y rulest over Tenedos: O Sminthius,[7] if
ever I have roofed[8] thy graceful temple, or if, moreover, at any time
I have burned to thee the fat thighs of bulls or of goats, accomplish
this entreaty for me. Let the Greeks pay for my tears, by thy arrows."

[Footnote 7: An epithet derived from [Greek: sminthos], the
Phrygian name for a _mouse_: either because Apollo had put an end
to a plague of mice among that people, or because a mouse was
thought emblematical of augury.--Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. i.
p. 68, observes that this "worship of Sminthian Apollo, in
various parts of the Troad and its neighbouring territory, dates
before the earliest period of AEolic colonization." On the Homeric
description of Apollo, see Mueller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 315.]

[Footnote 8: Not "crowned," as Heyne says; for this was a later
custom.--See Anthon and Arnold.]

Thus he spoke praying; but to him Phoebus Apollo hearkened. And he
descended from the summits of Olympus, enraged in heart, having upon his
shoulders his bow and quiver covered on all sides. But as he moved, the
shafts rattled forthwith[9] upon the shoulders of him enraged; but he
went along like unto the night. Then he sat down apart from the ships,
and sent among them an arrow, and terrible arose the clang of the silver
bow. First he attacked the mules, and the swift[10] dogs; but afterwards
despatching a pointed arrow against [the Greeks] themselves, he smote
them, and frequent funeral-piles of the dead were continually burning.
Nine days through the army went the arrows of the god; but on the tenth,
Achilles called the people to an assembly; for to his mind the
white-armed goddess Juno had suggested it; for she was anxious
concerning the Greeks, because she saw them perishing. But when they
accordingly were assembled, and were met together, swift-footed footed
Achilles, rising up amidst them, [thus] spoke:

"O son of Atreus! now do I think that we would consent to return, having
been defeated in our purpose, if we should but escape death, since at
the same time[11] war and pestilence subdue the Greeks. But come now,
let us consult some prophet, or priest, or even one who is informed by
dreams (for dream also is from Jove),[12] who would tell us on what
account Phoebus Apollo is so much enraged with us: whether he blames us
on account of a vow [unperformed], or a hecatomb [unoffered]; and
whether haply he may be willing, having partaken of