Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

The household sat apart; and two alone,

The hero Automedon, and Alcimus,

A branch of Mars, stood by him. They had been
At meals, and had not yet removed the board.
Great Priam came, without their seeing him,

And kneeling down, he grasped Achilles' knees,
And kissed those terrible hands, man-slaughtering,
Which had deprived him of so many sons.
And as a man, who is pressed heavily

For having slain another, flies away

To foreign lands, and comes into the house
Of some great man, and is beheld with wonder;

So did Achilles wonder, to see Priam;

And the rest wondered, looking at each other.

But Priam, praying to him, spoke these words :

"God-like Achilles, think of thine own father, Who is, as I am, at the weary door

Of age and though the neighbouring chiefs may

:

vex him,

And he has none to keep his evils off,

Yet, when he hears that thou art still alive,
He gladdens inwardly; and daily hopes
To see his dear son coming back from Troy.
But I, forbidden creature! I had once

Brave sons in Troy, and now I cannot say

That one is left me. Fifty children had I,

When the Greeks came; nineteen were of one

womb;

The rest my women bore me in my house.

The knees of many of these fierce Mars has loos

ened;

And he who had no peer, Troy's prop and theirs, Him hast thou killed now, fighting for his country, Hector; and for his sake am I come here

To ransom him, bringing a countless ransom.

But thou, Achilles, fear the gods, and think
Of thine own father, and have mercy on me;
For I am much more wretched, and have borne
What never mortal bore, I think, on earth,
To lift unto my mouth the hand of him
Who slew my boys."

He spoke; and there arose

Sharp longing in Achilles for his father;
And taking Priam by the hand, he gently
Put him away; for both shed tears to think
Of other times; the one, most bitter ones
For Hector, and with wilful wretchedness
Lay right before Achilles; and the other,
For his own father now, and now his friend;

And the whole house might hear them as they moaned.

But when divine Achilles had refreshed

His soul with tears, and sharp desire had left His heart and limbs, he got up from his throne, And raised the old man by the hand, and took Pity on his grey head and his

grey

chin.

MERCURY GOING TO THE CAVE OF CALYPSO.

Ως εφατ' ουδ' απίθησε διακτορος Αργειφόντης
Αντικ επειθ' ὑπο ποσσιν εδησατο καλα πεδιλα,

Αμβροσία, χρυσεια·

ODYSS. Lib. 5, v. 43.

He said; and straight the herald Argicide
Beneath his feet the feathery sandals tied,
Immortal, golden, that his flight could bear
O'er seas and lands, like waftage of the air;
His rod too, that can close the eyes of men
In balmy sleep, and open them again,

« ПредишнаНапред »