Trojans hold the armour that should protect me?"'

[Illustration]

'Said Iris, the Messenger of the gods, "Go down to the wall as thou
art and show thyself to the men of Troy, and it may be that they will
shrink back on seeing thee and hearing thy voice, and so give those who
defend the body of Patroklos a breathing-spell."'

'So she said and departed. Then Achilles arose and went down to the wall
that had been built around the ships. He stood upon the wall and shouted
across the trench, and friends and foes saw him and heard his voice.
Around his head a flame of fire arose such as was never seen before
around the head of a mortal man. And seeing the flame of fire around his
head and hearing his terrible voice the Trojans were affrighted and
stood still. Then the Greeks took up the body of Patroklos and laid it
on a litter and bore it out of the battle.'




XVI


Now Thetis, the mother of Achilles, went to Olympus where the gods have
their dwellings and to the house of Hephaistos, the smith of the gods.
That house shone above all the houses on Olympus because Hephaistos
himself had made it of shining bronze. And inside the house there were
wonders--handmaidens that were not living but that were made out of gold
and made with such wondrous skill that they waited upon Hephaistos and