Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/161

Rh forth from the land of Phthia to King Agamemnon, a stripling without knowledge of war or of counsel. Therefore I will not leave thee, no, not if the gods would take from me my years, and make me young as I was when I left the land of Hellas. Hellas I left because I had angered the old man, my father, and he cursed me, calling instantly on the Furies that never son of mine should sit upon his knees. Thus he prayed, and the gods hearkened to him, even Zeus that rules the dead and awful Persephoné. Then was I minded to slay him with the sword; but some god kept me back, putting it in my heart that I should be called the murderer of my father throughout the land of Hellas. But I was purposed not to abide in his dwelling any more. Then came comrades and kinsmen with many prayers, and would have kept me. Nine days they slew fat sheep and oxen, and broiled the swine's flesh in the fire, and wine they drank without stint from the old man's jars. Nine nights they slept about me, keeping watch by turn, and the fires burned continually, one in the cloister of the