The Iliad Antilochus Quotes

Antilochus was the first to kill a Trojan captain,
tough on the front lines, Thalysias’ son Echepolus.
Antilochus thrust first, speared the horsehair helmet
right at the ridge, and the bronze spearpoint lodged
in the man’s forehead, smashing through his skull
and the dark came whirling down across his eyes –
he toppled down like a tower in the rough assault.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 529-535. There is a lot of gore in The Iliad. In this brutal battle scene the killing of a Trojan captain by Antilochus is described in gruesome detail. Homer uses a simile to describe how, mortally wounded, he topples like a tower.

he turned tail and broke like a rogue beast
that’s done some serious damage, mauled a dog to death
or a herdsman tending flocks, and takes to his heels
before the gangs of men can group and go against him.
So Antilochus turned and ran.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 679-683. Antilochus cannot hold his ground against Hector, so he turns tail and runs from the Trojan warrior. An epic simile likens his flight to a rogue beast that flees after mauling a dog to death or attacking a herdsman tending flocks.

And with that the red-haired captain moved ahead
like an eagle scanning left and right, the bird men say
has the sharpest eyes of all that fly the heavens:
high as he soars he’ll never miss the racing hare
cowering down low in the dense, shaggy brush –
down on its head he swoops
and pins it fast and rips its life away. So now,
Menelaus O my King, you turned your shining eyes,
scanning the crowds of comrades front and rear,
trying to see if Nestor’s son was still alive.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 758-767. Menelaus goes off to look for Antilochus and is likened in an extended Homeric simile to a sharp-eyed eagle scanning left and right for a racing hare as he soars.

By skill, too, the captain holds his ship on course,
scudding the wine-dark sea though rocked by gales.
By skill alone, charioteer outraces charioteer.
The average driver, leaving all to team and car,
recklessly makes his turn, veering left and right,
his pair swerving over the course – he can’t control them.
But the cunning driver, even handling slower horses,
always watches the post, turns it close, never loses
the first chance to relax his reins and stretch his pair
but he holds them tight till then, eyes on the leader.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 360-369. At the funeral games to honor Patroclus, Nestor coaches his son Antilochus with tips for the chariot race. Despite his son having the "slowest nags", Nestor says that it is skill and not brawn that will see one charioteer outrace the others.

Tight as the closing gap between the wheel and horse
when he hauls his master’s car top speed across the flats,
the very tip of his tail brushing the running-rim
and the wheel spins closer, hardly a gap between
as he sweeps the open plain – that much, no more,
Menelaus trailed Antilochus, dauntless driver.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 575-580. Menelaus comes in very close to Antilochus in the chariot race. Homer’s epic simile describes it as tight as the closing gap between chariot wheel and horse when it strains to pull the master fast across the plain.

Come over here, Antilochus, royal prince –
this is the old custom. Come, stand in front
of your team and chariot, grasp the coiling whip
that lashed them home, lay your hand on their manes
and swear by the mighty god who grips and shakes the earth
you never blocked my chariot – not by deliberate foul.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 645-650. Menelaus calls Antilochus out for unsportsmanlike conduct during the chariot race. He makes Antilochus swear by the god Poseidon that he did not deliberately block his chariot during the race.

With that the son of magnanimous old Nestor
led the mare and turned her over to Menelaus’ hands.
And his heart melted now like the dew that wets the corn
when the fresh stalks rise up and the ripe fields ripple –
so the heart in your chest was melted now, Menelaus.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 662-666. Menelaus forgives Antilochus for his actions in the chariot race, after Antilochus gives him the mare that he won. An epic simile describes Menelaus’s heart melting like the dew on ripening ears of corn.
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