AES312 The Iliad

Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,

Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.

    Begin with the clash between Agamemnon--

The Greek warlord--and godlike Achilles.

   Which of the immortals set these two

At each other's throats?

                                   Apollo

Zeus' son and Leto's, offended

By the warlord. Agamemnon had dishonored

Chryses, Apollo's priest, so the god

Struck the Greek camp with plague,

And the soldiers were dying of it.

-Homer (The Iliad, Book I, Lines 1-15)-