Page:The Iliad of Homer in English Hexameter Verse.djvu/24

 "Atreus' glorious son,—yet fonder of booty than glory,— How shall Achaia' s sons provide this prize thou requirest? No common fund is ours laid up for the calls of the future. Fast as we win our spoil from the foes that spoil is divided: Hard and unwelcome task were it now to recall the division. Yield thou the maid to the God:—and be sure that the sons of Achaia Triply, ay and quadruply, will grant thee a rich compensation, When, by the aid of Zeus, Troy's ramparts crumble before us."

Then to the chief in reply spake the King of men—Agamemnon.

"Think not, brave as thou art, most mighty and Godlike Achilleus, Think not thus to cajole me, for truly the scheme will avail not. Deem not that I, at thy bidding, will tamely relinquish the maiden, Thou still holding thine!—Dost bid me thus calmly resign her? If so, some other prize, in her place, let the noble Achaians Find for me, worthy the damsel, and such as my fancy approves of. If they refuse, I myself will seize, in my right as the monarch, Thine, or the prize of Ajax, or even that of Odysseus : Seize, and retain!—Right sore will, I trow, be the mind of the loser. But any future time may suffice us for this:—for the present Launch we a long dark galley at once on the breast of the ocean, Mann'd by a chosen crew; with hecatombs meet for the altars Of the offended God:—Chrysèis, daintily featured, Let her embark:—and let some chieftain renown'd in the Council, Ajax, or Idomeneus, or the Godlike leader Odysseus, Or. let Pelides' self,—most terrible hero among us,— Make an atonement for all; and appease and avert the destroyer."

Then, with a low'ring look, spake the swift-footed chieftain Achilleus.

"Cloth'd as thou art in thine impudence, ever regardful of plunder, Why, at command of thee, should one of the sons of Achaia