And old Cheiron clapt his
hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
magic song.
Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
ship; and Cheiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
one, and blest them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to
watch him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no
more.
So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
of die immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace, the
sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call
Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over the
Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of AEneas, of whom you will hear
many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy; and
Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome; and men believed until late
years that from him sprang the old British kings.
Pages:
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305