LitHum Passage IDs

"As when some Maionian woman or Karian with purple colors ivory, to make it a cheek piece

for jprses; it lies away in an inner room, and many a rider longs to have it, but it is laid up to be

king's treasure, two things, ti be the beauty of the horse, the pride of the horseman: so,

Menelaos, your shapely thighs were stained with the color of blood, and your legs also and the

ankles beneath them."

Iliad, Homer

This quote is important because it emphasizes the fact that this is an epic. The continuing

and repetitive notion (and... and...and) stresses the importance that it is all equal.

"As when a shephard easily carries the feece of a whether, picking it up with one hand, and

little is the burden weighing him, so Hektor lifting the stone carried it straight for the door leaves

which filled the gateway ponderously close-fitted together."

Iliad, Homer

This simile is homer's way of bringing the domestic world into the poem.

For a man must someday lose one who was even closer than this;

a brother from the same womb, or a son. And yet he weeps for him and sorrows for him, and

then it is over, for the Destinies put in mortal men the heart of endurance. But this man, now he

has torn the heart of life from great Hektor, ties him to his horses and drags him around his

beloved companion's tomb; and nothing is gained thereby for his good or his honor. Great as he

is, let him take care not to make us angry; for see, he dies dishonor to the dumb earth in his

fury."

Iliad, Homer

Achilles does not do what is expected of him here. He lets his grief take over him and becomes harmful.

"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."

Iliad, Homer

The first lines of the poem offer a summary of what is to come in the book. Lattimore uses

keywords such as "Rage" to emphasize the anger of Achilles and his destruction at the end of

the epic.

"Remember your own father, great godlike Achilles—as old as I am, past the threshold of deadly

old age! No doubt the countrymen round about him plague him now, with no one there to defend

him, beat away disaster. No one—but at least he hears you're still alive and his old heart

rejoices, hopes rising, day by day, to see his beloved son come sailing home from Troy."

Iliad, Homer

Priam speaks these words to Achilles in an attempt to convince Achilles to return Hektor's

body back to Troy for a proper burial. Achilles actually begins to cry for his own father and

agrees to give Priam his son's corpse.

"But if you understood/ how glutted you will be with suffering/

before you reach your home, you would stay here/ with me and be immortal--though you might/

still wish to see that wife you always pine fore,/ And anyway, I know my body is better than hers

is. I am taller too./ Mortals can never rival the immortals/ in beauty"

Odyssey, Homer

Calypso, Role of Gods

"When they say the strangers coming,/ they all stood up with

open arms to greet them,/ inviting them to join them. Nestor's son,/ Pisistratus, shook hands and

sat them down,/ spreading soft fleeces on the sand beside/ his father and his brother,

Thrasymedes./ He served them giblets and he poured some wine/ into a golden cup, and raised a

toast,/ to Pallas, child of Zeus the Aegis-Lord"

Odyssey, Homer

Telemachus arrives in King Nestor's land, xenia/hospitality/guest friendship

"At that,/ her heart and body suddenly relaxed./ She recognized

the tokens he had shown her"

Odyssey, Homer

Penelope passes Odysseus's test, gender roles

"They hold no councils, have no common laws,

But live in caves on lofty mountaintops,

and each makes laws for his own wife and children,

without concern for what others think"

Odyssey, Homer

Odysseus judges cyclops

Class Conflict and Civilization

"I refuse to grant

these girls / a clean death. / since they poured down shame on me / and Mother, when they lay beside the suitors. / At that, he wound a piece of sailor's rope / round the rotunda and round the mighty pillar, / stretched up so high no foot could touch the ground. / As doves or thrushes spread their wings to fly / home to their nests, but someone sets a trap -- / they crash into a net, a bitter bedtime; / just so the girls, their heads all in a row, / were strung up with the noose around their necks / to make their death an agony"

Odyssey, Homer

Telemachus orders hanging of slave girls

Father/son relationship

"Polyphemus! What is the matter? Are you badly hurt?...

...Is someone stealing your herds,

or trying to kill you, by some trick or force?"

Odyssey, Homer

Odysseus tricks cyclops

Cleverness and deceit

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for

his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel

and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his

countenance fell.

Genesis

Cain kills Abel because God prefers Abel's meat to Cain's crops

Family, sibling rivalry

When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know well that you are a woman

beautiful in appearance; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife' then

they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me

because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."

Genesis

Abram lies because he is afraid that he will be killed if he is found out to be married to Sarai because she is beautiful. This lie is found out, but Abram still lives.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from

you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout

their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.

And I will give to you, and your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the

land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.

Genesis

One of God's promises to Abraham's descendants

'The oxen were ploughing and

the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off,

and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.'

While he was still speaking, another came and said, 'The fire of God fell from heaven and

burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell

you.' While he was still speaking, another came and said, 'The Chaldeans formed three

columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the

edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.' While he was still speaking, another

came and said, 'Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest

brother's house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners

of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to

tell you."

Job

Three messengers basically interrupting to tell Job that everything in his life is gone

Repetitive, does the repetition show how much of Job's suffering is orchestrated?

"He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Job

If the Lord has the power to give, why does he, um, taketh away?

But Job doesn't ask this question—he just says it as a statement. His entire family

just died, and he doesn't complain. When does he start to get angry? Once the wrath of God starts to affect him physically...

"So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on [] from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head."

Job

Satan is doing the dirty work. But has as God tricked Satan, getting him to take care of the tough stuff? Or is this Satan's doing through and through?

"But he said to her, 'You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?' In all this [] did not sin

with his lips."

Job

Job called his wife a foolish woman. What does this mean for Job's personal life?

Why didn't the author just say "In all this Job did not sin"? Why the added "with

his lips"? Does this imply that Job was sinning—just not out loud. There's a

difference between thinking something and saying it, right?

"Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest with kings and counsellors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves"

Job

At this point, Job's life is so horrible and painful that he starts to wonder what

things would be like on the other side.

"I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all."

Job

Are Job's friends comforters or debate partners?

What's the point of all the back-and-forth?

"know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net around me."

Job is blaming God for his own doubt. Job feels like he was set up. God says, "be good, and I'll reward you"; so Job is good, and then...he gets crushed.

Who's breaking the rules here?

"'My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep."

Job

Pain can be beautiful

Metaphors of art

"'Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?"

Job

God using rhetorical questions to get his point across.

"I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like

the curtains of Solomon. Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed

on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but

my own vineyard I have not kept!"

Song of Solomon

She says she doesn't conform to the beauty standards of the day (she's too

dark-skinned from working in the vineyards).

She reveals that her brothers have tried to punish her, but that she has a few

secrets of her own.

"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed. Your channel is an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and

saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices—a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from

Lebanon."

Song of SOlomon

He describes her assets, she is physically perfect. He is celebrating beauty for beauty's sake.

"Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits."

Song of Solomon

She plays the role of the virgin with the closed lady garden. Though within a few

verses, she's thrown open the gates and let the man come inside.

I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat

my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be

drunk with love.

Song of Solomon

Sex

"I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth

into the fields, and lodge in the villages; let us go out early to the vineyards, and see

whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the

pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes give forth

fragrance, and over our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid

up for you, O my beloved."

Song of Solomon

The beauty of nature and the beauty of the lovers go hand in hand.

How do we know when the poet is writing about nature and when it's just a metaphor for the lovers?

"Gyges, there are now two paths before you: I leave it up to you which one you choose to

take. Either you can kill Candaules and have me and the kingdom of Lydia for your own,

or you must die yourself right now, so that you will never again do exactly what

Candaules wants you to do and see what you should not see"

Histories, Herodotus

Candaules wife to Gyges

"The person who has and retains more of these advantages than others, and then dies

well, my lord, is the one who, in my opinion, deserves the description in question. It is

necessary to consider the end of anything, however, and to see how it will turn out,

because the god often offers prosperity to men, but then destroys them utterly and

completely"

Histories, Herodotus

Solon to Croesus

"So he told his men to waste no time in dousing the flames and getting Croesus and the

others down from the pyre. When they tried, however, they found that it was too late --

the fire was out of control"

Histories, Herodotus

Cyrus tries to kill Croesus

"A few months after Mandane married Cambyses, Astyages had another dream in which

a vine grew from Mandane's genitals and overshadowed the whole of Asia. He told the

dream-interpreters what he had seen and then had his daughter, who was pregnant, sent

from Persia. When she came, he kept a close watch on her, because he wanted to kill the

child she was carrying"

Histories, Herodotus

Astyages dreamt that a vine attached to Mandane took over the empire, so Astyages planned to kill Mandane's child as soon as it would be born, so Harpagus (Astyages' single trusted helper) was tasked with killing Cyrus, he agrees

"I can mention these Persian customs with confidence because I know about them, but

there are others, to do with the dead, which are talked about obliquely, as if they were

secrets. It is said that the body of a Persian man is not buried until it has been mauled by a

bird or a dog. I know for certain that the Magi do this, because they let it happen in

public; but the Persians cover corpses in wax before burying them in the ground."

Histories, Herodotus

And now look at the two of us alone.

Well perish terribly if we violate the law

and try to cross the royal vote and power.

We must remember that we are two women,

so not to fight with men;

and that since we are subject to stronger power

we must hear these orders, or any that may be worse.

So I shall ask of them beneath the earth

forgiveness, for in these things I am forced,

and shall obey the men in power. I know

that wild and futile action makes no sense.

Antigone

Ismene urges Antigone not to take action. Her argument centers on futility and the

inevitability of tragic death.

But his brother ----, whom I name

The exile who came back and sought to burn

his fatherland, the gods of his own kin,

who tried to gorge on blood he shared, and lead

the rest of us as slaves -

it is announced that no one in this town

may give him burial or mourn for him.

Antigone

Creon's justification for denying Polyeice's burial. State > Family. In attempting to

sack Thebes, Polyneice's forfeited his right to burial - according to Antigone a universal right.

I knew that I must die - how could I not? -

Even without your edict. If I die

before my time, I say it is a gain.

Who lives in sorrows many as are mine

how shall he not be glad to gain his death?

Antigone defends the attempted burial - an act of civil disobedience. The god's

unwritten and unfailing laws hold precedence over any man's legal system. To reject the god's

laws is an act of hubris and will lead to punishment. Moreover, Antigone defends the morality of

suicide. Death provides comfort from a life of sorrow and regret.

These rigid spirits are the first to fall.

The strongest iron, hardened in the fire,

most often ends in scraps and scatterings.

Small curbs bring raging horses back to terms:

enslaved to his neighbor, who can think of pride?

Antigone

Creon's speech mimics and directly follows that of the Chorus Leader. The result is a

case of pre-Austen free indirect discourse. Antigone's insolence and Creon's inaction flip their

gender roles.

Whoever thinks that he alone is wise,

his eloquence, his mind above the rest,

come the unfolding, it shows his emptiness.

A man, though wise, should never be ashamed

of learning more, and must not be too rigid.

Antigone

Haemon urges Creon to acknowledge his fallibility and not give in to pride. True

wisdom is to learn from and respect the opinions of others not furrow into one's own.

Reminiscent of Herodotus.

And yet the wise will know my choice was right.

Were I a mother, with children or husband dead,

I'd let them molder. I should not have choses

in such a case to cross the state's decree.

What is the law that lies behind these words?

One husband gone, I might have found another,

or a child from a new man in the first child's place;

but with my parents covered up in death,

no brother for me, ever, could be born.

Such was the law by which I honored you.

Antigone argues that sibling relationships are more valuable than any other because

they are irreplaceable (her parents are killed). Antigone calls on the gods to punish Creon more

than she has been punished, for she has acted with divine justice and they have not.

For you've confused the upper and lower worlds.

You settled a living person without honor

In a tomb; you keep up here that which belongs

Below, a corpse unburied and unholy.

Antigone

Tiresias explains that the Theban tragedy is the fault of Creon alone. In rejecting the

laws of the gods, Creon has sentenced both himself and Thebes to divine punishment. Creon

upended the correct order by confusing the upper and lower worlds. Antigone, alive, should be

free and above ground; Polyneices, dead, should be buried below ground.

"His job ain't gonna change just cause he gets to wear a fancy uniform"

Second

The slave chorus is divided over whether Hero will leave for war or stay.

This slave makes a comment about Hero's 'fancy new uniform,' which parallels the Greek idea of kalokagathia: what you are on the outside is equivalent to what you are on the inside. While this particular slave doubts Hero's new uniform will have any effect on his character, the change from rags to 'armor' signifies the beginning of Hero's development, and ultimately Hero comes back a changed man.

"To stay here and work the field, To go there and fight in the field, Both choices

are Nothing more than the same coin Flipped over and over, Two sides of the same coin, And the coin ain't even in your pocket"

Homer

Here Homer expresses contempt for either of Hero's choices, recognizing that Boss Master is truly the one making the decisions. Whichever way Hero chooses to go, it results from the power Boss Master holds over him and the other slaves on the plantation

"And my need to leave is clear"

Hero makes a definitive decision to leave the plantation and fight for the Confederacy. Hero's mannerisms mimics that of other Greek heroes, feeling a need to leave for war and achieve kleos. Leaving his surrogate father and wife, Penny, behind, Hero follows Boss Master to war.

"I am grateful every day that God made me white. . . no matter how thoroughly I

fail, I will always be white"

The Colonel remarks how no matter how low he may fall; he will always be able to fall back on his whiteness. In the presence of two black men, the Colonel exerts his authority over the other soldiers and depicts the clash between races. But as much as the passage is used for Colonel to assert his dominance, it also invites the audience to participate in self examination and inspect one' s own privilege.

"I don't know if I'm qualified to give freedom to another man seeing as how I'm not a free man myself but I give it to you just the same. God willing I'll make up for a horrible wrong I did."

Hero

Coupled with his previous action letting Smith out of his cage, Hero's

rebellion against the Colonel's command demonstrate a change in Hero's mindset and indicate more independent behavior. Hero ultimately decides to reject the Union coat and follow the Colonel after setting Smith free, but this act of defiance remains a significant turning point in Hero's character development.

"I'm leaving, I'm gone. Let's go"

Penny breaks her promise to wait (at least in the emotional sense) for

Hero/Ulysses and flees the plantation with Homer. Her definitive action contrasts Penelope's inaction during her husband's absence.

"They, however, are quite satisfied to live their lives with one another unmarried. In every way,

then, this sort of man grows up as a lover of young men and a lover of Love, always rejoicing in

his own kind. And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own, whatever his

orientation, whether it's to young men or not, then something wonderful happens: the two are

struck from their senses by love, by a sense of belonging to one another, and by desire, and

they don't want to be separated from one another, not even for a moment. These are the people

who finish out their lives together and still cannot say what is it they want from one another. No

one would think it is the intimacy of sex - that mere sex is the reason each lover takes so great

and deep joy in being with the other. It's obvious that the soul of every lover longs for something

else; his soul cannot say what it is, but like an oracle, it has a sense of what it wants."

Symposium

Aristophanes

"I maintain, then, that while all the gods are happy, Love - if I may say so without giving offence

- is the happiest of them all, for he is the most beautiful and the best. His great beauty lies in

this: First, Phaedrus, he is the youngest of the gods. He proves my point himself by fleeing old

age in headlong flight, fast-moving though it is. Love was born to hate old age and will come

nowhere near it. Love always lives with young people and is one of them: the old story holds

good tht like is always drawn to like. And though on many other points I agree with Phaedrus, I

do not agree with this: that Love is more ancient than Kronos and Iapetus. No, I say that he is

the youngest of the gods and stays young forever. Those old stories Hesiod and Parmenides

tell about the gods - those things happened under Necessity, not Love if what they say is true.

For not one of all those violent deeds would have been done - no castrations, no imprisonments

- if Love had been present among them. Thee would have been peace and brotherhood instead,

as there has been now as long as Love has been king of the gods.

Symposium

Agathon

"His distinction between the two species of Love seems to me very useful indeed. But if I have

learned a single lesson from my own field, the science of medicine, it is that Love does not

occur only in the human soul; it is not simply the attraction we feel toward human beauty: it is a

significantly broader phenomenon. It certainly occurs within the animal kingdom, and even in the

world of plants. In fact, it occurs everywhere in the universe. Love is a deit of the greatest

importance: he directs everything that occurs, not only in the human domain, but also in that of

the gods. Let me begin with some remarks concerning medicine - I hope you will forgive my

giving pride of place to my own profession. The point is that our very bodies manifest the two

species of Love. Consider for a moment the marked difference, the radical dissimilarity, between

healthy and diseased constitutions and the fact that dissimilar subjects desire and love objects

that are themselves dissimilar. Therefore, the love manifested in health is fundamentally distinct

from the love manifested in disease. And now recall that, as Pausanias claimed, it is as

honorable to yield to a good man as it is shameful to consort with the debauched. Well, my point

is that the case of the human body is strictly parallel. Everything sound and healthy in the body

must be encouraged and gratified; that is precisely the object of medicine. Conversely, whatever

is unhealthy and unsound must be frustrated and rebuffed: that's what it is to be an expert in

medicine. In short, medicine is simply the science of the effects of Love on repletion and

depletion of the body, and the hallmark of the accomplished physician is his ability to distinguish

the love that is noble from the Love that is ugly and disgraceful.

Symposium

Eryximachus

"'O Queen- too terrible for tongues the pain you ask me to renew, the tale of how the Danaans

could destroy the wealth of Troy, that kingdom of lament; for I myself saw these sad things; I

took large part in them. What Myrmidon or what Dolopian, what soldier even of the harsh

Ulysses, could keep from tears in telling such a story?'"

Aeneid

Aeneas prepares to give his speech to Dido, Queen of the land of Carthage (p. 28).

"O relics, dear while fate and god allowed, receive my spirit and free me from these cares; for I

have lived and journeyed through the course assigned by fortune. And now my shade will pass,

illustrious, beneath the earth; I have built a handsome city, have seen my walls rise up, avenged

a husband, won satisfaction from a hostile brother: o fortune, too fortunate- if only the ships of

Troy had never touched our costs.'"

Aeneid

Dido's monologue before her suicide regretting the effect that Aeneas and the Trojans

had (p. 101).

"'O virgin, what does all this swarming mean? What do these spirits plead? And by what rule

must some kept off the bank while others sweep the blue-blackwaters with their oars?'...'You

see the deep pools of Cocytus and the marsh of Styx, by whose divinity even the High Ones are

afraid to swear falsely. All these you see are helpless and unburied.'"

Aeneid

Aeneas asks Sybil why some people are unable to rest in the Underworld, and she

responds that it's because they are unburied (p. 141).

"'My son, was I held fast by such delight in life that I let my own seed- instead of me- give way

before the enemy's right hand? Am I, a father, saved by your wounds?'"

Aeneid

Here Mezentius mourns his son Lausus who had died in the battle against the Latins.

This details the grief and pain felt as a result of war, a topic heavily ignored in the other

epics.

"As soon as the unhappy Latin women have heard of this affliction, first Lavinia rages; she tears

at her bright hair and cheeks of rose; then all the crowd around her raves; the wailing fills the

palace's wide halls. The sad report goes out across the city. Now hearts sink down."

Aeneid

Queen Amata just committed suicide after falsely believing Turnus had died (p. 320).

"I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive; he was the first to journey from the

coats of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores. Across the lands and waters he was

battered beneath the violence of the High Ones, for the savage Juno's unforgetting anger; and

many sufferings were his in war- until he brought a city into being and carries in his Gods to

Latium; from this have come the Latin race, the lords of Alba, and the ramparts of high Rome."

Aeneid

Proem

"[] marvels at his mother's gift, the scenes on Vulcan's shield; and he is glad for all these

images, that he does not know what they mean. Upon his shoulder he lifts up the fame and fate

of his sons' sons."

Aeneid

Page 211, description of shield (ekphrasis)

"And when his eyes drank in the plunderm this memorial of burial grief, [], aflame with

rage-his wrath was terrible- cried: 'How can you who wear the spoils of my dear comrade now

escape me? It is Pallas who strikes, who sacrifices you, who takes this payment from your

shameless blood.' Relentless, he sinks his sword into the chest of Turnus. His limbs fell slack

with chill; and with a moan his life, resentful, fled to Shades below."

Aeneid

Page 331, end of the

book when Aeneas kills Turnus

'Why doesn't Minerva arrive in person? She's shirking this contest contest!'

'She's here!' the goddess exclaimed, as she dropped her disguise as a crone

Metamorphoses

(book 6, lines

42-43, p 212, Arachne is speaking)

"Caenis, you bitch! Must I tolerate you? You will always be female

and Caenis to me. Perhaps you forget your original sex."

Metamorphoses

(book 12, lines 470-1, p 486, centaur Latreus is speaking)

But Turnus went on. There were gods on both sides and, no less important,

the men had their courage to help them. They weren't any longer pursuing

Lavinia's hand, with the kingdom and throne of her father for dowry;

Metamorphoses

(book 14, lines 568-70, p577)

'Fierce as that enemy was, its impetus sprang from a single

body and source. But now I am forced to commit the whole race

of mankind to destruction wherever the ocean roars on the shore.

By the streams of the Styx I swear I shall not do it!

Let other cures be attempted first, but what is past remedy

calls for the surgeon's knife, lest the parts that are sound be infected.'

Metamorphoses

(book 1, lines 185-191, p14, Jove is speaking)

'The sea goddess Thetis knew that her son was fated to die

if he went to Troy, so she dressed Achilles up as a girl;

and everyone, Ajax included, was taken in by the female

disguise. But I, to excite his masculine interest, inserted

some arms amongst our feminine wares. He still was dressed

in the clothes of a girl when I caught him holding a spear and shield,

and said to him "Son of a goddess, Pergamum, doomed to perish,

is waiting for you. Why shrink from destroying magnificent Troy?"

Metamorphoses

(book 13, lines 162-169, p504-5, Ulysses is speaking)

As soon as my senses returned, my body was totally different

from what it had been before; and I wasn't the same in my mind.

It was then that I first set eyes on this beard encrusted with green,

on the hair which sweeps in my wake as I swim far over the sea,

my colossal shoulders, my blue-coloured arms and my curving legs

which vanish away to a fish with fins. But what is this form worth?

Metamorphoses

(book 13, lines 957-962, p544, Glaucus is speaking)

First you must learn what Human Nature was in the beginning and what has happened to

it since, because long ago our nature was not what it is now, but very different. There were

three kinds of human beings...

Symposium

(p. 25, The Speech of Aristophanes)

"Good evening, gentlemen. I'm plastered," he announced. "May I join your party? Or

should I crown Agathon with this wreath - which is all I came to do anyway - and make

myself scarce? I really couldn't make it yesterday," he continued, "but nothing could stop

me tonight!"

Symposium

(p. 61, Alcibiades' Entrance)

For what we call studying exists because knowledge is leaving us, because forgetting is

the departure of knowledge, while studying puts back a fresh memory in place of what

went away, thereby preserving a piece of knowledge, so that it seems to be the same. And

in that way everything mortal is preserved.

Symposium

(p. 55, The Speech of Diotima)

"But after getting them off to sleep, Socrates got up and left, and Aristodemus followed

him, as always. He said that Socrates went directly to the Lyceum, washed up, spent the

rest of the day just as he always did, and only then, as evening was falling, went home to

rest."

Symposium

(p.77, Final Dialogue)

I have been your wife and yours I shall remain.

But suitors besiege me in your house.

Men from Dulichium and Samos, even

Zacynthus, gather about the door.

Metamorphoses

(Penelope to Ulysses, p. 5)

Send me, O Greeks: let me present your message

to my lord. I will achieve more than

Phoenix, more than Ulysses, more than Ajax;

I will mingle your words with kisses

Metamorphoses

Briseis to Achilles, p.24

Whatever words are here, read on to the end.

How could reading this letter hurt you?

Indeed, my words might even give you pleasure.

These letters carry my secret thoughts

Over land and sea; even enemies read

letters another enemy sends.

Metamorphoses

(Phaedra to Hipplytus, p. 31)

And I remember that I, Queen of Colchis,

found time when you came begging for help.

Indeed, those sisters who spin the threads of life

should have unwound at last my spindle.

Metamorphoses

(Medea to Jason, p. 106)

But maybe a strong man could want to be strong," said Socrates, "or a fast one fast, or a

healthy one healthy: in cases like these, you might think people really do want to be things

they already are and do want to have qualities they already have - I bring them up so they

won't deceive us. But in these cases, Agathon, if you stop to think about them, you will see

that these people are what they are at the present time, whether they want to be or not, by a logical necessity. And who, may I ask would ever bother to desire what's necessary in any

event? But when someone says 'I am healthy, but that's just what I want to be,' or "I am

rich, but that's just what I want to be,' or 'I desire the very thing that I have,' let us say to

him: 'You already have riches and health and strength in your possession, my man, what

you want is to possess these things in time to come, since in the present, whether you want

to or not, you have them. Whenever you say, I desire what I already have, ask yourself

whether you don't mean this: I want the thing I have now to be mine in the future as well.'

Symposium

(p. 42, Socrates Questions Agathon)

"And there in life, Socrates, my friend," said the woman from Mantinea, "there if

anywhere should a person live his life, beholding that Beauty. If you once see that, it won't

occur to you to measure beauty by gold or clothing or beautiful boys and youths - who, if

you see them now, strike you out of your senses, and make you, you and many others,

eager to be with the boys you love and look at them forever, if there were any way to do

that, forgetting food and drink, everything but looking at them and being with them. But

how would it be, in our view," she said, "if someone got to see the Beautiful itself, absolute, pure, unmixed, not polluted by human flesh or colors or any other great nonsense

of mortality, but if he could see the divine Beauty itself in its one form? Do you think it

would be a poor life for a human being to look there and to behold it by that which he

ought, and to be with it" or haven't you remembered," she said, "that in that alone, when he

looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible

for him to give birth not to images of virtue (because he's in touch with no image), but to

true virtue (because he is in touch with the true Beauty). The love of the gods belongs to

anyone who has given birth to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could

become immortal, it would be he."

Symposium

(p. 59, The Speech of Diotima)

I welcomed you to a safe refuge; hardly

knowing your name, I gave you my throne.

I wish these gifts had been all, that everything

else could be buried and forgotten.

That awful day, when a sudden storm came out

of the blue sky and we took shelter

In a high-ceilinged cave, was my doom. I heard

a voice, I thought it was a nymph's song

But it was the Eumenides shouting out

a warning of the fate that was mine.

...

A stranger and a woman, I found

myself soon threatened by war.

Metamorphoses

(Dido to Aeneas, pp. 61-62)

I do not make songs now for a well-tuned string,

for songs are the work of carefree minds.

...

the maiden from Cnossos. But neither of them

knew the lyric mode.

Metamorphoses

(Sappho to Phaon, p. 134)