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that I have sent them; tell them to find some other plan for the saving
of their ships and people, for so long as my displeasure lasts the
one that they have now hit upon may not be. As for Phoenix, let him
sleep here that he may sail with me in the morning if he so will.
But I will not take him by force."
They all held their peace, dismayed at the sternness with which he
had denied them, till presently the old knight Phoenix in his great
fear for the ships of the Achaeans, burst into tears and said, "Noble
Achilles, if you are now minded to return, and in the fierceness of
your anger will do nothing to save the ships from burning, how, my
son, can I remain here without you? Your father Peleus bade me go
with you when he sent you as a mere lad from Phthia to Agamemnon.
You knew nothing neither of war nor of the arts whereby men make their
mark in council, and he sent me with you to train you in all excellence
of speech and action. Therefore, my son, I will not stay here without
you-­‐ no, not though heaven itself vouchsafe to strip my years from
off me, and make me young as I was when I first left Hellas the land
of fair women. I was then flying the anger of father Amyntor, son
of Ormenus, who was furious with me in the matter of his concubine,
of whom he was enamoured to the wronging of his wife my mother. My
mother, therefore, prayed me without ceasing to lie with the woman
myself, that so she hate my father, and in the course of time I yielded.
But my father soon came to know, and cursed me bitterly, calling the
dread Erinyes to witness. He prayed that no son of mine might ever
sit upon knees-­‐ and the gods, Jove of the world below and awful Proserpine,
fulfilled his curse. I took counsel to kill him, but some god stayed
my rashness and bade me think on men's evil tongues and how I should