenea sexus:
hac sine, quaeso, minas nubemque exire malignam.                265
mox iterum campos, iterum Centaurica reddam
lustra tibi: per ego hoc decus et ventura iuventae
gaudia, si terras humilemque experta maritum
te propter, si progenitum Stygos amne severo
armavi—totumque utinam!—, cape tuta parumper                270

now unmatched is your birth to you, my son, and the way to death is shut off only by your mother; moreover, dreadful seasons and dangers brought to their utmost bounds draw near.
Let us yield, and a little abase your manly spirit
and vouchsafe my habit. If stern Lydia held the distaff in her handif it be fitting that Bacchus, in a gilded pall, sweep his footsteps,
if Jupiter himself put on virginal limbs,
nor did the great Caeneus, of ambiguous sex, break his fame:
without this, I beg, let your threats and that malign cloud depart.
Soon again I will restore to you the fields, again the Centaurian
groves as an honor to you: by this glory and the joys of the youth to come,
if for your sake I armed you, a humble husband tried on earth

tegmina nil nocitura animo. cur ora reducis
quidve parant oculi? pudet hoc mitescere cultu?

The garments will do no harm to your spirit. Why do you draw back your face?
Or what are your eyes contriving? Are you ashamed that this should be softened by dress?

per te, care puer, cognata per aequora iuro,
nesciet hoc Chiron.' sic horrida pectora tractat
nequiquam mulcens; obstat genitorque roganti                275
nutritorque ingens et cruda exordia magnae
indolis. effrenae tumidum velut igne iuventae
si quis equum primis submittere temptet habenis:
ille diu campis fluviisque et honore superbo
gavisus non colla iugo, non aspera praebet                 280
ora lupis dominique fremit captivus inire
imperia atque alios miratur discere cursus.
     Quis deus attonitae fraudes astumque parenti
contulit?

by you, dear boy, and by the kindred seas I swear,
Chiron will not know this.' Thus she treats those rugged breasts,
soothing in vain; the great sire and nurse opposes the pleading                275
and the mighty nurse and the crude beginnings of that great nature. Like an unbridled youth swollen with fire,
if one should try to put a horse under the first reins:
he, long rejoicing in fields and rivers and in proud honor,
offers not his neck to the yoke, nor his rough mouth to wolves;                 280
and, a captive of his master, he bellows to take on commands and marvels to learn the courses of others.
     What god has bestowed deceit and craft upon the astonished parent
and guile?

indocilem quae mens detraxit Achillem?
Palladi litoreae celebrabat Scyros honorum 285
forte diem, placidoque satae Lycomede sorores
luce sacra patriis, quae rara licentia, muris
exierant dare veris opes divaeque severas
fronde ligare comas et spargere floribus hastam.
omnibus eximium formae decus, omnibus idem 290

what untaught mind drew Achilles away?
on Pallas' shore at Scyros they happened to celebrate a day of honors,285
and in the placid light the sisters sprung from Lycomedes,
with a sacred light at their ancestral rites—who, with unusual license, had gone forth from the walls
to give the riches of spring and to bind their hair with the austere goddess' foliage
and to scatter flowers upon the spear. a surpassing grace of beauty to each, the same to all 290

cultus et expleto teneri iam fine pudoris
virginitas matura toris annique tumentes.
sed quantum virides pelagi Venus addita Nymphas
obruit, aut umeris quantum Diana relinquit
Naidas, effulget tantum regina decori 295
Deidamia chori pulchrisque sororibus obstat.
illius et roseo flammatur purpura vultu
et gemmis lux maior inest et blandius aurum:
atque ipsi par forma deaest, si pectoris angues
ponat et exempta pacetur casside vultus. 300
hanc ubi ducentem longe socia agmina vidit,
trux puer et nullo temeratus pectora motu
deriguit totisque novum bibit ossibus ignem.

with her dress and with modesty’s limit now spent, her virginity ripe for beds and swelling with the years.
but as many as Venus, added to the green sea, buries of the Nymphs, or as many Naiads Diana leaves on shoulders,
so much the queen shines in beauty 295
Deidamia stands before the chorus and her fair sisters.
of her the purple burns on a rosy face
and a greater light is in gems and gold is more alluring:
and she would be equal even to a goddess in form, if she were to set the breast’s serpents aside
and, her face uncovered, be adorned without a helmet. 300
when the fierce boy saw her leading the allied bands from far off,
unshaken and with no movement of his heart, he stiffened and drank a new fire through all his bones.

nec latet haustus amor, sed fax vibrata medullis
in vultus atque ora redit lucemque genarum 305

nor is the draught of love hidden, but a torch shaken in his marrows
returns into his face and mouth, and the light of his cheeks 305

tinguit et inpulsam tenui sudore pererrat.
lactea Massagetae veluti cum pocula fuscant
sanguine puniceo vel ebur corrumpitur ostro,
sic variis manifesta notis palletque rubetque
flamma repens. eat atque ultro ferus hospita sacra 310
disiciat turbae securus et inmemor aevi,
ni pudor et iunctae teneat reverentia matris.

she tinges, and over the pressed form wanders a thin sweat.
just as when the Massagetae stain milky cups,
or ivory is defiled with crimson and purple dye,
so, made manifest by varied marks, she both pales and reddens
with a creeping flame. go, and moreover let the fierce guest, consecrate to hospitality,310
scatter the throng, secure and unmindful of age,
unless modesty and the reverence of a joined mother hold him.

ut pater armenti quondam ductorque futurus,
cui nondum toto peraguntur cornua gyro,
cum sociam pastus niveo candore iuvencam                315
aspicit, ardescunt animi primusque per ora
spumat amor, spectant hilares obstantque magistri.
     Occupat arrepto iam conscia tempore mater:
'Hasne inter simulare choros et bracchia ludo
nectere, nate, grave est? gelida quid tale sub Ossa                320

as a father once and future leader of the herd,
whose horns are not yet run through the whole circuit,
when he beholds a companion heifer of pasture with snowy whiteness                315
desires blaze in his spirit and at first love foams at his mouth,
the cheerful herd look on and the masters stand in the way.
     The mother, already aware of the moment seized, takes hold and interposes:
'Is it a burden, my son, to play among these choruses and to link arms in sport?
what of one so cold beneath Ossa?'                320

Peliacisque iugis? o si mihi iungere curas
atque alium portare sinu contingat Achillem!'
mulcetur laetumque rubet visusque protervos
obliquat vestesque manu leviore repellit.
aspicit ambiguum genetrix cogique volentem 325
iniecitque sinus; tum colla rigentia mollit
submittitque graves umeros et fortia laxat
bracchia et inpexos certo domat ordine crines
ac sua dilecta cervice monilia transfert;
et picturato cohibens vestigia limbo 330
incessum motumque docet fandique pudorem.

Pelian ridges? O if it were granted me to join cares and to bear another Achilles in my bosom!'
she is soothed and reddens, and averts her bold gaze
and with a lighter hand thrusts back her garments.
the mother looks on, seeing him wavering and willing to be compelled, 325
and casts him into her folds; then she softens the stiffening necks
and lets down heavy shoulders and loosens strong arms
and tames the disordered hair in sure order
and transfers the beloved necklaces to her own neck;
and, restraining the steps with a painted hem, 330
she teaches the gait and the motion and the modesty of speech.

qualiter artifici victurae pollice cerae
accipiunt formas ignemque manumque sequuntur,
talis erat divae natum mutantis imago.
nec luctata diu; superest nam plurimus illi 335

as living wax to the artisan’s thumb receives forms
and follows fire and hand,
such was the changing likeness of the goddess’s son.
nor did she struggle long; for very much remains for her 335

invita virtute decor, fallitque tuentes
ambiguus tenuique latens discrimine sexus.
     Procedunt, iterumque monens iterumque fatigans
blanda Thetis: 'Sic ergo gradum, sic ora manusque,
nate, feres comitesque modis imitabere fictis,                340
ne te suspectum molli non misceat aulae
rector et incepti pereant mendacia furti.'
dicit et admoto non cessat comere tactu.
sic ubi virgineis Hecate lassata Therapnis
ad patrem fratremque redit, comes haeret eunti                345
mater et ipsa umeros exsertaque bracchia velat;
ipsa arcum pharetrasque locat vestemque latentem
deducit sparsosque tumet conponere crines.

Beauty unwilling by virtue rules, and deceives those beholding,
ambiguous and hiding its sex in a fine discrimination.
They proceed, Thetis soothing, warning again and again and wearying again:
'Thus then your step, thus your face and hands, my son, you will carry, and companions
you will imitate in fashioned modes, 340
lest the ruler of the soft court mix you as suspect
and the lies of the begun deceit perish.'
she says, and with a moved touch does not cease to comb.
So when Hecate, spent at Therapne, returns to father and brother,
her mother clings as a companion going with her, 345
and herself shelters the shoulders and outstretched arms;
she herself sets down the bow and quivers and the hidden garment,
and arranges the scattered hair which swells to be put in order.

Protinus adgreditur regem atque ibi testibus aris
'Hanc tibi' ait 'nostri germanam, rector, Achillis— 350

Straightaway she approaches the king and there, with the altars as witnesses, 'This to you,' she says, 'is the sister of our Achilles, ruler—' 350

nonne vides ut torva genas aequandaque fratri?—
tradimus. arma umeris arcumque animosa petebat
ferre et Amazonio conubia pellere ritu.
sed mihi curarum satis est pro stirpe virili;
haec calathos et sacra ferat, tu frange regendo 355
indocilem sexuque tene, dum nubilis aetas
solvendusque pudor; neve exercere protervas
gymnadas aut lustris nemorum concede vagari.

Do you not see how fierce her cheeks are, and how she would be made equal to her brother?—
we give her over. She sought to bear arms and a brave bow upon her shoulders
and to repel marriage in Amazonian rite. But for me there are enough cares for the male line;
let this one bear baskets and sacred rites, you break (her) by ruling and keep her untrained in sex, 355
until nubile age and the shame to be released; nor grant her to practise wanton
gymnastics or to roam the grove‑lustrations.

intus ale et similes inter seclude puellas;
litore praecipue portuque arcere memento.                360
vidisti modo vela Phrygum: iam mutua iura
fallere transmissae pelago didicere carinae.'
     Accedit dictis pater ingenioque parentis
occultum Aeaciden—quis divum fraudibus obstet?—
accipit; ultro etiam veneratur supplice dextra                365

keep inside the girls who gamble and the like shut off among themselves; remember especially to keep them from the shore and the harbor.                360
you but now saw the Phrygian sails: already the keels, sent across the main, have learned to betray the mutual oaths they pledged.'
     The father adds to these words, and by the wit of the parent receives the hidden Aeacides—who can withstand the gods by fraud?—
he takes him; furthermore he even venerates him with a suppliant right hand                365

et grates electus agit: nec turba piarum
Scyriadum cessat nimio defigere visu
virginis ora novae, quantum cervice comisque
emineat quantumque umeros ac pectora fundat.
dehinc sociare choros castisque accedere sacris                370
hortantur ceduntque loco et contingere gaudent.
qualiter Idaliae volucres, ubi mollia frangunt
nubila, iam longum caeloque domoque gregatae,
si iunxit pinnas diversoque hospita tractu
venit avis, cunctae primum mirantur et horrent;                375
mox propius propiusque volant, atque aere in ipso
paulatim fecere suam plausuque secundo
circumeunt hilares et ad alta cubilia ducunt.
     Digreditur multum cunctata in limine mater,
dum repetit monitus arcanaque murmura figit                380

and the chosen one utters thanks: nor does the throng of pious Scyrian maidens cease to fix with excessive gaze
the face of the new virgin, how much she rises in neck and hair
and how much she spreads her shoulders and her breast.
thence they urge her to join the choruses and to approach the chaste rites                370
they encourage, and they yield their place and rejoice to touch her.
just as the birds of Idalia, when they rend the soft
clouds, already long gathered in sky and at home together,
if a strange bird has joined wings and by a foreign flight
comes, all at first marvel and bristle with awe;                375
soon they fly nearer and nearer, and in the very air
they gradually make it their own, and with approving applause
they circle around, joyful, and lead her to high nests.
     The mother, long delaying, departs from the threshold,
while she repeats admonitions and fixes secret murmurs                380

auribus et tacito dat verba novissima vultu.
tunc excepta freto longe cervice reflexa
abnatat et blandis adfatur litora votis:
'Cara mihi tellus, magnae cui pignora curae
depositumque ingens timido commisimus astu,                 385
sis felix taceasque, precor, quo more tacebat
Creta Rheae; te longus honos aeternaque cingent
templa nec instabili fama superabere Delo,
et ventis et sacra fretis interque vadosas
Cycladas, Aegaeae frangunt ubi saxa procellae,                390
Nereidum tranquilla domus iurandaque nautis
insula; ne solum Danaas admitte carinas,
ne, precor! "Hic thiasi tantum et nihil utile bellis:"
hoc famam narrare doce, dumque arma parantur
Dorica et alternum Mavors interfurit orbem,—                395
cedo equidem—sit virgo pii Lycomedis Achilles.'
     Interea meritos ultrix Europa dolores
dulcibus armorum furiis et supplice regum
conquestu flammata movet; quippe ambit Atrides
ille magis, cui nupta domi, facinusque relatu                400

and with silent countenance utters her final words to their ears.
then, having drawn her neck back far from the sea,
she swims off and addresses the shores with blandishing prayers:
'Dear land to me, to whom we entrusted pledges of great care
and a vast deposit by timid guile,                 385
be fortunate and be silent, I beg, as Crete was silent toward Rhea; long honor and eternal
temples will encircle you and you shall not be surpassed by the unstable fame of Delos,
and amid winds and sacred straits and the shallow
Cyclades, where Aegean squalls break the rocks,                390
a tranquil home of the Nereids and an isle vowed to sailors;
do not admit the Danaans' ships alone,
do not, I pray! let the story be taught thus: "Here only the thiasus and nothing of use for wars:"
teach men to tell this fame, and while arms are being prepared
and Doric Mavors rages about the alternating world,—                395
I indeed concede—may the virgin Achilles of pious Lycomedes be.'
     Meanwhile Europa, avenger of due pains,
moves, inflamed with the sweet furies of arms and with the suppliant lament of kings;
for indeed that Atrides especially, whose wife at home, and the deed too dreadful to relate,                400

asperat Iliacum: captam sine Marte, sine armis
progeniem caeli Spartaeque potentis alumnam,
iura, fidem, superos una calcata rapina.
hoc foedus Phrygium, haec geminae commercia terrae?
quid maneat populos, ubi tanta iniuria primos 405
degrassata duces?—coeunt gens omnis et aetas:
nec tantum exciti, bimari quos Isthmia vallo
claustra nec undisonae quos circuit umbo Maleae,
sed procul, admotas Phrixi qua semita iungi
Europamque Asiamque vetat, quasque ordine gentes 410
litore Abydeno maris alligat unda superni.

She outrages Ilium: taken without Mars, without arms,
the progeny of heaven and the potent Sparta’s alumnus, her rights, her faith, the gods together trodden down by one ravishment.
Is this a Phrygian compact, this the commerce of a twin land?
What peoples remain, where such wrong has gone forth against the first leaders departed? 405
the whole nation and every age gather together:
and not only roused are those whom the double-sea Isthmus with its rampart encloses,
nor those whom the sound-of-waves boss circles around Malea’s shore,
but from afar, where the path of Phrixus forbids the joining of brought-together Europe and Asia,
and which peoples in order the wave of the upper sea binds to the Abydenian shore.

fervet amor belli concussasque erigit urbes.
aera domat Temese, quatitur navalibus ora
Eubois, innumera resonant incude Mycenae,
Pisa novat currus, Nemee dat terga ferarum, 415

the love of war seethes and rears up shaken cities.
Temese tames the metal, the shores of Euboea are shaken by ships,
innumerable anvils ring at Mycenae,415
Pisa renews chariots, Nemea yields the hides of beasts,

Cirrha sagittiferas certat stipare pharetras,
Lerna gravis clipeos caesis vestire iuvencis.
dat bello pedites Aetolus et asper Acarnan,
Argos agit turmas, vacuantur pascua ditis
Arcadiae, frenat celeres Epiros alumnos, 420
Phocis et Aoniae iaculis rarescitis umbrae,
murorum tormenta Pylos Messenaque tendunt.
nulla inmunis humus; velluntur postibus altis
arma olim dimissa patrum, flammisque liquescunt
dona deum; ereptum superis Mars efferat aurum. 425
nusquam umbrae veteres: minor Othrys et ardua sidunt
Taygeta, exuti viderunt aera montes.

Cirrha vies to pack her arrow-bearing quivers,
Lerna, burdened, girds shields with slaughtered bulls.
Aetolus and harsh Acarnan furnish soldiers for war,
Argos marshals squadrons, the pastures of rich Arcadia are emptied
and Epirus restrains its swift youths, 420
Phocis and Aonian shades thin with thrown javelins,
the siege-engines of walls aim at Pylos and Messenê.
no land is free from hurt; from lofty doorposts are wrenched
the arms once put aside by fathers, and the gifts of the gods melt in flames;
Mars even plunders the gold snatched from the gods above. 425
nowhere the ancient shadows: less than Othrys rise the steep Taygetus
the mountains have seen their bronzes stripped away.

iam natat omne nemus; caeduntur robora classi,
silva minor remis. ferrum lassatur in usus
innumeros, quod rostra liget, quod muniat arma, 430

now every grove floats; oaks are felled for the fleet,
the forest lessened by oars. Iron is worn out in innumerable uses,
that which binds the rostra, that which equips the arms, 430

belligeros quod frenet equos, quod mille catenis
squalentis nectat tunicas, quod sanguine fumet
vulneraque alta bibat, quod conspirante veneno
inpellat mortes; tenuant umentia saxa
attritu et pigris addunt mucronibus iras.                435
nec modus aut arcus lentare aut fundere glandes
aut torrere sudes galeasque attollere conis.
hos inter motus pigram gemit una quietem
Thessalia et geminis incusat fata querellis,
quod senior Peleus nec adhuc maturus Achilles.                440
     Iam Pelopis terras Graiumque exhauserat orbem
praecipitans in transtra viros insanus equosque
Bellipotens. fervent portus et operta carinis
stagna suasque hiemes classis promota suosque
attollit fluctus; ipsum iam puppibus aequor                445

because it maddens men for war, because it yokes a thousand horses
to rusted chains, because it girds tunics with squalor, because it fumes with blood
and drinks deep wounds, because with conspired poison
it urges on deaths; damp stones are thinned
by attrition and dull blades add to sluggish wrath.                435
nor is there measure to bend a bow or to cast bullets
or to scorch stakes and to lift helmets with cones.
Amid these stirrings Thessaly alone sighs for idle rest
and accuses fate with twin complaints,
because Peleus is old and Achilles not yet ripe.                440
     Now he had drained the lands of Pelops and the circle of the Greeks,
hurling men headlong to the benches, madness the steeds,
Bellipotent. Harbors boil and the holds veiled by keels
stir their waters and, the fleet launched, raise their winters and their waves;
and the very sea now swells about the sterns                445

deficit et totos consumunt carbasa ventos.
Prima ratis Danaas Hecateia congregat Aulis,
rupibus expositis longique crepidine dorsi
Euboicum scandens Aulis mare, litora multum
montivagae dilecta deae, iuxtaque Caphereus 450
latratum pelago tollens caput. ille Pelasgas
ut vidit tranare rates, ter monte ter undis
intonuit saevaeque dedit praesagia noctis.

and the winds fail and the winds wholly consume the sails.
The first ship, Hecateia, gathers the Danaans at Aulis,
with cliffs laid open and the long brink of its ridge,
Aulis climbing the Euboic sea, shores much beloved
of the mountain-roving goddess, and nearby Caphereus, 450
raising its baying head against the sea. he, when he saw the Pelasgian ships ploughing the waters,
thundered three times on the mountain and three times on the waves
and gave ominous signs of a savage night.

coetus ibi armorum Troiae fatalis, ibi ingens
iuratur bellum, donec sol annuus omnes 455
conficeret metas. tunc primum Graecia vires
contemplata suas; tunc sparsa ac dissona moles
in corpus vultumque coit et rege sub uno
disposita est. sic curva feras indago latentes
claudit et admotis paulatim cassibus artat. 460

There is that fatal muster of Troy’s arms, there a huge war is sworn, until the yearly sun had completed all its courses. 455
Then for the first time Greece beheld her own forces; then the scattered and dissonant mass coalesces into body and face and is disposed under one king. Thus she encloses lurking wild beasts in a curved snare
and, with cages brought near, gradually binds them fast. 460

illae ignem sonitumque pavent diffusaque linquunt
avia miranturque suum decrescere montem,
donec in angustam ceciderunt undique vallem;
inque vicem stupuere greges socioque timore
mansuescunt: simul hirtus aper, simul ursa lupusque                465
cogitur et captos contempsit cerva leones.
     Sed quamquam et gemini pariter sua bella capessant
Atridae famamque avida virtute paternam
Tydides Sthenelusque premant, nec cogitet annos
Antilochus septemque Aiax umbone coruscet                470
armenti reges atque aequum moenibus orbem,
consiliisque armisque vigil contendat Ulixes:
omnis in absentem belli manus ardet Achillem,
nomen Achillis amant et in Hectora solus Achilles
poscitur; illum unum Teucris Priamoque loquuntur                475

they fear the fire and the sound and leave the ways spread out
and wonder to see their mountain diminish,
until they fell on every side into a narrow vale;
and in turn the herds were stupefied and, with a comrade’s fear,
they grow tame: at once the bristling boar, at once the she-bear and the wolf                465
are constrained, and the stag scorns the captured lions.
     But although the twin sons take up their wars equally,
the Atridae and greedy for paternal fame with valour,
Tydides and Sthenelus press on, nor let Antilochus and Ajax with bossed shield gleam ages away;
let them contend as kings of the herd and the even circuit of walls,
and let Ulysses strive with counsels and wakeful arms:
every band of war burns for Achilles though absent,
they love the name of Achilles and demand Achilles alone for Hector;
that one man they speak of to the Trojans and to Priam                475

fatalem. quis enim Haemoniis sub vallibus alter
creverit effossa reptans nive? cuius adortus
cruda rudimenta et teneros formaverit annos
Centaurus?

fateful. for who else beneath the Haemonian valleys
has grown up, creeping from the dug-up snow? whose onset
has fashioned raw rudiments and moulded tender years—
a Centaur?

patrii propior cui linea caeli,
quemve alium Stygios tulerit secreta per amnes 480
Nereis et pulchros ferro praestruxerit artus?
haec Graiae castris iterant traduntque cohortes.
cedit turba ducum vincique haud maesta fatetur.

to whom the boundary of the fatherly sky is nearer,
or whom else the secret Stygian rivers have borne through 480
and which Nereid would have pre-built his fair limbs with iron?
these things the Greek cohorts repeat and hand on in camp.
the throng of leaders yields and, not sorrowful, confesses to being conquered.

sic cum pallentes Phlegraea in castra coirent
caelicolae iamque Odrysiam Gradivus in hastam                485
surgeret et Libycos Tritonia tolleret angues
ingentemque manu curvaret Delius arcum,
stabat anhela metu solum Natura Tonantem
respiciens, quando ille hiemes tonitrusque vocaret
nubibus, igniferam quot fulmina posceret Aetnen.                 490
     Atque ibi dum mixta vallati plebe suorum
et maris et belli consultant tempora reges,
increpitans magno vatem Calchanta tumultu
Protesilaus ait—namque huic bellare cupido
praecipua et primae iam tunc data gloria mortis—:                495

Thus when the Phlegraean heaven-dwellers, pale, assembled into the camp
and now Gradivus would rise to the Odrysian spear                485
and Tritonian would lift Libyan serpents,
and Delian with his hand would bend the mighty bow,
Nature, panting with fear, stood on the ground, looking back to the Thunderer,
when he should call storms and thunder to the clouds, and demand how many fire-bearing lightnings Aetna should produce.                 490
     And there, while the kings, surrounded by a mingled populace of their own,
debated the seasons both of sea and of war,
the prophet Calchanta, rebuking with great tumult,
Protesilaus spoke—for to him the desire to make war,
and the chief and already then conferred glory of the first death—:                495

'O nimium Phoebi tripodumque oblite tuorum
Thestoride, quando ora deo possessa movebis
iustius aut quaenam Parcarum occulta recludes?
cernis ut ignotum cuncti stupeantque fremantque
Aeaciden? sordet volgo Calydonius heros 500
et magno genitus Telamone Aiaxque secundus;
nos quoque—sed Mavors et Troia arrepta probabunt.

'O too heedless of Phoebus and of your tripod, Thestoride,
when will you move a mouth possessed by the god more justly
or what hidden things of the Parcae will you unclose?
do you see how all are astonished and roar at the unknown
son of Aeacus? The Calydonian hero is disgraced among the common people 500
and Telamon‑born, and Ajax the second by great birth;
we also — but Mavors and captured Troy will judge.

illum neglectis—pudet heu!—ductoribus omnes
belligerum ceu numen amant. dic ocius: aut cur
serta comis et multus honos? quibus abditus oris 505
quave iubes tellure peti?

him, with leaders neglected—ah, shame!—they all
as if a warlike numen adore. Say quickly: or why
garlands for his hair and so much honor? by what hidden shores 505
or to what land do you bid him be sought?

nam fama nec antris
Chironis patria nec degere Peleos aula.
heia, inrumpe deos et fata latentia vexa,
laurigerosque ignes, si quando, avidissimus hauri!
arma horrenda tibi saevosque remisimus enses, 510

for fame dwells neither in Chiron's antrum nor in Peleus' hall. ho, burst upon the gods and vex the hidden fates,
and drink up the laurel-bearing fires, most avaricious, if ever! we have sent to you dreadful arms and savage swords, 510

numquam has inbelles galea violabere vittas,
sed felix numeroque ducum praestantior omni,
si magnum Danais pro te dependis Achillem.'
     Iamdudum trepido circumfert lumina motu
intrantemque deum primo pallore fatetur                515
Thestorides; mox igne genas et sanguine torquens
nec socios nec castra videt, sed caecus et absens
nunc superum magnos deprendit in aethere coetus,
nunc sagas adfatur aves, nunc dura sororum
licia, turiferas modo consulit anxius aras                520
flammarumque apicem rapit et caligine sacra
pascitur. exsiliunt crines rigidisque laborat
vitta comis, nec colla loco nec in ordine gressus.
tandem fessa tremens longis mugitibus ora
solvit, et oppositum vox eluctata furorem est:                525

you will never with your helm violate these unwarlike ribbons,
but happy and surpassing every company of leaders in number,
if for the Danaans you pay down the great Achilles on your behalf.'
     Already with a trembling motion he casts his eyes about
and, admitting the god entering, with a first paleness confesses                515
Thestorides; soon, twisting his cheeks with fire and blood,
he sees neither comrades nor the camp, but blind and absent
now he discerns great assemblies of the gods in the upper ether,
now he addresses prophetic birds, now the hard threads of the sisters,
now anxiously consults the incense-bearing altars                520
and snatches the summit of the flames and feeds on sacred gloom.
His locks spring out and the fillet labors on the rigid hair,
nor are his neck and steps in place or in due order.
At last, worn out, trembling, with long-drawn lowings he unlooses his mouth,
and a voice wrested forth was uttered against the opposing fury:                525

'Quo rapis ingentem magni Chironis alumnum
femineis, Nerei, dolis? huc mitte: quid aufers?
non patiar: meus iste, meus.

'Whither do you snatch away the mighty pupil of great Chiron
by feminine, Nereus, deceits? send him here: what do you carry off?
I will not suffer it: that one is mine, mine.

tu diva profundi?
et me Phoebus agit. latebris quibus abdere temptas
eversorem Asiae?

you, goddess of the deep?
and Phoebus drives me. into what hiding-places do you try to conceal
the overthrower of Asia?

video per Cycladas altas 530
attonitam et turpi quaerentem litora furto.
occidimus: placuit Lycomedis conscia tellus.
o scelus!

I see through the high Cyclades 530
stunned, and seeking the shores for a shameful theft.
we have fallen: the earth, knowing Lycomedes, took pleasure.
O crime!

en fluxae veniunt in pectora vestes.
scinde, puer, scinde et timidae ne cede parenti.
ei mihi raptus abit!

Behold, flowing garments come upon the breast.
Tear them apart, boy, tear them, and do not yield to the timid parent.
Ah me — snatched away, he is gone!

quaenam haec procul inproba virgo?'                535
     Hic nutante gradu stetit amissisque furoris
viribus ante ipsas tremefactus conruit aras.
tunc haerentem Ithacum Calydonius occupat heros:
'Nos vocat iste labor: neque enim comes ire recusem,
si tua cura trahat. licet ille sonantibus antris                540

What shameless maiden is that far off?'                535
     Here, with his step faltering, he stood and, his frenzy's powers gone,
was shaken and fell before the very altars. Then the Calydonian hero seizes quaking Ithacus as he clings:
'This task calls us: nor would I refuse to go as companion,
if your care should lead. Though he to the resounding caves may go                540

Tethyos aversae gremioque prematur aquosi
Nereos, invenies. tu tantum providus astu
tende animum vigilem fecundumque erige pectus:
non mihi quis vatum dubiis in casibus ausit
fata videre prior.' subicit gavisus Ulixes: 545
'Sic deus omnipotens firmet, sic adnuat illa
virgo paterna tibi! sed me spes lubrica tardat:
grande quidem armatum castris inducere Achillem,
sed si fata negent, quam foedum ac triste reverti!

Tethys, turned away, and Nereus pressed in her watery bosom
you will find. You alone, provident in cunning, stretch forth
a wakeful mind and lift a fecund heart:
let no one of the poets dare before me to behold the fates in doubtful cases.' rejoicing Ulysses adds: 545
'Thus may the almighty god establish it, thus may that maiden assent to you as a father! but a slippery hope delays me:
indeed it is a great thing to lead the armed Achilles into the camps,
but if the fates deny it, how foul and sad to return!

vota tamen Danaum non intemptata relinquam.                550
iamque adeo aut aderit mecum Peleius heros,
aut verum penitus latet et sine Apolline Calchas.'
     Conclamant Danai stimulatque Agamemno volentes.
laxantur coetus resolutaque murmure laeto
agmina discedunt, quales iam nocte propinqua                555

Yet I will not leave untried the vows of the Danaans.                550
and now indeed either the hero Peleus will be present with me,
or the truth lies hidden wholly and Calchas without Apollo.'
     The Danaans shout aloud and willingly urge on Agamemnon.
The crowds are loosened and, with a glad murmur broken up,
the columns depart, like those at an approaching night                555

e pastu referuntur aves, vel in antra reverti
melle novo gravidas mitis videt Hybla catervas.
nec mora, iam dextras Ithacesia carbasus auras
poscit, et in remis hilaris sedere iuventus.
At procul occultum falsi sub imagine sexus 560
Aeaciden furto iam noverat una latenti
Deidamia virum; sed opertae conscia culpae
cuncta pavet tacitasque putat sentire sorores.

from pasture the birds are borne back, or the gentle Hybla sees the swarms, gravid with new honey, return into the caves.
nor delay: now the Ithacan sailcloth summons right hands to the breeze,
and the merry youth to sit at the oars. But far off, beneath the false guise of a different sex 560
she had already known the Aeacides as a man, hidden in theft alone—Deidamia; but, conscious of her concealed guilt,
she fears everything and thinks her silent sisters feel it.

namque ut virgineo stetit in grege durus Achilles
exsolvitque rudem genetrix digressa pudorem, 565
protinus elegit comitem, quamquam omnis in illum
turba coit, blandeque novas nil tale timenti
admovet insidias: illam sequiturque premitque
improbus, illam oculis iterumque iterumque resumit.
nunc nimius lateri non evitantis inhaeret, 570

for when harsh Achilles stood in the maidenly flock
and the mother, having gone away, loosened his uncouth shame, 565
straightaway he chose a companion, although the whole throng
gathers about him, and she, flattering, brings no new such ambushes
to one fearing nothing: he follows and presses her, shameless,
he seizes her with his eyes again and again.
now, clinging too closely to the side of one not avoiding, 570

nunc levibus sertis, lapsis nunc sponte canistris,
nunc thyrso parcente ferit, modo dulcia notae
fila lyrae tenuesque modos et carmina monstrat
Chironis ducitque manum digitosque sonanti
infringit citharae, nunc occupat ora canentis                575
et ligat amplexus et mille per oscula laudat.
illa libens discit, quo vertice Pelion, et quis
Aeacides, puerique auditum nomen et actus
adsidue stupet et praesentem cantat Achillem.
ipsa quoque et validos proferre modestius artus                580
et tenuare rudes attrito pollice lanas
demonstrat reficitque colos et perdita dura
pensa manu; vocisque sonum pondusque tenentis,
quodque fugit comites, nimio quod lumine sese
figat et in verbis intempestivus anhelet,                585

now with light garlands, now with baskets slipped off of their own accord,
now sparing the thyrsus she strikes; at one moment she shows the sweet strings
of the well-known lyre and the delicate modes and songs;
she guides Chiron’s hand and fingers to the sounding cithara and sets them moving,
now takes the mouth of the singer, binds embraces, and with a thousand kisses praises him. 575
she gladly learns where Pelion’s summit is, and who Aeacides is, and the boy
is continually amazed at the name and deeds he has heard and sings of Achilles as present.
she herself, too, more modestly shows how to bring forth sturdy limbs
and to thin raw wool with a worn thumb,
and reforges the spindles and with her hand renews the ruined hard distaffs;
and holding the sound and the weight of her voice, and that which the comrades avoid,—that which
fixes itself with excessive light and pants untimely in words,—

miratur; iam iamque dolos aperire parantem
virginea levitate fugit prohibetque fateri.
sic sub matre Rhea iuvenis regnator Olympi
oscula securae dabat insidiosa sorori
frater adhuc, medii donec reverentia cessit                590
sanguinis et versos germana expavit amores.
[tandem detecti timidae Nereidos astus.]
     Lucus Agenorei sublimis ad orgia Bacchi
stabat et admissum caelo nemus; huius in umbra
alternam renovare piae trieterida matres                595
consuerant scissumque pecus terraque revulsas
ferre trabes gratosque deo praestare furores.

he marvels; now, even now, as she prepares to unveil his guile,
with virginal lightness she flees and forbids him to confess.
Thus, beneath mother Rhea, the youthful ruler of Olympus
gave kisses to his unsuspecting, insidious sister — still her brother —
until the reverence of their nearest blood yielded                590
and the sister feared loves turned upon her. [at last the timorous wile of the discovered Nereid.]
     A lofty grove of Agenor stood at the orgies of Bacchus,
a wood reaching to the sky; in its shade
the pious triennial mothers were wont to renew the alternating rites                595
and to bear the scattered flock and beams torn from the earth
and to offer to the god the pleasing frenzies.

lex procul ire mares; iterat praecepta verendus
ductor, inaccessumque viris edicitur antrum.
nec satis est: stat fine dato metuenda sacerdos 600

Law: let the men go far off; the reverend leader repeats the prescribed precepts,
and the cave is proclaimed inaccessible to men.
Nor is that enough: a priestess, to be feared, stands with the boundary set 600

exploratque aditus, ne quis temerator oberret
agmine femineo: tacitus sibi risit Achilles.
illum virgineae ducentem signa catervae
magnaque difficili solventem bracchia motu—
et sexus pariter decet et mendacia matris— 605
mirantur comites. nec iam pulcherrima turbae
Deidamia suae tantumque admota superbo
vincitur Aeacidae, quantum premit ipsa sorores.

and he searches the approaches, lest any rash man stray
from the feminine column: Achilles smiled silently to himself.
his comrades marvel at him, him leading the standards of a virginal troop
and unloosing his great arms with a hard movement—
and 'the sex alike becomes' and 'the mother's lies'— 605
nor now is Deidamia most fair only to her throng; brought close to the proud
son of Aeacus, she is subdued as much as she herself restrains her sisters.

ut vero e tereti demisit nebrida collo
errantesque sinus hedera collegit et alte 610
cinxit purpureis flaventia tempora vittis
vibravitque gravi redimitum missile dextra,
attonito stat turba metu sacrisque relictis
illum ambire libet pronosque attollere vultus.
talis, ubi ad Thebas vultumque animumque remisit 615

but when indeed from her rounded neck she let fall a dusky mane
and gathered her wandering folds with ivy and high 610
she bound her golden temples with purple fillets
and brandished a missile girded in her heavy right hand,
the crowd stood amazed, struck dumb with fear and the rites abandoned,
they wished to surround her and to raise their bowed faces.
Such, when toward Thebes she turned back her face and mind 615

Euhius et patrio satiavit pectora luxu,
serta comis mitramque levat thyrsumque virentem
armat et hostiles invisit fortior Indos.
Scandebat roseo medii fastigia caeli
Luna iugo, totis ubi somnus inertior alis 620
defluit in terras mutumque amplectitur orbem.
consedere chori paulumque exercita pulsu
aera tacent, tenero cum solus ab agmine Achilles
haec secum: 'Quonam timidae commenta parentis
usque feres?

Euhius (Bacchus) with paternal luxury sated their breasts,
with garlands crowned the locks and lifted the mitre and armed with a green thyrsus
and, stronger, visited the hostile Inds. Up the rosy ridge of the mid-heaven
the Moon climbed on the yoke, where Slumber, more inert with whole wings, 620
flows down into the lands and embraces the silent orb.
the choirs sat and, their bronze-cymbals a little stilled by practised beat,
were silent, when Achilles alone from the tender troop with these words to himself
said: 'How long will you bear the fabricated fictions of your timorous parent?

primumque imbelli carcere perdes 625
florem animi? non tela licet Mavortia dextra,
non trepidas agitare feras? ubi campus et amnes
Haemonii?

and will you first squander the flower of your spirit in an unwarlike prison? Is it not permitted for the Mars-bearing right hand to wield weapons, to stir trembling beasts? Where are the plain and rivers of Haemonia? 625

quaerisne meos, Sperchie, natatus
promissasque comas? an desertoris alumni
nullus honos, Stygiasque procul iam raptus ad umbras 630

Do you ask for my men, Sperchius, my swims and the promised tresses?
Or is there no honor for a deserter’s fosterling, and now snatched far off to Stygian shades 630

dicor, et orbatus plangit mea funera Chiron?
tu nunc tela manu, nostros tu dirigis arcus
nutritosque mihi scandis, Patrocle, iugales:
ast ego pampineis diffundere bracchia thyrsis
et tenuare colus—pudet haec taedetque fateri— 635
iam scio. quin etiam dilectae virginis ignem
aequaevamque facem captus noctesque diesque
dissimulas.

Am I called, and does bereft Chiron lament my funerals?
you now with weapons in hand, you guide our bows
and you mount the yokes nourished for me, Patroclus:
but I to spread my arms with vine‑wreathed thyrses
and to thin the distaff — I am ashamed and weary to confess these things — 635
now I know. Nay even, seized by the fire of a beloved maiden
and by a torch of equal age, you conceal both night and day.

quonam usque premes urentia pectus
vulnera? teque marem—pudet heu!—nec amore probabis?'
Sic ait et densa noctis gavisus in umbra 640
tempestiva suis torpere silentia furtis
vi potitur votis et toto pectore veros
admovet amplexus; vidit chorus omnis ab alto
astrorum et tenerae rubuerunt cornua Lunae.
illa quidem clamore nemus montemque replevit; 645

How long will you press those burning wounds upon your breast?
And you a man—pudet, alas!—will you not approve of love?
Thus he speaks, and rejoicing in the dense shade of night 640
he wins for himself by vows the timely silence that sleeps for his thefts,
and with his whole heart brings near true embraces; the whole chorus from on high
of the stars saw, and the tender horns of the Moon blushed.
she indeed filled the grove and the mountain with shouting; 645

sed Bacchi comites, discussa nube soporis,
signa choris indicta putant; fragor undique notus
tollitur, et thyrsos iterum vibrabat Achilles,
ante tamen dubiam verbis solatus amicis:
'Ille ego—quid trepidas?—genitum quem caerula mater 650
paene Iovi silvis nivibusque inmisit alendum
Thessalicis. nec ego hos cultus aut foeda subissem
tegmina, ni primo te visa in litore: cessi
te propter, tibi pensa manu, tibi mollia gesto
tympana. quid defles magno nurus addita ponto? 655
quid gemis ingentes caelo paritura nepotes?

but the companions of Bacchus, with the cloud of sleep scattered,
think the signals appointed for the choruses; a familiar crash
arises from all sides, and Achilles again brandished his thyrsi,
yet before that soothing his doubtful friends with words:
'It is I—why do you tremble?—the offspring whom the blue mother 650
almost sent to Jove to be reared amid woods and snows of Thessaly.
Nor would I have submitted to these cults or worn these foul
garments, had I not first seen you on the shore: I yielded
for your sake, I carry the distaffs for you in my hand, I bear the soft
timbrels for you. Why do you bewail a daughter-in-law added to the great sea? 655
Why do you groan for mighty grandchildren about to be born to the sky?'

"Sed pater—" ante igni ferroque excisa iacebit
Scyros et in tumidas ibunt haec versa procellas
moenia, quam saevo mea tu conubia pendas
funere: non adeo parebimus omnia matri.' 660

"'But father—' Scyros shall lie aforetime cut down by fire and iron,
and these walls, turned, shall be cast into the swelling storms;
for which, on account of my marriage, you will pay with a savage funeral:
we will not so wholly yield all things to our mother." 660

[vade sed ereptum celes taceasque pudorem.]
Obstipuit tantis regina exterrita monstris,
quamquam olim suspecta fides, et comminus ipsum
horruit et facies multum mutata fatentis.
quid faciat? casusne suos ferat ipsa parenti 665
seque simul iuvenemque premat, fortassis acerbas
hausurum poenas?

[Go, but conceal the rescued one and hush the shame.]
The queen stood agape, terrified by such great monsters,
although once her faith had been suspected, and she shuddered at him close by
and the face of the one confessing was much altered. What shall she do? Shall she bear her misfortunes herself to her parent 665
and at the same time crush both herself and the young man, perhaps to drink up bitter penalties?

et adhuc in corde manebat
ille diu deceptus amor: silet aegra premitque
iam commune nefas; unam placet addere furtis
altricem sociam, precibus quae victa duorum 670
adnuit. illa astu tacito raptumque pudorem
surgentemque uterum atque aegros in pondere menses
occuluit, plenis donec stata tempora metis
attulit et partus index Lucina resolvit.
Iamque per Aegaeos ibat Laertia flexus 675

and still that long-deceived love remained in her heart:
the sick woman is silent and now presses down the shared crime; it pleases her
to add one foster-mother as companion to the thefts, she who, conquered by the prayers of two, 670
nodded. She with quiet guile concealed the stolen shame,
the swelling womb and the months heavy with sickness,
until, with the measures full, the appointed seasons brought forth
and Lucina, herald of childbirth, loosened the birth.
And now through the Aegean went the Laertian course 675

puppis, et innumerae mutabant Cyclades oras;
iam Paros Olearosque latent; iam raditur alta
Lemnos et a tergo decrescit Bacchica Naxos,
ante oculos crescente Samo; iam Delos opacat
aequor: ibi e celsa libant carchesia puppi                680
responsique fidem et verum Calchanta precantur.
audiit Arquitenens Zephyrumque e vertice Cynthi
inpulit et dubiis pleno dedit omina velo.
it pelago secura ratis: quippe alta Tonantis
iussa Thetin certas fatorum vertere leges                685
arcebant aegram lacrimis ac multa gementem,
quod non erueret pontum ventisque fretisque
omnibus invisum iam tunc sequeretur Ulixem.
     Frangebat radios humili iam pronus Olympo
Phoebus et Oceani penetrabile litus anhelis                690

the stern, and innumerable Cyclades changed their coasts;
now Paros and Olearos lie hidden; now high Lemnos is grazed
and Bacchic Naxos wanes astern, Samos growing before their eyes; now Delos darkens the sea:                680
there from the lofty stern they pour carchesian libations
and beg of Calchanta the faith of an answer and its truth.
Arquitenens heard and the Zephyr from the summit of Cynthus
blew on and gave full omens to the doubtful sail.                685
the craft goes secure on the sea: for the deep commands of the Thunderer
and Thetis’ orders restrained the turning of the fixed laws of fate,
keeping the sick woman back with tears and much lamentation,
because the sea would not be upheaved, and winds and all the hated straits                690
already then pursued Ulysses.
Phoebus, bent low now from humbled Olympus, broke his rays
and panted upon the shore permeable to Ocean.

promittebat equis, cum se scopulosa levavit
Scyros; in hanc totos emisit puppe rudentes
dux Laertiades sociisque resumere pontum
imperat et remis Zephyros supplere cadentes.
accedunt iuxta, et magis indubitata magisque 695
Scyros erat placidique super Tritonia custos
litoris. egressi numen venerantur amicae
Aetolusque Ithacusque deae.

he promised to the horses, when rocky Scyros lifted itself
into this harbor from the stern he sent forth the rigging entire
the Laertiade leader bids his comrades to resume the sea
and with oars to replenish the failing Zephyrs. they draw near close, and more undoubting and more 695
Scyros stood above, and a placid guardian of the Tritonian shore.
having disembarked they venerate the friendly numen,
and Aetolus and the Ithacan worship the goddess.

tunc providus heros,
hospita ne subito terrerent moenia coetu,
puppe iubet remanere suos; ipse ardua fido 700
cum Diomede petit. sed iam praevenerat arcis
litoreae servator Abas ignotaque regi
ediderat, sed Graia tamen, succedere terris
carbasa. procedunt, gemini ceu foedere iuncto
hiberna sub nocte lupi: licet et sua pulset 705

then the provident hero,
lest the hospitable walls be suddenly alarmed by the crowd,
orders his men to remain on the stern; he himself with faithful Diomedes seeks the heights 700
but already Abas, guardian of the coastal citadel, had anticipated and had disclosed unknown things to the king; yet the Greeks, nevertheless, launch sails to come ashore. they advance, like twin wolves joined by a compact,
to winter-quarters beneath the night: nor is it forbidden that he should strike his own.

natorumque fames, penitus rabiemque minasque
dissimulant humilesque meant, ne nuntiet hostes
cura canum et trepidos moneat vigilare magistros.
     Sic segnes heroes eunt campumque patentem,
qui medius portus celsamque interiacet urbem,                710
alterno sermone terunt; prior occupat acer
Tydides: 'Qua nunc verum ratione paramus
scrutari? namque ambiguo sub pectore pridem
verso, quid inbelles thyrsos mercatus et aera
urbibus in mediis Baccheaque terga mitrasque                715
huc tuleris varioque aspersas nebridas auro?

and the sailors' hunger, and deep madness and threats
they disguise, and humble minds feign, lest the care
of dogs should announce and warn the trembling masters to keep watch. Thus the slow heroes go and the open plain they tread,
which lies mid the harbour and the lofty city, 710
they wear it down with alternating speech; keen Tydides takes the lead:
'By what true reason do we now prepare to probe?
For with a wavering heart long turned over,
why did you bring here unmanly thyrsi and brazen
things into the midst of towns, and Bacchic skins and mitres
and fawn-skins sprinkled here with variegated gold?'

hisne gravem Priamo Phrygibusque armabis Achillem?'
illi subridens Ithacus paulum ore remisso:
'Haec tibi, virginea modo si Lycomedis in aula est
fraude latens, ultro confessum in proelia ducent 720

Will you arm this Achilles, grievous to Priam and the Phrygians?'
to whom the Ithacan, smiling with his mouth relaxed a little, replied:
'These things for you—if she now lies hidden by deceit in Lycomedēs' virginal hall—
I will of my own accord lead forth, acknowledged, into the battles. 720

Peliden; tu cuncta citus de puppe memento
ferre, ubi tempus erit, clipeumque his iungere donis,
qui pulcher signis auroque asperrimus astat;
nec sat erit: tecum lituo bonus adsit Agyrtes
occultamque tubam tacitos adportet in usus.'                725
     Dixerat, atque ipso portarum in limine regem
cernit et ostensa pacem praefatus oliva:
'Magna, reor, pridemque tuas pervenit ad aures
fama trucis belli, regum placidissime, quod nunc
Europamque Asiamque quatit. si nomina forte                730
huc perlata ducum, fidit quibus ultor Atrides:
hic tibi, quem tanta meliorem stirpe creavit
magnanimus Tydeus, Ithaces ego ductor Ulixes.
causa viae—metuam quid enim tibi cuncta fateri,
cum Graius notaque fide celeberrimus?—: imus                735

Pelides; you, swiftly from the prow remember to bear all things, when the time shall be, and to join a shield to these gifts, which the fair one stands most lavish with emblems and gold; nor will that be enough: let the good Agyrtes be present with his lituus, and bring the hidden trumpet for silent uses.' 725
He had spoken, and sees the king himself on the very threshold of the gates and, the olive held forth, having proclaimed peace, said: 'Great, I think, and long since your fame of savage war has reached my ears, most placid of kings, which now shakes Europe and Asia. If perchance the names of the commanders have been brought hither, on whom the avenger Atrides trusts: here for you, whom magnanimous Tydeus begot better by so renowned a stock, I am Ulysses, leader of the Ithacans. The cause of the voyage — for why should I fear to tell you everything, since I am a Greek and most celebrated for known faith? —: we go 735

explorare aditus invisaque litora Troiae,
quidve parent—' medio sermone intercipit ille:
'Adnuerit Fortuna, precor, dextrique secundent
ista dei! nunc hospitio mea tecta piumque
inlustrate larem.' simul intra limina ducit. 740
nec mora, iam mensas famularis turba torosque
instruit. interea visu perlustrat Ulixes
scrutaturque domum, si qua vestigia magnae
virginis aut dubia facies suspecta figura;
porticibusque vagis errat totosque penates, 745
ceu miretur, obit: velut ille cubilia praedae
indubitata tenens muto legit arva Molosso
venator, videat donec sub frondibus hostem
porrectum somno positosque in caespite dentes.

to explore the approaches and the hated shores of Troy,
or what they intend—' he interrupts him in mid-speech:
'May Fortune assent, I pray, and may the right hands of the gods favor those things! Now with hospitality honour my roofs and my pious lares.' At once he leads them within the thresholds. 740
nor is there delay; already the servant throng sets the tables and the couches.
Meanwhile Ulixes surveys with his sight and searches the house, if any traces of the great maiden or any doubtful face suspicious in form be there;
and he wanders the wandering porticoes and the whole Penates, 745
as if to marvel, he goes about: just as that Molossian hunter, holding sure the lairs of his prey, silently ranges the fields, to see whether beneath the foliage an enemy lies stretched in sleep and has set his teeth in the turf.

Rumor in arcana iamdudum perstrepit aula, 750
virginibus qua fida domus, venisse Pelasgum
ductores Graiamque ratem sociosque receptos.
iure pavent aliae, sed vix nova gaudia celat
Pelides avidusque novos heroas et arma
vel talis vidisse cupit. iamque atria fervent 755

Rumour has long clattered through the arcane hall, 750
by which it is said that the leaders of the Pelasgi have come to the faithful house of the maidens, and a Greek fleet and received comrades.
Others rightly fear, but scarcely does the new gladness hide Pelides, eager and craving to see new heroes and arms,
or to have seen such a man. And now the atria seethe 755

regali strepitu et picto discumbitur auro,
cum pater ire iubet natas comitesque pudicas
natarum. subeunt, quales Maeotide ripa,
cum Scythicas rapuere domos et capta Getarum
moenia, sepositis epulantur Amazones armis. 760
tum vero intentus vultus ac pectora Ulixes
perlibrat visu, sed nox inlataque fallunt
lumina et extemplo latuit mensura iacentum.
at tamen erectumque genas oculisque vagantem
nullaque virginei servantem signa pudoris 765
defigit comitique obliquo lumine monstrat.

they recline at table with regal clatter and decorated gold,
when the father bids his daughters and their chaste companions go.
They enter, such as on the Maeotic bank,
when the Amazons, having carried off Scythian homes and the captured walls of the Getae,
with arms laid aside feast. 760
then truly Ulysses scans their faces and breasts with intent sight,
but night and the brought-in lights deceive the eyes
and straightaway the measure of what lay hidden was concealed.
Yet he fixes on an uplifted cheek and wandering eyes
and, finding no signs of maidenly pudor preserved,
he points her out to his comrade with an oblique glance.

quid nisi praecipitem blando complexa moneret
Deidamia sinu nudataque pectora semper
exsertasque manus umerosque in veste teneret
et prodire toris et poscere vina vetaret 770

what else but, folding the headlong man in a flattering embrace, would Deidamia have warned in her bosom,
and always kept his bared chest and his exposed hands and shoulders sheltered in her garment,
and forbidden him to go forth to the couches and to demand wine 770

saepius et fronti crinale reponeret aurum?
[Argolicis ducibus iam tunc patuisset Achilles.]
     Ut placata fames epulis bis terque repostis,
rex prior adloquitur paterisque hortatur Achivos:
'Invideo vestris, fateor, decora inclita gentis                775
Argolicae, coeptis; utinam et mihi fortior aetas,
quaeque fuit, Dolopas cum Scyria litora adortos
perdomui, fregique vadis, quae signa triumphi
vidistis celsa murorum in fronte, carinas!
saltem si suboles, aptum quam mittere bello—                780
nunc ipsi viresque meas et cara videtis                782

would he more often restore a golden fillet to her brow?
[Already then Achilles had been revealed to the Argive leaders.]
    When hunger, placated by banquets twice and thrice replenished,
the former king addresses and, as a father, urges the Achaeans:
'I envy, I confess, the famed splendid ornaments of your Argolic                775
nation in your undertakings; would that a stronger age were mine,
and that I had subdued the Dolopes and assailed the Scyrian shores
and shattered them on the shallows, the trophies of triumph
that you saw on the lofty brow of the walls, the keels of ships!
at least if offspring fit to send to war—                780
now you yourselves see my strength and my dear ones                782

pignora: quando novos dabit haec mihi turba nepotes?'
dixerat, et sollers arrepto tempore Ulixes:
'Haut spernenda cupis; quis enim non visere gentes 785
innumeras variosque duces atque agmina regum
ardeat? omne simul roburque decusque potentis
Europae meritos ultro iuravit in enses.
rura urbesque vacant, montes spoliavimus altos,
omne fretum longa velorum obtexitur umbra; 790
tradunt arma patres, rapit inrevocata iuventus.

pledges: when will this throng grant me new offspring?
he had said, and crafty Ulysses, seizing the moment, replied:
'You would not scorn such desires; for who would not burn to behold
innumerable peoples and the diverse leaders and ranks of kings?
At once all the strength and glory of mighty Europe
has voluntarily sworn itself to worthy swords.
rura urbesque vacant, montes spoliavimus altos,
every strait is veiled beneath the long shadow of sails; 790
fathers hand down arms, and unrecallable youth seizes them.

non alias umquam tantae data copia famae
fortibus aut campo maiore exercita virtus.'
aspicit intentum vigilique haec aure trahentem,
cum paveant aliae demissaque lumina flectant, 795

never elsewhere was such a plenty of fame granted to the brave, nor virtue practiced on a larger field.'
he beholds him intent and drawing these words with a watchful ear,
while others tremble and bend down their lowered eyes, 795

atque iterat: 'Quisquis proavis et gente superba,
quisquis equo iaculoque potens, qui praevalet arcu,
omnis honos illic, illic ingentia certant
nomina: vix timidae matres aut agmina cessant
virginea; o multum steriles damnatus in annos                800
invisusque deis, si quem haec nova gloria segnem
praeterit.' exisset stratis, ni provida signo
Deidamia dato cunctas hortata sorores
liquisset mensas ipsum complexa. sed haeret
respiciens Ithacum coetuque novissimus exit.                805
ille quoque incepto paulum ex sermone remittit,
pauca tamen iungens: 'At tu tranquillus in alta
pace mane carisque para conubia natis,
quas tibi sidereis divarum voltibus aequas
fors dedit. ut me olim tacitum reverentia tangit!                810

and he repeats: 'Whoever proud in proavis and gente,
whoever potent with horse and javelin, who prevails by bow,
all honor there, there mighty names contend:
scarcely do timid mothers or virginal agmina yield;
O greatly sterile, condemned to long annos                800
and hated by the gods, if this new gloria should pass
one sluggish.' He would have risen from the couches, had not provident
Deidamia, the token given, exhorting all her sorores,
left the mensas and clasped him herself. But he clings,
looking back at Ithacus and, last of the coetus, departs.                805
He too, having begun, relaxes a little from his sermo,
yet joining a few words: 'But you, remain tranquillus in deep
pax and prepare matings for your dear nati,
which perhaps fors has granted you, equal in the starry wills of the divae.
How reverence once touched me, making me silent!'                810

is decor et formae species permixta virili.'
occurrit genitor: 'Quid si aut Bacchea ferentes
orgia, Palladias aut circum videris aras?
et dabimus, si forte novus cunctabitur auster.'
excipiunt cupidi et tacitis spes addita votis.                815
cetera depositis Lycomedis regia curis
tranquilla sub pace silet, sed longa sagaci
nox Ithaco, lucemque cupit somnumque gravatur.
     Vixdum exorta dies et iam comitatus Agyrte
Tydides aderat praedictaque dona ferebat.                820
nec minus egressae thalamo Scyreides ibant
ostentare choros promissaque sacra verendis
hospitibus.

'There is grace and the aspect of beauty mingled with manly form.'
the father interposes: 'What if you should behold bearing Bacchic orgies,
or around the Palladian altars? and we will give them, if perchance a new south wind should delay.'
they, eager, receive them, hope added to their silent vows.                815
the rest, Lycomedes' royal cares laid aside,
keep quiet under a tranquil peace; but to the shrewd Ithacus the night is long,
and he longs for light and is weighed down by sleep.
     Scarcely had day arisen and already, with Agyrtus as escort,
Tydides was present and was bearing the foretold gifts.                820
no less the Scyrian women, having left the bridal chamber, went
to display their dances and the promised sacred rites to the reverent guests.

nitet ante alias regina comesque
Pelides: qualis Siculae sub rupibus Aetnae
Naidas Hennaeas inter Diana feroxque 825
Pallas et Elysii lucebat sponsa tyranni.
iamque movent gressus thiasisque Ismenia buxus
signa dedit, quater aera Rheae, quater enthea pulsant
terga manu variosque quater legere recursus.
tunc thyrsos pariterque levant pariterque reponunt 830

before the others gleamed the queen and her comrade Pelides:
such as beneath the Sicilian crags of Aetna Diana shone among the Hennaean
Naiads, and fierce Pallas and the Elysian tyrant’s bride gleamed in radiance. 825
and now Ismenian Buxus moved her steps and gave signals to the thiasus;
four times they struck the bronzes of Rhea, four times they beat their entranced
backs with the hand, and four times they took various circling returns.
then they uplift the thyrsi together and together lay them down 830

multiplicantque gradum, modo quo Curetes in actu
quoque pii Samothraces eunt, nunc obvia versae
pectine Amazonio, modo quo citat orbe Lacaenas
Delia plaudentesque suis intorquet Amyclis.
tunc vero, tunc praecipue manifestus Achilles                835
nec servare vices nec bracchia iungere curat;
tunc molles gressus, tunc aspernatur amictus
plus solito rumpitque choros et plurima turbat.
sic indignantem thyrsos acceptaque matris
tympana iam tristes spectabant Penthea Thebae.                840
     Solvuntur laudata cohors repetuntque paterna
limina, ubi in mediae iamdudum sedibus aulae
munera virgineos visus tractura locarat
Tydides, signum hospitii pretiumque laboris,
hortaturque legant, nec rex placidissimus arcet.                845

and they quicken their step, now as the Curetes in their act
and as the pious Samothracians go, now with the Amazonian comb turned to meet them,
now as Delia summons the Laconian throng with her circle and whirls the applauding Amyclaeans to her own;
then indeed, then especially manifest Achilles                835
neither cares to keep the alternations nor to join his arms;
then soft his step, then he scorns his garment
and more than usual breaks the dances and disturbs very many things. Thus the sad Pentheus of Thebes
beheld him angry, the thyrsi and the drums accepted from his mother now.                840
     The praised cohort are released and retrace their father's
thresholds, where long since in the midst of the palace's halls
Tydides had placed the gifts, destined to carry maidenly sights,
a token of hospitality and the reward of toil,
and he urges them to take them up, nor does the most gentle king restrain them.                845

heu simplex nimiumque rudis, qui callida dona
Graiorumque dolos variumque ignoret Ulixem!
hic aliae, qua sexus iners naturaque ducit,
aut teretes thyrsos aut respondentia temptant
tympana, gemmatis aut nectunt tempora limbis;                850
arma vident magnoque putant donata parenti.
at ferus Aeacides, radiantem ut comminus orbem
caelatum pugnas—saevis et forte rubebat
bellorum maculis—adclinem conspicit hastae,
infremuit torsitque genas, et fronte relicta                855
surrexere comae; nusquam mandata parentis,
nusquam occultus amor, totoque in pectore Troia est.
ut leo, materno cum raptus ab ubere mores
accepit pectique iubas hominemque vereri
edidicit nullasque rapi nisi iussus in iras,                860

ah, too simple and too raw, who would ignore the cunning gifts
and the Greeks’ deceits and the variously wily Ulysses!
here other women, where the inert sex and nature lead,
either handle smooth thyrsi or try answering tambourines,
or with gemmed fillets bind their temples,                 850
they see the arms and think them given to the great parent as a gift.
but the fierce Aeacides, when close he beheld the radiant embossed orb
the fights—by chance stained with the savage spots of wars—
perceived the bent tilt of the spear,
he growled and twisted his cheeks, and with his brow thrown back                855
his hair rose up; nowhere the commands of his parent,
nowhere concealed affection, and all Troy is in his whole breast.
as a lion, when snatched from the maternal teat, has learned manners
and to bristle a mane upon his chest and to fear a man,
he learned to snatch at nothing except when driven into anger by command,                860

si semel adverso radiavit lumine ferrum,
eiurata fides domitorque inimicus, in illum
prima fames, timidoque pudet servisse magistro.
ut vero accessit propius luxque aemula vultum
reddidit et simili talem se vidit in auro, 865
horruit erubuitque simul. tunc acer Ulixes
admotus lateri summissa voce: 'Quid haeres?

if once the iron flashed with a light from the opposite side,
oath-bound fidelity and the hostile tamer, upon him
first hunger, and it shames him to have served a timorous master.
but when the light came nearer and the rival light
gave back his face and he saw himself such in like gold, 865
he shuddered and blushed at once. then keen Ulysses
moved to his side in a lowered voice: 'Why do you cling?'

scimus' ait, 'tu semiferi Chironis alumnus,
tu caeli pelagique nepos, te Dorica classis,
te tua suspensis exspectat Graecia signis, 870
ipsaque iam dubiis nutant tibi Pergama muris.
heia, abrumpe moras! sine perfida palleat Ide,
et iuvet haec audire patrem, pudeatque dolosam
sic pro te timuisse Thetin.' iam pectus amictu
laxabat, cum grande tuba sic iussus Agyrtes 875

"we know," he said, "you, foster-son of semi-beast Chiron,
you grandson of sky and of sea, the Doric fleet awaits you,
you Greece with suspended standards expects you, 870
and Troy's very ramparts now sway for you with doubtful walls.
come, break off delays! allow perfidious Ida to grow pale,
and may it please the father to hear these things, and may it shame
treacherous Thetis to have feared for you thus." Already he began
to loosen his breast from his cloak, when Agyrtes, thus commanded,
blew the great trumpet. 875

insonuit; fugiunt disiectis undique donis
inplorantque patrem commotaque proelia credunt.
illius intactae cecidere a pectore vestes,
iam clipeus breviorque manu consumitur hasta—
mira fides—Ithacumque umeris excedere visus                 880
Aetolumque ducem: tantum subita arma calorque
Martius horrenda confundit luce penates.
inmanisque gradu, ceu protinus Hectora poscens,
stat medius trepidante domo, Peleaque virgo
quaeritur.                885
     Ast alia plangebat parte retectos
Deidamia dolos, cuius cum grandia primum
lamenta et notas accepit pectore voces,
haesit et occulto virtus infracta calore est.

it rang out; they flee, scattering gifts on every side,
and call upon their father, and, shaken, accept the alarms as true.
from his breast fell untouched garments of that one,
already the shield and the spear are wasted by his hand—
wondrous credulity—and he seemed to leave Ithaca on his shoulders                 880
and Aetolus as leader: so much do sudden arms and Martial heat
confound the household gods with dreadful light.
and with a massive step, as if at once demanding Hector,
he stands in the midst of the trembling house, and Peleus’ virgin
is sought.                885
     But elsewhere Deidamia bewailed the treacheries laid bare,
and when first she received those great laments and familiar voices
into her breast, she froze, and virtue, broken by hidden passion, failed.

demittit clipeum regisque ad limina versus
attonitum factis inopinaque monstra paventem, 890
sicut erat, nudis Lycomedem adfatur in armis:
'Me tibi, care pater—dubium dimitte pavorem—,
me dedit alma Thetis: te pridem tanta manebat
gloria; quaesitum Danais tu mittis Achillem,
gratior et magno, si fas dixisse, parente 895

he lowers his shield and, turning toward the king’s thresholds,
addresses Lycomedes, struck by the deeds and fearing the unexpected omens, 890
as he was, in his naked arms:
'To you, dear father — put away doubtful fear —,
nurturing Thetis gave me to you: long since such glory awaited you;
you send Achilles, sought for by the Danaans,
more pleasing even, if it is right to say, to a great parent.' 895

et dulci Chirone mihi. sed corda parumper
huc adverte libens atque has bonus accipe voces:
Peleus te nato socerum et Thetis hospita iungunt
adlegantque suos utroque a sanguine divos.
unam virgineo natarum ex agmine poscunt: 900
dasne?

and to me sweet Chiron. But gladly turn your hearts here for a little and accept these good words:
Peleus joins you as father-in-law to his son and Thetis as hospitable one;
and they elect their own gods from both bloodlines. They ask for one from the virginal throng of daughters: 900
will you give (her)?

an gens humilis tibi degeneresque videmur?
non renuis? iunge ergo manus et concipe foedus
atque ignosce tuis.

Or do we appear to you a humble and degenerate race?
Will you not refuse? Then join hands therefore and accept the pact
and forgive your own.

tacito iam cognita furto
Deidamia mihi; quid enim his obstare lacertis,
qua potuit nostras possessa repellere vires? 905
me luere ista iube; pono arma et reddo Pelasgis
et maneo. quid triste fremis? quid lumina mutas?

now already made known to me by a silent theft
Deidamia; for what can stand against these arms,
by which, possessed, she was able to repel our strength? 905
command me to atone for those things; I put down my arms and restore them to the Pelasgians and remain. why do you roar in sorrow? why do you change your eyes?

iam socer es'—natum ante pedes prostravit et addit—
'iamque avus. inmitis quotiens iterabitur ensis,
turba sumus.' tunc et Danai per sacra fidemque 910
hospitii blandusque precum conpellit Ulixes.
ille, etsi carae conperta iniuria natae
et Thetidis mandata movent prodique videtur
depositum tam grande deae, tamen obvius ire
tot metuit fatis Argivaque bella morari; 915

"now you are father-in-law"—he cast his son prostrate before his feet and adds—
"and now a grandfather. How often will the ruthless sword be brandished again,
we are a multitude." Then Ulysses, by the sacred rites and faith of the Danaans and the
blandishment of hospitality and of prayers, urges him. He, although the discovered injury
to his dear daughter and the commands given to Thetis move him and he seems about to betray
so great a trust deposited with the goddess, nevertheless fears to go forth to meet them
and to delay the Argive wars because of the fates. 915

fac velit: ipsam illic matrem sprevisset Achilles.
nec tamen abnuerit genero se iungere tali:
vincitur. arcanis effert pudibunda tenebris
Deidamia gradum, veniae nec protinus amens
credit et opposito genitorem placat Achille. 920
Mittitur Haemoniam, magnis qui Pelea factis
impleat et classem comitesque in proelia poscat.

Let him consent: there even Achilles would have scorned his mother.
Nor would she refuse to join herself to such a son‑in‑law:
she is conquered. Modesty brings Deidamia forth into secret shades,
and not rashly she at once trusts to pardon and placates Achilles’ father opposed. 920
Sent to Haemonia, he who by great Pelean deeds
may man the fleet and summon comrades to the battles.

nec non et geminas regnator Scyrius alnos
deducit genero viresque excusat Achivis.
tunc epulis consumpta dies, tandemque retectum 925
foedus et intrepidos nox conscia iungit amantes.
Illius ante oculos nova bella et Xanthus et Ide
Argolicaeque rates, atque ipsas cogitat undas
auroramque timet.

nor also does the Scyrian ruler launch twin galleys
for his son‑in‑law and excuses his forces to the Achaeans. Then, the day spent in feasts, and at length the compact laid bare,
night, conscious of it, joins the fearless lovers.
Before his eyes are new wars and Xanthus and Ida
and the Argive ships, and he contemplates even the very waves
and fears the dawn.

cara cervice mariti
fusa novi lacrimas iam solvit et occupat artus: 930

on her husband's dear neck
having poured forth fresh tears she now melts and clasps his limbs: 930

'Aspiciamne iterum meque hoc in pectore ponam,
Aeacide? rursusque tuos dignabere portus,
an tumidus Teucrosque lares et capta reportans
Pergama virgineae noles meminisse latebrae?
quid precer, heu!

'Shall I behold you again and place myself within this breast,
Aeacide? And will you again deign your harbors,
or, swelling, will you, bringing back the Trojan lares and captured
Pergama of the maiden, not wish to remember the hiding-place?
what do I pray for, alas!

timeamve prius? quidve anxia mandem, 935
cui vix flere vacat? modo te nox una deditque
inviditque mihi.

Shall I first fear? or what, anxious, shall I entrust, 935
to one to whom there is scarcely leisure even to weep? just one night both gave you and begrudged you to me.

thalamis haec tempora nostris?
hicne est liber hymen? o dulcia furta dolique,
o timor!

Is this the time for our bridal-chambers?
Is Hymen free here? O sweet thefts and deceits,
O fear!

abripitur miserae permissus Achilles.
i—neque enim tantos ausim revocare paratus—, 940
i cautus, nec vana Thetin timuisse memento,
i felix nosterque redi! nimis improba posco:
iam te sperabunt lacrimis planctuque decorae
Troades optabuntque tuis dare colla catenis
et patriam pensare toris, aut ipsa placebit 945

Achilles is torn away from the miserable woman, having been surrendered.
i—nor indeed would I be prepared to dare to recall such great things—, 940
i, be cautious, and remember not to have feared Thetis in vain,
i, happy and mine, return! I ask too much, shameless one:
already the Trojans will hope for you with tears and with decorous lamentation
and the Trojan women will long to give their necks to your chains
and to make amends for their country with their marriage-beds, or she herself will please 945

Tyndaris, incesta nimium laudata rapina.
ast egomet primae puerilis fabula culpae
narrabor famulis aut dissimulata latebo.
quin age, duc comitem; cur non ego Martia tecum
signa feram?

Tyndaris, an incestuous plunder too highly praised.
But I myself shall be told as the tale of a first youthful fault
to the servants, or, dissimulated, I will lie hidden.
Come then, lead a comrade; why should I not bear Martial standards with you?

tu thyrsa manu Baccheaque mecum 950
sacra, quod infelix non credet Troia, tulisti.
attamen hunc, quem maesta mihi solacia linquis,
hunc saltem sub corde tene et concede precanti
hoc solum, pariat ne quid tibi barbara coniunx,
ne qua det indignos Thetidi captiva nepotes.' 955
talia dicentem non ipse inmotus Achilles
solatur iuratque fidem iurataque fletu
spondet et ingentis famulas captumque reversus
Ilion et Phrygiae promittit munera gazae.
inrita ventosae rapiebant verba procellae.

you bore the thyrsus in your hand and Bacchic rites with me 950
the sacred things, which unhappy Troy will not believe, you carried.
yet keep this one, whom you leave to me as a mournful solace,
this one at least hold beneath your heart and grant to the suppliant
this only: let no barbarian wife bear any offspring of yours,
nor let any captive give undignified descendants to Thetis.' 955
Achilles himself, not unmoved, hearing such things,
comforts and swears fidelity, and with an oath vowed in tears
he promises and offers great gifts — handmaids and the captured —
he promises the treasures of Ilion and Phrygian hoards.
the windy squall bore away the vain words.