The Iliad of Homer | Page 3

gave him, who, being well disposed,[14] addressed them, and said:
"O Achilles, dear to Jove, thou biddest me to declare the wrath of Apollo, the far-darting king. Therefore will I declare it; but do thou on thy part covenant, and swear to me, that thou wilt promptly assist me in word and hand. For methinks I shall irritate a man who widely rules over all the Argives, and whom the Greeks obey. For a king is more powerful[15] when he is enraged with an inferior man; for though he may repress his wrath[16] for that same day, yet he afterwards retains his anger in his heart, until he accomplishes it; but do thou consider whether thou wilt protect me."
But him swift-footed Achilles, answering, addressed: "Taking full confidence, declare the divine oracle, whatsoever thou knowest. For, by Apollo, dear to Jove, to whom thou, praying, O Calchas, dost disclose predictions to the Greeks, no one of all the Greeks, while I am alive and have sight upon the earth, shall lay heavy hands upon thee at the hollow ships; not even if thou wast to name Agamemnon, who now boasts himself to be much the most powerful of the Greeks." [17]
[Footnote 13: A common formula in the ancient poets to express the eternity of things. Empedocles apud Pseud. Arist. de Mundo: [Greek: Panth' osa t' ên, osa t' esti, kai ossa te estai opis?]. Virg. Georg. iv. 392: "Novit namque omnia vates, Qu? sint, qu? fuerint, qu? mox ventura trahantur."]
[Footnote 14: See Abresch. on ?schyl. p. 287. Ernesti.]
[Footnote 15: [Greek: anagaktousi gar dia tên yperochen]. A--rist. Rhet. ii. 2, quoting this verse.]
[Footnote 16: Lit. "digest his bile". Homer's distinction between [Greek: cholos] and [Greek: kotos] is observed by Nemesius, de Nat. Hom. § 21.]
[Footnote 17: I have used "Greeks" wherever the whole army is evidently meant. In other instances I have retained the specific names of the different confederate nations.]
And upon this, the blameless prophet then took confidence, and spoke: "Neither is he enraged on account of a vow [unperformed], nor of a hecatomb [unoffered], but on account of his priest, whom Agamemnon dishonoured; neither did he liberate his daughter, nor did he receive her ransom. Wherefore has the Far-darter given woes, and still will he give them; nor will he withhold his heavy hands from the pestilence, before that [Agamemnon] restore to her dear father the bright-eyed[18] maid, unpurchased, unransomed, and conduct a sacred hecatomb to Chrysa; then, perhaps, having appeased, we might persuade him."
[Footnote 18: See Arnold.]
He indeed, having thus spoken, sat down. But to them arose the hero, the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,[19] agitated; and his all-gloomy heart was greatly filled with wrath, and his eyes were like unto gleaming fire. Sternly regarding Calchas most of all, he addressed [him]:
"Prophet of ills, not at any time hast thou spoken anything good for me; but evils are always gratifying to thy soul to prophesy,[20] and never yet hast thou offered one good word, nor accomplished [one]. And now, prophesying amongst the Greeks, thou haranguest that forsooth the Far-darter works griefs to them upon this account, because I was unwilling to accept the splendid ransom of the virgin daughter of Chryses, since I much prefer to have her at home; and my reason is, I prefer her even to Clytemnestra, my lawful wife; for she is not inferior to her, either in person, or in figure, or in mind, or by any means in accomplishments. But even thus I am willing to restore her, if it be better; for I wish the people to be safe rather than to perish. But do thou immediately prepare a prize for me, that I may not alone, of the Argives, be without a prize; since it is not fitting. For ye all see this, that my prize is going elsewhere."
[Footnote 19: "In the assembly of the people, as in the courts of justice, the nobles alone speak, advise, and decide, whilst the people merely listen to their ordinances and decisions, in order to regulate their own conduct accordingly; being suffered, indeed, to follow the natural impulse of evincing, to a certain extent, their approbation or disapprobation of their superiors, but without any legal means of giving validity to their opinion." Müller, Gk. Lit. p. 30.]
[Footnote 20: But we must not join [Greek: manteyesthai] with [Greek: kika].--N?gelsbach.]
But him swift-footed godlike Achilles then answered: "Most noble son of Atreus, most avaricious of all! for how shall the magnanimous Greeks assign thee a prize? Nor do we know of many common stores laid up anywhere. But what we plundered[21] from the cities, these have been divided, and it is not fitting that the troops should collect these brought together again. But do thou now let her go to the God, and we Greeks will compensate thee