Venus enlisted her admirer Mars
on the same side, but Neptune favored the Greeks. Apollo was
neutral, sometimes taking one side, sometimes the other, and Jove
himself, though he loved the good King Priam, yet exercised a
degree of impartiality; not, however, without exceptions.
Thetis, the mother of Achilles, warmly resented the injury done to
her son. She repaired immediately to Jove's palace and besought
him to make the Greeks repent of their injustice to Achilles by
granting success to the Trojan arms. Jupiter consented, and in the
battle which ensued the Trojans were completely successful. The
Greeks were driven from the field and took refuge in their ships.
Then Agamemnon called a council of his wisest and bravest chiefs.
Nestor advised that an embassy should be sent to Achilles to
persuade him to return to the field; that Agamemnon should yield
the maiden, the cause of the dispute, with ample gifts to atone
for the wrong he had done. Agamemnon consented, and Ulysses, Ajax,
and Phoenix were sent to carry to Achilles the penitent message.
They performed that duty, but Achilles was deaf to their
entreaties. He positively refused to return to the field, and
persisted in his resolution to embark for Greece without delay.
The Greeks had constructed a rampart around their ships, and now
instead of besieging Troy they were in a manner besieged
themselves, within their rampart.
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