And Thetis answered, with a gush of tears: “O Vulcan! Of the goddesses who dwell Upon Olympus, is there one who bears Such bitter sorrows as Saturnian Jove Inflicts on me, distressed above them all? Me, of the ocean deities, he forced To take a mortal husband⁠—Peleus, son Of Aeacus⁠—and to his bed I came Unwillingly. Within his palace-halls, Worn with a late old age, my husband lies. Now I have other woes; for when a son Was granted me, and I had brought him forth And reared him, flourishing like a young plant, A sapling in a fertile field, and great Among the heroes⁠—thus maturely trained, I sent him with his beaked ships to Troy, To combat with her sons; but never more Will it be mine to welcome him returned Home to the halls of Peleus. While to me He lives, and sees the sunshine, he endures Affliction, nor can I, though at his side, Aid him in aught. The maiden whom the Greeks Decreed him as his prize, the king of men, Atrides, took away, and grief for her