As I sat by my campsite, I could see all of the troops were brokenhearted. Even that foul stenched King was finally admitting this war was a failure and proposing to head home. With his tail between his legs if I do say so. However Diomedes insisted that they stay and fight. Nestor was the first to suggest a reconciliation with me. Surprisingly, Agamemnon agreed to this and offered me plentyful gifts, including Briseis on my return to the lines. But that King doesn't do it himself, he got Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix to reconcile on his behalf. These great men were just wasting there time, there was no way I was going to accept. The only way I would, is if he did it himself, and apologized for disrespecting my honr.. Only then would I consider returning to the lines. But that didn't matter, me and my men are returning to Phthia. Coming here was a mistake and I would rather live a long life, over a short and glorious one. I even offered to bring Phoenix with me, but he still tried to get me to stay by reminding me of the story of Meleager, who was coincidentally kind of like me. However, that still didn't convince me, so Agamemnon's embassy had to return in failure. Later that night, Agamemnon and Menelaus, woke up the others, and planned the next move. With Nestor's clever thinking, both Odysseus and Diomedes were to infiltrate and spy on the Trojan ranks. Coincidentally, the Trojans planned the same thing, and Hector picked Dolon to do the infiltration. From what I heard, Dolon was going to offer Hector MY chariot and horses once the men fell. How dare that little freak tempt to try and steal from me. He wouldn't have gone more than a hundred meters before I struck him down. Fortunately Dolon was captured my Odysseus and Diomedes, so that never happened. They interrogated Dolon, and he told them of the Trojan positions along with their allies, including the Thracian weaklings. When they were done Diomedes killed Dolon. Afterwards, the two spies, rushed toward the Thracian camp, killed a few men, along with their king Rhesus. Odysseus and Diomedes end up stealing Rhesus's chariot and horses, and end up riding back to the Greek camp. Unfortunately, the Achaean victory was very short lived. The next morning Zeus caused panic throughout the Achaean lines, fortunately the massacre that occurred was short lived because the Achaeans picked up some ground. Even Agamemnon was surprisingly able to kill some Trojans and even fought them back to the city gate. But like the foolish king he is, he eventually got wounded, which was foretold to Hector by the Goddess Iris. At this moment, the Trojans fought the Greeks back. Luckily, if it wasn't for Odysseus and Diomedes, the Greeks would've retreated. Amazingly the brave Diomedes and able to make the mighty Hector bleed, and even more amazingly, Paris, yes, that little wuss Paris was able to wound Diomedes somehow. Even the cunning Odysseus got injured in the ribs by Socus. After Hector returned to the battle from what would be a mere flesh wound to me, he begins another assault on the Greeks. Panic soon comes to the Greeks when our healer, Machaon, gets wounded by Paris. Where was this side of that puss a few days ago? I couldn't help but notice but Machaon going by on his chariot, so I sent Patroclus to find out his status. Apparently, Nestor begged to Patroclus for my return to the lines, or if Patroclus could in stead, in my armor. Surprisingly, Patroclus agreed, I can only hope that he knows what he is getting himself into.
If you had to pick what the first two books were about, clearly they are about me and the other Greek leaders begging for my return. And another part is also about the reconnaissance mission of Odysseus and Diomedes, but mostly about me. If you look back Agamemnon never apologizes in disgracing my honor. He thinks that gifts would fix what he had done. NO!! If Agamemnon came to me, saying he messed up, apologized for disgracing my honor, and even say that I am better than him, then I would probably rejoin the fight. But he didn't and so I stay on the sides lines, awaiting for the coming day me and my men return to Phthia. Book 11 of our story shows major instances of divine intervention. The most significant was the manipulation of Zeus. He showered the Greeks with fear which aided the Trojans for a time. The only thing that could truly inspire my fellow Greeks would be by Patroclus fighting in my stead, and in my armor. May the Gods have mercy on my good friend Patroclus. I couldn't fathom what would happen if something happened to my close companion.
Link to Scholarly Article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20162854?seq=1&Search=yes&searchText=Achilles&searchText=Agamemnon&searchText=begging&searchText=return&searchText=Iliad&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DThe%2BIliad%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3DAgamemnon%2Bbegging%2Bfor%2BAchilles%2Breturn%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26Search%3DSearch%26ar%3Don%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26pt%3D%26isbn%3D&prevSearch=&item=4&ttl=105&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null
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