Then, as the goatherds, when their mingled flocks Are in the pastures, know and set apart Each his own scattered charge, so did the chiefs, Moving among them, marshal each his men. There walked King Agamemnon, like to Jove In eye and forehead, with the loins of Mars, And ample chest like him who rules the sea. And as a bull amid the horned herd Stands eminent and nobler than the rest, So Jove to Agamemnon on that day Gave to surpass the chiefs in port and mien.

O Muses, goddesses who dwell on high, Tell me⁠—for all things ye behold and know, While we know nothing and may only hear The random tales of rumor⁠—tell me who Were chiefs and princes of the Greeks; for I Should fail to number and to name them all⁠— Had I ten tongues, ten throats, a voice unapt To weary, uttered from a heart of brass⁠— Unless the Muses aided me. I now Will sing of the commanders and the ships.