19-12-2012, 06:11 PM
The ILIAD
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BOOK I
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send
hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to
dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from
the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles,
first fell out with one another.
And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the
son of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent a
pestilence upon the host to plague the people, because the son of
Atreus had dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had
come to the ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had
brought with him a great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the
sceptre of Apollo wreathed with a suppliant's wreath and he
besought the Achaeans, but most of all the two sons of Atreus, who
were their chiefs.
"Sons of Atreus," he cried, "and all other Achaeans, may the gods
who dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to
reach your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a
ransom for her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Jove."
On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting
the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so
Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly
away. "Old man," said he, "let me not find you tarrying about our
ships, nor yet coming hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your
wreath shall profit you nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow
old in my house at Argos far from her own home, busying herself
with her loom and visiting my couch; so go, and do not provoke
me or it shall be the worse for you."
The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but
went by the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King
Apollo whom lovely Leto had borne. "Hear me," he cried, "O god
of the silver bow, that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest
Tenedos with thy might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have ever
decked your temple with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones in
fat of bulls or goats, grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge
these my tears upon the Danaans."
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down
furious from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver
upon his shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage
that trembled within him. He sat himself down away from the
ships with a face as dark as night, and his silver bow rang death as
he shot his arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their mules
and their hounds, but presently he aimed his shafts at the people
themselves, and all day long the pyres of the dead were burning.
For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but
upon the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly- moved
thereto by Juno, who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and
had compassion upon them. Then, when they were got together, he
rose and spoke among them.