The Iliad by Homer (ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

turned in amaze, and by the fire that flashed from her eyes at
once knew that she was Minerva. "Why are you here," said he, "daughter
of aegis-bearing Jove? To see the pride of Agamemnon, son of Atreus?
Let me tell you--and it shall surely be--he shall pay for this
insolence with his life."

And Minerva said, "I come from heaven, if you will hear me, to bid you
stay your anger. Juno has sent me, who cares for both of you alike.
Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your sword; rail at him if
you will, and your railing will not be vain, for I tell you--and it
shall surely be--that you shall hereafter receive gifts three times as
splendid by reason of this present insult. Hold, therefore, and obey."

"Goddess," answered Achilles, "however angry a man may be, he must do
as you two command him. This will be best, for the gods ever hear the
prayers of him who has obeyed them."

He stayed his hand on the silver hilt of his sword, and thrust it back
into the scabbard as Minerva bade him. Then she went back to Olympus
among the other gods, and to the house of aegis-bearing Jove.

But the son of Peleus again began railing at the son of Atreus, for he
was still in a rage. "Wine-bibber," he cried, "with the face of a dog
and the heart of a hind, you never dare to go out with the host in
fight, nor yet with our chosen men in ambuscade. You shun this as you
do death itself. You had rather go round and rob his prizes from any
man who contradicts you. You devour your people, for you are king over
a feeble folk; otherwise, son of Atreus, henceforward you would insult
no man. Therefore I say, and swear it with a great oath--nay, by this
my sceptre which shalt sprout neither leaf nor shoot, nor bud anew from
the day on which it left its parent stem upon the mountains--for the
axe stripped it of leaf and bark, and now the sons of the Achaeans bear
it as judges and guardians of the decrees of heaven--so surely and
solemnly do I swear that hereafter they shall look fondly for Achilles
and shall not find him. In the day of your distress, when your men fall
dying by the murderous hand of Hector, you shall not know how to help
them, and shall rend your heart with rage for the hour when you offered
insult to the bravest of the Achaeans."

With this the son of Peleus dashed his gold-bestudded sceptre on the
ground and took his seat, while the son of Atreus was beginning
fiercely from his place upon the other side. Then uprose smooth-tongued
Nestor, the facile speaker of the Pylians, and the words fell from his
lips sweeter than honey. Two generations of men born and bred in Pylos
had passed away under his rule, and he was now reigning over the third.
With all sincerity and goodwill, therefore, he addressed them thus:--

"Of a truth," he said, "a great sorrow has befallen the Achaean land.
Surely Priam with his sons would rejoice, and the Trojans be glad at
heart if they could hear this quarrel between you two, who are so
excellent in fight and counsel. I am older than either of you;
therefore be guided by me. Moreover I have been the familiar friend of
men even greater than you are, and they did not disregard my counsels.
Never again can I behold such men as Pirithous and Dryas shepherd of
his people, or as Caeneus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus son
of Aegeus, peer of the immortals. These were the mightiest men ever
born upon this earth: mightiest were they, and when they fought the
fiercest tribes of mountain savages they utterly overthrew them. I came
from distant Pylos, and went about among them, for they would have me
come, and I fought as it was in me to do. Not a man now living could
withstand them, but they heard my words, and were persuaded by them. So
be it also with yourselves, for this is the more excellent way.
Therefore, Agamemnon, though you be strong, take not this girl away,
for the sons of the Achaeans have already given her to Achilles; and
you, Achilles, strive not further with the king, for no man who by the
grace of Jove wields a sceptre has like honour with Agamemnon. You are
strong, and have a goddess for your mother; but Agamemnon is stronger
than you, for he has more people under him. Son of Atreus, check your
anger, I implore you; end this quarrel with Achilles, who in the day of
battle is a tower of strength to the Achaeans."

And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, all that you have said is true, but this
fellow must needs become our lord and master: he must be lord of all,
king of all, and captain of all, and this shall hardly be. Granted that
the gods have made him a great warrior, have they also given him the
right to speak with railing?"

Achilles interrupted him. "I should be a mean coward," he cried, "were
I to give in to you in all things. Order other people about, not me,
for I shall obey no longer. Furthermore I say--and lay my saying to
your heart--I shall fight neither you nor any man about this girl, for
those that take were those also that gave. But of all else that is at
my ship you shall carry away nothing by force. Try, that others may
see; if you do, my spear shall be reddened with your blood."

When they had quarrelled thus angrily, they rose, and broke up the
assembly at the ships of the Achaeans. The son of Peleus went back to
his tents and ships with the son of Menoetius and his company, while
Agamemnon drew a vessel into the water and chose a crew of twenty
oarsmen. He escorted Chryseis on board and sent moreover a hecatomb for
the god. And Ulysses went as captain.

These, then, went on board and sailed their ways over the sea. But the
son of Atreus bade the people purify themselves; so they purified
themselves and cast their filth into the sea. Then they offered
hecatombs of bulls and goats without blemish on the sea-shore, and the
smoke with the savour of their sacrifice rose curling up towards heaven.

Thus did they busy themselves throughout the host. But Agamemnon did
not forget the threat that he had made Achilles, and called his trusty
messengers and squires Talthybius and Eurybates. "Go," said he, "to the
tent of Achilles, son of Peleus; take Briseis by the hand and bring her
hither; if he will not give her I shall come with others and take
her--which will press him harder."

He charged them straightly further and dismissed them, whereon they
went their way sorrowfully by the seaside, till they came to the tents
and ships of the Myrmidons. They found Achilles sitting by his tent and
his ships, and ill-pleased he was when he beheld them. They stood
fearfully and reverently before him, and never a word did they speak,
but he knew them and said, "Welcome, heralds, messengers of gods and
men; draw near; my quarrel is not with you but with Agamemnon who has
sent you for the girl Briseis. Therefore, Patroclus, bring her and give
her to them, but let them be witnesses by the blessed gods, by mortal
men, and by the fierceness of Agamemnon's anger, that if ever again
there be need of me to save the people from ruin, they shall seek and
they shall not find. Agamemnon is mad with rage and knows not how to
look before and after that the Achaeans may fight by their ships in
safety."

Patroclus did as his dear comrade had bidden him. He brought Briseis
from the tent and gave her over to the heralds, who took her with them
to the ships of the Achaeans--and the woman was loth to go. Then
Achilles went all alone by the side of the hoar sea, weeping and
looking out upon the boundless waste of waters. He raised his hands in
prayer to his immortal mother, "Mother," he cried, "you bore me doomed
to live but for a little season; surely Jove, who thunders from
Olympus, might have made that little glorious. It is not so. Agamemnon,
son of Atreus, has done me dishonour, and has robbed me of my prize by
force."

As he spoke he wept aloud, and his mother heard him where she was
sitting in the depths of the sea hard by the old man her father.
Forthwith she rose as it were a grey mist out of the waves, sat down
before him as he stood weeping, caressed him with her hand, and said,
"My son, why are you weeping? What is it that grieves you? Keep it not
from me, but tell me, that we may know it together."

Achilles drew a deep sigh and said, "You know it; why tell you what you
know well already? We went to Thebe the strong city of Eetion, sacked
it, and brought hither the spoil. The sons of the Achaeans shared it
duly among themselves, and chose lovely Chryseis as the meed of
Agamemnon; but Chryses, priest of Apollo, came to the ships of the
Achaeans to free his daughter, and 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.

"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. So he went back in
anger, and Apollo, who loved him dearly, heard his prayer. Then the god
sent a deadly dart upon the Argives, and the people died thick on one
another, for the arrows went everywhither among the wide host of the
Achaeans. At last a seer in the fulness of his knowledge declared to us
the oracles of Apollo, and I was myself first to say that we should
appease him. Whereon the son of Atreus rose in anger, and threatened
that which he has since done. The Achaeans are now taking the girl in a
ship to Chryse, and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god; but the
heralds have just taken from my tent the daughter of Briseus, whom the
Achaeans had awarded to myself.

"Help your brave son, therefore, if you are able. Go to Olympus, and if
you have ever done him service in word or deed, implore the aid of
Jove. Ofttimes in my father's house have I heard you glory in that you
alone of the immortals saved the son of Saturn from ruin, when the
others, with Juno, Neptune, and Pallas Minerva would have put him in
bonds. It was you, goddess, who delivered him by calling to Olympus the
hundred-handed monster whom gods call Briareus, but men Aegaeon, for he
is stronger even than his father; when therefore he took his seat
all-glorious beside the son of Saturn, the other gods were afraid, and
did not bind him. Go, then, to him, remind him of all this, clasp his
knees, and bid him give succour to the Trojans. Let the Achaeans be
hemmed in at the sterns of their ships, and perish on the sea-shore,
that they may reap what joy they may of their king, and that Agamemnon
may rue his blindness in offering insult to the foremost of