“[B]ut it is only what happens, when they die, to all mortals.The sinews no longer hold the flesh and the bones together,and once the spirit has let the white bones, all the restof the body is made subject to the fire's strong fury,but the soul flitters out like a dream and flies away.”

“And so their spirits soaredas they took positions own the passageways of battleall night long, and the watchfires blazed among them.Hundreds strong, as stars in the night sky glitteringround the moon's brilliance blaze in all their glorywhen the air falls to a sudden, windless calm...all the lookout peaks stand out and the jutting cliffsand the steep ravines and down from the high heavens burststhe boundless bright air and all the stars shine clearand the shepherd's heart exults - so many fires burnedbetween the ships and the Xanthus' whirling rapidsset by the men of Troy, bright against their walls.A thousand fires were burning there on the plainand beside each fire sat fifty fighting menpoised in the leaping blaze, and champing oatsand glistening barley, stationed by their chariots,stallions waited for Dawn to mount her glowing throne.”

“So, the gods don't hand out all their gifts at once, not build and brains and flowing speech to all. One man may fail to impress us with his looks but a god can crown his words with beauty, charm, and men look on with delight when he speaks out. Never faltering, filled with winning self-control, he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gaze at him like a god when he walks through the streets. Another man may look like a deathless one on high but there's not a bit of grace to crown his words. Just like you, my fine, handsome friend.”

“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.”

“Come then, put away your sword in its sheath, and let us two go up into my bed so that, lying together in the bed of love, we may then have faith and trust in each other.”

“I say no wealth is worth my life! Not all they claimwas stored in the depths of Troy, that city built on riches,in the old days of peace before the sons of Achaea came-not all the gold held fast in the Archer's rocky vaults,in Phoebus Apollo's house on Pytho's sheer cliffs!Cattle and fat sheep can all be had for the raiding,tripods all for the trading, and tawny-headed stallions.But a man's life breath cannot come back again-no raiders in force, no trading brings it back,once it slips through a man's clenched teeth.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.”

“Let him submit to me! Only the god of death is so relentless, Death submits to no one—so mortals hate him most of all the gods. Let him bow down to me! I am the greater king, I am the elder-born, I claim—the greater man.”