Time was, when you were alive, we Argives honored you as a god, and now down here, I see, you lord it over the dead in all your power

"But you, Achilles,
there’s not a man in the world more blest than you –
there never has been, never will be one.
Time was, when you were alive, we Argives
honored you as a god, and now down here, I see,
you lord it over the dead in all your power.
So grieve no more at dying, great Achilles."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 547-553. Odysseus tries to provide comfort to the great warrior and hero of the Trojan war, Achilles. Odysseus envies the glory that Achilles won on the battlefield, telling him in a simile that his countrymen honored him like a god.

Homer Quotes