_Book I._ After invoking the Muse to aid him sing the wrath of
Achilles, the poet relates how Apollo's priest came in person to the
Greek camp to ransom his captive daughter, only to be treated with
contumely by Agamemnon. In his indignation this priest besought Apollo
to send down a plague to decimate the foe's forces, and the Greeks
soon learned from their oracles that its ravages would not cease until
the maiden was restored to her father.

Nor will the god's awaken'd fury cease,
But plagues shall spread, and funeral fires increase,
Till the great king, without a ransom paid,
To her own Chrysa send the black-eyed maid.[2]

In a formal council Agamemnon is therefore asked to relinquish his
captive, but violently declares that he will do so only in case he
receives Achilles' slave. This insolent claim so infuriates the young
hero that he is about to draw his sword, when Minerva, unseen by the
rest, bids him hold his hand, and state that should Agamemnon's threat
be carried out he will withdraw from the war.

Although the aged Nestor employs all his honeyed eloquence to soothe
this quarrel, both chiefs angrily withdraw, Agamemnon to send his
captive back to her father, and Achilles to sulk in his tent.

It is while he is thus engaged that Agamemnon's heralds appear and
lead away his captive. Mindful of Minerva's injunctions, Achilles
allows her to depart, but registers a solemn oath that, even were the
Greeks to perish, he will lend them no aid. Then, strolling down to
the shore, he summons his mother from the watery deep, and implores
her to use her influence to avenge his wrongs. Knowing his life will