Indeed, a king who commands from the rear while greater men bear the brunt of enemy spears and arrows, a king who gives not in equal measure to what he receives from the warriors he leads — he is no king at all. He is a sheep who believes himself fit to direct wolves.

Maiden goddess, how easy it is for mortals to forget that to the deathless gods time is not so precious. Yet I of all men should not forget. Mine own mother, silver-footed Thetis, daughter of Nereus, has so often lamented the day she was given unto a mortal king's marriage bed and thus made to bear a son who shall one day go down to the house of death. Ten years is indeed a long time by the measure of our short lives. In this time I have not once laid eyes upon my noble father, nor upon my son, my Neoptolemus, who was scarce more than a babe when for Troy I set sail.