The Iliad Diomedes Quotes

What’s this? –
you, the son of Tydeus, that skilled breaker of horses?
Why cringing here? Gazing out on the passageways of battle!
That was never Tydeus’ way, shy behind the lines –
he’d grapple enemies, bolting ahead of comrades.
…Now there was a man, that Tydeus, that Aetolian.
But he bore a son who’s not the half of him in battle.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 430-434, 465-466. Agamemnon rebukes Diomedes for his timidity in the face of battle, when he finds him standing by in the combat car. In an effort to spur Diomedes on by appealing to his pride, Agamemnon mentions the heroic and glorious feats of Diomedes’s father Tydeus, adding that Diomedes is not half the man he was in battle.

Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus’ son Diomedes
strength and daring – so the fighter would shine forth
and tower over the Argives and win himself great glory.
She set the man ablaze, his shield and helmet flaming
with tireless fire like the star that flames at harvest.
bathed in the Ocean, rising up to outshine all other stars.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 1-6. The fierce Greek warrior and leader Diomedes is described in an epic simile as being like fire and blazing like a star, as goddess Athena gives him strength and daring to win great glory for himself.

Down the plain he stormed like a stream in spate,
a routing winter torrent sweeping away the dikes:
the tight, piled dikes can’t hold it back any longer,
banks shoring the blooming vineyards cannot curb its course –
a flash flood bursts as the rains from Zeus pour down their power,
acre on acre the well-dug work of farmers crumbling under it –
so under Tydides’ force the Trojan columns panicked now,
no standing their ground, massed, packed as they were.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 96-104. Diomedes continues to rage through the battle attacking the panicked Trojans – just before he is wounded in the shoulder from an arrow shot by Pandarus. An epic simile describes the Greek warrior’s rampage like a river swollen by rains from the god Zeus causing a flash flood and bursting through dikes and farmers’ vineyards.

I’ve lifted the mist from off your eyes
that’s blurred them up to now –
so you can tell a god from man on sight.
So now if a god comes up to test your mettle,
you must not fight the immortal powers head-on,
all but one of the deathless gods, that is –
if Aphrodite daughter of Zeus slips into battle,
she’s the one to stab with your sharp bronze spear!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 140-147. Athena tells Diomedes that a mist veils the eyes of mortals which prevents them from distinguishing gods in battle. She lifts the mist from his eyes, so he can tell a god on sight. Then she warns him that he is to fight only one god, Aprodite, and stab her with his bronze spear.

claw-mad as a lion
some shepherd tending woolly flocks in the field
has just grazed, a lion leaping into the fold,
but he hasn’t killed him, only spurred his strength
and helpless to beat him off the man scurries for shelter,
leaving his flocks panicked, lost as the ramping beast
mauls them thick-and-fast, piling corpse on corpse
and in one furious bound clears the fenced yard –
so raging Diomedes mauled the Trojans.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 151-159. A dramatic epic simile describes Achaean hero Diomedes, having been wounded in the shoulder by the archer Pandarus, as like a raging lion mauling the Trojans.

Next Diomedes killed two sons of Dardan Priam
careering on in a single car, Echemrnon and Chromius,
As a lion charges cattle, calves and heifers
browsing the deep glades and snaps their necks,
so Tydides pitched them both from the chariot,
gave them a mauling – gave them little choice –
quickly stripped their gear and passed their team
to his men to lash back to the ships.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 178-185. The battle rages between the Achaeans and the Trojans and the Greek leader Diomedes is right there in the thick of it, killing many Trojans, despite having been hit by an arrow. In this passage an epic simile compares him to a lion charging cattle and snapping their necks.

Diomedes, loosing his war cry, charged Aeneas –
though what he saw was lord Apollo himself,
guarding, spreading his arms above the fighter,
but even before the mighty god he would not flinch.
Tydides reared and hurled himself again and again,
trying to kill Aeneas, strip his famous armor.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 496-501. Here the fearless Diomedes heroically takes the gods and Aeneas – Apollo is protecting the Trojan fighter. Again and again Diomedes hurls himself at Aeneas, trying to kill him, unflinching before the mighty archer god.

There Diomedes aimed and stabbed, he gouged him down
his glistening flesh and wrenched the spear back out
the brazen god of war let loose a shriek, roaring,
thundering loud as nine, ten thousand combat soldiers
shriek with Ares’ fury when massive armies clash.
A shudder swept all ranks, Trojans and Argives both,
terror-struck by the shriek the god let loose,
Ares whose lust for slaughter never dies.
But now,
wild as a black cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank,
building up from the day’s heat, blasts and towers –
so brazen Ares looked to Tydeus’ son Diomedes.
Soaring up with the clouds to the broad sweeping sky.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 990-1001. God of war Ares retreats to Mount Olympus from the battlefield after being wounded by Diomedes, who drives a spear into his belly. An epic simile describes his shriek as being like that of ten thousand soldiers in war. Another extended simile tells us that he ascended to Olympus like a dark cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank.

We everlasting gods…Ah what chilling blows
we suffer – thanks to our own conflicting wills –
whenever we show these mortal men some kindness.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 1008-1010. God of war Ares, after being wounded by Diomedes, indulges in a little self-pitying whining. Homer’s gods frequently interfere in the mortal world out of some kind of emotional attachment to the object of their intervention. Ares calls that "kindness." In the Trojan War each god favors different warriors, and that gives rise to war among the gods. This is what Ares means by "chilling blows" as a result of their own "conflicting wills."

Hector, you go back to the city, tell our mother
to gather all the older noble women together
in gray-eyed Athena’s shrine on the city’s crest,
unlock the doors of the goddess’ sacred chamber –
and take a robe, the largest, loveliest robe
that she can find throughout the royal halls,
a gift that far and away she prizes most herself,
and spread it out across the sleek-haired goddess’ knees.
Then promise to sacrifice twelve heifers in her shrine,
yearlings never broken, if only she’ll pity Troy,
the Trojan wives and all our helpless children,
if only she’ll hold Diomedes back from the holy city.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 102-113. Helenus, a son of Priam and also a seers, tells his brother Hector how to save Troy from Diomedes’s onslaught. Hector is urged to go back to the city to organize a Trojan sacrifice of twelve heifers to Athena so that the goddess will pity Troy and hold Diomedes back.

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.

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.

But you – the son of Cronus with Cronus’ twisting ways
gave you gifts by halves: with that royal scepter
the Father gave you honor beyond all other men alive
but he never gave you courage, the greatest power of all.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 42-45. The courageous warrior Diomedes is not afraid to stand up to Agamemnon. Here he tells him that Zeus gave him gifts by halves, he gave him the honor of being king but never gave him courage. He calls out Agamemnon, who is considering running for the ships and sailing home, as a coward.

Lost to the clan,
lost to the hearth, lost to the old ways, that one
who lusts for all the horrors of war with his own people.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 73-75. Wise old King Nestor of Pylos says this to impetuous young warrior and lord of the war cry Diomedes who has branded King Agamemnon a coward. Diomedes wants the Achaeans to fight their way to Troy, while Agamemnon considers retreating back to Greece. But Nestor is about to present a plan to avoid a civil war and Greek ranks being split: reconciliation between Agamemnon and Achilles.

Great marshal Atrides, lord of men Agamemnon –
if only you’d never begged the dauntless son of Peleus,
holding out to Achilles trove on trove of gifts!
He’s a proud man at the best of times, and now
you’ve only plunged him deeper in his pride.
I say have done with the man –
whether he sails for home or stays on here.
He’ll fight again – in his own good time – whenever
the courage in him flares and a god fires his blood.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 850-858. Diomedes tells Agamemnon that he has only offended Achilles’s pride even more by offering him a trove of gifts to return to the war. He advises Agamemnon to ignore Achilles, that he will fight again in his own good time.

Is that an order? Pick my own comrade?
Then how could I pass up royal Odysseus here?
His heart’s so game, his fighting edge so keen,
the best of us all in every combat mission –
Athena loves the man. With him at my side
we’d go through fire and make it back alive –
no one excels the mastermind of battle.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 283-289. This is Achaean warrior Diomedes speaking when Agamemnon asks him to choose his comrade to join the battle with him. He immediately opts for Odysseus. As well as Odysseus being a great fighter, Diomedes knows that goddess Athena loves him and is likely to protect them both.

they sprang in pursuit
as a pair of rip-tooth hounds
bred for the hunt and flushing fawn or hare
through a woody glen keep closing for the kill,
nonstop and the prey goes screaming on ahead –
so Odysseus raider of cities and Diomedes
cut him off from his own lines.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 420-426. Trojan spy Dolon is chased and cut off from his own lines by Odysseus and Diomedes, who are also on a spying mission. The Achaean duo are compared to predatory hounds chasing a fawn or hare, in an epic simile.

As a lion springs on flocks unguarded, shepherd gone,
pouncing on goats or sheep and claw-mad for the kill,
so Tydeus’ son went tearing into that Thracian camp
until he’d butchered twelve.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 10, lines 561-564. The horrors and triumphs of battle are vividly described here, as Diomedes goes on a rampage through the Thracian part of the Trojan camp and kills the sleeping soldiers. He is likened to a lion pouncing on goats or sheep – many of Homer’s epic similes compare warriors to predators.

Then both went thrashing into the lines to make a slaughter
as two wild boars bristling, ramping back for the kill,
fling themselves on the yelping packs that hunt them –
back they whirled on attack and laid the Trojans low
while Achaeans just in flight from Hector’s onset
leapt at the chance to gather second wind.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 375-380. As the Greek army begins to retreat, Odysseus and Diomedes decide to make a stand. They heroically fling themselves at the Trojans like "two wild boars" going in for the kill, as described in an epic simile. Their action inspires the other Achaeans.

That left the famous spearman Odysseus on his own,
not a single Argive comrade standing by his side
since panic seized them all. Unnerved himself,
Odysseus probed his own great fighting heart.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 473-476. When his friend Diomedes is hit in the foot by an arrow from Paris, Odysseus decides to remain on the battlefield long enough to allow him escape. All of his fellow soldiers have fled, leaving him alone, and the Trojans are coming. But Odysseus shows her heroic qualities by staying in the fight.
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