Book I

The wrath: the quarrel over Briseis, the plague, and Thetis's bargain with Zeus.

Translator’s note on Book 1

This translation aims at plain, dignified modern English free verse, kept line-for-line with the Greek of the Monro-Allen text (books/book_01.txt) so that any English line can be checked against its original. It follows the printed text throughout, including passages that ancient critics athetized (marked as spurious but retained); atheteses are recorded in the notes, not acted on. Where the printed text itself embodies an editorial choice against the manuscript majority — most strikingly at 1.350, where it reads "boundless sea" where nearly all manuscripts have the famous "wine-dark sea" — the note says so.

The poem's first word, mēnis, is rendered "wrath" rather than "rage" or "anger": mēnis in Homer is not a mood but a durable, quasi-divine cosmic grudge, and English "wrath" carries the required archaic, more-than-human weight. The other load-bearing terms of the quarrel are kept consistent so their economy stays visible: timē is always "honor," geras always "prize" (the concrete, publicly awarded object in which honor is embodied — Chryseis, Briseis), and atē "blindness" (the god-sent ruin-bringing delusion Agamemnon will later plead). The quarrel of Book 1 is unintelligible unless the reader can see that Achilles' complaint is not about a woman but about the public arithmetic of honor; the vocabulary is kept rigid for that reason.

Recurring epithets are translated by fixed English equivalents ("swift-footed Achilles," "white-armed Hera," "the lord of men Agamemnon"), footnoted at first occurrence only, and logged in translation/CONVENTIONS.md as binding for later books. Fixity is deliberate: the epithets are load-bearing oral formulas, and varying them for elegance would erase exactly the texture that makes them Homeric. Proper names use familiar Latinized spellings (Achilles, Ajax, Clytemnestra), also logged there.

On the one Book 1 entry in disputed_lines.md (1.4-5): Zenodotus athetized both lines, and his text is reported to have read daita, making the corpses a "feast" for the birds. The translation follows the vulgate ("prey for dogs / and every bird"), keeping the grim literal image rather than the sardonic "banquet"; the opening sentence is already as harsh as English can decently make it, and the "feast" reading, though grotesquely apt, rests on a single reported reading of doubtful standing. See note 3.

One grammatical crux was settled by the project's morphology files: at 1.291 the treebank parses protheousin as a form of protithēmi ("set forth, grant"), and the translation follows it ("do they therefore give him leave to hurl insults?"); the rival parse is recorded in note 25.

1Sing, goddess, the wrath¹ of Peleus' son Achilles,

ruinous wrath, that laid griefs beyond counting on the Achaeans

and hurled down to Hades many strong souls²

of heroes, and made the men themselves prey for dogs

5and every bird — and the will of Zeus moved toward fulfillment —³

from the moment those two first stood apart in strife,

Atreus' son, lord of men⁴, and brilliant Achilles.

Which of the gods, then, set the two of them fighting?

The son of Leto and Zeus. Angered at the king,

10he sent an evil plague up through the army, and the people were perishing,

because Atreus' son had dishonored Chryses, his priest.

For Chryses had come to the Achaeans' swift ships

to free his daughter, bearing ransom past counting,

holding in his hands, on a golden staff, the wreaths⁵

15of Apollo who strikes from afar⁶, and he begged all the Achaeans,

but the two sons of Atreus most of all, marshals of the people:

"Sons of Atreus, and you other strong-greaved Achaeans⁷,

may the gods who keep their homes on Olympus grant you

to sack Priam's city and come home safe;

20only set my dear child free, and accept this ransom,

in awe of Zeus's son, Apollo who strikes from afar."

Then all the other Achaeans shouted assent:

respect the priest, take the shining ransom.

But it did not please the heart of Atreus' son Agamemnon;

25he sent him off harshly, and laid a hard command on him:

"Old man, let me not find you by the hollow ships,

either lingering now or coming back again later,

or the god's staff and wreath may be no help to you.

The girl I will not release. Sooner shall old age come upon her

30in our house, in Argos, far from her fatherland,

walking to and fro at the loom and sharing my bed.⁸

Now go — do not provoke me — so you may get home the safer."

So he spoke, and the old man was afraid and obeyed his word.

He went in silence along the shore of the loud-roaring sea⁹,

35and then, walking far apart, the old man prayed long

to lord Apollo, whom lovely-haired Leto bore:

"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who stand guard over Chryse

and holy Cilla, who rule Tenedos in strength —

Smintheus!¹⁰ If ever I roofed a temple that pleased you,

40if ever I burned for you the fat-rich thighs

of bulls and goats, grant me this wish:

may the Danaans pay for my tears by your arrows."

So he spoke in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard him.

Down from the peaks of Olympus he came, angry at heart,

45with the bow on his shoulders and the covered quiver;

the arrows clashed on the shoulders of the angry god

as he moved, and he came on like nightfall.¹¹

Then he settled apart from the ships and let fly a shaft,

and terrible was the clang of the silver bow.

50The mules he attacked first, and the quick-running dogs,

but then he loosed his piercing arrows on the men themselves

and struck; and the crowded pyres of the dead burned without ceasing.

Nine days the god's shafts ranged through the army,

and on the tenth Achilles called the people to assembly —

55the goddess white-armed Hera¹² had put it in his mind,

for she cared for the Danaans, seeing them die.

So when they were gathered and assembled together,

swift-footed Achilles¹³ rose and spoke among them:

"Son of Atreus, now I think we shall be beaten back off our course

60and go home again — if we escape death at all —

if war and plague together are to break the Achaeans.

Come, let us ask some seer or priest,

or even a reader of dreams — for a dream too is from Zeus —¹⁴

who might tell us why Phoebus Apollo is so angry:

65whether he faults a vow unpaid or a hecatomb¹⁵,

in hope he may accept the savor of lambs and unblemished goats

and choose to drive this ruin from us."

So he spoke and sat down; and among them rose

Calchas, Thestor's son, far the best of bird-readers,

70who knew what is, what will be, and what was before,

and who had guided the Achaeans' ships to Ilion

by the seercraft Phoebus Apollo gave him.

With good will toward them he spoke and addressed them:

"Achilles, dear to Zeus, you command me to explain

75the wrath of Apollo, the lord who strikes from afar.

Then I will speak. But you consider, and swear to me

that you will readily defend me with word and hand;

for I think I shall anger a man who rules

all the Argives in his great power, a man the Achaeans obey.

80A king is the stronger when he rages at a lesser man;

even if he swallows his anger for that one day,

still he keeps resentment afterward in his chest

until he brings it to completion. Say, then, if you will keep me safe."

Answering him spoke swift-footed Achilles:

85"Take heart, and speak whatever god-sign you know.

For by Apollo, dear to Zeus — the god to whom you pray, Calchas,

when you reveal god-signs to the Danaans —

no man, while I live and see light on this earth,

shall lay heavy hands on you beside the hollow ships,

90no man of all the Danaans — not if you name Agamemnon,

who now claims to be far the best of the Achaeans."

Then the blameless seer took heart and spoke:

"He faults no vow unpaid, no hecatomb,

but for the sake of his priest, whom Agamemnon dishonored —

95he did not release his daughter, would not accept the ransom —

for that the far-striker has given griefs, and will give more.

He will not lift this shameful ruin from the Danaans¹⁶

until we give back to her dear father the bright-eyed girl,

unbought, unransomed, and lead a holy hecatomb

100to Chryse. Then we might appease him and win him over."

So he spoke and sat down; and among them rose

the hero, Atreus' son, wide-ruling Agamemnon,

in anguish: his darkened heart was brimming full

of fury, and his eyes were like blazing fire.

105Glaring evil first at Calchas, he spoke:

"Seer of evils! Never yet have you spoken a word to my good;

always it is dear to your heart to prophesy evils,

and no good word have you ever spoken or brought to pass.

And now you stand prophesying before the Danaans

110that this is why the far-striker makes their griefs —

because I would not take the shining ransom

for the girl Chryseis, since I greatly wish

to keep her at home. Indeed I prefer her to Clytemnestra,

my wedded wife, since she is not her inferior

115in build or bearing, in mind or in any work of her hands.

Even so I am willing to give her back, if that is better;

I want the people safe, not perishing.

But make ready a prize¹⁷ for me at once, so that I alone

of the Argives not go unprized — that would not be fitting;

120for you all see it: my prize goes elsewhere."

Then swift-footed brilliant Achilles answered him:

"Most glorious son of Atreus, greediest of all men,

how shall the great-hearted Achaeans give you a prize?

We know of no common store laid up anywhere;

125what we took when we sacked the cities has been shared out,

and it is wrong to make the people gather it back again.

No — give the girl up now, to the god; and we Achaeans

will pay you back three and four times over, if ever Zeus

grants us to sack the well-walled city of Troy."

130Answering him spoke the lord Agamemnon:

"Do not, brave as you are, godlike Achilles,

try to cheat me with cleverness; you will not slip past me or persuade me.

Is this your wish — that you keep your own prize, while I

sit here without one, just because you tell me to give her back?

135If the great-hearted Achaeans will give me a prize,

suiting it to my heart, so it be worth as much — well and good;

but if they will not give it, then I myself will come and take

your prize, or Ajax's, or Odysseus's —

seize it and carry it off. And the man I visit will be angry.

140But all that we can think through later.

For now, come, let us drag a black ship down to the bright sea,

gather rowers enough, set a hecatomb aboard,

and put fair-cheeked¹⁸ Chryseis herself

on deck. And one man of counsel shall be commander —

145Ajax, or Idomeneus, or brilliant Odysseus,

or you, son of Peleus, most terrifying of all men,

to make sacrifice and appease for us the worker-from-afar."

Glaring at him darkly, swift-footed Achilles spoke:

"You — wrapped in shamelessness, mind set on profit!

150How shall any Achaean gladly obey your orders,

to go on a mission or to fight men in strength?

It was not for the sake of Trojan spearmen that I came

to fight here: they have done nothing to me.

They never drove off my cattle or my horses,

155never in deep-soiled Phthia, feeder of men,

did they ruin my harvest — since much lies between us,

shadowing mountains and the echoing sea.

No: you, colossal in shamelessness, you we followed,

to please you — winning honor for Menelaus and for you, dog-face¹⁹,

160from the Trojans. None of that do you look at or care for.

And now you threaten to take my prize from me yourself,

the prize I labored hard for, which the sons of the Achaeans gave me.

I never have a prize equal to yours, whenever the Achaeans

sack some well-settled Trojan town;

165my hands carry the greater part of furious war,

yet when the division comes,

your prize is far the larger, and I go back to my ships

with something small and dear, when I have worn myself out fighting.

Now I am going to Phthia. It is far better

170to go home with my beaked ships. I do not intend,

dishonored here, to go on piling up wealth and riches for you."

Then answered him the lord of men Agamemnon:

"Run, then, if your heart is set on it. I am not begging you

to stay for my sake. Beside me are others

175who will honor me — above all Zeus the counselor.

Of all the kings whom Zeus sustains, you are the most hateful to me:

strife is always dear to you, and wars, and battles.

If you are very strong, some god gave you that.

Go home with your ships and your companions,

180be king over your Myrmidons. I take no account of you;

your rage does not move me. But here is my threat:

since Phoebus Apollo takes Chryseis from me,

her I will send off with my ship and my companions —

but I will come myself to your hut and take fair-cheeked

185Briseis, your own prize, so you may learn well

how much greater I am than you, and the next man too may shrink

from calling himself my equal and matching himself against me."

So he spoke. And grief came over Peleus' son; the heart

in his shaggy chest was split two ways:

190whether to draw the sharp sword from beside his thigh,

scatter the men between, and kill the son of Atreus,

or to check his anger and rein in his spirit.

While he was turning this over in mind and heart

and drawing the great sword from its sheath, Athena came

195from the sky. White-armed Hera had sent her,

loving both men alike in her heart, and caring for both.

She stood behind him and caught Peleus' son by his tawny hair,

showing herself to him alone; of the others, no one saw her.

Achilles was startled. He turned, and at once he knew

200Pallas Athena — the eyes shining terribly —

and speaking winged words²⁰ he addressed her:

"Why have you come this time, child of aegis-bearing Zeus?²¹

To see the outrage of Agamemnon, Atreus' son?

I will tell you this, and I think it will be accomplished:

205by his own arrogance he may soon lose his life."

Then the goddess grey-eyed Athena²² answered him:

"I came from the sky to stop your fury — if you will listen —

and white-armed Hera sent me,

loving you both alike in her heart, and caring for both.

210Come, leave off this strife; do not draw the sword.

With words, though — taunt him with what is coming, and it will come.

I tell you this outright, and it will be accomplished:

one day gifts three times as splendid will be laid before you

because of this outrage. Hold back, and obey us."

215Answering her spoke swift-footed Achilles:

"Goddess, a man must keep the word of you two,

however angry his heart. That way is better.

Whoever obeys the gods, him they hear indeed."

He spoke, and checked his heavy hand on the silver hilt,

220and back into the sheath he drove the great sword; he did not disobey

the word of Athena. And she was gone to Olympus,

to the house of aegis-bearing Zeus, among the other gods.

But Peleus' son once more with cutting words

went at Atreus' son, and did not yet let go his anger:

225"Wine-sack! Dog's eyes and a deer's heart!²³

Never once to arm yourself for battle with the people,

never to go out in ambush with the best of the Achaeans —

you have not the courage; that looks like death to you.

Far better, no doubt, through the wide Achaean camp

230to strip his gifts from any man who speaks against you —

a king who devours his own people! Because you rule nobodies;

otherwise, son of Atreus, this outrage would be your last.

But I will say this to you, and swear a great oath on it:

by this staff — which will never again put out leaves and branches

235once it has left its stump in the mountains,

nor bloom again, since the bronze stripped it

of leaf and bark; and now the sons of the Achaeans

carry it in their palms when they give judgment, those who guard

the ordinances that come from Zeus — this will be a great oath:

240some day a longing for Achilles will come upon the sons of the Achaeans,

all of them together. And then, grieved as you are, you will have no power

to help, when many at the hands of man-slaughtering Hector

fall dying. And you will tear the heart inside you,

raging that you paid no honor to the best of the Achaeans."

245So spoke Peleus' son, and he dashed to the ground the staff

studded with golden nails, and sat down himself,

while Atreus' son raged on the other side. Then Nestor

sprang up, the sweet-speaking, the clear-voiced speaker of Pylos,

from whose tongue the voice ran sweeter than honey.

250In his time two generations of mortal men

had already passed away, who once were born and raised with him

in sacred Pylos, and he was king among the third.

With good will toward them he spoke and addressed them:

"Shame! Great grief comes upon the Achaean land.

255Priam would rejoice indeed, and Priam's sons,

and the rest of the Trojans would be glad at heart,

if they learned all this about the two of you quarreling —

you who surpass the Danaans in counsel, surpass them in fighting.

But listen to me: you are both younger than I am.

260Once, long ago, I kept company with better men

even than you, and they never made light of me.

Such men I have not seen since, nor shall I see —

Peirithous, and Dryas shepherd of the people,

Caeneus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus,

265and Theseus, Aegeus' son, image of the immortals.²⁴

Strongest they grew of all men reared on earth;

strongest they were, and with the strongest they fought,

the beasts that lair in the mountains, and destroyed them terribly.

With these men I kept company, come from Pylos,

270far away, from a distant land; for they themselves called me.

And I fought as my own man, by myself. Against them no one

of mortals now upon the earth could fight.

And they listened to my counsels and obeyed my word.

So you two listen also, since listening is better.

275You — do not, great man though you are, take the girl from him;

let her be, as the sons of the Achaeans first gave her to him, a prize.

And you, son of Peleus — do not choose to strive with a king,

force against force. A scepter-holding king, to whom Zeus has given

glory, has no common share of honor.

280If you are the stronger, and a goddess mother bore you,

still he is the greater, because he rules over more.

Son of Atreus, check your fury. It is I who beg you:

let go your anger against Achilles, who stands, for all the Achaeans,

a great wall against the evil of war."

285Answering him spoke the lord Agamemnon:

"Yes, old man — all this you have said rightly and in due measure.

But this man wants to be above all others:

to hold power over all, to be king over all,

to give orders to all — and there is one, I think, who will not obey.

290If the gods who live forever made him a spearman,

do they therefore give him leave to hurl insults?"²⁵

Breaking in on him, brilliant Achilles answered:

"Yes — for I would be called coward and nobody

if I give way to you in every matter, whatever you say.

295Lay these commands on others; do not give orders

to me. I do not think I shall obey you any longer.

And I will tell you another thing — put it away in your heart:

with my hands I will not fight over the girl,

not with you, not with any man; you gave her, and you have taken her away.

300But of all else that is mine by my swift black ship,

you shall carry off nothing, taking it against my will.

Go on — try it, so these men too may know:

in a moment your dark blood will spurt around my spear."

So the two of them, fighting it out with head-on words,

305rose, and dissolved the assembly by the Achaean ships.

Peleus' son went off to his huts and balanced ships

with Menoetius' son²⁶ and his companions.

And Atreus' son had a swift ship dragged to the sea,

chose twenty rowers for her, drove aboard a hecatomb

310for the god, and brought fair-cheeked Chryseis

and set her aboard; and resourceful Odysseus²⁷ went as commander.

So they embarked and sailed the watery ways.

And Atreus' son commanded the people to purify themselves:

they washed themselves clean, and cast the washings into the sea,

315and offered to Apollo perfect hecatombs

of bulls and goats along the shore of the barren sea²⁸,

and the savor rose to the sky, curling in the smoke.

So the camp busied itself with this. But Agamemnon

did not let go the quarrel with which he had first threatened Achilles:

320he spoke to Talthybius and Eurybates,

his two heralds and ready henchmen:

"Go to the hut of Peleus' son Achilles.

Take fair-cheeked Briseis by the hand and bring her.

And if he will not give her up, I will come with more men

325and take her myself — which will be the worse for him."

So he sent them off, and laid a hard command on them.

Unwilling, the two went along the shore of the barren sea

and came to the huts and ships of the Myrmidons.

They found him beside his hut and his black ship,

330sitting; and Achilles took no joy in seeing them.

The two, in fear and awe of the king,

stood, and did not speak to him or question him.

But he understood in his heart, and spoke:

"Welcome, heralds, messengers of Zeus and of men.

335Come near. You are not to blame in my eyes, but Agamemnon,

who sends you two for the girl Briseis.

Come, Patroclus, sprung from Zeus — bring out the girl

and give her to them to take. And let these two themselves be witnesses

before the blessed gods and mortal men

340and before that hard king, if ever again

there is need of me to beat back shameful ruin

from the rest. Truly, he rages in a ruinous mind;

he has no thought of seeing before and behind at once,

how his Achaeans might fight safe beside the ships."

345So he spoke, and Patroclus obeyed his dear companion:

he led fair-cheeked Briseis out of the hut

and gave her to be taken. And the two went back along the Achaean ships,

and the woman went with them, unwilling. Then Achilles,

weeping, drew apart from his companions and sat down

350on the shore of the grey sea, looking out over the boundless deep²⁹,

and stretched out his hands and prayed hard to his dear mother:

"Mother, since you bore me to a short life,

honor at least the Olympian owed me,

Zeus who thunders on high. Now he has honored me not even a little.

355The son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon,

has dishonored me: he has taken and keeps my prize; he seized it himself."

So he spoke, shedding tears, and his lady mother heard him,

sitting in the depths of the sea beside her old father.

Quickly she rose from the grey salt water like mist,

360and sat down before him as he wept,

stroked him with her hand, and spoke a word, and named him:

"Child, why do you weep? What grief has come to your heart?

Speak out; hide nothing; let us both know."

Groaning heavily, swift-footed Achilles said:

365"You know. Why tell it all to one who knows?

We went to Thebe, Eëtion's holy city³⁰,

and sacked it, and brought everything here;

the sons of the Achaeans divided it fairly among themselves,

and for Atreus' son they picked out fair-cheeked Chryseis.

370Then Chryses, priest of Apollo who strikes from afar,

came to the swift ships of the bronze-shirted Achaeans

to free his daughter, bearing ransom past counting,³¹

holding in his hands, on a golden staff, the wreaths

of Apollo who strikes from afar, and he begged all the Achaeans,

375but the two sons of Atreus most of all, marshals of the people.

Then all the other Achaeans shouted assent:

respect the priest, take the shining ransom.

But it did not please the heart of Atreus' son Agamemnon;

he sent him off harshly, and laid a hard command on him.

380And the old man went back angry; and Apollo

heard his prayer, since he was very dear to him,

and loosed an evil shaft on the Argives. And now the people

were dying thick and fast, and the god's arrows ranged

everywhere through the wide Achaean camp. But a seer,

385knowing well, declared to us the god-word of the far-striker.

At once I, first, urged appeasing the god;

but rage took hold of Atreus' son, and standing up

he made a threat — which now stands accomplished.

The girl the bright-eyed Achaeans are sending on a swift ship

390to Chryse, with gifts for the lord;

and the other — heralds have just now gone from my hut leading her,

the daughter of Briseus, whom the sons of the Achaeans gave me.

But you — if you have the power, defend your son.

Go to Olympus and entreat Zeus, if ever

395you gladdened the heart of Zeus by word or deed.

For often in my father's halls I heard you³²

declare it proudly: that you alone among the immortals

warded off shameful ruin from the son of Cronos, lord of the dark cloud,

that time the other Olympians wanted to bind him —

400Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athena.

But you came, goddess, and set him free of his bonds,

quickly calling to high Olympus the hundred-handed one

whom the gods call Briareus, but all men

Aegaeon³³ — for he in turn is stronger than his father —

405and he sat down beside the son of Cronos, glorying in his splendor,

and the blessed gods shrank in fear of him, and bound Zeus no more.

Sit beside him and remind him of this; take his knees;

see if he may be willing to help the Trojans

and pen the Achaeans back among the ships' sterns and the sea,

410dying — so they may all have joy of their king,

and even Atreus' son, wide-ruling Agamemnon, may know

his blindness, that he paid no honor to the best of the Achaeans."

Then Thetis answered him, letting fall her tears:

"Ah my child, why did I raise you, born to sorrow?

415If only you could sit by the ships without tears, without pain,

since your portion is short — not long at all.

Now you are both quick-fated and wretched beyond all men;

so it was for an evil fate I bore you in our halls.

To tell your word to Zeus who delights in thunder

420I myself will go to snow-capped Olympus; he may listen.

And you — sit now by your swift-faring ships,

keep your wrath against the Achaeans, and let war go entirely.

For Zeus went yesterday to Ocean, to the blameless Ethiopians³⁴,

for a feast, and all the gods went with him.

425On the twelfth day he will come back to Olympus,

and then I will go to Zeus's house with its bronze floor,

and clasp his knees, and I think I will persuade him."

So she spoke and went away, and left him there,

the heart in him angry for the fair-belted woman

430they had taken from him by force, against his will. Meanwhile Odysseus

came to Chryse leading the holy hecatomb.

When they had come inside the deep harbor,

they furled the sails and stowed them in the black ship,

dropped the mast by the forestays into its crutch,

435smartly, and rowed her to her mooring with the oars.

They threw out the anchor-stones and made fast the stern lines,

and stepped out themselves onto the surf-line of the sea,

and out came the hecatomb for Apollo who strikes from afar,

and out of the seagoing ship stepped Chryseis.

440Then resourceful Odysseus led her to the altar

and put her in her dear father's arms, and said:

"Chryses, the lord of men Agamemnon sent me

to bring you your child, and to offer a holy hecatomb

to Phoebus for the Danaans, that we may appease the lord

445who has now sent the Argives griefs and groaning."

So he spoke and put her in his arms, and the old man received

his dear child, rejoicing. Then quickly they set up

the holy hecatomb for the god in order around the well-built altar,

washed their hands, and took up the barley-grains.

450And Chryses lifted his hands and prayed aloud for them:

"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who stand guard over Chryse

and holy Cilla, who rule Tenedos in strength.

Once before you heard me when I prayed:

you honored me, and struck the Achaean army hard.

455So now again fulfill this wish of mine:

now beat the shameful ruin back from the Danaans."

So he spoke in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard him.

And when they had prayed and thrown the barley-grains,³⁵

they first drew back the victims' heads, cut their throats, and flayed them,

460carved out the thigh-pieces and wrapped them in fat,

making a double fold, and laid raw flesh upon them.

The old man burned them on split wood, and over them poured

gleaming wine; beside him young men held five-pronged forks.

When the thighs were burned and they had tasted the inner parts,

465they cut up the rest and threaded it on spits,

roasted it with care, and drew it all off.

Then when they had finished the work and made the meal ready,

they feasted, and no heart lacked a fair share of the feast.

And when they had put away desire for eating and drinking,

470the young men filled the mixing-bowls brim-high with drink

and served all, pouring first drops in each cup for the god.

So all day long they sought the god's grace with song,

the young men of the Achaeans singing the beautiful paean,

hymning the worker-from-afar; and he listened, and his heart was glad.

475And when the sun went down and darkness came on,

they lay down to sleep by the ship's stern-cables;

and when early-born rosy-fingered Dawn³⁶ appeared,

then they put to sea for the wide Achaean camp,

and Apollo the worker-from-afar sent them a following wind.

480They stepped the mast and spread the white sails,

and the wind filled the belly of the sail, and around the cutwater

the surging wave sang loud as the ship went on,

and she ran down the waves, making her way.

And when they came to the wide Achaean camp,

485they hauled the black ship up on the mainland,

high on the sand, and set the long props under her,

and scattered among the huts and ships.

But he raged on, sitting by his swift-faring ships,³⁷

the Zeus-sprung son of Peleus, swift-footed Achilles.

490He never went now to the assembly where men win glory,

never to war, but wasted his own heart away

staying there, longing for the war-cry and for battle.

But when the twelfth dawn from that day came,

then the gods who live forever went to Olympus

495all together, Zeus leading. And Thetis did not forget the charge

of her son: she rose from the swell of the sea

and in the early mist went up to the great sky and Olympus.

She found the wide-seeing son of Cronos sitting apart from the others

on the topmost peak of many-ridged Olympus.

500She sat down before him, and took his knees³⁸

with her left hand, and with her right taking him under the chin,

she spoke in supplication to lord Zeus, son of Cronos:

"Father Zeus, if ever among the immortals I helped you

by word or deed, grant me this wish:

505honor my son, who is doomed to the swiftest death of all —

and now the lord of men Agamemnon

has dishonored him: he has taken and keeps his prize; he seized it himself.

But honor him, Olympian Zeus of the counsels:

give power to the Trojans until the Achaeans

510pay my son his due and magnify him with honor."

So she spoke. And Zeus the cloud-gatherer³⁹ said nothing;

he sat silent a long time. And Thetis, as she had clasped his knees,

so she held on, clinging close, and asked a second time:

"Promise me truly now, and bow your head,

515or refuse — you have nothing to fear — so I may know well

how far I am the most dishonored goddess of all."

Greatly troubled, Zeus the cloud-gatherer answered her:

"A sorry business — you will set me at feud

with Hera, when she provokes me with her taunting words.

520Even as it is she is forever at me among the immortal gods,

saying I help the Trojans in battle.

Go now, go back, before Hera sees anything;

these things will be my care, until I accomplish them.

Look — I will bow my head to you, so you may believe:

525that, from me, is the greatest pledge among the immortals;

for nothing of mine can be taken back, nothing proves false,

nothing goes unfulfilled, once I bow my head to it."

The son of Cronos spoke, and nodded with his dark brows,

and the ambrosial hair rolled forward from the lord's

530immortal head; and he shook great Olympus.

So the two took counsel and parted. She

leapt into the deep sea from shining Olympus,

and Zeus went to his own house. And the gods all rose

from their seats before their father; not one dared

535stay seated as he came, but all stood up to meet him.

So he sat down there on his throne. But Hera

had seen, and was not fooled: silver-footed Thetis⁴⁰,

daughter of the old man of the sea, had counseled with him.

At once she spoke to Zeus, son of Cronos, with cutting words:

540"Which of the gods this time, schemer, has been counseling with you?

It is always dear to you to be apart from me,

deciding things in secret. Never yet have you brought yourself

to tell me openly a word of what you intend."

Then the father of men and gods answered her:

545"Hera, do not hope to know all my words:

they would be hard for you, wife though you are.

Whatever is fitting to hear, no one, god or man,

shall know before you;

but what I choose to think apart from the gods,

550do not pry into all that, or question me."

Then the ox-eyed lady Hera⁴¹ answered him:

"Most dread son of Cronos, what a word you have spoken!

Before now I have hardly asked or pried;

quite at your ease you decide whatever you wish.

555But now I am terribly afraid at heart that she has won you over —

silver-footed Thetis, daughter of the old man of the sea.

In the early mist she sat beside you and took your knees,

and I think you bowed your head to her, a firm pledge to honor

Achilles, and to destroy many beside the Achaean ships."

560Answering her spoke Zeus the cloud-gatherer:

"Strange one — always suspecting; I can never escape you.

Yet you will have no power to do anything about it, only sit

further from my heart — and that will be the colder for you.

If this is as you say, then it must be my pleasure.

565Sit down and be silent, and obey my word,

or all the gods on Olympus may be no help to you

when I come nearer and lay my irresistible hands on you."

So he spoke, and the ox-eyed lady Hera was afraid,

and sat down in silence, bending her own heart.

570And through the house of Zeus the heavenly gods were troubled.

Then Hephaestus, famed for craft, began to speak among them,

bringing comfort to his dear mother, white-armed Hera:

"A sorry business this will be, not to be borne,

if you two quarrel this way over mortals

575and drive brawling through the gods. There will be no pleasure

in the good feast, when the worse side wins.

I advise my mother — though she understands it herself —

to bring comfort to our dear father Zeus, so that the father

not scold again and throw our feast into confusion.

580For if the Olympian, lord of lightning, chooses

to blast us from our seats — well, he is far the strongest.

No — touch him with soft words,

and at once the Olympian will be gracious to us."

So he spoke, and springing up he set the two-handled cup

585in his dear mother's hand, and said to her:

"Bear up, my mother, and endure it, grieved though you are,

or I may see you beaten before my eyes,

dear as you are — and then, for all my grief, I will have no power

to help. The Olympian is a hard one to stand against.

590Once before, when I was straining to defend you,⁴²

he caught me by the foot and flung me from the threshold of heaven:

all day I fell, and with the setting sun

I dropped on Lemnos, and there was little breath left in me;

there the Sintian men took me up, quickly, where I had fallen."

595So he spoke, and the goddess white-armed Hera smiled,

and smiling took the cup from her son's hand.

Then, moving to the right, he poured for all the other gods,

drawing sweet nectar from the mixing bowl,

and unquenchable laughter rose among the blessed gods

600as they watched Hephaestus bustling through the halls.

So all day long until the sun went down

they feasted, and no heart lacked a fair share of the feast,

nor of the beautiful lyre that Apollo held,

nor of the Muses, who sang in answer with lovely voice.

605But when the bright light of the sun had set,

they went each to his own house to lie down,

where for each of them the famed crook-footed god,

Hephaestus, had built a house with cunning skill.

And Zeus the Olympian, lord of lightning, went to his own bed,

610where he always lay when sweet sleep came upon him;

there he climbed and slept, with Hera of the golden throne beside him.

Notes

1 line 1 — "wrath" (μῆνιν) — the poem's first word and announced theme. Rendered "wrath" rather than "rage" or "anger": mēnis is a sustained, quasi-divine grudge (elsewhere used almost solely of gods), not a flash of temper, and "wrath" carries that weight. See the commentary above. ↩

2 line 3 — "souls" (ψυχάς) — Apollonius Rhodius is reported to have read κεφαλάς, "heads" (apparatus/book_01.txt, Line 3). The vulgate "souls" is kept; "hurled heads to Hades" would make the bodies-for-dogs of the next lines redundant. ↩

3 lines 4–5 — Zenodotus athetized both lines (apparatus, Line 4-5: ath. Zen); separately his text is reported (via Athenaeus) to have read δαῖτα, making the corpses "a feast" for the birds (disputed_lines.md #1). Translated from the vulgate (πᾶσι, "every bird"), keeping the grim literal image over the sardonic "banquet"; see commentary. ↩

4 line 7 — "lord of men" (ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν) — Agamemnon's fixed title epithet, always so rendered. Likewise δῖος ("heavenly, radiant") is always "brilliant" — of Achilles and Odysseus here, of many heroes later. Epithet conventions are noted at first occurrence only; the full list lives in translation/CONVENTIONS.md. ↩

5 lines 14–15 — The wreaths (στέμματα) are the god's woolen fillets, carried on the priest's golden staff: portable proof of sacred office. Chryses arrives simultaneously as suppliant and as Apollo's representative, so Agamemnon's threat in 26-32 is sacrilege, not mere rudeness. ↩

6 line 14 — "who strikes from afar" (ἑκηβόλος) — first of Apollo's archer epithets, a family rendered consistently: ἑκηβόλος/ἑκατηβόλος and ἑκατηβελέτης "who strikes from afar," ἕκατος "the far-striker," ἑκάεργος "the worker-from-afar." ↩

7 line 17 — "strong-greaved Achaeans" (ἐϋκνήμιδες Ἀχαιοί) — stock epithet of the army (greaves: bronze shin-guards). Note also that "Achaeans," "Danaans," and "Argives" all name the same Greek host interchangeably, as meter requires; the translation keeps whichever the Greek uses. ↩

8 lines 29–31 — Aristarchus athetized these three lines (apparatus, Line 29-31: ath. Ar.) — ancient critics found Agamemnon's leering detail unbecoming. Kept, following the printed text; the coarseness is dramatically apt at this first display of his character. ↩

9 line 34 — "loud-roaring sea" (πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης) — famous onomatopoeic formula for the surf-line, rendered thus wherever it recurs. ↩

10 line 39 — "Smintheus" — obscure cult title of Apollo, in antiquity connected with σμίνθος "mouse"; a mouse-god (whether as sender or averter of vermin and pestilence) suits the plague-god invoked here. Left untranslated, as a cult name. ↩

11 lines 46–47 — Zenodotus athetized these two lines (apparatus, Line 46-47: ath. Zen) — the clashing arrows and "he came on like nightfall." Kept; the simile is among the most admired in the poem. ↩

12 line 55 — "white-armed Hera" (λευκώλενος Ἥρη) — her fixed epithet; white forearms as a mark of female beauty (elite women stayed unsunburned). ↩

13 line 58 — "swift-footed Achilles" — his defining epithet. The Greek alternates πόδας ὠκύς ("swift as to his feet") and ποδάρκης ("foot-strong") by metrical convenience; both are rendered "swift-footed" rather than inventing a distinction English cannot hear. ↩

14 line 63 — "for a dream too is from Zeus" — athetized by Zenodotus (apparatus, Line 63: ath. Zen). Kept; the parenthetical justification is characteristic of Achilles' earnest style here. ↩

15 line 65 — "hecatomb" (ἑκατόμβη) — literally "a hundred oxen," in practice any large-scale public sacrifice (the one at 458 ff. is of bulls and goats, far fewer than a hundred). Kept as the standard English term. ↩

16 line 97 — For this line Zenodotus' text read instead "until he holds back the plague's heavy hands from the Danaans" (apparatus, Line 97). The vulgate, printed here, makes Apollo the subject throughout; the sense is not materially changed. ↩

17 lines 118–120 — "prize" (γέρας) — the concrete share of spoils publicly awarded as the embodiment of a warrior's honor (τιμή). Chryseis and Briseis are both gera. The entire quarrel runs on this institution: to lose one's geras by force is to be publicly declared worthless, which is why Achilles calls the seizure "dishonoring" (ἀτιμάζειν). "Prize" is kept rigidly for γέρας throughout the translation. ↩

18 line 143 — "fair-cheeked" (καλλιπάρῃος) — stock beauty epithet, used in this book of both Chryseis and Briseis; always so rendered. ↩

19 line 159 — "dog-face" (κυνῶπα) — in Homeric invective the dog is the type of shamelessness (scavenging, fawning, no sense of decency), not of loyalty; hence also "dog's eyes" in Achilles' next speech (225). The insults are translated literally to keep their animal force. ↩

20 line 201 — "winged words" (ἔπεα πτερόεντα) — formula for direct speech launched at an addressee, probably from the image of a feathered arrow flying straight to its mark; always so rendered. ↩

21 line 202 — "aegis-bearing Zeus" (αἰγίοχος) — the aegis is Zeus's terror-inducing goat-skin storm-shield, wielded also by Athena; his commonest fixed epithet. ↩

22 line 206 — "grey-eyed Athena" (γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη) — γλαυκῶπις may mean "gleaming-eyed" or "grey/silvery-eyed," and was anciently connected with γλαύξ "owl," her bird. "Grey-eyed" is adopted as the conventional English; the gleam, not the hue, is what the scenes exploit (cf. 200, "the eyes shining terribly"). ↩

23 lines 225–233 — Zenodotus athetized this entire opening of Achilles' tirade through the beginning of the oath (apparatus, Line 225-233: ath. Zen) — presumably as unworthy abuse. Kept: the escalation from insult to formal oath-on-the-staff is the dramatic hinge of the assembly. ↩

24 line 265 — The Theseus line is absent from most manuscripts and is identical to Hesiod, Shield 182; it is almost certainly a later insertion here (apparatus, Line 265: om. vulg.). Retained, bracketed by no marks, since the printed text keeps it — but it is the weakest line of the catalogue. The "beasts that lair in the mountains" (268, φῆρες) are the centaurs: Nestor is recalling the Lapith-centaur war. ↩

25 line 291 — "give him leave to hurl insults" — the verb προθέουσιν is an old crux: taken here (with the project treebank) as from προτίθημι, "do they set it before him / license him?"; others derive it from προθέω, "do his insults run out ahead?" The sarcastic sense — prowess is god-given, abuse is not — is the same either way. ↩

26 line 307 — "Menoetius' son" — Patroclus, here making his first, silent appearance in the poem; he is named at 337. ↩

27 line 311 — "resourceful Odysseus" (πολύμητις) — "of much cunning intelligence (mētis)"; his fixed epithet, always so rendered. ↩

28 line 316 — "barren sea" (ἀτρυγέτοιο) — formulaic sea-epithet of uncertain sense, traditionally "unharvested/yielding no crop"; "barren" is adopted as the convention. ↩

29 line 350 — "the boundless deep" — the printed text follows Aristarchus' reading ἀπείρονα ("boundless"); nearly all manuscripts have οἴνοπα, the famous "wine-dark sea" (apparatus, Line 350). Readers expecting "wine-dark" here are remembering the manuscript vulgate. Translated as printed, with real regret. ↩

30 line 366 — Thebe — a town of the Troad ruled by Eëtion, father of Hector's wife Andromache. Achilles sacked it; Chryseis was captured there (visiting, evidently, since her home is Chryse). The raid resurfaces in Book 6 as the source of Andromache's griefs. ↩

31 lines 372–379 — These eight lines repeat 12-16 and 22-25 verbatim — normal epic technique when a character retells events — and Aristarchus athetized the repetition here (apparatus, Line 372-379: ath. hic Ar.). Kept, and translated in identical words, since verbatim recurrence is a deliberate feature of the style. ↩

32 lines 396–406 — Zenodotus athetized the whole Briareus digression (apparatus, Line 396-406: ath. Zen) — the only surviving mention of this failed divine coup against Zeus. At 400 his text also named "Phoebus Apollo" among the conspirators instead of "Pallas Athena" (apparatus, Line 400). Kept as printed: the story is doing real work, reminding Zeus (through Thetis) of a concrete debt. ↩

33 lines 403–404 — A rare glimpse of double naming: gods say "Briareus," men say "Aegaeon." The hundred-handed giant is elsewhere a son of Uranus; "stronger than his father" here more likely points to a tradition making him Poseidon's son. Zenodotus' text expanded the line with a verse on his strength (apparatus, Line 404). ↩

34 lines 423–425 — The gods' twelve-day absence feasting with the "blameless Ethiopians" at the world-encircling stream of Ocean is a standard epic device for clearing the divine stage. "For a feast" follows Aristarchus' reading κατὰ δαῖτα (apparatus, Line 424). ↩

35 lines 458–466 — The standard Homeric sacrifice, described with ritual precision: barley thrown, head drawn back, throat cut; thigh-bones wrapped in a double fold of fat with raw strips laid on top are the god's portion, burned with wine poured over; the innards (σπλάγχνα) are tasted first by the participants, then the rest is spitted and roasted for the shared feast. The gods receive smoke and savor; the people, dinner. ↩

36 line 477 — "early-born rosy-fingered Dawn" (ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς) — the most famous of all Homeric formulas, marking daybreak; always so rendered. ↩

37 lines 488–492 — Zenodotus athetized these five lines on Achilles wasting his heart in idleness (apparatus, Line 488-492: ath. Zen.). Kept: they are the essential bridge from quarrel to consequence, holding Achilles motionless while the plot moves to Olympus. ↩

38 lines 500–501 — Thetis performs the full ritual of supplication: crouch before the person, clasp the knees with one hand, reach for the chin with the other. A completed supplication put the supplicated under strong obligation — hence Zeus's trapped silence at 511-512. ↩

39 line 511 — "Zeus the cloud-gatherer" (νεφεληγερέτα Ζεύς) — his fixed weather-god epithet, always so rendered. ↩

40 line 538 — "silver-footed Thetis" (ἀργυρόπεζα) — her fixed epithet. The "old man of the sea" is Nereus, her father, never named in the Iliad but always so designated. ↩

41 line 551 — "ox-eyed lady Hera" (βοῶπις πότνια Ἥρη) — her second fixed epithet: large, dark, liquid eyes as an archaic mark of majesty and beauty, possibly a fossil of older theriomorphic cult. Rendered literally. ↩

42 lines 590–594 — Hephaestus' fall: Zeus once hurled him from Olympus for siding with Hera; he fell a whole day, landed on Lemnos, and was tended by the Sintians, the island's non-Greek early inhabitants. Lemnos was the chief historical center of Hephaestus' cult. (Book 18 has a different, incompatible fall-story — thrown by Hera at birth; the poem tolerates both.) ↩