Briseis : daughter of Briseus, a Trojan leader of Lyrnessus; Achilles sacked his town, killed him & carried off his daughter making her his slave. Agamemnon (q.v.) stole her setting off the “wrath of Achilles”, which forms the central “problem” of the Iliad.
... the clutch of the boys and the maidens." But to Briseis white-armed made answer smiling Achilles: "Something sorely thou needst, for thou flatterest long, O Briseis. Tell me, O woman, thy fear or thy dream that my touch may dispel it, White-armed net of bliss slipped down from the gold Aphrodite." And to Achilles answered the captive white Briseis: "Long have they vexed my soul in the tents of... shadows." But to Briseis answered the hero, mighty Pelides, Holding her delicate hands like gathered flowers in his bosom, Pressing her passionate mouth like a rose that trembles with beauty. "There then follow me even as I would have drawn thee, O woman, Voice that chimes with my soul and hands that are eager for service, Beautiful spoil beloved of my foemen, perfect Briseis Page 439 ... Ilus. Just was the heart of their anger. Discord flaming from Ida, Hundred-voiced glared from the ships through the camp of the victor Achaians,— Love to that discord added her flowerlike lips of Briseis; Faltering lids of Polyxena conquered the strength of Pelides. Vainly the gods who pity open the gates of salvation! Vainly the winds of their mercy breathe on our fevered existence! Man his passions ...
... father, a priest of Apollo, so as to appease the wrath of Apollo, who had killed many in the camp with a pestilence. An angry Agamemnon recouped his loss by depriving Achilles of his favourite slave, Briseis. Achilles refused further service, and consequently the Greeks floundered so badly that at last Achilles allowed Patroclus to impersonate him lending him his chariot and armour. Hector (the eldest ...
... and Page 54 after hearing Agamemnon, Menelaus and Odysseus, they too decide to join the fray at Achilles' side. In a short Book Achilles takes leave of his mistress, Briseis. There is also a synod of the gods on Olympus, and the future is dimly determined after a long debate: "And in the noon there was night. And Apollo passed out of Troya." 121 The battle at last ...
... concubines; Agamemnon had taken the fair Chryseis, Achilles the fair Briseis. A soothsayer now declares that Apollo is withholding success from the Greeks because Agamemnon has violated the daughter of Apollo's priest, Chryseis. The King restores Chryseis to her father, but, to console himself and point a tale, he compels Briseis to leave Achilles and take Chryseis' place in the royal tent. Achilles... praise and gifts — a flower of courtesy floating on a sea of blood. (VIII) After a day of Trojan victories, Hector bids his warriors rest. (IX) Nestor, King of Elian Pylus, advises Agamemnon to restore Briseis to Achilles; he agrees and promises Achilles half of Greece if he will rejoin the siege; but Achilles continues to pout. (X) Odysseus and Diomed make a two-man sally upon the Trojan camp at night and ...
... 'overhead' planes, there are minglings, matings, meltings, partings. In the foreground is played the shattering last act of the Trojan War. The women - Helen, Hecuba, Cassandra, Polyxena, Creusa, Briseis - are carefully delineated. The Trojan heroes are mythic figures, and of them Aeneas alone stands apart - he is the hope of the future. For the rest, the chieftains and warriors are so many, on the... aiming an arrow at his vulnerable heel with Apollo's connivance, and the Greeks practise deceit and enter Troy the same night and set fire to it. All this is prefigured in Cassandra's prophecies and Briseis' visions and Aeneas' dream. Thus his prophetic sister to Paris about Achilles: * See also Sethna, Sri Aurobindo - The Poet, pp. 319ff. Page 643 Yes, he shall fall and his slayer... virtues shall not protect her... Woe is me, woe for the flame that approaches the house of my fathers! 94 Aeneas dreams that Ilion's streets are on fire and foemen are around him, and Briseis sees thrice a bow releasing an arrow that strikes Achilles' heel.95 And Cassandra sees "centuries slain by a single day of the anger of heaven". Like the Iliad and the Aeneid, llion too ...
... long debate, most of the Greek chieftains favor a last and decisive battle that will see them back to their ships and their beloved homeland. We are then told of the parting of Achilles and Briseis, and are Page 62 reminded of the fate of Achilles who is to find his death at Paris’ hand. Over the sea in my dream an argent bow was extended Nearing I saw a terror august... verse consisting of six metrical feet. The hexameter was very much used by Homer, Virgil and other Greek and Latin poets. 3. "To thunder through Asia plain to the Ganges": With this line Briseis takes us almost a thousand years after the Trojan war when Alexander the Great was to fulfill Achilles' vision of a unified land going from Xanthus to the Ganges. Exceptional man of war and great visionary ...
... had to give back his price of honor he would have another in her stead. Therefore when Chryseis was returned to her father, he sent his squires to Achilles’ tent to take away from him the captive Briseis, Achilles’ own price of honor. Deeply humiliated Achilles retaliated by withdrawing from battle and this decision resulted in needless suffering and death among the Greeks. The war by now had... in the Greek camp and Agamemnon himself was all for giving up and sailing back to Greece. His advisers though counseled him to apologize to Achilles, and Agamemnon finally accepted to send him back Briseis and many other splendid gifts if only he would rejoin the Greek ranks and keep Hector from burning their ships but Achilles still refused his help. Not until his beloved friend Patroclus finds ...
... waves of form and colour, when I see rolling down on me with its curled forehead this third wave of perfume which I do not hope to outlive. But to the venturous Fortune is as compliant as a captive Briseis and I will boldly plunge into the crash of the breaking water and call manner the perfume of a quality, for in manner resides the subtle aroma and sense of Page 73 something delicious but ...
... fall of Troy before returning home to Ithaca. The passage has a very dramatic effect, as of prophecy, for all who remember the subject of Homer's Odyssey. The line, put into the mouth of Briseis, in The Book of the Woman, Stronger there by love as thou than I here, O Achilles, sounds a little strange in construction until we realise what it means: "Just as here you are physically ...
... to free his heart from fear. Then Priam and herald, minds set on the journey home, bedded down for the night within the porch's shelter. And deep in his sturdy well-built lodge Achilles slept with Briseis in all her beauty sleeping by his side. Now the great array of gods and chariot-driving men slept all night long, overcome by gentle sleep. But sleep could never hold the running Escort — Hermes ...
... Poseidon. Barrow: a large sepulchral mound; a tumulus. Bird of omen: to discover the will of the gods, the Greeks consulted oracles who observed the flight of birds. Briseis: daughter of Briseus, a Lyrnessian from the Troad; she became Achilles' slave-concubine when he sacked her town and killed her husband. She was later taken from Achilles by his king Agamemnon ...
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