Loth to advance, and speak their hard command; Decent confusion! This the godlike man Perceived, and thus with accent mild began: "With leave and honour enter our abodes, Ye sacred ministers of men and gods!(60) I know your message; by constraint you came; Not you, but your imperious lord I blame. Patroclus, haste, the fair Briseis bring; Conduct my captive to the haughty king. But witness, heralds, and proclaim my vow, Witness to gods above, and men below! But first, and loudest, to your prince declare (That lawless tyrant whose commands you bear), Unmoved as death Achilles shall remain, Though prostrate Greece shall bleed at every vein: The raging chief in frantic p****ion lost, Blind to himself, and useless to his host, Unskill'd to judge the future by the past, In blood and slaughter shall repent at last." [Illustration: THE DEPARTURE OF BRISEIS FROM THE TENT OF ACHILLES.] THE DEPARTURE OF BRISEIS FROM THE TENT OF ACHILLES.