winter storms and the furious sea imprison him; but for us, the ninth
year of our stay here is upon us in its course. Therefore do I not
marvel that the Achaians should fret beside their beaked ships; yet
nevertheless is it shameful to wait long and to depart empty. Be of good
heart, my friends, and wait a while, until we learn whether Kalchas be a
true prophet or no. For this thing verily we know well in our hearts,
and ye all are witnesses thereof, even as many as the fates of death
have not borne away. It was as it were but yesterday or the day before
that the Achaians' ships were gathering in Aulis, freighted with trouble
for Priam and the Trojans; and we round about a spring were offering on
the holy altars unblemished hecatombs to the immortals, beneath a fair
plane-tree whence flowed bright water, when there was seen a great
portent: a snake blood-red on the back, terrible, whom the god of
Olympus himself had sent forth to the light of day, sprang from beneath
the altar and darted to the plane-tree. Now there were there the brood
of a sparrow, tender little ones, upon the topmost branch, nestling
beneath the leaves; eight were they and the mother of the little ones
was the ninth, and the snake swallowed these cheeping pitifully. And the
mother fluttered around wailing for her dear little ones; but he coiled
himself and caught her by the wing as she screamed about him. Now when
he had swallowed the sparrow's little ones and the mother with them, the
god who revealed him made of him a sign; for the son of
crooked-counselling Kronos turned him to stone, and we stood by and
marvelled to see what was done. So when the dread portent brake in upon
the hecatombs of the gods, then did Kalchas forthwith prophesy, and
said: 'Why hold ye your peace, ye flowing-haired Achaians? To us hath
Zeus the counsellor shown this great sign, late come, of late
fulfilment, the fame whereof shall never perish. Even as he swallowed
the sparrow's little ones and herself, the eight wherewith the mother
that bare the little ones was the ninth, so shall we war there so many