The exploits of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, in the Trojan War were celebrated by Homer and by the tragic poets of ancient Greece. The point, made first by Horace, was that heroes need writers to commemorate them if they are to achieve eternal fame: [Horace Odes iv. ix. 25] vixere fortes ante Agamemnona multi, many brave men lived before Agamemnon.
There were braue men, before Aiax or Idomen, or all the store That Homer brought to Troy.
[1616 Jonson Forest VIII. 114]
Brave men were living before Agamemnon And since, exceeding valorous and sage.
[1819 Byron Don Juan i. v.]
Brave men lived before Agamemnon, lots of them. But on all of them‥eternal night lies heavy, because they have left no records behind them.
[1980 Times 23 June 16]
Related to: courage; fame and obscurity
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
