Of Agamemnon, on that selfsame day Menœtius gave thee. We were present there,930 Ulysses and myself, both in the house, And heard it all; for to the house we came Of Peleus in our journey through the land Of fertile Greece, gathering her states to war. We found thy noble sire Menœtius there,935 Thee and Achilles; ancient Peleus stood To Jove the Thunderer offering in his court Thighs of an ox, and on the blazing rites Libation pouring from a cup of gold. While ye on preparation of the feast940 Attended both, Ulysses and myself Stood in the vestibule; Achilles flew Toward us, introduced us by the hand, And, seating us, such liberal portion gave To each, as hospitality requires.945 Our thirst, at length, and hunger both sufficed, I, foremost speaking, ask’d you to the wars, And ye were eager both, but from your sires Much admonition, ere ye went, received. Old Peleus charged Achilles to aspire950 To highest praise, and always to excel. But thee, thy sire Menœtius thus advised. “My son! Achilles boasts the nobler birth, But thou art elder; he in strength excels Thee far; thou, therefore, with discretion rule955 His inexperience; thy advice impart With gentleness; instruction wise suggest Wisely, and thou shalt find him apt to learn.” So thee thy father taught, but, as it seems, In vain. Yet even now essay to move960 Warlike Achilles; if the Gods so please, Who knows but that thy reasons may prevail To rouse his valiant heart? men rarely scorn The earnest intercession of a friend. But if some prophecy alarm his fears,965 And from his Goddess mother he have aught Received, who may have learnt the same from Jove, Thee let him send at least, and order forth With thee the Myrmidons; a dawn of hope Shall thence, it may be, on our host arise.970 And let him send thee to the battle clad In his own radiant armor; Troy, deceived By such resemblance, shall abstain perchance From conflict, and the weary Greeks enjoy Short respite; it is all that war allows.975 Fresh as ye are, ye, by your shouts alone, May easily repulse an army spent With labor from the camp and from the fleet. Thus Nestor, and his mind bent to his words. Back to Æacides through all the camp980 He ran; and when, still running, he arrived Among Ulysses’ barks, where they had fix’d The forum, where they minister’d the laws, And had erected altars to the Gods, There him Eurypylus, Evæmon’s son,985 Illustrious met, deep-wounded in his thigh, And halting-back from battle. From his head The sweat, and from his shoulders ran profuse, And from his perilous wound the sable blood Continual stream’d; yet was his mind composed.990 Him seeing, Menœtiades the brave Compassion felt, and mournful, thus began. Ah hapless senators and Chiefs of Greece! Left ye your native country that the dogs Might fatten on your flesh at distant Troy?995 But tell me, Hero! say, Eurypylus! Have the Achaians power still to withstand The enormous force of Hector, or is this The moment when his spear must pierce us all?