Achilles' fatal wrath, whence discord rose,  
  That brought the sons of Greece unnumber'd woes,  
  O Goddess! sing. Full many a hero's ghost  
  Was driven untimely to th' infernal coast,  
  While in promiscuous heaps their bodies lay,  
  A feast for dogs and every bird of prey.  
  So did the sire of gods and men fulfil  
  His stedfast purpose and almighty will;  
  What time the haughty chiefs their jars begun,  
  Atrides, king of men, and Peleus' godlike son.
The First Book of the Iliad (1715).























