§24.472τῇ ῥʼ Ἀχιλεὺς ἵζεσκε Διῒ φίλος· ἐν δέ μιν αὐτὸν §24.473εὗρʼ, ἕταροι δʼ ἀπάνευθε καθήατο· τὼ δὲ δύʼ οἴω §24.474ἥρως Αὐτομέδων τε καὶ Ἄλκιμος ὄζος Ἄρηος §24.475ποίπνυον παρεόντε· νέον δʼ ἀπέληγεν ἐδωδῆς §24.476ἔσθων καὶ πίνων· ἔτι καὶ παρέκειτο τράπεζα. §24.477τοὺς δʼ ἔλαθʼ εἰσελθὼν Πρίαμος μέγας, ἄγχι δʼ ἄρα στὰς §24.478χερσὶν Ἀχιλλῆος λάβε γούνατα καὶ κύσε χεῖρας §24.479δεινὰς ἀνδροφόνους, αἵ οἱ πολέας κτάνον υἷας. §24.480ὡς δʼ ὅτʼ ἂν ἄνδρʼ ἄτη πυκινὴ λάβῃ, ὅς τʼ ἐνὶ πάτρῃ §24.481φῶτα κατακτείνας ἄλλων ἐξίκετο δῆμον §24.482ἀνδρὸς ἐς ἀφνειοῦ, θάμβος δʼ ἔχει εἰσορόωντας, §24.483ὣς Ἀχιλεὺς θάμβησεν ἰδὼν Πρίαμον θεοειδέα· §24.484θάμβησαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι, ἐς ἀλλήλους δὲ ἴδοντο. §24.485τὸν καὶ λισσόμενος Πρίαμος πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπε· §24.486μνῆσαι πατρὸς σοῖο θεοῖς ἐπιείκελʼ Ἀχιλλεῦ, §24.487τηλίκου ὥς περ ἐγών, ὀλοῷ ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ· §24.488καὶ μέν που κεῖνον περιναιέται ἀμφὶς ἐόντες §24.489τείρουσʼ, οὐδέ τίς ἐστιν ἀρὴν καὶ λοιγὸν ἀμῦναι. §24.490ἀλλʼ ἤτοι κεῖνός γε σέθεν ζώοντος ἀκούων §24.491χαίρει τʼ ἐν θυμῷ, ἐπί τʼ ἔλπεται ἤματα πάντα §24.492ὄψεσθαι φίλον υἱὸν ἀπὸ Τροίηθεν ἰόντα· §24.493αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ πανάποτμος, ἐπεὶ τέκον υἷας ἀρίστους §24.494Τροίῃ ἐν εὐρείῃ, τῶν δʼ οὔ τινά φημι λελεῖφθαι. §24.495πεντήκοντά μοι ἦσαν ὅτʼ ἤλυθον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν· §24.496ἐννεακαίδεκα μέν μοι ἰῆς ἐκ νηδύος ἦσαν, §24.497τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους μοι ἔτικτον ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γυναῖκες. §24.498τῶν μὲν πολλῶν θοῦρος Ἄρης ὑπὸ γούνατʼ ἔλυσεν· §24.499ὃς δέ μοι οἶος ἔην, εἴρυτο δὲ ἄστυ καὶ αὐτούς, §24.500τὸν σὺ πρῴην κτεῖνας ἀμυνόμενον περὶ πάτρης §24.501Ἕκτορα· τοῦ νῦν εἵνεχʼ ἱκάνω νῆας Ἀχαιῶν §24.502λυσόμενος παρὰ σεῖο, φέρω δʼ ἀπερείσιʼ ἄποινα. §24.503ἀλλʼ αἰδεῖο θεοὺς Ἀχιλεῦ, αὐτόν τʼ ἐλέησον §24.504μνησάμενος σοῦ πατρός· ἐγὼ δʼ ἐλεεινότερός περ, §24.505ἔτλην δʼ οἷʼ οὔ πώ τις ἐπιχθόνιος βροτὸς ἄλλος, §24.506ἀνδρὸς παιδοφόνοιο ποτὶ στόμα χεῖρʼ ὀρέγεσθαι. §24.507ὣς φάτο, τῷ δʼ ἄρα πατρὸς ὑφʼ ἵμερον ὦρσε γόοιο· §24.508ἁψάμενος δʼ ἄρα χειρὸς ἀπώσατο ἦκα γέροντα. §24.509τὼ δὲ μνησαμένω ὃ μὲν Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο §24.510κλαῖʼ ἁδινὰ προπάροιθε ποδῶν Ἀχιλῆος ἐλυσθείς, §24.511αὐτὰρ Ἀχιλλεὺς κλαῖεν ἑὸν πατέρʼ, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖτε §24.512Πάτροκλον· τῶν δὲ στοναχὴ κατὰ δώματʼ ὀρώρει. §24.513αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥα γόοιο τετάρπετο δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς, §24.514καί οἱ ἀπὸ πραπίδων ἦλθʼ ἵμερος ἠδʼ ἀπὸ γυίων, §24.515αὐτίκʼ ἀπὸ θρόνου ὦρτο, γέροντα δὲ χειρὸς ἀνίστη §24.516οἰκτίρων πολιόν τε κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον, §24.517καί μιν φωνήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα· §24.518ἆ δείλʼ, ἦ δὴ πολλὰ κάκʼ ἄνσχεο σὸν κατὰ θυμόν. §24.519πῶς ἔτλης ἐπὶ νῆας Ἀχαιῶν ἐλθέμεν οἶος §24.520ἀνδρὸς ἐς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὅς τοι πολέας τε καὶ ἐσθλοὺς §24.521υἱέας ἐξενάριξα; σιδήρειόν νύ τοι ἦτορ. §24.522ἀλλʼ ἄγε δὴ κατʼ ἄρʼ ἕζευ ἐπὶ θρόνου, ἄλγεα δʼ ἔμπης §24.523ἐν θυμῷ κατακεῖσθαι ἐάσομεν ἀχνύμενοί περ· §24.524οὐ γάρ τις πρῆξις πέλεται κρυεροῖο γόοιο· §24.525ὡς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι §24.526ζώειν ἀχνυμένοις· αὐτοὶ δέ τʼ ἀκηδέες εἰσί. §24.527δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει §24.528δώρων οἷα δίδωσι κακῶν, ἕτερος δὲ ἑάων· §24.529ᾧ μέν κʼ ἀμμίξας δώῃ Ζεὺς τερπικέραυνος, §24.530ἄλλοτε μέν τε κακῷ ὅ γε κύρεται, ἄλλοτε δʼ ἐσθλῷ· §24.531ᾧ δέ κε τῶν λυγρῶν δώῃ, λωβητὸν ἔθηκε, §24.532καί ἑ κακὴ βούβρωστις ἐπὶ χθόνα δῖαν ἐλαύνει, §24.533φοιτᾷ δʼ οὔτε θεοῖσι τετιμένος οὔτε βροτοῖσιν. §24.534ὣς μὲν καὶ Πηλῆϊ θεοὶ δόσαν ἀγλαὰ δῶρα §24.535ἐκ γενετῆς· πάντας γὰρ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐκέκαστο §24.536ὄλβῳ τε πλούτῳ τε, ἄνασσε δὲ Μυρμιδόνεσσι, §24.537καί οἱ θνητῷ ἐόντι θεὰν ποίησαν ἄκοιτιν.
There Achilles, dear to Zeus, was wont to sit; and within him himself\n he found, and his companions sat apart; but two alone,\n the hero Automedon and Alcimus, scion of Ares,\n were busily ministering near him; and he had just ceased from food,\n from eating and drinking; and still the table stood beside him.\n Unseen by them great Priam entered, and coming close,\n with his hands he clasped the knees of Achilles and kissed his hands,\n those terrible, man-slaying hands that had slain his many sons.\n And as when a thick darkness of delusion seizes a man who in his own country\n has slain a man, and he comes to the land of others,\n to the house of some rich man, and wonder seizes those who look upon him;\n even so Achilles wondered as he saw godlike Priam,\n and the others also wondered, and looked at one another.\n Then Priam spoke to him, making entreaty:\n "Remember your father, godlike Achilles,\n of like age with me, on the grievous threshold of old age.\n And indeed, it may be that those who dwell around him\n are wearing him down, nor is there any to ward off ruin and destruction.\n Yet he, as long as he hears that you are living,\n rejoices in his heart, and hopes day after day\n to see his dear son returning from Troy.\n But I am utterly ill-fated, since I begot sons the best\n in wide Troy, yet of them I say not one is left.\n Fifty I had when the sons of the Achaeans came;\n nineteen were born to me from one womb,\n and the others were borne to me by women in my halls.\n Of the many of them has furious Ares loosed the knees;\n but him who alone was left to me, and who guarded the city and its people,\n him you slew the other day as he fought for his country,\n Hector; for his sake I now come to the ships of the Achaeans\n to win him back from you, and I bring ransom past telling.\n But fear the gods, Achilles, and have pity on me myself,\n remembering your own father; and I am yet more pitied,\n and have endured what no other mortal upon earth has yet endured,\n to reach my hand to the mouth of the man who slew my son."\n So he spoke, and in Achilles he stirred the desire to weep for his father;\n and taking the old man by the hand he gently pushed him away.\n So the two remembered—the one wept aloud for man-slaying Hector,\n collapsed before Achilles' feet,\n while Achilles wept for his own father, and at other times\n for Patroclus; and the sound of their mourning went up through the house.\n But when noble Achilles had had his fill of weeping,\n and the desire for it had departed from his heart and limbs,\n straightway he rose from his seat, and raised the old man by the hand,\n pitying his grey head and grey beard;\n and he spoke and addressed him with winged words:\n "Ah, unhappy man, surely many evils you have endured in your heart.\n How did you dare to come alone to the ships of the Achaeans,\n into the presence of the man who has slain your many noble sons?\n Of iron surely is your heart.\n But come, sit upon a seat, and our sorrows we will let lie quiet\n in our hearts, despite our grief;\n for no profit comes from cold wailing.\n For thus have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals,\n to live in sorrow, while they themselves are free from care.\n For two jars stand upon the floor of Zeus\n of gifts that he gives, one of evils, and another of blessings.\n To whomsoever Zeus who hurls the thunderbolt gives a mingled lot,\n that man meets now with evil, and now with good;\n but to whomsoever he gives of the grievous gifts, him he makes an outcast,\n and evil hunger drives him over the face of the sacred earth,\n and he wanders honored neither by gods nor by mortals.\n Even so to Peleus did the gods give glorious gifts\n from his birth; for he excelled all men\n in good fortune and wealth, and was king over the Myrmidons,\n and though he was a mortal, they made a goddess his wife.