The Iliad Fate Quotes

Rage - Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles - Home quote, The Iliad

Rage – Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 1-8. The opening lines describe the ferocity of the Trojan War and the rage of Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior and hero to fight in that war. We learn about the conflict within the Greek camp between Achilles and King Agamemnon. While some of the most powerful heroes of the time took part in the Trojan war, it claimed the lives of many of these mighty heroes. We also learn about higher forces at play and shaping the lives of humans and influencing events – the will of Zeus, king of the Greek gods, who seems to control fate.

Calchas rose among them,
Thestor’s son, the clearest by far of all the seers
who scan the flight of birds. He knew all things that are,
all things that are past and all that are to come,
the seer who had led the Argive ships to Troy
with the second sight that god Apollo gave him.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 79-84. Calchas is a very valued seer in the Greek army who watches birds and other signs of the will of the gods that controls the fate of humans. He guides the Argive ships to Troy and makes a major contribution to the war effort. The god Apollo has blessed him with second sight.

And Thetis answered, bursting into tears,
"O my son, my sorrow, why did I ever bear you?
All I bore was doom…
Would to god you could linger by your ships
without a grief in the world, without a torment!
Doomed to a short life, you have so little time.
And not only short, now, but filled with heartbreak too,
more than all other men alive – doomed twice over.
Ah to a cruel fate I bore you in our halls!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 1, lines 491-499. A weeping Thetis tells her son Achilles that cruel fate has determined he will have a short life filled with heartbreak. His destiny is so bad that she laments the fact he had ever been born. As a mother she is understandably upset that she is fated to love her son.
in the tenth we'll take her broad streets - Odysseus

Calchas swiftly revealed the will of Zeus:
"Why struck dumb now, my long-hatred Achaeans?
Zeus who rules the world has shown us an awesome sign,
an event long in the future, late to come to birth
but the fame of that great work will never die.
As the snake devoured the sparrow with her brood,
eight and the mother made the ninth, she’d borne them all,
so we will fight in Troy that many years and then,
then in the tenth we’ll take her broad streets."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 381-389. Odysseus shows his credentials as a leader and hero by trying to rally the troops to fight, after they indicate their desire to return home. In this passage he quotes the prophesy by Calchas that the Achaean troops would fight in Troy for nine years and in the tenth they would be victorious by taking her streets. Before they reached Troy, the army witnessed a snake crawl up a tree to swallow eight baby sparrows and their mother in a nest, then turn to stone. Calchas interpreted this as a sign that Troy is fated to fall after the ninth year of battle. Odysseus’s speech succeeds in ralling the armies and Calchas’s interpretation turns out to be correct. The snake and the sparrows is one of the many epic similes used by Homer in the Iliad.
No man will hurl me down to death against my fate, Hector tells Andromache

Why so much grief for me?
No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate.
And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it,
neither brave man nor coward, I tell you –
it’s born with us the day that we are born.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 580-584. In his farewell to his wife, Hector speaks here about the ancient Greek idea of fate, believing that his life and death are controlled by it. He tells his wife Andromache not to be so upset or worried about him during the conflicts of war, saying that no man can kill him if he is not fated to die.

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.

He called at once to his friend-in-arms Patroclus,
shouting down from the decks. Hearing Achilles,
forth he came from his shelter,
striding up like the deathless god of war
but from that moment on his doom was sealed.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 710-714. Achilles shouts out to his friend Patroclus, to ask him to go to the Achaean camp to find out about the casualties, thinking they must be desperate for his help. When Patroclus strides out of his hut he is compared in a simile to god of war Ares. From that moment his fate and doom are sealed, Homer says, forshadowing the death of Achilles’s friend.

And let Apollo drive Prince Hector back to battle,
breathe power back in his lungs, make him forget
the pains that rack his heart. Let him whip the Achaeans
in headlong panic rout and roll them back once more,
tumbling back on the oar-swept ships of Peleus’ son Achilles.
And he, he will launch his comrade Patroclus into action
and glorious Hector will cut him down with a spear
in front of Troy, once Patroclus has slaughtered
whole battalions of strong young fighting men
and among them all, my shining son Sarpedon.
But then – enraged for Patroclus –
brilliant Achilles will bring Prince Hector down.
And then, from that day on, I’ll turn the tide of war:
back the fighting goes, no stopping it, ever, all the way.
till Achaean armies seize the beetling heights of Troy
through Athena’s grand design.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 15, lines 75-90. Zeus is speaking to his wife Hera, laying out the plan for the events to come. There is not much room for free will here, with each character’s fate predetermined and controlled by the gods. Apollo will drive Hector back to battle, this will launch Patroclus into action, Hector will slay him with a spear, an enraged Achilles will take Hector down, Zeus will turn the tide of war and the Greeks will seize Troy through Athena’s grand plan. A great deal of things are foreshadowed here.

My cruel fate…
my Sarpedon, the man I love the most, my own son –
doomed to die at the hands of Menoetius’ son Patroclus.
My heart is torn in two as I try to weigh all this.
Shall I pluck him up, now, while he’s still alive
and set him down in the rich green land of Lycia,
far from the war at Troy and all its tears?
Or beat him down at Patrodus’ hands at last?

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 16, lines 514-521. For the love of his son, the god Zeus considers defying cruel fate in order to save Sarpedon, destined to die at the hands of Patroclus.

And Strife and Havoc plunged in the fight, and violent Death
now seizing a man alive with fresh wounds, now one unhurt,
now hauling a dead man through the slaughter by the heels,
the cloak on her back stained red with human blood.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 18, lines 621-624. The Iliad is a story of the unremitting Strife, Havoc and Death that is found in war. This is metaphorically depicted in a scene on the shield fashioned by the god smith Hephaestus for Achilles. Homer personifies Strife, Havoc and Death, as they decide the destiny and fate of humans.

Often the armies brought this matter up against me –
they would revile me in public. But I am not to blame!
Zeus and Fate and the Fury stalking through the night,
they are the ones who drove that savage madness in my heart,
that day in assembly when I seized Achilles’ prize –
on my own authority, true, but what could I do?
A god impels all things to their fulfil1ment.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 19, lines 99-105. Speaking with Achilles at an assembly of the Achaean army, Agamemnon says that the armies have oftened reviled him for seizing Briseis from Achilles. But he was not responsible, he claims, rather it was the god Zeus who drove him to do this madness. He argues that the fate of man is controlled by Zeus and the gods.

Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all.
that fatal madness – she with those delicate feet of hers,
never touching the earth, gliding over the heads of men
to trap us all. She entangles one man, now another.
Why, she and her frenzy blinded Zeus one time,
highest, greatest of men and gods, they say.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 19, lines 106-111. Is Agamemnon attempting to apologize to Achilles for his dispute with him? Not really, instead he is blaming the goddess Ruin for manipulating him! She even succeeded in blinding Zeus on one occasion, he maintains. Has Agamemnon no free choice over his actions? That’s what he seems to say whenever he does something wrong – blame everything on fate and the gods, they control the actions of us humans!

mighty Achilles! But the day of death
already hovers near, and we are not to blame
but a great god is and the strong force of fate.
Not through our want of speed or any lack of care
did the Trojans strip the armor off Patroclus’ back.
It was all that matchless god, sleek-haired Leto’s son –
he killed him among the champions and handed Hector glory.
Our team could race with the rush of the West Wind,
the strongest, swiftest blast on earth, men say –
still you are doomed to die by force, Achilles,
cut down by a deathless god and mortal man.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 19, lines 484-494. When Achilles reproaches his horses for allowing Patroclus to die, Hera gives his horse Roan Beauty (Xanthos) a voice to speak. The animal says that Patroclus fell in battle not through their fault but because of Apollo who handed Hector glory. The horse predicts that he, Achilles, is also fated to die by a god and a man. This references that he will be killed by Paris, assisted by the god Apollo.

If Achilles fights the Trojans – unopposed by us –
not for a moment will they hold his breakneck force.
Even before now they’d shake to see him coming.
Now, with his rage inflamed for his friend’s death,
I fear he’ll raze the walls against the will of fate.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 20, lines 32-36. Zeus replies to Poseidon, who queries Zeus on why he is calling the gods to council on Olympus once again. Zeus is concerned that Achilles, if left unchecked by the gods, will raze the walls of Troy against the will of fate. Achilles is inflamed with rage over Patroclus’s death, Zeus says.

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.

Come, friend, you too must die. Why moan about it so?
Even Patroclus died, a far, far better man than you.
And look, you see how handsome and powerful I am?
The son of a great man, the mother who gave me life
a deathless goddess. But even for me, I tell you,
death and the strong force of fate are waiting.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 21, lines 119-124. In this passage we see Achilles at his most cynical and unforgiving. Consumed with rage and the desire for revenge for Patroclus’s slaying, he believes that all enemies must die as he is fated to die – foreshadowing his own death. He cruelly mocks the plea to be spared from Priam’s son Lycaon, telling him that better men than him have died.

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.

And now death, grim death is looming up beside me,
no longer far away. No way to escape it now. This,
this was their pleasure after all, sealed long ago –
Zeus and the son of Zeus, the distant deadly Archer –
though often before now they rushed to my defense.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 354-358. When Hector shouts out to his brother Deiphobus for another spear and finds that he has vanished, he realizes that he has been tricked by Athena. The goddess had appeared to him in the form of Deiphobus saying that they would face Achilles together. This is a good example of dramatic irony, because the audience already knows about Athena’s deception and the gods’ decision that Hector should die. With death looming before him, Hector knows that his fate was sealed by the gods long ago, despite Zeus and Apollo coming to his aid often before now.

how long will you eat your heart out here in tears and torment?
All wiped from your mind, all thought of food and bed?
It’s a welcome thing to make love to a woman…
You don’t have long to live now, well I know:
already I see them looming up beside you – death
and the strong force of fate.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 156-161. Thetis finds Achilles still grieving for Patroclus. She wonders how long he is going to torment himself without food and sleep, suggesting that "it’s a welcome thing to make love to a woman" – there is a strong insinuation of a homosexual love relationship between the two men here. Thetis also reminds her son that she sees death and the strong force of fate looming up beside him.
Close