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             With this oath issued to Agamemnon and the Akhaians, Achilles withdraws his troops, the Myrmidons, and refuses to fight until his own ships and camp are threatened by the Trojans, or Danáäns. For twelve days Achilles sat apart from the rest of his men, staring out to the ocean, ruled by this menis, having no ability to go on with his life until he is aided by his mother, Thetis, imploring Zeus to help Achilles win back his honor. At length, Zeus agrees to help Thetis and Achilles, and in Book II he initializes his plan by sending a dream to Agamemnon in an attempt to persuade the Akhaians to fight. Instead, his plan backfires as Agamemnon decides to test his men by telling them they are returning home. Eventually, however, the Akhaians are ready to do battle with the Trojans. Noticeably absent in this battle are Achilles and the Myrmidons, as Achilles is still sitting separate from his men, gazing out to sea. As the epic continues, Achilles name is not mentioned with any significance until Book IX, when Nestor advises Agamemnon to make amends with Achilles, as the Akhaians were beginning to lose the war to the Trojans. Agamemnon sends Odysseus, Aias, and Phoinix to try and persuade Achilles and the Myrmidons to rejoin the war with promises of many gifts of appeasement. All three men separately try and persuade Achilles to do battle again, but Achilles continually refuses Agamemnon's plea and offers of gifts. .

             Give in to Agamemnon? I think not, neither to him nor to the rest. I had small thanks for fighting, fighting without truce against hard enemies here. The portion's equal whether a man hangs back or fights his best; the same respect, or lack of it, is given brave man and coward. One who's active dies like the do-nothing. What least thing have I to show for it, for harsh days of undergone and my life gambled, all these years of war? A bird will give her fledglings every scrap she comes by, and go hungry, foraging.