tion; and have respect to thy
house, for we are guests beneath thy roof from the multitude of the
Greeks, and desire to be most dear and friendly to thee beyond all the
Achaeans, as many as they are."

But him swift-footed Achilles, answering, addressed: "Most noble Ajax,
son of Telamon, chief of the people, thou appearest to me to have said
all this from thy soul, yet does my heart swell with indignation as
often as I recollect those things, how the son of Atreus hath rendered
me dishonoured among the Greeks, as if it were some contemptible
stranger. But go ye, and carry back my message, for I shall not think of
bloody war, before the son of warlike Priam, noble Hector, slaughtering
the Greeks, shall reach the ships of the Myrmidons, and burn the ships
with fire. But about my tent and black ship, however, I think that
Hector, although eager, will desist from combat."

Thus he spake; but they, each having seized a double goblet, having made
libations, went back by the side of the fleet, and Ulysses led the way.
But Patroclus gave orders to his companions and female domestics to
strew, with all haste, a thick couch for Phoenix; and they, obedient,
spread a bed as he desired,--sheep-skins, coverlets, and the fine fabric
of flax: there lay the old man, and awaited heavenly Morn. But Achilles
slept in the recess of his well-made tent; and beside him lay a lady,
fair-cheeked Diomede, daughter of Phorbas, whom he had brought from
Lesbos. And Patroclus on the other side reclined: and by him also lay
fair-waisted Iphis, whom noble Achilles gave him, having taken lofty
Scyros, a city of Enyeus.

But when they were within the tents of Atrides, the sons of the Greeks,
rising one after another, received them with golden cups, and
interrogated thus. And first the king of men, Agamemnon, inquired:

"Come, tell me, O Ulysses, much praised, great glory of the Greeks,
whether does he wish to ward off the hostile fire from the ships, or has
he refused, and does wrath still posses his haughty soul?"

But him much-enduring, noble Ulysses then addressed: "Most glorious son
of Atreus, Agamemnon, king of men, he wills not to extinguish his wrath,
but is the more filled with anger, and despises thee as well as thy
gifts. He bids thee thyself consult with the Greeks, in what manner thou
mayest preserve both the ships and the army of the Greeks, but has
himself threatened, that with the rising dawn he will launch into the
main his well-benc