Iliad
A
Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος1 οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί᾿ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε᾿ ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ᾿ ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν2 5οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι,3 Διὸς δ᾿ ἐτελείετο βουλή, ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.
Τίς τ᾿ ἄρ σφωε θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνέηκε μάχεσθαι; Λητοῦς καὶ Διὸς υἱός· ὁ γὰρ βασιλῆι χολωθεὶς 10νοῦσον ἀνὰ στρατὸν ὦρσε κακήν, ὀλέκοντο δὲ λαοί, οὕνεκα τὸν Χρύσην ἠτίμασεν ἀρητῆρα Ἀτρεΐδης· ὁ γὰρ ἦλθε θοὰς ἐπὶ νῆας Ἀχαιῶν λυσόμενός τε θύγατρα φέρων τ᾿ ἀπερείσι᾿ ἄποινα, στέμματ᾿ ἔχων ἐν χερσὶν ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος 15χρυσέῳ ἀνὰ σκήπτρῳ, καὶ λίσσετο πάντας Ἀχαιούς, Ἀτρεΐδα δὲ μάλιστα δύω, κοσμήτορε λαῶν· “Ἀτρεΐδαι τε καὶ ἄλλοι ἐυκνήμιδες Ἀχαιοί,
- 1In the edition of Apellicon the opening line of the poem was given in the form Μούσας ἀείδω καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα κλυτότοξον, and in the place of lines 1–9 some ancient texts gave, Ἔσπετε νῦν μοι, Μοῦσαι, Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾿ ἔχουσαι, ὅππως δὴ μῆνίς τε χόλος θ᾿ ἕλε Πηλεΐωνα, Λητοῦς τ᾿ ἀγλαὸν υἱόν· ὁ γὰρ βασιλῆι χολωθεὶς
- 2Lines 4 f. were rejected by Zenodotus.
- 3πᾶσι: δαῖτα Zenodotus.
Book 1
Book 1
The wrath sing, goddess, of Peleus’ son Achilles, the accursed wrath which brought countless sorrows upon the Achaeans, and sent down to Hades many valiant souls of warriors, and made the men themselves to be the spoil for dogs and birds of every kind; and thus the will of Zeus was brought to fulfillment. Of this sing from the time when first there parted in strife Atreus’ son, lord of men, and noble Achilles.
Who then of the gods was it that brought these two together to contend? The son of Leto and Zeus; for he, angered at the king, roused throughout the army an evil pestilence, and the men were perishing, because to Chryses his priest the son of Atreus had done dishonor. For he had come to the swift ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter and he brought with him ransom past counting; and in his hands he held the ribbons of Apollo, who strikes from afar, on a staff of gold, and he implored all the Achaeans, but most of all the two sons of Atreus, the marshalers of armies: “Sons of Atreus, and you other well- greaved