Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 367, May 1846

Weary with warring, and pleas'd with a little, I went to my galley.
Homeward to Thessaly, now! – I shall profit, I think, by departing —
Nor if I stay in dishonour, will heaping of plunder oppress thee."
Thus on the instant replied the Commander of Men, Agamemnon: —
"Flee, if to that thou be minded: expect not from me a petition
Here for my service to stop. Beside thee I have some to befriend me
Now and hereafter: in chief, the Olympian's counselling foresight.
Hatefullest ever to me hast thou been of the kings of Achaia;
Nothing delighted thee e'er but contention and battle and bloodshed;
And if thy strength be unmatcht, it is due to the gift of a Godhead.
Hence with thee! – hence to thy home flee thou with thy ships and thy comrades!
There over Myrmidons lord it; with me there is small estimation
Either of thee or thy wrath; and take this for completing my menace:
Since I am reft of Chrysëis for pleasing of Phœbus Apollo,
Now, in a ship of mine own, and with men of mine own for attendance,
Her will I send; but anon will I go and, within thy pavilion,
Seize on the rosy Brisëis, thy guerdon – instructing thee clearly
How I surpass thee in power, and that others beside may be cautious
Neither to match them with me, or confront with the boldness of equals!"
So did he speak: and the word had a sting; and the heart of Achilleus,
Under the hair of his bosom, in tearing perplexity ponder'd,
Whether unsheathing the sword from his thigh, to disperse interveners,
Clearing the way at a swoop, and to strike at the life of Atreides,
Or to control his resentment and master the fury within him.
But as he struggled with thought and the burning confusion of impulse,
Even as he mov'd in the scabbard his ponderous weapon, Athena
Stood by, darting from heaven: for the white-arm'd Hera had sent her,
She that had eyes on them both with a loving and equal concernment.
Lighting behind him, she graspt at the thick fair curls of Peleides,
Visible only to him, undiscover'd by all that surrounded.
Fear on Achilleus fell, and he turn'd to her, instantly knowing
Pallas Athena, for awful the eyes of the goddess apparent —
And he address'd her, and these were the air-wing'd words that he utter'd.
"Why hast thou come, O child of the Ægis-bearing Kronion?
Is it to see me contemn'd by the insolent pride of Atreides?
This do I promise beside, and thine eyes shall behold it accomplish'd,
Here where he sits Agamemnon shall pay for his scorn with his life-blood."
This was the answer to him of the blue-eyed Pallas Athena: —
"Willing to temper thy mood, (if perchance thou be ready to listen,)
Down from the heavens have I come at the call of majestical Hera,
Her who has eyes on you both with a loving and equal concernment.
Therefore from violence cease, nor persist in unsheathing the weapon:
Wound him with words at thy pleasure – in that let it fall as it chances.
Only of this be assur'd, for thyself shall behold it accomplish'd,
Threefold yet shall the King in magnificent gifts of atonement
Pay for the scorn of to-day; but restrain thee and yield to my warning."
Thus, in reply to Athena, said instantly noble Achilleus: —
"Me of a surety beseems it, O Goddess, to bend to thy counsel,
Fierce as mine anger may be; it is wiser to keep the commandment.
They that submit to the Gods shall be heard when they make supplication."
Press'd on the silvery hilt as he spake was the weight of his right hand,
Back to the scabbard returning the terrible blade; nor obedience
He to Athena refus'd; and she sprang from his side to Olympus,
Up to the mansion of Zeus, to rejoin the assembly of Godheads.
Then did Achilles begin to reproach Agamemnon Atreides,
Hotly with venomous words, for as yet unappeased was his anger: —
"Bloated with wine! having eyes like a dog, but the heart of a she-deer!
Never with harness on back to be first when the people were arming,
Never in dark ambuscado to lie with the few and the fearless,
Courage exalted thy soul; this seems to thee courtship of death-doom.
Truly 'tis better by far in the wide-spread Danäid leaguer
Robbing of guerdon achiev'd whosoe'er contradicts thee in presence!
People-devouring king! O fortunate captain of cowards —
Else, Agamemnon, to-day would have witness'd the last of thine outrage!
But I proclaim it before thee, and great is the oath that shall bind it —
Now by this rod, which can never put forth or a twig or a leaflet,
Since it was parted for aye from the root of its growth in the mountains,
Never to germinate more, in the hour when the brass of the woodman
Sever'd the bark and the sap: but the chiefs that administer judgment,
Guarding the law of the Gods, as a sign to the sons of Achaia
Bear it in hand: – upon this do I swear, and severe is the sanction!
Rue for Achilles hereafter shall rise in the Danäid leaguer: —
Bitter the yearning shall be – nor in thee, howsoever afflicted,
Succour be found at their need – but remorse shall be raging within thee,
Tearing thy heart that by thee was the best of Achaians dishonour'd."
Speaking he dash'd on the ground, in the midst of the people, his sceptre,
Garnish'd with circles of gold; down sat thereafter Peleides.
Opposite rose Agamemnon in wrath; but before he could open,
Upsprang Nestor between them, the sweet-ton'd spokesman of Pylos:
Sweeter the speech of his tongue in its flow than the sweetness of honey.
Two generations complete of the blood of articulate mankind,
Nurtur'd and rear'd in his view, unto death in their turn had been gather'd;
Now he was king for a third in the bountiful region of Pylos.
He, with beneficent thoughts, in the midst of them rose and address'd them: —
"Woe to me! great is the grief that has come on the land of Achaia!
Great of a surety for Priam the joy and the children of Priam!
Ilion holds not a soul in her bounds but will leap into gladness,
Soon as the tidings go forth that ye two are divided in anger,
Foremost in council among us and foremost of all in the battle!
Hear me while yet there is time: ye are both of ye younger than I am.
I in the days that are past have in fellowship mingled with heroes
Mightier even than you, yet among them I never was slighted.
Never their like did I see, nor shall look on their equals hereafter —
Such as Perithöus was, or as Dryas the shepherd of people,
Kaineus, Exadius too – the compeer of the bless'd, Polyphemus;
Ægeus' glorious son, as a God in his countenance, Theseus.
These of a truth were in might the supreme of the children of mankind;
Mightiest they upon earth and with mightiest foes they contended,
Centaurs nurs'd in the hills, whom in terrible ruin they trampled.
These, the allies of my youth, when I first adventur'd from Pylos,