How much greater I am than yourself, and a warning to others

Not to oppose my will and talk with me as an equal.’

So said he, and pain seized Pelides, and in the bosom

Under his hairy breast two purposes he divided,

Either, from by his thigh the glittering blade unsheathing,

To put aside the rest and straightway kill Agamemnon,

Or to repress his wrath and check himself in his anger.

With the purposes yet conflicting thus in his bosom,

From the sheath the huge sword was issuing out, when Athena

Came from heaven: the goddess, the white-armed Hera, desired it,