Why, any man will accept the blood-price paid
for a brother murdered, a child done to death.
And the murderer lives on in his own country –
the man has paid enough, and the injured kinsman
curbs his pride, his smoldering, vengeful spirit,
once he takes the price.
You – the gods have planted
a cruel, relentless fury in your chest! All for a girl.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 9, lines 771-777. Great Ajax cannot fathom why Achilles is so full of rage and refuses to forgive and end the quarrel with Agamemnon. He points out that people put aside their differences and curb their pride when they accept blood money for a murdered brother or child. But not Achilles, in whose heart the gods have put a relentless fury – all over the girl Briseis.