"Ascend to heaven and bring thy prayer to Jove, If e'er by word or act thou gav'st him aid. For I remember, in my father's halls I often heard thee, glorying, tell how thou, Alone of all the gods, didst interpose To save the cloud-compeller, Saturn's son, From shameful overthrow, when all the rest Who dwell upon Olympus had conspired To bind him,--Juno, Neptune, and with them Pallas Athene. Thou didst come and loose His bonds, and call up to the Olympian heights The hundred-handed, whom the immortal gods Have named Briareus." BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I. Thetis readily consented to do as her son desired. "Not now, however!" said she, "for yesterday Jupiter went to E-thi-oʹpi-a to a banquet, and all the gods went with him. But in twelve days he will return. Then I will go to Olympus and tell your words to thunder-delighting Jove, and I think I shall be able to persuade him to grant your request." "Thou, meanwhile, abide By thy swift ships, incensed against the Greeks, And take no part in all their battles more." BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I. Thetis did not forget her promise. On the twelfth day, at the dawn of morning, she emerged from beneath the waves, and went up to Olympus. There she threw herself at the feet of Jupiter, as he sat on the summit of the mount apart from the other gods, and earnestly prayed him to grant victory to the Trojans until the Greeks should make amends to her son for the injury that had been done him. Now it may seem that it was not just to ask that the whole Greek army should be punished for the act of their general. But the other chiefs and their people were hardly less to blame than Agamemnon, for they did not try to prevent him from doing the wrong. If they had opposed him very much, he would not perhaps have dared to insult their greatest warrior, the man without whose help they knew Troy could not be taken. Therefore Thetis begged Jupiter to punish all the Greeks by giving victory to the Trojans. "O Jupiter, my father, if among The immortals I have ever given thee aid By word or act, deny not my request. Honor my son whose life is doomed to end So soon; for Agamemnon, king of men, Hath done him shameful wrong: he takes from him And keeps the prize he won in war. But thou, Olympian Jupiter, supremely wise, Honor him thou, and give the Trojan host The victory, until the humbled Greeks Heap large increase of honors on my son." BRYANT, _Iliad_, Book I. Jupiter hesitated for some time before consenting to grant the prayer of Thetis. "This," said he, "is a serious matter, for by doing as you desire I may give offense to Juno, who has already been blaming me among the gods, saying that I aid the Trojans in battle. However, since you will have it so, I shall grant your request."