"To ye shall Achilles be born, a stranger to fear, to his foemen not by his back, but by his broad breast known, who, oft-times the victor in the uncertain struggle of the foot-race, shall outrun the fire-fleet footsteps of the speedy doe. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"None in war with him may compare as a hero, when the Phrygian streams shall trickle with Trojan blood, and when besieging the walls of Troy with a long-drawn-out warfare perjured Pelops' third heir shall lay that city waste. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"His glorious acts and illustrious deeds often shall mothers attest o'er funeral-rites of their sons, when the white locks from their heads are unloosed amid ashes, and they bruise their discoloured breasts with feeble fists. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"For as the husbandman bestrewing the dense wheat-ears mows the harvest yellowed 'neath ardent sun, so shall he cast prostrate the corpses of Troy's sons with grim swords. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"His great valour shall be attested by Scamander's wave, which ever pours itself into the swift Hellespont, narrowing whose course with slaughtered heaps of corpses he shall make tepid its deep stream by mingling warm blood with the water. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"And she a witness in fine shall be the captive-maid handed to death, when the heaped-up tomb of earth built in lofty mound shall receive the snowy limbs of the stricken virgin. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"For instant fortune shall give the means to the war-worn Greeks to break Neptune's stone bonds of the Dardanian city, the tall tomb shall be made dank with Polyxena's blood, who as the victim succumbing 'neath two-edged sword, with yielding hams shall fall forward a headless corpse. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"Wherefore haste ye to conjoin in the longed-for delights of your love. Bridegroom thy goddess receive in felicitous compact; let the bride be given to her eager husband. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.
"Nor shall the nurse at orient light returning, with yester-e'en's thread succeed in circling her neck. [Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.] Not need her solicitous mother fear sad discord shall cause a parted bed for her daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear grandchildren. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles."