The Quarrel and the Parting (lines 188–311)

So he spoke. And the son of Peleus felt a dark grief, and his heartwithin his shaggy breast turned two ways: should he draw the sharp blade at his hipand scatter the crowd, and kill the son of Atreus — or restrain his furyand master his spirit? While he turned this over in his mind and heart,and drew his great blade from its sheath, Athena camedown from heaven: the white-armed goddess Hera sent her —she loved and cared for both men alike. She stood behind him,caught the son of Peleus by his tawny hair, appearing to him alone;none of the others saw her. Achilles wondered, and turned:and he knew Pallas Athena at once — the terrible gleam of her eyes.Then winged words flew from him: "Why have you come again,child of Zeus who bears the aegis? Is it to watch the outrageof Agamemnon, son of Atreus? I tell you — and I think it will be so —for this arrogance, his own life will be paid."Then the bright-eyed goddess Athena answered him:"I came to check your fury — if only you will obey —from heaven I came; the white-armed goddess Hera sent me,who loves and cares for you both alike. Come, end this quarrel:do not draw your blade against him — wound him with words instead.For this I tell you, and it will come to pass: hereafterthree times as many shining gifts will be heaped on youfor this outrage. Restrain yourself; obey us."Then the swift-footed Achilles answered: "Goddess,a man must follow your word, however angry his heart:so it is better. Whoever obeys the gods — the gods hear him."He spoke, and his heavy hand fell on the silver hilt, and he drovethe great blade back into its sheath, and did not betray the word of Athena.She went to Olympus, to the house of Zeus who bears the aegis,with the other gods; while the son of Peleus went on wounding Agamemnonwith bitter words, and did not yet let his fury go:"You drunkard, with the eyes of a dog and the heart of a deer!Never in your life have you dared to arm for war with your men,or to go into ambush with the best of the Achaeans. No —to you that is death. It is far easier, all along the wide camp of the Achaeans,to steal the prize of any man who speaks against you.King who feed on your people: since you rule men who are nothing,you must be a son of Atreus — else, son of Atreus, this were your last outrage.But I will speak out, and swear a great oath upon it:by this staff — which shall never again sprout leaf and shoot,now that it first left its trunk in the mountains, nor grow green again,around which the sons of the Achaeans carry justice in their hands,the judges who guard the ordinances of Zeus from Zeus —as surely as this shall fail to come back to the woods and earth,even if it is bound with bronze and gold — so surelywill a great thirst for Achilles come upon the sons of the Achaeans:and then your grief will find no cure, though you are sorry,when the war-god's bane cuts down the army, humbled — and you,eaten by your own grief, will grind your heart within you,that you honored the best of the Achaeans not at all."So the son of Peleus spoke, and threw the staff studded with goldand studs to the ground, and sat. And on the other side the son of Atreusblazed. But the sweet-voiced singer Nestor rose between them,the sweet-speaking orator of Pylos, from whose tonguespeech flowed sweeter than honey. Two generations of mortal menhe had seen pass away, who before were born and grew in holy Pylos,and he ruled among the third. He spoke with good will, saying:"Oh — what a great grief has come to the land of Achaea!Priam and Priam's sons would leap for joy,and the other Trojans rejoice in their hearts, if they heardthese two quarreling — you two, the first in counsel,the first in battle. But obey: you are both younger than I.Before now I walked with men better than you,and they never made light of me: for I have seen such men as I shall neversee again — perithous, and Dryas, shepherd of the people,Caineus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus,and Aegeus, son of Aegeus, like the immortals in form.With the strongest of earth's men they walked, with the strongest,against the wild beast of the mountains — and destroyed the wild, savage Centaurs.I was with them, coming from Pylos, a long way off, from a distant land.And they took no counsel against me. Even such as theydid as I counseled, and obeyed my word. But obey: better to obey.Do not take the girl: leave her, as the sons of the Achaeans first gave her,my prize, as I was given a greater. But you, son of Peleus,do not wish to strive against a king, might against might,since the scepter-bearing king, to whom Zeus gave glory,never has an equal honor. And though you are the stronger,and a goddess mother bore you — he is greater: he rules over more.Son of Atreus, hold back your fury. I beg youto set aside your anger against Achilles, who isa great wall of war to all the Achaeans in this sorrow."Then Agamemnon, lord of men, answered him:"Old man, all this you have spoken well and wisely.But this man wants to be above all others; he wants to rule all,to be king over all, to give orders to all — but one will not obey.If the gods, who live forever, made him a spearman — is that whyhe gives us such speeches to hear?" Then the brilliant Achillesbroke in and answered him: "Truly, I would be calleda coward and a nothing, if I yield to you in every word.Lay down other commands to other men; do not order me —I will not obey you any longer. But hear me well, and I say it to you:I will not fight for this girl, not against you nor any other man:you gave — you take her back. But of my other goods, the swift black ships,you shall take nothing by force against my will. Come, if you dare, try the people —let them see. Your own blood will run around my spear."So they spoke to one another in the quarrel. And they stood upand broke the assembly by the ships of the Achaeans. The son of Peleuswent back to his shelter and his well-built ships with the son of Menoetiusand their companions. But the son of Atreus dragged a swift ship to the sea,and chose twenty rowers, and aboard her loaded a hecatomb for the god,and brought aboard Chryseis of the fair cheeks, and put with herthe brilliant Odysseus as leader. These boarded, and sat upon the benches.And Odysseus of many counsels commanded the people to board.They boarded and sat upon the benches, and the oars struck the gray sea.And for us the ships went out over the great gulf of the sea.