Page:Iliad of Homer - Bryant - 1870.djvu/29



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,— 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 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 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 VOL. I.