The Iliad Menelaus Quotes

Menelaus lord of the war cry led their sixty ships - Menelaus

Agamermnon’s brother, Menelaus lord of the war cry
led their sixty ships, armed them apart, downshore,
and amidst their ranks he marched, ablaze with valor,
priming men for attack. And his own heart blazed the most
to avenge the groans and shocks of war they’d borne for Helen.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 2, lines 678-682. Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon and king of the Mycenae, is portrayed as a very strong, fierce and important leader, motivating the Achaean soldiers to go to war against the Trojans for the return of his wife Helen. In command of sixty ships, the siege of Troy is primarily on his behalf.
Menelaus sees Paris facing him in battle - The Iiad

Soon as the warrior Menelaus marked him,
Paris parading there with his big loping strides,
flaunting before the troops, Atrides thrilled
like a lion lighting on some handsome carcass,
lucky to find an antlered stag or wild goat
just as hunger strikes – he rips it, bolts it down,
even with running dogs and lusty hunters rushing him.
So Menelaus thrilled at heart – princely Paris there,
right before his eyes.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 23-31. Menelaus reacts to the sight of Paris in the opposing Trojan army. Using an epic simile, Homer says the Greek warrior and king of Mycenae is like a lion attacking and ripping a stag or wild goat.

But soon as magnificent Paris marked Atrides
shining among the champions, Paris’ spirit shook.
Backing into his friendly ranks, he cringed from death
as one who trips on a snake in a hilltop hollow
recoils, suddenly, trembling grips his knees
and pallor takes his cheeks and back he shrinks.
So he dissolved again in the proud Trojan lines,
dreading Atrides – magnificent, brave Paris.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 34-41. When Paris sees Menelaus facing him in battle, he is described as being wary and nervous. An epic simile tells us how Paris reacts like he has tripped on a snake, he recoils, goes weak at the knees and shrinks back into the relative safety of the Trojan ranks. Homer is being sarcastic and ironic when he calls Paris magnificent and brave here, since he trembles at the prospect of facing Menelaus.
Menelaus agrees to fight duel with Paris for Helen

I intend that we will part in peace, at last,
Trojans and Achaeans. Look what heavy casualties
you have suffered just for me, my violent quarrel,
and Paris who brought it on you all. Now we’ll fight –
and death to the one marked out for doom and death!
But the rest will part in peace, and soon, soon.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 119-124. Menelaus agrees to fight Paris in a duel in order to end the war. He agrees that if he wins he can bring his stolen wife Helen home, while if Paris is victor he may keep Helen and no more soldiers will be killed over Helen.

Now Paris and Menelaus, Atrides loved by Ares,
will fight it out with their rugged spears for Helen,
and Helen and all her treasures go to the man who wins.
The rest will seal in blood their binding pacts of friendship.
Our people will live in peace on the rich soil of Troy.
Our enemies sail home to the stallion-land of Argos,
the land of Achaea where the women are a wonder.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 303-308. The crier announces to Trojan King Priam the single combat duel arranged between Paris and Menelaus. They are to fight to decide who will get Helen – she is to be the winner’s prize. The fierce warrior-king Menelaus is loved by god of war Ares, we learn.

Not a single Trojan, none of their famous allies
could point out Paris to battle-hungry Menelaus.
Not that they would hide him out of friendship,
even if someone saw him –
all of them hated him like death, black death.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 3, lines 529-533. Paris disappears from the battlefield after Aphrodite saves him from being killed by Menelaus. She scoops him up and transports him back to his bedroom in Troy. Both Trojans and Greeks search for him. The reason why all the Trojans hate Paris "like death" is because he stole the Spartan queen Helen from Menelaus and started the Trojan War.

Picture a woman dyeing ivory blood red…
a Carian or Maeonian staining a horse’s cheekpiece,
and it’s stored away in a vault and troops of riders
long to sport the ornament, true, but there it lies
as a king’s splendor, kept and prized twice over –
his team’s adornment, his driver’s pride and glory.
So now, Menelaus, the fresh blood went staining down
your sturdy thighs, your shins and well-turned ankles.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 160-167. Menelaus is wounded by an arrow shot by the renowned archer Pandarus, who is urged on by Athena. In an extended simile, Homer uses the imagery of a woman using blood red dye to stain a horse’s cheekpiece, to paint a picture of the dark blood coming from the wound in Menelaus’s groin.

Adrestus hugged his knees and begged him, pleading,
"Take me alive, Atrides, take a ransom worth my life!
Treasures are piled up in my rich father’s house,
bronze and gold and plenty of well-wrought iron
father would give you anything, gladly, priceless ransom
if only he learns I’m still alive in Argive ships!"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 53-58. As well as being a brave and fierce fighter, Menelaus can also be kind – for a price. Instead of spearing the Trojan Adrestus during battle, Menelaus allows him live after he promises a handsome ransom from his father. Unfortunately for Adrestus, Agamemnon comes along and chides brother Menelaus for being soft with the enemy, and Menelaus allowed Agamemnon to spear the Trojan to death.

"Take us alive, Atrides, take a ransom worth our lives!"
…So they cried to the king, cries for mercy,
but only heard a merciless voice in answer:
"Cunning Antimachus! So you’re that man’s sons?
Once in the Trojan council he ordered Menelaus,
there on an embassy joined by King Odysseus,
murdered right on the spot – no safe-conduct
back to the land of Argas. You’re his sons?
Now pay for your father’s outrage, blood for blood!"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 153-165. Agamemnon is killing many Trojans on the battlefield. No pity is shown to the brothers Pisander and Hippolochus by Agamemnon, who believes in the ancient Greek justice of blood revenge, that sons should pay for the sins of their fathers. He cuts them down mercilessly because their father ordered Menelaus and Odysseus to be killed when they were on an embassy to the Trojan council.

they found Odysseus
dear to Zeus but round him Trojans thronged
like tawny jackals up in the mountains swarming
round a horned stag just wounded – a hunter’s hit him
with one fast shaft from his bow and the stag’s escaped,
sprinting at top speed so long as his blood runs warm
and the spring in his knees still lasts…
But soon as the swift arrow saps his strength
the ravening carrion packs begin their feasting
off on a ridge in twilight woods until some god,
some power drives a lion down against them-claw-mad
and the panicked jackals scatter, the lion rends their prey.
So packed around Odysseus skilled and quick to maneuver
swarmed the brave bulk of Trojans – but still the hero
kept on lunging, spearing, keeping death at bay.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 556-570. Menelaus and Great Ajax find Odysseus surrounding by Trojans, but heroically managing to keep death at bay. In an epic simile comparing him to a wounded stag surrounded by jackals, Odysseus is depicted as a great warrior with steely resistance and determination. The fact that Zeus holds him dear also helps his cause.

High as the black-skin beans and chickpeas bounce and leap
from a big bladed shovel, flying across the threshing floor,
sped by a whistling wind and a winnower’s sweeping stroke –
so the arrow flew from fighting Atrides’ breastplate,
the keen shaft glancing, skittering off downfield.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 680-684. An arrow shot by Helenus fails to penetrate Menelaus’s armor, but hits his breastplate and speeds away. Homer’s epic simile likens this to beans and chick peas flying off a broad shovel across a threshing floor.

So home you’ll run from our racing ships, by god,
all as corpses – see, you death-defying Trojans?
Never sated with shattering war cries, are you?
Nor do you lack the other brands of outrage,
all that shame you heaped on me, you rabid dogs!
No fear in your hearts for the quaking rage of Zeus,
the thundering god of host and welcome stranger –
one day he’ll raze your lofty city for you.
You Trojans who stole away my wedded wife
and hoards of riches too – for no reason, none –
my queen of the realm who hosted you with kindness.
And now you rampage on among our deep-sea ships,
wild to torch our hulls and kill our heroes – well,
you’ll be stopped, somewhere, mad as you are for combat!
Zeus, Father Zeus, They say you excel all others…
all men and gods, in wisdom clear and calm –
but all this brutal carnage comes from you.
Look how you favor them, these reckless Trojans,
their fury always in uproar – no one can ever slake
their thirst for blood, for the great leveler, war!
One can achieve his fill of all good things,
even of sleep, even of making love…
rapturous song and the beat and sway of dancing.
A man will yearn for his fill of all these joys
before his fill of war. But not these Trojans –
no one can glut their lust for battle!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 713-738. Menelaus cries out to the men of Troy and to Zeus after he kills the Trojan soldier Pisander. In a voice filled with anger and passion, he accuses the Trojans of having an insatiable thirst for blood and war, stealing his wife Helen and having no fear of the rage of Zeus. One day Zeus will raze Troy, he warns them. He appeals to Zeus from whom he says all this carnage comes and whom he claims favors the Trojans.

One can achieve his fill of all good things,
even of sleep, even of making love…
rapturous song and the beat and sway of dancing.
A man will yearn for his fill of all these joys
before his fill of war.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 743-747. Just after slaying the Trojan Pisander, Menelaus appeals to Zeus to slake the Trojan blood lust. He reminds both Zeus and the Trojans that people yearn for their fill of the joys of life – like making love, singing and dancing – before their fill of war.

There he lay
like an olive slip a farmer rears to strength
on a lonely hilltop, drenching it down with water,
a fine young stripling tree, and the winds stir it softly,
rustling from every side, and it bursts with silver shoots –
then suddenly out of nowhere a wind in gale force comes storming,
rips it out of its trench, stretches it out on the earth –
so Panthous’ stripling son lay sprawled in death,
Euphorbus who hurled the strong ashen spear…
Menelaus cut him down.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 59-68. Menelaus kills Euphorbus, by piercing him in the neck with a lance. An epic simile describes the Trojan being cut down like a young stripling tree ripped out of the earth by a gale force wind.

Menelaus fierce as a mountain lion sure of his power,
seizing the choicest head from a good grazing herd.
First he cracks its neck, clamped in his huge jaws,
mauling the kill then down in gulps he bolts it,
blood and guts, and around him dogs and shepherds
raise a fierce din but they keep their distance,
lacking nerve to go in and take the lion on –
the fear that grips their spirit makes them blanch.
So now not a single Trojan fighter had the spine
to go and face Atrides tensing in all his strength.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 69-78. The Trojans are afraid of the fierce warrior Menelaus, who in one of Homer’s extended similes is compared to a mountain lion seizing the choicest head from the herd, breaking its neck and gorging on its blood and entrails.

And Atrides gave ground, he left the corpse
but kept on turning round to face an attack –
like a great bearded lion the dogs and field hands
drive back from the folds with spears and sharp cries
and the brave, battling heart in his chest freezes tight
and the big cat, all reluctance, pulls back from the sheds.
So the red-haired captain backed away from Patroclus’ corpse.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 124-130. Menelaus gives ground to the waves of Trojan soldiers and backs away from the corpse of Patroclus. He is likened in Homer’s extended simile to a big bearded lion being driven back by dogs and field hands with spears.

And the first one she roused was Atreus’ son
powerful Menelaus – he stood right at hand –
she took the build and tireless voice of Phoenix:
"Yours is the shame, Atrides. You will hang your head
if under the walls of Troy the dogs in all their frenzy
drag and maul the proud Achilles’ steadfast friend.
Hold on, full force – spur all our men to battle."

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 630-636. When Patroclus is killed in battle, Menelaus has to decide whether to leave his body and fall back, or fight to protect the body. Goddess Athena takes Phoenix’s form and meets Menelaus to convince him to save Patroclus’s body from the Trojans and continue fighting to preserve his honor.

And the lord of the battle cry could not refuse
but dragged his heels like a lion leaving sheepfolds,
bone-weary from harrying hounds and field hands.
They’ll never let him tear the rich fat from the oxen,
all night long they stand their guard but the lion craves meat,
he lunges in and in but his charges gain him nothing,
thick-and-fast from their hardy hands the javelins
rain down in his face, and waves of roaring torches –
these the big cat fears, balking for all his rage,
and at dawn he slinks away, his spirits dashed.
And so the lord of the war cry left Patroclus,
resisting all the way.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 738-749. Menelaus reluctantly moves away from the corpse of Patroclus, leaving it prey for the Trojans, after Great Ajax calls to him to get news to Achilles that his great friend Patroclus is dead. Menelaus is compared to a raging but dispirited lion slinking away, exhausted by harrying hounds and field workers, in one of Homer’s famous epic similes.

And with that the red-haired captain moved ahead
like an eagle scanning left and right, the bird men say
has the sharpest eyes of all that fly the heavens:
high as he soars he’ll never miss the racing hare
cowering down low in the dense, shaggy brush –
down on its head he swoops
and pins it fast and rips its life away. So now,
Menelaus O my King, you turned your shining eyes,
scanning the crowds of comrades front and rear,
trying to see if Nestor’s son was still alive.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 758-767. Menelaus goes off to look for Antilochus and is likened in an extended Homeric simile to a sharp-eyed eagle scanning left and right for a racing hare as he soars.

They swept in like hounds that fling themselves
at a wounded boar before young hunters reach him,
darting in for a moment, keen to rip the’ boar apart
till he wheels at bay, ramping into the pack with all his power
and the hounds cringe and bolt and scatter left and right,
And so the Trojans kept on pressing, squad on squad,
stabbing away with swords and two-edged spears
till the two called Ajax wheeled against them hard
to make a stand – and they turned white, none had nerve
to charge forth now and fight it out for the corpse.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 816-825. Trojans chase and stab at Menelaus and Meriones as they carry Patroclus’s body away, but when confronted by Great Ajax, they turn pale and lose their nerve to fight for the corpse. The Trojans are compared in Homer’s epic simile to hounds flinging themselves at a wounded boar.

So they labored to haul Patroclus from the war,
back to the beaked ships as fighting flared behind them
wild as a flash fire, sprung out of nowhere, storming down
on a teeming city, houses caving in to the big blaze
as gale-winds whip it into a roaring conflagration.
So rose the relentless din of horse and fighting men
breaking against them now as they struggled back to shore.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 826-832. Menelaus and Meriones carry away Patroclus’s body. Behind them the fighting flares, with Homer in one of his memorable epic similes comparing it to a flash fire storming over a populous city, driven by gale force winds.

Right behind them
the two Aeantes held the Trojans off as a wooded rocky ridge
stretched out across an entire plain holds back a flood,
fighting off the killer-tides of the mounting rivers,
beating them all back to swamp the lowland flats –
none of their pounding waves can make a breakthrough.
So the two Aeantes kept on beating the Trojans off.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 837-843. As Menelaus and Meriones carry away the corpse of Patroclus, Great Ajax and Little Ajax hold off the Trojans. Homer in a simile likes this to a rocky ridge acros a plain holding back a flood.

but on they came, assaulting the rear, two in the lead,
Aeneas the son of Anchises flanking glorious Hector.
Flying before them now like clouds of crows or starlings
screaming murder, seeing a falcon dive in for the kill,
the hawk that wings grim death at smaller birds –
so pursued by Aeneas and Hector Argive fighters
raced, screaming death-cries, lust for battle lost
and masses of fine armor littered both sides of the trench
as the Argives fled in fear.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 17, lines 844-852. Aeneas and Hector lead the Trojan assault from the rear, as Menelaus and Meriones rescue Patroclus’s body from the battlefield. The scene is compared in an epic simile to a hawk diving in for the kill, and clouds of small birds flying off screaming murder.

Tight as the closing gap between the wheel and horse
when he hauls his master’s car top speed across the flats,
the very tip of his tail brushing the running-rim
and the wheel spins closer, hardly a gap between
as he sweeps the open plain – that much, no more,
Menelaus trailed Antilochus, dauntless driver.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 575-580. Menelaus comes in very close to Antilochus in the chariot race. Homer’s epic simile describes it as tight as the closing gap between chariot wheel and horse when it strains to pull the master fast across the plain.

Come over here, Antilochus, royal prince –
this is the old custom. Come, stand in front
of your team and chariot, grasp the coiling whip
that lashed them home, lay your hand on their manes
and swear by the mighty god who grips and shakes the earth
you never blocked my chariot – not by deliberate foul.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 645-650. Menelaus calls Antilochus out for unsportsmanlike conduct during the chariot race. He makes Antilochus swear by the god Poseidon that he did not deliberately block his chariot during the race.
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