The Iliad Chapter One
The King of Sparta had a beautiful daughter, Helen. All the princes in Greece wished to marry her. The king said to them: “Swear that you will befriend the man whom my daughter marries and that if anyone steals her away, you will help him get her back.” They swore.
Helen married Prince Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, the chief King of Greece. When Helen’s father died, Menelaus became King of Sparta. The two lived happily until Paris, the prince of Troy, came and carried Helen away, along with gold and jewels.
Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon said to the princes of Greece, “Keep your oath, and help us get Helen back.”
For nine years, the Greeks besieged Troy, but they could not break through the walls; and as they had been away from their homes for all this time, they wanted food, clothes, and other things. So they left part of the army to watch Troy, while the rest attacked other cities. Thus came about the great quarrel of which this tale will now be told.
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The Greeks took the city of Chrysé and divided the spoils among the chiefs; to Agamemnon they gave a girl named Chryseïs, the daughter of a priest of the god Apollo.
The priest went to Agamemnon and begged him to take his gold and return his daughter. “And,” he said, “Apollo will help you take the city of Troy and bring you back safe to your homes.”
Agamemnon cried, “Go away. I will carry your daughter back with me when I have taken Troy without help.”
So the old man prayed to Apollo for help. Apollo was angry that his priest should suffer, and he came down from Mount Olympus shooting arrows of death. For nine days, the Greeks died, and on the tenth day Greek Prince Achilles called an assembly.
When the Greeks gathered, Achilles said: “Let us ask the prophets why Apollo is angry with us.”
Prophet Calchas answered: “Apollo is angry because when his priest came to buy back his daughter, Agamemnon would not listen. Now you must send back the girl, taking no money for her, and with her a hundred beasts as a sacrifice.”
King Agamemnon cried: “You always prophesy evil. The girl I will send back, for I would not have our people die, but I will not go without my share of the spoils.”
“You think too much of gain, King Agamemnon,” said Achilles. “Wait until Troy has been conquered, and then we will make up what you’ve lost.”
“Do not try to cheat me in this way,” answered Agamemnon. “My share I will have at once. If the Greeks won’t give it to me, I will take it from one of the chiefs or from you, Achilles. But now let us see about sending back the girl.”
Achilles was angry and said: “Never was there a king so greedy. The Trojans never did harm me or mine. I have been fighting against them for your sake and your brother’s. You sit in your tent at ease, but when the spoils are divided, you take the lion’s share. And now you would take the little that was given me. I will not stay here to be robbed.”
“Go,” said Agamemnon, “and take your people with you. I have other chiefs as good as you. But mark this: the girl Briseïs, who was given to you as your share of the victory, I will take. For you must learn that I am master here.”
Achilles said to himself, “Now I will slay this villain,” and he drew his sword. But at that instant, the goddess Athena stood behind him and seized him. When Achilles turned, he perceived the goddess – but no one else in the assembly could see her – and he said: “Are you come to see this villain die?”
“Nay,” she answered, “I am come to stay your rage. Draw not your sword. Some day he will pay you back for all the wrong he shall do.”
Achilles answered: “I will do as you bid.” He turned to Agamemnon and cried: “The Greeks will miss Achilles. When you see your people falling by the swords of the Trojans, you will be sorry that you have done this wrong to the bravest man in your army.”
Agamemnon answered: “The gods have made Achilles a great warrior, but they have not given him leave to be above the law. Go now to the tent of Achilles, and fetch the girl Briseïs.”
Achilles left his companions and sat upon the seashore, weeping aloud and calling to his mother, Thetis, the daughter of the sea. She rose from the sea and said, “Why do you weep, my son?”
Achilles told the story and said: “Go to Olympus, to the god Zeus, and ask him to help the Trojans and to make the Greeks flee before them so that Agamemnon may learn how foolish he has been.”
His mother said: “I will persuade Zeus. Meanwhile, sit still, and do not go forth to battle.”
n Next: The battle and the oath