Day 14: The Arrows and the Mouse

Lines 38-42
Κίλλαν τε ζαθέην, Τενεδοιό τε ἶφι ἀνασσεις
Σμινθεῦ, εἴ ποτέ τοι χαρίεντ' ἐπὶ νηὸν ἔρεψα,
ἢ εἰ δή ποτέ τοι κατὰ πίονα μηρί' ἔκηα
ταύρων ἠδ' αἰγῶν, τόδε μοι κρήνον ἐέλδωρ.
τίσειαν Δαναοὶ ἐμὰ δάκρυα σοῖσι βέλεσσιν."

And most sacred Cilla, and rules over Tenedos mightily
Smintheus, lord of mice, if ever I roofed your pleasing temple,
or if ever I burned for you rich thigh pieces
Of bulls and goats, fulfill my heart's desire.
May the Danaans pay for my tears with your arrows."


Pharr makes an excellent point here about the Greeks noticing early a connection between mice and plagues long before science proved this tobe fact. This accounts for the priest invoking Apollo by the epithet of Smintheus, the lord of mice, as he had invoked him in the previous section as the lord of the silver bow, thus combining the god's arrows and the mouse to create disaster for the Achaeans.