“Now first bear witness, Jove, of all the gods Greatest and best, and also Earth and Sun, And Furies dwelling under Earth, who take Vengeance on men forsworn, that never I Have laid, for purpose of unchaste desire, Or other cause, my hand upon the maid Briseis. She hath dwelt inviolate Within my tents. If yet in aught I say Lurk perjury, then may the blessed gods Heap on my head the many miseries With which they punish those who falsely swear!”

He spake, and drew the unrelenting blade Across the animal’s throat. Talthybius took And swung the carcass round, and cast it forth Into the gray sea’s depths, to be the food Of fishes. Then again Achilles rose Among the warlike sons of Greece, and said:⁠—