Quote 1
(Achilleus:)
For my mother Thetis the goddess of the silver feet tells me
I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day my death. Either,
if I stay here and fight beside the city of Trojans,
my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting;
but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers,
the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life
left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly. (9.410-416)
Achilleus's destiny gives him a choice over how he is going to lead his life. How does this fit in with the picture of destiny elsewhere in the work? Is Achilleus just special? If you had a destiny like him, would you rather know it or have it kept secret from you?
Quote 2
(Achilleus:)
And now my prize you threaten in person to strip from me,
for whom I labored much, the gift of the sons of the Achaians.
Never, when the Achaians sack some well-founded citadel
of the Trojans, do I have a prize that is equal to your prize. […]
Now I am returning to Phthia, since it is much better
to go home again with my curved ships, and I am minded no longer
to stay here dishonoured and pile up your wealth and your luxury. (1.161-164, 169-171)
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction – except in the case of Achilleus, where the reaction is unequal and vastly more destructive than the original action. All the same, don't you think Achilleus has a bit of a point here? If he's doing all the work, how come Agamemnon gets to take all the credit? Don't you think that would make you a bit angry?
Quote 3
(Achilleus:)
Son of Telamon, seed of Zeus, Aias, lord of the people:
all that you have said seems spoken after my own mind.
Yet still the heart in me swells up in anger, when I remember
the disgrace that he wrought upon me before the Argives,
the son of Atreus, as if I were some dishonoured vagabond. (9.644-648)
This parting remark by Achilleus to the emissaries makes it pretty clear what made him most mad about Agamemnon's actions in Book 1. Agamemnon has just offered to give Achilleus Briseis back, and to swear an oath that he never slept with her. On top of that, he's throwing in a lot of awesome stuff, which you can read about in our summary of Book 9. But Achilleus refuses it all, because he isn't interested in material things: he cares about his honor.