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The Iliad

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Title: The Iliad

Author: Homer

Translator: Samuel Butler

 
Release date: June 1, 2000 [eBook #2199]
 Most recently updated: August 16, 2022

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2199

Credits: Jim TinsleyRevised by Richard Tonsing.

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ILIAD ***

 THE ILIAD OF HOMER

 Rendered into English Prose for
 the use of those who cannot
 read the original

 by Samuel Butler

Contents

 BOOK I.
 BOOK II.
 BOOK III.
 BOOK IV.
 BOOK V.
 BOOK VI.
 BOOK VII
 BOOK VIII.
 BOOK IX.
 BOOK X.
 BOOK XI.
 BOOK XII.
 BOOK XIII.
 BOOK XIV.
 BOOK XV.
 BOOK XVI.
 BOOK XVII.
 BOOK XVIII.
 BOOK XIX.
 BOOK XX.
 BOOK XXI.
 BOOK XXII.
 BOOK XXIII.
 BOOK XXIV.

BOOK I.

 The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles-Achilles withdraws
 from the war, and sends his mother Thetis to ask Jove to help the
 Trojans-Scene between Jove and Juno on Olympus.

 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."

 With these words he sat down, and Calchas son of Thestor, wisest
 of augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose to
 speak. He it was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to
 Ilius, through the prophesyings with 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 Argives 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 borne in
 upon you from heaven, for by Apollo, Calchas, to whom you pray,
 and whose oracles you reveal to us, not a Danaan 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 hecatomb, but for his priest's sake, whom
 Agamemnon has dishonoured, in that he would not free his daughter
 nor take a ransom for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon
 us, and will yet send others. He will not deliver the Danaans
 from this pestilence till Agamemnon has restored the girl without
 fee or ransom to her father, and has sent a holy hecatomb to
 Chryse. 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 Calchas 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 seein

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