on men forsworn, that never I Have laid, for purpose of unchaste desire, Or other cause, my hand upon the maid Briseis. She hath dwelt inviolate Within my tents. If yet in aught I say Lurk perjury, then may the blessed gods Heap on my head the many miseries With which they punish those who falsely swear!”
He spake, and drew the unrelenting blade Across the animal’s throat. Talthybius took And swung the carcass round, and cast it forth Into the gray sea’s depths, to be the food Of fishes. Then again Achilles rose Among the warlike sons of Greece, and said:—
“Great sorrows thou dost send, O Father Jove! Upon mankind; for never would the son Of Atreus have provoked the wrath that burned Within my bosom, never would have thought To bear away the maiden from my tent In spite of me, had it not been the will Of Jupiter that many a Greek should die. But banquet now, and then prepare for war.”
So spake Achilles, and at once dissolved The assembly, each repairing to his ship Save the large-hearted Myrmidons, who still Were busy with the gifts, and carried them Toward their great general’s galley. These they laid Carefully in the tents, and seated there The women, while the attentive followers drave The coursers to the stables. When the maid Briseis, beautiful as Venus, saw Patroclus lying gashed with wounds, she sprang And threw herself upon the dead, and tore Her bosom, her fair cheeks and delicate neck; And thus the graceful maiden, weeping, said:—
“Patroclus, dear to my unhappy heart! I left thee in full life, when from this tent They led me; I return and find thee dead, O chieftain of the people! Thus it is That sorrow upon sorrow is my lot. Him to whose arms my father, in my youth, And gracious mother gave me as a bride, I saw before our city pierced and slain, And the three brothers whom my mother bore Slain also—brothers whom I dearly loved. Yet thou, when swift Achilles struck to earth My hapless husband, and laid waste the