tumult of the fight; but when the spoil Is shared, the largest share of all is thine, While I, content with little, seek my ships, Weary with combat. I shall now go home To Phthia; better were it to return With my beaked ships; but here, where I am held In little honor, thou wilt fail, I think, To gather, in large measure, spoil and wealth.”
Him answered Agamemnon, king of men:— “Desert, then, if thou wilt; I ask thee not To stay for me; there will be others left To do me honor yet, and, best of all, The all-providing Jove is with me still. Thee I detest the most of all the men Ordained by him to govern; thy delight Is in contention, war, and bloody frays. If thou art brave, some deity, no doubt, Hath thus endowed thee. Hence, then, to thy home, With all thy ships and men! There domineer Over thy Myrmidons; I heed thee not, Nor care I for thy fury. Thus, in turn, I threaten thee; since Phoebus takes away Chryseis, I will send her in my ship And with my friends, and, coming to thy tent, Will bear away the fair-cheeked maid, thy prize, Briseis, that thou learn how far I stand Above thee, and that other chiefs may fear To measure strength with me, and brave my power.”
The rage of Peleus’ son, as thus he spake, Grew fiercer; in that shaggy breast his heart Took counsel, whether from his thigh to draw The trenchant sword, and, thrusting back the rest, Smite down Atrides, or subdue his wrath And master his own spirit. While he thus Debated with himself, and half unsheathed The ponderous blade, Pallas Athene came, Sent from on high by Juno, the white-armèd, Who loved both warriors and made both her care. She came behind him, seen by him alone, And plucked his yellow hair. The hero turned In wonder, and at once he knew the look Of Pallas and the awful-gleaming eye, And thus accosted her with wingèd words:— “Why com’st thou hither, daughter of the god Who bears the aegis? Art thou here to see The insolence of Agamemnon, son Of Atreus? Let me tell thee what I deem Will be the event. That man may lose his life, And quickly too, for arrogance like this.”