watercolor, acrylic, pastel
achilles' mother rising from the sea
Book 24:Lines 57-60
Then we bore you out of the fighting, onto the ships,
we laid you down on a litter, cleansed your handsome flesh
with warm water and soothing oils, and round your body
troops of Danaans wept hot tears and cut their locks.
Hearing the news, your mother, Thetis, rose from the sea,
immortal sea-nymphs in her wake, and a strange unearthly cry
came throbbing over the ocean. Terror gripped Achaea's armies,
they would have leapt in panic, boarded the long hollow ships
if one man, deep in his age-old wisdom, had not checked them:
Nestor--from the first his counsel always seemed the best,
and now, concerned for the ranks, he rose and shouted,
'Hold fast, Argives! Sons of Achaea, don't run now!That stopped our panicked forces in their tracks
This is Achilles' mother rising from the sea
with all her immortal sea-nymphs--
she longs to join her son who died in battle!'
as the Old Man of the Sea's daughters gathered round you--
wailing, heartsick-dressed you in ambrosial, deathless robes
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