the iliad by homer translated by samuel butler book 1 recording by joshua christensen the quarrel between agamemnon and achilles achilles withdraws from the war and sends his mother thetis to ask jove to help the trojans seen between jove and juno on olympus sing o goddess the anger of achilles son of paleous that brought countless ills upon the achaeans many a brave soul that did send hurrying down to hades and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the councils of job fulfilled from the day on which the son of atreus king of men and great achilles first fill out with one another and which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel it was the son of joven 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 dishonored christ as his priest now crisis 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 scepter of apollo wreathed with the suppliance 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 priyam 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 scepter 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 worst 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 the protected christy and holy sylla and rules tenedos with thy might hear me o thou of smither 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 dnaians 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 there too by juno who saw the achaeans in their death rows 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 job who can tell us why phoebus apollo is so angry and say whether it is for some vow that we have broken or hecatom that we have not offered and whether he will accept the savior of lambs and goats without blemish so as to take away the plague from us with these words he sat down and calcus son of thor wisest of augers who knew things past present and to come rose to speak he it was who he guided the achaeans with their fleet to ilius through the prophesyings of which phoebus apollo had inspired him with all sincerity and goodwill he addressed them thus achilles loved of heaven you bid me tell you about the anger of king apollo i will therefore do so but consider first and swear that you will stand by me heartily in word and deed for i know that i shall offend one who rules the archives with might to whom all the achaeans are in subjection a plain man cannot stand against the anger of a king who if he swallow his displeasure now will yet nurse revenge till he has wreaked it consider therefore whether or no you will protect me and achilles answered fear not but speak as it is born upon you from heaven for by apollo calcus to whom you pray and whose oracles you reveal to us not adding at our ships shall lay his hand upon you while i yet live to look upon the face of the earth no not though you name agamemnon himself who is by far the foremost of the achaeans thereon the seer spoke boldly the god he said is angry neither about vow nor hecatom but for his priests sake whom agamemnon has dishonored in that he would not free his daughter nor take a ransom for her therefore he has sent these evils upon us and will yet send others he will not deliver the demands from this pestilence till agamemnon has restored the girl without fee or ransom to her father and has sent a holy hecatom to crisey thus we may perhaps appease him with these words he sat down and agamemnon rose in anger his heart was black with rage and his eyes flashed fire as he scowled on calcus and said seer of evil you never yet prophesied smooth things concerning me but have ever loved to foretell that which was evil you have brought me neither comfort nor performance and now you come seeing among the demands and saying that apollo has plagued us because i would not take a ransom for this girl the daughter of crisis i have set my heart on keeping her in my own house for i love her better even than my own wife clemenestra whose peers she is alike and form and feature in understanding and accomplishments still i will give her up if i must for i would have the people live not die but you must find me a prize instead or i alone among the archives shall be without one this is not well for you behold all of you that my prize is to go elsewhere and achilles answered most noble son of atreus covetous beyond all mankind how shall the achaeans find you another prize we have no common store from which to take one those we took from the cities have been awarded we cannot disallow the awards that have been made already give this girl therefore to the god and if ever job grants us to sack the city of troy we will requite you three and fourfold then agamemnon said achilles valiant though you be you shall not thus outwit me you shall not overreach and you shall not persuade me are you to keep your own prize while i sit tamely under my loss and give up the girl that you're bidding let the achaeans find me a prize in fair exchange to my liking or i will come and take your own or that of ajax or of ulysses and he to whomsoever i may come shall rule my coming but of this we will take thought hereafter for the present let us draw a ship into the sea and find a crew for her expressly let us put a hecatome on board and let us end criseus also further let some chief man among us be in command either ajax or idominius or yourself son of peleus mighty warrior that you are that we may offer sacrifice and appease the anger of the god achilles scowled at him and answered you are steeped in insolence and lust of gain with what heart can any of the akins do your bidding either on foray or in open fighting i came not warring here for any ill the trojans had done me i had no quarrel with them they have not raided my cattle nor my horses nor cut down my harvests on the rich plains of pythia for between me and them there is a great space both mountain and sounding sea we have followed you sir insolence for your pleasure not ours to gain satisfaction from the trojans for your shameless self and from menelaus you forget this and threaten to rob me of the prize for which i have toiled and which the sons of the achaeans have given me never when the achaeans sack any rich city of the trojans do i receive so good a prize as you do though it is my hands that do the better part of the fighting when the sharing comes your share is far the largest and i forsooth must go back to my ships take what i can get and be thankful when my labor of fighting is done now therefore i shall go back to physia it will be much better for me to return home with my ships for i will not stay here dishonored to gather gold and substance for you and agamemnon answered fly if you will i shall make you no prayers to stay you i have others here who will do me honor and above all job the lord of counsel there is no king here so hateful to me as you are for you are ever quartersome and ill-affected what though you be brave was it not heaven that made you so go home then with your ships and comrades to lord it over the mermidians i care neither for you nor for your anger and thus will i do since phoebus apollo is taking chrysalis from me i shall center with my ship and my followers but i shall come to your tent and take your own prize braseas that you may learn how much stronger i am than you are and that another may fear to set himself up as equal or comparable with me the son of paleous was furious and his heart within his shaggy breast was divided whether to draw his sword push the others aside and kill the son of atreus or to restrain himself and check his anger while he was thus in two minds and was drawing his mighty sword from its scabbard minerva came down from heaven for juno had center in the love she bore to them both and seized the son of paleous by his yellow hair visible to him alone for of the others no man could see her achilles turned in a maze 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 job 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 to 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 thrusted back into the scabbard as minerva bait him then she went back to olympus among the other gods and to the house of aegis bearing job but the son of paleous again began railing at the son of atreus for he was still in a rage whine bibber he cried with the face of a dog in the heart of a hind you never dare to go out with a host and fight nor yet with our chosen men in ambiscade 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 scepter which shall sprout neither leaf nor shoot nor but anew from the day on which it left its parents stem upon the mountains for the acts 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 paleous dashed his gold bestudded scepter on the ground and took his seat while the son of atreus was beginning fiercely from his place upon the other side then up rose smooth-tongued nestor the facile speaker of the pillions and the words fell from his lips sweeter than honey two generations of men born and bred in palos had passed away under his rule and he was now reigning over the third with all sincerity and good will therefore he addressed them thus of a truth he said a great sorrow has befallen the achaean land surely priyam 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 pirethus and dry ass shepherd of his people or as caenius exadius god like polyphemus and theseus and of aegis 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 palos and went about among them for they would have me come and i fought as 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 scepter has like honor 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 written with your blood when they had coral dust angrily they rose and broke up the assembly at the ships of the akians the son of peleus went back to his tents and ships with the son of menocious and his company while agamemnon drew a vessel into the water and chose a crew of twenty oarsmen he escorted cresaus on board and sent more over a hecatom 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 seashore and the smoke with the savour of their sacrifice rose curling up towards heaven thus did they busy themselves to the host but agamemnon did not forget the threat that he had made achilles and called his trusty messengers and squires telphibius and eurybites go said he to the tent of achilles son of peleus take brussels 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 in 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 braseas 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 aqians may fight by their ships and safety patroclus did as his dear comrade had bitten him he brought paseos 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 lost to go then achilles went all alone by the side of the horror 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 job who thunders from olympus might have made that little glorious it is not so agamemnon son of atreus has done me this honor 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 etheon sacked it and brought hither the spoil the sons of the achaeans shared it duly among themselves and chose lovely cressayus as the mead of egged memnon but crisis 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 scepter of apollo wreathed with a suppliance wreath and he besought the akians 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 archives and the people died thick on one another for the arrows went every wither among the y hosts of the akians at last a seer in the fullness 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 and a ship to christ and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god but the heralds have just taken from my tent the daughter of brisius 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 job off times 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 palace minerva would have put him in bombs it was you goddess who delivered him by calling to olympus the hundred-handed monster whom gods call bryarius but men aegeon 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 sucker to the trojans let the achaeans be hemmed in at the sterns of their ships and perish on the seashore 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 the achaeans thedis wept and answered my son woe is me that i should have borne or suckled you would indeed that you had lived your span free from all sorrow with your ships for it is all too brief alas that you should be at once short of life and long of sorrow above your peers woe therefore was the hour in which i bore you nevertheless i will go to the snowy heights of olympus and tell this tale to jove if he will hear our prayer meanwhile stay where you are with your ships nurse your anger against the achaeans and hold aloof from fight for job went yesterday to oceanus to a feast among the ethiopians and the other gods went with him he will return to olympus twelve days hence i will then go to his mansion paved with bronze and will beseech him nor do i doubt that i shall be able to persuade him on this she left him still furious at the loss of her that had been taken from him meanwhile ulysses reached christy with the hecaton when they had come inside the harbor they furled the sails and laid them in the ship's hold they slack in the forestays lowered the mast into its place and rode the ship to the place where they would have her lie there they cast out their mourning stones and made fast the hausers then they got out upon the seashore and landed the hecatone for apollo crises also left the ship and ulysses letter to the altar to deliver her into the hands of her father crisis said he king agamemnon has sent me to bring you back your child and to offer sacrifice to apollo on behalf of the danaeans that we may propitiate the god who has now brought sorrow upon the archives so saying he gave the girl over to her father who received her gladly and they arranged the holy hecatom all orderly round the altar of the god they washed their hands and took up the barley meal to sprinkle over their victims while crisis lifted up his hands and prayed aloud on their behalf hear me he cried o god of the silver bow that protects us chrysa and holy sylla and rulest tennandos with thy might even as thou didst hear me aforetime when i prayed and it's pressed hardly upon the achaeans so hear me yet again and stay this fearful pestilence from the denaians thus did he pray and apollo heard his prayer when they had done praying and sprinkling the barley meal they drew back the heads of the victims and killed and flayed them they cut out the thigh bones wrapped them round in two layers of fat set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them and then crisis laid them on the wood fire and poured wine over them while the young men stood near him with five-pronged spits in their hands when the thigh bones were burnt and they had tasted the inward meats they cut the rest of small put the pieces upon the spits roasted them till they were done and drew them off then when they had finished their work and the feast was ready they ate it and every man had his full share so that all were satisfied as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink pages filled the mixing bowl with wine and water and handed it round after giving every man his drink offering thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song hymning him and chanting the joyous pain and the god took pleasure in their voices but when the sun went down and it came on dark they laid themselves down to sleep by the stern cables of the ship and when the child of mourning rosie finger dawn appeared they again set sail for the host of the achaeans apollo sent them a fair wind so they raised their mast and hoisted their white sails aloft as the sail bellied with the wind the ship flew through the deep blue water and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward when they reached the wide stretching house of the akins they drew the vessel ashore high and dry upon the sands center strong props beneath her and went their ways to their own tents and ships but achilles aboded his ships and nursed his anger he went not to the honorable assembly and sallied not forth to fight but gnawed at his own heart pining for battle and the war cry now after 12 days the immortal gods came back in a body to olympus and jove led the way fedus was not unmindful of the charge her son had laid upon her so she rose from under the sea and went through great heaven with early morning to olympus where she found the mighty son of saturn sitting all alone upon its topmost ridges she sat herself down before him and with her left hand seized his knees while with her right she caught him under the chin and besought him saying father job if i ever did you service in word or deed among the immortals hear my prayer and do honor to my son whose life is to be cut short so early king agamemnon has dishonored him by taking his prize and keeping her honor him then yourself olympian lord of council and grant victory to the trojans till the achaeans give my son his due and load him with riches and requital jove sat for a while silent and without word but thetas still kept firm hold of his knees and besought him a second time incline your head said she and promise me surely or else deny me for you have nothing to fear that i may learn how greatly you disdain me at this joe was much troubled and answered i shall have trouble if you set me quarreling with juno for she will provoke me with her taunting speeches even now she is always railing at me before the other gods and accusing me of giving aid to the trojans go back now lest she should find out i will consider the matter and will bring it about as you wish see i incline my head that you may believe me this is the most solemn promise that i can give to any god i never recall my word or deceive or fail to do what i say when i have nodded my head as he spoke the son of saturn bowed his dark brows and the ambrosial locks swayed on his immortal head till vast olympus reeled when the pair had thus laid their plans they parted drove to his house while the goddess quitted the splendor of olympus and plunged into the depths of the sea the gods rose from their seats before the coming of their sire not one of them dared to remain sitting but all stood up as he came among them there then he took his seat but juno when she saw him knew that he and the old merman's daughter silver-footed thetas had been hatching mischief so she had once began to upgrade him trickster she cried which of the gods have you been taking into your councils now you are always settling matters in secret behind my back and have never yet told me if you could help it one word of your intentions juno replied the sire of gods and men you must not expect to be informed of all my counsels you are my wife but you would find it hard to understand them when it is proper for you to hear there is no one god or man who will be told sooner but when i mean to keep a matter to myself you must not prime or ask questions dread son of saturn answer juno what are you talking about i try and ask questions never i let you have your own way in everything still i have strong misgivings that the old merman's daughter thetas has been talking you over for she was with you and had hold of your knees this self-same morning i believe therefore that you have been promising her to give glory to achilles and to kill much people at the ships of the akeans wife said job i can do nothing but you suspect me and find it out you will take nothing by it for i shall only dislike you the more and it will go harder with you granted that it is as you say i mean to have it so sit down and hold your tongue as i bid you for if i once began to lay my hands about you though all heaven were on your side it would profit you nothing on this juno was frightened so she curbed her stubborn will and sat down in silence but the heavenly beings were disquieted throughout the house of job till the cunning workman vulcan began to try and pacify his mother juno it will be intolerable said he if you two fall to wrangling and setting heaven in an uproar about a pack of mortals if such ill councils are to prevail we shall have no pleasure at our banquet let me then advise my mother and she must herself know that it will be better to make friends with my dear father joe lest he again scold her and disturb our feast if the olympian thunderer wants to hurl us all from our seats he can do so for he is far the strongest so give him fair words and he then will soon be in a good humor with us as he spoke he took a double cup of nectar and placed it in his mother's hand cheer up my dear mother said he and make the best of it i love you dearly and should be very sorry to see you get a thrashing however grieved i might be i could not help for there is no standing against job once before when i was trying to help you he caught me by the foot and flung me from the heavenly threshold all day long from more until eve was i falling till at sunset i came to ground in the island of lemnos and there i lay with very little life left in me till the sentients came and tended me juno smiled at this and as she smiled she took the cup from her son's hands then vulcan drew sweet nectar from the mixing bowl and served it round among the gods going from left to right and the blessed gods laughed at a loud applause as they saw him bustling about the heavenly mansion thus through the live long day to the going down of the sun they feasted and every one had his full share so that all were satisfied apollo struck his liar and the muses lifted up their sweet voices calling and answering one another but when the sun's glorious light had faded they went home to bed each in his own abode which lame vulcan with his consummate skill had fashioned for them so job the olympian lord of thunder hide him to the bed in which he always slept and when he had got onto it he went to sleep with juno of the golden throne by his side end of book 1. you