Samuel Butler - The Iliad - debate between Agamemnon and Achilles lyrics

Book 1 Lines 158-197 This pa**age comes from the beginning of the epic poem The Iliad. In the epic the Greeks are going to war with the Trojans as a result of a Greek royal's wife, Helen, being kidnaped by a prince of the Trojans, Paris. The Greeks form an alliance among themselves and sail across the ocean to the Trojan city of Troy were Helen was. As the Greeks approached the Trojan city of Troy, with the intent of conquering it and recovering Helen, they fought a battle for Thebes and were successful. As a result of the battle the Greeks took war prizes from Thebes one of which was women who were to be given to leaders as a war prize. Agamemnon's prize was the daughter of Apollo's priest in Thebes, Chryseis, and the priest wanted his daughter back for which he was willing to pay ransom. Agamemnon refused his ransom and insulted the priest which led to the God Apollo bringing disease unto the Greek army. Agamemnon was told that he had to give the priest's daughter back to her father, but he was enraged that only he would be left without a prize while the others were not so he threatened to take Achilles prize, Briseis, should he return his own. Achilles responds to his threats. Achilles scowled at him and answered, "You are steeped in insolence and lust of gain. With what heart can any of the Achaeans do your bidding, either on foray or in open fighting? I came not warring here for any ill the Trojans had done me. I have no quarrel with them. They have not raided my cattle nor my horses, nor cut down my harvests on the rich plains of Phthia; for between me and them there is a great space, both mountain and sounding sea. We have followed you, Sir Insolence! for your pleasure, not ours- to gain satisfaction from the Trojans for your shameless self and for Menelaus. You forget this, and threaten to rob me of the prize for which I have toiled, and which the sons of the Achaeans have given me. Never when the Achaeans sack any rich city of the Trojans do I receive so good a prize as you do, though it is my hands that do the better part of the fighting. When the sharing comes, your share is far the largest, and I, forsooth, must go back to my ships, take what I can get and be thankful, when my labour of fighting is done. Now, therefore, I shall go back to Phthia; it will be much better for me to return home with my ships, for I will not stay here dishonoured to gather gold and substance for you." And Agamemnon answered, "Fly if you will, I shall make you no prayers to stay you. I have others here who will do me honour, and above all Jove, the lord of counsel. There is no king here so hateful to me as you are, for you are ever quarrelsome and ill affected. What though you be brave? Was it not heaven that made you so? Go home, then, with your ships and comrades to lord it over the Myrmidons. I care neither for you nor for your anger; and thus will I do: since Phoebus Apollo is taking Chryseis from me, I shall send her with my ship and my followers, but I shall come to your tent and take your own prize Briseis, that you may learn how much stronger I am than you are, and that another may fear to set himself up as equal or comparable with me." Works Cited http://www.sigmabooks.gr/. Ed. Dimitris M. Stephanides. SIGMA PUBLICATIONS, 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Jenkins, Neil, Sumair Mirza, and Jason Tsang. MythNET. OrcsWeb, 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Luebering, J.E., Kuiper Kathleen and Jain Parul. " hubris." Britannica.com. Ed. Mansur G. Abdullah, Michael C. Anderson, Michael J. Anderson, Adam Augustyn, and Marilyn L. Barton. Encyclopedia Britannica, INC, 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. < http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/274625/hubris>. Nagy, Gregory. press.jhu.edu. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Parada, Carlos. "Agamemnon." Maicar.com. Ed. Maicar Förlag. Greek Mythology Link, 1997. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Parada, Carlos. "SUITORS OF HELEN." Maicar.com. Ed. Maicar Förlag. Greek Mythology Link, 1997. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. . Parrott-Sheffer, Chelsey, and Surabhi Sinha. "Achilles." Britannica.com. Ed. Mansur G. Abdullah, Michael C. Anderson, Michael J. Anderson, Adam Augustyn, and Marilyn L. Barton. Encyclopedia Britannica, INC, 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014. .