Chapter 36 36

The armies of both sides took a break after the hard and fierce battle.The Trojans unloaded their horses from their chariots, and before they could even think about eating, they assembled for a council.Everyone stood upright in a circle, and no one dared to sit down, because they were afraid that Achilles would come again. At this moment, Polydamas, the son of Pentos, came over.He is a wise man who can know the past and the future. He advises everyone not to wait until dawn to retreat to the city. "If Achilles re-arms, he will find us here by tomorrow morning. It will be a blessing if any escape to the city by then. I therefore advise all warriors to spend the night in the city, There are tall walls and strong gates that can protect us, and we will go up to the walls tomorrow morning. If he really comes down from the warship and besieges us, we can hold him back!"

Hector stood up when he heard what he had said, and said reproachfully, "Polydamas, these words of yours have really spoiled my joy. Now, Zeus has protected us and given us victory, we have driven the Argives to the sea.How foolish your advice seems, no Trojan will listen to you.I order that all soldiers be fed tonight and put on tight guard.If anyone is worried about his money and wealth, then let him take his wealth and entertain everyone. Of course, it is better for our soldiers to enjoy it than for the Greeks.Tomorrow morning we will attack the Greek ships.If Achilles did go to war, it was his own bad luck!I will keep fighting until he or I win. "

The Trojans did not listen to Polydamas's wise advice, but they applauded Hector's irrational decision-making, and drank and dined happily. The Greeks gathered around Patroclus' body to mourn him all night.Achilles said angrily: "Now, the goddess of fate has decided to let our two blood be spilled on foreign lands, because I can no longer return to the palace of my old father Peleus and mother Thetis. The loess before the city of Troy will bury my body. Patroclus, it is fate that I die after you, so I cannot participate until I have recovered Hector's armor and his head. Your funeral. He is your murderer. I will sacrifice his head to you, and I will sacrifice to you twelve noble sons of Troy. Now, dear friend, you rest in my ship, Let me complete my great cause!" After he finished speaking, he ordered his friends to bring a big cauldron, boil warm water, cleanse the body of the fallen hero, and apply ointment.Then they lifted the body, laid it on a bed, and covered it with a costly linen quilt from head to toe, and covered it with a burqa.

Meanwhile, Thetis came to the palace of Hephaestus.It is as bright as a star, beautiful and strong.This is the bronze temple that the lame Hephaestus built for himself.Thetis saw him sweating profusely at work.He will cast twenty three-legged tripods, each with a golden wheel under it.In this way, they don't need to be pushed, they can automatically roll into the hall of the holy mountain of Olympus, and then roll into the room of the gods.It's an amazing treasure.These tripod tripods have been completed except for the handles. He was wielding the hammer to nail the ear stems into place.His wife, Charyus, one of the three Graces, took Thetis by the hand, and seated her on a silver chair, and put a step-stool at her feet, and she went to call her husband. .

Hephaestus cried out with joy when he saw Thetis, the goddess of the sea. "How glad I am that the most noble goddess has come to visit me. She is the benefactor who saved me when I was born, because I was born lame, and my mother abandoned me. If it had not been for Eurynome and Thetis. I picked it up and brought me up in a cave by the sea. I had died a long time ago, but my savior came to my house today! Dear wife, treat your guests well! Pack your things." The soot-faced god Hephaestus arose from the anvil and limped to remove the bellows from the stove, lock the tools in the silver box, and sponge his hands, face, neck, and chest , and then put on tights, limped out of the room with the help of the maids.These maids are not real people, they only have the image of people.They were made of gold by Hephaestus, beautiful in appearance, dexterous and strong, capable of thinking and speaking, and possessing artistic talents.They walked away from their masters lightly.Hephaestus took a beautiful chair, sat down beside Thetis, held her hand, and said, "Dear goddess, what brings you into my house? Tell me why you came, I will do my best to satisfy any request of yours!"

Thetis sighed, told him her sorrow, and asked him to make a helmet, shield, armor and greaves for Achilles, who was doomed to perish, because a pair of gods of Achilles presented His armor had been lost when his friend died outside Troy. "Be at ease, noble goddess!" replied Hephaestus, "you need not worry! I will immediately start to make armor for your son. If I make an armor that will save him from death, I will be more happy. Delighted. He will like the armor I made, and everyone who sees it will be amazed?" With that, he left the goddess, and limped to the hearth, where he set up twenty bellows and let them fan the wind. Blow fire.Gold, silver, copper, and tin were melted in the crucible.Hephaestus put the anvil on the cushion, grabbed the sledgehammer with his right hand, and the pincers with his left, and began to forge.He first made a shield five layers thick, with a silver handle on the back and three gold borders.The earth, sea, sky, sun, moon and twinkling stars are drawn on the shield; in the distance are two beautiful cities, and a fair is being held in one city.There were marketplaces, quarreling citizens, heralds and rulers; another city was besieged by two armies.There are women, children, and old people in the city; there are soldiers in ambush outside the city;He also painted a peaceful and quiet pastoral scene in the distance: farmers are driving cattle to plow the land, the undulating wheat waves, the harvesters wielding their scythes, and there is a big oak tree next to the field, and meals are placed under the tree.There are also vineyards, with clusters of ripe purple-black grapes hanging from the silver branches.Surrounded by bronze ditches and tin fences.There is a trail leading directly to the vineyard. During the harvest season, happy young men and women are carrying grapes in exquisite baskets. The young are vigorous and lively, and the girls are light on their feet.Among them was a boy holding a piano, and others sang and danced around him.In addition, he depicted gold and tin herds grazing by a gurgling river, guarded by four shepherds made of gold and nine hounds.Two male lions attacked the head of the herd and seized a calf.The shepherd incited the hounds to bark at the lion.He also engraved a secluded valley with silver-cast sheep grazing on the hillside.There are huts and sheepfolds nearby, and a group of young men and women in beautiful clothes are dancing.The woman wears a wreath of flowers, the man a silver belt with a golden knife hanging from it; two merry figures dance frantically to the accompaniment of a fiddler, and many admire the dance; The river is like a glowing giant snake.

Hephaestus made the shield, and hastily forged a pair of armor brighter than fire; then he made a battle helmet just the right size for the head, with a golden feather on the top; finally, he made it out of soft tin into greaves.When everything was finished, Hephaestus gave them to Achilles' mother.She took them, thanked him, and took them away. At dawn, Thetis rushed to her son, and she saw him crying over Patroclus' body.Thetis placed the armor in front of him.The soldiers trembled when they saw them, and did not dare to look up at the goddess.Achilles' eyes glistened with joy.He lifted Hephaestus' finely crafted battle armor into the air one by one to inspect, and he couldn't bear to put it down because of his liking.Then he put the armor on and girded it tight.

Achilles strode to the shore, and with a voice like thunder called to the Dannea to assemble.The soldiers rushed over, even the helmsman who had never left the warship came.Although Diomedes and Odysseus were wounded, they came limping, leaning on their spears.And finally Agamemnon, for he was wounded by Coron's spear, and the wound still aches.