Then did Agamemnon call his heralds to him.
‘Go ye to the tent of Achilles,’ said he, ‘and bring me Briseis, his fair slave.’
Unwillingly they walked along the beach to where the tent of Achilles was pitched. By it he sat, and well, and with a heavy heart, he knew when he saw them what their errand was.
‘Welcome, ye heralds,’ he said. ‘Ye are not guilty in my sight. Guilty only is Agamemnon who sent you to rob me of the fair Briseis. Lead her away, yet be witnesses that when Agamemnon hath sore need of me to save his host from shameful wreck, no help from me shall he have.’
Unwillingly Briseis was led away, and Achilles watched her go.
Then sitting alone on the beach of the grey sea, Achilles wept.
With eager gaze his eyes swept across the waste of water, and holding out his hands in supplication he cried to his mother, Thetis the silver-footed, daughter of the King of the Sea.
Like a mist Thetis rose from the depths of the green sea-waves, and came to her sorrowing son.
Gently she stroked his hand, and spoke to him soothing words.
‘Why dost thou weep, my child?’ she said. ‘Tell me all the sorrow that is in thy heart.’