τὴν δ' ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς:
πῶς τὰρ, ΐω μετὰ μῶλον: ἔχουσι δὲ τεύχε' ἐκεῖνοι:
μήτηρ δ' οὔ με φίλη πρίν γ' εἴα θωρήσσεσθαι.
πρίν γ' αὐτὴν ἐλθοῦσαν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἴ̈δωμαι
στεῦτο γὰρ Ἡφαίστοιο παρ οισέμεν ἔντεα καλά.
ἄλλου δ' οὔ τευ οἶδα. τεῦ ἂν κλυτὰ τεύχεα δύω.
εἰ μὴ Αἴαντός γε σάκος Τελαμωνιάδαο:
ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὅ γ' ἔλπομ' ἐνι Τρώεσσιν ὁμιλεῖ
ἔγχεϊ δηϊόων περι Πατρόκλοιο θανόντος:
τερπόμενοι: δοιὼ δὲ κυβιστητῆρε κατ' αὐτοὺς
Then in answer to her spake Achilles, swift of foot: "But how shall I enter the fray? They yonder hold my battle-gear; and my dear mother forbade that I array me for the fight until such time as mine eyes should behold her again coming hither; for she pledged her to bring goodly armour from Hephaestus. No other man know I whose glorious armour I might don, except it were the shield of Aias, son of Telamon. Howbeit himself, I ween, hath dalliance amid the foremost fighters, as he maketh havoc with his spear in defence of dead Patroclus."
