where, dear to Jove, Achilles lodged, he found the chief within, While his companions sat apart, save two— Automedon the brave, and Alcimus, Who claimed descent from Mars. These stood near by, And ministered to Peleus’ son, who then Was closing a repast, and had just left The food and wine, and still the table stood. Unmarked the royal Priam entered in, And, coming to Achilles, clasped his knees, And kissed those fearful slaughter-dealing hands, By which so many of his sons had died. And as, when some blood-guilty man, whose hand In his own land has slain a fellow-man, Flees to another country, and the abode Of some great chieftain, all men look on him Astonished—so, when godlike Priam first Was seen, Achilles was amazed, and all Looked on each other, wondering at the sight. And thus King Priam supplicating spake:—
“Think of thy father, an old man like me, Godlike Achilles! On the dreary verge Of closing life he stands, and even now Haply is fiercely pressed by those who dwell Around him, and has none to shield his age From war and its disasters. Yet his heart Rejoices when he hears thou yet dost live, And every day he hopes that his dear son Will come again from Troy. My lot is hard, For I was father of the bravest sons In all wide Troy, and none are left me now. Fifty were