Peleus

The old horseman Peleus, counselor and orator among the Myrmidons, loved when I was in his house to question me concerning the race and lineage of all the Argives.

I then fled through Hellas till I came to fertile Phthia, mother of sheep, and to King Peleus, who made me welcome and treated me as a father treats an only son who will be heir to all his wealth.

"My good friend, when your father Peleus sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon, did he not charge you saying, ‘Son, Athena and Hera will make you strong if they choose, but check your high temper, for the better part is in goodwill.

For I do not consider you inferior to Peleus, nor would I call Macedonia weaker than Phthia, nor Olympus less renowned than Mount Pelion;

but even then perhaps they admired certain athletes, Zetes and Calais and Peleus and other such runners and wrestlers;

Orpheus in the lyre, Heracles in the all-in fight, Polydeuces in boxing, Peleus in wrestling, Telamon in the discus, Theseus in the armed contest.

Here dwells the son of Achilles and suffers Peleus still to rule Pharsalia, not wishing to assume the sceptre while the old man lives.

wherefore many a brave life hast thou ended, and many an aged mother hast thou left childless in her home, and grey-haired sires of gallant sons hast reft.

but as soon as thine eyes caught sight of her breast, thy sword was dropped and thou didst take her kisses, fondling the shameless traitress, too weak to stem thy hot desire, thou caitiff wretch!

Though I have left Pharsalia, and Peleus, still I linger here by reason of these light breezes at the Euripus, restraining my Myrmidons, while they are always pressing on me, saying:

Achilles next, that nimble runner, swift on his feet as the wind, whom Thetis bore and Chiron trained, I saw upon the beach, racing in full armor along the shingle, and straining every nerve to beat a team of four horses, as he sped round the track on foot;

It was there the gods celebrated the marriage feast of Peleus.

for he was not lustful, nor an agreeable bedfellow to spend the night with.

And Peleus married Thetis, too, through his modesty.

Peleus, at any rate, received his sword on account of it.

But I was modestly looking out through a fine veil, and did not take up my brother in my arms—and now he is dead—did not kiss my sister, because I was going to the house of Peleus;

To Peleus.

Whom Peleus drove in days foregone.

Tamed them, men say, and gave them for his gift

for Neoptolemus is already out at sea, having heard that new calamities have befallen Peleus, for Acastus, son of Pelias, has banished him from the realm.

And the silver-shod goddess Thetis was subject to Peleus and brought forth lion-hearted Achilles, the destroyer of men.

Tell me also if you have heard anything about my father Peleus - does he still rule among the Myrmidons, or do they show him no respect throughout Hellas and Phthia now that he is old and his limbs fail him?

"‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of Peleus, but I can tell you the truth [ alêtheia] about your son Neoptolemos, for I took him in my own ship from Skyros with the Achaeans.

Telamon won the meed of valor in an expedition with Heracles against Laomedon, and Peleus, having distinguished himself in the battle with the Centaurs and having won glory in many other hazardous enterprises, wedded Thetis, the daughter of Nereus, he a mortal winning an immortal bride.

To each of these two were born sons—to Telamon Ajax and Teucer, and to Peleus Achilles, and these heroes gave proof of their valour in the clearest and most convincing way:

And again the trailings of Hector’s body round the grave of Patroclus and the slaughter of the living captives upon his pyre, all these we will affirm to be lies, nor will we suffer our youth to believe that Achilles, the son of a goddess and of Peleus the most chaste of men, grandson of Zeus, and himself bred under the care of the most sage Cheiron, was of so perturbed a spirit as to be affected …

Strife arrives while the gods are feasting at the wedding of Peleus and stirs up a quarrel about beauty among Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite;