The other chiefs and princes slept soundly all the night long:
but not Agamemnon. No sleeps visited his eyes; the lord and
commander of that great host had too much to make him anxious.
He groaned again and again from the bottom of his heart, and
his spirit trembled within him. There was storm in his mind;
as when Zeus Thunderer flashes the lightning and sends torrents
of rain or hail, or covers the fields with snow, or when he
opens the mouth of ravening war. So we may imagine the King
puffing and groaning as thick as hail, when he looked out over
the plain.
The Iliad
Book 10. |
Fate stands now upon the razor's edge.
The Iliad
Book 10. |
Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle, would be able
to live on forever, ageless, immortal, so neither would I myself
go on fighting in the foremost, nor would I urge you into the
fighting where men win glory. But now, seeing that the spirits
of death stand close about us in their thousands, no man can
turn aside or escape them, let us go on and win glory for ourselves,
or yield it to others.
The Iliad
Book 12. |
This is the one best omen, to fight in defence of one's country.
The Iliad
Book 12. |
Such were the calamities which the two mighty sons of Cronos
brought upon the fighting hosts by their conflicting wills.
Zeus willed victory to Hector and the Trojans.... Poseidon was
for the Argives; he slipt out secretly from the sea and supported
them because he was grieved at their discomfiture and indignant
against Zeus.... So the two gripped the rope of war and tugged
away over both armies with strong pulls, never breaking or loosing
it while they loosed the knees of many a man.
The Iliad
Book 13. |
The best of things, beyond their measure, cloy;
Sleep’s balmy blessing, love’s endearing joy;
The feast, the dance; whate’er mankind desire,
Even the sweet charms of sacred numbers tire.
But Troy for ever reaps a dire delight
In thirst of slaughter, and in lust of fight.
The Iliad
Book 13. |
Zeus it seems has given us from youth to old age a nice ball
of wool to wind-nothing but wars upon wars until we shall perish
every one.
The Iliad
Book 14. |
For our country ’t is a bliss to die.
The Iliad
Book 15. |
Give me your armor to put on your shoulders;
The Trojans might suppose I was you,
Hold back, and give the Acheans' sons a breather,
For breathing spells in war are very few.
Then, with a shout, fresh men might easily
Turn tired men from the ships toward the city.
The Iliad
Patroclus begs Achilles to let him fight
against the Trojans, Chapter 16. |
He lay great and greatly fallen, forgetful of his horsemanship.
The Iliad
Book 16. |
Words are potent in debate, deeds in war decide your fate.
The Iliad
Book 16. |
Among all creatures that breathe on earth and crawl on it
there is not anywhere a thing more dismal than man is.
The Iliad
Book 17. |
It lies in the lap of the gods.
The Iliad
Book 17. |
I sat by the ships, a useless burden,
though there are better in Assembly -
so may this strife of men and gods be done with.
The Iliad
Achilles' remorse for his hand in Patroclus
death, Book 18. |
The God of War will see fair play--he's often slain that wants
to slay!
The Iliad
Book 18. |
Men soon grow sick of battle; when Zeus the steward of warfare
tilts the scales, and cold steel reaps the fields, the grain
is very little but the straw is very much. The belly is a bad
mourner, and fasting will not bury the dead. Too many are falling,
man after man and day after day; how could one ever have a moment's
rest from privations? No, we must harden our hearts, and bury
the man who dies and shed our tears that day. But those who
survive the horrors of war should not forget to eat and drink,
and then we shall be better able to wear our armour, which never
grows weary, and to fight our enemies for ever and ever.
The Iliad
Book 19 . |
Pity, while yet I live, these silver hairs;
While yet thy father feels the woes he bears,
Yet cursed with sense! a wretch, whom in his rage
(All trembling on the verge of helpless age)
Great Jove has placed, sad spectacle of pain!
The bitter dregs of fortune’s cup to drain:
To fill with scenes of death his closing eyes,
And number all his days by miseries!
My heroes slain, my bridal bed o’erturn’d,
My daughters ravish’d, and my city burn’d,
My bleeding infants dash’d against the floor;
These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more!
Perhaps even I, reserved by angry fate,
The last sad relic of my ruin’d state,
(Dire pomp of sovereign wretchedness!) must fall,
And stain the pavement of my regal hall;
Where famish’d dogs, late guardians of my door,
Shall lick their mangled master’s spatter’d gore.
The Iliad
Book 22. |
Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best.
The Iliad
Book 22. |
No more entreating, dog, by knees or parents.
I only wish my fury would compel me
To cut away your flesh and eat it raw
For what you've done. No one can keep the dogs
Off of your head, not if they brought me ransom
Of ten or twenty times as much, or more.
The Iliad
Achilles, as he kills Hector, Book 22. |
Thou know’st the o’er-eager vehemence of youth,
How quick in temper, and in judgement weak.
The Iliad
Book 23. |
’T is true, ’t is certain; man though dead retains
Part of himself: the immortal mind remains.
The Iliad
Book 23. |
"Honor the gods, Achilles; pity him.
Think of your father; I'm more pitiful;
I've suffered what no other mortal has,
I've kissed the hand of one who killed my children."
He spoke, and stirred Achilles' grief to tears;
He gently pushed the old man's hand away.
They both remembered; Priam wept for Hector,
Sitting crouched before Achilles' feet.
Achilles mourned his father, then again
Patroculs, and their mourning stirred the house.
The Iliad
Priam, King of Troy, begging for Hector's
body, Book 24. |
Don't be angry, Patroclus, if you learn -
even though you're in Hades - I gave Hector back
to his father for a worthy ransom
But I shall give a proper share to you.
The Iliad
Achilles, Book 24. |
The
ideal Valentine gift! Get our outrageously funny quotes book at -
The Iliad, Books 1-9
