asy couch
For Phoenix, anxious to dismiss the rest 775
Incontinent; when Ajax, godlike son
Of Telamon, arising, thus began.
Laertes' noble son, for wiles renown'd:
Depart we now; for I perceive that end
Or fruit of all our reasonings shall be none. 780
It is expedient also that we bear
Our answer back (unwelcome as it is)
With all dispatch, for the assembled Greeks
Expect us. Brave Achilles shuts a fire
Within his breast; the kindness of his friends, 785
And the respect peculiar by ourselves
Shown to him, on his heart work no effect.
Inexorable man! others accept
Even for a brother slain, or for a son
Due compensation;[18] the delinquent dwells 790
Secure at home, and the receiver, soothed
And pacified, represses his revenge.
But thou, resentful of the loss of one,
One virgin (such obduracy of heart
The Gods have given thee) can'st not be appeased 795
Yet we assign thee seven in her stead,
The most distinguish'd of their sex, and add
Large gifts beside. Ah then, at last relent!
Respect thy roof; we are thy guests; we come
Chosen from the multitude of all the Greeks, 800
Beyond them all ambitious of thy love.
To whom Achilles, swiftest of the swift.
My noble friend, offspring of Telamon!
Thou seem'st sincere, and I believe thee such.
But at the very mention of the name 805
Of Atreus' son, who shamed me in the sight
Of all Achaia's host, bearing me down
As I had been some vagrant at his door,
My bosom boils. Return ye and report
Your answer. I no thought will entertain 810
Of crimson war, till the illustrious son
Of warlike Priam, Hector, blood-embrued,
Shall in their tents the Myrmidons assail
Themselves, and fire my fleet. At my own ship,
And at my own pavilion it may chance 815
That even Hector's violence shall pause.[19]
He ended; they from massy goblets each
Libation pour'd, and to the fleet their course
Resumed direct, Ulysses at their head.
Patroclus then his fellow-warriors bade, 820
And the attendant women spread a couch
For Phoenix; they the couch, obedient, spread
With fleeces, with rich arras, and with flax
Of subtlest woof. There hoary Phoenix lay
In expectation of the sacred dawn.