Not a person to let things lying down, Agamemnon asks two messengers- Eurybates and Talthybius to bring Briseis from the tent of Achilles. The gods are appeared, and the pestilence also comes to an end. Agamemnon sends back Chryseis to her father with presents. Agamemnon and Achilles look sullen, when Nestor, universally respected for his age and wisdom, gently rebukes them both and says that the enemy will rejoice at their dispute.Īchilles leaves the council in savage silence, accompanied by his friend Patroclus.
Visible only to Achilles, Athene pacifies hero and assures him that he will be revenged in due course. Achilles, deeply humiliated, is on the point of drawing his spear, when Pallas Athene intervenes and prevents the strife He even suggests that Achilles may go wherever he likes. He decides to go back home, Agamemnon, however, refuses to budge and inch, and insists having Briseis. He calls Agamemnon a shameless creature, who has all along enjoyed the lion’s share of the body. Agamemnon, though very much indignant promises to return we girl only on one condition that he must have the girl, Briseis, who was given to Achilles. Achilles gets a splendid opportunity to give vent to his feelings, and demands the restitution of the girl. He has, therefore, appealed to Apollo, and the god has sent the Pestilence, which, however, will stop as soon as the maiden is returned to the father. For in a recent raid he has taken for himself a maiden named Chryseis, the daughter of Chyses, the priest of Apollo.Ĭhryses has offered Agamemnon, a handsome ransom, but to no purpose. Calchas, thus assured, says that the gods are displeased with Agamemnon, the chief of the Greeks.
Achilles offers him protection and asks him to reveal the truth. He, however, hesitates, let the revelation might anger the offender. Calchas says that he can account for the divine displeasure.
In their dire distress the Greeks appeal to their Soothsayer Calchas to ascertain the cause of the anger of Apollo and Diana. But Apollo and Diana are extremely angry, and a terrible pestilence begins to rage in the Greek camps. The quarrel between the two heroes is about a beautiful woman, who has been taken captive in the recent battle. Agamemnon and Achilles, the two great heroes, are extremely jealous of each other, although they are fighting for a common cause, namely the recovery of Helen from Troy. Book one of The Iliad begins with an invocation to the Muse- “Sing, heavenly muse, the wrath of Peleus’ son.” In Greek ‘wrath’ is ‘menin’, and that is the first word in the epic, which strikes the keynote.
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