The Iliad of Homer, translated into English blank verse
This work may need to be standardized using Wikisource's style guidelines. If you'd like to help, please review the help pages. |
This work is incomplete. If you'd like to help expand it, see the help pages and the style guide, or leave a comment on this work's talk page. |
THE ILIAD.
BOOK I.
O GODDESS ! sing the wrath of Peleus’ son,
Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought
Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept
To Hades many a valiant soul, and gave
Their limbs a prey to dogs and birds of air,— 5
For so had Jove appointed,—from the time
When the two chiefs, Atrides, king of men,
And great Achilles, parted first as foes.
Which of the gods put strife between the chiefs,
That they should thus contend? Latona’s son 10
And Jove’s. Incensed against the king, he bade
A deadly pestilence appear among
The army, and the men were perishing.
For Atreus son with insult had received
Chryses the priest, who to the Grecian fleet 15
Came to redeem his daughter, offering
Uncounted ransom. In his hand he bore
The fillets of Apollo, archer-god,
Upon the golden sceptre, and he sued
To all the Greeks, but chiefly to the sons 20
Of Atreus, the two leaders of the host:—
“Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other chiefs,
Well-greaved Achaians, may the gods who dwell Upon Olympus give you to o’erthrow The city of Priam, and in safety reach 25 Your homes; but give me my beloved child,
And take her ransom, honoring him who sends
His arrows far, Apollo, son of Jove.”
Then all the other Greeks, applauding, bade
Revere the priest and take the liberal gifts 30
He offered, but the counsel did not please
Atrides Agamemnon; he dismissed
The priest with scorn, and added threatening words:—
“Old man, let me not find thee loitering here,
Beside the roomy ships, or coming back 35
Hereafter, lest the fillet thou dost bear
And sceptre of thy god protect thee not.
This maiden I release not till old age
Shall overtake her in my Argive home,
Far from her native country, where her hand 40
Shall throw the shuttle and shall dress my couch.
Go, chafe me not, if thou wouldst safely go.”
He spake; the aged man in fear obeyed
The mandate, and in silence walked apart,
Along the many-sounding ocean-side, 45
And fervently he prayed the monarch-god,
Apollo, golden-haired Latona’s son:—
“Hear me, thou bearer of the silver bow,
Who guardest Chrysa, and the holy isle
Of Cilia, and art lord in Tenedos, 50
O Smintheus! if I ever helped to deck
Thy glorious temple, if I ever burned
Upon thy altar the fat thighs of goats
And bullocks, grant my prayer, and let thy shafts
Avenge upon the Greeks the tears I shed.” 55
So spake he supplicating, and to him
Phœbus Apollo hearkened. Down he came,
Down from the summit of the Olympian mount,
Wrathful in heart; his shoulders bore the bow
And hollow quiver; there the arrows rang 60
Upon the shoulders of the angry god,
As on he moved. He came as comes the night,
And, seated from the ships aloof, sent forth
An arrow ; terrible was heard the clang
Of that resplendent bow. At first he smote 65
The mules and the swift dogs, and then on man
He turned the deadly arrow. All around
Glared evermore the frequent funeral piles.