THE MAKING OF THE ARMS
And Achilles stood among his Myrmidons and said:--
"Vain was the promise that I made to Menœtius that I would bring
back his son with his portion of the spoils of Troy. For he lies
dead, nor shall I return to the house of Peleus, my father, for I,
too, must die in this land. But thee, O Patroclus, I will not bury
till I bring hither the head and the arms of Hector, and twelve men
of Troy to slay at thy funeral pile."
Men-œ'-ti-us.
So they washed the body of Patroclus and anointed it, putting
ointment nine years old into the wounds, and laid it on a bed, and
covered it with a linen cloth from the head to the feet, and laid a
white robe over it. All night the Myrmidons mourned for Patroclus
dead.
But Thetis went to the house of Hephæstus. She found him busy at his
work, making twenty cauldrons with three feet, that were to stand
about the house of the gods. Golden wheels had they beneath, that
they might go of their own motion into the chambers of the gods, and
of their own motion return. But Grace, the wife of Hephæstus, espied
Thetis, and caught her by the hands, and led her in, and set her on a
silver-studded chair, and put a chair beneath her feet. Then she
called to her husband, saying:--
"Come quick. Thetis would have somewhat of thee."
And he said: "Verily, she was my saviour in the day of trouble; for
my mother cast me out because I was lame, but Thetis and her sister
received me in the sea. Nine years I dwelt with them, and hammered
many a trinket in a hollow cave. Verily, I would pay the price of my
life for Thetis."
Then he put away his tools, and washed himself, and took a staff in
his hand, and came into the house, and sat upon a chair, and said:
"Speak all thy mind. I will do thy pleasure, if it can be done."
Then did Thetis tell him of her son Achilles, and of the wrong that
had been done to him, and of his wrath, and of how Patroclus was
dead, and that the arms that he had had were lost.
"Make me now," she said, "for him a shield and a helmet, and greaves,
and a corselet."
greaves, armour for the legs.
And Hephæstus answered: "Be of good cheer. Would that I could keep
from him the doom of death as easily as I can make him such arms that
a man will wonder when he looks upon them."
Then he went to his smithy, and turned the bellows to the fire, and
bade them work. Also he put bronze and tin and gold and silver into
the fire, to melt them, and set the anvil, and took the hammer in one
hand, and the tongs in the other.
First he made a shield, great and strong, and fastened thereto a belt
of silver. On it he wrought the earth, and the sky, and the sea, and
the sun, and the moon, and all the stars. He wrought also two
cities. In the one there was peace, and about the other there was
war. For in the first they led a bride to her home with music and
dancing, and the women stood in the doors to see the show, but about
the other city there sat an army besieging it, and the men of the
city stood upon the wall defending it. These had also set an ambush
by a river where the herds were wont to drink. And when the herds
came down, they rose up and took them and slew the herdsmen. But the
army of the besiegers heard the cry, and came swiftly on horses, and
fought by the bank of the river. Also he wrought one field where
many men drove the plough, and another where reapers reaped the corn,
and boys gathered it in their arms to bind into sheaves, while the
lord stood glad at heart, beholding them. Also he wrought a
vineyard, wherein was a path, and youths and maidens bearing baskets
of grapes, and in the midst a boy played on a harp of gold and sang a
pleasant song. Also he made a herd of oxen going from the stables to
the pastures, and herdsmen and dogs, and in the front two lions had
caught a mighty bull and were devouring it, while the dogs stood far
off and barked. Also he made a sheepfold; also a marvellous dance of
men and maidens, and these had coronets of gold, and those daggers of
gold hanging from belts of silver. And round about the shield he
wrought the great river of ocean.
Besides the shield, he also made corselet brighter than fire, and a
great helmet with a ridge of gold for the crest, and greaves of tin.
And when he had finished all the armour, he set them before the
mother of Achilles. Like to a hawk did she leap from Olympus,
carrying them to her son. And when she came to the ships, she found
him lying on the earth with his arms about the body of Patroclus,
weeping aloud, and his men stood about lamenting.
The goddess stood in the midst, and clasped her son by the hand, and
spake: "Come, now, let us leave the dead man; for he hath been slain
according to the ordering of the gods. And do thou receive from
Hephæstus this armour, exceeding beautiful, such as man never yet
wore upon his shoulders."
So she spake, and cast the armour before Achilles. Loud did it
rattle as it fell, and the Myrmidons feared to look upon the sight.
But Achilles took the splendid armour into his hand, and was glad,
and spake, saying: "Mother, the gods have given me arms, such as it
is fitting should be made in heaven, and I vow I will arm me for the
fight. Yet much I fear that decay will mar the body of Patroclus,
now that the life hath gone from out of it."
But Thetis made answer: "Let not this trouble thee; I will keep decay
from his flesh, yea, though he should lie here till the year come
round again. Go, then, and call the people to the assembly, and put
away thy wrath against King Agamemnon, and arm thyself for the
battle."
So she spake, putting trust and valour into his soul; and into the
nostrils of the dead man she poured ambrosia and ruddy nectar, that
his flesh might be sweet.