So in his anger did Achilles treat Unworthily the noble Hector’s corse. The blessed gods themselves with pity looked Upon the slain, and bade the vigilant one, The Argus-queller, bear him thence by stealth. This counsel pleased the immortals all, except Juno and Neptune and the blue-eyed maid, And these persisted in their wrath. To them Ilium, the hallowed city, and its king, Priam, and all his people, from the first Were hateful; ’twas for Alexander’s fault, Affronting the two goddesses what time They sought his cottage, and preferring her Who ministered to his calamitous love. But now, when the twelfth morning from that day Arose, Apollo spake among the gods:—
“Cruel are ye, O gods, and prone to wrong. For was not Hector wont before your shrines To burn the thighs of chosen bulls and goats? And now that he is dead ye venture not To rescue him, and let his wife and son And mother and King Priam look again Upon his face. Soon would they light the pile, And burn the dead, and pay the funeral rite. Ye seek to favor, O ye gods, that pest Achilles, in whose breast there dwells no love Of justice, nor a temper to be moved By prayers, but who delights in savage deeds. And as a lion, conscious of vast strength And scornful of resistance, falls upon The shepherd’s flock, and slays for his repast, Thus with Achilles neither mercy dwells Nor shame, which often profits, often harms Mankind. For when another man has met A greater grief than he—has lost, perchance, A brother or a son—he dries at length His tears, and ceases to lament; for fate Bestows the power to suffer patiently. But this Achilles, after he has spoiled The godlike Hector of his life in war, Hath bound him to his chariot, and hath dragged The corse around his dear companion’s tomb. Unseemly is the deed, and small will be The good it brings him. Brave although he be, We may be angry with him when he thus Insults a portion of insensible earth.”
The white-armed Juno was incensed, and spake: “So mightst thou say, God of the silver bow, Were equal honor to Achilles due And Hector. Hector is a mortal man, And suckled at a woman’s breast. Not so