Then he sprang from the chariot on to the ground and said, "Sir, it is I, immortal Mercury, that am come with you, for my father sent me to escort you.

I will now leave you, and will not enter into the presence of Achilles, for it might anger him that a god should befriend mortal men thus openly.

Go you within, and embrace the knees of the son of Peleus: beseech him by his father, his lovely mother, and his son; thus you may move him." With these words Mercury went back to high Olympus.

Priam sprang from his chariot to the ground, leaving Idaeus where he was, in charge of the mules and horses.

The old man went straight into the house where Achilles, loved of the gods, was sitting.