HOMER - The Iliad of Homer

HOMER:  

The Iliad of Homer

The son of Atreus rose in anger, and threatened that which he has since done. The Achaeans are now taking the girl in a ship to Chryse, and sending gifts of sacrifice to the god, but the heralds have just taken from my tent the daughter of Briseus, whom the Achaeneans had awarded to myself.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 1, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 6

So he went back in anger, and Apollo, who loved him dearly, heard his prayer.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer, Book 1,  Great Books Volume 4, pg. 7

Whereon the son of Atreus rose in anger, and threated that which he has since done.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 1, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 7

 Help your brave son, therefore, if you are able. Go to Olympus, and if you have ever done him service in word or deed, implore the aid of Jove.

HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 1, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 7

Thetis wept and answered, “My son, woe is me that I should have borne and suckled you. Would indeed that you had lived your span free from all sorrow at your ships, for it is all too brief; alas, that you should be at once short of life and long of sorrow above your peers; owe, therefore, was the hour in which I bore you;
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 1, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 7

They robbed him of his divine power of song, and thenceforth he could strike the lyre no more.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 2, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 16

“I wish,” he said to him, “that your limbs were as supple and your strength as sure as your judgment is; but age, the common enemy of mankind, as laid his hand upon you; would that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 4, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 27

I have neither fault to find nor orders to give you, for I know your heart is right, and that you and I are of a mind.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 4, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 27

His son can talk more glibly, but he cannot fight as his father did.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 4, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 27

Then Diomed killed Axylus son of Teuthranus, a rich man who lived in the strong city of Arisbe, and was beloved by all men; for he had a house by the roadside, and entertained every one who passed by; howbeit not one of his guests stood before him to save his life, and Diomed killed both him and his squire Calesius, who was then his charioteer – so the pair passed beneath the earth.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 6, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 40

“Wine gives a man fresh strength when he is wearied, as you now are with fighting on behalf of your kinsmen.”
And Hector answered, “Honoured mother, bring no wine, let you unman me and I forget my strength. I dare not make a drink offering to Jove with unwashed hands; one who is bespattered with blood and filth many not pray to the son of Saturn.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 6, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 42

And Alexandrus answered, “Hector, your rebuke is just; listen therefore, and believed me when I tell you that I am not here so much through rancor or ill-will towards the Trojans, as from a desire to indulge my grief.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 6, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 43

Brother,” said she, “to my abhorred and sinful self, would that a whirlwind had caught me up on the day my mother brought me forth, and had borne me to some mountain or to the waves of the roaring sea that should have swept me away ere this mischief had come about. But, since the gods have devised these evils, would, at any rate, that I had been wife to a better man – to one who could smart under dishonor and men’s evil speeches.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 6, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 43

“Your valour will bring you to destruction; think on your infant son, and on my hapless self who ere long shall be your widow – for the Achaeans will set upon you in a body and kill you. It would be better for me, would I lose you, to lie dead and buried, for I shall have nothing left to comfort me when you are gone, save only sorrow. I have neither father nor mother now.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 6, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 44

Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he could get no rest.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 10, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 65

Ulysses was now alone; not one of the Argives stood by him, for they were all panic-stricken. “Alas,“ he said to himself in his dismay, “What will become of me? It is ill if I turn and fly before these odds, but it will be worse if I am left alone and taken prisoner, for the son of Saturn has struck the rest of the Danaans with panic. But why talk to myself in this way? Well do I know that though cowards quite the field, a hero, whether he wound or be wounded, must stand firm and hold his own.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 11, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 76

To this Neptune lord of the earth quake made answer, “Idomeneus, may he never return from Troy, but remain there for dogs to batten upon, who is this day willfully slack in fighting. Get your armour and go, we must make all hast together if we may be of any use through we are only two. Even cowards gain courage from companionship, and we two can hold our own with the bravest.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 13, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 90

Idomeneus answered, “I know you for a brave man; you need not tell me. If the best men at the ships were being chosen to go on an ambush – and there is nothing like this for showing what a man is made of; it comes out then who is cowardly and who brave
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 13, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 91

Hector, there is no persuading you to take advice. Because heaven has so richly endowed you with the arts of war, you think that you must therefore excel others in counsel; but you cannot thus claim preeminence in all things. Heaven has made one man an excellent soldier; of another it has made a dancer or a singer and player on the lyre; while yet in another Jove has implanted a wise understanding of which men reap fruit to the saving of many, and he himself knows more about it than any one; therefore I will say what I think will be best.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 13, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 96

The Trojans are fighting stubbornly and without ceasing at the ships; look where you may you cannot see from what quarter the rout of the Achaeans is coming; they are being killed in a confused mass and the battle-cry ascends to heaven; let us think, if counsel can be of any use, what we had better do; but I do not advise our going into battle ourselves, for a man cannot fight when he is wounded.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 14, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 98

There is nothing wrong in flying ruin even by night. It is better for a man that he should fly and be saved than be caught and killed.
Ulysses looked fiercely at him and said, “Son of Atreus, what are you talking about? Wretch, you should have commanded some other and baser army, and not been ruler over us to whom Jove has allotted a life of hard fighting from youth to old age till we every one of us perish.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer, Book 14, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 99

Agamemnon answered, “Ulysses, your rebuke has stung me to the heart. I am not however, ordering the Achaeans to draw their ships into the sea whether they will nor no. Some one, it may be old or young, can offer us better counsel which I shall rejoice to hear.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 14, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 99

When Achilles saw him thus weeping he was sorry for him and said, “Why, Patroclus, do you stand there weeping like some silly child that come running to her mother, and begs to be taken up and carried – she catches hold of  her mother’s dress to stay her through she is in a hurry, and looks tearfully up until her mother carried her – even such tears, Patroclus, are you now shedding.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 16, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 112

Even as fierce ravening wolves that are feasting upon a horned stag which they have killed upon the mountains, and their jaws are red with blood – they go in a pack to lap water from the clear spring with their long think tongues; and they reek of blood and slaughter; they know not what fear is, for it is hunger drives them – even so did the leaders and counsellors of the Myrmidons gather round the good squire of the fleet descendant of Aeacus, and among them stood Achilles himself cheering on both men and horses.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 16, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 113

‘Cruel son of Peleus,’ you would say, ‘your mother must have suckled you on gall, so ruthless are you.’
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 16, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 114

They came swarming out like wasps whose nests are by the roadside, and whom silly children love to tease, whereon any one who happens to be passing may get stung – or again, if a wayfarer going along the road vexes them by accident, every wasp will come flying out in a fury to defend his little ones – even with such a rage an courage did the Myrmidons swarm from their ships, and their cry of battle rose heavenwards.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 16, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 115

As he spoke he took the blood-stained spoils and laid them upon his chariot; then he mounted the car with his hands and feet all steeped in gore as a lion that has been gorging upon a bull.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 17, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 127

“even a fool may see that father Jove is helping the Trojans. All their weapons strike home; no matter whether it be a brave man or a coward that hurls them, Jove speeds all alike, whereas ours fall each one of them without effect.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 17, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 128

With this Menelaus left them, looking round him as keenly as an eagle, whose sight they say is keener than that of any other bird – however high he may be in the heaves, not a hare that runs can escape him by crouching under bush or thicket, for he will swoop down upon it and make an end of it – even so, O Menelaus, did you keen eyes range round the mighty host of your followers to see if you could find the son of Nestor still alive.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 17, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 129

Menelaus went up to him and said, “Antilochus, come here and listen to sad news, which I would indeed were untrue. You must see with your own eyes that heave is heaping calamity upon the Danaans, and giving victory to the Trojans.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 17, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 129

When we tow were in such high anger about Briseis, surely it would have been better, had Diana’s arrow slain her at the ships on the day when I took her after having sacked Lyrnessus. For so, many an Achaean the less would have bitten dust before the fore in the days of my anger. It has been well for Hector and the Trojans, but the Achaeans will long indeed remember our quarrel. Now, however, let it be, for it is over. If we have been angry, necessity has schooled our anger.
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 19, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 137

And Antilochus answered, “forgive me; I am much younger, King Menelaus, than you are; you stand higher than I do and are the better man of the two; you know how easily young men are betrayed into indiscretion; their tempers are more hasty and they have less judgement; made due allowances therefore, and bear with me.; I will of my own accord give up the mare that I have won, and if you claim any further chattel from my own possession, I would either yield it to you at once, than fall from your good graces henceforth, and do wrong in the sight of heaven.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 23, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 167

“Now, Antilochus, angry though I have been, I can give way to your of my own free will; you have never been headstrong nor ill-disposed hitherto, but this time your youth has got the better of your judgement; be careful how you outwit your betters in future; no one else could have brought me round so easily, but your good father, your brother, and yourself have all of you had infinite trouble on my behalf; I therefore yield to your entreaty, and will give up the mare to you, mine though it indeed be; the people will thus see that I am neither harsh nor vindictive.”
HOMER:  The Iliad of Homer,  Book 23, Great Books Volume 4, pg. 167

Vocabulary: Homer - The Iliad of Homer

Glibly: readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely