him. And he sent a destructive arrow against the Greeks; and the forces were now dying one upon another, and the shafts of the god went on all sides through the wide army of the Greeks. But to us the skillful seer unfolded the divine will of the Far-darter. Straightway I first exhorted that we should appease the god; but then rage seized upon the son of Atreus, and instantly rising, he uttered a threatening speech, which is now accomplished; for the rolling-eyed Greeks attend her to Chrysa with a swift bark, and bring presents to the king; but the heralds have just now gone from my tent, conducting the virgin daughter of Brisëis, whom the sons of the Greeks gave to me. But do thou, if thou art able, aid thy son. Going to Olympus, supplicate Jove, if ever thou didst delight the heart of Jove as to any thing by word or deed; for I frequently heard thee boasting in the palaces of my sire, when thou saidest that thou alone, among the immortals, didst avert unworthy destruction from the cloud-collecting son of Saturn, when the other Olympian inhabitants, Juno and Neptune, and Pallas Minerva, wished to bind him. But thou, O goddess, having approached, freed him from his chains, having quickly summoned to lofty Olympus, the hundred-handed, whom the gods call Briareus, and all men Ægeon, because he was superior to his father in strength,[1] who then sat by the son of Saturn, exulting in renown. Him then the blessed gods dreaded, nor did they bind [Jove]. Of these things now reminding him, sit beside him, and embrace his knees, if in any wise he may consent to aid the Trojans, and hem in[2] at their ships, and along the sea, the Greeks [while they get] slaughtered, that all may enjoy their king, and that the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon may know his baleful folly,[3] when he in no wise honored the bravest of the Greeks."
But him Thetis then answered, shedding down a tear: "Alas! my son, wherefore have I reared thee, having
- ↑ There is some doubt whether Homer considered Briareus as the son of Neptune or of Uranus and Terra.—See Arnold. The fable is ridiculed by Minucius Felix, § 22.
- ↑ See Buttm. Lexil. pp. 257, 261, Fishlake's translation.
- ↑ The idea of infatuation is not, however, necessarily implied in ἄτη. See Buttm. Lex. p. 5, sq.
