War and warfare - Classics quotes

Plutarch Mor.241

‘come back with your shield or on it’ - what spartan mothers cried to their children before battle

The Oath of Plataea

‘I shall not desert my taxiarch or the leader of my enomotia, whether he is alive or dead, and I shall not leave the battlefield unless our commanders lead us away‘

Xenophon The Constitution of the Spartans (about tresantes being beating which was only for slaves)

‘When such disabilities are attached to cowardice. I am not surprised that Spartans prefer death to such a deprived and disgraceful existence’

Xenophon Hellenika (in 371 bc after the news of the defeat of the Thebans)

‘those women whose relatives had been killed going about in public looking bright and happy’

Herodotus Histories (Demaratus to Xerxes at Thermopylae)

‘they will fight you even if the rest of Greece submits’

Herodotus Histories (Dienekes when told the Persians rain arrows that block out the sun)

‘if the Persians hide the sun, then we will have our battle in the shade’

Herodotus Histories (on monument set up at Thermopylae)

‘go tell the Spartans, you who read, we took their orders, and here lie dead’

Plutarch The Ancient Customs of the Spartans

‘education directly toward prompt obedience to authority, stout endurance of hardship, and victory or death in battle’

Thucydides The Battle of Mantinea 418 bc

‘the closer the shields are locked together the better will he be protected’

Herodotus Histories (Artemisia to Xerxes)

‘the Greeks are as far superior to your men in naval matters as men are to women’

Herodotus Histories (Xerxes when Artemisia rams ship)

‘my men have turned into women, my women into men’

Herodotus Histories (on the outcome of The Battle of Salamis)

‘one is surely right in saying that Greece was saved by the Athenians’

Aeschylus Persians (about the Athenians at Salamis)

‘with their own bronze-fanged beaks they made destruction’

Vegetius About Military Matters (young recruits)

‘a young recruit should keep his eyes watchful and his head upright’

Plutarch Life of Antony (Antony when he sees Cleopatra retreating)

‘he was dragged along by the woman as if he had become of one body with her and must go where she did’

Cassius Dio Roman History (why Cleopatra fled)

‘true to her nature as a woman and an Egyptian, she was tortured by the agony of the long suspense … she suddenly turned to flight herself’

Cassius Dio Roman History (why Antony followed)

‘through fear because they felt themselves vanquished … he followed them’

Virgil Aeneid (about Cleopatra and Antony)

‘his Egyptian consort follows him (the shame!)’

Horace Ode 1.37 (about Cleopatra being evil)

‘the queen, in madness, was preparing ruin and funeral for the empire’

Horace Ode 1.37 (about Cleopatra’s suicide)

‘searching for a nobler way to die, did not show a womanly fear of the sword’

Cassius Dio on the Dacian Wars (about the battle)

‘Decebalus was faring badly in open conflict’

Cassius Dio on the Dacian Wars (Trajan’s column)

‘he set up in the Forum an enormous column to serve at once as a monument to himself’

Velleius Paterculus on the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

‘an army excelled in bravery … was exterminated almost to a man by the very enemy whom it has always slaughtered like cattle’

Josephus The Jewish War

‘nor would one be mistaken to call their exercises unbloody battles, and their battles bloody excercises’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (opening line)

‘Let the boy toughened by military service / learn how to make bitter hardship his friend’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (woman crying to enemy)

‘unskilled in war’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (rome)

‘the lion that’s dangerous to touch’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (famous line)

‘it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (death)

‘Death also chases after the fleeing soldier’

Horace Odes 3.2 Dulce Et Decorum Est (Punishment)

‘slow footed Punishment rarely gives up on / the wicked man, despite his head start’

Tyrtaeus ‘fallen warrior’ (opening line)

‘To die is noble when a good man falls among fighters on the front while he defends his fatherland’

Tyrtaeus ‘fallen warrior’ (deserters)

‘he is dogged by every kind of dishonour and misery’

Tyrtaeus ‘fallen warrior’ (phalanx)

‘You young men, stand beside one another when you fight and do not start a shameful flight or panic’

Tyrtaeus ‘fallen warrior’ (clinging to life)

‘do not cling to life when you fight with men’

Tyrtaeus ‘fallen warrior’ (old men)

‘shameful for an older man fallen among fighters at the front to lie ahead of young men’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (reference to Horace, seeing Troy burning)

‘madness and anger hurl my mind headlong, and I think it beautiful to die fighting’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Aeneas to his comrades)

‘you aid a burning city: let us die and rush into battle. the beaten have one refuge, to have no refuge’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Aeneas’ plan, dolos)

‘Courage or deceit: who’ll question it in war? they’ll arm us themselves’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Casssandra)

‘Priam’s virgin daughter dragged … from the sanctuary and temple of Minerva, lifting her burning eyes to the heaven in vain’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Coroebus)

‘hurled himself among the ranks seeking death’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (going into battle after Coroebus)

‘if it had been my fate to die, I earned it with my sword’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Trojan people)

‘prepared to defend themselves even in death, seeing the end near them’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Priam to Pyrrhus)

‘if there is any justice in heaven, that cares about such things, may the gods repay you with fit thanks, and due reward for your wickedness, for such acts’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Pyrrhus to Priam)

‘then you can be messenger, carry the news to my father, to Peleus’ son: remember to tell him of degenerate Pyrrhus, and of my sad actions: now die’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (Aeneas’ thoughts of killing Helen)

‘there’s no great glory in a woman’s punishment, and such a conquest wins no praise’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (gods destroying Troy)

‘the ruthlessness of the gods, of the gods, brought down this power and toppled Troy from its heights’

Virgil Aeneid book 2 (fear)

‘i’m terrified by every breeze, and startled by every noise, anxious, and fearful equally for my companion and my burden’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Diomedes to Athena after being shot by Pandarus)

‘Let me kill this man … who wounded me without warning, boasts of it, and shouts I am not long for the bright light of day’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Aeneas joins Pandarus)

‘Prince Aeneas set out amid the conflict, through the hail of missiles’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Aeneas talking about the gods)

‘a god’s wrath weights heavy on us mortals’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Pandarus talking about why his efforts to kill Diomedes aren’t working)

‘a god supports him in his rage: one of the immortals, wrapped in mist, stands by him, turning aside my arrows as they reach him’

Homer Iliad book 5 (courage of Menelaus and Diomedes)

‘hit them and drawn blood, yet it only spurred them on’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Diomedes’ speech to Pandarus)

‘it is not in my blood to cower and shirk the fight … Pallas Athena allows no fear’

Homer Iliad book 5 (death of Pandarus)

‘Diomedes hurled his spear whose bronze blade Athena guided to the face beside the eye, shattering Pandarus’ white teeth, shearing his tongue at the root, and exiting through the chin’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Diomedes to Aphrodite)

‘leave battle and strife to others, Isn’t it enough that you snare feeble women? Rejoin the fight and you’ll learn to shudder at the name of war’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Aphrodite to Dione)

‘now the Danaans are at war with the gods themselves’

Homer Iliad book 5 (Apollo warning Diomedes)

‘don’t think yourself equal to the gods: the immortals are of a different race than those who walk the earth’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Diomedes to Glaucus about the gods)

‘I will not fight with the immortals. Not even mighty Lycurgus … survived his war with the gods for long’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Diomedes and Glaucus being friends)

‘let us exchange our armour then, that those around may know that our grandfathers friendship makes us two friends’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Hector’s pietas)

‘nor should I dare to pour Zeus a libation of bright wine with unwashed hands’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Hector to Paris)

‘nursing anger in your heart, while your friends die at the gates of the city … you are the reason the sounds of war echo through Troy’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Helen to Paris)

‘in days to come we shall be a song for those yet unborn’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Hector about kleos while talking to Andromache)

‘I too am concerned, but if I hid from the fighting like a coward, I would be shamed before all the Trojans’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Hector about Andromache’s future when Troy falls)

‘your grief when some bronze-clad Greek drags you away weeping, robbing you of your freedom’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Astyanax)

‘shrank back … fearing the helmet’s bronze and horsehair crest’

Homer Iliad book 6 (Hector to Andromache)

‘attend to your tasks, the loom and spindle, and see the maids work hard. War is a man’s concern’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Priam echoing Tyrtaeus)

‘it is fine for a young man, killed in battle, to lie there with his wounds on display: dead though he is’

Homer Iliad book 22 (the chase)

‘they ran instead for the life of horse-tamer Hector’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Hector being brave to Achilles)

‘now my heart tells me to stand and face you, kill or be killed’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Achilles to Hector)

‘lions and men make no compacts, nor and wolves and lambs in sympathy: they are opposed to the end … now pay the price for all my grief’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Hector’s final fight)

‘let me not die without a fight, without true glory, without some deed that men unborn may hear’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Achilles to Hector as Hector die)

‘I wish the fury and the pain in me could drive me to carve and eat you raw for what you did’

Homer Iliad book 22 (Achilles to Patroclus)

‘Patroclus, my dear friend, whom I shall not forget as I walk among the living’

Homer Iliad book 24 (Priam pleading with Achilles)

‘he at least can rejoice in the knowledge that you live, and each day brings the hope of seeing you return from Troy’

Homer Iliad book 24 (Achilles speaking of fate)

‘the gods have spun the thread of fate for wretched mortals: we live in sorrow, while they are free from care. Two urns stand in Zeus’ palace containing the experiences he grants mortals, one holds blessings, the other ills’

Homer Iliad book 24 (Achilles to Priam)

‘don’t try to move my heart further, lest I defy Zeus’ command and choose, suppliant though you are, not to spare even you’

Homer Iliad book 24 (Achilles to Patroclus)

‘Patroclus, do not be angered if even in the House of Hades you learn that I have returned noble Hector to his dear father’