The Iliad Meriones Quotes

Meriones killed Phereclus – son of Tecton,
son of the blacksmith Harmon – the fighter’s hands
had the skill to craft all kinds of complex work
since Pallas Athena loved him most, her protege
who had built Paris his steady, balanced ships,
trim launchers of death, freighted with death
for all of Troy and now for the shipwright too:
what could the man know of all the gods’ decrees?

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 64-71. The Greek captain from Crete Meriones kills the Trojan shipbuilder Phereclus. A protege of goddess Athena and much loved by her, Phereclus was a target for the Greeks because he built Paris’s ship, including the boat he used to kidnap Helen.

that’s where you really spot a fighter’s mettle,
where the brave and craven always show their stripes.
The skin of the coward changes calor all the time,
he can’t get a grip on himself, he can’t sit still,
he squats and rocks, shifting his weight from foot to foot,
his heart racing, pounding inside the fellow’s ribs,
his teeth chattering – he dreads some grisly death.
But the skin of the brave soldier never blanches.
He’s all control. Tense but no great fear.
The moment he joins his comrades packed in ambush
he prays to wade in carnage, cut-and-thrust at once.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 327-337. Idomeneus tells Meriones that war reveals the true nature of a fighter, and separates the brave man from the coward. The brave man is unafraid and all control and can handle the stresses of war. But the coward falls apart under the pressure, dreading grisly death.

And he went on to war as grim as murderous Ares,
his good son Panic stalking beside him, tough, fearless,
striking terror in even the combat-hardened veteran, yes,
both of them marching out of Thrace, geared to fight the Ephyri
or Phlegians great with heart, but they turn deaf ears
to the prayers of both sides at once, handing glory
to either side they choose. So on they marched,
Meriones and Idomeneus commanders of armies
strode to battle helmed in gleaming bronze.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 13, lines 350-358. Meriones returns to the battlefield to join Idomeneus. In an epic simile the two Cretans are compared to god of war Ares and his son Panic as they march out to war.

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.
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