He sued to all, but chief implored for grace
The brother-kings, of Atreus' royal race.
"Ye kings and warriors! may your vows be crown'd,
And Troy's proud walls lie level with the ground.
May Jove restore you when your toils are o'er
Safe to the pleasures of your native shore.
But, oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain,
And give Chryseis to these arms again."
Pope, Iliad, Book I.
Hearing the prayer of the venerable priest, many of the chiefs were moved to pity, and they advised that his request should be granted, but Agamemnon angrily refused.
Apollo.
Berlin Museum.
He dismissed
The priest with scorn, and added threatening words:—
"Old man, let me not find thee loitering here,
Beside the roomy ships, or coming back
Hereafter, lest the fillet thou dost bear
And scepter of thy god protect thee not.
This maiden I release not till old age
Shall overtake her in my Argive home,
Far from her native country."
Bryant, Iliad, Book I.
Chryses then departed from the Grecian camp, and as he returned home in sorrow, walking along the shores of the sea, he prayed to Apollo to punish the insult thus offered to his priest.
"O Smintheus! if I ever helped to deck
Thy glorious temple, if I ever burned
Upon thy altar the fat thighs of goats
And bullocks, grant my prayer, and let thy shafts
Avenge upon the Greeks the tears I shed."
Bryant, Iliad, Book I.