Rage! (Iliad I)
Table of Contents
Recap and Status 1. "Epic Hotness Countdown" 2. "To the Victor Go the Spoils" 3. "The Concubine and the Prince" 4. "Don't Smite the Messenger" 5. "Patron of the Mice" 6. "In the Beard of Agamemnon" 7. "The Routine" 8. "Men Are Such Fools" 9. "Achaeans, Assemble!" 10. "Agamemnon Himself" 11. "Something Happened" 12. "Alternate Plans" 13. "Errand-Girl" 14. "Speaking with Authority" 15. "That Time I Spoke and Everyone Ignored Me" 16. "To Olympus by Chariot" 17. "Nostos" 18. "The View from a Distance" 19. "The Water Bearers" 20. “Here Today, Here Tomorrow” 21. ”Strategic Thinking” 22. "Embers of the Mind" 23. “How the Evergreen Lost Its Leaves” 24. “Tears of Strength and Resilience” 25. “The Strong Man and the King” 26. “The Aether Speaks” 27. “Something Holy and Immortal” Weekly Chapters Every Sunday15. "That Time I Spoke and Everyone Ignored Me"
Centering Wise Nestor,
King of Pylos:
Stunning.
Shocking.
The words of Achilles grind the assembly to silence.
The hot blood of Peleus flows strong
in this man's veins,
cooled to a deadly chill
by the frigid saltwater of his goddess mother.
Ah, now there was a wedding for the ages!
But I digress...
Achilles has threatened to quit the war!
If our strongest bulwark against the might of Trojan Hector
were to withdraw his protection,
how could Agamemnon then prevail?
The scepter thuds against the ground
and echoes
like thunder.
Murder brews in Agamemnon's eyes,
so I rise.
I take up the discarded scepter,
gingerly,
to delay the overlord's anger.
"Fellow Achaeans, allow me to speak to this matter.
In my native Pylos,
I've lived alongside two generations of men,
and now rule over a third.
I have seen deeper grief and more fiery anger,
greater plagues and longer wars,
and mightier men than those assembled here
have sought out my advice.
Even as my eyesight and my arm grow weak,
my mind spurts forth renewed fountains of wisdom."
"Fountains of something,"
grumbles Diomedes.
The foolish youth must have intended his disrespect
to be too quiet to hear,
but others chuckle at his miscalculation.
Not wanting to embarrass the son of noble Tydeus,
I ignore his outburst
and continue to burnish my peacemaking credentials.
"Oh, the stories I could tell
of Peirithous,
and of Dryas,
of the people’s shepherd,
and of Caeneus,
of Exadius,
and of godlike Polyphemus,
and of Aegeus’ son Theseus,
who is now among the immortals."
"Please don't,"
says Odysseus,
and laughter accompanies his request.
So much for the alleged cleverness of Laertes's spawn.
He knows,
surely,
the tenseness of the fists I am working to release.
Perhaps the scepter is to blame,
I muse,
being a less respected symbol than once it was.
I nod.
"Another time, perhaps.
For just now we face a daunting task.
The men lie dying all around us
not from battle wounds,
but from the sores and retching of a plague,
and as one who constantly anticipates the arrival of Thanatos,
I can tell you a few things about death--"
More groans,
more groans,
from such a restless crowd.
In my day,
men could sit still for a story or two
from our wisened elders,
but oh,
how the mortal race has fallen since then!
I wiggle the scepter in rebuke,
avoiding a harsher gesture that might displace my shoulder.
"Then let us skip to the meat of the meal,
seeing how young men have no appetite for starters and soup.
A pity, but I also remember
my days of having teeth only for meat."
"He remembers having teeth,"
one grandson of Minos whispers to another.
More laughter at my expense.
"I would have my scepter back,"
Agamemnon growls.
"I would like to see you take it,"
Achilles states,
locked in the overlord's glare,
"but as amusing as it would be
to have you try to wrench it from my grasp,
it is Nestor,
son of Neleus,
who has taken up the rod."
These words,
return to me
the attention of the assembly,
and I clear my throat for one last speech:
"Priam and his sons
celebrate in their hearts
when Achaeans quarrel among each other.
In a dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles,
only the Trojans
would emerge victorious.
Heed then my voice of age and wisdom.
Even the strongest of kings
need not lower himself to a warrior's challenge,
need not seize glories rightfully earned by others,
and need not put himself before his realm.
And even the mightiest of warriors
must not fight his own sovereign ruler,
must not presume personal honor in his king's domain,
and must never reach for the scepter of authority."
I offer the gold-studded rod back to Agamemnon
accompanied by my final plea,
"My lord,
though you have every right to do so,
I bid you not to take this girl,
this Briseis,
granted as she was
to Achilles as a well-earned prize.
Give him no reason to chafe under your rule,
nor to leave our camp before our victory over Ilion."
In thoughtful contemplation,
Agamemnon repeatedly pounds the scepter in his palm,
once for each labored step I take
back to my seat.
"Sir Nestor,
you speak as always with truth and wisdom,
but this son of Peleus,
displays an arrogance,
that would upset the balance of the cosmos.
The same gods who made Achilles a great warrior
have placed a bit in his mouth
and a set of reins leading back to my hand,
so that I might yank him into compliance
whenever he strays from his appointed track.
A charioteer who refrains from correcting an errant horse
will soon find himself over a cliff,
and so shall we,
if I indulge the insolence of this man.
Surely one slave-girl from his tent
is a small price to pay
for ensuring the order of our army."
"I am not your chariot horse,"
Achilles spits,
"and our army isn't ordered by your greed."
"Then you would deny me the girl?"
Agamemnon asks,
stroking his beard
with a hand
that hides
and shows
and hides
his amused smile
like clouds across the sun.
"In denying my request,
you would make your father's kingdom an enemy of Mycenae,
and of the entire allied host of Hellas.
After I level Ilion to restore my brother's honor,
I would level Phthia to restore my own.
Is this really what you want?"
"Take the girl,"
says Achilles through clenched teeth.
"But you'll carry away nothing more from me than her,
no more treasures,
no more tributes,
no more Myrmidon lives,
no more sweat from my brow,
nor a single drop of Trojan blood on my spear,
spilled on your command.
I am finished."
And so the assembly ends
with hope for the end of the plague
and dread at the prospect of continued war
without the spear of Achilles,
the best of all the Achaeans.
Yet though my entreaty failed,
I still have something to smile about.
I held Agamemnon's scepter in my hands
and stood my ground
between two great powers of this war.
Upon my return to Pylos,
this will make a most excellent story!
EPIC CYCLE ROADMAP:
* The Kypria* The Iliad
* The Posthomerica
* Tales of Nostos
* The Odyssey
* The Telegony
* The Aeneid
Rage is the first book of the Iliad. Amazons is the first book of the Posthomerica.
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