Achilles answered Odysseus plainly. He hated like the gates of Hades the man who hides one thing in his heart and says another. He would speak as it seemed best: Agamemnon would not persuade him, nor would the other Danaans, because there had been no thanks for fighting the enemy without rest.
The same share comes to the man who stays back and to the man who fights, he said; coward and brave are held in one honor, and death comes to the idle and the worker alike.
He had worn out his heart in battle, like a bird carrying food to unfledged young while she goes hungry. He had sacked twelve cities by sea and eleven by land, and gave the spoil to Agamemnon, who sat by the ships and took the greatest share.
The sons of the Achaeans had given prizes to the chiefs, and each man kept his. From Achilles alone Agamemnon took back the woman he loved. Why must Argives fight Trojans? Why had Atreus's son gathered the army, if not for Helen? Do only the sons of Atreus love their wives? Any decent man loves and cares for his own, and Achilles loved Briseis from his heart though she was won by the spear.
Now Agamemnon had deceived and robbed him; let him not test Achilles again. Let him enjoy his prize and the ruin Zeus had given him. Achilles would not help him plan or work. The wall the Achaeans built without proper offerings would not save them; Hector would bring fire and killing to the ships while Achilles stayed away.
At dawn, Achilles said, they would see his ships sailing over the Hellespont if they cared to look. With good weather he could reach fertile Phthia on the third day.
He had wealth there and would bring more from Troy: gold, bronze, women, gray iron. But not the prize Agamemnon took. Not even if gifts were as many as sand or dust would he take Atreus's daughter, not if she rivaled golden Aphrodite in beauty and Athena in work.
Let Agamemnon choose another Achaean son-in-law more kingly than Achilles. Peleus himself would choose him a wife at home from Hellas or Phthia, and he would love her and enjoy the possessions the old man owned. His mother Thetis had told him two fates: if he stayed at Troy, his homecoming was lost but his glory would never die; if he went home, his glory was lost but his life would be long.
He advised the others to sail home too, for they would not find an end of high Ilios. Zeus had stretched his hand over it, and its people had taken courage. Let the embassy carry his answer. Phoenix could sleep there and sail with him in the morning if he wished; Achilles would not force him.