Whereupon he commanded that the maiden should be brought from her tent
and given to the heralds, who led her, much against her will, to the
haughty Agamemnon. Then Achilles called upon his mother Thetis, who was
a goddess of the sea, to avenge his wrongs. Thetis rose like a mist
from the waves, and coming to Achilles, who sat upon the seashore, she
comforted him and asked his trouble. Whereupon Achilles told her the
cause of his anger, and besought her to go to the great Zeus, whom
Thetis had once aided, when the other gods would have bound great Jove,
by bringing Briareus of the hundred hands, who so fought for the mighty
Jupiter, that the other gods dared no longer defy his power. And owing
this kindness to the goddess Thetis, her son thought rightly that the
great Jove would listen to her petitions on his behalf. So Achilles
asked his mother to go to Olympus, and pray Zeus that he would help the
sons of Troy and give them victory over the Greeks, whose sovereign
king had thus dishonored the bravest of all his host.
This, Thetis did, going to the palace of Jupiter on the top of Olympus,
and making her prayer in her son’s behalf. Zeus was loath to grant it,
for he knew that it would anger his wife Heré, who loved the Greeks and
hated the Trojans. Yet on account of the past favor of Thetis, he would
not refuse, and in giving assent, nodded his awful head, thus causing
Olympus to shake and tremble. So Zeus called one of his swift-winged
messengers, called a Dream, and said,—
“Fly hence, swift Dream, and to the tent of Agamemnon go! Bid him lead
all the Grecians forth to battle against Troy. Persuade him that the
gods intend to give him victory.”
So this false Dream, flying to Agamemnon’s side, took to itself the
shape of wise old Nestor, whom the king honored more than all beside,
and thus the false Nestor counselled,—
“Sleepest thou, Agamemnon? Arise! for now Zeus declares that the
immortal gods are favorable to thy plans, and through thy mighty hosts
will send the doom of destruction upon the city of Troy; and thou shalt
reap the eternal glory.”
Then Agamemnon awoke from sleep and, little thinking how he had
been duped by this false Dream, quickly donned his tunic, fastened
his sandals on his feet, and hung from his shoulders his mighty
silver-studded sword. Wrapping his great cloak around him, he took in
his right hand his royal sceptre, token of his sovereignty over all the
Greeks. Thus attired, in martial grandeur, he went forth and roused his
chiefs, and then the heralds called the hosts to battle. Only Achilles
sat apart within his tent and went not forth to battle with the Greeks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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