Free An Iliad by Alessandro Baricco Page A

and squint-eyed, and wrinkled, but they struggle to follow in the footsteps of our errors to offer redemption. They are the daughters of Zeus: respect them. If you reject them, they will return to their father and ask him to persecute you. Agamemnon prays that you will let go of your anger: honor that prayer. Don’t let your demon anger control you. Come and defend the ships. What use will it be to save them when they are already in flames?”
    Phoenix.
    Good old Phoenix.
    Don’t love Agamemnon if you don’t want to be hated by me, who love you. Don’t whine to defend him. Love those whom I love and be king with me, and share my honor with me. Let the others go back to the Achaeans with my message. You stay and sleep here, and tomorrow we’ll decide whether to return home on our ships.
    At that point Ajax turned to Odysseus and said, “Let’s go, we’ll get nowhere like this. The heart of Achilles is savage and full of pride, and he is incapable of hearing the friendship we offered him. The Achaeans are waiting for an answer. Let’s bring it to them, even if it is a cruel, foolish answer.”
    There, that’s a good idea, Ajax. Go back to Agamemnon and tell him on my behalf that I will return to battle when Hector reaches my ships, not yours. Here, at my tent, I will stop him, and not before.
    They left. And I could imagine them, the Achaean princes, gathered that night around a fire, hearing my answer, astonished. I could see them return, one by one, each into his own tent, in silence, waiting for the rosy light of Aurora and begging for the gift of sleep.

Diomedes • Odysseus
Diomedes
    We all slept beside our ships, overcome by weariness. But not Agamemnon. He was awake. He went on thinking, and the more he thought, the more his heart trembled in his breast. He looked toward the plain of Troy and what he saw was the Trojans’ fires, burning by the thousand: they were so close that he could hear the voices of the soldiers and the sound of flutes and pipes.
Odysseus
    So Agamemnon rose in anguish. He dressed. He threw over his shoulders the tawny skin of a lion that, broad and full, fell to his feet, and he took his spear and went in search of Nestor. Maybe he had an idea of how to get out of that trap. He was the oldest, the wisest. Maybe together they would think of a plan to save the Achaeans. He went looking for him. In thedarkness—it was still night—he met his brother, Menelaus. He couldn’t sleep, either. He was wandering around, frightened, thinking of the suffering to which he—he—had condemned all the Achaeans. He was armed, the spear in his hand, the helmet on his head, and the skin of a spotted leopard over his shoulders. They looked at each other, the two brothers.
Diomedes
    “What are you doing up, and armed?” Menelaus asked. “Are you looking for someone to send into the Trojan camp, to spy on the enemy’s moves? It won’t be easy to find anyone.”
    “I’m trying to find a plan to save the Achaeans,” Agamemnon answered. “What Hector did today I have never seen done by a man. We won’t soon forget the evil he inflicted on us. I’m afraid that our men won’t remain faithful for long if they continue to suffer like this. Listen to me: you run beside the ships and call Ajax and Idomeneus. And as you go, tell the men to wake, and treat them kindly, don’t be overbearing. I am going to Nestor. I’ll ask him to come to the guard post and talk to the soldiers, they’ll trust him.”
Odysseus
    Menelaus hurried off, and Agamemnon went to Nestor’s tent. He found him lying on a soft bed. Beside him he kept his weapons, the shield, the two spears, the shining helmet. And also that bright-colored war belt that he always wore when he went into battle, leading his men. Although he was old, he wasn’t bent by age, and would still fight. “Who are you, there in the dark?” said Nestor, raising his head. “Don’t come any closer. Tell me who you are.”
    “It’s Agamemnon, Nestor. I’m