The Iliad - Homer
I love the Greek classics. I’ve read both The Iliad and The Odyssey and, for some reason, I enjoyed The Iliad more. Maybe because the story resonated more with me. Maybe because I found the sheer number of characters overwhelming, yet I felt I was given a meaningful glimpse into each life - before it was ended - thus, illustrating the true costs of war. So many grand themes are centered around this war - love, honor, justice, fate, friendship, family. Robert Fagles does a stellar job at translating this timeless work for a contemporary audience.
Bernard Knox includes the passage below in his introduction. This is Achilles speaking, and Knox mentions “the warrior devoted to death.” In this age of modern warfare, do warriors still exist? Or is everyone just a soldier, now?
Come, friend, you too must die. Why moan about it so?
Even Patroclus died, a far, far better man than you.
And look, you see how handsome and powerful I am?
The son of a great man, the mother who gave me life
a deathless goddess. But even for me, I tell you,
death and the strong force of fate are waiting.
There will come a dawn or sunset or high noon
when a man will take my life in battle too —
flinging a spear perhaps
or whipping a deadly arrow off his bow.
