Which, then, of the gods, engaged these two in strife, so that they should fight?[3] The son of Latona and Jove; for he, enraged with the king, stirred up an evil pestilence through the army [and the people kept perishing][4]; because the son of Atreus had dishonoured the priest Chryses: for he came to the swift ships of the Greeks to ransom his daughter, and bringing invaluable ransoms, having in his hands the fillets of far-darting Apollo on his golden sceptre. And he supplicated all the Greeks, but chiefly the two sons of Atreus, the leaders of the people:
"Ye sons of Atreus, and ye other well-greaved Greeks, to you indeed may the gods, possessing the heavenly dwellings, grant to destroy the city of Priam, and to return home safely: but for me, liberate my beloved daughter, and accept the ransoms, reverencing the son of Jove, far-darting Apollo."
[Footnote 3: Rut see Anthon.]
[Footnote 4: Observe the full force of the imperfect tense.]