Page:Homer The Iliad.djvu/112

98 And he will send, for the present, peace-offerings of royal magnificence; ten talents of pure gold, seven fair Lesbian slaves, "well skilled in household cares," twelve horses of surpassing fleetness—the prizes they have already won would be in themselves a fortune—and seven prosperous towns on the sea-coast of Argos. He adds, in well-conceived climax to his speech, an appeal to higher motives. If Achilles will not relax his wrath against Agamemnon, at least let him have some compassion on the unoffending Greeks; let him bethink himself of the national honour—of his own great name; shall Hector be allowed to boast, as he does now, that no Greek dares meet him in the field? But neither the eloquence of Ulysses, nor the garrulous pleading of his old foster-father Phœnix, who indulges himself and his company with stories of Achilles' boyhood, and of the exploits of his own younger days, can bend the iron determination of the hero. He will have none of Agamemnon's gifts, and none of Agamemnon's daughters—no, not were the princess as fair as Venus. Greece has store of fair maidens for him to choose from if he will. Nay, had either woman or wealth been his delight, he had scarce come to Troy. He had counted the cost when he set out for the war:—

Successful forays may good store provide; And tripods may be gained, and noble steeds: But when the breath of man hath passed his lips, Nor strength, nor foray can the loss repair. I by my goddess mother have been warned, The silver-footed Thetis, that o'er me A double chance of destiny impends: If here remaining, round the walls of Troy I wage the war, I ne'er shall see my home, But then undying glory shall be mine: