Mother tells me,
the immortal goddess Thetis with her glistening feet,
that two fates bear me on to the day of death.
If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy,
my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies.
If I voyage back to the fatherland I love,
my pride, my glory dies…
true, but the life that’s left me will be long,
the stroke of death will not come on me quickly.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 9, lines 497-505. Achilles has rejected the embassy of Achaean commanders come to persuade him back to the war effort, with promises of Agamemnon’s gifts and plunder. In this passage he talks about his fate. His mother and sea goddess Thetis has told him that if he returns home he will live a long life without glory or pride. If he joins in the siege of Troy he faces death but his glory never dies.