plain."'

'Then Patroklos put on the armour that Zeus had given to Achilles'
father, Peleus. Round his shoulders he cast the sword of bronze with its
studs of silver, and upon his head he put the helmet with its high
horse-hair crest--the terrible helmet of Achilles. Then Achilles bade
the charioteer yoke the horses to the chariot--the horses, Xanthos and
Balios, that were also gifts from the gods. And while all this was being
done Achilles went amongst the Myrmidons, making them ready for the
battle and bidding them remember all the threats they had uttered
against the Trojans in the time when they had been kept from the fight.'

'Then he went back to his hut and opening the chest that his mother,
Thetis, had given him he took from it a four-handled cup--a cup that no
one drank out of but Achilles himself. Then pouring wine into this cup
and holding it towards Heaven, Achilles prayed to Zeus, the greatest of
the gods:

"My comrade I send to the war, O far-seeing Zeus:

May'st strengthen his heart, O Zeus, that all triumph be his:
But when from the ships he hath driven the spear of our foes,
Out of the turmoil of battle may he to me return
Scathless, with arms and his comrades who fight hand to hand."

'So Achilles prayed, and the Myrmidons beside their ships shouted in
their eagerness to join in the battle.'