A councilor ought not to sleep the whole night through, a man to whom the populace is entrusted, and who has many responsibilities.
"Homer" is best known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the Epic poetry/epic poets. Author of the first known literature of Europe, he had a lasting effect on the Western canon.
Whether and when he lived is unknown. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BCE. Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus)/Pseudo-Herodotus estimates that he was born 622 years before Xerxes I placed a pontoon bridge over the Hellespont in 480 BCE, which would place him at 1102 BCE, 168 years after the Trojan War/fall of Troy in 1270 BCE. These two end points are 252 years apart, representative of the differences in dates given by the other sources.
The importance of Homer to the ancient Greeks is described in Plato's "The Republic (Plato)/Republic", which portrays him as the protos didaskalos, "first teacher", of the tragedians, the hegemon paideias, "leader of Greek culture", and the ten Hellada pepaideukon, "teacher of [all] Greece". Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds.
Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds in Egypt.
More Homer on Wikipedia.The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.
Whoever obeys the gods, to him they particularly listen.
Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war.
The gods, likening themselves to all kinds of strangers, go in various disguises from city to city, observing the wrongdoing and the righteousness of men.
Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.
Zeus does not bring all men's plans to fulfillment.
A young man is embarrassed to question an older one.
It was built against the will of the immortal gods, and so it did not last for long.
A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.
Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen but his country's cause.
We are quick to flare up, we races of men on the earth.
In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!
There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.
There is a fullness of all things, even of sleep and love.
There is nothing more dread and more shameless than a woman who plans such deeds in her heart as the foul deed which she plotted when she contrived her husband's murder.
The outcome of the war is in our hands; the outcome of words is in the council.
I detest that man who hides one thing in the depths of his heart, and speaks for another.
All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though small, is precious.
He lives not long who battles with the immortals, nor do his children prattle about his knees when he has come back from battle and the dread fray.
You will certainly not be able to take the lead in all things yourself, for to one man a god has given deeds of war, and to another the dance, to another lyre and song, and in another wide-sounding Zeus puts a good mind.
Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.
Once harm has been done, even a fool understands it.
Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.
It is not unseemly for a man to die fighting in defense of his country.
For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.
May the gods grant you all things which your heart desires, and may they give you a husband and a home and gracious concord, for there is nothing greater and better than this -when a husband and wife keep a household in oneness of mind, a great woe to their enemies and joy to their friends, and win high renown.
Wisdom never lies.
It is equally wrong to speed a guest who does not want to go, and to keep one back who is eager. You ought to make welcome the present guest, and send forth the one who wishes to go.
The glorious gifts of the gods are not to be cast aside.
It is equally offensive to speed a guest who would like to stay and to detain one who is anxious to leave.
Thus have the gods spun the thread for wretched mortals: that they live in grief while they themselves are without cares; for two jars stand on the floor of Zeus of the gifts which he gives, one of evils and another of blessings.
By their own follies they perished, the fools.
Miserable mortals who, like leaves, at one moment flame with life, eating the produce of the land, and at another moment weakly perish.
You ought not to practice childish ways, since you are no longer that age.
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken.
The fates have given mankind a patient soul.
All men have need of the gods.
It is tedious to tell again tales already plainly told.
Evil deeds do not prosper; the slow man catches up with the swift.
Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards.
I should rather labor as another's serf, in the home of a man without fortune, one whose livelihood was meager, than rule over all the departed dead.
Such was the burial they gave to Hector, tamer of horses.
If you are very valiant, it is a god, I think, who gave you this gift.
Even when someone battles hard, there is an equal portion for one who lingers behind, and in the same honor are held both the coward and the brave man; the idle man and he who has done much meet death alike.
Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.
He knew the things that were and the things that would be and the things that had been before.
A companion's words of persuasion are effective.
Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.
There is a strength in the union even of very sorry men.
Do thou restrain the haughty spirit in thy breast, for better far is gentle courtesy.
It is not possible to fight beyond your strength, even if you strive.
After the event, even a fool is wise.
A small rock holds back a great wave.
A generation of men is like a generation of leaves; the wind scatters some leaves upon the ground, while others the burgeoning wood brings forth - and the season of spring comes on. So of men one generation springs forth and another ceases.
It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death all things appear fair. But when dogs shame the gray head and gray chin and nakedness of an old man killed, it is the most piteous thing that happens among wretched mortals.
Wide-sounding Zeus takes away half a man's worth on the day when slavery comes upon him.
So it is that the gods do not give all men gifts of grace - neither good looks nor intelligence nor eloquence.
I too shall lie in the dust when I am dead, but now let me win noble renown.
A guest never forgets the host who had treated him kindly.
The single best augury is to fight for one's country.
Young men's minds are always changeable, but when an old man is concerned in a matter, he looks both before and after.
Sing, Muse, of the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus...
The minds of the everlasting gods are not changed suddenly.
Of men who have a sense of honor, more come through alive than are slain, but from those who flee comes neither glory nor any help.
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