Hermes Delivers Zeus’ Decree

6“You of the golden wand, revered and loved,
What, Hermes, brings you hither? Passing few
Have been your visits. Make your pleasure known.
My heart enjoins me to obey, if aught
That you command be within my power;
But first accept the offerings due a guest.”

7The goddess, speaking thus, before him placed
A table, where the heaped ambrosia lay,
And mingled the red nectar. Ate and drank
The herald Argus-queller, and, refreshed,
Answered the nymph, and made his message known: —

8“Are you a goddess, and do ask of me,
A god, why came I hither? Yet, since you
Require, I will truly tell the cause.
I came unwillingly, at Zeus’ command;
For who of choice would traverse the wide waste
Of the salt ocean, with no city near
Where men adore the gods with solemn rites
And chosen hecatombs. No god has power
To elude or to resist the purposes
Of aegis-bearing Zeus. With you abides,
He bids me say, the most unhappy man
Of all who round the city of Priam waged
The battle through nine years, and, in the tenth,
Laying it waste, departed for their homes.
But in their voyage they provoked the wrath
Of Athena, who called up the furious winds
And angry waves against them. By his side
Sank all his gallant comrades in the deep.
Him did the winds and waves drive hither. Him
Zeus bids you send away with speed; for here
He must not perish, far from all he loves.
So is it preordained that he behold
His friends again, and stand once more within
His high-roofed palace, on his native soil.”