Iliad - Opening

ILIAD 1

RAGE:

Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage,

Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks

Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls

Of heroes into Hades' dark,

And left their bodies to rot as feasts

For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.

Begin with the clash between Agamemnon --

The Greek warlord -- and godlike Achilles.

cover photo: Into the Jaws of Death, June 6, 1944. Reproduced by courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Copyright 1997 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.

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Printed in the United States of America

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