ὡς ἔφατ'. οὐδ' ἀπίθησε θεὰ Θέτις ἀργυρόπεζα:
βῆ δὲ κατ' Οὐλύμποιο καρήνων ἀΐξασα:
ῗξεν δ' ἐς κλισίην οὗ, υἱέος: ἔνθ' ἄρα τόν γε
εὗρ' αδινὰ στενάχοντα: φίλοι δ' ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἑταῖροι
ἐσσυμένως ἐπένοντο καὶ ἐντύνοντο ἄριστον:
τοῖσι δ' ὄϊς λάσιος μέγας ἐν κλισίῃ ἱ̈έρευτο:
ἡ δὲ μάλ' ἄγχ' αὐτοῖο καθέζετο πότνια μήτηρ.
χειρὶ τέ μιν κατέρεξεν. ἔπος τ' ἔφατ'. ἔκ τ' ὀνόμαζε:
τέκνον ἐμόν: τέο μέχρις ὀδυρόμενος καὶ ἀχεύων
σὴν ἔδαιε κραδίην. μεμνημένος. οὐδ έτι σίτου.
οὔτ' εὐνῆς: ἀγαθὸν δὲ γυναικί περ ἐν φιλότητι
μίσγεσθ', οὐ γάρ μοι δηρὸν βέῃ. ἀλλά τοι. ἤδη
ἄγχι παρέστηκεν θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή:
ἀλλ' ἐμέθεν ξύνες ὦκα. Διὸς δέ τοι ἄγγε̂λος ἄγγελός εἰμιν
σκύζεσθαί σοι φησὶ θεούς. ἑὲ δ' ἔξοχα πάντων
ἀθανάτων κεχολῶσθαι. ὅτι φρεσὶ μαινομένῃσιν
Ἕκτορ' ἔχεις παρα νηυσὶ κορωνίσιν. οὐδ' ἀπέλυσας:
ἂλλ' ἄγε δη λῦσον: νεκροῖο δὲ δέξαι ἄποινα:
So spake he, and the goddess, silver-footed Thetis, failed not to hearken, but went darting down from the peaks of Olympus, and came to the hut of her son. There she found him groaning ceaselessly, and round about him his dear comrades with busy haste were making ready their early meal, and in the hut a ram, great and shaggy, lay slaughtered for them. Then she, his queenly mother, sate her down close by his side and stroked him with her hand, and spake, and called him by name: "My child, how long wilt thou devour thine heart with weeping and sorrowing, and wilt take no thought of food, neither of the couch? Good were it for thee even to have dalliance in a woman's embrace. For, I tell thee, thou shalt not thyself be long in life, but even now doth death stand hard by thee and mighty fate. But hearken thou forthwith unto me, for I am a messenger unto thee from Zeus. He declareth that that the gods are angered with thee, and that himself above all immortals is filled with wrath, for that in the fury of thine heart thou holdest Hector at the beaked ships, and gavest him not back. Nay come, give him up, and take ransom for the dead."
