The Iliad Achilles Quotes

Hera, so hard, so senseless! Don’t leap to extremes.
I, at least, have no real lust to drive our forces
against the gods of Troy. Our side is so much stronger.
Come now, let us move off and settle down together
far from the trampled field, take a lookout post
and leave the war to mortals…
But if Ares or Phoebus cares to start things off,
if they block Achilles and keep him out of action,
they will have a fight on their hands, then and there,
an all-out fight with us.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 157-166. Poseidon tells Hera not to get involved in the Trojan war yet, and leave it to the mortals. But he does warn of an all-out fight with himself and Hera if Ares or Phoebus (Apollo) intervene, or block Achilles in any way.

But over against him came Achilles rearing like some lion
out on a rampage, and a whole town of men has geared
for the hunt to cut him down: but at first he lopes along,
all contempt, till one of the fast young hunters spears him –
then…crouched for attack, his jaws gaping, over his teeth
the foam breaks out, deep in his chest the brave heart groans,
he lashes his ribs, his flanks and hips with his tail,
he whips himself into fighting-fury, eyes glaring,
hurls himself head-on – kill one of the men or die,
go down himself at the first lethal charge!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 194-203. Homer uses an epic simile to convey the power of Achilles’s rampaging charge, driven by rage, as he moves out to confront Aeneas in battle. He is inbued with the fury and power of a lion being hunted.

Don’t think for a moment, Achilles, son of Peleus,
you can frighten me with words like a child, a fool –
I’m an old hand myself at trading taunts and insults.
We both know each other’s birth, each other’s parents,
we’ve heard their far-flung fame on the lips of mortal men,
though you have never set eyes on mine, or I on yours.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 234-239. As they face each other on the battlefield, Aeneas tells Achilles that he cannot frighten him with his taunts and insults. Using a simile, he says Achilles is being like a child and a fool.

What do we need with wrangling, hurling insults?
Cursing each other here like a pair of nagging women
boiling over with petty, heartsick squabbles, blustering
into the streets to pelt themselves with slander
much of it true, much not. Anger stirs up lies.
I blaze for battle – your taunts can’t turn me back,
not until we’re fought it out with bronze. On with it –
taste the bite of each other’s brazen spears!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 291-298. As Aeneas and Achilles prepare to fight Achilles taunts his opponent, who makes this reply. Using an epic simile, Aeneas tells Achilles that they should stop trading insults like a pair of nagging women. He also lets the Greek hero know that he is eager for battle and Achilles’s taunts won’t turn him back.

he hurled a heavy lance at the great and awesome shield
and its massive surface clanged as it took the point.
Achilles had thrust it forth with his strong fist,
fearing staunch Aeneas’ spear with its long shadow
would drive its whole length lightly through his buckler –
groundless fears.
…So now not even seasoned Aeneas’ heavy shaft
could smash Achilles shield.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 299-304, 307-308. Aeneas hurls a heavy lance at the shield of Achilles. But the mighty shield, crafted by the god of fire, stands up to the assault and the spear cannot pierce it.

Aeneas –
what god on high commands you to play the madman?
Fighting against Achilles’ overwhelming fury! –
both a better soldier and more loved by the gods.
Pull back at once, whenever you’re thrown against him –
or go down to the House of Death against the will of fate.
But once Achilles has met his death, his certain doom,
take courage then, go fight on the front lines then –
no other Achaean can bring you down in war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 378-386. Poseidon, god of earthquakes and the sea, intervenes to help Trojan warrior Aeneas, who is facing defeat and death in combat with Achilles. He warns Aeneas that if doesn’t retreat, he will go down to the House of Death against the will of fate. Poseidon temporarily covers Achilles’s eyes with a mist and lifts Aeneas away to safety.

Achilles’ spearshaft rammed him through the back
and he gasped his life away, bellowing like some bull
that chokes and grunts when the young boys drag him round
the lord of Helice’s shrine and the earthquake god
delights to see them dragging – so he bellowed now
and the man’s proud spirit left his bones behind.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 457-462. Hippodamas is said in an epic simile to bellow like a bull pulled around the altar of earthquake god Poseidon, as Achilles kills him with a spear.

Achilles rushed with his spear at noble Polydorus
son of Priam. His father would not let him fight,
ever, he was the youngest-born of all his sons –
Priam loved him most, the fastest runner of all
but now the young fool, mad to display his speed,
went dashing along the front to meet his death.
Just as he shot past the matchless runner Achilles
speared him square in the back where his war-belt clasped,
golden buckles clinching both halves of his breastplate –
straight on through went the point and out the navel.
down on his knees he dropped –
screaming shrill as tile world went black before him –
clutched his bowels to his body, hunched and sank.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 463-475. This is an account of Polydorus dying by the spear of Achilles. Homer humanizes his victims of war, telling us the name, family background and person details of the dead and dying. We learn that Polydorus is the youngest son of Priam. The king loved him most and would not let him fight, but mad to display his speed he foolishly went dashed up to the front to meet his death. We are also given an intimate account of Polydorus’s pain and fear as he dies. Behind each death statistic in this war there is a real human being with family and feelings.

Well I know you are brave, and I am far weaker.
True – but all lies in the lap of the great gods.
Weaker I am, but I still might take your life
with one hurl of a spear – my weapon can cut too,
Long before now its point has found its mark!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 492-496. Seeing his brother killed by Achilles, Hector charges charges forward and says this to Achilles, who taunts him, saying that he is rushing to his death. As underdog Hecor admits that Achilles is brave and he is weaker, but eveything lies in the lap of the gods and with one hurt of his spear he might kill Achilles.

Achilles now
like inhuman fire raging on through the mountain gorges
splinter-dry, setting ablaze big stands of timber,
the wind swirling the huge fireball left and right –
chaos of fire – Achilles storming on with brandished spear
like a frenzied god of battle trampling all he killed
and the earth ran black with blood.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 553-559. Like raging fire, as described in an epic simile, Achilles and his rage over the death of his friend Patroclus are destroying everything in their path. Killing and trampling many Trojans, Achilles is compared to the god of war Ares as he sets out to avenge his friend’s slaying.

Thundering on,
on like oxen broad in the brow some field hand yokes
to crush white barley heaped on a well-laid threshing floor
and the grain is husked out fast by the bellowing oxen’s hoofs –
so as the great Achilles rampaged on, his sharp-hoofed stallions
trampled shields and corpses, axle under his chariot splashed
with blood, blood on the handrails sweeping round the car,
sprays of blood shooting up from the stallions’ hoofs
and churning, whirling rims – and the son of Peleus
charioteering on to seize his glory, bloody filty
splattering both strong arms, Achilles’ invincible arms.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 559-569. Achilles is consumed with rage over the death of Patroclus and rejoins the fight and slaughters a huge number of Trojans. Amid the continuing bloodletting and mounting body count of Trojans, he is also driven by the desire to win glory for himself in battle.

Spun like locusts
swarming up in the air, whipped by rushing fire,
flitting toward a river – the tireless fire blazes,
scorching them all with hard explosive blasts of flame
and beaten down in the depths the floating locusts huddle –
so at Achilles’ charge the Xanthus’ swirling currents
choked with a spate of horse and men – the river roared.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 13-19. The Trojans fleeing Achilles’s charge are caught in the River Xanthus. They are like swarms of locusts driven by fire to seek refuge in a river, as described in one of Homer’s beautiful epic similes.

So the illustrious son of Priam begged for life
but only heard a merciless voice in answer: "Fool,
don’t talk to me of ransom. No more speeches.
Before Patroclus met his day of destiny, true,
it warmed my heart a bit to spare some Trojans:
droves I took alive and auctioned off as slaves.
But now not a single Trojan flees his death,
not one the gods hand over to me before your gates,
none of all the Trojans, sons of Priam least of all!"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 110-118. Lycaon, half brother to Hector and son of Priam, pleads with Achilles for his life. But an unforgiving Achilles is full of rage and hatred for the Trojans over the death of his friend Patroclus at the hands of Hector that he has no intention of sparing any son of Priam.

Nothing can save you now –
not even your silver whirling, mighty-tiding river –
not for all the bulls you’ve slaughtered to it for years,
the rearing stallions drowned alive in its eddies…die! –
even so – writhing in death till all you Trojans pay
for Patroclus’ blood and the carnage of Achaeans
killed by the racing ships when I was out of action.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 149-155. Achilles kills Priam’s youngest son Lycaon, despite his plea to be spared. Achilles is now a pure killing machine, vowing to dispense death to all Trojans to pay for Patroclus’s blood.

Menacing so
as brilliant Achilles raised the Pelian ash spear
but the fighting Asteropaeus, quick, ambidextrous,
hurled both spears at once – one shaft hit the shield,
no breakthrough, the shaft could not smash through,
the gold blocked it, forged in the god’s gift.
But the other grazed Achilles’ strong right arm
and dark blood gushed as the spear shot past his back,
stabbing the earth hard, still lusting to sink in flesh.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 184-191. The ambidextrous Asteropaeus hurls two spears at once at Achilles. One hits the shield, but it cannot smash through the gold forged by the god of fire. The other spear grazes Achilles’ right arm and draws blood. Asteropaeus tries three times to wrench his spear from the bank but he fails and Achilles kills him.

All my lovely rapids are crammed with corpses now,
no channel in sight to sweep my currents out to sacred sea –
I’m choked with corpses and still you slaughter more,
you blot out more! Leave me alone, have done –
captain of armies, I am filled with horror!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 246-250. Things become so bloody during the raging Achilles’s killing spree in the river that it becomes clogged up with corpses. A horrified river god Xanthus takes on the form of a man and calls on Achilles to stop the carnage in the river.

As a farmhand runs a ditch from a dark spring, sluicing
the gushing stream through plants and gardens, swinging
his mattock to knock the clods out down the shoot
and the water rushes on, tearing the pebbles loose
and what began as a trickle hits a quick slope and
down it goes, outstripping the man who guides it –
so the relentless tide kept overtaking Achilles,
yes, for all his speed – gods are stronger than men.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 290-297. In one of his amazingly detailed epic similes, Homer draws an image of a farmhand digging a water channel from a spring to his plants and gardens, the water starting off as a trickle and then gathering momentum and overtaking the man. The poet relates this to the river god Xanthus’s relentless tide overtaking Achilles in the river.

Father Zeus! To think in all my misery not one god
can bring himself to rescue me from this river!
Then I’d face any fate. And no god on high,
none is to blame so much as my dear mother –
how she lied, she beguiled me, she promised me
I’d lie beneath the walls of the armored Trojans
cut down in blood by Apollo’s whipping arrows!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 308-314. As Achilles continues to flee Xanthus and the river god keeps pulling him down, the Greek warrior cries out to Zeus. Achilles thinks Xanthus is going to kill him, and he accuses Thetis of lying to him that he was fated to be cut down by Apollo’s arrows.

Courage, Achilles! Why such fear, such terror?
Not with a pair like us to urge you on – gods-in-arms
sent down with Zeus’s blessings, I and Pallas Athena.
It’s not your fate to be swallowed by a river:
he’ll subside, and soon – you’ll see for yourself.
But we do have sound advice, if only you will yield.
Never rest your hands from the great leveler war,
not till you pack and cram the Trojan armies tight
in the famous walls of Troy – whoever flees your onset.
But once you’ve ripped away Prince Hector’s life,
back to the ships you go! We give you glory –
seize it in your hands!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 325-336. The river god (Xanthus to the gods and Scamander to mortals) is attempting to drown Achilles in a river. But in this passage Poseidon assures him that it’s not his fate to die in a river. Achilles is told that he has the support of Poseidon and Athena, sent with the blessing of Zeus. The death of Hector at the hands of Achilles is foreshadowed by the sea god. Poseidon promises Achilles glory in the war, and tells him to seize it.

Hard as the autumn North Wind hits a leveled field
just drenched in a downpour, quickly dries it off
and the farmer is glad and starts to till his soil –
so the whole plain was parched and the god of fire devoured
all the dead.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 393-397. Like the North Wind quickly dries out a farmer’s field drenched in a downpour, so god of fire Hephaestus blasts all the river with fire burning all the corpses left by Achilles, Homer tells us in one of his wonderful extended similes.

God forbid that Achilles sees me turning tail,
heading from town and out to open country –
he’ll come after me full tilt and run me down!
and then no way to escape my death, my certain doom –
Achilles is far too strong for any man on earth.
Wait…what if I face him out before the walls?
Surely his body can be pierced by bronze, even his –
he has only one life, and people say he’s mortal:
it’s only the son of Cronus handing him the glory.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 648-656. The gates of Troy are opened to allow the routed Trojans back into the city, and Apollo inspires the Trojan Agenor to stand his ground to prevent the Greeks from entering. In this passage Agenor resolves to face Achilles, saying that he is mortal and can be pierced by bronze, and it is only Zeus who gives him glory.

He’d fight to the death
as a panther springs forth from her thicket lair
to stand and face the huntsman: no fear in her heart,
no thought of flight when she hears the baying packs –
and even if he’s too quick with spear or lunging sword,
even if she’s run through, she never slacks her fury
until she’s charged him hard or gone down fighting.
And so the noble son of Antenor, brave Agenor
would never run until he’d tested Achilles.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 658-666. With Achilles routing the Trojan army, Agenor is the first Trojan to stop fleeing from the Greek leader’s rampage and bravely stands his ground to confront Achilles. The Trojan hero would fight to the death, the epic simile tells us, like a fearless panther springing from her lair to face the hunter.

And old King Priam was first to see him coming,
surging over the plain, blazing like the star
that rears at harvest, flaming up in its brilliance –
far outshining the countless stars in the night sky,
that star they call Orlon’s Dog – brightest of all
but a fatal sign emblazoned on the heavens,
it brings such killing fever down on wretched men.
So the bronze flared on his chest as on he raced.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 31-38. King Priam watches as Achilles runs towards Troy, his bronze armor shining like the brightest star in the night sky, according to one of Homer’s beautiful epic similes.

That man who robbed me of many sons, brave boys,
cutting them down or selling them off as slaves,
shipped to islands half the world away…
Even now there are two, Lycaon and Polydorus –
I cannot find them among the soldiers crowding Troy,
those sons Laothoe bore me, Laothoe queen of women.
But if they are still alive in the enemy’s camp,
then we’ll ransom them back with bronze and gold.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 51-58. As Priam watches Achilles coming towards the city of Troy, he is unaware of the fate of his two sons Lycaon and Polydorus. He speaks of paying a ransom for their return if they are still alive in the enemy’s camp. This is an example of dramatic irony, as the audience has already heard that Achilles killed them both in battle (Books 20, 21).

Pity me too! –
still in my senses, true, but a harrowed, broken man
marked out by doom – past the threshold of old age…
and Father Zeus will waste me with a hideous fate,
and after I’ve lived to look on so much horror!
My sons laid low, my daughters dragged away
and the treasure-chambers looted, helpless babies
hurled to the earth in the red barbarity of war…
my sons’ wives hauled off by the Argives’ bloody hands!
And I, I last of all – the dogs before my doors
will eat me raw, once some enemy brings me down
with his sharp bronze sword or spits me with a spear,
wrenching the life out of my body, yes, the very dogs
I bred in my own halls to share my table, guard my gates –
mad, rabid at heart they’ll lap their master’s blood
and loll before my doors.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 68-83. A father’s love speaks loudly through the words of King Priam, who pleads with Hector not to fight a fuel with Achilles, a confrontation in which he says his son will meet his doom. He mourns the loss of his other children in the war. He asks Hector to take pity on him and stay within the walls of Troy. Priam also speaks of his own terrible future: eaten by his own guard dogs after he is brought down by some enemy.
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