“Illustrious son of Peleus, if indeed Thou wilt return, nor carest to repel From our swift galleys the consuming fire, Because thou art offended, how shall I, Dear child, remain without thee? When at first Peleus, the aged knight, from Phthia sent Thee, yet a boy, to Agamemnon’s aid, Unskilled as then thou wert in cruel war And martial councils—where men also gain A great renown—he sent me with thee, charged To teach thee both, that so thou mightst become In words an orator, in warlike deeds An actor. Therefore, my beloved child, Not willingly shall I remain behind; Not even though a god should promise me That, overcoming the decays of age, I might become a beardless youth again, As when from Hellas and its companies Of lovely maids I came a fugitive, And left Amyntor, son of Ormenus— My father—angry with me for the sake Of a fair-tressed wanton, whom he loved, Treating my mother basely. To my knees My mother came and prayed me ceaselessly, First, to possess the woman, that she then Might loathe the elder one; and I obeyed. My father knew it, and with many a curse Invoked the hateful furies to forbid That any child who owed his birth to me Should ever sit upon his knees. The gods— The Jove of Hades and dread Proserpine— Confirmed his curse. To slay him with the sword Was my first thought. Some god subdued my wrath, Reminding me of what the public voice Would say, and infamy that would ensue— Lest I among the Achaians should be called A parricide. I could not brook to dwell Within my father’s palace while he thus Was wroth with me. My kindred and my friends Came round me, and besought me to remain, And stayed beside me. Many a fatling ewe And many a slow-paced ox with curving horns They slew, and many a fattened swine they stretched Over the flame of Vulcan. From the casks Of the old chief his wine was freely drawn. Nine nights they slept surrounding me, while each Kept watch in turn: nor ever were the fires Put out; one blazed beneath the portico Of the fair hall, and near the chamber-door Another glimmered in the vestibule. But when upon me rose the tenth dark night, I broke my aptly-jointed chamber-doors, And issued forth, and easily o’erleaped The wall around
Table of Contents
Book IX
195