Day 35: A Dagger Not Quite Drawn

Lines 182-92
ὡς ἔμ' ἀφαιρεῖται Χρυσηίδα Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων,
τὴν μὲν ἐγὼ σὺν νηί τ' ἐμῇ καὶ ἐμοῖς ἑτάροισιν
πεύψω, ἐγὼ δέ κ' ἄγω Βρισηίδα καλλιπάρῃον
αὐτὸς ἰὼν κλισίηνδε, τὸ σὸν γέρας, ὄφρ' ἐὺ εἴδῃς
ὅσον φέρτερος εἰμι σέθεν, στυγέῃ δὲ καὶ ἄλλος
ἶσον ἐμοὶ φάσθαι καὶ ὁμοιωθήμεναι ἄντην."
ὧς φάτο· Πηλεΐωνι ὤχος γένετ, ἐν δέ οἱ ἦτορ
στήθεσσιν λασίοισι διάνδιχα μερμήριξεν,
ἢ ὅ γε φάσγανον ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηροῦ
τοὺς μὲν ἀναστήσειεν, ὁ δ' Ἀτρεΐδην ἐναρίζοι,
ἦε χόλον παύσειεν ἐρητύσειέ τε θυμόν.

Thus Phoebus Apollo deprives me of Chryseis,
So I will send her along with my ship and my comrades,
But I myself perhaps wil go to your tent and lead off your prize,
The fair cheeked Briseis, so that you should know
How much mightier I am than you, and then another
May loathe to say he is my equal and before my face
To liken himself to me."
Thus he finished; grief rose up in Peleus' son, and his heart,
In a rough and hairy chest, pondered two divergent paths:
Whether to draw the sharp sword from his thigh,
Rousing them to their feet, and slay the son of Atreus,
Or to check his anger and keep back his desire?



Marvelous scene. Achilles is about to draw his sword, but then comes the part that everyone seems to forget about when they comment on Achilles' character; he ponders whether or not this a good idea. And then we see what happens next...

Day 34: Most Odious of the Zeus Nourished Kings

Lines 173-81
"φεῦγε μάλ' εἴ τοι θυμὸς ἐπέσσουται, οὐδέ ς' ἐγώ γε
λίσσπμαι εἵνεκ' ἐμεῖο μένειν· παρ ἐμοί γε καὶ ἄλλοι,
οἵ κέ με τιμήσουσι, μάλιστα δὲ μητίετα Ζεύς.
ἔχθιστος δέ μοι ἐσσι διοτρεφέων Βασιλήων·
αἰεὶ γάρ τοι ἔρις τε φίλη πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε.
εἰ μάλα καρτερός ἐσσι, θεός που σοὶ τό γ' ἔδωκεν.
οἴκαδ' ἰὼν σὺν νηυσί τε σῇς καὶ σοῖς ἑτάροισιν
Μυρμιδόνεσσιν ἄνασσε, σεθεν δ' ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀλεγίζω
οὐδ' ὄθομαι κοτέοντος· ἀπειλήσω δέ τοι ὦδε·

"By all means flee, if this is what your desire urges,
Nor do I beg you to remain on my account,
There are others beside me who may do me honor,
And above all the counsellor Zeus.
And to me you are the most odious of Zeus nourished kings;
Always war and strife and battle are dear to your heart.
If you are so mighty, then some god gave it to you.
Go home with your ships and your comrades,
Rule your Myrmidons, but I am not concerned with you
Nor do I worry over your anger; and I will threaten you thus:



An amazing scene which my comments will not do justice. The only thing I would say is that Achilles is usually portrayed as a mighty warrior, though not as a king, perhaps since his portrayl in Homer is as of one outside the bounds of society. Here, however, Agamemnon addresses him as a king, though not in the most flattering of kingly addresses.

Day 33: To Sail for Home

Lines 165-72
ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πλεῖον πολυάικος πολέμοιο
χεῖρες ἐμαὶ διέπουσ', ἀτὰρ ἤν ποτε δοσμὸς ἵκηται
σοὶ τὸ γέρας πολὺ μεῖζον, ἐγὼ δ' ὀλίγον τε φίλον τε
ἔρχομ' ἔχων ἐπὶ νῆας, ἐπεί κε κάμω πολεμίζων.
νῦν δ' εἶμι Φθίηνδ', ἐπεὶ ἦ πολὺ φέρτερόν ἐστιν
οἴκαδ' ἴμεν σὺν νηυσὶ κορωνίσιν, οὐδέ σ' ὀίω
ἐνθάδ' ἄτιμος ἐὼν ἄφενος καὶ πλοῦτον ἀρύξειν."
τὸν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων·

But the greater part of the onrushing war is accomplished
With my hands, and moreover when comes the division
Of the spoils, for you the much greater prize while I go
To the ships, bearing a prize both small and dear, since
I weary of fighting. And now I go to Phthia since it is far better
To go home along with the curved ships, rather than to
Think myself dishonored here, piling up wealth and riches
For you."
And then Agamemnon, the lord of men, answered him:

Day 32: Prizes for a Dogface

Lines 158-64
ἀλλὰ σοί, ὦ μέγ' ἀναιδές, ἅμ' ἑσπόμεθ', ὄφρα συ χαίρῃς,
τιμὴν ἀρνύμενοι Μενελάῳ σοί τε, κυνῶπα,
πρὸς Τρώων. τῶν οὔ τι μετατρέπῃ οὐδ' ἀλεγίζεις·
καὶ δή μοι γέρας αὐτὸς ἀφαιρήσεσθαι ἀπειλεῖς,
ᾧ ἔπι πολλὰ μόγησα δόσαν δέ μοι υἷες Ἀχαιῶν.
οὐ μέν σοί ποτε ἶσον ἔχω γέρας ὁπποτ' Ἀχαιοὶ
Τρώων ἐκπέρσως' ἐὺ ναιόμενον πτολίεθρον·

But for you, O shameless one, we followed together,
So that you might rejoice, striving to win honor and recompense
For Menelaus and for you, dogface, from the Trojans.
This you neither consider nor heed; And you yourself now
Threaten to take my prize, for which I have greatly toiled,
And that the sons of the Achaeans gave to me.
For that I never have a prize equal to yours,
Whenever the Achaeans should sack some
Well placed Trojan city.


Achilles continues his assault on Agamemnon's character, even calling him a dogface, which is a dangerous thing to say to a king. On a side note: this entire scene puts to rest any idea that some have made that the Iliad is an actual memory of some grand expedition from mainland Greece at the end of the Bronze Age under a Mycenean great king named Agamemnon. There is another theory I think more plausible: that of the Iliad and Odyssey being distant, shadowy recollections of the Sea Peoples who exploded from the ruins of the Mycenean kingdoms in Greece to collapse several Bronze Age empires through their vast and widespread sea raiding. Does this entire quarrel not sound more like an argument between pirates than a dispute between a sovereign and his subject?

Day 31: Shadowy Mountains and the Sounding Sea

Lines 152-57
οὐ γὰρ ἐγὼ Τρώων ἕνεκ' ἤλυθον αἰχμητάων
δεῦρο μαχησόμενος, ἐπεὶ οὔ τί μοι ἄτιοι εἰσιν·
οὐ γάρ πώ ἐμὰς Βοῦς ἤλασαν οὐδὲ μὲν ἵππους,
οὐδέ ποτ' ἐν Φθίῃ ἐριβώλακι βωτιανείρῃ
καρπὸν ἐδηλήσαντ' ἐπεὶ ἦ μάλα πολλὰ μεταξύ,
οὔρεά τε σκιόεντα θάλασσά τε ἠχήεσσα·

For I did not come here to do battle
On account of Trojan spearmen, since they are not
Blameable to me; For they did not drive off my cattle
Nor ever destroy the crops in man nourishing, fertile
Phthia, since there is a great deal between us,
Both shadowy mountains and the sounding sea:


I often wonder with this segment whether when Achilles is saying that the Trojans never did him any harm if he is not making some sort of veiled accusation against Agamemnon?

Day 30: Agamemnon Speaks and Achilles Fires Back

Lines 142-51
ἐς δ' ἐρέτας ἐπιτηδές ἀγείρομεν, ἐς δ' ἑκατόμβας
θήομεν, ἂν δ' αὐτὴν Χρυσηίδα καλλιπάρῃον
βήσομεν. εἷς δέ τις ἀρχὸς ἀνὴρ βουληφόρος ἔστω,
ἢ Αἴας ἢ Ἰδομενεὺς ἢ δῖος Ὀδυσσεὺς
ἠὲ σύ, Πηλεΐδη, πάντων ἐκπαγλότατ' ἀνδρῶν,
ὄφρ' ἡμῖν ἑκάεργον ἱλάσσεαι, ἱερὰ ῥέξας."
τὸν δ' ἄρ' ὑπόδρα ἰδὼν προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς·
"ὤ μοι, ἀναιδείην ἐπιειμένε, κερδαλεόφρον,
πῶς τίς τοι πρόφρων ἔπεσιν πείθηται Ἀχαιῶν
ἢ ὁδὸν ἐλθέμεναι ἢ ἀνδράσιν ἶφι μαχεσθαι;

Let us then gather a sufficient crew, and place a single hecatomb
Therein, and let us put on board the fair cheeked Chryseis
Herself. And some man of discretion should be in charge:
Either Ajax, or Idomeneus, or divine Odysseus, or you,
Son of Peleus, most fearsome of all men, should you appease
The god who works his will and perform the sacrifices."
And, understanding, swift footed Achilles looked darkly at him and said:
"O my cunning friend, clothed in shamelessness,
Which of the Achaeans will obey your words,
Or go on your expedition, or do great battle with men?


Some more of the fascinating back and forth between Achilles and Agamemnon; Agamemnon pushes the pedal to the metal in the previous episode, but now tries to sound magnanimous, saying "Now lets talk of other things." And he attempts to pay almost a back handed complement to the heroes from whom he has just threatened to take a prize. Whereas he had just listed the people from whose tent he would storm off with a prize of honor, he now calls them wise and full of many counsels and the only ones he could trust to undertake such a mission. Such is statecraft I guess, but Achilles isn't buying this, and he will have none of it.

Day 29: The Son of Atreus Threatens the Heroes

Lines 133-41
ἦ ἐθέλεις, ὄφρ' αὐτὸς ἔχῃς γέρας, αὐτὰρ ἔμ' αὔτως
ἧσθαι δευόμενον, κέλεαι δέ με τήνδ' ἀποδοῦναι;
ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν δώουσι γέρας μεγάθυμοι Ἀχαιοί,
ἄρσαντες κατὰ θυμόν, ὅπως ἀντάξιον ἔσται -
εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώωσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι
ἢ τεὸν ἢ Αἴαντος ἰὼν γέρας, ἢ Ὀδυσῆος
ἄξω ἑλών· ὁ δέ κεν κεχολώσεται, ὅν κεν ἵκωμαι.
ἀλλ' ἦ τοι μὲν ταῦτα μεταφρασόμεθα καὶ αὖτις,
νῦν δ' ἄγε νῆα μέλαιναν ἐρύσομεν εἰς ἅλα δῖαν,

And you desire, in order that you yourself keep a prize,
And thus to let me sit there lacking. And now you command me
To give this up? But the great souled Achaeans a fitting prize
May give a fitting prize, this will suit me-
But if they do not, I myself will go and seize
Either yours, or the prize of Ajax, or Odysseus,
Leading off and depriving him; and he may be enraged,
Whom I go off from. But let us reflect on this later anew,
And come now let us launch a black ship into the blessed briny sea,

Had a bit of a problem with the translation here. I'm not sure that I got the meaning fully when Agamemnon is talking about who he is going to enrage. If there is anyone out there who can help me get a better sense of the particle "κεν" I would appreciate the assistance. If not, I'll trudge on and hope to come to some resolution.