THE ILIAD

Homer

Jan 1962 · YouHui Culture Publishing Company

About this ebook

THE ILIAD

by Homer

translated by Samuel Butler

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.

"Son of Atreus," said he, "I deem that we should now turn roving

home if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by

war and pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or some

reader of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell us why

Phoebus Apollo is so angry, and say whether it is for some vow that we

have broken, or hecatomb that we have not offered, and whether he will

accept the savour of lambs and goats without blemish, so as to take

away the plague from us."