The Iliad Glaucus Quotes

Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men.
Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth,
now the living timber bursts with the new buds
and spring comes round again. And so with men:
as one generation comes to life, another dies away.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 171-175. Glaucus, fighting on the side of the Trojans, says this to Greek warrior Diomedes on the bloodied battlefield, after Diomedes asks him: "Who are you, my fine friend? – another born to die?" In an epic simile the lives of humans are compared to the generations of leaves on the trees, which fall and are replaced by new leaves in the spring. In this passage the fallen leaves stand for fallen soldiers.

But as he turned back,
his host spun out the tightest trap of all:
picking the best men from Lycia far and wide
he set an ambush – that never came home again!
Fearless Bellerophon killed them all.
Then, yes,
when the king could see the man’s power at last,
a true son of the gods, he pressed him hard to stay,
he offered his own daughter’s hand in marriage,
he gave him half his royal honors as the king.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 220-228. Glaucus recounts the story of his heroic grandfather Bellerophon to Diomedes, when they meet as enemies on the battlefield. Bellerophon was sent by Proetus to Iobates, the king of Lycia, with a message that he was to be slain. A trap was set but Bellerophon killed all those sent to ambush him. When the Lycian king saw his power and heroism, he took him into his household and offered him his daughter’s hand in marriage.

When he heard that, Diomedes’ spirits lifted.
Raising his spear, the lord of the war cry drove it home,
planting it deep down in the earth that feeds us all
and with winning words he called out to Glaucus,
the young captain, "Splendid – you are my friend,
my guest from the days of our grandfathers long ago!
…Come, let us keep clear of each other’s spears,
even there in the thick of battle. Look,
plenty of Trojans there for me to kill,
your famous allies too, any soldier the god
will bring in range or I can run to ground.
And plenty of Argives too – kill them if you can.
But let’s trade armor. The men must know our claim:
we are sworn friends from our fathers’ days till now!"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 253-258, 270-277. This is a very strange meeting on a battlefield. Achaean warrior Diomedes and Lycian army captain Glaucus meet as enemies but end up becoming sworn friends. On hearing the story of Glacus’s heroic grandfather, Diomedes plants his spear in the earth, calls Glaucus his friend and offers to trade armor with him.
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