464
POEMS OF ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH.
Home with my hollow ships to travel, than for another
Accumulate riches to be requited with insult.'
And replying, said the king of men, Agamemnon:
'Go, if to go be your wish; I keep you not—do not ask you
For my honour to stay; I have others here to support it,
Who—and Zeus above all, the Counsellor—will uphold me.
You are the hatefullest to me of the Zeus-fed princes,
Lover for evermore of brawl and battle and discord.
Strong if you are, your strength was by some deity given.
Home with your hollow ships, and with your people returning
Order the Myrmidonans: expect not me to regard you,
Or to observe your wrath. I advertise you beforehand
As Chryseida Phœbus Apollo hath bid me surrender,
I in a ship of my own will with my people remit her
Home, and the beautiful-cheeked Briseïda then to replace her
Out of your tent, your prize, will carry; an argument to you
How much greater I am than yourself, and a warning to others
Not to oppose my will and talk with me as an equal.'
So said he, and pain seized Pelides, and in the bosom
Under his hairy breast two purposes he divided,
Either, from by his thigh the glittering blade unsheathing,
To put aside the rest and straightway kill Agamemnon,
Or to repress his wrath and check himself in his anger.
With the purposes yet conflicting thus in his bosom,
From the sheath the' huge sword was issuing out, when Athena
Came from heaven: the goddess, the white-armed Hera, desired it,
Solicitous for the good of the one alike and the other.
Standing behind, by the yellow hair she drew back Achilles,
Visible only to him, of the rest to no one apparent;
And with wonder seized he turned, and knew in a moment
Accumulate riches to be requited with insult.'
And replying, said the king of men, Agamemnon:
'Go, if to go be your wish; I keep you not—do not ask you
For my honour to stay; I have others here to support it,
Who—and Zeus above all, the Counsellor—will uphold me.
You are the hatefullest to me of the Zeus-fed princes,
Lover for evermore of brawl and battle and discord.
Strong if you are, your strength was by some deity given.
Home with your hollow ships, and with your people returning
Order the Myrmidonans: expect not me to regard you,
Or to observe your wrath. I advertise you beforehand
As Chryseida Phœbus Apollo hath bid me surrender,
I in a ship of my own will with my people remit her
Home, and the beautiful-cheeked Briseïda then to replace her
Out of your tent, your prize, will carry; an argument to you
How much greater I am than yourself, and a warning to others
Not to oppose my will and talk with me as an equal.'
So said he, and pain seized Pelides, and in the bosom
Under his hairy breast two purposes he divided,
Either, from by his thigh the glittering blade unsheathing,
To put aside the rest and straightway kill Agamemnon,
Or to repress his wrath and check himself in his anger.
With the purposes yet conflicting thus in his bosom,
From the sheath the' huge sword was issuing out, when Athena
Came from heaven: the goddess, the white-armed Hera, desired it,
Solicitous for the good of the one alike and the other.
Standing behind, by the yellow hair she drew back Achilles,
Visible only to him, of the rest to no one apparent;
And with wonder seized he turned, and knew in a moment
