Goddess Saffron - Hands Free Loser
Sharif Garmon
[733] Meanwhile Athena flung her richlyembroidered vesture, made with her own hands, on to her fathersthreshold, and donned the shirt of Zeus, arming herself for battle.She threw her tasseled aegis about. her shoulders, wreathed roundwith Rout as with a fringe, and on it were Strife, and Strength, andPanic whose blood runs cold; moreover there was the head of the dreadmonster Gorgon,, grim and awful to behold, portent of aegis-bearingZeus. On her head she set her helmet of gold, with four plumes, andcoming to a peak both in front and behind - decked with the emblemsof a hundred cities; then she stepped into her flaming chariot andgrasped the spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, with which shequells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her. Hera lashed thehorses on, and the gates of heaven bellowed as they flew open oftheir own accord -gates over which the flours preside, in whose handsare Heaven and Olympus, either to open the dense cloud that hidesthem, or to close it. Through these the goddesses drove theirobedient steeds, and found the son of Kronos sitting all alone on thetopmost ridges of Olympus. There Hera stayed her horses, and spoke toZeus the son of Kronos, lord of all. "Father Zeus," said she, "areyou not angry with Ares for these high doings? how great and goodly ahost of the Achaeans he has destroyed to my great grief[akhos], in violation of the order[kosmos] of things, while the Cyprian and Apollo areenjoying it all at their ease and setting this unrighteous madman onto keep on doing things that are not right [themis]. Ihope, Father Zeus, that you will not be angry if I hit Ares hard, andchase him out of the battle."
[263] And Hektor answered, "Honoredmother, bring no wine, lest you unman me and I forget my strength. Idare not make a drink-offering to Zeus with unwashed hands; one whois bespattered with blood and filth may not pray to the son ofKronos. Get the matrons together, and go with offerings to the templeof Athena driver of the spoil; there, upon the knees of Athena, laythe largest and fairest robe you have in your house - the one you setmost store by; promise, moreover, to sacrifice twelve yearlingheifers that have never yet felt the goad, in the temple of thegoddess if she will take pity on the town, with the wives and littleones of the Trojans, and keep the son of Tydeus from off the goodlycity of Ilion, for he fights with fury, and fills mens soulswith panic. Go, then, to the temple of Athena, while I seek Paris andexhort him, if he will hear my words. Would that the earth might openher jaws and swallow him, for Zeus bred him to be the bane of theTrojans, and of Priam and Priams sons. Could I but see him godown into the house of Hades, my heart would forget itsheaviness."
[297] When they reached the temple ofAthena, lovely Theano, daughter of Kisseus and wife of Antenor,opened the doors, for the Trojans had made her priestess of Athena.The women lifted up their hands to the goddess with a loud cry, andTheano took the robe to lay it upon the knees of Athena, praying thewhile to the daughter of great Zeus.
[1] Now when Morning, clad in her robeof saffron, had begun to suffuse light over the earth, Zeus calledthe gods in council on the topmost crest of serrated Olympus. Then hespoke and all the other gods gave ear. "Hear me," said he, "gods andgoddesses, that I may speak even as I am minded. Let none of youneither goddess nor god try to cross me, but obey me every one of youthat I may bring this matter to an end. If I see anyone acting apartand helping either Trojans or Danaans, he shall be beaten beyond thelimits of universal order [kosmos] ere he come backagain to Olympus; or I will hurl him down into dark Tartaros far intothe deepest pit under the earth, where the gates are iron and thefloor bronze, as far beneath Hades as heaven is high above the earth,that you may learn how much the mightiest I am among you. Try me andfind out for yourselves. Hang me a golden chain from heaven, and layhold of it all of you, gods and goddesses together - tug as you will,you will not drag Zeus the supreme counselor from heaven to earth;but were I to pull at it myself I should draw you up with earth andsea into the bargain, then would I bind the chain about some pinnacleof Olympus and leave you all dangling in the mid firmament. So far amI above all others either of gods or men."
[385] flung her richly vesture, madewith her own hands, on to the threshold of her father, and donned theshirt of Zeus, arming herself for battle. Then she stepped into herflaming chariot, and grasped the spear so stout and sturdy and strongwith which she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her.Hera lashed her horses, and the gates of heaven bellowed as they flewopen of their own accord- gates over which the Hours preside, inwhose hands are heaven and Olympus, either to open the dense cloudthat hides them or to close it. Through these the goddesses drovetheir obedient steeds.
[28] The bondswomen whom Achilles andPatroklos had taken captive screamed aloud for grief, beating theirbreasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilokhosbent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands as he laygroaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into his ownthroat. Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard him as shewas sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her father,whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus thatdwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. There wereGlauke, Thalia and Kymodoke, Nesaia, Speo, Thoe, and dark-eyed Halie,Kymothoe, Aktaia and Limnorea, Melite, Iaira, Amphithoe and Agaue,Doto and Proto, Pherousa and Dynamene, Dexamene, Amphinome andKallianeira, Doris, Panope, and the famous sea-nymph Galatea,Nemertes, Apseudes and Kallianassa. There were also Klymene, Ianeiraand Ianassa, Maira, Oreithuia and Amatheia of the lovely locks, withother Nereids who dwell in the depths of the sea. The crystal cavewas filled with their multitude and they all beat their breasts whileThetis led them in their lament.
[428] Thetis wept and answered,"Hephaistos, is there another goddess in Olympus whom the son ofKronos has been pleased to try with so much affliction as he has me?Me alone of the marine goddesses did he make subject to a mortalhusband, Peleus son of Aiakos, and sorely against my will did Isubmit to the embraces of one who was but mortal, and who now staysat home worn out with age. Neither is this all. Heaven granted me ason, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling. I tended him asa plant in a goodly garden and sent him with his ships to Ilion tofight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house ofPeleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun, he isin heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him; KingAgamemnon has made him give up the maiden whom the sons of theAchaeans had awarded him, and he wastes with sorrow[akhos] for her sake. Then the Trojans hemmed theAchaeans in at their ships sterns and would not let them comeforth; the elders, therefore, of the Argives besought Achilles andoffered him great treasure, whereon he refused to bring deliveranceto them himself, but put his own armor on Patroklos and sent him intothe fight with many people after him. All day long they fought by theScaean gates and would have taken the city there and then, had notApollo granted glory to Hektor and slain the valiant son of Menoitiosafter he had done the Trojans much evil. Therefore I am suppliant atyour knees if haply you may be pleased to provide my son, whose endis near at hand, with helmet and shield, with goodly greaves fittedwith ankle-clasps, and with a breastplate, for he lost his own whenhis true comrade fell at the hands of the Trojans, and he now liesstretched on earth in the bitterness of his soul."
[1] Now when Dawn in robe of saffronwas hastening from the streams of Okeanos, to bring light to mortalsand immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the godhad given her. She found her son fallen about the body of Patroklosand weeping bitterly. Many also of his followers were weeping roundhim, but when the goddess came among them she clasped his hand in herown, saying, "My son, grieve as we may we must let this man lie, forit is by heavens will that he has fallen; now, therefore,accept from Hephaistos this rich and goodly armor, which no man hasever yet borne upon his shoulders."
[282] Briseis, fair as Aphrodite, whenshe saw the mangled body of Patroklos, flung herself upon it andcried aloud, tearing her breast, her neck, and her lovely face withboth her hands. Beautiful as a goddess she wept and said, "Patroklos,dearest friend, when I went hence I left you living; I return, Oprince, to find you dead; thus do fresh sorrows multiply upon me oneafter the other. I saw him to whom my father and mother married me,cut down before our city, and my three own dear brothers perishedwith him on the self-same day; but you, Patroklos, even when Achillesslew my husband and sacked the city of noble Mynes, told me that Iwas not to weep, for you said you would make Achilles marry me, andtake me back with him to Phthia, we should have a wedding feast amongthe Myrmidons. You were always kind to me and I shall never cease togrieve for you."
[104] and of all Trojans it shall farehardest with the sons of Priam. Therefore, my friend, you too shalldie. Why should you whine in this way? Patroklos fell, and he was abetter man than you are. I too - see you not how I am great andgoodly? I am son to a noble father, and have a goddess for my mother,but the hands of doom and death overshadow me all as surely. The daywill come, either at dawn or dark, or at the noontide, when one shalltake my life also in battle, either with his spear, or with an arrowsped from his bow."
[754] Forthwith uprose fleet Ajax sonof Oileus, with cunning Odysseus, and Nestors son Antilokhos,the fastest runner among all the youth of his time. They stood sideby side and Achilles showed them the goal. The course was set out forthem from the starting-post, and the son of Oileus took the lead atonce, with Odysseus as close behind him as the shuttle is to awomans bosom when she throws the woof across the warp and holdsit close up to her; even so close behind him was Odysseus - treadingin his footprints before the dust could settle there, and Ajax couldfeel his breath on the back of his head as he ran swiftly on. TheAchaeans all shouted approval as they saw him straining his utmost,and cheered him as he shot past them; but when they were now nearingthe end of the course Odysseus prayed inwardly to Athena. "Hear me,"he cried, "and help my feet, O goddess." Thus did he pray, and PallasAthena heard his prayer; she made his hands and his feet feel light,and when the runners were at the point of pouncing upon the prize[athlon], Ajax, through Athenas spite slippedupon some offal that was lying there from the cattle which Achilleshad slaughtered in honor of Patroklos, and his mouth and nostrilswere all filled with cow dung.
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