Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/166

138 came from the land of Arcadia; and when the brethren of his mother would have taken them from her, he slew them. Then his mother, being grieved for her brethren, knelt on her knees upon the ground, and beat it with her hands and wept, praying instantly to Pluto and Persephoné, that they should bring her son to death. And the Fury that walketh in darkness and hath no pity upon men, heard her from the pit. And now there was the din of foemen about the gates; and the elders of the Ætolians besought him, sending the priests of the gods, the holiest that there were, to come forth and defend them, and promised him a goodly gift. For they bade him choose for himself from the plain of Ætolia, even where it was richest, a fair domain, of ploughland half and of vineyard half. Then the old man Œneus besought him, standing on the threshold of his chamber and shaking the doors. Also his sisters and his mother besought him, but he refused the more vehemently. And his comrades came that were nearest and dearest of all men to him, but they prevailed not with him. But at the last, when the enemy were