BOOK IX
THE ARGUMENT
THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES
Thus joyful Troy maintained the watch of night;
While Fear, pale comrade of inglorious flight,
And heaven-bred horror, on the Grecian part,
Sat on each face, and saddened every heart.
As from its cloudy dungeon issuing forth,
A double tempest of the west and north
Swells o'er the sea, from Thracia's frozen shore,
Heaps waves on waves, and bids the Ægean roar;
This way and that the boiling deeps are tossed;
Such various passions urged the troubled host.
Great Agamemnon grieved above the rest;
Superior sorrows swelled his royal breast;
Himself his orders to the heralds bears,
To bid to council all the Grecian peers,
But bid in whispers:[1] these surround their chief,
In solemn sadness and majestic grief.
The king amidst the mournful circle rose;
Down his wan cheek a briny torrent flows:
So silent fountains, from a rock's tall head,
- ↑ It was to be a council of the chiefs. These were to be separately summoned, in quiet tones, lest the enemy should hear, or, it may be, lest the host in general should be disturbed.
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