Page 392 - the-iliad

for sacrifice to Jove and to the sun.’
Then said Achilles, ‘Son of Atreus, king of men Agamem-
non, see to these matters at some other season, when there
is breathing time and when I am calmer. Would you have
men eat while the bodies of those whom Hector son of Pri-
am slew are still lying mangled upon the plain? Let the sons
of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without food, till
we have avenged them; afterwards at the going down of the
sun let them eat their fill. As for me, Patroclus is lying dead
in my tent, all hacked and hewn, with his feet to the door,
and his comrades are mourning round him. Therefore I can
take thought of nothing save only slaughter and blood and
the rattle in the throat of the dying.’
Ulysses answered, ‘Achilles, son of Peleus, mightiest of
all the Achaeans, in battle you are better than I, and that
more than a little, but in counsel I am much before you, for
I am older and of greater knowledge. Therefore be patient
under my words. Fighting is a thing of which men soon
surfeit, and when Jove, who is war’s steward, weighs the up-
shot, it may well prove that the straw which our sickles have
reaped is far heavier than the grain. It may not be that the
Achaeans should mourn the dead with their bellies; day by
day men fall thick and threefold continually; when should
we have respite from our sorrow? Let us mourn our dead
for a day and bury them out of sight and mind, but let those
of us who are left eat and drink that we may arm and fight
our foes more fiercely. In that hour let no man hold back,
waiting for a second summons; such summons shall bode
ill for him who is found lagging behind at our ships; let us

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