Statius, Achilleid  Book 1 (scroll down for Book 2)
 Translated by J. H. Mozley

	Tell, O goddess, of great-hearted Aeacides and of the progeny 
	that the Thunderer feared and forbade to inherit his father’s 
	heaven.1  Highly renowned are the warrior’s deeds in Maeonian 
	song,2  but more remains untold: suffer me--for such is my desire—to recount 
5	the whole story of the hero, to summon him forth from his hiding-place 
	in Scyros with the Dulichian trumpet,3  and not to stop short at the dragging 
	of Hector, but to lead the youth through the whole tale of Troy. 
	Only do thou, O Phoebus, if with a worthy draught I drained 
	the former fount, vouchsafe new springs and weave my hair with 
10	propitious chaplets; for not as a newcomer do I seek entrance to 
	the Aonian4  grove, nor are these the first fillets that magnify my brow. 
	The fields of Dirce5  know it, and Thebes counts my name among 
	her forefathers of old time and with her own Amphion.
	
	But thou whom far before all others the pride of Italy and Greece regards 
15	with reverent awe, for whom the laurels twain of poet and warrior-chief 
	flourish in mutual rivalry--already one of them grieves to be surpassed6 --
	grant pardon, and allow me anxiously to toil in this dust awhile. 
	Thine is the theme whereat with long nor yet confident preparation 
	I am labouring, and great Achilles plays the prelude unto thee.7 
	
20	The Dardan shepherd had set sail from the Oebalian shore,8  
	having wrought sweet havoc in thoughtless Amyclae, 
	and fulfilling the presage of his mother’s9  dream was retracing 
	his guilty way, where Helle10  deep sunk below the sea 
	and now a Nereid holds sway over the detested waves: 
25	when Thetis--ah! never vain are a parent’s auguries!—
	started with terror beneath the glassy flood at the Idaean oars.11  
	Without delay she sprang forth from her watery bower, accompanied by 
	her train of sisters: the narrowing shores of Phrixus swam, 
	and the straitened sea had not room for its mistresses.
	
30	As soon as she had shaken the brine from off her, and entered 
	the air of heaven: “There is danger to me,” said she, “in yonder fleet, 
	and threat of deadly harm; I recognize the truth of Proteus’ warnings. 
	Lo! Bellona brings from the vessel amid uplifted torches a new 
	daughter-in-law to Priam; already I see the Ionian and Aegean seas 
35	pressed by a thousand keels; nor does it suffice that all the country 
	of the Grecians conspires with the proud sons of Atreus, 
	soon will my Achilles be sought for by land and sea, ay, 
	and himself will wish to follow them. Why indeed did I suffer Pelion 
	and the stern master’s cave12  to cradle his infant years? 
40	There, if I mistake not, he plays, the rogue, at the battle 
	of the Lapiths, and already takes his measure with his father’s spear. 
	O sorrow! O fears that came to late to a mother’s heart! 
	Could I not, unhappy that I am, when first the timber of 
	Rhoeteum was launched upon my flood, have raised a mighty 
45	sea and pursued with a tempest on the deep the adulterous 
	robber’s sails and led on all my sisters against him? 
	Even now – but ‘tis too late, the outrage hath been wrought in full. 
	Yet will I go, and clinging to the gods of ocean and the right hand of 
	second Jove13 —nought else remains--entreat him in piteous supplication 
50	by the years of Tethys and his aged sire for one single storm.”
	
	She spoke, and opportunely beheld the mighty monarch; 
	he was coming from Oceanus his host, gladdened by the banquet, 
	and his countenance suffused with the nectar of the deep: 
	wherefore the winds and tempests are silent and with tranquil song 
55	proceed the Tritons who bear his armour and the rock-like sea-monsters 
	and the Tyrrhenian herds,14  and gambol around and below him, 
	saluting their king; he towers on high above the peaceful waves, 
	urging on his team with his three-pronged spear: 
	frontwise they run at furious speed amid showers of foam, 
60	behind they swim and blot out their footprints with their tails:--
	when Thetis: “O sire and ruler of the mighty deep, 
	seest thou to what uses thou hast made a way o’er the hapless 
	ocean? The crimes of the nations pass by with unmolested sails, 
	since the Pagasaean bark broke through the sanctions of the waters 
65	and profaned their hallowed majesty on Jason’s quest of plunder. 
	Lo! freighted with another wicked theft, the spoils 
	of hospitality, sails the daring arbiter of unjust Ida, 
	destined to cause what sorrow alas! to heaven and earth, 
	and what to me! Is it thus we requite the joy of the Phrygian triumph,15  
70	is this the way of Venus, is this her gift to her dear ward? 
	These ships at least--no demigods nor our own Theseus do they 
	carry home16 --o’erwhelm, if thou still hast any regard for the waters, 
	or give the sea into my power; no cruelty do I purpose; suffer me 
	to fear for my own son. Grant me to drive away my sorrow, 
75	nor let it be thy pleasure that out of all the seas I find a home 
	in but a single coast and the rocks of an Ilian tomb.” 17 
	
	With torn cheeks she made her prayer, and with bare bosom 
	would fain hinder the cerulean steeds. But the ruler of the seas 
	invites her into his chariot, and soothes her thus with friendly words: 
80	“Seek not in vain, Thetis, to sink the Dardanian fleet: 
	the fates forbid it, ‘tis the sure ordinance of heaven that Europe 
	and Asia should join in bloody conflict, and Jupiter hath issued 
	his decree of war and appointed years of dreary carnage. 
	What prowess of thy son in the Sigean dust, what vast 
85	funeral trains of Phrygian matrons shalt thou victoriously behold, 
	when thy Aeacides shall flood the Trojan fields with streaming 
	blood, and anon forbid the choked rivers to flow 
	and check his chariot’s speed with Hector’s corpse 
	and mightily o’erthrow my walls,18  my useless toil! 
90	Cease now to complain of Peleus and thy inferior wedlock: 
	thy child shall be deemed begotten of Jove; nor shalt thou suffer unavenged, 
	but shalt use thy kindred seas: I will grant thee to raise the billows, 
	when the Danaans return and Caphareus19  shows forth his 
	nightly signals and we search together for the terrible Ulysses.” 20 
	
95	He spoke; but she, downcast at the stern refusal, for 
	but now she was preparing to stir up the waters and make 
	war upon the Ilian craft, devised in her mind another plan, 
	and sadly turned her strokes toward the Haemonian land. 
	Thrice strove she with her arms, thrice spurned the clear water with 
100	her feet, and the Thessalian waves are washing her snow-white ankles. 
	The mountains rejoice, the marriage-bowers fling open 
	their recesses, and Spercheus in wide, abundant streams flows 
	to meet the goddess and laps her footsteps with his fresh water. 
	She delights not in the scene, but wearies her mind 
105	with schemes essayed, and taught cunning by her devoted love 
	seeks out the aged Chiron. His lofty home bores deep 
	into the mountain, beneath the long, overarching vault of Pelion; 
	part had been hollowed out by toil, part worn away by its own age. 
	Yet the images and couches of the gods are shown, and the places that each 
110	had sanctified by his reclining and his sacred presence21 ; within are 
	the Centaur’s wide and lofty stalls, far different from those of his wicked 
	brethren. Here are no spears that have tasted human blood, 
	nor ashen clubs broken in festal conflict, 
	nor mixing-bowls shattered upon kindred foemen, 
115	but innocent quivers and mighty hides of beasts. 
	These did he take while yet in the prime of age; but now, a warrior no more, 
	his only toil was to learn herbs that bring health to creatures doubting 
	of their lives, or to describe to his pupil upon his lyre the heroes of old time.
	On the threshold’s edge he awaited his return from hunting, 
120	and was urging the laying of the feast and brightening his abode 
	with lavish fire: when far off the Nereid was seen climbing upward 
	from the shore; he burst forth from the forests--joy speeds his going—
	and the well-known hoof-beat of the sage rang on the now unwonted plain. 
	Then bowing down to his horse’s shoulders he leads her with 
125	courtly hand within his humble dwelling and warns her of the cave.
	
	Long time has Thetis been scanning every corner with silent glance: 
	then, impatient of delay, she cries: “Tell me, Chiron, where is 
	my darling? Why spends the boy any time apart from thee? 
	Is it not with reason that my sleep is troubled, and terrible portents from 
130	the gods and fearful panics--would they were false!--afflict his mother’s 
	heart? For now I behold swords that threaten to pierce my womb, 
	now my arms are bruised with lamentation, now savage beasts 
	assail my breasts; often--ah, horror!--I seem to take my son down 
	to the void of Tartarus, and dip him a second time in the springs of Styx. 
135	The Carpathian seer22  bids me banish these terrors by the 
	ordinance of a magic rite, and purify the lad in secret waters beyond 
	the bound of heaven’s vault, where is the farthest shore 
	of Ocean and father Pontus23  is warmed by the ingliding 
	stars. There awful sacrifices and gifts to gods unknown—
140	but ‘tis long to recount all, and I am forbidden; give him to me rather.”
	
	Thus spoke his mother in lying speech--nor would he have given him up, 
	had she dared to confess to the old man the soft raiment and dishonourable 
	garb.24  Then he replies: “Take him, I pray, O best of parents, 
	take him, and assuage the gods with humble entreaty. 
145	For thy hopes are pitched too high, and envy needs much 
	appeasing. I add not to thy fears, but will confess the truth: 
	some swift and violent deed--the forebodings of a sire 
	deceive me not—is preparing, far beyond his tender years. 
	Formerly he was wont to endure my anger, and listen 
150	eagerly to my commands nor wander far from my cave: 
	now Ossa cannot contain him, nor mighty Pelion 
	and all the snows of Thessaly. Even the Centaurs often complain 
	to me of plundered homes and herds stolen before their eyes, 
	and that they themselves are driven from field and river; 
155	they devise violence and fraud, and utter angry threats. 
	Once when the Thessalian pine bore hither the princes of Argos, 
	I saw the young Alcides and Theseus--but I say no more.”
	
	Cold pallor seized the daughter of Nereus: 
	lo! he was come, made larger by much dust and sweat, 
160	and yet for all his weapons and hastened labours still pleasant 
	to the sight; a radiant glow25  shimmers on his snow-white 
	countenance, and his locks shine more comely than tawny gold. 
	The bloom of youth is not yet changed by new-springing down, 
	a tranquil flame burns in his glance, and there is much of his mother 
165	in his look: even as when the hunter Apollo returns 
	from Lycia and exchanges his fierce quiver for the quill. 
	By chance too he is in joyful mood--ah, how joy enhances 
	beauty!--; beneath Pholoë’s cliff he had stricken a lioness 
	lately delivered and had left her in the empty lair, 
170	but had brought the cubs and was making them show their claws. 
	Yet when he sees his mother on the well-known threshold, 
	away he throws them, catches her up and binds her in his longing arms, 
	already violent in his embrace and equal to her in height. 
175	Patroclus follows him, bound to him even then by a strong affection, 
	and strains to rival all his mighty doings, well-matched in the pursuits and ways 
	of youth, but far behind in strength, and yet to pass to Pergamum with equal fate.
	
	Straightway with rapid bound he hies him to the nearest river, 
	and freshens in its waters his steaming face and hair: 
180	just as Castor enters the shallows of Eurotas on his panting steed, 
	and tricks out anew the weary splendours of his star. 
	The old man marvels as he adorns him, caressing now his breast, 
	now his strong shoulders: her very joy pierces his mother’s heart. 
	Then Chiron prays her to taste the banquet and the gifts 
185	of Bacchus, and contriving various amusements for her 
	beguiling at last brings forth the lyre and moves the care-consoling 
	strings, and trying the chords lightly with his finger gives them 
	to the boy. Gladly he sings of the mighty causes of noble 
	deeds: how many behests of his haughty stepmother the son 
190	of Amphitryon performed, how Pollux with his glove smote down 
	the cruel Bebryx, with what a grip the son of Aegeus 
	enfolded and crushed the limbs of the Minoan bull, lastly 
	his own mother’s marriage-feast and Pelion trodden by the gods. 
	Then Thetis relaxed her anxious countenance and smiled. 
195	Night draws them on to slumber: the huge Centaur lays him down 
	on a stony couch, and Achilles lovingly twines his arms about his shoulders--
	though his faithful parent is there--and prefers the wonted breast.
	
	But Thetis, standing by night upon the sea-echoing rocks, 
	this way and that divides her purpose, and ponders in what hiding-place 
200	she will set her son, in what country she shall choose to conceal him. 
	Nearest is Thrace, but steeped in the passionate love of war; 
	nor does the hardy folk of Macedon please her, nor the sons of Cecrops,26  
	sure to excite to noble deeds, nor Sestos and the bay of Abydos, 
	too opportune for ships; she decides to roam the lofty Cyclades. 
205	Of these she spurns Myconos and humble Seriphos, 
	and Lemnos cruel to its men,27  and Delos, that gives all the world 
	a welcome. Of late from the unwarlike palace of Lycomedes28  
	had she heard the sound of maiden bands and the echo of their sport 
	along the shore, what time she was sent to follow Aegaeon29  freed 
210	from his stubborn bonds and to count the hundred fetters of the god. 
	This land finds favour, and seems safest to the timid mother. 
	Even so a bird already taking anxious thought, as her deliver 
	draws nigh, on what branch to hang her empty home, 
	here foresees winds, there bethinks her fearfully of snakes, 
215	and there of men; at last in her doubt a shady spot finds favour; 
	scarce has she alighted on the boughs, and straightway loves the tree.
	
	One more care abides in her mind and troubles the sad goddess, 
	whether she shall carry her son in her own bosom o’er the waves, 
	or use great Triton’s aid, whether she shall summon the swift winds 
220	to help her, or the Thaumantian30  that is wont to drink the main. 
	Then she calls out from the waves and bridles with a sharp-edged shell her 
	team of dolphins twain, which Tethys, mighty queen, 
	had nourished for her in an echoing vale beneath 
	the sea;--none throughout all Neptune’s watery realm had such renown 
225	for their sea-green beauty, nor greater speed of swimming, nor more 
	of human sense;--these she halts in the deep shore-water, 
	lest they take harm from the touch of naked earth. 
	Then in her own arms she carries Achilles, his body utterly relaxed 
	in a boy’s slumber, from the rocks of the Haemonian cave down 
230	to the placid waters and the beach that she had bidden be silent; 
	Cynthia lights her way and shines out with full orb. 
	Chiron escorts31  the goddess, and careless of the sea entreats 
	her speedy return, and hides his moistened eyes and high upon 
	his horse’s body gazes out towards them as suddenly they are whirled away, 
235	and now--and now are lost to view, where for a short while the foamy marks 
	of their going gleam white and the wake dies away into the watery main. 
	Him destined never more to return to Thessalian Tempe 
	now mournful Pholoë bewails, now cloudy Othrys,32  
	and Spercheos with diminished flood and the silent grotto 
240	of the sage; the Fauns listen for his boyish songs in vain, 
	and the Nymphs bemoan their long-hoped-for nuptials.
	
	Now day o’erwhelms the stars, and from the low and level main Titan 
	wheels heavenward his dripping steeds, and down from the expanse of air 
	falls the sea that the chariot bore up; but long since had 
245	the mother traversed the waves and gained the Scyrian shores, 
	and the weary dolphins had been loosed from their mistress’ yoke: 
	when the boy’s sleep was stirred, and his opening eyes grew conscious 
	of the inpouring day. In amaze at the light that greets him he asks, 
	where is he, what are these waves, where is Pelion? All he beholds 
250	is different and unknown, and he hesitates to recognize his mother. 
	Quickly she caresses him and soothes his fear: 
	“If, dear lad, a kindly lot had brought me the wedlock 
	that it offered, in the fields of heaven should I be holding thee, 
	a glorious star, in my embrace, nor a celestial mother 
255	should I fear the lowly Fates or the destinies of earth. 
	But now unequal is they birth, my son, and only on thy mother’s 
	side is the way of death barred for thee; moreover, times of terror 
	draw nigh, and peril hovers about the utmost goal. 
	Retire we then, relax awhile they mighty spirit, and scorn not 
260	this raiment of mine. If the Tirynthian took 
	in his rough hand Lydian wool and women’s wands,33  
	if it becomes Bacchus to trail a gold-embroidered robe 
	behind him, if Jupiter put on a woman’s form,34  and doubtful sex 
	weakened not the mighty Caeneus,35  this way, I entreat thee, 
265	suffer me to escape the threatening, baleful cloud. 
	Soon will I restore the plains and the fields where the 
	Centaurs roam: by this beauty of thine and the coming joys 
	of youth I pray thee, if for thy sake I endured the earth and an 
	inglorious mate, if at they birth I fortified thee with the stern waters 
270	of Styx36 --ay, would I had wholly!--take these safe robes awhile, 
	they will in no wise harm thy valour. Why doest thou turn away? 
	What means that glance? Art thou ashamed to soften thee in this garb? 
	Dear lad, I swear it by my kindred waters, Chiron shall know 
	nought of this.” So doth she work on his rough heart, 
275	vainly cajoling; the thought of his sire and his 
	great teacher oppose her prayer and the rude beginnings of 
	his mighty spirit. Even so, should one try to subdue with earliest 
	rein a horse full of the mettlesome fire of ungoverned youth, 
	he having long delighted in stream and meadow and his own 
280	proud beauty, gives not his neck to the yoke, nor his fierce mouth 
	to the bridle, and snorts with rage at passing beneath 
	a master’s sway and marvels that he learns another gait.
	
	What god endued the despairing mother with fraud and cunning? 
	What device drew Achilles from his stubborn purpose? 
285	It chanced that Scyros was keeping festal day in honour of Pallas, 
	guardian of the shore, and that the sisters, offspring of peace-loving Lycomedes, 
	had on this sacred morn gone forth from their native town--a licence 
	rarely given--to pay tribute of the spring, and bind their grave tresses 
	with the leaf of the goddess and scatter flowers upon her spear. 
290	All were of rarest beauty, all clad alike and all 
	in lusty youth, their years of girlish modesty now ended, 
	and maidenhood ripe for the marriage-couch. 
	But as far as Venus by comparison doth surpass the green 
	Nymphs of the sea, or as Diana rises taller by head and shoulders 
295	than the Naiads, so doth Deidamia, queen of the lovely 
	choir, outshine and dazzle her fair sisters. 
	The bright colour flames upon her rosy countenance, a more 
	brilliant light is in her jewels, the gold has a more alluring gleam; 
	as beauteous were the goddess herself, would she but lay aside 
300	the serpents on her breast, and doff her helm and pacify her brow. 
	When he beheld her far in advance of her attendant train, the lad, 
	ungentle as he was and heart-whole from any touch of passion, 
	stood spellbound and drank in strange fire through all his frame. 
	Nor does the love he has imbibed lie hidden, but the flame pulsating 
305	in his inmost being returns to his face and colours the glow upon his 
	cheeks, and as he feels its power runs o’er his body with a light sweat. 
	As when the Massagetae darken milk-white bowls 
	with blood-red dye, or ivory is stained with purple, 
	so by varying signs of blush and pallor does the sudden fire 
310	betray its presence. He would rush forward and unprovoked fiercely 
	break up the ceremonies of his hosts, reckless of the crowd and forgetful of 
	his years, did not shame restrain him and awe of the mother by his side. 
	As when a bullock, soon to be the sire and leader of a herd, 
	though his horns have not yet come full circle, 
315	perceives a heifer of snowy whiteness, the comrade of 
	his pasture, his spirit takes fire, and he foams at the mouth with his 
	first passion; glad at heart the herdsmen watch him and check his fury.
	
	Seizing the moment his mother purposely accosts him: “Is it 
	too hard a thing, my son, to make pretence of dancing and join hands 
320	in sport among these maidens? Hast thou aught such ‘neath Ossa 
	and the crags of Pelion? O, if it were my lot to match two 
	loving hearts, and to bear another Achilles in my arms!”
	
	He is softened, and blushes for joy, and with sly 
	and sidelong glance repels the robes less certainly. 
325	His mother sees him in doubt and willing to be compelled, 
	and casts the raiment o’er him; then she softens his stalwart neck 
	and bows his strong shoulders, and relaxes the muscles 
	of his arms, and tames and orders duly his uncombed tresses, 
	and sets her own necklace about the neck she loves; 
330	then keeping his step within the embroidered skirt 
	she teaches him gait and motion and modesty of speech. 
	Even as the waxen images that the artist’s thumb will make to live 
	take form and follow the fire and the hand that carves them, 
	such was the picture of the goddess as she transformed her son. 
335	Nor did she struggle long; for plenteous charm remains to him 
	though his manhood brook it not, and he baffles beholders by 
	the puzzle of his sex that by a narrow margin hides its secret.
	
	They go forward, and Thetis unsparingly plies her counsels and persuasive 
	words: “Thus then, my son, must thou manage thy gait, thus thy features 
340	and thy hands, and imitate thy comrades and counterfeit their ways, 
	lest the king suspect thee and admit thee not to the women’s 
	chambers, and the crafty cunning of our enterprise be lost.” 
	So speaking she delays not to put correcting touches to his attire. 
	Thus when Hecate37  returns wearied to her sire and brother from 
345	Therapnae, haunt of maidens, her mother bears her company 
	as she goes, and with her own hand covers her shoulders and bared arms, 
	herself arranges the bow and quiver, and pulls down the 
	girt-up robe, and is proud to trim the disordered tresses.
	
	Straightway she accosts the monarch, and there in the presence of 
350	the altars: “Here, O king, “ she says, “I present to thee the sister of 
	my Achilles—seest thou not how proud her glance and like her brother’s?—
	so high her spirit, she begged for arms and a bow to carry on her shoulders, 
	and like an Amazon to spurn the thought of wedlock. 
	But my son is enough care for me; let her carry 
355	the baskets at the sacrifice, do thou control and tame her 
	wilfulness, and keep her to her sex, till the time for marriage come 
	and the end of her maiden modesty; nor suffer her to engage in 
	wanton wrestling-matches, nor to frequent the woodland haunts. 
	Bring her up indoors, in seclusion among girls of her own age; 
360	above all remember to keep her from the harbour and the shore. 
	Lately thou sawest the Phrygian38  sails: already ships that have 
	crossed the sea have learnt treason to mutual loyalties.”
	
	The sire accedes to her words, and receives the disguised Achilles 
	by his mother’s ruse--who can resist when gods deceive? 
365	Nay more, he venerates her with a suppliant’s hand, 
	and gives thanks that he was chosen; nor is the band of 
	duteous Scyrian maidens slow to dart keen glances at the face 
	of their new comrade, how she o’ertops them by head and neck, 
	how broad her expanse of breast and shoulders; 
370	then they invite her to join the dance and approach the holy rites, 
	and make room for her in their ranks and rejoice to be near her. 
	Just as Idalian birds,39  cleaving the soft clouds 
	and long since gathered in the sky or in their homes, 
	if a strange bird from some distant region has joined them 
375	wing to wing, are at first all filled with amaze and fear; 
	then nearer and nearer they fly, and while yet in the air 
	have made him one of them and hover joyfully around with 
	favouring beat of pinions and lead him to their lofty resting-places.
	
	Long, ere she departs, lingers the mother at the gate, 
380	while she repeats advice and implants whispered secrets 
	in his ear and in hushed tones gives her last counsels. 
	Then she plunges into the main, and gazing back swims 
	far away, and entreats with flattering prayers the island-shore: 
	“O land that I love, to whom by timid cunning I have committed 
385	the pledge of my anxious care, a trust that is great indeed, 
	mayst thou prosper and be silent, I beg, as Crete was silent 
	for Rhea40 ; enduring honour and everlasting shrines shall gird 
	thee, nor shalt thou be surpassed by unstable41  Delos; sacred alike 
	to wind and wave shalt thou be, and clam abode of Nereïds 
390	among the shallows of the Cyclades, where the rocks 
	are shattered by Aegean storms, an isle that sailors 
	swear by--only admit no Danaan keels, I beg! 
	‘Here are only the wands of Bacchus, nought that avails for war;’ 
	that tale bid rumour spread, and while the Dorian armaments 
395	make ready and Mavors rages from world to world--he may, for aught 
	I care--let Achilles be the maiden daughter of good Lycomedes.”
	
	Meanwhile avenging Europe, inflamed by war’s 
	sweet frenzy and the monarchs’ complaining entreaties, 
	excites her righteous ire; more earnestly pleads that 
400	son of Atreus whose spouse abides at home, and by his telling makes 
	the Ilian crime more grievous: how without aid of Mars or force of arms 
	the daughter of heaven42  and child of mighty Sparta was taken, 
	and justice, good faith and the gods spurned by one deed of rapine. 
	Is this then Phrygian honour? Is this the intercourse of land with land? 
405	What awaits the common folk, when wrong so deadly attacks 
	the foremost chieftains? All races, all ages flock together: 
	nor are they only aroused whom the Isthmian barrier with 
	its rampart fronting on two seas encloses and Malea’s wave-
	resounding promontory, but where afar the strait of Phrixus sunders 
410	Europe and Asia; and the peoples that fringe Abydos’ 
	shore, bound fast by the waters of the upper sea. 
	
	The war-fever rises high, thrilling the agitated cities. 
	Temese43  tames her bronze, the Euboean coast shakes with its 
	dockyards, Mycenae echoes with innumerable forges, 
415	Pisa makes new chariots, Nemea gives the skins of wild beasts, 
	Cirrha vies in packing tight the arrow-bearing quivers, 
	Lerna in covering heavey shields with the hides of slaughtered bullocks. 
	Aetolia and fierce Acarnania send infantry to war, 
	Argos collects her squadrons, the pasture-lands of rich Arcadia 
420	are emptied, Epiros bridles her swift-footed nurslings,44  
	ye shades of Phocis and Aonia grow scant by reason of the 
	javelins, Pylos and Messene strain their fortress-engines. 
	No land but bears its burden; ancestral weapons long renounced 
	are torn from lofty portals, gifts to the gods melt in the flame; 
425	gold reft from divine keeping Mars turns to fiercer use. 
	Nowhere are the shady haunts of old: Othrys is lesser grown, 
	lofty Taygetus sinks low, the shorn hills see the light of day. 
	Now the whole forest is afloat: oaks are hewn to make a fleet, 
	the woods are diminished for oars. Iron is forced into countless 
430	uses, for riveting prows, for armour of defence, 
	for bridling chargers, for knitting rough coats of mail 
	by a thousand links, to smoke with blood, 
	to drink deep of wounds, to drive death home in conspiracy 
	with poison; they make the dripping whetstones thin 
435	with grinding, and add wrath to sluggish sword-points. 
	No limit is there to the shaping of bows or heaping up of bullets 
	or the charring of stakes or the heightening of helms with crests. 
	Amid such commotion Thessaly alone bewails her indolent 
	repose, and brings a twofold complaint against the Fates, 
440	that Peleus is too old and Achilles not yet ripe of age.
	
	Already the lord of war had drained the land of Pelops 
	and the Grecian world, madly flinging aboard both men 
	and horses. All aswarm are the harbours and the bays 
	invisible for shipping, and the moving fleet stirs its own storms 
445	and billows; the sea itself fails the vessels, 
	and their canvas swallows up every breath of wind.
	
	Aulis, sacred to Hecate, first gathers together the Danaan fleet, 
	Aulis, whose exposed cliff and long-projecting ridge 
	climb the Euboean sea, coast beloved by the mountain-
450	wandering goddess, and Caphereus, that raises his head 
	hard by against the barking waves. He, when he beheld 
	the Pelasgian ships sail by, thrice thundered from 
	peak to wave, and gave presage of a night of fury.45  
	There assembles the armament for Troy’s undoing, there 
455	the vast array is sworn, while the sun completes 
	an annual course. Then first did Greece behold 
	her own might; then a scattered, dissonant mass took 
	form and feature, and was marshalled under one single lord. 
	Even so does the round hunting-net confine the hidden beasts, 
460	and gradually hem them in as the toils are drawn close. 
	They in panic of the torches and the shouting leave their wide 
	pathless haunts, and marvel that their own mountain is shrinking, 
	till from every side they pour into the narrow vale; 
	the herds startle each other, and are tamed by mutual 
465	fear; bristly boar and bear and wolf are driven together, 
	and the hind despises the captured lions.
	
	But although the twain Atridae make war in their own cause 
	together, though Sthenelus and Tydeus’ son surpass in eager valour 
	their fathers’ fame, and Antilochus heeds not his years, 
470	and Ajax shakes upon his arm the seven leaders 
	of the herd46  and the circle vast as a city-wall, though Ulysses, 
	sleepless in counsel and deeds of arms, joins in the quarrel, 
	yet all the host yearns ardently for the absent Achilles, 
	lovingly they dwell upon Achilles’ name, Achilles alone is called for 
475	against Hector, him and none other do they speak of as the doom of Priam 
	and of Troy. For who else grew up from infancy crawling on fresh-dug 
	snow in the Haemonian valleys? Whom else did the Centaur 
	take in hand and shape his rude beginnings and tender years? 
	Whose line of ancestry runs nearer heaven? 
480	Whom else did a Nereid take by stealth through the Stygian 
	waters and make his fair limbs impenetrable to steel? 
	Such talk do the Grecian cohorts repeat and interchange. 
	The band of chieftains yields before him and gladly owns defeat. 
	So when the pale denizens of heaven flocked into the Phlegraean 
485	camp,47  and already Gradivus was towering to the height of his 
	Odrysian48  spear and Tritonia raised her Libyan snakes 
	and the Delian strongly bent his mighty bow, 
	Nature in breathless terror stood looking to the Thunderer alone—
	when would he  summon the lightnings and the tempests from 
490	the clouds, how many thunderbolts would he ask of fiery Aetna?
	
	There, while the princes, surrounded by the mingled multitudes 
	of their folk, hold counsel of times for sailing and for war, 
	Protesilaus amid great tumult rebukes the prophet Calchas 
	and cries--for to him was given the keenest desire to fight, 
495	and the glory even then of suffering death the first: 
	“O son of Thestor, forgetful of Phoebus and thy own tripods, 
	when wilt thou open thy god-possessed lips more surely, 
	or why dost thou hide the secret things of Fate?49  
	Seest thou how all are amazed at the unknown Aeacides and 
500	clamour for him? The Calydonian hero50  seems nought in the people’s 
	eyes, and so too Ajax born of mighty Telamon and lesser Ajax, 
	so do we also: but Mars and the capture of Troy will prove the truth. 
	Slighting their leaders--for shame!--they all love him 
	as a deity of war. Quickly speak, or why are thy locks 
505	enwreathed and held in honour? In what coasts lies he hidden? 
	In what land must we seek him? For report has it that he is living 
	neither in Chiron’s cave nor in the halls of Peleus his sire. 
	Come, break in upon the gods, harry the fates that lie concealed! 
	Quaff greedily, if ever thou dost, thy draughts of laurelled fire! 
510	We have relieved thee of dread arms and cruel swords, 
	and never shall a helm profane thy unwarlike locks, 
	yet blest shalt thou be and foremost of our chiefs, 
	if of thyself thou doest find great Achilles for the Danaans.”51 
	
	Long since has the son of Thestor been glancing round about him 
515	with excited movements, and by his first pallor betrayed the 
	incoming of the god; soon he rolls fiery, bloodshot eyes, seeing 
	neither his comrades nor the camp, but blind and absent from the scene 
	he now overhears the mighty councils of gods in the upper air, 
	now accosts the prescient birds, now the stern sisters’ 
520	threads, now anxiously consults the incense-laden altars, 
	and quickly scans the shooting flames and feeds upon the sacred 
	vapours.52  His hair streams out, and the fillet totters on his 
	stiffened locks, his head rolls and he staggers in his gait. 
	At last trembling he looses his weary lips from their long bellowings, 
525	and his voice has struggled free from the resisting frenzy: 
	“Whither bearest thou, O Nereid, by thy woman’s guile great Chiron’s 
	mighty pupil? Send him hither: why dost thou carry him away? 
	I will not suffer it: mine is he, mine! Thou art a goddess of the deep, 
	but I too am inspired by Phoebus. In what hiding-places triest thou 
530	to conceal the destroyer of Asia? I see her all bewildered among 
	the Cyclades, in base stealth seeking out the coast. 
	We are ruined! The accomplice land of Lycomedes finds favour. 
	Ah! horrid deed! see, flowing garments drape his breast. 
	Rend them, boy, rend them, and yield not to thy timid mother. Woe, woe! 
535	he is rapt away and is gone! Who is that wicked maiden yonder?”
	
	Here tottering he ceased, the madness lost its force, and 
	with a shudder he collapsed and fell before the altar. 
	Then the Calydonian hero accosts the hesitating Ithacan: 
	“‘Tis us53  that task summons; for I could not refuse to bear thee company, 
540	should thy thought so lead thee. Though he be sunk in the echoing 
	caves of Tethys far removed and in the bosom of watery Nereus, 
	thou wilt find him. Do thou but keep alert the cunning 
	and foresight of thy watchful mind, and arouse thy fertile craft: 
	no prophet, methinks, would make bold in perplexity to see the truth 
545	before thee.” Ulysses in joy makes answer: 
	“So may almighty God bring it to pass, and the virgin guardian 
	of thy sire grant to thee! But fickle hope gives me pause; 
	a great enterprise is it indeed to bring Achilles and his arms to our camp, 
	but should the fates say nay, how woeful a disgrace were it to return! 
550	Yet will I not leave unventured the fulfilment of the Danaans’ desire. 
	Ay, verily, either the Pelean hero shall accompany me hither, 
	or the truth lies deep indeed and Calchas hath not spoken by Apollo.”
	
	The Danai shout applause, and Agamemnon urges on the willing pair; 
	the gathering breaks up, and the dispersing ranks depart with 
555	joyful murmurs, even as at nightfall the birds wing their way homeward 
	from the pastures, or kindly Hybla sees the swarms 
	returning laden with fresh honey to their cells. 
	Without delay the canvas of the Ithacan is already calling for 
	a favouring breeze, and the merry crew are seated at the oars.
	
560	But far away Deidamia--and she alone--had learnt in stolen 
	secrecy the manhood of Aeacides, that lay hid beneath the show 
	of a feigned sex; conscious of guilt concealed there is nought 
	she does not fear, and thinks that her sisters know, but hold their peace. 
	For when Achilles, rough as he was, stood amid the maiden company, 
565	and the departure of his mother rid him of his artless bashfulness, 
	straightway although the whole band gathers round him, he chose her 
	as his comrade and assails with new and winning wiles her 
	unsuspecting innocence; her he follows, and persistently 
	besets, toward her he ever and again directs his gaze. 
570	Now too zealously he clings to her side, nor does she avoid him, 
	now he pelts her with light garlands, now with baskets that let their burden fall, 
	now with the thyrsus that harms her not, or again he shows her 
	the sweet strings of the lyre he knows so well, and the gentle measures 
	and songs of Chiron’s teaching, and guides her hand and makes her fingers 
575	strike the sounding harp, now as she sings he makes a conquest of her lips, 
	and binds her in his embrace, and praises her amid a thousand kisses. 
	With pleasure does she learn of Pelion’s summit and of Aeacides, 
	and hearing the name and exploits of the youth is spellbound 
	in constant wonder, and sings of Achilles in his very presence. 
580	She in her turn teaches him to move his strong limbs with more 
	modest grace and to spin out the unwrought wool by rubbing with his 
	thumb, and repairs the distaff and the skeins that his rough hand has 
	damaged; she marvels at the deep tones of his voice, 
	how he shuns all her fellows and pierces her with too-attentive 
585	gaze and at all times hangs breathless on her words; 
	and now he prepares to reveal the fraud, but she like a 
	fickle girl avoids him, and will not allow him to confess. 
	Even so beneath his mother Rhea’s rule the young prince 
	of Olympus gave treacherous kisses to his sister; he was still 
590	her brother and she thought no harm, until the reverence for their 
	common blood gave way, and the sister feared a lover’s passion.54 
	At length the timorous Nereid’s cunning was laid bare. 
	
	There stood a lofty grove, scene of the rites of Agenorean55  
	Bacchus, a grove that reached to heaven; within its shade 
595	the pious matrons were wont to renew the recurrent three-yearly 
	festival, and to bring torn animals of the herd and uprooted saplings, 
	and to offer to the god the frenzy wherein he took delight. The law 
	bade males keep far away; the reverend monarch repeats the command, 
	and makes proclamation that no man may draw nigh the sacred haunt. 
600	Nor is that enough; a venerable priestess stands at the appointed 
	limit and scans the approaches, lest any defiler come near in 
	the train of women; Achilles laughed silently to himself. 
	His comrades wonder at him as he leads the band of virgins 
	and moves his mighty arms with awkward motion—
605	his own sex and his mother’s counterfeit alike become 
	him. No more is Deidamia the fairest of her company, 
	and as she surpasses her own sisters, so does she herself 
	own defeat compared with proud Aeacides. 
	But when he let the fawn-skin hang from his shapely neck, 
610	and with ivy gathered up its flowing folds, and bound 
	the purple fillet high upon his flaxen temples, 
	and with powerful hand made the enwreathed missile56  quiver, 
	the crowd stood awestruck, and leaving the sacred rites 
	are fain to throng about him, uplifting their bowed heads to gaze. 
615	Even so Euhius, what time he has relaxed at Thebes his martial spirit 
	and frowning brow, and sated his soul with the luxury of his native land, 
	takes chaplet and mitre from his locks, and arms the green thyrsus 
	for the fray, and in more martial guise sets out to meet his Indian foes.57 
	
	The Moon in her rosy chariot was climbing to the height of 
620	mid-heaven, when drowsy Sleep glided down with full sweep 
	of his pinions to earth and gathered a silent world to his embrace: 
	the choirs reposed, the stricken bronze awhile was mute, 
	when Achilles, parted in solitude from the virgin train, thus spoke 
	with himself: “How long wilt thou endure the precepts of thy 
625	anxious mother, and waste the first flower of thy manhood in this 
	soft imprisonment? No weapons of war mayst thou brandish, 
	no beasts mayst thou pursue. Oh! for the plains and valleys 
	of Haemonia! Lookest thou in vain, Spercheus, for my swimming, 
	and for my promised tresses? Or hast thou no regard for the foster-child 
630	that has deserted thee? Am I already spoken of as borne to the Stygian 
	shades afar, and does Chiron in solitude bewail my death? 
	Thou, O Patroclus, now does aim my darts, dost bend 
	my bow and mount the team that was nourished for me; 
	but I have learnt to fling wide my arms as I grasp the vine-wands, 
635	and to spin the distaff-thread--ah! shame and vexation to confess it! 
	Nay more, night and day thou dost dissemble the love that holds 
	thee, and thy passion for the maid of equal years. How long 
	wilt thou conceal the wound that galls thy heart, nor 
	even in love--for shame!--prove thy own manhood?”
	
640	So he speaks; and in the thick darkness of the night, rejoicing 
	that the unstirring silence gives timely aid to his secret deeds, 
	he gains by force his desire, and with all his vigour strains her 
	in a real embrace; the whole choir of stars beheld from 
	on high, and the horns of the young moon blushed red. 
645	She indeed filled the grove and mountain with her cries, 
	but the train of Bacchus, dispelling slumber’s cloud, 
	deemed it the signal for the dance; on every side the familiar shout 
	arises, and Achilles once more brandishes the thyrsus; 
	yet first with friendly speech he solaces the anxious maid: 
650	“I am he – why fearest thou? – whom my cerulean mother bore 
	well nigh to Jove,58  and sent to find my nurture in the woods and snows 
	of Thessaly. Nor had I endured this dress and shameful garb, 
	had I not seen thee on the seashore; ‘twas for thee 
	I did submit, for thee I carry skeins and bear the womanly timbrel. 
655	Why dost thou weep who art made daughter-in-law of mighty ocean? 
	Why does thou moan who shalt bear valiant grandsons to Olympus?59  
	But thy father--Scyros shall be destroyed by fire 
	and sword and these walls shall be in ruins and the sport 
	of wanton winds, ere thou pay by cruel death 
660	for my embraces: not so utterly am I subject to my mother.”
	
662	Horror-struck was the princess at such dark happenings, 
	albeit long since she had suspected his good faith, and shuddered 
	at his presence, and his countenance was changed as he made confession. 
665	What is she to do? Shall she bear the tale of her misfortune to her 
	father, and ruin both herself and her lover, who perchance would suffer 
	untimely death? And still there abode within her breast 
	the love so long deceived. Silent is she in her grief, and dissembles 
	the crime that both now share alike; her nurse alone she resolves 
670	to make a partner in deceit, and she, yielding to the prayers of both, 
	assents. With secret cunning she conceals the rape 
	and the swelling womb and the burden of the months 
	of ailing, till Lucina brought round by token the appointed season, 
	her course now fully run, and gave deliverance of her child.
	
675	And now the Laertian60  bark was threading the winding ways 
	of the Aegean, while the breezes changed one for another the countless 
	Cyclades; already Paros and Olearos are hid, now they skirt lofty 
	Lemnos and behind them Bacchic Naxos is lost to view, 
	while Samos grows before them; now Delos darkens the 
680	deep, and there from the tall stern they pour cups of libation, 
	and pray that he oracle be true and Calchas undeceived. 
	The Wielder of the Bow61  heard them, and from the top of Cynthus sent 
	a zephyr flying and gave the doubting ones the good omen of a bellying sail. 
	The ship sails o’er the sea untroubled; for the Thunderer’s high commands 
685	suffered not Thetis to overturn the sure decrees of Fate, 
	faint as he was with tears, and foreboding much 
	because she could not excite the main and straightway pursue 
	the hated Ulysses with all her winds and waves.
	
	Already Phoebus, stooping low upon the verge of Olympus, 
690	was sending forth broken rays, and promising to his panting steeds 
	the yielding shore of Ocean, when rocky Scyros rose aloft; 
	the Laertian chieftain from the stern let out all sail 
	to make it, and bade his crew resume the deep 
	and with their oars supply the failing zephyrs. 
695	Nearer they draw, and more undoubtedly, more surely 
	was it Scyros, and Tritonia62  above, the guardian of the tranquil 
	shore. They disembark, and venerate the power of the friendly 
	goddess, Aetolian and Ithacan alike. Then the prudent hero, 
	lest they should frighten the hospitable walls with sudden throng, 
700	bids his crew remain upon the ship; he himself with trusty Diomede 
	ascends the heights. But already Abas, keeper of the coastal tower, 
	had gone before them and given tidings to the king, 
	that unknown sails, though Greek, were drawing nigh 
	to land. Forward they go, like two wolves leagued together 
705	on a winter’s night: though their cubs’ hunger and their own 
	assails them, yet do they utterly dissemble ravening 
	rage, and go slinking on their way, lest the alertness of dogs 
	announce a foe and warn the anxious herdsmen to keep vigil.
	
	So with slow pace the heroes move, and with mutual 
710	converse tread the open plain that lies between the harbour 
	and the high citadel; first keen Tydides speaks: 
	“By what means now are we preparing to search out 
	the truth? For in perplexity of mind have I long been pondering 
	why thou didst buy those unwarlike wands and cymbals 
715	in the city marts, and didst bring hither Bacchic hides and turbans, 
	and fawn-skins decked with patterns of gold. Is it with these 
	thou wilt arm Achilles to be the doom of Priam and the Phrygians?”
	To him with a smile and somewhat less stern of look the Ithacan replied: 
	“These things, I tell thee, if only he be lurking among the maidens 
720	in Lycomedes’ palace, shall draw the son of Peleus to the fight, 
	ay, self-confessed! Remember thou to bring them all quickly from 
	the ship, when it is time, and to join to these gifts a shield 
	that is beautiful with carving and rough with work of gold; 
	this spear will suffice; let the good trumpeter Agyrtes be 
725	with thee, and let him bring a hidden bugle for a secret purpose.”
	
	He spoke and spied the king in the very threshold of the gate, 
	and displaying the olive first announced his peaceful purpose: 
	“Loud report, I ween, hath long since reached thy ears, 
	O gentle monarch, of that fierce war which now is shaking 
730	both Europe and Asia. If perchance the chieftains’ names 
	have been borne hither, in whom the avenging son of Atreus trusts, 
	here beholdest thou him whom great-hearted Tydeus begot, 
	mightier even than so great a sire, and I am Ulysses the Ithacan chief. 
	The cause of our voyage--for why should I fear to confess all to thee, 
735	who art a Greek and of all men most renowned by sure report?—
	is to spy out the approaches to Troy and her hated shores, and what 
	their schemes may be.” Ere he had finished the other broke in upon him: 
	“May Fortune assist thee, I pray, and propitious gods prosper 
	that enterprise! Now honour my roof and pious home by being 
740	my guests.” Therewith he leads them within the gate. 
	Straightway numerous attendants prepare the couches and 
	the tables. Meanwhile Ulysses scans and searches the palace 
	with his gaze, if anywhere he can find trace of a 
	tall maiden or a face suspect for its doubtful features; 
745	uncertainly he wanders idly in the galleries and, as though 
	in wonder, roams the whole house through; just as yon hunter, 
	having come upon his prey’s undoubted haunts, 
	scours the fields with his silent Molossian hound, till he behold his foe 
	stretched out in slumber ‘neath the leaves and his jaws resting on the turf.
	
750	Long since has a rumour been noised throughout the secret chamber 
	where the maidens had their safe abode, that Pelasgian chiefs 
	are come, and a Grecian ship and its mariners have been made welcome. 
	With good reason are the rest affrighted; but Pelides scarce conceals 
	his sudden joy, and eagerly desires even as he is to see the newly-arrived 
755	heroes and their arms. Already the noise of princely trains fills 
	the palace, and the guests are reclining on gold-embroidered couches, 
	when at their sire’s command his daughters and their chaste companions 
	join the banquet; they approach, like unto Amazons on the Maeotid shore, 
	when, having made plunder of Scythian homesteads and captured 
760	strongholds of the Getae, they lay aside their arms and feast. 
	Then indeed does Ulysses with intent gaze ponder carefully both 
	forms and features, but night and the lamps that are brought in 
	deceive him, and their stature is hidden as soon as they recline. 
	One nevertheless with head erect and wandering gaze, 
765	one who preserves no sign of virgin modesty, he marks, 
	and with sidelong glance points out to his companion. 
	But if Deidamia, to warn the hasty youth, had not clasped him 
	to her soft bosom, and ever covered with her own robe his 
	bare breast and naked arms and shoulders, and many a time 
770	forbidden him to start up from the couch and ask for wine, 
	and replaced the golden hair-band on his brow, 
	Achilles had even then been revealed to the Argive chieftains.
	
	When hunger was assuaged and the banquet had twice and three times 
	been renewed, the monarch first addresses the Achaeans, and pledges them 
775	with the wine-cup: “Ye famous heroes of the Argolic race, I envy, 
	I confess, your enterprise; would that I too were of more valiant years, 
	as when I utterly subdued the Dolopes who attacked the shores 
	of Scyros, and shattered on the sea those keels that ye beheld 
	on the forefront of my lofty walls, tokens of my triumph! 
780	At least if I had offspring that I would send to war,--
782	but now ye see for yourselves my feeble strength and my dear 
	children: ah, when will these numerous daughters give me grandsons?”
	
	He spoke, and seizing the moment crafty Ulysses made reply: 
785	“Worthy indeed is the object of thy desire; for who would not burn 
	to see the countless peoples of the world and various chieftains and princes 
	with their trains? All the might and glory of powerful Europe 
	hath sworn together willing allegiance to our righteous arms. 
	Cities and fields alike are empty, we have spoiled the lofty mountains, 
790	the whole sea lies hidden beneath the far-spread shadow of our sails; 
	fathers give weapons, youths snatch them and are gone beyond recall. 
	Never was offered to the brave such an opportunity for 
	high renown, never had valour so wide a field of exercise.”
	
	He sees him all attentive and drinking in his words with vigilant ear, 
795	though the rest are alarmed and turn aside their downcast eyes, 
	and he repeats: “Whoever hath pride of race and ancestry, 
	whoever hath sure javelin and valiant steed, or skill of bow, 
	all honour there awaits him, there is the strife of mighty 
	names: scarce do timorous mothers hold back or troops 
800	of maids; ah! doomed to barren years and hated of the gods 
	is he whom this new chance of glory passes by in idle sloth.”
	Up from the couches had he sprung, had not Deidamia, 
	watchfully giving the sign to summon all her sisters, 
	left the banquet clasping him in her arms; yet still he lingers 
805	looking back at the Ithacan, and goes out from the company the last of all. 
	
	Ulysses indeed leaves unsaid somewhat of his purposed speech, 
	yet adds a few words: “But do thou abide in deep and tranquil 
	peace, and find husbands for thy beloved daughters, 
	whom fortune has given thee, goddess-like in their starry 
810	countenances. What awe touched me anon and holds me silent? 
	Such charm and beauty joined to manliness of form!”
	The sire replies: “What if thou couldst see them performing 
	the rites of Bacchus, or about the altars of Pallas? 
	Ay, and thou shalt, if perchance the rising south wind prove a laggard.” 
815	They eagerly accept his promise, and hope inspires their silent prayers. 
	All else in Lycomedes’ palace are at rest in peaceful quiet, 
	their troubles laid aside, but to the cunning Ithacan the night is long; 
	he yearns for the day and brooks not slumber.
	
	Scarce had day dawned, and already the son of Tydeus 
820	accompanied by Agyrtes was present bringing the appointed gifts. 
	The maids of Scyros too went forth from their chamber and advanced 
	to display their dances and promised rites to the honoured 
	strangers. Brilliant before the rest is the princess with Pelides 
	her companion: even as beneath the rocks of Aetna in Sicily 
825	Diana and bold Pallas and the consort of the Elysian 
	monarch shine forth among the nymphs of Enna. 
	Already they begin to move, and the Ismenian63  pipe gives signal 
	to the dancers; four times they beat the cymbals of Rhea,64  four times 
	the maddening drums, four times they trace their manifold windings. 
830	Then together they raise and lower their wands, 
	and complicate their steps, now in such fashion as the Curetes 
	and devout Samothracians use,65  now turning to face each other 
	in the Amazonian comb,66  now in the ring wherein the Delian sets the Laconian 
	girls a-dancing, and whirls them shouting her praises into her own Amyclae. 
835	Then indeed, then above all is Achilles manifest, 
	caring neither to keep his turn nor to join arms; 
	then more than ever does he scorn the delicate step, the womanly attire, 
	and breaks the dance and mightily disturbs the scene. 
	Even so did Thebes already sorrowing behold Pentheus 
840	spurning the wands and the timbrels that his mother welcomed.67 
	
	The troop disperses amid applause, and they seek again their father’s 
	threshold, where in the central chamber of the palace the son of Tydeus 
	hid long since set out gifts that should attract maidens’ eyes, 
	the mark of kindly welcome and the guerdon of their toil; 
845	he bids them choose, nor does the peaceful monarch say them nay. 
	Alas! how simple and untaught, who knew not the cunning 
	of the gifts nor Grecian fraud nor Ulysses’ many wiles! 
	Thereupon the others, prompted by nature and their ease-loving sex, 
	try the shapely wands or the timbrels that answer to the blow, 
850	and fasten jewelled band around their temples; the weapons 
	they behold, but think them a gift to their mighty sire. 
	But the bold son of Aeacus no sooner saw before him the gleaming 
	shield enchased with battle-scenes--by chance too it shone red 
	with the fierce stains of war--and leaning against he spear, 
855	than he shouted loud and rolled his eyes, and his hair rose up 
	from his brow; forgotten were his mother’s words, 
	forgotten his secret love, and Troy fills all his breast. 
	As a lion, torn from his mother’s dugs, submits to be tamed 
	and lets his mane be combed, and learns to have awe of man 
860	and not to fly into a rage save when bidden, 
	yet if but once the steel has glittered in his sight, 
	his fealty is forsworn, and his tamer becomes his foe: against him 
	he first ravens, and feels shame to have served a timid lord. 
	But when he came nearer, and the emulous brightness gave back 
865	his features and he saw himself mirrored in the reflecting gold, 
	he thrilled and blushed together. Then quickly went Ulysses 
	to his side and whispered: “Why dost thou hesitate? 
	We know thee, thou art the pupil of the half-beast Chiron, 
	thou art the grandson of the sky and sea; thee the Dorian fleet, 
870	thee thy own Greece awaits with standards uplifted for the march, 
	and the very walls of Pergamum totter and sway for thee to overturn. 
	Up! delay no more! Let perfidious Ida grow pale, 
	let they father delight to hear these tidings, and guileful Thetis feel shame 
	to have so feared for thee.” Already was he stripping his body 
875	of the robes, when Agyrtes, so commanded, blew a great blast 
	upon the trumpet: the gifts are scattered, and they flee and fall 
	with prayers before their sire and believe that battle is joined. 
	But from his breast the raiment fell without his touching, 
	already the shield and puny spear are lost in the grasp of his hand68 --
880	marvellous to believe!--and he seemed to surpass by head and shoulders 
	the Ithacan and the Aetolian chief: with a sheen so awful does the 
	sudden blaze of arms and the martial fire dazzle the palace-hall. 
	Mighty of limb, as though forthwith summoning Hector to the fray, 
	he stands in the midst of the panic-stricken house: and the daughter of Peleus 
885	is sought in vain. But Deidamia in another chamber bewailed 
	the discovery of the fraud, and as soon as he heard her loud 
	lament and recognized the voice that he knew so well, 
	he quailed and his spirit was broken by his hidden passion. 
	He dropped the shield, and turning to the monarch’s face, while 
890	Lycomedes is dazed by the scene and distraught by the strange portent, 
	just as he was, in naked panoply of arms, he thus bespeaks him: 
	“‘Twas I, dear father, I whom bounteous Thetis gave thee--
	dismiss thy anxious fears!--long since did this high renown await 
	thee; ‘tis thou who wilt send Achilles, long sought for, to the Greeks, 
895	more welcome to me than my might sire--if it is right so to speak--
	and than beloved Chiron. But, if thou wilt, give me 
	thy mind awhile, and of thy favour hear these words: 
	Peleus and Thetis thy guest make thee the father-in-law 
	of their son, and recount their kindred deities on either side; 
900	they demand one of thy train of virgin daughters: 
	doest thou give her? or seem we a mean and coward race? 
	Thou dost not refuse. Join then our hands, and make the treaty, 
	and pardon thy own kin. Already hath Deidamia been known to me 
	in stolen secrecy; for how could she have resisted these 
905	arms of mine, how once in my embrace repel my might? 
	Bid me atone that deed: I lay down these weapons and restore them to the 
	Pelasgians, and I remain here. Why these angry cries? Why is thy aspect 
	changed? Already art thou my father-in-law”--he placed the child before his feet, 
	and added: “and already a grandsire! How often shall the pitiless sword be plied! 
910	We are a multitude!”69  Then the Greeks too and Ulysses with his 
	persuasive prayer entreat by the holy rites and the sworn word 
	of hospitality. He, though moved by the discovery of his dear 
	daughter’s wrong and the command of Thetis, though seeming 
	to betray the goddess and so grave a trust, yet fears to oppose 
915	so many destinies and delay the Argive war--
	even were he fain, Achilles had spurned even his mother then. 
	Nor is he unwilling to take unto himself so great a son-in-law: 
	he is won. Deidamia comes shamefast from her dark privacy, 
	nor in her despair believes at first his pardon, 
920	and puts forward Achilles to appease her sire.
	
	A messenger is sent to Haemonia to give Peleus full tidings of 
	these great events, and to demand ships and comrades for the war. 
	Moreover, the Scyrian prince launches two vessels for his son-in-law, 
	and makes excuse to the Achaeans for so poor a show of strength. 
925	Then the day was brought to its end with feasting, and at last the bond was 
	made known to all, and conscious night joined the now fearless lovers.
	
	Before her70  eyes new wars and Xanthus and Ida pass, 
	and the Argolis fleet, and she imagines the very waves and fears 
	the coming of the dawn; she flings herself about her new lord’s 
930	beloved neck, and at last clasping his limbs gives way to tears: 
	“Shall I see thee again, and lay myself on this breast of thine, 
	O son of Aeacus? Wilt thou deign once more to look upon thy offspring? 
	Or wilt thou proudly bring back spoils of captured Pergamum and 
	Teucrian homes and wish to forget where thou didst hide thee as a maid? 
935	What should I entreat, or alas! what rather fear? How can I in my anxiety 
	lay a behest on thee, who have scarce time to weep? One single night 
	has given and grudged thee to me! Is this the season for our espousals? 
	Is this free wedlock? Ah! those stolen sweets! that cunning fraud! 
	Ah! how I fear! Achilles is given to me only to be torn away. 
940	Go! for I would not dare to stay such mighty preparations; 
	go, and be cautious, and remember that the fears of Thetis were not vain; 
	go, and good luck be with thee, and come back mine! Yes too bold is my request: 
	soon the fair Trojan dames will sigh for thee with tears and beat 
	their breasts, and pray that they may offer their necks to thy fetters, 
945	and weigh thy couch against their homes, or Tyndaris71  herself 
	will please thee, too much belauded for her incestuous rape. 
	But I shall be a story to thy henchmen, the tale of 
	a lad’s first fault, or I shall be disowned and forgotten. 
	Nay, come, take me as thy comrade; why should I not carry the standards 
950	of Mars with thee? Thou dist carry with me the wands 
	and holy things of Bacchus, though ill-fated Troy believe it not. 
	Yet this babe, whom thou dost leave as my sad solace--
	keep him at least within thy heart, and grant this one request, 
	that no foreign wife bear thee a child, that no 
955	captive woman give unworthy grandsons to Thetis.”
	
	As thus she speaks, Achilles, moved to compassion himself, 
	comforts her, and gives her his sworn oath, and pledges it 
	with tears, and promises her on his return tall handmaidens 
	and spoils of Ilium and gifts of Phrygian treasure. 
960	The fickle breezes swept his words unfulfilled away.
	
Statius, Achilleid  Book 2
	 
	Day arising from Ocean set free the world from dank 
	enfolding shades, and the father of the flashing light upraised 
	his torch still dimmed by the neighbouring gloom 
	and moist with sea-water not yet shaken off. 
5	And now all behold Aeacides, his shoulders stripped 
	of the scarlet robe, and glorious in those very arms he first 
	had seized--for the wind is calling and his kindred seas 
	are urging him--and quake before the youthful chieftain, 
	not daring to remember aught; so wholly changed to the sight 
10	hath he come back, as though he had ne’er experiences 
	the shores of Scyros, but were embarking from the Pelian cave. 
	Then duly--for so Ulysses counseled--he does sacrifice 
	to the gods and the waters and south winds, and venerates 
	with a bull the cerulean king below the waves and Nereus 
15	his grandsire: his mother is appeased with garlanded heifer. 
	Thereupon casting the swollen entrails on the salt foam he addresses her: 
	“Mother, I have obeyed thee, though thy commands were hard to bear; 
	too obedient have I been: now they demand me, and I go to the Trojan war 
	and the Argolic fleet.” So speaking he leapt into the bark, 
20	and was swept away far from the neighbourhood of land by 
	the whistling south wind; already lofty Scyros beings to gather mist 
	about her, and to fade from sight over the long expanse of sea.
	
	Far away on the summit of a tower with weeping sisters round her 
	his wife leaned forth, holding her precious charge, 
25	who bore the name of Pyrrhus, and with her eyes fixed on the canvas 
	sailed herself upon the sea, and all alone still saw the vessel. 
	He too turned his gaze aside to the walls he held dear, he thinks upon 
	the widowed home and the sobs of her he had left: 
	the hidden passion glows again within his heart, 
30	and martial ire gives place. The Laertian hero perceives him 
	sorrowing, and draws nigh to influence him with gentle words: 
	“Was it thou, O destined destroyer of great Troy, 
	whom Danaan fleets and divine oracles are demanding, 
	and War aroused is awaiting with unbarred portals--
35	was it thou whom a crafty mother profaned with feminine robes, 
	and trusted yonder hiding-place with so great a secret, and hoped 
	the trust was sure? O too anxious, O too true a mother! 
	Could such valour lie inert and hidden, that scarce hearing 
	the trumpet-blast fled from Thetis and companions 
40	and the heart’s unspoken passion? Nor is it due to us 
	that thou comest to the war, and compliest with our prayers; 
	thou wouldst have come--” He spoke, and thus the Aeacian hero 
	takes up the word: “’Twere long to set forth the causes of my tarrying 
	and my mother’s crime; this sword shall make excuse for Scyros 
45	and my dishonourable garb, the reproach of destiny. 
	Do thou rather, while the sea is peaceful and the sails 
	enjoy the zephyr, tell how the Danaans began so great a war: 
	I would fain draw straightway from thy words a righteous anger.”
	
	Then the Ithacan, tracing far back the beginning of the tale: 
50	“A shepherd, they say--if we believe such things--was chosen 
	in Hector’s domain of Ida to end a strife of beauty, and while he kept 
	the goddesses anxious doubt looked not with friendly eye 
	upon Minerva’s frowning countenance nor on the consort 
	of the heavenly ruler, but gazed overmuch on Dione alone. 
55	And verily that quarrel arose in thy own glades, 
	at a gathering of the gods, when pleasant Pelion made marriage-feast 
	for Peleus, and thou even then wert promised to our armament. 
	Wrath thrills the vanquished ones: the judge demands his fateful 
	reward, and compliant Amyclae is shown to the ravisher. 
60	He cuts down the Phrygian groves, the secret haunts of the 
	turret-crowned mother, and flings down pines that fear to fall 
	to earth, and borne o’er the sea to Achaean lands he plunders 
	the marriage-chamber of his host the son of Atreus--ah! shame and pity 
	on proud Europe!--and exulting in Helen puts to sea 
65	and brings home to Pergamum the spoils of Argos. 
	Then, as the rumours spread far and wide through the cities, 
	of our own will, none urging us, we gather, who could endure 
	the unlawful, crafty breaking of the marriage-bond, 
	or a consort carried off in unresisted rape, 
70	as though a beast of the flock or herd, would shake even 
	a valiant heart. Masterful Agenor endured not 
	the treachery of the gods, but went in quest of sacred lowings 
	and Europa riding on a mighty god, and scorned the Thunderer 
	as a son-in-law; Aeëtes endured not the rape of his 
75	daughter72  from the Scythian shore, but with ships 
	and steel pursued the princes and the vessel fated to join 
	the stars: shall we endure a Phrygian eunuch hovering 
	about the coasts and harbours of Argos with his incestuous 
	bark? Are our horses and men so utterly vanished? 
80	Are the seas so impassable to Greeks? 
	What if someone now were to carry of Deidamia 
	from her native shores, and tear her from her lonely chamber 
	in dire dismay and crying on the name of great Achilles?”
	His hand flew to the sword-hilt, and a dark flush 
85	surged over his face: Ulysses was silent and content.
	
	Then spoke Oenides: “Nay, O thou worthiest progeny of 
	heaven, tell us, thy admiring friends, of the ways in which 
	thy spirit first was trained, and as the vigour of thy youth 
	increased what stirring themes of glory Chiron was wont 
90	to recount to thee, and how thy valour grew, by what arts 
	he made strong thy limbs or fired thy courage; 
	let it be worthy while to have sought Scyros over long leagues 
	of sea, and to have first shown weapons to those arms of thine.”
	
	Who would find it hard to tell of his own deeds? Yet he begins 
95	modestly, somewhat uncertain and more like one compelled: 
	“Even in my years of crawling infancy, when the 
	Thessalian sage received me on his stark mountain-side, 
	I am said to have devoured no wonted food, nor to have sated 
	my hunger at the nourishing breast, but to have gnawed 
100	the tough entrails of lions and the bowels of a half-slain she-wolf. 
	That was my first bread, that the bounty of joyous Bacchus, 
	in such wise did that father of mine73  feed me. Then he taught me to go 
	with him through pathless deserts, dragging me on with mighty stride, 
	and to laugh at sight of the wild beasts, nor tremble at the shattering rocks 
105	by rushing torrents or at the silence of the lonely forest. 
	Already at that time weapons were in my hand and quivers 
	on my shoulders, the love of steel grew apace within me, and my skin 
	was hardened by much sun and frost; nor were my limbs weakened by 
	soft couches, but I shared the hard rock with my master’s mighty frame.
110	Scarce had my raw youth turned the wheel of twice 
	six years, when already he made me outpace swift hinds 
	and Lapith steeds and running overtake the flung dart; 
	often Chiron himself, while yet he was swift of foot, chased me 
	at full gallop74  with headlong speed o’er all the plains, 
115	and when I was exhausted by roaming over the meads 
	he praised my joyously and hoisted me upon his back. 
	Often too in the first freezing of the streams he would bid me 
	go upon them with light step nor break the ice. 
	These were my boyhood glories. Why now should I tell thee of the 
120	woodland battles and of the glades that know my fierce shout no more? 
	Never would he suffer me to follow unwarlike does through 
	the pathless glens of Ossa, or lay low timid lynxes with my spear, 
	but only to drive angry bears from their resting-places, and boars 
	with lightning thrust; or if anywhere a mighty tiger lurked or a 
125	lioness with her cubs in some secret lair upon the mountain-side, 
	he himself, seated in his vast cave, awaited my exploits, 
	if perchance I should return bespattered with dark blood; 
	nor did he admit me to his embrace before he had scanned my weapons.
	And already I was being prepared for the armed tumults of the neighbouring 
130	folk, and no fashion of savage warfare passed me by. 
	I learnt how the Paeonians whirl and fling their darts 
	and the Macetae their javelins, with how fierce a rush 
	the Sarmatian plies his pike and the Getan his falchion, 
	how the Gelonian draws his bow, and how the Balearic wielder 
135	of the pliant thong keeps the missile swinging round with balanced 
	motion, and as he swings it marks out a circle in the air.75  
	Scarce could I recount all my doings, successful though they were; 
	now he instructs me to span huge dykes by leaping, 
	now to climb and grasp the airy mountain-peak, 
140	with what stride to run upon the level, how to catch 
	flung stones in mimic battle on my shielded arm, 
	to pass through burning houses, and to check flying four-horse 
	teams on foot. “Spercheus, I remember was flowing 
	with rapid current, fed full with constant rains and 
145	melted snows and carrying on its flood boulders and living trees, 
	when he sent me in, there were the waves rolled fiercest, and bade me 
	stand against them and hurl back the swelling billows that he himself 
	could scarce have borne, though he stood to face them with so many a limb.76  
	I strove to stand, but the violence of the stream and the dizzy panic 
150	of the broad spate forced me to give ground; he loomed o’er me 
	from above and fiercely threatened, and flung taunts to shame me. 
	Nor did I depart till he gave me word, so far did the lofty love of fame 
	constrain me, and my toils were not too hard with such a witness. 
	For to fling the Oebalian77  quoit far out of sight into the clouds, 
155	or to practise the holds of the sleek wrestling-bout, and to scatter blows 
	with the boxing-gloves were sport and rest to me: nor laboured I more 
	therein that when I struck with my quill the sounding strings, 
	or told the wondrous fame of heroes of old.
	Also did he teach me of juices and the grasses that succour 
160	disease, what remedy will staunch too fast a flow of blood, 
	what will lull to sleep, what will close gaping wounds; 
	what plague should be checked by the knife, what will yield to herbs; 
	and he implanted deep within my heart the precepts of divine 
	justice, whereby he was wont to give revered laws to the tribes 
165	that dwelt on Pelion, and tame his own twy-formed folk. 
	So much do I remember, friends, of the training of my earliest years, 
	and sweet is their remembrance; the rest my mother knows.”