Quote 1
(Odysseus:)
Kalchas straightway spoke before us interpreting the gods' will:
"Why are you turned voiceless, you flowing-haired Achaians?
Zeus of the counsels has shown us this great portent: a thing late,
late to be accomplished, whose glory shall perish never.
As this snake has eaten the sparrow herself with her children,
eight of them, and the mother was the ninth, who bore them,
so for years as many as this shall we fight in this place
and in the tenth year we shall take the city of the wide ways." (2.322-329)
One of the interesting things about Kalchas's prophecy here is that we only hear about it second-hand, through Odysseus. Odysseus, as we all know (especially those who have read the Odyssey), is a master of trickery, so everything he says has to be taken with a grain of salt. What would be the advantage of making up a prophecy? Would you act differently if you knew that you were fated to succeed only after many years of failure?
(Odysseus:)
What is this word that broke through the fence of your teeth, Atreides?
How can you say that, when we Achaians waken the bitter
war god on Trojans, breakers of horses, I hang back from
fighting? Only watch, if you care to and if it concerns you,
the very father of Telemachos locked with the champion
Trojans, breakers of horses. Your talk is wind, and no meaning. (4.350-355)
This is Odysseus reacting to Agamemnon's calling him a slacker at fighting. If you were in his sandals, you'd probably say the same thing, wouldn't you? If so, then you too would fall into Agamemnon's trap. For all Odysseus's cleverness, he doesn't see that Agamemnon is just teasing him to get him to try harder. Have you ever played that sort of trick on someone?
(Odysseus:)
Now I utterly despise your heart for the thing you have spoken;
you who in the very closing of clamorous battle
tell us to haul our strong-benched ships to the sea, so that even
more glory may befall the Trojans, who beat us already,
and headlong destruction swing our way, since the Achaians
will not hold their battle as the ships are being hauled seaward,
but will look about, and let go the exultation of fighting.
There, o leader of the people, your plan will be ruin. (14.95-102)
Try to think about these lines (spoken to Agamemnon) alongside those by Aias quoted below from Book 15 (lines 733-741). Here, Odysseus is saying that the Achaians will only stay in battle formation if they know they are all in it together. Do you think Aias would agree with him?