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


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ILIAD: BOOK 18. THETIS AND HEPHAETUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She called the famous smith hephaestus, saying
Last Line: Have learned their duties.
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Trojan War


SHE called the famous smith Hephaestus, saying
'Come here, Hephaestus; Thetis needeth thee.'
Whereat the famous crippled god replied:
'Then 'tis a goddess I respect and honour
That is within! She saved me when I was
In pain by reason of my fearful fall,
Thanks to my shameless mother, and she offered
To hide me in my lameness. Then it had
Gone badly with me, had Eurynome
And Thetis not received me to their breast --
Eurynome, the child of Ocean who
Flows backward on himself. Nine years with them
I fashioned many curious works in bronze,
Brooches and spiral bracelets and rosettes
And necklaces, inside their hollow cave
About which Ocean's stream unending ran
With murmurous foam. And no one knew thereof
Neither of gods nor mortal men, but they
Who saved me, Thetis and Eurynome;
And now is Thetis come unto my house!
Therefore most bound am I to pay full price
To fair-haired Thetis, since she saved my life.
But set before her noble entertainment
While I lay by my bellows, tools and all.'
He spoke, and rose up limping from the anvil,
A mighty bulk; yet his lean shanks were quick.
He moved the bellows from the fire, and packed
Into a silver box the set of tools
With which he worked; then with a sponge he wiped
His face and both his hands and muscled neck
And hairy chest: he put his tunic on,
And took up a stout stick and with a limp
Walked out of doors; and women servants wrought
In gold, the like of living maidens, moved
To help their master: they have active brains
And speech and strength, and from the deathless gods
Have learned their duties.





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