The man who’d borne long years abroad replied,
"Well I know. Remember? There’s sense in this old head.
You go in, you first, while I stay here behind.
Stones and blows and I are hardly strangers.
My heart is steeled by now,
I’ve had my share of pain in the waves and wars.
Add this to the total. Bring the trial on.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 306-312. Odysseus the beggar says this to Eumaeus as they draw close to the palace. The swineherd, unaware that he is talking to his lost master Odysseus, has warned him to take care and not linger long outside the palace in case someone hits him. But Odysseus replies that he has taken much blows and beatings in his time at sea and in war and has the courage to stand up to more. Bring it on, he says.