So spake he, and Odysseus answered him: "Friends are we of Achilles lord of war, To whom of Deidameia thou wast born-- Yea, when we look on thee we seem to see That Hero's self; and like the Immortal Ones Was he. Of Ithaca am I: this man Of Argos, nurse of horses--if perchance Thou hast heard the name of Tydeus' warrior son Or of the wise Odysseus. Lo, I stand Before thee, sent by voice of prophecy. I pray thee, pity us: come thou to Troy And help us. Only so unto the war An end shall be. Gifts beyond words to thee The Achaean kings shall give: yea, I myself Will give to thee thy godlike father's arms, And great shall be thy joy in bearing them; For these be like no mortal's battle-gear, But splendid as the very War-god's arms. Over their marvellous blazonry hath gold Been lavished; yea, in heaven Hephaestus' self Rejoiced in fashioning that work divine, The which thine eyes shall marvel to behold; For earth and heaven and sea upon the shield Are wrought, and in its wondrous compass are Creatures that seem to live and move--a wonder Even to the Immortals. Never man Hath seen their like, nor any man hath worn, Save thy sire only, whom the Achaeans all Honoured as Zeus himself. I chiefliest From mine heart loved him, and when he was slain, To many a foe I dealt a ruthless doom, And through them all bare back to the ships his corse. Therefore his glorious arms did Thetis give To me. These, though I prize them well, to thee Will I give gladly when thou com'st to Troy. Yea also, when we have smitten Priam's towns And unto Hellas in our ships return, Shall Menelaus give thee, an thou wilt, His princess-child to wife, of love for thee, And with his bright-haired daughter shall bestow Rich dower of gold and treasure, even all That meet is to attend a wealthy king." So spake he, and replied Achilles' son: "If bidden of oracles the Achaean men Summon me, let us with to-morrow's dawn Fare forth upon the broad depths of the sea, If so to longing Danaans I may prove A light of help. Now pass we to mine halls, And to such guest-fare as befits to set Before the stranger. For my marriage-day-- To this the Gods in time to come shall see."