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was wet with tears as she prayed that they would kill her son-­‐ and
Erinys that walks in darkness and knows no ruth heard her from Erebus.
"Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and
the dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the elders
of the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest of their
priests, and begged him to come out and help them, promising him a
great reward. They bade him choose fifty plough-­‐gates, the most fertile
in the plain of Calydon, the one-­‐half vineyard and the other open
plough-­‐land. The old warrior Oeneus implored him, standing at the
threshold of his room and beating the doors in supplication. His sisters
and his mother herself besought him sore, but he the more refused
them; those of his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him also
prayed him, but they could not move him till the foe was battering
at the very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls
and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing wife
detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she reminded
him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the flames,
while the women and children are carried into captivity; when he heard
all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to go forth.
Thus of his own inward motion he saved the city of the Aetolians;
but they now gave him nothing of those rich rewards that they had
offered earlier, and though he saved the city he took nothing by it.
Be not then, my son, thus minded; let not heaven lure you into any
such course. When the ships are burning it will be a harder matter
to save them. Take the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour
you as a god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat
the battle back, but you will not be held in like honour."