Τὸν δ' αῦτε προσέειπεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων:
ὦ γέρον: οὔ τι ψεῦδος. ἐμὰς ἄτας κατέλεξας:
ἀ̄ᾰσάμην: οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἀναίνομαι: ἀντί νῠ πολλῶν
λαῶν ἐστιν ἀνὴρ, ὅν τε Ζεὺς κῆρι φιλήσῃ:
ὡς νῦν τοῦτον ἔτισεν. ὄλεσσε δὲ λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν:
ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ, ἀ̄ᾰσάμην. φρεσὶ λευγαλέῃσι πιθήσᾱς.
ἂψ, ἐθέλω ἀρέσαι. δόμεναί τ' ἀπερείσι' ἄποινα:
ὑμῖν δ' ἐν πάντεσσι περικλυτὰ δῶρ' ὀνομήνω:
ἑπτ`' ἀπύρους τρίποδας. δέκα δὲ χρυσοῖο τάλαντα.
αἴθωνας δὲ λέβητας, ἐείκοσι: δώδεκα δ' ἵππους
πηγοὺς. ἀθλοφόρους: οἳ ἀέθλια ποσσὶν ἄροντο:
οὔ κεν, ἀλήϊος εἴη ἀνὴρ. ᾧ τόσσα γένοιτο:
οὐδέ κεν ἀκτήμων ἐριτίμοιο χρυσοῖο.
ὅσσά μοι ἠνείκαντο ἀέθλια μώνυχες ἵ̈πποι:
δώσω δ' ἑπτὰ γυναῖκας: ἀμύμονα ἔργ' εἰδυίᾱς
Λεσβίδας. ἃς ὅτε Λέσβον ἐϋκτιμένην ἕλεν αὐτὸς.
ἐξελόμην. αἳ, κάλλει ἐνίκων φῦλα γυναικῶν:
τὰς μέν οἱ, δώσω. μετα δ`' ἔσσεται, ἣν τότ' ἀπηύρων
κούρη Βρισῆος. καὶ ἐπι δὲ μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμοῦμαι
μή ποτε τῆς, εὐνῆς ἐπιβήμεναι ἠδὲ μιγῆναι
ἡ θέμις ἀνθρώπων πέλει. ἀνδρῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν:
ταῦτα μὲν αὐτίκα πάντα παρέσσεται: εἰ δέ κεν αὖτε
ἄστυ μέγα Πριάμοιο θεοὶ δώωσ' ἀλαπάξαι.
νῆα, ἅλις χρυσοῦ καὶ χαλκοῦ νηησάσθω
εἰσελθὼν. ὅτε κεν, δατεώμεθα ληΐδ' Ἀχαιοί:
Τρωϊάδας δὲ γυναῖκας ἐείκοσιν αὐτὸς ἑλέσθω,
αἴ κε μετ' Ἀργείην Ἑλένην κάλλισται ἔωσιν.
To him then spake in answer the king of men, Agamemnon: "Old sir, in no false wise hast thou recounted the tale of my blind folly. Blind I was, myself I deny it not. Of the worth of many hosts is the man whom Zeus loveth in his heart, even as now he honoureth this man and destroyeth the host of the Achaeans. Yet seeing I was blind, and yielded to my miserable passion, I am minded to make amends and to give requital past counting. In the midst of you all let me name the glorious gifts; seven tripods that the fire hath not touched, and ten talents of gold and twenty gleaming cauldrons, and twelve strong horses, winners in the race, that have won prizes by their fleetness. Not without booty were a man, nor unpossessed of precious gold, whoso had wealth as great as the prizes my single-hooved steeds have won me. And I will give seven women skilled in goodly handiwork, women of Lesbos, whom on the day when himself took well-built Lesbos I chose me from out the spoil, and that in beauty surpass all women folk. These will I give him, and amid them shall be she that then I took away, the daughter of Briseus; and I will furthermore swear a great oath that never went I up into her bed neither had dalliance with her as is the appointed way of mankind, even of men and women. All these things shall be ready to his hand forthwith; and if hereafter it so be the gods grant us to lay waste the great city of Priam, let him then enter in, what time we Achaeans be dividing the spoil, and heap up his ship with store of gold and bronze, and himself choose twenty Trojan women that be fairest after Argive Helen.
