Iliad

Idomeneus answered, "I know you for a man of excellence [ aretê ]: you need not tell me. If the best men at the ships were being chosen to go on an ambush- and there is nothing like this for showing what a man is made of; it comes out then who is cowardly and who has a sense of striving [ aretê ]; the coward will change color at every touch and turn; he is full of fears, and keeps shifting his weight first on one knee and then on the other; his heart beats fast as he thinks of death, and one can hear the chattering of his teeth; whereas the brave man will not change color nor be on finding himself in ambush, but is all the time longing to go into action -

IliadBook 13, Line 274Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 13

HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-13-274