At the nuptial banquet of Thetis and Peleus, Apollo rose from the sumptuous marriage table, and gave the newlyweds his divine blessing for the offspring that would be born of their union.
He said,"No sickness shall ever touch him and he shall have a long, long life"-
When he spoke these words Thetis rejoiced beyond measure,
for the words of Apollo, who knew all about prophesies, seemed to her a guarantee for the life of her son.
And through the years when Achilles was growing up and his fine looks were the glory of Thessaly, Thetis remembered the words of the god.
But one day old men arrived with news and they told of the slaying of Achilles at Troy.
And Thetis tore off her purple garments, and she kept on tearing and casting upon the ground her bracelets and rings.
And in her lamentation she recalled the past; and asked what the wise Apollo was doing, where was the poet wandering who speaks so divinely at feasts, where was the prophet roaming when they were slaying her son in the prime of his youth?
And the old men answered her that Apollo himself had gone down to Troy,
and with the Trojans he had slain Achilles.
Cavafy