Then he called to his sons and bade them draw forth
his litter and place in it the various articles designed for a
ransom to Achilles. When all was ready, the old king with a single
companion as aged as himself, the herald Idaeus, drove forth from
the gates, parting there with Hecuba, his queen, and all his
friends, who lamented him as going to certain death.
But Jupiter, beholding with compassion the venerable king, sent
Mercury to be his guide and protector. Mercury, assuming the form
of a young warrior, presented himself to the aged couple, and
while at the sight of him they hesitated whether to fly or yield,
the god approached, and grasping Priam's hand offered to be their
guide to Achilles' tent. Priam gladly accepted his offered
service, and he, mounting the carriage, assumed the reins and soon
conveyed them to the tent of Achilles. Mercury's wand put to sleep
all the guards, and without hinderance he introduced Priam into
the tent where Achilles sat, attended by two of his warriors. The
old king threw himself at the feet of Achilles, and kissed those
terrible hands which had destroyed so many of his sons. "Think, O
Achilles," he said, "of thy own father, full of days like me, and
trembling on the gloomy verge of life. Perhaps even now some
neighbor chief oppresses him and there is none at hand to succor
him in his distress.
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