The Iliad

Book I

Of Peleus’ son, Achilles, sing, O Muse,
The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece
Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul
Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades
Untimely sent; they on the battle plain
Unburied lay, a prey to rav’ning dogs,
And carrion birds; but so had Jove decreed,
From that sad day when first in wordy war,
The mighty Agamemnon, King of men,
Confronted stood by Peleus’ godlike son.

Say then, what God the fatal strife provok’d?
Jove’s and Latona’s son; he, filled with wrath
Against the King, with deadly pestilence
The camp afflicted,—and the people died,—
For Chryses’ sake, his priest, whom Atreus’ son
With scorn dismiss’d, when to the Grecian ships
He came, his captive daughter to redeem,
With costly ransom charg’d; and in his hand
The sacred fillet of his God he bore,
And golden staff; to all he sued, but chief
To Atreus’ sons, twin captains of the host:
“Ye sons of Atreus, and ye well-greav’d Greeks,
May the great Gods, who on Olympus dwell,
Grant you yon hostile city to destroy,
And home return in safety; but my child
Restore, I pray; her proffer’d ransom take,
And in his priest, the Lord of Light revere.”