All 50 Uses of
Achilles
in
The Iliad by Homer - (translated by: Pope)
- That of the Iliad is the "anger of Achilles," the most short and single subject that ever was chosen by any poet.†
Book Pref.
- If Achilles be absent from the army on the score of a quarrel through half the poem, Rinaldo must absent himself just as long on the like account.†
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- That of Achilles is furious and intractable; that of Diomede forward, yet listening to advice, and subject to command; that of Ajax is heavy and self-confiding; of Hector, active and vigilant: the courage of Agamemnon is inspirited by love of empire and ambition; that of Menelaus mixed with softness and tenderness for his people: we find in Idomeneus a plain direct soldier; in Sarpedon a gallant and generous one.†
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- Homer, boundless and resistless as Achilles, bears all before him, and shines more and more as the tumult increases; Virgil, calmly daring, like AEneas, appears undisturbed in the midst of the action; disposes all about him, and conquers with tranquillity.†
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- This consideration may further serve to answer for the constant use of the same epithets to his gods and heroes; such as the "far-darting Phoebus," the "blue-eyed Pallas," the "swift-footed Achilles," &c.†
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- Some accuse him for the same things which they overlook or praise in the other; as when they prefer the fable and moral of the AEneis to those of the Iliad, for the same reasons which might set the Odyssey above the AEneis; as that the hero is a wiser man, and the action of the one more beneficial to his country than that of the other; or else they blame him for not doing what he never designed; as because Achilles is not as good and perfect a prince as AEneas, when the very moral of his poem required a contrary character: it is thus that Rapin judges in his comparison of Homer and Virgil.†
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- THE CONTENTION OF ACHILLES AND AGAMEMNON.†
Book 1
- In the war of Troy, the Greeks having sacked some of the neighbouring towns, and taken from thence two beautiful captives, Chryseis and Briseis, allotted the first to Agamemnon, and the last to Achilles.†
Book 1
- Achilles calls a council, and encourages Chalcas to declare the cause of it; who attributes it to the refusal of Chryseis.†
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- The king, being obliged to send back his captive, enters into a furious contest with Achilles, which Nestor pacifies; however, as he had the absolute command of the army, he seizes on Briseis in revenge.†
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- Achilles in discontent withdraws himself and his forces from the rest of the Greeks; and complaining to Thetis, she supplicates Jupiter to render them sensible of the wrong done to her son, by giving victory to the Trojans.†
Book 1
- Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumber'd, heavenly goddess, sing!†
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- (41) Since great Achilles and Atrides strove, Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove!†
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- (52) The assembly seated, rising o'er the rest, Achilles thus the king of men address'd:†
Book 1
- "Beloved of Jove, Achilles!†
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- And whose bless'd oracles thy lips declare; Long as Achilles breathes this vital air, No daring Greek, of all the numerous band, Against his priest shall lift an impious hand; Not e'en the chief by whom our hosts are led, The king of kings, shall touch that sacred head."†
Book 1
- "Insatiate king (Achilles thus replies), Fond of the power, but fonder of the prize!†
Book 1
- Soon shall the fair the sable ship ascend, And some deputed prince the charge attend: This Creta's king, or Ajax shall fulfil, Or wise Ulysses see perform'd our will; Or, if our royal pleasure shall ordain, Achilles' self conduct her o'er the main; Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage."†
Book 1
- Soon shall the fair the sable ship ascend, And some deputed prince the charge attend: This Creta's king, or Ajax shall fulfil, Or wise Ulysses see perform'd our will; Or, if our royal pleasure shall ordain, Achilles' self conduct her o'er the main; Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage."†
Book 1
- But know, proud monarch, I'm thy slave no more; My fleet shall waft me to Thessalia's shore: Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain, What spoils, what conquests, shall Atrides gain?"†
Book 1
- Achilles heard, with grief and rage oppress'd, His heart swell'd high, and labour'd in his breast; Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom ruled; Now fired by wrath, and now by reason cool'd: That prompts his hand to draw the deadly sword, Force through the Greeks, and pierce their haughty lord; This whispers soft his vengeance to control, And calm the rising tempest of his soul.†
Book 1
- Just as in anguish of suspense he stay'd, While half unsheathed appear'd the glittering blade,(57) Minerva swift descended from above, Sent by the sister and the wife of Jove (For both the princes claim'd her equal care); Behind she stood, and by the golden hair Achilles seized; to him alone confess'd; A sable cloud conceal'd her from the rest.†
Book 1
- [Illustration: MINERVA REPRESSING THE FURY OF ACHILLES.]†
Book 1
- MINERVA REPRESSING THE FURY OF ACHILLES.†
Book 1
- "Forbear (the progeny of Jove replies) To calm thy fury I forsake the skies: Let great Achilles, to the gods resign'd, To reason yield the empire o'er his mind.†
Book 1
- inviolate to kings); By this I swear:——when bleeding Greece again Shall call Achilles, she shall call in vain.†
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- Atrides, seize not on the beauteous slave; That prize the Greeks by common suffrage gave: Nor thou, Achilles, treat our prince with pride; Let kings be just, and sovereign power preside.†
Book 1
- to calm Achilles' rage; Rule thou thyself, as more advanced in age.†
Book 1
- Achilles should be lost, The pride of Greece, and bulwark of our host."†
Book 1
- Here on the monarch's speech Achilles broke, And furious, thus, and interrupting spoke: "Tyrant, I well deserved thy galling chain, To live thy slave, and still to serve in vain, Should I submit to each unjust decree:—— Command thy vassals, but command not me.†
Book 1
- Seize on Briseis, whom the Grecians doom'd My prize of war, yet tamely see resumed; And seize secure; no more Achilles draws His conquering sword in any woman's cause.†
Book 1
- Achilles with Patroclus took his way Where near his tents his hollow vessels lay.†
Book 1
- "Haste to the fierce Achilles' tent (he cries), Thence bear Briseis as our royal prize: Submit he must; or if they will not part, Ourself in arms shall tear her from his heart."†
Book 1
- But first, and loudest, to your prince declare (That lawless tyrant whose commands you bear), Unmoved as death Achilles shall remain, Though prostrate Greece shall bleed at every vein: The raging chief in frantic passion lost, Blind to himself, and useless to his host, Unskill'd to judge the future by the past, In blood and slaughter shall repent at last."†
Book 1
- [Illustration: THE DEPARTURE OF BRISEIS FROM THE TENT OF ACHILLES.]†
Book 1
- THE DEPARTURE OF BRISEIS FROM THE TENT OF ACHILLES.†
Book 1
- Not so his loss the fierce Achilles bore; But sad, retiring to the sounding shore, O'er the wild margin of the deep he hung, That kindred deep from whence his mother sprung:(61) There bathed in tears of anger and disdain, Thus loud lamented to the stormy main:†
Book 1
- But raging still, amidst his navy sat The stern Achilles, stedfast in his hate; Nor mix'd in combat, nor in council join'd; But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind: In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll, And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul.†
Book 1
- [Illustration: THETIS ENTREATING JUPITER TO HONOUR ACHILLES.]†
Book 1
- THETIS ENTREATING JUPITER TO HONOUR ACHILLES.†
Book 1
- Jupiter, in pursuance of the request of Thetis, sends a deceitful vision to Agamemnon, persuading him to lead the army to battle, in order to make the Greeks sensible of their want of Achilles.†
Book 2
- Spleen to mankind his envious heart possess'd, And much he hated all, but most the best: Ulysses or Achilles still his theme; But royal scandal his delight supreme, Long had he lived the scorn of every Greek, Vex'd when he spoke, yet still they heard him speak.†
Book 2
- We may be wanted on some busy day, When Hector comes: so great Achilles may: From him he forced the prize we jointly gave, From him, the fierce, the fearless, and the brave: And durst he, as he ought, resent that wrong, This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long."†
Book 2
- But Jove forbids, who plunges those he hates In fierce contention and in vain debates: Now great Achilles from our aid withdraws, By me provoked; a captive maid the cause: If e'er as friends we join, the Trojan wall Must shake, and heavy will the vengeance fall!†
Book 2
- Full fifty ships beneath Achilles' care, The Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear; Thessalians all, though various in their name; The same their nation, and their chief the same.†
Book 2
- There mourn'd Achilles, plunged in depth of care, But soon to rise in slaughter, blood, and war.†
Book 2
- Ajax in arms the first renown acquired, While stern Achilles in his wrath retired: (His was the strength that mortal might exceeds, And his the unrivall'd race of heavenly steeds:) But Thetis' son now shines in arms no more; His troops, neglected on the sandy shore.†
Book 2
- There mighty Chromis led the Mysian train, And augur Ennomus, inspired in vain; For stern Achilles lopp'd his sacred head, Roll'd down Scamander with the vulgar dead.†
Book 2
- by fierce Achilles slain, The river swept him to the briny main: There whelm'd with waves the gaudy warrior lies The valiant victor seized the golden prize.†
Book 2
- The great, the fierce Achilles fights no more."†
Book 4
Definitions:
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(Achilles in reference to the Greek god) mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troyeditor's notes: Achilles was seen as semi-divine. His mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river when he was a baby, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable--his "Achilles' heel."
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(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Achilles is also used as a shortened way to identify an achilles tendon or heel cord at the back of the lower leg.