Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ILIAD: BOOK 18. ACHILLES AND THETIS, by HOMER


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THE ILIAD: BOOK 18. ACHILLES AND THETIS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Therewith she left the cave, and with her went
Last Line: Wish to fulfil it.'
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Trojan War


THEREWITH she left the cave, and with her went
The weeping nymphs, and round them was the wave
Broken; and when they came to fertile Troia,
They went in sequence up the shore to where
The Myrmidonian ships were drawn up close
Round swift Achilles. He was groaning deeply,
And to his side his queenly mother came
And with a cry she clasped the head of her son,
And sadly spoke to him with winged words:
'My child, why weepest thou? what grief is come
Upon thy soul? speak out and hide it not.
Surely thy purpose has been brought to pass
By Zeus, according to the prayer thou madest
With hands outstretched, that the Achaeans' sons
Should one and all be huddling by their ships
In need of thee, and suffer hideous things.'
But groaning deeply swift Achilles said:
'Mother of mine, that prayer the Olympian hath
Fulfilled; but what delight have I in that,
Since my dear friend is lost to me, Patroclus,
The man I honoured above all my friends
As mine own self? Him have I killed, and Hector
Hath slain and stripped him of his gallant arms,
Those giant arms, wondrous to look on, which
The gods gave Peleus for a glorious gift
The day they cast thee in a mortal's bed.
O would that thou hadst sojourned where thou wer
Amid the immortal maidens of the sea
And Peleus taken home a mortal bride!
But so it was -- that thou too shouldst endure
Infinite pangs of heart for thy lost son,
Whom never thou wilt welcome home again,
Because my soul will no more let me live
Nor mix with men, if Hector has not first
Been smitten by my spear and lost his life
And paid the blood-price for Patroclus' spoils.'
But weeping Thetis answered him again:
'Short-lived wilt thou be then, my child, by what
Thou sayst; for after Hector has been killed
Thy death is close at hand.'
Then, deeply moved, swift-foot Achilles said:
'O let me die at once, for that I was not
To help my comrade, in his hour of need!
Far from his home he died, and looked in vain
For me to ward off hurt from him. Now, since
I am not to return to mine own land,
And since I wholly failed to save Patroclus
And all my other friends who have been slain
By goodly Hector, but beside the ships
I sit, a useless cumberer of the ground --
I, who among the mailed Achaeans have
No peer in war, though in the meeting-place
Others are better . . . perish all debate
From midst of gods and men! and perish hatred
That stirs to anger even the wise, and tastes
Sweeter than dripping honey, and that swells
Like rising smoke in human breasts, such hate
As lately Agamemnon king of men
Aroused in me! Ah well, for all our pain,
Let us bury what is past, and, as we must,
Master our feelings. Now let me go forth
And search out Hector who has killed the man
I loved: that done, I will accept my fate
Whenever Zeus and all the immortal gods
Wish to fulfil it.'





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