t
all delighted, before he should enter the mouth[638] of bloody war. But
remembering [Patroclus], he frequently heaved [a sigh], and said:

[Footnote 638: So Ennius, p. 128. Hessel.: "Belli ferratos
posteis portasque refregit." Virg. AEn. i. 298: "Claudentur belli
portae." Stat. Theb. v. 136: "Movet ostia belli."]

"Surely once, thou too, O unhappy one! dearest of my companions, wouldst
thyself have set before me a plentiful feast, within my tent, speedily
and diligently, when the Greeks hastened to make tearful war upon the
horse-breaking Trojans. But now thou liest mangled; but my heart is
without drink and food, though they are within, from regret for thee;
for I could not suffer anything worse, not even if I were to hear of my
father being dead, who now perhaps sheds the tender tear in Phthia from
the want of such a son; while I, in a foreign people, wage war against
the Trojans, for the sake of detested Helen: or him, my beloved son, who
is nurtured for me at Scyros, if indeed he still lives, godlike
Neoptolemus. For formerly the mind within my bosom hoped that I alone
should perish here in Troy, far from steed-nourishing Argos, and that
thou shouldst return to Phthia, that thou mightst lead back my son in
thy black ship from Scyros, and mightst show him everything, my
property, my servants, and my great, lofty-domed abode. For now I
suppose that Peleus is either totally deceased, or that he, barely
alive, suffers pain from hateful old age, and that he is continually
expecting bad news respecting me, when he shall hear of my being dead."

Thus he spoke, weeping; and the elders also groaned, remembering, each
of them, the things which they had left in their dwellings. But the son
of Saturn felt compassion, seeing them weeping, and immediately to
Minerva addressed winged words:

"O daughter mine, thou entirely now desertest thy valiant hero. Is
Achilles then no longer at all a care to thee in thy mind? He himself is
sitting before his lofty-beaked ships, bewailing his dear companion;
while the others have gone to a banquet; but he is unrefreshed and
unfed. Go, therefore, instil into his breast nectar and delightful
ambrosia, that hunger may come not upon him."

So saying, he urged on Minerva, who was before eager. But she, like unto
a broad-winged, shrill-voiced harpy, leaped down from the heavens
through the air. The Greeks, however, were then arming themselves
throughout the camp, when she instilled