Quotes from work
Iliad

HomérOriginal title Ἰλιάς

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.

“Sleep, universal king of gods and men.”

Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Bird-signs!
Fight for your country—that is the best, the only omen!”

XII. 243 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“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.”

XII. 322–328 (tr. R. Lattimore); Sarpedon to Glaukos.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“There she encountered Sleep, the brother of Death.”

XIV. 231 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“But if you're a man who eats the crops of the earth,
a mortal born for death—here, come closer,
the sooner you will meet your day to die!”

VI. 142–143 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“When a Man's exhausted, wine will build his strength.”

VI. 261 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“The will of Zeus was accomplished.”

I. 5 (tr. Richmond Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“The majestic king of Troy slipped past the rest
and kneeling down beside Achilles, clasped his knees
and kissed his hands, those terrible, man-killing hands
that had slaughtered Priam's many sons in battle.”

XXIV. 477–479 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Easily seen is the strength that is given from Zeus to mortals.”

XV. 490 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Then looking at him darkly resourceful Odysseus spoke to him:
"What is this word that broke through the fence of your teeth, Atreides?"”

IV. 350–351 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“But when he let loose that great voice from his chest
and the words came piling on like a driving winter blizzard —
then no man alive could rival Odysseus! Odysseus…
we no longer gazed in wonder at his looks.”

III. 221–224 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“I am foremost of all the Trojan warriors to stave the day of bondage from off them; as for you, vultures shall devour you here.”

XVI (tr. Samuel Butler); Hector to Patroclus.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“He bent drooping his head to one side, as a garden poppy
bends beneath the weight of its yield and the rains of springtime;
so his head bent slack to one side beneath the helm's weight.”

VIII. 306–308 (tr. R. Lattimore); the death of Gorgythion.
Alexander Pope's translation:
: As full-blown poppies, overcharged with rain,
Decline the head, and drooping kiss the plain, —
So sinks the youth; his beauteous head, depressed
Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“But the will of Zeus will always overpower the will of men.”

XVI. 688 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“So they spoke, and both springing down from behind their horses
gripped each other's hands and exchanged the promise of friendship;
but Zeus the son of Kronos stole away the wits of Glaukos
who exchanged with Diomedes the son of Tydeus armour
of gold for bronze, for nine oxen's worth the worth of a hundred.”

VI. 232–236 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“The woodcutter is far better for skill than he is for brute strength.
It is by skill that the sea captain holds his rapid ship
on its course, though torn by winds, over the wine-blue water.
By skill charioteer outpasses charioteer.”

XXIII. 315–318 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“The Fates have given mortals hearts that can endure.”

XXIV. 49 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“Lordship for many is no good thing. Let there be one ruler,
one king.”

II. 204–205 (tr. R. Lattimore).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“From whose lips the streams of words ran sweeter than honey.”

I. 249 (tr. Richmond Lattimore); of Nestor.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

“I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aiakos.”

XVI (tr. S. Butler); Patroclus to Hector.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)

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